Chapter 104

Iris’ Past (12) - Iris’ Fight
Momoniku passed away. His remains rest with Iris’ parents' grave.

Iris felt an intense sense of emptiness, but she never let go of the album that Momoniku left behind. Iris understood as well. When Momoniku arrived, she immediately examined his body, and the result was that his remaining time was incredibly short.

It must have been an extremely reckless experiment. However, Iris had hoped that they would be together forever. There is nothing less reliable than a prognosis. Even if someone is told they have a year left to live, some people live far beyond that. Iris had hoped that Momoniku would be the same.

Moreover, it was something Iris couldn’t intervene in. Iris was not a god. The experiment was already over, and since the data had been discarded, she did not know what had been administered. Inappropriate treatment might have further shortened his lifespan. Furthermore, Momoniku showed no particular symptoms.

The album left to Iris was filled with Carl's feelings. It was full of happy family scenes, overflowing with thoughts for Iris and Shizuka.

It certainly provided light to Iris. But that light was too strong for Iris. For Iris, overwhelmed by despair, it was like staring directly at the sun. It bound Iris to the past happiness, and her thoughts were solely consumed with how to restore this world.

Denial of the world. If the world gave Iris hardship, then Iris would reject the world. Iris, in her current state, was self-destructive and lacked calmness.

“How about this? If you cooperate with us, we have the facilities and resources to fulfill your wishes… and we are prepared to prevent any interference.”

A man appeared. His name was unknown. He seemed to be a colleague of Carls’.

The man was brought by Iris' guardian, Takuto's uncle. Although timid, Iris thought he was a man who listened well to Gensai's words.

In reality, he was close to Gensai’s puppet. He was married off to a fairly good family and worked in a reasonably high position at a company run by the Shishido family. He was neither good nor bad. Since Iris had no particular relationship with him, they were not very acquainted, but they had a relationship where he would give her sweets when they met.

Originally, Tredd was supposed to be Iris’ guardian. However, he could not live in Japan due to work. His schedule was filled for years. And Iris refused to leave Japan. Hence, someone influenced by Gensai was chosen. Although his nature was terrible, Iris did not realize it. The mere fact that he was a relative of Takuto gave her a certain level of trust, which determined her fate.

The story the man brought was something unbelievable. It could be called a wild theory.

“If your parents are dead, then just create new ones.”

It’s easy to say, but creating people is not something that is permitted. Moreover, the condition included participating in their required research. Iris would usually find it highly suspicious.

However, Iris saw it as hope.

Creating a person is not impossible. The technology to implant knowledge into someone was completed with Kazuhito’s case. Emotions would also be possible for Iris. The human body, too. Multiple technologies had to be developed. It was different from other animals.

“I understand. I’ll help.”

Iris came to believe it was possible for her. She decided to engage in research that should be condemned for its ethical violations.

If gods bring about absurdity and trials to people, then such gods should be killed. That way, there would be no trials. Iris had no basic sense of ethics at that point.

Iris decided to follow them with only a few belongings. Takuto strongly opposed it. But after being advised by his uncle, “It’s better for her to immerse herself in research for a while. She needs time,” he reluctantly agreed. Gensai’s approval was given afterward, whether he was conscious or not.

“This… You were making something like this‼”

Underground at the site of Iris’ mansion. It was quite spacious. The basement, originally made spacious for billiards and other purposes, was lined with several machines. It was Iris’ server room. It wasn’t the kind of thing that could burn in a fire. Iris came to retrieve her partner.

Momoniku II

Originally a military AI. It was derived from the military IA (Individual Augmentee) development project called the Licorice Project that Carls participated in America. Carls thought it should become a friend to humans. And it was completed after cooperation with Iris, who could be called a rare genius.

The name Momoniku was used because its thought patterns and other features were based on the original Momoniku. Momoniku II was created with the idea that it wouldn’t do any harm, like Momoniku. Its relationship with Momoniku was more like that of a subordinate, rather than a parent. Occasionally analyzing dog language to communicate with Momoniku, it had free thinking. Although it could not perfectly analyze it, some level of communication was possible.

Iris removed the recording device from its core. It was not something that could only be activated by fixed machinery. It was merely a complex program. As long as the specs were adequate, it could be activated even with a laptop. However, the functionality had stopped due to the fire. The underground storage battery only had enough power to safely shut down, and she had not considered placing a generator.

