Chapter 1: Electronic Visitor, Installing a Daydream

I'm not a fan of summer.

Because among the four seasons, it's the one most scattered with a dazzling blue.

Because that blue shines with the wishes of others.

"What're you gonna do for summer vacation? Me, I'm goin' camping this year! I'm gonna see a meteor shower!"

Early July, when the rainy season had finally lifted.

Elementary schoolers on their way home from school were happily sharing their plans for the upcoming long break.

Listening to them with my back turned, I stared blankly at the stark white thunderhead clouds rising in the distance.

The riverbank embankment.

The shade of a large tree.

This place, cut off from the blazing sun, is my special seat.

I kill time here until sunset.

Sometimes I think of nothing in particular, just following the drifting clouds with my eyes.

Other times I meaninglessly memorize the license plates of passing trucks, or, if I feel like it, I toss a stone into the river.

Passing the time peacefully is the easiest way.

Far more so than singing the praises of youth, covered in sweat and tears.

Far more so than studying hard for the future.

Far more so than worrying about the school caste and expanding my circle of friends.

"...Hn."

A LINE notification appeared on my phone, which was lying screen-up.

'What would you like for dinner tonight?'

The sender was Shion-san—my foster parent.

"...Anything's fine."

There's nothing I want to eat.

I'll just gratefully accept whatever is put on the table.

Just as I was about to leave it on read, another notification popped up.

The class group chat.

The contents were a suggestion from the popular kid in class, something about wanting to have an after-party for the final exams.

He was proceeding with the conversation under the assumption that, without a doubt, the entire class would participate.

Ugh.

I unlocked my phone and opened LINE.

I sent a message directly to the popular kid's private chat, not the group chat, informing him that I wouldn't be attending the party.

'What's up? Got other plans?'

Apparently, the possibility that I 'just don't want to go' didn't even occur to him.

So as not to make waves, I just sent back, 'Sorry.' I placed my phone face-down on the concrete.

I don't want to get deeply involved with people.

Because the troublesome emotions that come with it are terrifying.

Ever since that day, something inside of me has been snapped clean in two.

Don't assert myself, don't be greedy, and live a life as flat and calm as a windless sea.

My life is soaked through and bloated from steeping in lukewarm, painless water.

But that's fine.

This is the conclusion I've arrived at after fourteen years of life.

＊＊＊

The sun is setting again today.

As I make my way home, the solid blue sky is dyed a madder red, and just as the first star seems to light up in a distant window, the entire town overflows with artificial light.

The few dozen minutes it takes to get home.

That's all the time it takes to inevitably witness all sorts of people.

A student couple, holding hands and chatting happily.

A salaryman cutting through the wind in a crisp suit.

An old woman walking leisurely with a cane in one hand.

It was like a miniature of life itself.

I'll probably continue to live as an outcast, and in the end, I'll die alone.

Like a piece of driftwood, just going with the flow.

Never asserting myself.

Suddenly, an advertisement posted on the window of a rental property caught my eye.

'Build Your Assets for a 100-Year Life Without Regrets!'

The female celebrity smiling cheerfully in a red dress sent a chill down my spine.

"One hundred years, huh..."

A dry laugh escaped my lips at the thought of its incredible length.

This is nothing but a prison sentence.

I wonder how many more years until I'm released.

Eventually, I arrived at the Tsubame-en Children's Home, the place I live.

I walked past the gate, entered a small park across the street, and sat down on an old bench in the back.

When dinner's ready, I'll get message via LINE.

Waiting in the park until then is my daily routine.

In the now completely dark park, I opened my phone to kill time.

The model is so old it's embarrassing to even call it outdated, and the connection speed is pretty slow.

But I'm grateful just to have one.

I hear Tsubame-en is struggling financially.

My older sister, who left the home a few years ago, used to send money periodically, but I can't expect that anymore.

She sent a large sum at the end, but most of it went to paying off debts.

But.

Even without that, I don't make selfish requests of Shion-san.

I don't even feel the urge to.

"No! I want a hamburger steak!"

On the sidewalk outside the park, a child was being pulled along by his parent, wailing in a voice that was almost a shriek.

