6 "Hiroshi's Old days"
"Don't you think it will be nice once she gets a human body?"
Miki's father Hiroshi was looking a little lonely in the living room of his house.
"Hiroshi-kun"Raireza nudged Hiroshi with her elbow.
"Oh ... ... what! Oh yeah, congratulations. congratulations."
He noticed Raireza staring at him oddly and Kirche staring uneasily, Hiroshi hurried to smile.
"Is something distracting you ?" Kirche was worried she may have made Hiroshi remember a bad memory
"It's nothing really, It's just it was such an interesting research subject, it's a bit sad that it's over with now, but soon you will have a physical body So, that will be more interesting I guess."
"Hmm ... Hiroshi you know that the data we get from her, when compared with the data from your daughter, is worth a fortune."
"Oh that reminds me, did you find Miki's whereabouts yet?"
"That's still a work in progress ... I'm not done yet."
" Hiroshi could has had trouble solving what she sent, it was an original program."
"I could cancel the protection mechanisms in it, is that why you can't tell Miki's whereabouts?"
"That won't help It works by a mechanism that lets you know the coordinates by combining it with something else, probably some number .... but no matter the number I put, it never makes any sense."
"Oh then we have to find what the pass number is ... ...."
"I've tried many possible values, but .... well I started with her Three sizes -----(hips, waist ext)--- and have done everything from there right down to her birthday ..."
Hiroshi noticed the two women staring at him with a look of contempt.
"No, no! no! It was in the data from her physical examination when she entered the GP Academy!It's not like I knew cause I took her measurements secretly!"
"Oh is that so? ... That's good to know."
"Hmm, I didn't have to measure that, I knew the growth of my daughter"
The facial expressions of Raireza and Kirche relaxed.
"I was surprised that I was so surprisingly respectable but well ... ... Ha ha ha."
Hiroshi murmured more then he should have.
"……Ah!" The two women had on steep expressions again.
-------------
"...And so none of the figures I've put in have yielded results."
Hiroshi, who was seated on the floor, finished talking.
"But we have her location narrowed down by 10% for now but it's still under investigation, we're still tracking Tarrant and his stakeholders and thanks to that we have been able to exclude quite a few possible places .... "
"Still, Hiroshi, don't you think it'll be faster if you just solve for the co-ordinates?" Raireza said Hiroshi remained silent.
"I see……"
Kirche who still felt that that Miki was kicked out of NB because she was there felt sad.
"I might be misunderstanding something about the needed input, but until I figure it out that possibility is as good as 0, until then I'd rather focus on happy news like kirche's. "
"Hmm, yes it's good news, I think it'll be a good change for me."Kirche said brightly.
"Anyway in regards to this matter, Jurai will do a full backup of you, so after that Hiroshi it's up to you, and then afterwords Kirche we'll introduce you to Seina."
"Yes, I understand, thank you" Kirche said brightly.
---------------------------------------
On the way home from Kirche's house, Hiroshi looked back over his shoulder at her house.
"... ... You're like a father leaving his grown up daughter to make a life on her own, Hiroshi."
"Eh!?"Raireza said Hiroshi blushed.
There was no doubt that Kirche overlapped the figure of his daughter Miki in his mind, and if she ended up with Seina, it would only complicate that matter in his mind.
"We'll have to have all our meetings at my house now, since she will be a real person now."
"But, but ... but I have to work ..."
"Don't be so uptight, If you don't loosen up you'll never have any results once you get stuck in a rut. You don't want that now do you?" Raireza grabed Hiroshi by the arm, he began to pull hard to try and get away.
------------------------
"Wait, wait a moment! Not now I'm still at work."
"Tennyo, Hiroshi and I are leaving early today, see you later!" Raireza returned to the real world and grabbed Hiroshi and dragged him out of Airi's workshop with her.
Hakuryo and Tennyo looked up at them shortly before returning to work, the Staff, accustomed to Airi's behavior, were also a bit surprised at Raireza's intrusion, but after the storm passed by, they returned to their usual everyday routine as if nothing had happened.
Raireza, launched Hiroshi into an open hooded convertible car parked in the parking lot, she hopped in the drivers seat and started the car with an elegant maneuver.
"Oh, what is that in the back... ... Raireza?"
"What kind of alcohol do you like Hiroshi?"
"Eh?"
