short story
☆彡 A Snowy Day in What’s Left of Heart of the East ☆彡
"Wait, wait up!"
Yukari came running behind him, and Takeo turned around.
"What's the rush?" he asked.
"It’s gonna melt! And I’ve never seen snow before!"
She scooped some up with both hands and held it out to him, smiling like a little kid. Then she threw it up into the air.
She didn’t even have an umbrella—just spinning and laughing in the snow. Her hair and shoulders were soaked where the flakes landed and melted.
Takeo pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and plopped it on her head.
“Ah! Thanks,” she giggled.
He pulled her under his umbrella while she dabbed at her head with the cloth.
Takeo looked around—the whole place was covered in white. Snow was super rare around here.
“Snow’s kinda weird, huh?” Yukari said, lightly patting her shoulder with the handkerchief, her eyes looking down.
"How so?" Takeo asked, sounding kinda bored.
“I mean… it just falls from the sky.”
Takeo gave her a look like, what are you even talking about?
Yukari caught that look and blinked, like maybe she'd said something dumb.
Takeo let out a small sigh, stared at her for a second, then started to explain.
"Okay, so here's the thing. Snow is just rain that got a little makeover up in the sky. That’s why it falls down."
Yukari frowned and kind of hummed,"Hmm."
Then she just flat out said, "I don’t get it!"
She threw the words at Takeo, and for a second, she looked kinda disappointed when he didn’t say anything more. But then she quickly raised an eyebrow, as if she had a new idea, and broke into a smile.
"Whatever, I'll just believe you."
They watched the snow fall in all directions, eyes following the drifting flakes. Then they looked up at the radio tower, its tip disappearing into the low fog. It stood there like a blade stuck in the gray sky—no visitors, no life around. In the middle of this ruined place, It was the last thing left that said, yeah, this used to be the heart of the country.
"From over there, do you think…"
Yukari started, like she had just come up with something.
"Hmm?"
Takeo had a feeling he knew where this was going, so he stayed quiet, waiting for her to finish.
"Do you think we could see where it falls?"
She gently placed her right hand on his left one.
"Probably."
"I kinda wanna see it."
Takeo could feel her grip tighten on his hand.
"Should we go check it out?"
"Yeah."
Humans had finally pulled it off—they built human-like robots. Androids.
From the start, they were allowed to live alongside people, no questions asked, as long as they followed the Three Laws of Robotics.
And they did. Because androids could think. They were self-aware.
Basically, they weren’t just machines—they were more like friends.
But of course, not everyone was cool with that.
A small group of humans started getting loud, saying androids shouldn’t be treated like equals. That they should only exist to serve.
The country they called home—well, this place—didn’t buy into that.
Maybe it was because androids were first developed there, but whatever the reason, they made it official: androids weren’t slaves, they were partners. And that was that.
Then in the spring of 2202, everything changed.
A missile was launched at the country they called home from another nation. Just one.
But that single missile kicked off a war that would drag the whole world into chaos—the Android War.
They didn’t back down.
With help from allied nations under security treaties, they fired back.
Hard. So hard, in fact, that the enemy countries could do nothing but watch.
Still, the damage was done.
This place—the capital of their country—took the worst of it.
So bad that the government gave up on trying to rebuild.
They entrusted the androids with what remained of the capital, then packed up and moved west.
The Android War didn’t last long. But the world had changed.
There weren’t many places left that humans could safely live.
Takeo and Yukari were androids, created just before the war broke out.
They used to have a job. A mission.
Something clear to do.
But now? That’s all gone.
Still, they didn’t shut down or anything.
They just kept walking, wandering around the old capital.
Not like they had anywhere to be,
but it kinda felt like they were searching for something.
Like trying to figure out how to live—
even if they weren’t human.
And then, that winter—
The first winter since the humans disappeared—
It snowed.
At the bottom of the outdoor stairs, Yukari got all excited again, laughing when she saw the snow piled up just how it had fallen. No surprise—the elevator wasn’t working, so the two of them started climbing the stairs one step at a time, heading up to the observation deck.
