Chapter 204: Group Coordination Support Augmented Suit (1/2)

Akira was spending his time training in his garage inside his home. Ever since he bought a large vehicle, he had to renovate his garage to fit it in. But now that it was out for repair, the garage was large enough to use as his training ground.

But during his training, Akira was not seeing his own garage. Instead, he felt like he was inside an old-world room in the middle of an old-world ruin. And he was running through the room evading Alpha’s flurry of attacks.

As Akira aimed his empty SSB rifle at Alpha and pulled the trigger, a virtual bullet shot out from the muzzle following realistic mathematical calculations. Alpha hid behind a virtual wall to take cover from those bullets, she then swung a virtual blade that cut through the virtual wall and aimed straight for Akira.

Akira leapt and rolled over to evade the incoming blade. But one of the rubble scattered on the ground tripped him over. His augmented suit stiffened the moment his leg struck the non-existent rubble, throwing him off balance. That small opening was enough for Alpha to peek out from behind the wall and shoot him. By the end of that sequence, an image of Akira with his head blown off was lying on the ground.

Akira looked at that image and sighed. He looked slightly displeased as he said.

“…This time, I didn’t even last 10 seconds, huh. Alpha, it’s not like I’m asking you to pull back your punches, but like, can you go a little easy on me? This is just a one-sided fight, can you make some adjustments for the training?”

Alpha, who was behind a wall some distance away from him, suddenly teleported in front of him. She was using an old-world fighting suit which was exposing too much skin according to the current standard. The suit gave a clear view of her shoulder and thighs as well as a part of the valley on her chest. She had blades on both of her hands which she used to attack Akira just now, and her rifle was not only equipped to shoot bullets but also lasers from its muzzle.

Alpha then gently said to Akira with a smile.

“Nope. I’ve already placed some level of adjustment, you know? It’s your turn to do your best to put up a fight.”

“I’m already doing my best here, but like, you know, it also depends on the opponent’s weapons and positioning, and luck too. Like, that blade that can even cut through the wall, is that even necessary for this training?”

Akira said so while questioning the aforementioned weapon, but Alpha then said teasingly.

“Even if you say luck as an aspect, I think your luck is already in the correct setting though? After all, you did fight someone with a similar weapon in the past, right? Personally speaking, it would be great if you can get strong enough to fight against your bad luck as soon as possible.”

“…Well, you have a point there, but still.”

Akira could not help but frown since Alpha did give him a real example. Although he accepted that reasoning, part of him still could not accept it for a different reason. It was obvious from his face that he was feeling conflicted about it.

“Well, we already did quite a lot of damage in this place, so can you clean that up for now?”

“Sure.”

All the virtual objects from Akira’s augmented vision vanished. Including all the images of the dead Akira, the blood that was scattered on the wall and the floor, the walls that were put there to make the huge garage suitable for close-ranged fights, the holes on those walls from the bullets, the scorch marks on the floor. Everything vanished and his vision returned back to normal, to his original garage.

“But still, this is really convenient. It’s not like I’m using real bullets, so it’s not like I’m paying for the bullets that I shoot. I can shoot as many expensive bullets as I want. We could have used this kind of training sooner.”

“Unfortunately, in order to give you realistic feedback via your augmented suit, I need to be able to do fine-tuning and detailed adjustments to your augmented suit, which means that I couldn’t do it unless you were using a high-quality augmented suit. Thanks to your new augmented suit, I can finally do that to some extent. If we use an inadequate augmented suit, the feedback from the augmented suit would be far from realistic, that’s why we didn’t do it until now.”

“Ohh, I see. I’m really glad I splurged on my equipment.”

Akira was fully convinced by that answer and Alpha was smiling like usual.

Alpha was not lying there. But she did hide some fine details from her explanation. One of the main factors why they could do that training now was because Alpha’s connection through the old-world domain with Akira was stronger than before. This way, she was able to transfer a bigger load of data to his brain.

