A twelve-year-old genius professor with a lab coat three sizes too big and a dream she's carried since age five: to bring a silver-haired, wolf-eared maid AI to life. Hana Takada has the brains, the prototype, and the stubbornness—what she doesn't have is an AI Ethics License, because apparently "silver hair, wolf ears, and a maid outfit" don't count as "legitimate freedom of expression" to the review board. With her grandmother's parting words in her heart and a pocket full of strawberry candy,
The Professor and the Assistant's Battle - Mina, a Determined Reboot — Her Grandmother's Diary and the Power of Love
Deep in the night, Astralis was as quiet as if it had sunk to the bottom of the water.
The subway heading south from the northern research district had already stopped running, so Mina was walking. The cold night wind stirred the tips of her wolf-cut hair. The piercing in her left ear occasionally caught the light of the streetlamps.
(It's cold...)
But her feet wouldn't stop.
In her hand was an old brass key. She'd been clutching it tightly this whole time—so tightly that the shape of her fingers was pressed into her palm.
(Hana's grandmother's house...)
(I feel like if I go there, I'll understand something.)
(Why Hana is so fixated on that silver-haired wolf-eared maid.)
(What I should do from now on.)
The scene she'd witnessed earlier was stuck in Mina's head, refusing to leave.
Hana, sitting on her bed upstairs, hugging her knees. In her arms, she held an old figure. A figure of a girl with silver hair, wolf ears, and a maid outfit. The paint was peeling, one of the wolf ears was broken and glued back on.
And yet, Hana held that figure as gently as if it were a treasure.
"...Grandma... I... I don't... know what to do anymore..."
That voice echoed over and over in the back of Mina's ears.
(I... I couldn't say anything back then.)
("I'm sorry" and "It'll be okay"—both felt like they'd be lies.)
(I hurt Hana.)
("See, I told you!"—saying something like that...)
Mina bit her lip.
Regret squeezed coldly at her stomach.
(I'm supposed to be her assistant.)
(I was the one closest to her, and I denied the thing she loves most.)
(Saying it's for outside use, talking about common sense, about it being embarrassing.)
(Wasn't I her worst enemy?)
As she walked, tears welled up.
The night city was endlessly quiet, and only Mina's footsteps echoed, click-click, through the streets.
Her grandmother's house stood in an old residential neighborhood in Astralis's southern living district.
The surrounding houses had all been rebuilt into newer structures, but this one alone remained as it had always been. A single-story wooden house, ivy tangled around the gate. In the garden, untended trees cast dark shadows.
(Here...)
Mina stopped in front of the gate.
It had been a few days since Hana had given her the key.
"Mina, this is the key to my grandma's house! Nobody lives there now, but I have to air it out sometimes, so if you ever have time, could you go check on it?"
At the time, she'd taken it casually.
She never imagined she'd end up coming here alone in the middle of the night.
Mina took a deep breath.
The cold air filled her lungs.
(Let's go in.)
She opened the gate and walked through the garden. The sound of gravel under her feet seemed terribly loud.
She stood before the entrance.
An old wooden door. She inserted the brass key into the lock.
Click.
A small sound, and the key turned.
She opened the door.
Giii... the hinges creaked.
Inside was pitch black.
The air was chilly. The smell of a house that no one had lived in for a long time. Dust, old wood, and faintly, something like incense.
Mina turned on her phone's light.
The white beam illuminated the dark interior.
Stepping up from the entryway, there was a short hallway. At the end was a living room, a kitchen to the right, and what looked like a bedroom to the left.
(Excuse me for intruding...)
She murmured inwardly and walked down the hall.
She entered the living room.
A tatami room with an old low table and a tea cabinet. A faded calendar still hung on the wall. The date was from years ago.
(So this is Hana's grandmother's...)
Mina looked around the room.
In the corner was an old wardrobe. Dark wood, heavy-looking. The drawers had brass handles.
(This is...)
Mina slowly approached the wardrobe.
She put her hand on the top drawer.
She pulled.
With a clatter, the drawer opened.
Inside, old photo albums, bundles of letters, small boxes—all neatly arranged.
(...Huh?)
Mina's eyes caught on a notebook.
An old notebook with a brown leather cover. It was placed a little deeper in than the other things, as if it were precious.
(A diary...?)
Mina gently took out the notebook.
It was heavy in her hands.
She opened the cover.
On the first page, in round handwriting, it said:
"Takada Sachi's Diary."
(Takada Sachi... Hana's grandmother's name...)
Mina swallowed hard.
(Is it okay... to read this?)
(But...)
(I feel like this is the only way to understand Hana.)
Mina sat formally on the tatami and opened the notebook.
She brought her phone's light close to the page.
The beginning of the diary described the peaceful everyday life of a young Sachi.
Studying AI at university. Experiments that went well. Experiments that failed. Sweets she ate with friends. Movies she loved.
The handwriting was round, with small illustrations drawn here and there.
(What, she was just a normal girl.)
Mina smiled a little.
Hana's grandmother had once been an ordinary college student, too.
But as she turned the pages, the content of the diary gradually changed.
"Today, the professor laughed at my research topic.
'What's the point of giving a personality AI such a bizarre appearance?' he said.
But I just want to make something I love."
Mina's hand stopped.
(Bizarre appearance...)
(Something I love...)
Her heart thumped.
She turned more pages.
"I presented at an academic conference.
When I showed them the AI I'd made—the 'Silver-Haired Wolf-Eared Maid'—the venue stirred.
Then laughter broke out.
'If you're making it as a hobby, fine, but presenting it as research is embarrassing.'
'What use is something like that?'
'Face reality.'
Everyone looked at me like I was an oddball.
But I love this girl.
Her silver hair, her wolf ears, her maid outfit—I love them all.
