Bonus Short Stories
Side: Clariausa
Clan was gifted with a great many things that didn’t interest Koutarou. He never had much of a reaction when she showed him a new program or design. Assembling parts to make something intrigued him, like with the radio, but the process of actually creating the parts themselves was too complex for his tastes. Still, there was one element involved that caught his eye.
“You’re really good at soldering,” he remarked as he watched Clan work.
“I’ve been doing it since I was a child, so I’m rather accustomed to it,” she replied.
“I guess you do get good at what you like doing.”
“That’s right.”
Today, Clan was making an electronic circuit in room 106. She often assembled simple ones by hand for prototypes or stopgap measures. Koutarou sat across from her at the tea table, captivated by the sight of her skillfully weaving her magic.
“Isn’t this boring to watch?” she asked.
“You’d think so, but seeing those silver bits line up is kind of satisfying.”
Clan made perfect little balls of solder as she worked. Each one was the exact same size and fell into place flawlessly. Watching it had a calming effect on Koutarou similar to playing with bubble wrap.
Suddenly, Clan’s hands stopped moving.
“What’s wrong?” Koutarou asked.
“I-It’s nothing,” she stammered, quickly getting back to work.
“Liar. Your handiwork’s gone all wonky.”
Koutarou couldn’t see Clan’s face, but it was clear from her suddenly shaky soldering that something was on her mind.
“Jeez... I was just thinking that if you like watching soldering, you should watch a machine do it instead,” she reluctantly confessed. Machines were more accurate in their work and, unlike humans, they didn’t need any rest. So if Koutarou enjoyed watching the process, she thought a machine would make for a better show.
Koutarou stopped to think about this.
“Veltlion?”
“Hmm,” he mumbled, now staring down Clan.
“Wh-What?” she asked.
“I’d rather watch you work.”
“Why, though?”
“You only need to see a machine do it once. It just mechanically repeats the same motions over and over, but human hands move a little differently every time.”
“So you like the human element?”
“I guess? But that’s why I could just watch this forever.”
“...”
“You’re turning red, Clan.”
“It’s nothing!”
Koutarou wasn’t watching the soldering itself so much as he was watching Clan’s hands. He enjoyed the variance unique to her and her work, meaning she was what really calmed him—even if he didn’t realize that’s what he’d just said.
“I can tell you’re lying,” he pressed her.
“There are some things I can’t tell you!” she insisted.
Of course, Clan wasn’t going to explain it to him. If she said the wrong thing now, it would ruin the moment.
“You say the weirdest stuff every now and then, you know that?”
“You just don’t get it! Ugh!”
Clan loved this time she spent with Koutarou. Him watching her hands calmed her too... even if it flustered her sometimes.
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