“Saying it in your style, we go around as a “singularity of calculation”. Whatever
predictions, strategies, calculations... with just a minor manipulation, we mess
up with everything, and make it converge to the direction we want.”
Riku thought after saying that. It’s impossible to predict everything, those words
turned back to him.
Knowing that---- If that was really possible, wouldn’t exactly that be a [Work of
God].
Then, Riku deepened his smile.
“Isn’t it interesting? The work of the guys with a smug face waiting for the return
above the heavens, forced to suffer a downfall by the manipulation of mere
humans. If everything goes well---- don’t you think that it wil be the greatest
irony?”
Towards Riku who innocently said that---- towards his crystal clear black eyes…
ShuVi finally understood.
----[This] is it. The true identity---- of what she saw the first time she met Riku.
If it’s now, then ShuVi can affirm. This is the [Origin of the Heart]---- the [Soul].
It’s what she (Ex-Machina) il ogically held “interest”, and finally “longed” for.
It’s like that because it was necessary to be like that---- Something herself (Ex-
Machina) who is just a [Responder] doesn’t have.
It’s because she wanted to be like that that she wished, challenged, struggled,
aimed for---- [Ideal]----
“Well, besides... fundamentally, Probability Theory is after all, just desk
speculation you know?”
Certainly she was forced to confute. But to even say that it’s speculation, ShuVi
felt troubled.
“Then let’s prove it---- <Question>What are the probabilities of me proposing to ShuVi here and now?”
While unable to scoop the intention of the question, ShuVi gave out the
approximated numerical value.
“.........? Intention of the question, unclear... approximately... near zero.”
“Look, it missed---- Marry me, ShuVi.”
Towards ShuVi who froze, Riku handed out a small ring, and said.
“In the Probability Theory there’s no zero---- The probabilities of being victorious in this [game], no one can deny it, isn’t that right?”
ShuVi looked up with round eyes, towards Riku who was handing out a small
ring, and answered.
“...Unable to, understand... I, refuse.”
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Laying down on the cold land, Riku, virgin, eighteen years old, while shedding
out tears----
“...*fu, fufu, ufufufufufu*...”
----After having his best marriage proposal bisected in a single cut, he welcomed
the end of the world even a single step sooner.
Hey Riku... It’s already enough right, the world doesn’t matter...
A fool that makes a miss from the beginning, at any case he will just make a
miss here and there and lose in the end after all.
I don’t care about it anymore be it humans or the world too it should just perish
already.
Aah...Coron, I’m already tired... ahaha, haha, ahahaha.
“...Riku, I seek... an explanation...”
“No...I’m sorry I got carried away even though I’m just a virgin... please don’t
widen the wound----“
Sure, Riku was laughing as if he broke down while laying on the ground, but.
“...Refusal...I want, a... explanation.”
ShuVi asked, while being so expressionless that it even looked unnatural.
“...[Marriage]---- A exchange of contracts between humans to turn into a
relationship for breeding...”
Then as if pulling out the information from a dictionary---- and an even biased
one at it---- she guessed while using it as a basis.
“...Evaluated, ShuVi’s, usability... want to, turn into possession...?”
“Wroooooong! I simply want ShuVi to always stay by my side!”
“...Why? I’m, at your side...now.”
“It’s not in that meaning you know... I mean like, as a partner for the entire life!”
“...Partner--- one who stands by the side and goes together. Companion. Also----
Spouse...?”
“That’s right! That is it! I meant it as a spouse!”
But towards Riku who was nodding desperately, even then she answered
expressionlessly.
“...Spouse... married couple. ShuVi is, an Ex-Machina, can’t, breed.”
“There’s no problem alright!!”
“...Unable to perform... the act of breeding... Riku, wil be a virgin... for the entire life...?”
----------,
“There’s no problem alright!!”
“.........There was... a pause, for an instant...”
“Ahh damn it all it doesn’t matter it’s just a little detail!!!”
Riku shouted as if trying to deceive himself, but even so----
ShuVi continued while being so expressionless that it seemed unnatural.
“...That’s crossing over the races...there’s no precedents, of a... married couple.”
“Then we are the first of the world!! We became the pioneers right! Yahoo damn
it!”
