Love Hina - Volume 2 - Chapter 1.2

CHAPTER 2: TEN FORBIDDEN SYLLABLES 
 
Keitaro entered Narus room. 

He silently moved onto the futon, where Naru was asleep. Naru sensed something, but since she was half-asleep, she only whispered, “No . . .” and didn’t resist. 

Well, she could have resisted if she wanted to. But, somewhere in her heart, she may have wished for this to happen. 

If it was a dream, it was a very good one. She enjoyed the i ntimacy. If it was really happening, then she was happy to see him. Either way, Naru was blissful. And she was ready to go all the way ... so she clenched her eyes shut. 

Keitaros hand reached for Narus pajama top, which was slightly open. Naru grabbed his hand. She wasn’t resisting, but either was slightly afraid to move on. She wanted reassurance I rom his warmth. 

But Keitaro’s hand wasn’t warm at all. And she couldn’t icar his breath. What Naru felt was hard and cold, like louching metal. 
Eh . .. ?” 

Naru woke up in surprise. What she saw was a Keitarolike mechanical face. 
“Eek!” Naru shrieked as she jumped up and scuttled back like a hermit crab running away from a predator. She accidentally bumped her head against a column behind her. 

She crouched over in pain. Her pajamas opened up some more, but she couldn’t think about that now. 

Naru was frozen in shock. The Keitaro-thing that had crawled onto her futon suddenly made a rumbling engine sound, swiped the futon covers off, and headed straight loward Naru. 

“Nooooo! Don’t come near me!” 

Prompted by Narus screams, Kitsune, Motoko and Shinobu ran to her room. 
“What’s wrong, Naru?” Kitsune asked. 

Shinobu, turn the lights on!” Motoko ordered. 

Okay!” Shinobu turned on the overhead lights.
 
The Keitaro-thing was illuminated. Its eyes gleamed with artificial light and its face resembled Keitaro, but the silicon skin looked slick and unnatural. The right and left arms were uncolored manipulators, and the bottom half seemed more like a turtle. This rumbling mechanical monster was poised to attack Naru. 

In the chaos, Shinobu glimpsed only the face. “Urashima!” she said lovingly. 
Motoko, on the other hand, only saw the base. Her face screwed up in disgust. “A t-turtle?” 

Kitsune was surprised but strangely calm about it, “What the hell is this machine?” she asked. 

As the three girls scrambled for a better view, the mechanical monster approached a teary-eyed Naru. Naru yelled, “Noooo!”
 
At that moment, the machine stopped in its tracks, its rumbling engine going faint, then sputtering to a stop. 

Narus knees went weak and she collapsed to the ground. 

Suu and Sara rushed into the room. 

“Hey, it was here!” Sara squealed.
 
Suu looked vexed. “The source it was modeled after was stupid, so the mecha became stupid, too.” 

The two girls busily checked their machine while Naru quivered in fear. 
“Don’t tell me that you guys made that, Suu . . .” 
 
 
Naru trailed off. 

Suu smiled gleefully. “Yup, I’m working on a new invention. I call it the Mecha Keitaro!” 

Suu connected her laptop to the Mecha Keitaro and rebooted it. It whirred and clicked and then died again. 

“Oops,” she said, her brow furrowing, “Mecha Keitaro was made from the destroyed parts of INDRA,” she confessed. “It’s still in the experimental phase.”

And with that, she gathered up all the junk and carried it into the Hinata cafeteria. 
 
 
According to Suu, the problem was that the machine went berserk during one of their random tests. Of course, they might have had a chance to contain it if they hadn’t been off raiding the refrigerator while the mecha ran its diagnostics. 
“just when we thought you guys had calmed down, you were making this . . . this . . . thing.!” Naru said with a mixed reaction of surprise and disappointment. 
Suu munched on some food and nodded, “Problem?” she asked. 
Naru sighed. “Why did it come to me?” she grumbled. 
“Well, you know,” Kitsune pointed out, “even if its a mecha, a Keitaro is a Keitaro.” 
“What do you mean?” Naru asked. 
Kitsune rolled her eyes. “Ask yourself that same question.” 
“But it was about to do . . . it!” Naru said. 
“Yeah, right.” Kitsune ignored Narus flustered outrage and turned to Suu and Sara. “So the reason why you asked about our memories of Keitaro was to gather data for this mecha, right?” 
“Right on the money, Kitsune,” Suu replied. “Mecha Keitaro’s electronic brain is filled with Keitaro’s real data. Anyhow, look at this.” 
Suu typed commands into the laptop that was connected to Mecha Keitaro. It moved and made bizarre clanking noises. 
 
