“Friends?”
Girl tilted her head a little, and asked a question in return.
“Yes. I was already alone when my consciousness have developed. That’s a reason why I never had friends.”
Said lady dispassionately.
“Huh? You weren’t conscious before the world’s perishment?”
“I wasn’t. It was after the world’s collapse that I woke up my ego, recognised myself, and became conscious.”
“Is that so. It’s lonely.”
“Yes it is, perhaps.”
“Perhaps?”
“I’m not sure. I’m lonely, probably. Maybe I kept exploring so I could meet you.”
“The way you putting it makes me a little happy.”
Girl cast her eyes downwards. She believed it was truly a fateful encounter.
“Thereupon, would you become my friend?”
Girl raised her head and answered without any hesitation: “All right.”
Young girl also had no friends. Far from it, lady – the only person she could rely on. There was no reason to refuse.
“Thank you very much. I am happy.”
“I’m happy too. Please, take care of me.”
“Likewise.”
Lady raised her right hand, girl did the same.
“Well then, firstly, shall I begin educating you. Because now we have unequal relationship.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It seems that you don’t have the knowledge to live standalone, as an individual.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Yes, it is. If, for some reason, I get a malfunction, you’ll also break with me. In other words, you have to rely on me now. It can’t be called an equal. The friendship is an equal relationship.”
“Right.” Girl nodded deeply. “Well then, educate me.”
Girl knew meaning of the education, she also was aware that studying was a lot of fun. Nevertheless, she didn’t remember actually being educated in the past.
“I shall build an educational subroutine with refer to educational methods which were in use by humankind before they perished, and then I link it with a general knowledge.”
“Understood.”
Girl smiled.
“Well then, without a delay.”
With that being the case lady stood up and girl also got up, flusteredly. The thin towelette1, which was covering girl, fell off.
Air conditioning in the room functioned perfectly, so exaggerated futon was unnecessary.
Girl didn’t knew this yet, however the air conditioning was working only for her sake. Lady fundamentally didn’t need an air conditioning.
“You can go to sleep.” Said lady.
“Uh-huh. But maybe I don’t want to be alone.”
“All right.”
Lady sat down again. The movement was very graceful. Girl thought the lady surely knew how to sit gracefully.
“Hey, I’m thirsty.”
“It’s a part of energy supply activities for humans. The human beings can’t live without a regular liquid intake.”
“You don’t drink water?”
“I do not. My source of energy is the Power Cell.”
“Power Cell?”
“I’ll tell you someday. What would you like to drink? I can’t make a complicated things because there is only a simple Food-Maker.”
“Simple Food-Maker?”
Girl didn’t remember what was it.
“It’s a simplified version of the Food-Maker.”
“Uh huh, I think so. So what is the Food-Maker?”
“What is a Food-Maker?” Says lady. “It is a machine consisting of a database section, which records a molecular structure of various dishes, and a printer section that reproduces the molecular structure.”
“In other words, it’s possible to reproduce a recorded food as one likes?”
“Yes it is possible. Would you like to listen more detailed explanation?”
“Yeah.”
“For reproduction molecular structure it can consume not only the electric power, also it can use merely a small amount of water. If you’ll create the water in Food-Maker endlessly and use it as a material, it can operate as semi-perpetual motion engine. And one more thing, that’s important, it doesn’t require an electricity.”
“Really? It’s convenient.”
“That’s right.” Lady nodded a little. “This technology has changed a history of the humankind. By the way, humankind’s nutrition relied for 90% on the Food-Makers and simple Food-Makers.”
“I see.” Girl nodded deeply. “So the simplified version is here, right?”
“Yes, it is. The Food-Makers are a big machines, and because of that they aren’t placed in public places. Naturally, in ordinary households either.”
“What’s the difference other than a size?”
“The number of recorded dishes is decreased. In addition to that, complicated dishes cannot be reproduced. They were trying to save a space in the database section and a printer section.”
“I see. Thank you for the explanation.”
“No problem. As a side note, it is possible to exchange the cooking data.”
“Ah, what about Cafe au lait?”
Girl has no recollection of drinking it. But she thought that she liked it.
“Cafe au lait?” Said lady. “Lets see if it included in data?”
“Uh huh.” Agreed the girl. “I want to drink Cafe au lait.”
“The data for Cafe au lait should have been included.”
Lady stands up again. After that she offered a hand to the girl.
“Shall we go together?”
“Uh huh.”
Young girl took her hand.
Lady’s hand were tender and a little warm.
◇
“So boring.”
One day, girl suddenly resigned from everything.
It was a third month since Lady began educate a girl.
“Boring?” Lady calmly analysed. “Not enjoyable. Without a worth. Having no point. Not fun. Not interesting. Is this what you mean?”
Helplessly collapsed, the girl was lying down on the floor of the library.
Right when,
“Yeah, perhaps this is it.”
stretched out while saying that.
While sitting opposite to the girl, lady put a tablet, which she used for teaching, on the floor and turned her eyes at the girl.
Until just yesterday girl didn’t seem to be bored.
Even the lady was aware that the brain of humans gets tired of a similar tasks. Therefore, lady taught a girl various sorts of things, in order to avoid repetition.
Of course, she’d make a breaks and played with the girl.
“Is it different from ‘tired’?” Lady tilted her head.
“I’m not tired. I can run from one side of the library to the other.”
