Whenever I spent time with Alice, I usually made my way to her general store. Since she was technically on duty as my guard, she would have appeared even if I had summoned her to my room... but out of habit, or perhaps just a lingering preference, I always found myself heading to the store whenever we were going to play games together.
As it happened, the commercial version of the magic spinning top we had played with during the Six Kings Festival was finally complete, so I had come over to test it out with her before it hit the market.
It had been improved in several ways since the festival, giving the impression that it was now much easier for younger children to pick up. I had a feeling it was going to be quite popular.
After that, I sat with Alice to play a node game. It wasn't one of the ones I struggled with, like shogi or chess, but rather a different version of the Hero Sugoroku we had played before.
"...Um, Kaito-san?"
"Yeah?"
"...Well, it might just be my imagination, but..."
Alice paused her hand over the board and spoke, looking my way. For her, she sounded uncharacteristically hesitant, as if she were struggling to find the right words.
"...Doesn't your gaze feel a bit... overflowing with kindness today?"
"..."
"I mean, I don't have any actual proof, but it's making me feel all restless... or rather, it's making me feel a bit itchy..."
"Now that you mention it..."
When she pointed it out and I took a moment to reflect, I realized there was some truth to it. However, for some reason, explaining the 'why' was incredibly difficult.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure myself... but somehow, just looking at you makes me feel this heartwarming sensation..."
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hmm. I really don't know why... but it's just heartwarming."
"Eeeh, that's an answer with absolutely zero information... Honestly, it's making me a little uncomfortable! I'm all fidgety over here!!"
Alice voiced her complaints while looking thoroughly embarrassed, but even if I wanted to fix it, I didn't know the cause myself. For some reason, simply looking at Alice caused a warm, affectionate feeling to well up within me.
I wondered what this sensation was. In a way, it felt similar to the feeling I'd had after hearing about Alice's past from Iris-san.
It was close to that sense of finding Alice's underlying kindness endearing, regardless of how much she complained on the surface.
Unfortunately, the catalyst for this specific feeling was a total mystery. It wasn't as if I'd heard any new stories from Iris-san, nor had I recently witnessed another instance of Alice's subtle kindness.
"...Still, I don't know what's causing it."
"U-Umm... I wonder what it is. To me, it feels like the kind of gaze that makes you incredibly self-conscious... well, I guess there's no helping it if you don't know the reason yourself."
"Yeah. I'll let you know if I remember anything."
Though she still looked unconvinced, she seemed to believe me when I said I didn't have any idea why I was doing it. With a slightly flustered expression, Alice turned her attention back to the board game.
Hmm, what was this, really? It didn't feel like a bad thing... if anything, it felt like my impression of Alice had become even more positive than it was before.
Since the cause was unknown and there was no real harm other than Alice acting a bit shy, I figured I probably shouldn't worry about it too much.
In a total reversal from the previous day, I found myself on an island that looked like a deserted paradise under a vast, starry sky. Before me stood a woman with a single mechanical wing.
"It's been since yesterday, My Child! Talking with you yesterday was so much fun that I called you back again today!!"
"A-Ah... so that's what happened."
"Hmm?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing. One of my questions was just answered, that's all."
Looking at the woman before me, Machina-san, I finally found the answer to that strange interaction I'd had with Alice during the day. I see—I had listened to stories about Alice's past for about twenty minutes in my dream yesterday. While I had forgotten the conversation itself upon waking, the lingering positive impression of Alice had remained in my heart, leading to that affectionate behavior.
"Um, good evening, Machina-san... Where is this?"
"Good evening! Hehe, I mentioned it briefly yesterday, but this is a reproduction of the uninhabited island where Alice and the human version of me first met."
"Heh, so this is the place..."
"By the way, Alice looked like this back then!"
As Machina-san spoke, a hologram-like image of Alice appeared before me. However, this version of Alice had a semi-short haircut and was dressed in a jacket and jeans—an outfit that felt very much like it belonged in the world I came from.
"Oh, Alice looks quite good with short hair too."
"Yes, yes, I agree completely. Shall we continue yesterday's story? ...Let's see, how far did we get?"
Seeing Machina-san smile as she dismissed the hologram, I found myself smiling back. She felt a bit more childlike than she did as Eden-san, but I had a feeling this was her true, unvarnished self.
I'd suspected it for a while, but I really think Machina-san just loves talking to people.
"I believe we were at the part where you went to visit Japan."
"Ah, that's right! After that, normally you'd go somewhere nearby, wouldn't you? But the next place she took me was Australia! She said it was because we took a ship to Japan, so this time we had to take a plane..."
As I watched Machina-san talk so enthusiastically, I found myself chuckling, wondering if Alice was going to have that same restless, embarrassed face again tomorrow.