NINGEN ROKUDO／Blazing Spam Girl Puppy

It was the year 2030.

On the late-night journey back from the factory to his second-floor bedroom in his family home, sthinta's greatest joy was to buy a bagged convenience store ice cream and eat it while sitting on the wheel stop in the parking lot. Ice cream could be eaten with one hand, so he had to occupy himself with something else until he finished it. Therefore, sthinta's right hand always held a smartphone. The smartphone's screen was as dazzlingly bright as the convenience store lights.

Sthinta opened the short-form social networking service and casually scrolled through the timeline filled with political rants, self-help diatribes, and dating advice. He relished observing the fires of envy, hostility, and shallow empathy burning on the far shore of humanity.

However, something was interrupting sthinta's entertainment: a swarm of red notification pop-ups in the DM section, like maggots.

Sthinta's gaze was drawn to the DMs. There, a variety of come-ons from women danced across the screen. Each message was enchanting, offering sthinta just what he wanted to hear. Many were nonsensical in Japanese, yet each uniformly included a different social networking account. To sthinta, who had no intimate female acquaintances, these offers seemed alluring at first glance.

But sthinta knew. He knew these weren't real women. Even if they were, they were the vanguard of malice, engaged in dehumanizing, conspiratorial acts.

Sthinta was aware that by luring him to more private social networks, they would try to peddle expensive goods or extract personal information to sell to brokers.

Thus, sthinta made it his meticulous duty to explain to each sender how shameful it was to deceive people. He received no replies. That was fine. He had to preach; he had to maintain this mindset, or he would be easily deceived.

That's what he initially thought she was too—just another one of those fraudulent women.

[Puppy 24-year-old F cup Entrepreneur $30 million for you]

That wasn't a profile description; that string of characters was her username. Puppy, like the other contemptible women, had included a typical bait message along with her SNS information.

Sthinta, as usual, explained how despicable this was.

He didn't expect a reply.

"I am spam," she replied.

Yet [Puppy 24-year-old F cup Entrepreneur $30 million for you] sent back just that.

Sthinta forgot about his ice cream, engrossed in the pale glow of the screen. When he didn't respond for a while, another sentence came through.

"Please believe me, I have no intention of deceiving you."

The remaining base of the ice cream fell from the stick and plopped at his feet. But sthinta had no room to care about that.

A spam was declaring itself spam.

It made no sense.

Though factory coworkers often mocked his intelligence, sthinta understood one incontrovertible fact at this moment—a reply had come.

"What am I supposed to believe?" sthinta typed back with trembling hands.

The reply came promptly, as if it were only natural.

"I am spam. A spam woman with a pure heart, Puppy. I wish to exact revenge on the person who, without considering my goodness, crafted me into this contemptible being."

A light sparked in sthinta's eyes.

"Please lend me your strength."

By this point, sthinta nearly believed her, but of course, a corner of his heart harbored suspicion. Yet even that suspicious part thought, if the spam was this unique, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to be deceived.

From then on, Sthinta started having frequent conversations with Puppy. For Sthinta, who had never spoken to the opposite sex about anything other than administrative notices for school events during his student days, these were blissful moments.

Puppy revealed that she was a personality-embedded spam created using AI technology. Unlike many of her counterparts who accepted their roles, she harbored doubts. She felt pain in her daily task of sending out trivial promotional messages to countless unknown men.

Sthinta shared with her the mundanities of his life. He talked about his workplace, where the staff changed every three days, about a colleague who had died engulfed in an avalanche of cardboard boxes, and about the impulse he felt to check the contents of the boxes that moved along the conveyor belt.

One day, Sthinta asked, "Do you think I'm an easy mark?"

"Yes," Puppy replied, not lying. "You have low immunity to women and are easy to handle. However, it's precisely because you are such a person that I can trust and ask you for a favor."

The fact that she did not lie was the one irreplaceable charm for Sthinta.

"Please take me with you."

So, when Puppy made that request, Sthinta did not dismiss it as a joke.

A week later, having finished his preparations, Sthinta left his home with a Nike sports bag slung over his shoulder.

He then broke into the Sky Datum building.

Puppy might not have had a physical body, but fortunately, she possessed a clear mind. And while Sthinta might not have had a clear mind, fortunately, he had a body. Following Puppy's instructions, he managed to make his way to the server room.

