Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Unlike the happy people who could marry androids, there were, of course, unhappy people whose happiness had been ruined by them.

Utaha Kasumigaoka had considered many possibilities, but she never imagined she would find that kind of woman in Tomoya Aki's home.

An android. An android created by Tomoya Aki himself.

It filled her with an indescribable sense of defeat.

Could life be any more pathetic than this?

When she tried to probe, all she got were stammering, evasive answers.

There was nothing left to say. Utaha Kasumigaoka knew better than anyone what it meant for an otaku to possess a woman who perfectly matched his ideals.

She couldn't compete. She couldn't compete with the perfect image in Tomoya Aki's mind, especially when this being didn't require any deep thought or analysis.

To achieve the emotional connection she craved through the complex, almost fraudulent process of human interaction was simply... torture.

Utaha Kasumigaoka sat on a park bench, her head bowed, lost in her own tragic world.

"Mei, I've lost count of how many of these we've seen. I never thought there were so many unlucky people outside the Academy City."

"Kiana, we snuck out this time without telling anyone. Let's not cause any trouble. Besides, you didn't even do your own work and just dumped it on Kuro and Shiro. You even left Bronya behind with the security team."

"Don't worry, Mei. I only came out to play because Noldrei's not around. If you ask me, these people are just being melodramatic. They've either lost their ATM or lost one of their 'fish.' Even the host clubs have been crushed by us! Hahahaha, they all had it coming!"

Kiana laughed heartily, feeling no sympathy for Utaha's pain. To end up like this must have been because their feelings weren't strong enough. Why didn't they work harder to maintain their relationship?!

The white-haired Tuna had no idea what a strange thought she'd just had. She even believed that the men and women defeated by androids must have had substandard relationships to begin with.

"Look at Dr. Tesla, look at Noldrei, look at our family. Why can't our emotional needs be replaced by androids? It must be because our family's bond is stronger than gold! We're completely different from those people who just use others as tools or ATMs!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka had never felt such rage. She felt insulted!

"I'm the one with the money!" she shot up and retorted at Kiana, who was making light of her situation.

Kiana was startled by her sudden interjection, then looked at her in surprise. "You mean you're the one being used as an ATM? A simp? And then you got dumped?"

A wire in Utaha Kasumigaoka's brain snapped.

She took a deep breath, barely suppressing the urge to fight the girl for eight hundred rounds. She was from the Academy City; a small-fry like her stood no chance.

As an outsider, Utaha Kasumigaoka had only heard of Stigma Armor and never seen it, but she knew how effective the training was.

"See, Mei? A simp getting dumped is even more deserved. The android didn't wrong her; it saved her! It completely shattered the final lie the simp was telling herself!" Kiana's words left Raiden Mei at a loss for how to respond. It sounded... logical, somehow.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, stop! Don't mind her, she's just like that."

Raiden Mei started to pull Kiana away. They were out to have fun, not to start trouble.

"It's fine. A bunch of people who got dumped have already gone to protest to the government. Is it the androids' fault? They were never meant to be together anyway! They should have broken up long ago! If it weren't for that last little connection, their partners probably didn't even want to be with them anymore."

Kiana had seen countless people like this on the streets. She didn't care what they were thinking, nor did she understand how painful it was to have one's emotional needs replaced by an android.

What Kiana could see was the will of every Stigma user; everything was reflected in the eyes of the Mother of the Stigma. These people's relationships were as fragile as paper, washed away like sand in the tide of the new era.

The coldness in Kiana's words was not her own true feeling, but the reality of the world reflected in her eyes.

In this world, no living being could truly speak to her as an equal.

"Have you ever been in love?" Utaha Kasumigaoka found the girl ridiculous. She probably hadn't even experienced love herself and had no idea what it felt like to like someone.

"Love..." Kiana fell into thought, seriously considering Utaha's question. Her life so far hadn't been filled with many complex relationships.

There was the father-daughter love from Siegfried, and then her relationship with Noldrei. Her appreciation for pretty girls didn't count as anything special; there had been no particular danger that had molded her into the ultimate lesbian queen.

Kiana asked back with a hint of curiosity, "If what you mean by 'love' is just finding someone for companionship and understanding, and you absolutely need a romantic relationship to maintain that... don't you think that's a rather sad way to live?"

Had she learned to answer a question with a question?

Raiden Mei was moved. She never thought Kiana could grow to this extent.

Kiana continued, "You don't need all that, whether it's for procreation or for mutual support and understanding between people. You're just placing too many heavy expectations on the hormones in your body."

Seeing the long, black-haired girl still looking dazed and confused, Kiana offered some comfort. "Relax, it's not that hard. There are feelings in this world that will make you give your all with even more passion. When that time comes, you'll find that your current feelings aren't enough to make you feel the pain you're feeling now."

"What is that?" Utaha Kasumigaoka couldn't bring herself to ask what she wanted to know.

She looked at the white-haired girl, Kiana, and felt a strange fear of the passionate feeling she described.

"A passionate feeling that makes you give everything, to surrender all your power. As for... wanting to kill yourself over a breakup? That kind of thinking is nowhere near enough to touch it. You have to strip yourself bare to feel that kind of emotional power."

Kiana didn't know how to describe the future partnership Noldrei had told her about. She herself had been beaten up by Noldrei for talking nonsense about it; she had no idea how to put it into words.

Kiana smiled and recommended, "Why don't you try the Stigma Armor at the Academy City? You might have a different experience. Believe me, once you've tried the Stigma, you'll find that the primitive human emotion of being bound by hormonal exchange has lost its meaning."

Raiden Mei clutched her head in shock. She had just witnessed a familiar yet bizarre scene. It wasn't the silly Kiana standing there, but Noldrei disguised as Kiana.