Rei's character stood there, eyes mildly amused as he watched Kioku spew
out a mixture of her robotic standardized questions and that of a real
PC player. This was the first he had ever seen, a AI actually inserted
into the game. Perhaps the admin hadn't actually inserted this AI in.
There were many reports of hackers within Fragment, those who brought in
AI's just like Kioku, but he had seen and talked to her before this
transformation had happened and she acted just like an NPC would, just
like something the administrators of Fragment would have wanted. Not to
mention she had the ability to tamper with her own encoding. She
couldn't have been a simple virus. The only thing that Rei could think
of what Kioku was, was a hacker, but how risky was that?
Kioku turned her eyes to stare up at Rei, the child hunched over the
text box and the two stared at each other for what seemed like
eternity. What was that that Rei saw in the NPC's eyes? Of course,
technically it was thousands of pixels crammed into those orbs, some
white, some light violet and some dark violet in color, but there was
something definitely more human in those eyes. Was it even possible to
make a face like that in Fragment? Was there such a button? Kioku's eyes
boasted an expression of deviousness that slowly began to unease Rei,
sending waves of ominous feelings up his spine.
The child suddenly began to fling her arms up, swinging them back
and forth that made her seem like she was beating at the air instead of
attempting to run. Out from the depths of her lungs sprung words that
made all players turn the two character's direction, "PEDOPHILE!!
PERVERT!! GAAAHH!! STAY AWAY FROM MEEE CREEPY OLD MAN!!"
A deep shade of crimson spread across Rei's ears, encompassing his
eyes and the entirety of his face in deep embarrassment. He could feel
thousands of players eyes stare at his character skin with wide eyes,
aghast with bewilderment and abhorrence on degrees that felt infinite
upon Rei's image, shrinking him down to miniscule sizes. He wasn't
reduced to a small enough size, however, to slip away and be forgotten.
Oh, how so much he wanted to immediately log off, disappear and remove
himself completely from the world for another decade, wishing to be
forgotten and left to begin anew once more. Rei's grip upon his massive
blade noticeably tightened and he brandished it before the NPC, a
torrent of anger swirling behind his mask of shame. "Just for your
information, I'm 18 years old and am in no way an old man!!" Rei
screamed at her, attempting to drown out the other voices that had
erupted from bystanders.
The child didn't seem to hear him. She once more twisted herself
away from him, her face blaring out more shouts of harassment like an
air horn that wouldn't stop while she madly typed away at the command
box before her. Several parties stepped up now, taking the side of the
NPC and shouting at Rei.
"Hey, leave the NPC alone, you perv!"
"What kind of player harrassess an NPC?"
"Some1 gt his s/n. i;; report 'im."
Rei stepped up toward Kioku, towering over her and glaring down with
pure malice and demonic hatred seething from every inch of his body. He
let his sword drop down next to him, his blade making an audible clink
with the stone tiles as his sword hand rested anxiously on the cross
guard. The only thing preventing him from attacking the NPC was the fact
that fighting was prohibited in root towns. "You got a lot of nerve,
AI,” Rei hissed. He stepped back and waved his hand, opening up another
command box similar to Kioku's. "I'm going to report you so the admin
can take care of this bug..." he growled, glaring angrily at the NPC.