“Master…” “Yes…” — we were already back at my house, but I still couldn’t meet 2B’s eyes.
“You already know everything I want to say to you.
My early conclusions about your carelessness have only been confirmed — I can’t deny I had to reconsider the scale of it, but that’s all.
I understand the circumstances may not have been within your control, but you could have called me before the fight.” Glancing sideways, I could see the same indifferent, serious Yorha as always, but the feeling that this had been said with judgment, that she was looking at me that way right now, refused to go away.
I admit, maybe I’m just working myself up, feeling guilty for having acted…
ahem…
not very smart, let’s call it that.
There’s no judgment here at all — 2B is simply stating facts and asking why I didn’t do it that way — but I couldn’t shake the delusion no matter how hard I tried.
“And…
what makes you think I was in a fight?” Yeah, that was the smartest thing I could come up with.
Nothing else was coming to mind.
“The condition of your T-shirt, and the scrap of it on your fence and on the road in front of the house.
Your overall state — you’re sweating heavily, your pupils are somewhat dilated, and your heart rhythm is still abnormal, from which I can conclude you experienced a powerful adrenaline surge quite recently.
The lipstick marks on your left cheek, combined with the absence of any other traces or scents, indicate this was not caused by a reproductive act.
The kiss was apparently payment for your help in the conflict,” 2B began to explain, and I realized that if I didn’t cut her off, she’d get all the way to the matter of the T-shirt being thrown out before her arrival, and the psychological subtext behind it — namely, that if I’d simply torn it by accident there’d have been no need to throw it away, and since I acted the way I did, it meant I was trying to hide evidence of the very thing I’d promised not to participate in.
“”Payment for help,” huh?
That’s called gratitude,” — I don’t know why exactly I picked that topic to interrupt 2B’s monologue.
Maybe…
well, I subconsciously expected a jealousy scene, or even hoped to see some kind of emotion on her face, even a negative one.
After all, jealous means she likes me.
But there…
no reaction at all.
Although the lipstick on my cheek really had been a slip-up — hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t seen myself from outside after the fight.
“I’ll remember that,” Yorha nodded.
And that was it.
Yeah, what did you expect, Lucian, that an emotionless android would suddenly get jealous over you?
Quite the dreamer, for a supposedly grown boy.
Or does that not depend on age?
“Besides, it was an important experiment,” I said, putting on a knowing look, even a bit of a proud one.
Let’s be honest though, that kind of “experiment” was the last thing on my mind at the time, but hey — it worked out, didn’t it?
“I cannot help but express doubt regarding your claim,” came the reply.
“That’s a little hurtful.
You could believe in me a bit more…” “It’s not a matter of lacking belief, but of analyzing your character.
The hypothesis put forward is that the experiment was not the goal, but a side effect of the fight.
Conclusion: it is somehow connected to your martial art,” — well yes, the android’s dry analysis was completely correct.
Of course it was…
“Correct.
Just as I can summon someone or something from other worlds, I can also acquire abilities.
And this particular power is unknown in this world originally, although, as I recently confirmed, it can apparently be learned even by someone who didn’t receive it my way.
But in my case…
let’s just say, I can fully master an ability by fulfilling certain conditions.
At first all I needed was to develop my body.
Then that stopped working, and I didn’t even notice,” I admitted one fact.
“I understand how a human might fail to notice something like that.
However, given what you’re telling me now, my conclusion is that the premise ‘a human is not an android and cannot track their own status, including progress of anything’ is either wholly or partially incorrect,” 2B delivered her verdict, staring intently at me — presumably having analyzed my facial expression.
It’s a little unsettling when your maid and helper (well, and bodyguard, protector, etc.) turns out to be sharper than you are.
Starting to feel inadequate.
Might as well go pull a cyborg card and assimilate it for the same analytical horsepower and advanced consciousness.
Although…
no.
I’m human, and that sounds proud.
“Yes, not as precisely as you can, but I do have a way to fairly accurately gauge how much a power has been absorbed, and whether it’s stuck.
When I was doing physical exercises, boxing training joined in fairly quickly, so it was only by analyzing what happened and my own memory that I managed to notice that at some point the percentage of fusion with…
the power, stopped progressing from physical exercise, and only rose from boxing practice.
And so it kept escalating.
Then boxing stopped being enough, and I had to switch to the Jo-Lan style itself, since I already had enough knowledge of it for self-study and to keep the assimilation of that ability going.
Then that stagnated too…” “I must again voice my disagreement.
I can state with certainty that even in today’s session you made progress.
Not just the bodily changes I’ve already noted and mentioned before, but also increased endurance, the amount of power you used, and your control over it,” 2B began listing.
Well, how am I supposed to explain that to her without laying all my cards on the table?
And laying them out is unnerving.
If nothing else, because I don’t fully understand it myself — what am I even assimilating?
An imprint of a personality?
A dead person?
