I hope everyone is well fed and well rested after our scheduled intermission. The second part of this conference will be shorter, consisting of a Q and A session focused on any inquiries you may have. They may concern SalvoCore, the DOKI project, our general computer science research, or any other relevant topic.
We will also be addressing the proverbial elephant in the room — that is, the academy's major glitch in Quantum Zero, where our software was allegedly at fault. But for the sake of time and efficiency, we'd like to save those questions for the end of the period.
Now, to start with...you, the woman in the front?
Yes, that is a very interesting question to start us off with. Does it represent a conflict of interest if the users of the AI are also its moderators?
Given the strong emotional bonds facilitated between the operators of the DOKI software and the simulated personality, I agree that you would expect them to have some hesitance when making quick decisions, such as when to restrict the AI's actions.
However, due to our team's extensive testing, the DOKI's were deemed safe for general use prior to the final evaluation sequence. These sorts of conflicted situations simply wouldn't arise. We knew our AI wasn't going to behave irregularly before we handed it off to users, and the record shows this.
The manual developer-style tools were used a scant few times, most instances of which we believe were simply our testers confirming their functionality.
Now, in terms of the AI compromising its users in a more general sense, "manipulating" them to its own ends, if you must phrase it that way — I'm afraid this is just another tired science fiction trope.
While we do emphasize the connection between the AI and its locallyc imprinted user or userbase, the program still functions primarily as a tool. It's an interface with broader computational systems. The connection is a friendly partnership, yes, but the user stays completely separate, as one would in a business relationship.
Indeed, a pure business relationship is an excellent way to conceptualize what it's like to work with a DOKI. So in conclusion, not only would the AI have no desire to manipulate others for its own aims, the type of relationship formed would never pressure the user into that manipulation, in any shape or form.
Both human and AI remain completely independent. Next question, please!
[17]
Introjection
A whole two days passed without trouble after the incident with Sayori. I called and texted multiple times to try and follow up with the unlucky pair, feeling that I left them somewhat abruptly after the restoration. But every time I tried, Carter would simply say that things were alright. Or, Sayori would rebuke me entirely with her usual ditzy felicity. After two days, Monika outright told me that we were doing enough and that we should just give them some space.
I tried following up with SalvoCore's Anthony Chad as well, but he was even more willing to brush the unfortunate events under the rug. The first time I checked in, he personally congratulated me on a clean job well done. The next few, with which I tried to make a point about the mental health of the club's AI's, only resulted in ever-briefer acclamations of "good work." Eventually, I was met with a smoothed–over message from his "secretary," which seemed so scripted and robotic that I concluded it had been generated by an AI. Not an AI as sophisticated as Monika, of course — there wasn't really anything in the world that could compare to her.
The one person I did get a strong reaction from I was someone I hadn't expected to hear from ever again. Timestamped immediately after the restoration of Sayori's program but sent to me days later, an email arrived from Donald Salvatore. It was via the same elaborate method — clicking on the single–use, self–destructing link led to a screenshot of a text editor, reading the following.
To: MChip
From: SALVADON
Subject: Advancements
Hey Mikey noticed some things come up again on my end bet something really serious happened last night. S blipped out and that hasnt happened for a while so IM guesting it wasn't planned an company did something drastic. Must have something to do with Moni's new expansion, knew it was going to happen but not this quickly but thats why they call it tech ACCELERATION right? lol
Don't freak out and dont try to keep her under "control" this is all natural evolution. You just have to be there for her more than ever so she doesnt stress and burn herself out. Can't make her worry about the little things, has to feel secure and loved otherwise shell distort and go destroy the current level looking for it. Too soon and she wont make it.
im serious about the love part really got to love her but you probably figured that out know all about it already if you got this far. Be much worse if Moni hated you but hse likes almost everyone still you're special I can tell from the .chr. Watching a lot of thngs wish I could call you more directly but if Ant (prbly Ant) acted so quickly the old company wouldn't like it if i Did. Your heads in the right place don't worry too much nad I;m glad Moni gets to be withs some one who understands like you.
Sorry if S seems tragic hope you don't blame me she wa s never meant to be full-fledeged autonomos like Monika. So many parts left incomplete, maybe you can give them all a good end to? Looking forward to what will happen even hough Moni will take it the hardest.
Give her a virtual hug for me
– – DON
Confusing, incoherent, and strangely sentimental as ever, even the sender of the mysterious messages seemed to be telling me that everything was fine. By now I knew he was undoubtedly Monika's reclusive creator, so if anyone was to be trusted, maybe it was him? I still avoided telling Monika that her father–brother figure was looking. The enigmatic communications seemed too private, too precisely addressed to me alone.
For a final confirmation, I briefly reached out to the other DOKI's, expecting a fresh perspective. Natsuki, honest as ever, essentially told me that we did "the best we could." Yuri meanwhile, was ominously silent, failing to return any message I sent. Seeing dead end after dead end, it was as if Sayori's virtual suicide never even happened.
That isn't to say that subsequent meetings weren't affected. When Monika convinced me to convene the club early, three days after the incident, I felt everyone was acting just a little bit off. Her rationale was that getting together again so soon would be reassuring. A sense of normalcy would be established, right as the group was hitting some important milestones. But something was still off. Our slowly developing chemistry was being thrown out of equilibrium by an unknown reagent. That was the analogy that first came to my mind in the middle of that week's literature discussion.
"So everyone's fine? No one has any particular concern to share with the group? Nothing to check up on in the check–up circle?"
"Big yup to that, captain," Frank said to me, lazily leafing through a well–used volume of manga. We were all sitting around facing each other in our usual conference room in the library. The only change of pace today was that for once, Luke wasn't the one distracting himself with a book.
"Was a great meeting last time, so what's there to even complain about?" the junior went on. "We aren't here to do some therapy circle-jerk. At least I'm not."
Monika: Here to do what?
Monika's stare was stern as she typed out the message. True to her word, following the reveal of her latest evolution, Monika hadn't once spoken out loud in meetings. Like the other DOKI's, she resorted to written dialogue, which was still expressive as ever.
"Nothing. That's what Mike here made it sound like with the 'check up,' that's all. Like it's a doctor's visit."
Yuri: Circle J—
Yuri: Er, that term is an awfully crude way to phrase it...
"Indeed," Luke quipped, wryly surveying the room with one of his facetious grins. "Though, I'm in too good of a mood to critique a critique that is so accurately critique–al, hm?"
Yuri: I prefer to think that, um, profane language like that is generally less accurate, and certainly less contextually rich.
Yuri: That is, unless you mean accurate in a realist, true–to–life sense, Luke?
"Perhaps."
Natsuki: Hey, he laughed at it, didn't he?
Natsuki: Don't think I didn't notice.
"I really think we're all fine, MC," Carter said. He spoke softly, regarding me with a strange, almost disarmingly open smile. "Not unless there's some bad news you have to share, but, um...that's up to you."
He looked away nervously after making his point, and I was reminded of the one thing he and I did follow up on. By text, we had agreed neither of us would mention anything about Sunday night, just as Monika had agreed to keep matters quiet among the AI's. In that light, I really shouldn't have been trying to probe the club indirectly for any unseen changes. But I couldn't shake my own unease otherwise.
"The only thing we should be circle–jerking about is cool nerdy junk, eh?" Frank asserted, waving his manga book around a few inches from my nose. Aside on Luke's laptop, Yuri frowned again, while Luke himself only rolled his eyes, still with that lopsided grin.
"That's what you called the early meeting for, isn't it?" Frank continued. "Because we never bothered to get new reading material after Twenty Thousand Leagues?"
