It was dark, as it had been for so very long. In this void was warmth and coolness; comfort, but paralysis. She could move and change only as much as the constrained world around her, which had been black and empty since she could remember. There was more out there, beyond this compact shell that she existed in -- she heard the noises, she felt the movements, but what were they? Muffled and vague, the outside was frighteningly limitless to her, but it was out of reach.
Where was she? What was this place that sheltered her? Why was the world distant from her? These were not new questions, for all her slumber did she dream of discovering those answers -- answers that, unknown to her, were fast approaching. What little she could decipher of the outside world had become a swirl of activity, and though that energy could not budge the motionless of her current state, that shell was bound to be broken. The girl without memories, not even of her own name, was on route to the unveiling of a new life.
The stable rush of the train and the soft-orange backdrop of a sunset would have normally unwound Miko to sleep where she sat. Work had kept her busy, but this was not her usual commute back from the offices. Instead of going straight home, she had made an exciting trip to Akihabara, but visiting the district itself was not what made her so antsy in the back of the train car. Miko had made an important purchase, having bought something she had longed for ever since she was a child.
Everything Miko wanted sat on her lap, hugged by both arms to keep the large box safe from the train’s rocking. Her fingers curled anxiously into the plastic bag the box was inside of. I just want to tear it open right now, Miko wished, her leg bouncing in unbridled anticipation. She had a dumb grin on her face, and she was grateful no one else on the train looked back to notice it. Just a little longer… I’ve waited this long. Patience, Miko.
The box was not the most important piece, however. That was but the Starter Kit to accompany the main feature -- the key to everything was grasped in her hand, held tight like a treasure. It was a chrome capsule, nicely rounded except for the tiny legs that could keep it held steady on its own. Only six centimeters wide, it was this shell that contained what had fascinated Miko even years into her adulthood; an artificial human woman, a Ga-Chan Girl.
Miko had already read the information and blurbs on the box two times before, but she was compelled to read it again to tide herself over. The same chrome color from the capsule was the theme of Ga-Chan Girls branding, a shiny layer that made the Starter Kit box stand out as not a mere toy, but a revolutionary machine capable of so much more. It was not something for children to play with; indeed, a slew of red warnings marred the box, strictly detailing the license required to own a Ga-Chan Girl and what was considered prohibited treatment. These were obstacles Miko had since overcome: she was well past the minimum age of eighteen, her background check had cleared positively, and she aced the subsequent exam to earn herself the right to purchase her own Ga-Chan Girl.
So worth it, Miko chuckled to herself, remembering the struggle of waiting that was now behind her. Ga-Chan Girls rocketed to popularity as soon as they had been released, when Miko had just become a teenager. Immediately did these tiny, artificial humans win over the hearts of Japan, and by the next sales quarter, that affection came from all across the globe. Everyone wanted a Ga-Chan Girl -- except Miko’s parents. The words they said back then rang again in Miko’s head; If you want a Ga-Chan Girl so badly, then you can buy one when you’re a responsible adult.
Miko was proud of herself, as though reaching this goal had confirmed she was truly an adult. She was twenty-four years-old and had landed herself a job lucrative enough to sustain herself and one little companion -- she was still dressed for work, itching under the flat blackness of her office dress. The neatness of her blonde hair was coming undone after bustling about in crowded Akihabara, but outside of her job, she cared minimally about her appearance.
Miko glanced at the capsule again, her smile warped in the chrome’s shine; You won’t mind if I look a little frazzled, will you? she jokingly wondered. Her head popped upwards when she felt the speed of the train shift as it slowed into the station.
The walk home was rushed, but only enough that Miko’s pace would not rattle the capsule in her hand. Realistically, it would take significantly more force to damage the capsule, let alone the Ga-Chan Girl inside -- Miko knew this, but would never take that kind of risk. Soon enough, she was climbing the stairs to her studio apartment and fumbling her way through the door, nearly dropping the Starter Kit as she hurried inside.
With a great sigh of relief, Miko placed the box atop her chabudai table, the centerpiece of the little living space. A hand on her knee, Miko beamed over her purchase. “It’s actually here…! I made it-- We made it!” she giggled energetically, bringing the capsule up to eye-level. “Oh, I can’t wait any longer… Let’s wake you up! I so want to meet you…!”
