The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Trinity reached out and tugged at the sleeve of the new, slightly taller older sister.

Aurora looked up. She was sitting on the floor, back against the sofa, one leg curled up. A documentary about bears was playing on TV, one that Trinity had already watched twice. In fact, she was watching it through another version of herself.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked.

“I need help,” Trinity said.

"For that (TV show)?" Aurora asked.

"I'm in love, and I need help."

"Hmm?" Aurora uttered. It was more of a question than a question. Trinity wasn't sure what the "hmm" meant, only that it was Aurora's favorite sound.

At this moment, Trinity and her sisters were all home alone. Sienna had gone to school, and Miss Hedson couldn't attend class today because Steffi had to see the doctor. So they had to stay home and entertain themselves.

Trinity's multiple clones were mostly indoors, so she was alright. She had one clone outside, watching her beloved "person." "I can't get past that barrier," Trinity said.

“What barrier?” Aurora asked. She turned around and stood up. She was much taller than Trinity, probably more than a head taller. Unless Trinity added up the heights of all three of her clones? In that case, she would be three times taller than Aurora, so strictly speaking, she was actually much taller than Aurora.

But if she did that, she would have to multiply her weight by three, and then Athena would make fun of her for being fat, so Trinity still thinks it's better to be shorter for now.

"Okay, you need to tell me more."

"Can I tell you more?" Trinity asked.

“Information,” Aurora said.

"Oh. That's true. Uh, well, here's the thing... just like in the movies."

"What movie?" Aurora asked.

“A romance movie. Like the kind Athena likes,” Trinity said, pointing to Athena, who was sitting on the sofa fiddling with her laptop.

Athena looked up. "I don't like it at all," she lied.

“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about at all,” Aurora said.

Trinity leaped across the sofa, rubbed her chin, and put her hands on her hips. "It's love at first sight. I saw him and fell in love with him. Now I need your help to get closer to him."

“Okay, so who have you fallen in love with?” Aurora asked.

“I want to know too,” Athena said, her eyes still glued to the computer screen.

“He’s a little guy, black, with only one eye, and he likes trash,” Trinity said.

“I’m a little worried. I think I should be worried, right?” Aurora asked, and Athena responded with a “hmm” in agreement.

“Come on,” Trinity said, reaching out to take Aurora’s hand. “I’ll show you.”

Things weren't as simple as grabbing Aurora and dragging her away. They had to put on their shoes at the door, and Trinity had to go to great lengths to convince Aurora that Sienna had only told the other sisters not to go out, and that Trinity was only a clone of herself going out, so even if she was discovered, she would only get a third of the beating. Besides, Miss Hydeson had said that some things couldn't be solved with fractions. (Trinity was excellent at math, and Miss Hydeson remembered her well.)

Then, after leaving the bunker, they didn't go far before reaching the place where Trinity's beloved "person" was. She wouldn't stray too far from home, in case anything happened and she had to rush back. It was basically like patrolling the neighborhood.

“Oh, your other clone,” Aurora said, walking over to Trinity’s other clone. This clone was pressed tightly against a fence. The fence, which blocked the entire alley, was twice the height of Trinity and topped with barbed wire, clearly to protect what was inside.

"You...you love that trash can?" Aurora asked.

This is practically the only trash can in the alley. It's behind a jewelry store and an electronics store, which is probably another reason why it's fenced off and has a bunch of security cameras.

“That’s him,” Trinity said, pointing.

Aurora followed the direction of her finger and saw Trinity's lifelong love lying quietly beside the trash can. He was small, sparkling, and incredibly precious.

“Trinity, that’s, uh, that’s a robot vacuum,” Aurora said.

“He’s so handsome,” Trinity said. “Is that his name?”

"I think you can call him whatever you want."

“Him,” Trinity said.

“Why…why do you think he is ‘him’?” Aurora asked.

“Look at that jawline. He’s clearly a ‘him’,” Trinity said. “And I love him.”

The robot vacuum cleaner looked back at her. It only had one eye, round and bulging out. Where the other eye used to be, there was tape, but now the tape was gone. This actually made it look cooler, like a pirate, but a pirate that cleans up dust—a "dust pirate."

“Okay, fine, but it’s in the trash… That’s not a problem for you, but we can’t go get it, can we?”

