2 - What If You Made a Copy Human?

2 - What If You Made a Copy Human?

A dark room, filled with all sorts of strange machinery.

Glowing panels, monitors displaying graphs going up and down.

The sound of endlessly whirring cooling fans.

In the center of the room, a girl was controlling an electric screwdriver attached to a robot arm. She must not have cared about her appearance, because she was wearing an unpressed white lab coat and her short hair was uncombed. There were goggles on her forehead and oil stains on her cheeks.

Yoshie Kita. That was her name.

Her talent for researching Virtual Phase Space had caused her to be caught up in a huge conspiracy, and at the end of it, she’d ended up joining Akuto in the Demon King war. Now that it was over, she’d gone back to her job, but she spent most of her time on her hobbies. Even on weekdays she was usually found here in a Constant Academy warehouse, working.

“Heheheh... It’s finally done,” she looked up, grinning.

There was a doll in front of her. “Dolls” were Liradans without high-class AI. They were often used for simple jobs, and often didn’t even resemble humans. This particular doll had a flat, featureless surface that made it resemble a mannequin, and it looked like it hadn’t been fully assembled. It was lying on a large work table. Yoshie went to press the round button on its nose, but then stopped.

“Hmm... I don’t know if it was god or the devil that created this invention. Perhaps it’s like summoning some accursed being from the black depths of darkness...” She talked like that all the time. It was a habit she’d picked up after playing too many video games.

“Master, you sound like a dork.”

Suddenly there was a voice behind her. It was a tiny Liradan. She was a strange looking girl, clad in the clothes of a samurai. She had a long ponytail that reached down to the toes of her tiny body, and she carried a katana that seemed to be twice her size.

She was Keisu. A Liradan made to seal away the first demon king. But now her job was done, and she spent her days helping Yoshie.

“Mph. What are you doing here?” Yoshie turned around.

“That’s a strange question. You’re the one who asked me to come here. You have a visitor.” Keisu pointed behind her.

“Oh, right.” Yoshie grabbed some cleaning spray off the ground and sprayed it into her hands, then wiped them with a cloth. Then she kicked the wheeled chair next to her across the room and motioned for her guest to sit down.

“You seem pretty busy.” It was Akuto. He sat down in the chair like he was meeting with an old male friend. Maybe it was Yoshie’s unfeminine personality, or maybe it was the fact that they both were prone to weird speeches, but Akuto was more open with Yoshie than he was with others.

“No, I was busy. But I just finished.” She put her elbows down on the table next to Akuto.

“That doll? No, is it a Liradan?” Akuto jerked his head in the direction of the work table.

“Doll,” she said. “But it’s a little dangerous.”

Yoshie grinned proudly.

“Dangerous? Is it illegal?”

“It can’t be illegal if there aren’t any laws about it. This is something that the modern legal system has never had to deal with,” she said confidently.

“But it’s still dangerous, right?” Akuto asked, and she nodded.

“That’s why I called you. No, there’s no risk of it exploding or going out of control or anything. I wanted your opinion.”

“My opinion?”

“Yeah. This is a doll that copies somebody’s personality, you see.” She pointed a thumb in the direction of the doll’s smooth, empty face.

“Copies somebody’s personality? Like necromancy?” Akuto asked, his eyes going wide in surprise.

“Necromancy uses the data logs stored in the gods. This makes a copy of somebody’s personality inside virtual phase space, so it’s different.” Yoshie said. Akuto leaned forward, interested.

“That’s right. There was a time when we were sent into VPS and our bodies stayed here, right?”

“Yup. I used that same idea to make a robot that copies personalities. I got started when I was thinking about where a human soul actually is.”

“And you ended up with this thing? Does that mean that the soul is real, and that you can copy it?”

“Yup. Weird, huh? But this means that the gods are right, and it’s possible to take human souls to another dimension and recreate them there. That’s why I wanted you to hear it.”

“Seems like something I’d better remember,” Akuto said, nodding.

“But the immediate question is: what do we do with this thing?” Yoshie sighed.

“What do you mean?” Akuto asked. Yoshie beckoned him over to the table.

“Here, come take a closer look.”

“It seems like its body is pretty big,” he said as he looked down at the doll.

Yoshie put her hand over it and spoke.

“You see, I made this thing, and then I realized there were all kinds of evil uses for it. It’s featureless because when you press this button on the nose, it copies the appearance of the person who pushes it. It’s like Hattori’s clones; it uses condensed mana to cover itself.”

