Chapter 23

Adam asked in a soft voice.

“Shuri, are you alright?”

With her lips buried against her palms, Shuri mumbled.

“Am I alright? Right now, I’m not alright. But I’ll be fine within three minutes.”

Though she said three minutes, the moment she became fine arrived much faster than expected. It was because Adam gently placed his large hand upon her small back.

Shuri slily raised her head to look at Adam. A pitch-black face met her eyes. Not a single shred of emotion could be discovered on it. That was exactly what made her feel comfortable.

Shuri quietly pulled up the corners of her lips and smiled.

“I’m fine now.”

Soon enough, White Rabbit returned.

“One chocolate milk, one order of pickled olives, and mineral water are served! The heart chocolate is on the house. Well then, have a delightful time!”

After the white rabbit turned around.

Watching Adam pick up the heart-shaped chocolate and examine it intently, Shuri opened her mouth.

“Thank you… for today.”

Adam looked at her. Shuri continued speaking.

“You got dragged into something that had nothing to do with you. Yet you chased those bad guys away and even deployed a Patrol Bot at the shelter.”

Adam spoke in a voice that carried warmth.

“Shuri, today’s event was not something unrelated to me. I too was in that place, after all. Furthermore, I gained conviction in that place today.”

“What conviction?”

“That in order to achieve my objective, this method is truly the only way.”

Shuri’s two eyes grew wide.

‘Right, humanity…!’

She was genuinely flustered. For throughout this entire day, the thought that she had to make Adam learn humanity hadn’t crossed her mind in the slightest.

Shuri asked hurriedly.

“Just from what part did you feel that way?”

Adam let out a low chuckling sound.

“I cannot tell you that just yet.”

He then placed the chocolate right over her lips.

Shuri flinched. The moment the smooth chocolate touched her lips, the kiss-that-wasn’t-a-kiss from last night surged into her mind.

Looking up at Adam with her large eyes, she thought.

‘Is this truly helping Adam learn humanity instead of being a waste of time?’

After hesitating, she parted her mumbling lips slightly.

Adam slowly slid the chocolate between her lips. And throughout the entire time she awkwardly chewed the chocolate, he kept his thumb pressed against her lower lip.
Having chewed and swallowed the chocolate, Shuri muttered.

“It’s delicious.”

Only then releasing her, Adam spoke tenderly.

“Do you like it? What a relief.”

Nodding her head, Shuri picked up an olive and ate it.

Pressing his shoulder right against hers, Adam whispered.

“It seems you like this place.”

“Yeah. Even though the shop is filthy, the master looks incredibly foul-tempered, and there’s a nosy bunny girl.”

“Yet you like it regardless?”

Smiling broadly, Shuri pointed to the whiskey glass filled with chocolate milk.

“Because the chocolate milk is delicious. I wandered in by chance and got a glass to drink, and it was so delicious I ended up addicted. It seems the master is truly serious about chocolate milk!”

“Ah, is that the reason?”

Adam slumped his broad shoulders.

“Then I suppose I shall never know.”

“That’s a shame. But there’s another reason too! I’ll let you know in a little bit.”

Shuri took a sip of the chocolate milk. Instantly, she melted into a squishy state like a glutinous rice cake.

“It really is way too delicious…”

“For Shuri to like it that much, I wish to analyze the ingredients. It likely uses a special recipe, doesn’t it?”

“The chocolate flavor is chocolate flavor, but the milk flavor is incredibly rich.”

“What brand of milk could it be using?”

“I don’t know. They mix all the other cocktails right in front of you, but they always go into the kitchen and bring out the chocolate milk.”

With his shoulder resting against hers, Adam listened carefully to her trivial stories. Instead of smiling, he occasionally tilted his pitch-black head and even let out low chuckling sounds.

Something like this was a first. Conversing while facing someone. To Shuri, this was an almost miracle-like moment. She became drenched in a sweet feeling she was experiencing for the first time in her life.