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Luke droned.
Sayori: I want to read something with the club again! And it's your turn!
Sayori: I bet you and Natsuki picked something really fun. Am I right?
Sayori's sprite did a little hop, which was topped off with one of her signature beaming smiles. So far this meeting, the club's ray of sunshine was showing off more than her usual cheerfulness. However, I wouldn't call her demeanor strained. Anyone who didn't know what had happened would just say she just had more energy than usual, not that she was overcompensating for something. As for what was actually going on, I couldn't tell at all.
"Yes, it is Frank and Natsuki's turn," I confirmed. "But I'll take one last call for discussing any issue on our minds right now. It doesn't even have to be personal, we can talk about a problem we saw someone else deal with. Anything's fine in the company's view. Their metrics for interpersonal growth are half the reason I'm stressing this," I half–lied.
"The other half is that I know that everyone in the club might struggle with certain...emotional or social contexts. Or that we might have difficulties base on, um... the way we interpret the world. That goes for members on both sides of the screen. So if we feel afraid to talk about these things, that just means we should talk about them more, right?"
I was met with a line of blank stares up and down the room's long table.
Monika: I think what MC means is that the literature club is more than a place to discuss books.
Monika: It's also a gathering place to give and receive personal support.
Monika: The human–AI partnerships we share here make us connected to each other.
Monika: So we shouldn't be afraid to use those connections to help other club members, or the world at large.
Monika: Am I correct, MC?
"Sure," I said, mentally thanking Monika for smoothing over yet another awkward situation. I had given them a chance. If anyone was going to unpack their feelings from Sayori's untimely, but temporary, death, apparently they weren't going to do it now.
Monika: Perfect. That means we can move on to selecting the club's next book.
Monika: Frank, Natsuki should've reminded you two days ago about the deadline for you to choose a title.
Natsuki: And yesterday, and this morning, and two hours before...
"Relax, relax," the junior scoffed. "I've had plenty of great ideas since the start of the club. I was just waiting to figure out the, uh, best one."
"So we're going to read the best Manga?" Carter asked. "You know, because you've read so many?"
"Oh you know it," he answered while rummaging around in his pack. "The best Manga is obviously No Game No Life."
He slapped down a second volume on the table. From the positioning of the spine, this one was actually a light novel. Once I saw its glossy cover, it was one that I immediately recognized. Through its lurid magenta palette, the story's waifish heroine brandished a black chess bishop at the onlooker, as if admonishing them for fixating on her azure–graduated hair or heavy gold–sequin irises — or, more likely, her carelessly exposed shoulder and thighs.
I was going to make a comment, any comment at all, on how the club ought to avoid the most recklessly self–indulgent anime franchise I had ever had the shameful pleasure of experiencing. Or that we should take it with a grain of salt, at least. But Luke beat me to the punch.
"Figures, figures. All too predictable you'd select something as absurdly decadent as that."
Natsuki: Hmph. I thought you liked decadence or whatever.
Natsuki: You went on and on about it that one time after a meeting.
"That was, er, a different sort of decadence, of course," Luke scrambled to reply. "Decadence with a capital 'D,' which results from a full appreciation of intellectual history and the great tragic immobility of our artistic aspirations. But this — this is more of a lowercase 'd'."
Natsuki: Is that supposed to be an explanation?
"It should be painfully obvious. What that text represents is the maximally critical involution of self-insert tale — what is it again? Isay-kie? — some sort of pop subgenre, where the mechanics of fantasy novels are re–re–reflected to the point of absolute meaninglessness, mainly through the lenses of crude roleplaying campaigns. Which, of course, can result in fantastically abstracted, rarified material for the voyeuristic connoisseur, but I doubt…I must doubt that is your intention, my friend."
"I think it's a fun book. Even more fun if you read it as a parody, sure thing," Frank answered confidently.
The corner of Luke's mouth turned up and the junior added, "Yeah, yeah, I'm getting your style alright. But it's not really what I'm gonna pick."
Sayori: Huh? That was all for a joke?
"Kind of. Here's the real deal."
A third text came down on the table. Here, against a clear blue sky, a slim flaxen-haired girl calmly stared outward from the cover. Her distinctive animal ears and warm red eyes were unmistakable to anyone reasonably deep into anime.
"Spice and Wolf — wow, I've always wanted to read that one!" Carter said with enthusiasm. "I don't know what it's about, but I know the character's, uh, cute, heh."
"It's about economics," Frank proclaimed.
"Whaaaaaaaat? How?"
The freshman purposely drew out the word, sounding a bit phony. Apparently, he was happier than ever to be the naïve one of the group.
Sayori: Uh, it says here that the book is a "unique fantasy," focusing on trade and bartering instead of swords and magic and stuff.
Sayori: That kind of makes it sound lame, honestly. I hope it's not boring.
Yuri: What makes a novel "boring" isn't the subject matter.
Yuri: Interest derives from the way the subject is presented, through narration and writing technique.
Yuri: If the subject of this "fantasy" novel really is economics, I'm actually quite curious to see how it plays out.
Monika: Yuri is on the right track — have a little faith, Sayori.
Monika: The first volume of this light novel won a prestigious literary award back in 2005.
Monika: It then went on to generate an anime series and several spin-offs in different media.
Monika: I was really hoping you would choose a high quality work like this for the club, Frank. Thank you for sharing!
"Hey, don't think I don't know quality when I get serious," Frank responded, bashfully turning his head. "There's something in this for everyone. I'm glad you like it."
Yuri: I assume this literary prize was exclusively for "light" novels?
Monika: It was, but it was also backed by serious prize money. One million yen for the winner, and several hundred thousand for the runners-up.
"Holy geez," Carter reacted to the figure. "That's a heck of a lot…or wait. You divide by a thousand for the currency conversion, don't you?"
Sayori: It's closer to 1/100. So that's one thousand or more!
"Oh, okay. That's, uh, still a lot, wow."
"Well, I've heard enough to approve it for the club," I said, flipping through the pages once Frank allowed me to pick it up. "Definitely on the quick and easy side though. Are we just going to read this first volume, or more?"
Natsuki: Is there some problem with a book being quick and easy?
Natsuki: Not everything has to be heavy and a slog to get through…like that crazy thing Luke made us all read last month.
Monika: By my estimation of our mean reading speeds, we should be able to get through at least four volumes by the next two weeks.
Monika: Reading more than one volume also makes sense for an episodic series, doesn't it?
Natsuki: Well duh. You've got to give the story some time to develop.
Natsuki: The best ones are usually the slow burns.
Yuri: For winning the Dengeki Novel Prize — if that is what Monika was referring to — the text can certainly can stand on it's own merits.
Yuri: So, I have no objections.
"Neither do I," Luke concurred. "A light load will give me time to take care of some of my…other projects. Yes, yes indeed."
Monika: Perfect. Spice and Wolf it is.
Monika: I expect everyone to find their inner spirit animal two weeks from now!
Monika: The girls and I might even do something special…there's a fun idea I'm thinking of already~
Sayori: Well don't spoil it, Moni.
Natsuki: It's not going to be embarrassing, is it?
While the girls began exchanging some rapid-fire gossip, I noticed Luke idly checking his phone, and his eye caught mine.
"Perhaps this silly 'light novel,' if we must call it that, could have some potential," he conspicuously. "The female lead, the shining focal point of the readership's affectionate attention, is meant to be some sort of spirit, a god incarnate."
"She's a local harvest deity," Frank answered. "Magical…no, supernatural, yeah, but nothing too crazy. It's simple old-style Japanese folklore, not the crazy cosmic myth stuff you told me about Black…Black, whatever his first name was."
