Although Leton had been the brain of the operation, I had still bothered to look into the wonders of machines and how to be a mechanist in general. I wasn’t actually that bad at it, but for some reason, I currently felt like I could do a better job than I had ever done.

  It was like Leton’s skill lingered with me. It was like he hadn’t completely left my side…

  The first step to opening this sister location was to create the blueprints of the structure, and the mascots, of course! The robotic characters were going to be the heart of the place. They needed to be appealing, they needed to be nice, and they needed to be ‘cool’ as the teens were saying lately, for reasons I couldn’t quite grasp.

  I already had ideas about what they should look like, and what their purpose would be–First and foremost, I wanted to move away from the classic look of entertainment automatons… Not only were most of them designed to resemble highly cutified beastfolks, with no sharp edges, big smiles, and chubby proportions to make them look cuddly… But there was this design philosophy which my brother had started, and had been thoroughly imitated by the few people who tried to compete with us.

  …This design philosophy was to not hide the robotic nature of the entertainers, or at least, not take steps to completely cover some of the metallic parts–It also saved some money since the joint area in particular tended to be worn out the most, so leaving it without an outer shell served two purposes at the same time.

  The idea was that people were specifically here to see ‘wonders of machinery’, and as such, completely hiding the mechanisms and steel skeleton would actually be counterproductive. Everyone already knew that they were automatons, and it was the main point of interest. I did not disagree with the idea, but I still believe that it wasn’t the end-all be-all that everyone seemed to assume it was.

  As such, my designs for the new location would reveal no traces of machinery. I wanted visitors to be impressed by their outer designs, functionalities, and the like. If anything, it should serve as a new point of interest–Everyone would know that they are automatons, but it wouldn’t be obvious at all. It should trigger some interest and curiosity in the hearts of people.

  This wasn’t all, obviously. I wasn’t going to follow the traditional beastfolk look either, or even use the same means of creating an outer shell, for that matter. Frankly, the more I thought about it, the more risky it sounded to change the recipe so greatly, but I believe in the value of my idea.

  As such, I was going to make my characters clown-themed. Colourful, skin white like snow, and full of smiles! Of course, they wouldn’t literally all be clowns, some would lean into related themes and styles–Such as those of a jester, for example. I planned on using some circus imagery for some of them as well. With the number of characters I was planning, there was a need for some diversity in how they looked and behaved.

  The finer details weren’t for now, however. I was putting down the basics, and it included what their outer shell would be like. Currently, entertainment automatons use rather simplistic shells. There were merely pieces of hardened fabric that ‘clicked’ onto another layer of colourless shell, which was made with a material invented by Leton, which he had dubbed ‘fibreglass’. It was made from some other things he had invented, but it didn’t really matter much.

  My entertainers were also going to be using this material to give them a much more natural shape upon their steel skeletons, but the actual outer layer? I was going to go for something I was frankly surprised no one else had thought of until now… It had seemed like such an obvious idea to me when it came up inside my head.

  Namely, take some notes from the style of costume my Glown suit was a part of. Of course, it wasn’t the exact same thing. I wasn’t going to use enchanted material, but the stretchy, skin-like material? It was perfect to make a character look life-like.

  It would allow me to make my clown girls look like real people. Their body structure would be perfectly humanoid, and their skin would fit perfectly upon their mechanical bodies. I could already imagine the result, and it made me very excited. It would be a revolution on its own. People had never seen anything like this before.

  …I sifted through countless notes and blueprints Leton had left behind, trying to find inspiration, and as expected, he had been working on countless projects at the same time, while having even more that he was thinking about but had not yet gotten to begin working upon… There were too many of them.

  He had begun working way too much following Jeanni’s unfortunate passing. Obviously, when the damned mother of the girl couldn’t be bothered to care about her husband as he cared about her, it was only natural that he would want to focus on something else.

  If only I… Shit. I couldn’t have done anything. I am his sister, but this particular situation? I couldn’t help him with it like I had helped him in the past. The one who should have been here for him hadn’t been, and I couldn’t make up for it, no matter what I did.

  How could I have?

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Fuck… I should focus on my project–Just… Focus.

  Just thinking about this bitch made me boil with hatred…

  …My clown girls, yes… My cute clown girls… I had actually thought of thirteen different characters. Which sounded overkill, and probably excessive, but I trusted in my vision.

