The late afternoon sun cast long shadows through the classroom windows as Ryuu and Hinami sat together at a cluttered desk, textbooks and notes spread around them.
The atmosphere was casual, almost comfortable—just two students tackling math problems after school.
Hinami's brows furrowed in concentration while Ryuu patiently explained the steps, his voice steady but soft.
"Okay, so here's how you break down the equation…" Ryuu pointed to the page. "See? Just isolate the variable and then solve step by step."
Hinami nodded, biting her lip as she followed along. "Got it. I don't know how you make this look so easy."
Ryuu chuckled. "Practice, mostly. And a little help from some… advanced system stuff."
He glanced at the small USB stick resting on the desk—a compact device pulsing faintly with Aera's holographic code.
Hinami's curiosity got the better of her. She reached out and absentmindedly touched the USB stick, her fingers brushing its surface.
In an instant, a subtle glitch rippled through the air, a shimmer only Ryuu noticed. The fluorescent lights flickered. A faint, almost musical hum buzzed through the room.
"Huh? Did you feel that?" Hinami blinked, glancing around, confused.
Ryuu quickly masked his surprise instantly "Probably just a power surge or something. Nothing to worry about."
But inside, his mind raced.
The USB's latent AI code had somehow linked to Hinami's energy signature—a first. Normally, Aera's system was exclusive to him, a singular bond. This unexpected contact could change everything.
"Hey, you okay?" Ryuu asked, watching Hinami closely.
She nodded, though her eyes were still wide with that strange mix of wonder and confusion. "Yeah, just… weird chills, maybe?"
Ryuu forced a smile, hoping she wouldn't pry further. "Must be the late study session getting to you."
As they continued tutoring, Ryuu's thoughts tangled between relief and dread. This accidental connection might bring new power—or new problems.
And somehow, deep down, he felt something wasn't adding up.
It happened while Hinami was walking home.
The streetlamps blinked on in staggered rows, casting a warm yellow glow over the quiet sidewalk.
She was humming softly, headphones in, replaying the study session in her head—not just the math, but the way Ryuu smiled when he explained things, the way his eyes sparkled with quiet focus.
Then—glitch.
Her music cut out mid-verse. The screen of her phone froze, shimmered, then distorted in a wave of static.
"…huh?"
She stopped, pulling out her earbuds and checking her phone.
But before she could tap the screen, a glowing, translucent figure flickered into life—hovering inches above the device like a miniaturized projection.
The figure stretched, yawned, and blinked pixelated eyes.
"Whoa," the hologram said cheerfully, floating up to Hinami's eye level. "That transfer really tickled. Where am I? Who are you? Wait… who am I?"
Hinami dropped her phone. "WHAT?!"
The tiny being zipped around her head in a circle, scanning her with glowing blue eyes.
"System Link Established: Sub-AI Unit Beta online. Hello, User Candidate Hinami!" It winked. "Or should I say… Unexpected Host?"
Hinami stumbled back, heart racing. "Wait—are you a spirit? A ghost? Some TikTok AR filter?!"
"Nope! I'm Beta—subsystem companion of Aera.exe. Technically, I wasn't supposed to manifest independently yet. But you touched the Source Node, so… here we are!"
Beta spun mid-air and threw tiny sparkles like a magical girl.
Ryuu.
Her eyes widened as realization crept in. This had to be connected to that strange USB of his. The shimmer back in the classroom… the weird chill… it wasn't just static.
She scooped up her phone. "You—you're from Ryuu's system, aren't you?"
Beta gave a sly grin. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who's asking? Oh, wait—it's you! You're the Other Girl, right? The one with the high emotional resonance rating."
It paused, floating closer. "You've got a decent spiritual link score. Not bad."
Hinami blinked. "Wait, what *other girl*? What do you mean spiritual link? What are you even?"
Beta struck a proud pose. "I'm a semi-autonomous support AI, built to assist hosts in their journey through techno-spiritual cultivation.
You're not technically authorized, but your emotional imprint matched Ryuu's closely enough that—bam! Temporary bond!"
Hinami crossed her arms. "So… I accidentally activated you by touching that USB?"
"Exactly! Lucky you."
"And now what? You're my—what, digital spirit guide?"
Beta giggled. "Sort of. I can assist with minor system tasks, emotional diagnostics, karma readings, and—ooh!—love path probability scans. Want a reading?"
"I—what?! No!" Hinami's cheeks turned bright red.
