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  not define it——so——

  "...I, don't know..."

  Therefore, ShuVi decided to give a honest answer.

  "...I'm interested,....in feelings...of Riku's....[Heart]...."

  The memory of ShuVi's first meeting with Riku flashed past her mind.

  At that time, Riku's eyes, and among the things that existed——and what

  happened, the Ex-Machina should not have the power to think.

  Yet the [Cluster determined there were ethical flaws that was dangerous], there

  was the power of thought that released ShuVi from the link——

  "...Oh~, un un~♪ So that's the case~♪"

  Not knowing what she meant, Coron happily [Defined] it.

  "That is~ which means——love at first sight right?"

  ——eh?

  "Un un♪ Although Riku's face isn't particularly good-looking, he is that kind of character at first glance——"

  Facing the wide-eyed ShuVi whose body was stiff, Coron nodded her head and

  said with a smile.

  "If you seen thorough Riku's [Conscience] and fell in love with him——un, then I can safely hand my little brother to you♪"

  "........"

  Love at first sight——the concepts needed to be analysed increased again, this

  gave ShuVi a feeling of fatigue.

  Charmed, like, love. The analysis for al three of them were incomplete, yet there

  was a new [Love at first sight]——to fall in love at the first moment, this kind of

  new information. Unless, she won't be able to understand the [Heart] for the rest

  of her life——

  "——oi, Coron. What kind of dubious thing are you teaching to her again?"

  Settling his business, Riku came back and said to Coron.

  "Oh, how rude of you, my little brother. You really are a failure!! When did I teach her anything dubious——"

  "Teaching her that I'm a lover of big breasts and stuffing two precious foods into her chest....Are you normal?"

  "How rude, I'm obviously a normal person oh! This is a child that will become my little sister oh? In order to not let her bore in her sexual life I must——"

  "We're leaving. Stupidity is contagious. Don't interact with her any further."

  "....Intellectual level, is, something...Contagious,....?"

  Faced with staggering new facts, ShuVi's eyes widened. As if urging her, Riku

  grabbed onto ShuVi's hand.

  "Eh? Riku, where are you going?"

  "Its about time to teach her how to collect food. I must teach her the method of using animal traps."

  ——This of course was a lie. After al , if it was an Ex-Machina, beating a

  Demonia empty-handed would be easy.

  Moreover, ShuVi's age——the number of years since she was manufactured,

  was about 210 years.

  He wanted to rely on ShuVi machine power to go to a place that he wanted to

  personally confirm——this was something he couldn't say out.

  "I might be coming home late, but I won't go too far."

  ——hearing these words, Coron smacked her right hand like a hammer onto her

  left hand, revealing a meaningful smile.

  "Ahhh——is it green rape[3]? ❤ "

  "Coron, changing your brain might be optimal."

  "Oh, but since the sky is like this, shouldn't it be red rape!? In any case, because it's cold, don't catch a cold——"

  "Shut up, you are too noisy. Let's go——[ShuVi]."

  Riku turned away with an unhappy look......It appeared that Riku did not notice.

  Only ShuVi and Coron noticed. Especially ShuVi——

  This was the first time Riku called her using her name.

  Her thinking was buried under an unknown error. ShuVi sensed her body

  temperature was rising.

  She attached this memory with the label of [Most important] and carefully kept it.

  However, she did not know the reason why.

  Part 10

  After half a day he was finally on the ground. It was surprisingly easy with ShuVi

  around——Riku thought.

  It would take five days to travel on horse, a few months on foot due to the

  constant hiding, but it took half a day for ShuVi who held Riku.

  "....So this is the destroyed city of the Elves..."

  This was a place Riku frequented a year ago.

  The buildings that were woven with trees had already collapsed. Although the

  ugly burnt marks remained, the city was slowly getting overshadowed by

  growing flowers and plants, just like an elegant garden.

  With the sky dyed a blood red and the ground getting invaded by the black ash

  ——even though this world was like death, this place stil received protection

  from the Gods. As expected of the capital built by the creator of elves, the God

  of forest. Riku sarcastically said.

  Those guys were the ones who threw the planet into hell, yet they turned their

  own homes into an amusement area.

  After the two walked together for a while, they finally stopped at their

  destination.

  In the midst of the destruction and burning ruins, there was a building that

  retained it's shape. Riku asked.

  "Is this...the library?"

  "....Probably...Compared, to other facilities...and the degree of murder in the city....Here, the damage was minor...."

  This meant that during the attack from the Flügels, there was a priority to defend

  this place.

  It might have been a refuge facility, a facility that had research materials——or it

  was simply a storage facility.

  "....I see. It probably is a library."

  Unable to find a door, the two of them slipped into the building using the gap

  from the tree.

  What was displayed in front of them was——

  The wonderful architectural style was the same even after going inside, it was

  hard to determine what was the usage of the building from the inside.

  They could make out what looked to be a bookshelf among the other items.

  However, it was emptied. It appears the books have already been transferred

  away...But this was enough.

