Chapter 11: MHCP004

After the long and lengthy conversation I had with Merida most of the afternoon, we both agreed to meet in Asuka so she could witness for herself my movements in-game, in exchange for her to tell me about the experience of being a beta tester for Sword Art Online.

Merida gave me a time and date for our... training... or was it a rendezvous?

Whatever she called it, I completely forgot what it was, so to make me remember, she had me frequently check the alarm I set for our scheduled meeting, while we were walking back to the cottage.

During our stroll, a ping noise sounded telling me I received a message, Merida stopped as well and opened her VR menu as did I.

The message came from the Sleeping Knights group chat that Aiko made, Yuuki was the one who sent the message.

"OK! We're gonna have our first guild meeting in half an hour! Make sure to log into Asuka Empire, our meeting place will be at a café in the town plaza of Soji."

My brows furrowed in confusion, I had no idea where or what this "Soji" was.

Merida closed her menu and looked at me, "You still remember our one to one meeting in Asuka, right?"

"Yep..! Our meeting is at.. umm..." I paused, trying to remember.

She sighed heavily while rolling her eyes, "It's in five hours, geez, you need to improve your memory!"

I closed my VR menu and scratched my head while weakly smiling, "Sorry..?"

I quickly remembered to ask her something, "So this Soji, Yuuki mentioned in the message," she turned her attention to me, "It's a bit of a noob question, but what is it?"

Merida tilted her head and asked me how long I've been playing Asuka Empire, she smirked and scoffed at my answer.

"Pfft-! You started Asuka nearlytwo2 weeks ago!?" Merida sounded a bit surprised, "Goodness, I'll have to be your mentor, then!"

I gave her an expression that said, "Seriously?"

She placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled, "You'll have to call me Merida-sensei now."

"No, I'm not doing that," I quickly replied.

She shrugged, we soon arrived back at Yuuki and Aiko's cottage, which they so kindly had me stay since I don't have any enough curren to buy a house myself.

I'm now seeing how indebted I am to those two...

Merida had her one little house she bought in-game, she told me to message her in case she forgot, which I highly doubt.

The time was 15:22.

"Okay then, I'll head off," Merida waved and walked off.

"W-Wait a minute-!"

She looked back.

"Do you have any else you need to say to me?"

"Hrm? No, not really. I just need to check on Roy, my stag beetle."

I tilted my head, Roy? Stag beetle? wait-!

"You have a Royal Triton Stag beetle!?" I shouted, "So, you got one?"

She nodded but then asked me how I know she was looking for one before. I quickly replied by mentioning the bulletin board in the town square of Roite.

"You remember that, but you can't remember when we're supposed to meet?" she huffed.

"Speaking of remembering, when exactly is that again?" I smiled.

"Of course! It's in... umm..."

"Five hours, right?" I answered, teasing her.

"Yeah, that's right! I knew that!"

"Did you now? It looks like you need to improve your memory too"

Merida became flustered and snapped at me, "Oh, hah, hah! Very funny, Damai! Geez..."

She stormed off; my teasing was a success.

Quietly laughing to myself, I entered the cottage and logged out.

Oh... This place again...

I sat down and took in my surroundings. There was a familiar sense of emptiness, and I remembered how lifeless this place was.

The Medicuboid VR Lobby.

I mentioned before how painful this area is, it makes you feel like you're a ghost.

"Oh, you came back at just the right time!"

Cambell's voice thundered clearly into my ear.

I looked around, and my physiotherapist was standing right in front of me.

"Cam..?"

"Yes?"

"How are-"

He interrupted me and began to explain, "The tech staff gave the Medicuboid a new feature, I can now supervise you more effectively."

"What do you mean, supervise?"

He sighed, "I'll spare you the details. Basically, I'm here because tech hooked an AmuSphere to the Medicuboid."

"Oooh, that explains it," I rolled my eyes, "But you still haven't explained what you mean by supervise."

"I'm able to check on you more frequently when you log in and out of the games."

I smirked, realizing there was a chance to wind up Cambell.

"But, won't that ruin the blind dates you keep having every time you're on break?"

He ignored my attempt to annoy him.

"Anyway, this place is completely empty. You do realize you can spruce up this area, right?"

A bolt of lightning hit me.

"Wow, you forget everything, don't you?"

Where have I heard that line before?

Anyway, Cambell instructed me on how I can decorate the lifeless area, which I considered my home for the last four months.

An alarm sounded half-way through Cambell's explanation, "Tch... Welp, you'll have to figure out the rest on your own, I suppose," he said while opening the VR menu to exit the Medicuboid VR Lobby.

"Was that a booty call?" I saw another chance to make Cam's hackles rise.

"You don't miss an opportunity to piss me off, do you?"

He sighed and playfully flicked my forehead, "Owch..!" my head recoiled back.

"Was I right though?" I murmured while rubbing the small red mark on my head.

He silently laughed to himself, "Maybe you're right."

Cambell waved as he touched the logout button, and a bright light engulfed him.

I guess I should "spruce up" this abyssal void...

My hand stretched out and opened the Medicuboid VR menu; there was a setting that Cambell mentioned, which enabled the editing option to furnish this black hole of a home.

Hrm... Let's see... Eh?

