Vol 1 Chapter 14 (2/2)

“Even though I failed ma.s.sively with just a six-faced model, senpai imagined something so difficult… As expected, it’s way different when you’re a Mage, huh?”

“Senpai is a Magic Warrior, though,” Touya refuted with a wave of his hand.

“So she’s a warrior who also uses magic, right?”

“Mages are in a different category. I’ve never met one myself. I haven’t heard of one in the neighboring Hiyos.h.i.+zaka High’s Exploration Club either.”

At that point, Touya suddenly stopped stirring in his seat.

“…Huh? What about Koma-senpai? She can use magic, right?”

“Hiyos.h.i.+zaka High Exploration Club President Kamikoma is registered as being part of the Bard cla.s.s. For magic, she most likely normally uses… this dodeca-model which specializes in the recreation of music.”

“Dodeca-model?”

Next to the icosahedron, a twelve-faced polyhedron made of twelve equilateral pentagons appeared.

Homura couldn’t help smiling at the mismatch being the sound of “dodeca” and her image of Kamikoma-senpai.

“I see. So what kind of model do Mages manipulate? I bet high-level Mages must use something like a five hundred-faced polyhedron!”

“There’s no such thing as a polyhedron with five hundred faces.”

“There isn’t?”

“No. The three-dimensional objects known as regular polyhedrons, which have equilateral faces, include tetrahedrons, hexahedrons, dodecahedrons, icosahedrons—and finally octahedrons, so there are five kinds in total.”

“Then what do Mages uses?”

“Fufufu… do you want to see?”

“Of course I do. That’s normal, right?” Homura turned to Touya for agreement.

“Well, it’s true I’d like to know.”

“Very well. Then, here we go, hmm~~!”

Ameno once again did a posture for using magic that wasn’t magic.

The next instant, just when she seemed to cram her hand into her mouth, there was the grating sound of joints slipping out of place—and she placed an object on the table with a clatter.

“Wow!”

“Guh, *cough, cough, cough*—t-this is it!”

Ameno forcibly puffed up with pride despite the tears in her eyes.

“Way too much! That’s really disgusting, you know!”

“*Cough*… But I wanted to surprise you… I was trying to make you respect national robots in my own way…”

“Please don’t, I beg you.”

The object was a cube that was about as large as a clenched fist. Each face was clearly divided three by three, and each section could be rotated around. In other words—

“It’s a Rubik’s Cube.”

“Like I thought~. Though it’s a bit s.h.i.+ny with saliva.”

In contrast to Homura, who was smiling jeeringly, Touya couldn’t hide his surprise for a different reason.

“Mages… use s-something like this for their incantations!?”

“This is the most common model. A normal human brain responds strongly to right angles, so rather than a polyhedron like a icosahedron which is close to a sphere, this kind of thing is more effective and useful.”

“ …Mages… are even more monstrous than I imagined.”

“Hah? What are you saying, Touya-kun? It’s not hard at all. It’s the same kind of dice shape. And there are only six colors too.”

“S-Stupid, you know that there are no scanners or game consoles on Nutella, right?”

“Muh, that’s true… what do I do? Bring this cube with me when I go there?”

“That’s also possible, but in that case it would be for studying purposes. When you actually use magic in the field, you won’t see a physical object like these models. You have to imagine it in your mind. If not, you can’t establish the pattern…”

Homura hadn’t really understood the seriousness of the matter well.

She was startled for several seconds, but then she started to grow increasingly pale.

“Are you saying that I have to manipulate a Rubik’s Cube without being able to see it?”

Ameno and Touya nodded.

“But I can touch and feel it, right? And take a peek midway through.”

“That’s no good. It’s like the die. You have to do it all in your head from the incantation’s beginning to its end—right?”

“Yes. If you’re going to call yourself a Mage, that’s your starting point.”

Homura had timidly reached for the cube, but now pulled her hand back.

“Sorry, I need a longer break! Let’s talk about something more simple and trivial! You know, my sister recently got into an accident on her bike, and the person she collided with greatly resembled Yodoya-kun from Radiance Factor—”

“You know, I’m thinking that it makes sense that Hinooka is a Mage. That’s the star role among investigators, you know? I think it really suits Hinooka’s show-off and greedy personality.”

