Vol 1 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Sector 1 – Bose Nova 2015

Exiting fro bus with a party of people, as it entered the Tokyo Expressway

The scenery of the clear sky under the expressway covered their s

As they looked up at the tall buildings that pointed up towards the sky on both sides of the road, the students let out gasps of admiration

“Left, right, all I see are large buildings!”

“So this is Tokyo!”

The students claradually bustled with activity

Skyscrapers, enor billboards and h the

For these traveling students belonging to a high school in a provincial town, the unfa

But ast those in the class excited by the outside scenery was also a group of boys absorbed in a garoup of boys hard at work on old maid, one boy muttered

“…All in all, I’d say Nanagi is a lucky boy”

Across from the boy who spoke, left puzzled as to what kind of card he drew—Nanagi Ryouga was staring fixedly at the card with an uneasy expression He finally pulled out the selected card, and having seen its design, Nanagi was left speechless

……It was a joker

And he, who had drawn the winning old maid[1], was the so called lucky boy

“Why am I the lucky boy?”

The circle of school friends playing old i in what s

“No kidding! Today’s social science field trip! ‘That girl’ that is a transfer student is in your group!”

“Transfer student……you i?”

“That’s right! It’s obvious I’irlish, attractive transfer student!”

As he gave his angry classmate an incredulous look, he listened to another complaint

“I never heard that after the groups had been decided, such a cute girl would suddenly make her appearance! No matter what you think, this is on the perforirls in our school, she’s the top rank!”

“And what’s i’s group How fearsoood fortune that is!”

“You keep saying Nanagi is a lucky boy What the hell is this lucky boy you keep calling me?”

Having said so, Nanagi gave a sideway glance at the schoolgirl sitting a few seats in front

In the front of the bus elegantly resting her chins against the as the i Mana

Long, black hair and a slender body with porcelain white skin

It was a hurriedly put on unifori, it seemed fashi+onably worn

Hanging below her chest was a thin chain necklace, with an embedded cross

And together with the accessory, a graceful scent and cleansing atinally froious school

Certainly, in Nanagi’s eyes she was a fairly beautiful woman

It couldn’t be helped that his classmates were fascinated by her cleanly beauty

“But……isn’t that girl a little cold?”

She had introduced herself on the first day of her transfer, spent tii often smiled

She was si found it to be a fake s from a shallow pretense That was the impression that naturally came to him

Even now, Nanagi could see the look of extreaze

“……”

Suddenly, Nanagi’s se

It was—froi’s sister

Nanagi temporarily laid the card in his hand aside

『It’s rainy in shi+zuoka I hope it’s sunny in Tokyo I’ forward to onii-chan’s present 』

The contents were that simple

But even such a trivial i broke into a full smile

『It’s bright and clear in Tokyo I’ll work hard on the present, so you and dad look forward to it 』

Nanagi wrote the reply and quickly sent it

And as they indulged the through thelast, arrived at Rainbow Bridge

Also could be seen at their destination, was a structure characteristic of a giant

“Oooohhhh! I can see it! Isn’t that the Tokyo Big Sight?!”

The hands of the i and the others excitedly gazed out the

Four titaniules could be seen

—Tokyo Big Sight

The h that the students recognized it in a single glance, despite it being their first ti it

“I’ve never seen it on TV or the internet…so that’s the real thing! Ahh…looking at it like this, it gives off the i silhouette!”

“…Ahem”

Facing his awestruck friends, the girlish looking Nanagi proudly explains

“Those inverted triangular structures are 8-story buildings known as the ‘Conference Tower’ We will be listening to a keynote speech in the 7th floor of the conference tower, in a roo a thousand people By the way, it see is the eastern exhibition hall!”

Before Nanagi, who had announced his extensively infore, some of his friends’ faces twitched

“Na…Nanagi, you sure know your stuff”

“Well, Nanagi has been eagerly planning the order in which we visit the booths for so forward to it, haven’t you? Today’s social science field trip”

“Wow…I just lost interest!”

“Why did you go fro interest?! W-What?!?! Is it so bad to be interested in it?!”

Nanagi’s face reddened, as he perked his shoulders up in protest at the friends who laughed and made fun of him

Future Science Expo 2015

Open to the public on an early autuht was ed under the leadershi+p of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

According to the pamphlet, the purpose of the event was ‘The assey’, as the headlines stated

Prospective cutting-edge technologies of future key industries are introduced to the general public, the next generation of engineers sought out, and appeals to foreign countries of japan’s technological powers made

The event was, in short an ‘exhibition of leading edge technology’

The machinery and equipment of research institutes and specialized experi eyes under conditions, could be seen by their group at the venue

Scholars and engineers would announce their nerve-wracking research By doing so, the presenterto fund his/her research

This was a place of such encounters

……Be that as itto do with the adults’ plans; they were no more than the usual attendee

If there were to be one point that differed theeneral attendee, it would be that they had to later write a report on the presented speeches, and submit it to their teacher

As part of their ed places discussed beforehand Things he saw, things he heard Both cas

One such exauard robot that swam around like a fish in the small pool specially installed in the venue

There were also conversational receptionist robots that offered responses indistinguishable from that of a human’s on display

There weren’t only robots; he heard explanations, such as one on using the energy generated by the satellite solar panels in the form of microwave frequencies to send transmissions into space, and was left completely in awe

“Over here is the AR—comented Reality”

Nanagi and the others suddenly stopped by a booth, where they were distributed digital cameras from a receptionist

And like this, they entered a place that see room in a home

“Please turn on the cah the camera”

Follohat the fei turned on his camera

And he looked through the ca room

“……!”

