Watching the movie! It brought a small shock to the heavens!

"This is just a rhetorical device."

"No, what should I do...?"

"I don't understand it myself."

Rick paused, his hand that had been playing with Shubi's hair. He himself was starting to feel uneasy.

"Rick... let's play a game..."

【"Um?"】

To Rick's slightly surprised gaze, Shubi pulled out a chess set that she had brought with her sometime earlier.

In the world of Hikaru no Go, He Jiajia exclaimed, "Wow, this little girl is quite the go addict!"

【“…”】

"...Don't bring that kind of thing here."

Rick said helplessly.

"...Rick...smiled...he only smiled at that moment..."

[Hubi stared blankly at the chessboard and said...]

"So... let's play a game~"

[His pitiful eyes, with a slight, coquettish frown, left Rick completely stunned.]

If it weren't for my eyes still clearly seeing the other party's mechanical arm, and the intricate and complex parts I could glimpse through the gaps in the arm...

【despite this……】

Riku still had the illusion that the other person was a living, breathing human being...

By the time he realized what was happening, Huggies had already begun setting up the pieces for both sides.

"...Shuby wants to know...Richard's [heart]...but..."

[Hubi paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately.]

"...Shubi...doesn't want to hurt Riku..."

"What should I do... I don't know..."

[Hubi lowered her head, her tone uneasy, her mood dejected and sad...]

Suddenly, Riku sensed something was off about Shubi's words. Was this really something a mecha should say?

[The Machine Race, a species synonymous with rationality, seems to be speaking with... a lot of emotion?]

"Why don't you want to hurt me? If you want to go back to [the Link]."

"Aren't there other ways to understand [the heart] besides relentlessly pursuing me?"

[And compared to this, why myself?]

"Rick... is correct..."

"But Shubi... doesn't want to hurt Riku..."

【"Why?"】

After arranging the chess pieces, Hugh looked at Rick, unsure of her own feelings.

"W-Are you asking me something like this?"

Rick couldn't understand it either. They were so firm at the beginning, but now they're acting like this...

[“[Answer alternatives], list.”]

A machine on Shubi's head was spinning rapidly, seemingly processing some extremely computationally intensive problem.

Chapter 400 I think... Rick really wants it...

[Although it seemed like she was asking for Riku's answer, Shubi continued talking on her own.]

"[The link] is fine no matter what."

"Meaningless, irrelevant, refuse synchronization, parsing priority."

"To understand Rick's heart, all you need is Rick being there."

【"[Error!][Contradiction!][Violation!][Contradiction!]..."】

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop it now!"

Steam kept rising from Shubi's head, as if she had entered a logical loop. Riku panicked at the sight.

In the world of Corpse Brother, Bai Xiaofei exclaimed, "Well, the CPU is practically smoking! Is this the legendary 'Steam Girl'?"

In the world of To Love-Ru, Risa Momioka: "Ha~ This is a confession, right? It must be a confession~"

In the Honkai Impact 3rd Railway world, Screw Gum says: "There are many ways to make the mind of an android possess emotions, but the bond of emotion is often the most precious one."

A few seconds later, with Rick's help, Shubi seemed to snap out of her logical fallacy, staring blankly at Rick, who seemed to be looking at her with concern.

[Perhaps it was because the water was too hot, but two blushes appeared on the face of the mimicking Hugh.]

"The conclusion seems to be... I don't want to go back."

【"like?"】

Rick was stunned. Could these really be words a machine could utter?

"...Unable to determine...based on...but...it seems that way."

[Shubi tilted her head slightly, her bright, watery eyes looking at Rick.]

She was equally surprised by her own changes, and it all started after she met Rick...

"It seems like it again?"

Rick smiled, but now was not the time to think about such things.

"That's a really ambiguous way of putting it."

Gently straighten Shubi's body and continue washing her hair.

"Soldiers, advance two spaces."

"At least let me go first."

Seeing that Shubi had already started playing chess as if no one else was around, Riku gave a wry smile.

"It's Rick's turn."

"I'm still drying your hair, that's not fair."

"Seriously, why does she have to keep her hair so long?"

