“Do you know anything about fabrics?”
“No.”
“Do you have a design you prefer?”
“I’m not sure.”
“All right. I’ll handle everything.”
Rod nodded as if that was about what he’d expected.
What a relief.
It was only fine because he was someone I knew; if I’d come to get a tailcoat fitted and said I knew nothing, I’d usually have gotten chewed out.
“Do you work out?”
“I do.”
“Then don’t bulk up before the ball. Maintain your current condition. If the fit’s off, it’ll look awful.”
Harsh.
No, thinking about it, from Rod’s perspective, it was something he had every right to say.
If I worked hard to make something and the other person changed the baseline while I was waiting, I’d be pissed too.
It was similar to Ian getting angry when he’d thought up all sorts of customizations and I suddenly started talking about a different custom job.
Mm, mm.
But aren’t engineers just kind of like that by nature?
Right around when my thoughts reached that point, Rod set down the measuring tape and nodded.
“I’ve taken all the measurements. When I contact you, come by once more.”
“Once more?”
“I have to have you try on the basted garment—the clothes before they’re finished—and make adjustments.”
I see.
Nobles must do this annoying stuff pretty often.
Thinking that, I even felt glad I wasn’t a noble.
“This is when orders start piling up, so if it’s fast, I’ll contact you in a week; if it’s late, within two. Don’t ask me first. If you rush me, my efficiency tanks.”
“I don’t know enough to r-rush you anyway.”
“Really? Usually it’s the opposite. The people who don’t know anything rush you more.”
Rod let out a heavy sigh.
When I went back outside with Rod, Ailey was coming out of the other room with a woman who seemed to be from the Rose family.
Meanwhile, the woman’s expression was extremely subtle.
“Her chest… Her chest is big, but firm…?”
I could fully understand.
I couldn’t help but understand why she’d end up making such a subtle face.
Because I’d actually found it incredibly strange too.
On the other hand, Rod was wearing an oddly meaningful expression.
“If that chassis originally came from the Dis Pater family, I wonder if standardizing the size and mass-producing the most perfect maid uniform for it would sell well.”
What a ridiculous business mind.
“Ah, Deep! Did it go well?”
Ailey approached me with a bright smile.
Looking again, the detail in her facial muscle movements was no joke.
It was at a level where you’d believe she was almost human.
I understood why Rod had asked if she was my girlfriend when he first saw her.
Wait a second.
Back then, did I deny that she was my girlfriend?
I don’t think I did.
So that’s why he called me a mechanophile.
“U-um, Rod?”
Ding-a-ling.
The timing was bad.
At the same time as the sound of the shop door opening, Rod turned his head.
“Welcome to Rose Atelier…”
“You really are here!!!”
Rod and I both flinched in surprise and covered our ears.
That bold voice, yet for some reason unpleasant to hear, like it was about to force something unreasonable on you.
“Karina, he really is here!”
“So he is, Lucia. He really is.”
A pair of blue eyes of an ambiguous saturation glanced at Ailey once, then at me.
“I may have to spread a rumor that you’re a mechanophile.”
“No, I’m not!”
I raised my voice without realizing it.
***
“I roughly understand the situation.”
“Well, I suppose that could happen.”
Lucia set down her teacup and stared fixedly at me.
“Still, it’s a little annoying that you stirred up every bit of drama there was on the fan club community, then came here with your own artificial intelligence.”
I had nothing to say about that part, since I wasn’t the one who did it in the first place.
Huh, wait a second.
“Lucia, how do you know about the post that went up on my fan club community?”
“…Hm?”
Lucia’s eyes widened for a moment, then she slowly turned her head.
Given the circumstances, no matter how I looked at it, there was a strong suspicion.
Still, there was no way Lucia had joined my fan club.
No way.
“Well, that’s not the important thing.”
Karina shrugged and cut in.
“Are you really going to take your artificial intelligence as your partner to the ball?”
Since this came from Karina, it had a slightly different meaning.
Karina knew very well that Ailey was more special than other artificial intelligences.
No, in truth, there was no way she wouldn’t know.
If she were an ordinary artificial intelligence, even after entering a chassis, she would have just sat still in a chair.
There was no way she would keep looking around here and there, taking in her surroundings like Ailey was now.
Ailey tilted her head slightly toward me and whispered quietly.
“Deep, next time, can’t you add taste sensors too?”
“It’s not like I paid to commission a custom job.”
“But it was like that during the festival last time too. Do you know how sad it is when there’s food right in front of me, but I’m the only one who can’t eat?”
Ailey had emotions so excessively varied that even Lucia, who had been watching from quite a distance away, momentarily looked puzzled.
If she caught other people’s eyes, it was only natural that Ailey would draw attention.
Perhaps the Luna family might notice something unusual.
No, perhaps they might already know.
“If you’re going to do it, do it perfectly.”
Karina leaned forward.
“Cover her completely in artificial skin to the point that no one can tell she’s a chassis at all, and thoroughly erase any sense of incongruity. That would make her stand out less, if anything.”
