Millennium Science School, Game Development Department, club activity room.
AL-1S, wearing an extremely faint look of confusion yet showing no resistance and appearing rather well behaved, was successfully brought back here by us.
"Haaah, I'm exhausted~"
The moment she entered, Momoi flopped onto the sofa, only to be grabbed by the collar and yanked back up by her younger sister.
"There are more important things to do right now, aren't there?"
Midori glanced at Alice, worry evident on her face. "Even if we've brought this person back to the club room for now… shouldn't we notify Valkyrie or the General Student Council?"
"Don't rush it. We can talk about that later, after we finish everything we need to do first."
Midori nodded, then muttered, "I never thought what Key wanted us to find would be a girl. Are we really going to hand her over to Key?"
Momoi patted her shoulder encouragingly. "It'll be fine. Key didn't say it wanted to do anything bad to her. Once the unrest in the ruins settles down in a few days, we'll just take her over to meet Key!"
"Um… would you like something to drink?"
At the same time, Yuzu gently asked AL-1S.
"Negative. This unit's current functional status is stable. There is no need to intake fluids at this time."
Sometimes, I find myself thinking about this question.
What kind of bizarre design are the robots of Kivotos, exactly?
Having intelligence is one thing, but instead of running on electricity, they function like carbon based lifeforms and require regular food intake…
Sure, it could be explained as deliberate simulation, but do robots really need to be this realistic?
That confusion finally turned into sudden realization today, upon meeting AL-1S.
Robots being realistic is absolutely necessary. No, the more realistic the better.
However, after declining Yuzu's offer, AL-1S shifted her gaze to the side, toward a white rectangular object.
AL-1S tilted her head and picked up the remote control shaped item.
"Ah, are you interested in that? That's…"
Yuzu was about to explain when her expression suddenly froze. "…Eh?"
The robot girl opened her mouth and tried to stuff the thing inside.
I sucked in a sharp breath and subtly adjusted the position of my belt.
Midori, who had been talking with Momoi, heard Yuzu's voice and instinctively looked over. The emotion in her eyes instantly shifted from curiosity to terror, and she rushed over to stop her.
"Ahh, don't put my Wii remote in your mouth! Spit it out! Spit it out now!"
Watching this farce, I could only say that based on AL-1S's current behavior, she really was like a small child who had lost even basic common sense.
Even worse than my own situation.
After persistent effort, Midori finally managed to rescue the Wii remote, now soaked with AL-1S's saliva, and lovingly wiped it down with tissues.
Momoi nodded thoughtfully and made a decision.
"Alright, anyway, she needs a name. Let's call you Alice." (Arisu)
AL-1S replied blankly, "…This unit's name, Alice. Please confirm."
Midori, who had just finished cleaning the Wii remote, hurriedly objected. "W-wait a second! That's just a name you randomly read out, right!? Shouldn't it be something like AL-1S chan instead?"
In terms of correct pronunciation, it should probably be something like Al First. But honestly, Momoi's choice sounded much nicer.
"A name that long is hard to say."
However, the reason Momoi gave made my evaluation of her, which had just risen slightly, drop right back down.
It really feels like I should not have any pointless expectations for this idiot…
Still, naming her was something that should ultimately be up to the person herself.
Momoi looked at AL-1S. "So, Alice? Do you like this name?"
After a brief analysis, AL-1S gave her answer.
"…Affirmative."
Alice smiled for the first time, and in this small club room, before the few witnesses present, declared her new name.
"This unit is, Alice."
Hearing this, Momoi planted her hands on her hips and laughed triumphantly. "Ahahaha! See? Now you've witnessed my naming sense!"
For some reason, Momoi's reaction made a certain phrase come to mind. A petty person drunk on success.
Midori curled her lips. "Well… if she likes it, I guess it's fine."
"Alright!"
Next, Momoi did not pause for even a moment, her fighting spirit overflowing.
"Then let's move on to the next stage."
"What are you planning to do now, onee-chan?!"
Midori clearly had deep experience with Momoi's drive to act.
"Everyone."
Momoi asked us, "Why did we risk danger and go deep into the ruins to look for G.Bible in the first place?"
Midori answered, "Isn't that obvious? To make good games, of course."
Yuzu extended the thought. "And then… to win at the Millennium club competition, meet President Rio's requirements, and allow the club to continue…"
I raised an eyebrow, realizing a possibility. "You mean?"
"That's right."
Momoi nodded. "You all remember, right? There was another condition we had to meet in order to protect our club."
"We need to increase the number of club members and then… eh?"
At that moment, Midori realized it. Her eyes widened as she asked in disbelief, "O-onee-chan, don't tell me… you're planning to disguise this girl as a Millennium student and have her join our club…?"
Yuzu panicked. "Eh, eh, eh? Th-this…"
From my perspective, while it was a dishonest approach, it was not exactly a bad idea.
After thinking for a moment, I decided to turn a blind eye and let them handle it themselves.
"Alice!"
Momoi reached out and called to the robot girl with deep feeling. "Become our companion!"
However, Alice did not respond.
The robot girl's attention was currently focused elsewhere.
When Momoi realized what Alice was doing, her face turned pale in horror.
"Ahh! You can't eat my Game Girl Advance SP! This has a custom CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads and an 8K resolution, the only 16 bit game console in all of Kivotos!"
…Wait, what kind of specs are those?
I suddenly felt that the Game Development Department's lack of funds might not be because the committee gives them too little.
In any case, Momoi frantically tried to rescue her game console from Alice's mouth.
Watching this scene, Midori let out a heartfelt sigh of concern.
"Is this really going to be okay…"
"I-I think so…"
Yuzu and Midori exchanged a look, both deeply aware that the road ahead would be anything but smooth.