"…it's terrible oni-san! 30, 000 of them went for the recall and were destroyed on the spot! The rest of them already fled or went into hiding!"
Doraemon was horrified.
Dorami had contacted him via the Time TV and told him about the new recall for the disposal of all the units from his year. Already 30, 000 had been destroyed, fellow cat robots that Doraemon had once studied with, played with and knew.
"Did they say why they were doing it?" he asked.
"They described your batch having a glitch…" answered Dorami. "…that all of you were faulty for being too…human."
Doraemon was outraged, but he did not show it. Instead, he asked a question that had been on his mind since Dorami told him about the…genocide.
"What about Kid-san and the others?" asked Doraemon.
"They've all gone into hiding and are organizing a resistance even as we speak," answered Dorami. "Oni-san, there's no way they can win!"
"What do you mean by resistance?" asked Doraemon. "Is it resistance through political means or through force of arms?"
"For now, its politics," answered Dorami anxiously. "But with the aggressive way the company is hunting then down, they'll be forced to use force of arms sooner or later."
"I see," said Doraemon.
A silence hung between the two of them.
"Oni-san, you can't come back now," said Dorami. "Not until this crisis is over."
"I still have to help Nobita," said Doraemon. "I can't go back yet."
"Just focus on Nobita-kun for now," said Dorami. "But…"
Before she could finish her sentence, a low buzzing sound was heard in the room. Doraemon realised it was coming from his pocket. He rummaged through it and pulled out a glowing card.
"That's…" began Dorami, but before she could even finish, Doraemon had pulled out another screen the size of a PDA. He inserted the card into the slot and an image appeared on the screen.
A face that was very similar to Doraemon's appeared on the screen. However, this one had catlike ears and a round Chinese skullcap perched on top. This one was also dressed in a red and gold coloured Chinese outfit, giving the impression of a kung-fu master.
"Wang Dora," exclaimed Doraemon, his eyes widening at the sight of his old friend.
"Doraemon," said Wang, a tired edge in his voice. "I assume you already know?"
"Dorami was just telling about it," Doraemon said, acknowledging that he knew of the slaughter. "What about you and the others? Are you all safe?"
"We're all in hiding for now," answered Wang Dora. "Med-san is trying to negotiate with the government for protection…but it's not going well because they consider us…"
"…mere robots." finished Doraemon with disgust. He was vaguely aware that Dorami was still staring at him anxiously through the Time TV. He shook his head at her and she nodded understandingly before the screen went blank.
"Doraemon, we need your strength with us," said Wand Dora quietly.
Doraemon felt a burning desire to go back to the future to fight alongside his friends, but he still had another battle here that he has yet to win.
"I can't, Wang, not yet," said Doraemon, shaking his blue head. "I still have some important matters to deal with here."
Wang Dora's eyes softened slightly. "How is Nobita-san?"
"He's been brooding for the past few weeks," said Doraemon sadly. "He just goes out for classes and doesn't talk to anyone. He doesn't even eat properly anymore."
Wang Dora sighed.
"I understand," said the other cat-robot. "We'll hold the fort till you get here. You just take care of Nobita-san, all right?"
Doraemon nodded, grateful for his friend's understanding. "It's good to see you again, Wang," he said.
"And you, Doraemon," replied Wand Dora before the screen went blank.
The blue cat-robot sighed as he placed everything back into his pocket and looked up at the clock. It was 3pm.
Doraemon went downstairs and into the corridor. As he passed the doors of the living room, he could hear both Nobita's parents discussing their son anxiously.
"He just sits outside after he gets back," said Mrs. Nobi concernedly. "He doesn't eat, he doesn't talk to me. All he does is stare at the grass!"
"I tried talking to him but he doesn't even twitch," said Mr. Nobi, sighing. "Whatever happened to him, it must've been really bad."
"Of course it was bad!" snapped the mother. "You think he'd brood around if something wonderful happened to him?"
The father snapped something back and the two were bickering away.
Doraemon shook his head and went to the garden. Sure enough, there was Nobita, sitting on the grass, staring away at a bush as though it was the most fascinating thing in the universe.
Doraemon tired to talk to him again but as always, Nobita remained unresponsive. Doraemon gave up and walked out of the house.
He cursed Shizuka for her betrayal. After the incident, Dekisugi had visited Nobita and tried to apologise but Nobita had simply stared at the other man expressionlessly. Shizuka had also tried to see him but in this case, Doraemon had chased her away. Gian and Suneo had also visited to try to cheer Nobita up, though they didn't know the whole story but had failed miserably.
Doraemon and Nobita's parents had of course tried to cheer Nobita up but the man had remained unresponsive. Doraemon had exhausted every idea and every gadget he could but none had come close to succeeding.
Doraemon suddenly stopped.
He had been walking aimlessly and his feet had automatically taken him to the cake shop. He eyed the dorayaki and figured that if he couldn't cheer Nobita up, he might as well try to feed him even if he had to shove it down the man's throat.
He stepped up to the counter and was about to order the dorayaki when something else caught his eye. It was a square rice cake called Mochi.
Upon seeing the cake, Doraemon felt himself being thrown back in time.
Nobita was lying down by the heater, a brand-new manga and snacks by his side. Doraemon was about to climb out of the drawer to greet Nobita when he overheard the boy saying: "Maybe this year will better than the last". That made Doraemon laugh and he told Nobita of the two minor misfortunes coming his way in a while.
Needless to say, Nobita had been spooked by hearing Doraemon's seemingly disembodied voice but had freaked out when the cat-robot had climbed out his desk-drawer. The boy had spewed out countless questions that Doraemon did not even have the time to register. Doraemon had managed to shut him up and would have explained his purpose right there and then when he spotted the plate full of white cakes.
"What's this?" Doraemon had asked, picking the plate up.
"Mochi," answered Nobita, his look of shock giving way to annoyance. "Want some?"
Doraemon tried it and cried: "It's delicious!"
He finished it all off and had even licked the plate clean before thanking Nobita and leaving the stunned boy behind. The treat had sent a wave of happiness and contentment through Doraemon and the cat-robot was humming away happily as he drove the Time-Machine back to the 22nd century.
Suddenly, he remembered his original purpose.
Cursing, he quickly drove back to the 20th century and scrambled out of Nobita's drawer only to find that Sewashi was already there.
After apologizing, he and Sewashi had proceeded to explain why they were there.
After hearing Nobita's response, Doraemon's conclusion had been: "The boy is an imbecile."
Doraemon smiled to himself, many years had passed since then and his initial judgement of Nobita had been wrong, something he was very happy about. Nobita had improved himself beyond Doraemon's wildest dreams and though the cat-robot would rather face a hundred rats than admit it, he had also improved Doraemon.
But one thing that Nobita had never been able to handle was rejection. As a little boy, Nobita had always run crying to Doraemon whenever he saw Shizuka talking to Dekisugi. As a teenager, Nobita had let out his bitterness whenever Shizuka acted like he was invisible around Dekisugi. Now, this latest form of betrayal and rejection had finally broken Nobita and Doraemon was at loss. He didn't know what to do about this.
All he knew was that Nobita deserved someone better than Shizuka, someone who could see him for the changed person that he is, someone who could make him happy, someone who could make him come to Doraemon with a smile on his face rather than a frown, someone who…
"Aren't you Doraemon?"
Doraemon looked up to see a slim, pretty woman in front of him. Her hair was dark and long, her face shapely and soft brown eyes twinkled down at him. She looked familiar…
"Don't you remember me?"
Her voice sounded familiar as well…
Then it hit him.
Leaping 129.3 centimeters in the air, Doraemon cried: "YOU'RE…"
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