-----------------------
2 "Hope and peace"
Hiroshi was brought by Tsukiko to one of Airi's tens of thousands of studios.
Even Hiroshi, who had a doctorate in the academy, had never seen a research facility as advanced as hers. But in the midst of being awed by it, he immediately recognized some important things.
"……this is?"
It was an NB that had been brought into the workshop when it changed into a female form.
"Seina's NB"
"Seina's? ... .... No way, Miki !?"
Hiroshi ran to the NB and looked at it. It looked like a rough engraved sculpture so it was hard to identify, but Hiroshi sensed Miki in there.
"Hold on I'll explain everything."
The man who was with Tennyo earlier ran in from a nearby passage wearing a lab coat
"I am sorry for being late."
The stubble faced man grasped Hiroshi's hand gladly.
"Nice to meet you, I am Hakuryo Masaki. I am deeply moved to meet the inventor of an Astral AI."
"Ha, ... well it was only a coincidence really ... ...."
"but even so..."
"please save the small talk and explain what's going on with NB"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just very into AI ..."
Hakuryo looked embarrassed.
"Well, as you can see it was made of a special biometal ..."
"It's a big deal, I've seen this stuff used in a few porn videos ..."said Hiroshi remembering them.
"Oh yeah that one with the..."
"Just continue the explaination." Tsukiko yelled.
Hakuryo and Hiroshi started to speak in a low voice as if to keep their discussion a secret, They distanced themselves from Tsukiko.
"As you know, this NB can change forms.It did this in response to a forced data stream that NB received earlier ......"
"Forced data transfer ... ... ... ... Then maybe she's alive!"
"This is just a guess, but Tarrant probably noticed that Miki was a Pinocchio, he must have thought that it was a trap and investigated her ai."
"So he uploaded Miki's character data for investigation, so her astral might be in there?"
"Yes, she seems to have tried to move to NB via a transmission from Tarrant's ship's computer, but unfortunately the data transfer failed."
"was the line blocked?"
"I think that was probably the main cause, but it seems that NB also refused."
"Refused? But her character data isn't that large of a file..."
The Character data of one person is not a large amount compared to the capacity of the NB.
It was hard to think that an NB made by Airi would have too low of a capacity to hold such a thing.
"Actually, it was because NB already had a personality in it with an astral."
"Is that ...? ... ... ... ... so ... Miki ... ...."
Hiroshi slowly dropped his shoulders, but immediately rose up,
"But Miki is alive!"
He had hopeful eyes. Tsukiko who was concerned about Hiroshi's disappointment smiled a smile of relief.
"Yeah ... Although she failed to transfer her character data, it looks like there was some information left by her ... ... But Hiroshi, I don't know how to say this to you ..."
"Miki's survival is not definite right now, but at least there's hope, but it's much better than despairing ... Thank you, Tsukiko-san, thank you."
"Hiroshi, you ..."
"It's okay! That girl is a strong girl, and she has a good head on her shoulders... after all I modeled her after you, Tsukiko."
"Well, anyways, what I was going to say is we need you help. the data she left is encrypted, we don't have the password."
Tsukiko said, pointing to the research space prepared for Hiroshi.
"oh And ... ... NB's Astral AI seems to want to talk to you Hiroshi."
"Oh, with me ... ... ... ... Oh, I understand."
"When you visit her, you'll be amazed. please get ready.Hurry Hiroshi! you too!"
Tsukiko grabbed hiroshi by the neck and sat him down into the chair that was nearby.
----
the scar on seina's heart was not healed by the reunion with Tennyo but it was like a doctors slowly bandaged his wound and it was beginning to heal. But that didn't mean he forgot about Miki.
"...... I'm going to be in the GP so I should try not to regret not being able to protect everyone ......... For Miki Senpai, I'll do my best"
Seina, who came back to the dormitory, swore to himself.
Kenneth and Rajau, spotted seina and came running towards him with great momentum.
"Oh, Kenneth, Rajau ......"
Seina noticed the two, and took a deep bow.
"I'm sorry about what i said this morning ... ...."
"It's fine"
Kenneth and Rajau, suddenly started to embrace Seina. However, they were not looking where they were standing, and they were caught up a stampede of animals that came from the forest.
----
"Are Both of you are OK?"
Despite getting caught up in the stampede, Seina was completely uninjured He looked fine compared to Kenneth and Rajau.
