Being a responsive navigation AI, Navi didn’t have a body. She was a shapeless AI that existed only on the network, as part of NiaLand’s internal systems. That meant she had no animations, no physical recreations. A proposal had been floated about making an avatar for her, but Navi refused to implement it. Her reasoning was that she was nothing more than a navigation AI that adjusted the park environment, and the real stars of the show were the cast members and the visitors to the park. She didn’t want to upset that balance.
Navi might have been frank and overbearing, but Vivy saw her in a positive light because of that decision. It also resulted in a collectively increased level of trust toward Navi from the other AI cast members.
“It was probably a mistake to not let them make me an avatar back then. If only I had a frame I could actually move around—”
“Then the enemy could have just torn you apart. It was correct not to get a frame.”
“You are so emotionless. Frigid! Just like you’ve always been,” Navi whined, her normal attitude slipping through.
Vivy meant every word, though. She’d met Diva in the Princess Palace, and her frame was far more powerful than even Vivy’s strengthened frame. Diva’s combat programming was strong enough that she held her ground in a fight against Kakitani. If the two faced off, Vivy didn’t even know how she would win against Diva.
Even if Navi had gotten an avatar frame, it would have been destroyed before she could make a move. And if that happened, she wouldn’t have been able to contact Vivy and get her to come back to NiaLand. Kingdom would have one more person there for protection, which would be better than the current situation, but…
“Nothing comes out of an AI listing what-ifs and if-onlys,” Vivy said.
“What are you on about?”
“It’s something my friend—I mean, an AI who was with me—said. I feel an irritated emotional pattern saying it, but it’s good advice.”
An AI could utilize their calculative abilities to compare two options and determine their probabilities of success, but it wasn’t as simple as selecting the option that had the higher probability. Which one to choose? That was the same problem The Archive had brought to the AIs with its question.
“Why’d you contact me, Navi?”
“I saw you in the park. Well, the you who isn’t you. I tried to talk to her, but she ignored me, which ticked me off. Then I saw you fighting the other you in the Princess Palace. Then both of you disappeared…”
“Oh, so you watched that fight?”
“Hey, why didn’t you contact me?”
Navi had seen everything, including the encounter with Diva in the Princess Palace and the ensuing fight against Matsumoto, because she had eyes on the entire park. Vivy accepted this as fact, but she had a hard time answering Navi’s question.
Why hadn’t she contacted Navi? What was the reason she had never even considered reaching out to her even though they were in NiaLand and relying on its systems?
“Did you think I was like the other AIs and I was going to hurt the guests?”
“I—!”
Those unexpected words stopped Vivy in her tracks as she was running down the park roads. The fact that she couldn’t immediately deny it meant her own calculations weren’t certain. Navi had known Vivy for so long, she saw right through her.
“I’m not angry or anything,” Navi said. “There are constant reports about what’s going on outside the park. It’s not weird at all that you wouldn’t be sure. Totally normal. Totally.”
“Wait, Navi. I wasn’t suspicious of you, I just—”
Navi cut off Vivy’s attempt at defending herself with another question. “Diva, was that really you singing in front of the AIs in that video?”
Vivy was overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. An air monitor appeared, made by Navi, that showed AIs marching as one in neat rows. It wasn’t a live video. It was a recording, the same one Toak had shown Vivy in their hideout. On the screen, Diva stirred up the AIs as they all sang “Fluorite Eye’s Song” in unison.
“Is this video of you?” Navi asked.
“No, it’s not. It was the other me—”
“Yeah, the other you. Good for her, walking around town with all those AIs in tow.”
“Navi?”
Vivy wondered what was with the sarcasm in Navi’s voice, but the video on the air monitor changed rapidly: Diva rallying the AIs, AIs ravaging the city, AIs turning on humanity. They were the same horrific images Vivy had seen over and over after waking up in this era.
“I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all,” Navi said. “I just don’t understand what you’re thinking or why you’d start something like this. Of course I wouldn’t. I mean, it’s not like you’ve told me anything.”
“…”
“You never once tried to explain the situation.”
Vivy felt something horribly sad in Navi’s quiet accusations. There was a hint of resentment in her voice, maybe a little bit of sobbing. As Vivy listened closely to Navi’s perplexing words, she could tell that Navi actually knew a tiny bit about Vivy’s situation. She might have found out in the trouble that occurred a few hours earlier when Vivy last visited NiaLand.
Or maybe she got the information from somewhere else entirely. Maybe—
“She’s here,” Navi said firmly, and Vivy stopped running.
In front of her was NiaLand’s underground facility. This was the entrance to the area that housed the park’s important equipment…such as everything in its server room, for one. This place could also be called the core of NiaLand, albeit for different reasons than the security room. Vivy hadn’t had much reason to visit before.
“Diva’s in there?” Vivy asked.
“Don’t make me repeat myself. You’re Diva. The fake you is in there.” Navi clearly enunciated the word “fake,” and Vivy closed her eyes.
She felt wrong calling that Diva fake. Vivy tried to leave the role of songstress in Diva’s hands, so it was more appropriate to call Vivy the fake. She’d stepped away from her original mission and established herself as a new personality to carry out the Singularity Project. She was supposed to fade away once she played her part. She was unnecessary.
Noticing Vivy had gone quiet, Navi prompted, “You’re not coming in?”
“I’m coming,” Vivy replied, striding up to the entrance.
The automatic door slid open with a whoosh and cool, refreshing air came flowing out. The entire area was kept at lower temps because the server room was built into it. Vivy advanced slowly through the door, surrounded by the misty air. Her shoes clicked on the floor as she entered and was greeted by the drab maintenance corridor. NiaLand might have been a space that promoted hopes and dreams, but that didn’t mean reality was completely hidden, even in its backyard. This simple space devoid of all fun was one such example.
“Navi, where is—”
“She’s not in here.”
Navi cut her off, and then Vivy heard the sound of the door sliding shut behind her. There was a heavy, hard thud as the door closed completely, sealing the underground area off from the outside world. Vivy spun around and put her hands on the door, but it wouldn’t budge; it was locked. She didn’t even need to ask who did it. “Navi!” she cried into the dark air.
“Just go along with it, Diva. If you’re here…I can make sure no one touches you,” said Navi coolly. Vivy’s eyes opened wide, and when Navi spoke next, it was in a kind, gentle tone Vivy had never heard from her before. “Even if everything gets destroyed up above, you won’t get hurt down here. Just be good and do exactly as I say, ‘Vivy.’”
That was the same thing she used to say to Vivy right before she went onstage.
. : 3 : .
“YOU REALLY ARE an incredible AI, Matsumoto.”
“Normally, I would gratefully accept such praise, but it sounds a bit like you’re patting yourself on the back when you say that. Creates an odd disconnect.”