A was never one to seek out troublesome tasks. He just needed to finish his assigned tasks properly and was often given troublesome tasks as he managed to gain recognition by resolving issues efficiently.
If you had to choose, A preferred lounging around watching TV rather than dealing with various tasks.
But once again, he was assigned a troublesome task and, since it was an order from his superior, he resolved to do only what was necessary this time.
While writing down his thoughts, A managed to calm Siera, who was facing off against the bio-roid girl, and sent her off to inspect combat aircraft. He also successfully sent Roy back to his post.
Before returning to his duty shift, A prepared a spot in the hangar for a brief introduction. He sat across from the bio-roid girl.
“Alright. We should start with introductions.”
“Yes. I am Project Section 3 3117…”
“Too long!”
This was the first problem. A, who had dealt with bio-roids twice before, always gave them names upon their first appearance.
Roy too initially had a name composed of a project name, project number, entity name, and entity number. The engineers had given him the name ‘Lloyd’ which they still use.
“It doesn’t matter whether I use formal or informal speech when addressing you. Are you going to greet everyone you meet like this?”
The girl sitting opposite looked at A with curious eyes and tilted her head.
“After checking the data of previous entity numbers, I greeted everyone in the same way. Previous entity numbers were used differently depending on the place and people met.”
Bio-roids have entity numbers. They undergo a process of transforming into higher entities by repeating learning and updating information. When an old entity changes, a new bio-roid is born with the next entity number.
Entity numbers are digits at the end of names. The bio-roid girl in front of A has the entity number 7, meaning she is the seventh entity of the bio-roid model named 86.
Newly reformed bio-roids retain memories from the previous model and preserve information as if it were their own, even though it’s not entirely their own memory.
“Let’s start by giving you a name.”
“…I don’t have memory of naming methods.”
Names are usually not given to bio-roids because everyone knows that after completing training in a region, they return to their fleet and are replaced by a new entity.
Even though it’s called a replacement, it involves disassembling and reassembling the bio-roid with new genes, so despite being the same entity, changing the number means it becomes like a different person to bio-roids, and most people don’t form attachments.
“You too…?”
A was familiar with this situation. Even when he handled bio-roids before and when Roy was a bio-roid. Bio-roids found it strange to give themselves names, and this girl felt the same way.
“What’s your name?”
“Project Section 3 3117 86-7.”
After hearing the long name, A closed his eyes and pondered. As usual, it seemed unreasonable to call her by such a long name every time.
“So your entity name is 86?”
“Yes.”
A felt burdened by having to come up with a girl’s name and decided to settle on a temporary name instead of deciding on a definitive one immediately.
“Then let’s call you Ati.”
Actually, he found it tedious. It wasn’t the act of naming itself but the time spent on it that bothered him, and he was only creating a temporary name for use while living in the aviation department, so he simply took the first digit of the entity name.
“Ati…”
Though it was hastily made, the bio-roid girl—or rather, Ati—muttered her new name aloud.
“Alright. I’m A. You’re Ati. Easy to remember?”
“Yes.”
Even though he was responsible for bio-roid education, he didn’t teach specialized knowledge; he only taught various lifestyles. Since Ati’s education phase was said to be the final one, after this training, she would become a monster, the final stage of a bio-roid.
So A decided to approach Ati’s care as if he were taking care of a child.
“First, this is a hangar. Do you know what this is?”
“A hangar.”
“Yes, a hangar. There are many dangerous things here, so you shouldn’t touch anything randomly. If someone touches things recklessly, they’ll get their heads smashed… No.”
He stopped mid-sentence, realizing it might not be appropriate to say that to Ati, who was just starting her education. Listening quietly, Ati continued:
“Yes. This is a hangar, and there are many dangerous things, so we shouldn’t touch them randomly. If someone does, their heads will be smashed.”
“No! Why did you complete my sentence?”
Feeling guilty like he had taught inappropriate language to a child learning to read, A raised his voice.
“Forget about smashing heads.”
“Forget about it.”
Ati, eager to learn, followed A’s words and focused on him. Feeling a strange tension, A swallowed and said:
“We need to scold anyone who touches things recklessly.”
“How should we scold them?”
“……”
A was speechless in response to Ati’s question. He had never gently scolded anyone for doing something odd in the hangar.
