Chapter 1

The crowd roared as Thousand Black launched into a charged rendition of its signature song, Two Hearts. Eyes were locked on the black-and-blue clad woman strumming her six-string at the head of the band. Hands clapped as she wound into the chorus, the tempo leaping to the roof as she ended another sell-out performance at the Fukuoka Dome. "Thank you very much and good night!" she then called out over the thunderous applause.

As the curtain fell, the band wound their way to their dressing room. Awaiting the star performer backstage were a crowd of eager otaku, autograph books out. Chie smiled as she began signing, emotionally drinking in their adoration. This was why she had joined Thousand Black, why she dedicated herself to music; their need to be free, even if only for a couple hours, from the everyday grind was paramount. Not to mention lucrative, but music was Chie's life and if she could earn money from that, so much the better.

Still, none of those adoring stares...

... were his.

After the last of the autograph seekers were done with her, Chie closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, and then she jolted as a familiar voice called out, "Hey, Matsuoka-sensei! Why don't you do a love song?"

"Yû!" she called back with a grin, walking over to embrace the Hiroshima girl. "Damn you, girl! What are you doing down here?!"

The auburn-eyed redhead snorted, gazing warmly at the taller ponytailed brunette with the warm chestnut eyes. "I never miss one of your concerts if I can help it, Chie! 'Sides, I was coming back from an astrology conference in Sôul and decided to take the ferry across from Pusan. How are you?"

People around them automatically parted as the old friends walked towards the dressing rooms. "Pretty okay, I guess. We're about to cut the new record."

"People still bugging you about doing ballads?"

They walked into Chie's room. The singer sighed as she sank into her chair. It had been her vow; she would never do a love song until she did one for him. "Yeah. Ryû-kun's already written one up. The test-demos look good and ... hell, I ''want'' to do it, Yû! But..."

"You'd betray your promise to him," Yû noted as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah..."

Silence fell. Chie and Yû were two of twelve women from across Japan who shared a special bond; they had met and fallen in love with Gioo Shigôzei. One wouldn't find that unusual if they were ignorant of the whole story. Gioo was the son of a travelling office worker, one forced over a period of five years to move from city to city every six months or so, taking with him his wife and son. At each city, Gioo met a woman in school. They became close, but his father's job took the boy away, usually before some special event involving him and the girl he was with.

The women, all twelve, didn't forget, their love for him growing by leaps and bounds until one day in the third year of high school, they -- as if drawn by magic or the whimsical Fates -- went to Tôkyô to look up Gioo and attempt to forge something permanent. Deluged by the return of these twelve ghosts from his past, Gioo felt it only right and honourable to keep them an emotional distance, not wanting to break eleven hearts if he was forced to make a choice between them. The girls were broken-hearted but understood. That was when Chie met Yû, striking up a close friendship as the former pursued her career with Thousand Black and the latter got her degree in astrology and became an assistant researcher at Hiroshima University's stellar cartography lab.

"Chie, you have to let go of him one day."

Chie gave Yû a knowing look. "Would you?"

"Not really," the redhead replied, grinning. Every time she saw a meteor shower, she too dreamt of the chance. "Still, wouldn't it be nice if we all could have Gioo-chan to ourselves?"

A snort. "Hey, it'd be a perfect world!"

The door then opened, revealing to the singer's surprise her younger brother Shingo, now a sophomore at Kitakyûshû University. "Hey, Aneki! Aren't you gonna finally let the dork go and get a life?!"

"Up yours!" Chie snapped, though she spared Yû a wink. She couldn't fault her brother's concern; Shingo had never liked his sister's infatuation with Gioo. "What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be studying for exams?!"

"Studied enough," he said as he took a seat beside Yû. "Actually, you'd be amazed as to what I just found on the 'Net."

"What's that?" Chie wondered.

Shingo pulled out a slip of paper with a webpage address on it, handing it over to her. "This just might solve your love problems," he said with a grin and a wink, standing up to leave. "Let Yû-san look at it, too. See ya!"

As the door closed behind him, Chie and Yû exchanged looks...

"Oh, gods! I don't believe this!"

Chie and Yû gaped at the webpage in question. Both were presently in a private booth at a local Internet cafe. On the screen before them, the image of a very handsome man making passionate love to an impossibly beautiful woman is frozen on the screen. The former read the caption, "When engaged in sex, the RealBabe's vaginal orifice closes completely around her partner's penis, forcing out all the air and creating very intense stimulation. A RealDude's penis, whose size can alter depending on his partner's needs and wants, may do the same thing, creating equally intense stimulation when entering a woman's vagina." A whistle escaped. her. "Fuck me! Is this for real?!"

