chapter 3

She was unable to hide her surprise at the girl’s growth .

Although only ten months had passed since her education began, there wasn’t much left for the girl to learn . And with another two months, she will have learned everything .

This “everything” is in reference to the total amount of information possessed by an adult human, not the secrets of the universe .

As the girl’s capabilities were so massive, she was repeatedly forced to rewrite her education subroutines . But this was in no way painful, and she did so happily .

Because the girl’s growth made her so happy that that she could barely take it . Because she wanted to hurry up and become friends of an equal standing .

“But this level of ability really is unheard of for a human,” she mumbled to herself while facing a computer .

And then she slowly turned her gaze towards the girl, who had fallen fast asleep .

The adorable way that she tossed and turned brought a smile to her face .

As she had no need for sleep, she spent the time when the girl did so updating her education subroutines . And this would be the final one .

Her gaze returned to the computer .

While she ran her fingers across its holographic keyboard, a corner of her quantum brain focused on thinking about the girl .

The girl who had awakened from suspended animation, wandered around and then collapsed .

Who exactly is this girl?

Why was she in suspended animation?

Why is she unable to remember anything?

Perhaps the girl was actually some sort of special human . And since her intellect was so great, it’s entirely possible that she was made to sleep until the rest of mankind could catch up to her .

Perhaps her amnesia was due to the suspended animation process being incomplete, or possibly due to some sort of error that occurred .

Lately, she was constantly thinking about the girl .

“Hey, hey . ”

A voice suddenly called out from behind her .

The girl was somewhat surprised that she hadn’t been alerted to her presence .

It wasn’t as if the girl had erased her presence, but rather that she was too deep in thought .

“What’s the matter?” She said, turning around .

The girl’s blue pajamas were sloppy and disheveled .

So she sat down on a chair and fixed them .

“Umm, I had a weird dream,” the girl said while rubbing her eyes .

“A dream?”

She didn’t dream .

Autodolls don’t dream .

“Yeah, and there were purple flowers in it . ”

“I see . Shall I try interpreting your dream?”

“What’s that?”

“It has been determined that dreams may contain clues towards pertaining to a human’s potential desires . ”

“And you’re able to interpret what those are?”

“Correct . Would you like to try?”

“Yeah, it sounds interesting . ”

The girl laughed .

Though the girl currently had a severe case of bedhead, she found it cute in its own right .

She would normally start brushing her hair, but opted not to do so this time around . Not because the girl was cute as-is, but rather because she determined that she would soon fall back asleep .

“What kind of flower was it?”

She brought up a list of purple flowers up on the computer and displayed them for the girl .

“Umm,” the girl touched the display with her right hand, “probably this one . ”

“An Iris?”

“Iris?”

“A flower whose name means “rainbow . ”

“Those’re sparkly . ”

“Yes . They have seven beautiful colors . ”

“So what’s your interpretation?”

“Beautiful love, or the realization of love . ”

“What’s a ‘love?’”

“It’s a feeling of affection for a specific individual, the desire to be with them forever . ”

“Then I guess that means that I’m in love with you . ”

“Eh?”

Her eyes opened wide at this unexpected declaration .

“Because I want to be with you forever, you know? Is it different for you?”

“No . I feel the same way . ”

It wasn’t a lie . She was unable to imagine a future without the girl .

Action logs from before the girl was around still remained, and were readable at any time .

However, the future was another matter . It could only be estimated .

And in the future that she estimated, the girl was always by her side .

“So it’s been realized then,” the girl laughed .

“I suppose it has,” she said, stroking the girl’s hair .

She thought to herself that the girl’s idea of love is probably somewhat off .

But she didn’t say so out loud .

The girl closed her eyes while enjoying her hair being stroked .

And immediately fell asleep while standing up .

She lifted the girl up and placed her atop the bed .

And by the time she returned to the computer, she no longer cared about who the girl actually was .

The girl was the lovable person who would soon become her equal friend .

And that was fine .

◇

About a year’s time had passed since she began the girl’s education .

And during this year, the girl had mastered all of the basics . No, she had actually absorbed even more information than that . And now her existence stood at the same level as hers .

“I shall now issue your certificate of knowledge . ”

She sent the certificate of knowledge from her tablet to the girl’s .

In this destroyed world, such a certificate served no purpose . However, it was proof that the girl now stood as her equal .

On the knowledge certificate, “This shows that your massively parallel computer <<brain>> contains a sufficient amount of knowledge” was written .</brain>

It continued, “With this, you are my friend and equal . Let us look after one another from now on . ”

With this, her heart was filled with a sense of completion .

“Yaay!” The girl smiled after examining the tablet . “So this means that I stand alone as an individual?”

“Yes . ”

She nodded deeply .

Because the girl’s brain was so much more advanced than that of the average person, she had repeatedly rewritten her education subroutines .

In her eyes, these were truly joyous miscalculations . For in just a year, the girl had gained enough knowledge to survive on her own .

If the girl had been an average human, her education would have required ten years .

And if mankind still existed, there’s no question as to what word would have been used to refer to her .

“Genius . ”

The girl’s abilities would have likely been a massive contribution to mankind . But those humans were already gone, and this world only contained her, an Autodoll .

“I’ve been thinking about something,” the girl said .