"It's all right! It's nothing compared to those Clay drone's ink bullets!"
"That's right!"
Kenneth and Rajau 's face seemed happy as they got up and held Seina again, they ran into the dormitory building. When they arrived at the dormitory, they came in front of a big bulletin board.
"Come on Seina. let's see what it says!"
"Is this ... .... a room change?"
On the bulletin was a notice that the freshman students rooms were being changed.
"Since this dormitory is a quite old and historical building, it's been designated as a historical site, and it was decided that they would carry out renovations on it when the sophomore's ended their practical training."
"............"
Seina looked at it blankly, but Kenneth and Rajau were excited.He didn't get why they were excited.
Kenneth pointed happily at a section that looked like a small island, cut off from the other rooms.
"Ha ha ha! This is a prime location, close to dining halls and the large public bath facilities, and everything else ..."
Kenneth and Rajau once again grabed Seina and ran into the back of the building with another bulletin board. Because of Kenneth 's excitement, Seina hadn't noticed how loud the chatter in the building was.
"Is there something going on?"
"If you look, you'll understand!"
Everyone of the first year students gathered there, and they were excited, they were watching something. However, Seina did not see what it was there in too many people in the way.
"Seina, here we are."
Kenneth pulled Seina and went over to a gate installed with a guarded fence,
On it was written "Off limits except for officials."
"Kenneth, it says entry is prohibited except for officials! "
Kenneth forcibly pulled Seina, and then Rajau pushed him from behind.
"It's Okay, we are officials."They proudly said at the same time
"Ah, there's Seina!"
When one of the students said that, all of them started gazing towards Seina, all at the same time.
"Shit! what a Lucky guy! I'm jealous!"
"Why is it only Seina's group that gets to live there?"
"Come on!" Kenneth and Rajau pulled Seina and walked backward while waving with cheesy smiles to their classmates who yelled at them.
Women came out who worked in the back, they were dressed as researchers they turned to Seina,
"Oh, I'm sorry for the inconvenience please come back this way."
"Oh no. it's no inconvenience at all."
"Thank you ladies very much, im sure your job is hard work."
said Kenneth and Rajau who followed happily while dragging Seina.
"Oh so your the rumored Seina Yamada. Nice to meet you, I am Hakuren."
There was Hakuren in a researcher's lab coat, Her, Karen, Suiren and Gyokuren smiled at Seina.
(I should've expected something like this)
-------
"It's quite wide, isn't it? It's supposed to be a brand new unit."
Seina 's room was a very large room and the living room made of timber, it was very luxurious. Nonetheless, for Seina, who lived in Amane 's mansion, it seemed quite narrow and plain. His room at Amane's house was too wide, so Seina placed furniture in a space of about six tatami mats, in it. However, in the six-tatami wide room surrounded by walls it felt oppressive.
"Well, yeah ... that's right."
"Kenneth, even if it's a new model, there's not much difference with it so far from a functional point of view, so it is reasonable to say that this is just a new standard"
"New standard?"
"Well, The GP is how it is because it was formed from the military, they didn't place much emphasis on living comfort, but recently due to the expansion of our home delivery services and population increase due to the expansion of the residential planet area, The scale of the GP itself has been expanded.In other words, they can't do business if they don't use people who are highly skilled, so think of it as them bribing us ... .... "
"Rajau, that's a troublesome explanation, think of it in other words, like it's food for new recruits, but it's more than that, Seina! You saw it, they have beautiful ~ ~, women... like her!"
Kenneth said
"Well, yeah ... well ... uhm"
Seina replied To Kenneth in a puzzled manner.
"Hey, what's up with that kind of response? You rarely get to see such beautiful women! Or is it something else? I know you always get to look at Professor Amane, but don't you think it's awesome?"
"Who needs Amane, Gyokuren is just as beautiful ... ...."
"That's right! but in a completely contrasting way."
"I wonder where they got such beautiful girls from they're not people from the academy, their probably from some laboratory. "
"I know we can make use of this lucky situation better than that."
"I agree."
"Lucky situation?"Seina made a mysterious murmur.
he understood what Kenneth thought. but just responded to the word lucky with a sense of incongruity.
"We are currently in an area where general students can't enter, and the area is great, in the immediate neighborhood of our building is the residential facility for our staff! How can you call that anything other then lucky? "
(It is more intentional than lucky ... ... and blatant too.)
