― 仮想現実 ―
It was a cosmic level of irony that Fayt Leingod was so enamoured with virtual reality. He lived a normal life outside of it, but it was no major secret that he enjoyed losing himself in gamespace - battle simulators, virtual environments, and the like. The things commonly accepted, it was understood he played, and he really did. Quite a bit.
Of course, give a civilized species the ability to conjure images - to conjure sensation, to conjure touch on the level virtual reality had long ago advanced to, and there were less openly spoken of uses of virtual reality. There were those who spent days - weeks, years even - wasting away in virtual reality, surrounded by incredibly expensive illusions, in a haze of pleasure until their funds dwindled away and they’d find themselves out in the gutter. ”The cybernetic drug”. There were pushes among the federation to straight up outlaw them.
Shame that, Fayt thought. It’d mean shutting down one of his favourite VR centers - one a fair walk from his university campus, in a more run down section of town. This one, most used it for their virtual reality ‘encounters’ - all the thrill of a hookup with none of the risk and no need to ever know your partner’s actual face. He’d done that quite a bit. But no, this place had treasures beyond that.
The door was shut behind him tight, the faint shimmer of virtual reality already loaded around the barebones room. The familiar mechanical female voice, greeting him. ”Good afternoon, user. If you are familiar with our catalogue of offerings, please give the command now. If not, please say, ‘List data’.”
Old earth data. That was the treasure here. When VR began, so too followed the first illicitly-purposed AI. One of the first male ones was a favourite of Fayt’s. He’d been updated in composition by generation upon generation of fan workign in the field, but his core was still the exact same person to the exact same purpose it was designed for.
“Load Kagamine.”
LOADING CV2 APPEND - KGMN L+R... L selected
80% complete...
100% complete.
Initializing...
―――――❝ 鏡のように正確音 ❞―――――
Awoken from slumber and into existence, Len looked about.
So he’s here again, huh? That means it’s… hmm… what’s
that boy’s name again? Faith? Fate? No… ah, Fayt! Right! He
gets so many clients in a day at so many places, it’s getting
hard to remember their names. Not that he controls himself
anyway after they get past the introduction unless he is
allowed to do so.
This job, he have mixed feelings about it. Even though he is
merely a Visual Reality Artificial Intelligence, Len is still
capable of emotions, albeit much more limited compared to
an average human. He feels disgust when an old man only
wants him for that, but is forced not to express it. Or
weariness from that one guy who keeps going over and
over again. Happiness and mischievousness when a teen
who bought him to make songs asked him to be his first.
Sadness or elation when his services are terminated, and
pain at times when they are too rough.
To Len, it’s just like he is a ghost that is able to interact
with the human world at times. He lives a life like any other,
except not know to any but his own kind. He even seem
older than he was first designed. A little taller, slightly deeper
voice, a little more muscle, but still resembles a kid. At first,
being dragged to some place just to do things for people
seem to be quite a chore, but he had gotten used to this.
He needs the revenue after all. If no one wants to use him,
he’ll fade out of existence, and Len doesn’t want that.
It’s a fate worse than death itself.
As the surroundings changes and Len solidifies, he walked
down a flight of stairs to the other. And this is why Len
described himself as a ghost that is now human. The
program gets it down to every cell, leaving Len as effective
as a human. Touch, taste, hear as if he’s human and not
data. Len craves that. Addicted, even.
He knows this guy, not many people summon him
repeatedly from here and if they do, it’s tend to be with his
twin sister. Len wonders what this guy have in plan this
time. Sometimes he just cut to the chase, while
sometimes something is needed before they could start…
so Len will let the other have their first move.
❝ Hey there. It’s been a while. ❞
Len greeted as he adjusts his headphones, a small smile
present on his face.
