Instead of continuing with the predictable routine of rock-paper-scissors, I decide to shift to a different game.

“Next, let’s play... hmm, how about word chain?”

“Hm? What’s that?”

Lily tilts her head in wonder, looking at me with her blue crystal eyes.

“You don’t know this game?”

“H-huh!? I-I didn’t say that! I just wanted to make sure that papa properly knows how the game works! Hmph!”

Yet, her stiff expression shows that she doesn’t have the slightest clue. It might be better this way though, for it allows me to test whether she can learn new games.

Word chain should be a fairly simple game for an android who can convert speech into written words. After all, she successfully rewrote her name into “Lily” on the remote controller.

I briefly explain her the rules, trying to keep them as simple as possible.

“I... I got!”

She responds with an ambiguous nod. Does she REALLY get it? It’s hard to tell with this little tsundere.

“I’ll start then: ‘Apple’. Now you need to say a word that begins with ‘e’.”

"..."

She doesn't say a word. Her expression turns blank and she completely freezes, I can almost imagine an error screen popping out.

"... hey."

She doesn't respond to my call. I try to stretch a hand toward-

"Eat!"

She jumps as she loudly throws an answer, giving me a heart attack.

"G-good, seems like you understand how the game works."

She wears a happy, childish smile for a moment, but soon switches back to tsuntsun mode.

"Hmph! I told you I know how to play such an easy game!"

"Then what was that glitch just now?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

She looks at me with doubting eyes, as if I'm making things up. But she definitely glitched, for about 10 seconds.

Could this be some rare bug? Or maybe playing a newly learned game is harsh on her CPU for some reason?

"My turn: Talk."

"..."

Again.

She freezes, with the same disturbing blank expression. Is it the game's fault? Is thinking of words so difficult for her?

Even with my basic, first-degree programming knowledge I could easily write a program which skillfully plays word chain. However, that line of reasoning might not apply to artificial intelligence, they aren't exactly "normal" programs.

"Knight!"

She suddenly jumps. Did she answer a little faster this time...?

"Table."

"...... Eat!"

She answers after just 2 seconds, but...

"You already said 'Eat' before. So you lost."

"Ack..."

She averts her eyes and hangs her head with a difficult expression.

"Is the game too hard?"

"Not at all!"

She sticks out her head and clenches her little fists, fired up for another round.

"I-I just made a little mistake, you were lucky to win the first round! This game is a breeze! Hmph, I won't lose a second time!"

"Then you want to try again?"

"Again!"

"Then I'll start: Egg."

"..."

After all that talk, she ends up struggling with it again.

"Gift!"

She answers after roughly six seconds. It's a long pause, but it's still a little faster than last round’s beginning.

"Treat."

"................................. Tooth!"

"Hat."

"........................... Tennis!"

"Soccer."

"................... Ring!"

"Gag."

"......... Gel!"

She still freezes every time she answers, but her freezing now only lasts for about 2 or 3 seconds.

As we continue to play, her answers are delivered faster and faster, with almost no freezes in-between; there's no doubt that she improves the more she plays.

"Umm... soccer."

I throw a word which was previously used to let her win, as a reward for her great improvement.

"... Rain!"

Lily innocently continues to play as if nothing happened.

I decide to cheat some more by recycling words. In addition, I go as far as using words which don't even begin with the right letter.

She ignores all of it. She naively continues to play, without suspecting that her dear papa is one heck of a cheating scum.

Ultimately, she ends up screwing herself over.

"... Egg!"

"We already used that word this round."

"Grrrrr."

After such a long session, her defeat makes her more agitated than losing 10 matches of rock-paper-scissors in a row.

"Again!!!"

She shouts and daggers me with determined eyes, which are either pleading or threatening... or both?

"Fine, fine."

Will she be able to expose her cheater papa if she plays enough? Or is she made naive and trusting on purpose?

There's only one way to find out: play some more! Best job ever, 10/10.