"I don't usually drink at home so I bought some, but I don't know if I got any of the kind you like."
"Even if you did I wouldn't drink it ..."
"Sometimes you have to drink, there are things you can not talk to each other about without it"
"…… To each other?"Raireza turned violently and went into the nearby supermarket parking lot.
Raireza parked and went into the supermarket to the liqueur department and came in front of a large bottle of sake, she headed straight to the section handling high-end liquor where specialized advisers were stationed.
"Hey, Raireza, what are you doing?" Hiroshi's voice was a little confused.
Now that he worked at Airi's laboratory, his income was incompatible with what he made in the past, but plainly speaking, the cheapest thing is the place was something he still would never have ever dreamt to have bought to drink for any occasion.
"It's my treat ... relax." Raireza said then she talked a few words with the adviser. She picked out the 10 luxury items they picked out for her casually as if she was buying from a bargain bin and had them put on ice.
"Wow! Are you serious?" To Hiroshi it seemed a bit overkill.
"Well then, let's get going."
However, Raireza did not seem to care much, she even paid for it with a satisfied expression.
-------------------------
Raireza 's car rose from the road and sped past the sea shore until they passed through the gate and proceeded to the driveway. They went into the tunnel in front of it.
"... ... Is this the transfer gate?"
After a momentary discomfort, Hiroshi noticed that the outer wall shape of the tunnel changed. And as they proceeded they found themselves in an underground parking lot where lots of luxury cars were lined up.
"Hey Raireza, why didn't you have the sake transferred directly to your place?"
Hiroshi said lifting the sealed case containing the liquor out of the backseat. Because there was a weight relief levitator, he didn't feel the weight, but because of the price he was still worried about it being damaged.
"Because the taste of sake will be ruined if you transfer it."
Its a kind of drinker's urban legend. If the taste of sake changed with transfer, transferring people, and other things would be impossible and they were technically transferred going into the tunnel it was more just tradition to take it home yourself.
"Here we are."
After Hiroshi's bio metric registration was completed, they went through the door of the elevator which opened suddenly, and Raireza and Hiroshi went inside. The elevator began moving to the top floor at once without stopping at any other floor.
"Wow a Penthouse ...... you must make a lot"
"This whole thing is my house, the other floors are just research facilities or warehouses."
"Then what's with all the luxury cars in the parking lot ... ...."
"You can have one if you want it.... of you can just drive it in my name if you like."
"No way! I can't drive such a car, I'd be terrified of something going wrong. I'm terrified even driving a used car."
Also one of the reasons why he declined the proposal was that he was concerned about the taxes on transferring over the car.
"Oh!"Upon arriving at the top floor, the elevator door opened.
The distinct smell of old books wafted in. The floor was marble and all round the walls were shelves, as if they walked into a library there were also exhibition cases in the walls along with old books beautifully lined up, showing off books so that the cover and the illustration of the inside were beautiful was displayed.
"... ... You have a lot of books."
In this era, it was natural that books were converted into data, and accessed via a central data bank, books of all countries belonging to the Galactic Federation could be read from anywhere. Of course, if you downloaded the data, you could read it anywhere in the universe. It's not even necessary to read a book you can put the data directly into memory.
Just having it as data, you can't learn it as knowledge. It's just like having a dictionary, so to speak. Although it's in memory, it's linked with other information, there is no direct link. Of course, although it is possible to do a link between information to some extent automatically, it is impossible to use it unless you customize it for your own convenience. In other words, it filters out all the stuff you wouldn't care about it's like a form of speed reading, you can't really grasp it though until you fully look it over to gain a true sense of knowledge.
Reading with a book used all 5 senses and was still the most effective way to learn.
So almost everyone, as a child, as part their education, had once read a book but most people did so in the form of a monitor which displayed like a book in 3 dimensions. And old fashioned paper books were precious antiques, the books here were worth a fortune.
"Hiroshi, over here."
Passing through a corridor of what looked like a museum full of book, they arrived in the kitchen. Although it was small in scale to the house, it was a kitchen large enough to fit a family. There was a central workbench with a reservoir that automatically sorted purchased ingredients and preserved them in an appropriate environment. Since it indexed items and their quantity, there was no need to worry about forgetting to buy or running out of things. Of course, it could also be used to cook food automatically, so there was no need to go shopping or cooking as long as it was set to do things. Just wait and it makes freshly cooked dishes.