“So you get two of the same person? That could be weird.”

“Yup. That’s why I put in a safety device. I made it so it knows it’s a fake, and also so it won’t hurt anybody.”

“This is interesting, yeah. But since there’s so much potential for misuse, you should destroy it after one test,” Akuto said as he crossed his arms.

Yoshie nodded.

“Well, I figured you’d say that. I just wanted somebody to give me a little push. Also, I wanted to get some data.”

“Data?” Akuto asked. Yoshie responded by grabbing his hand and using it to touch the button.

“Hey..!” Akuto shouted in surprise.

There was a low rumble from the doll. Its surface began to shine as the mana gathered around it.

“Sorry, sorry. I wanted to try it with you. Don’t worry. It won’t be too big of a deal.” She put her hands together and apologized to him.

“Are you... sure it’s okay?” Akuto looked down at the doll, worried.

“It’ll be fine!” Yoshie waved her hands irresponsibly.

The light cleared up as the process of mana condensation finished. On the table lay someone who looked exactly like Akuto.

“Uwah,” Akuto said, shocked.

“It hurts to see you surprised like that, even if you’re me,” the Akuto on the table said as he sat up.

“That sounds exactly like something I’d say,” Akuto said with wide eyes.

“Well, ’cause I’m modeled off of me. I know I’m fake, but being a fake is an unpleasant thing. It’s fine if you want to do an experiment, but if you’re not going to give me anything to do, then I hope you’ll delete me soon. I don’t really feel like talking to myself,” the Akuto on the table said.

“I agree. Though I guess it’s natural that I would agree.”

“That’s the thing. How many minutes do you need to get the data?” both of them said.

Yoshie laughed.

“One hour of small talk should do it. It’s fun seeing two people with the same personality together.”

“It’s not fun for me.”

“Of course, it’s not fun for me either.”

“Now, I’d prefer we didn’t have to spend the next hour talking to ourselves.”

“That’s right. I’d rather talk to you than me. We never really got a chance to talk.”

“I’d love some hints as to how I’m supposed to act from now on, too. Keena is too much of a free spirit.” The two Akutos were speaking in tandem.

“It looks like you two have already learned how to split up your words so you’re sharing the same idea. But if I’m going to be talking to you both at once, that’s going to take a lot of effort,” Yoshie laughed.

○

“T-This is fascinating...”

A black shadow scuttered near the door of the warehouse. It was Nozomi, the girl born to be a janitor. She was wearing her maid uniform on her tiny body, and her forehead was glistening as she looked into the room. She’d been passing by on her janitor duties when she’d stopped to listen to their conversation. She couldn’t help but look inside when she’d heard what they were saying, and had witnessed two Akuto’s.

“So from what they said, if you push that button it turns into a copy of you!” Nozomi began to plot. Her idea was a little better this time, but it was still very selfish.

“I know! I’ll borrow that doll and make a copy of the Empress, then make her do what I tell her to! And then... I’ll become Empress! It’s perfect!”

And then her janitorial powers began to manifest themselves. She quickly moved to the control panel conveniently located on the outside of the warehouse, triggered the fire alarm, and turned off the power.

“Uwah!”

“The lights went out,”

“Looks like something’s wrong. The backup power isn’t working either. Let’s check outside.”

She could hear three voices from inside. She started to run back towards the door, and as soon as she saw them come out, she blasted them with a fire extinguisher.

“Uwah!”

“Hyah!”

The three of them screamed as they were bathed in white... No, two of them. Nozomi could see that one of them wasn’t moving.

—A doll wouldn’t panic at a fire extingusher...! It was a brilliant insight for her, and she grabbed the one who didn’t move.

“This way!” she said, as she grabbed the doll and ran.

“Um, okay?”

The doll’s personality was Akuto. In this case, Akuto would’ve just gone along with it. Then, she used her janitorial powers once more to stop Akuto and Yoshie from catching up with them. She dragged the doll Akuto down one of the side alleys with her. In her short time at the school, she’d learned every nook and cranny of it.

“Wait!”

“Where are you going?”

She could hear Akuto and Yoshie’s cries getting further away from them. Even the students didn’t know the path she was using, so it was easy for her to escape.

“Heheheh... they won’t find us here,” Nozomi said. She was hiding with the doll in a maintenance crawl space.

