Deep Within...
Many kind of people lived in this land.
There is a shrine maiden, clad in red and white...
Who keeps the land peaceful with her presence.
There is a witch, monochrome and active...
Who borrows with intent from all her friends.
There is a chronicler, never forgetting...
Who lives and records her nine lives.
There is a bookkeeper, loves books like family...
Who can bypass even the toughest of language barriers.
But most importantly...
There is a sage, mysterious and enigmatic...
Who has special eyes to watch over the land.
...
Old Adam's Dateless Bar
"Bella, wake up! You are dozing off again..."
Once again, Bella is woken up to the sound of someone else snapping her back into reality from one of her visions. In this case, it was Renko once again.
"You need to work on your 'dozing off' problems, Miss Hearn..." Renko tells Bella in an advising manner.
"You need to work on your 'waking people up' problems, Usami-san..." Bella talks back while simultaneously imitating Renko's Japanese accent.
There was silence for about five seconds before Renko giggled. "I admit, that is a bit amusing."
Bella also giggled in response. "That aside," She looks around the inside of the pub. "What is taking that guy so long?"
The reality is that the restaurant Adam took Bella and Renko to turn out to have just started renovations and won't be open for the next two weeks. So the English Esper ended up having to take the girls to his family's pub, where he'll be cooking for them.
"His family's pub is themed around traditionalism, or so he says on social media..." Renko explains for Bella.
"British tradition, I guess?" Bella adds.
As if someone had just tempted fate, a soft boom is heard coming from the kitchen, followed by Adam cursing, then the sound of a fire extinguisher being used at the same place.
"Very old British tradition..." Renko jokes.
Seconds later, Adam emerges from the kitchen, slightly blackened and with messed-up hair. He is also holding a fire extinguisher in his left hand.
"Well, there goes the last ever propane gas stove on the planet." The English Esper snarks about what has just happened as he sets the fire extinguisher down on the floor.
Although the prospect of a kitchen going up in flames is a scary thought, Bella can't help but laugh at the prospect that in a civilization full of advanced technologies, a family-run establishment is still using something as primitive as a propane gas stove to cook food (not that some people had been using newer techs to do old fashioned things).
"Sorry, girls, but I guess we'll be having light snacks for lunch instead." Adam continues to snark. "Now if you excuse me, I have to get the kitchen fixed up before my dad comes back." He then rushes back into the still-smoking kitchen. The clattering of metals can be heard afterwards.
Bella and Renko then turns toward each other.
"Any ideas?" Bella asks Renko.
Renko takes her mobile phone out. "Well, I could order a delivery..."
Bella rolls her eyes, while simultaneously finding this funny. "You're an astrophysics major, and you didn't think of this sooner?" She teases the astrophysics major.
Renko realizes that the American girl does have a point, and blushes in embarrassment. "I-its just like fiction, where people who studied hard science tend to think of the simplest solution last!" She attempts to argue in a humorous way. "And yet you too didn't think of this sooner!"
...
And so Bella and Renko ended up ordering some Japanese meals online, of which the delivery is made by drones. Adam, in the meantime, is still busy fixing the pub's kitchen (one wonders how ESP can help him fix damages caused by a propane gas explosion).
"So, on what you said about Erich and his sister..." Renko says as she bites into a piece of tempura shrimp. "They were hiding secrets?" She continues after swallowing.
"I think so..." Bella says, unsure of her hunch. "With the brother, maybe. But with the sister...there's just something else that's not quite right with her, physically..."
"Physically?" Renko paused upon hearing that. "In what way?"
Bella recalls her first encounter with Erich and Vivit at the campus grounds. "Well, first, Erich claimed that Vivit was the one who punched those two delinquents, yet neither of her gloved hands looked like she punched anyone with them..."
"Maybe she just didn't punch hard enough?" Renko offers her theory as she bites into another tempura shrimp.
Bella shakes her head. "Those delinquents wouldn't be bruised, then. But they were." She argues against the theory. "Second, for the single second that I got very close to her...I swear, she's got-"
"No breath?" Adam says as he comes out of the pub kitchen, having just finished fixing and cleaning it up.
The girls are spooked by the sudden announcement. Renko almost knocked a bowl of sashimi sauce off the bar counter because of it.
"I'm an Esper," Adam claims. "so I know whether I'm looking at a human or not." He then uses his telekinesis to pour himself a glass of water. "In her case..." He snatches the glass from midair as he finishes pouring it, then drinks from it. "She's an android..."
The girls figuratively freezes at the revelation. Renko briefly unfreezes herself to push the bowl of sashimi sauce off the bar counter, just to get the atmosphere going.
"An android..." Bella repeats.
"Yes." Adam answers.
"With a computer for a brain." Renko says, still stunned.
"Not making it up." Adam ensures. The English Esper then uses telekinesis to levitate everything else on the bar counter that isn't nailed, bolted or glued to it, so the girls wouldn't knock over another one of them onto the floor.
Silence...
Stunned silence...
No words could be spat out...
"..."
"..."
Then...
"WHAT?!"
...
Renko's Room; The Flat
"You two didn't have to goddamn scream...ugh..." Adam, seated on a sofa in the living room, complains while pressing a bag of ice against his forehead. "Your hysterical reaction threw off my concentration, which in turn caused me to make a bigger mess in the pub than the kitchen explosion, via telekinesis..." He then sighs. "Good thing they were just as easy to clean up..."
"I'm sorry!" Bella apologizes, facing the English Esper with both hands held together.
"すみません!" Renko says while bowing repeatedly with her hat off - the Japanese way of apologizing. Upon realizing that she apologized in Japanese, she bows again and says "I'm so sorry!" in English.
