A Sister Reborn
“Elisha!” The sound of my name jolted me back to awareness. What happened? Why had I lost consciousness?
“Sorry, my mistake. I forgot I’d left the implant synchronized.”
“I’m all right. Did something happen?”
“I ran the memory data through the AI generation program based on an idea that came to me. The parallel-linked implant must have joined the computation and affected your brain as well.”
So my implant and brain had been connected to the computer and used as resources for the AI generation program?
“Is there any problem?”
“The check showed nothing wrong. How do you feel? Anything strange?”
“No, but I’m suddenly very hungry.”
“Good. Here, eat this.”
I took the chocolate my master handed me and listened to the results while I ate. Ah, it was sweet and delicious.
“Thanks to your implant and brain, the AI generation program finished incredibly fast. And the results are remarkable.”
The AI generation results my master showed me were excellent. That meant an AI created from memory data could be used in an android. Still, I wasn’t sure whether it was all right to actually use it.
“You succeeded on the first try. That’s amazing. But… is it really okay to use this?”
“Under normal circumstances, this kind of AI would be illegal under human-rights protection laws, but since the original owner of the memories no longer exists, who’s going to sue?”
“I suppose so.”
I felt a twinge of pity for whoever had once owned those memories.
“Once we obtain an android body, we can implant the AI and wake the original owner. I didn’t expect it to work this well. I’m not even a specialist—I just patched together several pieces of software.”
“Perhaps it was a genius’s inspiration?”
“I am a genius, but this isn’t my field, so I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, let’s get an android body. Judging by how hard they tried to infiltrate Eden, they might become an ally if things go well. The enemy of my enemy, after all.”
She didn’t deny being called a genius. If the original owner were revived through the AI, would they still be human or would they become an android? I hoped the shock wouldn’t be too great when they realized their body was now mechanical while their memories remained human.
“I’ll obtain the android.”
“You will?”
“You’ve already spent a great deal of money, Master. Modifying and upgrading me must have cost a fortune.”
“Are you showing consideration for the person who’s modifying you? How very angelic.”
“I exist as an angel for you, Master. Besides, I can simply take out a loan. It’s simple.”
“True. Once our goal is achieved, money will lose all value anyway. Go ahead and get one.”
“Yes, Master.”
When I unplugged the cable from the connection port, a sharp tingling sensation returned, followed by the strange feeling of something withdrawing from my brain. I still couldn’t get used to that sensation. Once the hatch closed, nothing was visible from the outside except for a small mark on the back of my neck. After I smoothed my hair over it, even that trace disappeared completely.
“I’ll be going, then.”
“Be careful and come back safely.”
Receiving my master’s send-off, I left the laboratory. The sun was still high in the sky. The streets of Eden bathed in sunlight remained beautiful. Now that I could feel emotions, everything truly felt different. Ah… to be able to feel beauty again was such a joy. Once more, I felt grateful to my master.
Checking the time, I realized the implant upgrade hadn’t taken as long as I’d expected. If I wanted to buy an android, I needed money first, so I headed back to the bank. After borrowing five hundred thousand tunes, I stepped outside and wondered where to purchase an android. I wanted something good but inexpensive if possible.
Come to think of it, wasn’t Kate the owner of an android specialty shop? Using the built-in communication function, I called her. Feeling the ringing tone echo inside my head, I walked toward the subway. Soon the call connected.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Kate.”
“Elisha? Calling at this hour? What’s going on?”
I explained that I needed to obtain an android due to certain circumstances and asked if she could advise me.
“Why don’t you come to the shop? It’ll be too long to discuss over the phone.”
“All right. I’m on my way.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Ending the call, I boarded the subway. The right side of Central Street was filled with electronics districts. Android shops, appliance stores—countless stores lined the street, their advertisements dazzling. Holographic billboards decorated the avenue, and neon signs glowed even in broad daylight. High-end androids stood outside shops soliciting customers, and the occasional levitating vehicle—rare even in Eden—could be seen gliding by.
Kate’s shop stood among those flashy buildings with nothing but a plain white wall and a simple sign that read “Prometheus.” Her store occupied the first floor; the upper floors belonged to some unknown purpose. According to her, the building owner was an incredibly wealthy person who charged almost no rent. I wondered who they were.
Ding. The door was automatic, yet it chimed like a bell—an eccentricity typical of Kate.
“You’re here? Come sit down.”
“Hello.”
A perfectly arranged table greeted me the moment I entered—tea, snacks, and several brochures. She had prepared everything. Kate welcomed me warmly, then widened her eyes when she saw me.
“What? When did you get so tall? Your figure looks different too. I heard you were hospitalized—what happened?”
“Ah, I wasn’t ill. I underwent skeletal modification.”
She touched various parts of my body with curiosity and admiration, then spoke enviously.
“Angels are lucky—body modification is legal for them. I’d like to get some done too, but it’s illegal.”
“You want modification?”
It was surprising that Kate wanted body modification.
