"It wasn't about what you should do, but what you wanted to do."
Uchiha Gen turned on the black machine and pulled up several images.
"For example, money, family, friendship, career, achievements, and so on."
Azumi looked at the images, longing flashing through her eyes. She truly wanted those things.
But...
Searching her heart, were those things really that important to her?
"No."
Azumi shook her head firmly. Her heart did longed for those things, but not enough for them to open her heart.
"Oh? Then... that'll be rather difficult."
Uchiha Gen had expected an answer like this. Material things could temporarily satisfy a person's needs, but as time passed, that satisfaction would gradually turn into inner emptiness.
And filling that inner emptiness required emotion, yet emotion was the hardest thing to obtain.
Uchiha Gen had no good solution either. It wasn't like he could sacrifice himself, and he couldn't do that anyway...
What one gave in emotion was proportional to what one received. The more one gave, the more one got back.
Not every kind of giving was positive. It might bring heartbreak, hatred, anger, deception... or even fear.
"It's fine. Take it slowly. If nothing works, then once you die, I'll just take your body directly."
"...You're saying that so bluntly? Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"
"Where would you run? You can't even handle those Low-Level Cyborgs."
"...That's true."
Once those words were spoken, the atmosphere fell silent. Uchiha Gen pondered how to obtain this physique. Ideally, it would benefit both sides—without affecting Azumi while increasing his own strength.
Azumi, meanwhile, worried about her future. Her life so far had been full of hardships. She had only just stumbled her way into adulthood and found an income that barely supported her life.
But what had happened recently