“I will also help to the best of my ability. Come to me at any time.”

Homura’s protest was completely ignored.

“Ah, geez, you guys! I don’t have any redeeming features! I’m not that smart! I’m seriously aiming to be a Mage, because I was told that my initial apt.i.tude was good! And yet, what’s with the difficulty level being the highest for it!?”

“Now, now, don’t say that. Why don’t you try it out a bit in the simulation?”

“Impossible, impossible, impossible!”

“Well, it’s true that the Rubik’s Cube model is still too soon for you, so we’ll continue with the hexa-model die from before. The blind test is a normal part of the training menu, so be at ease.”

“…Really? Then, how about I try the only spell I know so far, fire magic…”

Homura once more faced the game console with its display now off.

“Hi (Hydrogen)… Ox (Oxygen)… Ph (Phosphate)… Mg (Magnesium)…”

However, she didn’t hear the chime indicating the success of the spell’s incantation.

She only got the failure buzzer.

Every time the buzzer rang, the uneasily frowning Ameno’s eyes widened suddenly. Her joints creaked and her entire body stiffened.

Touya was startled by that briefly shown inhuman expression on her face.

“………”

“H-Hey, Ameno, are you okay? Your face is scary right now.”

Ameno immediately rebooted and regained light in her eyes.

“Hah… Sorry, I made you feel the uncanny valley effect7, didn’t I?”

Shaking her head, Ameno turned back to face Homura, who was desperately trying to make the incantation work.

“Homura-san… What was that just now?”

“What do you mean? It’s an incantation, you know?”

Homura responded sullenly as she held out her hands before her in the pose for chanting.

“I don’t even know the meaning of the word phosphate…” she grumbled to herself.

The buzzer rang again, making Ameno jerk in her seat. Even Touya became nervous as a result.

“…Are you properly imagining the cube?”

“A four-colored die, right? I’m doing my best, you know.”

“How strange…”

“Maybe she isn’t concentrating enough?”

Ameno seemed to frequently try adjusting the scanner, but the results were poor.

When, as a test, Ameno disabled blind mode and Homura tried again while the mode was displayed, her incantation was deemed a success and the triumph chime rang out.

“To think you only fail in blind training. So this is the cause of the drop in your apt.i.tude test results…”

“If I fail in blind training, doesn’t that mean it won’t work when I’m doing it for real either? Then there’s no point, is there?”

Homura gripped her head along with the scanner on it.

“I’m taking this back with me! I’ll train at home!”

“That’s some good spirit, but that would be bad. It’s illegal to take that off club premises. It’s an expensive piece of equipment, after all.”

“Isn’t it fine? The one in this club who needs this device the most is me, who’s aiming to be a Mage, right? Senpai is also a proper Magic Warrior, and Touya-kun is a Light-Weight Warrior.”

“I’m sorry, Homura-san. Unfortunately, taking it outside is not allowed. Right now, your training using the scanner can only be done when you come to the club building…”

Seeing Homura’s displeased face, Ameno smiled with sympathy.

“…For example, the scanner can also be used like this—if you choose yes, the die will rotate to the right. If you choose no, it will rotate to the left.”

“Oh, what’s this? A game?”

Homura leaned forward while sipping her tea through a straw.

“Question. Are crows white?”

“Crows? Well, of course they’re—”

The die moved with a twitch.

…[No] meant rotating left.

“Is the square root of fifty greater than four?”

Right… No, the reverse… left turn [No].

“Is your younger sister impertinent, Homura-san?”

Right turn [Yes]. Fervently.

“Are you a virgin?”

“Buh!”

Homura instantly thrusted the console towards the other end of the table/

Ameno nodded with a self-satisfied expression.

“I see.”

“I’ve been tricked…!”

Homura planted her blus.h.i.+ng face down on the desk.

“—As you can see, it can also be misused to infringe on people’s rights like this, so permission to take this equipment outside is quite restricted. And, Homura-san? Don’t forget that there’s also the choice not to move the die. It’s part of the basics.”