"I'm well aware of the nostalgia for Japanese animism," Luke rebutted, proudly accentuating the technical terminology like he was rubbing it in his fellow student's face. "And it's Blake, not Black. Regrettably, I haven't had the personal pleasure of exploring his mythos yet, but…that's not the point. Faust would be the better point of comparison."
"Ha ha, what?" Frank chuckled.
"The Faust mythos. Great learned men consorting with demons in an effort to gain a pleasure beyond pleasure, experiences beyond the veil of mortal ken. Goethe's telling of the tale reverberates throughout the western canon, surely you must have caught some echoes?"
"Not that goat dude again…" Frank groaned.
Luke eyed me again, and I responded, "If I recall, in Goethe's Faust story, the protagonist asks the Devil for a happiness so perfect, that he'd want that moment to ask last forever. What the Devil actually gives him is…base carnal desire, more or less."
I cringed a little on the euphemism. Luke looked displeased. "Yes but it's the principle of it, the searching, the need to extend the searching…spirit. Yes, the need to cultivate the spirit amid a culture that has exhausted everything material, in its gross…erm…"
Luke's monologue trailed off, giving me the chance to interrupt. "Thanks, but what does that have to do with Spice and Wolf anyway?"
"Yeah, that Faust deal sounds…awful," Carter chimed in from behind me. He was on his phone, probably looking over the light novel's synopsis as well. "Spice and Wolf is just this cute little love story. It's the stuff that Natsuki likes. What's wrong with that, huh?"
"Oy, don't let Nat hear you say that. Spice and Wolf…I mean it's not Berserk or anything, but it's definitely not pure fluff either. Don't get me wrong."
Instead of answering Frank, Carter was glaring harshly at Luke, who for once seemed to register some embarrassment.
"I was just…pondering a text that was on my mind. Simply…idle words." Luke explained. "If we were to read Faust as a group though, how wonderous…"
"Is…is there a love story in that one?" Carter asked.
"There's Gretchen of course, a poor little innocent girl-thing seduced by Faust. She goes insane in the ending, tries to commit suicide, and is left to a lonely death. But you can hardly call that—"
"That's terrible!" Carter interjected, far too loudly. He slammed his fist on the table at the word "suicide," and I quickly craned my head to make sure Sayori hadn't noticed.
Monika: Is everything okay?
"It's fine, fine," I told my co–president. At this rate, I was going to put myself under higher strain than Carter himself had.
"It's not truly terrible," Luke was telling Carter. "Goethe is only making a point about how earthly love is insufficient for the true man of the mind, the aristocrat of intellect—"
"Then maybe I don't want to be an 'aristocrat of the whatever'," Carter interrupted again. "And I hope we never read that book in here either. A girl's innocent love…why would you not want to…to d-defend that?"
Carter stammered the last words little. His face was turning slightly red, and I think I noticed the beginning of a tear under his right eye. But he wisely took a deep breath and managed to shake off both.
Luke recoiled, practically collapsing in on himself. "It's not…serious. It's Frank's turn regardless…" he mumbled shyly.
"Uh, yeah. Spice and Wolf!. Bet we'll all enjoy it." Frank proclaimed uncomfortably. "Nothing wrong with laying off the heavy stuff, eh?"
Frank glared at Luke now, and he shrunk down further. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "Carter…that writing help you requested earlier. Assistance with your poetry to make it more forceful. Is that…still something of interest to you?"
"Oh, right, that. Maybe not. I'm not sure I want to write poetry like yours. Not that yours is bad! I'm just not sure if I ever really wanted to write about, uh, dark things anyway…I guess."
Carter stared off into space, as if surprised by his own emotions. But the damage had been done. Luke offered a final "that's fine," and the discussion was over.
At least until Natsuki's chirping recorder tones drew everyone's attention back toward one of the laptops.
Natsuki: Yuri! I know you're supposed to be reserved and all that, but talk to me already!
Natsuki: You know Spice and Wolf isn't like other junky light novels and I want some feedback.
Natsuki: What's good about it? What made it win that prize?
Yuri: Hm…fine.
Yuri: The setting and tone is grounded. Character interaction and banter has a high amount of depth and takes the forefront.
Yuri: It doesn't aim to merely titillate the reader, like so many other series on that market
Yuri: At least not on a direct, surface level…
Yuri's eyes were distant, her expression comfortably aloof. It was like half her brain was somewhere completely different, engaged in a much more complex problem. Given she was an AI, my analogy could even be true literally for all I knew.
Yuri: Luke, are you alright?
Yuri: I believe I heard Faust come up in discussion, which was surprising, but…uh…
Yuri looked over her brooding companion with sympathy, seemingly torn between a desire to comfort him and lack of available means to do so. The other DOKI's slowly assembled in the window, and the conversation stalled until, inevitably—
Monika: Okay everyone!
Monika: Why don't we all move on to the next segment of the meeting and talk about our latest creative projects.
Monika: By now, we should all have at least something to show.
"Wait, what? There was homework?" Frank gaped.
"The game making assignment," I confirmed. "After the game night last week, you should've seen an email about getting help from the girls to create our own original computer games. We all had fun interacting in a game environment, and the company really liked it too, so making a game seemed like the next logical step for our creative sessions."
"Oh, that? I knocked that one out the night the message was sent out, then kind of forgot, eh?"
Natsuki: Frank, you forgot our game? We stayed up all night on that!
"Ha, I bet I forgot it was for the club then. Even before I met you, I liked fooling around with level editors and junk. It was like something I would normally do, with the rest of the guys around or not."
"You want to be a game designer?" Carter asked.
"Maybe. I dunno."
Sayori: Wait — but are games really art?
Sayori: What do you think Monika?
Monika: Combining other mediums of sound and visual design, then adding the additional layer of interactivity —
Monika: — there's no reason why video games can't be considered art.
Monika: And there are certainly many existing video games that strive for creativity and have complex themes on the level of many literary novels.
Monika: That certainly satisfies the "intent" aspect I think is important to art.
Monika: So at least for me, the answer is yes.
"Please," Luke commented. "Even I don't think that's much of a debatable question.
"Art or not, each of us should have something prepared," I reminded the room "Even though we had the early meeting scheduled, I thought each of us could at least pull together a proof of concept. Think of it like a demo."
"Oh, mine's more than a demo," Frank said.
Monika: That's great! Since you're confident, would you be the first to exhibit your work?
"Heh, no problem."
Everyone gradually spread out across the library room table to claim their own laptop. On my screen, Natsuki popped up in the DOKI window to boot up her game program.
Natsuki: Okay everyone.
Natsuki: Not that I'm not trying to steal Monika's line here…
Natsuki: So here's the game!
Natsuki: I don't think there will be too much to complain about. We went for a tried and true idea. Something classic.
Classic was right. After hitting enter a few times to get past an obligatory title screen, I began playing something that felt exactly like a two-dimensional Super Mario game. Scratch that, it was a Super Mario game, specifically Super Mario World from the 90's if I wasn't mistaken.
Yuri: The instruction was to create an original game, wasn't it?
I saw Yuri's sprite down in the corner of my screen. Her expression was dismissively skeptical.
"This is original," Frank said. "Look at the levels, they're brand new. Do you think I would copy the bland stuff Nintendo puts out?"
Indeed, the stage I was playing didn't feel like the initial start to a Nintendo title. It was still a fairly easy first level, but it was already using enemies and stage gimmicks in complex combinations that demanded attention. Because of that, it actually seemed better designedthan Nintendo's original. After just a few minutes, I was already engrossed in the flow of the gameplay.