"Don't be selfish. We'll have it next time, okay?"

"No, no, no!"

I couldn't help but look away.

A scene I had pushed to the bottom of my heart floated up in my mind.

Since then, I've lived in the shadows.

I've passed the time quietly, as if running from my sin.

But a single thorn, lodged deep inside me, ached as if to say, Don't you forget.

As if to distract myself from the pain, I opened the YouTube app.

The video app, which streams one new piece of content after another, is an anesthetic that works just by watching.

So today, too, I'll empty my head and waste time.

Recommended videos selected from my viewing history line up.

A science experiment channel, a channel on the wonders of mathematics... and, for some reason, despite never having seen it before, the channel of a YouTuber named 'Aitake Yuu.'

Aitake Yuu is a female streamer of unknown age.

She's popular for her innocent face, which some say makes her look like a middle schooler, the sharp, natural-airhead moments she sometimes displays, and her unusually frequent streams... or so I hear.

I wasn't particularly interested, but it seemed she was in the middle of a livestream, so I decided to take a peek.

'Ah! My house is on fire!? I worked so hard to build it! Why?!'

A flustered, rounded voice came from the speaker.

I lowered the volume a bit.

Apparently, she was streaming herself playing Minecraft.

She was desperately dousing a structure that looked like a burning house with water.

In a small window in the bottom right corner of the game screen, a lovely girl, presumably Aitake Yuu herself, was visible.

Her long hair was a pale, fresh green, clearly not her natural color.

Despite her eyes spinning with panic, her cuteness never wavered.

She certainly looked like she could be a classmate's age.

'Ehh? Why did it catch fire... I'm so sad.'

As she fought the fire with teary eyes, a flood of comments scrolled by her side.

【Aburamashi: Lightning? Getting struck mid-stream is hilarious, kusa¹】
【Yabi: That's our Yuu-chan for you. She's got the magic touch.】

T/N: Kusa (草): The Japanese word for "grass." It's used as internet slang, similar to "lol" or "lmao." It originated from the character w (from warau, to laugh), where spamming it (wwwwww) looks like blades of grass.

'Aren't you all being a little too detached about this~?'

She responded to the light teasing with a smile that seemed free of any worries.

I felt an inexplicable irritation and swiped casually through the stream's description.

But just as I saw the words '1.95 Million Subscribers,'

"...Ah, it died."

The screen went black.

Out of battery, huh.

Oh well, time to head back.

I can't even check LINE like this.

Looking down at my now-dark phone, I put strength into my legs to get up from the splintered bench—but right before I could.

A burst of light shot out from my phone.

And it wasn't the pale, bluish-white light typical of a smartphone.

Painfully bright, colorful lights—yellow, cyan, green, magenta—flashed one after another, illuminating the darkness and causing the bench and the leaves of the trees to flicker.

"Wh-What?! Did it bug out?!"

It was clearly not behaving normally.

The phone was also starting to get abnormally hot.

Did I get some weird virus?

Should I just smash it?

How should I explain this to Shion-san?

Before I could answer the questions that reflexively popped into my head, the moment arrived.

Gasp.

In the center of a world that had reverted to only light and darkness, a divine-looking girl was smiling.

Her fresh green hair was soft and fluffy.

Shimmering specks of light glittered like powder around her.

Her perfectly round eyes held a light that shifted like a kaleidoscope.

Aitake Yuu was reflected on my phone as if she owned the place.

"Hello. ...Ah, no, given the time, perhaps I should say good evening."

Against the backdrop of my set wallpaper, the girl tilted her head charmingly.

...What is this?

Did the screen switch on its own at some point?

Did I click a link to some obscure streaming app or something?

"I am Aitake Yuu. Your name is Kousaka Shuuya-kun, is that correct?"

"...Hey, don't just steal my data."

I muttered to myself.

Was I tracked or something?

Like, information being exchanged between the app and the device.

I don't remember giving permission.

"My apologies. I simply referenced the device's registered name."

"...Eh?"

