Eizan was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea she had made for him with a complicated look on his face. Mio was sweeping up the debris from his laptop in front of him. He took a sip of his tea and then spoke. “You know what you just destroyed, right?”

Mio turned and looked at him. “Yup.” She continued to sweep up the pieces. “Something dangerous.”

Eizan sighed. “You know it will still take me over a month of work to get back to where I was.”

Mio looked at him with a small smile on her face. “I’m glad it won’t be that hard for you to recreate it if you want too.”

Eizan’s face stiffened. “Do you think I should stop?”

Mio shook her head. “I know you would still keep at it even if I told you to stop.”

He stared at her for a few seconds. “Should I stop.”

Mio tilted her head to the side and silently stared at him for almost half a minute. “No.”

Eizan looked confused. “Why?”

Mio put down the broom and dustpan. She walked over to the table and sat down. “Frankly, it is dangerous. But it’s also something someone else could invent with time.”

Eizan smiled. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Do you think you’re the only one on the planet working on predictive models?”

Eizan shook his head. “Nope. But I would say I’m decades ahead of the others. I think the only hope is for an artificial intelligence to create it.”

“How long will that take?”

Eizan seemed lost in thought for almost two minutes. She could see he was really concentrating on his answer. “Probably at least 100 years.” She had a complicated look on her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You just used it didn’t you?”

Eizan’s face stiffened. “Yeah.”

Mio sighed. “That’s why it is also pointless for you to stop. You couldn’t stop even if you wanted to. You’ve ingrained it into your personality.”

Eizan stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face. “I did what?”

“You’ve ingrained it into your personality. I’ve seen the way you use it in your daily life. I’ve always wondered how you just seemed to know what was about to happen. I just thought it was because you were highly intelligent. But now I know it’s partially because of your research.”

Eizan scratched his cheek. “I did have another reason for making it.”

“What’s that?”

Eizan had a wry smile on his face. “I struggled with human interaction my whole life. I figured if I could predict what people were about to do, It would be easier to know how to respond.”

Mio started to laugh. “Are you sure you’re not an AI.”

Eizan laughed. “I’m human I can assure you of that.” Mio seemed really happy as she stood up from the table and resumed cleaning up. She was humming as she cleaned. “Why are you so happy?”

Mio turned and showed him a big smile. “I finally know your secret. Plus, only your grandfather and I know about it.” Eizan’s froze. Mio’s smiled faded and she furrowed her brows. “Only two people know about it right?” Eizan looked down and sipped is tea. It was quite obvious he wanted to avoid this question. “Did you lie to your grandfather?”

Eizan put the tea cup down. “Minami might know about it.”

Mio’s eyes widened. “WHY?”

Eizan scratched the top of his head awkwardly. “When I first created it, I might have bragged about creating something that could predict the weather. I also might have bragged that it could do much more than that in the future. She used to watch me while I messed around with it in my mom’s study. I was only ten years old at the time. I stopped showing her as soon as I figured out the repercussions of my work.”

Mio had a complicated look on her face. “Were you in love with her?”

Eizan frowned. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you predicting how I want you to answer?”

“Yes. But it’s still the truth.” Eizan sighed. “Mio, I won’t use it to manipulate you anymore.”

Mio tilted her head. “That implies you have manipulated me.”

Eizan nodded. “I have.”

“When?”

“I manipulated you into witnessing the altercation I had with Murata in the empty lot.”

Mio flinched when she heard Towa’s name.

Eizan frowned when he saw her reaction. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned his name.”

“N-no it’s fine. I’m still…”

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“I get it, no reason to explain.”

Mio looked down at the floor. “Thanks.” She finished cleaning up the mess she had made and sat down at the table with a cup of tea. “I’m a little confused about something. How can you use math to figure out what people are going to do?”

Eizan stared at her for a few seconds. “Well, you just assign a number to different character traits. Basically, you can assign a number for things like aggressiveness, intelligence, likability, age, upbringing, physical fitness, gender, and any other traits you can think of. I have never figured out how I could write a program to do it. I just compare it to likely actions and assign it a number based on likelihood. Let’s say if you could write a program to do such a thing. You could use things like a person’s cellphone data, credit history, family history, and other personality traits to predict crimes, likelihood to buy products, or any number of things they would do.”

“Doesn’t that leave out human choice?”

Eizan laughed. “It’s not perfect. But do you really think you are in control over most of your decisions?”

Mio stared at him with a confused look on her face. “I would like to think I am in control of my actions.”

Eizan smiled at her mischievously. “Really, did you know you can’t bite down. You can only bite up. Your jaw only moves upwards.” He watched as she started to move her jaw up and down. Eizan started to giggle.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I knew you would clench your jaw to test it out. Do you still think your in control of your actions.”

Mio furrowed her brows. “That was a dirty trick.”

Eizan shook his head. “No, I did the same thing the first time I heard someone say it. People don’t realize that they are not in control over most of their own reactions. Say you burn your hand on something hot. You wince and pull away. Did you think I’m going to pull my hand away from that hot object? No, you just did it without putting any thought into it. People make decisions without thinking all the time. I would actually say most actions require little to no thought. They are ingrained in us through our biology and upbringing. Chess grandmasters playing against each other will flare their nostrils in the same way gorillas do when facing a strong opponent.”

