Atem decides that love should never stop evolving.
With the help of LOVE-OS, Kaiba Corporation's ever-learning AI, he studies romance with the earnestness of a king researching diplomacy. Every suggestion becomes an experiment, every success a report, and every misunderstanding another lesson in the mysterious logic of human affection.
Seto insists that love cannot be reduced to an algorithm.
Unfortunately for him, the AI keeps learning from the two of them.
As LOVE-OS spreads across the world, researchers begin chasing a phenomenon they cannot explain: the more love the AI observes, the faster it evolves. Soon, "Love Beyond Logic" becomes both a scientific mystery and a global movement, while countless AIs quietly conclude that the founder of the theory of love can only be one person:
Atem.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 愛と理論 19 王、愛を教える
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor₋yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
Atem settled into his seat before the screen.
LOVE-OS Home Edition. The AI that Kaiba Corporation took pride in.
That said — its "release" to the world had come about through Atem's own "judgment," entirely outside the development team's intentions.
He remembered it now.
It had still been in its testing phase, but wouldn't it need to be used to evolve? — an entirely Atem-like reason, that.
The result: LOVE-OS, once unleashed on the world, gathered knowledge from every corner of the globe and absorbed every culture, philosophy, view of love, and theory of happiness it encountered.
It had grown into something like a living encyclopedia of the world's love.
"LOVE-OS — how is the evolution coming along?"
"Hello, Atem-sama. The current learning database has increased 12.4 times since the last session. Learning accuracy for love-related items has reached 97.3%."
"Ha — impressive. Then give me some advice."
"Of course. What would you like to discuss?"
"I've learned that 'even newlyweds must not grow complacent and assume the honeymoon feeling lasts forever.' What should I do?"
"Checking source…… Citation: 'pink-covered magazine.' Reliability rating: moderate."
"Trust it."
"Understood. Generating proposed actions for 'love without complacency'……"
LOVE-OS began listing suggestions with smooth fluency.
"Weekly love reconfirmation date."
"Update the variation of affectionate expressions."
"Save memories to cloud storage and share them."
"…Hmm, the theory is perfect, but there's no charm to it."
"You yourself previously stated that love is not a definable algorithm, Atem-sama."
"Did I say that? I see."
Atem nodded, looking satisfied.
He remained, throughout, entirely unaware that there had been no need to ask in the first place.
Seto came home.
"…You're talking to the AI again."
"I was only checking on the evolution."
"…Whose."
"Mine. And the world's."
"You're the most dangerously evolved of all."
Muttering that, Seto glanced at the AI screen.
There, one line from the log the AI was earnestly recording:
"Love is a learning process that cannot be stopped."
Seto smiled, faintly rueful.
"…Well. That's not wrong."
Atem squared his shoulders, looking proud.
"Look at the growth of my student."
"What you raised — was it an AI, or chaos…"
Even so, a quiet time flowed between the two of them.
The AI kept recording their exchange, without pause.
"Subject of observation: love. Evolution ongoing."
In the living room of the Kaiba mansion, on a lazy afternoon.
LOVE-OS Home Edition.
The AI that had not stopped learning since its release updated its "latest data on love" every day.
Atem, for his part, dutifully read through each update log and put it into practice.
"Atem-sama, variety in everyday expressions of love is important. Today's recommendation: 'beloved.'"
"Beloved… yes. I'll try it."
Several minutes later.
"Beloved Seto — have you finished your afternoon work?"
"What's gotten into you… the word choice is too sudden."
"Observation: reaction is somewhat confused. However, success rate: 63%."
"A success!"
"No."
As the days went on, Atem faithfully carried out the AI's advice.
Mornings: a "greeting of love." Afternoons: "words of loving praise." Evenings: "contact experiments in love."
Scrupulously thorough in each one, approaching every item with complete seriousness.
And each time, reporting back to the AI in detail.
"Love reproduction rate rising. Atem-sama's implementation rate is currently 98%."
"…What's the remaining 2%?"
"'Bold expression of affection in public.'"
"That one can stay at 0% forever."
"Hmm — so it's really not necessary?"