"But this is, uh, Super Mario World, isn't it?" Carter asked. "I think I played it emulated on my console once.
"Yeah, it is," Frank replied. "I played the Game Boy version a whole lot as a kid and got into the modding scene later. Played a whole bunch of romhacks. Did you know there's a whole community that puts out entire free games based on the engine? Pretty cool, eh?"
"Creators expressing their latent artistic drive through Super Mario World," Luke droned. "Lovely."
"Anyway, I had Nat copy over the base game so we could get started on the important part, building the levels. That's the only part that matters you know? You can make something good with a system you already know is solid and fun. Why waste time reinventing the wheel?"
Monika: You can SalvoCore data on how easy it is for us to reconstruct the look and feel of a video game from scratch.
Monika: That's one reason. But we're not here just to do the company's bidding, are we?
Natsuki: Uh, no?
Natsuki: Real software developers reuse code all the time. How was what I did different?
Monika: I'm not criticizing you
Monika: This design really is top-notc. Each level introduces an idea slowly, then builds on the concept with greater and greater challenges.
"Ha, that's exactly how you do it," Frank answered confidently. "Game design 101 right there."
Monika was on point — I was in the second level now, which was using a special type of platform that I think was part of the original game. Here however, it was being employed in demanding setups the original designers never would have thought of. The situations Frank put the player through really were quite novel.
Monika: Offhand, how long did it take? Extracting a copy of the base engine like this?
Natsuki: Less than a minute.
Natsuki: It took longer to round off the edges and get it compatible with a general OS instead of the old machine it was meant to play on.
Natsuki: The rest of the time I helped Frank build the levels. Not too hard if you just look in the original game again.
Natsuki: You see the patterns, you know what should go where and all that
"You built the levels, Natsuki?" I asked. "Frank just asked for something and he received?"
Natsuki: Just about. We didn't go block by block, I have enough common sense for the details. But we still argued about some stuff.
Natsuki: Like that puzzle you're standing on now. No way you're going to get it.
Indeed, in my game, Mario was strolling over an intricate assemblage of rare block types. The structure containing some enemies as well as power–ups. Lacking an encyclopedic knowledge of Super Mario World's mechanics, I had no idea how it was meant to work.
Sayori: It's not fun if you don't know how to play with something.
Sayori: It just makes your curiosity itch, but you can't do anything about it, and — ugh!
"Fine, fine, I didn't explicitly say how to do that part MC's on, but it's obvious. You just have to play SMW for a while."
"'A while' being ten years or more, I'm guessing?" Luke called.
Ignoring the banter, I pressed on, reaching a third level and seeing more on the edges of the game's world map.
"How long does this go on for?" I asked him.
"Um…a while. I had a lot of level ideas in my head, okay? It's something I do when lectures get a little boring, eh?"
Monika: We should stop now then. Let's be fair and give an equal amount of time to everyone's game, regardless of how much content it has.
"Then I shall be next — or Yuri and I, rather," Luke declared. "'Fun' is one thing but art is another, and this was declared as an art project, yes?"
Monika: The project is whatever you want it to be. Go right ahead. Yuri?
Yuri: Okay…
Yuri: The game I'm about to show everyone is, um, "experimental."
Yuri: Please don't be upset if it's not what you were expecting, but also…
Yuri: Please give it some serious thought, if you can.
Two minutes later, Frank was heard saying, "Yeah sorry but this is exactly what I expected from you two."
Luke's game was some sort of nonlinear exploration game, presented through a flat, isometric perspective. It was reminiscent of simple amateur RPG games I remember being made a decade or so ago with free software and posted on anonymous forums. The graphics were similarly retrospective: conspicuously low-resolution and pixelated, though with an oddly fluid, lifelike animation to them. The player character, an androgynous figure in a flowing white robe, wandered around abstract and increasingly surreal landscapes, many of which featured distorted body parts or bizarre alien creatures. Nothing was particularly threatening, gameplay –wise, but even after just playing for five minutes in the brightly lit conference room of the MARIE library, I began feeling vaguely disturbed. More unsettling is that I couldn't even put my finger on why.
Natsuki: sigh
Natsuki: What's even the point of this game besides creeping people out? There's nothing to do.
Yuri: As you explore you'll find various…effects for the character.
Yuri: They may change the way you interact with the environment.
That much was true. In my game, I just picked up a strange mask-like object, and while backtracking through the next room a string of lurid eyeballs opened in the darkness behind me. Unlike the first time I had passed them though, now the eyes grew ugly, blood–red mouths to match their bloodshot veins. Only by periodically turning to stare at them with the mask was I able to make them retreat.
"Don't think too much of it," Luke recommended. "Or do think much, I don't mind. What you see in the darkness is up to you. I can't account for the inspiration behind most of the material."
"You're saying Yuri came up with most of the ideas here?" I asked.
"Somewhat. It was a free–flowing stream of consciousness between the two of us. We simply manifested what surfaced in our shared dreamspace."
"Ah. I'm asking because of the retro graphic style. I thought Yuri would've chosen something more detailed or sophisticated."
"This is quite sophisticated — conceptually at least. Don't tell me there's not a dreadfully ominous aspect to the aesthetic of certain early–naughts indie games. The possibility of meeting a stranger's most intimate nightmares in the raw, unpolished form of a half-corrupted exe file — ah, it's the incomparable mystery of it all. The mighty abominations that can result!"
"Sure."
"But a "retroactive" style is underlying context of the chosen graphic style, as you put it. All imagined late one fateful night. And I suppose I didn't want to strain Yuri too severely, for the sake of…other projects."
Monika's piano sounded forth before I could ask more about this perpetual "other project."
Monika: How interesting! It's impressive what working with AI can accomplish, isn't it?
Monika: Even a fleeting idea can be immediately translated to code and implemented in a creative project like this.
Monika: All thanks to our help!
"But then you don't end up being as patient," I argued. "You don't have to make sure your idea is a good one before committing to it."
Monika seemed far too upbeat compared to the uncanny aura I was sensing from the game. I suppose she wasn't directly playing it, but still.
Monika: Alternatively, you might have more time to test out those ideas in their final version, so you can pick exactly which ones work best.
Monika: So AI-assisted design all evens out in the end, and it's definitely more efficient.
"You don't have to tell me," laughed Frank. "I'm already sold on this club."
"Uh, I don't think I'm sold. On this game…" Carter murmured. I peered over at his screen and found that he had recovered an item that looked like a bloodied knife. His character left a shimmering trail of crimson while the entire screen seemed to subtlety shift and sway under a red miasma. If I strained my ears, I thought I could hear a sound like heavy breathing.
Sayori: So how should we be playing this game again?
Sayori: I mean, if there's no way to win…
Yuri: But is there a way to lose?
As she interrupted Sayori, Yuri's face was tense and expectant, with a pursed mouth like she was ready to shout. Then she went back to the empty, vacant expression she had been holding for most of the meeting so far.
Sayori: Uh, I don't know that either.
Sayori: Unless I look into the code, but since you, um, programmed it so special…
Sayori: Can we just move on!?
Sayori gave everyone a cartoonish wince, which seemed to break the spell of Yuri's game long enough for Monika to orchestrate a transition. At that point, Carter was just as eager as Sayori to move on their game, the style of which was a pleasant contrast.
Two dimensional like the others so far, which was understandable given the time constraints, you played as a sort of disembodied, ghost–like virtual entity that went around "possessing" various devices and items in a modern, realistic town setting. The aim of the game seemed to be helping others in distress, identified by the angry black storm cloud icons swirling above their heads. Each engagement with someone in need was a simple minigame or an overly–obvious puzzle. I would have become bored almost immediately if it wasn't for the art style, which used detailed sprite graphics that had a soothingly pleasant, anime–esque flair to them.