"Must be," Yû noted, ignoring Chie's profanity; she had long since become used to it. "You have to admit, the cost is pretty high, but..."

"Yeah, but this would be the perfect sex partner. Perfect boyfriend if you want to push it that far!" Chie noted with a shake of her head, and then she guided the mouse over to click onto another page to call up the e-mail option. "So what do you think?"

Yû bit her lip. "Well, it wouldn't hurt..."

A fortnight later, two nervous women relaxed by the front door of Chie's Hakata-ku apartment block, hands tightly grasping their purses. The owner of RealBabe-RealDude Japan, a doctor named Tomohisa Kai, was going to be in Kyûshû for business and had happily agreed to meet them to discuss a possible purchase.

Soon enough, a stretched limousine pulled up before them, the back door opening to reveal a handsome middle-aged man in a refined business suit. "Matsuoka-san. Nanase-san. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," he hailed with a graceful bows, and then he beckoned them inside. "Why don't you join me for a while so we can do business?"

"Arigatô," Chie replied with a nod as they stepped in. Both then blinked in surprise on seeing the doctor's companion, a lovely blonde distantly reminding them of another of Gioo's would-be girlfriends, Akira Endô of Nagasaki. She was dressed in a lovely kimono, looking demure yet still mouth-watering alluring. "Um ... Konban wa."

"A pleasure, Matsuoka-sama," she said with a bow of her head. "My name is Mariko Kai. I just purchased your last album. It was very enjoyable. In fact, would you mind... ?"

On seeing her produce an autograph book, Chie laughed, and then she jotted down her signature on a blank page before handing it back. Yû, in the meantime, had been staring intently at the blonde as Kai sat beside her. "Forgive me for asking this, Mariko-san ... but are you a RealBabe?!"

"Eh?!" Chie gasped.

"Yes, I am, Nanase-sama," Mariko said with a smile, her hazel eyes glittering. "Dear, will you deactivate me and show them?"

"Of course."

Kai pulled out a remote. Even after seeing it on the website, watching Mariko become rock-still after several buttons on a TV-like remote were pressed took their breath away. Kai then reached up to open the android's cranial access port. "Well, are you convinced now, Nanase-san?"

"I am!" Yû then whistled. "You do excellent work, Sensei."

"While I'd love to take credit for what I manufacture, I must give the proper praise to a friend from America who introduced me to this form of sentience," Kai explained as he closed up Mariko's cranial hatch. "In the meantime, would you two care to explain what you would desire? I confess, meeting a famous singer and a published expert in astronomy at the same time strikes me as unusual."

Chie and Yû were still staring quizzically at the stilled Mariko. "Um, does she mind being shut off like that?" the former wondered.

"Actually, her power charge was getting very low; she asked me to deactivate her to conserve energy before we return home," Kai admitted, gazing warmly at his frozen companion. "It has been quite a busy day, I assure you. So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, both of us would be interested in purchasing one of your male androids," Yû began.

"Ah, I see." Kai then drew out a large binder to hand over it to them. "By all means, take a look and see what you would desire."

"Arigatô," Chie said with a nod as she started picking through the binder, Yû gazing over her shoulder at what was there. What she saw made her mouth water in anticipation. There were dozens of models available, spanning all the racial norms though most were Oriental, ranging in body shapes from the atypical bodybuilder to the more slender track runner types. There were even gangly nerds and overweight men, too! "Wow! You really cater to all potential customers, don't you?"

"I believed it to be the best approach when I started this business," Kai replied. "While my counterpart in America, David Houston, tends to keep choices for his customers limited, I believe that the customer must be the one who dictates everything, thus I try to give as much choice as possible."

"So we see," Yû noted as they both gazed on a picture of a husky-skinned slender man. "How many androids have you constructed since you started your business?"

"Well over 200 males and 450 females. That's in the last five years alone. I confess, I never thought it would take off this fast. Sadly, with the way society is changing around us, it seems for the best."

"Who buys them?" Chie asked.

"For the RealDudes, they are mostly divorced mothers who need emotional support or help caring for children at home." Kai then stared out the window at the passing Fukuoka cityscape. "It's a sad conclusion to draw about our drive during the last century to build the best society we could. With husbands gone all day, who helps the wife support the children, keep her emotional needs satisfied and the household intact? Believe it or not, a lot of my business in fact centres around old age homes and battered spouse shelters; my androids make excellent nurses and social workers. It wasn't what David had in mind when he started his business a decade ago, but there are some fundamental social differences between America and Japan."

