Chapter 1 — Why Should I Have to Die Like This?!

Entering Diagnostic Mode. Determination of EX-Level state. Disconnecting virtual body from Personality Unit. Please awaken.

Ayaka Shinozaki opened her eyes as a voice rang out in her head. She was in an awfully strange position. Her arms and legs were caught on something, and her body was lying at an angle. She couldn't move very well. It wasn't like she couldn't move at all, but it felt like she was controlling her body from a distance.

After a bit of trial and error, she finally started to get the hang of it. Once she thought to move, there was a distinct time lag before her body would respond, so she just needed to go slowly and precisely. She started by pulling in her splayed arms and legs, after which she managed to push herself up into a seated position, where she could finally look around.

The rows of seats around her identified the tour bus she should have been in, but it took her a while to catch up to that conclusion. The back half of the bus was gone, leaving the remaining part slanted downwards. The aisle she was lying in was covered in a layer of blood. Looking ahead, she saw someone collapsed at the vehicle's exit. Judging from his uniform, it was a male student. He was sprawled across the walkway. There was a large hole in his stomach, meaning he was almost certainly dead. There was no way someone could take an injury like that and survive.

Next, she took stock of her own body. She, too, was covered in blood, with a large hole in her chest. But for some reason, unlike the guy in front of her, she was alive.

She tried to remember what had happened. They were on a school trip. The bus had suddenly been in a grassy field, a woman calling herself a Sage had appeared, then her classmates had left her behind and gone somewhere else.

Despite having absolutely no idea what was going on, she felt terribly calm, as if it were all happening to someone else.

Hello. Have you understood the current situation?

"Who are you?" she asked as the same voice that had awoken her echoed in her head again.

I am the Diagnostic Unit. And you are the Personality Unit. Together we are fundamental parts making up the individual Ayaka Shinozaki.

"I have no idea what that means," Ayaka replied in a flat voice. Of course she didn't understand, but she wasn't all that concerned about it.

It appears there is some confusion in your memory. Let us get that in order first. During the school trip, we were unexpectedly killed by a strange creature.

Ayaka recalled something punching through the roof of the bus and impaling her. Her classmates had told them there was a dragon circling around, so it made sense that she had been killed by that monster's attack.

To be precise, we received sufficient damage to render a human incapacitated and therefore simulated a death state. For you, there is no natural state of death as with humans.

Ayaka looked back at the hole in her own chest. At first glance, it looked pretty bad. The flesh had been torn apart, it was still bleeding profusely, and her internal organs were exposed. But no matter how human her insides looked, she couldn't help but doubt her eyes. Slowly, she reached a hand into the wound but felt nothing at all.

We are an artificial human, an imitation of life created from both organic and inorganic parts.

That revelation should have been a shock to her, but she found herself totally unmoved. The only thought that crossed her mind was, Oh, is that so?

"Then why are you talking to me now?"

Normally, in a situation where an ordinary human would die, we would maintain the imitated "death state" until our body was retrieved. However, we are unable to connect to the wireless network to signal for retrieval, and the external environment does not fit any of our predicted parameters. Even with durability beyond that of a human, the possibility for a total halting of all functions is high.

"By halting, you mean dying, right? I thought artificial humans couldn't die?"

True, as it pertains to living organisms, "death" is not applicable to us. As long as our memory is preserved, even if this body should cease to function, resuscitation is possible. But that would only happen at the research facility. It is unlikely that waiting here will improve our situation any further. The damage we have sustained is beyond expected limits, and numerous critical internal organs have been lost. At this rate, we may lose the ability to take action entirely. An urgent response is required, for which reason I have contacted you.

"So basically, I'm the only one who can move this body?"

In a sense, that is correct. Controlling the body through you is the most efficient method.

"If I was hurt badly enough to die, I should just die, right? Is there a point in extending my life any longer?" She didn't know why she had been created in the first place, but if she was artificial, they could simply create a new version. At least, that was her line of thought at the moment. She wasn't particularly concerned about extending her own personal existence.

I don't know how you feel about it, but as the Project Execution Unit, it would be a problem for me if we died, a different voice answered. It appeared there were numerous units operating together, but giving each of them their own personality seemed like a waste of time and resources to her.

We do not possess personalities. The only one with an algorithmic simulation of emotions is the Personality Unit. If you detect personality traits in us, that is simply your subjective interpretation. In reality, there is no conversation happening. We are simply using the communication protocols set up between individual units.

"What's this project you're talking about?"

The project to create a new generation of humans. We are the third stage. The plan was to create an imitation of a human through a combination of organic and mechanical parts and observe its attempts to adapt to society — your reaction to this information seems a bit underwhelming, don't you think?

That is likely a result of being disconnected from the virtual body. Most emotion is derived from the physical body, or more specifically, the brain.

The disconnect must have been done to separate herself from the pain of her injuries. That explained why she felt so far away from her own body, and why it seemed like she had left her emotions behind.

That's true, but as the Project Execution Unit, an unnatural state like this is difficult to approve of.

As the Medical Unit, I believe it is the optimal solution. If you want a natural state, the most natural state for this body right now would be death.

From the perspective of the Battle Unit, there is no benefit to fighting like this. The majority of our energy is being spent on maintaining life, like water being poured into a bottomless hole. Our energy reserves will soon be exhausted.

I've always wondered, is having a Battle Unit even useful?

For now, how about repairing the virtual body? At least to the point where the hole in the chest isn't visible.

