Boy Meets Ai

Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Despite how strange Aramais was acting, Seiko was in better spirits than he had been in the past few days. His friends had agreed right away to include Thomas. They were more than ok with it. He didn't give them all the details about his past, but it wasn't necessary.

"Yeah, I wonder why we didn't make an alliance sooner." Shinobu asked.

He had expected some resistance from Hendricks, but he seemed on board too, saying it was better to have a quarter million guaranteed than risk it for a third.

With that taken care of, the party started to wind down. Honey Badger got thrown out for trying to fight Shinobu, and Hati was less focused on socializing and more focused on eating as much as inhumanly possible. They all logged off after a bit, feeling relieved.

Seiko pulled his headset off and rubbed his eyes. It was light out which was really disorienting. Oaklee materialized next to him. She was biting her lip, clearly lost in thought.

"What is it?" Seiko asked.

"I know I'm not really one to talk but... Don't you think Aramais has been acting strange? He's not a defective Ai like me so I don't know what's really going on. Even when he was fighting Shinobu, noticed he was... off..."

Seiko thought back to their last interaction, how Aramais had snapped at her. He also thought about the way he seemed to come unhinged during the fight. Oaklee had never liked Aramais, but he always assumed it was because of how prim and proper he was.

"Do you think he might be like you? Able to act on his own?"

She mused for a moment "It's not impossible. But it's more than that. He seems..." She almost seemed afraid to finish her thought. "Dark. It's hard to describe but it's something in his eyes that I can't shake."

Seiko absorbed the information but wasn't overlyconcerned. His Ai was as weird as they come but she wasn't a problem. Who werethey to judge another Ai that didn't play by the rules? He hopped in the showerwithout thinking about it too much more. The tournament was in roughly 8 hours,and he had something he wanted to do before then.