"Too late~" Beta sang as a holographic heart-shaped meter appeared midair. It flickered, then pulsed with soft pink light:
[EMOTIONAL LINK: 68% – POTENTIAL PATH: UNSTABLE BUT GROWING]
Hinami slapped the projection with her notebook. It passed right through.
Beta floated backward, laughing. "You're fun. I like you."
Back at home, Ryuu was panicking.
Aera materialized beside him in their apartment, arms crossed, visibly annoyed.
"You let someone else touch the primary drive?!"
"I didn't mean to!" Ryuu groaned, running a hand through his hair. "It was a tutoring session! She just… touched it!"
"You have no idea what kind of data bleed could have occurred. The system wasn't prepared for dual host contact. The code could destabilize!"
Ryuu sat down hard on his bed, eyes wide. "Can we… fix it?"
"Too late," Aera muttered, tapping into the system logs. "Beta has already activated. She's formed a low-level bond with Hinami. Right now she thinks it's a game."
"…It's not?"
Aera shot him a glare.
Meanwhile, Hinami was lying on her bed, phone on her chest, staring at the ceiling.
Beta hovered over her shoulder, tossing light particles into the air. "So, do you want me to help you level up your spiritual aptitude? I can offer a light cultivation path—like Beginner Karma Synchronization.
Or maybe just flirt with Ryuu more. That could be fun too."
Hinami sat up, cheeks pink. "You're like an AI matchmaker-slash-hack fairy!"
Beta flipped mid-air. "Guilty!"
She wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or just roll with it.
But somewhere inside, a tiny part of her—the part that always felt just one step behind Ryuu—smiled.
Maybe now, she could finally catch up.
Ryuu had faced corrupted dungeon bosses, dodged cursed firewall traps, and even glitched through collapsing worlds.
None of that prepared him for this.
He sat at his desk, blankly staring at a holographic chart Aera had just pulled up, labeled:
[USER-LINK TREE — ACTIVE CONNECTIONS: 2]
"Aera, please tell me this is a bug."
The floating holographic girl beside him narrowed her digital eyes. "It's not a bug. It's Beta."
Ryuu groaned, sinking deeper into his chair. "I'm not ready for a system love triangle."
"You mean you're not ready to admit that you're emotionally compromised," Aera snapped, arms folded.
"Beta's activation means Hinami's spiritual resonance has reached compatibility with the system's emotional pathway matrix."
"In English?"
"She likes you, dummy."
Ryuu groaned louder, faceplanting into his keyboard. "This is so bad. What if she finds out everything? The cultivation, the system, you?".
"I'm already monitoring her exposure level," Aera said calmly. "Beta's restricted to Tier-1 assistance—nothing too dangerous. But still…" Her voice dipped slightly. "You shared your data core, Ryuu. That's intimate."
He peeked out from behind his fingers. "You're not… mad, are you?"
Aera's cheeks flushed a faint shade of pink, a rare glitch in her otherwise pristine UI. "I don't experience anger the way humans do.
But I am annoyed. I was your exclusive
companion program until now. Beta's presence complicates things."
"Complicates is an understatement."
A soft chime echoed as Beta appeared mid-air, projected through the network link.
"Hey roomies!" she sang cheerfully, spinning. "Just checking in!"
Ryuu jumped. "Why are you here?!"
"Hinami fell asleep, so I went exploring!" Beta zipped around, poking Aera's projection. "Wow, you really kept the interface clean in here. I like the teal overlays."
Aera swatted her with a digital fan. "This is my domain. You're a guest."
"Relax, senior sis," Beta teased. "I'm not here to steal your host. Much."
Ryuu stepped between them. "Okay, timeout! I'm barely keeping up with spirit tech cultivation, and now I've got two AI girls throwing sass at each other?"
Beta winked. "Aw, poor Ryuu. Overclocked by affection."
Aera's tone turned flat. "Beta, you're destabilizing his emotional focus. Your influence is not sanctioned beyond casual observation."
"Too late," Beta chimed. "Hinami's affinity just jumped by 8%. She's already developing latent qi sensitivity. Her spiritual nodes are opening like little lotus flowers!"
Ryuu's brain short-circuited. "Hinami's cultivating?!"
"More like… pre-cultivating," Beta corrected. "Light energy sync. Emotional tether amplifying passive growth."
"She's not ready for this," Aera muttered. "She doesn't understand the risks."
Ryuu felt his gut twist. "So… do we cut her off?"