Yukari kept stopping every few flights—sometimes to peek over the edge, sometimes to look up. Seeing Yukari keep doing that, Takeo jokingly asked if they should just head back since the view was probably gonna look pretty much the same up top, anyway. But she just shook her head like, nope.
When they finally got there, the door to the deck was already wide open, so they just walked in. It was kinda dim inside. The big windows—or like, what was left of 'em—let in this pale gray light, same color as the sky they'd been staring at on the way up. Some snow had blown in and just... stayed there, like it froze in midair or something.
“Whoa, there’s a ton of snow up here too!”
Yukari ran up to the edge of the big window frame, her footsteps light and quick.
Takeo followed right behind her.
Just as she placed both hands on the snowy ledge, Takeo reached his arms around her waist and said,
“Careful, you’ll fall.”
Yukari leaned forward, just enough to peek over the edge.
“Yeah... I know. I got it.”
Yukari had never seen anything like it.
Way different from what they'd seen climbing the stairs—this felt huge.
The snow was drifting down, floating right past her face, slipping down to her feet, and just spreading out with a bunch of other flakes into this big, endless white blanket.
No sound. Just this crazy quiet that kind of pulled her in.
White rain, huh?
Was this really the same rain Takeo was talking about?
Each flake sort of spun and danced, like they were messing around with each other as they fell.
Then something clicked in her head—like a weird feeling finally turning into a picture.
And out of nowhere, it hit her—those two white butterflies from that summer day.
She slowly looked up, turned around, and her eyes met Takeo’s.
"See something?"
Takeo asked, but Yukari didn’t answer. She just looked down at his feet and mumbled,
"Takeo... do you think this thing I just saw—this really beautiful thing—will just disappear from me? Like it was never there?”
"Usually, yeah," he said.
Yukari's eyes stayed on the snow as she kept talking.
"Then I don’t wanna lose it. Just that one memory showed up—like, outta nowhere—and it felt so real. Isn’t it kinda crazy? How something you see can suddenly bring something back like that?"
Androids like them weren’t made to form new memories—not really. Except for a short window of time, like a day or so, they couldn’t store anything new. It was just the way they were built. Even the humans who created them couldn’t change that.
But there were two exceptions:As long as Yukari and Takeo stayed together, they never forgot each other.
And the other—was when they chose.
Just one memory. One thing they really, truly want to keep
“You could swap that memory out,” Takeo said.
“Just replace it with this view. That way, you get to keep it.”
Yukari scrunched up her face, like that suggestion made things trickier.
“Hmmm… hmmmmmm… hmm. Nah. No good. But hey, Takeo—do you have a one-and-only memory?”
This time, it was Yukari’s turn to stump him.
“…Nah. I don’t.”
Yukari’s eyes lit up, all mischief and spark.
“For real?! Then keep this one for me, okay? Please!”
She started hopping around him like an excited little kid, full of energy.
“Come on, pleeease? So when I forget and ask you, ‘Hey, what was snow like again?’—you can tell me about this."
She said “please” at the start, and “please” again at the end—over and over and over.
“Alright, alright,” Takeo gave in, chuckling.
“I’ll take a look from over there too, then.”
Hearing that, Yukari grabbed Takeo’s arm and pulled him over to where she’d been standing. She set him down right there, then stood next to him, both of them staring out at the snowy world.
“See? Isn’t it amazing?”
At first, Takeo didn’t really get what she was talking about. But as he kept looking out, something about the view started drawing him in. He leaned forward a bit, trying to see more, trying to get what she was feeling— and that’s when it happened.
The ledge his arms were resting on gave way with a low, heavy crack.
He’d been so focused on the snow that it took a second too long to register.
His balance tipped. His weight followed.
By the time he realized he was falling, all he could do was turn his head toward Yukari.
He reached a hand out toward her—just one—and his arm spun through the air, too late.
And Yukari… Yukari was just standing there, smiling as she watched him.
Takeo saw her smile—
and smiled back.
Then he fell, straight down into that endless field of white..