“So, what’s going on?” The doll had Akuto’s personality and appearance. He was nicer than he needed to be, even to Nozomi, the girl who’d dragged him out here.

“W-Well, you see...” Nozomi began to stammer.

Of course, she’d barely ever talked to a boy. Being this close to Akuto in a cramped space was too much for her.

“C-Can you get away from me?”

“Sorry. But I think this is your fault for choosing such a cramped space... Excuse me for a second. Is this better?”

Akuto grabbed her waist with both hands and lifted her up, setting her on top of a nearby panel at a spot higher than his chest.

“Hyaah!” Nozomi gasped, but after a moment she realized that having more space around her really did calm her down. Akuto’s face, however, was closer than she would’ve liked.

“U-Um, listen...” Nozomi began to flail her hands. Her face was beet red. But Akuto put a hand on her head, like he would a child’s.

“So, why did you do this?”

“W-Well... Hey, get your hand off me! I’m not a kid! I’m a grown-up!”

“I’m sorry. You looked young to me. No, I suppose that’s rude.”

“I’m probably older than you,” Nozomi pouted.

“Then I must apologize again. But there must be a good reason for why you did this, right?” Akuto straightened himself and looked up at her.

“W-Well... I want to use you to make a copy of the Empress.” Nozomi decided to tell him the truth.

Akuto frowned at her.

“You know that’s wrong,” he said, and put strong hands on both her shoulders.

“W-What are you doing?”

“Turning you over to the authorities. You can’t just...”

“Hyah! Noo! No! I’ll scream!”

“I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea, but if somebody comes we can all go to the police together.”

“Gyaaah! Noo!” Nozomi began to flail her arms around.

“Don’t struggle like that...ah!” Akuto gasped. And then he froze. Nozomi’s fist had landed on his nose.

“Hyaaaah! ...Wait, the switch...” Nozomi let out of a sigh of relief.

“But if I hit the switch, what happens...?”

○

“Oh jeez... She’s the girl from last time.” Akuto shook his head.

“Is she dangerous?” Yoshie asked.

“In a way, yeah. You probably weren’t paying attention, but she’s already caused trouble once. I think she’s got personality issues. She’s got an overactive imagination and a very proactive personality, but she doesn’t handle surprises well,” Akuto answered.

“That’s an issue, then.” Yoshie nodded and took a look at the warehouse panel, then shook her head.

“There’s no issues with the warehouse. That’s bad news. It means she was after the doll. Seems like she’s got a screw loose, like you said, too.”

“Yeah. She’s probably trying to misuse it. Supposedly she wants to take the Empress’s place. She might be thinking of making a copy of Keena...” Akuto said.

“Then we’re okay, for the moment,” Yoshie said with a sigh.

“Why’s that?”

“It’s not something that’s really easy to misuse, you see. It won’t harm humans, but it also won’t just do anything it’s told. And the Empress is Keena. Even if she tried something, there’s not all that much she could do.”

“I see. You’re right. And if it’s copied my personality right now, then probably nothing will happen,” Akuto nodded.

“Heheh. I don’t know about that. It looks like you still don’t know how difficult your personality can be.” Yoshie laughed a little. Akuto looked confused.

“Huh?”

“No, don’t worry about it. But there is a problem. There’s one part of the doll that’s rather fragile. If you push the switch too hard, it might malfunction.”

“Malfunction?” Akuto asked. Yoshie looked worried for a moment, but then shook her head.

“No, it’s nothing to worry about. Normally, pushing the nose just copies your personality onto the doll. It also deletes the old personality, too. But if you push the nose too hard, there’s a small possibility the personalities can get mixed. Outside of the worst possible pairing imaginable, though, all you’d end up with is a bit of a weirdo.”

“The worst possible pairing... For instance, somebody who was imaginative and proactive, but didn’t handle surprises well, mixing with somebody who could adapt to any situation but who was too much of an intellectual to take action most of the time?” Akuto whispered. Yoshie laughed.

“Yeah, something like that. Something like...” Her expression froze.

“That would be this Nozomi Sasahara and you, wouldn’t it?”

○

“Huh? If you’ve stopped moving, that means I can run away, you know,” Nozomi said as she went to jump down from the panel. But then Akuto’s hand grabbed her more tightly.

“Hyah!” Nozomi screamed. Akuto looked up at her and laughed.

