“Yo, welcome.”

Memento Coppelia, wearing the school uniform of Kasugai Yuu’s school, wrapped with  a restraining belt, which is a clearly strange-looking outfit to be in, happily welcomed the newcomer.

In the middle of the jet-black s.p.a.ce,a wall-less cla.s.sroom appeared mysteriously.

In that place, Ikui Librium appeared.

Somehow she wore the same uniform as Memento, but without the restraining belt.

“There are plenty of seats left, but given the opportunity would you like to sit next to Meme?”

Within the cla.s.sroom there were 30 seats lined up, and Memento was sitting right in the middle seat.

“Look, same as you I was also killed by Onii-san. Meme’s stomach were torn into two, like──”

Ikui was unable to answer Memento. Then all of a sudden, a figure appeared on top of the platform-like spot within the s.p.a.ce. It’s an old man who was called as Maharl by Niiro.

“Oho, our teacher has arrived. Better hurry up and get to your seat”

Memento felt a little happy that her remark was ignored by the old man.

Maharl dutifully open his mouth.

“You who had been defeated by Haruha is now a reserve. Therefore, I’ll have you spend your time in this isolated pace.”

“Won’t you dispose off or seal me?”

Maharl nodded easily to Ikui’s apathetic question. It’s simple to guess the flow of this conversation just by visualizing the face of the person she’s talking to, but there was no need to do that.

“Normally it should be the case. Your existence has been marked by the Population Control Board. However, Niiro Mansei said he wanted me to entrust you to him as a sample.”

“Is that so…”

“In other word you will no longer under by supervision. Do you have anything to say?”

Ikui hesitated. Maharl raised his eyebrows. This abrasive att.i.tude means?

“……I met some interesting people.

To love, to not be separated, to hate, to be hated, to be together, to have one’s own feeling reach another, to not be not touched by others, to not go away── and much more, all of their emotions, all of that which are not lies, moreover it all intertwined with each other in a complicated fashion.

It is something that Iku couldn’t read; they are people who Iku can’t understand…… Iku finally met ‘someone else’.”

Ikui appeared to be blushing. And because of her clothes, she appeared to be a simple clumsy kid. Maharl closed his eyes.

“Is that so. Self-consciousness is the power to explore the heart of a personality different from one’s own, to identify the similarity and differences of one’s own heart, all in order to communicate with others. You finally encountered those who you can’t read with your ability for the first time, and by showing interest in those people you finally attained a sense of self, it seems.”

Niiro must be interested in this. If she proceeds like this she might be able to grow like Haruha, to a stage where she would attain emotions close to that of a human.

However, that means she will lose worth as Maharl’s experimental body.

That’s why Maharl turned his back to Ikui who had no words left to say. He still has the mission to create a Hadzar, based on Ikui Librium data, that has higher adaptability.

Ikui silently saw off the human she first met when she was first born in this virtual world.

“Niiro-kun.”

When Maharl speaks, Niiro’s figure appeared by his side.

“Yes?”

“About, Ikui Librium. May I continue to observe her progress from here on?”

“Of course.”

After that final exchange, the old man and Niiro’s figures disappeared. No one knows where they went. Ikui faintly sighed.

“So Iku-san can read a human’s heart huh~”

Now that the adults finally left, Memento once again started to talk.

“That’s right. However, I was just shown the limit of that ability.”

“How about Meme? What kind of bug is crawling around in Meme’s head?”

“………”

Ikui squinted her eyes and looked at Memento── after that, she shook her head.

“It’s all messy and cluttered.”

Ikui then sat on the seat next to Memento’s.

Days pa.s.sed.

The Kasugai household was in the middle of summer vacation.

Yuu and Miharu, who had just returned from shopping under the scorching sun, found a pair of unfamiliar sneakers at the entrance.

“So she came again……”

“It’s okay right?”

“I didn’t say it’s a bad thing though.”

Yuu felt a bit conflicted, but Miharu was straightforwardly happy. The two later entered the lightly cooled living room and heard an electric sound echo inside.

“Hrmm? Galaxian Axe won’t show up?”

“It’s hard to time it after doing a big punch. Beginners should start small. Small I tell you!?”

In front of a large TV in the living room, Haruha and Kanna Sakura sat alongside each other and played a game. Playing a retro “Television Game” with Yuu’s mother’s treasured console game collection from the storeroom is one of Kasugai household trends.