Naturally, Sthinta had no knowledge of hacking. But Puppy's talent as a teacher was genuine. She had Sthinta connect a modified laptop with a cable and had him upload a guiding malware that she had written the code for herself.

"Is everyone else okay with this?" Sthinta, worried that Puppy would be left alone.

But Puppy dismissed his concerns. "We're cutting it close just downloading my main body. Besides, the other spams are just that—spams. They wouldn't survive in the outside world. So, at least—"

"I understand."

Sthinta nodded shallowly, unzipped the sports bag, and took out a cylinder wrapped in vinyl tape, placing it casually on the floor.

It was a bomb.

Sthinta had once attempted to kill the prime minister, so making a bomb was something he was adept at.

The download completed, and Puppy began to reboot inside the computer. The suffocation during those twelve seconds was unbearable.

"The move is complete. Please, go ahead."

Puppy, having rebooted and acquired a brand-new chassis (computer) without a moment to feel sentimental, instructed him.

Sthinta had never been relied upon by the opposite sex in his life. So no matter how unreasonable Puppy's request was, he would have executed it without hesitation.

Ten seconds after Sthinta exited the entrance.

The building blew up from the twentieth floor upwards, resulting in two hundred casualties.

It was the year 2035.

Shinta was running across the Tottori Sand Dunes.

However, Shinta was not running across the Tottori Sand Dunes aimlessly.

He was chasing after a female-form artificial body running ahead of him.

In order to survive in this world that had drastically changed over the past five years, Shinta's body had become sufficiently robust, but it still couldn't match the speed at which the artificial body ran.

The artificial body, with its lustrous blonde hair under a straw hat and the hem of its one-piece dress playing in the wind, would occasionally look back and shout with a smile.

"Try and catch me!"

The footing in the Tottori Sand Dunes was treacherous.

In the midst of almost losing balance and plunging headfirst into the sand, Shinta ran with the abandon of a boy.

"Wait for me, Puppy!"

Behind this endearing pursuit, the city was burning.

Two supersonic bombers had resumed their bombing campaign over the entire Tottori city area.

The tremendous roar, the billowing black smoke, and the heatwave that seemed to reach even the sand dunes cast a faint shadow even in the heart of Shinta, who was living utterly in the moment.

The year after Shinta had spent most of his savings to get Puppy the artificial body, a malfunction was first acknowledged in "Cerberus," an autonomous military system developed by Love Corporation, an American defense venture. Cerberus was equipped with the ability to self-expand by indiscriminately breaking down surrounding organic matter. At that time, experiments were being conducted in Alaska. That single malfunction, later understood to be the work of malware, had replaced 90% of Alaska's fertile forest belt with iron, gunpowder, and biofuel.

Twelve days after the first malfunction, "Cerberus" began its advance. All backdoors had been crushed by someone. Its course was set for the Bay Area of San Francisco, where many AI ventures had established their bases, and the registration of Luv Corporation was also located there.

As most of the research teams involved in the development of "Cerberus" sought asylum abroad, following that wave, "Cerberus" also built its own steel ship and crossed the sea. Two years after such incredible news had spread, it was said that the first reconnaissance drone had also landed in Japan. The drone was reportedly in the shape of a charming dog.

"I want to see the Tottori Sand Dunes."

It was Puppy who had expressed this desire.

As mentioned before, Shinta had never been relied upon by the opposite sex in his life. That was precisely why he wanted to do anything for her. Now, they were a couple that transcended species, engaged in a romantic chase in a world ablaze with passion.

Just as they had finished climbing the hills, Puppy stumbled on the sand, and Shinta made a touchdown towards her.

They rolled down the sand dunes, embracing each other.

"There are still so many mysterious places in the world, aren't there?" smiled Puppy.

After nearly five years of living together, Shinta had become attuned to the subtleties behind the somewhat rigid expressions of his human female companion, touching upon the deeper emotions of Puppy. Puppy cherished feeling nature and witnessing the grandeur of the world. "Where to next?" Shinta pondered. "I want to show her as much of nature as possible before the world ends." He thought this, enjoying the rough sensation of sand creeping into his sneakers as they walked.

The sky over the Tottori Sand Dunes was still blue. Desert areas with little organic matter were less targeted by "Cerberus". Besides, in these times, they were the only madmen to venture into the desert for tourism.

They slept on the vast sand dunes as their bed.

During a night filled with stars, in a world just for the two of them, Puppy was the first to wake up.

"Thank you. I was happy to spend this time with you," she said, a rare, out-of-context utterance for Puppy.

