Call was not built to have emotional capacity. She was only meant to be a lab assistant, and all of her actions were dictated by logic and reason. Humans puzzled her. Half the time they seemed to have their heads screwed on correctly, and the other half they were creatures driven by hormones and emotional whims.

That was why on this February 14 she curiously observed the human females that buzzed about, carrying all manner of chocolates and cards. All she understood about Valentine's Day was that it was named for the long-dead Saint Valentine and that it seemed to be some bizarre mating ritual for humans. Oftentimes the female would also plant her lips on the male's lips or cheek, or the male would do the same for the female. This was called a "kiss" according to her database. Call did not understand the purpose of this action, but both parties seemed to enjoy it.

Robots were not built to be emotional beings, so normally Call would discard the matter as a mystery she would never understand, but there was one exception to the rule. Her colleague Beck had been installed with a new technology that gave him the capacity to feel emotion. Call smiled as an idea dawned on her. It was time to perform an experiment.

"Beck," she greeted monotonously.

"Hi, Call. What's up?" asked Beck.

"There is something I would like to ask you."

"What?"

Without prelude, she placed her lips on Beck's cheek. The reaction was instantaneous. The male robot's face darkened to a deep shade of red and his eyes widened immensely. As she removed her lips from his face, he touched the place where she kissed him and began to stutter incoherently.

"Wha… Wha… What was that for?"

"Please tell me. What was that like for you?" asked Call.

"Huh?"

"I wish to understand why humans do this…'kissing'. Your reaction differed significantly from what I have observed previously."

"Wait… You mean that was just…" Beck sighed. "Call, humans only do that to people they really like."

"Is that so?" she asked. "I did not realize that. I apologize. I did not wish to make you uncomfortable."

"It's all right. But…" His face reddened again.

"But what?"

"Never mind," he said.

Call blinked. Beck could be almost as confusing as the humans sometimes. At the very least she had gotten the answer she had sought. And frankly, when she had kissed him, she had felt a small spark of…something within her core. This was an interesting development. Perhaps that was something else she could investigate in time.

LunaClefairy: Hi guys! Sorry I haven't had an update in a while, but school's been keeping me very busy. I do have spring break coming up in about a week so I'll see if I can get back to To Bloom Again then, but until then, try to bear with me! In the meantime, this was a quick little ficlet I wrote for a Valentine's Day contest on the Mighty No. 9 forums, and it was actually one of the four winners! Granted, there were only two other entries in the writing category, but I still felt pretty proud of myself. Until Mighty No. 9 gets a category of its own (game's not out yet, after all), this'll have to go into Misc. Games, but I'll move it once there is a category.