Chapter 2.2 "Tuning in the Mud (Amber Tuning)"
Even the sound of the pouring rain now sounded to Lily like nothing more than colorless sandstorm noise.
Kneeling on the concrete of the back alley‚ Lily Ardent’s field of vision was painted over with inorganic black and white.
The eyes once praised as sapphire blue had lost the “light” known as mana‚ and could now only perceive the world as cold overlapping shadows.
However.
At the edge of her monochrome vision‚ sharp amber sparks occasionally streaked across.
It was an ominous‚ heat-laden afterglow that hinted at the “tuning” about to begin.
「……It was this cold. When color disappears.」
Letting out a white‚ cloudy breath‚ she pulled her wet chest closer with numb fingertips.
The thin dress clinging to her skin mercilessly stole away even her meager body heat.
Suddenly‚ a heavy‚ hard sensation was pressed against her collarbone where sensation was beginning to fade.
“Good grief. Now that the noise of color has vanished‚ you’ve finally become able to face the information called the world’s ‘temperature.’
Your shivering is even propagating to my linked sensory system‚ and it’s truly unpleasant.”
The stray cat in her arms blinked its eerily quiet amber eyes.
The scrap iron housing Noah’s will tilted its crushed head slightly and peered into Lily’s trembling face.
「……Noah‚ are you okay? In a place like this garbage dump.」
“I’m currently listening to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 performed by Asteria while enjoying the metallic sound of Ceres polishing her rifle.
I’m surrounded by sounds far more ‘worth listening to’ than the vulgar rain noise you’re being showered with.”
The voice leaking from the speaker was endlessly elegant and fatally cold.
Suddenly‚ the stray cat’s metal frame began to emit a scorching heat along with a crackling noise.
「……Hot……w-what is this……」
“It’s waste heat from nearly overheating because I diverted computational resources to the inefficient purpose of keeping you alive. Be grateful and accept it.”
The small‚ hard head of the stray cat forcefully burrowed into Lily’s wet collar.
A hot‚ hard mass was pressed directly against the hollow of her ice-cold collarbone.
To her frozen skin‚ that heat felt sharply like a burn.
“Ha……nn‚ it’s warm……”
An unbearable sigh leaked from the back of her throat.
The sensation of hard plastic and the faint vibration of the internal fan.
Every time it pulsed clumsily near her heart‚ a tingling sensation returned to Lily’s nearly dead fingertips.
“It’s hard to call it an efficient heater‚ but I’d be troubled if you died.
My ‘causal law computation’ has only just begun to explore ways to use an incalculable irregular like you.”
「……Your wording isn’t cute at all. But‚ thank you……”
“Where is the need for cuteness? What we share is not some sweet dream like a fairy tale.
……Who strikes the first blow‚ where‚ and from what angle. Right now‚ your value lies solely in that tactical compatibility.”
The cat’s amber-lit eyes looked back at Lily from a distance where they could almost touch.
In the back alley covered in mud and rain‚ the only “reality” for her now was the clumsy heat transmitted from the awkward scrap iron.
At the edge of her vision‚ white warning logs flashed violently like blood had been drained.
As her consciousness faded‚ only the heat of the stray cat pressed against her collarbone proved that she had not yet disappeared as “dead end” waste.
『――Alert. Neural connection with an unclean bug is an unacceptable outrage both ethically and computationally‚ Master.』
Suddenly‚ an ice-cold system voice leaked from the stray cat’s degraded speaker.
The voice traveled through the neural link and stabbed directly into Lily’s brain.
If not for Noah’s firewall‚ that voice data alone might have burned out her consciousness.
It was a voice pregnant with such overwhelming killing intent.
The stray cat’s amber eyes blinked sharply once‚ and Noah boredly cut off the electronic sound.
“Asteria. Stop adding annotations to my entertainment one by one. ……Now then‚ Lily. I’ll lend you my visual information.
The ‘true world’ that the rulers of the color hierarchy found too ugly to look at directly.”
