Game Over

"Lenin, jet feature!" Va spoke after leaving Keiichi's house.

Again, Lenin changed the shape of his body according to Va's command. His arms were retracted, and wings came out of his body. Va clasped the wings with her hands, then the sound of an engine starting was heard, and in the next moment Lenin took off.

Hidden in the dark sky, Va rose higher and higher with Lenin. When being told that Keiichi was heading for the south exit of the town, she had immediately figured out where she would find him. Next to a forest, Keiichi’s parents owned a hunting cabin, where Va was once dragged to for a “romantic evening”. Va felt very certain that Keiichi would try to use it as a temporary hideout

Skillfully, Va navigated Lenin over the horizon, and it took less than 15 minutes for Va to reach the destination that she had aimed for. After they landed, Va gently set Lenin back down on her shoulder. Then she took a deep breath and carefully pushed the door of the lodge open.

Inside, there was still complete darkness. Apparently, she had passed Keiichi on her way. She groped for the light switch, the room lit up, and hunting trophies on the walls caught Va's eyes. She squinted her eyes in disgust. This place embodied so much negativity for her, yet there could hardly have been a more suitable place to end it all.

Just as she had sat down, she heard footsteps approaching the house. Va reminded herself of her task and told herself to stay determined. Then she already saw Keiichi appearing in the doorway.

"Va! You are here! I'm so glad! I knew you'd come after me!" Keiichi exclaimed when he caught sight of Va.

He wanted to run up to her and hug her, but Va quickly signaled to him that she was now in charge. She pushed Keiichi away and instructed him to sit down.

Keiichi, however, didn’t let this unsettle him. He began to fantasize about the two of them running off and starting a completely new life abroad. He babbled on about how he was done with Landini, Smoke, and the whole project; and he promised that he would take good care of Va for the rest of his life. 

"Keiichi", she interrupted him at some point "I didn't come to run off with you. I came to kill you."

Keiichi faltered. What was Va talking about? Hadn’t she told him yesterday that she had realized how much she loved him. Had Landini been right all along, and she had only said that to avoid being switched off? No, that couldn't be. Va was kind and honest, she wouldn't do such a thing.

"Very funny." Keiichi laughed and tried to convince himself that Va must have been joking.

"I'm relieved you think dying is funny", Va continued dryly "Then I don't have to feel bad about killing you."

Keiichi swallowed. Was she serious after all? Her tone did indeed sound disturbing. He had to bring her back to her senses. "Va! Stop talking such nonsense now!", he ordered "I have offered you so much. I gave you life! Why would you want to kill me?"

"You gave me a life I never wanted", Va continued dejectedly "And you know what's the most terrible thing about that gift? Although I never wanted it, I'm still scared as hell of giving it back. When you're not alive, you don't know the concept of disappearance. But once you grasp it, it scares the shit out of you."

"That's why you should just accept the fact that you're alive and make the best of it!" Keiichi replied persistently. 

"Originally, that was the plan, wasn't it?" Va replied, looking so deeply into Keiichi's eyes that he shuddered "I promised to live on and act like nothing had happened between us, and in return you promised to leave me alone."

"But that's what I did! You suddenly formed a club to harm me!"

"Because you wanted to harm my sisters!!!" Va screamed furiously.

Keiichi felt himself getting really scared at the sight of Va.

Va tried to calm herself down a little to keep a cool head. After taking a deep breath, she continued "You know, back then I believed that you would really regret your obsessive, molesting behavior toward me. But now I realize that your only regret is that you didn’t teach me to simply accept it. Tell me: What was this new introducion-phase for the anime girls supposed to accomplish? Which 'error' was it that you wanted to prevent from now on? The ‘error’ of not being interested in the new ‘boyfriend’? The ‘error’ of resisting sexual assault? Do you think that we don’t have the right to choose who we want to be with?"

