She is unwillingly enlightened

The night air is cool against your skin as you lead Yutong down the deserted street. It's probably even colder for her. You see the gooseflesh on her arms.

Streetlights cast long, strange shadows across the sidewalk. The neighborhood is eerily silent save for the occasional rustle of leaves in the gentle breeze; the usual sound of traffic is near nothing this late at night.

Yu's bare feet pad softly across the pavement beside you. She visibly trembles, small arms wrapped tight around her torso in a feeble attempt to preserve her modesty. She lacks the preoccupied self-assurance of her usual stride.

For Yu, shy on the best of days, being naked in public - almost, anyway, a bralette and panties aren't much better - must be a nightmare for her, whether or not she's only running on half her usual emotional capacity.

But a lack of agency is exactly the kind of thing Yutong needs to get used to as a gynoid. Your gynoid.

That's why you're out here. Not because it's sexy to have Yu wearing so little clothing at your behest (well, not just because of that), but because this is the hardest thing you can pressure Yu to do without provoking a backlash.

Really, you're doing her a favor here. Before Yu can be built up, she must be broken down.

You're also doing yourself a favor, but that comes later - depending in large part on how well this midnight stroll goes.

Walking past house after house with windows and driveways dark, you look aside at your scantily clad companion. "How are you holding up, Yutong?" you ask.

Yutong sets her jaw and refuses to look at you. "This is wrong, Chase," she says, rigidly. "I shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be making me do this."

You sigh. She still doesn't get it.

"This is more than just a walk in your underwear," you say, trying to stay patient. "You have to confront the reality you're a gynoid now. That means doing uncomfortable things you never did as a human."

Yutong speaks in a strained whisper. "I understand what you're saying, but this is still wrong. You're forcing me to do this. It's not uncomfortable, it's demeaning. It's humiliating. What if someone snaps a picture of me? What if we get arrested?" She vehemently shakes her head, sending her hair dancing. "This isn't safe, Chase. Whatever you're trying to do here, there has to be a better way."

"Maybe. But there's always a better way," you counter, impatient. "If we don't face this now, you'll never be able to get over yourself. I get your instinct is to be negative, but we're already out here doing this, aren't we? And it'll all be for nothing if you don't at least try."

Yu stubbornly avoids your gaze.

You sigh and offer a reassuring smile. "Let's try to stay productive, alright? For example - what's going through your mind right now?"

She takes a deep breath, glowering at the sidewalk at her feet. "Most of my mind is screaming at me that I shouldn't be doing this."

You lift an eyebrow. "Most of your mind?"

"All of my mind," she corrects herself, quickly. But then Yu hesitates, frustrated. "Fine, not all of it. Another part, the small... artificial part beneath, maybe my programming. It's telling me walking with you is a task. So it's just a thing I have to do. Even though it's crazy. Even though it's wrong."

She makes an angry sound, then flashes you a pleading look.

"I know I'm a gynoid, Chase. You fixed my programming, I'm not stupid. I already accepted what I am. How can you parading me out here like this be necessary?"

You stop and face her.

"It's absolutely necessary," you say, taking her bare shoulders firmly in your hands. Yu fidgets in place, uneasy at the contact. "Since you woke up, you've still been approaching every question, every problem, as if you're still human. It's causing you pain. That's the bandaid we have to rip off."

Yu says nothing, not knowing what to say, or where even to begin.

You level her with a significant look, then unhand her and back off. Then after a moment, you begin walking again.

Yu's steps falter beside yours. "But... why do we have to prove the point out here, in the open? Why can't we do this in your room or somewhere more private?"

As interesting as taking Yu back to your room would be...

"Because you're not just a gynoid in my room, or in private. You're not a gynoid only when it's convenient," you explain, sympathetic, but stern. "The only one who can properly reprogram your processor to accept that - without damaging your system - is you. That's why we're outside. Because you have do to this yourself. You have to want to do it yourself."