The reason why Akira leapt out to evade the incoming blade although he should not have been able to see it coming from behind the wall, was because he felt its presence and reacted accordingly. Although it was not like he completely saw through Alpha’s move, he just received enough information to trigger his instinct. It was from a faint change in his surroundings, like a slight change in the ambient sound. Akira was able to experience that level close to reality during this virtual training.

This also meant that one day, Akira would be able to feel Alpha, who was nothing but virtual data through the same means. While on the other hand, Alpha, who was nothing but virtual data, would be able to choke Akira to death through the same means too, just like a ghost choking someone to death.

“Alpha, I’m tired, can we take a short break?“

“Sure, in that case, we can finish the training here for today.”

“Hmmm, let’s see… I’ll decide later after a short break.”

Akira thought that his mental fatigue was from the nervousness during the training when it actually came from the burden of the huge data transfer. Not to mention, he was keeping his time compression up throughout the training as well, so it further prevented him from noticing that.

While Akira was taking a break, a call from Sheryl came in. He was about to pick the call up when Alpha suddenly interjected.

“You don’t need to use your terminal, instead just pick that call through me.”

“It’s fine. If I get too used to doing that, I feel like I will progressively stop using my terminal. In the worst-case scenario, it might cause me to make a blunder somewhere, so it’s better if I keep using my terminal like usual.”

“If you want to commit to it, you can just say that you have a thought-controlled type terminal planted inside your head, you know.”

“Hmm, for some reason, I just don’t like that idea. If we’re going down that route, I prefer the external equipment that I can control with my brain wave. But considering that brain waves can be read through several means, I feel like someone can eavesdrop on that too… I guess it’s too late for me to be worrying about that, huh? In the first place, my brain wave is already readable all the time after all.”

Akira sent a teasing glance at Alpha, who replied back with a capricious smile.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Well, thanks for that.”

Akira smiled back at Alpha, on one side, he reminded himself that was indeed the case.

In contrast to that, Alpha found something bothering her about Akira, but she did not show it on her face.

After some time, Akira took his bike and went to the location that Sheryl told him when she called. Alpha, who was floating next to him, was curious and asked.

“But still, there’s no need to stop your own training just to go join another training, right?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? I’m bored of getting my ass kicked by you. It’ll be a good change of pace. Furthermore, I’m also interested in what Sheryl told me. Moreover, you did say that you don’t mind ending the training there, didn’t you?”

“But to be honest, I’m not sure that training with Erio and the others can serve as a good training for you anymore.”

“Well, that would depend on how far what Sheryl said is true.”

While Akira took a short break from the training inside his garage, he had got a call from Sheryl. Basically, she asked him to help Erio and the other children’s training if he had the time. When he asked about the details of the training, something piqued his interest, so he decided to stop his own training and went to help Erio and the others.

When he arrived at the training location, which was in the middle of the wasteland, he spotted a big trailer parked there with Erio and the other children undergoing mock battle near it. Sheryl and some people in sleek suits were watching their training.

Akira stopped his bike near the trailer and met up with them. Sheryl, who was wearing a light outfit for the wasteland, happily welcomed him with a smile.

“Akira, thank you for coming although it was rather sudden.”

“Don’t worry, I’m also a bit interested in the training after all.”

One of the men in suits politely welcomed Akira.

“Akira-sama, I presume? I’m Yodogawa from a company dealing with machines. We’re really thankful that Sheryl-same is volunteering to work with us to test our Group Coordination Support Augmented Suit.”

“Eh? Ah, yeah, sure.”

Akira glanced at Sheryl, seeking an explanation. So Sheryl interjected.

“Yodogawa-san, I have something to talk about with Akira first, meanwhile, can you prepare Erio and the others for the training?”

“Of course!”

Yodogawa lightly excused himself and went back to the trailer.

Sheryl sat next to Akira, grabbed his hand, and stared at him.

“But still, it has been quite a while since the last time you came to see me. I’m happy to see you again.”

“Hm? Has it really been that long?”

Akira looked honestly confused, so Sheryl longingly said.

“…To be honest, I wish I can see you every day.”

“That won’t happen, I’m pretty busy myself, you see.”