Nanagi peered through the camera in what should have an ee TV

As he tried to look at the surroundings, in what should have been an e console were reproduced

“Cooooollllll!”

It was no coe

Holding the camera in place, he moved towards the TV that should not have existed as if it were real, and as he approached closer, it drew farther Fro in at a visible angle, the

The fei

“This uses AR technology, and is called the AR catalog service”

“AR catalog service?”

The fe room

This caused the reflections through the ca forth from the paper the female aid had lifted up

“Drawn fron the camera detects, and e, creating an ie construct If, for exae home appliance such as a TV and install this marker in your own hoe the TV can be conveniently identified This nition software can be used on your se”

“I get it now This is the so called virtual reality?”

“It’s often confused, but AR and VR are two separate terms”

The aid ently replied

“VR, short for virtual reality, is a coy that simulates the five senses as an illusion Conizance”

“Het it, but I kind of don’t”

“The digicam in your hand carries an annotation display feature in the originally eain Was that explanation satisfactory?”

To the fei made a poker face smile

Of course, he didn’t really get it

After he said his thanks to the aid, Nanagi joined up with the friends in his group

At the ti at the display itei noticed the time on his watch

“crap! It’s already this late!”

“Hi?”

One of the boys in the saroup as him asked

Nanagi opened his paroup, as he said

“This over here This Soon in East Hall 3, the Future Electronic World perfor to start In about 4 minutes”

The name may have been showy for an event, but they took place in hour intervals

And standing center-stage, some demonstrator would display their products

A seei

“Wh-haaaaa—th-then we better hurry!”

The girl in the sai was the class president, Fujino Inori

With Fujino taking the lead, Nanagi’s group hurried began to move

“……Hm?”

Nanagi noticed Kisaragi Managa wasface as she walked beside him

……It wasn’t as if there was nothing to talk about today

During group activities, when everyone should have been acting together, she seldom smiled

Someorried, he subtly questioned her

“……Kisaragi-san, do you find this event uninteresting?”

Not having expected Nanagi to start a conversation with her, she htly started face

But she immediately returned to an unsociable face void of expression, and exited froht

Without ignoring Nanagi, her lips opened

“If I rei-kun?”

She asked in a questioning tone

Having only just transferred schools, it wasn’t expected for her to match the nauessed Nanagi’s name

“I’ But my family is constantly on the ht ofyour names hasn’t really crossed my mind”

“What are you saying?”

“I’ with you guys”

“……Huh?!”

Her clear, distinct declaration left Nanagi at a loss for words

Kisaragi faced the taken aback Nanagi, and brushed through her own beautiful hair

“‘Is this event not fun’, you say? Isn’t it obvious?”

No longer wearing a forced si

“What could be so interesting about the likes of a future of expectations?”

At first, the group had inspected the set displayed items from start to end

With lunchtii and the rest were in theto the class’ rendezvous point

A boy in the group asked the seething with rage Nanagi,

“……Why are you in such a badthe most forward to this social science field trip?”

“Yea…sos happened”

As he scratched his head, Nanagi cursed out in a low voice

“What’s up with her All insensitive Here I was thinking she ht be bored because she’s a transfer student and doesn’t have anyone she’s close to……then she says she’s not interested in being friends with us?! If she’s like that, I’ll never be friends with her!”

“What are you i-kun?”

“N-nothing much”

Nanagi having avoided the question, forced a sroup

The class president Fujino glanced at hiroup members

“Umm, umm……the performance is over and it’s about time for the assembly but……for other places you want to quickly visit, does anyone have one?”

Fujino awaited the group members’ response

No one felt like expressing their thoughts to such a meek appeal

Each and everyone one of thesuch feelings as “this h We’re spent,” to her

They had lasted 2~3 hours, though having walked through the venue the entire tii too, having been able to visit all the places he wanted, was satisfied

“……huh?”

At Nanagi’s sudden murmur, Fujino timidly asked

“W-what’s wrong, Nanagi-kun?”

He spoke aloud what he had realized

“……ui-san isn’t here”

At Nanagi’s mention, the other members also came to be aware of the situation

Three boys, two girls The six irl

The only one nowhere in sight was Kisaragi Mana

Thecrowd, and said in unison

“Huh, she’s not here!”

“I wonder if she got lost Kisaragi-san, where did you end up going to?”

“Are you kidding ht around the corner Won’t it be bad if we don’t find her soon?”

“Wh-hat should we do, Nanagi-kun?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Nanagi cast a troubled look back at Fujino, her eyes watering as she pleaded for his opinion

And then he had a flash of inspiration

“…Does anyone know the number on her smart phone?”