  There were three main ones: The face of the location, and the ones customers would be seeing the most. I hadn’t figured out names for any of them just yet, but I did have the overall designs thought out, I could vividly imagine them.

  There would be the leader of the group, she would be the tallest of the trio, and would be predominantly red in colour… She would wear a red, classy suit, have red hair, and a more ‘adult’ air as well. She would be akin to a ringleader. She would be able to sing, present shows, and make jokes.

  She would also have a magic circle drawn into her hand–Not a real one, of course, but it would mimic the small circles people often had drawn upon their palm when they made a speech. It worked to amplify their voice when spoken into. I thought it would be a fun little thing to include, add a bit of ‘realism’ to how her voice would reach so far and be so clear.

  As for what she would do when roaming–Which was a function I planned on giving to most of the automatons–It would be simple. She would be mostly looking out for problems. She was the leader, she was the ‘oldest’ of the trio, so rather than focusing on playing with the children and interacting with the adults, she would be almost a guardian.

  Not just to the customers or her bandmates, but the whole restaurant. Her presence should be a reassurance to parents, and a threat to the possibly troublemarkers or creeps.

  Next, there would be a predominantly blue gal. Her looks would be based on those of a successful bard, and she would be able to precisely play a variety of instruments–Making her hands and fingers dexterous enough would be a challenge for me, but I didn’t want to just give her a music box and have her pretend to play instruments. I simply found this to be a lame workaround.

  The lute would naturally be her main instrument, but a flute, lyre, and the like would also be on the table.

  As far as personality went, she should be a less refined jokester compared to the leader. While the red one would be more meticulous with her jokes, the blue one would have a more ‘young’ humour that should please the younger crowd, and serve as a nice contrast between the two, allowing them to bounce and play off one another.

  I think it is very important that the entertainers don’t just interact with the crowd, but with one another as well. It would give them life and make it seem like they were actual thinking people who did things other than wait for customers once the location closed at the end of the day.

  It should create some… Magic, let’s say.

  As for the third member of the main cast, she would be predominantly yellow–A bright yellow that would almost border on gold, probably. She would sing alongside the leader, but she was actually based on a concept I had heard very recently.

  A ‘cheerleader’. I quite like the idea and decided to cross it with a jester. So the two things she would be shaking around with her hands would have bells in them, and her hairstyle would allude to a classic jester’s hat as well. She should give some rhythm with swift, advanced dances.

  Also, she would be considered the youngest of the group and have a bubbly personality.

  She and the blue one would be more focused on interacting with the kids, but she, in particular, would be very talkative and willing to talk with anyone, and incite children to move. The idea was to tire them a little bit. The parents would be very thankful to bring back sleepy and tired children instead of overly excited ones who couldn’t stay in place.

  The yellow one would be shorter than the other two as well…

  Now, I could already imagine a problem that people would mention to me with just those three… Which was that they had different heights and builds. It was great to differentiate the characters and give them more personality, but it meant that their skeleton would be different.

  Most places using entertainment automatons used the same design and simply changed the outer layer to make them look different. It made maintenance and repairs much easier as all parts were shared by every robot.

  My thoughts on this? Lazy! I have the funds to do this, so I was going to make my characters actually unique and memorable at first sight. When people were going to step into my location, they would instantly look at the main stage and know that those three were all very different from one another.

  I looked down at the drawings I had made for the designs. They were nearly exactly as I imagined them, but changes would surely be made along the way… Before working on the other clown girls, I was going to be preparing the blueprints for those three. I needed to put down into words and visuals exactly what functions each would have, and what parts of their steel skeletons would need to be specialised depending on what each character was about.

  I felt myself smile as I looked down upon my work… I don’t know why, but I already felt a strong affection for these robotic clown girls, which didn’t even exist yet…

  Ah… I worked too much. The sun is already rising. I should have slept. Well, not like it matters much. I can handle not sleeping for a while, thanks to my knight training and such, not to mention that my office at the restaurant actually featured a small bed.

  I could just take a nap there if I really wanted to…

  Today is another day. Life goes on, even if some are left behind.

  Hopefully, nothing happens to piss me off today, but I have an inkling that I am going to get mad. People would say unreasonably mad, even. I wouldn’t, though. If something happens to make me angry, my wrath will absolutely be one hundred per cent justified.

  But hey, surely my well-honed instincts that have never failed me are wrong this one time! Ahah…

  …I swear, they better be careful. My fuses are even shorter than normal lately.