“Hope the animatronics aren’t still inactive for maintenance this time…” Michael said, opening the door to the restaurant for Akira to step inside. Checkerboard patterns line the floor of the hallway in front of them.
“Animatronics?”
“Robots that look like animals. They’re really cool. You should see them in action.”
“Can we talk with them? I always wanted to talk with a real robot.”
“Hell yeah you can. They can react to most anything you say.”
A smile lit Akira’s face. “That’s awesome!”
He chuckled, a wide, proud smile on his face. He led them into the main dining room, the most active part of the restaurant, where kids and parents walked about as they went from room to room, trying out various games and eating various slices of pizza. Drawings of animals, such as tall, bipedal bears and chickens, were connected on the walls via tape and buttons. The sheer crowd alone was enough to make it difficult to navigate, but eventually, an empty table towards the back of the dining hall came into view.
“That looks like a good spot.” Michael said, pointing to the table.
“Sounds good to me.”
They sidestepped a few kids and some tables in order to get to their target.
It took a bit of agility, but they managed to reach the table. Michael Afton, gentleman that he is, pulled out a chair for Akira to sit before taking a seat opposite him.
“Thank you,” he giggled, imitating a young girl, before accepting his seat.
The giggling was infectious enough that it made Michael giggle back. “Don’t worry. You haven’t seen the cool part yet.”
“I wonder what that would be. This place is so colorful.”
“It varies from day-to-day, although if I remember right, Chica- oh…”
His smile curved up, looking impish, revealing small, little teeth behind his lips. “Almost spoiled the surprise!”
“Let’s see how surprising it is, then,” he said, while glancing around the place, still smiling.
Akira saw a disco ball hanging above the crowd, sparkling numerous different colors as light beams shot into it. He noticed the colors coalesce into stars, bears, birds, bunnies, and foxes as they impacted the stone walls of the room around them. Waiters and waitresses wearing purple uniforms and a Fazbear cap similar to the one Mike wore all the time weaved through the crowd, carrying boxes of pizza and occasionally animal masks on their faces. But the thing that caught his attention was the massive stage sitting directly in front of the all the tables and people. It was large, covering almost the entire front half of the room with its round, brown set-up. Red drapes hung over it, hiding everything behind it from sight. Several microphones connected to massive speakers were set up at the front of the stage already, with several lights of various sizes set up at the two sides of it to light up the performers.
“Hehe, trust me. There’s a reason this place is popular.”
“Do you work here?”
“Yeah. Janitor, mostly, but… well, I also helped… make the robots… sorta.”
“You help with the robots’ maintenance?”
“Well, usually I just clean up after them. They tend to spill a lot of weird gunk out of them. But I did help code them.”
“I didn’t know you liked coding. That’s amazing.”
“Heh… thank you.” He replied, a small blush appearing on his face.
“Well, I’m not that talented myself, but when I was in middle school I joined the gymnastics club, and I learned how to do a few pirouettes. Sadly, I’m too rusty for that now, with so much studying I have to do for high school.”
“You could do pirouettes?” Michael replied, now suddenly having to wonder what Akira would look like doing pirouettes.
“Nothing too impressive, but I was proud when I learned to walk on my hands.”
“Oh my god… that’s amazing.”
“It is cool, but not really useful, unlike coding. Maybe one day I could show you, after I get some practice back.”
“Heh… I’d like to see that.”
Suddenly, a drum roll echoed within the dining hall. The lights started to dim. "Ladies and Gentleman!" An announcer roared over the intercom, prompting applause.
“Is this the big surprise?” he asked, clapping his hands alongside the public.
Michael smiled as he nodded, turning around to face the stage.
"Put your hands, paws, pincers, and claws together for a special performance by our backup singer! She's been dying to show you all her moves all day long! Are you ready?"
A resounding 'YES' was all the announcer needed. The curtains slid up, slow, smooth. A music box played a soft, somber waltz. No animatronic stood on the stage.
