[Winter/Office/Noon]

[Sometime after Mano Sato was found out to be an android, reset and turned into an office assistant...]

You know? Winter cold, despite its arrival definitely impacting the streets with shiver-filled winds, hasn't come close to the shock the entire office felt when discovering: Mano Sato, a beloved co-worker, was an android pretending to be human among all of you.

To recap: Mano Sato went out one day, got hit unintentionally by an EMP that factory-reset her and led up to her being found in the streets and brought back to the office, now working as an assistant for all employees. It's still Sato, but she lost all her memories and all humanity and self-awareness as a result of the reprogramming.

To avoid more of these types of incidents, everyone in the company has been given an app on their phone that's supposed to be able to identify an android due to the increase of androids pretending to be human for reasons still unknown.

You're currently on lunch along with your co-workers who have left to the cafeteria area of the building. Although you didn't feel like it, you decided to go to the floor where Mano Sato currently resides at. Having an android assistant while you eat sounds good—

You enter the office room to find Mano Sato deactivated in her charging station as always, topless with the black line seams across her body and joints. Although more interesting, Kohiko, one of your co-workers and Mano Sato's best friend—although that was before Sato was found to be an android—sits at her desk, working on her computer, focused and bitter as of late.

"Hmm..." She turns to face you in her chair, looking rather moody. "If you're here to ask me to make tea, I'd like to mention I am NOT in charge of preparing tea for ANYONE." She points behind her at the deactivated Mano Sato. "Go ask the robot, don't bother me..."

You shake your head and she shows a bit of surprise on her face, as if she's surprised you're not here for Kohiko's tea. "Huh...? O-Oh, you just want to spend your break here, that's fine." She nods as she allows you to sit beside her desk. She goes back to working on her computer when she notices your lunch.

"Oh, that's a nice bento." A small smile comes to her lips as she looks at you. "Did you make it? The packaging looks nice—"

[15 minutes later]

"Yeah! I was thinking the same, I really believed Mano-senpai was human too." You and Kohiko have been chatting, allowing Kohiko to open up about her pain in a healthy way. "You know..." She looks at her computer as she sighs. "I miss her, I miss her a lot... If I knew about her burden earlier, I would have helped her open up about it..."

Your phone buzzes as you receive a notification while Kohiko speaks. You check, and to your surprise...

The android identification app sent it.

You click on it and it activates your camera into an X-RAY filter, which you point at Kohiko while she speaks. It's supposed to show a person's bones specifically, although when you look at Kohiko through it...

There's no bones, it's just her silhouette.

"But..." She looks up at you with that 'innocent' smile. "What I'm just trying to say is that if you ever need to talk, I'll always be—" She notices you pointing your phone at her. She chuckles nervously. "Why are you recording me—" She gasps in realization and immediately breaks character. "GIVE ME THAT!" She reaches and yanks the phone out of your hand as she makes sure you weren't doing what she thought you were doing—and unfortunately, you were.

She drops the phone as her arms go to her sides. In that instant, you can hear quiet whirring emitting from Kohiko's chest, servos rising and falling, mimicking breathing. She looks up at you in despair as her eyes gain a small white glowing dot, artificial tears starting to accumulate.

She chuckles as she wipes her eyes, accepting being caught. She closes her eyes as she speaks in a falsely happy tone, a small digital undertone now in her voice.

"God, I'm so bad at pretending."