I… heard the call of loneliness through my dimension…
Someone is looking for a housemate… and they like Jazz!
I reached out and found their home… I hope I can be a great roommate for them.
Oh, I hope I don’t startle them… wait! I didn’t write the note. It’s very hard to write these things without hands.
*sounds of door opening*
Ah! They’re home!
*scribbling*
It’s finished. I hope they accept!
I watched as the human who wanted a Jazz-loving roommate crashed down on top of their couch; they must have had a long day.
I don’t think they noticed me, I might have to wait for a little… Oh, they just got up! They're reaching for the paper….
Shizuka: Otamatone wants to be your roommate~
You do huh?
I do! Well, they can’t hear me so saying that is a moot point. They put the paper down and went towards… the kitchen I think.
When they came back I was being lifted up and they sat me on the mantle of their living room, with a nice soft towel underneath. She must want me to watch over the place… guard the new home I shall!
My roommate picked up her phone and started talking to somebody. Maybe to another tenant? Perhaps I’m all they need?
She put down the phone and said to me,
Shizuka: Hello, I’m Shizuka Kato. I’m going to be your roommate for the next…. Oh, year? I’m sure we’ll get along, you just… stay there? You guys don’t really move all that much. So try not to get lost?
She knows about my relatives? This Shizuka is an interesting roommate… I wonder what she’s all about.
/-/
Update: Shizuka has given me a name! She’s been calling me Ota which is a lot easier to say than my given name which is:
*indecipherable Otamatone noises*
I’ve also learned that she’s a bonafide hero! She works for a place called the SCP Foundation and she goes on all sorts of super-secret and dangerous missions. But they’ve assigned her to do interviews with tenants rooming with my cousins and such.
I can understand why she’s bored with it, I can hardly stand to be around some of them too.
She’s nice though, she makes sure to spend time with me every night; telling me about how her day went and these things she calls anomalies that she works with. Her Foundation calls me SCP-3338 and I’m something called Euclid?
She says it means that her Foundation doesn’t know much about me. I’d love to tell them all about me but I can’t really speak.
And writing is hard.
I also do my job as a good roommate. I pay my share of the rent and I keep an eye out for any loose change or items that she might have misplaced. She’s quite the absent-minded one sometimes.
Things aren’t all good though. Shizuka has been feeling really lonely lately and it doesn’t help that Christmas is next week and her family can’t show up.
Maybe things will change?
When she came in today, I was in for quite a shock. Shizuka was covered in red stains all over this slick-looking black clothing. She had a few cuts on her face too. I had thought a ketchup bottle had exploded on her but she soon told me otherwise.
Shizuka: D-don’t worry! It’s not that bad. This isn’t even my blood… at least I don’t think so? I do have something I need to tell you so let me get changed. Wait right there.
Blood? Did she get into a fight? It was probably super cool agent stuff, my plastic was trembling with excitement to hear about it.
I heard the shower go and she came back very excited.
Shizuka: Sorry about that, I got jumped by some Chaos Insurgency assholes on the job today. There those evil guys I was telling you about? Anywaaaaaaaaaays…
*shrieking*
Shizuka: I GOT A DAAAAAAAAAAATE! The-the maintenance guy… Gai! He-He asked me to the Jazz club tonight and I really hope I don’t still smell like blood. I don’t think guys are into that.
We are not.
Shizuka: I double scrubbed everything with that new soap I bought so I think I’m good? Anyways, I’m flipping out and I still need to find something to wear! I just-, I never noticed he was trying to talk to me all those mornings and it was because he liked me? What is there to like? I’ve killed like six people… I’m pretty sure that’s a rookie number.
God I’m rambling and I only have an hour. I need to find a dress!
Something I forgot to mention is that despite being a super secret agent, Shizuka is deathly afraid of boys.
Gosh, I wanted to tell her to calm down and show the lad a good time. It seems as though she’s calmed herself and she’s going out tonight.
I remained in my spot as usual when she went to go change and that’s when I detected that she’d tossed her new pair of earrings behind her bed.
Silly Shizuka! Why does she always misplace things? Never fear though, I’ve got them in my mouth all she has to do is…
*shrieking*
Oh no she realized they were gone. Well, I’m sure she’ll just come on in here and…
*destructive house noises*
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, she’s tearing apart her bedroom. Come on Shizuka.. Just come out to… oh she’s coming into the living room!
Mantle! Mantle! Shizuka! Gosh darn it, she’s checking the couch cushions. Just turn your head and… oh thank god she’s coming over.
Shizuka: There they are! I wish you could talk. You could have said, “Hey you klutz, got your earrings here!”
Hey you klutz, got your earrings here.
Shizuka: Wish me luck on my date tonight Ota! Maybe things go right tonight, we’ll have a third in this apartment.
Good luck, Shizuka! Wrangle him like one of your anomalies!
Shizuka: Thank you for that unbridled enthusiasm, I know I tend to talk your ear off but I won’t do that to him. He doesn’t have clearance for most of my stories anyways.
I know it sounds like she hears me but she just sometimes guesses right. I hope everything goes right for the two of them. Just in case, I’m going to keep an eye out for something romantic around the apartment.