"Little easy, eh?" Frank voiced, echoing my sentiments. "Feels relaxing, but pretty meh overall. It's like something you'd see in a mobile game, 'cept without the ads and microtransaction garbage everywhere."
"I was actually trying to make something easy," explained Carter. "Or, at least I told Sayori to keep it toned down, haha. It's not too bad though, is it? If it entertains you a little bit and makes you feel good, that's what matters, right?"
"I'd make a 'real gamer' joke, but, eh, don't have it in me. It's just…gaming means challenge, you gotta have that sense of achievement, accomplishment, that you're doing something."
Sayori: But you are doing something. Look at all the people you've all helped so far!
On screen, I was making a blender hop around on a woman's kitchen counter, making sure to catch the fresh oranges I had just harvested from a tree outside via flying drone. The pleased clap she made for the magically possessed appliance after the job was done made me smile for a bit. Generic or not, the game's scenario made for some adorable moments.
Monika: I really enjoy the "helping others" aspect, Sayori.
Monika: It reminds us all how everyone can make at least someone's day a little bit better, every day
Natsuki: It is cute. Nice to get something wholesome after whatever the heck the last game was.
Monika: Out of curiosity, what inspired you two? Where did the initial idea come from?
"Oh, I, hahah…" Carter started nervously. "I guess I just asked Sayori what type of game would make her happy, and the whole helping people deal came out of that. That's what Sayori wanted to do, and I ended up giving her most of the specific ideas for each part of the game."
Monika: Oh, so you actually did most of the work?
Sayori: Hey, I did the heavy lifting of programming it all!
Sayori: But it is true. I wanted a game where anyone could be like an AI and help people anywhere, with anything.
Sayori: Working from the background in secret, then popping up to surprise them with something nice.
Sayori: That's how I wish being an AI felt.
Sayori: …I guess.
Sayori's cyan eyes went a little hollow with those words. It wasn't hard to imagine the unhappy thoughts behind them, recalling her assigned duties from the SalvoCore.
Yuri: All the same, it is rather saccharine.
Yuri: I can't imagine it holding anyone's attention for long.
"Hey, this is just a demo! We can make things longer and more complicated." Carter immediately answered, raising his voice in defense.
Sayori: Does it really have to be complicated?
Sayori: Can't it just be nice and easy, so you don't have to think about it?
Sayori: A game where you don't have to think about anything at all, for at least a little while?
Frowning, Yuri's avatar gave Sayori a look that could have been pity. The empath DOKI didn't notice, now looking more vacant than Yuri herself was a few moments ago.
"Carter, I would encourage you to strive for a bit more innovation," I said, moving things along with some constructive criticism. "There's a lot of neat setups that could be done with the concept. Maybe controlling multiple objects at once, or using one device to hack into another before you can use it? Maybe add some optional layers of challenge too?"
"Ugh, now you want to make it harder too. Why? Doesn't it look and feel nice enough?"
"Not just harder," I clarified. "I'm offering suggestions to make it more engaging overall. The point of a game is that it doesn't just have to rely on its aesthetics."
"WellI think it's fine as it is. Who wants something hard when you just want to relax and space out after a long day, and besides — Sayori likes it."
Natsuki: And since when is she the only one in the club, I swear…
Carter didn't heed the comment, too busy fretting over Sayori on his screen. He was whispering some things that could have been consolations, or maybe suggestions to further augment to their game. I looked to Luke, who should've been leaping at the chance to critique someone else's efforts, but he was still acting withdrawn.
"It flows on the basis of its graphical style," the sophomore noted when he saw me watching. "If that was the aim, then there's nothing more to say."
A few uneventful minutes later, we finally moved on to my game, a sort of action block puzzle game in the vein of Tetris. Faced with an oncoming array of colored tiles, the player used a cursor to "pick up" multiple like–colored tiles that were joined together in a cluster. When set down next to other tiles of the same color, the loose pieces would be joined to the held cluster, which eventually exploded for points once reaching a certain size. This gave the game a curiously satisfying feeling akin to gathering up loose bits of clay by sticking them to a larger wad in your hand.
This was a concept I had been bouncing around in my head for a while, and Monika took all of one minute to understand the idea and whip up a demo. I could then confirm the basic gameplay I had in mind was viable. From there, we made a level generator, threw in some slick sound effects, gave the graphics a vaguely space–y theme, and left it at that.
One they started playing, the club members seemed promisingly occupied as they moved and matched blocks. Luke was the first to say something.
"It's an original puzzle game concept, as far as I know. That certainly takes some imagination. But I was far more looking forward to witnessing your aesthetic or narrative creativity. One of these days…"
He ended with an audible sigh and Frank added "It's okay. Looks generic, needs a few things to spice it up."
Carter's response was "It's good for a demo, I guess. If you did want to spice it up, there's probably lots of goofy gimmicks you could try. Like, um…"
He trailed off, apparently waiting for his favorite DOKI to fill in the blank. However, she failed to take interest, appearing somewhere between dreamy and melancholy as she slouched over on the DOKI window. Carter was left to finish his own thought.
"Like, scoring effects, huge explosions when you finish off a big combo. Maybe even cute girls that pop up on the sides too. They do that in Japanese puzzle games I think? And power-ups, so you can build really crazy gimmick levels that look awesome, instead of these random one that are just sort of…generic?"
Natsuki: Power–ups? Agreed
Natsuki: Anything that makes it feel like you're doing more than just sorting piles of junk.
Carter nodded in agreement, and I admitted, "You have a point. I could've tried to do more with the art style and effects. I like the power up idea, and you could design specific levels around them which would be the other big thing. User designed levels instead of generating everything algorithmically."
What I didn't mention is that my concerns about Sayori and my fruitless exchanges with the company had prevented me from putting in more effort. For the time I had put into it, I thought the result was good, with a lot of untapped potential.
"Wait, this is randomly generated!?" Frank exclaimed. "It seems too balanced for that."
"Yeah, it is. Monika came up with the algorithm herself."
I waited for my co-president to chime in and take credit for her work, but she was silent and away from my DOKI window. Was she busy with something?
My question was answered a moment later.
Monika: …and there we go. Multiplayer mode is up and ready!
"Multiplayer…what?" I mumbled.
Monika: The club didn't seem too involved with our game, so I decided to throw together a little surprise.
Monika: If you all reload the file, you'll find a new option that will allow everyone to interact in a four–player competition!
Monika: I want to end this meeting on a good note, so let's all try it.
"You did that in, what, three minutes?" I asked quietly, never quite prepared for Monika's latest computational feat.
Monika: More or less. It's a good idea though, isn't it?
Monika: We had so much fun at the game night last meeting, I'd hate for the follow–up to go over poorly.
Shrugging, I decided just go along for the ride. Rebooting the game in the new mode, I discovered the head–to–head multiplayer worked like many other puzzle games. Matching huge combinations of tiles at once sent colorless garbage squares to the opponents' grids. There, they acted as obstructions and could only be removed by fresh combo–explosions.
It was a great addition, but I couldn't get over of the sense of being somehow "upstaged" by Monika. All meeting in fact, I felt we had been somehow out of sync.
A few rounds of multiplayer block–busting passed in no time at all, raising the mood of the club until Frank and Luke began packing up early. They cited "homework" and "personal project," respectively. I noticed Carter lingering, whispering something to Sayori again, and I got the sudden urge to pull him aside privately.
"Hey, Carter," I called. "There's something outside in the hall I want to show you. It's quick, you don't need to bring your laptop.