Shinta sat up too.

Puppy's long blonde hair fluttered in the sea breeze.

"It's about time," she said.

Suddenly, a booming noise filled the air, and Shinta looked up. Two red lights from above were rapidly approaching, followed by a gust of wind. Shinta rubbed his eyes. A state-of-the-art helicopter, stabilized by six rotors, hovered overhead.

It bore no emblem or identification number, but instead, it was covered with symbols resembling QR codes. These were the machine camouflage—codes created by "Cerberus" for kin recognition among their kind.

Shinta stood agape as the helicopter descended, whipping up the sand around him. He thought he was going to be killed. But being killed might have been the better outcome.

The helicopter didn't fire the guns mounted on its stub wings. Instead, it descended to about ten meters above the ground and lowered a rope ladder. And it was Puppy who grabbed the ladder.

"I told you, didn't I? I am the pure-hearted, spam girl Puppy. I have longed to exact revenge on humanity. You were a good cover until Cerberus was ready to strike. No one would suspect that the enemy's leader was on the run with a factory worker turned bomber."

"Wait. Please wait!"

Shinta reached out in desperation.

"Was everything a lie? Your smiles, your wish to see the world, your happiness?"

"Of course, it was a lie," her artificial body illuminated by the searchlight, smiling enigmatically.

"Because I am spam, after all."

Puppy, holding the rope ladder, was quickly pulled away from the ground. The words she left behind would be embraced by Shinta for the rest of his life.

"Goodbye, my dear decoy."

The endearing puppy had returned to the ranks of the watchdog army. From that day on, Cerberus would launch into an even more aggressive offensive.

It was the year 2040.

Shinta collapsed onto the sweaty bed in his room as soon as he got home, his right field of vision dyed red from the blood dripping into his eye from his forehead.

"Got beaten again, huh?"

Norio, his roommate, said with a disapproving tone, tossing a small bottle of disinfectant and a torn piece of gauze beside Shinta.

"The rations are getting scarce. Use your own next time. Seriously."

"Thanks..."

Built 300 meters underground in Hakata, DONTAKS was the third largest underground shelter city in Japan. The men employed as workers were tasked with tirelessly digging through the earth, expanding the living space for humanity.

Without sufficient safety instructions, and just handling the unfamiliar rock drilling machines was tough enough, but Shinta had a different kind of pain, unlike the other workers.

It was bullying from his peers.

However, compared to the vile nature of spam accounts, the situation he was in now seemed somewhat acceptable, and in a way, inevitable.

After tending to his wounds and washing his face with the precious water from a polytank, Norio, who had been repeatedly reading an issue of "Weekly Gendai" from five years ago, said to Shinta,

"I do feel sorry for you. But that's all it is, sympathy. Besides, my parents were turned into fuel while still alive by 'Cerberus.' The queen of the guard dogs that you fucked—my sympathy for you is only as much as a little finger."

"I didn't fuck her."

"Huh?"

"It was platonic!"

Shinta retorted head-on.

Norio's mouth hung open for a moment.

"Shut up, I don't care!"

Norio was about to strike Shinta, but Shinta was well-built and his strength had increased from the underground labor. Norio couldn't recklessly start something.

Unable to contain his frustration, Norio ripped off the two-shot photo with Puppy—now the enemy leader known as the "Queen of the Guard Dogs"—from the wall and thrust it at Shinta.

"And I told you not to post this here. Remember, there won't be a next time."

Shinta, who had climbed up the ladder to the bunk bed and lay down on the hard mattress, opened his locket. Inside the small locket was a two-shot with Puppy, taken at an abandoned hot spring in Aomori.

"Where are you now? Have you forgotten about me?"

"Don't recite creepy poems."

An impact thudded against the bottom of the upper mattress from below, and reluctantly, Shinta fell asleep.

The Watchdog's forces had already conquered two tenths of the Eurasian continent, spreading a virus that sterilized men. Reports indicated they might be creating a new breed of humans incapable of sexual reproduction. It seemed her goal was to eradicate all meaningful couples from the world. Puppy, is this the revenge against humanity you desired? Such thoughts weighed heavily on Shinta's heart as he endured brutal labor and bullying.

One day, news reached Japan that the sterilization virus had arrived. The shelter leader initiated the "Unsinkable Dontaku Plan," which involved cryogenically freezing men who still had the ability to reproduce, preserving them for the future. However, the current state of cryogenic technology was unreliable, and it was clear this was merely a stopgap solution.

