The afternoon sun painted the academy courtyard in warm gold as Mila and Celeste sat in a quiet corner café just outside the main campus gates. The air smelled faintly of vanilla and roasted beans, the perfect lazy weekend vibe.
Celeste sat primly across from Mila, her posture perfectly straight, hands folded on the table and eyes staring blankly at the untouched dessert in front of her.
"Come on, Celeste," Mila said with a teasing grin, scooping her fork into the slice of strawberry shortcake. "You can't just not eat dessert. That's like- illegal in this café."
Celeste blinked once, lips twitching faintly. "I… don't eat sweets much. It's… not part of my diet plan."
"Diet plan my tail," Mila muttered under her breath, sliding the plate closer to Celeste. "At least one bite. It's a rule when you're hanging out with me."
Celeste hesitated, then sighed softly. "If you insist…"
She delicately cut a piece, brought it to her mouth, and chewed in silence.
Her amber eyes briefly softened.. almost… human for a moment.
"It's… sweet," she admitted quietly.
Mila smiled. "See? Told you. Sweet things make your day better."
Then, jokingly, she leaned forward with a smirk. "Unless you're secretly a robot who runs on oil instead of sugar."
Celeste froze.
Her smile flickered.
For a fraction of a second, a faint digital click echoed in her head.
Then she laughed awkwardly. "You have quite the imagination, Miss Mila."
Mila chuckled and took a sip of her tea. "I get that a lot."
She didn't notice the small twitch in Celeste's left hand as a spark of static danced beneath her glove.
The rest of their chat was casual, the kind of normalcy Milly had missed for a long time. Talk about classes, students, even the absurd rumor that an F-Class student accidentally flooded a hallway with pudding.
When they finally stood to leave, Celeste gave a small bow. "Thank you for inviting me, Miss Mila. It was… pleasant."
Mila smiled warmly. "Anytime."
That night, far away in her teacher dorm room, Celeste's head lay on the desk again her long cyan hair spread like silk across a scatter of mechanical tools and glowing rune diagrams.
Her hand twitched.
Then her other arm froze mid-motion.
"System link… attempting connection… uuhh- ghk- kkrrt- Basei- this is- Simni-reporting…"
Her voice glitched, skipping like a damaged recording.
From the other side of the transmission, Basei's voice sounded strained. "Simni? You're lagging again. What's your current condition?"
She tried to straighten up, but her shoulder spasmed violently, metal joints clicking under the false flesh.
"I-I'm… f-fine-nothing… to-report-glrrgh - error code-09…"
A spark shot from her neck joint, and she slammed a hand on the desk, blue eyes flashing as she rebooted her speech module.
"Apologies! Small-maintenance issue!"
Basei sighed heavily. "You need to run a full diagnostic before your cover breaks. You're glitching worse than Fogotto's first prototype."
Simni pouted weakly, her voice still lagging. "T-that's-mean-sir…"
"Just do it, Simni."
She saluted, though her hand stuttered halfway through the motion. "Aye-bzzt-sir!"
The connection cut off, and she slumped onto the table again, her systems dimming to idle mode.
From her half-dreaming state, she murmured softly to herself:
"…Milly smiled today…"
Her eyes flickered once - from blue to amber before everything faded to black.