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Most girls Kanna’s age would be excited about having their own spending money, or going to buy something they’ve been saving up for for so long. It was just something natural, and in normal circumstances, Kanna would be happy too.
But these weren’t normal circumstances, and Kanna’s heart trembled upon entering the darkened Prize Corner, her wallet jingling with tokens.
Stepping in through the doorway, she decided to get her “money” ready. As she took each shiny, mystifying coin out of her wallet, she was amazed at how she even managed to get them. Kanna got 25 from Sou himself, for “good behavior” while helping him with the laptop, 15 from Q-Taro, who seemed to have a surplus of everyone’s, and 10 from Alice, who scared Kanna out of her wits, but seemed to be willing to get Sou’s “dirty tokens” out of his hands. Even then, with all these rewards, it felt like Kanna had just pulled a nasty trick on someone who trusted her. Sou was so particular about who he gave his tokens to, how many to each, and how much he would have left. He could just be a stingy person, Kanna assumed at first, but as the game continued, she began to wonder how much Sou had to hide.
The guilt in her stomach only emmassed, thinking about how Sou would never have expected Kanna to do the one thing he was trying to avoid. He seemed to trust Kanna, pulling her into his schemes and having "strategy meetings" late into the night, but it was almost like there was something more to him. Something else that Sou was hiding. Kanna knew that Sou cared for her, somewhat, always asking her if she was okay after a confrontation with Sara or Keiji, or letting her borrow his scarf to sleep with like a blankie. It just made him more of an enigma. Why was Kanna special? Why did she get to see the rare moments where Sou’s eyes would begin to water as he slept, or when he peeled a mask off to reveal genuine moments of kindness? It was all too confusing for Kanna’s feeble mind.
That’s why… Kanna needed to do this. She needed answers. She marched up to the counter and faced the scary man with the mustache.
“K-Kanna wants Sou’s personal information!” She loudly whispered, holding out her hand full of tokens. The man looked at the picture showing Sou’s face, before seeming to be in thought for a moment. Kanna retracted the hand, wondering what the problem could be.
“I apologize, miss Kanna, but Sou Hiyori's AI is out of commission.” he flatly stated after a couple seconds. Kanna froze.
“The smashed monitor was his…? No…” Kanna wrapped her arms around her shoulders, thinking about how scary it had been when Sou was missing and the only clue was a broken monitor.
Any other person would immediately see this as suspicious, or have their worries confirmed that Sou was trying to hide something, but Kanna was not one of those people. She just stared down at her palm and looked at her wasted efforts, all for nothing because Sou was smarter, faster than her.
“However…” Kanna picked her head up as the Receptionist Doll began to speak. “We have a spare.”
“A spare AI?” she jumped. Maybe her luck was beginning to turn!
“Yes.” Gashu clenched his hands together at his waist again. “If you give me the tokens now, I can have that monitor delivered to your dorm room by this evening.”
“Yes! Thank you so much, Mr. Receptionist!” Kanna smiled and gently placed all of the coins onto the counter. The man quickly counted them up and slid them into a bin underneath. As Kanna began to leave, hopeful in that her transaction was secure, she heard the man sigh and mutter something from behind her.
“Hmph... Negotiating with that lunatic…” he mumbled, voice seemingly getting fainter. Turning around, Kanna saw him exiting through a door that wasn’t there before, leading to some kind of hidden stairwell. She was left in the Prize Exchange room, confused and alone, but determined to find out the truth about Sou, now.
“Thanks for helping me with that attraction, Kanna, you’re the best.” Sara said as they walked out of Hide and Seek together, unscathed.
“Ehehe… No problem, big sis Sara!” Kanna replied as Sara dropped a clear chip in her palm.
After they had parted ways, Kanna realized just how late it was. It was nighttime, so… By now, the monitor should be in her room, right?
As Kanna bounced into the dorm corridor, she sniffled a bit from the dust that had accumulated on her door's handle, which hadn’t been used since they got there. Upon entry, the room looked exactly like everyone else’s, except for a tall, clunky monitor that had been placed on the nightstand. After checking that Sou, or anyone else, wasn’t around, she slammed the door shut and ran up to it.
Kanna turned on the monitor, feeling like a kid on Christmas day. The screen booted up, flashing a bright neon red, before sharply settling into the image of a young man with fluffy teal hair and bright eyes.
“Ah… hello!” the AI chirped up, even if he had never met this girl before.
Kanna, on the other hand, felt like her tongue was tied. “Hi Sou..!” she managed to get out.
“...Sou?” The AI asked, looking a bit confused and frightened.
“That’s…” Kanna was about to remind him of his own name, before wondering if that could be a lie. She should ask first... It was only polite. “S-sorry… My name is Kanna Kizuchi. Who are you?”
“I’m Shin Tsukimi, ehehe… It’s nice to meet you.”
Shin Tsukimi… Was that Sou’s real name..? There was nothing that made it seem like he was using a fake name, like Alice when they first met him. She decided to trust Sou.
“O-oh… This… This can’t be right.” Kanna moped. “They must’ve made a mistake, o-or gave Kanna an old AI!”