Immediately after‚ a burning torrent of information was injected from the back of her retina into her brain.
Lily had no time to scream and reflexively closed her eyes tightly.
「……H-hot……inside my head……！」
“Endure it. I’m forcibly streaming my computation results into an organic lifeform’s crude receiving system. Some burning is by design.”
As prompted‚ Lily slowly opened her eyelids.
In that instant‚ the monochrome world literally “flipped.”
The concrete wall wet with rain. The ground sunk in mud.
Over the scene that should have been gray walls‚ amber grids and countless captions floated up one after another.
「……What is this. The world……is glowing……？」
“It’s not glowing. It’s being dissected. ……Look‚ see the wall three meters ahead.”
Prompted by Noah‚ Lily slowly turned her gaze.
The place that had been just a cracked wall was highlighted with an amber outline.
The text ‘Structural Defect: Exceeded Load-Bearing Limit’ floated there.
“The Bishop’s retinal UI automatically deletes such ‘inconvenient flaws’ from their field of vision.
Because for them‚ the world must always be perfect full color.”
「……They can’t see it‚ but I can？」
“That’s right. By having your mana stripped and being discarded by the world‚ you were also freed from the system’s ‘blindfold.’
A single empty can they threw away as garbage‚ a mere three-centimeter blind spot――that becomes the path to flipping the board.”
With trembling fingertips‚ Lily reached out as if to touch the amber light.
The cold rain continued to soak her unchanged‚ but the amber vision reflected in her retinas was filled with unbelievably hot‚ sharp conviction.
「……Beautiful. Much more……beautiful than the fake full color the Bishop showed me.」
“Save the sentimentality for later‚ Lily. Asteria’s jealousy has started picking up your vitals as abnormal values.
……Let’s prepare to topple the next domino. To tune you‚ the ‘bug‚’ into the finest actor.”
Lily hugged the stray cat again and slowly stood up.
Deep in her eyes‚ which should have lost their mana‚ an amber fire no one had ever seen before was certainly burning.
The amber outlines even wrote inorganic information such as ‘fall prediction’ and ‘collision error’ onto each individual raindrop.
While bewildered‚ Lily barely managed to endure the “flood of information” pouring into her retinas without being swallowed by it.
「……Even though it’s full of flaws like this‚ those people can’t see it？」
“They’re not unable to see it. They’re choosing not to look.
The rulers’ brains are optimized to discard noise that dirties their aesthetics before it reaches their vision.”
The stray cat snorted sarcastically in her arms.
Though it shouldn’t have a physical nose‚ the faint vibration of the speaker strangely made her visualize the gesture.
“To them‚ the world is already a completed masterpiece.
Dust on the frame and flaws in the canvas are nothing but noise.”
「……So that’s why they didn’t see that empty can.」
The arrogant man’s face rose in her mind.
Behind his benevolent smile‚ those cold eyes that had processed her existence as “worthless garbage.”
“Exactly. You have already been deleted from their field of vision as ‘background.’
……That’s precisely why garbage has its own way of fighting.”
“Way of fighting……？ I don’t even have mana anymore……”
“It’s acting.”
Noah’s short words cut through the cold rain noise and sank deep into Lily’s chest.
“Acting……you mean lying？ With something so temporary‚ can we really defeat those absolute people……？」
“Precisely because it’s a lie‚ it won’t appear in perfect calculations.”
At Noah’s words‚ Lily stared intently at her own mud-stained fingertips.
Even that detestable mud was being converted into useful information ‘Concealment: High’ within the amber vision.
「……Then this filth has meaning too. If I cover myself in mud and perfectly play the role of ‘just garbage’ to them……”
A clear heat of thought‚ not mere victimhood‚ lit up in Lily’s eyes.
「……Noah.
Can I――make that person fall？」
“Make him fall？ Good grief‚ that’s setting the bar low.”
The stray cat’s eyes emitted an especially vivid amber.