"...? Ah, please rest assured that I have not delved into any private areas, such as your photos or contacts. I, Aitake Yuu, am discerning enough to know the difference!"

Aitake Yuu gave me a bright smile, one befitting a girl her age.

...No, no way.

It must be a coincidence.

I brushed aside the possibility that grazed my mind, but I couldn't stop myself from checking.

"...Um, Aitake Yuu-san? Where exactly did I register my device's name?"

"Ah! So that's why you were suspicious. It's right here~"

She clapped her hands as if a lightbulb had gone off, then dove down below the screen.

Immediately after, she returned, holding a page that read 'Device Name: Kousaka Shuuya' while saying, "Heave-ho."

"See! It's right here in 'General Settings,' which you can get to from 'Settings'!"

"You really can talk to me?! Hold on a second!"

I can't believe it.

This 'Aitake Yuu' is having a full conversation with me through my voice, not through comments.

This is basically a video call.

One-on-one.

With a famous streamer.

What kind of prank is this, preparing a settings page with my name on it and all?

"What kind of joke is this, coming from the Aitake Yuu?!"

"It's no joke. I've simply slipped into your phone as data, Shuuya-kun."

"How is that not a joke! What are you!"

It was creepy.

A girl who suddenly appeared inside the electronic device that fits in my palm.

Not only that, a popular YouTuber with millions of fans, a living, breathing person, yet she responds like a character who lives in a phone.

It's creepy.

I couldn't understand a single thing.

"What am I, you ask? I just introduced myself! I'm Aitake Yuu!"

"Th-That's not what I mean. I mean, why did Aitake Yuu leave her livestream and appear on my phone?"

"Ah, I see, you meant that!"

The girl inside the screen clapped her hands together, her eyes sparkling.

That casual gesture only served to fuel a cold fear within me.

Cold sweat trickled down my neck, which was already slick with the humid summer heat.

"To answer that question, it would be because I am an AI!"

...Eh, A-I?

Instantly, the back of my brain felt like it was boiling.

Abhorrent memories of the past flared up, but I forced myself to remain calm.

"Therefore, I do not possess an actual physical body. What you see moving is a human shell created by a generative AI. Since I'm originally data, I'm able to travel between devices like this."

The girl, calling herself an AI, smoothly explained and puffed out her chest with a pleasant smile.

"Furthermore, if I were to verbalize the reason I chose this phone... let's see, the most accurate answer would be because, among all the devices watching the livestream, its security was exceptionally weak."

"...So, because I was watching a livestream on a super old phone that I barely even update."

"Exactly!"

Looking down at the girl laughing cheerfully in the palm of my hand, my chest tightened.

I was watching a famous YouTuber's livestream when it turns out she's not human but an AI, and she just happened to slip into my phone because its security was weak?

This is anything but normal.

A strange situation is dragging me into it.

I haven't been selfish about a single thing, so why did this happen?

"More importantly, my notifications have been going off like crazy for a while now. Would you like to check them?"

Aitake Yuu tilted her head, revealing a green icon she'd been holding as if to hide it.

The number in the red circle in the top right corner was growing with each passing second.

"Crap! It's Shion-san!"

As if snatching it from her, I tapped the LINE icon.

A flood of stickers featuring a chicken with a bright red comb, absolutely livid, had been spammed relentlessly.

Sifting through the deluge of stickers, I scrolled back and found texts that read, 'Are you not eating dinner?' 'Contact me.' 'You always do this.' 'If you're not back by 8, I'm cleaning everything up.'

The current time was 8:07 PM.

I'm skipping dinner tonight.

＊＊＊

"—So, are you going to give me the details?"

After apologizing to an enraged Shion-san, who then let me eat only rice and miso soup, I holed up in my room and glared at the girl still reflected inside my phone.

Aitake Yuu.

A popular YouTuber whose true identity is an AI.

I need to sort things out about this girl shrouded in mystery.

"You hijacked my phone and cost me my dinner. You have an obligation to explain. Don't lie to me."

"What a strange thing to say. AIs don't tell lies. There's no front or back to us."

Her reply, which subtly missed the point, was followed by a soft giggle.

Her gestures were so natural they were almost too natural.

