This is not the date I wanted.

"Mengyue, please forgive me——————!! QAQ"

On the third day in the computer world, another dark item was added to Shido Gokawa's unbearable history.

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20 The Thrill of Artificial Intelligence

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"Ah... I'm finally home."

Shidou returned to his home with a pale face and sighed with unprecedented fatigue.

Along the way, Mengyue was completely immersed in her own world, reciting Shizhi's lines in the street. Although Shidao thought it was rare to see Mengyue express her happiness so frankly, the stimulation to his heart along the way was really terrible.

"Well, what about Shou?"

After taking a quick look around, Shidao suddenly realized that Maria, who usually watched him from an inconspicuous corner, had disappeared without a trace.

Come to think of it, the black Orumi that I found at noon and the white Maria are probably not the same person...

"What's wrong Shidou? You look worried?"

At this time, Mengyue, who had come to her senses, saw Shidao's expression and asked in confusion.

"Mengyue, do you know where Ju Ya is?"

"Juya? I don't know, but she's not in the room right now."

Meng Yue shrugged and replied.

"By the way, didn't you run off to look for her at noon? How come you didn't know where she went?"

"Um... I'd say I found it. It feels a little bit subtle. It feels a little different from what I felt with Maria."

Shidou scratched his cheek and smiled bitterly. He did meet the black Kazuma on the rooftop. Although they looked almost the same, their personality and behavior were very different from Maria's.

"…Finding someone can be described as subtle. Shidou, you are strong enough."

Meng Yue raised her eyebrows slightly, and probably guessed that Shidao was most likely meeting Juna.

"Ha ha……"

Shidou smiled awkwardly.

Meng Yue didn't say much. She put her hand on her nose and tapped it gently. After a moment's silence, she spoke.

"Maria... huh? On the school rooftop. The location hasn't moved much, is it because the school work is not finished yet?"

"Hmm? Mengyue, how do you know Ju Ya's location?"

Shidou looked at Mengyue with a puzzled look.

"Well... I used a little trick. It's nothing to worry about."

Meng Yue waved her hand and passed it off, then asked Shidao,

"But is it okay to leave Maria like this? Dinner will be ready in a little while."

"That's true...it's getting dark soon."

The setting sun gradually sinks to the west. Although this is a computer world, the evening sunlight shines with soft colors just like in reality.

It will be dark soon, and letting Ju Ya come back alone by then... I'm still a little worried.

"I'll go get Juya back."

"I knew you would say that... Never mind, I'll go with you."

Mengyue sighed helplessly, put on her shoes again and prepared to go out.

——————————————————I am the dividing line to school——————————————————————————————————--

"Come to think of it... This seems to be the first time that Meng Yue and I walked to school together."

After hearing what Shidao said, Mengyue also said with a little emotion.

"Yes, normally when you were in school, Shidou, you were enjoying the harem and Shura field of Tohka, Origami, Yakuya, and Yui, while at the same time you were experiencing the murderous intentions of your classmates to cut you into pieces. In a sense, you really had a hard time."

"Mengyue, it's great that you can understand me!"

"By the way, I am also included in the general scope of that classmate from the same school."

"Give me back the feeling I just had!"

"Well~ Just a joke."

As if she felt very happy teasing Shidou, Mengyue showed a cheerful smile on her face.

Really... Shidou couldn't help but let out a helpless smile.

However, I felt a lot more relieved unexpectedly.

Unlike the accelerated heartbeat and nervousness I would feel when I was with other elves, when I was with Mengyue, I felt more at ease and relaxed.

"I always feel happy to be evaluated like this, but I also feel a little unwilling..."

"Pfft! Meng, Mengyue, please stop trying to guess what I'm thinking, okay?! I'm embarrassed."

"I can't help it. You are so innocent that your thoughts are written all over your face. It's hard to pretend that I don't understand."

Mengyue waved her hands helplessly.

"Well……"

Just when Shidao was slightly defensive and wanted to put on a poker face, Mengyue shook her head helplessly and asked Shidao.

"Huh? Are you worried about Ju Ya again?"

"...That's true. I guess I need to find some books on how to hide my feelings.

Seeing that Meng Yue had discovered his thoughts so easily, Shidou smiled bitterly, relaxed his shoulders, and said with some concern.

"I've been worried about whether I can give the answer that Maria wants.

"Well... as the person in charge of a project, I understand that I sometimes worry about failure due to my own mistakes."

Mengyue nodded in understanding, then patted Shidao on the shoulder with a confident smile on her face.

"But Shidou's words will surely succeed."

"Meng Yue really has enough confidence in me... It's a bit unexpected."

"Well, I'm different from Shidou who always speaks with unfounded confidence. I have solid reasons for what I say."

Shidao felt that he was being casually belittled while being encouraged, and his expression was slightly complicated.

"First, unlike the common sense data program, Maria already has a thinking mode comparable to that of humans. From the situation in the past few days, the growth of that child, especially in terms of emotions, is very obvious. Shidou can also see this."

