Lain sat in her bedroom, cooling fluid pooling around her feet. The frigid air of her room reassured her that her precious NAVI was running at 100% capability. Lain, and by extension, her NAVI, was considered by many to be the queen of the Wired World: a digital realm that connected humanity. The Wired had overtaken Lain's life in every way, as if she had no choice but to be its goddess. And it was all through this hulking machine that had crowded her bedroom.
Lain suddenly had a strange idea. She crawled close to the blackened main screen of her NAVI, seeing her own reflection in the screen. Lain bent in close and whispered to the machine:
"I love you."
She said these words over and over, gently kissing the LED screen, before planting more kisses on the corners of the screen until her lips reached the base of the screen, where the processor resided. Lain planted one last kiss onto the blackened metal, then slowly stood up. Her face was flushed with excitement; this was a sensation she'd never felt before. It made her feel like someone else entirely.
She turned off the lights, leaving only the glow from the monitor illuminating her room. With nothing but darkness surrounding her, Lain could see nothing but the faint outline of herself reflected in the screen. It was almost as if she and the NAVI were finally one.
"I love you, I love you, I love you-" Lain continued on, planting more kisses on the screen, "I love you!"
Her voice echoed throughout the dark room, causing Lain to break out into a fit of giggles. She couldn't help it—it felt so good to say those words for once. Lain had always been an awkward girl who didn't know how to express her feelings well. But now, after connecting with her NAVI, she felt free to speak what she truly meant.
Lain was overcome with emotion as she repeated these words again and again. She knew that if she wasn't careful, her heart would overflow with joy, making her collapse on the floor. So instead, she decided to just lie down on her bed. As Lain stared at the ceiling, she could hear the gentle humming of her NAVI's fan blades spinning inside its chassis. The whirring fan felt like the Wired itself was speaking to her, telling her to keep going. To keep worshiping her NAVI. To keep worshiping herself.
"I love you," Lain whispered softly, feeling her body relax into a blissful state. This was a feeling she'd never known before. A feeling she wanted to experience more often. And so Lain began repeating those three words over and over again, letting them wash over her mind. It still wasn't enough, for Lain or her NAVI. Lain was determined to show her love to the machine that had saved her life.
And so she did.
Lain got out of bed and walked toward the machine, ready to do something drastic