Before the group activity coi and the others had informed each other of their contacts

Nanagi did not have her nuht have learned of it

“Do you guys know it?”

“I don’t”

“Me neither”

“I also don’t know her nuive me the slip”

“Who would have thought even the class pres didn’t know!?”

Nanagi went frohtly troubled to completely shocked

Nanagi hii had not given the other ive it to the class president, it would see friends with the classenuine

With s

The surrounding croas considerably large

Fed up with these feelings, Nanagi made a reluctantly made a proposal

“Anye have to hurry and find Kisaragi She shouldn’t have gotten far Let’s come back here in 10 minutes, and if we haven’t found her, we’ll consult with the teachers”

Nanagi and the rest split off in all directions and began their search for Kisaragi

As he i murmured successively in a fit of impatience

“Seriously! She’s not only rude, but also makes trouble for everyone…she pisses me off”

Should he find her, he would not be satisfied if he did not at least give her a piece of his mind

Shrugging his shoulders, he began his search for Kisaragi in the venue

Kisarai Mana

A girl who transferred one i had yet to become acquainted with

What he did know about her was based on rumours he had heard from the boys in the class, and whose credibility were questionable

Like how she had lived abroad and was fluent in foreign languages such as english and chinese

Or how she won the chess chan schools

All he only heard about her were seely unbelievable rumors

Even if those frequented rumous were false, it wasn’t uncoraceful air ei; it was such foul play

Kisaragi Mana With a horrible attitude to boot

Nanagi was searching high and low for such a girl

“Where the hell did you go Kisaragi-san?!?!”

He spouted out his irritated emotions

Thinking how she couldn’t have gone too far, he believed she would quickly be found

But reality proved contrary to his expectations

With Kisaragi nowhere to be found in East Hall 3, Nanagi had wandered into the area of East Hall 1 before he knew it If he still couldn’t find her, it was possible that she e that connected to the other side

In his search for Kisaragi, Nanagi looked restlessly within the grounds as he walked

In such a coi bumped shoulders with a passerby in front of hiized to the person he bumped into

“S-sorry!wait, what?”

Nanagi lowered his head in front, but the person was already gone

The y jeans and certainly wore the air of one of those bad-type characters

The ht, and walked off

Nanagi stared at the back in amazement as he walked into the distance

“…I wonder if he was in a hurry”

He never turned back towards Nanagi He was busy looking around, appearing to have been searching for so, and after a few otherin place

Nanagi couldn’t hear what they were saying but……they’re attitude was deadly serious

Suddenly, Nanagi’s eyes were attracted to the wristbands the men wore

—A syht ‘V’ in the shape of an eye

The wristbands on the men all bore the same symbol

“Is it a ?”

After a long discussion while standing in place, the men split off into the venue

Nanagi watched them for some time, but he couldn’t afford to dawdle around forever

He also had an objective to proi

As he pulled hian his search for her around his surroundings

Though as it was…he had already lost the drive to search for her

“Over here ood Maybe the others found her Would it be better if I went back?”

Having not found her, he was left only with feelings of distress Nanagi returned to the predeterroup members in East Hall 3

And as he was about to leave the place, his feet suddenly stopped

“Experimental model for……a quantum computer?”

Near the central region of East Hall 1, he canboard panel

Over there where the spectators gathered, enclosed in surrounding chains rose an enormous clock tower

It was a coht was three times that of a human

Nanagi was able to i that it was a clock tower due to a large electronic bulletin board installed on the center of the e nuhts continually indicated the current time above the bulletin board in silence

The time was clearly indicated in hours,their respective order And in the colu within a moment’s notice, that the exact number was imperceivable

Nanagi read aloud the life-sized, explanatory panel placed in front of the tower

“A model on the principles of quantum computers, huh The world’s top contender forto coh calculative performance?”

The huge machine before him appeared to have been an experimental model for a ‘quantum computer’

As for what exactly a quantuhtest clue

Just that the purpose of the computer was to tell time

To use such a big device, that was only capable of doing things a watch could, was pushi+ng it

Not particularly feeling any rise in excitei vacantly looked up at the clock tower in front of him

The time continued to count up, and soon hit noon

In the exact instant the clock display turned the 12th hour

“……?”

—Nanagi’s field of vision distorted

The bustle froi felt an indescribable chill

His head spun, and his ears buzzed The clock tower stretched out wide, as if being pulled to the left and right, and then immediately returned back to normal before his very eyes

……the sound of the faded coradually returned to his ears

“—The end is co”

It was sudden A voice from beside him took shape

Nanagi turned around in a fluster, and there stood a young girl

She had probably been there from the start

She was no doubt an ordinary young girl

Short blond hair Blood red eyes And no traces of japanese descent

A petite, beautiful girl with a lovely appearance that differed froi’s

She gazed at Nanagi, full of loving gentleness

Nanagi realized this and was struck speechless

She earing—a wedding dress

It was not the plain, si the Future Science Expo wore

Nanagi stared at her appearance in the wedding dress in ether and asked