Chapter 4: Ignorance

4. Do you also overthink things like the MC? (Make sure to read the chapter before answering.)

Answer Here (If you want)!

(Word Count ↑1500)

By exploring my house and looking for anything that would be useful in the event of the end of the world, such as canned food, weapons, and money as it will still be functional for one month before the apocalypse comes, I became familiar with my home.

Then, since I would be late for my class, I circled the day before the end of the world on my phone's calendar and double-checked that it is the weekend. The only reason I worried about keeping my impeccable attendance records, which the previous body had ensured before I took over, was because characters I planned to recruit would be more suspicious of me if I continued to act in a way that the previous body wouldn't have, leading them to suspect—though it's a remote possibility—that I am a mutant zombie with exceptional intelligence.

The last thing I want is for my teammates to be worried, as that would make it impossible for us to rely on one another to protect us when fighting zombies. Even if it only helps to make my allies apprehensive and lead to our break up, I am confident that the Time Law will use any means necessary to ensure that my simulation fails.

It's a Saturday, which is fortunate for me, so I can run the simulation today and, with any luck, in a month. Most of the anime's action occurred in the first few days of the apocalypse, illustrating how difficult it would be to simulate while surviving.

"System's AI... ah, that's a mouthful. Hey, I hope it's okay if I give you a name," I asked the AI for confirmation because I find that saying it so frequently irritates me and makes me feel like I am acting distant from my partner.

{I'd like that host!} The AI of the system said, {I have been wishing to ask the host that myself but opted to keep quiet since I thought the host liked that manner of addressing me,} with enthusiasm in its voice.

Hearing the enthusiasm in its voice made me feel guilty because I had been ignoring her and treating her like an inanimate object that would assist me with anything I needed, similar to how Google works but better, rather than seeing her as my companion who also has thoughts of her own aside from assisting me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, and I'll make sure to never do something like this again," I said and bowed, which is something I don't usually do, but since this was my partner and would always be by my side, I felt the need to make it aware of my heartfelt apologies.

{The host doesn't need to worry about that anymore, and I'm simply happy that you named me instead of referring to me as an AI.} It spoke at first in a hurried and anxious tone, but from what I could tell, that tone soon changed to one of sadness.

I began to question whether it had been stated on purpose to harm me because it made me feel even worse about myself. I won't admit my ignorance since doing so would be equivalent to stating I didn't give it a name and instead classed it as an inanimate object. Instead, I want to interpret it as having missed it earlier because doing otherwise would be cruel.

Yes, that must be the AI trying to make me feel bad by saying things like that. Like previous characters I've seen in novels being duped by their system, it must have some type of plot to take advantage of me. After all, they are the main villain hiding in the background. As I have always been a kind person, whether it was in my old world or my new home world, there is no way that I could be that harsh to anyone else.

Damn, I should have known better than to trust systems, especially system AI, as they are frequently the ones there to annoy or use the host as a free labor force who are just waiting for the host to mature at which point they will attempt to take over the host body, whether it be because they are the system's creators or the system's previous host.

Let me think back to our chat for a moment. It's possible that I'm mistaken about it or that I'm simply being intentionally unkind by failing to notice it because I don't recall it ever being mentioned throughout the initial stages of our chat.

Ugh... I guess I messed up again by overthinking things, but names are something I notice that is very important to me ever since I was reborn as a baby because it felt like my entire identity from my previous life had just been erased, leaving only Ryuu Yamada as the sole thing remaining to represent me. That would imply that all I accomplished in my prior reality was in vain, which I find inconceivable because it would imply that all of my efforts were for naught.

After it had finished speaking, the AI was silent, but all those thoughts had already passed through my mind. Oh, wait a minute, the AI always read my thoughts, and that's how we often communicated, so... God, I effed up.

...

We both abruptly stopped talking after that; as for me, after realizing my error, my thoughts had simply become numb. Since I normally had these thoughts to myself and could have solved them before making a mistake like this, I didn't know what to say.

The AI once again used a robotic voice that truly hurt me, saying, {Host, I am sorry to have caused you grief because I wanted a name. I will make sure not to repeat this ever again and I will also stop the option where we may both converse with thoughts.}

"No, I should be the one to say sorry, I was just overthinking things and this has nothing to do with you," I said without waiting any longer after being startled out of my numbness by this.

"Humans usually struggle to trust other people or things when we are unable to understand why certain events occurred the way they did. I'm sorry for that, and I'll try to be more restrained in the future, however, it would be better for you if you turned off the thought conversation feature and only used it when my thought was intended for you," Without waiting for a response, I spoke honestly. Considering I wasn't sure I would be able to control myself sometimes and since we humans are typically only honest to ourselves in our minds, I didn't want to hurt it any longer with my negative thoughts.

{Okay, host. I'll do that. I also realize that humans require time to completely process their ideas before speaking them.} It heard my last thoughts in my mind before disabling the function and responded to me in a far more understanding tone.

I heard my AI's voice and sighed with relief, "Good."

"Hey, I have some ideas for a name. Let me know what you think of them, and we can try to come up with something you'll like. Irene, Alicia, Albedo, Lancia, Luna, and..." After that, we talked about potential names for it before deciding on one we both liked.

"Eva."

{It is a great host; I love it.} Eva exclaimed in a cheerful tone, and I joined her in feeling joyful as she was going to select a cliched name like Jarvis. However, I made sure to stop her by explaining why she shouldn't pick that option.

Ah, I just noticed that she, yep, 'she', decided she wanted to be a woman, not because I suggested just female names or because she might have been able to read my mind before we turned off that function to a more basic form of communication.

Regardless, she always refers to me as host, so I told her, "You know that you may call me by my name as I am doing the same and I also feel distant when you call me 'host,' you know."

{Yeah, I'm sorry about that host...Ryuu, I'll also address you by your name from now on.}

"Nice, we are now both good to go moving forward. Let's start fresh in our relationship going forward..." I told Eva before a girl's scream interpreted me.

"Ryuu, what are you doing? We'll arrive at the party late if we wait any longer." The voice was so loud that I could hear it from my second-floor bedroom. After analyzing my body's memories, I was able to identify the voice.

The body formed by the system interacted with Saya Takagi, a childhood friend of mine, more than any other character at that time in this world. My father Masamune Mochizuki, who founded Mochizuki General Hospital and the secret organization of Black Label yet who plays a significant supporting role in the Triage X series, was the primary reason why this body knew Saya.

All of the city's influential individuals and their families were invited to the formal party gathering where we met. We became close friends who visited each other when she was just 10 years old, and the body made a good first impression on her. Our parents didn't appear to mind because my father liked the Takagis' character and they did the same.