“Is that so. Then what’s the problem? My method of teaching?”
“Umm.” After groaning, girl got up. “Your method of teaching is perfect. It easy to understand and it’s fun, right?”
“It is fun? Despite it being boring?”
Lady tilted her head in the opposite direction.
A statement of the girl seemed contradictory to her.
“Studying is fun. It’s wonderful to learn new things. But, I suppose, doing the similar process day in, day out is tiring.”
“You recognised that there is insufficient of motivation?”
“Uh huh, I think so.”
“I see. I’ll try to improve the educational subroutine and make it more stimulating.”
Lady quickly got up.
“It will be tomorrow. Can we do something fun right now?”
“Hmm.”
Lady took a thought.
How could she satisfy the girl right now?
“Give her the book? No, that is another daily routine.”
There is nothing new, in this library. Over past three months girl has already seen everything in the library.
“If that’s the case.” Thought lady.
“It will be good to show what she hasn’t seen yet.”
“For example, something like…”
“…the world.”
◇
Girl was pulled along by lady out of the library.
She widely opened her eyes and took a breath.
The world was pure white.
A white and soft objects were lightly falling down from the sky.
“It’s a snowscape.” Stated lady.
“Beautiful.” Said the girl.
Girl knew what the snow was. But saw it for the first time.
With her hand pulled by the lady, girl took a walk through the snow.
“It’s crispy.”
She enjoyed a sensation of the snow. A softness was transmitted even through the snow boots.
When the girl and lady turned their heads over their shoulders, a footprints were still remaining behind them.
“I wonder if our footprints will remain in this world?” Thought the girl.
Lady released the girl’s hand and alone walked further.
“Don’t leave me behind.”
When girl said so, lady turned around. The next moment lady sweetly smiled and crouched down.
“What happened?” Thought the girl.
Lady collected a snow with her hand, rolled it up and threw it at the girl.
A snowball hit the girl’s face and shattered. Girl thought that the fluttering fragments were lovely.
But rather than that,
“Why are you attacking me?”
girl was worried about lady’s reckless action.
It didn’t hurt, however the girl was a little worried. She wondered if lady’s electric circuit has broken down.
“This is a game, called a snowball fight.”
“A game?”
“Correct. Roll the snow into the ball and throw it. It didn’t hurt, right?”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s a safe game.”
With that said, lady prepared a second ball.
“Can I evade it?”
“You can.”
Lady slowly released a second snowball.
Snowball flew in a smooth arc. Girl estimated the trajectory and changed her position.
The snowball was evaded, yet, a snow below caught her foot and she fell on her back.
It didn’t hurt, however, thus girl just continued lying on the snow.
“Are you okay?”
Lady asked in a louder voice than usual.
“I’m fine.” Girl smiled. “It’s fun.”
The girl slowly got up and made a snowball.
“Here I go.”2
And then, vigorously threw it at lady.
Girl thought the lady would easily evade it.
However, lady didn’t took any evasive actions.
A snowball, thrown by the girl, directly hit lady’s head and scattered after that.
“Nice control.”
Lady clasped right hand and raised her thumb.
“I thought you’ll should avoid it.”
“I wanted to experience being hit as well.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right.”
“So what do you think?”
“It’s fun, isn’t it?”
After that, they enjoyed throwing a snow at each other for a while.
Then eventually, girl’s stamina ran out, and the snowball fight came to an end.
Girl fell over on the snow, and lady also lied down, next to her.
“Snow is wonderful.”
“I think so, either.”
“Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For showing snowscape and teaching a snowball fight..”
“It’s okay. It is a part of the education.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, not only that. Also I wanted to play with you.”
Girl was very happy to hear these words.
Then, for some time, they were looking up at the sky.
The air was chilly, yet clear, weather was cold, yet calm, the time was comfortably flowing by.
Right when,
“Hey, why is it vanished?”
Girl suddenly asked so.
“What is?”
Lady raised her upper body and turned her gaze at the girl.
“The world.”
The beautiful pure white, an endlessly empty world.
“Well, there are nothing left, so there is no way to learn it.”
“There are no hazardous substance for me, so it’s not a Nuclear winter. This is not the large-scale crustal movements, either.”
Girl already has plenty of knowledge. However, no matter what, she couldn’t comprehend a situation in the world.
“What about a satellite weapons, that could destroy molecular structures?”
Randomly extracting from a several existing possibilities, lady spoke up a statement.
“Does it can destroy only the surface?”
“It could be set to destroy only a molecular structure of the ground, isn’t it?”
“With pattern-matching or something?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Then, if that’s was a method, who have erased the world, and for what advantage?”
“I don’t know. In the first place, there is no conclusive evidence that it was destroyed by personal intention.”
“Still, someone must’ve destroyed it for their advantage? If they used a satellite weapons.”
“It could be a malfunction or an operation error. How about it?”
“Hmーm.”
The girl pondered, but couldn’t find a convincing answer.
Instead, she say what just came to her mind.
“I want to eat warm soup”
Because of sudden change of the subject, lady’s stiffened, only for two seconds however, and immediately smiled.
“That’s right. Shall we make a one with the corn.”
Having said that, lady stood up and held out her hand to the girl.
sakkamade 
Damn i’m lonely after readin this…
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Ikkuyo is like “here it goes~” or something similar
Thank you for the translation!
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