Prologue 0-1: Shirley Madagascarwel Blood

Shirley, a researcher for planet Estashion’s governmental research agency, was heading back to her room after finishing her day’s work.

“Whew... I’m so tired.”

She collapsed on the bed and stretched herself out to relieve the exhaustion that had built up over the course of the day. Thanks to complicated circumstances, she’d been working with the highest levels of government ever since she was a child, but this latest project was especially taxing.

“The director said that once this was done, our ideal world would become a reality, so I have to do my best. But still...”

She tried to get herself fired up again, but gave up halfway through.

She thought about going somewhere to refresh herself, and instantly a list of entertainment facilities and hangouts in the city popped up on one lens of her glasses. Of course, the information wasn’t actually displaying on the lens itself. The chip that was embedded in her brain was just receiving video information from the Estashionian government’s advertising department. It appeared to be displaying on her glasses because she’d set that as the default location, figuring it would be easier to see.

After silently browsing through several potential leisure spots, Shirley shut off the broadcast. She’d thought about it, but in the end, she just didn’t feel like going out.

And if she wasn’t going to go out, she had no choice but to do something at home. It was a tall order considering there was nothing except for furniture in her room. Maybe she didn’t really have any hobbies, but given that that was just the peculiar way she’d been brought up, it was hard not to feel sorry for her. Not that there was anyone around to sympathize.

“Hahh... Hm?”

She reached under her bed unconsciously, and her fingers touched something soft. Curious, she pulled it out to see that it was an old doll of hers.

“Wow... this brings back memories.”

It was the one toy she’d been allowed as a child. Long ago in a white room just like this one, it was her only playing companion.

“Okay, Garnet, let’s trade rings,” a younger Shirley had said.

“Okay... Shirley,” the doll, Garnet, had answered in a faltering voice.

Shirley had taken the ring in the doll’s palm and exchanged it for the one she’d been holding.

“Heehee! Okay, now let’s seal the promise with a kiss.”

“Okay... Shirley.”

“...Mua.”

Shirley had kissed the doll’s cheek and sworn to love it forever. That was the memory that replayed in her head as she toyed with the doll’s hands now.

“Garnet never learned to be good at talking, did she?”

The doll’s brain was loaded with a memory accumulation AI that Shirley had developed. It was an artificial intelligence that learned different types of thought patterns via experience, and Shirley played with it to help it learn. At least, that’s the excuse she’d given. In fact, she’d just wanted a doll back then, and she’d created the AI to justify owning one. Of course, a quickly maturing child like Shirley soon graduated from playing house.

I was so lonely by myself back then, wasn’t I?

That was why she’d made Garnet. She’d wanted a friend.

But now that Shirley had grown up—though she was still only 16—and she wasn’t shorter than the adults anymore, she could talk to them normally. She had a lot of coworkers at the lab. She interacted with them almost every day, arguing with them about the current project or doing research with them...

“Hahh...”

I guess I still don’t have any friends...

“...Oh?”

As she was playing with the doll, she realized its pocket was bulging a little. She slipped her finger inside to find a pair of toy rings.

“Eternal love, huh?”

She still had no idea if such a thing even existed, much less for someone like her. Someone who wasn’t normal. But even so, at least...

“If the ideal world becomes real... maybe I can make a friend...”

She pressed her face against the pillow as she whispered those words. Nobody heard them. They simply echoed off the walls of the sterile, white room.