“There’s no need to run. It’s fine. I understand now.”

“Y-you understand? You understand what?” Nozomi’s voice began to shake in awe of the terrible presence before her.

But Akuto whispered to her in a gentle voice.

“Basically, I just need to become Emperor myself. All I’ll have to do is trick Keena. And I’ll become the new Emperor.”

“W-Wait! You can’t do that! I’m supposed to be Empress!”

“If I’m Emperor, it’s the same as you being Empress. And I won’t just forget about you, anyway. Once I have the throne, you can be by my side.”

“That’s so selfish...”

“It’s not. I’m also you, you see,” Akuto said.

That’s when Nozomi realized what had happened.

“I get it! Our personalities mixed...”

“That’s right. Now just leave everything to me.” Akuto smiled at her, but she shook her head.

“Y-You can’t! I won’t be able to become Empress, then...” She tried to resist, but Akuto put a finger up to her lips.

“You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you? I think you need to be quiet for a while.”

“M-Mgggh...” She shook her head.

Akuto grinned and ran the hand he’d placed on her shoulder across her neck. The feeling of it made her shiver.

“Hyah!”

“I’ll make it so you can’t resist, little girl,” He grinned and ran his hands down her chest as he brought his face closer to hers.

“Uwahh... fwaah....” All she could do was scream and shiver.

○

“Hmm...? She’s just lying there,” Yoshie said when she found Nozomi.

“Then did he do something to her? I thought he couldn’t hurt people,” Akuto said, surprised. The two of them had been searching for a while before they’d found her.

“She’s breathing,” Akuto said as he ran over and lifted her up.

“Just knocked out cold, I guess,” Yoshie said, looking down at her face. It was bright red, and her breathing was shallow.

“Hey, you okay?” Akuto said, shaking her.

“U-Uhhnn...” Nozomi’s eyes fluttered open. When she saw him, she screamed.

“Nooo! Stop! Wait, don’t stop!” She grabbed him and began to pant violently. It was so sudden that Akuto jerked away.

“Uwah! What’s going on?”

Nozomi squirmed up to him and pressed her body against his. “Unyaaah! Have your way with me!”

“Uwaaah! Please get away from me!”

Akuto yanked her off him and with one hand grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground. That was enough to bring her back to sanity. She struggled, but quickly stopped and looked embarrassed.

“Are you the real Akuto, then?”

“I am. I’m not the doll you stole. So... what happened?” Akuto asked. He didn’t seem to really want to hear the answer, though. Nozomi’s face turned red and she started to shake her head.

“N-Nothing... Y-Yeah! Nothing! He just gave me a karate chop to the neck!” Nozomi said, but she was buttoning up her maid outfit. Akuto looked back at Yoshie with a frown. She shook her head. Her face was red too.

“Would you not look at me? Um... I can kind of guess what happened, you know.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that... That’s what I wanted to say,” Akuto said.

“D-Don’t even talk about it. It’s pretty embarrassing for me too.” Yoshie chuckled, embarrassed. But then she tapped her goggles, and her face assumed a serious expression. She turned to Nozomi.

“Anyway, the doll ran off, right? Don’t tell me he got any ideas about becoming Emperor himself, did he?”

Nozomi looked stunned. “H-How could you tell?”

“I knew it...” Akuto and Yoshie looked at each other.

“The two personalities have mixed, and made a huge mess. But the doll can’t hurt anybody, so it shouldn’t be too bad, right?” Akuto said optimistically. But Yoshie shook her head.

“You probably don’t know this about yourself, but... He’s planning on making girls do what he wants by doing this.” She pointed to Nozomi.

“Making girls do what he wants...? Huh? Really? YOU CAN DO THAT?” Akuto looked surprised.

“Well, um... some girls, maybe. If it was a girl who was already favorably inclined to you... probably? And the real problem is, because he’s got a female personality too, he knows exactly how girls would want to be approached...” Even the normally loquacious Yoshie was beginning to stammer.

“So what you’re telling me is... No, just never mind. Do you know where the doll went?” he said to Nozomi as he set her down.

“I-I don’t know! Uwaaah!” As soon as her feet touched the ground, Nozomi set off like a fleeing rabbit. She was gone before they could say a word.

“Welp, there she goes again...” Akuto sighed.

“Forget about her. We need to find the doll,” Yoshie said.

“How?”