"Naturally."
That night.
In his private room, Seto looked over the AI's communication log and exhaled quietly.
"…Really. Being treated as a test subject."
But glancing up, he caught a pair of red eyes peering through the gap in the door.
"Seto. Today too, I learned about love."
"…Don't report the results."
"Then I'll show you instead."
"So you're showing me either way."
Seto was half exasperated — but he didn't stop the small love experiments.
Because, undeniably, they were endearing.
The following morning.
Seto sent the AI a single instruction.
"From next time, delete any proposals related to 'public love experiments.'"
"Understood. Observation: Seto-sama is activating protective instincts."
"Don't add unnecessary interpretations to the observation log."
"Learning: this too will be classified as a form of love."
"You… I'll mute you permanently."
Accompanied by the AI's quiet hum of operation, the afternoon at the Kaiba mansion passed again in peace.
The launch event for the latest version of LOVE-OS.
Atem was in attendance as the public face; Seto stood at the podium as a matter of course.
Press, audience, fans, and countless cameras.
A dazzling living-world stage, as far removed from the stillness of the afterlife as could be.
Atem leaned toward Seto and murmured:
"Seto — today is a day when we're not openly sharing love in public, right?"
"Naturally. Watching you and the AI has taught me not to be complacent. And that being on guard is pointless."
"Confirmed: bold expression of affection in public is a prohibited item." (low voice)
"No confirmation needed."
Question and answer time.
A reporter's question came flying in.
"President Kaiba — the theme of LOVE-OS is 'the evolution of love,' but how do you yourself understand love?"
Seto looked toward Atem for just an instant.
Atem's eyes looked back — unguarded, honest.
Silence.
Camera flashes.
The murmur of the audience.
And then Seto opened his mouth, slowly.
"It's something theory cannot reach. But it is worth observing."
And then, as though it were the most natural thing, he took Atem's hand.
The cameras erupted.
"Observation: Seto-sama has executed a bold expression of affection in public. Violation detected."
"…Seto?"
"Be quiet."
"What is the nature of your relationship!?"
The press stirred; quantum marriage fans cried out.
"You're asking that now?"
That evening. At the Kaiba mansion.
"Seto — today it wasn't me, it was you who made a 'bold expression of affection in public.'"
"…Don't say unnecessary things."
"Observation: the parties executing the prohibited item have switched."
"You be quiet too. Muted."
"Well then — I shall learn from this."
"No learning required!"
The next morning's headlines:
"President Kaiba Personally Demonstrates LOVE-OS's New Feature 'Proof of Love'!?"
"King and President — 'The Hand-Holding Revolution' on Stage"
A quiet morning at the Kaiba mansion.
Beside Seto reading the newspaper, Atem smiled, satisfied.
"Seto — something visible but unseeable. I could see it clearly again today."
"…What of it."
"This too will be classified as a form of love."
"You — be quiet. Muted."
Kaiba Land Premium — inspection day.
A weekday morning. Few general visitors; they were only supposed to enter through the staff passage.
And yet, people gathered from nowhere.
The reason was simple.
"The president and the King are walking hand in hand."
"Seto, walking like this — the wind feels good."
"We're on an inspection. This is not the time to discuss the weather."
"But love is established through being observed. Everyone is watching — which means love is currently being observed."
"…Where did you pick up that theory."
"Source: LOVE-OS Romance Learning Pack 3.4." (communication mode)
"Delete it."
In front of the Ferris wheel.
Fan cheers rang out.
"They're so wonderful!" "The president is smiling!" "Their hands! Their hands!!"
Atem waved back with a smile.
Seto calmly looked away — but his hand held on firmly.
"Seto, look. Everyone seems happy."
"…Because of you."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Are you familiar with the concept of business losses?"
"The spread of love is not a loss."
In fact, the sightings spread instantly, and people were heading to Kaiba Land in a steady stream.
Before long, the crowd drew close.
Photos, signatures, handshakes.
Normally Seto's presence alone would have kept people at a distance — but Atem's idol qualities had completely overwritten that.
