Volume 1 (Light Novel)/Chapter 2

Scattered Candies

## Synopsis

A five-year-old Echika was dropped off at her father's house and met her father for the first time. He told her that he probably won't ever love her and to act like a machine for his sake. He introduced her to his housekeeper Amicus, Sumika, and told her that she would meet her older sister soon.

In the present day, Echika and Harold are on their way to Rig City in California, where they would be Brain Diving into several employees there. The Washington index case had went on a tour of Rig City as well, so it seems that Rig City is a common denominator of all the cases. Once there, they are led to a room with the employees by an Amicus named Anne. Echika quickly Brain Dives into the employees and discovers that all four employees seem to have intense hatred for a former employee named Salk, which doesn't match with their sad behavior towards him at his farewell party. Echika further discovers that Salk was one of the employees who led the study tour the index cases were on. Echika couldn't find any other clues and is pulled out of the dive by Harold. She and Harold split up their tasks. Harold would question the other people who came in contact with the index cases while Echika would go obtain the employees' personal data and the results of the virus analysis. Echika also asks Harold to find out more about Salk.

While Echika is waiting for someone to give her the data in the lounge, an Amicus identical to Harold comes to meet her. His name is Steve H. Wheatstone. He tells her that the company's advisor wants to meet her personally about the virus analysis results and leads her to his office. On the way there, he mentions that he passed by Harold and is surprised to see that he was still functional. Echika learns that Steve used to work with Harold, though not at Rig City, and that they are complete opposites. The two arrive at the advisor's room, which is more like a greenhouse than room. As soon as Echika sits down in a couch, she is stunned to find her father sitting opposite to her. However, this is only a hologram that melts away to reveal Elias Taylor, the corporate advisor of Rig City. Taylor mentions that he himself is also a hologram, since he is currently bedridden with cancer.

Taylor mentions that he was friends with Echika's father, Chikasato Hieda, who used to work at Rig City for a time. Steve returns with a USB stick containing the employee data and the virus analysis results. He explains how the virus works and that only someone working in the tech field could have developed it. After he leaves, Taylor explains that Steve is actually his caretaker in addition to being a programmer and engineer for Rig City. Steve had come to him on his own after running away from being sold on the black market. Echika quickly finishes copying the data to her Your Forma and is about to leave when Taylor stops her, wanting to ask her some questions about herself. He asks her about her Your Forma and her job as an electronic investigator. He then asks her if she knew why Chikasato died, to which she answered no. Taylor claims that Chikasato died because he couldn't develop the Matoi, the project he was in charged of which was focused on the Your Forma's expanded functionality. Taylor talks about how the Your Forma's information filtering abilities had created "filter bubbles" in people by preventing them from seeing the information they didn't want to see. As the brain is forced to process more data, people's concentration and attentiveness are decreasing. He states that Chikasato, one of the creators of the Your Forma, believed if this continued, people would dispense with thought and regress to artificial intelligence, so he wanted to create the Matoi to "remind people of their humanity." However, the development ended in failure, and he took his own life many years later. Echika asks him why he is telling her all this, and he asks her if she hates her father. She says yes and leaves.

Echika meets up with Harold and report their findings to Totoki. Harold found nothing suspicious in his interviews with the employees and suggests that the culprit might be an outsider, though it is unlikely. Totoki says that she will trace the employees' activity records with the data Echika obtained. Harold also brings up Cliff Salk, who worked at Rig City as a programmer but resigned last month. Though Echika couldn't link him to the sensory crime directly, she is bothered by the emotions associated with him during her Brain Dive and asks Totoki to look him up as well. After the call ends, Echika asks Harold about Steve, but he only repeats the same things Steve said about him. Harold perceptively notices that Echika is unsettled by her conversation with Taylor, but doesn't pry into it and gives her a piece of chocolate to relieve stress.

The next day, Harold tells Echika that Bigga has asked him out on a date, causing Echika to go meet up with him. Once there, she learns that Harold had lied about this being a date, but that Bigga had called him and agreed to sign the contract to become a civilian cooperator for the investigation. The two meet up with Bigga and learn that Lee had recovered from the incident. Bigga signs the contract, but wants to sightsee around St. Petersburg, so Harold forces Echika to go along with them. They visit an art museum, and Echika notices that Bigga is conspicuously ignoring her, so she tries to sneak away, but Harold stops her. After the visit, Bigga and Harold go to the souvenir shop to buy presents for Bigga's father and Lee, while Echika waits outside. Watching them causes Echika to recall her childhood memories of buying a birthday present for her father and getting violently rejected. Sumika had comforted her, but Echika pushed her away, wondering if Sumika really cared about her or if she was just programmed that way, and whether her father loved Sumika more than her because she was programmed to be obedient. This was the start of Echika's hatred for Amicus.

Bigga confronts Echika over her rough treatment of Lee and calls her a monster. Afterwards, Echika and Harold spar over Echika's views on Amicus. Echika is deeply shaken when he mentions her father and walks away. She then gets a phone call from Totoki, who informs her that Cliff Salk's real name is Makar Marcovich Uritsky and that he is a criminal on the international wanted list. He had contact with all the index cases and visited Rig City just yesterday. It seems likely that he's the culprit.

## Characters

* Echika Hieda
* Chikasato Hieda (flashback)
* Sumika (flashback)
* Matoi (mentioned)
* Harold W. Lucraft
* Anne
* Thomas Ogier (mentioned)
* Clara Lee (mentioned)
* Steve H. Wheatstone
* Elias Taylor
* Vi Totoki
* Ganache
* Bigga
* Makar Marcovich Uritsky (mentioned)

## Locations

* San Francisco, California, USA
* St. Petersburg, Russia