Then, Chica appeared. It seemed that she almost floated, the yellow chicken's slender feet sliding across the stage with dexterity unlike that of any robot before. She stopped in the middle of the stage and bowed to the audience, obtaining applause. She was clad in a pink ballet dress, a white party bib, and the yellow plates of her costume. She danced with grace and a cheeky smile on her face. Her limbs moved seemingly without limits, making movements too smooth for the normally jerky robot, yet her arms and legs jutted out, pointed out, slid about in ways no human could ever recreate.
Akira leaned closer to Mike. “When will I get to talk with her? I want to ask her out.”
“You might get the chance. I’d personally ask out Freddy, though.”
“Is Freddy hot?”
“He’s got the bear look to him, yeah.”
Akira laughed at that. “Yeah, let’s ask the robots on a date. Let’s also make sure there aren’t kids around.”
“Heh… yeah…”
He seemed to tighten up, his giggly, bubbly jovialness soon locking back up until he had stiffened entirely. He looked around, as if the room had suddenly gotten a little too crowded for his taste.
Eventually, the lights come back up, and Chica stops dancing. She bows to the audience once more to roaring applause. It only grew louder, more riotous as the rest of the Fazbear Band walked onto the stage. It grew louder still as they proceeded to walk off the stage and into the dining hall itself, smiles on their faces as waves of parents and children alike went to see them.
Michael’s eyes visibly widened. He started to shuffle about in his chair, now no longer making eye contact with any of the robots coming through the crowd.
“I think there are too many kids to go and ruin it for them by taking their turn with the robots… “
“D-don’t worry… they like to come around and talk to everyone. H-heck, they even scour the whole restaurant just to f-find someone to talk to.”
Akira gave Mike a hard look. “Weren’t you excited for the show?”
“I was, yeah. T-this is… well, t-this is the part I don’t look forward to.”
“Oh… Why not? Do they dislike teens?”
“Oh no, they love teens. Especially cute ones. They just… don’t like… don’t like criminals. Especially a criminal like me.”
He frowned at that. “Would you prefer if we left?”
“N-no!” He said, jerking up, waving his hands about as if to hold him still.
“T-this place is great! Really! It’s just… well, they love kids, okay? They’re like a bunch of parents. So it’s… it’s who they are, really.”
He shuffled a bit. “Uh… tell you what… I n-need to go the bathroom. If they come by here, uh… order anything you’d like. I’d l-like pepperoni and pineapple. Uh… if Chica comes over here, ask her out for me!”
He suddenly hops out of the chair and bolts into the crowd.
As soon as Mike left, Akira also sat up and followed him to the bathroom. He waited near the door for Mike.
It was becoming increasingly clear as time moved on that Mike wasn’t coming out of the bathroom.
Suddenly, Akira heard a loud, robotic, gentle “Greetings!” emanate throughout the hallway.
Akira looked to the source. A brown bear with a black nose, tie, and hat started walking towards them. The main man himself, Freddy Fazbear, had apparently found it delightful that they were off in the corner, and sought to cheer them up. His paws behind his back, he held a gentlemanly stance. He looked down at the raven-haired teen, a toothy smile on his robotic face.
Looking at the bear, Akira waved his hand so slightly. “... Hi,” he said to it.
“Hello, young delinquent!” Freddy said, repeating the action back at Akira. His oval, plastic eyes slid to gaze at the bathroom.
“I take it the bathroom is currently full?” The bear asked, taking some time to adjust his hat upon his head despite it clearly being attached to his head.
“Yes, it is,” he muttered, but he quickly found his voice again. "What’s your name?”
It took the robot a moment to register the question. Once he did, he promptly reached a massive, patchy hand up to his hat and tugged on it. It popped off, revealing a small, metal nub for it to stick on. The bear bowed forward with a jerk, eyes closed, top hat grasped in one hand while the other moved to his breast.
“Freddy Fazbear, the singer of the Funtime Rock Band! It is a pleasure to see a new teenager here!”
He relaxed his posture a bit. “It is a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Freddy Fazbear.”
The bear opened his eyes, gazing at him with a level of warmth impossible for a human to have, a warmth that oozed artificiality.