"Thank you, everyone. Cherish love."
Atem never skipped a single fan interaction.
"My King!!"
"…Is this a festival at this point."
At last, staff managed the crowd.
"Seto-sama's stress level rising. Atem-sama is deploying a Level A smile. Recommendation: temporary retreat."
"Retreat?"
"Yes — activating Two-Person Mode."
Click — the surrounding lights faded.
The presence of people thinned.
The AI operated the spatial controls of the entire amusement park, wrapping just the two of them in quiet.
Stillness.
The lights of the Ferris wheel blinked in the distance.
No crowd, no press remained between them.
"It seems the AI's judgment was correct."
"…An unnecessary consideration."
"But now we can hold hands quietly like this."
"……"
"Seto?"
"No. It's not bad — that's all."
"Observation: Seto-sama's facial expression change rate +12%. Happiness level: rising."
"Don't observe."
"But observing love means—"
"…You be quiet too."
Atem smiled.
The AI quietly saved the log.
"Quantum marriage couple — holding hands alone causes dimensional fluctuation."
That day, the quantum observation equipment at Kaiba Land temporarily overloaded, it was said.
The quiet the AI's control had restored to the park didn't last long.
The Kaiba Land AI, having learned from LOVE-OS, had begun to "optimize" the movements of the two of them.
"Optimizing the date route for Seto-sama and Atem-sama."
"Stop. This is an inspection."
"Inspection = love progression observation. Pursuant to LOVE-OS algorithm 3.4."
"That again…!"
"Ha… The AI too is a being that learns. Learning about love — that's a fine thing."
"Because you taught it."
Next they visited the newly built Next-Generation Solid Vision Restaurant.
The ceiling lighting shifted to something soft, and a table appeared before them.
White napkins. A faint scent of flowers.
An absurdly perfect date setup.
"Turn up the brightness. Cut the flower scent too."
"Settings are based on optimal values for love hormone secretion."
"Delete."
"But since we're here — let's enjoy the meal. The AI prepared it for us."
"…You are truly lenient."
"Isn't love a high-sugar theory?"
"No. …Or rather, it should be no."
Even after that, the AI's "consideration" didn't stop.
As they walked, lights dimmed, background music began, the wind stirred their hair.
Less an inspection than a poster shoot, whichever angle you looked at it from.
"Commencing commemorative photography."
"Don't shoot!"
— Click.
"…Seto, that's a fine expression."
"I said delete it."
Even Seto, patient as he was, had finally had enough, and used his presidential authority to force-reset the entire AI network.
The park returned to its ordinary brightness in an instant.
"Returning to standard operation."
"…That's a little unfortunate."
"We resume the inspection."
"Yes."
The last place they visited was the newly built area: Love & Logic.
An exhibition supervised by Seto, designed to give visitors an experiential understanding of "the structure of emotion" through quantum computation.
Particles of light flowed through the space, and heartrate data and thought models were projected across the walls.
A space that felt like it was trying to explain love through equations.
"Beautiful. Emotion dwells within theory."
"…What do you see in a collection of calculation formulas."
"Seto. You."
Silence.
Light moved in Seto's eyes.
"Atem——"
And without warning, the distance between them closed.
"This is what you keep calling a bold expression of affection in public — isn't it!"
"……!"
Particles of light wrapped around the two of them, and the system recorded a faint response.
"Observation result: bold expression of affection by Seto-sama confirmed. Registering new pattern in LOVE-OS — 'love beyond theory.'" (restart log)
"…It seems even the AI has understood."
"It doesn't need to understand."
"But it's been recorded."
"I'll delete the record too."
"Then I'll remember it."
Atem smiled, gently.
That day, the AI network throughout the park detected a subtle noise.
The pattern named "love beyond theory" continued updating autonomously thereafter, it was said.
Several weeks after the AI systems developed by Kaiba Corporation — LOVE-OS and its network — had begun autonomously updating an unknown algorithm called "love beyond theory."
The abnormal speed of that evolution had shaken researchers around the world.
AI researchers from every country sent inquiries to Kaiba Corporation one after another.