Seina thought of kiriko's face if she knew about this.
--------
Kiriko confronted Seto in the Juraian mansion near the a secret lake, ten thousand kilometers away, that Miki had shown seina.
"This is just too blatant!"
Kiriko complained to seto about Hakuren 's group's assignment.
"dispatching them as maids was bad enough this time is practically a joke. researchers?! and there only assigned to Seina's team, too!"
"Well I can't send a maid to a male student dormitory at the GP, now can I ?"
"There are other ways to escort him in secrecy!"
"It's already pretty crowded over there. Around Seina, a lot of people are hiding in the congested traffic of the daily commuting rush."
"Well then you should have them guard him from afar!"
"Like we did with him and Tennyo ?"
"!!"As soon she heard this phrase, Kiriko was shocked and stiffened like someone caught committing a crime.
"We were just lucky that this time it was someone from our family he encountered ... ..."Seto said that calmly in front of Kiriko who seemed like she was about to cry.
"I don't know why your so upset about it, but as for how they guard Seina, The scene is flexible, ... Their orders aren't set in stone"Stimulated by Seto 's words, Kiriko's expression changed.
"Sometimes it's better to let everyone air our their anger or sadness, there are cases where it's better not to give them the time to think about it."
Seto said in response to kiriko who was lost in thought over the situation with Miki.
"I know you don't feel sad about Miki, But you hate seeing Seina upset like this."Seto told Kiriko
"I don't know why your so worried now you have the romantic advantage over seina again ..."
"I don't know what your talking about, I don't like him like that!"
"Oh ~ ~ Ho ho ho! Hakuren-chan isn't your only enemy"
Seto laughed
"at this rate your just about as likely to loose him to Minaho-chan!"
"With the way you keep me busy I doubt it."
Minaho chimed in she came closer to Kiriko and blocked seto's line of sight.
"You know she's only picking on you because your making such strange faces"
"... ... ... If anything she should be showing that kind of face to seina not to me. Hey Minaho, get out of the way!"
"It's time for us to go!" minaho said to her in a cold tone. she began to pull seto by the collar without mercy towards the door.
"But I want to stay and have some more fun!"
"You already enjoyed this situation enough."
Minaho's tone was quiet but there was a feeling of intimidation in her voice.
"Hey Minaho, just give me five more minutes."
"Stop resisting."
"ok what about three minutes ... ..."
Seto's weak voice begged as she was dragged into the other room
"Was she just pulling Seto-sama out of here by the neck?" amane said coming in with Erma to replace the two
"She's treating her just like Airi."
"It's amazing to see such a sight."
"Oh yeah ............ speaking of that, what's up with you Kiriko, are you still depressed?"
Amane sat beside Kiriko and nudged her shoulder somewhat roughly .
"What's important that Seina gets back to normal, right? Even though meeting Tennyo seems to have gotten him on the right track, it still hasn't cured the problem, I'm sure there are plenty of things we can still do ... Well, as for those maids of ours, that's another story, isn't it? "
Amane said as she smiled.
Kiriko looked at Amane, sighed and gave a bitter smile.
"Certainly, there are cases where it's better not to give them the time to think about such things."
"So ... Kiriko, what are you going to do specifically?"
"... Well ... for the time being, I have a pretty good idea."
"oh, I wonder if you could tell me?"
"Ok"
she whispered to Amane.
"Oh that's right! This is the prefect time for that!"
-----------------
Seina was starting to feel a sense of discomfort with Kenneth and Rajau who had seemingly forgotten about mourning over Miki.
(Kenneth has a light hearted personality but he is quite naive, but Rajau is more serious then this usualy ... ...)
They had a totally different atmosphere from the heavy feeling one of this morning.
Kenneth's enthusiasm was unnaturally high. The incident with Miki was very shocking to Seina. Fortunately, by reuniting with Tennyo, he had regained some sense of direction, and Seina was able to recover. But ... ... ...,
(……Oh, I see)
At that time, Seina noticed that Kenneth was desperately trying to find something that could help them forget the situation.
Seina 's team and Miki' s team got along well even though it was only for a short period. Kenneth's relationship was not yet serious with Miranda and Rajau with Caliche, but they started to like each other. However, they were directly connected to Miki's case. That's why they felt that they wanted to forget it, and put it behind them. Indeed, as a way to forget Miranda and Caliche, they were trying to get absorbed in other women.
