I return home exhausted.

All that waiting alongside Ms. Anxiety, then that brain-crippling exam and finally the rides across unfamiliar bus lines - too much action for a guy who prefers a shut-in life.

While still absorbed in thoughts about the exam, I subconsciously follow a usual routine: change clothes, fetch a lunchbox from the refrigerator and sit down to munch in the living room.

“How did it go?”

Amy is watching the TV as usual, throwing me the question absentmindedly.

“I think I passed the exam.”

“So you gonna work there and stuff?”

“Nothing is confirmed yet, but I probably have a fairly good chance.”

“That’s great, maybe you’ll get an robot girlfriend there, hehe.”

She smirks as she throws me a sarcastic look.

“That sounds nice, actually.”

“Wa... are you, like, serious?”

She hangs her head in disbelief.

“Sorta. I’m not interested in relationships, but having one with a robot might be interesting.”

After all, a well-made robot should unconditionally love you even if you don’t lift a finger to win its heart. It’ll also never betray you or stop loving you, unlike what’s common with modern couples.

If the android is as well-made as that woman from the exam... that could be very fun to try out. A bit scary, but nevertheless interesting.

“Heh, you’re helpless.”

Amy shakes her head with a disappointed expression and drops the subject.

When I throw a tired glance at the TV, I confirm that Amy is watching one of her soap operas again, as expected. I think she follows about three different shows, but this one is always airing during my lunch time; it’s the only one I’m (regrettably) familiar with.

It has been a while since I last watched this crap, but most of the big secrets are STILL secrets. The so-called “plot” of this show is unbearably slow.

At the very least, watching scenes with that Roberta character is somewhat entertaining. That woman is really good at making snarky comments and whipping people with her tongue.

... wait.

Wait wait wait.

“T-that- Gah! Ugh!”

Slice of meat.

Stuck. Throat.

Can’t… gah…

“Nicky, are you, like, okay?”

“I-I’m fine… gah…”

The cursed meat finally passes through and my coughing stops.

When I turn to the TV, I draw my conclusion: this snarky Roberta character from the show is actually... the same woman from the exam!

She has longer hair in the show, making it hard to draw the connection. But her pretty face and sadistic expressions are identical.

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“Say, do you know the name of the actress playing Roberta?”

I direct the question to my sister, the one with god-level knowledge about celebrities and pop culture.

“Hm? What, you gonna search her porn videos or something?”

“Yeah, right.”

She grins widely as she looks at me with mischievous eyes.

“So do you know or not?”

“Of course I do. She’s pretty famous, you know.”

No, I don’t know. Stop acting pompous, brat.

“She’s played by Veronica Bles. She’s also singer. Like, one of my favorites. One of her albums-”

“Got it, thanks.”

She continues bragging about how awesome the actress is, but I don’t care. Instead, I grab my phone and google her name: “Veronica Bles”.

The first few websites are variations of wikipedia, I think one of them is an exclusive wiki for this soap opera; whoever made it probably enjoys wasting time.

In the short descriptions appear the words “singer” and “actress”, that’s enough for me to confirm that I’m on the right track. Instead of checking the websites, I immediately shift to the “Images” tab.

Most images show her with a rather short hair, with a haircut similar to what I witnessed in the exam. She probably had a long hair some time ago, or she’s wearing a wig when playing as Roberta.

Either way, it’s unquestionably the same woman.

“Say, do you know if she’s working with a company called Anomalia?”

“Huh? No, what’s that?”

“Hmm, never mind then.”

“Like, what’s with all the interest all of a sudden? Do you have the hots for her?”

“Nah, nothing like that.”

I bet she’d turn green with envy if she knew I met her beloved idol. But I’ll spare myself this conversation, I don’t want to be bombarded with questions.

I try extending my google search to “Veronica Bles Anomalia”. However, the results hardly change.

Are they hiding the fact they created a robot version of this famous actress? Thinking about it, they even forced me to sign these confidentiality documents...

I smell a conspiracy! What if they are trying to replace all of the world’s celebrities with unaging robotic clones?!

... yeah, right.

Maybe with Anomalia’s technology it’s not a big deal to develop an android based on a real person, I have no way of knowing; their androids aren’t currently sold on any public market.

Either way, leaking the contents of the exam to the net could create an uproar. That is, if I were a user with reputation on some social website. Since I don’t have any photos, an anonymous nobody like me would be filtered out by the internet’s “pics or it didn't happen” rule.

Not to mention the laws I’ll be breaking and the suing that’d bite my ass, all thanks to the papers I innocently signed on.

Yeah, I’m definitely not going to take such a random risk.