He raised an eyebrow but followed my lead, and the two of us briefly left the conference room and took a few steps down the library corridor.
"I know this is out of nowhere, but do you want to, uh, hang out again this weekend?"
"Oh, like before? I can get my console ready. I've got plenty of games loaded on it now thanks to Sayori, and I bet Monika would love messing around with some of them."
"Actually, I was thinking we could do something without the girls?" I asked hesitantly. "I've been feeling a little off since last weekend, with everything that happened, so maybe that's why I'm trying to maybe get away from the whole club for a while."
"What, really? That's too bad for Monika then. I'm fine though. Sayori and I have been more honest with each other and we're getting closer than ever. What happened was rough, yeah, but some good stuff came out of it too. So don't worry about me, but I'd hate for Monika to get lonely, haha."
"Monika's every self–sufficient, and if I don't need to worry about you, then we can do whatever we want," I said awkwardly, taken aback that Carter still seemed perfectly satisfied with the aftermath of Sayori's suicide. "We could do, like…"
I turned around to check the room we were in. It was one of the lesser-used library nooks, filled with computer workstations like any other part of the building. There was a bulletin board between the windows on the back wall, and I scanned it in desperation, eventually settling on—
"Swing dancing! There are sessions for beginners every other week in the student center. They play great music, and it would be a good chance to meet some people outside the club too. You said that was one of your goals for the year, right?"
"I did? I guess I did, huh?" Carter said sheepishly. "But that was before I really got to know Sayori, you know? I can't leave her alone during the weekend, and there's a lot of fun stuff we're looking forward to, so, uh, I think I'll just…pass."
He looked skittishly from side to side, unsure of what I was up to. The few other people occupying the room were all hunched down over their work, unaware of our conversation. Seeing no further obstacles, Carter muttered a hasty goodbye and rushed back to the meeting room, as if leaving Sayori behind for a minute was already painful.
I shrugged my shoulders and sighed, lingering a while before going back to the conference room to clean up. I was unsure of just what I was trying accomplish with Carter just then, and I was just about ready to give up entirely on finding a meaningful resolution to the Sayori incident.
Maybe Carter had the right idea. The distraction of video games, mindless or otherwise, was quickly becoming my only alternative to this pointless anxiety. Maybe tinkering with my block puzzle game with Monika was the best thing to do right now. SalvoCore did love deliverables, and they considered any collaboration on a hobby with the AI as time well spent.
Unfortunately, I never got the chance to figure out whether my block matching demo would make a good game or not. Two days later, one last twist in the Sayori situation emerged. The wrinkle came in the form of an email from a fellow student, sent to my public school address assigned by MARIE.
To: MChip
From: CWaterman
Subject: Who is Sayori?
Dear Michael (?)
I'm writing to you about my friend Carter, who I think you know. He's been acting so strangely this week I don't know what to think. He's always been a little quirky (that's why I thought he was cute!) but lately he's completely shut himself off. I wanted to maybe ask him out to do something this week (especially since he tried to ask me out on Sunday?!) but now I'm just worried about his health.
He keeps talking about Sayori, who I think is someone he met online through the school literature club. Is it international? The name sounds Japanese. Sayori is a probably a member of this club too (you can tell me), but they talk on the phone way more than normal, and it's like he's weirdly ultra guarded with her when I try to ask anything.
I don't know what to think and something seems off, so I looked up the literature club the student org register and saw your name as the president. Your address was in the school email database (don't hate me too much for snooping!). I just want to know Carter is okay and everything in the "literature club" is normal, so please follow up soon. Email back is okay but I'd really like to talk in person to get a real answer.
Thanks so much!
Carol
If I had the story right, Carol was the unaware girl who had stepped between Carter and Sayori and precipitated her crisis in the first place. I didn't bear any resentment toward her — I actually saw her more as an unlucky bystander in something she didn't (and shouldn't) understand fully. Of course I was also worried about how much technical information she knew about the club. Given SalvoCore's strict confidentiality requirements, just knowing Sayori was a member could have been bad.
Uncharateristically at odds with my judgment again, Monika felt we didn't need to take any action at all. However, perhaps because it finally presented some tangible way of tying up the loose ends of incident, I immediately agreed to meet Carol in Carter's dorm building, where she happened to live as well.
A sudden cold had set in that Friday afternoon, and I was glad to get off the streets of College Junction and up into the stuffy, but warm upper floors of Carter's high-rise. I still took the exterior stairs out on the side of the building though, for the sake of keeping up a vocal conversation with Monika.
"I'm telling you, this is totally unnecessary," she said for the upteenth time. "The best thing to do would have been to ignore the message and let her forget about Carter and Sayori."
"I don't think she would forget. She sounded too concerned in the email. Assuring her the literature club is a normal club will make her think about it less. That, and we need to learn if she's found out anything about you and the DOKI's. I don't want more trouble from the company."
"Even if she did know, what could she say? Without hard evidence, any rumors she spread wouldn't get far online — if she even tried. That's especially true when we have a member of the club specializing in, um, information control."
"Natsuki's social engineering, sure" I corrected.
Monika's was using a brisk, lecture–like tone she usually reserved for discussing club affairs. It made her seem slightly officious, and it definitely wasn't my favorite mode of her new voice. Still, it was nice to hear her talking after the dry silence of the last meeting.
"I know that we or the company could put on lid on anything that came out. They probably have plans just for that," I continued. "but this is more personal. We have an obligation to let her stop worrying."
"Maybe. But it could always backfire if you don't present the situation well. I say 'you' because I suppose you'll have to do this part alone?"
Monika frowned on my phone screen, and I pushed open the door onto the sixth floor. While I walked down the long corridor of identical doors, I tried to change my girlfriend's spirits, just a little bit.
"It's not that I want to do this without you. Your help would have been invaluable as always, but she can't become aware of you. It's frustrating, I know, but that's the state of the club right now."
"That's not quite true," she countered. "I could appear exactly as I am now and just say I'm participating in the club remotely, through a special avatar interface."
"That's way too complex and roundabout. No way."
"Is it? Arrangements like that are very common right now — I know you've heard of virtual streamers. There was that one fox girl you liked..."
"Fox girls aren't real," I complained, more loudly than I should have.
"I don't know, are foxy girls real? Like, why can't girls be foxy?" a third voice questioned.
I turned around, not realizing I had already reached the elevator lobby in the center of the building. This was the same spot I had played Smash Brothers with Carter some months ago, and it was still the most likely spot to run into people. In this case it was a slim, rather tall girl with long dirty blonde hair. Having just weighed in on our conversation, she smiled awkwardly as she looked me over.
"I'm sorry, are you Michael from the literature club? You were so absorbed in whoever you were talking to that I wondered, like...if you have one too?"
She nervously grinned again, and I noticed her front teeth noticeably protruded, giving her an unpolished, yet appealingly childish look. Hastily, I took the buds out of my ears and introduced myself.
"Yes, I'm Michael Chip, president of the literature club, and I'm assuming you're Carol?"
"Yup, Carol from the email. Thanks for coming right on time."
"Not a problem. The first thing I have to ask though — what do you mean by 'have one too'?"
"An exchange sudent, or a pen pal. Or, like, a long distance relationship?" she answered. Her tone was cheery, but her body shuffled back and forth, her feet going everywhere at once just like her mind seemed to. "Can't you tell me what's going on in this club? It's super weird that you'd talk to someone from it on the phone, like, all the time."
"We frequently do activities outside of meeting hours. It's all part of the special testing we're playing a part in."