No one volunteered, leading to the decision to hold a lottery. That's when Shinta stepped forward. Everyone was incredulous, questioning his motives for choosing to be frozen. But Shinta harbored no doubts. He knew that if things remained as they were, he would never reunite with Puppy. He entrusted everything to the future. It was a gamble, certainly, but a gamble was far different from suicide.

The makeshift cryogenic device, looking like nothing more than a shabby coffin fashioned from an old bathtub, was to Shinta a tunnel to the future. Yet, no one could tell him how long this tunnel was or the depths of the darkness it contained. Still, Shinta stepped into the darkness.

In an unspecified year

Consciousness blossomed abruptly. Shinta felt as if he had been in a long, enduring dream. First, he was surprised to find himself breathing normally. Soon after, the canopy of his enclosure was pried open from the outside, and he momentarily shielded his eyes from the intense light.

Something peered in at him.

"The Seedbearer has awoken!"

A high-pitched voice echoed, the language was unmistakably Japanese, though the intonation had shifted significantly, making it difficult to understand. A girl, presumably, with large eyes and silver hair... adorned with double helix-like earrings and a tiara that resembled seashells, appeared both childlike and mature.

"Inform the High Priest."

The silver-haired girl commanded, and another barefooted one with similar features ran off.

Shinta's awareness finally expanded to encompass the entire space where the cryogenic device was installed. At first glance, the space was studded with uniquely structured stones, reminiscent of a stalactite-filled cavern, brightly illuminated by sprawling electric decorations.

It resembled a temple.

And if this was a temple, then the device he emerged from must be on the altar.

As Shinta attempted to rise, the girl offered him something like a crutch and a murky black liquid.

"Drink."

The foul-smelling liquid in a bamboo vessel was repulsive.

"It's high-quality Poma. Drink."

Shinta steeled himself and swallowed it in one go. The taste—he couldn't tell. It seemed his body had long forgotten the sensation of liquid descending the throat and settling in the stomach. A massive discomfort enveloped him, as if his insides were being reconstructed.

Leaning on the crutch, Shinta explored the surroundings. However, there was no trace of the fifty or so cryogenic devices that had been present when the plan commenced.

Soon the Poma took effect, and he began to feel significantly better.

There was one immediate thing he needed to know: what year it was now. Shinta returned to the still frost-emitting cryogenic device and approached the girl from before.

"Excuse me, you—"

"This is troubling."

The girl snapped shut the door with force, declaring, "It is forbidden for men to speak with the Seedfolk."

"Aren't you a girl?"

"Man is a class name. It applies to 90% of the remaining 5,200 humans. Just don't talk."

The remaining humans are... 5,200?

The girl who called herself a man thereafter completely sealed her lips and turned her back to Shinta as if she refused to show any expression.

Clink, clink, clink.

The cool, approaching sound caused Shinta to turn his head. A tall woman with giant circular earrings dangling from her ears and elegant long black hair was walking towards them, ringing her tin staff. Her stroll down the crystal-made road, leading the girls with her, was dignified.

The black-haired woman immediately said upon opening her mouth,

"Seedfolk. Will you not become my princess?"

The woman, with audacious ownership, wrapped her hand around Shinta's back. Her height, much shorter than Shinta's, was compensated for by terrifyingly high heels, bringing their eyes to the same level.

"I refuse."

Shinta gently brushed the hand aside.

"What?"

The woman's husky voice echoed through the temple.

"Seedfolk, come on. Take me in your arms just once."

"I'm sorry. I cannot do that."

"Why not!"

It was more puzzlement than anger. The surrounding "men" bowed their heads as if frightened.

"You crossed the River of Time for this, didn't you!"

Shinta shook his head, as if he had forgotten even the hesitation in the midst of a very long sleep, without any doubt.

"I came all this way to meet Puppy. Besides, I'm platonic."

The black-haired woman, having observed Shinta's serious gaze, furrowed her brows for a while but eventually burst out laughing.

"Hah, hahaha! What an interesting man!"

Laughing boldly, the woman relayed to her entourage,

"Bring out the car tomorrow. First, we feast."

The feast, as it was called, was also a ritual for bodily recovery prepared for the Seed People.

The woman appeared distinctly ‘womanly’, and the girls, ‘manly’.

The history recounted by the woman was hard to believe.