Adam puts the bag of ice on the table. "Never mind that..." He dismisses with a wave of his left hand. "For someone born British, I'm not very good at doing that 'Stiff Upper Lip' thing. And I'm not supposed to expect foreigners to act that way either..." He lowers his left hand. "Alright. Let's get back to what we're talking about back there. Sit down, you two."
Bella and Renko does as they are told, sitting down on the sofa across the table from Adam.
"Since how and why that guy, Erich, created a true Artificial Intelligence and an android body to house it is rather tricky to answer, let's leave those questions aside for now." Adam begins by raising a point. "First question: why do those two bother themselves with keeping the secret?"
"Why the secret? Maybe only he knows." Renko raises another point.
"Maybe its because Erich felt that the world is not ready to know..." Bella gives an answer rather quickly.
Neither Adam nor Renko understands her answer.
"Why do you think the world's not ready?" Adam asks. "Imagine all the achievements and innovations that could be done with AIs by our sides!"
Renko is about to voice her opinion, but is stopped by Bella doing that first.
"Just imagine how the technology will be abused by governments..." The American girl points out. "Especially the United States..."
Adam opens his eyes wide, understanding what Bella meant by her statement. Renko, however, doesn't.
"Why do you think the US is going to abuse AI technology?" The Japanese astrophysics major asks.
Adam shook his head as he crosses his arms. "Why do you think? This is, after all, the same country that banned all things Chinese just to get an economical edge, and made to suffer by the whole world because of it." He explains to Renko. "Just what do you think will bloody happen if the CIA or Pentagon get their hands on AIs?"
That armor-piercing statement stuns Renko, as she realizes the ramifications.
"At best, they'll inadvertently start World War 3 by getting back at China." Bella adds.
"At worst, they'll inadvertently create something similar to Skynet or HAL-9000." Adam also adds, only to suddenly realize something else. "Wait a minute, that might not be the worst case scenario..." The English Esper then stands up. "But the point is, we now know one of the most important reasons why Erich is keeping the true identity of his 'sister' a secret." As he finishes his statement, Adam appears to glance at the front door briefly.
...
Outside Renko's Room
As it turns out, Erich and Vivit have been tailing Bella and co the moment they stepped out of Y.G. International Academy campus grounds, and had been listening in on them with a directional microphone the whole time.
"And for the sake of the siblings and the whole world, let's keep that to ourselves..." Adam's conclusion statement is picked up by the mic.
Erich lowers the mic. "Can I really trust that Esper and those girls to not blurt out our secrets?" He wonders.
Vivit, who's been by his side the entire time, leans close to the front door. "Well, my built-in lie detector says yes." She tells him.
Erich glances at his android sister. "Have I told you that beating a lie detector is a possibility?" He argues.
"Yes, you did. But you also said that it's only easy for secret agents." Vivit argues back. "And even ignoring the lie detector aspect, I am still very positive that all three of them are willing to do as they themselves said."
Erich frowns. "Well, you can't lie. But that doesn't mean you know the full details."
Vivit doesn't show it, but it is clear that she is getting annoyed by her brother's attitude. "True. But I trust them."
Erich pauses briefly, thinking of a counter-argument. When nothing suitable comes to mind, he sighs. "Alright, fine, you win. But you better be right." Saying that, he proceeds to turn off the directional microphone and stuff it into his backpack. "Come on, Viv. Let's go home."
With that, the siblings depart from the scene.
...
Renko's Room
Bella and Renko notices Adam glancing at the front door.
"Did you sense something or someone outside?" Renko asks.
Adam keeps his eyes on the front door for a few more seconds. Then he answers Renko, "It's just two people passing by..."
The girls nod. They know full well who the English Esper is talking about.
"Okay," Bella decides to end the conversation. "let us never speak of this again, so everyone can stay happy minding their own business."
"Agreed." Adam responds.
"Such game-changing technology...denied to the whole world to prevent disastrous abuse..." Renko laments.
"That is the problem with humanity: we're all irresponsible idiots." Bella says.
Adam heads for the front door. "Alright, ladies, just give me a call if you need anything else, I'll be in my flat room." He stops briefly to say.
And with that, he casually opens the front door and leaves, closing it behind him.
The girls are now left there by themselves.
"Any plans for today?" Bella asks Renko.
"None." Renko answers. "Which means we get to do whatever we want~"
Bella touches her chin. "Which, for you, is binge reading Stephen Hawking's books. Isn't it, Miss Astrophysics Major~" She teases.
"N-no!" Renko protests. "I'm not like those overachieving Chinese nerd types, never mind the incorrect stereotype..."
Bella looks away, and waves in a dismissive manner while giggling. "I'm just kidding, actua-"
All of a sudden, the American girl just froze in place, with her giggle grinding to a complete halt, and her expression fading away completely.
Renko immediately realizes something is amiss. She waves her hand before Bella's eyes to get her attention.
Bella did not respond to it. At all.
"Um...Bella, are you still there? Or did you just went into another one of your 'seeing things' moment again? Say something, Maribel Hearn..."
The reveal: Vivit turns out to be an android, and the world's first true AI. Although that wouldn't be surprising to you at all, since I've already said it blatantly in her profile that she is an android, and why her identity is kept a secret (though this chapter makes it clearer).
You can probably guess which Touhou characters are referenced in the opening poem. Though you might be asking if it has anything to do with this chapter. The answer: it doesn't. It's for the next chapter, which will be an immediate followup to this one.
"And that, as they say, is that..."
Afterword ends here.
