Track 4: Love = #VALUE!
Love = #VALUE!1
“Love…lo…ve…”
“Are you concerned about love?”
Nari asked me after Gii left the room.
He tilted his head as he watched me lie on the floor and roll around.
“What is love like?”
“It’s complicated. While I have felt the adoration from my fans during my idol activities, I do not understand love well enough to teach others about it.”
“I see~...”
Love… What is it, exactly?
It seems like nothing more than a mere electrical signal, yet in reality, it is something that can affect and shape a person’s entire life.
Something intangible, yet existent.
Humans are often troubled, sad, and angry because of love. And yet, they can still find happiness.
I had been living at my own pace back on my home planet. But now, I have decided that I want my very own Beatrice.
I want to try loving someone.
But I haven’t gotten to that point yet, so I have no idea how the culprit is trying to symbolize love.
“Mmm… Thinking about these things makes me hungry.”
True love is both troublesome and fascinating.
It might just become the theme of my life.
“How about asking someone who seems to know a lot about love?”
“Uwohhh!!”
I jumped in excitement at Nari’s brilliant idea.
Then, I started trying to remember the faces of the humans who seemed to know a lot about love, one by one.
If that boy were here, we could have engaged quickly in a discussion about love…but he’s not here… Ah, that's right.
“How about someone in the evening unit? Like Chihiro—”
“Nastume-sama?”
“Yep♪ He definitely knows a lot about it!”
——
Not too long ago, I heard Danny{2} mention something about how men, women, and love are a complicated territory. It was during when he was drunk a while back.
So I rushed with Nari into Yumejyuuya, which was still open for business.
Yodaka listened to my questions over the counter.
“About love… Love, huh…”
“What is love exactly??”
“There are many kinds of love, aren’t there? There is unconditional love, and there is selfish love, but they are all the same kind of love. There’s no one kind that’s better than the other...”
“Yes, I also perceive it that way myself.”
“I wonder, what kind of love does Netaro want to know about?”
The moment he asked, “Fate” played.
DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNN.
Chou Un looked in my direction, the latest hearing devices installed in him picking up on the noise.
Why do I get so hungry like this? It’s quite strange, even to me.
“The kind of love that involves opening heart-shaped holes in many people’s stomachs and placing tulips onto their heads!”
If I were to eat Gii, Nari, and Yoda, would my hunger disappear due to their combined volume?
“That’s…quite bizarre, but that could also be a form of love…?”
Yoda closed his eyes and paused to think for a moment, and then—
“Perhaps, some people do that to get “noticed”... It's like they’re trying to make their presence known.”
“What~?”
”They’re trying to tell someone that they’re there, loving them.”
“Tell who~?”
“The one they love. But—”
“But~?”
“Expressing love by carving holes into many people’s stomachs does not deserve to be called love.”
“Ngh...”
“That’s just my personal opinion.”
“Ah—”
At that moment, the words of that boy flashed through my mind—
“I want someone to love me! Someone who can reciprocate my strongest affections, someone who I was born for!”
—I see. I see now, boy.
I still don’t understand what love is,
But I understand the wish that he made.
Not wanting to be alone by myself, but by being alone with someone else beside me.
Not to watch the stars alone, but to gaze upon the stars reflected in someone’s eyes.
That’s right, I want to become like that too!
That’s why this incident is so strange, hm~~~~?!
“Nari, what do all of these victims have in common? Let’s go find out!”
——
I thanked Yoda and gave him a cheerful wave before Nari and I shot back home like a comet.
Then, Nari and I made a conclusion after looking at the part of the Metropolitan Police Department database that Nari broke into.
“First of all…”
Up until the fourth victim, they were all human. Men or women.
Gender was not a factor.
The fifth victim was an android.
“Secondly…”
All of the victims had just started dating their significant others.
This was discovered from the records showing that their partners were initially suspects.
This information could only be obtained from police records. In other words, it was not disclosed to the public.
In conclusion!
“If you wanted people to know, you wouldn’t impose information restrictions, right??”
“No, you would not.”
“Were you able to contact the destroyed android?”
“I attempted to contact it through the management system, but it was an old model AI equipped with only cleaning functions, so we were unable to have a conversation.”
In other words—
“It’s a copycat crime!”