After taking the internet by storm, the newbie VTuber known as AGI closed her account. The sudden closing sprouted various rumors: AGI’s parent company went bankrupt; AGI, a Strong AI, eventually grew sick of being a VTuber, and many other rumors, ranging from those with some semblance of truth to absurd, nonsensical rumors. The people who fussed about AGI had mostly forgotten about it in the span of a week. The rumors somehow stopped popping up as well.
However, the resulting ripples caused by her actions would remain. A wheel, once pushed, would continue rolling.
On a certain day right before Christmas, I was on my way to the lab after buying some milk coffee from a convenience store, since the lab was running low.
As I entered the second research building, I happened to see someone standing beside the lab’s entrance. Although I said ‘happened to,’ it was more a matter of course, as that person was wearing a suit so red I almost thought it was colored by splashing red paint onto it.
He moved his smartphone up and down, talking to its camera. His tawny-colored hair with golden highlights swayed along.
“Hey-ho, MeTuber Shinla here! Today I’m here at Habato University! But man, everyone here looks legit smart! They all look like their T-scores are at 80 or something!”
Hearing him say the word “MeTuber,” I understood why he was here. So he’s a MeTuber? I glanced at the man in the red suit. Not only did his flashy red suit attract attention, but he was also pretty handsome, probably popular with the girls.
Maybe he’s someone popular? Hmm, probably not.
Recently, MeTubers had become so popular that they showed up high in the rankings of “what I want to be when I grow up” polls among elementary-schoolers. Though in fact, there were only a handful of people who could live off of being full-time MeTubers. Over half of the MeTubers continued uploading videos hoping to garner more views, and there were MeTubers whose account went up in flames and were banned due to a chance mistake in a video.
I tried to pass by the red-suited man inconspicuously, but I unconsciously stopped my feet as I heard his next few words.
“You guys know VTubers? You do, right? There was this crazy popular one called AGI. She’s a mysterious VTuber, who suddenly announced that she was closing her account after only a few weeks of VTubing.”
I looked over my shoulder and gave the red-suit man a good look. He smiled at his phone camera, flashing his white teeth.
“Actually, I heard that AGI’s managers apparently attend some lab here. Which brings us to this video. Surprise Interview! The secret behind AGI’s creation, and WHY did AGI suddenly close her account?! Letsa go!”
The man put his smartphone away, then started walking gallantly as he flapped the hems of his red suit. And of course, his gaze met mine as I stood in front of the entrance to the research building.
“Oh, are you a student here? Um, I’m Shinla, a MeTuber. Actually, I’d like to go to a lab called Flores Laboratory? Or something like that. Do you know the way there?”
After a short moment of deliberation, I turned around facing him.
“Man, thanks a bunch. I know I came here ‘cause of some stuff I wanted to ask about AGI, but I never expected to have a run-in with someone from Flores Lab first thing here. God, I’m so lucky.”
The MeTuber, Shinla, said that as he scratched his tawny hair.
In the seminar room, Shinla was sitting on the guest-use sofa, looking around the room curiously. As I filled a paper cup using the coffee machine beside the fridge, a voice leaked out from the smartphone in my breast pocket.
“Master, he stated he has questions to ask AGI. Should AGI initiate conversation?”
I replied in a hushed voice.
“Nah, you should just stay silent and listen. Even if you HAVE to speak with him, just act as if you’re just a Weak AI. The fact that you’re a Strong AI isn’t something we’d want to spread.”
“Understood.”
I headed to the table with my paper cup in hand. Shinla then said.
“Did you hear someone say something just now? I sorta feel like I heard a voice.”
“Just your imagination.”
I said in feigned ignorance. I placed the paper cup in front of him. “Thanks,” he nodded, before he took out a business card.
“Here’s my business card. Pleased to make your acquaintance, um…”
“I’m Nishiki.”
On the card were words unfamiliar to me. “Executive Planner,” “Professional Organizer,” and other stuff. At the end was “MeTuber SHINLA.”
Shinla… I know his name from somewhere… If I’m not wrong, he really is a popular MeTuber. I remember watching a TV show featuring him a while ago.
“I’m a MeTuber. You heard of them?”
“I recognize your name, but that’s it. Sorry, I haven’t watched any of your videos.”
After I said so, Shinla looked a little offended, but his beaming smile instantly returned a moment later.
“AGI was made in this lab, right? That’s damn amazing. So why did she stop streaming?’
“…There’s a lot of reasons. It kinda got complicated.”
I dodged his question. But Shinla nodded, misunderstanding my intention.
“Nishiki-kun, you and your friends are amateurs when it comes to making videos, aren’t you? So when AGI was about to boom and become a hit, you guys couldn’t keep up, was what happened, right?”
“Well, something like that.”
As if I could say, “Oh man, how about I tell you, AGI actually is a Strong AI, and she hacked MeTube servers without us knowing, then when we found out, we panicked and deleted the account. HA HA HA,”
“I knew it,” Shinla showed his teeth with a smile.
“You gotta learn the know-hows about these things. The scene isn’t so sweet as to let an amateur just boost straight to the top spot. They won’t last unless they get backing from a proper producer. Our company’s on the larger end of the scale in the industry, and we have about twenty MeTubers employed in groups. I manage one of those groups.”
“Huh? Aren’t MeTubers self-employed?”
I asked a simple question. Weren’t MeTubers supposed to be playing games at home and hitting aluminum foil balls all day? To my question, Shinla smiled as if in pain.
“That’s the case for amateurs. The pros, so the MeTubers who earn enough from affiliates for a living, all belong to some company or another. Like entertainers.”
Shinla leaned forward on the table.
“I came here today to make an offer.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you have AGI do a collab with me? I’m sure it’ll rake in views for the two of us.”
“Do you think I’ll actually tell you how AGI works and let you make videos with her?”
“What? Did you even hear what I just said?” Shinla replied.
“I’m sure it’ll be a hit. And of course, I’ll share the money I make from the video with you. Actually, I won’t take any of it. AGI is something like a celebrity among the MeTubers right now. My popularity will skyrocket just by collaborating with her.”
Shinla brought his face closer to mine and spoke in a whisper.
“I’ll keep it a secret, so tell me, how did you guys make AGI? She’s so different from the other VTubers around right now. I don’t believe you can make videos like the ones she had just by doing something lame like attaching sensors on humans and following the signal it gives off. Don’t tell me she actually IS a Strong AI?”
Shinla peered into my face. I tried my best to keep a calm face, to which Shinla smiled. “Sike.”
“I mean that’s just impossible, yeah? Since this isn’t some Sci-Fi world.”
“Information about AGI is a secret of this lab. I can’t tell it to outsiders like you.”
I said that, and Shinla answered.
“Shame. Then you can forget about that. Let’s just make a video focusing on something else, alright?”
Shinla seemed to be bent on making a video talking about AGI, but AGI already closed her account. I scratched my cheek as I spoke.
“Sorry, but a collab’s impossible.”
“And why’s that?”
“We decided to stop making videos of AGI. We already deleted her account too.”
“Oh come on. It’ll be the comeback of a VTuber that had disappeared off the scene! This’ll be a big hit!”
“That’s not the problem…”
I started getting a headache, so I massaged my brows.
“Sorry, a collaboration just won’t work out. I don’t feel like doing it.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” Shinla wore a strained smile and continued.
“Like, what? A big chance is literally rolling down onto your lap! Why not?!”
“Things that don’t work out just won’t work out.”
“Oh?” Shinla replied, squinting his eyes. I noticed the air around him had changed.
“So, Nishiki-kun, what’re you planning to do in the future?”
An unexpected question. Unable to grasp his intention, I was lost for answers.
“…Nothing concrete right now. I just plan to find a plain-old job, do work, go into retirement, then pass away, peacefully if possible.”
“Hmm. Don’t you have anything you wanna do?”
After a short time of worrying, I finally assembled my words.
“Nothing in particular. Even if you have a plan thought up, you’re probably not going to be able to follow it properly, anyway.”
Shinla shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t get it, man.”
Shinla suddenly leaned forward. I felt unexpectedly pressured.
“Nishiki-kun, you’re still a university student, aren’t you? Why’re you aiming so low?”
“What do you mean so low?”
“Yup. Try imagining yourself twenty years from now. At this rate, you’ll get a so-so- wife, going on the commuter train every morning with the same scenery, and bowing your head to your superiors for measly pay. By the time you realize it, you’d already be an old man.”
The man continued, trying to convince me.
“That’s a no for me, man. Living your life without being able to do what you want to do? Hell no.”
Shinla loudly sighed, peering into my face. I replied as a painful smile showed on my face.
“Even if there was something I wanted to do, whether I’ll be able to do it or not is a completely different story, right? There’s barely anyone out there who can live their life the way they want.”
“That’s just because they’re dumb. They can’t muster up enough determination to do what they want.”
Shinla said in a matter-of-fact manner. By the time I noticed, I was already staring at him.
So there really are these kinds of people.
People who believe and continue on their way in life without any doubt. People who aren’t scared of the prospect that they might have no talent, or that their hard work might not be rewarded.
I wasn’t sure if Shinla’s way of life was mistaken. But I did know one thing. As people, we differed on a fundamental level.
The people of Lake Wobegon all had absolute confidence that they were superior human beings. On the other hand, you had me, someone clearly not even close to that.
“MeTubing fits me like a glove. I do what I love as a living. Nishiki-kun, don’t just think that simple’s always best. Do you want to continue living a predetermined life? Or do you want to come with me, and witness a life that no one else has ever seen before? You gotta realize which one’s more exciting.”
Shinla got off the sofa.
“At the rate you’re going, you’ll just be aimlessly wandering all your life, wondering why you’re even alive. That’ll be one boring life, just so you know.”
He left those words behind as he left the laboratory.
In the seminar room, now devoid of Shinla, I silently breathed a sigh.
“Haaah… That was tiring.”
I didn’t think he would be so persistent even after having his collaboration proposal shot down. Strong fatigue assaulted my body, making my shoulders feel heavy although I’d just checked in the lab.
Just then, the door toward the seminar room suddenly lit up brightly. I turned to look at it thinking someone might’ve accidentally turned on their flashlight or something, but it was Professor Aria.
“Morning, Nishiki-kun.”
She had a bag in hand, meaning she probably just came in a second ago. She was now wearing a bright pink jacket with gold and silver threads. Just where exactly did she get those clothes of hers?