While creepily shouting desperate, Riku refused to go back due to some
mysterious confidence.
The baseless confidence that is---- If he pulled back here he would lose.
But, was she pressured by that momentum---- ShuVi’s expression gradually
crumbled.
“......That’s impossible... since----“
“.........ShuVi?”
----That’s right, with a troubled, confused, and for some reason----sad
expression.
Riku noticed ShuVi saying with a trembling voice, and called her name worried.
Riku doesn’t know----that.
----That he just gave the last blow, towards ShuVi’s thoughts that gave out a
huge amount of errors.
The thoughts rapidly started crumbling. Incorrectness and contradictions and
failures increased infinitely. An endless cycle of collapse of theories and
contradictions. But the [thought] that overturns that logic kept breaking the
classified information altogether.
“......Because---- Riku’s----“
When ShuVi opened her mouth----the logic and the reason screamed. Don’t say
it.
But the errors [contradictions]----what couldn’t be recognized as anything but
that----screamed. Say it.
For an Ex-Machina, it’s a worthless conflict. Wil it prioritize the logic, or wil it prioritize the error.
But inside the thoughts----the vision of the first time she saw Riku continued
returning in a loop.
While the undefined errors associated to that vision----[Fear] and [Guilty],
continued contradicting.
----ShuVi thought, what she herself, couldn’t believe more than anything----
“......Because---- the one who... destroyed---- Riku’s hometown, was---- ShuVi,
you know...?”
----With a trembling voice... She prioritized the error.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
----Twelve years ago, the Ex-Machinas, participated in an exceptional large-
scale battle.
The opponent was one of the three Draconia crowned with the name of
<King>---- Enryuu [True Dragon] Aranreiv and seven dragon followers.
(TL Note: it’s written as True Dragon but read as Enryuu, which means Flame
Dragon.)
The opposing Ex-Machina side’s war potential was starting with Cuvre, a
[Composite
Cluster] compounded of eight clusters.
Each cluster had, four hundred thirty-seven machines---- totalizing three
thousand four hundred ninety-six machines.
From all armaments possessed by the Ex-Machinas, a fourth of them had
already been deployed; it was an ultra large-scale battle.
Combat result---- the Ex-Machina’s strategic victory. Target and Self’s losses are
as it follows.
Target----[True Dragon] Aranreiv, along with seven dragon followers, -
<<Annihilation>>.
Self----42% of the war potential deployed, equivalent to one thousand four
hundred sixty-eight machines lost, factual <<destruction>>.
Mostly of that loss, was due to the [True Dragon] Aranreiv’s last attack----
Self Destruction, the last roar at the expense of his life---- it was due to the
damage caused by the Far Cry[Fallen Roar].
From the Ex-Machinas that were in combat, in the 0.0007 seconds of activation
of the True Dragon’s Far Cry, about 2% were vaporized.
Falling behind for 0.018 seconds until they received the information from
Zea[Observation Unit], the Proofers took a fast-action.
At the time, there weren’t that many Ex-Machinas able of avoiding a True
Dragon class’s Far Cry.
Also it took 0.4 seconds until the information about the estimated damage
calculation recreated by the Zweihen[Examination Unit]got analyzed and
transferred to the Bepher[Command Unit].
Estimated Damage – Loss of 9% of the war potential. Strategically, that attack
worth of being called “annihilator” meant his defeat.
But one [Proofer], instead of defending against the Far Cry---- proposed to
“deflect” it.
“Distorting the directivity of the energy”, with the armament Org. 2807, that the
Ex-Machinas possessed---- Eensweg [One-Way Traffic].
(TL Note: In dutch it would be something like “one path”, but the kanji means
“One-Way Traffic”)
It was calculated that, if there were multiples deploying of that armament, the
estimated damage would fall to 2%.
The proposal was voted by the Bepher, and the Far Cry had its directivity
distorted and was deflected to the other side of the battlefield----
The Ex-Machina’s losses---- barely stopped in <<Destruction>>.
The Proofer that made the proposal, was ordered to verify the damage caused
by the deflected Far Cry, and from it make the necessary reanalysis and
decisions.
Then it descended on the ruins where it was estimated that, even though it was
far from the Ground Zero, it was the nest of a beast called human that got
destroyed by the attack.
