Chereads / Project: Consciousness / Chapter 5 - New family member

Chapter 5 - New family member

This day, Yanagi couldn't stop smiling. The new body made his day; he had never felt happier and more relieved than he ever did in his life. It's like the new body seems to him like his son coming into this world. The body was completed, nothing was missing. It was dirty because of its journey to the destruction area, but it didn't bother Yanagi. He only cared that he could finally start his project.

Yanagi, after enjoying 5 seconds of happiness, placed the body inside the trash cart and covered it with a blanket to drive it to his laboratory safely. The most important thing was that since Asahi threw away the robot, he couldn't report Yanagi for having the robot. The only thing that must be done before exiting the building was to take permission from the Head of the destruction department, informing him that he wanted to use the robot. The manager looked at the robot's destruction sticker. He looked into the list, but he couldn't find it no matter how hard he was searching. Then he turned to Yanagi's face and said that the robot is not verified, and he is going to be in trouble if it's stolen.

He was ready to call security, but a voice from the bottom of the room distracted him. It was Asahi, cursing all the way to the window where the two men were. He then proceeded to inform the manager that the specific robot Yanagi took was ready for destruction. The manager turned off his phone and wrote the robot's code into his list.

Then the manager looked into Yanagi's eyes and said with a smooth, deep voice: "That's your lucky day, sir."

Asahi moved his eyes from the manager to Yanagi. He looked at Yanagi with a suspicious glance and turned again to the manager, asking what he meant by that. The manager then answered very confidently that there is a rule that blocks him from speaking about the privacy of every scientist. It took him a small period of time to realize what was happening, but he decided to stay silent for future references.

Yanagi was really awkward, and the only thing he could do was stand there smiling while scratching his elbow out of anxiety. He wanted to leave as fast as he could, but since Asahi was there, he should make sure that he would leave before him. Asahi had to fill a form to verify that the department had his consent to destroy his work. The manager gave him the form and a pen, and he started filling it out. Yanagi watched the details that Asahi was writing. He wanted to see what kind of error the robot had, so he could see what kind of problems he needed to fix.

Yanagi was looking from afar, taking small breaks so it didn't seem like he was sneakily picking into Asahi's form. The manager was watching the whole situation, but he didn't care because it was not his business. Well, more because it was the night shift, and he was too depressed and tired to deal with them.

Suddenly, a drop of sweat fell from his head to the ground. Yanagi's eyes opened wide, and he looked at Asahi and then at the ground. Asahi gazed at Yanagi and said that the room was really hot, and the company should fix the air conditioning. Yanagi smiled awkwardly and agreed with him. That was the wrong answer, and Yanagi knew that. He couldn't believe he agreed with him; the room had the perfect temperature. He realized it pretty late that he fell for his trap, but he wanted to believe that his mind couldn't reach that far.

Asahi sighed loudly and said it was too late for him to stay there. Then, he went to the changing room and quickly left the Corporation. Meanwhile, Yanagi quickly wrote the papers to retrieve the body in his name.

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At this point let me explain the rules of the destruction department. When scientists are willing to destroy their work, they can fill the papers to the destruction department and basically sign off they work. In other words, they are rejecting the work. As a result, before the work gets destroyed other scientists can take the opportunity to retrieve this work as their own, just by filling a special form to the specific department legally. The Department then switch the ownership and put the work under the name of the new scientist.

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Yanagi is now officially the new owner of the robot. Yanagi, as fast as he could move the robot to his car and left without a single delay. When Asahi finished dressing up, Yanagi was missing. Asahi wanted to talk to Yanagi about the situation because he was curious about it, but since he didn't catch up, it would be a better choice to do it another time.

However, at the same time Yanagi placed the robot into his car and quickly drove out of the Corporation. He couldn't hide his happiness and turned the radio at the maximum volume and started singing loudly. He was so happy and distracted, that he almost crashed into the opposite direction. Yanagi took a minute to recover from the near death situation. He started smiling slowly and told the robot that he is already getting him into troubles, even before his birth. Yanagi, laughed about the fact he is talking to a dead robot and said: "Well, seems that the family increased by one today".