Chrome Butterfly Chapter One

Mechalopolis was a city built on the top of a floating super-structure, the artificial island 'Tentatio', built in a rough circular shape and with a radius of approximately thirty kilometers. It had been, Alex recalled, an experiment in determining if it was viable to build a self-sufficient and populated artificial island.

The results were... debatable. A lot of the surface area had to be designated as farm land, prioritizing bulk crops, which reduced the area for the actual urban area. Because of that, residential and business areas were built vertically, along a central spire that extended downward and underwater.

... The fact was, however, that while the picture of glass walls and blue seas with schools of fish flitting through sunbeams was nice... the spire being in the center meant that it would always be in the artificial island's shadow, and at night everything would be pitch black. Occasionally, something large would swim and thump into the thick panes of treated and transparent material, remain close enough to be seen for a few moments in the light filtering out from inside, and then swim away into the inky depths. Nobody really wanted to live or work down there if they had any other choice in the matter, and long-term habitation tended to introduce a creeping dread of things lurking in the dark, and a paranoia about leaks.

On the surface, the issue quickly arose that it was more difficult than anticipated to provide a full population with a varied and healthy diet. There was some ability to produce bulk crops, and some measures were tested out for use in any follow-up super-structures... but as more and more people abandoned the lower spire to become something akin to a slum, literally camping out on the surface level in tents or just sleeping bags, the initial plans behind Tentatio fell through. From there, rather than being abandoned entirely, the surface of the island was adapted for a broader urban area, with docks and warehouses at the outside edges for shipping and trade as the city of Mechalopolis expanded outward from the central spire.

These days it was a city geared more towards scientific research and academics... A university city, essentially, with a decently large population made up of students present for the duration of their studies, rather than having any intention of becoming full time residents.

The most famous, or potentially infamous, feature of Mechalopolis University was it entry criteria and dispute resolution system. All of it revolved around strategic and tactical games, requiring a student to be confident in their tactics, skill, and at times... on their simple luck. It was an unusual situation, and many people initially scoffed at the idea of the 'E-Sports Academy'. The students enrolling knew what they were getting into, however, and the matches and tournaments held quickly became widely speculated forms of entertainment, given the impressive special effects allowed by holographic technology.

It was hard to argue with an immersive match between soldiers that made you feel like you were right in the thick of a war, facing down a blitz with an armored tank division... or a clash of fantasy armies, with cavalry charging over an open field. The clear king of the games, however, was a title called 'Lovely Fantasy Girls Z - Blooming Battles on a Flowery Frontline'. Usually shortened to 'Love-Z', since that was a bit of a mouthful.

It was technically a Gacha game, with everything that came with that. A simplified single-player campaign, with some opportunity to convert enemy combatants, all female and all extremely... 'anime' was the best umbrella description that Alex could use, all with caricature personalities. And a number of characters that only appeared from the cash shop gacha, often introducing semi-unique skills or mechanics that could make that single-player mode an absolute joke.

PVP, however, was where the game could really shine. Whether by accident or design, none of even the rarest draws was really unbeatable when they were opposed by an enemy with more than the rudimentary behavior-scripting that the solo-play enemies relied upon. Even if the opponent deployed no rare units at all, it was still a match of opposed skill and ability.

Applications to the University only required that you be willing to play games, and that you have a decent enough Aide to offload the server strain of matches onto, with no stipulations on make, model, or processing power beyond a certain minimum benchmark threshold that it would be a genuine struggle for any form of synthetic intelligence to fail to meet... but it was a good idea to make sure you were familiar with how Love-Z played. Honestly, that was a good idea just for living on the island to begin with, because the culture of solving disputes with games had radiated outward from the university and through the rest of the local culture.

In theory. But... while being challenged a lot over negligible things was the idea people had of the university, Alex hadn't experienced it.

There was a certain inertia to these things. When you made a point of competing in a lot of matches, you would get challenged to a lot of matches in response, and things would build up and compound on each other until every day brought with it a new and exciting duel or two over something. But Alex, through his first semester, had never really been in a position where his blood ran hot and he realized he needed to fight for something... or, really, realized that the option to declare a challenge had been there until hours later when something clicked in hindsight. And so he didn't really get challenged much either.

Day to day, he went to classes when they were scheduled and filled the hours in between with his barista job, maintaining his home and lifestyle, and fitting in some shopping and leisure.

There was a certain inertia to that as well, even though it was a little depressing to think too hard about. Like a slowly creeping realization that you had locked yourself into a dead-end job that paid your bills but didn't exactly satisfy you, Alex imagined wryly.

"Notification: Fufu Family Fish-house has put up an advertisement for a discount on Cod." Genesis' voice hummed in his ear from the tiny speaker as he ended his shift by washing up some of the equipment in the back. "Cross referencing with docking times of fishing vessels suggests that this is prompted by overstocking and not a suspicion of impending spoilage."

"Fufu's... that's the husband and wife fish shop in the traditional Asian markets, right?" Alex asked. "I don't know... last time I was over that way, didn't they get me to buy a live octopus in a bucket?"