"How'd he pull it off, anyway? I'd figure that androids like Mari-chan there wouldn't have come for years."

"Actually, I really would be hesitant to explain things to you before I'd get some sort of commitment," he warned.

In other words, the deposit money. Chie and Yû exchanged knowing looks. With that, both immediately poured over the binder. "They're all very beautiful," the latter noted as her friend flipped the page, and then she paled on seeing one model. "Buddha!"

"Wha ... holy shit!" Chie exclaimed.

Kai blinked as the two found themselves staring at the slender man with spiky hair combed over his forehead, currently displayed in form-hugging trunks on the beach. "Oh, that's Gioo..."

"Gioo Shigôzei... " both women breathed out.

Silence. "You know him?"

"How did you meet him?" Chie asked as she stared at the doctor.

"Actually, I try to model my androids after real people," Kai admitted. "Shigôzei-kun was in his first year at Tôkyô University when I asked him to be a model. In fact, he's one of the few who's still willing to have body moulds done on him. It costs extra, but the customers really appreciate that."

Chie and Yû exchanged looks, both stunned that their long quest to win their ex-classmate's heart had led to this. From a never-ending dream, to heartbreak, to lonely wanting, to... ?

Both then stared at the doctor. "He's the one," the former stated.

"Both of us," the latter affirmed.

"I see," Kai said, nodding. "Well, let's get down to business..."

A week later...

"Matsuoka here."

"Ah, Matsuoka-san. This is Tomohisa Kai," the doctor's voice echoed over the phone. "Your android is ready. Since it's not so far from my factory to your place, I can have him driven down."

"You mean it?!" Chie gasped, her eyes widening, and then she nodded. "Okay! I can be here. What time?"

"Say about nine o'clock tonight?"

"H-hai!" Chie stammered. "Arigatô, Sensei!"

"My pleasure," he replied.

As soon as the phone was hung up, Chie began a whirlwind cleaning of her basement apartment. While not a fastidious housekeeper, she did try to keep atop the junk that accumulated in this place, especially when she had the band over for practice. Fortunately, she had installed auxiliary solar panels in the veranda and on the roof to supplement her electricity needs; she had nearly a hundred million yen worth of studio and stereo equipment in the spare bedroom and the living room. Besides, he was coming to live with her. Even if he was an android, she wanted to make the right impression.

Finishing, she then prepared dinner. Even though she was no gourmet chef like Taeko Adachi (another of Gioo's would-be lovers from Aomori at the north end of Honshû), she made do with what she could. Further, RealBabes and RealDudes needed to consume food; their nanite-driven silicon-based systems required matter they could use to keep things operating to par. Their solar batteries could look after their energy needs, but to save maintenance costs, their bodies came equipped with internal repair systems that easily handled daily wear-and-tear.

Setting a candlelight dinner, Chie set out bowls of Tonkotsu râmen, kimch'i, mixed vegetables in sesame oil and steamed rice along with a bottle of expensive sake. She then showered and dressed in a beautiful dark blue flower-pattern kimono. By the time she has sprayed perfume over her, the clock struck nine. Right on the mark, the doorbell rang. Rising, checking her hair, she raced over to the door, opening it. "Mariko?!"

"Konban wa, Matsuoka-sama," Mariko said as she stepped inside. She was now dressed in a scientist's smock over a pair of slacks and a button shirt. Noting the singer's formal dress, she smiled. "You look ready."

"I feel it," Chie stated...

As she suddenly forgot to breathe.

Gioo stepped in. Dressed in a man's kimono of dark blue with a red obi, he is every bit the wonderful man she remembered from those heavenly six months in the last year of junior high school. Dark brown hair shaggy cut over his forehead, chestnut eyes the same shade as Yû's hair, a trim track runner's build. Taking Chie's hand, he gently raised it to his lips.

"G-Gioo... !" Chie sputtered.

"As beautiful as a Hakata doll," he declared.

Chie's cheeks flamed. To be compared to a Hakata doll, a fine porcelain doll of local manufacture, was a profound compliment in the eyes of Fukuoka girls. "Arigatô..."

"No," he said, gently squeezing her hand. "Arigatô, Siren."

Chie's mouth dropped. "How did you... ?"

"When the doctor did the life mould for him and Nanase-sama's companion, he learned about the times you spent with Shigôzei-kun in school. Including his nicknames for you," Mariko explained.

