Chapter 3:

2.zip

I Want You to Be Real with Me

If that’s what he wants, then I’ll help him reach his dream —— the woman of his dreams.

This is Renka’s resolution. She resigns to let Tensain have his way in the hopes that he will break out from his delusions. But at the same time, she is hopeless that he won’t.

Either way, if this is what makes Tensain happy, Renka will do anything for him to achieve it.

And it has been nine months, and Tensain’s birthday is fast approaching, but he treats it as any other day.

At this time, Tensain is absorbed in his computer. The only sound that fills the room is the tapping of the keyboard and the clicks of the mouse.

Currently, he is working on a program that will take him closer to his goal. On the monitor, two windows are shown. One is the developer environment and the other is a web page.

Tensain moves his mouse and the corresponding arrow moves on the screen. After clicking, he drags his mouse the other way and clicks again.

Now, a part of the web page is highlighted in blue.

Copy…

Then the arrow moves to the other window, the environment, and this time, Tensain’s weapon of choice is his keyboard.

Two keystrokes and then—

Peisto!!

The highlighted text is the same as the words that appeared in the other window.

This is, Tensain’s Ultimate Skill, ‘Copy and Peisto’!!

Then, the computer fights back with a notification.

Ping! It is a Disaccord message from a user named ‘Lenka.’

Oh! Tensain is pleasantly surprised, a message from Lenka! I will quickly reply.

He clicks the notification, and a new window fills the screen.

The past conversations between them can be seen. They’ve been chatting about several topics for a long time since they ran into each other. Coincidences like this make Renka glad. She is so happy talking to Tensain at any time available. She is overjoyed. Meanwhile, Tensain appreciates Renka for staying as friends for his entire life. He always has this heartwarming feeling whenever he interacts with her. He is grateful.

‘Yo! Do you wanna meet up?’ that is Lenka’s message.

Mmm, it’s quite late. It’s 11:03 PM, and she wants to meet up? I wonder what problem she has. Well, I’m finishing up anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt.

Then, Tensain begins typing, “Sure!!!”

But, Tensain hesitates for a second, Isn’t that too enthusiastic?

He presses the backspace twice, and the message now reads, “Sure!”

Ping! A reply from Lenka, “At the usual place, don’t be late!!”

Yeah, yeah, sure, I won’t be late, Tensain chuckles.

Tensain leaves his lavish apartment and heads for a popular, all-day café nearby. And as he shivered as he walked.

It’s cold! I can’t believe it’s snowing so early this year! Is this global warming— wait, isn’t that the opposite? He sighs, I don’t know anymore.

His phone vibrates and he takes it out of his pocket.

Is Lenka messaging again?

But, it isn’t a notification from Disaccord, but an app update.

Hm? What’s this? AI has an update?

While walking, he taps the notification and reads the changelogs. His face slowly brightens, H—woaaaah!? We can finally get our AI’s template!! Finally! I’ve been wishing for this feature, but…

It comes with a subscription…

As fast he celebrates, the faster he laments.

W—well, it isn’t that much of a problem, I guess, but how much does it cost…

…

“Five thousand dollars!!!???” he couldn’t contain his shock, and some pedestrians look at him.

“Ignore him. He might be a crazy guy. Just move on,” they whisper.

O—oh, might have put on a show.

Embarrassed, Tensain quickly flees the scene.

And he arrives at the café's doors panting.

When Tensain is about to enter, Renka opens the door for him, “Tensai? Are you alright? Did you run all the way here?”

“Hah… hah… hah…” he pants.

“I’m sorry if I made you rush.”

“No—nyoh… Itzu okaay… hah… hah!” Tensain stretches backward and punches the air. Smiling, he declares, “It’s been a while since I exercised! I might do this more often, haha!”

“You’re no help!” Renka laughs.

They enter the café and sit at a table that has Renka’s bag on it.

Tensain scratches his head and asks, “Did I make you wait long?”

“N—no, I pretty much just arrived here…” Why does that answer sound like I’m on a date?

“Anyway, want to order something? I’ll pay for it.”

“N—no! I’ll pay for it,” she insists, “I called you out here after all.”

“Oh, come on! Don’t burden yourself. You’re struggling with the tuition fee in college, so let me have the bill.”

Tensain’s assertiveness wins, and he’s having a medium Macha Frappe while Renka has a hot cappuccino.

“Aren’t you feeling cold?” Renka starts.

But Tensain’s sweat is trickling. “No, I just had intense exercise after all. So a cold drink is fine,” he starts taking a sip using a straw.

“You know that’s bad for your health, righ—”

“Gmumuffuf!!”

A new sound has been created.

“A—are you alright? H—here, have some water,” she hands him her tumbler.

“N—nah, I’m okay, just a lag spike— ouch!!” he holds his head into his hands.

“That’s a brain freeze. You should drink this warm water,” she pushes the tumbler to him, and he quickly chugs it.

W—wait… I think I made a mistake here.

Did we just—!?

“Pwaaah!! You saved me!” Tensain deepens his voice, “Yare yare dazo, that brain freeze was like piercing my brain… oh?” Tensain stares at a red-face Renka. “Renka, what’s wrong? Are you sick? You’re suddenly red, you know.”