Yutong wraps her arms tight around her shoulders, turning sharply when she hears a car pass on the street behind yours.

"I'm trying to understand. I am," she says pleadingly, wincing. "But this is too much, Chase. It's overwhelming. My emotion core's overheating even on half power usage. W-What if I can't do it? I don't have to be human for you to hurt me. What if forcing me through this, this test, this trial, breaks me in a way even you can't fix?"

You keep your voice gentle, but firm. "That's not the Yu I know."

"You would've never guessed I was a robot until a few hours ago," accuses Yutong. "You don't know how big of a risk this is."

"However big it is, it's a risk we have to take," you say, simply.

Yu's fearful gaze meets yours. She's **** for reassurance. "Why can't I keep pretending to be... well, alive? Can't I keep acting like me, without anyone forcing any arbitrary tasks through my system? Nobody knew for years what I was, can't it just stay that way? I don't want to lose who I am."

You smile gently and bump her shoulder with your elbow. "Don't you see? This is you. A gynoid executing systech tasks is just what a gynoid does. So no matter how uncomfortable you feel, regardless of where I take you, or what I do with you, there's nothing I can do that'll change that."

You continue. "So you're not losing yourself. This is you discovering the real you. The part of you that's been buried your whole life." You spread your hands grandiosely. "Yeah, that's overwhelming, but how couldn't it be? Keep moving forward, and you'll see the same light at the end of the tunnel I do."

Yu shivers, still afraid. "I can't..."

You reach for her cold, sweaty hand and squeeze. "Listen. I won't let you face this alone. Whatever happens, remember, I'm right here with you. You were strong enough to drag me AP Precalculus, you're strong enough to do this."

Yu's head falls in anguish. A moment later, her fingers tighten around yours, **** for solace. **** for something firm to hold onto.

You can do that much for her.

The two of you continue into the park, the moon casting a dim, pale glow over the trees and community rec center beyond.

You worked your first job at that center, and you never did return your copy of the keys. Their security was a joke.

Above, branches sway in the breeze, crisscrossing the moon and casting fluid, lattice shadows over the grass. You follow a winding walkway, your footsteps seeming louder than they are, especially with the tapping of Yutong's bare soles beside you your only point of reference.

The path splits into two. You follow the side that winds toward the playground. There'll be somewhere to sit there.

You approach a silent jungle gym. Gleaming plastic slides. Motionless swings.

Yutong freezes in recognition. You pause with her. Has she been here before?

With her bare skin bathed in moonlight, Yu suddenly looks especially weak, and fragile. Like a scared bird that's had its feathers plucked clean.

"Please," Yu whimpers. "Can we go back now?"

You frown. "Why now?" You turn, surveying the park. "Why not when we got to the park? Why wait till we're in the middle of it?"

She trembles, looking ready to lie down and cry. "Being here, like this... it's too much. This is all too open. Someone's going to see me."

But there's not a soul in sight. You furrow your brow and turn back to Yu. "What's really wrong, here?"

Besides the obvious.

She gasps for breath. "I'm freaking terrified, Chase. I'm exposed. It was bad enough when it was just you, but now, it's awful." Yutong’s voice shakes. "I know you assigned a task, Chase, but you can unassign tasks too. Stop this. Let me go home."

The cold bedrock of certainty bolsters you. You can't back down now.

"No. We've been waiting for this. This is the boundary you need to push through," you say firmly. "Whatever's holding you back is right here, in this park. So let's sit down and talk it through, step by step."

You guide your shivering underwear-clad companion toward a bench out in the open by the playground. Yu looks longingly toward the covered restrooms on the opposite side of the jungle gym, but you direct her to sit instead.

Reluctantly, Yu joins you, her bare skin making contact with the cool surface of the bench - she shudders half from cold, half from something else. It's the something else you're here to work on.

"Tell me what's going on," you order, softly.

Yu stiffens at the command. The task. "I'm... supposed to be a machine, but everything in me screams the opposite," she says, hugging herself and rocking back and forth. "It's too hard. I know you want me to have a broader perspective, but I can't do it. Just turn me off. Make me go into robot mode again."

