Evolution of a Girl

"Oh." Tianyin nodded obediently, and her eyes were attracted to the maid robot next to her. "Grandpa, what happened to that robot?"

"After that..." the old man's tone was a little slow. "Fortunately, the core of the maid robot was preserved. And then... she lived a happy life, with the boy."

Tianyin was a little confused.

"Puppet Heart... is that so?"

Puppets also have hearts.

The girl felt that she seemed to understand. The old man's narration was obviously more vivid than Zhenhong's.

"Ah, class is about to start."

She slapped her forehead.

Only after she ran to the classroom in small steps did she breathe a sigh of relief.

However, Tianyin seemed absent-minded throughout the entire class. She had no interest in even the rhythmic gymnastics and ballet classes she had chosen. She spent the entire day thinking about puppets and people.

"Tianyin...Tianyin?"

"Woooa, what's going on, Aya?"

It was not until she was in the virtual world and Tianyin was called by Aye that she finally came to her senses.

"Hey, Tianyin, do you want to try it?" Aya looked at Tianyin with burning eyes.

"Try? What?"

"We were just discussing whether you want to learn swordsmanship." Tianyin looked so stupid that Yaye couldn't help but give her a slap on the head.

"Oh, okay!" The girl immediately became excited.

Movement in the virtual world is very convenient. Although the education network cannot access the outside world, it is actually quite convenient to do anything on the intranet.

After entering the virtual kendo hall, Aya prepared two katanas, which were scaled down in proportion to the size of the two girls and were styles that could not exist in the real world.

"Awesome." After holding the katana, Aya's entire temperament and feeling suddenly changed.

She waved her sword lightly a few times, as if lifting a heavy object with ease.

This is something that children cannot do in the real world, but in the virtual world, it is much more convenient.

"Your swordsmanship is truly amazing!"

"Yeah, yeah~" Aya smiled.

"Hmm..." Tianyin closed his eyes and thought for a while.

She gripped the hilt of the sword and took a deep breath.

Then, the long sword was unsheathed. The sharp contrast between the soft girl and the steel blade made Aya couldn't help but be surprised.

"Exactly the same..." Tianyin's movements were very standard, exactly the same as Aya's just now.

But the most important thing is not the action itself.

It seems that due to data errors, Tianyin's physical fitness is not reflected in the virtual world.

However, the temperament and momentum that Tianyin just displayed were astonishing.

When the blade swung down, Aya almost felt that she was going to be swallowed by the blade light.

"Tianyin!"

Aya cupped Tianyin's cheeks and said, "You might be a swordsmanship genius!"

"Oh." Tianyin nodded stupidly.

"Tianyin, you are a genius!" Yaye shook Tianyin's head.

“I know…” Tianyin felt a little uncomfortable because of Aya’s panic.

She was not surprised by this, because in her dreams, Tianyin would occasionally meet some strange people. Some of them exclaimed that she was a martial arts genius picked out of a million, while others said that she would definitely become a Psychic King in the future.

Unfortunately, Tianyin had only met many of those people once.

According to Lelouch's analysis, these people's spirits or their worlds are far away from Amane, and Amane's dream world is probably just a dream to them. In fact, there are not many people who can always meet with Shinku and Lelouch.

In fact, Tianyin also missed the monk who had talked to her about Buddhism before. He sighed and said that a foreign monk wanted to seize her family's martial arts. She didn't know what happened to him. Unfortunately, the monk never appeared in her dreams since then.

"No, no, no, you don't know!" Aya shook her head. "You are not an ordinary person, Tianyin. I have been fascinated by you just now!"

"Let me go!"

Although it was a virtual world, Tianyin still felt a little uncomfortable being hugged by Aye.

"I'm serious." Aya finally calmed down.

"Eh?"

"Swordsmanship training is divided into physical and spiritual aspects. The application of prosthetic technology has made physical training less important, but robots cannot understand the human ghost. Therefore, compared to the body, the spiritual realm is more important - this is what my sister said. And Tianyin, you just looked amazing!"

“…” Tianyin looked at the serious Aya, and then finally spoke.

“Are there enough members?”

Aya staggered and almost fell.

"Don't worry, Tianyin. I will definitely find enough members!"

The girl's eyes were burning.

After saying this, Aya placed her hands on Tianyin's shoulders again.

"Tianyin, you should also think about what kind of person you want to be in the future. Swordsmanship is actually a great choice."

Chapter 9: Not Yet the Son of God of Skylark

“What kind of person should I become…”

After taking off the VR helmet, Tianyin was still thinking about what Aye had said.

Yeah, what kind of person will I become?

The girl had never thought about this problem before.

Then, Tianyin, already overwhelmed by the questions, felt dizzy. Even though she had a strong learning ability, she was still just a child. These questions about philosophy and human nature had already left the girl in a state of confusion.

With a head full of questions, Tianyin returned home.

But strangely, Tianyin learned from the maid robot that Yikui had already left.

This relieved her.