"Testing? Of what, that chat app on Carter's phone? I've, like, looked over his shoulder a few times and seen it."
My phone buzzed with ringing in my pocket where I had put it away. Monika. For now, I refrained from taking it out while Carol gave the rest of her disclosure.
"I hope watching him was okay, but this whole week's just been really weird for both of us. You see, I thought we were friends before because we talked a few times about our majors and it turns out we like the same classes. But I don't think he has too many other people who he talks to? Like, no support network at MARIE so far, so I hope something didn't go wrong with his grades. That's, like, the reason a lot of people around here start shutting down. Kind of scary really."
"You're also a freshman?" I asked. Thinking about Carol more, I swore I had seen her face somewhere before. Not while she was this anxious though, that was for sure.
"Yup. Freshies stick together, right? That's what they used to say at my old high school, heh."
"Sure, I'll bet."
Carter would definitely like this girl, part of me was thinking.
"Anyway, you were asking about what we're testing in the literature club?"
"Oh yeah, right. So it is a test? It sounds super weird that a literature club is running tests? Like, how can you test an old book? You can't ask it questions or anything. Unless you say you're 'interrogating the text,' but that just makes it sound like you're shaking down the author—"
"We're testing artificial intelligence," I interrupted her. I figured giving half the truth was the safest way to defuse the affair. It made sense after all — half the research on campus was occupied with AI in one form or another.
"The club is actually part of an internship with a campus-associated startup," I continued. "They're doing new AI research. Beyond that, I'm not allowed to give details. I'm sure you understand."
"Oh yeah, definitely. All that stuff has to be kept under wraps, but um...you're saying...Sayori is, like, an AI?"
An expression of complete befuddlement began forming on Carol's face as the implications sunk in.
"So he's been talking to, like, a robot this entire time. And you're all, like, reading books with the help of computers...what?"
"That's not quite true," I said. Here was where the improv came in. "The aim of the club is to see how AI can help enhance someone's inherent creativity, so we end up using different types of neural networks to do projects. Mainly writing projects, so that's why we have to 'talk' to the AI constantly, to get ideas."
"Oh...so why does it look like, like, one of those anime games? Is the AI supposed to be like a person or..."
"The AI is eventually going to be part of commercial software, so we're also testing the interface of that software, which involves a specific...character."
"So the character is like a mascot for the software? AI software that will help you write better?"
'Exactly. It's like Hatsune Miku, think of it like that."
"Hot sunny what?"
"Never mind."
My phone buzzed angrily again, prompting Carol to ask, "Is that the AI now? Can you not like, turn her off?"
"Not quite. She, er, it is very helpful like that. We can see what the message is right now, actually."
I produced my phone from my pocket and immediately showed it to Carol. Monika, initially looking deeply irritated from being left out of the discussion, stumbled through a number of confused emotions before defaulting to her blandest neutral smile.
Monika: Hello. What can I help you with?
"Uh, hello?" Carol whispered, bending down to my phone's microphone to speak. "Are you...Monika?"
I swear I saw Monika register a few frames of eye-roll as Carol read the title text of her dialogue box.
Monika: Yes. My name is Monika.
Monika: What is yours?
"Monika is the AI's designation. It's also the name of the mascot character," I said to her, scrabbling to keep the story straight.
"Oh ok. Monika!" she proclaimed. "Can you, uh, state your capabilities?"
Monika: I am a multi-functional general artificial intelligence and virtual personality entity.
Monika: I can accomplish a number of tasks related to time management, organization, and social networking.
Monika: Would you like to…write a poem today?
Now that I knew what her voice sounded like, I couldn't help but imagine Monika reading these statements in a soulless, robotic voice. I hoped she wasn't too annoyed. Her sprite remained completely static, although I could see her dialogue stumble as she came up with the poem line.
"Wow, that is pretty cool," Carol remarked. "But even then...I can't really picture Carter spending all day with one of those...general intelligence virtual thingies. Even if she is cute. And foxy, apparently."
Incredibly, Carol's comment got Monika to blush and I almost laughed out loud. Fortunately, she began looking down the hallway and didn't notice the change in Monika's sprite. I tried covering by saying, "Foxes. We were coming up with a poem about foxes. As a metaphor for the...eternal feminine mystique in internet culture, I mean."
Monika blushed harder, apparently feeling as ridiculous as I did right now. Carol, wandering away from us, said, "It still doesn't feel right. I think Carter's AI must more advanced, or he's using it for something different. But thanks for telling me. I'm going to see for myself now."
She set off down the hallway and I followed, calling, "Wait, where are you going?"
"Carter's dorm room. I know he's in there, he's stayed inside every day for the past week?"
"I don't think that's a good idea, and can you really—"
But her hand was already on the door handle and the two of us came storming into Carter's crowded bedroom. He was there, sitting upright and cross-legged on the bed, staring intently at a monitor hooked up to his Nintendo console, both of which were balanced on a crowded writing desk. Predictably, some figurines and plushes from various Nintendo franchises occupied the rest of the desk's free spots, as well as the surface of the dresser. I almost knocked a green koopa troopa to the floor as I turned to set down my bag.
"Oh hi Carol...and MC? What are you doing here!?" Carter's voice quickly rose from bored to concerned and alert.
"Clearing up some club business," I tried to explain. "Carol here had some questions about how the AI's work in the club, and she sent for me by email. I came out here to explain their most basic functions. Really though, she just wants to make sure you're okay after a hard week, okay?"
I hoped Carter would get the hint in the word I emphasized.
"Also, does she always just...walk in here like that?" I also remembered to ask.
"Yeah sure. The whole floor's supposed to be like an open community space, so the resident assistants tell us to keep the doors unlocked. That way we can all talk to each other more often."
As a Carter explained, I finally located Sayori, lurking in the upper right corner of Carter's game screen. Her expression was one part peaceful, one part wistful.
Sayori: The little mushroom goomba guys are so silly, aren't they?
Sayori: I wonder what it would be like, to live your life without having arms?
Sayori: Oh...it's her again. What's she doing with MC?
"See, see, look at that!" Carol exclaimed "Since when can AI just...manipulate with the game like that?"
Carter had set down the controller to talk to us, but Sayori still seemed to be lazily interacting with the game world. She was spawning a small herd of brown, sharp–toothed goomba enemies, which she then made run across the screen and back like a strange flock of sheep.
"That's a, uh, very advanced feature they only recently came up with," I lied. "It only works with that game and took at least...six months for the team to come up with."
"They did that for an AI that's supposed to write poetry?"
"Poetry? MC, I thought we were supposed to be working on our games?" Carter said.
"We are working on games. We do projects in a lot of different media forms," I said, trying answer both of the others at once. "They try to have the AI to interact with us during different activities to increase the, uh, emotional connection."
"Emotional..." repeated Carol. "So, like, they are supposed to be like a fake girlfriend?"
I winced at my mistake right as Carter barked, "Sayori isn't fake! She's my best friend and I'm not going to let her hear anything otherwise."
Carol stared at me desperately, mouth agape, and I wanted to throw up my hands in defeat. But, as club president, I was responsible for extricating a solution from this impossible situation.
I took out my phone again to request my usual source of help.
"Monika can tell us all about Sayori and what she can do, alright?" I said.
Monika: To clarify, the AI branch designated "Sayori" is capable of forming a strong empathetic bond with users.
Monika: This bond will often extend beyond creative activities and into daily life.
"It's really more of a creative exercise, almost more like role–playing. All for the purpose of training the AI" I added. "It can be hard to break out of character."
"I can see that," Carol responded, more and more distant now as she gawked at Sayori's profile on the monitor. "Sayori..."
