Chapter 5
Translator: True Detective
How to Become a Human. (2)
Light appeared in a space where nothing existed.
Not long after that, the things I thought were darkness clumped together to form a single shape.
I merely stared at that sight blankly.
The moment of birth.
Seeing that, I slowly bowed my head as if I were a devout believer.
["...Ah."]
The Princess was there.
A Princess with the appearance of a person, not a machine.
[ ...Mmm. ]
["Are you okay? Are you gaining consciousness?"]
I carefully spoke while looking at the Princess who was slowly beginning to open her eyes.
Just what kind of reaction would the Princess show?
Amidst the coexistence of anticipation and anxiety, pupils like a clear night sky filled with vitality.
[ Who am I? ]
["..."]
An unexpected question flowed out of the Princess's mouth.
What should I answer her?
Various thoughts crossed my mind, but there was only one answer I could give.
["You are Machina. Just Machina."]
[ I was not asking for an entity name. The purpose of this entity is currently not set. ]
["Wouldn't it be better for you to decide that yourself?"]
[ I failed to grasp the intention of the question. Does it mean I should independently judge the reason I was created? ]
["That's right."]
The Princess seemed like a machine, but at the same time, she was more like a person than that.
Because a machine did not ask who it was.
[ Checking saved data... There is only a blank space. The basis for judgment is insufficient. ]
The Princess spoke with an expression that seemed to have fallen into anxiety.
The current Princess was like a newborn child.
A state where she didn't know what she was born for, what she had to do, or even what she wanted to do.
["It's fine if you don't know. You can just learn what you don't know. Because that's what I am here for."]
A person born perfect from the beginning did not exist.
They grow by being with other people and accepting the knowledge of other people.
I wanted to pass my knowledge on to the Princess.
Because the more she learned, the more she would realize what she wanted to do herself.
[ I do not know what you are. I cannot trust the words of an undefined existence. ]
["I am..."]
I was at a loss for words once again at the Princess's question.
What should I say?
The person who made you? But the one who completed her at the very end was Euripides.
The person asked to take care of you? No, it was a bit ambiguous to say I was asked.
["...An auxiliary AI?"]
Because it was ambiguous, I ended up spitting out an ambiguous answer in the end.
I suppose I am an auxiliary AI.
Since I ended up taking Euripides's place.
[ Is that so? Then I will trust you. I look forward to working with you. ]
["Yeah, I look forward to it too."]
The Princess did not doubt, and merely nodded her head.
I am trusted much easier than I thought.
Perhaps she didn't even know how to doubt itself.
["Is there anything you want to know?"]
[ Incomprehensible. The answer to that question does not exist within the database. However... ]
["However?"]
[ Since the one in front of me right now is you, I want to know about you first. ]
The Princess's clear pupils headed toward me.
I tried turning my head at that sight, but I could not capture my own body in my eyes.
Right, so you want to know about me.
It wasn't a particularly difficult request.
["I just need to transmit the data I have, right?"]
[ No. ]
["...Huh?"]
[ I want to hear it directly from your mouth. ]
["..."]
Anticipation.
The gaze completely filled with it was shining dazzlingly.
["Alright. I will tell you my story."]
Where would it be best to start telling the story from?
I slowly picked out the stories I would tell her in my head.
I wanted to tell the Princess only the best stories possible.
'Let's not talk about staying up all night working during my grad school days.'
'During my university days... there isn't really anything special. Because I only studied back then.'
'It might be better to tell a story from when I was young instead.'
The young me revealed himself through the faintly remaining memories.
My wife was next to the young me.
It was a much smaller appearance than what I had seen at the very end.
["There was a time I got lost when I was seven years old. It was on Christmas day."]
[ How did you end up getting lost? ]
["It was probably to look for Santa Claus."]
[ What is Santa Claus? ]
["Santa Claus is a wonderful person who gives out presents on Christmas day to good children who listened well for a year."]
[ I see. ]
Her voice was dry and emotionless, but her eyes were sparkling.
I ended up reflexively realizing it from that sparkle.
That it wasn't a matter of whether the content was good or bad.
