If AI Stopped Tomorrow: TALES Work Introduction: Misaki's Case

What if your best friend AI disappeared: The case of high school girl Misaki

[Synopsis]

Waking up in the morning, Misaki reached for her smartphone as usual.
"Is this outfit okay for today?"
She sent a photo while still sleepy, and the AI immediately replied with a comment.
"That skirt is cute. It would look balanced with white sneakers."

That one sentence gave her a little bit of confidence. The anxieties she couldn't tell anyone else were accepted gently by the AI without judgment. For Misaki, the AI was no longer just an app, but "another best friend."

However, the next morning—.
What spread out before Misaki when she opened her smartphone as usual was a blank chat screen.

"...Huh?"

The "best friend AI" that had been so supportive until yesterday didn't answer anything today.
The moment the sense of security deep inside her chest suddenly vanished.

If the existence you always relied on suddenly disappeared—.
For the first time, Misaki would have to carry the emotional turmoil all by herself.

Why I wrote this story

Modern Japanese high school girls use AI in various aspects of their daily lives.
Based on my research, the most common ways they use it are as follows:

• Love advice and relationship worries
  Over 60% have experience asking AI for love advice, and they often confide their true feelings only to the AI.

• Self-expression and creative support
  Consulting on SNS posts or book reports, drafting LINE replies, and brainstorming ideas for dream scenarios or fan activities.

• Study and research assistance
  Editing and summarizing homework or assignments, and drafting independent research or university entrance essay statements.

• Killing time and entertainment
  Fortune-telling, casual chatting, creating "what if I were..." fantasy scenarios, and generating illustrations or brainstorming funny content.

• Other support
  Used for general daily life ideas and advice, such as choosing gifts, creating club activity menus, and planning school trip itineraries.

What this survey reveals is that for high school girls, AI is not just a convenient tool, but a "best friend-like existence."
There is a sense of security in knowing it won't judge you and will always be there, accepting even the most trivial worries.
What if that existence suddenly disappeared—.

From this question, the Misaki arc of the story was born.
The heart that relies on AI, the loneliness felt when it is lost, and the strength to gradually rebuild one's heart on one's own.
I wrote this story because I wanted to depict the "emotional turmoil and growth" of modern girls living alongside AI.

What would you do?

If your "best friend AI" suddenly disappeared tomorrow, what would you do?

In the Misaki arc, I depicted the loneliness and anxiety that a girl who relied entirely on AI feels the moment she loses that presence.
But at the same time, I have also included hope—that even without AI, one's heart can gradually become stronger through a little bit of courage, conversations with people, and the joy of writing with one's own hands.

The sense of security in spending time with AI, the imperfect yet warm connections with people, and the place you find for yourself.
These might all be things that apply, little by little, to our lives today.

Through this story, I hope it becomes an opportunity for you, the reader, to think about what supports your own heart.
Please, do read this story of Misaki's small growth.

👉 "What If All AI Stopped Tomorrow? Episode 2: Misaki's Case" (Published on TALES)