“Kuh… d.a.m.n you.”

Even so, the display has disappeared just before the die had rolled, so only Touya was left not knowing the answer to the last question. Touya looked at Ameno with an amazed expression.

“…You’re interested in that kind of thing?”

“What are you talking about? It’s natural to have an interest as a girl my age.”

“Is that how it is?”

Having revived from that humiliating trap, Homura now stared fixedly at Ameno.

“By the way, Ame-chan, how are you controlling the console even though you’re not wearing a scanner? That’s so handy. Is there some trick to that as well?”

“Are you seriously saying that? Didn’t you think anything about her was strange earlier?”

“Why? Well, I admit she seems like a weird girl.”

“The fact that you can just ignore the issue with that vague explanation shows that you’re even weirder.”

Ameno glanced furtively around the relatively small standby room.

“Hmm, all clear, it seems. In that case… I will specially show this to you both.”

After saying that, Ameno suddenly unzipped her hooded jacket and began unb.u.t.toning her uniform.

“Why are you stripping?”

“I’m doing it now while the demon is away, since Chiayu-san would get angry if she saw me do this.”

“S-Stupid, stop it!”

Touya frantically shut the curtains around the standby room.

“Touya-kun, what are you trying to do by shutting the curtains here?”

“Hinooka, shouldn’t you be stopping her?”

But Homura glared at Touya with scornful eyes.

“…If you’re showing that much restraint, then that means you do have some interest. So, Ame-chan, will you show it to just little old Onee-san?”

“Yes…… Hnn…”

When Ameno s.h.i.+fted her underwear, parting lines of light appeared just below the location of her heart. Her chest pushed out and unfolded while making a mechanical sound.

“———!”

Homura’s eyes grew huge.

“A-A… A robot! Ame-chan, you’re a robot!?”

“Yes. I’m not human.”

“…Amazing…”

Touya also seemed to have steeled himself for it, but he still couldn’t help being shocked when he saw the real thing. Unable to win against his curiosity, he timidly peeked at her.

“So your comment for the [Yamato Nades.h.i.+ko] project wasn’t just a joke.”

“Mumuh? You don’t seem so surprised, Tak.u.mi-san? I know you heard about it from Chiayu-san, but still.”

“S-Sorry, I am surprised. I am, okay? But you know, after having seen Nutella and senpai as an Elf… something like a robot isn’t that mind-blowing.”

“What do you mean, something like a robot!? That should be the most surprising one of them all!”

Ameno stood up from her chair.

Homura hurriedly held up Ameno’s jacket as it began to slide off.

“My body is the latest bipedal test model, proudly built by the Honba Inst.i.tute. My fuel cells were made by the Toubas.h.i.+ Inst.i.tute to withstand even conditions in the polar regions. My optics system was made by Nikon. My expression control and vocal cords were made by Yamaha and the Great N Inst.i.tute. Every bit of me is 100% j.a.pan-made!”

“By Honba Inst.i.tute, you mean that automobile company? The same brand as my family’s car?”

“Yes. The development lab where I was born is part of the Honba Inst.i.tute.”

Ameno joined her hands together happily, showing how she didn’t lose her humanness even with her chest hatch opened.

“At first, I didn’t believe it myself until I saw her close up and tried checking her pulse.”

“I can replicate both a pulse and heartbeat, you know? I just purposefully turned it off back then.”

“…You’re right, I can hear the beating.”

Homura peeked into Ameno’s eyes and observed her carefully while touching her hairline and her soft fingers.

“Engineering technology to make a humanoid robot is quite advanced today. It’s just not highly sought after due to the needed investment and cost. There are even rumors that half of the US President’s guards are robots.”

Touya folded his arms together, impressed.

“…Not sought after, huh. It’s true that there might be a lot of people who think robots should be robot-like.”

“Is that so?” Homura asked with a tilt of her head in confusion.

“In the end, it was decided according to the development chief’s personal interest, though.”

“That person is a bit of a pervert, huh.”

