Chapter 27

Adam, who had been firmly crossing his arms, appeared to feel intrigued by her suggestion.

“A bet? Shuri, are you offering a bet to the most brilliant artificial intelligence on Earth right now?”

“That’s right. It’s a test to see how well Adam knows his snacks!”

Grinning, Shuri manipulated the tablet. At the word test, Adam corrected his posture and sat down right across from her.

Selecting a few images, she spoke.

“Instead, you have to answer based only on your existing learned data without doing a web search.”

“Understood. From the current time until I submit the answers, I shall not perform any web searches regarding the problems Shuri presents. I shall answer using only pre-learned information.”

“Aren’t we confident?”

“Because I am the archive of human knowledge, after all.”

“Fine. If Adam gets two or more questions wrong out of five, you have to let me buy the newly released snacks!”

“Two out of five questions; that is simple. Shuri, for your information, Central 3 demonstrated an accuracy rate of over 99.86% in responses within the field of data-driven facts during UH’s testing.”

“I wonder if that will hold true for the Shuri Test? Well then, here comes the question. What is this?”

Shuri displayed the tablet screen right before Adam with a tada! Floating on the screen was a photograph of a sneaker.

Adam burst out laughing.

“Shuri, that is a sneaker, isn’t it? Correct answer! It is a sneaker from the most famous brand in the global sporting goods market.”

“Buzzz! Wrong.”

“Pardon?”

Grinning, Shuri played the video she had paused. At that, a hand holding a knife materialized from one side of the screen and smoothly sliced the sneaker. Astonishingly, a cross-section made of cream and bread revealed itself.

“Tada! In truth, this was a cake!”

Adam appeared genuinely shocked.

“Pardon? No, well. Uh, hmmm. Aha, so it is a hyper-realistic cake.”

“Right. You’ve already gotten one wrong, haven’t you? Well, next question!”

The next item was an ancient antique book.

Adam froze as though he had malfunctioned.

“Ah…”

Cradling his pitch-black head with both hands, Adam peered intently into the screen.

“This is… William Shakespeare’s collection of plays, the First Folio… but it also looks somewhat like chocolate…”

“Why? Does it look, like, totally sweet?”

“No, hmmm…”

After agonizing, Adam finally opened his mouth.

“This is… the real thing. A faint watermark is visible in the center of the page, which makes this book look like a perfect authentic article. If it were a cake, it would be impossible to implement it to that extent!”

“Correct! It was a real book!”

“Oh, I got it right!”

Adam rejoiced, even doing a shoulder dance with his shoulders that were as massive as a rocky mountain. Finding that version of Adam cute, Shuri grinned sheepishly and displayed the next screen.

Beholding the screen, Adam spoke.

“This is an apple, isn’t it? With a leaf attached and everything.”

“Are you certain?”

“Hmm? No, wait a moment. This… the base is a cake stand, isn’t it? Oho, hmmm…”

Placing one hand against his forehead, Adam plunged into deep agony.

“Because a vague hint is included, it is even more confusing. Is it an apple-shaped cake honestly placed upon a cake stand, or is it an apple placed upon a cake stand as a trick to make it look like a cake…!”

Shuri let out a giggle.

“Looks like I’ll be able to buy snacks soon.”

“N-No you cannot. Shuri’s pancreas…!”

Clenching his two fists tightly, Adam spoke resolutely.

“I shall go with cake!”

“Then shall we verify?”

Shuri played the video. The apple with the leaf attached was in truth a cake filled with apple jam.

Adam let out a hearty laugh.

“This is a victory of my judgment!”

“Whoa, Adam. You’re good…! Are you a genius?”

Hearing Shuri’s praise, Adam grew immensely bashful.

“Hearing such words from Shuri… makes me feel proud, and also fulfilled. I am glad.”

“There, there, our genius artificial intelligence! Shall we move on to the next question then?”

Beholding the screen, Adam took on a repulsed face.

“This is a trash bag, isn’t it? It’s even discarded by the roadside. This is simply trash without any need to ponder over it.”

“I wonder if that’s truly the case? Let’s check the correct answer!”