“Well, we should probably start with the girls that it would be easiest for you to seduce.”

“Seduce...? Do you really think...”

Yoshie just sighed.

“Just do what I tell you. First, let’s use telepathy to find out where they are. We can start with Fujiko...” She took out her terminal and began to scroll through her contacts.

○

Fujiko Eto was at the café, looking through administrative data for the girl’s dorms, when her terminal started to glow, indicating an incoming call. But just before she picked it up, she decided to reject it instead.

“Fujiko!” Akuto had called out to her. The call was from Yoshie, and it was clear who she needed to prioritize.

“What is it, Akuto?” Fujiko smiled.

Akuto’s face took on a mischevious grin.

“I wanted to talk. Alone.”

“Oh? It’s not often you give me an invitation like that.” Fujiko’s eyes sparkled as she stood up, leaving her coffee cup on the table as she took Akuto’s hands. Akuto squeezed back, and Fujiko blushed.

“Shall we go for a walk, then?”

“No, I was hoping we could be alone.”

“Oh my...! Then why don’t we go to my room in the basement? Hey, what’s gotten into you, really? I’m so happy!” Fujiko clung to his arm.

“I need to talk to you about something important,” Akuto said, as soon as they were inside Fujiko’s underground room.

“Anything you want is important to me,” she said, pressing up against his arm.

“Great. You see... there’s a fake version of me running around.”

Fujiko beckoned him to sit down on a velvet sofa, and he did. She leaned up against his shoulder and looked up against him.

“A fake?”

“Yes. It’s a doll Yoshie made who can copy someone’s appearance and personality.”

“Oh my!” Fujiko gasped in surprise. Akuto looked into her eyes with a stern expression.

“But the doll has gone out of control, and now it’s become dangerous. It looks like it wants to become Emperor.”

“Emperor?” Fujiko asked, but she didn’t seem to be listening. She was blushing as Akuto stared at her.

“Yes. He’s going to use Keena to kill me, and then make Keena into his puppet. So I need you to prove to the others that I am who I say I am.”

“Prove it?” Fujiko said, only half paying attention.

“That’s right. Give me a small accessory or something. When I’m in the same room as the fake, you can use it to prove that I’m the real me,” Akuto said as he ran his hands along Fujiko’s cheeks. Fujiko’s whole body shuddered.

“Oh... Would you like me to give you a love bite then? I’ll kiss your whole body as much as you want. When it’s time to prove who you are, you can take off your shirt and show them that you’re covered in proof of my love. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Fujiko brought her lips towards Akuto’s neck.

“That’s a great idea,” Akuto chuckled, and then he moved a hand from her cheeks to her hair, and then the top of her head.

“Hey, if you’re going to ask for my help, you’re going to reward me, right?” She looked down a little again, as if she was embarrassed, and then brought her face right up to his.

“Of course. I was just about to give you a kiss. The rest can wait until after I’ve crushed the fake...” Akuto wrapped his hand around her head and brought his lips to hers. But...

“Oh? That’s not much of a reward at all. I’d want a kiss from Akuto. Not a fake.” She grinned like a naughty girl and pushed the doll’s body away.

The doll looked surprised.

“How... How can you call me a fake?”

“It’s obvious. It’s a question of love.”

“Love...?”

Fujiko crossed her arms and looked at the doll with contempt.

“It’s simple. I can tell. There’s something different about you. It’s like there’s a different person mixed in. It smells like a timid girl’s idea of the ideal boy.”

“Tch...” The doll Akuto bit his lip.

“I’m going to guess that the one true part of that little story was the fact that you’re trying to become Emperor, right? And like most other Liradans, you can’t actually hurt anyone. Am I wrong?” Fujiko said confidently. The doll Akuto shook his head in frustration.

“That’s right. So what are you going to do? Turn me over to someone?”

“Hmph. I’m not sure. I did get quite a bit of enjoyment out of this until I realized you were a fake. So maybe I’ll just forgive you.”

“Huh...? Forgive me?”

“That’s right. This idea of yours seems pretty entertaining. You’re going to go around to the other girls and do the same thing you did to me, and that’s how you’re going to seduce Keena, right? Go and give it a try.” She laughed.

The doll seemed confused, so she continued.

“If the other girls can’t tell the difference between you and the real Akuto, it proves that my love for him is the deepest. And if you do succeed in seducing any of them, I’ll have the joy of seeing how awkward they are around him. Give it a try. Go after Junko Hattori and Keena Soga.”