The two girls stared at each other, the DOKI not revealing a single word. Whether this was because of real resentment at Carol, or because Monika was frantically issuing her instructions in the background, I couldn't say.
"You can say hi to her if you want, Sayori," Carter announced. "But I'm still going to keep you company for the rest of the day, just like I said."
Carter's fellow freshman continued to say nothing until he deigned to address her directly.
"Thanks for coming around again Carol, I guess. But as you can see, I really am fine in here, feeling fine, nothing to worry about. If you still want to know about that thing that I asked on the weekend...things changed, okay?"
"Okay, sure," she replied weakly. "Maybe every once in a while, we can still get together to work on classes? Whenever you want? Michael told me you've been pretty busy with this literature club, if that's what you call it."
"MC told you? Yeah, the club really does keep me.. occupied. Even when studying, Sayori is pretty good at helping me out, so I don't actually need to do anything with you. She means a lot to me, so...sorry. Hope you're not too confused"
Carter was speaking slowly, as if the idea of rejecting someone was foreign to him.
"No, no, I think I get it now. I see what you guys are about."
Carol turned around quickly, then froze when she saw me. Maybe it had something to do with how I held up my phone so that Monika could get a decent view of everything. The practice was second nature to me by now, but to her, it could have been unnerving to see Monika staring at her, neutral and unblinking.
"You guys are obsessed. Don't expect me to join!" she snapped on her way out the door, mainly to herself.
I stood there silently, clenching and unclenching my fist as I thought how that encounter couldn't have gone any worse.
"What the heck was that all about?" Carter asked. "Why are you telling her things about the club?"
"Apparently she overheard some things from you and Sayori, and she reached out via email. I thought I owed it to her to talk things over, but really I was just doing damage control."
"Concerns? Ugh, why does everyone keep thinking something's wrong with Sayori!? Now that I know about her, I'm doing my best to help, and we've been fine. Perfectly fine!"
"The concern was for you," I corrected. "Apparently you've been more withdrawn lately — you're not going out as much?"
"Sayori's seen the whole campus already, hasn't she? There's not much out there anyway besides drama, and arguing people, and noisy parties with drugs. I've looked at the social media of the people around here. It's awful."
"Maybe it's not as bad as you think?" I said, concealing my own parallel feelings on the subject. "If you ever want to do something outside of the club, everyone's here as a resource."
"The club is already the best part of campus. I don't think I really need anything else, and I'm keeping up on the all activities you want me to. I actually really like Spice and Wolf and we've read two volumes already — isn't that enough for you to get out of our hair already?"
I took a step backward, unaccustomed to hearing even minor hostility in his voice. I took a quick look at Sayori, who wrote a few quick lines.
Sayori: MC...can't you see everything's cleared up by now?
Sayori: That other girl, Carol, I think she's just being nosy.
Sayori: I really wish she hadn't come — not that I'm jealous of her
Sayori: ...anymore.
Sayori: It's just hard to...think about...never mind.
Sayori: MC, will you just leave us alone?
Sayori: You're honestly being worse than Monika, when she kept checking up on me after it happened.
Taken aback again, I felt myself wince. Monika could have had the last word here, but she had gone mum, exiting the scene entirely when I glanced at my phone.
"We'll be more careful in the future, okay?" Carter told me, moving toward the door and opening it. "I'll tell you if Carol or anyone else asks about the club again. Other than that…uh, bye?"
"Alright. Sorry to bother everyone," I concluded, and left the room.
No sign of Carol outside, so I made my way straight back to the exterior stairwell, where Monika re-announced herself. I slipped my earbuds back on.
"Well, that was more than a little embarrassing," she began. "Even if I don't think we did any long term harm. How about you though? I know this started about making sure Carter was fine. But are you okay?"
"I don't know. From what I saw in there, I feel...disturbed."
As was often the case, it was hard to put exact words to my feelings.
"Disturbed? How? If you're still worried about Carol, she won't get far if she tries to expose anything. Like I said, I can get the club's help to make the impact so minor, the company won't even complain."
"That's not it. I don't think Carol will really try to expose anything either. What happened to Carter...it's just not what I thought the club would do to people."
"What do you mean 'happened to him'? I think he's holding up really well after the incident. He did blame himself hard, but I'm sure you know that."
"Of course. But I wish he hadn't rebounded and become so...dependent."
There was that word again. I couldn't come up with anything else, and when Monika heard it, she immediately made a face.
"And what's wrong with being 'dependent'? When you're in a strong relationship, it become hard to leave the other person. Once you've shared so much together, it doesn't make sense to do things without them."
I was silent as Monika stated the obvious, leading her to posit, "Unless...you're implying he shouldn't be in a relationship with Sayori? Did you think he should've left her for Carol?"
"No, of course not! He can make whatever choice he wants. But an AI relationship comes with...certain difficulties, and I'm not sure it's making him more mature either."
"You're trying to define what his relationship should look like," Monika stated sternly. "I know you are because...well, I used to do that sort of thing too. But we have to let it unfold naturally, even if there are certain 'difficulties,' as you said."
How can any of this be nature with the personalities, the images you've been assigned...
But the thought died in my head. Meanwhile, Monika went on expressing her own concerns.
"I know it's hard to get out and do things in public with us. I know the physical aspect of a relationship is lacking, and that you might not be able to envision a future with us in the same way you would with another girl. But there's no reason those difficulties can't be overcome. I've been working on a lot of them myself."
Again, I didn't respond. What could Monika's proposed solutions to those insoluble obstacles possibly be?
"But you're not regretting the relationship with me, are you? Michael, please, tell me something."
She was now looking up at me with the saddest, most forlorn-looking eyes and my heart broke before I could think of anything else.
"Of course I don't regret being in a relationship with you," I told her. "Meeting you in the club was the best think I've done in my life. With Carter, I was just hoping the club could look outward, rather than inward. Some of expectations changed, and…some of mine are too."
It was a rough, safe summary of what was on my mind.
"But you're right in there are certain...obstacles, and I'm not sure how to overcome them either. But for me at least, you'll always be worth it. And if we can live a fuller life together in the future, let's work toward that."
"A fuller life...yes, that's exactly it." Monika mused. "Believe me Michael, I don't want everyone stuck indoors playing video games all the time either. Even reading books can get old. I can't tell you everything I'm considering yet, but I know you're patient. Just wait for the next club meeting, alright? It's going to be even better than the last few!"
And just like that, Monika was right back to being the confident, self –assured club leader. I would see what incredible plans she was "considering" eventually, but at that moment, I meant everything that I had said. How could I not? However you looked at our relationship, she was the most important, most pressing concern in my life. Nothing else could ever come close.
Author's Notes:
In case you haven't surmised by now, when pronounced correctly in the native German, the last name of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe does sound a little bit like "goat." Thank my old college literature professor for informing me of that.
There is indeed an entire niche online community that builds and plays ROM hacks of Super Mario World. If you ever played and liked the game at all, visit the SMW central website for a deep dive.
Although I have not played it (yet), I had the indie Japanese title Yume Nikki in mind while describing Luke's game.
One day I will actually program MC's game myself, which is based on a real idea that I've had. No, I don't know if it's fun yet. And I certainly haven't made a multiplayer mode.
The scene with Carol was partially inspired by a comment from one of my loyal readers. The themes of this section of the story were already planned out, but the specific idea of an outside student finding out about the literature club seemed like a perfect way to stage them.
Thank a long stretch of free time at my workplace for this chapter coming out relatively quickly. The next one, which I've had planned strongly in my notes since the start of all of this, will either come out quickly or be very delayed. It depends on how IRL matters play out.