However, there are surprisingly many people who still went shopping by themselves and cooked. Especially for people in the universe who have much longer lives than earthlings, there are things that cause serious mental aging problems which can be thought of as adult diseases of the spirit. It could be said that for Raireza buying food and alcohol and bringing it home and cooking it was a small act of reaffirming her existence.
"Can you help me out a little?"
Raireza put on an apron began to cook with a familiar look.
"Of course, of course!"
He would feel guilty if he didn't help because the liqueur was so expensive, he also loved the sight of Raireza in an apron, but didn't want to keep on sitting around fixating on her.
---------------------------------
"... This is a magnificent view"
After the food was cooked and plated, Hiroshi came to the living room with Raireza. There was books there too, but Hiroshi was fixated on the huge window like movie it was screen, from it the scenery of a deep mountain valley spread. The leaves of the trees had started to turn colors, the river flowed gently outside, it was the prefect room for reading books.
"So you get all four seasons ...?
"In spring there's Snow Kasumi's blossoming, summer it's dark green outside, autumn has autumn leaves, in winter its a snowy landscape. It is a good place get away from the hustle and bustle of life."
Raireza then sat down in a chair with a table across from it.
"Well, let's first make a toast"
Raireza pulled the cork from a bottle of liquor and poured it into a champagne glass .
He took a glass from her carefully and they clanked theirs together.
The chilling sound of the glass echoed. Hiroshi drank it down quickly in order to calm his tense nerves.
"... ... How is it?"
"............Uh well ...... I don't know how to describe it. I've never drunk this high a quality of liquor before. I'm surprised it's surprisingly astringent ... ...."
"The synthesis technology of the academy is elaborate, so anything can be delicious even if it's cheap sake, and if there is a difference in price, it's cause of the way it was made or because of who it's marketed towards, it's more to give the buyer a sense of self-satisfaction, some people just like how expensive liquor feels. "
"Well ... uhm ... I guess its like the difference in having a prototype verses a mass-produced item. the alcohol that I always drink is flat and it feels like everyone could afford it but this has a bit of a kick.
he said taking a slow drink of the refilled glass Raireza pored him.
"But, yeah! It's definitely delicious."
"That's more important than anything ... Come on now, let's drink up."
---------------
"Delicious cuisine and delicious sake. when you combine it with beautiful scenery and a beautiful girl, it's like paradise on earth. I hope there's not a price to pay for all this, ha ha ha "
Hiroshi was drunk now.
"Hmm ... ... well maybe... I'd like to ask you for your life story as payment."
"What!? Mine ...?"
"You can just keep it limited to what happened once you got to the Academy."
" I can't believe that you would ever be interested in such a thing Raireza I'm sure you've met people with far more interesting stories then mine ... ...."
"You're the Creator of an artificial intelligence with an astral, It's impossible to say you're not an interesting figure, unlike Kirche's father who is a very ordinary technician who is inconspicuous."
Raireza said as she took out a new bottle of sake. It was a very famous famous sake that even people who don't drink know about.
------------The usual 17 paragraph Shinju sake speech is missing this time so it might not be that-----
"Let's do this one next ... how about it?"
Hiroshi rejoiced greatly to Raireza,as he hugged a bottle with a drunken expression.
-----------------------
"First off I entered the comprehensive department. Even so, I got a scholarship, even though I came out of the country as a housekeeper."
"How!"
"The Comprehensive department is like a basic preparatory school, so to speak, those who aim for the academy's highest peak try to get into the philosophy department. Those who enroll here number in the tens of thousands each year, but only those of the highest quality are allowed to be admitted.
"But even being from a rural area, at the academy, I was just a person with a scholarship . Well I managed to do my best in the first year, but by the second year my grades declined and I was considering just dropping out "
The comprehensive department had a school term of twenty years, after that it was possible to advance to the philosophy department after graduation. Of course there are also true geniuses who can enter the institute immediately by skipping over the comprehensive department, plenty of people take more than twenty years and many people take exams to directly enter the philosophy department instead.
"There are still many people who get in from there, but there are a lot of people who go from the comprehensive department to other departments to make their name. Those who graduated from the comprehensive department are exempted from the entrance examination, and are welcomed by the other departments. "
There are super geniuses who become a philosophers at a young age, but for many it takes hundreds of years, sometimes most of ones life. So for the last twenty years, even though he'd only advanced two years, he could always return to that point.
