Prologue: Another Slice

The once frozen rose continued to grow, continued to reach up, continued to express its once hidden beauty. Long lasting peace allowed for an undisturbed bloom.

However, the clouds above began to cluster, gradually dimming the abundant radiance…

…

"Don't smash the bottles, you bloody idiot!"

Sigh. I marked my page in the book I found deep within my desk. I remembered that I never finished reading this short, abstract novel I picked off of my mother's reading collection years ago. Something would always come up, distracting me from the little book. Tipping my chair back against the balcony railing, I listened in to whatever commotion that was going on downstairs.

"You did it last time, Eyebrows!" shouted Gilbert. There were more smashing of bottles.

"Aiyah, you're all making a mess in here!"

The chair returned to its original position with all four legs on the ground. I rubbed my temples. Just don't let anyone get glass in their foot again… Upon opening my eyes, I saw a calendar on the wall in the loft with today circled in bright red. A smile crept up on my face. Despite the stress, the satisfaction of finally finishing high school returned to me.

As I was about to start reading again, I heard someone come up the stairs. Judging by the quick and light steps, I knew who it was.

"Hola~." The fourteenish year old unit skipped over to my direction. He grabbed a beanbag chair and brought it by my seat.

"Hi Toni." I closed my book. "Is something the matter?"

"Yao said you were lonely so I came up to see you." He tilted his head, with his usual happy-go-lucky smile on his face. "Why aren't you with everyone else? They're having a lot of fun~."

I shook my head. "I don't want to have anything to do with that mess…" He was probably sent up because things were getting out of hand…

The Spaniard suddenly gasped as he looked up at the sky. "Look at those stars! They're as shiny as ripe tomatoes under the golden sun." His emerald green eyes slightly glistened, reflecting some of the stars above. He then rested his head against my leg.

What an analogy… I sighed and decided to stargaze as well. It's been about a year since we had Toni. The company sent the wrong unit but we'd grown to love him too much to return him. Dealing with his default 'sociopath' mode was another story however. Besides, the full-blown Bad Touch Trio would be too much for me to handle... Though, he is sharing rooms with the other two…

"Nana, Toni."

Startled by the sudden voice, we quickly turned around. I smiled apologetically and received a bowl of ice cream the unit was holding out for us. "Thanks Matthew, I didn't notice you came up."

"Gracias~." The Spaniard gratefully took his share of the treat.

"Don't worry about it," the Canadian said calmly. He too brought up a beanbag chair and joined us. Kumajiro settled himself by his owner and with his eyes, pled to be fed some ice cream.

I ate a spoonful of the vanilla ice cream. "Did you need a break from the chaos down there?"

Matthew chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it's much quieter up here…"

Toni poked at my leg until I looked over at him. "Why don't you go have some drinks too, senorita?"

I scoffed. "America's legal drinking age is twenty-one, not eighteen like it is for a lot of you guys."

The Canadian smiled as he pet his companion. "I can't tell whether if Al is being responsible or it's saying something about the people in his culture."

"Probably the latter." I stretched and tilted my chair back in the process. A tune went off in my pocket. I pulled out my phone and smiled when I saw who it was. Before I could open the text, another one came in. I replied to them both, placed the device on my book, and sighed in content.

"You look so happy now~." Toni placed his empty bowl on top of mine. "Who were they?"

"Some old friends." I gazed up at the stars. So Ryan and Kairi were celebrating today too…

From down the street, the rumbling of a truck could be heard. I took a casual glimpse over in the direction, only to realize that it was slowing down as it came closer, until it came to a full stop right in front of the house. From the faint light of the street lamps, I saw the logo for the Flying Mint Bunny Express. The driver got out and waved up at me.

"Hola, Tess!" Toni shouted down at her.

Matthew smiled and drew Kumajiro close to him. "I wonder who this will be."

I rubbed the back of my neck and got up. "Yeah, I wonder too…" We're going to run out of room at this rate… And it's midnight; who delivers this late?!

We made our way downstairs. I regretted taking a look in the living room for Arthur had joined the drunken idiots. I shuddered and continued my way to the front door. I opened it before Tess was able to ring the bell.

"Good evening." She tipped her cap at me.

"Or good morning, I guess." A yawn escaped me. "How come you're here so late?"

She sighed as she handed me the clipboard to sign. "Mark wanted me to make a final delivery, saying it was a graduation gift from him to you."

"From Mark?" I scribbled in my signature and returned the board to her. During the process, I realized that the crate wasn't wooden like usual. It was instead metallic. "…Why is it in a special box?"

"Who knows what he's thinking." She wheeled in the crate. "He said 'you'll thank me later'."

I really wonder who this is then… "Well, thanks for coming out so late. I really appreciate it." She nodded and handed me the manual. She left soon after.

"Ve~ A new friend!" Feliciano came up behind me and peered over my shoulder. "Who is it? Who is it?"

"I don't know…" It better not be someone crazy… I opened the front flap of the manual.

We both drew in our breaths upon seeing the name.

"Hey hey hey, who's this unawesome guy?" Gilbert took a glimpse at the booklet. He smirked and tapped his beer can against the crate, making some clinking sounds. "Actually, scratch the unawesome part."

What is my manual story without a prologue? (Although this was more like a chapter one than that though… Oh well)

I decided to go with the similar set up- under 2,000 words, a 'quote', and a cliffhanger on who the new unit is. Anyone want to take a guess on who it is? It has to be someone Gilbert doesn't consider unawesome though (or at least in my headcannon. . . ). The metal box part was from the manual itself. . . I'm not quite sure why it has to be that instead of regular wood. . . Hm.

And yes, she did get a Canada model and a Little!Spain model within the two year time skip. I was initially going to have a regular Spain but I thought some troubleshooting would be interesting. I'm having some trouble with his personality though so please spare me until I figure it out orz. . .

I will be starting school in about three weeks but I hope to get into this sequel as much as I can until then.

Let's see where this story will head to~.