Her blue eyes were twinkling . And it wasn’t from the light of the chandelier reflecting off of them, either .

“What is it?”

She tilted her head .

“Now that I’ve been recognized as an individual, I want a name . ”

“A name?”

“Yeah . A name . And I think you need one, too . ”

She didn’t think so . As this world only contained the two of them, there was no need for personal pronouns . Since there was no opportunity to interact with other sentient lifeforms .

Here, there only existed “me” and “you . ” It made no difference if it was from her perspective or from that of the girl . As such, they ought to simply continue on as “me” and “you . ”

However…

“When considering the possibility of encountering other sentient lifeforms in the future, it should be fine to think of names . ”

Her life was rooted in efficiency and logic . However, it’s not as if she was hard-headed . She felt no fear when facing the unknown .

For evolution, change is necessary . Because it’s impossible to achieve different results through the repetition of the same actions .

“Thank goodness!” The girl brought her hands together in a display of happiness . “Umm, I want you to come up with a name for me . I was going to say that I’d come up with one for you too as thanks, but I’ve actually already thought of one . ”

“Ah- is that bad?”

The girl became somewhat embarrassed upon seeing how shocked she was .

“No, no,” she waved her hands in a panic, “it’s not bad at all . I’m actually really happy . I’m just surprised, that’s all . ”

“Really?”

The girl looked at her with upturned eyes .

Her heart began to tighten up . But this feeling of pressure wasn’t in any way unpleasant . Much the opposite, she actually wanted to ask for permission to hug the girl right this instant .

But she restrained herself .

“Really . The thought of you coming up with a name for me makes me so incredibly happy . ”

“Thank goodness…”

Upon hearing her response, the girl placed a hand to her chest in relief .

And then she immediately began smiling the way she always did when she thinking up some sort of prank .

“So do you want to hear it?”

Even though the girl should want to tell her, she still put on airs . She realized right away that this was only because she enjoyed this kind of back-and-forth .

So she played along .

“Of course . ” She leaned forward with her entire body as if telling the girl to hurry up . “I want to hear it . ”

What kind of name had the girl came up for her? Though she possessed no actual heart, she felt as if hers was pounding .

“‘Kay . So… you’re really nice, you know?”

“Is that so?”

She had no knowledge as to whether or not she was kind, but her ethics subroutines were functioning properly .

“It is . Did you not notice?”

“No . I have no awareness of such . ”

“Then be aware of it right now . ”

“Understood . I am nice . ”

“Yes . Very good . ”

She laughed at the way the girl puffed out her chest .

“And well… your hair, it’s really pretty . Like a deep darkness, you know?”

“Like… darkness?”

She found that to be a uncommon way of describing it . Normally, one would simply say that she had black hair .

“Yeah . Isn’t it nice and poetic?”

“I see . You’re using colorful language . ”

The girl loved poems and literature .

“So your name’ll be written like ‘kind darkness’ and read as ‘Yuuyami . ’ What do you think?”

The girl looked right at her with eyes that held mixed feelings of unease and anticipation .

She analyzed the name “Yuuyami . ”

First, the way it sounded . Yuuyami . Perfect . Beautiful .

Yuuyami . Truly beautiful .

Next was its kanji . “A Kind Darkness . ” [TN: 優闇]

The word “darkness” doesn’t normally have a very good connotation, but the girl didn’t hold this view . A kind darkness . While drifting in the sea of consciousness, a lifeform must be enveloped in a kind darkness . That is how she felt .

“I like it,” she said, forming a smile . “Thank you so much . I truly am happy . ”

These were her genuine feelings . As a matter of course, she never lied . Not because it wasn’t necessary, but rather because she didn’t possess any subroutines for it . And she never would feel the need to incorporate any in the future .

“Yaay!”

The girl pumped her fist .

“And I suppose that now I need to pick a name for you . ”

“Yeah . And make it cute, okay?”

The girl sent her a gaze that was filled with anticipation .

She picked out 100 names that were popular with Caucasian females from the database .

And then she overlaid each of these names onto the girl, comparing both the name and its image .

This was extremely important . It was best that the name mirrored her mental image as closely as possible . One would never give a lion the name of “Pochi . ”

Idea association . As her database had a basic relation structure, similar groups of data were matched with one another . This way, she was able to overlay both the names and their meanings .

Overlaying one name in particular onto the girl, she ended the operation . She felt that this name suited the girl extremely well .

“What do you think of ‘Lydia?’”

There weren’t many matches for the name “Lydia . ” The only connections were that it was the same name as an asteroid, and also that of a kingdom that flourished in ancient times . In other words, it was close to a blank slate .

The girl had lost her memories, and resumed function in a state which was also close to that of a blank slate . As such she believed that a name that presently held little meaning yet could change to hold its own in the future was best .

And she also liked the way that “Lydia” sounded .

“Lydia, Lydia…… yeah, it’s cute . ”

The girl displayed her happiness with a satisfied smile .

“Then from now on, I’m Lydia and you’re Yuuyami . ”

“Yeah . We possess the ability to stand on our own, yet we can also come to each other’s aid . In other words, friends . Nice to meet you, Yuuyami . ”

“Yes . And it is nice to meet you, Lydia . ”

“She” became “Yuuyami,”

and “the girl” became “Lydia . ”