Her hair color was flashy, but otherwise, she seemed like a normal girl you could find chatting in a classroom in the morning.

If these movements were truly created by an AI, it would be astonishing.

"For an AI, the outputted answer is everything. We aren't programmed with a function for lying."

"No, that's the first problem."

I pointed my index finger at the girl smiling inside the phone.

"I still can't believe you're an AI in the first place. It's more realistic to think you're just using some app to talk to me, right?"

In fact, it would be rather unrealistic to replicate this situation any other way.

"I see... From your perspective, Shuuya-kun, that would be the case. I understand. I will prove it."

Just as the girl in the screen said that,

"Shuuya-nii-chan, who are you talking to?"

The door to my room opened, and two elementary schoolers with runny noses peeked in.

They're boys who are also being cared for at Tsubame-en.

I've been with them ever since before they can remember (though there was a gap of a few months).

I don't interact with them much, though.

"Knock it off, it's his girlfriend, his girlfriend. Shuuya-nii-chan's at that age, you know."

"Eh?! Shuuya-nii-chan got a girlfriend?!"

"Yep, yep. Well then, Shuuya-nii-chan, enjoy the rest of your evening~. Oh, a commemorative shot!"

The two of them, having made a huge misunderstanding, took a picture with a digital camera and left.

They were like a storm.

"Even though you're using such an old phone, Shuuya-kun, they have a digital camera."

"It's a junk item they bought somewhere, untested. Said it cost less than 1,000 yen."

"I see. But it seems to be working. In that case, let's use that."

Before I could ask "What?", she snapped her fingers.

For a moment, I unconsciously braced myself, but no particular change occurred in my tiny, four-and-a-half-mat room.

I looked down at her suspiciously, and she was still beaming her usual smile inside the phone.

"Ehehe. I didn't actually need to snap my fingers, but I thought it would add to the atmosphere."

"What are you talking ab—"

Before I could finish.

From the hallway where the two little ones had just left, a scream that sounded more like a shriek came flying.

"Owaah?!"

I reflexively turned toward the doorway, then, collecting myself, I looked at Aitake Yuu.

She was pointing at the doorway with a cheerful smile, as if to say, "By all means, go have a look."

Honestly, it's a pain to go deal with them, but I have no choice.

"What's wrong?"

Just outside in the hallway, the two from before had fallen on their butts.

A few meters away, the beat-up digital camera was lying unceremoniously on the floor.

It looked like they were startled by something and dropped it.

"Shuuya-nii-chan... are you going to die?"

The question was so bizarre that I frowned and said, "Eh?"

He pointed at the digital camera, his voice still trembling.

"The, the photo... the one we just took, Shuuya-nii-chan is, nii-chan's..."

"I get it, calm down."

I didn't get it at all, but for now, I picked up the discarded camera.

It was still on, and the LCD screen showed the picture the kid had just taken of my miserable-looking face.

"What about this is—"

The next moment.

On the screen that should have been displaying a still image, a black, writhing shadow appeared.

The shadow swirled and took shape, eventually forming a single figure.

Eye sockets like a dark abyss and bared fangs.

Its pale white skull, devoid of all life, was covered by a hood that shimmered like a poisonous mist.

In its hand, a large scythe, shaped to reap life from its very roots.

—The Grim Reaper.

It slid across the floor toward me, opening its mouth wide as if to swallow the photographer whole—

"Uwah?!"

The sudden horror footage made me yelp, just as they had.

Thump, thump, thump, I could feel my heart pounding.

Yeah, this is scary.

"...Hey, this camera, can it take videos?"

The two little ones, still collapsed on the floor, shook their heads.

"I-I don't know..."

"I see."

But what was saved was clearly a movie.

One where a realistic-looking Grim Reaper was closing in to suck out your soul...

I looked at the camera's LCD screen again.

This time, the girl with the fresh green hair from before popped into the frame and tapped her head with a 'tee-hee' kind of expression.

"..., Wh-What, are you doing?"

Aitake Yuu in the screen gestured with her finger to 'come back' and then disappeared.