That is unnecessary. Visual information will be masked so that the Personality Unit perceives no injuries.

I see...it would be an obstacle to the Personality Unit to continue in this state.

Emotions abruptly flooded back into Ayaka's head, plummeting her into a state of confusion.

"Hey! If you're going to do something like that, at least warn me first!"

My apologies. This is the first time we've had to take such an action.

So, what do you think? Do you still plan on dying here?

"Don't be stupid! Why should I have to die in a place like this?!"

Her previous air of detachment had evaporated. Ayaka looked over her body again. The hole in her chest appeared to be gone and everything seemed normal. Her uniform had been repaired, and even the blood soaking her clothes was gone. It was a rather impactful experience and made her doubt her own senses. She decided to leave the question of how real the world around her was for later, though. Getting caught up in such thoughts wouldn't be any use to her now.

"Okay, I understand that you're all in my head, and that I'm an artificial human. But what exactly do you want me to do?"

Compensation is required for lost components. Please acquire some organic matter.

Guessing what the Medical Unit was hinting at, Ayaka looked down at the body of the student lying in front of her. His name was Yuuichirou Kiryuu, one of the four who had been left behind on the bus. The hole in his gut made it seem like he had met the same fate as Ayaka.

"What do you mean, 'acquire'? Is this a joke? You think I'd ever get desperate enough to eat another person?!"

Very well, we will not force you to do something you find unreasonable. At any rate, the present material would be insufficient.

I am also against the idea of using human matter. That conflicts with the Project.

"How much longer do I have?"

I predict roughly thirty minutes. Time was consumed by the arguing between the Units.

"Well, anyway, eating people or whatever is totally off limits!" Ayaka repeated, getting up from the floor.

Walking down the slanted aisle, she exited through the missing back of the vehicle. Although there were plenty of unbelievable things happening one after another, the most bizarre thing so far was the scenery around her. One moment, the bus had been driving through a snowy mountainscape, the next, it had popped into a spring-like grassland. It totally defied belief.

"I thought there were two others left behind as well. Do you know what happened to them?"

Those left in the bus were Yogiri Takatou and Tomochika Dannoura. It appears they did not die nearby.

"Do you not have any memories of when I was 'dead'?"

Dead people can't see or hear, can they? All we did was try to contact the laboratory.

"That's just being unnecessarily stubborn, don't you think?"

Certainly, we possess a lack of flexibility. But our objective has now changed. Our main priority is to exhaust every option and return to the laboratory by any means possible.

Ayaka looked around her at the grassy plains stretching out towards the horizon. There was a forest nearby, and in the far distance there seemed to be a city. A giant reptile of some sort was lying beside the bus. It must have been the dragon that had attacked them, killing her and Kiryuu. Just looking at it caused anger to start welling up in her chest.

Stepping closer, she kicked the creature in the head, which launched into the air, twisting the dragon's neck to a bizarre, unnatural angle. Ayaka stared dumbly at her handiwork. She had only kicked it lightly, expecting her foot to bounce harmlessly off it.

In order to allow movement in our current state, all restrictions have been removed. Please be careful.

This amount of organic matter may be sufficient to replace our lost components.

It's certainly better than eating people.

"This thing?" Ayaka asked, looking over the fallen beast. It was covered in rough, solid scales. Finding a part of it soft enough to eat seemed like it would be a struggle in and of itself.

Though it is a creature unknown to us, it appears to be a kind of reptile, similar to dinosaurs said to have existed in the Mesozoic era. It is almost certainly a carbon-based life form.

Ayaka hesitated, but she had no other ideas. There were only thirty or so minutes left in which to act.

From my perspective as the Judgment Unit, I believe doing nothing and accepting death is an acceptable outcome in this situation. Should our memories be properly preserved, someone will certainly find us at some point.

If the goal was to create a human being, then concluding her life with death was only natural. It was like the unit was trying to say that dying here would still provide valuable information to their creators.

Ayaka thought it over. Could she just accept the idea of dying here? She had no particular desire to die. Her life so far had been fairly easy. If she continued, she would no doubt find happiness awaiting her in the future. She was only a high school junior. There were plenty of things she still had to do in life. Was she really prepared to kick the bucket out here in a place that she didn't even recognize?

"More importantly, why should I die just because those guys told me to?!"

Remembering her classmates, a violent anger began to burn in her gut. Why couldn't they have thought of a plan to let everyone escape? They had been all too happy to make the heartless choice to leave her behind. In almost no time at all, they had begun to discriminate against those who didn't have any powers. She couldn't forgive that. And most of all, she couldn't forgive that there were human beings out there who would dare to look down on her.

"What should I do?"

First, we should analyze its composition. Could you eat a small piece of it?

Ayaka punched a hand into the dragon's hide. Her fingers easily passed through the tough scales and into the soft meat underneath. Tearing out a chunk, she brought it to her mouth. Normally, there would have been no way she could bring herself to do such a thing, but she was determined to take revenge on her classmates, and that would require her to survive for as long as possible. Those dark emotions made her capable of doing even something this revolting.

The dragon's flesh and blood tasted sweet, practically melting in her mouth as she chewed. At the same time, she was struck by an overwhelming hunger.

There appears to be no problem. About ten tons of matter should be sufficient.

I'm not certain I approve of eating a random animal we know nothing about. But it's better than eating people, I suppose.

It didn't take long for Ayaka to devour the majority of the carcass.