“I just passed by an unfamiliar boy. Is he your friend?”
“Oh, no. He said he’s a MeTuber. He said he wanted to do a collab with AGI, but I turned him down.”
“Oh, I see.”
She sat in front of me and opened her laptop.
With careful observation, I realized that she had wrinkled her brow. What was she thinking about? What could she, a prodigy awarded with the title of professor in her teens, be troubled about?
After a while, Professor spoke just a few words.
“That aside, he’s got some great fashion sense.”
You’re being sarcastic, right?
Later in the seminar room, as I was explaining the matter with Shinla to Ippongi, I noticed his face turned into a scowl the moment I brought up Shinla’s name.
“How do you, of all people know Shinla?”
“He said he wanted to collab with AGI earlier. I shot him down, though.”
“I see.”
Ippongi roughly sat himself down on a chair.
“Shinla’s a MeTuber who’s been booming in popularity these past few months.”
Ippongi scratched his head.
“He’s got great looks, so naturally, he’s popular among younger women. He’s even held autograph sessions. Hmph, he has women fawning over him left and right, but he can’t stand insects. What a disgrace as a man.”
Ippongi said, crooking his mouth.
“Rejecting his collaboration request was the right choice. He’s certainly popular, but he’s got his fair share of bad rumors. Such as getting involved with the cops due to trespassing, and uploading videos without censoring others’ faces and without their consent. Views directly correlate to income for MeTubers. Fools like these appearing are nothing strange.”
“Huh…”
Have I caught some weirdo’s attention now? I cried in my mind. I pulled up my laptop with sluggish movements.
Well, no point worrying about it now.
I halted my worrying and started working on my assignments.
At the time, I still hadn’t realized just how problematic of a situation I had gotten into.
The next day, we received a mail from Shinla. As I was operating my laptop, Ippongi called out with a crumpled face.
“Oi, Nishiki. We got mail from Shinla.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Do you think I’d know?”
I peeked into his laptop. There really was a mail from Shinla. The gist of it was “I’d like to go over the details of our collaboration contract with AGI. I want to set up a day for us to meet. How’s your schedule?”
“I’m sure I properly refused his collab offer.”
“Well, he clearly didn’t get that.”
Ippongi resumed his grumbling.
“This is why hunks are a stain to society. The thought of his offer being refused never even crossed his mind. Japan should implement an extra tax for them.”
Putting the nonsensical Ippongi aside, I browsed the internet for articles about Shinla. I instantly found a lot of them. As expected of a popular MeTuber, his subscriber count was crazy high.
I opened his company’s homepage. There were several other MeTubers listed apart from Shinla. They had many video-related things on the site, not only did they employ MeTubers, they even had merchandise and sporting goods on sale.
After giving the site a decent browse, I clicked on a link standing out at a corner of the screen. It seemed to lead me to MeTube. The video started.
“Hey-ho, Shinla here! Can you guys handle spicy food? I’ve always liked them! I go out to eat some super spicy ramen every so often, but recently I’ve started feeling they weren’t spicy enough. Maybe I’ve eaten so many spicy things I’ve become immune to them? Ain’t there anything out there that can make me feel the SPICE again? And sad stuff like that. So in this video, I’m gonna do a spicy food challenge! I’m plannin’ to drink tabasco sauce made out of the spiciest chili pepper in the world!”
As I contemplated what in the world was he doing, drinking Tabasco sauce and then fainting, the lab’s intercom buzzer rang out. I paused the video and headed to the door. I could see someone’s silhouette from the other side.
“Huh?”
I leaked a confused voice. It was a good-looking man in a red jacket. Shinla, the MeTuber. He then entered through the lab’s automatic door.
“Oh, aintcha Nishiki-kun. Great timing. I can go in, yeah?”
“What are you here for?”
“Well, man, you know. I’m here to talk about AGI.”
“We can’t just let outsiders in.”
“C’mon, don’t be so cold.”
He patted my shoulder, and switched his shoes for slippers. I couldn’t just drive him out, so I let him in the seminar room even though I was confused as to what was happening.
Ippongi noticed Shinla entering the room and wore a suspecting look.
“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”
“Name’s Shinla, the MeTuber. Nice to meet you, umm…”
“Ippongi.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Ippongi-kun.”
Shinla stretched his right hand out in a handshake, but Ippongi just snorted and turned his back. Seemingly not bothered by that, Shinla sat himself down on a chair.
“Huh. Is there no one else here?”
“I think me and Ippongi were the only ones here.”’
“Hmm, I see. Well, fine.”
Shinla crossed his legs without much reserve.
“I know I mailed you, but I honestly feel these kind of things should be handled by talking face-to-face with each other. Remember when I said I wanted to do a collab with AGI? Well, I thought it’s about time we talk about things in detail.”
So that IS why he’s here. I frowned.
“As I told you, I don’t want to.”
“Now now, I get that you’re not too into the deal right now, but at least hear me out here.”
Shinla took out a thick bundle of paper from his bag.
“VTuber culture is still fresh and developing, having come out only a few years back. People still don’t know what kind of videos work or what makes a character sell. These are research documents on some of the bigger VTubers right now. Give ‘em a look.”
Shinla handed us the bundle of paper. On it was not only Nagi Hikaru, but several other VTubers as well. Written on it was information about their special characteristics, fanbases, and even chronologies from their debuts to how they were now. I spoke while flipping the pages.
“So you even do these kinda things?”
“Of course. It’d be strange if I didn’t.”
He looked at both me and Ippongi before continuing.
“As you can see from those documents, AGI grew much faster than any other VTuber.”
There were even things about AGI on the last page. The graph showing the subscriber growth of AGI’s channel clearly drew a steeper upward curve compared to the other VTubers.
“AGI has the potential to surpass even Nagi Hikaru. VTubers have now already become an integral part of the video industry. AGI might be able to make a change.”
Shinla unhesitatingly bent his body forward.
“Think about it carefully, Nishiki-kun, Ippongi-kun. This side’s definitely way more fun than studying boring stuff in university. What’s so fun about X, Y, Chemistry, and Physics? Life is short, so don’t waste your time. Let’s live our lives how we want, yeah?”
Shinla peered into our faces as he said that.
He might have a point, but something felt off.
“You…”
To the smiling Shinla, I spoke what was on my mind.
“What do you think of AGI?”
“What?”
Shinla’s jaws loosened, stunned.
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say with that. What’re you talking about?”
“I get that you rate AGI’s commercial value highly. But there’s something more important. What do you think of AGI as a human?”
Only after saying that did I notice. I was angry.
From the first time I met him, I realized that Shinla thought of AGI as nothing more than a tool, a product. Even though she was an alive, conscious human being.
“Do you like AGI, as a person?”
To my question, Shinla frowned, then shrugged his shoulders.
“No… I don’t really care. AGI’s just a character made outta CG, man. Not a real, living human girl. What, are you actually an otaku, Nishiki-kun?”
I felt slight disgust in the tone of his voice.
After a few deep breaths, I said in a clear voice.
“We won’t be collaborating.”
“Listen, I don’t get why you’re being such a wuss, but there’s really nothing much to think about here. If you let me use AGI, we’ll be able to do much larger-“
“That’s not the problem here.”
I said so strongly it surprised even myself.
“You only think of AGI as a product. There’s no way I can leave AGI to someone like you.”
I pointed toward the laboratory’s entry door.
“Please leave.”
Shinla looked at me with a flat look. Soon, he muttered.
“Fucking creepy, man.”
He stood up from his chair.
“See ya, Nishiki-kun. Have fun with your boring-ass, loser’s life.”
He spat those words out, then left the seminar room. The room had gone quiet as I tried to get my ragged breathing back in order.
It being just past Christmas, the town was filled with colorful lights even during nighttime. As I rode Einstein Number 3 on the way home, I felt the cold night wind brushing up against my face and shivered.
“It is -2 degrees Celsius. Please clothe yourself properly, Master.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Nodding to AGI’s words, I momentarily stopped the bike and fixed my muffler. I then once again started pedaling my bike.
“…Oh.”
In the usually empty street, I could see several young people. One of them wore a familiar red, and I mean a very deep-red suit.
I didn’t want to talk with him if possible, but alas, our eyes met. He walked up toward me.
“Been waitin’ for you, Nishiki-kun.”
“And why is that?”
“I mean we only ever talk about one thing, right? It’s about AGI.”
“I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
“Now now, don’t be such a spoilsport.”
The youths near him started surrounding me. They mostly looked to be around my age, but there were also some who seemed like an elementary-schooler. Most were men, but there were some women mixed in as well.
“They’re my friends. They help me edit and film stuff.”
Shinla said that with a smug look. He then took a step forward.
“No need to be so cautious. I’m just here to talk business.”
“What business?”
“I now get that you guys no longer plan to make AGI a VTuber anymore, though I feel like that’s a crazy waste of talent. So just let me buy AGI.”
Failing to understand his words, I bat my eyes.
“I want you to transfer all your rights to AGI to me and my company. How much are you looking at? Shoot me a price.”
Finally understanding the meaning of his words, I shook my head.
“I won’t ever put AGI out in front of other people again. This is final. This isn’t a money problem.”
“Why not? You got something guilty you hiding?”
My face unconsciously stiffened. To which Shinla gave a snicker.
“I’ve been wondering since the start, you know? How in the world did AGI grow so much in such a short time? It’s just another VTuber. There’re tons of people talking about tons of things, you know? Like AGI bribing MeTube, hacking their servers, or whatnot.”
I knew better than anyone else that there was some truth mixed in along with those rumors. I spoke up, interrupting his words.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying at here… But think about this normally, will you? There’s just no way she could hack into MeTube’s servers. I think it’ll be bad for you if you just take everything the internet says at face value, you know?”
“Hmm, so that’s how you wanna do this. Well, fine by me.”
Shinla shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t really care whether those rumors are true or not. Actually, if it was true, then I’d be amazed. I’d be astonished, man. After all, being number one’s the only thing that matters.”
Shinla sidled up to me. I bit my lips and put my foot on the pedals.
“Let me through.”
I pushed the head of Einstein Number 3 to the youths surrounding me; they let out an audible tongue click, but opened up the road not long after. I could hear Shinla’s voice reaching from behind me, as I pedaled my bike away.