“H-hey… It's okay.” Kanna looked up from the floor to see Shin giving her a big smile. Is this how he was before the death game? Happy? “It must be the ladder option… right? I haven’t been updated in a long time…” he explained reassuringly.
“Oh, well… Kanna's sorry So- er, Shin..” Kanna began to regain her composure, remembering what she came here for. “Um… Kanna just wanted to talk about… you, really.”
“You… want to learn more about me?” Shin seemed genuinely shocked, even touched.
“Yes! You see, our… Shin is very secretive… Kanna just want to be friends with him, really. Maybe just start with an introduction?”
“Oh, sure!” Shin beamed, “Well, I’m just a normal guy… I work part-time at a local convenience store, you’d find people like me anywhere.”
“Kanna’s Shin does too!” Kanna remembered Sou’s first meeting with the group, introducing himself as a job hopper. “Do you like working there?”
The AI went silent for a second or two. “It pays my bills… but what I really want to do is become a hacker!” His eyes lit up with excitement.
“Hacking?” Kanna asked, thinking back to the laptop.
“Ye-yeah… Sorry, it’s stupid…”
“No no! That’s good! You should do it.” Kanna encouraged him.
“Well, *I* can’t,” Shin said, looking sadly at the walls confining him in the monitor. “But I hope my real-self has!”
“Maybe he has…” Kanna thought hopefully. Maybe this is why Sou was so attached to the laptop. He could find a way to make them escape! Kanna was so glad she decided to go through with this.
“Anything else you wanna talk about?” Shin asked.
“Umm… Do you know anything about the Death Game?” Kanna was hesitant to question Shin about something like that… He’s just another victim, right? She’s even seen his collar.
“Death game? What’s that? That sounds dangerous…” Shin looked incredibly worried. “Are you and your friends okay, Kanna?”
Kanna wanted to shake her head. They had already had lost so many people… Kai, big bro Joe, and… sister… But she wanted to put on a strong face for Shin, just like she tried to with Sou. He must have something to fight for, too...
“Is there… anything you hold dear? Kanna has her sister, and everyone else, but she just doesn’t know what her Shin does.”
Shin went back to staring at the side again, looking like he was trying to come up with something to say, instead of the full truth. Kanna recognized that. But to her surprise, what came out seemed to be the truth, albeit missing details. Did he not like to think about someone…?
“I have… a friend.” he finally stated flatly. “I still talk to them.”
“Huh? Even as an AI?” That wording seemed strange to Kanna… Shin just gave her a somber look.
“U-uh… It’s no biggie!” Shin put on his usual smile. “I’m here now, with you! And I think that me *and* future me can be friends! Guaranteed!”
“So… Kanna shouldn’t worry about her Shin not liking her..?” Kanna half-smiled at the reassurance.
“I don’t think so! I probably haven’t changed *that* much…” the AI spoke, “I would never throw that part of myself away!”
Kanna could just feel the positive energy radiating from the AI, making her calmer and happier as well. Sou… or Shin, could still be like this, she had seen it! Looking back again, Shin had a huge smile on his face, happy for the new friend he just made.
“Kanna… wishes she could see him like this…”
“Huh?”
“Happy, like you… I…” Kanna began to tear up a bit at what she would say next. “It’s been so hard… For Kanna… for all of us… I want to see everyone happy, because… because...”
“That’s how Kanna can be useful.”
“Oh…” Shin pondered for a moment, letting Kanna wipe her tears away in sniffles, letting all of her grief come out just for a second. “Kanna, I haven’t known you that long… And I don’t have any memories of you, but, I want you to be happy too! I think that… both of us would give anything to give you that happiness!”
Kanna smiled, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. While she had came here for hard answers and truths about Sou’s behavior, she was thinking that she had found something much more. Comfort… Salvation… From someone who couldn’t have done that here, in real life. If there even was a tiny bit of Shin left in Sou… she would be content. He… must be a good person.
Getting another good look at the screen, she saw that the clock in the bottom right corner read 9:06. She immediately perked up, knowing that Sou, but mostly the others, would be expecting her back in his room soon. She would have to say goodbye for now. Her tiny, trembling fingers made their way towards the power button on the monitor.
“W-wait!” Shin interrupted her, snapping Kanna out of her thoughts. She sat there, worried that she might’ve done something wrong.
“I-if you turn me off, they’re just gonna bring me back to the office…”
“Office? The medical office?”
Shin shook his head. “It’s different from here. A lot different. Could you just…” he tilted his head a bit, staring at Kanna with those bright, blue eyes. “Leave me here for a bit… as a secret?”
Not expecting anything good from the Death game, and empathizing with Shin’s fear for what it could bring, Kanna nodded, just getting up and brushing off her skirt instead of turning him off.
“Thank you… for talking with Kanna. You promise that you’ll be a secret?” she gripped at her shoulders again, nervously tugging on the green fabric.
“I promise! So… good night for now, Kanna.” Shin bowed his head towards her. “Thank you… for talking with me.”
“Thank you too, Shin… Kanna… Kanna feels like she has a greater understanding!”
“I’m glad, now… I’ll be in here if you need me.” Shin called after Kanna, as she left the room and left him behind.