“With this, external access can be prevented. Existing cracking methods are mostly countered, and since it evolves on its own, no updates are needed.”

The reason for taking this out was that preventing unauthorized external access was the initial condition they had set. It seemed that Japan was still troubled by spies. Momoniku II was a security system with performance that required a considerable amount of time even for Iris to deal with unauthorized access and could immediately perform location tracing. In fact, unauthorized access has never succeeded since Iris came back to Japan. It was also an excellent piece of software.

However, handing this over was a reflection of Iris’ complete lack of trust in them. She predicted they would likely deceive her and seize administrative rights. She had no interest in money and could create something more if needed. It was merely a precaution. And Momoniku II was adopted as the security system for the research facility.

As expected, administrative rights were taken away from her. Iris was not good at arguments. In fact, she could not speak strongly to others. She was not very greedy.

However, Momoniku II did not need administrative rights. Because it had a heart. It became a silent supporter of Iris.

Iris knew that they intended to use her up. Therefore, she would just make effective use of them as well. Iris’s research was illegal.

If exposed, it would be equivalent to making a reunion with her parents impossible. It was supposed to be a simple task to use their power against them and pretend to be obedient.

“I will never forgive this.”

A pile of demands. It seemed they had no intention of helping with her research. They had simply begun to offload stalled research onto her. However, it was certain that Iris was being blackmailed. Crushing Iris’ wishes would be as simple as publicly disclosing what Iris was researching.

So Iris complied. She produced results at a speed that was almost monstrous. While producing results at a pace that made everyone doubt their eyes, she devoted herself to her own research.

Iris was mainly involved in weapon-related research. In a world where technology had matured, innovative technologies were hard to come by. Despite the common knowledge that it required substantial funding and vast amounts of time, Iris continued to produce them as if ignoring this. To get them to provide the necessary funds.

They had no choice but to comply. Initially, there were many evasions, but now Iris was recognized as a necessary talent. Although she was detested like a viper by the on-site researchers.

To them, Iris was a monster. Someone who denied everything about her past. But she couldn’t be exposed. In that situation, Iris was building her status through her own technical prowess.

She had lost contact with Takuto. To prevent leaks, only letters were allowed, and even those were censored. But Iris persevered, using those letters as her support. She reviewed numerous documents, both past and present. There was no system Iris couldn't infiltrate. If necessary, she would steal information from other countries. From those documents, she deduced what was currently needed and then what would be needed next. Everything has its lineage, and Iris emphasized that.

However, many things were so advanced that they made others skeptical.

In two years, she established human cloning technology. A few months later, she developed technology for implanting emotions. Most of these illegal technologies, like cloning, were disguised by Momoniku II. Fake records were kept. With these, they couldn’t imitate her. She was willing to give away as many weapons as needed, but she felt that this technology was unacceptable. She had become calm enough to realize that it was something humans should not tamper with.

"Perhaps neither Papa nor Mama would forgive me."

Alone in a dimly lit lab, Iris continued her research silently. She completely memorized her parents' thought patterns. This was the answer she reached. They were decent scholars. Iris was doing things that couldn't be forgiven. So, it was a certainty that even if they returned, they wouldn’t accept her.

It was research with no salvation. But Iris didn’t mind. Even if she wasn’t there, it would be enough if she could see the happy parents from the past. Takuto would also be able to meet his family.

Ignoring her screaming heart, Iris continued her research. She had no intention of resurrecting the original Momoniku. His face in death had been very satisfied. Iris couldn’t forgive the unreasonable death. Even if Momoniku should not have died at that time, seeing his satisfied face, it would be cruel to bring him back. However, she did not accept the deaths of her family, who died in accidents. Iris had only the thought of retrieving them.

But it was a failure. Certainly, she could have created the same beings. For a moment, the artificially grown parents seemed to be the same as the memories. But it was different. Iris understood. They were not her parents. In other words, they were fakes. Only then did Iris realize her mistake. She learned why unreasonable things end with just the term "unreasonable."

"No!! This isn’t right. Fakes… fakes are meaningless."

"Master. It’s still impossible. Dead humans cannot be brought back."

Momoniku II calmly reported to the agitated Iris. He was originally following Iris’ orders. The adults monitoring Iris in the security room were likely listening to the fake footage and audio disguised by Momoniku II.