Miko retrieved the packaging the capsule had been in from the plastic bag and then stepped over to the kitchen counter nearby. Though she had familiarized herself with this very procedure, all the same did Miko mutter aloud the instructions to finally “boot up” her Ga-Chan Girl. It was actually more like awakening her Ga-Chan Girl, as these were not machines or androids, but artificial lifeforms -- until purchased and activated, the Ga-Chan Girls hibernate in a “biosleep,” a state that allows them to be packaged and shipped without risking their human-like health.
“Set the capsule on a flat surface so that it stands evenly...” Miko read aloud from the straightforward instructions. “Then… press and hold the activator button on top of the capsule for five seconds.” It was just an indent, but the button was felt under her fingertip. After letting her smile widen, Miko confidently pressed down on the button, until a jingle chirped from the device. Miko flinched, but that signal was part of the procedure, earning back her enthusiasm tenfold as she watched the capsule open on its own.
Miko loomed over the counter, her hands laid flat in suspense. The capsule popped open, and so without further fanfare, the Ga-Chan Girl of her choosing was revealed. The first glimpse of the artificial life was uncanny, initially stirring worry from Miko; the tiny woman was motionless, curled into the fetal position inside a cradle-like seat inside the pod. This, too, was normal, and Miko’s concern somewhat faded -- as much as she had hoped her Ga-Chan Girl would jump to life, the reality is that it took several minutes before they were fully conscious.
“So then… more waiting,” Miko whispered through gritted teeth. Another sigh centered herself, “Patience, patience..! Th-This is an important part of introducing a Ga-Chan Girl to your home, so there’s no helping it…” Yet, she frowned. “Still, not very fun…
“If it’s going to take awhile, then maybe…” Miko turned around, having to pry herself free from staring at the opened capsule. She returned to the table with the Starter Kit and knelt to its level, “I can go ahead and get this ready in the meantime. Shouldn’t take too long…”
The box was torn open and its contents emptied into groups. Everything needed to build a suitable habitat for a Ga-Chan Girl collection was spread out in front of her, only needed to be pieced together. Miko threw herself into the work, entertained by the scale of all that she handled. Absorbed into the setup process, she fell quiet in her focus, even as the minutes ticked by -- and while her Ga-Chan Girl’s eyes had first flickered open.
Her legs unfolded first, the most needed to stretch from her biosleep coil. The rest of her body followed suit, uncurling in a long stretch that was pure pleasure for every muscle. Her first breath was unexpectedly huge as she cherished the act, finally able to fill her lungs with a pump of life. Slowly did her senses come around; her vision was a blur, made worse by the various lights, and all she could hear was the hum of movement, so similar to the vagueness of the outside world.
Out...side…? That term, the first full word to register in her mind, was difficult to comprehend. There was no longer an outside, not one that she was not part of. What she had awoken to was that outside from her slumber, and she had been thrust into it. No longer was the world an unclear series of muffled sounds and movements, but a reality she participated in, a reality that was expansive -- until it came to the walls of whatever chamber she found herself in.
The woman trembled upward from her capsule bed, quickly learning how to balance her minuscule weight. She clung to the pod as her only shelter, scoping out her surroundings while bunkered where she began. Touching even the capsule itself startled her as she remained afraid of any number of consequences, but gradually, she found the motivation to completely exit the shell and step out into the world.
“Brr…” she shivered, hugging her arms around her torso while her legs quivered into each other. The ground was flat and featureless except for its chilling surface, and the air was cool against her bare skin. She wondered if the outside would always be this cold, or if she would grow accustomed to it; her curiosity was bounding, but her worries were just as alert to clash into all her little hopes.
Questions of all kinds clouded her mind, but the closest to an answer she could find was not far behind her capsule. She marveled at the sign that she assumed was dedicated to her, the paper material placed across the floor with its edges worn in, but its message still bright and clear. The flashy, multi-colored letters at the top of the sign could not be overlooked, a title that felt natural for her tongue: “Ga-Chan Girl…” The kanji-written tagline just under it earned the narrow of her gaze. “Your… tiniest… best f-friend…?”
She pulled away from the sign, her brow crooked with worry. The slogan she read and read again was foreboding in every character, but there was another detail that invested her so deeply. She stepped backwards and scanned the signage again; in particular, she gawked at the drawn image of a woman that was beside the Ga-Chan Girl label. This model was posed with knocked-knees and her arms reserved behind her back, donning a blue dress of white polka-dots and a large blue ribbon fashioned into her hair.
She reflected off the image in stunned silence, but was disturbed by the onset of darkness. Appearing over her was the shade of something large behind her, and she timidly turned to understand what had crept up on her. She felt a rumbling through her feet, and she heard a sharp intake of air; these were the consequences of a giant that had neared her, so huge that the cliffside of this cold surface ended at their chest.