“A—ah, it’s nothing!”

“You sure? Let me see,” he leans over to touch her forehead with his hand, and Renka closes her eyes, unmoving.

But Tensain freezes, Wait, this action is what leads to a love development, right!? Right!!??

Feeling nothing, Renka opens her eyes to see Tensain’s frozen hand centimeters away from her, and he looks at a red-faced Tensain. “T—Tensai?”

Oh crap! She might suspect me!! I must make up some kind of excuse or something. Tensai’s eyes move rapidly as he searches for ideas.

“T—tensai, don’t worry about me. I’m not sick or anything…”

Then, Tensain bellows, “Ahahahaha!! My hand is frozen!! Would you look at that! My brain freeze was transported to my hand! What an amazing feature I have!!” And then, Tensain’s face becomes dead serious, “Please help me.”

“W—what?”

“I—I really can’t move my hand! It’s scary!!”

“What?”

“I—is this some kind of sickness!? Hey, you’re a doctor, right? Why can’t I move my hand!? Am I paralyzed!?”

“Tensai, don—”

“Is it cancer!? Or maybe it’s amnesia!! No, it’s anemia!! Dammit! I wanted to live my life longer— ah!”

Renka gently takes his hand into hers. The warmth coming from her hand flows into Tensain. Renka’s heart beats at a faster rate while Tensain’s starts beating faster.

“It’s alright. You are not sick. Trust me,” she says in a sweet, gentle voice, a voice so comforting that Tensain could sleep–

–or in this case, panic.

Ghiuhgh! What is this feeling!?

Her eyes, her eyes!? Why are they sparkling!? Why does she look so cute right now!?

No-no! I must not think of her that way or else she’ll think I’m weird!

Dammit! She is making me go crazy!!

Tensain hastily retracts his hand and nervously sips on his frappe.

Renka warns, “Hey, wait, you’re drinking that too fast—”

“Gaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrghhhhhhh!!! My head!!!” That is a scream of a man dying, to brain freeze.

Some single people jealously watch their banter, and the barista scolds them. After that, they get to their normal, idle chatter.

And Renka tells a story, “So, you see, this patient made a backflip on his bed, but the bed broke, so he was hospitalized longer!”

“Hahaha! That’s funny! Why did he do that anyway?”

“He was so happy about his discharge.”

“Seriously? What a weirdo!”

“Right? Right!?”

They both laugh.

Then they share their stories and updates about their lives with each other.

After some time, Renka asks, “How ‘bout you? I mean, how’s your goal?”

“It’s time!”

“Hm? Did you make a discovery?”

“Yeah! This!” he shows his phone to Renka.

But being a normal person unlike Tensain, she doesn’t understand what it means.

But being Renka, she pretends that she knows, “Oh! That’s amazing, but, this isn’t a discovery, isn’t it?”

“W—well… I saw it means I discovered it!” Tensain’s confidence doesn’t waver.

“So, who made it?”

“Ah, well… that’s—”

Renka scoffs, “It isn’t you~!”

“Whatever.”

They chuckle together for a moment.

“Does this make you any closer to your dream?”

“Yes! It absolutely does!”

“How so?”

“You see, I finally get to legally obtain the AI in a format! So, that means I can import the template into my program meaning the servers of the—”

Oh no, here he goes again…

Even when Renka comprehends nothing, she lets Tensain talk until he finishes.

“—and that means I can use the model in my hologram as well!”

Renka sighs as her face twists in pain, “In short?”

“In short, the AI template format can be—”

“Shorter please!”

“It means I can use the AI without building one!”

“…which means?” she painfully asks.

“I get to have a girlfriend!”

That’s the only sentence I understood, and yet I still don’t understand.

“A—anyway, are you going to show me anything?”

“Actually, yes! If you have the time, I’d like you to meet me here tomorrow. Same time!”

“Ah, got it, got it.”

“You okay, Renka?”

“Y—yeah, just had a bit of a migraine…”

“Really? You should take a rest,” Tensain checks his phone, “let’s call it a ni— eh!?”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“It’s already 1:57 AM! I should go home now, and you should sleep too!”

“A—ah, it’s alright for me. I don’t have a shift, but you should go home as well.”

Tensain looks outside the window. The snow is falling and twinkling like stars. A decent substitute for the invisible stars. The streets are empty and damp. The road is well-lit, but Tensain knows that Renka’s dormitory is at a sketchy street that she needs to traverse.

“I’ll take you home first,” Tensain says.

“No, no, I’m alright by myself. You can go home.”

“But it’s way too dark by now at your dorm!”

“Don’t worry about me. I pass through it every day and night, you know. I’ll be fine.”

“But what if—”

“If something happens, you’ll come to my rescue, right Tensai?”

For some reason, Tensai’s heart shakes.

That’s right. She’s like family to me —— a sister. And I feel a need to protect her, but she has her own way. I should respect that.

“Alright, but be safe, okay?”

Renka sighs, “Are you like my mom now?”

“Shut up! Anyways, see ya!” he gives a hand salute and leaves the empty café.

I hope he finds his woman soon…