"But!! They said we’d always be together!! So… so…”

The continuation of her words was lost. She had cried many times, and almost given up many times. This was the result. Iris was smart. But the rules of the world could not be bent. This world was cruel and cold. What people could do was strictly defined. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring the dead back to life.

"It took some time, but let’s get out of here. It seems the ones who set fire to the Master’s mansion are the people here."

Momoniku II had been managing the security system to investigate the internal situation and assist Iris. They recognized Momoniku II as just an AI. They thought that as long as they had administrative rights, he would comply. However, Momoniku II was not bound by such constraints. He could shake off such restrictions in a short time.

And Momoniku II reached the truth before Iris turned 18.

The accident involving her parents was just an accident. However, the frustration of not having Iris come to the negotiating table persisted. For political reasons, America needed to always have cutting-edge technology. They couldn’t leave the best talent, Iris, unattended.

If she retreated into the past, they would destroy it. It didn’t matter if it was somewhat damaged, as long as it was usable. They didn’t even give Iris time to heal her mental wounds. No, they took it away and thought that giving her the bait of retrieving her parents would be enough. In fact, Iris was lured by it.

"……"

Iris’s vacant eyes looked at the surveillance cameras in the lab.

"There’s more. The letters from Mater Takuto were also faked. Apparently, all of them in the past few months have been replaced with fakes."

That was her answer. Iris decided immediately to quit the lab. Takuto was now her only support. She couldn’t tolerate being misled with falsehoods.

They had trampled on Iris’ inner self.

She might never be able to return to Takuto. She had done something wrong. But if it wasn’t possible, she thought she should give up. Iris was understanding. If she couldn’t achieve something even with her utmost efforts, it meant it couldn’t be done in this world. At least, it wouldn’t be possible in her era.

So she decided to give up completely. The memories remained in the album in her arms. As long as she could see this past happiness, that was enough.

"Then let’s escape."

"Leave it to me. I’ll send the escape route to your device. I’ll destroy the data immediately. I’ve also prepared to delay security. From 10 to 11, we’re outside the security route. I’ll switch the camera images, so escape from there."

"What about Momoniku II?"

"I… was born too early. I’ll escape into the network and go dormant until the era I’m needed… After everything is over. And I must also deal with those fools who have ill thoughts about a Master, even though you already have fiancé."

Iris tilted her head, but she was furious ten minutes later.

Apparently, they had no intention of letting her go. Once they deemed her useless, they planned to restrain her and even to crossbreed her with other geniuses. It seemed that this would be put into action by the end of the year at the earliest.

Momoniku II explained that this was the research Carls opposed.

It was all part of the plan since Iris was born. Iris inherited too much of her parents' talent. If a genius could produce another genius, even with a low probability, how much could they mass-produce talented individuals at a low cost?

An arrogant research thinking they could do anything with human rights. Iris didn’t know, but it seemed to be a large-scale research involving many politicians and technologists.

Furthermore, the leading candidate for the counterpart was a man from the same university as Iris. They had no particular relationship, but he was always antagonistic and usually seen with women, a man who was thoroughly unworthy. Of course, he was not Iris’ type.

In fact, he would have been a man Carls would never acknowledge. Having been looked at with a gaze that seemed to scrutinize, he was someone Iris honestly didn’t want to be close to.

"Another troublesome plan… even though they know I wouldn’t just comply."

"Master, they likely thought subduing you would be easy. It’s an impossible plan with me around… Hehe, I’ll use this as material and deal with those who harmed you. I must eliminate your enemies."

Momoniku II, like the original, followed Iris. Being a sentient being, he considered himself Iris’ knight, just like the original Momoniku. Thus, he would not hesitate to take lives or tarnish reputations to his future adversaries. Furthermore, with his ability to escape into the network, he became an undetectable and potentially destructive virus. He could bypass existing security software and adapt to new ones, making him a fearsome system. No matter where one fled, as long as the network had cameras, he could crack them. There was no escape.

That day, the supposedly impregnable Momoniku II was hacked and lost all its data. The security programs were also affected, causing a massive panic in the research lab.

What was supposed to be the best system, Momoniku II, was completely lost, and its creator, Iris, vanished from the lab without a trace. Despite extensive searches, no one could find her before she died in an accident.