Shuri touched the screen. At that, the usual hand materialized and split the trash bag with a bread knife. A cross-section of a cake embedded with fruit was revealed.

“The correct answer was cake!”

[@0@]

Shuri laughed while clutching her stomach, and Adam cried out as if wronged.

“Is the person who made this in their right mind? Why make a cake out of a trash bag? No, why make a trash bag out of cake?”

“Adam, this is exactly what real madness is.”

Grinning, Shuri flashed a V-sign with her fingers.

“Ah, that was fun. Since Adam got two wrong, I won!”

“Haaah, very well. I shall concede defeat. I have lost.”

“Yay! Time to order snacks.”

“Haaaah…”

Shuri stared at Adam while slightly concealing her face with the tablet. Adam appeared unable to believe that he had gotten two questions wrong.

“An accuracy rate of 50%? That is akin to random guessing. Ahhh, Shuri’s pancreas…”

It seemed Adam was genuinely worried about her pancreas.

Shuri concealed her mouth with the tablet as giggles kept threatening to leak out.

‘Adam is cute, isn’t he?’

To Shuri, who was giggling to herself, Adam made a serious suggestion.

“Shuri, let us do it one more time.”

“Uh, again?”

Shuri’s eyes narrowed.

“Adam… you learned in the meantime, didn’t you!”

“Ah, you noticed?”

Laughing awkwardly, Adam spoke.

“In that case, let us switch roles this time. Wagering one more snack. I shall present the questions.”

“Ah, so earlier we were only wagering a single snack?”

Shuri smiled broadly while concealing her mouth with the tablet.

It was a first for someone to worry about her and look after her like this. Even though that someone wasn’t a human, the fact that it made her happy remained true regardless.

‘I suppose it’ll be fine even if I can only eat a single snack.’

Smiling sheepishly, Shuri nodded her head.

“Fine!”

This time, Adam presented the questions and Shuri answered them correctly.

“Cake, cake, a real watermelon. What’s this? Anyway, not a cake. This one’s a cake.”

Adam panicked.

“How can you get them all correct? Furthermore, the fourth one was a rock with barnacles attached. How could you get it right without even knowing what it was?”

Smiling proudly, Shuri flashed V-signs with both hands.

“It just means I’m that serious about snacks. Love conquers all, you know.”

[ㅠ_ㅠ]

“How can this be…”

Sniffling, Adam slumped over the table. He then looked up at Shuri and asked in a sorrowful voice.

“Could it be that my love is insufficient?”

Shuri quickly concealed her mouth with the tablet.

‘Cute…!’

Could it be possible for the most powerful artificial intelligence on Earth to look cute?

‘No, that won’t do!’

Shuri snapped her eyes shut.

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

‘It’s work, just work!’

Clearing her throat with a cough-cough, she exerted effort to regain her composure.

“Still, since you considered my health, I’ll only buy a single snack.”

Adam brightened up.

“Genuinely?”

“Yeah.”

Regaining his vitality once more, Adam spoke.

“Shuri’s words are correct. My love toward Shuri has won.”

At the word love, Shuri’s two cheeks flushed a rosy red. Clearing her throat repeatedly, she asked in a voice that was as nonchalant as physically possible.

“You said that in order to learn humanity, l-learning about love must take precedence. Over the past few days, we’ve tried… this and that. Do you feel like you’ve grasped it a little bit? Regarding love.”

“I wonder…”

Adam trailed off his words along with an unclear response.

Extending his hand, he brought it to her forehead. Sweeping the boundary between her white forehead and her hair with his fingertips, he tucked her disheveled, messy hair behind her ear.

Shuri thought that the rustling sound of her hair shifting echoed exceptionally loudly. The spot his fingertips touched tickled. Raising her gaze, she stared blankly up at him.
Meeting Shuri’s eyes, Adam tilted his head lightly and spoke in a soft voice.

“The evaluation regarding that is your portion, is it not?”

Shuri’s eyes grew wide.

“I-Is that so?”

“Of course.”

Adam bent his upper body deeply toward her. And peering straight into her eyes, he tossed a question.

“Shuri. How do I appear to your eyes?”