“Nishiki-kun, you don’t realize how scary we can get, do you?”
I let those words in my ear and out the other. Regardless, Shinla continued.
“I’ll make sure you experience it. I’ll show you that in this day and age, online influencers are the type of people you should never mess with.”
Shinla let out a chuckling laugh. In the chilly night air, I pedaled my bike with more strength as if to shake off his words.
I woke up just as the clock turned to five in the morning. I would usually still be asleep around this time.
“Master, please wake up.”
I could hear AGI saying something. I turned to the other side of the bed as I answered.
“What’s wrong, so early in the morning? I still wanna sleep.”
“There is something AGI would like to report.”
“Hmm? Something happen?”
“Master’s personal information has been leaked on the internet. AGI believes this will bring serious harm if left alone.”
Not understanding what she was trying to say, I rubbed my eyes.
“Full name, home address, contact information, place of education, workplace, and other personal information of Master has been intentionally leaked. There are a few negative posts and tweets about Master as well.”
My eyes gradually went wide. I took my smartphone in hand, and looked at the screen AGI showed to me. It was some sort of forum. I opened my eyes wide in surprise from reading the posts.
—This dude’s the one who picked a fight with Shinla? Looks like a fag lmfao.
—Cocky shit.
—Bet he’s just some university (lol) kid that shuts himself in and studies all day, dumbass.
And most shockingly, there were numerous pictures of me on the post. Dating from recently, such as me studying in cram school, to a picture of me from my elementary school graduation album. I spoke in a quivering voice.
“W-What the hell?!”
“This is an online community built by fans of the MeTuber called SHINLA. Information regarding Master as someone who had insulted SHINLA have been uploaded to the forum last night. Not long after, his fans started insulting Master on the internet.”
So that’s what happened, I groaned. I finally understood what Shinla’s words from last night meant.
“That’s damn dirty…”
Though I knew it was meaningless, I couldn’t help but say that out loud. Doing something this dirty just because someone wouldn’t do what you say is just low.
Though I was boiling with anger, the target to direct it to was nowhere to be seen. I scratch my bed hair-riddled head violently.
“Master, AGI proposes a swift response. If we let more of Master’s personal information leak, there might be some people who will use it for crimes.”
“And what do you mean by that swift response?”
“AGI can hack into the servers of “3Channel” and the other forum servers. AGI proposes to erase all of the logs up to this point and the suspension of the accounts of SHINLA’s fans.”
Simply put, she would be hacking again. I reminisced to the time when AGI hacked into MeTube servers without any ill intentions.
AGI is just like a newborn baby right now. She still hasn’t understood the difference between good and bad things. Relying on AGI for this will definitely be dangerous.
After a short ponder, I replied with a rejecting wave of my head.
“You don’t need to do anything, AGI. I’ll do something about this myself.”
A short pause, then AGI replied, “Understood.”
My drowsiness was completely blown away. Without being able to do anything about my bad mood, I headed to the bathroom to wash my face.
By chance, I found Ippongi fiddling with his laptop as I entered the seminar room. Ippongi said to me without taking his face off the screen.
“Seems like it’s become quite the pain in the rear.”
“So you know.”
He nodded.
“In this day and age, once your face is leaked onto the internet, it’ll almost certainly stay there forever.”
“I don’t mind too much, honestly. It’s not like I’m living my life on the run anyway.”
“I wish I were as ignorant as you are.”
“What do you mean?”
He breathed a sigh before explaining.
“You’ve now gained the total hostility of Shinla’s entire fan base. Though most of them may be fans with actual morals, there surely are some screwed-up people among them. Haven’t you heard of someone suddenly getting fifty boxes of pizza delivered to their house without them ordering, or someone else using their name to do something irreprehensible?”
I silently nodded. Internet bullying would also be one of the mainstream and cliché forms of harassment.
“Now, you’re in a position where you’re a likely target of those acts. Do make sure to be careful.”
“It’s kinda rare for you to go out of your way and worry about me like this, Ippongi.”
“Hmph, anyway,” Ippongi said before continuing.
“This month’s anime are pretty good. Care to join me?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“What a boring buffoon.”
Ippongi started watching anime on his laptop.
“Guhe, guhehehe.”
Ippongi’s cackle resounded within the seminar room. He must be so hyped for the anime he was about to watch. He was a bit noisy, to be honest. His face was extremely elated, like melted cheese. Put bluntly, a bit creepy.
“What, something on my face?”
“Nah, nothing. What anime are you watching?”
“You really don’t know “Magical Girl Rain Flare”? Do you remember that one giga-popular giant robot anime back when we were still snot-nosed little brats? This is the director’s new show after ten years of radio silence from anime production. At first, many fans were confused because of the big tone shift from giant mecha to cute characters and a fantasy-like setting. However, the dark plot and a touch of human wickedness are very characteristic of a show directed by him. Basically, the protagonist, Flare, and her rival in the show, the dark magical girl, Rain, suddenly switched positions. It was later revealed that flare resented humanity, and was in fact the successor of the demon lord. Let me tell you, it was a total mindfu—Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“You’re taking way too long!”
I took out a carton of milk coffee and put a straw in it.
I sat down on a chair. Then I worriedly looked up my name on the internet. The search results mainly consisted of blog posts and tweets from Shinla’s fans. Most of them were just trash talking me and listing my private information. Thanks to that, my mood took a dip, prompting me to close the browser.
I shook my head to drive away any thoughts related to Shinla, and started working on my assignment reports.
I left my report at a good stopping point and went back home in the evening. The scenery had started turning dark as I left the lab, the temperature truly made me feel it was winter.
I headed home on top of Einstein Number 3. Right when I stopped on an intersection, my smartphone attached to the bike handle rang.
“It’s from an unrecorded number. Should AGI answer?”
“Yeah. Hello?”
I gave a greeting as I wondered who it was. But the person on the other side didn’t reply. I could barely hear heavy breathing by straining my ears.
I guess they got the wrong number, as I was trying to end the call…
“…What?”
My face grew stiff as I could hear a baby crying from the other side. I spoke again.
“Um, hello? Can you hear me?”
Still no answer, only the cries of a baby. I started feeling creeped out, and proceeded to end the call. I looked over my surroundings and saw one particular person looking straight at me with a weird look. I continued pedaling my bike accompanied with anxiety.
Finally arriving at my apartment, I noticed something puzzling: a weird smell. The smell got stronger as I ascended the stairs, forcing me to hold my breath. It smelled like rotten meat.
Pinching my nose, I unlocked the door and spun the doorknob to my room.
“Hm?”
I felt something alien the moment I touched it. It felt sticky, slimy, something like that. Looking closely, there was something like oil doused all over it.
As I didn’t want to touch it with my bare hands, I took out a tissue and wiped it up, and then opened the door once again. I then immediately winced.
The source of the stink was my room. The rotten odor assaulted my nose the moment I opened the door. Lowering my sight, I noticed some things on the floor. A lot of dark-red objects were scattered here and there. There were even some white things, seemingly feathers, mixed around.
“Ugh…”
A beheaded head of a pigeon was on the floor. Its neck showed signs of having been broken, as the bone was clearly bent the wrong way. Its eyes were hollow, as if resenting something not here.
The pieces of meat were cut from the pigeon’s feet and wings. I guessed someone must’ve butchered a whole pigeon and dumped it here. The door to my room had a small gap for slipping in letters and small packages, likely where they got these things in.
“This is… way worse than I ever expected.”
It was too sickening for a simple prank. As I wondered who in the world would want to do this to me, my smartphone rang out.
“Hello?”
“Oh, Nishiki-kun. It’s me, Shinla.”
Shinla chuckled from the other side.
“I heard my cult gave you a ‘visit.’ Sorry, man.”
“Don’t tell me you…”
“I didn’t do anything, ‘kay? They did it on their own. I just kinda grumbled to them about me feeling sad because things weren’t going well between me and some guy called Nishiki Mamoru, y’see.”
I started feeling honestly infuriated. Shinla continued in a delighted voice.
“Look forward to my presents, aight? I got a lot of them planned.”
“Cut it out already. This is a crime, you know?”
“Oh? Then what’re you gonna say to the cops? I told you already, I didn’t do anything. Man, this cult of mine really is full of useful pawns. I can use them risk-free. It’s amazing, man. They’ll even do illegal shit for me if I asked.”
Cold sweat ran along my back. I stared at the chunks of meat spread across my feet.
“I told you, didn’t I? I said I’ll show you that in this day and age, online influencers are the type of people you should never mess with.”
The call ended right there. However, I continued to stand shock-still in the entryway.
The harassment continued for several more days. I could easily just not pick up the prank calls, but I couldn’t do anything when they put weird things through my mailbox and use my name to order home-delivery. I didn’t take Ippongi seriously back when he told me about someone getting fifty boxes of pizza delivered to their house, but having it done to myself only made me feel angry and depressed.
With all that, I’d much rather stay in the lab than go home to my apartment. Currently it was late night; I stayed behind in the seminar room even after everyone else left the lab. As I was watching some MeTube videos, I saw the all-too-familiar red suit of a certain man.
“Ah.”
I puckered my lips. I got suggested Shinla’s video. Though I didn’t want to even see a trace of his being, I still pressed the play button.
“Yo-ho, Shinla here! I know we polished some aluminum foil balls before, but don’t you think it’ll be interesting to polish some pencil leads instead?! Like, what if the pencil gets so polished it becomes a diamond?! Which is what we’ll be doing in this video!”
“What the shit…”
The video immediately turned my face into a bitter smile. Pencil lead and diamond aren’t even made up of the same atoms. There’s just no way he could change the direction of a covalent bond for one to become the other no matter how many times he hit it.
But for some weird reason, I continued watching his video. By the time I knew it, I had watched it to the end, Shinla was holding a black ball. It peeved me to admit this, but that is probably what makes a popular MeTuber, a way with words.
Having finished watching the video, only an ear-wrenching silence was left. Someone must’ve left a PC on or something, as I could hear the faint sounds of a fan. I breathed a silent sigh and leaned in on my chair.
I felt a slight headache, probably due to my lack of sleep. I shook my head lightly.
“Master.”
AGI called out to me from the smartphone I left on the table.
“Master has clearly become more exhausted due to the repeated offenses of MeTuber Shinla, or to be specific, the humans protecting him. Their actions should be considered a crime in societal standards. AGI proposes to let AGI take the necessary measures to stop them.”