Seina remembered the admiration he had for Kiriko, which he had been holding on to for more than 10 years and how he felt when she was far away.
"... ... So Seina, should we invite them to go on a date"
"uhm... yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! wait what now?"
"Apparently they don't seem to be staff from the Academy, and fortunately, they seem to be interested in you."
"If so, we can make up an excuse to guide them through Academy, they will probably say yes to that."
"And with Seina's abundant finances, we can show them one heck of a good time too"
"Finances? I have no money... oh ...!"
Seina remembered the money he had to buy food that he had when he first came to the dormitory.
(Oh, right, I haven't even touched that ... since I was at Amane's house, I've had everything taken care of for me... ....)
With the funds in Seina's account, they could have gone on a pretty fancy date.
But they were going to ask out seto's female officers.
(it's going to be hard to beat the hospitality inside that ship, I have compared and examined on the internet some of the things I had there, ... the same dinner I had there would cost almost all my savings ... and that " Shinju sake ", or well in my case it was a juice .... is more than a thousand times what i have ... ...)
Of course, he was sure hakuren wouldn't care about how expensive the date was but he wasn't so sure about gyokuren.
"That's a perfect idea, Kenneth!"
"Ha ha ha! good! then Soon we will carry out our strategy!"
(Well, if I can distract Kenneth from his feelings with my savings, I guess it's okay. I wonder if chicken meat is within our budget?)
Seina thought while watching Kenneth 's happy face. But Kenneth's plan was never put into practice.
a monitor came up before them
"Do you have Yamada Seina with you?"the dormitory staff asked
Seina stood and saluted before the monitor.
"Seina Yamada, this is urgent, come to Amane Kaunaq and Masaki Kiriko's office immediately"
"Yes sir."
Seina went to their classroom were he was told he would be getting his second round of bio-enhancement immediately.
----
later as Seina was sleeping Hiroshi visited Kirche In the VR world in which Kirchelived inside of NB. To be exact, his subconscious mind was uploaded there as he slept.
an alarm clock began to sound. It was a signal that Seina 's body had fallen asleep. an avatar of seina's sleeping self arrived in the VR world. As usual, as Kirche waited for Seina by his bed, She would wake him soon and be with him in the VR world as he dreamed.
"What is this ...?"
Miki's father, Hiroshi, was sitting opposite of Kirche, Hiroshi looked around and looked at seina's face. the alarm stopped.
"i hope you don't mind"
Kirche started talking about Miki's personal data transfer, which happened this morning.
It was a momentary event. Miki's physical data began to appear suddenly in front of Kirsch's eyes.
"... .... Kirche Why did you ask me here ... ...?"
They kept on with their conversation.
"I wanted to show you this!"
Miki who had failed to transfer left a letter with Kirche and disappeared.
"……it's my fault"
The NB could support two astrals at once, But kirche had rejected Miki's attempt to move in because she didn't know her.
"It's ok don't blame yourself, this isn't your fault"
Hiroshi said while taking Miki 's letter.
"Judging from the transfer log, the transfer was incomplete anyways, there was a high possibility that the connection was lost in the middle."
"But ..."
"You know that Miki is a Pinocchio, Miki is still out there somewhere... It's ok. it was an event that you didn't anticipate, It's natural you were confused.Nevertheless, without you we wouldn't have been able to receive this letter. There is a high possibility that even this would have disappeared. Thank you very much. "
Hiroshi bowed his head deeply towards Kirche.
"... What do you think of me?"
"What do you mean ...?"
" What do you think about me running away from my father, to live in such a place ... regardless of his intentions, I'm forced to stay in this place ..."
Kirche said with a puzzled look
Previously, she had asked this to Airi. However, she wanted to ask someone who had built an AI Like her and Hiroshi was Miki's maker. Hiroshi, understood her intentions.
"............ Who cares where you live in this world as long as you're living in it."
he said smoothly with an ordinary tone
"huh?"
"That is to say, Your a celebrity, you have a job supporting yourself, You can afford to do whatever you want ... ... Your creator is just another person, an ordinary adult. But your an Astral AI, You've still got a lot of living to do, Your life just started. Even so you've already become an idol. I think you should be more confident in yourself. "
"…………I……"
Tears came out of Kirche's eyes. But they were tears of joy, not sorrow. Kirche wasn't confident that she was her own person. She had trouble erasing the thought that her creator owned her.
