Vol 3 Chapter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 2 - Quickening's Silence
Part 1
The next day, Sunday noon, by the front door of the Tenryo family's home
The interphone sounded on tia opened the door
”Good day to you, Taiga-kun”
With askirt that covered her up to her ankles She boith a meek smile
”Although we don't have a-kun's performance hey, what's up with that expression of yours”
”Sorry Hearing your polite tone puts me in a bad mood”
”You looking for a fight?”
After Taiga's extreht up lady' i lady's expression appeared instead Her personality switch's speed was as terrifyingly fast as ever
”It's been a while since I ”
”You really are a rude guy I did it just in case because you have a little sister The more people know about it, the harder it is to silence theency”
Well it's been already half-noticed but he preferred not to say it He heard no hesitation in her voice as she said these dangerous words Taiga invited Haya inside
”If it's Fuyuki then she's in her room Well, she probably won't come out so you don't have to worry”
He told her the day before about the study session and she's been acting sullen since then
After what happened by the beach, he couldn't face her squarely or try to cal and the actual day of the study session came
”Fine then There's no time, let's start at once Your room should be fine”
”Nn? Isn't living room with a lot of space better?”
”Don't be stupid It'll be no good if your little sister comes in the meantime”
”That's only for you”
Since there was nothing in particular he wanted to hide, Taiga took her to his room obediently
As they walked down the corridor, Haya looked around as if she's seen so unusual
”Hmm, that's a pretty nice house Must have been just as expensive”
”Enough to bloay our savings And here we are, my room”
”quite bland”
Just as Haya said, the rooht her eye was the table in theon the wall
Not only weren't thereseem neatly prepared, and the sword seemed ready to be drawn at anytime——that's the impression she had She wondered just what kind of life the boy has been living up until this moment
”I don't bring in s, and I have no hobbies”
”And that sword? Isn't collecting fake swords also a hobby?”
”Ah— that's the only thing I enjoy, so like that”
Were he to say that it's the real thing, she h he wanted to see the look on her face as he told her that, he couldn't bring himself to do it
”Come out Iora”
〈”Understood”〉
The terminal lit up and Iora was projected into the air She's been wearing glasses with black rims she once had on before and hit one of her hands with the pointing stick she held in the other
〈”Today's strict teaching session Prepare yourself dammit”〉
”Iora's also in the teacher role today?”
”She's strangely motivated today It's not really a problem either So ah——?”
It happened when she tried to sit down on the floor
He saw her stagger and as she started falling down, Taiga iht her
”Hey, you all right?”
”I'eez, for hter”
〈”Master, so you were tired because of yesterday after all?”〉
”I' are you going to support me”
”Ah, sorry”
”Brother—, I brought so”
As Taiga tried to move away from Haya, at that very moment the door has been opened ith a lot of force
Fuyuki appeared with cups on top of a tray, she slowly lowered her gaze There, Taiga was gently (fro Haya
”F-Fuyuki t-this is, um an accident”
Taiga broke into cold sweat as he made an excuse, Fuyuki looked doith a lovely and yet spine-chilling smile Then she put the cups aside from the tray and——
”Whhhhaaaaaaatttttt are you doooooooooooingggg you idioot Brotherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
”Ogouhh?!!”
With a loud dang sound the tray has been smashed into his head
By the way, Haya has fled into the corner of the roo up She suddenly collapsed before, but her escape was quick
”Seriously I decided to check on you after all Even though there's Little Sister nearby, you bring another woman to your room, moreover you're all over each other you shi+tty Brother!”
She continued to hit Taiga with the tray time after time even after he fell on the floor It was just a tray so it didn't hurt thatout in his head every tie to beat him up, Fuyuki corrected her posture and turned around to Haya She made an obvious fake smile
”It's been a while, Kiritou Haya-san We haven't met since the Reaper incident have we?”