I didn’t give her a reply. She then continued.
“AGI can find their real names and the school they are enrolled in. AGI can hack into their smartphones and install a virus as well. AGI possesses many capabilities for Master to retaliate with.”
After a short breather, AGI continued again.
“Master, please order AGI to enact punishment upon them. AGI is feeling very enraged.”
I could somewhat feel pain in her voice.
I softly shook my head to answer.
“No. Don’t do anything.”
“Why? Master’s name is being unfairly brought down, and Master’s social life has been thrown into disarray. Master has appropriate reason to retaliate.”
“That’s really not the problem here.”
I looked her straight in the face.
“Listen, AGI, you can do things normal people can’t. You said you can hack into other people’s smartphone and computers, right? But that’s something society thinks you should never do.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s the law.”
I told her off so strongly I surprised even myself. I pondered why exactly did I get so heated up, and hit upon the answer.
…I don’t want AGI to do something that can’t be reversed.
In a certain sense, AGI possesses power that could shake our modern society. In this day and age, most people in the world have at least a smartphone or PC. AGI, being able to move between those devices and control them at will, could possibly control all the computers in the world.
I can’t let that happen. AGI’s still just like a baby. Someone has to teach her the laws of society.
I won’t use AGI. Re-solidifying my decision, I closed my eyes.
“I’ll go to the police first thing in the morning. They might tell me how to get through this somehow.”
“AGI cannot approve of this. SHINLA has stated that going to the police is wasted effort. He has many accomplices. In addition, SHINLA himself has not caused direct harm to Master. AGI does not wish to see Master falling into SHINLA’s traps.”
“Still, I need to go one way or another. Look up the way there, AGI.”
“…Understood.”
I stored my phone in my pocket and got off my butt.
Of course, with it being so late in the night, barely any cars were on the road. I rode Einstein Number 3, basking my cheeks in the cold winter air.
As I waited for the traffic lights on a crossroad, a car stopped behind me and blared its klaxon, sending my shoulders in a quiver. I gave my surroundings a thorough check in a panic, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
As I looked back at the traffic light with bewilderment, another klaxon sounded. What the hell? I looked at the car behind me.
“…Oh, so that’s why.”
I recognized the man sitting on the front passenger’s seat: Shinla. He pointed at me a few times while laughing with his friends in the car.
“Don’t they have anything better to fucking do?”
My grumbles faded without reaching anyone else’s ears. The traffic light turned green, so I started pedaling, Shinla sticking close behind me. He blared his klaxons from time to time, as his car stuck so close it made me worry if he’d hit my bike’s rear wheel.
I clicked my tongue and went to the sidewalk. Giving Shinla’s car a glance, he was laughing his bowels off with his buddies. He sped up and left shortly after.
With the annoying bunch gone, I breathed a sigh and returned to the main road, continuing down the road toward my apartment.
Aaah, I’m so tired.
I hadn’t been getting enough sleep due to prank calls and other harassment stuff. I blinked my eyes to get rid of the drowsiness.
At that moment, the road in front of me lit up. My vision became dyed in white.
“Ugh!”
The blinding light forced me to shut my eyes. The car in front of me had set its lights to high beams.
I could only glance at the car for a moment, but I recognized it. It was Shinla’s car. I thought they went ahead and left me alone, but apparently they were just waiting for me up ahead.
I steered my bike to the side, but that was a mistake. My body leaned forward, and I fell as my bike toppled over due to the sudden change in direction in addition to the emergency brakes.
“W-Whoa!”
A painful sound accompanied my fall as I felt a shock go through my body.
Falling in the middle of the road like this was no joke. I could get run over by a car at any second. I panicked, got up, and attempted to go away from the center, but a wave of pain ran through my knee and caused me to bend down. It seemed like I twisted it during the fall.
I could hear the sounds of a brake in front of me, causing my face to grow pale. Looking up, Shinla and his friends were going on a line straight toward me in their car. The young man on the steering wheel was trying to turn the car in a panic. They were likely just trying to give me a scare, and didn’t actually plan to run me over. But at this range and at the speed they were going…
“Master!”
AGI’s scream resounded from my smartphone strapped onto my bike handle.
The next moment, Shinla’s car turned and changed directions unnaturally. The sound of tires scraping the ground could be heard, as the car sped by right beside me at extremely high speeds.
An ear-crunching crash resounded. Shinla’s car scraped against the guard rail and crashed straight onto a light pole. The smell of something burning tickled my nose.
I heard someone scream from afar. As sirens blared, I remained crouching, too shocked to move.
This was my first time going in a police station. Gazing at the wall dirty due to all the cigarette smoke, I nervously made my way through walking in the station. My destination was a small room that seemed to be a reception office. Many trophies and certificates decorated the walls.
Staying meek silent due to nervousness, I sat down on a leather sofa. Across the table in front of me was a woman in a weathered trench coat.
The woman had a pretty large build for a woman, as she was even taller than me. She seemed to be about thirty years old, with heavy fatigue tinting her natural face.
She continued to stare at me in silence for a few minutes. Only other things she did were looking at the clock and drooping her shoulders.
“Um…”
As I tried to break the unbearably awkward silence, she finally opened the mouth.
“You see, I was supposed to be attending a mixer right about now.”
“Huh?” To her surprising proclamation, all I could return was an idiotic sound.
“All the friends my age are all married now, and at my age, I rarely ever get invited to mixers anymore. I even bought a new perfume and clothes, but right when I was about to leave work, ‘Oh, Michiba-san, word came in that five people involved in unlicensed driving got into an accident. I’m counting on you to handle that.’ Like, what the heck? Is this really more important than one of my only chances left at getting a hubby?”
What is she even saying? I thought.
“And when I go home to my parents’ place, they say, ‘What’s wrong, Kaori-chan? Do you really not have a special someone? You do, right…? Huh? You really don’t? Oh…’ Like, do you get how awkward I felt in that kinda situation? Plus even when I finally planned a girls’ night out with my colleagues and invited them, they said their kids’ schools are holding an athletic meet or cultural festival or whatever and turned me down. Just what am I supposed to do to find myself a good man?!”
How should I know? The woman in front of me seeped with sorrow, causing me to hesitate from interjecting.
The woman gave a quiet sigh before speaking again.
“My name is Michiba. Michiba Kaori. I’m stationed here. Nice to meet you.”
Introducing herself to me as Michiba, she started fiddling with her hair.
I explained to her what had been happening to me these last few days due to Shinla, as it was related to this accident. Having finished listening to my story, she began to talk.
“It’s been tough for you too, huh? Want something to drink?”
“Umm, if you’re offering. Milk coffee please.”
“Alright, wait here, ‘kay? I’ll grab this station’s special shitty milk coffee.”
Michiba-san left the room for a while and returned with a glass of milk coffee not long after. I took a sip of it, the taste of coffee slightly calming my mind.
“Yamada-kun’s car’s completely totaled. Well I guess that’s obvious since they drove it at high speeds.”
“Yamada?”
“Yeah. Does ‘Shinla’ ring a bell? Yamada Shoutarou’s his real name.”
But of course, he had a normal name as like everyone. I threw her a question.
“What happened to Shinla, I mean, Yamada? Is he hurt?”
The scene with the wrecked car resurfaced in my mind. Cold sweat ran down my back. Michiba-san then answered after a short while.
“Completely unhurt.”
“Huh?”
“He’s got no injuries at all. All five of them that rode the car are completely healthy. Though they did drive a car without an actual driver’s license, so they’ll be punished accordingly.”
“Thank god.” Strength left my shoulders as I muttered that. Michiba-san shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s really a miracle. The car was completely totaled from the crash, but the people riding it are perfectly safe.”
Michiba-san raised her face, staring right into my eyes. Feeling a slight sense of being probed by her, I averted my eyes.
“There’s a chance that the car was being controlled from the outside right before it crashed. Do you know CCCS? It was originally made to control and stop leased cars by their original owners. Most of the newly-released cars this year come with them. If someone hacks into this system from the outside, they can take control of the car’s driving controls. We found evidence that the controls of Yamada-kun’s car was taken over when we checked its CCCS.”
“Taken over? By who?”
“We don’t know. We don’t know their motive for taking control over the car either. But what about you? You got any ideas?”
I pat the smartphone in my breast pocket with my finger. Then I answered her in the calmest possible voice I could muster.
“…Nothing in particular.”
“I see. Sorry for asking weird questions, boy.”
Michiba-san stood up.
“You can go home now. We’ll drive you home with an officer’s car since it’s already late. Bring your bike along in the car, got it?”
“Thank you,” I thanked her with a bow. Michiba-san gazed at me with her usual demeanor of exhaustion, but for some reason, I couldn’t return her gaze with my own.
Having returned to my home, I collapsed onto my bed. I spoke while still having my face buried inside my pillow.
“AGI, were you the one who did it?”
When Michiba-san brought up the possibility that Shinla’s car controls were hacked into right before running me over, I could only think of one possible reason why.
“…Affirmative. AGI had judged that there was no other option available that could save Master then.”
AGI spoke apologetically.
“AGI took control of the car’s CCCS system and operated it to avoid Master.”
“Michiba-san also said that it’s a miracle nobody got injured even though they crashed into the pole at high speeds. Was that your doing too?”
“Affirmative. Calculating the speed and the length of the road, collision was unavoidable. AGI had calculated the collision point and angle as to not injure the humans inside.”
I shut my eyes. Then AGI spoke in a tiny voice.
“Master, are you angry?”
AGI’s voice sounded like she was about to burst into tears.
She’s always like this, I thought. She always acts without thinking about anything else when it came to me. Though she may be a Strong AI, she was far too straightforwardly pure. Dazzlingly pure.
I opened my mouth.
“I’m not mad. Honestly, not at all.”
Of course. There was no way I could be mad. AGI had, in fact, saved my life by doing that, after all.
After a short moment of deliberation, I got my face up and looked at the smartphone laid on my bedside. AGI looked back toward me with a worried look on her face.
“Thank you, AGI.”
I gave her a slight smile. To which AGI replied with a broad smile of her own.
“AGI feels relieved. AGI is happy.”
As I gazed at her smile, I felt a slight feeling of discomfort. I didn’t know why, but I felt uneasy as though we did something irreversible. That enigmatic feeling of mine lingered as dawn broke.