“I take it you’ve been keeping your grades up in school?”
“Yes, of course! Nothing but straight up 100’s.”
His robotic jaw moved up into a smile. “Good! Me and the Funtime Rock Band condone good grades. We have a song just about that that we’ll be performing tonight, if you are interested in how to get even better grades!”
“I’m sorry, but I have to be back home at that hour. But I’ll make sure to come back and watch your other shows whenever possible.” He walked towards the bear. “When do you perform, Mr. Fazbear?”
“Hmmm…” Freddy said, tapping the bottom of his chin with an oversized index finger, “if my first mate Chica isn’t pulling my leg again, roughly another hour.”
“I’ll make sure to be there then.” He smiled at the robot.
“Hehe, good.”
He raised his large hand and planted it atop Akira’s head, patting him like a little dog.
“Be a good little whippersnapper, now! Don’t go punching people in the face!”
It’s also around that time that Akira realized that Freddy’s hand was bigger than his entire skull.
“I… won’t?”
He chuckled. “Good! It’s good to keep your parents proud! Even adopted ones, for they are family too!”
“... Yeah. Now if you excuse, Mr. Fazbear…” He pulled himself away from his furry hand. “I have to check on my friend.”
Akira dashed to the bathroom.
Sure enough, he could see Mike shoes hiding underneath the wall of a bathroom stall.
He started washing his hands, while paying attention to the hallway’s sounds.
“... Akira, i-is that you?” Michael whispered from behind the booth.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“... Are they done?”
“I don’t know. But one of them followed me here.”
“Oh… w-which one?”
“Mr. Freddy Fazbear. He’s… Kind of unique.”
“Ah… yeah, him. He’s basically an enthusiastic old man. He’s pretty swell, though, right?”
“Yeah…” Akira didn’t sound too enthusiastic about that. “But it was cool. Talking with him. It didn’t feel like a person, but not what I’d expect a robot to behave either. It is a pretty good show, I must admit.”
He heard him chuckle behind the booth. “I’m glad you like the show. It’s… well, I love it too. I love it a lot. It’s special to me.”
“Then why did you run away?”
“... It’s the animatronics themselves. They… well, I’m not scared of them, but… they’re scared of me.”
“I… see.”
Akira peaked through the bathroom door to the hallway.
“I think he’s gone.”
“Nothing else coming our way?”
“I don’t think so.”
He heard the lock on the booth jiggle a bit before the door slid open. Michael stepped out, now looking significantly calmer than before.
“Also…” Akira glanced away. “I kind of promised the bear I’ll be there for the next show too. In case you want to leave early.”
“Ah…” Michael said before looking down. “Well… as nervous as I am…”
His smile returned. “I d-don’t wanna miss out on the next show either.”
Akira smiled at him too. “Alright. Let’s go back then, and hope our table is still empty.”
“Alright. Did you get a chance to order a pizza before you came here?”
“... No. Sorry.”
“Ah. That’s fine. We’ll just order one together, then.”
They went back to the main diner, and found a new table to sit in.
It was a bit closer to the stage, which had the curtain covering it up again. Most of the rest of the patrons had settled down from the initial fervor, and had gone back to eating pizza in the dining hall.
Michael sat across from Akira, back to the stage so his focus was only on Akira himself.
“So… what brought you here to the Crossroads? Er… more specifically, what brought you here to Erde Nona?”
“I read it’s the ‘Arbiters’ who did it? I don’t really know why I was sent here specifically.”
“Yeah, me neither. I don’t really know if anyone does. They’re kinda… m-mysterious, like that.”
“Hasn’t anyone found a way to contact them? Or even prove they exist at all?”
“Honestly, I dunno. You’d t-think they’d b-be discovered or s-something by now, but I don’t t-think anyone’s found anything. Course, I… wouldn’t look, since I’m a local and all.”
“Maybe they don’t exist, and it’s a myth created to explain cases like mine. But I couldn’t prove that either.”