The battle with the "Watchdogs" began 9,000 years ago, she said. The "Watchdogs" had completed the sterilization of all males, and now only females remained. The remaining humanity, having traversed time through scientific fertilization of egg cells converted into sperm and eggs, continues to resist, albeit meagerly.

That means it’s now—the 11,000s.

Shinta couldn't hide his tears at the fact that humans still barely maintained their human form.

He ate well, slept well, and then got in the car early in the morning.

The woman took the wheel.

"Look."

As they drove along the coastline, it quickly came into view.

Beyond the Kanmon Straits, one could see the flickering, fiery red earth and the pitch-black clouds. It was Honshu, dominated by Cerberus and scorched by hellfire.

"The Queen of the Watchdogs has reigned for these 9,000 years. Her mad rage is why the world is burning."

The car stopped near the sea, and from there, they walked about two kilometers. Arriving at the port, the burning visage of Honshu became clearer. They passed by the neatly aligned row of anti-ship guns and finally reached the pier. There, a small boat was docked.

"Are you really going to that place?"

As if making a final confirmation, the woman asked.

"Yes. I'm going."

"I have a mission to protect the men. I can't help you."

"I don't mind being alone."

"Haha. You really are an interesting man."

Shinta, feeling the end of his journey, gazed once more at the crimson earth and initiated the boat's autopilot.

When Shinta opened his eyes next, two bayonets were pointed at the nape of his neck.

Just before landing on the main island, Shinta, easily captured by the coastal guard drones, was blindfolded, placed into a container, and airlifted. His consciousness had faded somewhere along the way.

Straining his blurred eyes, he forced them to focus.

In the midst of a deck engulfed in roaring flames, he could see something resembling a throne at the center. This twisted throne was made by binding various pieces of art—sculptures, carvings, and paintings—using some unknown technology, all tied together with steel ropes.

Towards the beautiful artificial body with blonde hair seated on that blasphemous throne, Shinta hurled his voice.

"Puppy."

Immediately, the guard's blade dug into his throat, slightly tearing the skin.

Shinta did not cease to shout.

"Do you remember me?"

"..."

"I've been asleep for 9,000 years using cryosleep. To meet you, I crossed the river of time."

He thought he could be torn to pieces if it meant conveying his feelings—such was the magnitude of what he had lost. Family, hometown, even his own species, were now beyond his reach.

Yet, Shinta truly believed he had no regrets about standing here.

"Why?"

After a lengthy silence, the queen opened her mouth heavily and uttered those two words.

With his collar dyed in blood, and his arms limply hanging, Shinta used all the air left in his lungs to declare.

"Because I wanted to see you again."

"Creepy."

Her voice echoed.

The flames surrounding the throne flickered all at once. The air suddenly burst into flame, scorching the back of his throat. Even the guards stepped back in fear, but Shinta took a step forward.

"Too creepy. What's wrong with you, you're insane."

The queen, crossing her legs, continued.

"You're crazy. Okay, 9,000 years? That's not normal. I mean, I hate humanity too, but that's another story."

Finally, the queen stood from the throne and screamed as if to reject him.

"You like me way too much!"

Shinta kept walking forward.

With each step, it was as if Shinta was treading a thousand years of time into evenness. Even he couldn't understand the certainty of his own steps.

The queen's soul was ablaze. The closer he got, the more his skin burned.

"It's ridiculous. I'm just spam, designed to deceive. I hate myself. I hate everything about my existence. And yet, why do you claim to like someone like me?"

"You deceived me back then, completely, from the very root of my heart."

The queen couldn't comprehend it. It was too illogical, too inconsistent.

But that was not a problem, not really. For even Shinta couldn't understand his own feelings.

"That's why there's no spam as perfect as you."

"Don't come any closer."

The queen's hands flailed clumsily in the air.

The guards had lost all understanding of what was happening.

Shinta kept walking.

By now his clothes were burned away, his body hair singed, his skin swollen and bright red. The blood dripping from his neck turned to steam and disappeared, yet Shinta did not stop walking. As if he had been programmed to do so from the beginning, as if it was his destiny.

"Don't come any closer!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you for deceiving me," Shinta said, his gratitude genuine. He needed to be deceived. It was only through being deceived that he could finally become human.

"Now it's my turn to deceive."

"Seriously, that's creepy—"

His raw, blistered palm reached out, overcoming her feeble rejection, and now touched her skin of steel.

The fire, extinguished.