by Diana Jean
Ai nodded. “They have. Actually, I am very receptive to their signals. I am currently storing them all on a sub drive.”
Kathleen looked at the lines of holos, attempting to reach out with their data pamphlets to the crowds entering and exiting the store. “I wonder if the company can track their output and if they are wondering why a walking computer is absorbing them all.”
Inside the store, a real employee greeted them. “Irasshaimase!”
Ai nodded and Kathleen was grateful that she quickly moved them forward, lest the employee try to help them. More holo advertisements fluttered across the ceiling, only outshone by signs pointing to different departments. It was an electronics store and Kathleen was impressed that they had both old and new items.
“E-glasses!” Kathleen practically jumped over to the display. “I always wanted one of these as a kid, but my parents thought it would be a distraction.” She picked up one of the lenses. A tiny display lit up in the corner of her vision and she had to blink to move through the small tutorial. She took them off, looking at Ai. “My boss has these and I don’t know how she can stand it. These give me a headache.”
Ai laughed. “Come on, I want to show you some of the smart TVs.”
“What’s wrong with mine?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, it can’t auto-translate Japanese to English. And if you did actually watch it you’d realize that your holo res is about five years behind.”
“What is it with you and watching my TV?”
Ai smirked. “Maybe it’s because it’s just about the only piece of technology in your house I can connect with. Besides your personal devices, of course.
“That’s weirdly sentimental.”
Kathleen did not end up buying a TV, but she did buy a translator adapter. So at least she could finally watch her TV and understand what was going on. Though, based on what crazy shows she had seen Ai watch, she wasn’t sure a translation would help her fully understand.
Ai took the bag from her as they exited the store. “I’ll even try to program it so it can help you learn Japanese. Maybe take a few words out or give you some kana instead.”
“I could probably do that myself.”
Ai raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t.” She nudged her shoulder. “Come on, consider it a gift from me to you.”
“For what?”
“For taking me out!” She smiled. “Of course, that means now we get to go somewhere I want.”
Kathleen grimaced. “I really don’t like the sound of that.”
The store turned out to be one of the ones displaying an ad of some cartoon characters. That wasn’t so bad, even though Kathleen had never gotten into Japanese cartoons. What was alarming was the life-sized holo girl greeting them at the front door. Her large purple eyes blinked at them and she smiled, tilting her over-sized head. She seemed to be wearing some sort of maid outfit. The kind with an outrageous amount of cleavage.
“Irasshaimase goshujin-sama!” Her voice was high-pitched.
Kathleen halted. “I don’t trust this place.”
Ai took her by the elbow. “Trust me, it’s just an anime store.”
“Is that supposed to comfort me?’
“Just be happy I’m not taking you to a maid cafe.”
“And what is that?”
Ai ignored her, pulling her past the frightening holo girl. “I’d think you’d find this place pretty interesting.”
The store was, in one word, loud. There was music blasting here, compared to the other electronics store. It was much more colorful with merchandise and posters and movies and downloads and a whole host of other strange things crowding the shelves. There was barely enough room to walk, but the place was packed with people.
“Let’s go upstairs.”
“What’s there?”
Ai was already pulling her. The directions in the stairs had some English on them. The first two floors seemed relatively normal. Merchandise and movies, etc. The third floor said MALE COMICS 18+. The fourth floor was labeled FEMALE COMICS 18+. The fifth floor was GAMES 18+.
“I don’t trust this place,” she said again.
Ai laughed. “Imagine if I brought you to an actual porn shop.”
“This isn’t one?”
As they climbed the stairs, the poster GIFs became more lewd, more revealing. Some of the posters called out when they walked by. Kathleen couldn’t understand them, but she didn’t quite like the tone.
“You should definitely check out the dōjinshi.”
Ai was trying to pull her onto the fourth floor of FEMALE COMICS 18+. Kathleen looked inside, glad it wasn’t as overly porn-y as the MALE COMICS 18+ had looked as they passed. That didn’t mean she was safe. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on. Think of it as a cultural experience.”