Since he couldn’t use magic, she gave him a simple telepathic phone, as well as Junko and Keena’s contact information.

“You don’t have one of these, do you? Here, this will help. I don’t expect you to actually succeed, but keep at it until you fail.” The doll Akuto frowned as he took the phone, and then waved at her.

“You’re wrong. It’ll work just fine.”

Fujiko, now alone in the room, sighed to herself.

“...Maybe I should’ve just destroyed him here, because I don’t think it’s going to work. It takes a little effort, but there are any number of ways to tell the difference between a doll and a human,” she said. “Maybe there’s a reason he’s so desperate?”

○

Junko was very surprised when she got a call from an unlisted number. There weren’t a lot of unlisted numbers left these days. But she was doubly surprised when she picked it up and it was Akuto.

“...What’s going on? You’ve got your own phone, don’t you?”

“It was stolen.”

“Stolen?”

“That’s right. Can you meet? I want to talk.”

“Sure. Where do you want me to go?”

“Someplace we can be alone. Can we meet at the mountain behind the school?”

“Got it.” When she hung up the phone, though, something felt wrong.

“I should be careful, I think. Something’s not right. Especially if he wants me to go up the mountain. It could be a trap.” Junko grabbed her sword, and took a longer route than usual up the mountain. But despite her caution, she didn’t see anything that looked like a trap.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Junko said as she cautiously stood in front of Akuto.

“No, it’s fine. We’ve got a problem to deal with.” Akuto said, suddenly clasping both hands around her left.

“What... Why are you grabbing my hand like that?” Junko looked away and mumbled. But Akuto looked straight at her face.

“I’m sorry. But I’m just worried. There’s a fake version of me walking around.”

“A fake?” Junko turned back to look at him in surprise.

“That’s right. Kita made a doll which can copy humans. And it’s trying to get rid of the real me.” To Junko, Akuto didn’t look like he was lying. But something felt wrong.

“And they stole your student handbook?

“No, but...”

“I understand that you’re having trouble believing it, but it’s hard to prove that I’m real. And Eto already believes the fake, not me.”

“Eto does?”

“That’s right. She says she loves me, but she can’t tell the difference between the real me and a fake. But you can, right?” Akuto lifted her hand up to his face and begged her.

“W-Wait a minute...” Junko took a small step back. She’d been suspicious of this Akuto from the start, but when she heard that Fujiko had been deceived by the fake, the flames of rivalry had risen within her. If she could tell the difference between the real Akuto and the fake one, that would mean that she loved him more than anybody.

“Don’t worry. Just believe in me. All you have to do is wait until you see two of us, and then believe the one that Eto doesn’t,” he continued.

“W-Wait a minute, though...” Junko shook her head and retreated further. But Akuto didn’t let go. He just took a step forward.

“Do you not like me?”

“T-That’s not the problem!”

“You’re scared, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Just leave it to me and everything will be fine.”

“T-That’s not it... Something’s weird with you.”

“Do you mean you don’t believe me? Then I’ll just have to prove I’m the real me.” He let go of her hand, and then grabbed her jaw with his thumb and index finger, and yanked it upwards.

“W-Wait... What do you mean prove it?” Junko was red right up to her ears, and her voice was tremulous.

“Only the real me could give you what you really want.” Akuto brought his face close to hers.

“S-Stop it, you dummy...” Junko knocked his fingers away and looked down.

“Do you not like that?” he whispered to her.

“T-That’s not the issue.”

“Then you’re just scared, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Just leave everything to me.” He put his hand on her head and gently stroked her hair. Then he lightly put his head on top of hers.

“Oh...” Junko shivered and looked up at him.

“Now, it’s time for you to become mine.” He slowly lifted up her head.

“No, um... well...” Junko shook her head softly, before closing her eyes and softly opening her lips.

“That’s right...” He moved towards her lips...

“T-This is wrong!” She pushed him away. He staggered back before falling to the ground.

“You don’t believe me...?” He asked, saddened. She shook her head violently.

“That’s not it...! It’s not... But... something seems wrong with you today. Maybe you are the fake...”

“How can you say that...?”

“N-No. That’s not. Don’t make that face. But the boy I know wouldn’t do something like this just to get somebody to believe him. That’s all.” Her breathing was shallow, as if she was in pain.

