The next morning, Qualia accompanied Ina as they walked through the capital, following her shopping route.
“Request explanation. Why do you wear a hat?”
“To hide my cat ears.”
Answered Ina as she pulled down her white hat, bringing down her beige hair a little as it flowed down from the hat.
“Some beast people can use transformation magic to make their ears disappear, but…”
Qualia understood why Ina had to hide her cat ears. Humans would act in a discriminatory way towards beast people.
However, no matter how much he exercised his calculations, he still could not understand this discrimination.
“…Does the hat suit me?”
Asked Ina, seemingly embarrassed and pressing her hat down.
But Qualia could only respond like a machine that was indifferent to the heart of a maiden.
“Qualia values a world where you don’t need a hat and aren’t at risk for not hiding your ears.”
“…Hum, that’s not what I’m talking about. Geez, you’re so serious… In a bad way as well.”
“Unable to detect ‘tasty’ from you.”
“Whatever…”
Ina frowned, and Qualia was unable to understand why she was not smiling.
But still, since his most important goal was to create ‘tasty’ smiles, his calculations kept on working.
“Analyzing situation. There is a good chance that the disappearance of your ‘tasty’ was caused by Qualia’s words.”
“M-Master Qualia…”
Qualia’s face seemed somewhat dark, and it was not due to the shade caused by his white hair.
“Analyzing situation. Vocalizing apology as a measure to fix it.”
“H-hum…”
“I-am-sor-ry.”
Qualia was learning about human culture, but his optimal solutions to create ‘tasty’ faces were still far from complete when it came to anything outside of combat.
He would have to keep on learning through his experiences as a human to learn the formulas to create smiles, and basically, automatically calculate optimal solutions to heart related matters.
Ina read the subtleties on Qualia’s face in great detail, and perhaps sympathized with him, as she looked at him with an apologetic expression.
“…I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“Error. You are not wrong.”
“No… It’s just that I borrowed Princess Lobelia’s clothes, and it’s my first time going outside wearing something fancy… I got carried away.”
Ina clenched her fists and continued, as if trying to encourage herself.
“I’ll make that curry you like so much today! If you say it’s tasty, that will be good enough for me.”
“Affirmative, curry is tasty.”
Afterwards, they went to the market to buy ingredients, including the necessary things to make curry, and at the same time, Qualia learned about the geography of the capital.
But then, as Ina bought vegetables in a small shop…
“Are you a beast person?”
The woman behind the counter, the owner of the shop, asked, and Ina’s face froze.
Qualia also understood that he should be alert, and began calculating his optimal solutions.
The woman seemed surprised by their reactions, and continued.
“I’m not complaining. I think it’s stupid to start discriminating between customers just because they’re beast people or whatever.”
“…”
She was not looking down on beast people like Arrows and the fifth division of Troy.
Ina instantly relaxed, and Qualia also stopped his calculations.
“But it must be pretty rough for you, if you got so nervous. Sorry I asked, I was just curious.”
“No…”
“As an apology, I’ll show you how to tie your hair.”
It was an unexpected proposition, and Ina opened her eyes wide.
“If you wear a hat, you waste your nice hair and your beauty. You know, I was actually a popular hairdresser before I got married. I’ll give you a hairstyle that will look cute even when you’re hiding that charm point of yours!”
“Eh, hum…”
“This way!”
Ina was taken to the back of the shop, almost by force.
Normally, Qualia would designate the woman a threat and attack her, but that option did not factor in Qualia’s optimized solution.
“Analyzing situation.”
As he thought about the sense of values that apparently had been updated before he knew it, he stood completely still inside the shop, until Ina returned.
“Human detected. In…”
The records he was vocalizing suddenly stopped.
Yes, it was Ina who appeared from the back, even if she looked nervous. But something about her was different.
Her beige hair was no longer bunched together, but the many emphatic lines pushed up her whole hairstyle.
It was fluffy, and flowing.
That was the impression that this hairstyle that hid her ears gave off.
Ina looked up with trembling eyes.
“Hum… How… Is it?”
“Tasty! Like it!”
“…!?”
Qualia’s impressions reflexively jumped out of his mouth.
But as he saw Ina’s cheeks turn into the color of cherry blossoms, he realized his error.
“Analyzing situation… There is a chance that a slight malfunction occurred in Qualia’s language function.”
“What’s with that!? You’re supposed to say she looks cute, boy.”
“Cute… Cute, registered. This is no malfunction, it is ‘cute’…”
“T-thank you… I’m glad to hear it…”
As the woman laughed, Qualia registered a ‘tasty’ smile in front of him, and learned something.
He felt excitement, but a different kind from the one he felt in the bath when he saw Lobelia and Spirito’s bare skin.
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