Evolution of a Girl

"Instead of staying in that pitch-black place, this is a nice place to rest." That's what she had said before—but Tianyin had an inexplicable feeling that maybe Sister Zhenhong was just afraid of the dark...

"What does a puppet... feel like?" Tianyin thought of the puppets she saw before falling asleep. Those pairs of eyes seemed to be filled with some kind of strange power.

No, it’s not just the puppets before falling asleep. Tianyin is actually very curious about these puppets in the shrine and in the village.

It is probably because he was observing silently on a daily basis that he was able to disguise himself so perfectly in front of Kusanagi Motoko.

"Feeling?" Zhenhong was a little puzzled. "A puppet is a puppet... Well, is it related to the trouble you got into?"

Although he was always reading, Zhenhong never missed the conversations around him.

"Ah, because today I played a puppet and played a little prank..."

Tianyin recounted what happened this afternoon.

"Well... that's no wonder. Your behavior really makes puppeteers angry." Zhenhong put down the book and looked at Tianyin.

"Eh? Is that so?"

"That's right. Precisely because I was created by my father, I understand." Zhenhong reached out to Tianyin and gently patted her head. "Dolls, in fact, all have souls. Your father is angry not because you play the role of a puppet, but because you have no reverence for those puppets."

To ordinary people, this may seem strange.

However, as a puppet, Shinku could understand.

Because puppeteers put their heart and soul into the puppets they make.

"If someone pretends to be a 'Rose Doll', Father will probably be angry too."

Tianyin nodded in confusion.

She felt like she seemed to understand, but she didn't seem to quite understand it, or rather, she could understand the emotions but couldn't empathize with them.

"Because I am a Rose Doll, I can understand. You are a human, so it is normal that you don't understand." Zhenhong said, and opened the book again.

"Rose Doll... What would that feel like... If I became a Rose Doll, would you be able to understand... But that's unlikely." Tianyin muttered.

Zhenhong's hand stopped: "Well...it's not that there is no way."

"Really?!" Tianyin became happy.

"I guess so." Zhenhong is the existence that stays in the dream the longest. Tianyin only enters this world in dreams, but Zhenhong has been here for decades - this is caused by the different timelines of the worlds.

By the way, when Lelouch came to this world, he was about the same age as Amane is now, but Lelouch is now in junior high school, while Amane has only grown from a baby to the level of just starting school.

"I've discussed dreams with Lelouch before." Shinku didn't take it seriously. Tianyin could understand such intellectual content with just a little thought. In contrast, Tianyin was rather clumsy when it came to interpersonal relationships.

No, it wasn't clumsiness, but rather she wasn't looking at things from a human perspective, which was why it looked that way. Gathering her scattered thoughts, Shinku said, "I'll tell you when I have an idea."

"Yes, thank you, Sister Zhenhong!" Tianyin hugged Zhenhong excitedly.

"Okay, just remember that puppets have souls. That's all..."

Chapter 7: Things Far From Common Sense

That night, Kamishiro Yoshigumi was lying in bed.

The room was dark, but before his eyes, images appeared one after another. These images were all from the Puppet Village's cameras. The person on the screen was Tianyin.

At this time, he was watching the school's cameras - this is the right of parents.

The content on the screen is a physical education class. Tianyin in the classroom is not wearing a school uniform, but has changed into a gymnastics suit.

Although there is only one student, physical education courses are essential. Although we can communicate with others in the virtual world, outdoor activities should be done outdoors after all.

The material of the clothes is the same as that of the neural connection suit. This is not a requirement of the school, but Yikui asked Tianyin to wear it. The purpose is to facilitate the observation of Tianyin's muscles, bones and other physical characteristics.

"There wasn't even a twitch in the muscles, and there wasn't any change in the breathing..."

During strength training, her muscles didn't tremble at all.

"It's like a machine... No, it's above this..."

Even machines will have slight changes in their movements due to changes in the external environment. Even puppets cannot guarantee that their movements will remain 100% unchanged every time.

But Tianyin can.

Not a bit more, not a bit less.

She was able to perfectly and accurately repeat her previous movements - without any errors.

Even the distance of one micron or one nanometer is not wrong.

"What a pity...there is not much time left." Shendai Yikui sighed.

Tianyin is so perfect.

However, the time left for Shendai Yikui was short. It was impossible for him to complete this supreme treasure as he was suffering from electronic cerebral sclerosis.

"It's so similar."

The scene where Motoko and Amane meet appears on the screen.

Tianyin's face was expressionless, and her body was straight, as if she had really become a puppet. Seeing Tianyin like this, Shendai Yikui felt a surge of blood rushing to his brain.

"Unfortunately, she doesn't truly understand the puppet's heart."

Shendai Yikui sighed and immediately calmed down.

He was really angry before.

It wasn't because of Tianyin's prank, but because Tianyin didn't understand the puppet's true heart.

Of course, if we look at it from a normal person's perspective, this kind of emotion is difficult to understand.

However, Tianyin is not a normal person.

No, if it weren't for the DNA test showing that she was indeed human, Yikui would probably have identified Tianyin as another life form of a higher dimension without hesitation.

