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The four shining stars are the crew of the Edens Zero ship and serve as loyal companions underneath the Demon King. Although, Shiki was much too childish and friendly to be associated with such a title. In truth, they were all simply good friends who helped each other on their journey to the space goddess known as Mother.
However, the shining stars, save for Homura, are not humans, they are androids. That means that no matter how his friends like Rebecca or Shiki may see it, or what Homura may believe, the stars could not fully comprehend or express emotions like humans can. There is just no possible way to completely replicate hormones and chemicals such as endorphins, dopamine, or oxytocin that make up human emotion. There may be programs and data that can closely match these chemicals, but it is unlikely that science will ever reach a point to create a perfect replica.
At least, that is what Weisz had believed when he first joined the Edens Zero crew. He had always been a straight-laced man, but ending up fifty years in the future had thrown him off for quite a long time. In fact, he was still getting used to all the technological and societal advancements. Even still, he could not believe that data programming and mechanical engineering had advanced so far as to give robots emotions.
However, as he lived with and spent his time with the stars, he saw how easily they laughed, got angry, and even cried. Weisz wasn’t sure what it was that made them act that way, but as a mechanic himself, he was curious to find out what their so-called ‘heart’ truly was.
“You’re still tinkering here in the lab?” A voice suddenly said, pulling Weisz out of his thoughts.
Weisz looked up from the workbench where he was sitting and saw Hermit, one of the shining stars, standing in the doorway.
“I want to improve the ether output on arsenal. I keep over exerting the power drive every time I fight, and I’d prefer not to suddenly de-suit and reveal my secret identity.” He told her, looking back to the suit displayed in front of him on the table.
“Everyone already knows it’s you, Weisz.” Hermit teased, walking over to stand beside him. “But if you want to increase your output, you can try remodifying the ether core to have a higher R.P.M so that the suit can gather more ether from you.”
“I’ve already tried that, but the suit keeps overheating and the coolant system can’t keep up.”
“Let me see.” She said leaning over Weisz’s shoulder to take a closer look at the weaponized suit.
Weisz felt himself warm up from her close contact, despite her metal body not emitting any body heat. He then leaned away to give her greater access to the table.
Hermit analyzed the suit’s configuration, her eyes lighting up with visible data as she did so. After a moment, she pulled away and brought up a holographic image of the suit.
“Here’s your issue.” She said, pointing to the coolant system. “Your two main terminals are spinning in opposite directions, which is inhibiting their performance.”
Weisz groaned and slapped a hand over his face. It was such an idiotic mistake and he hadn’t even realized that he made it. Hermit frowned at him and turned off the hologram.
“It isn’t like you to miss something so obvious. Are you slowing down on me?” She asked with a cheeky grin, trying to lighten his mood.
Weisz merely huffed and laid his head on his arms over the table. Hermit was right, it wasn’t like him to make such a simple mistake. At this rate, he couldn’t be a proper hero if he’s always distracted. But that doesn’t mean that he could so easily do away with his curiosity as well.
Peeking his head up from his arms, Weisz gazed over at Hermit and noticed that her smile had fallen away and turned into a concerned frown. He felt a twinge somewhere inside him; he didn’t like to see his friend sad, especially on his account. Seeing her like that reminded him too much of the time he had been captured by Professor Müller, and how he had almost failed to protect her.
But another part of him wondered how she was able to feel that pain, and cry because of it.
“Hermit, what does it mean to have a ‘heart’?” He asked in a hushed tone, but regretted asking his question the moment it left his mouth.
Hermit paused for a moment, taken by surprise by the off topic question.
“That’s… not an easy question to answer. The whole idea of hearts is still a vague concept to us androids.” She said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “But, for me, my heart is what allows me to feel joy, and what allows me to feel sorrow.”
“What makes you happy?” Weisz asked before he could stop himself.
“Isn’t that a little nosy?” She laughed lightly. “Hmph, well I guess I like my friends, surprises… and maybe gifts as well? Why do you want to know about hearts?”
Weisz turned and looked back at his suit, and he began to fiddle around with it half-heartedly as the warm feeling from before returned.
“Just… curious is all.” He murmured. “Thank you for your help with arsenal.”
“Don’t mention it. But you should consider getting some rest. According to the ship’s internal clock, it’s well past midnight.”
“Then shouldn’t you be asleep?” Weisz retorted.
“I’m an android.” She replied, walking towards the door. “I don’t need to sleep.”
Weisz watched her go and continued to stare at the door king after it closed. Oddly enough, he felt a sense of longing and wanted to keep talking to her. She had been rather busy lately, modifying and updating the Edens Zero in order to stand up to the Edens One, who vastly outpowered them. She hardly came around anymore and was usually held up in the flight deck and computer room. Weisz had offered to help her, but she claimed that his “rookie programming skills” would only impede on her work.