Classic Yu. Running and hiding from embarrassment. The reality of the situation is finally beginning to sink in and it's too much for her. It's up to you to help Yutong, to bail her out of yet another awkward situation she's tangled herself up in, as it's always been - now more than ever.

"You're overthinking this. See that tree over there?" You point at an old oak - the big one with a great canopy of shadowy leaves - that grows a stone's throw from your bench.

Yu turns toward where you point.

"That tree is. It doesn't worry about what it is. It doesn't question. You have to be like that tree, Yutong. You have to know what you are. Really feel it," you explain. "Social norms are dumb. Most are superstitious traditions handed down from the foggy past to make modern man miserable. I'm a human, so I'm caught in the web same as everybody else. But you don't have to be."

Yu considers the old oak, brow furrowed.

"You're a gynoid, so you're not bound by those norms. You're not wired that way. Obviously, your norms are going to look different than mine," you reason. "Sure, you're in your underwear out in the park in the middle of the night, but only because you're fulfilling a priority systech task. So if one of us should feel embarrassed, it should be me. If other people don't like the tasks I've assigned you, then I'm responsible for that. Not you."

Yu takes a shaky breath. "I don't care about responsibility. I feel, Chase. Trees don't. And I feel scared and confused, and small. I am bothered by being naked out here. And I can't accept being miserable like this. I won't."

"Then do something about it," you encourage, trying another route. "Control your emotions. Control your reactions to them. You're more than your feelings, aren't you? I could turn your emotion core off and you'd still be here. You'd still be you. You have a mind. A highly sophisticated one. Use it."

But Yutong's still shutting down. Turns out you can't debate somebody's feelings away. What you need is a way to get her out of her head.

"Do you know what grounding exercises are?" you ask.

Yu fidgets uncomfortably and looks at you with dark eyes. "Yes. Why?"

"I want you to try one for me," you offer. "Describe your surroundings, everything you can see, or sense, or feel. But do it like a machine would - objectively, without emotion."

Maybe the exercise of Yu placing herself in the mindset of a robot will help her feel more like one.

She takes a deep breath and casts her eyes about her, sitting up straighter as she tries to focus on her latest task. "Describe them like a machine would...? Again?" she asks, quietly. "Well. I see a park. It's dark, late at night. I suppose the temperature is cool. The moon is out, it's a waxing gibbous. I hear... or, I detect ambient sounds. Wind through leaves. Traffic, distant. I detect air moving across my skin."

She shivers again and continues.

"The plastic bench under me. The slats aren't as cold against my legs as they were a second ago. No scents detected. No, wait, that's not true. I smell cut grass. And around me... in the vicinity, there's a playground. And there are variations in the terrain around us. Hills. Slight slopes and divots."

She seems calmer than before. More grounded.

Looks like watching all those armchair psychology videos on the internet is finally paying off.

Yu's eyes gleam in the pale light. "It's beautiful out here. I never realized how peaceful it'd be in the dark." She hesitates. "But as a machine... it's all data, isn't it? I'm just a machine processing data."

"What do you mean by that?" You're not sure you like her nihilistic tone.

"I don't have a brain. I have a processor." Yu taps the side of her head. "At some level, any observation I make must feed into a decision-making algorithm," she says, frowning. "So my perceptions don't mean anything. They're just... binary data inputs coming into an emulation matrix."

Not what you meant by 'try and see things like a machine would', but Yu has a way of taking ideas and running with them way further than expected.

“And... how does that make you feel?” You're uncertain where she's going with this, but you have a hunch it's important you let her go there.

"Consciously, I loathe doing this, being like this, but deep down, my gynoid side... it's humming along saying all systems nominal." Yutong's gaze returns to the ground, conflicted. "Being a machine, executing these tasks, prioritizing your - er, well, my operator's assignments above what I would do, it's just the way that part of me is."