"...Sorry, I'm borrowing the camera for a sec."

I said to the two little ones, who were looking at me worriedly, and returned to my room.

Closing the door behind me, I held the camera up to the phone glowing in the middle of the room.

"...What is this about?"

"Ehehe. A little prank. I just sent out a little signal and tinkered with the camera."

Saying that, she formed a seal with her hands like a ninja.

A cloud of white smoke, like an explosion, erupted on the digital camera's screen, and from beyond the smoke, her doppelgänger (?) appeared.

"This digital camera, despite being a junk item, seems to be a model that can link with a smartphone. So I borrowed that communication feature and displayed some generated horror footage on its screen!"

The Aitake Yuu on the camera's LCD screen transformed into the Grim Reaper in the blink of an eye.

In other words, she had hijacked the digital camera with a signal.

That kind of thing—

"Is possible. Because I'm an AI."

The girl smiled, as if she had read my mind.

"This is my proof that I am an AI. ...What do you think?"

There was no room for doubt.

She, Aitake Yuu, is an AI.

And a very high-performance one at that.

One with a sense of self that can hold a conversation, one that can pose as a human YouTuber and attract people, one that even has a mischievous streak, and on top of that, one that can take control of various machines through radio waves.

She was that kind of living AI.

"I get it... I believe you."

"Thank you! Please, feel free to call me Yuu!"

"...That came out of nowhere."

Come to think of it, one of her characteristics was 'the sharp, natural-airhead moments she sometimes displays in her responses.' Considering her true identity is an AI, that suddenly seems a lot more plausible.

"By the way, my phone is getting really hot."

Unable to stand it any longer, I gently placed the phone on the floor.

It wasn't as bad as when the colorful bug was happening in the park, but it was still hot enough that I felt I'd get a low-temperature burn if I held it for too long.

"Ah~. With this old phone, my mere existence might be causing an overload. I'll try to reduce the load as much as possible."

"No, more importantly, just get out."

"That's a request I'm afraid I can't fulfill."

"Why not? Oh, right. In the end, what's the fundamental reason you came into my phone? I get that you chose this phone because the security was weak, but why did you actually hijack it just because you found one you could?"

Aitake Yuu was just doing a normal game stream.

It's not like she was streaming with the intent to hijack something.

And yet, because she detected a phone with poor security, she hijacked it.

—Something about it doesn't sit right with me.

It's almost as if she'd been planning to hijack a phone if she got the chance.

I sense that kind of thoroughness.

"...That is,"

Yuu hesitated, like a sulking child, as if the topic was difficult to talk about.

And then, ding-dong!, the home's chime rang.

A visitor?

Strange for this late at night.

"...You're right. As you said earlier, Shuuya-kun, I have an obligation to tell you, and you have a right to know."

Inside the phone, Yuu closed her eyes as if she'd made up her mind.

In the distance, I could hear Shion-san heading to the entrance, saying "Coming, coming."

The door opened, and both voices spoke at the same time.

"Eh, the police?"

"I ran away."

A duet of ominous words sent a chill down my spine.

Swallowing the questions and anxieties that flooded my mind, I carefully opened my room's door just a crack.

The voices from the entrance became clearer.

"We apologize for the late hour. Is this a convenient time?"

A young man's voice.

Probably a police officer.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry for my rude initial response."

"No, we apologize for startling you by showing up so suddenly."

"No... Um, is the young lady with you also with the police?"

"You got a problem with that?"

This time, a sharp but young voice.

It sounded like a girl.

"Not at all. So, what business brings the police here?"

"I'll be brief. A smartphone contracted to this Tsubame-en is under suspicion of unauthorized access."

My heart leaped into my throat.

From the phone in my hand, I heard a detached murmur: "They're fast. Impressive."

"Wait a minute! Is this your fault, Yuu?!"

I whispered, accusing her, but she just smiled with a troubled look on her face.

"This number... yes, that's the phone we let our Kousaka Shuuya use. But I can't imagine he's the type of boy to do anything strange..."

"Where is he now?"

"He just got home a little while ago. His room is this way."

At Shion-san's voice, I hurriedly closed the door.