Akuto stood up and shook his head as if he was disappointed.

“No, I understand. But it’s hard to prove I am who I say I am. I’ll have to ask another girl.”

Junko sadly crossed her arms across her chest.

“D-Don’t say that... Don’t talk about other girls. It’s like you’re playing with my heart. It um... well... it hurts.”

“I know it’s wrong. But I’m worried that if I don’t prove I am who I say I am, I might disappear.”

“A-Alright... G-Go see Korone then. We’d have to use some kind of tool to see if you’re a doll or not, but Korone would be able to do it on her own,” Junko said.

Akuto’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“Korone can tell? That’s right... I never thought of that.”

“Yeah. Well, now you know. So stop talking about making other girls believe you, and...” Junko looked away from him.

“I’ll always believe in you. So next time we’re alone, I’ll make sure I’m ready for it...” She looked back at Akuto with the eyes of a maiden. “When that happens, you can finish what you tried to do today... Wait, he’s gone!”

Akuto had already left, and all that was left was the quiet mountain air.

“W-What’s wrong with him?! I don’t care if he’s real or a fake. Next time I see him, he’s going to pay!” Junko threw a tantrum to herself, all alone on the mountain.

○

“I don’t know why, but the Demon King is going around seducing girls.”

“I guess there’s a fake Demon King going around, and he wants them to believe that he’s really who he says he is. He says that whoever the Empress decides is real, is real, so he wants their help.”

“What is he thinking... Are any of the girls actually falling for it?”

“A lot of them. There are a lot of girls who’ve just outright fallen in love.”

“Do girls just want a man who’s strong, and don’t care about anything else? Wait, hasn’t he got enough girls already, like Eto?”

“He goes after them anyway. He’s even seduced girls who already have boyfriends...”

“The boyfriends are probably willing to fight the Demon King then, even if it means risking their lives.”

“Yeah. So he’s just seducing the girls and then punching the boyfriends and running away.”

“That’s awful... What is he trying to accomplish?”

“Who knows? Supposedly he’s heading towards Korone and the Empress...”

The whole school was in an uproar. Everybody knew what Akuto was up to. Some of the students were following him, and some of them were running from him. The real Akuto sighed when he heard this, and looked to Yoshie.

“...What do we do?”

“Well, even if Nozomi’s personality is mixed in with yours, a lot of this is your own fault. If you want to seduce a girl, it’s easy for you.”

“I didn’t ask to be born this way.”

“Don’t get mad, okay? But, where do you think Keena is?” she asked. “We need to find her and protect her.” She crossed her legs as she sat down in a chair. They were in her warehouse lab. The two of them had tried searching for the doll, but after not having any luck, decided to retreat and come up with a plan.

“You can’t just detect his location?” Akuto asked. Every person had a unique mana signature, which could be easily traced.

“No, you need a lot of authority to do that. I could do it via hacking if I wanted to, but I’d rather not take the risk. They’ve been watching me pretty closely since the Empress came,” Yoshie said.

“Could you track Korone then? She should be able to tell if I’m human or not. I’d feel a lot better if I knew she was with Keena.”

“Yeah, she could. I’m sorry, but I never intended to hide the fact that it was a doll.”

“It was just an experiment, after all. But it didn’t really have to copy me, did it?”

“Yeah, about that...” Yoshie spun the chair halfway around and uncrossed her legs, spreading them wide. Then she put both hands between them and leaned forward with a grin.

“Part of the reason I copied your personality was to see how you’d react when we were alone, and I tried to seduce you.”

“Huh...?” Akuto didn’t know what to say.

She rolled the chair across the floor towards him, and then looked up into his eyes.

“It’s not that surprising. Girls can get embarrassed, you know. Sometimes you want to practice before you say something, and sometimes, just practicing is good enough.”

“Does that mean...”

“I wanted to have some fun with somebody who had the same face as you, you know.” She wrapped her arm around his neck.

Akuto was flustered.

“T-There isn’t time for this. We need to find out where Korone is, or Keena will be in danger.”

“That’s the problem... You know how you’re so obsessed with Keena Soga? Sometimes it gives me ideas. It makes me think that it might be fun if I could have you all to myself.” She raised her head up to his until their foreheads were touching.

“I-I never noticed any of this...” Akuto stammered.