Although Yikui asked the maid robot to prepare dinner for Tianyin, Tianyin did not dare to eat it. Instead, he sat alone in the restaurant, anxiously waiting for Yikui to come home and prepare to apologize to him.

"...Um, I fell asleep?"

However, Tianyin did not wait for Yikui, but entered a dream herself.

Brother Lelouch is not here, only Shinku is here.

The dream was Amane's dream, but the dream seemed to continue when Amane was not around. Amane didn't understand why, but Lelouch was trying to figure out what was going on.

"You look troubled. Haven't you apologized yet?" Zhenhong noticed Tianyin's distressed face.

"Well, Dad wasn't home. I was waiting for him, and then I fell asleep..." Tianyin shook her head.

"Is that so..." Zhenhong didn't say anything, but continued reading.

Tianyin, on the other hand, kept looking at Zhenhong.

Perhaps because she was constantly being watched by such gazes, Shinku felt a little uncomfortable. She didn't care about the gazes, but Tianyin's gaze was too strong. "What's wrong?"

"What do you want to be in the future, Sister Zhenhong?" Tianyin asked curiously.

"Me? You're actually asking a puppet questions about the future? You're such an idiot." Shinku sighed.

"Hmm? Eh? Ah..."

Yes, Sister Zhenhong is actually a doll...

"But Rozen Maiden's goal... is to become 'Alice'," said Shinku.

"Alice?" Tianyin was confused.

"Well... the only pure and flawless perfect girl."

"Can I become Alice?" Tianyin asked curiously.

"I'm sorry, but you're not Rozen Maiden, so it's impossible." Shinku seemed reluctant to talk about this topic, "Humans can't become dolls."

Zhenhong's voice gradually faded.

When Tian Yin woke up, she found herself still in the living room, with a haori draped behind her.

Tianyin looked around and saw that Yikui had returned and was now in the corridor outside, with a Yinwu puppet next to him that was being adjusted.

She stood up and walked out.

It was now night, and it was completely pitch black outside.

"Dad, I'm sorry, I realize I was wrong." Tianyin admitted her mistake to Yikui.

Yikui turned his head to look at Tianyin, then touched her head and smiled.

Tianyin breathed a sigh of relief.

Because it means that Dad has forgiven himself.

Yikui put a paper report into his pocket without leaving a trace, then looked towards the courtyard outside, seemingly in a trance.

Tianyin also followed Yikui's example and sat in the corridor.

"I understand. Even if it is a puppet, even if it is a doll, it has a heart and a soul." Tianyin looked at the Yinwu puppet that had not yet been assembled.

However, Yikui touched the face of the Otono puppet and spoke softly, "A truly beautiful puppet has no soul."

"Eh……?"

What her father said was completely different from what Shinku said. It was also different from what the old man said.

The different concepts confused Tianyin's mind.

"The puppet... is like a corpse lingering on the brink of life and death, with its eyes open." There was infinite tenderness in Yikui's eyes as he stared at the Yinwu puppet in front of him.

"In terms of the beauty of posture and movement, even the existence itself of humans is not half as good as that of puppets."

"So, puppets are beings that transcend humans?"

Tianyin felt that she seemed to understand her father's words a little.

Shinku said that dolls have souls, the old man said that puppets have minds, and her father told her that they are things beyond humans.

The words spoken by the three are not exactly the same.

However, the existence of something that all three refer to is the same. However, what his father saw seemed to be more than just a doll.

Tianyin didn't know how to describe it. She thought of what Zhenhong had just said, "Alice." That one, pure, innocent, perfect being.

The young girl could only vaguely realize that the righteous puppet seemed to refer to an existence similar to "Alice", but it seemed to be an existence of some higher dimension.

...It's like looking at three-dimensional life from a four-dimensional perspective.

"Humanity's cognitive limitations lead to an incomplete reality," Yikui continued. "And this completeness can only be achieved through beings without consciousness, or possessing infinite consciousness—in other words, through puppets and gods."

"No, there is a being that rivals both puppets and gods. Shelley's skylark exudes a deep unconscious joy. Creatures with overly self-awareness like us are incapable of feeling it. For the descendants of those who gluttonously devoured the Fruit of Knowledge, this is even more difficult than becoming a god."

“Humans pursue their own perfection, but they have no choice but to leave their mark on the world, to tell the world, ‘We exist’… or, ‘We existed.’” Tianyin thought of the older sister named Ayanami who had come to her dream and was as gentle as her mother.

Yikui seemed a little surprised.

He chuckled. "Yes, humans can't become gods, much less skylarks, so they can only pretend to be dead as puppets, pretending to be alive. But living puppets transcend death and continue to survive."

At this moment, Tianyin understood.

The young girl already understood at this time.

It is not an understanding in terms of reason, but an empathy that comes from the depths of the soul.

My father does not understand the world from a human perspective.

He does not even understand the world as a creature, as a being.

He is standing on a level that exists beyond the boundaries of the world yet does not exist, and is searching for the truth from a higher dimension.