“Huh… so, the v-verdict now is a resounding ‘I dunno?’”
“It’s a good way of saying it, yeah.”
Akira noticed one of the waiters coming their way to attend a nearby table. He waved him and, as soon as he was done with the other family, the waiter came to their table.
“Wait, what should we order?” Akira said to Mike.
“Oh, uh… what are your favorite toppings?” Mike asked, reaching to the side of the table to pull out a menu. He opened it up, flipping through the black and red pages of foods and drinks until he reached a ‘pizza’ section. He showed the variety of sizes and toppings to Akira.
Akira glanced at the endless list of options and, in a decisive manner, pointed to a random topping. “This one. Onions and eggs, please.”
“Pepperoni and Pineapple as well, if you please.” The waiter nodded, jotted their decisions down, and left.
“Pineapple? Is that something you can order on a pizza?”
“Yeah. Is that… not a thing on your home planet?”
“I never heard of it. But then again, I don’t eat pizza that often. My mom doesn’t like ‘junk food,’ as she calls it.”
“A-ah… that stinks.”
He giggled a bit. “Maybe I can convince your mother if I gave her delicious pineapple and pepperoni pizza. She’d be converted then.”
“Not unless you prepare it yourself. Only then, she may consider joining your cult.”
He laughed as he leaned forward a little to rest his head on his propped-up hand. “Even so, I hope you like the pizza. It’s actually rather good. The animatronics aren’t just there to prop up bad food.”
“Wait, are you implying they serve bad food here?”
“N-no! I’m saying it’s good!” He said, startled.
“Oh… Ok, forget what I said then.”
“Hehe, don’t get me fired now. I still work here.”
“Speaking of that... Why do you work here? Wouldn’t it be better to find a part-time job somewhere that doesn’t overlap with school hours?”
Mike shuffled in his seat, tightening up. “Well… I do like working here, but… well, the main reason is that… no other place would actually take me.”
“Oh, I see. That’s a good reason.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose it is. They just… didn’t want to be associated.”
He cleared his throat. “And what did you do before coming to this planet? Did you join any clubs?”
“Ah… well, I was mostly tinkering with the robots my Dad was making for the longest time. He held shows to show them off, and that got people interested.”
“Is that how you learned how to code?”
“Hehe, yeah! It was… difficult.”
“I can imagine. Doesn’t make it any less cool.”
“Ah, come on, it ain’t that cool. Not as cool as your pirouettes.”
“Anyone can do them with a little bit of practice. I can assure you it isn’t that much what I can do. Except stretch your legs at a 180° angle. That one is not for everyone.”
“That sounds… incredibly painful. Are you sure that’s not cool?”
“Well… I did start doing it because I thought it was cool, so…” He stretched his arms. “But come on, you helped design the most impressive robots I’ve ever seen. That should count for something too.”
“Heh…” Michael replied, finding himself blushing yet again and a smile he can’t resist having. “I guess it does… thank you.”
“Helloooooo!~”
A robotic, oddly chipper voice echoed around them both.
“Hey, isn’t that the chicken robot?”
Michael turned to look for the voice, and was immediately met with the aroma of freshly baked pizza. He looked up from the boxes they sat in.
Chica, a yellow bird animatronic, with yellow, smooth plastic for her chassis, stood by their table, bent forward with two pizza boxes in her hand. Akira could see a bib on her chest poking out a bit with the words “Let’s Party!” imprinted on it in colorful words and surrounded by painted on confetti and dots. She still had the pink ballet dress that she had for her dance on.
“Greetings.~” She said, voice low, slightly sultry.
“Hello, Miss… ?”
“My name is Chica, mister Kurusu.~”
Akira looked at Mike. “How… ?”
“Teehee!~” She giggled, her voice high-pitched but surprisingly pleasant. Her beak, orange and slightly rotund, curled up in a smile.
“We’re part of the Funtime Rock Band, silly!~ We know everyone’s names and their faces.”
She gazed at Akira. “Especially a face as cute as yours.~”
He scratched the back of his head, glancing away. “Well, thank you.” He looked back at her. “You also look cute on that dress.”
