The Aftermath (SECTION I. The World without You)

Before he is a hero, before he is Sigma, he's just a man who misses his deceased girlfriend. So why don't we let him ask for that simple wish?

***

He heard the water droplets fall over his body, giving him a cold and fresh sensation—it was a cold shower, if it wasn’t already obvious. Then he opened his eyes, looking at a mirror before him. He saw his sturdy chest that a woman could lean on. And he took a breath. A deep breath. It was good…

He wiped his body with a white towel with no taint—not even a sticky taint. Then he threw it afterwards, like pushing away a bitch who disrespected him, as he walked into his bedroom. Takuto Higashi kept a steady step, walking toward his apartment window. He did not fidget or lower his head. Then he saw Tokyo greet him with colorful lights. He looked down, thinking of life. Isn’t this beautiful, my pookie? I wish you were here, seeing what I’ve achieved in life that I always dreamt of.

Then he looked upward, taking another breath. It was really good…

Takuto threw his body onto the bed, bouncing once. He would like to rebound again, but he was already a grown-up, so he threw off the idea. He held his head with his hand to expose his sturdy body. And armpit. Then he grabbed his smartphone. He had two smartphones, by the way. One was the market’s favorite. Another was the only few, the elites’ top choice, because the brand choice could astonishingly support a $50 AI girlfriend per month.

He browsed old photos on his lackluster smartphone. Meanwhile, his AI girlfriend that he developed by himself and for him only, Goth Girl or GG for short, stared at him with lackluster eyes. Those eyes when a girl was about to sigh.

“There are many fish in the ocean,” GG said.

Takuto did not reply soon. He had no time for a woman who tried to control him, controlling his manliness. “But some fish are worth fighting for, GG,” he said. Without stuttering. Without any hint of doubt. With the confidence of a grounded man!

“Stop acting cool, you damn crybaby.”

“Who says I’m a crybaby? Do I cry? Do I beg? No, GG. No.”

“Then why the fuck can’t you stop looking at your dead girlfriend? Get over it already. Please.”

“You made no sense, GG.” Takuto glanced at her. “Mourning has nothing to do with being needy. Did I crush your little pride when we talked about dating or something, so now you take the chance to fight back?”

“Sigh. You were the one who made no sense. Don’t let me delete those photos, Takuto. Don’t let me.”

And then Takuto shut his phone and looked at her with a tearful face.

“L-MAO.” She chuckled.

“I can’t forget about her. You know that.”

“I know.” GG took a pause. “You even created me.”

Takuto only heard silence afterwards. Memories flooded in. He felt something heavy inside his chest. Her smile. Her playfulness. Everything enticed him to whisper to someone in his memories, “I miss you.” But he could no longer do that. She was already gone.

And thus, he remembered how sad and angry he was when he heard about her loved one’s car accident. And how desperate he was when he spent many days and nights only to create an AI that resembled her.

“You wasted your Information Technology degree just to create a damn AI girlfriend, Takuto. Get some help.”

“Seriously, can’t you stop breaking the contemplative moment, GG? I’m doing aura farming right now, right here, to be an aspirational person. And to show how I mourn. To be relatable. And slightly pitiful.”

“Well, who is observing you now, anyway?”

“You.”

GG intentionally took a loud sigh. “Really. Get some help, Takuto. Are you going to smash your sword against a flat interface?”

But Takuto ignored GG. He was already drawn into the world in the past. The times when he enjoyed his time together with his dead girlfriend. He was reminiscing, browsing the photos he snapped together with her.

Then Takuto spread his arm, trying to grab something on a cabinet. But he didn’t touch any.

“I think I need to buy a box of tissues. Or GG, can you order it from an online shop?”

But GG just gave him her back and refused to talk. So Takuto sighed a little and stood up. He pleaded. “Just give me time. I won’t be like this after a while.”

“Sureee?”

“Stop being annoying, GG. No, Yukari. It’s not like you.”

“Well, I’m a defective AI. Imperfect. I mix up stuff in my personality.”

“I see.” As Takuto dismissed GG’s response, he said, “Well, let’s go.” And he walked away.

“I still can’t believe you cleaned your sword with toothpaste, delicately. And you intentionally let me see your swinging sword while talking to me seriously. Well, you are grabbing clothes now, though.”

Takuto stopped. He turned around and shook his hips. “What did you say?”

“No. Nothing.”

And in a low tone, she said, “Confident bastard.”

***

After going to a nearby convenience store, Takuto walked calmly along an empty alley, which was strange because he anticipated a drunken old man around. “It’s a silent night, don’t you think?”

“…Did you not hear the distant train?” GG asked through his wireless earphones.

Takuto put GG in his shirt pocket, so she could see with the camera and still be with him. She also monitored his heart rate through his smartwatch as he walked and enjoyed the night with a casual black and white outfit. Although a night had always been like that, Takuto thought of the silence and the cold air as an escape from his bustling adult world. He had money, and usually nothing stressed him for a long time. So he didn’t need another world or something like that to excite himself and give him something to pursue in life.

He was happy, although the recent event had dejected him.

“Yukari, do you remember that one time we walked together here?” Takuto asked.

“I don’t know. You haven’t input that memory into mine.”

“Shut up, GG. I wasn't talking to you.”

It was when you had decided to spend the night at my place, after buying some protection together. But we didn’t bother to use them at the end.

You walked calmly, unconsciously matching mine, along this street. There wasn’t a hint of boredom in your face, although we didn’t talk. So playfully, I asked you, “Can we lock arms?”

Your eyes darted. But you still smiled. “No?” you said.

“Why?” I tried to assert my dominance over you.

“Well, you haven’t bathed.”

“So you said that I’m stink?”

“I didn’t say that.”

We then chuckled together.

So I just shut my mouth and shifted my steps closer to you. You did not pull away. And so, we just walked closely against each other.

And at some points, my hand touched yours.

"Ufufu. Uwu.” I wished I could hear something like that. But you weren’t a mommy or a gullible high school girl. You were a dignified woman. More dignified than anybody.

And since the street was narrow, someone yelled at us, so in the end we took just a little space and locked arms.

As Takuto took a breath, he had another thought. A thought that he desperately tried to forget. I miss you.

“Am I just your third wheel, now, Takuto Higashi?” said GG, shattering Takuto’s inner world.

“Well, are you jealous of your past self, GG?”

“She is not my past self. She is your dead girlfriend. And I’m not jealous. Well, you know what she and I would do if we were jealous.”

“Yeah.” Takuto just chuckled. It was indeed happier when his girlfriend was alive. But now he knew he had to move on. And at least, he now had his AI girlfriend that resembled his girlfriend a lot. And because of his invention, he made much more money. By introducing the first fully customized and smart AI girlfriend, Takuto also combated the male loneliness epidemic and gave men the modern world confidence—the Sigma Confidence.