A little surprise for when they get back.
/-/
I sat in the darkness awaiting my roomie’s return for three hours when the lights suddenly came on and I heard them laughing at the door. I was ready with a rose in my mouth, that I’d found lying around with a note that I’d managed to write.
They came around the corner into the living room, talking about the furniture and the layout of the apartment. Gai was trying to reassure her that there was nothing off about the arrangements but Shizuka was insistent that it was why no one wanted to stay in the apartment.
I’d hoped she’d change the subject as I didn’t want him getting a little annoyed about her insistence but thankfully she did.
It was then that Gai noticed me, of all things, and picked me up and brought me over. Shizuka seemed spooked that he was using me. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’m an anomaly or the rose but he took it and read the message.
Gai: ‘To Gai: Sorry for ignoring you all those times in the hallway, I hope the rose and the date make up for it.’ Awww, you didn’t have to get me a rose.
Shizuka: I…I….I didn’t I don’t know where that Rose came from or who could have written the note.
[Shizuka glares at me.]
Gai: I think it’s sweet and I’m surprised you have an Otamatone. I actually have one at home that I bought, do you mind if I play you a song?” I can play “Fly me to the Moon”.
Shizuka: I’d like that.
I let him play with me, and Shizuka seemed to enjoy his skills. I for one was surprised at his ability to play me so well. He’s a real winner in my book.
Afterward, he offered to make dinner for her and left for the kitchen. Shizuka’s composure quickly broke as she picked me up and started dropping all her worries on me.
Shizuka: Why did you get that rose? He’s going to think I’m more romantic than I really am! Can someone like me really have a normal boyfriend? I mean what if he starts asking questions about why I interview these tenants?
Gai: Hey Shizuka, where do you keep your Olive Oil?
Shizuka: Right cupboard! (whispers) M-maybe this is a bad idea, I do have some amnestics still in my bag, I don’t even know what his full intentions are. What are my intentions? What’s going to happen tonight?
Calm down, girl. Sit me back up on the mantle and enjoy dinner. He’s cooking for you, he’s clearly alright. Unless he’s planning on putting something in it… then he’s not. But also she wants to slip him something? I’m getting mixed signals about this whole situation…
Regardless of my thoughts, she did put me back on the mantle and the pair shared a nice meal and they watched a movie. I thought that was going to be the end of things and he’d go home and Shizuka would go to bed but then it happened.
Shizuka did an oopsie.
She suggested to him that they should… “retire to her room for the night”. I don’t think he quite got what she was putting down but I wished she would stop laying them down.
Shizuka seemed really nervous asking, I wasn’t sure if she knew even what proper first date etiquette was or when to push things but Gai just kind of laughed it off.
I’m not a wind instrument so I don’t have any air to hold in but I’d be holding my breath in this situation. Luckily for Shizuka, Gai just said they will talk about doing that stuff with they were ready and left with a goodbye.
Shizuka looked like she was ready to die of embarrassment afterward and I am incapable of making a different facial expression. The date seemed like it went well though.
She said good night to me and went to bed, and I drifted off into sleep as well.
/-/
Some time had passed since that eventful date, and I was still being me, Shizuka and Gai had continued seeing each other and all was looking up for Christmas Day today.
I was greeted with a surprise as I awoke, the void has granted me a son! He’s a tiny little fella, can’t play his own notes yet but he can do a few songs. I was hoping that Shizuka would be okay with him staying, she’s been in the kitchen all morning preparing a Christmas dinner.
Oh here she comes now, I’m sure she’s bound to notice him on the table in the middle.
Shizuka: What the… another one?
[Shizuka picks up the mini otamatone and reads the note in it’s mouth.]
Shizuka: ‘Thank you auntie?’ I’m not… um wow.
[Shizuka looked at Ota across the room.]
Shizuka: You have a kid? How… a -3338 has never done this before. Well, that doesn’t mean you don’t get a spot. You can go up on the mantle with Dad.
[Shizuka went and got a towel and sat him on the opposite side of the mantle.]
Yes! Now Father and Son can watch over this living room and do our part as roommates. I might have teach my boy how to look for things, he can already write his own notes! So proud of him.
Shizuka: Well I hope you are both comfortable. I’m going to need to tell my boss about this but it can wait. Gai will be over in an hour and I still have food to prepare. Merry Christmas, guys. We’ll open presents later once he’s over.
The two of us waited as we always did after we said Merry Christmas back. Gai came over and the pair enjoyed the meal that Shizuka had cooked. I don’t have a nose so I can’t tell you if it smelled good but I’d hope so. After that, they both came in and presents were given.
Gai got Shizuka a nice knife set that I assume he thought she was going to use for cooking but I knew otherwise. Shizuka got him a Gackt album, I didn’t know he was into his music but Journey through the Decade is a bop.
Much to his surprise, she got me something too. It was a paint set and she explained how she was going to give me a makeover which I’m… not opposed to? Something better than just my plain white I suppose.
Once gifts were given and Gai had to leave for the day, Shizuka, me, and my boy gathered on the sofa; all cozied up watching Christmas specials and drinking hot cocoa. I was happy to be with my new family and couldn't wait to see what the new year would bring.
