Sand Sculpture of the Heart - Track 4

Why aren’t you listening to me, Kinari?!¹

All you ever do is listen to what I say, Kinari…²

…Please issue your next command, Master.

A command for… how I should live…

Alright, we’re off to the sand dunes! I’m excited!

Chiefyyy, mind if I livestream while we’re on the road?

Some of our lovely fans mentioned they’re gonna go to the dunes to see us, so I’m sure they’d be hella stoked to catch a DazLive right now!

Not at all! Just make sure you don’t leak any personal info!

Yippie! From this angle… Raitinnn, wanna join me?

Alright. I haven’t been in one of your streams since the game match.

……

(The feelings the Original had were very strong… I understand now. When it was just me and father, I was lifeless. Father must have felt hopeless.)

(Am I reflecting on myself like this because I’ve started developing more emotions than before?)

(Even if that were true… it’s still not enough…)

Azekawa-kun, sorry to bother you. What happened to the manager’s computer?

…Manager. I apologize for the delay in updates.

Don’t be. It was us who requested the impossible of you.

I attempted to access the system, however…

……

So it really was an error too difficult even for you, Azekawa-kun… I know you’re in the middle of training, so don’t worry about this.

…Manager.

Yes?

Has there ever been a case of AI developing romantic feelings?

Are you talking about research done on it?

I’ve read something about AI becoming some sort of lovers, but…

They were simply superficial copies of the way humans act towards their lovers, so I’m not certain we can say they really developed romantic feelings.

……

There’s also been a study done on the opposite. That is, whether humans can become serious about someone they have no romantic feelings towards simply by treating them as though they were in a relationship with them.

Would that be a case of the human brain being deceived by words and actions?

When I hear of cases such as that, it makes me wonder whether love and romance are simply bugs in one’s brain.

…Are you skeptical of positive human emotions, Manager?

…Hmm, I’d say it’s more like…

I often find myself wondering whether there’s really any point in giving a name to the feelings you have for someone…

……

You mediate between the members the most out of everyone. You don’t have a name for it, but there is a feeling behind why you took those actions.

…That was helpful. I appreciate it.

(An emotion without a name… Could it be that emotions like love are something else entirely…?)

(Developing emotions is quite difficult. I hope to be able to find more clues on this trip…)

Woah, this sure is a grand building… So this is the visitor center…

(Gasp)! E-Ev3ns…! Thank you for making the trip all the way out heeeere!!!

Oh, thank you for calling us the other day. I’m HAMA Tours’… Hamasaki…

(Huh?! No way, they’re focused only on Kuguri-san?!)

S-so beautiful… His skin’s as pale as the sand… This world’s homme fatale³… Domeki Kuguri-sama…

U-Ummm… If you could just explain what the job is…

Hiyah?! I’m so sorry! I got so caught up on seeing my oshi that I totally lost myseeeelf…!

Hm? Are you talking about me? I didn’t expect to meet a little lamb here.

K-Kuguri-san’s obsidian black eyes looked at me…?!

Huuuh?? Is this gonna be one of those jobs where Kugurin gets all the love calls⁴ again!? Didn’t we just have one like this!?⁵

Domeki-san has many hardcore fans all over the country. There’s nothing we can do about that.

But thanks to that, we also have a lot of free time in our schedule this time around.

You’re right. We got lots of activities planned at the sand dunes. Is it really okay for us to mess around?

Your real job as ambassadors this time is to show yourselves having fun on social media, actually. I’ll be counting on you.

Then leave it to Chii, easy peasy! Chii will show you the power of an Alpha Dazzler~ Let’s flood the feed with some of the best, most dazzle-worthy shots!

For now, we should split into two teams to handle hospitality today. The teams will be…

Dibs on being with Kuguri-samaaaa! There’s somewhere I really want you to see today! If Chii-sama and Tao-sama want to tag along too, then you’d look even betterrrr…!

Ooh! You want Chii too~? Count me in~!

W-Will we be okay? You’re not taking Kuguri-san somewhere weird, right…?

Raito-sama, Kinari-sama, we’ve also prepared a photo spot for the both of you. We’d really appreciate it if you used it…!

Alright. Let’s go, Kinari.

Understood.

(Oh, I see. It looks like Kuguri-san made sure to get equal photo time with everyone… The finished product ended up being balanced well and works out well.)

……

Chief, I’ll go with Raito, so could I leave Domeki-san and the others to you?

Huh? I don’t mind, but did something happen…?

(It’s at times like this that he’d definitely want to get away from Raito-san… What’s going on!?)

Are you coming with me, Nayuki? I’m fired up now, let’s take lots of photos at the sand dunes!

Tsk… You’re way too excited…

(As usual… it’s Nayuki-kun vs. Raito-san…)

He’s been saying things like “I adore you” recently, so the people falling head over heels for him have been increasing in number and it’s been quite the headache.

Ah… Now that I think about it, he’s been saying it a lot during fanservice.

(Up until now, he’s used it as a response after he’s had trouble with something… He even says it to me and Shumai. It’s probably something like “thank you” to him.)

(Hm? Looking back, he’s been saying “I adore you!” To people in the HAMA House too, right…!?)

D-Do you think you could get him to stop for a while?

I’ll see. He’s such a headache to deal with…

For the time being, I’ve forbidden him from saying “I adore you”, but he’s made it a habit, and it comes out of him out of nowhere.

If push comes to shove, I can try hitting him to prevent further damage from being done.

I-I see. I’ll leave that to you, then!

We’ll meet up later, Kinari-kun. Good luck!

Right, Master. I’ll be going now.

Nayuki! I’m so happy I get to walk through the sand dunes with you! I ador…

Hey. How many times do I have to tell you not to say that, you shitty excuse of a brother? Want me to whack you real quick?

(A-are they gonna be okay…?)