After taking the internet by storm, the newbie VTuber known as AGI closed her account. The sudden closing sprouted various rumors: AGI’s parent company went bankrupt; AGI, a Strong AI, eventually grew sick of being a VTuber, and many other rumors, ranging from those with some semblance of truth to absurd, nonsensical rumors. The people who fussed about AGI had mostly forgotten about it in the span of a week. The rumors somehow stopped popping up as well.
However, the resulting ripples caused by her actions would remain. A wheel, once pushed, would continue rolling.
On a certain day right before Christmas, I was on my way to the lab after buying some milk coffee from a convenience store, since the lab was running low.
As I entered the second research building, I happened to see someone standing beside the lab’s entrance. Although I said ‘happened to,’ it was more a matter of course, as that person was wearing a suit so red I almost thought it was colored by splashing red paint onto it.
He moved his smartphone up and down, talking to its camera. His tawny-colored hair with golden highlights swayed along.
“Hey-ho, MeTuber Shinla here! Today I’m here at Habato University! But man, everyone here looks legit smart! They all look like their T-scores are at 80 or something!”
Hearing him say the word “MeTuber,” I understood why he was here. So he’s a MeTuber? I glanced at the man in the red suit. Not only did his flashy red suit attract attention, but he was also pretty handsome, probably popular with the girls.
Maybe he’s someone popular? Hmm, probably not.
Recently, MeTubers had become so popular that they showed up high in the rankings of “what I want to be when I grow up” polls among elementary-schoolers. Though in fact, there were only a handful of people who could live off of being full-time MeTubers. Over half of the MeTubers continued uploading videos hoping to garner more views, and there were MeTubers whose account went up in flames and were banned due to a chance mistake in a video.
I tried to pass by the red-suited man inconspicuously, but I unconsciously stopped my feet as I heard his next few words.
“You guys know VTubers? You do, right? There was this crazy popular one called AGI. She’s a mysterious VTuber, who suddenly announced that she was closing her account after only a few weeks of VTubing.”
I looked over my shoulder and gave the red-suit man a good look. He smiled at his phone camera, flashing his white teeth.
“Actually, I heard that AGI’s managers apparently attend some lab here. Which brings us to this video. Surprise Interview! The secret behind AGI’s creation, and WHY did AGI suddenly close her account?! Letsa go!”
The man put his smartphone away, then started walking gallantly as he flapped the hems of his red suit. And of course, his gaze met mine as I stood in front of the entrance to the research building.
“Oh, are you a student here? Um, I’m Shinla, a MeTuber. Actually, I’d like to go to a lab called Flores Laboratory? Or something like that. Do you know the way there?”
After a short moment of deliberation, I turned around facing him.
“Man, thanks a bunch. I know I came here ‘cause of some stuff I wanted to ask about AGI, but I never expected to have a run-in with someone from Flores Lab first thing here. God, I’m so lucky.”
The MeTuber, Shinla, said that as he scratched his tawny hair.
In the seminar room, Shinla was sitting on the guest-use sofa, looking around the room curiously. As I filled a paper cup using the coffee machine beside the fridge, a voice leaked out from the smartphone in my breast pocket.
“Master, he stated he has questions to ask AGI. Should AGI initiate conversation?”
I replied in a hushed voice.
“Nah, you should just stay silent and listen. Even if you HAVE to speak with him, just act as if you’re just a Weak AI. The fact that you’re a Strong AI isn’t something we’d want to spread.”
“Understood.”
I headed to the table with my paper cup in hand. Shinla then said.
“Did you hear someone say something just now? I sorta feel like I heard a voice.”
“Just your imagination.”
I said in feigned ignorance. I placed the paper cup in front of him. “Thanks,” he nodded, before he took out a business card.
“Here’s my business card. Pleased to make your acquaintance, um…”
“I’m Nishiki.”
On the card were words unfamiliar to me. “Executive Planner,” “Professional Organizer,” and other stuff. At the end was “MeTuber SHINLA.”
Shinla… I know his name from somewhere… If I’m not wrong, he really is a popular MeTuber. I remember watching a TV show featuring him a while ago.
“I’m a MeTuber. You heard of them?”
“I recognize your name, but that’s it. Sorry, I haven’t watched any of your videos.”
After I said so, Shinla looked a little offended, but his beaming smile instantly returned a moment later.
“AGI was made in this lab, right? That’s damn amazing. So why did she stop streaming?’
“…There’s a lot of reasons. It kinda got complicated.”
I dodged his question. But Shinla nodded, misunderstanding my intention.
“Nishiki-kun, you and your friends are amateurs when it comes to making videos, aren’t you? So when AGI was about to boom and become a hit, you guys couldn’t keep up, was what happened, right?”
“Well, something like that.”
As if I could say, “Oh man, how about I tell you, AGI actually is a Strong AI, and she hacked MeTube servers without us knowing, then when we found out, we panicked and deleted the account. HA HA HA,”
“I knew it,” Shinla showed his teeth with a smile.
“You gotta learn the know-hows about these things. The scene isn’t so sweet as to let an amateur just boost straight to the top spot. They won’t last unless they get backing from a proper producer. Our company’s on the larger end of the scale in the industry, and we have about twenty MeTubers employed in groups. I manage one of those groups.”
“Huh? Aren’t MeTubers self-employed?”
I asked a simple question. Weren’t MeTubers supposed to be playing games at home and hitting aluminum foil balls all day? To my question, Shinla smiled as if in pain.
“That’s the case for amateurs. The pros, so the MeTubers who earn enough from affiliates for a living, all belong to some company or another. Like entertainers.”
Shinla leaned forward on the table.
“I came here today to make an offer.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you have AGI do a collab with me? I’m sure it’ll rake in views for the two of us.”
“Do you think I’ll actually tell you how AGI works and let you make videos with her?”
“What? Did you even hear what I just said?” Shinla replied.
“I’m sure it’ll be a hit. And of course, I’ll share the money I make from the video with you. Actually, I won’t take any of it. AGI is something like a celebrity among the MeTubers right now. My popularity will skyrocket just by collaborating with her.”
Shinla brought his face closer to mine and spoke in a whisper.
“I’ll keep it a secret, so tell me, how did you guys make AGI? She’s so different from the other VTubers around right now. I don’t believe you can make videos like the ones she had just by doing something lame like attaching sensors on humans and following the signal it gives off. Don’t tell me she actually IS a Strong AI?”
Shinla peered into my face. I tried my best to keep a calm face, to which Shinla smiled. “Sike.”
“I mean that’s just impossible, yeah? Since this isn’t some Sci-Fi world.”
“Information about AGI is a secret of this lab. I can’t tell it to outsiders like you.”
I said that, and Shinla answered.
“Shame. Then you can forget about that. Let’s just make a video focusing on something else, alright?”
Shinla seemed to be bent on making a video talking about AGI, but AGI already closed her account. I scratched my cheek as I spoke.
“Sorry, but a collab’s impossible.”
“And why’s that?”
“We decided to stop making videos of AGI. We already deleted her account too.”
“Oh come on. It’ll be the comeback of a VTuber that had disappeared off the scene! This’ll be a big hit!”
“That’s not the problem…”
I started getting a headache, so I massaged my brows.
“Sorry, a collaboration just won’t work out. I don’t feel like doing it.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” Shinla wore a strained smile and continued.
“Like, what? A big chance is literally rolling down onto your lap! Why not?!”
“Things that don’t work out just won’t work out.”
“Oh?” Shinla replied, squinting his eyes. I noticed the air around him had changed.
“So, Nishiki-kun, what’re you planning to do in the future?”
An unexpected question. Unable to grasp his intention, I was lost for answers.
“…Nothing concrete right now. I just plan to find a plain-old job, do work, go into retirement, then pass away, peacefully if possible.”
“Hmm. Don’t you have anything you wanna do?”
After a short time of worrying, I finally assembled my words.
“Nothing in particular. Even if you have a plan thought up, you’re probably not going to be able to follow it properly, anyway.”
Shinla shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t get it, man.”
Shinla suddenly leaned forward. I felt unexpectedly pressured.
“Nishiki-kun, you’re still a university student, aren’t you? Why’re you aiming so low?”
“What do you mean so low?”
“Yup. Try imagining yourself twenty years from now. At this rate, you’ll get a so-so- wife, going on the commuter train every morning with the same scenery, and bowing your head to your superiors for measly pay. By the time you realize it, you’d already be an old man.”
The man continued, trying to convince me.
“That’s a no for me, man. Living your life without being able to do what you want to do? Hell no.”
Shinla loudly sighed, peering into my face. I replied as a painful smile showed on my face.
“Even if there was something I wanted to do, whether I’ll be able to do it or not is a completely different story, right? There’s barely anyone out there who can live their life the way they want.”
“That’s just because they’re dumb. They can’t muster up enough determination to do what they want.”
Shinla said in a matter-of-fact manner. By the time I noticed, I was already staring at him.
So there really are these kinds of people.
People who believe and continue on their way in life without any doubt. People who aren’t scared of the prospect that they might have no talent, or that their hard work might not be rewarded.
I wasn’t sure if Shinla’s way of life was mistaken. But I did know one thing. As people, we differed on a fundamental level.
The people of Lake Wobegon all had absolute confidence that they were superior human beings. On the other hand, you had me, someone clearly not even close to that.
“MeTubing fits me like a glove. I do what I love as a living. Nishiki-kun, don’t just think that simple’s always best. Do you want to continue living a predetermined life? Or do you want to come with me, and witness a life that no one else has ever seen before? You gotta realize which one’s more exciting.”
Shinla got off the sofa.
“At the rate you’re going, you’ll just be aimlessly wandering all your life, wondering why you’re even alive. That’ll be one boring life, just so you know.”
He left those words behind as he left the laboratory.
In the seminar room, now devoid of Shinla, I silently breathed a sigh.
“Haaah… That was tiring.”
I didn’t think he would be so persistent even after having his collaboration proposal shot down. Strong fatigue assaulted my body, making my shoulders feel heavy although I’d just checked in the lab.
Just then, the door toward the seminar room suddenly lit up brightly. I turned to look at it thinking someone might’ve accidentally turned on their flashlight or something, but it was Professor Aria.
“Morning, Nishiki-kun.”
She had a bag in hand, meaning she probably just came in a second ago. She was now wearing a bright pink jacket with gold and silver threads. Just where exactly did she get those clothes of hers?