”Yes indeed I have been in your care back then”
Haya instantly put on her façade and smiled softly They both smiled but it didn't reach their eyes that probably wasn't just his iination
”Presidentfor exao back if you like? Little Sister will be the one teaching instead”
”Thank you for your consideration But he's my junior who is in the saht sound rude, but Imouto-san seems somewhat unreliable”
”hee”
Although she was told 'go home' by Fuyuki in a roundabout way, Haya's eyebrows didn't even twitch and the graceful ing her a war, maybe she decided to take her on
”they are too alike”
He ht of the two to pierce through him
”Can you not say so that rude? Don't co and black hearted, it's vexing”
”You are being rude as well ree with so to their family members like this”
”Is that so What a coincidence”
”Indeed”
The girls showed each other a radiant s from the side broke into a cold sweat
It was rare for Fuyuki to show hostility openly (the case from day before must have fueled it), but for the façade-hed it off to deceive the other party
Just as he thought about that, he saw Iora beckoning hia focused on listening to her while trying not to catch the other two's attention
〈”Are these two on bad ter acquainted at all”〉
”They must be incompatible Look, they're somewhat alike”
〈”I see, so this is what they call an aversion to their own damn kind”〉
Their appearance was alike as well (the long japanese-style black hair) I wonder why does that atht
”Taiga-kun, since there is no time to waste let's start immediately Ah, Imouto-san please return to your roo”
”Is that so Then I shall go back when I finish drinking this coffee, it would be a waste to let it cool down after taking an effort to bring it here”
For soht three cups of coffee, she said that and took one cup of coffee in her hands and sat down next to Taiga,
The way Haya looked at Fuyuki as if seehed and turned towards Taiga once again
”Let's focus on avoiding failing and focus on the weak subjects First is es”
〈”Let's go super strict today”〉
And like this with one person getting in the hich wasn't in the plan, the 'anti-failure study session of Tenryo Taiga's' began
〈”getting fucking wasted on the very first proble”〉
”Shouldn't you start over from elementary school?”
He started to feel insecure at the very beginning
Part 2
The faint sound of afilled the quiet room
””
Although he hesitated soed to fill the answer sheet Just when he ed to fill the blanks, Iora let out a voice
〈”Pinponpanpoon Time's up dammit”〉
”haa, that was close〜 I ed to solve it all somehow”
”You barely made it That was a simulated test, you won't have tiood”
”Don't say nonsense, there's just not enough time”
Although Fuyuki as sitting by his side adh he did his best to answer it all Before he noticed she went back to her nor The fact he was able to complete it was all thanks to Haya who proposed a study session
Iora scanned the answer sheet and converted it into electronic data, then she called out towards Haya as breathing quietly in her sleep as she leaned against the wall
〈”Master, it's finished Master!”〉
”nn? Ahh”
Haya opened her eyes in languid manner
The book she was reading fell to the floor, its pages bent, she didn't realize it Her tone went back to her usual one, but she must have been half asleep
”Haya?”
”I'll go wash my face Iora stay here and score it”
She stood up while saying that and left the rooait
〈”Is she in a state horrible enough to et Fuyuki is here dainal self”〉
”You and your tone of voice is turning weirder and weirder”
Taiga stood up and stretched his stiff body
As he looked outside, it seeht rain started to fall
”The weather has collapsed”
”According to the forecast it's supposed to rain intensely in the evening”
The modern weather forecast system is supposed to have an accuracy rate of 99 The deviation from that number is close to zero
”speaking of which, it's the first time that AI over there has showed itself to me isn't it?”
〈”Yes AI・Iolite, please call me Iora”〉
”Iora, is it Hmm, you've wonderful emotional expressions They don't seem to be fake Is it fine to tinker with your mental structure a little?”
〈”Don't you dare”〉
As the tho a drank his coffee and rested his head
Suddenly Fuyuki joined them to teach him as well, and he was tired by her and Haya continuously inti each other
But it orth it I ed to answer the test somehow
He wouldn't get too high a score, but it should be enough to avoid failing At this rate the exams that start tomorroon't be a problem to him
The scoring was over, and they were reviewing it for about thirty minutes
However, Haya who should have gone just to wash her face hasn't come back yet She ay late
”I'll go take a look”
Following Taiga, Fuyuki and Iora left the room as well
”That person was being unsteady for a while not Maybe she fell down somewhere”
”Don't say such things”
His feet stopped when he was in front of washroom
In the living room that has come into their field of vision, there was a sofa and the person they were looking for was on top of it
”Suu suu”
She must have lost to sleepiness in thea cushi+on as replacement for a pillow
Not caring about her appearances, her clothes were all wrinkled and her hair curled up weirdly
”Why is this person proudly indulging in her sleep while in someone else's home Doesn't she kno to restrain herself?”