After showering for so long, Rick felt quite tired; his head felt like it was being steamed by the bathroom heat.

"If short hair looks better... should I cut it?"

"No, you don't need to cut it."

[Feeling the texture of the hair in his hands, the stiff material seemed to tell Rick that 'Shubi' was a Machine Race.]

[Like many others, it is a terrifying being that has trampled upon humanity countless times and can kill humans unconsciously.]

Don't let your guard down around her!

Reason is crying out like this.

However, for some reason, this 'Shubi,' who even cares about the length of his hair because of a casual remark he made, can no longer be compared to anything else.

Thinking this, Rick couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Heh~ You're really hard to understand."

[My wariness seems to have faded without me even realizing it...]

Meanwhile, on the other side.

After sending the two away, Chlorne returned to Rick's room.

Some subtle differences from usual, and the sense of unease she felt, prompted her to investigate.

[Rick's kunai was still stuck in the ground; this was a rare oversight on the other side...]

Beside the kunai, a strand of purple hair lay broken on the ground.

【"Clang..."】

[When pulled forcefully to both sides, the hair, which should have been soft, became as hard as steel wire...]

In the world of Yuanlong, Gao Yao said, "Oh dear, it seems that Shubi's identity has been discovered. Will they demand that Riku hand over Shubi's assets under Chronie's leadership?"

"Quickly, take my brother away from the world!" Shi Miao: "No way?? And then it's just Rick being unwilling, being expelled, and the story of him and Shubi going on a journey together?"

In the world of Once Upon a Time There Was a Spirit Sword Mountain, Wang Lu said, "You're overthinking it. Kloni is obviously covering for Rick. Putting aside the fact that she's spent five years with Rick, even the Rick we've known since the beginning isn't the kind of guy who would forcibly take a refugee girl into his room."

In the world of Detective Conan, Heiji Hattori said, "Emm, if we're talking about suspicion, I should have started to have suspicions when we first met. Back then, Kloni was holding Shiro. The body of a human and a machine would feel very different, right?"

"At most, this is just a verification process."

【one year later……】

To facilitate observation of the outside world, humans carved a passageway above the cave to allow for outward exploration.

Rick was currently inside this passage, studying the map in his hands...

"Rick..."

A familiar, timid voice came from above. Rick looked up and saw Shubi standing in front of him, handing him a piece of paper.

"The design drawings for the small telescope... are out..."

As Hughie spoke, a rather large observation device stood beside them, which looked like a 'large' telescope that had been used before the smaller ones were deployed.

"Again? I've never won a game of chess."

Despite saying that, Rick still took it and began to examine it carefully. After all, it was something essential for human survival, and since the other party had already designed it, it couldn't be wasted.

Over the course of the year, the settlement developed even more smoothly than Rick had anticipated, and this was largely thanks to 'Shubi'.

Even though she wasn't asked, she proactively helped with the calculations and design. Thanks to her help, the accuracy of the measurement and reconnaissance methods improved significantly.

The frequency of field investigations has decreased sharply, no new casualties have occurred, and there is even a certain amount of surplus food production capacity thanks to the advancement of food technology!

"I think... Rick really wants it..."

"Hubi said."

[“Is that so?”]

For Rick, the changes in Shubi over the past year were the most noticeable; he used vague words like "feeling," "seemingly," and "should" to describe them.

[Or perhaps there are other details, but in any case, Riku just feels that Shubi is becoming more and more like a person... Does this mean that the analysis of [heart] is progressing smoothly?]

Seeing that Rick had accepted the package, Shubi looked down at the map that Rick had been studying.

"Is this where you met Rick?"

"Hmm, that spot looks a bit off, so I'm a little bothered by it."

"But the distance is too far; humans can't go there many times on foot."

Rick scratched his head in frustration, but the settlement was clearly much better now; he was just thinking about it out of boredom.

[If we were to actually go and explore, it might lead to more innocent casualties.]

Chapter 401 A Life That Fragile to the Brush

Shubi stared blankly at Rick, then blinked.

[Then the scene changes.]

【"ah!"】

A year later, Rick fell into the same field of flowers again.

【"arrive."】