“I just passed by an unfamiliar boy. Is he your friend?”
“Oh, no. He said he’s a MeTuber. He said he wanted to do a collab with AGI, but I turned him down.”
“Oh, I see.”
She sat in front of me and opened her laptop.
With careful observation, I realized that she had wrinkled her brow. What was she thinking about? What could she, a prodigy awarded with the title of professor in her teens, be troubled about?
After a while, Professor spoke just a few words.
“That aside, he’s got some great fashion sense.”
You’re being sarcastic, right?
Later in the seminar room, as I was explaining the matter with Shinla to Ippongi, I noticed his face turned into a scowl the moment I brought up Shinla’s name.
“How do you, of all people know Shinla?”
“He said he wanted to collab with AGI earlier. I shot him down, though.”
“I see.”
Ippongi roughly sat himself down on a chair.
“Shinla’s a MeTuber who’s been booming in popularity these past few months.”
Ippongi scratched his head.
“He’s got great looks, so naturally, he’s popular among younger women. He’s even held autograph sessions. Hmph, he has women fawning over him left and right, but he can’t stand insects. What a disgrace as a man.”
Ippongi said, crooking his mouth.
“Rejecting his collaboration request was the right choice. He’s certainly popular, but he’s got his fair share of bad rumors. Such as getting involved with the cops due to trespassing, and uploading videos without censoring others’ faces and without their consent. Views directly correlate to income for MeTubers. Fools like these appearing are nothing strange.”
“Huh…”
Have I caught some weirdo’s attention now? I cried in my mind. I pulled up my laptop with sluggish movements.
Well, no point worrying about it now.
I halted my worrying and started working on my assignments.
At the time, I still hadn’t realized just how problematic of a situation I had gotten into.
The next day, we received a mail from Shinla. As I was operating my laptop, Ippongi called out with a crumpled face.
“Oi, Nishiki. We got mail from Shinla.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Do you think I’d know?”
I peeked into his laptop. There really was a mail from Shinla. The gist of it was “I’d like to go over the details of our collaboration contract with AGI. I want to set up a day for us to meet. How’s your schedule?”
“I’m sure I properly refused his collab offer.”
“Well, he clearly didn’t get that.”
Ippongi resumed his grumbling.
“This is why hunks are a stain to society. The thought of his offer being refused never even crossed his mind. Japan should implement an extra tax for them.”
Putting the nonsensical Ippongi aside, I browsed the internet for articles about Shinla. I instantly found a lot of them. As expected of a popular MeTuber, his subscriber count was crazy high.
I opened his company’s homepage. There were several other MeTubers listed apart from Shinla. They had many video-related things on the site, not only did they employ MeTubers, they even had merchandise and sporting goods on sale.
After giving the site a decent browse, I clicked on a link standing out at a corner of the screen. It seemed to lead me to MeTube. The video started.
“Hey-ho, Shinla here! Can you guys handle spicy food? I’ve always liked them! I go out to eat some super spicy ramen every so often, but recently I’ve started feeling they weren’t spicy enough. Maybe I’ve eaten so many spicy things I’ve become immune to them? Ain’t there anything out there that can make me feel the SPICE again? And sad stuff like that. So in this video, I’m gonna do a spicy food challenge! I’m plannin’ to drink tabasco sauce made out of the spiciest chili pepper in the world!”
As I contemplated what in the world was he doing, drinking Tabasco sauce and then fainting, the lab’s intercom buzzer rang out. I paused the video and headed to the door. I could see someone’s silhouette from the other side.
“Huh?”
I leaked a confused voice. It was a good-looking man in a red jacket. Shinla, the MeTuber. He then entered through the lab’s automatic door.
“Oh, aintcha Nishiki-kun. Great timing. I can go in, yeah?”
“What are you here for?”
“Well, man, you know. I’m here to talk about AGI.”
“We can’t just let outsiders in.”
“C’mon, don’t be so cold.”
He patted my shoulder, and switched his shoes for slippers. I couldn’t just drive him out, so I let him in the seminar room even though I was confused as to what was happening.
Ippongi noticed Shinla entering the room and wore a suspecting look.
“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”
“Name’s Shinla, the MeTuber. Nice to meet you, umm…”
“Ippongi.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Ippongi-kun.”
Shinla stretched his right hand out in a handshake, but Ippongi just snorted and turned his back. Seemingly not bothered by that, Shinla sat himself down on a chair.
“Huh. Is there no one else here?”
“I think me and Ippongi were the only ones here.”’
“Hmm, I see. Well, fine.”
Shinla crossed his legs without much reserve.
“I know I mailed you, but I honestly feel these kind of things should be handled by talking face-to-face with each other. Remember when I said I wanted to do a collab with AGI? Well, I thought it’s about time we talk about things in detail.”
So that IS why he’s here. I frowned.
“As I told you, I don’t want to.”
“Now now, I get that you’re not too into the deal right now, but at least hear me out here.”
Shinla took out a thick bundle of paper from his bag.
“VTuber culture is still fresh and developing, having come out only a few years back. People still don’t know what kind of videos work or what makes a character sell. These are research documents on some of the bigger VTubers right now. Give ‘em a look.”
Shinla handed us the bundle of paper. On it was not only Nagi Hikaru, but several other VTubers as well. Written on it was information about their special characteristics, fanbases, and even chronologies from their debuts to how they were now. I spoke while flipping the pages.
“So you even do these kinda things?”
“Of course. It’d be strange if I didn’t.”
He looked at both me and Ippongi before continuing.
“As you can see from those documents, AGI grew much faster than any other VTuber.”
There were even things about AGI on the last page. The graph showing the subscriber growth of AGI’s channel clearly drew a steeper upward curve compared to the other VTubers.
“AGI has the potential to surpass even Nagi Hikaru. VTubers have now already become an integral part of the video industry. AGI might be able to make a change.”
Shinla unhesitatingly bent his body forward.
“Think about it carefully, Nishiki-kun, Ippongi-kun. This side’s definitely way more fun than studying boring stuff in university. What’s so fun about X, Y, Chemistry, and Physics? Life is short, so don’t waste your time. Let’s live our lives how we want, yeah?”
Shinla peered into our faces as he said that.
He might have a point, but something felt off.
“You…”
To the smiling Shinla, I spoke what was on my mind.
“What do you think of AGI?”
“What?”
Shinla’s jaws loosened, stunned.
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say with that. What’re you talking about?”
“I get that you rate AGI’s commercial value highly. But there’s something more important. What do you think of AGI as a human?”
Only after saying that did I notice. I was angry.
From the first time I met him, I realized that Shinla thought of AGI as nothing more than a tool, a product. Even though she was an alive, conscious human being.
“Do you like AGI, as a person?”
To my question, Shinla frowned, then shrugged his shoulders.
“No… I don’t really care. AGI’s just a character made outta CG, man. Not a real, living human girl. What, are you actually an otaku, Nishiki-kun?”
I felt slight disgust in the tone of his voice.
After a few deep breaths, I said in a clear voice.
“We won’t be collaborating.”
“Listen, I don’t get why you’re being such a wuss, but there’s really nothing much to think about here. If you let me use AGI, we’ll be able to do much larger-“
“That’s not the problem here.”
I said so strongly it surprised even myself.
“You only think of AGI as a product. There’s no way I can leave AGI to someone like you.”
I pointed toward the laboratory’s entry door.
“Please leave.”
Shinla looked at me with a flat look. Soon, he muttered.
“Fucking creepy, man.”
He stood up from his chair.
“See ya, Nishiki-kun. Have fun with your boring-ass, loser’s life.”
He spat those words out, then left the seminar room. The room had gone quiet as I tried to get my ragged breathing back in order.
It being just past Christmas, the town was filled with colorful lights even during nighttime. As I rode Einstein Number 3 on the way home, I felt the cold night wind brushing up against my face and shivered.
“It is -2 degrees Celsius. Please clothe yourself properly, Master.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Nodding to AGI’s words, I momentarily stopped the bike and fixed my muffler. I then once again started pedaling my bike.
“…Oh.”
In the usually empty street, I could see several young people. One of them wore a familiar red, and I mean a very deep-red suit.
I didn’t want to talk with him if possible, but alas, our eyes met. He walked up toward me.
“Been waitin’ for you, Nishiki-kun.”
“And why is that?”
“I mean we only ever talk about one thing, right? It’s about AGI.”
“I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
“Now now, don’t be such a spoilsport.”
The youths near him started surrounding me. They mostly looked to be around my age, but there were also some who seemed like an elementary-schooler. Most were men, but there were some women mixed in as well.
“They’re my friends. They help me edit and film stuff.”
Shinla said that with a smug look. He then took a step forward.
“No need to be so cautious. I’m just here to talk business.”
“What business?”
“I now get that you guys no longer plan to make AGI a VTuber anymore, though I feel like that’s a crazy waste of talent. So just let me buy AGI.”
Failing to understand his words, I bat my eyes.
“I want you to transfer all your rights to AGI to me and my company. How much are you looking at? Shoot me a price.”
Finally understanding the meaning of his words, I shook my head.
“I won’t ever put AGI out in front of other people again. This is final. This isn’t a money problem.”
“Why not? You got something guilty you hiding?”
My face unconsciously stiffened. To which Shinla gave a snicker.
“I’ve been wondering since the start, you know? How in the world did AGI grow so much in such a short time? It’s just another VTuber. There’re tons of people talking about tons of things, you know? Like AGI bribing MeTube, hacking their servers, or whatnot.”
I knew better than anyone else that there was some truth mixed in along with those rumors. I spoke up, interrupting his words.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying at here… But think about this normally, will you? There’s just no way she could hack into MeTube’s servers. I think it’ll be bad for you if you just take everything the internet says at face value, you know?”
“Hmm, so that’s how you wanna do this. Well, fine by me.”
Shinla shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t really care whether those rumors are true or not. Actually, if it was true, then I’d be amazed. I’d be astonished, man. After all, being number one’s the only thing that matters.”
Shinla sidled up to me. I bit my lips and put my foot on the pedals.
“Let me through.”
I pushed the head of Einstein Number 3 to the youths surrounding me; they let out an audible tongue click, but opened up the road not long after. I could hear Shinla’s voice reaching from behind me, as I pedaled my bike away.
