Of all those present in the classroom, I, Miyagawa Minoru was the only one who was different from the rest of my classmates. It was not necessary to make a rigorous comparison to realize this because with a simple glance anyone could notice it.

None of them seemed to act like a "real" person.

All of them had expressionless faces, their eyes were open without blinking for a second, their bodies remained static, sitting on their desks as if they were stone statues, and even though there was absolute silence in the classroom, not even their breathing could be heard.

In addition, they all had the same white skin, yellow eyes and silver hair color.

Piip—

Piip—

Piip—

The high-pitched sound that was once again repeated around gave me notice that the corresponding guidelines for the work of the first class of the day had already been sent to each of my classmates. I immediately looked at the screen of my old laptop. The same guidelines had also been sent to me via email.

I didn’t waste any time and started reading them, but only focusing on the last words which for me were the most important.

Work in Pairs.

The concept of pair work was very rarely used in the school. I could even say that this is the only school in the whole country that still uses it. I also remember that my last pair work was already a month ago.

Although I still couldn't find the reason why were still doing this kind of work at school, for me it was the perfect opportunity to exchange a word or two with some of my classmates.

[Miyagawa-san.]

Suddenly, a female voice from the back called out my name.

As I turned around and knowing that I could tell just by listening to his voice who it was, as usual I looked over his head. Right in that place, letters were being projected inside a transparent rectangular hologram, floating in the air and giving shape to the name Tamaki Haruka, however, the person who was talking to me at that moment was not the "real" Tamaki Haruka.

Her cold skin, although similar to the original, was nothing more than an artificial copy made of rubber; through her eyes made of a translucent glass a tiny lens could be seen that seemed to be focusing on me second by second, and her short silver hair played the same role as that of a wig.

With the above description I was only referring to the APA that belonged to the real Tamaki Haruka. It was just this one who was in charge of reproducing her words.

In the current country of Japan, which stands above the rest due to its great technological advances, the use of advanced personal androids, or abbreviated as APA, is massive. The APA emit a wireless signal that is synchronized with that of a chip planted on the surface of the cerebral cortex. Using transparent visors, people are able to activate the signal from the chip in their head and synchronize it with that of the APA they wish to connect to. As long as this signal synchronization is successful, the person will be able to move their APA at will remotely.

Since their inclusion in society, tasks ranging from the most complex and dangerous to the most simple and everyday can be comfortably performed by an APA.

An example of this would be when attending work or school.

Putting ourselves in the place of a salaried person, it is possible for them to perform the function assigned to them at their workplace without any inconvenience from home through their APA. APA are able to perform an enormous number of jobs such as: cleaning, customer service, administrative, health and even jobs that require physical effort as in construction companies.

In the case of students like me, we can also do the different assignments given to us in class along with any other school related activities through our APA. In addition, the same school gives an APA to each of the students at no cost to attend classes.

APA are classified by gender and age. They are available in different sizes to differentiate between children, youth and adults. Always identical to each other except for their gender. With the same white skin color, yellow eyes and silver hair.

Unfortunately, having an APA has become as vital to the people of this country as breathing. Over the years this has caused everyone in Japan to stay locked up in their homes isolating themselves from each other without wanting to have any "real" contact.

We just have to look at Tamaki-san, my classmate and class representative.

She is most likely at home, sitting in her room watching me through her APA; and it is for this very reason that I have never seen her real self despite having been in the same class for almost two years. The same goes for my other classmates, students, teachers and workers at this school.

The way people behave in Japan, I will most likely never be able to find a person I can call a friend.

[Miyagawa-san.]

[Miyagawa-san.]

—…Ah!

Forgetting the fact that Tamaki-san had spoken to me, I instantly came back from my thoughts when I heard her voice once again.

[Are you even listening to me? We've both been chosen to do the work assigned in the first class. Should I bring my desk and sit next to you…?]

—D-don't worry! I'll stick my desk next to yours!

Once we got our desks together, we divided up the work and began to do it.