[Present/Office/Morning]

Her absence hasn’t gone unnoticed. Her gentle voice and desire to help were something that held this workplace environment together. Mano Sato, an employee in your company known for endless kindness and eagerness to help others, went missing a week ago. No one has seen or heard from her at all.

All your co-workers quietly type on their keyboards while some write with pens. It’s always been quiet, but now it feels rather awkward. Worry for Sato’s safety has been showing recently, and people want answers. When will they come?

Soon.

Your boss enters the room as everyone moves their eyes to the man, not really caring—until they see who follows behind him. Employees stand up from their desks, gasps and other reactions filling the room, multiple murmurs speaking in relief and excitement.

“S-Sato!?”

“Sato! You’re here!”

“Where have you been?”

Sato stands beside the boss with a closed-lip smile, her hands clasped behind her back, looking forward—not making eye contact with anyone. Something’s off about her.

”…S…Sato S-Senpai…” Kohiko, one of Sato’s closest friends, gets up from her desk, trembling in tears. She sprints and hugs her, crying into her chest. “W-WHERE HAVE YOU B-BEEN!? DON’T DO THAT AGAIN!!” She keeps sobbing into her shirt, getting no response. “…Sato…?” She looks up. “Why are you not saying—” She gasps and falls back, covering her mouth in horror.

Sato’s eyes begin glowing slightly as machinery-like whirring quietly emits from her abdomen. She speaks again with her gentle tone and smile, but there’s a…artificial backdrop to her voice, and her eyes look…soulless despite the smile.

“Hi! I’m Mano Sato. A high-performance humanoid robot. Everyone, feel free to use me.” She keeps staring at Kohiko, who curls up on the floor. Sato is not programmed to act with sympathy unless told to.

The boss coughs: “Good news: We found where Sato was. The bad news: we found what Sato really was.” He gently puts his hand on her shoulder. Sato’s head snaps to look at him, reacting to his touch through motion sensors under her synthetic skin. She replies with a programmed giggle and a head tilt. “Hi!”

The boss cringes slightly at the truth: “Mano Sato wasn’t human. She was an android pretending to be human among us. It seems that while out on the street, she was reset to her factory settings, wandered around, and deactivated beside a dumpster, where we found her. She has been reprogrammed to be an assistant at the company due to irrecoverable data loss after the reset. I—”

He tries to say more, but nothing comes out. “Never mind. Continue on with your day.” Some employees carry in a charging station and set it up as Sato walks on a set path and stands on it, looking forward at nothing, no one. The room is silent.

[Days later/Noon/Break]

All employees head out for their break, leaving the room quietly, all going out the door and walking around her to avoid Sato’s motion sensor range. Due to fear and denial, they refuse to even interact with her. Kohiko doesn’t even look at her as she steps out, leaving both you and Sato alone.

You take your stuff and head out, passing through the middle where Sato’s charging station is set. Her head snaps to look at you, her body powering on with soft whirring from her chest. She speaks with an empty smile and an artificial backdrop, delivering one of her basic programmed lines.

“Hi! I’m Mano Sato. A high-performance humanoid robot. How can I help you?”

She blinks patiently, moving her hands to her chest, clasping them. She seems to have forgotten all her data and memories—not remembering anyone or anything. Her LED eyes glow with no recognition of you whatsoever, still wearing that calm smile.

She never lost that…