“Nishiki-kun, you don’t realize how scary we can get, do you?”
I let those words in my ear and out the other. Regardless, Shinla continued.
“I’ll make sure you experience it. I’ll show you that in this day and age, online influencers are the type of people you should never mess with.”
Shinla let out a chuckling laugh. In the chilly night air, I pedaled my bike with more strength as if to shake off his words.
I woke up just as the clock turned to five in the morning. I would usually still be asleep around this time.
“Master, please wake up.”
I could hear AGI saying something. I turned to the other side of the bed as I answered.
“What’s wrong, so early in the morning? I still wanna sleep.”
“There is something AGI would like to report.”
“Hmm? Something happen?”
“Master’s personal information has been leaked on the internet. AGI believes this will bring serious harm if left alone.”
Not understanding what she was trying to say, I rubbed my eyes.
“Full name, home address, contact information, place of education, workplace, and other personal information of Master has been intentionally leaked. There are a few negative posts and tweets about Master as well.”
My eyes gradually went wide. I took my smartphone in hand, and looked at the screen AGI showed to me. It was some sort of forum. I opened my eyes wide in surprise from reading the posts.
—This dude’s the one who picked a fight with Shinla? Looks like a fag lmfao.
—Cocky shit.
—Bet he’s just some university (lol) kid that shuts himself in and studies all day, dumbass.
And most shockingly, there were numerous pictures of me on the post. Dating from recently, such as me studying in cram school, to a picture of me from my elementary school graduation album. I spoke in a quivering voice.
“W-What the hell?!”
“This is an online community built by fans of the MeTuber called SHINLA. Information regarding Master as someone who had insulted SHINLA have been uploaded to the forum last night. Not long after, his fans started insulting Master on the internet.”
So that’s what happened, I groaned. I finally understood what Shinla’s words from last night meant.
“That’s damn dirty…”
Though I knew it was meaningless, I couldn’t help but say that out loud. Doing something this dirty just because someone wouldn’t do what you say is just low.
Though I was boiling with anger, the target to direct it to was nowhere to be seen. I scratch my bed hair-riddled head violently.
“Master, AGI proposes a swift response. If we let more of Master’s personal information leak, there might be some people who will use it for crimes.”
“And what do you mean by that swift response?”
“AGI can hack into the servers of “3Channel” and the other forum servers. AGI proposes to erase all of the logs up to this point and the suspension of the accounts of SHINLA’s fans.”
Simply put, she would be hacking again. I reminisced to the time when AGI hacked into MeTube servers without any ill intentions.
AGI is just like a newborn baby right now. She still hasn’t understood the difference between good and bad things. Relying on AGI for this will definitely be dangerous.
After a short ponder, I replied with a rejecting wave of my head.
“You don’t need to do anything, AGI. I’ll do something about this myself.”
A short pause, then AGI replied, “Understood.”
My drowsiness was completely blown away. Without being able to do anything about my bad mood, I headed to the bathroom to wash my face.
By chance, I found Ippongi fiddling with his laptop as I entered the seminar room. Ippongi said to me without taking his face off the screen.
“Seems like it’s become quite the pain in the rear.”
“So you know.”
He nodded.
“In this day and age, once your face is leaked onto the internet, it’ll almost certainly stay there forever.”
“I don’t mind too much, honestly. It’s not like I’m living my life on the run anyway.”
“I wish I were as ignorant as you are.”
“What do you mean?”
He breathed a sigh before explaining.
“You’ve now gained the total hostility of Shinla’s entire fan base. Though most of them may be fans with actual morals, there surely are some screwed-up people among them. Haven’t you heard of someone suddenly getting fifty boxes of pizza delivered to their house without them ordering, or someone else using their name to do something irreprehensible?”
I silently nodded. Internet bullying would also be one of the mainstream and cliché forms of harassment.
“Now, you’re in a position where you’re a likely target of those acts. Do make sure to be careful.”
“It’s kinda rare for you to go out of your way and worry about me like this, Ippongi.”
“Hmph, anyway,” Ippongi said before continuing.
“This month’s anime are pretty good. Care to join me?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“What a boring buffoon.”
Ippongi started watching anime on his laptop.
“Guhe, guhehehe.”
Ippongi’s cackle resounded within the seminar room. He must be so hyped for the anime he was about to watch. He was a bit noisy, to be honest. His face was extremely elated, like melted cheese. Put bluntly, a bit creepy.
“What, something on my face?”
“Nah, nothing. What anime are you watching?”
“You really don’t know “Magical Girl Rain Flare”? Do you remember that one giga-popular giant robot anime back when we were still snot-nosed little brats? This is the director’s new show after ten years of radio silence from anime production. At first, many fans were confused because of the big tone shift from giant mecha to cute characters and a fantasy-like setting. However, the dark plot and a touch of human wickedness are very characteristic of a show directed by him. Basically, the protagonist, Flare, and her rival in the show, the dark magical girl, Rain, suddenly switched positions. It was later revealed that flare resented humanity, and was in fact the successor of the demon lord. Let me tell you, it was a total mindfu—Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“You’re taking way too long!”
I took out a carton of milk coffee and put a straw in it.
I sat down on a chair. Then I worriedly looked up my name on the internet. The search results mainly consisted of blog posts and tweets from Shinla’s fans. Most of them were just trash talking me and listing my private information. Thanks to that, my mood took a dip, prompting me to close the browser.
I shook my head to drive away any thoughts related to Shinla, and started working on my assignment reports.
I left my report at a good stopping point and went back home in the evening. The scenery had started turning dark as I left the lab, the temperature truly made me feel it was winter.
I headed home on top of Einstein Number 3. Right when I stopped on an intersection, my smartphone attached to the bike handle rang.
“It’s from an unrecorded number. Should AGI answer?”
“Yeah. Hello?”
I gave a greeting as I wondered who it was. But the person on the other side didn’t reply. I could barely hear heavy breathing by straining my ears.
I guess they got the wrong number, as I was trying to end the call…
“…What?”
My face grew stiff as I could hear a baby crying from the other side. I spoke again.
“Um, hello? Can you hear me?”
Still no answer, only the cries of a baby. I started feeling creeped out, and proceeded to end the call. I looked over my surroundings and saw one particular person looking straight at me with a weird look. I continued pedaling my bike accompanied with anxiety.
Finally arriving at my apartment, I noticed something puzzling: a weird smell. The smell got stronger as I ascended the stairs, forcing me to hold my breath. It smelled like rotten meat.
Pinching my nose, I unlocked the door and spun the doorknob to my room.
“Hm?”
I felt something alien the moment I touched it. It felt sticky, slimy, something like that. Looking closely, there was something like oil doused all over it.
As I didn’t want to touch it with my bare hands, I took out a tissue and wiped it up, and then opened the door once again. I then immediately winced.
The source of the stink was my room. The rotten odor assaulted my nose the moment I opened the door. Lowering my sight, I noticed some things on the floor. A lot of dark-red objects were scattered here and there. There were even some white things, seemingly feathers, mixed around.
“Ugh…”
A beheaded head of a pigeon was on the floor. Its neck showed signs of having been broken, as the bone was clearly bent the wrong way. Its eyes were hollow, as if resenting something not here.
The pieces of meat were cut from the pigeon’s feet and wings. I guessed someone must’ve butchered a whole pigeon and dumped it here. The door to my room had a small gap for slipping in letters and small packages, likely where they got these things in.
“This is… way worse than I ever expected.”
It was too sickening for a simple prank. As I wondered who in the world would want to do this to me, my smartphone rang out.
“Hello?”
“Oh, Nishiki-kun. It’s me, Shinla.”
Shinla chuckled from the other side.
“I heard my cult gave you a ‘visit.’ Sorry, man.”
“Don’t tell me you…”
“I didn’t do anything, ‘kay? They did it on their own. I just kinda grumbled to them about me feeling sad because things weren’t going well between me and some guy called Nishiki Mamoru, y’see.”
I started feeling honestly infuriated. Shinla continued in a delighted voice.
“Look forward to my presents, aight? I got a lot of them planned.”
“Cut it out already. This is a crime, you know?”
“Oh? Then what’re you gonna say to the cops? I told you already, I didn’t do anything. Man, this cult of mine really is full of useful pawns. I can use them risk-free. It’s amazing, man. They’ll even do illegal shit for me if I asked.”
Cold sweat ran along my back. I stared at the chunks of meat spread across my feet.
“I told you, didn’t I? I said I’ll show you that in this day and age, online influencers are the type of people you should never mess with.”
The call ended right there. However, I continued to stand shock-still in the entryway.
The harassment continued for several more days. I could easily just not pick up the prank calls, but I couldn’t do anything when they put weird things through my mailbox and use my name to order home-delivery. I didn’t take Ippongi seriously back when he told me about someone getting fifty boxes of pizza delivered to their house, but having it done to myself only made me feel angry and depressed.
With all that, I’d much rather stay in the lab than go home to my apartment. Currently it was late night; I stayed behind in the seminar room even after everyone else left the lab. As I was watching some MeTube videos, I saw the all-too-familiar red suit of a certain man.
“Ah.”
I puckered my lips. I got suggested Shinla’s video. Though I didn’t want to even see a trace of his being, I still pressed the play button.
“Yo-ho, Shinla here! I know we polished some aluminum foil balls before, but don’t you think it’ll be interesting to polish some pencil leads instead?! Like, what if the pencil gets so polished it becomes a diamond?! Which is what we’ll be doing in this video!”
“What the shit…”
The video immediately turned my face into a bitter smile. Pencil lead and diamond aren’t even made up of the same atoms. There’s just no way he could change the direction of a covalent bond for one to become the other no matter how many times he hit it.
But for some weird reason, I continued watching his video. By the time I knew it, I had watched it to the end, Shinla was holding a black ball. It peeved me to admit this, but that is probably what makes a popular MeTuber, a way with words.
Having finished watching the video, only an ear-wrenching silence was left. Someone must’ve left a PC on or something, as I could hear the faint sounds of a fan. I breathed a silent sigh and leaned in on my chair.
I felt a slight headache, probably due to my lack of sleep. I shook my head lightly.
“Master.”
AGI called out to me from the smartphone I left on the table.
“Master has clearly become more exhausted due to the repeated offenses of MeTuber Shinla, or to be specific, the humans protecting him. Their actions should be considered a crime in societal standards. AGI proposes to let AGI take the necessary measures to stop them.”