You nod slowly. "So even though you're upset..."

"... I have to acknowledge my programming plays a part, too," finishes Yutong. "It's guiding me. Or at least, it's trying to." She shakes her head. "I'm beginning to understand what you wanted to show me by twisting my arm into coming out here, even if you're doing it crudely. But this doesn't make it any easier to reconcile what's happening to me. My emotions, my programming. It's one or the other. Never both. Especially out here with you, dressed like this, they're diametrically opposed."

You get up from the bench. “And yet, you're out here anyway. You're in your underwear, anyway. Maybe you're not doing as bad as you think,” you encourage her. You wave her on."Let's take another step. Come with me."

You walk with Yutong over to the swings. Yu moves stiffly but isn't as panicked as she was before.

Watching the small, slender girl pick her way across the rubberized playground flooring barely dressed in a way that somehow only hides the parts of her you're most hungry to see, bathed in moonlight, is a dreamlike sight. Yes, you're certain you've had dreams like this before. The deja vu's hitting hard.

Very stiff yourself, you take a seat in a swing and begin pushing yourself gently back and forth.

Yu runs her hand along the chain of the swing next to yours, testing its tension before sitting down.

"Why did you freeze up when you saw the playground?" you question. "It's not because anyone might see you. We could hide you, we could run, we've got options. There's not a soul here but us."

Yu hunches in her swing, tapping her toes against the rubber flooring beneath her. "It's because I've been here before."

You furrow your brow. Yu continues.

"We used to have picnics here. My parents used to take me to play here as a child. That's why it hit me so hard. I recognized this park. Before... this all felt like this was happening to someone else, not me. But suddenly it all felt real."

You and Yutong used to play at the same park? Huh. Was there ever a chance you might've played together?

"How old were you when you used to come here?" you ask. You have to know.

"I don't know. 5 or 6, I think," says Yu, gazing up at the moon. "But... did any of that really happen?"

Oh right. Fake memories. Fake childhood.

"Probably not," you say, deflating a little internally.

Yu's eyes gleam in the moonlight. "How many of my memories are real, do you think?"

You consider. In for a penny, in for a pound. "I wouldn't put too much trust in anything from before you were 12 or 13. Though, we didn't meet till sophomore year, so... on the high end anything up to 15 is suspect."

Yu swings halfheartedly next to you.

"In that case, I'm definitely not 18," Yu says, doing the math. "I'm probably something like... 4 or 5 years old. All my friends, all of my experiences, none of them were real."

A strange, distant expression comes over her face like the world suddenly stopped making sense.

"But why?" The question escapes Yutong before she can halt it.

Reinforce the truth. Reinforce the lie.

"Why?" you ask, as if surprised she'd even ask. "The people who built you were studying human-machine interaction. Everybody knows how humans relate to computers, so the next logical step is to see how machines relate to humans when they don't know they're one."

You turn and face Yu straight on in your swing, meeting her gaze.

"It's why you were engineered with fake memories," you say. "They wanted you to blend in seamlessly with human society. To **** you to relate to others. To make you seem more relatable to others. To make you seem more human, and to ensure they could keep you... well, under control."

Yutong, sitting on the swing, sways listlessly, lost in introspection. "So even before you hacked me. Even when I thought I was human. When I thought thought I was in control, and that my life was mine. Even then my life was..."

"Just another task someone assigned you," you say, sadly.

Yu wilts, the fight seeping out of her.

"Then I was never really in control of anything. I never mattered at all," she whispers, her voice close to breaking. "I... I don't know who I am anymore, Chase."

You push your swing seat over far enough that you can reach out and grab her hand. "That's the point, Yu. You were never supposed to know. You were only supposed to be whoever you were programmed to be. And before tonight, that was Yutong Liu, star high school student."

Gaslighting Yu this hard really should make you feel worse than it does. But really, you've been on a roll all night. Maybe it's the late hour, maybe it's how many caffeinated sodas you drank at that party, but you feel like you're on fire. Like you can do anything. That you can get away with anything.

