Episode 9. The Kashima plant

The Kashima plant was a huge, gray facility. With various pipes and ducts attached to the concrete exterior walls, it looked like a goblin of the industrial world. There was a small building next to it, which seemed to be the administration facility. I got out of the cab and told the gatekeeper what I wanted. The gatekeeper immediately called the headquarters.

"You must be Aizawa-sama. Please continue on your way and enter through the main entrance of that building."

I did as I was told and entered the hall through the main entrance of the administration facility. I greeted the receptionist at the front desk.

"Excuse me. I'm Aizawa. I've already informed you that I'll be coming here."

"Aizawa-sama. Yes, I have. Please come to the second reception room on the second floor from the elevator over there. The person in charge will be waiting for you."

I took the elevator to the second floor and looked at the information board. I walked down the blank corridor and knocked on the door of the second reception room.

"Please come in!"

I heard a loud voice from inside and opened the door. In the room stood a young man who seemed to be the designer and a middle-aged man who seemed to be his boss. A large shelf was set up against the wall, decorated with various trophies and certificates.

"Hello. I am Aizawa, the guy I called earlier."

I closed the door behind me and stood beside the table, looking at the two of them in turn.

"You've come a long way. The young man here is Shimada, the designer of the android in question. I'm Isobe, the development manager. Anyway, please take a seat for the time being."

Isobe greeted me condescendingly. I sat down on a black leather sofa that looked luxurious. It's not very comfortable as my body sinks deeply into it, but that doesn't matter now.

"I heard that there was a problem with the androids we manufactured. Isn't that right, Aizawa-san?"　

When Isobe started, there was a knock on the door.

"Excuse me."

A young female android came in, made some tea and left the room.

"Did you make that too?"

"Yes, we have been developing high-performance androids for the purpose of contributing to society. Androids are perfect for simple tasks like that. Now, what's the problem?"

I took a sip of my tea and began to explain the story.

"How can an android look exactly like a real woman?"

Shimada had been silent and downcast until then, when he looked up and began to speak.

"In fact, ......JVA2034-B was rushed into development as a young female-type customer service android. But we couldn't decide on the face, let alone the body. We needed a face that would not give off an image of danger, and if possible, make people feel good about her. One day, I saw a news video of a car accident in the mountains, and when I saw the face of a young woman in the video, I thought, 'This is it!'."

Shimada explained in a weak voice.

"So you stole the girl's face?"

"It's ...... it's ......."

"Making a likeness of someone without their permission is a violation of their right of publicity."

"Yes, ....... I thought so too, but the deadline was fast approaching.I'm sure they'll be pleased to hear that."

"So the only thing you stole from the girl in the ...... accident was her face?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean? What about personality, character, ...... things like that?"

"Only the face. With our technology, it's impossible to implant a flesh-and-blood human personality and character into an android."

"Really?"

I gave him a deliberately mean and probing look.

"It's true!"

Shimada assured me in a serious voice. Apparently, he wasn't lying.

"I see. ......"

"Aizawa-san, please don't tell anyone about this. ...... It was an unavoidable action by a young designer, and we had no ill intentions. Here, we have prepared a small gift for you. Please take this and go to ......."

Isobe held out a thick envelope with both hands and bowed his head so that it reached the table.

"No, I'm not looking for money. I just wanted to solve the mystery. Well, now that I know why the android looks just like real girl in the flesh, I'll leave you to it."

I stood up and said,

"Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."

I bowed and left the room.

I was in the hall, waiting for a cab and thinking. It was clear to me that Hana had been modeled after Kyoko's face, but I couldn't understand why her personality and behavior had changed. At first, I speculated that it was because Kyoko's personality had been transplanted into Hana, but that turned out to be wrong. Now I'm back to square one. ...... I looked up at the sky through the glass door at the entrance of the hall. White clouds are boiling in the blue summer sky. It might be fine to pretend that nothing happened and spend the rest of my life, but somewhere in my mind, a voice said that I should solve this mystery.