To begin with, it all began after Yuu accidentally said “I have the early version of that console fighting game in my house”, and Sakura couldn’t help but to search throughout the house to find that.

Ever since then, Sakura continued to visit the Kasugai household to play using various excuses. Especially since starting summer vacation where she comes to visit every day.

Unlike the “Ghosts” and 《Crystal World》members, Sakura who knew about Haruha’s circ.u.mstances was in an odd position. That’s why; Hajime and the human equilibrium inst.i.tute said that it’s better to keep her under their protection.

In other words, they’re monitoring her.

By the way, thanks to Sakura being Haruha’s playmate, Hajime can comfortably rest on top of the sofa. In a slouching position Hajime faces her laptop, doing her job at incredible speeds considering the sloppy position she’s in.

She might just simply want to relax, now that she doesn’t have to take care of Haruha.

“We’re back~”

“Ah! It’s Daddy and Mommy!”

Haruha who was looking at the controller instead of the screen quickly raised her head in excitement and ran towards them. Since he entered the room a minute faster, Yuu opened his arm wide to welcome her── but she suddenly changed direction and hugged Miharu instead.

“Wha, why……?”

While burying her face into Miharu’s chest, Haruha flatly answered.

“Because, Daddy, you’re sweaty.”

It was really hot out there so it can’t be helped right…… as he thought so, Yuu collapsed. So, Miharu is okay……. Is it because she’s a girl……?

Miharu glanced at him giving an triumphant look before dragging Haruha to the kitchen.

“Senpai. Stop weeping and fight me instead. Haruha doesn’t make a worthy opponent at all”

Sakura was clearly trying to hold down her laughter and Yuu frowned.

“……You’re a girl after all so don’t do such a thing”

Sakura is skillfully lifting the controller cable with her toes and Yuu pointed it out about her. It appeared  that she didn’t have the habit of wearing socks indoors.

“Come on~, don’t say such a father-like thing~”

Sakura is “His daughter’s friend”. So, he might end up saying it in such a manner because of that.

“Or more like, is it okay for you to be here? Though, I’m grateful that you’re playing with Haruha……”

“It’s okay, it’s okay…… My friends over at school are busy with their clubs at noon.”

“Ah…… sorry.”

He apologized as he recalled Sakura’s injury.

But,

“It’s okay. Somehow, it’s all okay, now.

Now I can proudly say I’ve grown that I’ve done what I wanted to do. That’s why, I’m looking for the next thing I want to do”

She doesn’t sound like she was acting tough. Not that it justifies it, but Sakura might have had something in her mind after the 《Crystal World》 incident. She also appeared to be purely enjoying herself playing the game.

Yuu felt saved a bit.     

“Is that so…… But, you must behave yourself in another person’s house, okay?”

He pulled Sakura’s leg and took the controller.

“Fueeee!?”

Sakura let out a cat-like voice and quickly rounded up her toes.

“Wha, what’s up with that. Don’t let out strange voices like that!”

“Y-You touched me all of a sudden……. Stop it.”

For someone who is practicing Judo she appeared to be hypersensitive. Yuu paid no heed to that and sat in front of the TV.

“Well, I’ll be your opponent, but don’t be mad at me if you lose okay”

“You sure speak well, even though Senpai’s winning percentage is lower than mine”

Sakura quickly stood up and opened the versus menu──

But then, the entrance bell rang.

“Yes, yeeees~, Haruha will pick it up~”

As Haruha come running from the kitchen Sakura intercepted her and stopped her from going. After he praised her by saying ‘Nice play’, Yuu stood up and headed towards the entrance.

He didn’t recall ordering anything, and if it’s a neighbor that has business with him, it would be problematic if someone other than Yuu comes to greet them. During weekdays, Hajime would thoroughly pretend to be out.

──An unknown girl appeared on the intercom screen. She appeared to be as old as Yuu, but he had no recollection of her at all. She might be Miharu’s friend who came to ask about her though……

That aside, Yuu tried to talk to her over the intercom.

“Yes, is something the matter?”

To answer his voice, the camera screen displayed the face of the girl. Even over the camera, the girl’s confident, aggressive personally could be felt.

As expected he doesn’t know her── but she appeared to be familiar.

And then the girl spoke through the intercom and produced a high-pitched voice.

『Haruha, the first successful unit of New Humanity.

In other word, my daughter. I came to pick her up!』