Fuyuki raised an appalled voice
Certainly, that would be okay if it were her lover's home, but since it was a home into which she stormed in forcibly to teach hih
”Ah——ell I guess Look, she must be really tired”
”Why are you saying acting so gentle towards her This is Little Sisters and Brother's house isn't it? Let's slap her awake immediately no, let's throw her outside in this state The cleaning drones will take her for garbage and throw her away”
”Stop that!”
It didn't sound like a joke at all and it was scary Just how much did she hate Haya
However, despite the fact that Fuyuki's proposal was rejected, they couldn't leave her as she was at the a tried to wake her up, but Iora went in between them
〈”Please wait a moment Can you allow her to sleep like this for a while?”〉
”Iora?”
〈”Master's been busy ork until right before she caoes back to Kiritou, no one knohat kind of daiven I want her to rest properly”〉
As she said that, Iora stared at Haya with a caring expression
That look of hers, worrying about so artificial, but like one of a real 'human'
”Even if you say that, we have no obligation to let her sleep Brother? What are you doing?”
”It's better if she sleeps on the bed rather than the sofa Fuyuki, open the bedroom's door”
”Are you serious?”
”I've been in her care forKiritou's princess owe us is not bad”
He made up a decent reason
But the truth was that he didn't want her to leave tired like that Just like he was comforted by Rui, he wanted to let Haya rest as well
so light
Taiga was surprised by how light Haya was as he raised her up and carefully carried her to the bedroo sure he doesn't drop her Fortunately, she was sleeping like a log and didn't wake up
〈”That's helluva large bed You twoyourself on it every day?”〉
”Your evolution is really turning way too weird”
He was aht face, he laid Haya down on the bed and left the roo the room Iora turned around——
〈”good night Master I wish you good dreams”〉
Sheemotions unlike a virtual personality
ah, this is a dream
A lucid drea a dream
Although they said one could change the contents of the drea to one's will, this was a ht she was unable to reproduce, so that was lost
In the irl
She had bluish-black hair carelessly tied in the back, she wore a white coat on top of a black jersey Although she had refined features her clothes were a mess
Aoko
”———, ——, ————”
She was saying soh static Aoko's mouth distorted proudly as she placed a pure white mannequin beside her
yeah That's when the virtual body had been completed
A memory of Iora's development's early days
First of all they prepared a virtual body to place a virtual personality in, it was the scene during which Aoko enthusiastically showed it to her She could rehter
Now that I think of it, she prepared a pointlessly high performance body
It had high virtual durability and modification capacity as well as enormous calculation capacity, even if one looked around the entire world they wouldn't find such a high-performance virtual body——that's what she declared
Speaking of which, it was at that tile-handedly by Aoko who used her own physical information
She wanted to use my face didn't she
She was saying things like 'Haya's face looks popular sort' or 'my own eyes look too sharp' and so on, she was just too ashamed to use her own face
That's why she put on a lock on the bodyit
Although Aoko could've hacked it easily if she wanted to
Since she didn't do it, she wasn't all that h it was impossible to ascertain it now that she has died cause of illness
——Ah, I' up
Her consciousness was rapidly returning
I want it to continue——but her wishes weren't fulfilled, the dream continued to lose its colours and become monochromatic
I want to see more
Until the ht of the friend she will never ain
”Hmmhmm I see I-chan's interpretation is really unique It helps a lot since it's different from Little Sister's idea”
〈”Ehhen, there's more to come”〉
After Taiga ca room, he saw Fuyuki and Iora talk happily
Putting Iora's lack of hesitation aside, it was surprising for Fuyuki who has an intense fear of strangers to become friends with someone in such a short period of tih
It was around seven o'clock in the evening, large raindrops were falling fro in the pitch-black sky It was easy to tell how intense it was just by looking as the rain hitting the s
According to the forecast it's supposed to cease to practice will be impossible
Just as he thought that, the bedroom's door behind him opened loudly
With hair so black it seemed like they were painted with a lacquer and dressed like a young lady heading to a resort Haya e like that——or should have, however
”um〜m”
”Uaaa〜my head's so heavy”
Her voice sounded nothing like one of a young lady
Although he wanted to ask her why did she act so wildly, but the look in her eyes told him she was really drowsy
”living dead?”
