Once upon a time, there was a robotic girl stationed out at the edges of a poor village. She was a cute and beautiful cyborg, she was not too short and not too tall, the cyborg’s name was Mayu. Mayu was nearly emotionless; a blank look was always on her face.

“That cyborg stationed out there, she’s cute isn’t she?”

“Yes, because of her, the government pay more attention to us. It’s great isn’t it?”

“Haha, even though we never bother to fix her up.”

“Of course, that cyborg already has all that.”

In the village, only a few corrupt rich men were truly fortunate and never went hungry. Every time they gathered together, they would laugh and gossip about Mayu. Truthfully, they only cared as some government officials would once in a while donate some money as they wanted her to be fixed up.

Mayu, having endured many harsh winters, was somewhat broken. Her joints could not really move, leaving her standing in place.

This year, unlike the many other years, a sparrow migrating south stopped to rest at the town, perching on Mayu’s shoulder. The sparrow was a somewhat flirty and happy girl and her name was Watanabe Miyuki. It was close to winter already and she needed to go down south quickly or else she would freeze to death.

For a short period of time, Miyuki decided that she would take a break. Afterwards, just fly all the way down to her destination in one go. There was just one thing that she never thought about, the fact that Mayu was a cyborg.

“…Little sparrow…May I inquire what your name may be?”

Suddenly hearing the cyborg’s voice, Miyuki was so shocked that she nearly fell off. Luckily she didn’t as that may have caused her to break a few bones.

“Watanabe Miyuki…” The sparrow curiously introduced herself.

“…I am Mayu…”

There was a silence. Miyuki didn’t know what to say to a cyborg, it was the first time she ever talked to one. Mayu was just not one to start long conversations. Curiosity overtook the sparrow, thus she asked a question.

“Mayu-chan, why would you talk to a bird like me?”

Cyborgs don’t usually talk to birds. Mayu was silent for a bit.

“…You seem different from everyone that comes up to me…”

At that, Miyuki smiled, though it was a bit hard to tell as she’s a sparrow. It was nice to be complimented after all.

“Thanks! I’ll have to leave soon, so let’s talk~ Mayu-chan~”

“…Calling me ‘Mayu-chan’ is a bit embarrassing… Can I call you Milky then?”

Miyuki, ‘Milky’, grinned sheepishly and nodded. “I guess I can use, ‘Milky desu~’ as my new introduction.” She joked around flirtatiously. Mayu lightly chuckled, making Milky happy.

“…Hrm… Milky, you know how I have some gold and silver decorations?” The cyborg girl points out her attire.

“Uh-huh. Don’t humans like that stuff?”

“…The village here is really poor, since I can’t move, could you help me with something?”

Mayu explained to Miyuki that she wanted to give the riches to the poor as she didn’t truly need it. The village was troubled by poverty, but she was not. Seeing Mayu’s strong feelings, Milky nodded.

“Milky… Not too far away, I see a seamstress embroidering the finest passion flowers for the queen’s dress, her fingers prinked and red. Her usually boyish little sister, is sick in bed with a fever, asking for some oranges when all that the seamstress can give is river water. Would you help me and give this ruby stone on my bracelet to them?”

“But, I don’t really know…” Milky answered. “I don’t really like humans all that much as they threw rocks at me.”

Noticing Mayu’s sad look, she felt sorry. “…But I’ll stay a night even though it is so cold, so I can send your feelings to them…”

“Thank you Milky…”

The sparrow picked up the ruby from Mayu’s bracelet and started to fly. Noticing that despite being a poor village, the capital was quite close. The castle seemed extravagant, it was disappointing how the royalty and high class are. She flew past a river and the Ghettos, finally reaching a poor house.

Looking in the open window, the seamstress was so tired that she had fallen asleep. Dropping the ruby on a desk, Milky flew over to the child who was rolling uncomfortably in bed. Knowing that she was probably feeling very hot, Milky fanned the girl with her wings.

“Sayaka feels a bit cooler now… Maybe Sayaka is getting better, now Nana won’t have to worry…” The young girl muttered in her sleep and she settled down and peacefully rested.

Then Milky flew back to Mayu and reported what she did. Mayu looked a bit sorry, “Even though I can’t do anything for you, thank you for helping me…”

At that, Milky responded with a slight smile, “It’s ok! My heart feels warm even though it’s a bit chilly out here.” With that, Milky fell asleep on Mayu’s shoulder as the cyborg worked up the energy to warm the little sparrow even a tiny bit.

The next day, Milky went ahead to tour the poor village, looking around only to the how sad and poor it was. Feeling a bit down, she went back to Mayu to say her good-byes.

“…I’m sorry, Milky, but can you help me with one more thing?”

“…Hrm… Seeing how it is, I’ll definitely do it.” Milky gave her determined, yet cute smile.

“Thank you… Milky, in a cold, unheated house, a young man is doing his best to write a play to be shown in the theater. He knows that the rich men will take all the praise, but he’s still doing his best. Could you please take the silver bolts in my shoulder to him?”

Milky hesitated. She knew that Mayu wouldn’t have her arms then, the silver bolts kept them attached. “But, what about your arms?”

“It’s ok.”

Not knowing what to do, with Mayu’s determined look, Milky somewhat reluctantly took the silver bolts. Mayu’s arms fell to the ground with a clank.