“So, you’re saying we don’t have control of our own actions?”

Eizan shook his head. “No, we have control, we just don’t normally exercise that control. Most people live their lives without putting much thought into their actions. I’m not saying that every action is predictable. Honestly, it’s probably only predictable sixty percent of the time. But you can also assign likelihoods to different actions and then prepare for all possible outcomes. Meaning if the prediction is wrong you can still be prepared for any other action that someone would take. Casinos, grocery stores, social media, propaganda, advertisements, and cellphones all take advantage of these principals. Their whole goal is to manipulate people into a desired action.”

“Isn’t that wrong?”

“Maybe, depends on the purpose. Yes, casinos manipulating people into spending all their money is probably wrong. But, let’s say that Japan used propaganda to help increase the declining birthrate. Is that wrong?”

Mio thought for a few seconds. “You’re saying it’s all about what you do with it?”

“Exactly.”

“Ok, I get casinos, but grocery stores.”

“Have you never noticed how products are placed in the stores. Items of necessity are placed near the back of the stores. This makes you walk past all the other items increasing your likelihood of picking up other items on your way. That’s why eggs are never at the front of the store. They put candy near the registers knowing that kids will beg their parents for it. That’s also why it’s placed lower to the ground. It’s at eye level for small children.”

Mio continued to ask him questions for a little while until they heard a ring at the door bell. Eizan walked over the intercom and stared at the screen. He thought to himself. “This is going to be a headache.” He pressed the intercom button. “Come on up.” He went back to the table and sat down.

“Who is it?”

“You’re mother.”

“My mother. Why is she here?”

Eizan gave her a dumbfounded look. “You really don’t know why? Think about it, I bet you can predict why she’s here.”

Mio stood up and walked towards the elevator to wait for her mother. A few seconds later Kagami burst through the elevator doors and gave Mio a big hug. “My baby. Are you ok?”

Mio patted her on the back. “I’m fine Eizan saved me before anything could happen.”

Kagami released her grip on her daughter and started to glare at Eizan. “How could you let her be kidnapped.” Eizan looked down at the table. He knew no answer would be acceptable to an upset mother.

Mio shook her head. “Mom, it’s not his fault. We were walking home from the aquarium and were suddenly jumped by a large group of people.”

Kagami was still glaring at him. “Were you not standing right next to her. I would think you could have protected her from those delinquents. I’ve heard you’re quite the delinquent yourself when you want to be.”

Mio got an angry look on her face. “Mother stop.” Mio reprimanded. “I was walking with Ren a few steps ahead of him when I was grabbed. There was no way he could have stopped them.”

Kagami was still glaring at him. “I thought you said no more dangerous situations.” Eizan still hadn’t looked up from the table. Actually, he was slightly blaming himself for earlier. He thought there were many thing he could have done better.

Mio yelled at her mother. “Mom, I said stop. How is going to the aquarium dangerous? If anything, you should be thanking him.”

Eizan finally looked up from the table. He stood up and walked over to the two girls. He bowed deeply towards Kagami. “I’m sorry for my negligence. I should have found a way to protect her better. I am truly sorry.”

Kagami’s anger subsided once he apologized. “I will forgive you this time.”

“Thank you.”

Mio stomped on the ground. “This is not acceptable. He shouldn’t be apologizing.”

Kagami glared at her daughter. “It’s a man’s job to protect the women around him. He seems like he understands this. Why don’t you?”

Mio shook her head. “I don’t believe in such outdated ideas.”

Kagami sighed and reached her hand up to stroke her cheek. “My cute innocent daughter. Do you think the world gives a damn about your ideals.” Mio’s eyes widened. “Do you really think I care about my sixteen-year-old child’s idea of how the world should work. You’re still a child in my eyes. Men are inherently stronger than women. It’s just a fact.”

Mio frowned. “It’s still not right to yell at him for this.”

Kagami turned her gaze to Eizan. “Last time we talked about this you promised me to keep her out of trouble. I told you that I would force her to move back home if you put her in any more dangerous situations.”

Eizan flinched. “I will agree to any decision you make. Again, I apologize for my negligence. I assure you that I have already taken measures to make sure she is adequately protected.” He knew there was no fighting with her at the moment. She could end this whole cohabitation agreement in an instant. He knew he had to tread carefully.

“Could you have not put these measure in place before today.”

Eizan sighed. “I honestly did not think a situation like this would happen. I was not prepared.”

Kagami smiled at the handsome young man in front of her. She knew that none of this was his fault. But that didn’t matter. She wanted her daughter protected and she knew he had the means to do it. “I will take your word for it for now.”

“Thank you.” Eizan stood up straight. He gave her a wry smile.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s a mother’s job to worry about her children.”

“I understand completely.”

Mio had a confused look on her face. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Eizan, explain it to me.”

He reached up and patted her on the head. “Later.” She frowned but still nodded her head.