Just a dry set of abilities with an emotional component reconstructed by god-knows-who and stamped onto a card?
What even are these cards?
Take 2B herself — was she summoned only after I used the card?
Or did the gacha snatch her right after her death and put her in stasis?
Or not after death, but after the card dropped for me?
And what would happen to her if I assimilated her?
Would she just…
stay dead?
Would I absorb her?
Or would the real her be sitting somewhere in storage while I absorbed an imprint made from her card?
So what would 2B decide, then — that I’m not human, and that she only protects humans, and then what?
Then again, why “not human”…
who else could even assimilate other people?
And there’s no talking her out of it!
Simply because I don’t know for sure how it works myself.
And by the time I figure it out, understand it, poke around in it…
I doubt by then I’d have anything in common with who I am now, or with the human race as a whole.
Damn it, enough.
I’ll sink back into depression at this rate.
Better to shelve those questions and deal with what I can handle.
Say, the android waiting for my answer and explanation, to whom I should tell everything honestly, while hiding a small piece of the truth, yes.
“You’re right and wrong at the same time.” “I would like to hear your explanation,” — she really is quite gentle, despite being emotionless.
“I would like to hear,” not “I demand.” Plus, well, her tone hadn’t changed.
But I could literally feel that I wasn’t being pressured, and that a refusal would be accepted easily enough.
Lovely.
Just remembering my female classmates, and my earlier attempts to somehow interact with them, I have to admit, 2B is perfect.
“Yes, I am going to voice them.
Just gathering my thoughts.
How to put it — what you called development doesn’t come from absorbing this power, but from my own training.
But if the assimilation itself stalls, no matter how much I train, I’ll remain someone who only understands the basics, a talentless hack with a couple of moves I can’t even use properly,” I answer sadly, realizing — thanks to the assimilation of Axel — that this could very well become reality, and worse…
if I don’t finish with him, I won’t be able to move on to anyone else!
“And for that you need to fight, master?
I find myself increasingly convinced of my earlier suggestion to find another fighting style,” Yorha guessed — no, rather analyzed the information she’d gathered along with what she already had.
“Won’t work.
If I give up on this, I simply won’t be able to use my power for development anymore.
Literally, I can assimilate, in your terms, only one data packet at a time.
And until I finish with it, I can’t move on to the next one — in other words, if I don’t see this through to completion, I’ll be putting a cross on any future ability to strengthen myself this way,” I voiced a very real threat.
Talk about injustice!
To fully assimilate Axel I have to get into fights, or at least take real risks — after all, at these percentages, even a risky motorcycle ride might count.
Sure, that’s far from the core of his personality, but it’s a beloved hobby.
But in the end I’ll still have to get into a fight.
And preferably against an equal or stronger opponent — anyone weaker won’t work for Axel; he never stooped to beating up the weak and finds that kind of thing disgusting, so if I started doing that…
well, if percentages could go in reverse, they would!
But I can’t just give up on this either, since that would literally cut off a solid chunk of the ways I have to strengthen myself.
There are still abilities left, but…
how many character cards have I gotten, and how many abilities?
A ratio of 1 to 5 isn’t inspiring.
Fine, not 5, more like 4.5.
Because I’ve gotten nine(!) character cards for two abilities.
And one of those abilities is completely useless for personal strengthening and development anyway.
“Your reasoning is understood.
Then I recommend checking whether the fighting requirement was a one-time thing, and whether, having crossed a certain threshold, you might be able to develop through safer methods until the next such threshold.
If not…
that too should be approached thoughtfully.
For instance, over all these days you still haven’t tested the option of a controlled fight,” 2B suggested, having considered the situation in an instant.
“Controlled?
You mean sparring?” — and indeed, that thought hadn’t even occurred to me…
though, let’s be honest, Yorha is quite a bit stronger than, say, Sledgehammer, and fighting her scares me more — what if she miscalculates by accident and kills me.
Plus, two more points to add — Axel probably wouldn’t fight a girl, so there’s no guarantee this option would even work.
And second — I myself don’t much want to fight her either.
First, I’m worried about hurting her, well aware that it’s unlikely, but that’s the rational mind talking, and on the level of feelings and instinct it’s more complicated.
And second…
as a man, somehow I don’t want to get beaten up by a woman.
And 2B would “mop the floor” with me, no question about it.
“Yes, master,” she nodded calmly.
And there’s another point — when a girl who respectfully calls you “master” is then going to “pin you to the mat”…
somehow that’s not great.
“And what do you suggest?” — well, maybe she’ll suggest something sensible that resolves my moral dilemma?
“For starters, take a bath — you’re all sweaty, and there’s lipstick on you besides.
I’ll put away the groceries in the meantime, after which you should eat something and get back to your work.
In the evening we’ll try to test whether assimilation can be increased through the usual means, after which we’ll run a sparring session,” she calmly hinted, as calm as ever, that I stink, that I’m wet and sweaty.
T-tactful.