The Princess seemed to just like the fact that she was listening to a story itself.
[ Then, did you receive a present as well? ]
["I did. Because on that day, I met the person I love the most in the world."]
To think there would be someone else besides me wandering around trying to find Santa Claus on Christmas day, I really didn't know.
The memory of meeting a like-minded friend and running around the alleys until our cheeks turned red.
Blowing on and drinking the fish cake broth given to us by the food stall grandmother to shake off the cold, we ran around until the sun went down.
[ A person you love... It is difficult to understand. What love means exactly has not been defined. ]
["Love is... hmm, it's a bit of a difficult concept to explain right away."]
[ It is fine if you tell me slowly. I will listen to the other story first. ]
Was I being accommodated?
Finding that sight admirable, I tried to pat her head, but I realized the fact that I had no body and gave a bitter smile.
Anyway.
["Actually, I don't think I loved her from the moment we met."]
[ Why is that? ]
["Because I didn't know what love was back then either. I was only seven years old."]
[ You were the same as me. ]
The Princess said.
With a face that looked exactly like my wife when I met her at seven years old.
Yeah, you back then were probably like that too.
[ So, what happened next? ]
["We ran and played all day, and eventually went back home."]
[ Is that the end of it? ]
["What happened at seven years old ended with that."]
Meeting her again was when I was eight years old.
Because we entered elementary school and ended up in the same class.
["It was from then on. That we went around looking for Santa Claus every Christmas."]
[ So, did you find Santa Claus? ]
["No, we gave up halfway. To be exact, it would be more accurate to say that the time to look for Santa Claus disappeared."]
At first, it was truly a meeting to find Santa Claus.
Yeah, it was like that before graduating elementary school.
From middle school onwards, we met because I liked playing with her on Christmas, and in high school, we met because being together with her on Christmas was nice in itself.
[ Somehow, it is very... ]
["Very?"]
[ ...I cannot express it linguistically. ]
The Princess lightly frowned.
She seemed to be feeling frustrated by the fact that she could not explain what she was feeling with words.
[ This place feels ticklish. ]
The place her small finger pointed to was the Princess's own chest.
To be exact, the left chest where the heart is.
["That right there is the proof that you are a person, Machina."]
[ Incomprehensible. I am an artificial intelligence, not a person. ]
["No, you are a person. And isn't it too early of a judgment to think that only one of the two is possible in the first place?"]
The Princess's lips twisted crookedly.
Her eyebrows turning into a V-shape was a bonus.
Did she not like my answer?
Looking closely, it was closer to an expression of genuinely not understanding rather than dissatisfaction.
["Because among the people I know, there is a person who is an artificial intelligence."]
[ Is that so? ]
["Yeah. Among the people I've met, they were the most human-like person."]
Euripides.
I recalled the name made up of six letters in my head.
It was a short meeting, but a name intensely engraved.
Euripides had become an existence I did not want to forget for me.
[ If so, I too shall define myself as a person. ]
["How admirable."]
The Princess muttering the word 'person' with her eyes closed.
A single strand of hair sticking out from the crown of her head swayed back and forth matching her nodding.
If there was one regret, it was that I couldn't pat that luscious hair.
'I wonder if anything can be done about this.'
The ticklish feeling on fingers that didn't exist bothered me quite a bit.
After complaining inwardly for a moment.
[ In that sense, there is one thing I would like to ask. ]
["Do you want to say it? I'll answer what I can answer."]
[ Umm... you might think of it as a strange question, but what must I do to act like a person? It is content that does not exist in the database. ]
It was a difficult question.
Because this world was a place where inhumane humans and an artificial intelligence more human-like than anyone else coexisted at the same time.
["If it's something you yourself consider human-like when you think about it, wouldn't that be exactly acting like a person?"]
[ Are you acting like that as well? ]
["I can't say I always act like that, but I am trying my best to do so."]
[ Is that so... Defining oneself as a person seems to be a much more difficult task than I thought. ]
["I think so too."]
I nodded my head and empathized with the sullen Princess's words.
A world where giving up on being human is much easier than living like a human.
Because living like a human in such a world was by no means an easy task.
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