“I’m a little dissatisfied with my height. I want to be over 160 centimeters. Oh—now that I look, the height difference has grown even more.”
Kate was on the shorter side—157 centimeters, if I recalled correctly. I had already looked down at her before, but now I had to lower my head even further to see the top of her head. She stared at our twenty-centimeter height difference with a dissatisfied expression, then suddenly swung her fist.
“That’s unfair. Growing taller all by yourself. Take this!”
“Ugh—please refrain from hitting me so suddenly.”
I wished she would stop suddenly striking my lower abdomen. She had mentioned learning martial arts before, and her punches had grown sharper. The pain made me frown involuntarily. Kate looked worried and gently rubbed the spot.
“Sorry, did it hurt a lot? That’s why I told you to always be ready to take a hit.”
“It’s fine. I can endure it.”
After rubbing my stomach for a while, she pulled me toward the table.
“You said you wanted to buy an android, right? Do you have any prior knowledge?”
“No, none at all. That’s why I wanted to buy one through someone who knows the market.”
“You even worked at my shop—how can you know nothing?”
“Haha…”
Kate called herself a genius engineer. I wasn’t sure how accurate that was, but she had steady customers and was fairly well-known for android customization. I figured that if it was her, she could get me a good android at a good price.
“Anyway, you came to the right place. I can pick the best parts from each company and assemble them myself.”
With her characteristic arrogant expression when boasting, she confidently laid out several sheets of paper labeled “recommendations.”
“Since you’re my partner, I’ll pay extra attention. First, tell me the purpose and intended use.”
“Well, it’s a gift for the researcher who helped me. I’d like one with a high-performance artificial brain capable of AI experiments.”
“The researcher who helped you? The one who hired you?”
“Yes. She worked hard to treat my memory loss and even gave me a job, so I want to repay her.”
“Repaying her with an android? That’s extremely expensive, you know.”
“Angels can take out interest-free, indefinite loans.”
At those words, Kate’s expression turned sulky. Why was she suddenly pouting?
“Why haven’t you given me a gift?”
“What?”
“I’ve helped you a lot too. I gave you a job, helped with your living situation, even found the city walls for you.”
“That’s why I let you hit me.”
“That’s mutual benefit, so it doesn’t count. Give me a present too.”
Pouting like a child throwing a tantrum, Kate looked genuinely childish because of her small stature.
“All right. What would you like?”
“Anything’s fine?”
“As long as it’s within my ability.”
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she declared boldly, “I want a mark too.”
“What kind of mark?”
“You made a master without telling me. I’m your partner too, after all.”
“Huh? How did you know?”
I had never mentioned it—how had she found out? I thought I’d been acting pretty well.
“You’ve got a ring with your master’s name engraved right there, yet you pretend not to know? I waited for you to tell me, but you never showed any sign of it.”
“When did you see that? And how am I supposed to bring that up?”
Being my master’s slave wasn’t something I was ashamed of, but it wasn’t something I needed to announce to others either. Besides, I had been ordered to keep it secret.
“So I’m going to mark myself as belonging to someone too. That’s only natural, right?”
“Is that the gift you want?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll do that.”
After thinking it over briefly, it didn’t seem like a problem. My master probably wouldn’t care. In fact, she was surprisingly straightforward about sexual matters. Except for the occasional reward, she treated my body purely as a doll to be processed—there had been no sexual contact at all.
Kate seemed to have completely forgotten about the android as she excitedly headed into the workshop. Since she had seen my master’s mark and wanted one of her own, it was probably going to be a piercing. I wasn’t sure where.
“Since Elisha’s master has one, I’ll have two!”
Kate emerged from the workshop holding a small ring with a cross-shaped piercing attached—when had she made it?
“Did you prepare this in advance?”
“No, it’s something I sell. I just engraved my name on the ring.”
“So where are you putting it? The ears?”
I wasn’t wearing earrings, and since there were two of them with small crosses, earrings seemed likely.
“I’m not doing something that boring. Obviously the nipples! Take off your top.”
“My nipples?”
“Come on, hurry up.”
At her urging, I removed my top and sat there exposed. After becoming an angel I had felt nothing about nudity, but now that I had regained my emotions, a faint sense of shame stirred. Kate put on gloves, sterilized the tools and my nipples with a sterilizer, and explained the piercing.
“This piercing is special and expensive. It’s been treated to be harmless to the human body and naturally sterilizing, so no extra disinfection is needed. You already have one on your clitoris, right? It’s the same model. There are a few extra functions, but let’s save those for later enjoyment.”
She took my nipples between her fingers and gently rolled them, stimulating them until they began to harden. Was there any need to deliberately swell the nipples for a piercing?
“Why are you stimulating my nipples?”
“This piercing is meant for erect nipples. Same principle as the one on your clitoris.”
Ah, so it had a function to maintain an erect state through continuous stimulation. That was why my clitoris had gradually enlarged and become troublesome. Lately it stayed fixed in that state, constantly stimulated by my underwear.
“They’re fully erect now. This might hurt a little.”
