Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 47: Affection

Sun Jack ended the call and turned to see AA holding out a glass of water for him with both hands.

"What a bunch of nonsense," Sun Jack muttered, shaking his head as he tried to shove Four Ai's words out of his mind.

But every time he glanced at AA's face, the earlier conversation crept back into his head, sticking like a brain worm he couldn't shake off. "Could it be... AA doesn't like men?"

Sun Jack knew that unless he asked directly, this question would continue to nag at him. It was better to just clarify things outright—it wasn’t that big of a deal, after all.

"Hey, AA, can I ask you something? It's kind of personal, so feel free not to answer if you don't want to."

"Sure! Ask me anything!" AA said eagerly, straightening up on the couch.

Sun Jack hesitated, resting his chin on his hand as he thought about how to phrase it. "So, uh... what kind of people do you like?"

"What?" AA tilted her head, looking confused. Clearly, she didn’t catch his drift.

AA immediately shook her head vigorously. "Neither. I don’t like either."

"Oh, really?" Tapai, who had been charging against the wall, perked up and hopped over to sit obediently beside Sun Jack. "This is gonna be interesting!"

"So, what do you like?" Sun Jack pressed.

AA stood up, spinning around to show off her petite frame in her oversized T-shirt. "Look, Jack! Isn’t this cute little girl so soft and sweet to hug? Isn’t it just the best?"

"Uh…" Sun Jack’s brain short-circuited at the sight. "And then what?"

"Then… I like it too!" AA said matter-of-factly.

Sun Jack was baffled. "Wait—what does 'you like it too' even mean? I thought you didn’t like girls?"

"Well…" AA hesitated, glancing around before running to the bedroom and returning with a mirror. She gazed deeply into her reflection, her eyes filled with adoration, and then leaned in to give herself a gentle kiss.

Sun Jack’s jaw literally dropped. Tapai had to fuss with it for a while before managing to pop it back into place. Honestly, anyone in Sun Jack’s position would have had a similar reaction.

AA not liking men? Understandable. It’s the Metropolis, after all; being gay was nothing unusual. AA not liking women? Also fair—she might just not care about romance and prefer to focus on making money. But this? AA's kink was autosexuality?

Sun Jack’s neural system helpfully provided a detailed definition: Autosexuality (or autoeroticism) is a form of self-love where the individual experiences sexual attraction toward themselves, finding their own appearance or mirror image to be their primary object of desire.

AA liked herself—in a sexual way.

From the moment he met AA, Sun Jack had always thought of her as a kind, sensible girl, second only to the Father in terms of being "normal." But this... this was more inventive than anything even Four Ai could dream up.

"Guess I was naive. In the Metropolis, you really can’t underestimate anyone."

Sun Jack made a mental note to never pry into other people's private lives again.

"So fascinating! Jack, what do you think the Father’s kink is? I can’t wait to find out!" Tapai chirped.

Sun Jack raised his cybernetic arm and thumped him on the head. "Stop prying! Stop it, you hear me?!"

"Jack, is it weird that I like myself?" AA asked cautiously, worried her honesty might have upset him.

"No, it’s not weird. I like myself too. I was just curious, that’s all. It’s late—I’m going to bed," Sun Jack replied, trying to brush it off.

He hadn’t suffered any physical injuries during this mission, but his mental state felt like it had taken a massive hit.

"Alright, then. I’ll head out now," AA said, clutching her bandaged stomach as she made for the door.

"Where are you going this late? The Queens District isn’t safe at night. If you get snatched up and thrown into a human mine, it’ll be a real problem. Just crash here for the night," Sun Jack offered.

The usual concerns about a man and a woman sharing a living space didn’t even cross Sun Jack’s mind anymore, not after learning about AA’s... preferences.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! You’re so good to me!" AA said, bowing deeply in gratitude.

"Just get some rest," Sun Jack muttered. Exhausted both mentally and physically, he quickly washed up and headed to his bedroom.

After a full day of being drenched in the rain, he fell asleep almost instantly.

He had no idea how long he slept before waking up, bladder uncomfortably full. When he opened his door, he jumped—only to remember that AA was sleeping on his couch.

Finishing in the bathroom, he was about to return to bed when a strange rumbling sound from the living room caught his attention.

"AA? Was that your stomach growling?" he asked.

AA, wrapped in a thin blanket, sat up bashfully.

"Hungry?" Now that she mentioned it, Sun Jack realized he was starving too. Apart from the bowl of beef noodles in the morning, he hadn’t eaten all day.

Stress from the mission had kept him too tense to notice, but now that things had calmed down, his hunger hit him hard.

"I’ll order us a couple bowls of noodles," he suggested.

"No, no, no! That’s too extravagant. I can’t keep mooching off you—I’d feel terrible," AA protested.

It was just a bowl of noodles, but AA was so insistent that Sun Jack gave up.

"Alright. I think I’ve got something in the fridge," he said, pulling out leftovers from Ke-style cuisine he’d packed two nights ago. He reheated it and set it on the coffee table.

Ke-style cuisine was disgusting to begin with, and reheating it only made it worse. The random mishmash of dishes piled together was almost too much to look at.

But AA didn’t seem to care. She grabbed a piece of tentacle with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth, her eyes lighting up. "Wow! What is this? It’s amazing!"

Watching AA eat only made Sun Jack hungrier. Thankfully, he had a solution. Using his neural system, he overlaid the food with pixelation and swapped it with images of various gourmet dishes he found online. Eating it became much more tolerable—technology really did make life better.

"Jack, did I do a good job today?" AA asked between bites.

"You did great. I just needed you to be bait, but you even brought a tracker ball!"

AA lowered her head shyly. "I didn’t buy it—I made it myself. Sometimes I scavenge for useful stuff in the junk mountains outside the Metropolis."

"You can do that? Impressive," Sun Jack said, genuinely surprised. Today, he felt like he was seeing AA in a whole new light.

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