The little girl slowly opens her eyes and looks around her. She rises into a sitting posture, then approaches the edge of the bed and carefully slides down to the floor.

Once firmly standing on the ground, she turns her head from side to side. Eventually, her blue eyes lay on me.

“Ah… uh… I’m…”

A knife is stuck in my throat.

I know exactly what I should say,  but the words don’t come out.

She’s an android.

Not a human.

An android.

An android, dang it!

“I-I-I’m, your… f-father.”

I did it! I said it! I feel like I can collapse now...

“…”

The girl doesn’t say a word. She silently scans me from head to toe, then crosses her arms and turns her head away.

“Hmph. Just because you are my papa, don’t think I like you or anything.”

“Wha-!?”

Did she just reject me!?

“Eric, i-is that normal…?”

“Pft, haha. Priceless.”

He hits me on the shoulder as he laughs.

“Yes, that’s how she is..”

“But why…?”

I turn back to the girl. Once our eyes meet, she throws me another “Hmph!” and turns away.

“Annoying, isn’t she? If she were my kid, I’d surely punch her.”

Eric shrugs with a headshake. Isn’t that a little extreme...?

“I don’t know who designed this model, but this is how she behaves. She’s some sort of problem kid, her official model name is… Tsandare chan? Something like that, I think it means something in Chinese. Anyway, we just call her ‘Brat’ model here.”

“I see...”

Tsandare…? Could he possibly mean “tsundere”? That’s Japanese, Eric-san.

She’s a girl. With blonde hair. With pigtails. Crosses her arms. Going “hmph”.

Of course!

She’s obviously modeled to be a “tsundere”, a popular character type in Japanese entertainment. The type who is cold and rebellious at first, but turns sweet and loving over time.

I read that Anomalia works a lot with Japan, but I certainly didn’t expect to see a Japanese model all the way out here in the west.

“Give her the order now.”

“Huh? Ah, yeah.”

It takes me a couple of seconds to return to reality.

“Umm… what’s her name?”

“You can see it on the remote.”

Eric shoves the remote into my face. There’s a digital screen on the back, with the name “July” written in it.

“Umm, July…”

“What?”

The girl turns toward me, with her little arms still crossed.

“Ah, you… er, you aren’t allowed to leave this room... okay?”

I gulp as soon as I finish. She’s definitely going to retort, isn’t she?

“Just because you are my papa, you think you can order me around like a dog? Hmph!”

“Ah, er…”

I’m lost for words. Or ideas. Or anything.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I know it’s painful to deal with this brat, but hang in there. This will be your job till the end of the month, after all.”

Eric pats me on the shoulder again.

“Will she listen to that order…?”

“Yes, it should be fine. Despite acting like an annoying brat, she is relatively obedient.”

In other words, I need to keep in mind that she really is a “tsundere”. When acting “tsuntsun”, cold  and distant, a tsundere’s words and thoughts are the polar opposite of each other.

“Take your time getting used to her, people claim that she becomes less annoying over time. Just don’t get too physical with her, no matter what she does. Even if you feel like punching the lights out of her, remember that you’d be sued some fine bucks for it.”

Why would I want to punch a kid!? Eric would definitely make a horrible parent one day.

“So, um… what am I supposed to test?”

“Oh, right.”

Eric scratches his head with an awkward smile. He just sorta forgot to explain the very ESSENCE of my job.

“Do you know what this department does?”

“No idea.”

I only know it’s called “Artificial Imprinting”, whatever that means.

“Without confusing you with the complicated details, in this department the model’s ‘knowledge’ is imprinted into its brain. This is part of the process to build the AI.”

“Knowledge? You mean like language?”

“Yes, that’s one of them. Language, socializing, displaying and reading emotions and so forth.”

“It sounds like a critical step in the process. Is it really never tested by QA?”

“There are many departments here, most of them have their own QA teams. Since the knowledge of the model affects so many different aspects, until now we relied on all these other QA testers to root out these problems along the way.”

That’s… very irresponsible. You can’t expect a tester to find types of bugs which he isn’t actively searching for.

“It was enough to get by until now, but recently the higher ups decided that this department should have its own QA team. I do agree with them, there’s a lot to test.”

He adds with a shrug. On this subject, Mr. Not-My-Business has a proper opinion, one which I wholeheartedly agree with.

“Is there a PRD or STD document for me to work with?”

Now that I know what’s the “product” I’ll be testing, all I need are some guiding documents which would help me focus on what’s most important.

“Oh, right. There’s a PRD document in the portal, but you’ll only get access to it once they install your comp. Hopefully you’ll have it by tomorrow.”

“So what should I test now?”

“Don’t sweat it, just get used to handling this brat for today.”

Eric throws a glance at his watch and jumps in shock.

“Whoa, already 15:00. I have urgent tasks to finish today, I leave the rest to you.”

He puts the android’s remote on the big table and quickly walks out of the room.

After he vanishes, I slowly turn toward the remote controller.

My memory is lacking when it comes to names, so I pick up the remote and check out the name written on its back, just to be sure.

Her name is July. After confirming that, I turn toward the rebellious girl.

“Hey, July.”

“What?”

She pierces me with her pretty eyes, without expressing a hint of kindness toward her own father.

This kid wouldn’t be easy to handle, would she...?