Project 02: Input

Chapter 2
File B: Hacker

'Resuming system…'

I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on the metal chair in Putin-sama's room. I tried to gather the data… about what happened to me. The first thing I remembered was a .vsq song Paradise of Light and Shadow. I sang it with someone… a boy.

"Try not to 'think' too much, Rin. You're still tired from that program, aren't you?" I could feel myself charging… Putin-sama had a worried look in his face. I didn't want him to worry.

"I'm fine… I had to force shut down because of that program… But other than that, all system is functioning properly." I double checked just in case, I felt fine. Nothing was broken inside, all files and folders were still in the data base, nothing was missing. And most importantly, my memory of that boy was still there.

"I knew it, that program was too heavy wasn't it?" Putin-sama sighed, and it made me feel so useless… That I can't even run a heavy program.

"Please don't uninstall it… I like the program you made for me." His hard work wasn't for nothing, for some reason… that program made me feel… happy. "Usually every time I sing… The program 'happy' activates. But now, every time I think about that boy, I feel happy. 'Happiness' is the program I love the most, it feels nice to be happy, and I want to be happy every time I think about that boy." Both of us were shocked, the program worked 100% for the first time in my life, I used the word 'love' and 'like' and I mean it with my false 'heart'.

"You're right… It shouldn't be deleted, you're having fun with that feeling, aren't you?" Putin-sama gave a smile of relief. "And… who is 'that boy' you're talking about?"

"Putin-sama, you told me I had to enjoy myself out there. I sang in the park, where the largest tree in Utopia was. A boy then answered my song. He sang the opposite of what I sang. That boy and I had a conversation, he had to leave. Because of him the program love started." Again, those .txt files bothered me, with words saying the same things.

'I want to sing with him again.'

'Will he remember me?'

I accepted those files because I realized they were my wishes and thoughts.

"It feels nice doesn't it, to fall in love? I won't uninstall it, just try not to over load yourself again." I nodded. Both of us were happy that the program didn't go to waste. I checked at the clock hung on the wall, it was 5 PM. "I found you on the park unconscious, so I carried you back here." Putin-sama explained. "Well, I'm off to the office. You're fully charged now, so you can disconnect yourself." I did as he said and Putin-sama left in a hurry. Something probably happened at Crypton, something important. I hope I didn't bother Putin-sama and his work.

When Putin-sama is working, I usually clean the house. Putin-sama had no time to clean since he's always busy. He never asks me to clean, I did it because… I wanted to. Without system command, I started to sing. The song that we sang earlier at the park. That song was a duet, but it could also be sung by individual. I like the song as a duet better than a solo.

"Again, in paradise of light and shadow… Let my wish reach there." As the song ended, I wished to sing the song again and again like an endless loop. Because every time I sang that song, the memory about that boy and me popped up.

'When can I meet him again?'

'Where is he now?'

'Who is he?'

'What is his name?'

'Why did the program activate when he's there?'

'How can I answer all these questions?'

I searched for the right answer to every question. The vacuum cleaner in my hand didn't move, I was too focused on searching the answers. The task manager reminded me, that I had to clean the house, but the program 'love' stopped me from doing so. I added another task in my data base.

'Continue cleaning after answering all those 6 questions.' I put the vacuum cleaner to its place and went inside Putin-sama's room.

I attached my headphones to the cables and readied myself. Those people call me a 'hacker'. If I use my hacking skills to look for data about him, then… I might get useful information about him.

'Initializing…' Binary numbers were in front of my eyes, it wasn't an easy task to do. I needed to access the server (internet), with that I could access everyone who was connected to it.

'Unable to connect to server.'

'Problem loading page.'

'Error 404 Forbidden.'

'Could not locate remote server.'

I didn't understand… it usually works… Why couldn't I access the server?

After retrying multiple times, I heard the front door was opened and I forcefully disconnect the cables in my headphones. I didn't bother to 'safely remove hardware' if Putin-sama saw me in his room, he'd lose his trust in me.

"Rin?" Putin-sama called out my name and so I rushed to the front door. He came home early, did Putin-sama forgot something? He could just call me by phone and I could deliver it to him.

"Is there something you need?" Putin-sama gave his coat to me and told me to wear it.

"Turn off your wi-fi, Rin.He said that you need to attend a meeting with us, Rin. It's something really important, apparently F. Media has a new hacker and their new hacker blocked the access to the internet in Utopia." I entered Putin-sama's car and he drove us to Crypton's office. I turned off the wi-fi just as he said, but I was still processing everything together. F. Media had a new hacker, and their hacker blocked the server?