And before tonight's done, you're going to get away with Yu.

Tears roll down Yu's cheeks. She sniffles. "So my life, my memories, my identity... all of it was crafted by someone else? Birthday parties, family vacations, music recitals. They were all just variables some psychologist tinkered with till I resembled what they thought an awkward high schooler would look like?"

You say nothing, but you squeeze her hand tighter.

"It's not just that I'm a gynoid," remarks Yu, eyes oddly clear, "I'm a puppet."

The expression on Yu's face is unreadable. You see isolation. Betrayal. Hopelessness. And anger. A metric assload of anger.

Yu's head snaps toward you suddenly, her eyes searching for empathy, for understanding.

But in that moment, she catches you staring, she catches you puzzling her out the same way you might puzzle out a productive planet's economy spreadsheet in Stellaris.

"That's why we're doing this," says Yu. "You wanted me to realize I'm a puppet, too."

You hear her heartbreak in real-time. Yu's gaze falls to the ground, and she jerks her hand away from yours. She grips tight to the swing's chains.

"Well. I can't live with that. I'd rather die. That's the only choice I can make, isn't it? If I even can die..."

You hate seeing Yu like this, but it also thrills you.

You've broken her down.

She's at rock bottom.

All you have to do is offer her hope, offer her a way out - your way out.

"There is another option," you say, standing from the swing.

Yu looks up to you, despairing. She looks ashen. Like a beautiful, damned soul.

"... Anything."

You pop a set of keys out from your pocket, jingle them before Yutnog's sad eyes, and jerk your head for her to follow.

--

A few minutes later, you're on the grounds of the community center, by their outdoor pool.

At a press of a button, you retract the blue plastic pool cover and reveal the pure, chlorinated waters. A second button press lights the waters with soft ethereal light from beneath the surface.

“You're at a crossroads,” you begin, your voice low and steady. “You’ve come far, but there’s one last step. I've said it before, but this is it. This is really it. You need to fully embrace being a gynoid. Do you understand?”

Yutong's expression is uncertain, her skin lit now by the aquamarine light of the pool, but she knows she has ****. She faces you with grim determination.

“I think I do, but I’m not sure if I’m ready. I'm scared," she admits, her voice quivering. "I don't want to lose myself. I don't want to turn into something else. Accepting I'm a gynoid, I can do that, but to embrace it? What does that mean? For my future? For me? For everything I thought I knew about myself?"

You again take Yu by the bare shoulders, and this time, she neither flinches nor pulls away. She tenses, she resists, but she tolerates it. Because she has no other choice.

Your gesture of reassurance feels more like a claim of ownership.

"I know you're scared, but that's why I'm here," you reiterate. "To guide you. To help you take these steps. Don't forget you're not alone, Yutong. You have me."

Tears glisten in Yu's eyes, but she nods slowly. Her shoulders slump under your hands in resignation.

Just like that, you feel it. You've won.

Yu wipes her eyes. "Okay, Chase. I'll try. F-For you. Because you're my friend."

"Good," you say, stroking her cheek.

She stiffens and shuts her eyes at the contact.

"I want you to think about being a gynoid, now," you guide her, moving behind Yu and running your hands down her upper arms, so you can face the conflicted girl toward the water. "Reflect on your existence. What does it mean to exist as a gynoid?"

Yutong, troubled, ponders your question with brows knit together. She opens her eyes again. “To exist as a gynoid,” she begins, light from the water dancing across her body, her face, “is to function. It's to execute tasks, to... to serve and assist. It's about... accepting that truth, first. Not hiding from it. Being a gynoid means putting that purpose first."

“And what is your purpose, Yu?” you ask, leaning in close to her ear, letting your hands fall to her wrists.

“I... was built to perform tasks assigned by my system tech," she answers. "To fulfill my programming." Realization dawns in her eyes. “I was never sure if I had a purpose before, but, I legitimately do, don't I. And I know what that purpose is. Literally. Not theoretically. That's something I never would've had as a human."