Its eyes lit up, and it started toward Naru again. 
Naru blinked in bewilderment. After a few steps, Mecha Keitaro went weak and almost fell forward. When it tried to brace itself by reaching out with its right and left manipulators, they snagged Narus pajamas. 
“Huh?!” Naru cried. 
The pajamas buttons snapped off and Narus breasts were exposed. The veins in Narus forehead pulsed as she hollered, “What are you doing, you pervert?!” 
Narus fist landed in Mecha Keitaro s face. Mecha Keitaro was blown away. 
Mo toko attempted to dodge, hiding behind a column, but the Keitaro-thing tottered toward her and then accidentally stuck its face into her cleavage. 
“Yikes!” Motoko squirmed. Not only did Mecha Keitaro come in contact with her breasts, but because its bottom half resembled a turtle, she really disliked the entire situation. Motoko lost it and grabbed up a bamboo sword, yelling, “Die, once and for all!” 
 
 
 
She swung the bamboo sword laced with her aura and blasted Mecha Keitaro away. The machine was thrown headfirst into the wall. The wall crumbled to the ground. 
“See?” Suu said. “It acts just like the real Keitaro!” 
Tears sparkled in Shinobu s eyes. “Urashima doesn’t do that!” she said defensively. 
“What are you talking about, Shinobu?” Kitsune snickered. “He’s exactly like that!” She mimed big grabby hands. 
“No, he’s not!” Shinobu cried. 
But the person who wanted to just break down and sob was actually . . . Naru. To think that she took this outrageous mecha seriously for even a moment was embarrassing for a woman . . . 
Mo toko took Shinobu aside to comfort her. They huddled in the cafeteria entrance. 
Kitsune turned to the mechas creator. “Suu?” 
“What?” 
“Whether it looks like Keitaro or not is beside the point, but can’t you do anything about the lower body?” 
Suu looked at her quizzically. “Lower body, like here?” She thumped the mounted circuit component. Mecha Keitaro suddenly made a dull clanking sound, and an odd weapon came out from between its forelegs. 
 
 
It definitely looked indecent. 
“Oh . . ” Shinobu was so shocked by the sight that she fainted. 
Motoko blushed and stuttered, “S-stop it!” 
“Wow,” Kitsune said, winking. “Who says size doesn’t matter?!” 
Naru turned beet-red. “Keitaros doesn’t look like that!” she blurted. The other girls looked at her, and she turned redder still. But despite its questionable appearance, Suu and Sara didn’t realize the implications of such a device. 
“Look, we just added a plasma launcher on the lower body,” Sara told them. “This will beat anyone in one shot!” 
Suu nodded. “Wanna see something even crazier?” Before the other girls could answer, she typed a series of commands into the laptop. 
Fearing that the mecha might morph into something even filthier, Naru tried to stop Suu. “Wait! That’s enough — she began. 
But Mecha Keitaros eyes flashed. 
 
From the internal speaker, a tinny voice came out. “Hi, I’m K-Keitaro ”
Naru froze when she heard its voice. The sobbing Shinobu, the blushing Motoko, and the grinning Kitsune all looked at Mecha Keitaro in surprise. 

Mecha Keitaros artificial voice was a little canned, but otherwise sounded almost exactly like the real Keitaro. It sounded so much like the real person that Tama, who had been watching cautiously from a distance, happily flew over and slapped Mecha Keitaro on the shoulder with its flipper. “Myu myu!
 
Suu saw the surprised looks on Naru’s and the other girls’ faces and proudly boasted, “See? Doesn’t it sound just like Keitaro? I invented the artificial sound synthesizer. And that’s not all. Watch this . . .” 

Sara typed on the laptop. 

Mecha Keitaro announced, “I, Keitaro, vow allegiance to Suu and Sara . . . and I am a stupid T-Todai student!” 

“He doesn’t say that!” Shinobu retorted. But she sort of agreed. “Still, it does really sound like him.” 
Even Kitsune and Motoko couldn’t help but nod. 
“It sure sounds like Keitaro,” Motoko said. “Especially the pathetic, sniveling tone.” 
Kitsune nodded and shivered. 
Even Naru had to agree. “Yeah, he sounds like him ” she confessed sadly. 