Weisz let out an indignant huff at the thought and stood up from the workbench and retracted the suit back into his watch. He would continue his repair later, for now he would heed Hermit’s advice and go to sleep.
The halls of the Edens were eerily quiet and his footsteps seemed to echo around him. Once he reached his room, he quickly stripped down, as he preferred to sleep nude, turned out the light, and crawled into bed to sleep.
Yet the minutes continued to tick by and, despite the late hour, Weisz laid awake in bed, his mind too restless to sleep. He thought about what Hermit had said earlier when he asked about the concept of hearts. Her heart allows her to feel happiness and pain, which he has seen before. He saw her happy when she was welcomed back onto the ship after she defeated Spider; and he saw her in pain when she learned that Valkyrie was dead.
He could say the exact same thing for the other androids. Witch, Sister, Pino, and even Mosco have all displayed a wide range of emotional intelligence since he had come to know them. If he truly wanted to know more about the mechanical makeup of an android's heart he could simply ask them. Yet, he wanted to know more about Hermit’s heart.
He wants to know what makes her happy. He wants to know what makes her laugh. He wants to know what angers her. He wants to know what makes her sad.
Weisz then sat up and got out of bed, quickly dressed, and left his room.
He had gotten the perfect idea to see her ‘heart’.
\[>~<]/
“Heya, Hemit, can I steal you for a moment?” Weisz asked, popping into the flight deck where Hermit was currently busy with her work.
Shiki and Rebecca were also there, along with Happy resting on her head, filming a new video of them attempting to fly the ship for Rebecca’s B-Cube channel. Witch stood at a close distance, giving them directions and advice.
“I’m in the middle of monitoring the Edens’ data, can it wait?” Hermit asked without looking away from her holographic screens.
“It can’t!” He replied, walking towards her and whispering, “It’s about my secret identity!”
“You mean arsenal?” Rebecca laughed from her seat besides Shiki at the helm.
“Shh, you shouldn’t say that so easily!” Weisz complained.
“Right, right.” The three of them all said at the same time.
Hermit then sighed and looked over at Weisz, her eyes still full of data. It was a sight that Weisz never quite got used to seeing, but found intriguing at the same time.
“I’ll meet you in the lab in ten minutes, Weisz. I’m almost done with my analyses.”
Weisz grinned happily and took his leave after giving her, and the other dorks, a quick goodbye. He decided to set up the lab for her arrival while he waited. He had been up almost all night preparing the perfect thing to reveal Hermit’s heart and had only slept a few hours.
It was a little hard for him to decide exactly what to do for his little experiment—although he loathed to call it that since he knew Hermit had a bad history with experiments—but he had a few ideas that he could work with.
In the end, it was a test of how much he truly knew Hermit and what she likes.
The ten minutes passed by sooner than Weisz had expected and it was time for the big reveal. He was just finishing up the final touches on the display when he heard footsteps outside the door. Quickly, he jumped up, shut off the lights, and hid behind the table.
The mechanical door opened with a woosh and Hermit walked it, albeit a little hesitant due to the darkness of the room.
“Weisz?” She called out nervously, scanning the room with her thermal vision.
Suddenly, the lights switched back on and Weisz jumped up from behind the workbench and yelled, “Surprise!” as confetti shot out from some miniature cannons he modified.
Hermit jumped back, startled by the unexpected yell, but froze when she noticed the set up. The lab had been decorated with plushies both small and large of all different kinds of alien creatures, and in the middle stood a dress form with a new outfit she had not seen before.
“What‘a this?” She asked, crossing the room to the dress display.
“It’s a surprise gift.” Weisz said, “I know you like fashion, so I whipped this up in the dress factory.”
“It’s a bunny-girl sailor outfit.” She said with a cocked eyebrow.
Weisz winced a little, thinking he made the wrong decision to go with the sailor outfit instead of the maid outfit.
“Do you like it?” He asked nervously.
“It’s definitely something you would pick out, but…” She smiled softly and pulled him into a hug. Weisz felt himself warm up again and awkwardly hugged her back. “I like it, thank you Weisz. But what is all about?”
“I just wanted to see a little bit of your ‘heart.’” Weisz replied with a small shrug, pulling away, but not straying too far.
Hermit met him with a confused grin and laughed.
“Well? Did you like it?”
Weisz lifted a hand to his chin in mock thought and Hermit huffed and gave him a light smack, making him laugh too.
He wasn’t sure what he had seen exactly from her response to his present. He was no closer to understanding the mechanical function of a heart than he was before. In the end, he just made her happy. And in all honesty, that was enough for him to feel satisfied, although he wasn’t quite sure why.
It was ironic in a way. He had been so focused on trying to understand Hermit’s heart that he failed to understand his own.
“Yeah, I did.”