The figure which trailed unsteadily and looked ready to fall down at any moment wasn't Fuyuki's, but without doubt one of Kiritou Haya's
So to say, it was beyond the level of soover
”H-Haya? What's with you?”
”Shadap, onna was my face”
While s, Haya continued tointo the walls and furniture When her figure was no longer visible from behind, Fuyuki murmured
”who's the idiot who called that thing 'ladylike yamato nadeshi+ko'”
〈”Master is always like that after waking up you know?”〉
”Seriously?!”
To think she could change into a proper and lovely yamato nadeshi+ko from that They could only admire her in earnest
〈”That's the face she only shows after having proper sleep It seems like she was able to rest dammit”〉
”It's unthinkable for soet proper sleep in someone else's house”
While Iora had a faint smile on her face, Fuyuki responded strictly
A few minutes later Haya cah, it was just to an extent where her pupils no longer looked like that of a dead fish, she couldn't be called a yamato nadeshi+ko as she was
”I'm thirsty”
”Wait, that's ”
Haya opened the refrigerator without any hesitation and all at once she drank the mineral water that was inside After that she threay the emptied bottle and spoke with half-opened eyes
”Want more”
””It's not all you can drink!!””[1]
She was acting too arrogantly, she heard the siblings retorted unconsciously But Haya gestured at them not to'you guys are weird'
”What, it's nothing expensive You should be honoured that it was used for my sake”
She said soa and Fuyuki were stunned
〈”Her thinking being very si a foulup Master Master Get a hold of yourself”〉
”Ah? What is it Iora?”
〈”Fuyuki is looking Is it fine not to put on your façade?”〉
”It's a pain in the ass so I'll pass”
Ignoring what she's been doing up until thatprocess was si up must have been true
”It seea's results should be fine at this rate I should have some time to spare for myself now”
She glanced at the results of simulated test and fixed her hair and clothes with her hand Then she ant bow that made them fascinated involuntarily and flashed a refined smile
”Now then you two, thank you veryyou've seen or heard today, I'll use both physical and psychological means to shut you up, thank you very much?”
””Go home already!”
What was refined was only her appearance
”I'll do so even if you don't tell o Iora”
〈”Yes sir Now then Taiga, Fuyuki, until the next opportunity comes——”〉
Just when one person and one identity were about to go home
All the lights disappeared without warning and the room was shrouded in the darkness
〈”Uh-huh?”〉
A power outage——all lights were lost, and the only thing that could be seen was Iora who shone with phosphorescent light As they looked outside, it was not only their room but the whole city that was covered in darkness
”It seems like not only this place lost power The power plant must have been hit by heavy rain”
”It's not so that can be taken down so easily This ement——from our side The power control system must've went down in the headquarters”
New City's electricity e-scale structure It seemed like a problem has appeared in there
”it must be part of the proble How can they allow such a e”
”Can you not say that while facing me? I'm not involved in thiswe can do without electricity when it's this late”
In the hts that were lit were fairly dim
”well, that's how it turned out”
〈”This roo too much power Fuyuki, you over-customized it”〉
”Uh it can't be helped I didn't think it would turn out like this”
Inwas controlled by a network, the power consuency power supply wasn't enough to supply an entire apartment with electricity Moreover, Tenryo household was consuether with the power it's security has fallen as well
The situation outside was sinal
They were probably working while using redundant power that was left over froement's structure Moreover there was heavy rain
The natural light source naht was blocked by clouds, the visibility outside was the worst
〈”Master, can we go back like this?”〉
”I'd prefer not to if it's possible Both public transport and taxis won't be coursing like this, and I would get completely soaked if I walked”
Froroup's headquarters there was about fifteendistance to walk but the as quite strong She didn't want to do it if possible
Then, Iora ca and clapped her hands
〈”Then how about we stay here today?”〉
”Ha?”
She said soe
〈”If you go back you will be asked to deal with the daht in this house and concentrate on tomorrow's test”〉
”Wait I-chan, what kind of selfish thing are your spouting I won't allow such a thing”
””
Fuyuki drew closer to Iora in a hurry Seeing the two like that Haya started thinking in silence
〈”Is there a problem?”〉