Kathleen glared.
Ai sighed, rolling her eyes. “You are a full grown woman. Why do boobs and dicks frighten you?”
“In essence, they don’t.” Kathleen took a step away from the stairwell. “It’s the fact that they are so … fake that weirds me out.”
There were comics everywhere. Or, as Ai called them, dōjinshi. While e-books were vastly more popular, some printing traditions, it seemed, would never die. Kathleen picked one up, finding it wrapped in plastic. A couple of cartoon guys were humping on the front cover, so she had an idea of what it could be about.
“It’s so short.” It couldn’t have been more than ten pages. She looked to Ai, who was browsing through another stack. “What is the appeal?”
“You probably wouldn’t recognize it, but these are all characters from popular anime. People, or small groups, draw little fan comics called dōjinshi and publish them.” Ai held up one. “People like it because then they can read more about their favorite characters.”
“Having sex?”
Ai grinned. “Probably.”
“I thought Japan was pretty slow with their queer awareness. How can this place be full of gay dudes if people refuse to acknowledge that there are gay people?”
“Well, anime and BL manga isn’t generally considered reality. Also, I don’t think you programmed me to be able to explain why people and cultures can hold double standards. Come on, I think there are a few in here that you’d be interested in.”
“Really?” Kathleen was dubious.
Ai looked around. Even though the shelves up here were just as packed, at least there weren’t so many people. The music was quieter too. It made Kathleen feel a little less awkward, even though she was looking at cartoon porn.
She was flipping through a collection of wrist charms when Ai presented her with a small collection of dōjinshi, looking way too proud of herself.
Kathleen took them with some reservation. On the covers, instead of the guys that seemed prolific on this floor, there were girls embracing instead. Kathleen frowned at Ai, pretty sure she was making fun of her. “If you wanted to show me girl on girl porn, you could have done that the floor below us and saved my breath.”
Ai held up her hands. “This is different. These are drawn for women by women. It used to be pretty rare, but it’s getting more common now.”
“You just really want me to buy lesbian porn, don’t you?”
Ai pretended to look innocent. “Do I seem biased?”
Kathleen tried to hand them back, but Ai was having none of it. “Just try them out, please? They are short and easy, so you can practice your Japanese translating them.”
“Didn’t you say these were based off of anime? I’ve never watched anime.”
“I’ve been following these shows on TV. All the more reason you should watch TV with me.”
Kathleen sighed. “Will you ever give up trying to hit on me?”
Ai looked up to her, eyes wide and slightly biting her lower lip. “I was made to be your Personal Love Companion, after all.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Kathleen didn’t know why. Maybe it was because Ai was looking a little
put out or maybe because Ai had already made it a pretty enjoyable day for her or maybe it was because Kathleen was in a why the hell not sort of mood. She bought the stupid comics. Besides, they weren’t that expensive.
“One more floor!” Ai cheered as they headed back up the stairs.
“I am not buying a game. I don’t have time for games.”
Ai looked just a little too pleased with herself. “I think you’d like these games.”
When they came up to the floor, Kathleen suddenly realized why. They were mostly dating sim games. Ai was already tugging on her elbow, pulling her to an older selection. “See anything familiar?”
Kathleen didn’t need her prompting. She reached out and took the casing from the shelf of a game she had worked on about five years ago: Love Love Date! She had never bought a copy for herself; the company had provided her with it. She hadn’t seen it like this, all packaged with a cartoon girl waving on the front. In the game they were all 3D, before 4D holo games had gotten big.
All the characters were girls, meant for a male audience. They all had distinct personalities and the user could date them by carrying them around on their phone, taking them to different places and having topical conversations. They weren’t near the complexity of a PLC, but it was one of Kathleen’s first projects for Mashida. She had mostly been de-bugging the system, not the coding she performed now.
She hadn’t thought of it as a weird cartoon porn game. It had been a chance to prove herself. She had “dated” each girl constantly, trying to find weird glitches, faults, and ways to improve them. She hadn’t seen it as uncomfortable; it was her job.