"I'm the definition of a worthless human being, I couldn't even accept the fact I failed because my pride is high... ... finally my scholarship ran out ... "
Hiroshi looked deeply into the amber liquor being poured into the glass.
"... ... But still I had to earn a living to cling to my dream of being at the academy."
"That's a story that I often hear."
"But, as expected after receiving the scholarship treatment, I couldn't stand living a lower standard of life..... so I fell in with a rather unsavory crowd. "
"Hmm ... ... you mean " Human hunters " don't you?"
"The organization that I was with was completely illegal, and the worst kind, it was too late when I learned what they were doing, I didn't know how to escape, and if I escaped, I'd have no were to go and no way to do anything about it I'd be ruined, thankfully the pay was good. "
Originally, human hunting has a ceremonial aspect of welcoming freshmen, but Hiroshi 's organization was criminal organization, one which was way worse then Space Pirates and other external illegal organizations. The victims they took were weak and were often kidnapped weeping and at best went missing.
"It was around that time that I met Tsukiko ... ... and that guy who was to be her husband, Ken Raraiba Steinbeck ..."
"What Steinbeck ...... like your daughter?"
"………Yup"
Hiroshi stopped talking there. It seemed that he was perplexed about whether to talk about it. Raireza added sake to a half empty glass.
"............"
"Although Tsukiko was in a different school from me, she was lived in a great neighborhood nearby ....neat the academy bookstore , and of course she knew I longed for her and so did that guy ...... Ken was a member of the student safety patrol counsel, because I was human hunting, it was like being friends with the enemy "
"He really was your nemesis"
"It's nothing so noble ... I was a small time villain, a pest to be exterminated."
"How did you become friends with what kind of conflict?"
"He knew that I was from the general department and what I was going through and advised me many times on how to cut ties with them, he also encouraged me to go into other departments, but I thought it was too late for that. "
"I see even if you wanted to ... ... the Organization wouldn't let you do so."
"Yeah ... ...and then Tsukiko was chosen as a target for human hunting."
"Kiriko's mother.... is that so ....?"
Hiroshi shook with trembling hands.
"I wanted to stop the situation, I wanted to end that situation, so I anonymously gave the student safety association all the information they needed to act immediately."
"And did they catch you in the process?"
"... ... You should have seen my face when it happened."Hiroshi's expression relaxed but he still looked miserable.
"Although it was my own doing, I was still caught up in it," Hiroshi looked shyly at Raireza.
"Huh?"
"Ken was better than I expected, and he was already promoted the organization's internal affairs department and worked closely with the GP. He knew I was the anonymous source, he had arranged for Tsukiko to be kidnapped and used her as bait. "
"Oh well ... so you fell right into his trap." Raireza smiled and poured sake in Hiroshi's glass.
"The organization was destroyed, everyone was arrested including me, but I was given a light punishment thanks to his intervention.I felt ashamed, I was really embarrassed. "
"...... We kept a close friend relationship after that and it was just the natural course of things that he and Tsukiko began dating soon, and a few years later, Kiriko-chan was born ... They were really happy together, I was happy just enjoying their happiness "
"What happened to her husband?"Raireza asked. Hiroshi clouded his expression.
"... ... A group that he belonged to went on a long-term research trip, and the ship was in an accident ... ..."
"What happened?"
"The detailed cause is unknown, a few professors of the Academy and students in the general department went missing as well so a large search group was organized, but It was half a year later before the ship was found. "
"What took so long?"
"It seems that it was compressed down to only 10 meters when they found it."
-----------that's under a yard----------
"What!?" Raireza was taken aback.
"Someone's attack, natural phenomena, there are several possible causes, but none have been solidly identified, all we knew is that he was dead."
"The black box of the ship should have still had data on what happened,"
"All we know is a strong spatio-temporal earthquake occurred in that area."
"What!? ... ... so if someone did that it would be hard to pin down right?"
the only thing with such power to create a spacio-temporal earthquake was a Royal ship. But to investigate that would require someone to give up the locations of all royal ships that would mean exposing the location of all of Jurai's ships, that was a top level secret. So of course finding that information out was almost impossible. In that sense, even if they were a philosopher, those who died were treated as if they were ordinary people.