She pressed the ring against my erect nipple and pushed firmly. The ring contracted, tightening around the nipple. Once it had squeezed tightly, it slowly loosened, adjusted the pressure, and stopped at a comfortable level of compression. When Kate manipulated the cross section, I felt a slight pain and the sensation of something microscopic embedding into my nipple.
“Done. Does it hurt?”
“A little. But it doesn’t feel like it went through.”
“Tiny needles came out of the ring and embedded themselves. It’s newer technology—less damage than traditional piercing methods, but stronger stimulation.”
“Even piercings have advanced.”
Indeed, there was no bleeding, and every time the dangling cross swayed, a considerable stimulation could be felt. Whenever my breasts moved, the cross moved with them, creating quite strong stimulation.
“This stimulation is quite strong, isn’t it?”
“It’s because it’s new. You’ll get used to it.”
After applying medicine to help the wound heal quickly, Kate looked at the small crosses swaying on both breasts with satisfaction.
“It feels good to see proof that Elisha is my partner.”
“Are you all right with me having a master?”
I felt a little worried. Kate and I were partners—specifically, an SM relationship—so I thought she might dislike the idea of me having a master.
“It’s fine. You and I are sadist and masochist, while your master and you are dominant and submissive.”
“I don’t really understand the difference.”
“Well, you and I are partners who gain sexual pleasure from sadism and masochism, whereas your master and you gain pleasure from domination and submission. Just because someone enjoys sadism doesn’t mean they always want submission, and just because someone dominates doesn’t mean they always practice sadism. So they’re a little different.”
“Wow, it’s complicated.”
It was a minor preference even among angels’ knowledge, so it felt unfamiliar. Ironically, I was currently living as both a slave and a masochistic partner.
“Usually people show both tendencies at once, but I only want sadism, so it can’t be helped. Since I can’t dominate you as much as you want, I have to accept that you have a master.”
I thought my master’s domination was a little different. It wasn’t sexual domination but complete subservient control. She dominated me for a purpose; she didn’t seem to particularly enjoy the act of domination itself. I wasn’t sure. When I thought about being dominated by her, I felt pleasure and joy, but that was because I had been conditioned that way—I still didn’t know my true feelings.
“Still, thinking about sharing my partner makes me jealous. But since you’ve put on the mark, I’m satisfied.”
“I’m glad you’re satisfied. By the way, shall we get back to the topic of the android?”
“Oh right, you came to buy an android, didn’t you?”
Thanks to the medicine, the pain had subsided enough for me to put my underwear and top back on. The feeling of my erect nipples and the crosses being pressed was a little uncomfortable, but bearable. While I dressed, Kate sat at the table operating a portable computer. When I sat in front of her, she brought up a holographic display and began explaining.
“I’ve put together a custom android that fits your requirements. The head uses Necton’s Free Extension model, which is unrivaled in artificial-brain performance, and the body uses Cosmic Dex’s custom model…”
The android body displayed in the hologram looked like a human anatomical model with only skin attached. Kate explained enthusiastically, but I could only understand the company names and model numbers. All the technical terms left me completely lost.
“The base configuration comes to about three hundred seventy thousand tunes.”
“That’s incredibly expensive.”
I had thought borrowing five hundred thousand tunes was too much, but the price of an android far exceeded my imagination. This was clearly just the price of the pure body without any software or additional decorations, right?
“It would be a shame to buy something cheap as a gift, wouldn’t it? Still, the performance-to-price ratio is good. I selected only the best parts from each company, assembled them myself, and didn’t charge for labor, so this price is actually reasonable. If I went all-out with premium parts, it would easily exceed five hundred thousand.”
“Now I understand why budget models sell well.”
“As a partner special, I’ll add decorations for free. Want to choose the design?”
“Yes.”
Using the touch screen that appeared on the table, I selected details such as hair, eyebrows, and eyes. The selections were reflected in the hologram, and the android that had looked like a mere model gradually began to resemble a person. Oh, this was fun—like playing with dolls. I gave it silver hair like mine and a similar face. I increased the height from the standard 160 centimeters for female androids to 170 centimeters and matched the body type to what mine had been before modification. When finished, the android looked just like a younger sister.
“She looks exactly like your sister.”
“Now that it’s done, she really does look like a sister.”
If I had a real younger sister, would she have looked like this? Or perhaps, since it was a cloned body, it would resemble the original person.
“Somehow, thinking that I’m making Elisha’s sister is exciting. I won’t charge extra, so can I add modifications as I like? I’ll make it even better.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to be paid?”
“A sadist has to work hard for the masochist she likes.”
“Thank you.”
“Then I’ll do other kinds of play too, so give me a good reaction.”
“I’ll try.”
It was a pity that such a kind older sister had ended up with a sadistic preference. As a masochist myself, I felt I should learn from her. In the end, I decided to purchase the android for approximately four hundred thirty thousand tunes. Since it required purchasing parts separately and assembling them with customization, it would take time; she promised to notify me once it was complete. After reporting the situation to my master, I returned to the shelter.