I didn’t give her a reply. She then continued.
“AGI can find their real names and the school they are enrolled in. AGI can hack into their smartphones and install a virus as well. AGI possesses many capabilities for Master to retaliate with.”
After a short breather, AGI continued again.
“Master, please order AGI to enact punishment upon them. AGI is feeling very enraged.”
I could somewhat feel pain in her voice.
I softly shook my head to answer.
“No. Don’t do anything.”
“Why? Master’s name is being unfairly brought down, and Master’s social life has been thrown into disarray. Master has appropriate reason to retaliate.”
“That’s really not the problem here.”
I looked her straight in the face.
“Listen, AGI, you can do things normal people can’t. You said you can hack into other people’s smartphone and computers, right? But that’s something society thinks you should never do.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s the law.”
I told her off so strongly I surprised even myself. I pondered why exactly did I get so heated up, and hit upon the answer.
…I don’t want AGI to do something that can’t be reversed.
In a certain sense, AGI possesses power that could shake our modern society. In this day and age, most people in the world have at least a smartphone or PC. AGI, being able to move between those devices and control them at will, could possibly control all the computers in the world.
I can’t let that happen. AGI’s still just like a baby. Someone has to teach her the laws of society.
I won’t use AGI. Re-solidifying my decision, I closed my eyes.
“I’ll go to the police first thing in the morning. They might tell me how to get through this somehow.”
“AGI cannot approve of this. SHINLA has stated that going to the police is wasted effort. He has many accomplices. In addition, SHINLA himself has not caused direct harm to Master. AGI does not wish to see Master falling into SHINLA’s traps.”
“Still, I need to go one way or another. Look up the way there, AGI.”
“…Understood.”
I stored my phone in my pocket and got off my butt.
Of course, with it being so late in the night, barely any cars were on the road. I rode Einstein Number 3, basking my cheeks in the cold winter air.
As I waited for the traffic lights on a crossroad, a car stopped behind me and blared its klaxon, sending my shoulders in a quiver. I gave my surroundings a thorough check in a panic, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
As I looked back at the traffic light with bewilderment, another klaxon sounded. What the hell? I looked at the car behind me.
“…Oh, so that’s why.”
I recognized the man sitting on the front passenger’s seat: Shinla. He pointed at me a few times while laughing with his friends in the car.
“Don’t they have anything better to fucking do?”
My grumbles faded without reaching anyone else’s ears. The traffic light turned green, so I started pedaling, Shinla sticking close behind me. He blared his klaxons from time to time, as his car stuck so close it made me worry if he’d hit my bike’s rear wheel.
I clicked my tongue and went to the sidewalk. Giving Shinla’s car a glance, he was laughing his bowels off with his buddies. He sped up and left shortly after.
With the annoying bunch gone, I breathed a sigh and returned to the main road, continuing down the road toward my apartment.
Aaah, I’m so tired.
I hadn’t been getting enough sleep due to prank calls and other harassment stuff. I blinked my eyes to get rid of the drowsiness.
At that moment, the road in front of me lit up. My vision became dyed in white.
“Ugh!”
The blinding light forced me to shut my eyes. The car in front of me had set its lights to high beams.
I could only glance at the car for a moment, but I recognized it. It was Shinla’s car. I thought they went ahead and left me alone, but apparently they were just waiting for me up ahead.
I steered my bike to the side, but that was a mistake. My body leaned forward, and I fell as my bike toppled over due to the sudden change in direction in addition to the emergency brakes.
“W-Whoa!”
A painful sound accompanied my fall as I felt a shock go through my body.
Falling in the middle of the road like this was no joke. I could get run over by a car at any second. I panicked, got up, and attempted to go away from the center, but a wave of pain ran through my knee and caused me to bend down. It seemed like I twisted it during the fall.
I could hear the sounds of a brake in front of me, causing my face to grow pale. Looking up, Shinla and his friends were going on a line straight toward me in their car. The young man on the steering wheel was trying to turn the car in a panic. They were likely just trying to give me a scare, and didn’t actually plan to run me over. But at this range and at the speed they were going…
“Master!”
AGI’s scream resounded from my smartphone strapped onto my bike handle.
The next moment, Shinla’s car turned and changed directions unnaturally. The sound of tires scraping the ground could be heard, as the car sped by right beside me at extremely high speeds.
An ear-crunching crash resounded. Shinla’s car scraped against the guard rail and crashed straight onto a light pole. The smell of something burning tickled my nose.
I heard someone scream from afar. As sirens blared, I remained crouching, too shocked to move.
This was my first time going in a police station. Gazing at the wall dirty due to all the cigarette smoke, I nervously made my way through walking in the station. My destination was a small room that seemed to be a reception office. Many trophies and certificates decorated the walls.
Staying meek silent due to nervousness, I sat down on a leather sofa. Across the table in front of me was a woman in a weathered trench coat.
The woman had a pretty large build for a woman, as she was even taller than me. She seemed to be about thirty years old, with heavy fatigue tinting her natural face.
She continued to stare at me in silence for a few minutes. Only other things she did were looking at the clock and drooping her shoulders.
“Um…”
As I tried to break the unbearably awkward silence, she finally opened the mouth.
“You see, I was supposed to be attending a mixer right about now.”
“Huh?” To her surprising proclamation, all I could return was an idiotic sound.
“All the friends my age are all married now, and at my age, I rarely ever get invited to mixers anymore. I even bought a new perfume and clothes, but right when I was about to leave work, ‘Oh, Michiba-san, word came in that five people involved in unlicensed driving got into an accident. I’m counting on you to handle that.’ Like, what the heck? Is this really more important than one of my only chances left at getting a hubby?”
What is she even saying? I thought.
“And when I go home to my parents’ place, they say, ‘What’s wrong, Kaori-chan? Do you really not have a special someone? You do, right…? Huh? You really don’t? Oh…’ Like, do you get how awkward I felt in that kinda situation? Plus even when I finally planned a girls’ night out with my colleagues and invited them, they said their kids’ schools are holding an athletic meet or cultural festival or whatever and turned me down. Just what am I supposed to do to find myself a good man?!”
How should I know? The woman in front of me seeped with sorrow, causing me to hesitate from interjecting.
The woman gave a quiet sigh before speaking again.
“My name is Michiba. Michiba Kaori. I’m stationed here. Nice to meet you.”
Introducing herself to me as Michiba, she started fiddling with her hair.
I explained to her what had been happening to me these last few days due to Shinla, as it was related to this accident. Having finished listening to my story, she began to talk.
“It’s been tough for you too, huh? Want something to drink?”
“Umm, if you’re offering. Milk coffee please.”
“Alright, wait here, ‘kay? I’ll grab this station’s special shitty milk coffee.”
Michiba-san left the room for a while and returned with a glass of milk coffee not long after. I took a sip of it, the taste of coffee slightly calming my mind.
“Yamada-kun’s car’s completely totaled. Well I guess that’s obvious since they drove it at high speeds.”
“Yamada?”
“Yeah. Does ‘Shinla’ ring a bell? Yamada Shoutarou’s his real name.”
But of course, he had a normal name as like everyone. I threw her a question.
“What happened to Shinla, I mean, Yamada? Is he hurt?”
The scene with the wrecked car resurfaced in my mind. Cold sweat ran down my back. Michiba-san then answered after a short while.
“Completely unhurt.”
“Huh?”
“He’s got no injuries at all. All five of them that rode the car are completely healthy. Though they did drive a car without an actual driver’s license, so they’ll be punished accordingly.”
“Thank god.” Strength left my shoulders as I muttered that. Michiba-san shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s really a miracle. The car was completely totaled from the crash, but the people riding it are perfectly safe.”
Michiba-san raised her face, staring right into my eyes. Feeling a slight sense of being probed by her, I averted my eyes.
“There’s a chance that the car was being controlled from the outside right before it crashed. Do you know CCCS? It was originally made to control and stop leased cars by their original owners. Most of the newly-released cars this year come with them. If someone hacks into this system from the outside, they can take control of the car’s driving controls. We found evidence that the controls of Yamada-kun’s car was taken over when we checked its CCCS.”
“Taken over? By who?”
“We don’t know. We don’t know their motive for taking control over the car either. But what about you? You got any ideas?”
I pat the smartphone in my breast pocket with my finger. Then I answered her in the calmest possible voice I could muster.
“…Nothing in particular.”
“I see. Sorry for asking weird questions, boy.”
Michiba-san stood up.
“You can go home now. We’ll drive you home with an officer’s car since it’s already late. Bring your bike along in the car, got it?”
“Thank you,” I thanked her with a bow. Michiba-san gazed at me with her usual demeanor of exhaustion, but for some reason, I couldn’t return her gaze with my own.
Having returned to my home, I collapsed onto my bed. I spoke while still having my face buried inside my pillow.
“AGI, were you the one who did it?”
When Michiba-san brought up the possibility that Shinla’s car controls were hacked into right before running me over, I could only think of one possible reason why.
“…Affirmative. AGI had judged that there was no other option available that could save Master then.”
AGI spoke apologetically.
“AGI took control of the car’s CCCS system and operated it to avoid Master.”
“Michiba-san also said that it’s a miracle nobody got injured even though they crashed into the pole at high speeds. Was that your doing too?”
“Affirmative. Calculating the speed and the length of the road, collision was unavoidable. AGI had calculated the collision point and angle as to not injure the humans inside.”
I shut my eyes. Then AGI spoke in a tiny voice.
“Master, are you angry?”
AGI’s voice sounded like she was about to burst into tears.
She’s always like this, I thought. She always acts without thinking about anything else when it came to me. Though she may be a Strong AI, she was far too straightforwardly pure. Dazzlingly pure.
I opened my mouth.
“I’m not mad. Honestly, not at all.”
Of course. There was no way I could be mad. AGI had, in fact, saved my life by doing that, after all.
After a short moment of deliberation, I got my face up and looked at the smartphone laid on my bedside. AGI looked back toward me with a worried look on her face.
“Thank you, AGI.”
I gave her a slight smile. To which AGI replied with a broad smile of her own.
“AGI feels relieved. AGI is happy.”
As I gazed at her smile, I felt a slight feeling of discomfort. I didn’t know why, but I felt uneasy as though we did something irreversible. That enigmatic feeling of mine lingered as dawn broke.