"Um ... er ... r-right!" Chie stammered.

Mariko then brought in Gioo's small suitcase before she discreetly withdrew. The two remained in place, gazing into the other's eyes. "I finally have my dream," Chie then said, smiling.

"I'm glad I can help fulfil your dream," Gioo stated. "Oh, I have a message from my Onii-chan."

The real Gioo, Chie realized. "What is it?"

"Let them hear you sing a love song."

Chie blinked, and then she shook her head. "I won't sing one..."

"Let them hear you, Chie-chan," Gioo said as he gazed intently into her eyes. "Your heart is full of love. You share everything else through your gift of song. Share that, too. He understands."

Chie bit her lips, and then she leaned in to gently embrace him, swooning as his strong arms came up to hold her in place. "Okay... " she breathed out, and then she perked. "Shit! We better have something to eat before it gets cold!"

"Do you have Chris Rea?" Gioo asked as he walked over to her stereo set and began flipping through CDs.

"Put on Looking for the Summer."

"Hai!"

The CD was located, and then loaded into the player. As the drums and guitar beat the pace, Gioo walked over, guiding Chie into the living room. They slid into a waltz -- totally inappropriate for the face-paced song -- but neither cared...

They gazed into each other's eyes. Chie's were tearing as she finally allowed her dreams and fantasies to burst forth, take control of her every action, directing her lips to his as they stopped swaying, holding each other for all they were worth.

Chie then grinned. "To hell with dinner!"

With that, she pulled him to the floor, their lips passionately caressing as she lay down beside him. Sliding over him, she directed his hands to her obi, allowing him to untie it and slip off her top, revealing her usual army-green tank-top. Another warm kiss, and then she leaned back as he slides his hands under her shirt, gently caressing her breasts, his fingers tweaking at her hardening nipples. "Oh, man... !"

Strong hands guided her over him as his lips begin pecking and stroking her abdomen. Chie gasped as jolts of sheer pleasure danced across her skin, and then -- before she realised what was happening -- her top was gone. Gioo's lips found one of her nipples, suckling it as his hand gently kneaded her other breast. He rolled her onto the floor, positioning himself to allow her hands to get at his kimono.

Chie was quick to oblige, deftly undoing his obi and loosening his kimono to reveal very sexy underwear. Grinning, her hand dove into his crotch, her smile broadening on discovering what awaited her. "Ooooh! Hot time in the old town tonight!" she said with a snicker, yanking down his underwear and stroking his hardening member.

"How large do you want me?" Gioo gently asked.

A wink. "I'll leave that to you."

More kisses as he undid her skirt, revealing a pair of boxer shorts. Without hesitation, he started kissing down to her awaiting love gate. "Hey! Swing up, willya?!" Chie moaned. "If you're doing me, I'm definitely doin' you!"

A smile. "Hai, hai, Ojô-sama."

In a minute, both were coming down hard on their pleasure centres, Chie nearly gorging herself on his love stick while he was doing an excellent imitation of a vacuum cleaner on her love box. Grunting, both picked up the pace as the rush thundered through their bodies, building and building to eventual climax.

Chie struck gold first, her throat suddenly flooded by a sweet-sour fluid which -- according to the website advertisement -- was designed not to induce harmful side effects on an organic lover. She gulped it deep down, and then her own senses were overloaded as her legs locked up around Gioo's face, her south gate quivering as she hit the big O. Gasping for air, she arched back, allowing him to lick and suck her dry.

A minute later, Gioo swung up to gently draw her into an embrace. "How was that?"

"Get inside me," she ordered.

"Hai!"

Still quite erect, he pulled Chie over him, and then deftly sank his joystick right into her awaiting gate. She gasped as that monster filled her to bursting, and then she blink as she felt him slightly deflate. Noting her questioning look, he smiled. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Shit! Are you normally that big?!" she wondered.

They laughed before beginning anew...

A timeless eternity later found them in bed, the covers haphazardly tossed over them. Chie dozed in the crook of Gioo's arm, her arm draped over his chest. The android's eyes were closed, his body turned down to secondary power to allow his companion the chance to sleep; it was still some time before he would need to re-charge.

Chie groaned as the phone rang, and then she stared at the alarm clock on her nightstand. Three-twenty? Picking up the receiver, she muttered, "Do you have an idea what time it is... ?"

Laughter. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yû?!" Chie exclaimed. "Why the fuck're you calling now... ?!"