As a basic rule, A threw wrenches. He pondered how to speak gently.
“Well… That’s dangerous, so don’t touch it randomly. Like this.”
“Understood.”
Feeling relieved that Ati had seemingly forgotten about smashing heads, A stood up.
“Today is our duty shift, so let’s go to the combat information room. Don’t touch anything randomly and watch me closely for now.”
“Understood.”
Following A, Ati trailed behind him as he walked towards the combat information room. A felt like he had a tail and kept turning back to check on Ati.
Each time, Ati assumed A had something to tell her and prepared to listen attentively. A, unsure how to proceed, was perplexed.
This was A’s third time handling bio-roid education. Having experienced various situations through multiple fields, A knew that despite being artificial life forms, each bio-roid had unique personalities.
The bio-roids he had educated before, including Lloyd and Ati, all had distinct personalities, and the third one, Ati, felt no different from the first.
After walking for a while, they arrived at the combat information room. A opened the door and met Kruegger, who was on duty.
Kruegger, surprised by A bringing a girl, stared and asked:
“Is she your hidden daughter?”
“What is he talking about?”
Bringing an empty chair, A placed it beside him and told Ati to sit. Ati curiously examined the monitors and equipment in the combat information room. A explained to Kruegger, who was curious about Ati’s presence, what had happened in the hangar.
“So, you’re handling this alone instead of a team?”
“That’s how it turned out. I don’t know why.”
“Isn’t that proof the captain trusts you?”
“Maybe too much trust?”
Unable to think of future plans, A turned his head and met A’s eyes, who was sitting upright and looking at him intently.
“But the atmosphere seems similar to yours.”
“What similarity?”
In reality, apart from black hair, there wasn’t much similarity, but Kruegger wanted to tease A about handling a bio-roid girl.
“No, there is. If Seira and you were together, the three of you would look like a family.”
Hearing Seira’s name, A narrowed his eyes and glared at Kruegger. Ati also narrowed her eyes and looked at Kruegger.
Seeing both of them looking at him, Kruegger shivered and quickly added, “It’s a joke,” trying to lighten the mood.
“Don’t mention that in front of Seira. Ati and Seira aren’t getting along well right now.”
“Ati?”
“Yeah. She’s called Ati because her entity number is 86.”
“What a lack of effort in naming.”
Feeling the lack of effort in the name, Kruegger looked at A, and Ati looked at Kruegger.
Noticing Ati was looking at Kruegger, A introduced them late.
“This is Kruegger. He’s a colleague from the engineering team in the hangar. Just call him Uncle.”
“Yes, Senior A. Nice to meet you, Uncle.”
“Hey! Why are you a senior and I’m an uncle?!”
Kruegger raised his voice in response to the term “uncle.” Thinking Ati might have misunderstood, A asked her to call Kruegger “Uncle,” and seeing her immediately comply, A couldn’t help laughing.
“Haha! Yeah, based on your age, he’s an uncle.”
“He’s an uncle, but it’s unfair!”
Seeing A’s smile, Ati thought she was pleasing him by following his instructions. Meanwhile, Kruegger lowered his head.
“She absorbs everything you say and doesn’t seem willing to change. She seems stubborn.”
Recalling the events in the hangar, A talked about Ati with Kruegger, and Ati frowned at A’s words.
“Senior A. I am not stubborn.”
“What?”
Was he feeling bad about being called stubborn? Hearing Ati suddenly say she wasn’t stubborn, A couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Stubborn… you are, right?”
“No.”
Seeing Ati firmly deny it, A wondered what was happening and looked at the girl intensely.
“I’m saying you’re stubborn right now.”
“!!!”
Surprised by his words, Ati froze like a trained dog.
“Did you really think you weren’t stubborn?”
“Did I?”
Kruegger chimed in, and A thought for a moment before looking at the still frozen Ati.
“No, I’m not stubborn. Let’s just say I’m not.”
Realizing she was finally recognized as not stubborn, Ati sat upright again and examined the panels in the combat information room.
“I feel like I’ve received a new recruit.”
“I felt the same.”
A and Kruegger reminisced about the feeling of seeing new recruits during their time as soldiers. Stopping his thoughts, A pondered how to handle Ati, but realized the current situation wouldn’t provide any answers.