"Why would their hacker block everyone from the server?" Putin-sama went above the speed limit, was the meeting really vital to Crypton?

"I'm not sure… You didn't access the server, did you?" Of course I didn't want to disappoint Putin-sama. I had no courage of telling him that I accessed the server. Instead I shook my head, and he gave out a sigh of relief.

"If you did access the server… I don't know what'd happen to you. Just to be safe, can you run a smart scan?" I ran the smart scan, no virus detected, not even cookies (Computer cookies, not delicious cookies).

"No malicious object detected." I couldn't access the server earlier, so maybe the virus wasn't inserted into me?

"That's good to hear." Putin-sama parked his car inside Crypton's building and quickly went for the elevator. I made sure the two of us walked with the same pace.

Everyone was at their seats, the most important people Crypton were gathered there. Two chairs were empty, and I immediately thought that those chairs were reserved for Putin-sama and me.

We sat on our chairs and the head of the company of Crypton spoke up.

"As you all know, an hour ago F. Media blocked everyone from the server. F. Media said they're trying to hunt down a hacker. And F. Mediaalsosaid for the past few months, they found holes in their data base, and thought thatmaybea hacker had hacked their computers." I knew he was talking about me, I hacked F. Media's data base.

"And you should start upgrading Project 02 here, so it could be less visible when Project 02 is hacking." The man continued. In that meeting room, only Putin-sama treated me as a 'living creature'. Those people called me a 'thing' and it made me sad that they said so.

"For now I'm still busy with Project 03. I've upgraded 02 already, she's one step closer to be a human." I sensed that Putin-sama would argue with that man. I wanted to support Putin-sama, but that man wouldn't take me seriously, I'm just a 'tool' in his eyes.

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

For a moment I saw a flash in front of my eyes.

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

And my antivirus was telling me that I'd shut down in 3 seconds.

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

What was happening inside the system? I couldn't tell, could it be a virus?

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

"And so you have to think of better programs for her. Not feelings like love or happiness. She belongs to the company, to hack F. Media. Our sales increases because of Project 02, I don't want the numbers to decrease because of Project 02."

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

"Last time we found out that F. Media's weakness was their CPU, with that data we could make our CPU better than they are. Does Project 2 have useful data for us, now?"

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

Those letters kept on appearing and disappearing in front of my eyes. It wasn't just an illusion; after I ran the full scan, I could tell there was a virus inside me.

-m\\Project_02 -s –a –f –t03

'Virus detected, Quantity : 7 choose action : remove all… Virus successfully removed.' Those words stop appearing and the virus stopped. No longer could I see them. Were they viruses from F. Media? It could be. Because of that virus, I had 45% battery remaining.

"Putin-sama… I need to charge myself." I paid no attention to what they were talking about, all eyes were at me though.

"Fine. Project 02 is excused, butyoushould stay." Before I left, Putin-sama said something to me.

"Go back home. There's a program that you should install. That program could make your battery life last longer." I did as Putin-sama said. A program that could make my battery last longer… That'd be very useful for me, I couldn't wait to install them.

Approximately 10 minutes were needed for me to go back home by walking. I was in no hurry, I still had 40% battery remaining after all. I passed by the park where me and that boy met. Maybe tomorrow I should go back at the same time and same place, I thought. That way I might meet him again.

"Hey, it's you isn't it?" I couldn't believe my ears. Was my editing software (imagination) on? The gentle voice that said those words… belonged to that boy. I turned around, and I made sure my editing software was disabled.

It was him. The boy that activated my love program. He wore the same coat, gloves, hat, and yellow scarf. I smiled in the inside, a smile that he couldn't see.

"What are you doing out here in the cold? And still, with that thin coat…" I'd love to say the same thing to his appearance, but I just nodded and asked for more questions about him.

"I'm walking back home. What… are you doing?" A note reminded me that I had 40% left, but the love program told me to stay here and talk with him.

"Taking a walk… It's so boring at home, anyway… Where's your house?"

"It's… near from here. Why do you ask?" I wondered.

"I can walk you back to your house. Let's walk back together, I have nothing else better to do. You don't mind, right?" .txt files of the virus and how those people treated me as a non-living creature, they faded away. My battery would be recharged once the two of us went back home. I smiled in the inside, and that love program, made my lips smile in the outside.