My eyes widened at a setting that seemed very interesting to me, "Enable MHCP"?

I stared hard at the acronym MHCP, wondering what it means.

Meh, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.

With my reckless "screw it!" mindset, I enabled the setting.

Nothing eventful happened, and that was it. Nothing.

I scratched my head, "Perhaps it's a bug or an unfinished feature, maybe a gli-"

"User confirmed."

"WUWAH-!?"

A sudden loud booming monotone female voice reverberated through my ears.

"Who the bloody hell was that!?"

I closed the Medicuboid VR menu and looked behind, in front, and both sides around me, no one was there.

"Greetings Damai, my name is MHCP004. I am a prototype AI companion programmed to monitor your mind as well as be your companion while you're inside the Medicuboid."

"Okay..?"

The monotone voice continued its introduction, "My name is an acronym and lists my main function as an AI companion, MHCP stands for Mental Health Counselling Program. If you didn't notice by my name, I am responsible for keeping your mental health in check."

"Uhm... Right..?"

That sentence sounded a bit condescending.

The AI once again resumed their... biography?

"I am also responsible for overseeing your activity while your assigned medical guardian is either on break or is absent from their duties. Would you like to hear my introduction again?"

"Yeah, okay then," I said lazily covering my ears then realizing what the AI's question was, "Wait, wait, w-!"

"Greetings Damai, my name is MHCP004. I am a prototype AI companion programmed to-"

"Yes, yes!" I put a stop to the AI's wearisome greeting, "Oh my god! do you know how loud you are?"

"Apologies, Damai, I shall lower the volume of my voice."

Their speech got quieter for me to listen without covering my ears.

"And can you sound a little less robotic, not to be rude, but I feel like you're unenthusiastic about meeting me."

I kept looking around for where the AI's voice came from.

"My speaking pattern can be changed manually."

My brows furrowed, "Uhm, how do I change it?"

"...Sigh..."

Why do you sound exasperated?

I ignored the AI's sassy nature and stretched my hand out and reopened the Medicuboid VR menu, and I looked for a setting that mentioned something to do with the AI.

Storage... Accessibility... Display... Sound... No, not here.

"Damai, look for an option that says user preference."

"Oh, thanks, umm..."

"My name is MH-"

"Yes, yes, I know that," I interrupted, "It's just too much effort to pronounce those constants and numbers y'know?"

"Then, please feel free to name me, Damai."

"Name you?"

"Yes," the AI responded.

Okay then... A name, a name...

I scratched my head and thought harder.

Medi, no... Cuba, no... 004... four...

"That's it!"

"Have you decided on what to call me, Damai?" It questioned.

"Yep! Your name is Yon!"

The was a deafening silence that lasted for about 30 seconds at most.

"Yon... That is what you wish to call me?"

"Sure, if you're happy with me calling you Yon."

There was a short pause before the AI spoke.

"Processing... Name confirmed," it continued, "My name is Yon."

"Good, now that we've got that cleared up I've been meaning to ask two questions ever since you started talking," it looked like I was talking to myself.

There was another deafening silence. I assumed the AI- I mean, Yon was waiting for my question.

"Okay, the first question is, where are you?"

Yon quickly answered, "I am in the Medicuboid software, to put it in layman terms, I am the Medicuboid."

"So, that means I can't see you?"

"No, unless you create an avatar for me to inhabit, then I can converse with you more comfortably."

I shook my head, "Right, the other question is how should I refer to you, are you male or female?"

Yon took a while to answer then replied with, "Whatever feels comfortable for you, Damai."

I facepalmed and said that this should be Yon's decision as I feel uncomfortable with labeling someone's gender for reasons that take too much effort to explain.

"Very well, since the default speaking pattern sounds like a female, I shall be referred to as female," she clarified.

Finally! I'm so glad that's over and done with.

I looked at the time on my HUD, and it was 16:14.

Was I supposed to be at a meeting or something? Nah, probably not.

"Damai," Yon broke me from my train of thought, "Can I ask to inhabit an avatar so it will be easier for you to speak with me?"

"I'm sure that there are some default female avatars you can choose from."

The silence grew louder and louder, as Yon finally spoke, "I have found an avatar that is suitable for a feminine appearance, shall I convert my data into the avatar?"

"Yeah, sure..." I returned.

There were sounds of code and data being transferred from one file to another.

Finally, a person appeared in front of me wearing a black and green jacket, I assume it is Yon as she decided to inhabit an avatar that looked feminine I looked closer, the appearance Yon chose was a 5.8" female figure with long black hair that covered her back and green highlights that shaded the ends of her hair, Yon turned around to face me, and I had a better view of the avatar she chose, her eyes were green like emeralds and-

Oh, for &*£% sake!

"What is it, Damai?" Yon looked confused as she watched me grovel on the ground, "Have I chosen poorly with my appearance?"

"No, it's not you."

And now even an AI has mistaken it for a girl...

Yon knelt down, curious as to why I was groveling on the floor, "Are you sure that my appearance is okay?"

I groaned in annoyance, "Yes, it's fine... it's just..."

"What is it, Damai?" Yon responded, "Surely, there must be something wrong with the avatar I've chosen."

"No, there isn't."

That's my Asuka Empire avatar