The pink, circular mounds of plastic planted on her cheeks visibly brightened. “Akira-senpai.~ Are you flirting with me?~”
He leaned back, his eyes slightly wider than usual. “No, of course not! I was returning the compliment.”
She somehow managed to look disappointed. “Ah.~ Thank you, mister Kurusu.~”
She leaned forward and set the pies of pizza down for them. As she did so, her eyes noticeably glanced to Michael… and locked onto him. It stayed like that for a while, her smile having completely disappeared, before she slid her left eye to look at Akira.
“Enjoy your meal!~ I hope you’ll be here for the show! It’ll be nice to see a cute face in the crowd.~”
“We sure will. Thank you, Miss Chica.”
As soon as the robot left, Akira leaned closer to Mike. “How the fuck do they know our names?!”
“Um… they got a recent… system installed into them. Real recent. It’s, uh… a criminal database system, among other things.”
Akira looked at him, confused. “What?”
“A year or so ago… well, I just want to say that something horrible happened, and the people in charge of this place wanted to make sure it never happened again. So they added a whole bunch of s-stuff into the robots. They can pull information off of anyone they’ve seen with facial recognition, and from there, access any information on them that’s publicly available. This means that, f-for example… if they see someone committing a… a crime, they’ll… intervene.”
His eyebrows frowned. “And I am on a public database? A ‘criminal’... public database?!”
“O-only if you’re a criminal! Or, well, have committed a crime.”
Suddenly, his eyes widened. “You… have you?”
“Of course not. But maybe we should hang out elsewhere.”
“I-it’s fine! Th-they aren’t dangerous, I swear. They never actually hurt anybody. They might hold y-you down, but I swear they’ve never hurt anyone. They just… stare, more than anything e-else, and that’s o-only at…”
He bit his tongue, recoiling at his words. He looked down, letting his cap shield his face from sight.
“Well… !“ Akira said, his voice as low as his indignation allowed it. “I don’t want to be called a ‘criminal’ in the middle of a crowd full of kids and their parents!”
“T-they won’t, trust m-me! Hel- heck, they don’t h-hate anyone that much. If a-anything, they’ll just say you’re being a bad i-influence, which… okay, that might not be better, but they won’t be that impolite about it, is… is what I’m saying…”
Akira sat up. “I’m sorry, Afton, but I can’t stay in a place like this. Where can I pay for my pizza?”
He turned silent for a few moments before whispering. “Y-you can pay up front. There’s a p-person there who y-you can pay.”
“Let’s go together. We can go somewhere else to pass the evening.”
His smile, small as it is, returned at the suggestion.
“Y-yeah… that’ll be fine.”
He looked down at the uneaten pies. “You… want to bring these along? Chica’ll eat them if we don’t.”
“Yes, please. I still have to taste that pineapple.”
“It’ll be good! I swear!” Mike stammered as he stood up, taking both pie boxes in each hand. He lead Akira to the front, Akira paid, and they left the restaurant. Upon stepping into the parking lot to head to the sidewalk, Mike spoke up again.
“Sorry…”
“Don’t be. The show was fun, and the robots, amazing. And I did fulfill my dream of talking to a robot, so I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.” He faintly smiled at Mike.
Michael gazed at Akira, taking a few moments to register the smile. Once he did, he glanced away, smiling himself. Akira could tell he was forcing it, though, like he was holding something back immensely.
“Look…” He glanced away. “I’m sorry it ended like this. It isn’t your fault the robots said weird things about me.”
“... No, man…” Mike replied, shaking his head, “it… it is my fault. I’m serious.”
He looked back at Akira, staring into his eyes. “It really is my fault.”
“But it’s fine. We can still enjoy our pizza.”
“Ah! Y-yeah, the pizza…”
Suddenly snapped out of his depressive aura, he offered a pizza box to Akira.
“Wait, let’s find a bench first. Is there a park nearby?”
“I… think so, actually. Down in the Pastoral District.”
“Let’s go then.”