"I suggest that you buy the cod, and not an octopus." Genesis replied. "While octopus may provide many essential vitamins and minerals, previously the octopus escaped from confinement into the Mechalopolis sewage system. This presents a result of zero nutritional value in exchange for invested funds."

"Yeah, no kidding." Alex muttered to himself wryly as he made himself a hot chocolate and then clocked out.

The Asian markets had all the best fish to begin with, with a couple of cheap sushi and ramen shops set on the edges so that other ethnicities could dip their toes in the culture when they were feeling daring, without needing to go deep enough in to feel overwhelmed by market stalls hawking buckets of live and slimy eels or the very Asian 'high school delinquents' squatting next to convenience marts while smoking, Aides puppeting ganguro or schoolgirl model dolls for the aesthetic.

Those convenience marts... Alex paused for a second, thinking quickly as the temptation hit. Then he detoured towards one. Even stride, looking completely at ease, no skittish glancing about or awkward pausing. One smooth panning look over the store interior to get an idea of where they kept what, and then over toward the magazine rack. Look over the lot in contemplation, despite knowing the target from the beginning.

The latest edition of 'Anime Hounds', the one with a large section towards the middle devoted towards only the most artistic of hand-drawn smut. With a nondescript cover featuring generally standard character archetypes, it was hard to tell what it contained unless you already knew.

Alex could hide his indiscretion from everyone. But not from Genesis.

"Monitoring of your vitals shows an increase in heart rate." her calm voice came over the speaker in his ear. "Your physical position is static, and does not correspond to the address of Fufu Family Fish-house. Analysis suggests that you are purchasing erotic media."

"Yyyyyou don't know that." Alex murmured through pensively grit teeth.

"Analysis corroborates this supposition. I can hear you turning pages, with background noise and ambient music consistent with an enclosed shopping location." Genesis assessed. "Sexual health is an important parameter for organic life. However, while regular masturbation has health benefits and can maintain a positive mood, I must advise against purchase of pornography."

"C-can we not?" Alex muttered.

"As you have repeatedly engaged in this pursuit of titillation, it can be argued that either the results are worth enduring a sense of moderate humiliation or, in alternative, that the humiliation itself is a net positive experience." Genesis replied, tone and inflection unchanged. "In either case, I must note that there exists a wide assortment of publicly available erotica and pornography available to all consumers at no charge. I am at this time curating a selection which approximates your established sexual tastes."

"You don't have to do that. Please do not do that." Alex said under his breath, struggling to keep a straight face.

Not least because if he was looking at porn online instead of in hard-copy... well, Genesis was integrated into his phone. Into every electronic system he owned that could accommodate her interfacing and remotely operating, really. Meaning that there was the uncomfortable potential for observation, analysis, and even commentary. And Alex wasn't sure how to deal with that.

He couldn't help but wonder if other people had to deal with this sort of thing.

"In the case where you feel obligated to spend money in the pursuit of sexual gratification, I suggest investment in a quality experience rather than cheaply reusable material. While initially inexpensive, the habit formed represents a large expense over time. In contrast, it is generally agreed that anticipation heightens the experience of coitus, and as such scheduling of fewer but more impactful encounters is widely considered superior." Genesis suggested. "Analysis of electronic message-boards indicates a number of potential locations for such encounters, including massage parlors, traditional soap-lands, and anonymous stalls at-"

"I'm not doing that." Alex quickly cut Genesis off. "I'm going to buy this magazine, so please stop trying to convince me not to."

"Acknowledged." Genesis confirmed.

Alex took a deep breath, then exhaled, calming himself for a few moments before he shut the magazine and brought it to the counter, along with a bag of chips, a cola, and a couple other incidental purchases in order to make it look innocent. It didn't stop the cashier from looking at him like something she might scrape off of the bottom of her shoes as she scanned the magazine in the process of ringing up his purchases.

"Would you like to add a pull on the lucky draw?" she asked, tapping the old-fashioned wooden crank lottery. "Winning the jackpot gets you a free basic model of prosthetic interface doll, as well as entry in a tournament to win a customized model, as a PR stunt from the company partnering with us for this lottery. Smaller prizes include single-use coupons, small toys, free snacks, and so on."

... That took a moment of thought. Honestly, Alex would grade his luck as being pretty low, going by gacha pulls and lottery results in general, but at the same time... never throwing the dice was the only way to guarantee that you would never win!

"Sure, one entry is cheap enough." he said, immediately writing the cost off in his head with the expectation of a consolation prize of a packet  of napkins or a two-pack of sticks of chewing gum as he swiped his card and paid for his purchases, paying no mind to the rattle of the crank turning and something rolling out of the attached chute.

... Then his thoughts were interrupted by idle clapping and he glanced over to see that instead of the steel or brownish ball that represented a dud, the ball that had been pulled was glittery and shone like gold.

"Congratulations." the cashier said. "I'm going to need you to sign a form and take a picture for verification in order to claim your prize from the suppliers. Good luck in the tournament."

"... Huh." Alex replied, still processing that.