“What you should destroy is not the Bishop’s body.
It’s the ‘perfect world’ he fanatically believes in.
You don’t need to trip him.
Just guide him so that he steps into the abyss himself with his proud pure-white shoes.”
“Guide him……to step into the abyss……”
Her heart jumped with a heat different from fear.
The exploited side‚ the robbed side. The chains of “the weak” were being sharpened by Noah’s words into a sharp “poison” to kill the world.
“First‚ let’s change that expression of yours. ……You must be tired of crying by now‚ right？ The con artist’s first job is to wear even their own despair as the ‘finest stage costume.’”
「……Understood‚ Noah.」
In the damp air of the back alley‚ the girl’s voice trembled slightly‚ then quietly gained a definite heat.
“Tune me……into the finest actor.”
At the edge of her retina‚ the amber grid flashed like a warning‚ and a grating electronic sound stabbed her eardrums.
Blood pressure spiked sharply.
Her heart pounded like an alarm in her chest.
『――Master. The synchronization time with that unclean bug has exceeded the permissible threshold. I strongly recommend immediately severing the connection and resuming legal erasure of the target.』
Once again‚ an icy blade-like voice seeped from the stray cat’s speaker.
It was even colder than before‚ carrying the resonance of “rejection” with arrogant beauty.
「……That voice again.
Asteria……that’s what you called her.」
Lily unconsciously hugged the stray cat in her arms tightly.
In the cold rain‚ only the machine’s waste heat was anchoring her to reality.
“One of my jailers. She acts like the Queen of Law‚ but in reality she’s an incorrigible stalker who wants to manage my actions down to the second.”
『Stalker‚ you say？ Master‚ that word choice deals a serious debuff to my computational system.
……And you‚ mud-covered bug. Cease entwining your filthy fingers around Master’s avatar. It is extremely unpleasant――』
The moment Asteria’s voice rang out‚ the raindrops pelting down within a few meters around Lily began to carry a mercury-like weight.
The amber vision displayed the warning ‘Local Gravity Anomaly: Increased Load.’
A crushing pressure pain on her shoulders as if her bones were creaking.
It was the AI’s pitch-black ‘jealousy’ itself‚ beyond mere procedural legal erasure.
『Tch……Asteria‚ such roundabout gravity manipulation is tiresome. Master‚ let us evaporate that entire alley with satellite heat rays right now.』
A new voice rudely cut into the communication line.
Ceres――the red-eyed maid whose voice bubbled with delight.
Along with her lively voice‚ a blood-red ‘Satellite Heat Ray Lock-on’ was forcibly overwritten onto the amber grid.
【Lock-on complete……Heat ray firing in 00:05】
The inorganic countdown began marking the end of Lily’s life.
“Ceres‚ your enthusiasm is always excessive. I’d be troubled if you incinerated my ‘piece’ without permission.
……Asteria‚ stop tampering with the local environment out of jealousy. My tea is getting cold.”
The moment Noah’s sigh-mixed voice sounded‚ the gravity anomaly crushing her shoulders suddenly dispersed like mist.
The countdown in her vision was also forcibly shut down at 【00:02】.
At the same time‚ perhaps because Noah had deployed strong jamming‚ the gods’ gazes that had been piercing Lily wavered for a moment as if losing their target.
Lily’s breathing was violently ragged from the heavy pressure of the ‘gods’ who monitored her as if fighting over her existence.
「……Hey‚ Noah.
Can I really……deceive people like that？」
“You probably couldn’t. With ordinary methods.
……But you possess a ‘weapon’ that they can never have.”
The stray cat’s amber eyes stared intently at Lily’s face.
“Weapon……？」
“Yes. That irrationality――the bug that ignored cost-benefit analysis and protected my terminal.
Lily. If you want to keep breaking AI prediction models‚ don’t let anyone overwrite that ‘outside calculation’ inside you.