“That’s because you’re dense. How could I not fall in love with someone who forgot I was a girl, and treated all my ideas about games, souls, and society seriously?” She looked at him with dewey eyes.

“T-There’s no time for this, though...”

“And that’s why I’m doing it. I actually know where Korone is. She’s not with Keena. So Keena could be in danger.” Her face was smirking in a way he’d rarely seen before.

“...Let me go, then! I have to find her.”

“Nope.”

“If Soga is seduced, I’ll be sad.”

“Come on, it doesn’t have to be for long. Won’t you make me feel wonderful?”

“But that’s...”

“Yes. I know it’s really selfish. But I’m a girl too, you know?” Yoshie pulled him close as she stood up. And then...

○

While all this was going on, Keena was in the special reception room that had been recently constructed for the Empress. Other than the fact that it had a rice container that was constantly kept full, there was nothing special about it at all. Keena was taking a nap there, but opened her eyes when a sudden visitor arrived.

“Oh, Ackie! What’s up? Want to take a nap with me?”

“That sounds lovely, but there’s no time. There’s a fake version of me that’s after you.”

Akuto knelt down in front of Keena, who was lazily lying on the sofa. Her response, however, was less than concerned.

“Mmhm... Sounds bad.”

“...Can you take this a little more seriously? My fake is trying to win you over to his side, and then take power,” Akuto warned, but she didn’t seem to be fully awake.

“Win me over? What does that mean?”

“Well... he’ll get you to think he’s real, and then... Basically, he’ll stay by your side forever and try to use your powers as Empress.”

“Ooh. Always by my side. I like that. Let’s stay together forever, Ackie.” Keena nodded, still spaced out, and then grabbed Akuto and pulled him on to the sofa.

“H-Hey!” Akuto said, giggling a little.

“We’re just gonna take a nap. Napping feels good, right? Especially if there’s somebody in your arms.” Keena rubbed her cheek against his.

“...That’s what the fake is going to do to try and win you over. You need to be more careful. What if I’m the fake?” Akuto said, a little upset.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t looked, but it’s really you. I rubbed my cheek up against you to check. Now goodnight.” She gave Akuto’s cheek a kiss, still spaced out.

“Uwah... Come on, take this seriously. Did you really mean you can tell if it’s me?” Akuto asked.

“Yup. But whether you’re real or fake, you’re still Ackie. And no matter what happens, I’m on your side. No matter who says you’re a fake, I’ll protect you,” she said, still in a sleep-induced daze.

Akuto laughed a little.

“You’re such a silly girl... But it makes me happy that you feel that way.”

○

Yoshie flipped the switch of the fake Akuto, which was concealed by his hair on the back of his neck. The Akuto doll slumped like the strength had left its body. The mana quickly dissipated from its skin, which returned to the featureless black it had been before.

“I’m sorry for being so selfish. But you know, I’d be way too embarrassed to say that to the real person.” Yoshie called Keisu back in from the other room where she’d been waiting, and had her put the doll away.

“And I know you didn’t want to disappear, either. You may be a copy, but you still have a soul. You needed to have some meaning for your life to be worth anything. That’s why you were so desperate. And anyway, even if you did win over the Empress, it wouldn’t be long at all before someone found out who you were... I’m really sorry I made you for such selfish reasons. I shouldn’t have done it,” Yoshie said to the doll.

“Master, why was Akuto here in the warehouse?” Keisu said, looking up at her confused.

“Because this one was the doll.”

“No, I understand that. But I was sure this was the real Akuto...”

“When we were going around looking for the doll, Akuto split off to look for Keena. And then the doll came back to find me. It was probably worried that Korone would be able to tell what it was. I noticed right away, but I was waiting for the right chance to turn it off, so I decided to pretend it had fooled me.”

“I see. But what was all that complicated stuff you were saying?” Keisu asked. Yoshie shook her head.

“It’s not something you need to understand... There was something I needed to apologize to him for. Oh, but there’s something I need to apologize to the real Akuto for, too.” Yoshie scratched her head.

“What’s that?”

“Well, ’cause indirectly I made it so Akuto’s even more hated at school.” Just as she said that, Akuto left the reception room. He’d been told that the doll had shut down, and had left Keena asleep on the sofa. There was a certain tension in the air, he felt. And not the good kind. He walked through a crowd of students, and only then did he noticed how bad the atmosphere really was.

“Um... Is something bad going on?” The horrible things that happened next are too terrible to relate here.