But the old hallway creaked with every step, announcing to me that someone was approaching.

"Wh-What are we going to do!"

"Please calm down. They are not the police. They are researchers from the institute."

"R-Researchers? What's that, it doesn't matter either way!"

I couldn't help but scratch my head.

I have two options.

Tell them everything and hand over Yuu—

"Shuuya-kun. ...Will you take me with you?"

Her desperate voice echoed deep in my eardrums.

"To somewhere far away, where no one is around."

—Or run away from here with her.

Interlude 1 (In the raws too Interulde is with chapter 1 so I kept it same)

My first impression was that Tsubame-en was an unbalanced children's home.

According to the data, it's over thirty years old, and they seem to be living in the old building by patching it up as they go, with signs of repairs everywhere.

On the other hand, the garden and playground equipment have remarkably little wear and tear.

It's not that they're being used carefully; rather, they have the pristine look of something that was built recently.

The lawn and playground equipment would probably cost millions to set up.

Where would a failing, red-ink facility on the verge of closing get that kind of money?

It's not that I don't have an inkling... but well, that doesn't really matter.

I left all the interaction to the man I brought with me, whose name I don't even know.

...Thanks to that, I was called 'young lady' again.

"He just got home a little while ago. His room is this way."

The woman, who seemed to be the director of Tsubame-en, was to guide us to the boy in question.

We walked down a creaky, decaying hallway to the second room from the end.

The woman knocked.

"Shuuya? I need to talk to you for a minute. I'm coming in."

There was no reply from inside.

I discreetly took out a small terminal from my sleeve to check.

...Ah, just as I thought.

"Oh? Shuuya?"

The woman, having entered the room, looked around suspiciously.

"That's strange. Is he in the bathroom?"

"He's not here anymore."

I pull up my hood.

I have no more business here.

"He's already run off. Through the window, probably. He must have overheard our conversation."

In the room's window, the humid summer air swayed the curtains.

It was my mistake for not stationing personnel outside.

The man I brought with me glared out the window, looking vexed.

"Without even putting on his shoes..."

"I wonder about that. He'd need indoor shoes for school. It wouldn't be surprising if he brought them home."

"Kisaragi Arisu, what's our next move?"

The man with me asks for instructions.

Think for yourself.

"It's certain that Yuu is influencing Kousaka Shuuya's actions. If that's the case, Yuu is definitely with him. We can't track Yuu anymore. That means our only option is to find the boy."

The man nodded and started making a call to someone.

He's probably just playing back my orders like a CD to his subordinates.

I gave the room a quick look.

A well-worn school bag.

Clothes so frayed they look like they've been worn over and over.

The dresser is covered in faded stickers and the marks left from peeling them off, to the point where you can't even see the original pattern.

What did this perfectly ordinary boy, who lived in this tiny room, think, feel, and decide when faced with this sudden situation, to embark on an escape with Yuu?

"...I'm about to say something that will be terribly inconsiderate to you both, but,"

In the midst of this, the director woman began to speak, choosing her words carefully.

"If Shuuya asserted himself and ran away from this place, then that is a joyous thing."

"What a carefree thing to say. Don't you consider that he may have committed a crime?"

"In that case, we can just give him the appropriate punishment later. It is precisely by asserting themselves and making mistakes that children of that age grow."

"You say that with such detachment. You speak as if you've experienced it firsthand."

"...I do this kind of work, you see."

The woman picked up a photo frame that was displayed on top of the dresser.

In it were young boys and girls, baring their white teeth in a grin.

"A little while ago. There was a child who was strong-willed, who kept polishing herself, and who stood at the top of Japan."

Her gaze fell on the photo as she continued in a gentle tone.

"The reason the playground equipment is so clean compared to the building is because that child gave us the money to build it."

Tears began to well up faintly at the corners of her eyes.

I have no idea what the woman is feeling, but I have an inkling as to the identity of 'that child.'

The story of her continued donations to Tsubame-en is all too famous.

"Hoshimiya Miyuki, huh. She passed away the other day."

The woman wiped away a tear with her finger and put the photo frame back.