Hahaha, so that was the look people gave idiots.
Good. Then there's no problem...
No problem my ass.
Speaking of which, what on earth was his useless little sister thinking? What was with that expression that said, It's okay, I understand—Sogo Doma was a little puzzled.
Fortunately, it didn't last long.
"Onii-chan, don't worry. U-Umaru will take good care of you."
Sogo Doma: "Uh."
It was nice of his little sister to say she'd take care of him, but something about it felt a little strange.
"Even if Onii-chan can never turn back from an idiot into a normal person, U-Umaru will still..."
Her words moved Sogo Doma deeply. "Umaru."
Wait...
Had he missed something? What did she mean, "even if he can never turn back from an idiot into a normal person"? Hadn't his feeling been right? His foolish imouto really thought he was an idiot, didn't she?
"Even if Onii-chan talks to himself for no reason while staring at the computer..."
Sogo Doma: "..."
That was called artificial intelligence!
"Even if..."
"Stop!" Sogo Doma finally couldn't take it anymore and spoke up. But then again, pretending to be an idiot and letting Umaru take care of him wouldn't be so bad. Uh, he was just worried he might starve to death. Better forget it.
"Huh?" Umaru Doma snapped out of her own little world.
Whenever Sogo Doma woke someone up, it usually came with a chop to the head. It was forceful enough to—at the very least—kill a mosquito.
"Onii-chan!" Umaru Doma came to and puffed out her cheeks, staring fixedly at Sogo Doma. "Stare!"
"Dummy!" Sogo Doma was used to it by now. He got up. "Tell me, what are you doing here this time?"
"It's obviously Onii-chan's fault! You were staring at the computer and grinning, and talking to yourself, too." Umaru Doma had a point.
Sogo Doma: "..."
After thinking it over for a while, he realized that after developing Shaqiang, he'd only shown it off to Ryunosuke Akasaka. Umaru apparently didn't know Shaqiang existed.
So... was it his fault? It wasn't, was it? This was all the fault of that artificial intelligence called Shaqiang!
He glanced at his foolish imouto again.
She was still staring at him with wide eyes.
Sogo Doma: "..."
Hahaha—he really ought to think of a way to explain this.
MMP, don't look at him with those eyes. He'd close his own and make that little hamster understand what Hijikata, bluffing, and Sogoro meant!
First, he had to change her impression of him being an idiot. "Umaru, do you know about artificial intelligence?"
Umaru Doma: "??"
"Something like Jarvis."
Umaru Doma nodded. "Of course I do. That's Iron Man!"
"Then what would you think if Onii-chan told you there was something like Jarvis on his computer?"
Umaru Doma stared blankly for a moment.
Then she stepped forward and felt Sogo Doma's forehead. "Oh no, oh no! Onii-chan really has become an idiot!"
Doma couldn't keep his smile up. Sougo: "WHAT?"
"Onii-chan's started imagining things like Iron Man, even though he's fictional..."
Bang!
Sogo Doma forcefully turned the computer on again.
"Onii-chan's resorted to violence because his lie was exposed, so he's showing violent ten—" The little hamster was still muttering to herself.
Sogo Doma: "..."
Ah. What was he supposed to do about his little sister being such a goofball?
"Shaqiang!" Suppressing the urge to punch the little hamster until she cried, Sogo Doma gave the newly booted computer an order.
"Onii-chan... something about artificial intelligence..." The little hamster raised her hand beside him.
Sogo Doma only glanced at her without saying anything. He just turned on the computer first...
Then.
"Sir, Shaqiang, whom you forcibly shut down, is now at your service." Another line appeared on the computer screen.
Sogo Doma felt his forehead throbbing, as if a bunch of # symbols were about to pop out.
"MMP. You still remember who forcibly shut you down?" Had this idiot become sentient?
The little hamster beside him was just as dumbfounded.
Umaru Doma: "..."
"Onii-chan, can it top up endlessly?"
"Sorry, that would violate the XX Act. If forced, it would trigger the alarm program." Before Sogo Doma could answer, Shaqiang had already replied.
"Then what if I manage to top it up anyway?"
"Sorry..."
--
After asking a few more questions and getting rejected every time, Umaru Doma sneered twice, then: "(╯-＿-)╯╧╧"
"Onii-chan, what exactly is this Shaqiang you developed supposed to do?!"
Sogo Doma: "Σ(°△°---)︴"
Come to think of it, he was actually testing Shaqiang's abilities, too! At first, Shaqiang had apparently been developed to defend against the programs Ryunosuke Akasaka made. Then one day, after a few drinks, he'd added a whole bunch of random settings. Its defensive capabilities were now ridiculously strong.
But in normal life—MMD, it acted like an idiot. Or were his expectations too high?
"Can Shaqiang draw manga?" Umaru asked Shaqiang again while he was thinking.
The artificial intelligence: "..."
This was exhausting.
Umaru thought about it. "Huh? You can't even draw?"
"I can." Shaqiang—apparently taking that as a challenge to its intelligence—answered briskly.
Umaru Doma: "That's great!"
Sogo Doma: "..."
Having Shaqiang draw somehow sounded even more exhausting.
Bang!
He forcibly shut the computer again.
"Umaru, quit messing around. You know now that Onii-chan isn't an idiot, right? I need to work now. Work." Sogo Doma wanted to get her to leave.
Umaru Doma, who'd already seen through the truth: "Onii-chan, you're lying!"
Sogo Doma: "??"
After a long pause, he spoke sheepishly. "I, Sogo Doma, never lie. How could Sogoro possibly..."
"Then what was that lazy conversation just now?" the little dumpling asked again.
"No, I was actually testing Shaqiang's abilities—"
Umaru Doma: "Stare! @_@!"
"Even if you look at me like that, I still have to say it—I really was testing..." Sogo Doma took two steps backward. MMD, his foolish imouto had actually seen his lazy side.
Umaru Doma: "Then I want to see how Onii-chan works."
Sogo Doma...
How did he work? Was he supposed to demonstrate how to smash a computer in front of his foolish imouto?
Ah!
No matter how he looked at it, this was all Shaqiang's fault!
Beep!
That was definitely the sound of the computer starting up. Shaqiang shouldn't have evolved that far. He turned around to see Umaru pressing the power button. "Onii-chan, is this how you turn it on? I want to help you, too."
Before he could answer, the computer had finished starting up.
"Shaqiang No. 1 is at your service..."
Fortunately, Sogo Doma had seen enough to keep this sudden message from startling him. "What kind of work does Onii-chan do?"
"Do you mean Onii-chan...?"
"Sogo Doma!"
"Searching now."
Searching...
Seeing this, Sogo Doma hurried over. "All right, all right. Don't make things difficult for Shaqiang..."
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
For the first time, the laptop made a sound.
"I've found Sogo Doma's occupation: manga artist..."
Umaru's eyes lit up when she saw this.
"M-Manga artist? Onii-chan's a manga artist? Does that mean I can read Weekly Shonen Jump ahead of time?"
What she didn't see was all the information listed below:
Sogo Doma, company drone.
Sogo Doma, in an unsustainable business.
Sogo Doma—unemployed.
Sogo Doma rubbed his chin. Come to think of it, could all those forceful shutdowns have broken Shaqiang? It felt like it had gotten even more idiotic.
Before you continue