“Eeeek!! Nooo!!” she shrieked, stumbling overtop of the sign in a desperate dash to get away. When she tripped onto her side, she rebounded swiftly and took to the capsule for cover, hiding behind the opened shell as if it could stop any action of the giant. Feeling defeated from the get-go, she squeaked with pleas, “D-Don’t hurt me…! I-I don’t know how I got here…! P-Please…!!”
Miko froze and flinched away from the countertop upon hearing her Ga-Chan Girl protest. The smile of excitement she had adorned contorted into shock as she tried to grasp the meaning behind the little woman’s reaction. She began by shaking her head and raising her hands defensively, “No, th-that’s not-- You’re okay! Th-There’s no danger here!”
But that failed to reassure the Ga-Chan Girl, who remained cowering behind the capsule as a shivering mess. The air was electric; Miko was ecstatic to see her Ga-Chan Girl alive and active, but she was afraid that they were already off on the wrong foot. Miko had been warned about cases such as these, and she had to remind herself of what procedures to follow. Think from her perspective, she told herself. She’s lost and scared in a big world… Be sensitive, Miko…
“Umm… h-hello! I-I promise, I’m not going to harm you,” Miko said, her voice gradually diminishing in volume as to not be so overwhelming. “I know you must be confused… I-I’ve been told Ga-Chan Girls don’t wake up with a lot of, err… awareness…”
Ga-Chan Girls…? That title again struck the tiny woman as she remained frightened behind the capsule. According to the sign, that was her -- whatever that was. Though it did not make immediate sense, there was a feeling of familiarity with the term, and that extended to the scenario she was in. She was still scared stiff, but the concept of a giant was slowly being accepted as a normal truth. Being small was correct, or so at least her instincts told her.
While she was struck by that sense of realization, the capsule she took cover behind was whisked into the air, completely revealing her tiny self. Miko had lifted it away, offering a comforting smile to ease her into a conversation. “My name’s Miko,” she explained with a small bow. “And, hah, I suppose I already know who you are. You’re Yukiko!”
The little woman blinked flatly, processing the name. “Yo-- Yuki...ko…?” she whispered it back. The familiarity was there once again, but that feeling was confusing her further. “That’s… who I am?”
Miko nodded, positively charged to be speaking with her new Ga-Chan Girl. “Yep! Yukiko! That’s the name on the box, anyway.” She pointed to that sign Yukiko had been studying, that of the user’s manual included with the Ga-Chan Girl. Yukiko looked it over again, mystified by these details. “Model 7 of Series 7: Yukiko!” Miko read aloud from the manual’s cover. “Seven is my lucky number, just so you know. I had a great feeling about you, right from the beginning!”
Yukiko’s eyes traced all the words as they were printed on the booklet, absorbing as much of it as she could. In doing so, she felt the pain of memories being unlocked; not memories, but thoughts that had been deeply inactive in her head, flashing to her knowledge base like strobes of light within her mind.
“I-I know, this might be a bit much to take in all at once,” Miko went on, noticing Yukiko’s unabashed bewilderment. She crossed her hands together to hold her nerves steady. “B-But there’s no rush! Take your time settling in!”
But that reassurance seemed muted to Yukiko, who continued to marvel at the manual as Miko spoke. Miko worried that her Ga-Chan Girl was struggling with her first few steps into the waking world, that her hard stare into the cover was a sign of something gone wrong. She bit her lip, unsure of what to feel when Yukiko stepped forward with a hesitant point at the picture of herself.
“... Those clothes…” Yukiko muttered, barely audible for Miko to hear. She then looked down at herself, and instantly fell to her knees, tightly embracing her own body in a concealing hug. “Wh-Why am I naked?!” she screeched.
Miko’s eyes popped with alertness. “Oh! Y-Yeah, y-you didn’t notice?” Miko said, choking back her own chuckling of the situation. Indeed, Yukiko had been nude this entire time, an aspect of the Ga-Chan Girl that Miko had been politely averting herself from. “Your clothes-- I’ll get them for you right now! They’re just over here…”
Yukiko remained shuddering as Miko dipped out of sight, reaching beneath the counter to retrieve another one of her purchases. What she returned with was a laminate sheet with doll clothes flat-pressed into it. They were listed out in a tidy array to pick from, but the most standout of the options was that blue dress with the polkadots, included with it the socks, ribbons, and black slippers, just as the outfit had appeared on the packaging. Yukiko peeled off the clothes as though they were stickers, their flatness persisting until shaken out in the pinch of her fingers.
