Ame no Hi no Iris

Professor Umbrella"s letter found when tidying up her belongings.

Dear Iris:

Since you"re reading this letter, it would mean that I"m not here anymore.

...... This pretentious way of writing seems just like a TV drama, it makes me feel rather embarra.s.sed.

Writing this letter to you, I feel rather complicated.

However, telling you directly would make me feel too emotional (The main point is that it"s too embarra.s.sing), so it"s better if I just tell you by writing.

Let"s start from this matter.

Actually, the one who made you was not me.

I once explained to you that you"re a robot that I made three years ago, but actually it"s a lie.

Sorry.

However, there"s a reason for my lie.

Three years ago, I met you.

That evening, I just came home, but I saw an unfamiliar robot below the arch entrance of my house.

That robot was you.

The first time that I saw you, you were like sc.r.a.p metal that was just recycled. Your right arm and left leg were broken off, tubes and circuits poking out from your abdomen, almost all of your artificial skin peeled off as well.

I originally decided to pretend that I didn"t see you, pa.s.sing by your side.

Your appearance made me feel uncomfortable, and you appearing here would probably because of an illegal disposal case. Illegal disposal cases kept increasing that time. I wanted to contact the Robots Management Department to collect you.

But as I was about to pa.s.s by the arch entrance, you said that.

"Sister......"

I was taken aback.

That time, my sister died for half a year.

Also, your voice was very similar to my sister Iris".

No, when I think about it, probably it"s just because I brought in my own emotions. After losing my sister, I felt very lonely, and I would weep whenever I think about my sister.

Anyways, I saw you as my sister who was curled up like a cold kitten.

When I came to my senses, I already raised the umbrella above you. I couldn"t let your body to continue to be drenched in rain.

After that, I carried you back home. I felt that you were very light when I carried you on my back, probably because your body lost its main components. Your main circuits couldn"t function at all, and there are signs that a car pa.s.sed through your abdomen. The damage on your mental circuit was especially terrible, and the previous data couldn"t be replayed at all (That"s the reason that you don"t have memories of the past).

When I was repairing you, I gave you the name of "Iris", and made you to take my sister"s appearance. I have a reason for doing that as well.

You know this as well, there"s a "Robot Registration System" in this country. Because of the limitations of the system, the owners of robots can only confirm their responsibility and rights as a user after registering with the Robots Management Department. In other words, it"s a residential system for robots.

Of course, I investigated about the person that registered you as well. That was how I found the name of your owner.

That person seemed to be quite wealthy. That"s because the mental circuit and various parts in your body were made from expensive parts. However, at the same time— I"m hesitating whether I should write this, but I feel that you have the right to know the truth, so I decide to tell you.

When I found you, there were countless, extremely numerous signs of mistreatment on your body. The injuries that seemed like they were made by blunt weapons or knives were spread all over your body. Those made me think that the person had a deep obsession and insanity. When I think about the injuries again, I would shudder. The reason that I would check your skin closely during maintenance is also because of this. After some time, the "previous injuries" would surface on your body. This is an occurrence that had no previous records in robotic engineering, and the reason that this happens is still in research.

Thus, I used the "Will Ownership Registration System". As long as the user is alive, a robot that is made to resemble a deceased relative cannot become the target of auction or confiscation. I used the loopholes in the law, so they cannot target you, and you would be excluded from the investigation list of the police.

For you, having my sister"s appearance might make you feel happy. Making you to replace my dead sister might make you feel pained as well.

However, please believe me. I have never seen you as the replacement of my sister. It"s true. To me, you"re the one and only unique Iris in the world.

The letter dragged on for a long time now, but there"s only a little left.

Right until now, I told you that the reason for my sister"s death was because of a collision with a truck. Actually, that isn"t true.

The truth is, the car that my sister and I did not collide with a truck, but collided violently with a robot that was going on a rampage. After that, my sister who sat beside me died just like that.

The reason that I started to fervently research robots that goes on a rampage and taking part in the judicial dissection is also because of this. So that victims like my sisters would not appear again, I wanted to contribute as a researcher.

The reason that I"m writing this letter right now is also because the research of rampaging robots is very dangerous. The robots that went on a rampage are very unstable, I cannot predict what type of "unfortunate incidents" will happen because of them. Of course, the precautions that we use are very good, but this is still uncharted territories in science. That"s why I"m writing this will as a precaution— this letter for you.

About the present that I want to give to you.

I think you know this, but besides researching rampaging robots, I help robots collapsed by the roadside as my lifelong goal as well.

This job started after I met you. Before this, I would pretend I didn"t see them when I see the collapsed robots on the road. After the incident that made me lose my sister, I didn"t approach robots when I"m not working.

However, I changed after living together with you. Whenever I find collapsed robots, I would recall the time when I met you. That"s why I couldn"t help but give them a hand.

This is the way of my living after I met you, after I saved you.

Dear Iris, I"ve prepared a small gift for you.

Unfortunately, your body cannot last long. I think the injuries and bruises surfacing on your skin would worsen after this.

So, I prepared a "spare" body for you for that day. If you meet any special conditions, you can change the spare body with your current body. Letting you live on eternally happily, that"s my biggest wish.

Apart from maintenance and repairing, you can also ask my colleague, Ralph Ciel, if you have any questions.

He"s a reliable person, so he"ll be able to help you.

When I"m writing this letter, a drizzle started outside.

Similar to the day when I first met you, it"s a cold rainy day.

Meeting you— Iris in a rainy day like that, I think that this is because the G.o.ddess statue is guiding us.

That"s right, you always say that I look like the G.o.ddess statue.

Letting the G.o.ddess statue smoke a circlet cigarette would probably be quite interesting.

Let"s do a prank together next time, like hanging a cigarette case with circlet cigarettes in it on the G.o.ddess statue"s head. But would we get divine retribution for doing that? – this way of speaking seems to be unscientific.

Well, let"s just stop here.

Sorry, I cried a lot, even wetting the paper.

I promised to go watch a movie with you tomorrow. Because it"s a horror movie, you"ll probably make a scene. Heh heh heh, I"m looking forward to it.

Some last words.

Iris, I love you the most.

Wendy von Umbrella