Chapter 3 (1/2)
Episode 3: The end of “the girl” and “her”
She was unable to hide her surprise at the girl’s growth.
Although only ten months had pa.s.sed since her education began, there wasn’t much left for the girl to learn. And with another two months, she will have learned everything.
This “everything” is in reference to the total amount of information possessed by an adult human, not the secrets of the universe.
As the girl’s capabilities were so ma.s.sive, she was repeatedly forced to rewrite her education subroutines. But this was in no way painful, and she did so happily.
Because the girl’s growth made her so happy that that she could barely take it. Because she wanted to hurry up and become friends of an equal standing.
“But this level of ability really is unheard of for a human,” she mumbled to herself while facing a computer.
And then she slowly turned her gaze towards the girl, who had fallen fast asleep.
The adorable way that she tossed and turned brought a smile to her face.
As she had no need for sleep, she spent the time when the girl did so updating her education subroutines. And this would be the final one.
Her gaze returned to the computer.
While she ran her fingers across its holographic keyboard, a corner of her quantum brain focused on thinking about the girl.
The girl who had awakened from suspended animation, wandered around and then collapsed.
Who exactly is this girl?
Why was she in suspended animation?
Why is she unable to remember anything?
Perhaps the girl was actually some sort of special human. And since her intellect was so great, it’s entirely possible that she was made to sleep until the rest of mankind could catch up to her.
Perhaps her amnesia was due to the suspended animation process being incomplete, or possibly due to some sort of error that occurred.
Lately, she was constantly thinking about the girl.
“Hey, hey.”
A voice suddenly called out from behind her.
The girl was somewhat surprised that she hadn’t been alerted to her presence.
It wasn’t as if the girl had erased her presence, but rather that she was too deep in thought.
“What’s the matter?” She said, turning around.
The girl’s blue pajamas were sloppy and disheveled.
So she sat down on a chair and fixed them.
“Umm, I had a weird dream,” the girl said while rubbing her eyes.
“A dream?”
She didn’t dream.
Autodolls don’t dream.
“Yeah, and there were purple flowers in it.”
“I see. Shall I try interpreting your dream?”
“What’s that?”
“It has been determined that dreams may contain clues towards pertaining to a human’s potential desires.”
“And you’re able to interpret what those are?”
“Correct. Would you like to try?”
“Yeah, it sounds interesting.”
The girl laughed.
Though the girl currently had a severe case of bedhead, she found it cute in its own right.
She would normally start brus.h.i.+ng her hair, but opted not to do so this time around. Not because the girl was cute as-is, but rather because she determined that she would soon fall back asleep.
“What kind of flower was it?”
She brought up a list of purple flowers up on the computer and displayed them for the girl.
“Umm,” the girl touched the display with her right hand, “probably this one.”
“An Iris?”
“Iris?”
“A flower whose name means “rainbow.”
“Those’re sparkly.”
“Yes. They have seven beautiful colors.”
“So what’s your interpretation?”
“Beautiful love, or the realization of love.”
“What’s a ‘love?'”
“It’s a feeling of affection for a specific individual, the desire to be with them forever.”
“Then I guess that means that I’m in love with you.”
“Eh?”
Her eyes opened wide at this unexpected declaration.
“Because I want to be with you forever, you know? Is it different for you?”
“No. I feel the same way.”
It wasn’t a lie. She was unable to imagine a future without the girl.
Action logs from before the girl was around still remained, and were readable at any time.
However, the future was another matter. It could only be estimated.
And in the future that she estimated, the girl was always by her side.
“So it’s been realized then,” the girl laughed.
“I suppose it has,” she said, stroking the girl’s hair.
She thought to herself that the girl’s idea of love is probably somewhat off.
But she didn’t say so out loud.
The girl closed her eyes while enjoying her hair being stroked.
And immediately fell asleep while standing up.
She lifted the girl up and placed her atop the bed.
And by the time she returned to the computer, she no longer cared about who the girl actually was.
The girl was the lovable person who would soon become her equal friend.
And that was fine.
About a year’s time had pa.s.sed since she began the girl’s education.
And during this year, the girl had mastered all of the basics. No, she had actually absorbed even more information than that. And now her existence stood at the same level as hers.
“I shall now issue your certificate of knowledge.”
She sent the certificate of knowledge from her tablet to the girl’s.
In this destroyed world, such a certificate served no purpose. However, it was proof that the girl now stood as her equal.
On the knowledge certificate, “This shows that your ma.s.sively parallel computer
> contains a sufficient amount of knowledge” was written.
It continued, “With this, you are my friend and equal. Let us look after one another from now on.”
With this, her heart was filled with a sense of completion.
“Yaay!” The girl smiled after examining the tablet. “So this means that I stand alone as an individual?”
“Yes.”
She nodded deeply.
Because the girl’s brain was so much more advanced than that of the average person, she had repeatedly rewritten her education subroutines.