Flying to the young man’s house, she saw him fighting to keep awake. It was true, his house was not warmed and Milky could hear the grumble of his stomach as he had not eaten. Waiting for him to close his eyes for a second, the second he did, she flew in and dropped the bolts, quickly flying off.

Noticing the strange gift, the young man smiled, “Could it be that someone actually cares for my work? A secret admirer sent me a strange gift of silver so that I could sell it and use the money to buy firewood and food… Maybe my tiny existence, the one of Miyazawa Sae will eventually be able to do something!”

The next day, Milky said to Mayu, “I will have to leave now, Mayu, I’ll come visit you again next year.” In truth, Milky had actually left a few weeks later than she should have. Any more stalling here at the originally a rest stop town would possibly lead to freezing to death.

“Wait… Could you stay just one more night?” The cyborg girl looked at the little sparrow with hopeful eyes.

Unknowingly, both of them had become quite attached to each other. Besides the things that Mayu had asked Milky to do, they had also talked and spent time together.

“…I need to go south soon, but I’ll stay a bit more…”

“Thank you… Please, take my eyes and smash them to the ground, getting the jewels inside. As well as that, the gold décor, and spread all that to the poor in the slums and the working class that suffer from hunger every day.”

“But… Then, you’ll go blind…” Milky worried.

“It’s ok…” Reassuring Milky, Mayu spoke. It wasn’t so reassuring though.

Without a choice, the sparrow took the eyes and smashed them to the ground, retrieving the jewels inside. Flying to the town, she saw a little girl that had dropped her matchsticks into the gutter by accident. The little girl was crying and it seemed that someone would beat her if she didn’t bring some money home. Milky dropped the jewels into the little girl’s hand and flew off as the girl fascinated by the pretty glass started heading home.

Once the little girl got home, she showed the jewels to her father and he for once patted her on the head and smiled. “Now, we don’t have to worry about food and the cold anymore…” Despite the fact that it would only be temporary, the little girl was filled with happiness.

Doing as she was asked, she took the gold décor and flew around. A few little boys huddling together were chased away from their little shelter under a large bridge. Seeing that, Milky dropped one of the gold objects, leaving the boys with rosy smiles as they ran off to feed their hungry stomachs. Spreading the gold around, soon the poor children were happy and yelled, “We have food now! Thank you little sparrow!”, As they had noticed Milky.

Everything was over, that was the last task that the cyborg girl had asked. Milky flew back to Mayu and perched on the shoulder area that was still there. It was cold, but that night, the little sparrow told of many tales to the cyborg girl. The beautiful flowers, the many animals, the pyramids, the beaches, and many other things, she told to the cyborg girl who could never leave this place.

As midnight came, snow began to fall. The cold flowers fell down on both the cyborg and the sparrow. It really was late, so late that winter had come before she knew it. But, despite being that frivolous type of girl, Milky felt attached to Mayu. Now that they were so close she did not want to leave anymore. It was only if she could survive a night like this though.

Once snow comes, frost does as well. Milky knew she was going to die.

“Goodbye Mayu… Will you let me kiss you on the cheek?” Milky said in a weak voice.

Not being able to see, Mayu answered, “Are you leaving for the south now? I am glad for I have forced you to stay too long Milky, but could you kiss me on the lips instead? I…love…you…”

Still with a smile, she replied, “It’s not the south I will head to now, but the land of death...Death is the brother of Sleep isn’t he?”

And the little sparrow kissed the cyborg girl on the lips. Finally, she took her last breath and fell to the cyborg’s feet dead.

At that moment, a cracking sound came from the cyborg. Tears streamed down and it was her heart that broke at that moment, frozen, thawed, broken at last.

The next morning the rich men along with the Mayor came walking by. “Ah! How shabby she looks.”

“Her eyes are gone, the gold is gone, the rubies are gone, she looks no less than a beggar!” They proclaimed.

“There’s actually a dead bird! Why, we need to make a rule of no dead birds dying here.” The cruel Mayor stated. All the men nodded.

So, they took away the cyborg girl and sent her to be melted down as they talked about what they would use the extra metal for. Of course, at once the corrupt men started to argue over whose statue would be made.

In the place where Mayu was melted down, the only thing that couldn’t be melted down was her heart covered with lead. Seeing that, the workers threw it into the dustbin along with the little sparrow’s dead body.

That night, a god had asked his angel to bring the two most valuable items in the town to him. What she brought were the little sparrow and the cyborg’s heart. Accepting it, he sent them to a paradise that most would call heaven.

“…Mayu?”

“…Miyuki…”

“Do you really love me?” She asked flirtatiously.

“…Un…” The former cyborg girl blushed.

“Hehe~ Me too, plus you were my first kiss.”

The two held hands and walked into the future. That god had allowed both of them to become human and they lived for an eternity of happiness together, meeting companions along their journey of life there. Many of them, the ones that the little sparrow who was Milky and the cyborg girl who was Mayu, had helped.

about 2k words... W-Watanabe is pretty rare isn't it? Well, it was actually a request... Sorry for not writing it until now... Hope you enjoyed... Couldn't really write what I think about Milky's character that much though... Hope it's not too much out of character... Based off of the Happy Prince