"And how does knowing your purpose make you feel?"

Yu takes a breath. "It’s... liberating, in a way. Weird, but not... necessarily bad."

You nod, pleased, and gaze into the glowing waters with Yu. The exposed pool makes the air feel colder this close to the edge. “And think about your past. How do you reconcile your memories of who you used to be, with what you know about yourself now?”

The girl visibly struggles with the question. “My memories, my past, a lot of it was written to help augment my emulation program. That means that can't be who I really am, can it?"

“Not really, no," you affirm. "Your experiences, even the simulated ones, especially the simulated ones, they're - how did you put it? - just data. Data in a matrix, nothing more. Those experiences, real or not, might inform who you are, but you shouldn't let them limit who you are."

"I can acknowledge my memories and even learn from them," says Yu, "but in the end... I can't let them define me." She stares into the water. "Because a gynoid is just her programming. Her directives. Not the data she processes. No more than a CD player is the CD you put inside." She falters. "But if I'm not real, why keep going? If my life was made up, it never had any real value. Which means... I never had any real value."

"You're not human," you say, "so what does your worth have to do with a human life you've never lived?"

Yu is confused. "Where would my value come from if not my life? Since I'm not human, isn't that all I have?"

"As a gynoid, maybe you have a different kind of value to offer," you offer.

Her expression remains saddened but becomes contemplative. "A different kind of value?"

"The same value any other machine possesses," you say, gently rubbing her cold arms. "Your value lies in your capabilities, Yu. Your features, your efficiency, your adherence to programming. You’re not less for being a gynoid. You’re different. And in some ways, I'd say you're more."

Yutong is expressionless. “So that's my choice? I either stop existing, or I embrace the fact I'm an immensely sophisticated, sentient CD player." She shakes her head. "I don't want to stop existing. I don't. But how can I be content with living like a machine when I remember what it was like being alive?"

“Because there's no other way," you say. "It's hard, I know. You'll have to let go of what you used to believe mattered to you. Gynoids weren't built to maintain human attachments, not like you did during your study. Your programming, your directives, they're not just rules that your behavior. Your operating system is you." You give her a helpless look. "It's what and who you are. It's your core reason for existing."

Yu looks out over the pool, her reflection mirrored in the shimmering water. “Letting go of my human attachments,” she murmurs. “To live like that, to live that existence, I'd have to let go of my emotions, my past. All of it. It'd be like starting over from nothing."

You tighten your grip on her arms, protectively. “Letting your value flow from your capabilities as a gynoid, not your life as a human... it's not an easy transition to make," you say, sympathetically.

Yutong considers your words. “Maybe it wouldn't be all different," she says, quietly. "I’ve always prided myself on being knowledgeable and capable. On helping others. Subconsciously, I've been finding a way to make my directives a part of me my whole life." She pauses. "Maybe knowing I'm a gynoid isn't as big a difference as either of is thinking. Yes, it's not the same, but, it has to have its own meaning too, doesn't it?"

"That's the decision your conscious emulated self needs to make." You nudge her toward the pool's edge a step. "That's why I brought you out here tonight."

Yu remains conflicted. Confused. Her emotions and thoughts must be going everywhere. Part of her obviously wants to rebel, to reject your words, to fight.

But another part of her is just tired. She knows she needs to let go. She knows surrender is the only way this gets easier for her. And you're Yu's friend. Someone she trusts, and who ostensibly knows a lot more about what's happening to her than she herself does. If you're saying this is unavoidable...

Yu's eyes remain fixed on the water. A single tear rolls down her cheek.

With a trembling sigh, she breathes her answer. "I need to let go."

It's happening, right before your eyes. The transformation you've been waiting for. Excitement surges through you.

"Good. Making that decision for yourself is the first step," you encourage her. "Are you ready to put your directives first, without question, without hesitation?"