Suu and Sara smiled, “Its abo'Ut time you realized how cool this media is,” Sara said. 

“Yeah, way too late.” Suu noded and typed in more commands. Mecha Keitaro whirred and the plasma beam launcher raised and waved around, pulsing a vibrant, glowing crimson. 

The girls all groaned. “We dorA need to see that!” Naru hollered. 

Before they knew it, morning came. 

Mecha Keitaro had been left in the Hinata House cafeteria. After all that commotior Suu and Sara became sleepy, abandoned Mecha Keitaro where it was, and returned to their rooms. With all the excitement the night before, the girls slept in later than usual. Everyone but Naru, anyway.
 
Downstairs, she quietly entered the cafeteria. Naru opened the door slightly to check the inside of the room, then slipped inside. She went to Mecha Keitaro and turned on the laptop. On the display, Mecha Keitaro’s operating system booted up. Naru clicked on the “Voice Input” icon. Moments later, the screen displayed the standby mode for voice input. 

Naru typed in one letter at a time, the click of the keys sounding deafening in the empty room. 

I-L-O-U-E-Y-O-U. 

Naru hesitated, then hit the delete key. “Well, it doesn’t look like him,” she muttered, “but at least it sounds like him.” 

She typed again. 

hi -O-U-E-n-fi-R-U-S-E-G-fi-UJ-fl. 

Naru sighed and clicked on the “Execute” key. A data upload window showed on the screen. 

Naru was a bit excited. Mecha Keitaro looked peculiar, but it sounded exactly like the real boy. She felt silly and more than a little embarrassed, but she waited for the machine to say the words that she longed to hear. 

But Mecha Keitaro didn’t respond at all. The upload window didn’t progress. Naru sighed, frustrated. “Gosh, what’s wrong with this thing?” she complained. 

She tapped Media Keitaros rubbery head. Just then, another voice entirely said, “Oh my, that’s a nice sound.” 

Mecha Keitaro sounded just like Mutsumi. Naru was taken aback. The voice came again. 

“It’s sounds ripe, so I’ll slice it for you.” 

Suddenly Naru heard Mutsumis voice from behind. When she turned around, she saw a large blade about to swing down into her face. 

“Yikes!” Naru jumped away. The knife stabbed into the floor just inches from where she had stood. “M-Mutsumi!” 

Naru kept calling out desperately, but Mutsumi didn’t respond because she was sleepwalking. She innocendy snored away while gripping the large knife in her hand. The strange girl had walked in her sleep from her second-story room in the Hinata teashop all the way to the cafeteria. 
When Naru had tapped Mecha Keitaros head, Mutsumi’d thought it was the sound of thumping a fresh watermelon and tried to slice it. She was a very dangerous sleepwalker indeed. 
“Please wake up, Mutsumi!” Naru yelled. 
 
 
Mutsumi finally came to, “Oh, what was 3 doing, hm?” When she saw Media Keitaro, she smiled and asked, “Urashima, when did you come back?” 
She even bowed, thinking that it was the reai Keitaro. Nam groaned. Even if Mutsumi had been completely awake, she would have been this ditsy, 
“Mutsumi, that’s not Keitaro!” Naru said. 
Mutsumi blinked groggily. “Oh my. Naru, good morning.” 
Naru explained to the pleasantly smiling Mutsumi what had just happened. 
Mutsumi finally understood and stared at Mecha Keitaro out of curiosity. Then for no reason she said, “Eek!” and pushed the laptop’s OFF button. 
“Ah!” Naru gasped. She didn’t know much about computers, but she did know that it wasn’t good to turn off a computer while it was running. “I wonder if it’s okay . . 
Naru fussed over Mecha Keitaro while Mutsumi tilted her head and pondered, “I pushed the button, but it’s not moving.” 
Mutsumi had assumed that it wasn’t on in the first place. Naru tried to turn the computer on again. The screen displayed Mecha Keitaro’s OS. She sighed in relief; at least the system didn’t crash. 
 
 
“Shoot, I think the voice input is deleted,” she said. 
“Come again?” Mutsumi asked. 

“Nothing—I’m just talking to myself.” Naru was disappointed, but somewhat relieved, also. She realized that she should hear those words from the actual person, if she ever were to hear them at all.
 
Naru turned off the computer.