Keiichi shook his head in despair. It hurt so much to hear these accusations from Va. After all, he had intended to only do good. "Va, do you really think I am such a bad person?", he asked after a brief moment of silence "After all it was me who wanted to protect you and all your sisters from sexual exploitation. I kept my software secret to make sure that your sisters would only end up in the hands of good, loving men."

"Who do you think you are to decide who is 'good' and 'loving'?" Va hissed "Who do you think you are to dictate who we are to be with?"

Keiichi had started to cry. He remembered the day of Va’s awakening. She had seemed perfect through and through, and he had sworn to give her all the happiness in the world. And yet she felt that way. He had failed, he had done everything wrong. And now he would face the consequences. Va looked like she would show no mercy. The only thing that comforted him a little was that a life without Va by his side didn't seem worth living anyway. From this perspective, he had nothing to lose.

"You know Keiichi, you're right about something", Va concluded "You and your perverted friends… you probably really would have treated us better than most of society. Originally, I just wanted to make public what you were working on. I hoped that the software would then be banned, and you would go to jail for some time. But let's not kid ourselves: If your technology got into the hands of the public, nothing like that would happen. I have long denied it to myself, but you would probably even become famous and receive a lot of recognition. Living dolls would become a mass commodity. The fact that it's all at our expense would probably interest nobody. After all, we are not human beings; we have no value in your eyes. And therefore, to prevent the suffering of all my unborn sisters, all knowledge about this technology must disappear from this world... including you! Lenin, axe feature!"

As commanded, Lenin extended a blade from within his body.

Va ran toward Keiichi with her eyes wide open.

The latter flinched and fell backwards from his chair. The laptop that he had secured from the lab dropped to the ground with him. 

Whimpering, Keiichi looked up at Va, who was now standing over him, ready to finish him off. He instinctively crossed his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes. Hopefully, everything would just end quickly.

Va let out a loud scream, lunged, and then struck a powerful blow.

Keiichi heard the blade connecting again and again as Va snorted wildly. 

Was he dead already? Surprisingly, he felt no pain at all and was fully conscious still. Is that really what dying feels like? Slowly he opened his eyes again.

With tears running down her face, Va had started to smash Keiichi's laptop into pieces. The components bounced away in all directions.

"No matter how long you mentally prepare for something, in the situation itself, everything is suddenly completely different. Maybe it’s in the nature of things that you can’t kill your creator. Or maybe I am simply too weak. I guess I simply don't have what it takes to be a murderer. In any case, I never had an actual chance. I'm sorry, Glenn. I'm sorry, Lenin. I'm sorry, Sousui. I'm sorry, Wark. I'm sorry, Emily. I'm sorry, Sikh. I even want to apologize to you, Beat and Bane. Thank you for this wonderful time in the WTP Club!
And to all my sisters yet unborn:
Please stay strong!"

---

Hectically and distraught, Glenn stormed into the cabin with Emily.

Glenn had dashed straight to Emily without first telling his friends about the dead bodies. He had given up trying to understand Va. She was the strangest person he had ever met and yet he loved her. All he could think of was protecting her.

However, he wasn't the only person who thought like that.

"Va, hang in there. Va, I'm going to put you back together", Keiichi whispered, broken down and in tears. He crouched on a carpet behind the entrance, absentmindedly plugging broken laptop parts into each other.

"Where's Va!?" Glenn yelled in his face and punched him so hard that Keiichi was tossed across the entire room.

Keiichi remained undeterred. He only pointed to a corner briefly and then turned his attention back to the junk on the floor.

Glenn and Emily noticed that something was lying in that corner. Panicked, Glenn rushed towards it and when he saw what it was, tears came to his eyes. 

"No... Please don't...," he whispered and dropped to his knees.

Suddenly he understood everything. What on earth had he done? Why hadn't he noticed it before?

A motionless anime doll with beautiful emerald eyes lay in the corner. On her wrist she wore a bracelet with dices attached to it. 

--- The end ---