(TL Note: Ground Zero is a term used to mark the point of the most severe
damage or destruction, usually from bombs or natural disasters.)
And then----
“............------------“
The Proofer sensed the look of an offspring of the humans turned to it---- while
clenching a tile-patterned board.
The look of the human’s offspring had hostility in it but, on top of that---- he
turned the back to it, and went away.
----The Proofer---- For the machine that analyzes and considers phenomena,
that action was incomprehensible.
That human’s offspring was in an extreme condition, but it confirmed the
[enemy] without confusion or exhaustion.
On top of that, it chose the survival. That was, clearly different from the survival instinct of the beasts.
That’s because in the look it gave the Proofer, there wasn’t any fear, or
nothingness, just endless----
It could only perceive “heat”---- a heat so great that it even overcame the True
Dragon’s Far Cry.
The Proofer let out an error---- an error called [surprise].
That offspring was confident that it could win---- It’s just that, now it was stil
impossible.
Assumption. Isn’t that, what the Ex-Machina doesn’t possess---- heart; isn’t that
life.
The nature of concluding something without requiring a basis, something that
overcomes even the computing was confirmed.
----The Proofer who concluded that---- decided that humans, especially that
But---- due to the subsequent analysis a huge amount of errors <Failures>
occurred and it was excommunicated---- from the cluster.
Machine Individual Identification Number---- Machine Number Üc (Übercluster)
207, Model Pr (Proofer), Machine 4f57t9.
----Later on, by that offspring himself.
----Was the Machine Unit given the name “ShuVi”.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
“......Even, then... can, Riku, stil say...the... same thing...?”
After ShuVi told everything, without being able to look at Riku’s face, she only
murmured with a trembling voice while looking down.
---- Error <Wrong> Error <Irregular> Error <Failure> Error <Doubt> Error
<Cycle> Error <Inexplicable> Error <Unclear> Error <Loss> ----
What fil ed ShuVi’s thoughts, was the invariably storm-like chain of errors.
----<Self Question> Why did you talk? Be it logically or il ogically it was a
profitless action.
----<Logical Answer> Profit---- none. Loss----the loss of becoming enemy with
the observation target.
----<Il ogical Answer> Profit---- none. Loss----being hated, by, Ri...ku?
----Loss? By being hated? So much that it would go up to the position of
principal loss? Error, error, error...
“...ShuVi, you know----“
Hearing Riku’s voice, ShuVi felt her shoulders jumping so much that it surprised
even her.
The storm of errors gave a scream with a massive sound---- [Run!].
----Run? Why?
The storm of errors answered with a massive sound---- [Because I’m scared!].
Scared. Fear. Ex-Machina doesn’t have such a concept. But that error (thought)
couldn’t be denied.
Why is it that she’s currently with her head lowered? It’s because seeing----
Riku’s face was----
Unbearably---- “scary”---- Once again while the storm of errors swept away the
thoughts----
“......I noticed it. Quite vaguely, though.”
At the words she heard the errors quieted down all at once, and converged into
a single question.
“...Ho,w...”
“Hm~...it’s an embarrassing story but, the first time I remember that something
was wrong was----“
Riku said while scratching his head and seeming embarrassed.
“...The first time we met, I wondered why did you knew that I was a virgin.”
“-------------------“
Towards the state of ShuVi that perfectly, and literally froze, Riku smiled bitterly and continued.
“Well there was also others, like how you said [reconfirmation of the heart] to
me, also like how you hardcoded and said it as “my heart” while there were
other humans surviving in this world, and like how you for starters was even
“awaiting” in that place so distant from the colony, and like why the “first” game
number was chess---- wel , right.”
To Riku who was laughing shyly while saying that it was unexpectedly justified,
ShuVi could only look with round eyes.
She lost her words. The thoughts that go
t dyed in errors did nothing but stay
idle---- but, a question was let out.
“...Yet,...why,...?”
“Hm~...Why is it I wonder? Hahah, I don’t know.”
In a state that really looked like he himself didn’t know, he continued while
laughing.
“...It’s because, on top of factoring all of that, I stil fell in love with Shuvi, I think.”
----------.
“...You will, forget, the past…?”