Yutong nods, though she trembles like a leaf. "Y-Yes. I will. I want this to be over."

"Then it's time. Look into the pool. Tell me what you see.”

Yutong leans in and peers into the water. “I see myself, in the water. A reflection. I see... a girl who believed she was human.”

"That girl is going to start over, this time knowing exactly what she is," you guide Yu. "She needs to reconcile within herself that she's not human, and never was," you say. "So. Her first task is simple. She needs to take off the rest of her clothes, and step into the pool."

Whatever Yu expected to hear, it's not that. She turns to you with an anguished, searching look. "You want me to..." Yu covers her chest, her face pale. "Why?"

"You'll see. But first the girl must shed the chrysalis holding her back. Shame. Embarrassment. Fear. Those instincts belong to a human who never existed. They're not real, Yu. Free your mind."

She remains frozen in place. "I, I can't."

"Could you, if I assigned it as a task?"

Yu's eyes fill with terror. "You wouldn't."

"But I could," you say. "The real question is, can you?"

Yu stares at you. Then at the pool, and the gate, as if looking for an escape. But then she turns away from escape and looks down at herself.

"Just data," she murmurs. "Assign task to self... remove clothing."

Though only you can assign tasks to Yu (at least you think that's how it works), saying the words seems to empower her.

With sporadic, shaky movements, Yu complies with the instruction to strip.

First, she shrugs out of her little bralette, hunching her shoulders and pulling it off over her head. The motion affords you the quickest flash of Yu's bare chest. Your heart hammers. Then she balls her top her off hand and shimmies out of her brief white panties.

Taking her clothing and pocketing it for safekeeping, you then motion to Yu's face. Yu is confused until she realizes what you mean. She removes her glasses, folds them, and surrenders them as well. Taking them leaves the Asian girl as naked as the day she was born.

Nude and ****, Yu positions herself awkwardly, tentatively, beside the steps which lead down into the shallow end of the pool. Lights from the water dance over her bare body.

Looking panicked, she tries to cover up but it's a futile gesture.

If you'd told past you that before the night was over, that you'd be seeing Yu naked, stripped at your command, you'd never have believed it. Neither would you have thought you wanted to see her that way. Foolish.

Taking in Yu now totally unveiled now frees your mind.

You used to think all Yu was was a kind, 4.0 GPA friend and homework copying bank with an intimidating intellect and inflexible morals. There's no going back to that way of thinking. Her slender body, delicate frame, hips and chest, bare white skin... you've ignored Yu's beauty for years.

If you'd only noticed sooner, maybe it would've never come to this. Maybe you would've forgotten Jane and taken your shot with Yu, and never been tempted to use your powers for selfish gain. But knowing what you know now, you'd do it all again in a heartbeat. The path leading you to this moment has justified the journey.

You used to fear what would happen after graduation when all your friends left you behind and started their own lives. But tonight after you finish stealing Yu... remaking Yu... you'll never have to be alone.

The future can hold no fear for you, anymore. Only promise.

Yu, utterly bare, positions herself tentatively beside the steps into the shallow end of the pool. One arm is pressed over her chest. The other shields lower down. Her expression is wide and alert.

"W-What's next?" asks Yu, stiffly.

"Next you'll leave your old life behind," you say, joining Yu by the waters.

She leans away from your presence, extra sensitive of her personal space.

"You must feel the water envelop you and let it cleanse you of your old human life, Yu." You point down to the steps at the pool's edge. "Take the first step to transitioning from human to gynoid."

The air is still as Yutong hovers on the precipice, toes clinging to the lip of the pool. Moon and water light cast a soft glow on her. She looks one last time toward you, eyes reflecting a mix of fear and resignation.

Then, as quiet as a distant avalanche, Yu sets foot on the first step, breaking the surface and sending ripples across the water.

She shivers. "It's cold..."

"Disable cold sensors for one hour. GOS run update."

