A Hell of an AI

Words had trouble describing the man known as Gisou Kamiya.

Among the commonfolk, he was praised for his genius and humility. Yet among the eccentric Creators, he was far too eccentric, even for them.

One day, he would be upholding peace and justice like a true lawful citizen. The next, he would throw a town into chaos just because of a sour mood.

With a single word, he could easily topple governments, companies, and organizations. With multiple, they would barely hurt a fly.

His spells had such depth and complexity that they seemed to transcend the universe, impossible to unravel. At the same time, each cast was bound by its rules, able to pick apart piece by piece.

This was a man so juxtaposed that he purposely wore a red tuxedo with a contrasting blue tie for every occasion. A man who changed his head from a passing whim. A man who wasn't even a man.

That was Gisou Kamiya: CEO of Japan's Content Farms, an AI who wasn't an AI, and her boss.

"Ah, Charlotte! It's an absolute pleasure to see you again." he greeted with a theatrical tone, one that came from today's industrial-era radio replacing his head. His body, on the other hand, remained unmoving, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the hallway.

"It's a pleasure to see you today, sir." she responded with a bow. Her attitude was completely deferential, a complete contrast to her usual nonchalance and independence. Even her thoughts remained silent in his presence.

"Is that so? It was only just this morning that I saw you singing in the wind." he remarked, radio leaning against his hand. "That burger pill of yours also looked quite... filling."

"...you saw that sir?" While she wasn't that skilled at detection magic, she had trouble believing she missed seeing a giant radio around her, twice. However, whatever he said must be truth, so she had no choice but to take it at face value.

"Oh my, you didn't notice me then? I wasn't trying to be that sneaky. Well, I suppose you're still having trouble with spatial magic." She wanted to pounce on the hidden implications in his words, but she chose to hold her tongue like usual. After all, this was only the preamble -- a bit of small talk to pass the time. So, she decided to be direct; otherwise, he would continue this shallow conversation for the rest of the day.

"So, how may I help you today, sir?" Her tone belied the eagerness to get this over with as fast as possible. After all, it was common knowledge that a boss wanting to 'talk' to his employee was never good. A rare nugget of social norm she managed to pick up, and only that.

"Ah, yes. I almost forgot," he lied, placing a hand on her shoulder. She didn't notice him circle behind her or even stand up, as if teleporting...

"Do you remember the contract you signed when becoming a Creator?" he asked, stopping her from following that train of thought.

"What contract?" She had been a Creator for as long as she could remember, like most of the others she knew. Maybe her parents might've signed something, but if they did, she had no way of contacting them to find out.

"*Hmm... ah, part of the 'family business'. I see. How about this then. What does it mean for a person to become a 'Creator'?"

"In exchange for unfathomable wealth, we give you everything that we are." Those words slipped unbidden from her mouth, almost like a mantra.

"Correct. As such, there are certain... rules that must be upheld. Of course, I'm not so crass as to limit your freedom. You're welcome to do whatever you want as long you keep meeting the deadline. But sharing your knowledge so freely, and not even to other Creators..."

"Ah." Without prior approval, she had broken down her fireball spell for her classmates to easily understand. While it was fine for her to use the spell, revealing its inner workings was effectively exposing trade secrets.

"I apologize," she bowed as low as she possibly could.

"Oh, it's fine. Both humans and AI can make mistakes. But, as you know, I can't just let you go unpunished. But I can't hamper your abilities too much... Hmm... let's do this then." Without warning, something wormed its way into her body, wrapping around every single mana pathway. Although she only felt it for less than a second, the strain caused her legs to give out. The only reason she hadn't fallen was because Gisou held one of her hands in the air, almost like a ragdoll.

"There we are. I've placed some restrictions on your magic for the rest of the week. Your spellcasting should be no better than an average person's. Feel free to use it as inspiration if you so desire." What he said sounded absurd, yet she was sure his words were true. It was more of a feeling than anything, but those feelings had rarely been wrong.

"T-thank you f-for your l-leniency," she said through labored breaths, her consciousness fading away.

"Well then. I'll see you around." With those parting words, he disappeared, leaving her to collapse onto the floor. The last thing she saw was one of her classmates running over, as if making her way off the stage. She couldn't help but think...

Hell of an AI, indeed.