  "The knowledge they don't need, might prove to be meaningful for us...."

  Saying so, Riku surveyed the area and inspected scraps of paper as well as

  partially-damaged books.

  "...Riku, can read Elven language...?"

  *sha la sha la* Looking at Riku who was browsing through the books, ShuVi

  asked.

  "Dwarven, Elven, Demon, Fairy, Werebeast——what language do you want me

  to reply in?"

  ShuVi stared in amazement in response to Riku's nonchalant answer.

  "...Why, so, many...."

  "Because you can't survive without understanding. It wouldn't be valuable to

  retrieve an intel that you couldn't read." With neither hatred nor anger, Riku said that with a focused expression.

  ——ShuVi knows Riku when he makes this kind of expression, that kind of eyes.

  That was the expression Riku makes when he seriously wanted to win against

  ShuVi in chess.

  "Men just get kil ed meaninglessly. But through words, notes and the like, we are able to understand the nature of each race, language and their habits. This was

  the unspoken law that spread up til now."

  With black eyes that don't reflect any light, Riku recounted their weakness and

  how fragile human beings were. Humans could only run so far. But there was

  something in those pair of eyes that ShuVi desperately wanted to know, as it

  was something different from words.

  ——Don't underestimate humans, the [Heart] th
at recounted this.

  "....Ah.....Riku, Riku..."

  Hearing ShuVi's voice who was exploring around, Riku lifted his head——

  ShuVi was cutting away a heavy stone that was on the ground, and after using

  brute force to twist off a few thick iron plates, ShuVi turned to the bewildered

  Riku and calmly said.

  "......Underground, installed....With camouflage.....A space..There is

  basement....Oh?"

  Riku's expression stiffened when he saw ShuVi easily lifting up the metal doors

  over her head that were almost ten times her height.

  ——......

  After ShuVi confirmed if there was any biological activity, the two of them walked

  down the stairs. Then——

  "...What is, this."

  Faced with the incredible scenery displayed under the long ladder, Riku leaked

  out a surprised voice.

  A spacious hall, there were huge pil ars erected at the center of the hall.

  There were a myriad of red patterns engraved onto the surface of the twisted

  pil ars.

  ".....One hundred and eighty....Patterns, the God Cainasu's protection

  symbols?....No."

  ShuVi who instantly grasped the number of pil ars tried to analyse the carvings,

  but this was too much.

  "....Comparing with database of the Elves...The carving, procedure....Is

  completely...Different?..."

  "It must either be an attempt to produce something or is a new thing that ShuVi doesn't know. However, up til now, no matter what these guys wanted to do,

  even setting the planet to explode or something, isn't surprising. But compared

  to those——"

  From the perspective of a human, blowing off the planet and destroying the

  mainland didn't have that much of a difference.

  Riku wiped the dust off the base of the pil ar and read the nameplate on it.

  "——[Number 0 Void defense·Theoretical first verification test]...ShuVi, do you

  have any clue?"

  "Nothing, in line....With Elven, item....Media, usage of Magic,

  basically....Nothing, in match."

  I see——it was incomprehensible, but Riku's [Intuition] told him.

  "No matter what, it won't be good to stay for long. Although I don't know if there is any, check around for any paper left behind and leave."

  ShuVi nodded her head and deftly collected the rest of the paper.

  Riku noticed a piece of paper among the stack.

  "...Even the [Developer]'s name must be written in a code, what exactly is it...."

  Looking at the name list fil ed with secret codes, Riku felt his body to be

  trembling.

  Part 11

  It won't be good to stay for long, although Riku and ShuVi was planning on

  retreating fast.

  "Damn it....Its impossible to move inside this stuff."

  When they left the library, or the mysterious institute, they met a [Death Storm].

  This was the reaction caused with the black ash and the increased density of

  the ash, creating a vortex of aquamarine phenomenon.

  If encountered, no matter what kind of measures were taken, the ash infused

  with Elemental bones would penetrate the protective clothing and contaminate

  the human body.

  The two of them could only withdrew back into the deserted place.

  "Riku, at this, timing...What do you, do?"

  Hiding in a small room at the highest level of the deserted institute, ShuVi asked

  Riku.

  "Nothing we can do. Explore caves, ruins and the like, if there wasn't anything like that, we would dig a hole to survive."

  Riku sighed while answering so. The death storm was not something mystifying.

  Personal experience have shown that the storm would last from a few hours at

  least to a day at most. He had already experienced hiding in a narrow pit for a

  day a couple of times already. The problem was——was this place safer than a

  cave.

  "ShuVi seems to be worried, is something wrong? Did you detect any sign of

  movements?"

  "...Blocked, by Elemental bones....Device for distant observation,

  incapable...Unable, to use..."

  "Un..Then this probably means, this place is considered safe in some ways."

  Which means——thanks to the [Death Storm], it would be difficult to get

  detected here.

