Key x 3 Eyes
M A Davis/Miko


        Yakumo Kuriyagawa sat behind the counter of the video store he
worked at and stared at the girl in
front of him.

        He'd almost run her over an hour ago, while out delivering
pizzas on his scooter -- his other job.
When he'd first come to Tokyo from the village of Mamioda, he'd quickly
realized it was work multiple
jobs to get by, or do something more lucrative but less pleasant,
like... well, one of his neighbors at his
apartment had offered him a job as a transvetite waitress, but he wasn't
that desperate -- yet.

        Mind you, he'd probably just lost the pizza delivery job, all
because of the girl standing before him.
Her name was Tokiko Mima, but everyone called her Key.  She was from
Yakumo's home village, the
granddaughter of the famous Dr. Murao Mima, a genius with robots, an
expert on ancient civilizations, and
Yakumo's adoptive father.

        "It's just so strange to run into you like this," Yakumo said,
staring at his adoptive sister.  "Key, what
possessed you to come to Tokyo?  What are you doing here?"

        Key stared at him with her huge, blue-grey eyes.  It was said
that the eyes were the windows of the
soul, and Key's were wide and innocent, but also empty, somehow, almost
lifeless.  Some said Key was
autistic, but to Yakumo she'd always just been... strange, different,
yet still a good friend.

        Key wore a plain blue dress... extremely plain, and dirty.  Key
had never been one to bother with
fashion or make-up.  Her light-brown hair was tussled and unkempt, but
Yakumo had never seen her with it
any other way.

        "Grandfather," Key said, "is dead."

        The statement, delivered in her usual soft, unemotional voice,
stabbed Yakumo to the heart.

        "Oh, Key, no!  When?  What happened?"

        "Key does not know," she continued, her voice almost a monotone.
"But before Grandfather died, he
gave Key instructions on how to become human."

        Yakumo sighed.  "Not this again, Key.  You're not really a
robot, you know."

        "Key is a robot," the girl replied.  Yakumo knew better than to
argue with her... Grandfather Mima had
convinced her long ago that she was one of his creations.  She believed
it too deeply to be talked out of it
now.

        "What did Grandfather say?" he asked.

        Key placed a hand-held tape recorder on the video checkout
counter.  She pressed the play button, and
instantly they heard Dr. Mima's voice, speaking slowly and painfully.
Tears came to Yakumo's eyes as he
realized these were his adoptive father's dying words:


        "Key... you must go to Tokyo and find Yakumo.  Play this tape
for him.  Yakumo... please forgive
your father for not contacting you these past few months.  I have been
deep in my research, and had meant
to come visit you, but unfortunately it seems I may be leaving this
world right here.

        "I beg you my son, please honor this one last request from your
delinquent father.  I know what I'm
about to say may sound fantastic, but please hear me out.

        "Key is the sole survivor of a mystic race, once said to be
nearly immortal.  I have spent my entire life
studying this race... the Sanji yanunkara, the fabled cyclops.

        "They've taken a different evolution in their path than man...
perhaps you could even call them...
robots."


        Yakumo frowned and glanced back at Key.  "This is nuts!" he
exclaimed.  "I'm sick of this loony
'robot' obsession of his!"

        Key did not flinch, but continued to stare vacantly at Yakumo.
The voice on the tape continued to
speak:


        "For some reason unknown to us, this race long ago conceived a
desire to become human.  Once they
had discovered how to do so, they traded their immortality for the brief
life span of a human being.  As the
last of her race, Key also wishes to become human.  It was my desire to
help her achieve this goal, but now
I beg of you to finish what I can not.

        "I have left Key with a photo that should be of help...."


        Yakumo glanced up.  Key handed him a photo, which he studied
quickly.  It was of a crude stone
statue of three demonic creatures, each with three eyes, all crouched
down, backs together, facing outward.

        The doctor's voice continued:


        "The photo is of an ancient relic of the Sanju yanunkara.  It is
called the Ningen statue - the statue of
Humanity.  My dying request, Yakumo is that you please help Key to
become human.  All you need to do
is find 30,000 Ningen statues...."


FINI


Miko!

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it
means exactly what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many
different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's
all."

(Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass)

Nausicaa@sprynet.com  Belldandy@angelic.com
Anime RPG at http://come.to/akane/
Fan Fiction at http://listen.to/bell/