“…Takeo? Where’d you go? Did you fall… like the snow?”
Yukari just stood there, staring at the spot where he’d disappeared.
She didn’t move. Didn’t say anything.
Androids weren’t really made to feel stuff like shock—
but sometimes, it kind of looked like they did.
So instead, she just said,
“Takeo… I’ll wait here, okay? Come back soon.”
She kept standing there, looking out the window.
Snow was still falling, floating toward her like tiny little feathers.
A flake touched her cheek—melted.
Another. Melted again.
Then the sun went down, and the dark just slowly spread out.
Funny thing—she hadn’t heard it before, but now, the sound of the snow falling was all there was. It was like… the only thing left in her world.
And as she stood there, she imagined what Takeo might be remembering—for her, so she wouldn’t forget. But in her own mind, the snow looked like two white butterflies again, spinning and floating, coming close, then drifting apart —just like her and Takeo.
Then something changed.
The butterflies started fading…
and somehow, they turned into Takeo’s smile.
She didn’t realize it yet,
but that night was the first time she’d ever be really alone.
The next morning, sunlight hit her face.
Yukari slowly opened her eyes. A new day had started.
The snow had stopped, but the sky still looked heavy, like it wasn’t ready to clear up.
She looked around like she wasn’t quite sure where she was,
then turned toward the open door.
And the stairs she and Takeo had climbed together—
she started walking back down them, all by herself.
It was cold—cold enough that the fresh snow hadn’t melted.
Their footprints were completely gone.
And Yukari…
Yukari didn’t remember him at all.
Just like the footprints.
He was gone.
“Attention. Subject detected. Confirm recognition of this item."
The patrol robot stopped in front of her, holding an android head unit—it was Takeo’s. His body must’ve shattered on impact, but the head looked intact—almost like someone had just unplugged it.
Yukari paused, stared at the unit in its arms, then shook her head like she didn’t recognize it.
The robot processed her response.
“Acknowledged. Your cooperation is appreciated,” it said, before turning and heading back the way it came.
As Yukari stood there, gazing at the white expanse of snow, she got the feeling that someone had been there, someone who had just disappeared.
But that sensation seemed to fade, like it had been tucked away somewhere.
She looked up instead, following the transmission tower disappearing into the clouds.
And then, out of nowhere, a few flakes of snow drifted down, fluttering softly.
In that moment, Yukari remembered.
Takeo’s face.
The smile he’d given her as he fell into the white sky.
She turned on her heel and ran, catching up with the patrol bot. She quickly blurted out,
“I know that head unit. It’s his.”
"Commencing.”
The patrol bot connected a cable to the base of the head unit, plugging the other end into its chest socket. The head unit, Takeo's head, slowly opened its eyes and shifted its gaze from the bot to Yukari. Takeo's mouth moved slightly as he spoke to her.
"Hey, Yukari. You remembered me, huh?"
"Yeah. I think I replaced one memory, just one... with you... I thought I’d forget... forget about you, Takeo."
Yukari glanced away from Takeo for a moment, then looked back at him.
"Wait, but how do you remember me, Takeo?"
Takeo raised an eyebrow slightly and answered.
"Ah, well, that’s because I had one memory... and you probably don’t remember what I said, but actually, I kept it... of you, Yukari."
Yukari stared blankly at him for a moment, then slowly started to understand. She gently lifted Takeo's head unit from the bot’s arms, hugging it close to her chest.
"Hey, careful, don’t drop me..."
Takeo started to say, but then he felt something like rain hitting him.
"Looks like the snow’s turned to rain..."
But Yukari shook her head, realizing it wasn’t that.
She was crying. While holding Takeo’s head unit.
"Please proceed to repair facility," the patrol bot said, its voice flat and businesslike.
Takeo added, "Yeah, that’s the deal."
No matter how broken an android got, it could always be repaired. Even something like this wouldn’t erase Takeo.
Yukari nodded, still holding his head unit, and started walking behind the bot. The rain falling on Takeo’s face didn’t seem like it was turning to snow, but it didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon, either. ... Even if it was a sunny day.