Liebe disappeared from everyone’s sight.
At first, they all suspected he was using Stealth, and prepared for combat, but as minutes passed, and dozens of minutes, no one was cut.
“…Qualia, I want to hear what you think. What happened to Liebe? Did he pass on?”
Kernel stood next to Qualia, and seemed to more or less know the result.
“Conjecture. Liebe has not been eliminated. But it is assumed that he has been temporarily incapacitated.”
Qualia stated to Kernel, and continued his inquiry.
Liebe was not gone yet. He did not understand the principles behind it, but Qualia assumed that for the time being, he could not retain the form of a ghost. But he also lacked the input to believe he was completely gone.
Kernel also continued thinking, with his hand on his chin.
“…Then we can’t rest easy just yet.”
He gave Clearance instructions to look for Liebe, as the silver light of the 5D printer painted a trajectory. It was a silver tube, a radar system.
When Kernel realized it, Qualia spoke about their target.
“When Liebe’s ghost was hacked, Qualia learned the composition of the magic energy. Based on this information, Qualia created a radar system just for Liebe. From now on, it is possible to detect Liebe.”
“We, Clearance, will go after Liebe’s butt with those contact lens things you gave us.”
Said Kernel as he tapped his own eye that had a contact lens. But Qualia could not step down. He prioritized completing his task.
“That is wrong. Looking for Liebe is the number one task for Qualia in terms of priority. Once captured, Qualia will incapacitate him if necessary.
Request explanation, why do you deny Qualia’s participation in the search?”
“During the first battle with Liebe, the one with Ace, and capturing Ddos… We failed. And then there were the following encounters with Liebe, and the interference with his magic energy. Your body must be in tatters after all that. I would be dying from overwork, even if I had your age.”
“Qualia learned this body’s ‘exhaustion’ levels during the mock battles with Spirito.”
Kernel sighed, as if exasperated by a disobedient boy.
And without turning around, he pointed behind him with his thumb.
Ina was there, sitting on the ground with her eyes locked where Liebe disappeared, as she had been that whole time.
Qualia detected the ‘tasty’ that was emerging being swallowed by confusion, worry, and anxiety.
“Is that ‘creating tasty’ of yours something you only follow during battle? Of course not. In fact, a lot of it lies outside of battle.”
Kernel’s question was rhetorical from the start, and he continued.
“If you want to run around at full speed in that dream world of yours, you need to at the very least learn when a girl cries, and how to support her. Can people who obsess over work when a girl is crying really create smiles?”
“…”
As Kernel took out tobacco, and blew the smoke away from Qualia, Qualia finally told him his answer.
“Qualia will stand-by in this mansion until there is a reaction in the radar system.”
“Come quickly when that happens, or my knights will take the glory away from you.”
“Request that if you discover Liebe first, to not use offensive action as your first response.”
“People who are alive take priority. I can’t consider what happened in the past. When the time comes, we will fight.”
“That is correct, but request that you take it into consideration.”
“All right.”
“Uncle Kernel. Thank, you.”
“You’re welcome. And try to learn a few pickup lines already.”
After hearing Kernel’s response as he took the tobacco away from his mouth, Qualia went straight to Ina. He detected no values from her vacant expression.
All he could detect was sadness. Despite being unharmed, she seemed empty as if she was damaged.
“Ina, there are slight irregularities in your expression.”
“…”
“Strongly recommend that you rest… Error. Unforeseen error.”
But he noticed that what he said was wrong.
He input that Ina was exhausted, and recommended that she immediately take the action that repaired humans.
That causal relationship was supposedly correct, but an alert popped up in his mind.
Those were not the words to say. Something his programming could not explain put on the breaks.
“…M-Mister Qualia… I-I’m sorry, there’s just so much running around inside…”
“…”
As he saw Ina, trying to smooth things over despite the situation, he remembered the previous day.
He remembered himself, activating Project Return to Shutdown, and attempting to return to being a weapon.
“Analyzing situation…”
He analyzed.
What did Ina see then? How much blood was on him, and what was his face like?
How much worry did Ina show?
Qualia was now in the same position she was.
“Calcu… Lating… Opti… Mal… Solu…”
The awkwardness that showed its face when he tried to say words specific to humans appeared when he tried to output information as an artificial intelligence.
He could not calculate an optimal solution.
It was not something that could be categorized so coldly.
Something softly echoed in his brain that could not be displayed in ones and zeroes.
Qualia simply wanted to do it. He wanted to do it for her.
“…!?”
Ina let out a sound without thinking.
Awkwardly, but warmly, Qualia put his arms around her, and his face next to hers.
“Mister Qualia…?”
“It is judged that ‘your heart is dying’, so Qualia is repeating what was done to him the previous day. Detecting ba-dump ba-dump from your heart beat.”
An artificial intelligence did not reach the conclusion that this would heal her exhaustion, but Qualia hugged Ina even more strongly.
He detected the warmth of her body in his arms, through her maid outfit, and deepened the hug even more, as if sharing his warmth.
With his human body that was warmer than that of a machine, deeper, and deeper.
“…Request explanation. Is your heart being repaired?”
“…H-hum…”
“Request explanation. The methods to repair your heart are not registered with Qualia. An optimal solution cannot be calculated, so what should Qualia do to repair your heart… Qualia strongly wishes to repair…”
“It’s fine… It’s all right… It’s just… Just… I suddenly met my big brother again… But he hated everything, and I couldn’t do anything…! And I even said some terrible things… I…!”
Ina could not form words. Instead, she put her face on Qualia’s right shoulder, and her body trembled.
She was crying. Such big tears, that they were almost dry.
Qualia could tell without seeing, hearing, and if he was not an artificial intelligence.
“Higu… Guu… Uu…”
“…”
All he thought about was lending her his shoulder, not worrying about optimal solutions anymore.
Those tears should not stop. Ina finally met her brother, and time moved again. The tears that flowed along with what she felt in those three years could not stop.
Everyone was busily moving around them, but Ina kept crying. And Qualia lent her his shoulder until she stopped, as if time stood still.
All until she stopped.
After that, despite Clearance’s best efforts, Liebe could not be located.
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