Although Sheryl was acting to some extent, she was not lying. She seemed to be genuinely happy to see the person she loved after quite some time. In contrast to that, Akira replied in his usual manner. Even after she affectionately held his hand and looked at him with endearment, he only showed the bare minimum reaction to her.

Her actions, which would trick a lot of people, her words that she picked to bring Akira closer, and her expression used to pull Akira in, all of those things would only be properly conveyed between the people who loved each other. But that was not the case for Akira. Sheryl was reminded of the reality that hurt her heart.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing. But I would be super happy even if you only come to see me to kill time.”

“Sure, I’ll do that if I have free time.”

Sheryl did her best to smile. At least Akira did not hate her. He still came even when she asked him out of the blue as long as he did not have anything else to do. She told herself that to push in the welling sadness from inside her heart.

She then went on to explain Akira about the situation.

In return for removing his rival, Inabe had offered Sheryl some support for her relic shop, which included equipment as well as firepower. These equipment were not counted into their deal, which was only for the quality and the quantity of relics sent to her shop.

Although Akira was the backer and guardian of Sheryl’s gang, it was not like he was always in Sheryl’s base to defend it against attackers. He was basically like a firepower reserved for retaliation and not firepower for direct defence. With Inabe sending expensive relics to slum city, he wanted more insurance so that those relics would not be stolen or robbed.

That was why Inabe used his personal connection to seek help from an experimental technology from a certain company and get Sheryl involved with the testing of that technology. It was technology that they were thinking of offering to the city defence squad eventually. Thus, it would be meaningless if it was not even good enough to be used in the slum city.

Although Sheryl’s gang was somehow able to get a deal with a big gang such as Shijima’s, leaving Akira aside, the gang would only be left with Erio and the other children who could not be counted as a deterrent. Since it was basically a gang consisting of small children, it would not really help if they tried to get more members. While on the other hand, its territory had grown big enough that it had become difficult to properly guard all its territory. Sheryl’s gang was actually having a crisis in terms of the ability to enforce.

That was when Inabe came with a timely offer. Since they were volunteering to test the system, it did not cost Sheryl any money.

Akira, who was listening to her explanation, found something that was bothering him.

“Won’t Katsuragi complain if you use another company’s product for your gang?”

“Indeed. We’re in the midst of negotiation about that matter. But don’t worry, Katsuragi-san is the merchant that you introduced to us and we’re also in his debt too. So we won’t do anything bad. Not to mention, this type of augmented suit is not something that Katsuragi-san has, so it should be alright.”

“Hmmmm, well, I leave that part to you. But still, augmented suits, huh? And with coordination support too. That sounds pretty amazing.”

That was when Yodogawa returned to them. The other person that he brought with him overheard what Akira just said and excitedly interjected in Sheryl and Akira’s conversation.

“Oh, you have some interest in it?! By all means, feel free to try our product! It’s the latest product from our company and we can guarantee its quality.”

“I-I see.”

In contrast to Akira who was a bit overwhelmed by Tabata’s excitement, Tabata continued with his high enthusiasm.

“Ah, sorry, I’m Tabata. I’m the developer of the coordination support augmented suit, or to be more precise, the coordination support system King’s Mind. I’m also involved in creating the augmented suit to use in tandem with the system as well as its development. We’re aiming to create a new standard for the next generation augmented suit and…”

Seeing that it would continue indefinitely if left alone, Yodogawa immediately cut him short.

“Tabata, I’ll do the business-related stuff, so you go prepare for the test.”

“Ah, right, my bad. Akira-sama, in order to adjust for the ‘hit’ calculation, I’ll need to sync your equipment with the system. I hope that it doesn’t bother you. You just need an aiming device that will work with an information-gathering device, even a cheap one will do. In case it isn’t compatible, I need to ask you to use our equipment instead? Are you okay with that? Or do you want to use our equipment right from the start instead?”

“In that case, can you check if my rifle can work with the system?”

“Of course, over here please.”

Tabata guided Akira to the trailer. The inside was littered with strange equipment and it looked like a mix of a laboratory and a workshop.