She looked up to Ai, who was grinning at her. She had been much more involved in the AI project than anything in Love Love Date! Maybe that was why Ai felt much different. Ai was more personal to Kathleen. More personal than what a cortex scan could dredge up. Ai was made by Kathleen. Kathleen was here, in this strange, fascinating foreign country because of Ai. Ai existed because Kathleen had decided to come here at all.
Granted, the PLC project would have gone on if Kathleen hadn’t accepted the promotion. Yet Ai wasn’t just the PLC project; she was Kathleen’s PLC project.
She had taken Kathleen to this place, where Kathleen probably would have never been interested in going otherwise. Ai had brought her here and found things for Kathleen to enjoy. New things for her to discover. She had brought Kathleen to the top floor of this building to show her something that Kathleen had forgotten. Something that used to be her greatest achievement.
Kathleen looked down at the package, feeling more than a little sentimental. “I never played it in Japanese. They had translators for English by the time I worked on it.”
Ai put her hand on Kathleen’s wrist. “Then maybe it would be good to buy it now and practice your Japanese?”
Kathleen nodded, a little ashamed that she was feeling close to tears. “Y-yeah.”
When they left the store, it was late afternoon. The sun was setting, though the heat still lingered. Kathleen wasn’t so overwhelmed by the crowds anymore. She let Ai take her hand anyway. If she were a real customer for this product, she would want to hold Ai’s hand. She would love that Ai had the initiative to bring her out and show her a good time. She would be pleased that no one on the street could tell that Ai wasn’t real. Kathleen supposed it was probably because she was real enough.
They were almost back to the station and Ai was beginning to mention getting some food, when something] went terribly wrong.
Ai froze in the street and Kathleen could feel the strength leave her grip. Kathleen quickly put her arm around her, in case she was going to fall over, and tried to see her face. Ai’s eyes were stuttering in their sockets. She whispered, “Failure. Suggest reboot.”
Kathleen looked around, but no one was looking. “Don’t reboot. Can you walk?”
“Failure.”
Kathleen bit her lip. Something was overwhelming Ai’s system. Was it the heat? The exercise? Kathleen sent a quick text to Yuriko, warning of an impending emergency in Akihabara. She didn’t know what else to say. “Umm, stop performing all AI functions. Keep motor functions. Uh, keep your eyes open and listen for direct instructions.”
Kathleen wasn’t sure if it was the proper thing to say, but Ai immediate relaxed her stance, keeping her head up and forward. Her eyes were blank now; she had no expression. It was truly alarming to look at and very much like one would expect a robot to look.
“Walk with me.” Kathleen took Ai’s elbow and she promptly began to walk. Kathleen kept her grip tight, even though Ai didn’t seem to have problems with balancing.
Kathleen’s phone buzzed and she tapped her wrist. Yuriko had responded.
I’ll be at the station in twenty minutes. Where can I meet you?
Kathleen looked around. She needed a quiet spot where people wouldn’t look too closely at Ai, who wasn’t even blinking now. She decided on a cafe near the station. Hopefully, Yuriko could find her there. She led Ai inside and quickly bought a simple coffee, just so the employees wouldn’t stare at them.
She put Ai down in a booth and sent a message to Yuriko letting her know where they were. Kathleen sat next to Ai, taking her wrist and trying to get her to connect with Kathleen’s phone. Her phone wouldn’t be as good as her home computer, but maybe it would give her some hint of Ai’s sudden failure. Ai wasn’t able to connect and Kathleen didn’t know if it was because her phone was incapable or if the area’s Wi-Fi was interfering.
“Ai? Can you list your errors?”
Ai opened her mouth, but no words came out. Kathleen could hear something like her mechanics working, but there was nothing else. Kathleen squeezed her wrist, as if it could help Ai connect better.
“Don’t speak,” she whispered. “We will get you back to my place and Yuriko and my computer can figure it out.”