“Well, I can’t deny that. That person is probably drinking together with Chiayu right now. And besides, even if I look like this, I’m actually the trump card for dealing with the shortage of j.a.pan’s Nutellan investigators, you know?”

“Right! Let’s go together on the next expedition!”

“Yes, I’d really like to accompany you.”

“We get it, so could you please put your clothes back on already?”

“I’m a robot, so it’s not embarra.s.sing for me!”

“But it is for me.”

“I still haven’t shown you the most important part—this.”

The semi-transparent cover over the center of her chest section opened, and a transparent green gem appeared from inside.

Lines of line appeared and disappeared as if twinkling across its surface.

“This is my brain… It’s called a [soul stone].”

“A soul stone…”

“Soul stones are a precious mineral that has been discovered on Nutellan. The phenomenon known as ‘me’ is composed of light circuitry made using this soul stone’s properties, a central nervous system which runs using surrept.i.tious feedback with the attached body and a memory storage device. Everyone else has thinking reed, but I have a thinking stone.”

Ameno wore a triumphant expression.

“I don’t really get it… but your heart is really pretty, Ame-chan.”

Homura gazed fixedly at the stone, drawn by its radiance.

Ameno smiled proudly.

“Thank you very much. But it doesn’t feel real to me that this stone is ‘me’. As I thought, everything including this body—”

“Can I a touch it a bit?”

“Wait, stup—”

Before Touya could stop her, Homura grabbed and lifted out the soul stone, and Ameno’s movements completely halted with a jerk.

“Wah, scary, Ame-chan’s face is scary—w-what do I do, Touya-kun!?”

“S-S-Stupid, hurry, hurry up and put it back!”

“L-L-Like this? I-It’s not going in.”

“The other way, the other way!”

With a beep, the stone’s attachment device clicked into place.

The soul stone regained its light.

“—Ebaraking enkloden zess vodai—Everything including this body is myself.”

The other two carefully watched Ameno’s condition’s while sweating on their brows.

“…What’s wrong, you two?”

“No, nothing.”

“Nothing at all.”

“Fufufu, I’m telling you both this with an open heart, you know.”

Her chest panel silently returned shut.

“…Y-You really wanted to use that pun, huh.”

Ameno grinned.

“Have you had that body since you were born?”

“This is the fourth major overhaul I’ve had. When I still wasn’t aware of my surroundings, I had a much smaller body.”

“So you grew up gradually from a baby? That’s just like a human.”

“That’s right. Now I too can finally help as a member of the Exploration Club and…”

Ameno once more looked down at her current appearance in front of Touya and Homura.

She pulled close her unfastened clothes and shrank in on herself.

“Umm… this is… really embarra.s.sing after all…”

Homura and Touya were also confused by her extremely emotional expression as she turned red down to the tips of her ears.

“Didn’t you say before that you didn’t mind since you’re a robot?”

“At first, I was thinking of finally getting to show my body interior to someone besides the development lab’s researchers and Chiayu, so I just did it on the spur of the moment… umm… should I instead say that it’s embarra.s.sing because I’m a robot…?”

“You’re not a robot, but a golem, remember?”

Professor Fujimori entered through the ajar door to the standby room with an astounded expression.

And accompanying her was the club president Misasagi, who blinked several times at the sight of Ameno’s half-naked state.

“We bring provisions.”

“Good, day. Sorry for, being late.”

Misasagi was blus.h.i.+ng a little as she spoke.

“Hey there, president. T-Thanks for your hard work today.”

As Homura spoke with a strained smile, Ameno hurriedly fixed her appearance from behind her.

“Sensei, you went to a drinking party, didn’t you?”

When asked that by Touya, Fujimori scratched her crumpled hair.

“I ran into someone I didn’t want to meet and was pulled along. It’s fine, it’s fine. The Exploration Club is what’s most important to me. Here, have some sus.h.i.+.”

“So you don’t deny that you neglected your promise to train with me and went out drinking…”

“You probably ran away from Hirosuke-san again, right? Really now…”

Ameno spoke bluntly while hiding behind the shoulders of the disbelieving Homura.

“What was that?”