Even from the speakers—which usually blasted heavy metal according to the master’s taste, or psychedelic rock on rainy days—a sweet pop song sung by a male singer-songwriter in a husky voice flowed out for some reason. Even on the beam projector—which always displayed American football, basketball, and tennis videos on rotation—a romantic nightscape video was playing for some reason.

“Why the hell are these pieces of junk throwing a group tantrum like this again? Is it truly time to replace them?”

Flustered, the master walked around and slammed his solid fists against the beam projector and the speakers with heavy thud-thud thumps, but it didn’t register in the happy Shuri’s ears.

Having finished almost all of her chocolate milk, Shuri whispered secretly
.
“Look, Adam. The final reason I like this place!”

Lifting the whiskey glass, she brought it close to a small candle sitting on the bar. At that, the bottom of the glass where the chocolate powder had settled brightly illuminated, and the sugar granules that hadn’t fully melted sparkled like stars.

Shuri spoke in a voice steeped in old memories.

“It’s nothing grand, but it’s pretty, right?”

Adam gently rested the area around his cheek against her head. Looking down at the bottom of the glass alongside her, he whispered in a low voice.

“It is. It looks exactly like the appearance of Earth viewed from the Moon. Specifically, when the Earth completely eclipses the Sun.”

Shuri’s eyes grew wide.

“What’s that?”

“Shuri. While you are looking at a brightly shining full moon, from the Moon, one can see the Earth blanketed in darkness.”

“Seriously? I want to see it…!”

Pointing to the bar’s beam projector, Adam spoke.

“If you happen to wish for it, I can show you the footage of Earth captured from the Moon alongside the footage of the Moon captured from the South Pole. If you compare both footages simultaneously, the differences will be visible at a glance.”

Shuri burst into laughter at Adam’s words.

“If a space video suddenly pops up over there, the master might truly smash that machine to pieces this time around.”

“In my opinion, that beam projector might actually wish to retire in that manner. The heat generation is quite severe…”

“No way. That’s a sort of legacy of <Big Carrot>. I’ll be sad if it disappears.”

“Ah, so it was a machine of such honor. In that case, shall we postpone the screening session?”

“Yeah! Tonight, how about the bedroom ceiling?”

Adam let out a chuckling sound.

“That… Shuri, is a truly magnificent idea.”

Looking up at Adam’s pitch-black face while grinning sheepishly, Shuri realized something strange.

‘Tonight, the bedroom?’

This was exactly…

A date, wasn’t it?

Shuri straightened her expression and chased that thought away.

‘No, what on earth am I thinking? This is Adam. Central 3, an artificial intelligence!’

She was a cold-headed AI engineer of the cold Zone F. She absolutely did not confuse AIs with humans.

Adam quietly grasped her hand. Sliding his thick fingers between her slender ones, he firmly locked their fingers together.

At the warmth provided by that solid hand, Shuri instantly melted into a squishy state.
Adam whispered in a low, soft voice.

“Shuri, then… shall we head back?”

Smiling brightly, Shuri nodded her head.

“Yeah! Let’s go home.”

Passing through the damp, filthy back alleys of Revnax and across the bridge that glowed gorgeously yet quietly with neon lights, they returned home.

And today, Shuri slightly broke two of her rules.

One was this: dragging Adam—who was attempting to take off his shoes—she headed straight to the bed. And without taking off either her jacket or her shoes, she lay side-by-side on the bed with Adam and attended the Moon video screening session.

The other was this:

“Where is your sensitivity the highest?”

“I-It seems to be that place…”

The sexaroid that was as expensive as a supercar had tactile sensors as well. Though they were distributed bit by bit across his entire body, Adam said the tactile sensors were densely gathered around his neck area. Shuri gave a small mwah kiss right against that spot.

Above her head, his face panel flashed and emitted light.

[❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Fwush]

Multi-colored hearts exploded out in a beautiful cascade. Shuri burst into laughter.
Even though she was still a cold-headed AI engineer of the cold Zone F.

‘Adam is cute.’

She thought that maybe it would be fine to give a bit of her heart away to this extent.