Three hours later.
As the light filtering through the gaps in the curtains gradually dimmed, the television screen once again turned black.
This time, however, instead of blood red letters symbolizing failure appearing, white text emerged from the bottom of the screen and slowly scrolled upward.
The staff credits after clearing the game signaled that Aris's journey of suffering had finally come to an end.
Yet even as Aris set the controller down in relief, her expression remained pained and twisted. Clearly, she had not yet recovered from the shock inflicted by Mythology Legend Chronicle.
"Kill… me…"
She leaned back into my arms and let out such a resentful lament.
I followed the motion and held Aris in my arms, gently stroking her hair. Feeling a texture no different from that of an ordinary person, my heart was filled with both tenderness and schadenfreude.
"You are amazing, Aris."
Momoi praised her enthusiastically. "Even though you were playing together with three developers and a teacher who can be called a hardcore gamer, you still cleared it in just three hours."
Hearing Momoi describe me that way suddenly made the situation feel a lot less enjoyable.
"I think Aris could have cleared it even faster," I looked at Momoi and smiled calmly, "if not for those few times in the middle where she almost crashed while reading the incorrect text you wrote."
"Ugh… how frustrating…"
Now Momoi could not laugh anymore, falling into doubts about her own literary ability and reflections on the meaning of life.
I nodded with satisfaction, my inner balance restored.
"B-by the way," Midori focused on something else, "does that mean that as long as Aris keeps playing games… her way of speaking will really become more and more varied…!?"
Hearing this question, Aris immediately straightened up. "Brave one, if you are seeking my consent, then I grant you affirmation."
"Uh, so that is really how it works…?" Momoi asked hesitantly, having relied on sheer willpower to recover quickly from the blow.
"It might still feel a bit unnatural since it was learned from games," Midori thought for a moment before giving her opinion. "But compared to when she could only mechanically arrange words, it is already much better. What do you think, Sensei?"
"That is true."
At the very least, she had progressed to the point where she could carry on ordinary conversations, and would at worst be seen as an extremely hardcore chuunibyou gamer…
There was still room to improve.
After receiving my affirmation, Midori let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Aris with both nervousness and anticipation.
"Um, Aris-chan, even though asking this face to face is a bit nerve wracking, but…"
Midori exchanged glances with Momoi and Yuzu, then, slightly stumbling over her words, asked the question everyone cared about most.
"O-our game… how was it? Was it fun?"
Under the girls' burning gazes, Aris did not answer right away.
In the silent wait, the stretch of contemplation grew longer.
Finally, the android girl spoke slowly. "…Evaluation, negative."
Momoi, already impatient by nature and now filled with expectation, grew even more frantic. "Eh... ehhh!? Why!?"
"…Searching for similar expressions. Loading…"
Midori said anxiously, "C-could she be looking for something bad to say…? That should not be the case, right?"
As for Yuzu, she had already started trembling again.
Fortunately, I noticed in time and rubbed her head with my free hand, which helped her calm down a little.
"…Fun."
Aris's second statement made the girls of the Game Development Department swallow nervously in unison.
"That does exist…"
The moment the latter half of Aris's sentence came out, Momoi could not help but cheer. The other two, more reserved by nature, also showed relieved expressions.
I was not surprised by this result.
In truth, the Game Development Department's debut work was indeed a terrible game, but it could not really be called boring.
Its pervasive malicious humor, excessively strong sense of frustration, poorly conveyed text, and extremely low level of completion were enough to offset whatever fun the game possessed.
But if it was someone's first time touching a game, and they had an indomitable will capable of ignoring those flaws, it was not impossible to discover this game's shining points.
At the very least, a retro style 16 bit RPG that, with zero promotion, forcibly defeated a whole lineup of major titles such as Three Schools Kill, Backline Betrayer 2, Radiant Ring Grand Festival 2K24, and Godring Gudong, climbing straight to the top of the annual worst rated chart, could not possibly be completely without merit.
And Aris's evaluation was not yet over.
"As the game progressed…" Aris closed her eyes and murmured softly, "it felt like traveling in another world… like dreaming… that feeling… I want it again… once more…"
A warm liquid dripped onto the back of my hand.
Before I could react, Momoi and Midori cried out in surprise.
"Eh, eh!?"
"A-Aris-chan!? Why are you suddenly crying!?"
Only then did I realize that it was Aris's tears.
Can androids cry?
Can androids dream?
With such doubts in mind, another question inevitably surfaced in my thoughts.
Does this mean that Aris possesses emotions of her own?
Because of the immense difference in form between us, I had hardly ever considered questions about the robot citizens of Kivotos before.
Or rather, to be more precise, I did not care about robots' physiological structures or what they thought or felt.
I did not have the energy, I did not care, and I had no interest.
But Aris was different.
She had an appearance similar to that of a student, and a halo above her head. If it was Aris like this, with emotions like a normal person's.
Should I also treat her as my own student?
…Then.
How should I view Arona, who had been by my side ever since I first arrived in Kivotos?
"Is that even a question!" Momoi laughed smugly. "This just proves how moving our game is."
Sometimes I could not help but wonder where her confidence came from.
Midori remained unconvinced. "N-no matter how you look at it this is still… by the way, this game was supposed to be more of a comedy RPG, right…"
"Th-thank you, Aris."
Yuzu handed over a tissue. Since Aris did not seem to understand Yuzu's intention, I took it and helped wipe her tears.
"Just like Sensei, saying our game is fun… and wanting to play it again…"
Possibly infected by Momoi, Yuzu even started recounting nonexistent memories. "And even cried while playing it… really, thank you so much."
Aris blinked, her face full of innocence.