“…Could it be that Tianyin will become the same as those ordinary people in the future?!” Shendai Yikui cried out in his heart.

He felt fear and sadness.

When he thought that after his death, the originally perfect Tianyin would degenerate into a human, he felt indescribable horror.

——She should be perfect.

——She should be above everything.

For Kamishiro Yoshigumi, the only thing that can stand above humans is the puppet.

Tianyin is the Son of God, a being that transcends mortals. This is the pinnacle of her life, so she should also understand the ultimate meaning of death.

A product that combines the dual concepts of life and death should be the pinnacle of heavenly sound.

He wanted to train Tianyin to be the highest puppet, because that was the most perfect existence he could understand.

That was his answer to God and to himself.

“A lion living happily among antelopes will forget its sharp claws and fangs and become a domestic animal even lower than the antelope.”

The occurrence of such a thing is irresponsible to God, to oneself, and even more so to Tianyin.

"Some people are destined to be different. But... I don't have much time left... Ten years... Just give me ten years... Tianyin will become the most perfect puppet..."

He sighed and closed all the screens.

……

The next morning, Tianyin was awakened by a maid robot. When she arrived at the restaurant, Yikui had already started eating and did not wait for her at all.

"Dad..." She approached timidly.

"Otonashi 001, what's the problem?" Yikui asked.

"Dad is still angry..." Tianyin understood all at once.

She straightened her face and said in a calm tone, "Everything is fine, Master."

"Ah."

Yikui nodded and ignored Tianyin, as if the person in front of him was really just a robot.

After dinner, Yikui did not send Tianyin to school, but the maid robot went to school with Tianyin.

"call……"

After leaving home, Tianyin's stern "puppet face" finally collapsed.

Tianyin initially didn't understand why her father was angry.

After Zhenhong told Tianyin the reason, Tianyin vaguely found that she understood why her father was angry. However, she was confused because she could not empathize with him.

"Do puppets...all have souls?"

Tianyin looked at her maid robot.

This robot has been taking care of the Kamishiro family since Amane was born. However, it is still a low-level AI, and everything it does is just according to its own programming.

The maid robot escorted Tianyin to the school gate and then left to go home. Tianyin did not enter the school, but followed the maid robot.

If it were her father, he would have given Tianyin a slap on the head and told her to go to class properly.

But after completing its mission, the maid robot no longer cared about the matter, even though Tianyin left the school again.

"Do they really have souls?" Tianyin tilted her head, very confused.

She gave up following the maid robot and wandered aimlessly in the Puppet Village.

I left home a little early today, so I still have plenty of time.

After walking for a while, Tianyin saw a house.

An old man is wiping a maid robot.

This robot is a very old model, and the simulated human skin covering the outside has fallen off.

However, the old man was carefully wiping the robot and carefully putting on the kimono for her.

"Good morning, Grandpa Tanaka." Tianyin walked over.

"Ah, it's Tianyin-chan." The old man turned his head at the sound. He walked over with a smile and patted Tianyin on the head. "Are you ready to go to class?"

"Yeah!" Tianyin nodded obediently.

"Good boy. Wait a moment..." The old man went into the house and then came out again with a handful of candy in his hand. "Here, grandpa's candy."

"Thank you, Grandpa!" Tianyin happily took the candy, and then looked at the robot over there.

"Is that maid robot broken?" Tianyin asked curiously.

"..." The old man turned his head and looked at the maid robot in silence. His voice was a little low, "She is resting."

"Grandpa, do you like her?" Tianyin noticed that when the other party mentioned the maid doll, his tone seemed to be a little different, gentle and full of emotion.

The old man did not answer directly, but told a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy. His parents were very busy, so they bought a maid robot to take care of his life. The boy and the maid robot depended on each other for survival."

"However, the boy didn't like the robot. He hated his busy parents, and this robot was his outlet. The boy treated her as an emotionless robot, beating her, scolding her, and destroying her. However, the maid robot still took care of the boy..."

The old man calmly recounted this past event, which was not sure if it was a story or a disguised story...

Chapter 8 Puppet Heart

"Actually, in the beginning, the boy didn't treat the maid robot like this."

"The maid robot is an old model, with low AI and no emotions. Even the boy's gentle words will never be responded to. Love that is not reciprocated becomes cruelty."

"But even so, the boy and the maid robot continued to live together. Until... the World War."

"The boy lost both his parents. With nothing left, he had only this maid robot. Perhaps the boy himself didn't realize how much he loved this maid robot, whom he thought he hated so much."

"Until an air raid."

"Originally, this maid robot, with its low AI, was a puppet, merely following orders. She was supposed to have no self. As the bomb dropped, the boy's mind raced through his life. He thought, 'Ahhh, this is where my life will end. My life is worthless, dying alongside this emotionless maid robot.' But even so, my worthless life will end here."

“But it didn’t.”

"When the boy woke up, he wasn't even hurt. Just as the bomb was about to explode, the maid robot, considered a low-level AI, pressed him under a bunker—and the boy never gave her any orders."

"And it was at that moment that the boy understood that even puppets have hearts."

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry, I just told you a boring story." The old man laughed and waved at Tianyin, "Okay, Tianyin-chan, it's time for you to go to class."