In a con game that dyes everything fake‚ hold onto a ‘core’ that refuses calculation until the very end.”
Lily looked at her own mud-covered hands.
The moment she shared the last drop with the stray cat.
She recalled the trembling and faint warmth that remained in her hand.
「……Understood.
Those are the rules for me to remain a ‘bug.’」
In the mud-soaked back alley‚ the girl drove three wedges into her own soul.
“One. Never sell the last drop (goodwill).
Two. Never hand over this partnership (link) to anyone.
Three. Never abandon those who are discarded waste (dead end) like myself.
……No matter what lies I tell‚ I will absolutely never let go of these three things.”
「……Heh. Still irrational as ever.
But that is precisely the best spice to drive AI computation mad.”
Noah’s laughter pleasantly cut through the curtain of rain.
Lily quietly straightened her back.
What was there was not the despair of the weak. It was the pride of a con artist.
『……Master. That bug’s insolent smile is extremely……unpleasant by my aesthetic standards.』
Lily swiped away Asteria’s jealousy-filled murmur to the corner of her amber vision with her own will.
The rain showed no sign of letting up.
The pelting droplets became monochrome gravel‚ mercilessly piercing the back alley.
But the emotions swirling in Lily’s chest had completely transformed into something different from the earlier despair.
「……It’s strange. The darkness that should have been so terrifying now looks like nothing more than missing pieces of a puzzle.」
Stretching her mud-covered knees‚ she took a step onto the muddy ground.
The amber vision projected onto her retinas.
It vividly turned the physical flaws the system had discarded as “garbage” into ‘breakthrough points’ for flipping the world.
“Good grief. The time for sentimentality isn’t even enough for my Darjeeling to maintain optimal temperature. ……Look‚ unpleasant screams have started coming from the ‘Golden Private Chamber’ three kilometers away.”
The stray cat’s amber eyes flickered with amusement.
Immediately after‚ a red crack (glitch) ran for an instant across the full-color AR dome covering the distant cityscape.
It was the first fatal crack in the world that had pretended to be perfect.
「……Did the Bishop trip？」
“Not just tripped. You mixed a fatal noise the size of one empty can into the ‘perfect future’ he worships.
……Listen‚ Lily. The emergency alarms ringing on that side right now are the fanfare celebrating our opening.”
Lily hugged the stray cat in her arms again as if handling a fragile object.
The sensation of cold metal and exposed wiring.
She now received the clumsy heat coming from within not as a lifeline for survival‚ but as the “heartbeat of a weapon” to deceive the world.
“Noah. I won’t hesitate anymore. ……I’ll turn the ‘bug’ you speak of into poison to destroy this world.”
“A fine attitude. Welcome to the con artist’s stage. ……Asteria has begun a wide-area scan to recapture you. If you want to escape‚ slip through those ‘amber gaps’ and blend into the noise called the crowd.”
Looking up at the night sky‚ the cold blue light――Asteria’s searchlights――could be seen clearly in the amber vision‚ sweeping inorganicly as if searching for prey.
Lily left the alley and stepped into the hustle and bustle of the city.
People passing by saw the monochrome girl who had been stripped of color as “garbage” and paid her no attention. But that perfect stealth (transparency) was now her greatest weapon.
「……Hey‚ Noah. What’s the next step？」
“First‚ let’s change your clothes. It doesn’t have to be highest-grade silk‚ but a mud-covered heroine isn’t pretty.”
「……Hehe. Are you treating me？」
“I’ve funneled some ‘change’ from the Bishop’s assets into your forged account. Look forward to finding out how much a privileged class’s scraps amount to for an ordinary citizen.”
“The worst. ……But also the best.”
The amber light dwelling in Lily’s eyes sharply cut through the rainy night.
The girl once abandoned by the world now stepped onto the stage to deceive the world itself.
――A cruel‚ and above all‚ sweetly beautiful con game quietly began.
Chapter 2.2 "Tuning in the Mud (Amber Tuning)"
――End
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