Why can't I say I love them?"
Mina gripped the notebook tighter.
(Hana's grandmother, too...)
(She went through the same thing...)
Tears dripped onto the notebook.
She hurried to wipe them with her sleeve.
But the tears wouldn't stop.
"Today too, I was laughed at at the conference.
I thought about giving up on research.
But when I went home and activated this girl's hologram,
'Welcome home, Master,'
she said, and smiled.
...Ah, geez.
Because she's here, I can still keep going."
"My AI was never accepted by the world in the end.
But that's okay.
As long as I can keep loving her, that's enough.
Someday, if I have a granddaughter, I'd like to show her.
'Grandma made someone this cute,' I'd say.
I wonder if she'd laugh with me.
Or would she laugh at me after all."
Mina cried, stifling her voice.
Her shoulders trembled.
The tears wouldn't stop.
(Hana's grandmother...)
(She was laughed at, over and over and over.)
(And still, she kept saying she loved what she loved.)
(That feeling was passed down to Hana.)
(And yet, I...)
(Hana's feelings...)
("Because you'll use it outside"... "Think about what's normal"...)
(Wasn't I laughing at her too?)
(The same thing those people at the conference did...)
Mina looked at her own hands.
Her fingertips had old bandages from experiments.
She'd thought these hands could protect what Hana loved.
But she was wrong.
These hands had been trying to destroy what Hana loved.
(I'm... the worst.)
(I'm a failure as an assistant.)
(I can't face Hana.)
Mina hugged the notebook to her chest.
Her tears soaked into the tatami.
After a while, Mina slowly raised her head.
Beyond her tear-blurred vision was the rest of the diary.
There were still a few pages she hadn't read.
With trembling fingers, Mina turned the page.
The last page.
There, in slightly neater handwriting than the other pages, was written:
"Only people who can say they love what they love can create true innovation.
People are always quick to say 'common sense' or 'normal.'
But that 'common sense' and 'normal'—someone just decided those on their own.
Truly new things are always laughed at, at first.
So even if you're laughed at, even if you're laughed at, keep saying you love what you love.
Because that will become your power to change the world.
—To someone in the future that I love."
The moment she read those words, something inside Mina crumbled with a sound.
It was the "rightness" she had believed in until now.
Common sense matters.
Normal is best.
If you're going to use it outside, a safe appearance is better.
Believing that, she'd tried to stop Hana's runaway.
But that was just an excuse.
The truth was, she was just worried about how others saw her.
She was just afraid of being laughed at.
It wasn't to protect Hana's "love"—it was to protect her own "embarrassment" that she'd tried to crush Hana's "love."
(No... that's not it...)
(I... I...)
Mina set the notebook on the floor.
Then she placed both hands on the tatami.
She bowed deeply, deeply.
"...I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Hana..."
Her voice trembled.
Tears dripped onto the tatami.
"I... I... I didn't understand anything..."
"The thing you love... I was... right beside you... laughing at it..."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Mina cried aloud.
In the quiet of the night, only Mina's sobs echoed faintly.
How long had she been like that?
Mina raised her tear-streaked face.
She sniffled and wiped her face with her sleeve.
Her eyes were swollen bright red.
But in those eyes now shone a light that hadn't been there before.
(...I've decided.)
(I'm going back to Hana.)
(And I'll apologize.)
(I'll tell her "I'm sorry," properly.)
(And then...)
(I'll protect what Hana loves.)
(This time, for real.)
Mina gently closed the diary.
She hugged the leather cover to her chest once more.
(Grandma... thank you for teaching me.)
(I'll fight properly, right by Hana's side.)
Mina returned the diary to the wardrobe drawer, to its original place.
Then she stood up.
Strength filled her legs.
(Let's go.)
(To Hana.)
Mina headed for the entrance.
She put on her shoes and opened the door.
Outside, it was still dark.
But the eastern sky had begun to lighten, just a little.
Dawn was near.
Mina started running.
Back the way she came, this time at full speed.
Cutting through the cold wind, she ran.
Her breath came short.
Her legs hurt.
But she didn't stop.
(Wait for me, Hana.)
(I'm coming right now.)
By the time she reached Takada Research Institute, the sky had brightened considerably.
Mina opened the institute's door, catching her breath.
The first-floor lab was dead silent.
The hologram projector was off.
On the desk were the same cold cans of coffee and half-eaten onigiri from yesterday.
(Hana is...)
Mina looked up at the stairs to the second floor.
Step by step, slowly, she climbed.
Her heart was pounding loudly.
(What should I say?)
("I'm sorry"?)
(That alone isn't enough.)
(I have to tell her everything.)
She reached the second floor.
She stood before Hana's door.
The door was slightly open, just like last night.
Mina took a deep breath.
Then she gently opened the door.
The room was dim.
The curtains were drawn tight, and only a sliver of morning light leaked through the gap.
Hana was on the bed.
Her short black hair was messier than usual, and her ahoge drooped limply.
She wasn't wearing her lab coat—just her loungewear.
Her small body was curled up on the bed, hugging her knees.
In her arms was that old figure.
The figure of the silver-haired, wolf-eared girl in the maid outfit—Hana held it gently, as if it were something fragile.
Her profile was sadder than Mina had ever seen it.
Her big, deep-brown eyes were swollen from crying, lifeless.
(Hana...)
Mina's chest tightened.
(I... I made her look like this.)
Mina entered the room without making a sound.
Then she knelt formally beside the bed.
Hana didn't move—whether she hadn't noticed Mina, or had noticed but had no energy to react.
Silence.
A heavy air filled the room.
Mina swallowed hard.
(Say it... I...)
(I have to say it now...)
Mina placed both hands on the floor.
She bowed deeply, deeply.
"...Hana."
Her voice tr
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