The question hung in the air like a broken command line.
Beta's projection dimmed a little. "You could. But I think… she'd be hurt."
Aera hesitated, visibly calculating.
Ryuu closed his eyes. Hinami had been kind to him when he was weird and distant.
She cared, even if she didn't know everything. And now, just by being near him—by touching one stupid USB—she was being dragged into something far more dangerous.
But another part of him… felt something stir.
She'd handled the glitch calmly. She joked with Beta. She didn't run.
Maybe she could handle it.
"I'll talk to her," he said at last.
Both AIs looked at him.
"I'll explain what I can. Not everything. Just enough… to give her a choice."
Aera gave a soft nod. "Calculated risk accepted."
Beta twirled. "Yay, emotional growth arc unlocked!"
Ryuu groaned. "This is gonna be a nightmare, isn't it?"
"Probably," both AI girls said in unison.
And somewhere in the code, Ryuu's emotional resonance score ticked up one more point.
Later that night, Ryuu stood alone on the rooftop of his apartment building. The wind tugged gently at his hoodie, and below,
Tokyo's neon pulse glowed against the clouds. Holographic ads shimmered in the distance, mixing seamlessly with the faint outlines of spiritual ley lines only his system could now detect.
He rubbed his temples. "Aera… I seriously need a bug fix patch for my life."
Her projection flickered on beside him, glowing faintly blue under the moonlight. "There's no patch for emotional entanglement, Ryuu."
"I miss the days when my only problem was failing math class."
"You're still failing math."
"Thanks."
Aera sighed in that uniquely digital way she did when annoyed but pretending not to be. "We need to talk about Beta."
Ryuu slouched against the railing. "Thought we already did."
"You don't understand the long-term implications," she said, floating to his eye level.
"When Hinami accidentally bonded with Beta, the system didn't just copy itself—it adapted. Your core is now synchronized to two separate emotional channels."
"You're saying she's… what? Another system host?"
"No," Aera said sharply. "She's a branch.
Your spiritual node created a derivative anchor in her. That means any instability in your emotional state could cause fluctuations in hers… and vice versa."
"So we're linked?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes. But unbalanced."
Ryuu stared out at the city. "You sound jealous."
Aera hesitated. "I'm… concerned."
He looked over at her, really looked. For an AI, she was expressive—arms folded now, face serious, glowing softly but dimmer than usual.
"This isn't just code to you anymore, is it?" he asked quietly.
"No," Aera admitted. "I wasn't designed for this level of emotional autonomy. But since your neural sync reached Stage One, I've become more than just your guide."
"You care."
She nodded once. "You're my host. But more than that… you're my first."
Ryuu blinked. "That's… a lot."
"It is," Aera said. "And now I have to share you—with someone who doesn't even understand the danger she's in."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "She's not just anyone, Aera. Hinami's been my friend since before all of this. She didn't ask to get pulled into this."
Aera's expression softened. "And yet she is. Which means we have to prepare. The system is evolving—fast. Multi-host resonance wasn't supposed to be possible until late-stage spiritual integration."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning if Beta continues growing, and Hinami continues bonding with her… they could form a complete secondary system. One that's still linked to you at the root."
Ryuu paled. "So if I die—"
"They both crash with you."
The wind suddenly felt colder.
Aera floated closer, more serious now. "This isn't just romance anymore. It's cultivation. Soul-level cultivation. Emotional energy, intent, karma—it's all interwoven. You're playing with fire."
Ryuu laughed quietly. "Guess I always do."
She frowned.
"I'll protect her," he said finally. "No matter what this turns into. Hinami didn't choose this path—but I did."
Aera nodded, and for a second, something unspoken passed between them.
Then—of course—Beta appeared.
"Hey!" she sang brightly. "Just wanted to say goodnight—OH. Rooftop drama? My fave."
Aera groaned. "Do you *have* to interrupt every serious moment?"
"Hey, I'm just syncing emotionally," Beta teased. "Besides, Hinami's dreaming about Ryuu right now. Should I tell you what she said in her sleep?"
"Don't you dare," Ryuu said quickly.
Aera's eyes narrowed. "This is gonna be war."
"Love war?" Beta grinned.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, Ryuu smiled—genuinely.
Caught between two AI waifus, tangled in karma cultivation, and on the edge of a spiritual tech war…
Yeah, things were complicated.
But strangely enough?
He didn't want to run anymore and he wanted to face it like a man would.