“This time, the attachment is the first draft of Chapter Two…..”
Clara was tapping away at her keyboard, while Nyx was using her tentacles to massage Clara’s shoulders, stiff from sitting for too long.
살
“If I did something wrong, please give me a chance to apologize to you in person.”
After finishing the email, Clara checked it from top to bottom once more, and, confirming there were no mistakes, finally pressed the enter key.
“Sent.”
Mm, Clara once again tried sending an email to Nangong Hope’s inbox.
Seeing her by chance at the Bamen subway station had made Clara happy, but she couldn’t help feeling puzzled as to why Nangong Hope didn’t seem to take care of herself.
The previous emails all showed as delivered. As an editor, Nangong Hope couldn’t possibly go a day at work without checking her inbox. So why had she received them but not replied?
“Sigh…..”
Nangong Hope was like a shooting star, illuminating Clara’s path for a fleeting moment. But just as Clara was about to follow that path forward, it suddenly went dark again.
“Why is this happening?”
[Should we investigate her address? Since we know her name, Nyx can cover for you and look up her address online. After all, we already know she’s in the Lanting area.]
[Although Nyx does not recommend this. Even if she’s not a hero, this kind of investigation would be an invasion of privacy…..]
“Then don’t suggest it!”
[How about making the comic more sincere? Let Miss Nangong see you in a new light.]
“Huh?”
Clara didn’t understand what Nyx meant.
[We could add some color.]
Co-color?!!
That Nyx—she was actually suggesting something so improper with a straight face?
“That’s not happening, Nyx.”
Her suggestion was as unreliable as always, but since it was well-intentioned, Clara could only patiently explain: “Um, no, even if web comics have looser restrictions, there’s still a clear line we can’t cross…”
[No, what Nyx means is…..]
“And besides, this is a story starring ‘Magical Girl Clara’. Don’t you think adding anything like that would just make my own position awkward?”
[Hold on a second.]
“Mm?”
[What Nyx means by adding color is to take the finalized first chapter and redo it in full color. That way, Miss Nangong can see your sincerity, and it will make the upcoming serialized work even more appealing. It’s a win-win.]
“……Huh?”
Th-then stop using such misleading wording!
Clara tidied up her art supplies on the table, switched off her lamp, yawned, and flopped back onto her bed, hiding her face against the pillow to cover her embarrassment before mumbling,
“If I’m going to investigate, I’ll wait until after the collaboration with the Sigma Hero, okay?”
The scent of her own hair filled her nose, but it was actually pretty pleasant.
Clara closed her eyes, recalling everything that had happened today.
“Nyx, why were you so quiet tonight?”
[Nyx was running routine self-maintenance at that time, and would not terminate it without necessity.]
“You’re lying again, aren’t you? Isn’t that maintenance usually scheduled for the middle of the night?”
Nyx fell silent, or perhaps, tacitly agreed.
Clara’s small hand slid beneath the covers, gently exploring her own body, eventually coming to rest on her lower abdomen.
It was as if she was searching for some kind of mark, her smooth fingernails lightly brushing her soft skin, tickling herself just a little.
“It’s… completely gone, huh?”
The wound left by Nyx’s driver bursting out had healed completely—there wasn’t even a scar left, as if this combat body was her true body now…..
“Speaking of which, that driver is still embedded in my body. Is that alright?”
[No need to worry.]
Almost as if to prove a point, the Nyx Driver appeared for the first time in a while, causing the blanket around Clara’s waist and hips to rise up into a small mound.
[Whether it’s the driver or your original body, all data is preserved just as it was before transformation. During this time, your combat body is your true flesh….. However, you should be careful—if you disengage the transformation or switch bodies while injured, the wounds will transfer between your original and combat bodies.]
“Is it useful for you to tell me this? You still won’t let me disengage the transformation…”
量
[Nyx must stress once again, it’s not that Nyx is unwilling to let you leave the combat body, it’s that Nyx truly cannot disengage it…]
1
“A malfunction, right? You’ve told me that a million times.”
Clara sighed, threw back the blanket and sat up, looking down…
The first thing she saw was her two fair, almost glowing thighs.
Then came the high-tech silver belt. On the front of the driver was a jet-black screen, displaying a smiling face in simulated LED emoticons.
Nyx could be kind of cute sometimes.
This driver was just as it had been the first time she pulled it out of the sewers, its screen still covered with a factory plastic film—Clara was suddenly struck with the urge to peel it off. That thing just had that kind of magic.
[Don’t touch.]
But Nyx manipulated a small tentacle to grab Clara’s wrist.
“How can you stand it?” Clara couldn’t help asking.
[If Nyx ever goes on the second-hand market, you could say it’s still ninety percent new.]
“You know how to joke now?”
Clara was amused and put her hand down, propping herself up on the bed.
Even though the Central City was getting colder as winter set in, the room had heating, so it wasn’t too bad…
“Nyx, we’ve been together for a long time now, haven’t we?”
Clara leaned back against the soft headboard, closing her eyes.
[Indeed.] □
“You’re connected to my central nervous system, linked to my brain, and you can even control my tentacles. You’ve seen all my secrets since I was a child, but I know nothing about you… Isn’t that unfair?”
Clara didn’t know what Nyx really was, only that she was a sentient AI. So far, she didn’t seem hostile.
But that was all Clara knew.
Even though they’d built up trust lately, and Clara was willing to believe in Nyx even without knowing her past, it was impossible not to feel a little uneasy.
Especially as Nyx became more and more human-like, it was hard for Clara to see her as just an AI. No matter how mechanical her tone, she felt like another person living inside Clara’s head.
[…..Nyx comes from the Yggdrasil Tech laboratories.]
“I’ve known that for a while.”
[However, Nyx is not a creation of Yggdrasil Tech.]
“Huh? Then you—”
Just as Clara was about to ask further, a tentacle suddenly yanked the blanket up over her stomach.
“…What’s going on?”
Clara opened her eyes and looked around.
[There’s someone outside the window.]
“Huh?”
Clara looked out, but saw nothing besides the building next door.
“We’re on the fourteenth floor, are you sure you’re not seeing things?”
[No mistake. She’s already flown away.]
“…..Who was it?”
Why did someone show up right when the Nyx Driver appeared?
[Magical Girl Kamui.]
“Ah?!”
Darn time traveling ai