-------Oh hey, guess what, it's 100% likely that it wasn't a Juraian ship, It was probably HIMC------
"It seemed like Ms. Tsukiko thought it was just an accident ... She didn't want to have to say to Kiriko that her father was killed by someone ... ... there was always the possibility that Kiriko would investigate the case if she came to the academy. "
"Maybe if she had heard as a child, but as an adult Kiriko heard about it from Ms.Amane, she doesn't seem too worried about it."
"I'm relieved to hear that"
"Well then, let's get back to your story."
Raireza took out some new sake, unsealed it,poured it into a new glass and put it before Hiroshi.
"What did you do after being arrested for human hunting?"
"A year later, I became a civil servant of the comprehensive department with the help of various people ... ... It was great I was able to learn a lot and become an assistant professor "
"Hmm, a professor of the general department....."
"Oh, somehow life and my studies came together easily after that, and it was a lot of fun for the next few years ... ... but then that accident happened just like that."
"so why didn't you comfort Tsukiko when it happened..."
"she had a lot of other friends she could depend on .... And by then, I had already had Miki.
"That's not going too well for you now is it ...?"
"It's been better"
Raireza poured the liquor with a bitter smile as if comforting Hiroshi.
"Even so you made an a with an astral with Miki didn't you? but you never published anything about it wasn't it expensive to get things taken care of for Miki?"
"yes.... and the money I got from people with human hunting was almost untouchable."
"Eh?"
"I was afraid to use it ... nevertheless about 10% disappeared into my living expenses ...
I thought to make a donation somewhere after the end of my sentence, but if it was for Miki, I figured it was OK to use it .... i tried my best to let her see any pictures of Tsukiko."
"Hmm ... ... how did you explain to Miki about her mother?"
"... I haven't said much, I decided tell her she died in an accident, and that she was an orphan, no relatives, I didn't have pictures or video, or even know her date of birth. I didn't teach her any of that information, which is usually needed for students coming to the Academy."
"Miki-chan was the top in her class and seemed to be pretty clever from the way she handed the data to Kirche-chan, she's a pretty intelligent child, when Miki was small, was not having a mother hard on her? did she miss her mother?"
"Yeah……" Hiroshi remembered that time
"I just told her "just look at her own figure in the mirror." Because she looked very much like her mother." Then Miki started talking to the mirror ...the only thing she knew was the day of her death"
"... .... The day of her death?" Hiroshi looked at Raireza
"Even though I could justify not knowing her date of birth, is was impossible for me not to know the date of her death. I chose the day when Tsukiko returned to the earth, the day when I saw her last, I didn't want to ... ... but Miki asked me!"
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"How stupid I've been! That's the most important date for Miki, how could I have forgotten!"
"Do you mean ...?"
Raireza noticed the meaning of Hiroshi's words, Hiroshi launched a monitor and launched the email left by Miki that had tormented him everyday. he entered the date he had last seen Tsukiko... Then ... ...
" ─── Dad ... ...."
a recorded hologram of Miki started being shown with the numerals of the coordinates.
"... .... Miki, That was it after all!"
Hiroshi cried at seeing Miki's appearance after such a long time.
─ ─ ─ I have no time, so I'll only say one thing,
Hiroshi looked at Miki puzzled
─── You better tell me the truth when I return!
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!?"
The expression on Miki was impressive, it was a really scary face. When Miki learned that she was a Pinocchio, she knew everything her father taught her was a lie. Still, Hiroshi had taught her that date was the death of his mother so it was a date with some meaning so she used it as the password.
"Sorry, Miki!"
Hiroshi hid behind Raireza, and bowed rapidly in apology. until he noticed that Miki's eyes looked anxious.
(If you think about it, that is a reasonable thing to ask)
she was a teenage girl who witnessed Tarrant murder everyone on the ship she was on, when she was captured she had no idea she was anything but an ordinary person, yet here she was trying to survive and adapt, and Hiroshi could understand that.
"I have such a cute girl."
In Raireza's heart, there was a feeling of wanting to see this parent and child brought back together. She wanted to tell Hiroshi her feelings about him but first she knew this needed to be done....
"Hey Hiroshi, we should tell Tennyo about this soon." Raireza stood in front of Miki 's picture, and pulled up Hiroshi off the floor
-----End of Chapter---------