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 brushing 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.
In her eyes, these were truly joyous miscalculations. For in just a year, the girl had gained enough knowledge to survive on her own.
If the girl had been an average human, her education would have required ten years.
And if mankind still existed, there’s no question as to what word would have been used to refer to her.
“Genius.”
The girl’s abilities would have likely been a ma.s.sive contribution to mankind. But those humans were already gone, and this world only contained her, an Autodoll.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” the girl said.
Her blue eyes were twinkling. And it wasn’t from the light of the chandelier reflecting off of them, either.
“What is it?”
She tilted her head.
“Now that I’ve been recognized as an individual, I want a name.”
“A name?”
“Yeah. A name. And I think you need one, too.”
She didn’t think so. As this world only contained the two of them, there was no need for personal p.r.o.nouns. Since there was no opportunity to interact with other sentient lifeforms.
Here, there only existed “me” and “you.” It made no difference if it was from her perspective or from that of the girl. As such, they ought to simply continue on as “me” and “you.”
However…
“When considering the possibility of encountering other sentient lifeforms in the future, it should be fine to think of names.”
Her life was rooted in efficiency and logic. However, it’s not as if she was hard-headed. She felt no fear when facing the unknown.
For evolution, change is necessary. Because it’s impossible to achieve different results through the repet.i.tion of the same actions.
“Thank goodness!” The girl brought her hands together in a display of happiness. “Umm, I want you to come up with a name for me. I was going to say that I’d come up with one for you too as thanks, but I’ve actually already thought of one.”
“Ah- is that bad?”
The girl became somewhat embarra.s.sed upon seeing how shocked she was.
“No, no,” she waved her hands in a panic, “it’s not bad at all. I’m actually really happy. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
“Really?”
The girl looked at her with upturned eyes.
Her heart began to tighten up. But this feeling of pressure wasn’t in any way unpleasant. Much the opposite, she actually wanted to ask for permission to hug the girl right this instant.
But she restrained herself.
“Really. The thought of you coming up with a name for me makes me so incredibly happy.”
“Thank goodness…”
Upon hearing her response, the girl placed a hand to her chest in relief.
And then she immediately began smiling the way she always did when she thinking up some sort of prank.
“So do you want to hear it?”
Even though the girl should want to tell her, she still put on airs. She realized right away that this was only because she enjoyed this kind of back-and-forth.
So she played along.
“Of course.” She leaned forward with her entire body as if telling the girl to hurry up. “I want to hear it.”
What kind of name had the girl came up for her? Though she possessed no actual heart, she felt as if hers was pounding.
“‘Kay. So… you’re really nice, you know?”
“Is that so?”
She had no knowledge as to whether or not she was kind, but her ethics subroutines were functioning properly.
“It is. Did you not notice?”
“No. I have no awareness of such.”
“Then be aware of it right now.”
“Understood. I am nice.”
“Yes. Very good.”
She laughed at the way the girl puffed out her chest.
“And well… your hair, it’s really pretty. Like a deep darkness, you know?”
“Like… darkness?”
She found that to be a uncommon way of describing it. Normally, one would simply say that she had black hair.
“Yeah. Isn’t it nice and poetic?”
“I see. You’re using colorful language.”
The girl loved poems and literature.
“So your name’ll be written like ‘kind darkness’ and read as ‘Yuuyami.’ What do you think?”
The girl looked right at her with eyes that held mixed feelings of unease and antic.i.p.ation.
She a.n.a.lyzed the name “Yuuyami.”
First, the way it sounded. Yuuyami. Perfect. Beautiful.
Yuuyami. Truly beautiful.
Next was its kanji. “A Kind Darkness.”
[TN: 優闇]
The word “darkness” doesn’t normally have a very good connotation, but the girl didn’t hold this view. A kind darkness. While drifting in the sea of consciousness, a lifeform must be enveloped in a kind darkness. That is how she felt.
“I like it,” she said, forming a smile. “Thank you so much. I truly am happy.”
These were her genuine feelings. As a matter of course, she never lied. Not because it wasn’t necessary, but rather because she didn’t possess any subroutines for it. And she never would feel the need to incorporate any in the future.
“Yaay!”
The girl pumped her fist.
“And I suppose that now I need to pick a name for you.”
“Yeah. And make it cute, okay?”
The girl sent her a gaze that was filled with antic.i.p.ation.
She picked out 100 names that were popular with Caucasian females from the database.
And then she overlaid each of these names onto the girl, comparing both the name and its image.
This was extremely important. It was best that the name mirrored her mental image as closely as possible. One would never give a lion the name of “Pochi.”
Idea a.s.sociation. As her database had a basic relation structure, similar groups of data were matched with one another. This way, she was able to overlay both the names and their meanings.
Overlaying one name in particular onto the girl, she ended the operation. She felt that this name suited the girl extremely well.
“What do you think of ‘Lydia?"”
There weren’t many matches for the name “Lydia.” The only connections were that it was the same name as an asteroid, and also that of a kingdom that flourished in ancient times. In other words, it was close to a blank slate.
The girl had lost her memories, and resumed function in a state which was also close to that of a blank slate. As such she believed that a name that presently held little meaning yet could change to hold its own in the future was best.
And she also liked the way that “Lydia” sounded.
“Lydia, Lydia…… yeah, it’s cute.”
The girl displayed her happiness with a satisfied smile.
“Then from now on, I’m Lydia and you’re Yuuyami.”
“Yeah. We possess the ability to stand on our own, yet we can also come to each other’s aid. In other words, friends. Nice to meet you, Yuuyami.”
“Yes. And it is nice to meet you, Lydia.”
“She” became “Yuuyami,”
and “the girl” became “Lydia.”
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