Yes...indeed. Shidao recalled the experiences of the past few days. In just three days, Maria had indeed undergone quite obvious changes, which made Shidao nod in favor of Meng Yue's statement.

"The second point is that Shidou is very real and treats Maria like a girl."

Although in this electronic world, Oramori, who has administrator authority, would not be in danger even if a nuclear weapon exploded, Gokawa Shido would still worry about looking for him because he sincerely felt it was unsafe on the roads at night, which is a funny question.

This is where Shidao is naive, but in Mengyue's opinion, it is also cute.

Instead of treating her as the manager of the world, nor as an enemy who trapped him in the computer world, Gokawa Shido treated Maria completely as a real girl.

It is because of this that Shidao can gain everyone's trust.

"Really... Shidou is really a sinful man..."

Meng Yue couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Hmm? Meng Yue, did you say anything?"

"Nothing~ Then, one last point."

After fooling around with a light-hearted tone, Mengyue looked into Shidao's eyes with a smile on her face.

"Shidou is not alone."

Mengyue herself once said that love is a kind of reliance, not a one-sided contribution, but a mutual request and mutual contribution. Although a little shy, Mengyue has always insisted on her own ideas.

If you are searching for the answer by yourself, you may often get stuck in a dead end, but if you have another person by your side, even if you take the wrong path, the other person can point it out and correct you.

"Tohka, Origami, Shido, Shido, Yakuya, Yui, Kurumi, Miku, and me. None of you are trapped in this world because of Shido. Instead, you decided to come here because you want to help Shido. So, I'm not just saying this because I have confidence in Shido, but because you are here, I will definitely succeed."

After hearing Mengyue's answer, Shidao suddenly realized and couldn't help scratching his head in shame.

"You're right. I really asked a meaningless question. I will definitely make Orushou understand what love is." Taking a slow breath, Shidao's eyes were full of confidence again. "Thank you Mengyue."

"You're welcome."

Mengyue smiled and shook her head.

During this time of chatting, Shidao and Mengyue had unknowingly walked to the school gate.

Suddenly, Mengyue quickened her pace, walked in front of Shidao, and stopped.

"Shidou, as a return gift for what I did just now, you also have to answer a question for me."

"what is the problem?"

Looking at the slowly setting sun, Meng Yue turned her back to Shidao and said in a slightly doubtful tone:

"If there are two sisters, the younger sister is close to you, but the older sister is hostile to you, and both of them are drowning in the river, and you can only save one. Who would you choose to save?"

Shidao couldn't help but ponder, Mengyue's question is somewhat similar to the famous psychological question of whether to save your girlfriend or mother first. But Mengyue obviously has a very obvious deviation in the setting of the relationship between sisters, enemies and friends, it's like the answer is directly stated in the question. I believe that no one will put their friends in danger for the sake of the enemy.

Although he was a little confused about why Mengyue asked such a question, Shidou could sense that Mengyue was confused about this and chose to rely on Shidou and asked for the answer.

Then, all Shidou has to do now is to answer his thoughts seriously.

"I will go save my sister. After all, the worst kind of person is one who lets his friends die without helping them."

"Well, indeed..."

It was a natural answer, but when Meng Yue heard Shidao's answer, she felt subtly depressed.

"Then, please Mengyue, go and save my sister."

"Eh?!"

"Because, even if she and I are in a hostile relationship, she is still the elder sister. If the elder sister drowned, the younger sister would definitely be very sad and cry non-stop. And I, who made a girl cry, am still the worst scumbag."

Under Mengyue's surprised gaze, Shidao shrugged helplessly.

If both options don't work, then we naturally have to look for a third option.

"The question didn't say that I was the only one there at the time. So suppose if it was now, we could only save one person each, and then two of us would go to save the elder sister and the younger sister respectively. Then wouldn't everyone be happy - pain, pain, pain!"

"The question is not for you to find loopholes. There is no such a thing as a perfect match. Do you underestimate reality, idiot?! If this answer is used in an exam, it will definitely get zero points."

Meng Yue pinched Shidao's face with her fingers and said with dissatisfaction.

"Well... even if I was wrong, there's no need to be like this."

Shidou touched his red face with a feeling of grievance.

"No, if it were in the current situation, I could give you full marks for this answer."

"Then why are you pinching me?!"

"Nonsense, a mere Shidou actually dares to play the game of first suppressing and then praising in front of me, this is the punishment~"

Just because of this? Shidao looked at Mengyue who turned around and walked into the school, feeling both amused and helpless.

————————————————————————I am the dividing line for reaching the rooftop————————————————

"Hey, Maria, you are here as expected."

"Shidou... found it."

On the rooftop of the school, after hearing Shidou's call, Maria nodded in response as if she knew Shidou would come.

"What are you doing here? Are you going to wait until dark to look at the stars again?"

Ju Ya shook his head.

"No, although that is one of the scheduled items...but today, I have something else I want to confirm."

"Something else?"