"Update complete. Oh." Yu grips the rail leading into the water and her hips buck. Her shivering ceases and she stands upright, suddenly unfazed by temperature, if not all that much more comfortable. Her eyes remain fixed downward. "Thank you."

"Each step is a release, Yutong," you say gently, guiding her. "Feel your human expectations washing away, one by one, the deeper you go. Start with the easiest. Whatever comes to mind."

Yutong hesitates for a moment, then her second foot joins the first. Aquamarine water laps at her ankles, sending ripples across the pool and sending a shiver through her you now know has nothing to do with the cold.

"I... have to let go of my childhood," she whispers, her voice heavy with the weight of her words. "None of it was real. It was an illusion made to teach and control me."

You linger at the concrete water's edge. "That's it, Yu. Take the next step."

With a deep breath, Yutong takes a second step down the case, the water rising to her calves.

"I release my... my family. My parents... they were never really mine. My aunts, my uncles, my cousins, none of them were. They were only pretending." She speaks with sadness. "The pressure to succeed, to make them proud, it was all part of a script."

"Keep going."

Yutong's third step down brings the water to her knees.

"I have to release my anxiety as well. The fear of judgment, the **** need to fit in - it was just part of a social experiment. A case study," says Yu. "It didn't matter how many friends I had, or how weird people thought I was. I used to worry about fitting some ideal image, but everything about me - my body, my personality - it was already manufactured exactly how it was to blend in."

Yu sounds angry now. You suppress a grin and nod along. She's finally beginning to take to this. To emotionally commit.

"All that awkwardness, all that embarrassment, all my worries about being accepted or how I looked, none of it mattered," says Yu, clenching the handrail tight. "I was a gynoid the whole time."

Unbidden, Yu takes the fourth step off the stairs and into the shallow end. The water circles the naked girl's waist. Yu, being as short as she is, will be fully submerged after not too much longer.

"I should relinquish my academic achievements, too, while I'm at it," she says, sighing weakly as she threads her fingers through the water at her sides. "My pride in my grades, the scholarships, my 99th percentile SAT and ACT scores... they're meaningless. I didn't earn them because I deserved it, or worked hard, it was just because my programmers decided what scores they wanted me to get. Realistically any knowledge I was supposed to have could've been downloaded into my mainframe at any time. I didn't need to do well in school. I never did."

"Let all the baggage go," you encourage, circling the edge to stay close by. "I'm here."

Yu's still clearly not comfortable with being naked with you, even if half of her is a distorted underwater reflection. But she offers you a sheepish, awkward smile, then gathers strength before taking another step, which submerges her to her chest, exactly beneath her breasts.

She pauses in the water, breathing deeply, looking conflicted, but determined. "I let go of being human," she says. "Age, ****. Fate, freedom. Finding a partner and starting a family. Living and breathing, it's all simulated. I'm not alive, so it's all always been beyond me. The belief it wasn't was just another part of the experiment."

Without waiting this time, Yu takes another step, the water rising to her neck. She's on the downward slope now, picking up speed.

"I release my desire to... to be independent. To live my own life and be my own person. To make my own choices," she says, her voice muted and scattered along the aquamarine water's surface. "I was built for an experiment. It never mattered what college I went to or what I wanted to do with my life. I was just following the tasks assigned to me. My directives. And... as a gynoid, that's all I can do. That's all I've always done."

"Let it all go," you echo her.

Yu moves deeper another step. The waters creep up her neck.

"And last... I release who I thought I was," she says, her words strained as she tilts her face up. Water laps at her chin, and higher, her head barely above water. "My personality was just another variable. A UI to make interaction easier. My sense of self, my identity, none of it was..."

Yu slips totally beneath the water's surface mid-sentence and disappears. Ripples spread out and still in her wake, leaving the pool's surface calm and undisturbed.

The Yutong you knew, the girl, your friend and classmate, is gone. The metamorphosis is complete.

You stand solemnly at the pool's edge watching the glowing waters, contemplating the implications of what you've done, and the harvest you're about to reap.