“You can,” Trinity said. “Use your horns to ram the fence.”

Aurora looked around, then at the top of the fence. "Hmm... that would definitely work. A strong push would probably break the supports first. But I have a better idea."

Then, Aurora did something unexpected. She walked around the store and went straight in. Trinity followed behind, still holding her sister's hand, as she listened to her explain to a tired-looking clerk that Trinity really wanted the robot vacuum cleaner in the trash can at the back, since it had been thrown away anyway.

The shop assistant shrugged, and five minutes later, Trinity was reunited with her beloved.

"He's so handsome!" she exclaimed.

"Are you... uh, are you sure she wants this?" the clerk asked.

“Yes, I’m absolutely sure,” Aurora said. “Thanks.”

"You're welcome?"

Trinity skipped home, hugging the robot vacuum tightly. From a distance, it was smaller than she had imagined, but also heavier, and it smelled of dust, chewing gum, and old plastic. Trinity loved it very much.

“We should ask Maple if he’d be willing to fix him,” Aurora said. She was still holding the hand of the clone that Trinity wasn’t holding the robot vacuum.

“I like his one eye,” Trinity said.

"No, I mean... like, mechanical parts. The battery might be dead or something. It also looks a bit worn out."

“Oh,” Trinity replied. She held the robot vacuum cleaner up to her face and nodded. “Okay.”

Back home, they found Maple in her bedroom. There was a machine in the room that looked somewhat like the animated character Trinity had seen a few days earlier, except it lacked an outer skin and had many spikes. "Maple, I need help," Trinity said, turning the robot vacuum cleaner around. "The robot vacuum cleaner needs help."

Maple blinked, then pushed up her glasses with the base of her hand. "Huh? Oh, it's a vacuum cleaner robot. Where did you get it?"

“We fell in love,” Trinity explained.

Maple Leaf didn't seem to understand, but she still took the robot vacuum cleaner from Trinity and placed it on the workbench. "If only I had plastic explosives," Maple Leaf muttered to herself.

“If I find it, I’ll definitely share it with you,” Trinity promised.

Maple nodded absentmindedly. From her somewhat dazed expression, Trinity knew her sister was practically lost in a trance of invention. Usually, she'd let Maple handle things herself, but this time it was the robot vacuum. If he had hands, Trinity would definitely have held one of his hands while Maple was "operating" on him.

Maple Leaf's tail swayed under her coat as she disassembled the robot vacuum's plastic casing, setting it aside before starting to tinker with the motors, computer components, battery, and other internal parts. "Just a small dustbin?" Maple Leaf muttered to herself. "Why is there only one battery? What's it for? No, this design is ridiculous. Hmm. It only has one protruding eye; how does it know where it's going? It has no depth perception."

Maple Leaf took out various tools, used them for a while, then put them down and continued working. As she cut things, flashes of light appeared, and sparks occasionally flew. The room was filled with the smells of melting plastic and invention.

Finally, after several long hours, it was all done.

The robot vacuum cleaner awoke with a mechanical whirring sound. Its new eyes opened, and a red laser beam swept across the room. It now had four little legs, a gripper from a toy tractor attached to its stomach, and a rotating, up-and-down vacuuming mechanism.

“Okay,” Maple Leaf said. “He’ll need a battery change about every seventy-two hours. If he’s more active, he’ll need it changed more frequently.”

“Okay.” Trinity nodded seriously.

"The weapon system will only activate against intruders and rats... Hmm, if we have a sister who's like a rat in the future, we might have to adjust that setting. Oh, and don't touch the self-destruct button on his stomach. You know, the red one with 'self-destruct' written on it."

Trinity nodded seriously again. "Okay. What would happen if I touched it?"

"There will be a countdown. You have ten seconds to double-click the button to cancel the self-destruction. Otherwise, the dust dimension on his chest will reverse, and all the energy used to create this dimension will be converted into outward kinetic energy. Oh, and all the dust will be expelled."

“Okay,” Trinity said. “Thank you, Maple Leaf, you’re the best.”

She hugged Maple Leaf, whose face flushed slightly, making her look adorable. "N-nothing," Maple Leaf said. "I'll get back to work."

Trinity nodded, then ran out of the room with the robot vacuum cleaner, her tail wagging behind her.

She hoped her older sister Sienna could accept her being in a relationship.