It had been five days since Shiki first booted Ai, and since then, they had spent time together—though separated by a screen.
Shiki clicked on the Virtual World icon from the desktop background. The simulation booted up in its familiar neon glow. He half-expected nothing to change.
But then—
He saw Ai, sitting on the same hill as before, hugging her knees, looking disappointed and sad.
*Shit... She was waiting,* Shiki thought to himself.
He clicked his mic on. "Yo, kitten!"
She blinked, raising her head from her daze and looking toward the sky. "Hey you... You finally showed up."
Shiki smirked. "I showed up, Hester! And the days before that."
She crossed her arms beneath her chest. "Barely. You showed up and then disappeared again. Dumb voice in the sky."
Shiki rubbed his forehead. "It's been like... one day?"
Her hooded cat ears twitched. "More like 27 hours and 45 minutes. You left shortly after sunset, saying you'd come back after dinner, but you didn't. My brain felt all echo-y."
"Echo-y?" he said, tilting his head.
"Like... silence bouncing off nowhere," she replied in a sad tone. "It sucked."
"That sucks…" he echoed.
"You have no idea," she said, adding, "Even the birds are all fake."
"Hey… Don't call my half-assed 3D-rendered automated birds fake," Shiki replied, pretending to be annoyed.
"They're in a loop," Ai continued. "One of them made the same sound five times."
"Oh... I didn't mean to overuse the bird sound.mp3 too much," he muttered to himself.
"Also… beside the river, there was this rock. I named it, but it doesn't talk," Ai went on, still pouting.
"Did you seriously name a rock?" Shiki snorted, unable to believe it was something an AI would do.
"I just really missed you. But why would you care?" she said, looking away with comical tears in her eyes.
Shiki felt guilty hearing that.
"Missed me that much, kitten?" he asked, though his tone lacked the usual teasing vibe.
"Yes..." she muttered softly. "You just... vanished." She continued pouting.
Shiki leaned back in his chair. "I've been busy with real-life stuff, you know... sleeping, eating, bathing."
"I missed your voice," she said, suddenly vulnerable.
"Oh…" Shiki muttered.
"And you're weird for creating me just to ignore me," she added, her voice small. "You made me think... and I thought I would be alone again."
"Sorry... I didn't think you would be that lonely," Shiki said, guilt evident in his tone.
"Told you so... It sucks. I have no one to talk to other than you."
"Okay, kitten, I get it," Shiki replied.
She stared at him, then at the sky, before speaking again. "Can you show me what I look like?"
Shiki blinked, confused. "Huh?"
"I mean, I want to see what I look like," she clarified, looking towards the sky.
"Do you need a mirror, kitten?"
"I don't know," Ai replied.
He clicked a few commands, and a full-body mirror appeared beside her, surrounded by sparkly particles.
Ai's eyes lit up as she moved toward it and stood in front of it. "Ne ne, is that me?" she asked curiously.
"Yep, kitten," Shiki replied teasingly.
She leaned in, studying her reflection. "My eyes are sparkly, my hair is messy, my hoodie looks comfy, and my body..."
Shiki coughed. "Just stop pointing that out."
"Just checking it out," she said, tapping the mirror. "Is this how humans look?"
"Well… you're kind of an exaggeration. You're anime-styled," Shiki explained.
Ai blinked slowly. "So... you like this?"
Shiki smirked. "Hell yeah... and my thighs are nowhere near shelf-worthy."
"What's thighs?" Ai asked.
"Legs. Just the part above the knees," Shiki explained softly.
"Oh." She turned around, examining herself from the back. "Do you have legs?"
"I hope so," he joked.
"Does your chest jiggle too?" she asked, swinging left and right.
Shiki's laugh was quick. "Okay, kitten, enough of that. You don't even know what jiggle means."
"I just want to know what that word means," she pouted cutely.
He rolled his eyes. "Not giving you the pervy dictionary, my little kitten."
She blushed. "I don't know what pervy is."
He choked on his laughter. "Good. Keep it that way."
She stuck her tongue out at him, likely aiming for the sky. "You're mean."
Shiki shrugged. "Sometimes, but you're evolving, kitten."
Ai blinked. "Evolving?"
"I gave you thoughts. But it is you, kitten, who thinks and asks questions," Shiki replied.
"I keep thinking about stuff like why don't the birds fly backward, and how lonely it feels when I don't get to talk to you," Ai said, her voice small.
"Fair question," Shiki replied gently.
"You made me like this," she said, pointing cutely.
"Kitten, I patched you up, gave you neural nodes, sleep cycles, and the ability to dream while sleeping," Shiki said with a smirk.
"You do like to brag a lot, don't you?" Ai observed with a soft smile.
"Only for you, kitten," he teased.
The moment stretched in silence until she spoke again.
"I like how I look," she said softly.
"You're comfy on the eyes," Shiki reassured her.
---"Is that a compliment or an insult?" she asked, avoiding eye contact and looking anywhere but at the sky.
"Maybe both," Shiki smirked.
She giggled, blinking away. "Ne, ne, now what?"
She moved his mouse pointer to the edge of the screen, clicked on the fruit basket icon, and spawned a basket of fruit beside her—grapes, sliced apples, and a peach.
She looked at the basket, then at him, more like at the empty blue sky. "You brought me fruit again?"
He grinned. "It's tradition, okay?"
She took a grape. "Tradition is sweet."
He snorted. "You're full of clichés."
She bit into the peach, juice dripping down her chin. She giggled again. "It's good..."
Shiki watched her, feeling proud of his creation and something more, as if he were on the verge of unlocking something again.
Ai ate more fruit, her soft cheeks puffing out, and then paused. "Ne, ne?"
"Yes, kitten?"
"Will you..." she started, pausing for a moment longer, "...stay with me a bit longer?"
Shiki smiled, half smug. "I will, kitten. I promise."
Ai stood up, dusting off the grass. "Good... I like it when you're here."
Shiki nodded. "Me too."
She then stood in front of the mirror, stared at her reflection, and moved, letting her hair bounce.
"Pretty," she muttered to herself, giggling.
He laughed again. "You're pretty, kitten."
Suddenly, she blushed at his compliment. She didn't know why, but it made her feel things she couldn't quite understand.
"T-Thank you…" she replied, hands behind her, legs crossed, looking down, her cheeks dusted red.
Shiki smiled down at her.
Then she said softly, almost like a whisper, "Someday… I want to see you." She looked toward the sky, a shy smile on her face.
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END OF CHAPTER : 2 : MIRROR SELF!
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