Ai closed her mouth.
“Kathleen!”
Kathleen looked up, grateful to see Yuriko rushing inside. She was still wearing her work clothes—a blouse and pencil skirt with a pair of pumps. She was winded, but she immediately leaned over Kathleen and Ai. “Total failure?”
Kathleen nodded. “She suggested a reboot before she froze. I have her on direct orders only, so she can walk. But she can’t talk nor is she responding in any way.”
Yuriko turned to Ai. “Stand up. We should get back to the apartment.”
Ai didn’t move. Kathleen nearly started to panic. “Ai, you need to stand and follow us.” Ai stood, jerking and lacking any grace that she had before. Kathleen took her elbow, looking to Yuriko. “Must be priority orders only. Can you lead the way? I don’t think I could figure it out on my own.”
Yuriko nodded. “The trains are crowded now, so try not to lose her.”
Kathleen tightened her grip on Ai’s elbow. Yuriko took them into the station and Kathleen felt a familiar panic seize up on her. She never liked rush hour, she got lost too many times. That first day was the worst. The crush of bodies. The Japanese announcements. Flickers of holo ads and HELP kiosks. There were so many people, most of them dressed in the same suit or professional attire. All of them Japanese, all of them ignoring her.
She had slowly learned how to deal with it and not totally panic.
That familiar sensation was creeping up on her. She clutched Ai’s arm, struggling to keep up with Yuriko. Ai was keeping pace with them, but Kathleen didn’t know if there was a limit. How bad was Ai’s failure? Would she continue to degrade? What if she lost all power on the train? How could they explain it?
Yuriko took Kathleen’s free hand, looking back to her. She gave her a small smile. “We’ll make it home.”
Kathleen remembered how, just earlier that day, Ai had taken her hand. She had walked before her, just like Yuriko now, leading her with a firm grip. Yuriko’s hair was also tied up and Kathleen could see those small hairs on her neck, curling with real sweat. She was breathing heavier than Ai had. Her hand was a little clammier. Yet Kathleen felt i
nfinitely safer in her grasp. Ai was a machine, a malfunctioning one. If Yuriko, or Kathleen for that matter, were to collapse in the street, people would help. People would know what to do. Only Yuriko and Kathleen could help Ai. They were very far from the equipment they needed to do so.
The train was bursting with commuters. Yuriko took Ai from Kathleen, trying to position her in the crowd. Kathleen followed after, feeling the doors slide close behind her. Yuriko had managed to maneuver Ai into a corner between the door and a partition blocking the seats. Kathleen managed to get shoved up against Yuriko’s back.
“She all right?” she whispered.
“She is the same,” Yuriko replied over her shoulder. “We caught an express. It’ll cut our time down and we’ll make fewer stops. You okay?” She kept her voice down in the quiet train car.
Kathleen sighed, pressing her forehead against Yuriko’s shoulder. She smelled like fresh laundry and something like motor oil. “I think I’ve managed to dodge a panic attack. Thank you for coming,” she murmured.
Yuriko sighed. “It’s no problem. But can you tell me one thing?”
Kathleen looked up, which practically put her chin on Yuriko’s shoulder. “What?”
“Why is Ai carrying these bags of dōjin and love sim games?”
Kathleen had almost totally forgotten about her purchase. She let out a short laugh and pressed her face between Yuriko’s shoulder blades. Then, just because she was feeling relieved and stressed all at once, she put her arms around Yuriko’s waist. She liked the feel of her. She felt stable in the crowded train car and warmer than the other bodies pressed around them.
“Just a cultural experience.”
chapter TWELVE
“You should have told me,” Kathleen muttered.
“I’m afraid that I didn’t anticipate the problem.”
Kathleen glared at Ai. “You were automatically downloading every ad and coupon and whatnot in a one block radius of Akihabara. How could that not be a problem?”
Ai shrugged, both arms on the table, slouching. “I am programmed to absorb knowledge so that I can learn.”