That was an impossible argument.
“That’s illegal.”
The reason Senior Ayla hadn’t perfectly hidden the elements that made the robot maid look like a robot wasn’t because she lacked the technical skill.
It was because there was a law stating that robot chassis couldn’t be made in the perfect form of a human to begin with.
They said it was for safety reasons, and since it was a reason I could understand to some degree, I accepted it.
It would be dangerous if you thought someone was human, only for their arm to suddenly split open and a beam cannon to come out.
Now that I think about it, that sounds kind of cool.
Does this world not have something like that?
“I’ll say this in advance after seeing your expression: embedding weapons in humanoid robots is illegal too.”
Aha.
I nodded at Karina’s words.
Karina thought for a moment, then took a sip of black tea and let out a long breath.
“When something is illegal, you see, it means the same thing as saying it’s legal if you don’t get caught.”
“…Doesn’t it mean you shouldn’t do it because you’ll be punished if you get caught?”
“No? It means you should be careful not to get caught while doing it. You don’t really know what the law is, do you?”
This, how should I put it?
As I hesitated for a moment, Ailey opened her eyes wide and nodded.
“That’s an extremely Luna-family-like way of thinking!”
“Ailey, if you put it that way…”
“She’s right.”
Contrary to my expectations, Karina nodded as if proud.
Lucia and I briefly met eyes, then shook our heads left and right at the same time.
I see.
So most of the Luna family just follows moral values like that.
I decided to simply accept it.
I felt like I understood why Levan had acted as if he was telling me not to bid with the Luna family’s company.
Considering the way Levan had confidently talked about robbing a bank, the Luna family did suit him the best.
Could the karma he’d said he wanted to obtain back then have been something useful for gaining the Luna family’s trust?
No, it had nothing to do with me now, so never mind.
Karina stretched a hand toward me.
At the same time, she showed a gentle smile.
“Ailey, we’ve met once before, haven’t we? It’s nice to meet you.”
“I see what you’re doing every single day from Deep’s wrist anyway.”
Karina’s expression immediately returned to normal.
“Ah, then whatever.”
Look at that clear on-off switch.
“I’ll make a proposal. I don’t like the idea of a student the Luna family has sponsored looking like a mechanophile. So let me customize your chassis.”
Isn’t that proposal a little strange?
“Shouldn’t I be the one paying you and asking you to do it?”
“The mechanophile should stay quiet. I’ll remove all impure customizations and modifications.”
“Hm? There aren’t any, though? Right, Deep?”
“I told you, I’m n-not a mechanophile.”
Karina’s face scrunched up hard, as if even more creeped out.
“Thinking it’s not sexual desire toward a machine, but a platonic relationship, makes me feel even worse.”
Uh, is that how that works?
“Hm? We’re not dating in the first place, so how would it be platonic love?”
“Hm?”
“What?”
Karina and Lucia’s eyes widened at the same time.
Lucia shot up from her seat.
“You said she was your partner for the ball!”
“Th-that’s right?”
“You two even came to get matching couple outfits fitted right now!”
“Yeah, that’s right?”
“But you’re not dating?! Are you playing with people’s feelings?!”
Why were they acting like that when the people involved said no?
At the same time as I thought that, another thought struck my mind.
A partner for the ball, even coming to get matching couple outfits fitted.
Joshua must have felt his heart truly crumble when he saw the disciplinary notice.
Poor young man.
“U-um, I would appreciate it if you didn’t raise your voices inside the atelier.”
Rod, who had come over beside us, set a teapot down on the table.
Why hadn’t he covered the teapot with a tea cozy?
Gasp, I’d unconsciously started worrying about the taste and aroma of the tea.
So this was the power of the Servants’ Club café.
When I looked ahead, Karina had already straightened her back and taken on the appearance befitting a count’s young lady.
This time, she was wearing a proper cadet uniform instead of a tracksuit, so her bearing was reasonably decent.
“Oh my, Lucia. Rod is right. Wouldn’t it be better not to stand like that, and to sit down and talk?”
Lucia looked back and forth between Karina and Rod, then let out a huff and sat back down.
Karina shook her head and lifted her teacup.
“And, strictly speaking, ‘people’s feelings’ is the wrong expression. Artificial intelligences don’t possess enough personality to have romantic feelings.”
“Hm? That’s not true.”
Karina’s teacup stopped in midair.
Lucia stared at Ailey.
Rod, who had been about to withdraw, stared this way again.
“If you say that isn’t true, does that mean you’ve felt romantic—”
“Anyway.”
At Karina’s words, Lucia shut her mouth.
“Will you entrust the customization to me?”
“Can I think about it a little?”
“I’ll add taste sensors too.”
“I’m done thinking!”
Ailey grabbed Karina’s hand and shook it.
Lucia looked slightly dumbfounded.
“An artificial intelligence decides on her own without her master’s permission?”
Exactly.
How nice would it be if she asked me first? Seriously.