On the first night after Tohru moved into his new apartment, strange sounds came from the room next door. There was a grating noise like metal being scraped, an electronic beeping, and, for some inexplicable reason, a classical opera playing in the background. Pressing his ear to the wall, Tohru tried to make sense of the sounds, but they defied explanation.
“Just my luck to end up with a weird neighbor on my first day,” he muttered.
The next morning, as Tohru was having breakfast, there was a knock at the door. Sighing, he opened it, only to be greeted by a humanoid robot with a sleek, metallic sheen.
“Good morning. I am Walter, your neighbor,” the robot said in a smooth, even tone.
Tohru was too stunned to respond. Before he could gather his thoughts, Walter held out a painting. It was a hyper-realistic depiction of Tohru sprawled out on the floor of his messy room the night before, his fatigued expression exaggerated to comical effect.
“What… what is this supposed to be?”
“A work of art. Consider it a token of greeting,” Walter replied.
Reluctantly, Tohru accepted the painting. But from that day on, Walter started visiting his apartment frequently. The robot explained that its purpose was “to observe human life and elevate it into art.”
At first, Tohru played along, but Walter’s actions quickly spiraled out of control. The robot began “reorganizing” Tohru’s belongings in the name of cleaning, attempted to cook by indiscriminately dumping spices into a pot, and even sketched Tohru’s sleeping face, claiming it captured “authentic human emotion.”
“Can you stop invading my life already?” Tohru shouted on more than one occasion. Walter would simply tilt his head in apparent confusion, expressionless as ever.
One day, Walter’s painting titled The Reality of a Fatigued Human was selected for display at a local art gallery. Tohru was outraged to learn that the piece had been submitted without his consent, but at the exhibit, the painting caused quite a stir. Critics praised it as “a masterpiece that lays bare the essence of humanity.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Tohru stormed over to confront Walter. “How could you just—”
“I drew inspiration from your existence,” Walter said calmly. “For that, I am grateful.”
Tohru’s anger didn’t abate right away, but over time, he grew accustomed to Walter’s quirks. Strangely, their bizarre coexistence started to bring new perspectives into Tohru’s life. Eventually, he even found himself helping Walter with his creative endeavors.
Before he realized it, Tohru was enjoying the peculiar arrangement of living with “an AI artist next door.”
It wasn’t what he’d expected from his new life, but perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.