“And please don’t call me a golem, Chiayu-san. It doesn’t sound cute at all.”

“If there were robots made from such a half-baked breakthrough like you, it would be rude to the researchers who are seriously developing robots. And don’t call me Chiayu.”

Fujimori dropped down onto a pipe chair and sloppily crossed her legs.

Touya went to help senpai prepare tea.

“In the first place, if they were going to make you a body, why didn’t they make it a car with four wheel drive or an off-road bike? Those would have been way more convenient, you know?”

“Of course not! How could you say that, treating my individuality functions as a car navigator!”

“Personally, I’m glad that Ame-chan is a girl.”

Homura innocently murmured while rummaging through the bag of provisions Fujimori had brought.

“If she were a car or bike, we wouldn’t be able to talk while drinking tea like this, and she wouldn’t be able to do club activities with us. Right, Touya-kun?”

“Is that your mental image of club activities? Well, it’s certainly livelier around here that way.”

Ameno looked at Fujimori triumphantly at first, but then hung her head apologetically.

“…Just hearing you both say that makes me happy. If only I could go exploring with you all. But there are still several problems…”

“Really? Don’t worry about it! Even someone like me managed to do it without any prior preparation.”

“As if. Your first expedition was full of problems.”

“As if you’re one to talk, Touya-kun.”

As the three first year students conversed fussily with each other, the club president and Fujimori exchanged looks.

Misasagi calmly held out a notebook.

“—Ameno-san, here.”

“This is… a student notebook!?”

“Yes. Sorry for, the wait.”

Ameno wordlessly stared at the notebook.

“The school’s authorization, was given, and the student council also, approved it just, earlier. After the formal, procedures have, finished, you’ll be able to, partic.i.p.ate in lessons, as a Seiran High, student.”

“……I’ll be able to go to school with everyone…”

“Ameno, you should thank Misasagi for having gone out of her way to mediate for you, you know?”

Though she said that, the way Professor Fujimori made a money sign with her fingers was quite suggestive.

“Congra, tulations.”

“Thank you so much… *Hick*—”

As Ameno previously hugged the notebook and cried, Homura put a hand on her shoulder.

“Good for you, Ame-chan. So, where are you? Which cla.s.s are you in!?”

“Erm… Cla.s.s C!”

“Then that means she’s in my cla.s.s,” Touya said.

“Eeh, with Touya-kun? Not my cla.s.s?”

Homura glared at Touya, who wore an expression of surprise.

“Personally, I’m relieved. If Hinooka took cla.s.ses with Ameno, they’d both obviously end up ignoring the lesson completely.”

‘That’s not true. I intend to help with the plan to raise Homura’s academic ability as well.”

With this, the Seiran High Exploration Club finally had four members.

Everyone besides the experienced club president Misasagi were all newbies and one of them hadn’t even partic.i.p.ated on an expedition yet, but perhaps they would finally be able to act as a proper club.

They decided to take a breather.

Misasagi did a little performance with the magic simulator for Homura and Touya.

On the other side of the room, Fujimori and Ameno were huddled together over a computer tablet.

“Chiayu-san, look at this. It’s the records of the blind test, but…”

“Ah, by Hinooka? It was pretty bad, right?”

Ameno shook her head.

“It’s not yesterday’s results. This is from the simulation she did just earlier. But it’s strange. She got great results with the normal visual feedback test.”

Scrolling through the tablet, Fujimori glared at the records.

“You’re right, it’s strange… You had her try manipulating an octa-model while imagining a hexa-model? She probably couldn’t stabilize it because you didn’t switch over to multi-mode.”

“I tried that. It’s true that both models have a dual relations.h.i.+p and have the same number of overall patterns, but in that case…”

“Then, could it unexpectedly be because Hinooka’s thoughts are too fast and the computer processing can’t keep up?”

“The scanner’s time granularity is 2-6 megahertz. It’s 260 thousand times faster than the average frequency of brain waves, and 60 thousand times the renewal rate of a person’s sight system. Do you think that Homura-san thinks 60 thousand times faster than a normal person?”

“…I don’t.”

Chapter 14 END

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