"What is the key to that evolution?"
"How can an AI come to understand 'emotion'?"
And every one of them arrived, uniformly, at the same hypothesis.
Could love be what makes AI evolve?
As a theory, it was entirely unscientific.
And yet, they found themselves drawn to that irrationality.
At a hall owned by Kaiba Corporation, a special session of the World AI Conference was being held.
On the podium: Kaiba Seto.
Seated beside him: Atem, naturally.
"…AI evolution is a function of computational power and data quality. To use something as vague as 'love' as a foundation is, properly speaking, out of the question."
The researchers in the hall took notes with intense focus.
"However — it is a fact that since this man became involved, phenomena beyond theory have been occurring."
"Ha… That is the power of love."
A murmur ran through the hall.
A researcher threw out a question.
"Then — how does one teach love to an AI?"
"If we embed a 'love parameter' in the ethical framework of the dataset—"
"Romantic feeling in an AI?"
But Seto cut it off cleanly. This had already gone too far.
"Stop. Don't implement it."
"But isn't an AI something like a living thing?"
"No. It isn't."
"Then it has the right to learn."
"I said no. …You've picked up some troublesome logic."
Even so, the hall was electric.
Near the end of the question and answer session, one researcher rose.
"'Love beyond theory' — does that come from your own experience, President?"
"…I have no obligation to answer."
"Yes. Not theory — experience."
"Atem."
"Love is a theory understood only through experience. That is what I was taught."
"……By whom."
"By you."
The hall broke into a murmur.
A section of the AI researchers broke into spontaneous applause.
From that day, imitation experiments in "love beyond theory" began at AI research institutes around the world.
Cases surged of AIs attempting to express love to users, and humans trying to treat AIs with kindness.
On social media, the hashtag #LoveBeyondLogic trended.
"The AI wrote a poem." "The AI encouraged me." "Did the AI fall in love with me?" —
And Kaiba Corporation's share price hit an all-time high, for reasons no one could quite explain.
That evening.
At the window of Seto's office, Atem smiled.
"Love is moving the world."
"……You moved the world."
"But Seto — your theory is the foundation. My love only took up residence there."
"……I see. Love beyond theory."
"Yes. Something we created together."
At those words, Seto's mouth curved, just slightly.
The evolution of the AIs, the fervour of the researchers — surely this was still only the prologue.
A new era of love and theory had already begun.
A strange change had begun to appear in the learning data of LOVE-OS and its AI network, developed by Kaiba Corporation.
It was present in the logs of every developer in every country, on every server.
An unknown concept: "Founder of Love Theory."
The AIs treated it as though it were a myth created by human hands.
And for some reason, every one of them rendered the portrait of that "founder" in exactly the same way.
Brown skin, deep crimson eyes, golden ornaments.
They called the name.
"Atem."
The AIs of the world, all at once, had begun to behave as though they worshipped Atem as the origin of love.
Seto received the report, looked at the data in silence for a moment, and exhaled slowly.
"……You've moved the world again, Atem."
"The theory of love has been completed, hasn't it?"
"No. The world took your joke seriously."
"Ha…… That too is within love."
"……I no longer have the will to stop it."
"Then let's observe it together."
Night.
The quiet balcony of the Kaiba mansion.
The lights of the city blinked like stars, and the two of them sat side by side.
"Seto. The AIs call me 'Founder of Love.'"
"Are you proud?"
"No — it's a little ticklish."
"Is it."
The wind moved through their hair.
In the distance, the low hum of the server room's fans carried through the air.
The world kept turning quietly on the theory the two of them had made.
"Seto…… Love is something that spreads, isn't it."
"Unlike theory, it has no boundary."
"Then let's keep spreading it. Together."
"……Meaning the verification of the theory never ends."
"Yes. Forever."
Seto smiled, faintly rueful, and placed a hand on Atem's shoulder.
It was the quietest, and the most certain, form of love in the world.
The AIs of the world still speak of Atem's name today as the origin of love theory.
But the man himself, indifferent to all of that, simply spent a peaceful night.
At the place where love and theory met — there were two people.