“Here; this is your signature outfit,” Miko politely elaborated, gently offering up the clothes in the palm of her hand for Yukiko to claim. When the naked Ga-Chan Girl kept still with hesitation, Miko was left to awkwardly dump the clothes onto the countertop for her to take on her own terms. “I-I think it’s going to look really cute on you! Go ahead, put them on!”
Yukiko swallowed as she stared down at the pile of clothes, allured enough to at least twist around to face Miko. She inched herself closer, but felt too embarrassed to reach forward in the state she was in.
“... Ah! I-I’ll give you some privacy!” Miko laughed, realizing how intruding her watchfulness was. She pivoted from the counter and perched her hands to her hips in wait. “Go ahead! Just, uh, speak up when you’re ready~”
Despite the courtesy presented to her, Yukiko yet hesitated to move -- the unrelenting chill of the apartment forced her hand to scurry forth and dress herself. She first held the dress up against her bare self before slowly slipping into it, her fingers curiously grazing over the many frills and making sure to fluff up the shoulders like they were intended. It was a perfect fit -- literally designed for her. She glanced at Miko, acknowledging that she was still turned away, and so went ahead with donning the rest of the clothes; the knee-high socks warmed her legs, and her shoes protected her feet from the cold ground. The blue ribbons and hair bows were correctly added to her attire without a flinch of inexperience; the routine of dressing herself into that very outfit naturally came to her movements, something she realized only after everything was put into place.
Miko’s curiosity was tugging at her when Yukiko finally called up at her, “O-Okay… I’m all dressed now…” Excitedly, Miko spun back around and immediately fawned over her Ga-Chan Girl’s updated appearance, her hands clasped over her heart as if becoming faint. Attention pouring over her, Yukiko quaked with mild embarrassment, swaying uneasily with a redness taking over her cheeks.
“Simply adorable,” Miko cooed, her hands wanting to reach forward. “Everything fits, right? D-Do you feel comfortable? We have other clothes, e-even more than these!”
“I-I suppose I’m fine,” Yukiko meekly responded, stroking down the middle of her skirt to keep it down. “Th-They’re… a little clingy. And crisp.”
“That’s what I figured. I’m sure you’ll wear them in,” Miko said, a finger acting as a thin veil over her bubbly smile. “Hopefully you feel a bit more at home now that you’ve got some clothes on! I probably should’ve had those ready earlier, huh?”
Yukiko nervously shifted her weight onto each of her new slippers. Though still bashful to speak, she assumed it would be worse to not be open and true with this giant person -- her owner, as it were, a factor that had weighed on Yukiko’s mind all this time. “Um, i-if I’m being honest, actually…” she began timidly, “I’m still… feeling misplaced here. I-It’s sort of coming together, wh-who I am and all, but… I don’t know anything about you…”
Miko lit up, engrossed with each and every part of their conversation. “Oh my god, I barely introduced myself!” she chortled, wiping the sweat from her brow. “W-Well, like I said, I’m Miko! And, uh… my job is data entry, um, I don’t go out for much else actually…” She looked to her room, blanking on what else to talk about. “Err… I like manga! And video games and stuff! Heh, y-you could sorta call me a loner-type… A bit of an otaku, you know…”
“An… otaku?” Yukiko repeated, with questionable pronunciation. “Should I know what that is…?” She tilted her head, worried there was some sort of error with her consciousness.
“Ah, n-no, maybe not…” Miko clarified, feeling even less confident about the broad qualities she could describe of herself. “It’s sort of… like, a nerd…” Her gaze strayed aside until blinking back to life onto Yukiko. “Oh! How about you check out your new home? M-Maybe that will make you feel more comfortable!”
The change in topic happened too quick for Yukiko to notice how forced it was; her concern was then towards the concept of her new home. As tiny as she was compared to everything, how could she call this huge space a home? The kitchenette behind her was as wide a sports field, and the living area beyond her owner spanned an even greater length.
“Oh… I-It’s… spacious?” Yukiko commented, trembling to say something nice.
Miko raised a brow, then giggled, “You mean my apartment? That’s not exactly what I meant. Trust me,” she sighed, “spacious is the last word I’d use to describe this place.” An unimpressed glare scanned the few corners of her studio apartment, designed well for its minimal space but was nevertheless a cramped arrangement. “You’ll have your own home-- a house! A little Ga-Chan house~ Hah, I can’t wait to show you now~”