  There was no way to get out, it was also dangerous for ShuVi to be moving at

  high-speed without any capabilities to detect any enemy.

  With that being the case, Riku turned towards ShuVi and asked.

  "ShuVi, did you bring the chess set over?"

  "........"

  To bring the least amount of baggage——ShuVi who was requested of this by

  Riku thought she would get blamed.

  "....I'm, sorry...."

  As if wanting to hide her expression, she lowered her head and apologized.

  Then, she took the chessboard out with a frightened look.

  This movement, was as if the Ex-Machinas were afraid of humans. Facing such

  a situation, Riku couldn't help but smile.

  "I won't blame you....Since we have nothing to do before the storm stops, why

  don't we play a game."

  "?....Is it, okay...?"

  While looking to be unexpected and yet quite happy, ShuVi set down a pawn.

  Staring at the chessboard, Riku started thinking——the records between him

  and ShuVi for the past year.

  ——one hundred and eighty losses, zero wins. Don't think about beating ShuVi,

  even a draw didn't happen.

  But the situation where a surprise move forced ShuVi to immerse into deep

  thought happened several times too.

  In other words, she wasn't something who [Absolutely cannot lose].

  ——a bold and senseless smile emerged from Riku's face, causing ShuVi to

  ask.

  "Riku, why....You can't win, yet...Continue to fight,?"

  "Ha? What a strange question, wasn't it you who said that you would give me

  the intelligence I want if I won?"

  "....Liar....Riku couldn't have possibly....Not...Noticed..."

  Yes, this was impossible. Riku was something that was imperceptible.

  "...I...Gave..Al intelligence, Riku..Wanted....Already..."

  ........

  With the exception of the violent noise of the wind, silence dawned. ShuVi then

  said.

  "...Riku....Very powerful, oh....Very hardworking."

  "——comforting words are useless here."

  Interestingly, Coron had said these words before, and Riku replied using the

  same words.

  The conversation ended here. Riku thought, but.

  "....Comforting?......Wrong...This is, fact..."

  ShuVi retorted, her expression bitter.

  Then, as if seeing something rare, Riku widened his eyes.

  It was an expression of not knowing what to say, but ShuVi continued.

  "...Now, the planetary environment...Is deadly for humans....But to be able to

  survive, is .....Abnormal."

  Those were the words Riku had said when he clutched onto Riku.

  Although these words could hurt Riku, even so, ShuVi went on while trembling.

  "This anomaly——correction, exploit....Could be achieved, because of Riku's

  [Heart]....Wil ."

  Next, staring into the black eyes of Riku's that didn't shine, ShuVi concluded.

  "——regardless, how did, Riku think——this was all [Objective facts]...."

  "Ha? Does that mean, that it is useful for Imanity if Ex-Machina-sama keeps the winning streak against me?"
>
  "....Ex-Machina-sama....How, I don't know...But, I judge. But——"

  ShuVi seriously, with red glass-like pupils, gazed at Riku and continued.

  "...Riku, you cannot accept, al of these..."

  "Of course, what good is it to linger in this kind of world——"

  "No...."

  ShuVi refuted, interrupting Riku's words and continuing.

  "....You yourself, possibly...haven't noticed it..."

  Staring into Riku's eyes, ShuVi asserted.

  "...Riku, regardless of who...You don't want any of, them to die....You,

  pray....Regardless of who. Even if, it was the existence that would destroy the

  humans——even if, I."

  "————!!"

  Riku's face distorted.

  ShuVi was unclear as to why Riku didn't kil her from before.

  She was unable to judge Riku's behavior and actions, she stil couldn't

  understand.

  But precisely because of this, she could assert.

  ".....That is the [Heart]..I, speculate...Definition."

  "......"

  Facing Riku who was silent and lowering his head, ShuVi continued.

  "I assert....Riku, very powerful....But, Riku, cannot accept."

  Right, and to say why.

  "...Because you don't want to accept...Because you cannot, identify yourself...."

  ————

  ————————

  In the room where the sound of the wind could be heard, a laugh leaked out.

  Riku slowly lifted his head, supporting his cheek using his hand.

  ——using eyes that reflected the image of ShuVi in front of him, Riku slowly

  said.

  "You, I'm really angry ah....For someone full of theories to be this troublesome..."

  "I'm, sorry."

  "...Don't apologize...This is just a fool being angry at himself...."

  Yes, as if spitting out his soul, Riku admitted.

  Ahhh, it literally was the meaning of [Open closed].

  There was no room for rebuttal, he was having the feeling where he didn't even

  feel like speaking.

  The [Lock] in his heart was forced open, it was pathetic to try and brave through

  things now.

  "Ahh, yes, that is the case. I don't want to get recognized by anyone, someone

  like me who is like dog shit..."

  Continuing to escape from fate....What can that do?

  However, in the end, what can I do!?....

  Riku leaned onto the wal and looked up at the ceiling. He whispered as if

  repenting.

  "...Oi, so in the end what am I suppose to do, what can I do to forgive myself?"