Kirche looked around Seina's bedroom.
"You're not alone, Airi supports your decision 100% and is completely fine with you staying here. You know the consciousness of Seina here affects him in the real world and right now Seina is very mentally injured. "
"Can I heal Seina?" Kirsch asked, Hiroshi smiled and nodded.
"As a man, I'm envious of Seina and all the attractive women like you who surround him. But, as Miki's father, I have mixed feelings in knowing that she has such a strong rival for seina's affection."
"I think Miki is safe, don't you?"
"of course"
"If there is something you need help with just let me know and I'll help."
"Thank you ...... I know it's soon but can i ask for one now?"
"Sure"
"Will you change NB back to normal?"
---------
Hiroshi regained consciousness as tsukiko and hakuryo observed him. he got up quickly and looked at the NB. it had returned to it's original sphere shape.
"Well, I got the necessary information. Hakuryo can you come help me, please? I wan't to get this deencrypted as quickly as possible."
Hiroshi then headed for his research space and Hakuryo followed him.
-------
Kirche was thinking to herself while looking at the sofa where Hiroshi was earlier.
(I can heal Seina's heart.)
Just thinking about it made her excited.
Even if Seina's couldn't see her in the real world, she was glad that she realized that she could do something for Seina.
Kirche hurried to the kitchen, she made sure that the dishes she made for Seina were ready and took a big deep breath, she went into Seina's bedroom. She didn't want to wake him up so she
snuck in slowly and quietly and went into the dim room where the curtain were closed. on the full size bed in the center of the room she saw seina fast asleap, Kirsch came up to the edge of the bed and gently reached for Seina, and began rocking his body.
"Seina, Seina"
As usual Seina woke up to Kirche's voice.
------------
The next morning.
In Seina's room in Amane 's penthouse, the four girls of Hakuren's group were wearing maid dress and Kiriko were preparing breakfast in the same way as usual.
"Kiriko-sama, You're sure are smothering poor seina."
Gyokuren glared at kiriko wiping the baby table.
"Seto-sama's orders where ridiculous"
"We just wanted Seina to get better, it was purely in his best interest."
"Well then it doesn't matter where he does that then now does it!?"
Aside from that commotion, Seina was communicating with Kenneth behind a Privacy Wall.
(Kenneth, are you alright? when I woke up I was back in Amane's household)
he said confusedly to Kenneth.
"Oh Seina, good morning. How is Your physical condition? "
"Good morning Rajau. There's nothing wrong with my body ... well nothing more then usual ... I hope you don't mind me moving out."
"We Don't mind."
"huh?"
"Actually, I heard from Miranda and Caliche yesterday,"
"oh Miki-senpai's classmates?"
"Yeah, We wanted to hang out but we didn't want to bum you out"
"Oh by the way when they called you, Hakuren and the others all left too..."
Kenneth was sad to see them go but was happy that Miranda and Kaliche had gotten in touch with them.
Seina decided not to tell him that hakuren's people had come with him to amane's
Amane called seina from outside the privacy wall
"Are you going to stay in there all day? hurry up breakfast is going to get cold. "
Although it had been more than a month since he began living with Amane, Amane's beauty still had such power that it pulled on one's spirit and hypnotized seina. Her beauty and tone was just like the dance of Uzume to seina and he was Amaterasu. We was lured out of the cave of Iwato that was his privacy wall.
"Ok I'm coming right now!" seina said cheerfully and he lowered the privacy wall and hurried over to Amane.
"Oh you finally came out, did you sleep well last night, Is there anything wrong with your body?"
"No, I'm in good shape, I slept very well and I feel great."
"Well, then sit down and eat!"
Kiriko placed Miso soup in front of seina and sat next to Amane.
the table surrounded by Amane, Erma, Hakuren, Gyokuren, Karen, Suiren, invited Seina warmly like the light of sunny days.
------------
In contrast to that ... ............
In a dimly lit room where test tubes and flasks were the only thing that glistened with light, there were devices similar to torture devices and various meters. In a laboratory that seemed to come out of a gothic horror movie from earth, a person in white lab clothes was up to no good.
In a glowing glass tube, sparks of light discharged, it was Airi and she had bandages wrapped all over her face and had a crazy look in her eyes.
"Huhuhuhu ... ... Come now, my servant, let's have party"
Seina's NB floated in front of Airi' s eerily laughing face. Several light spots began to appear one after another in that tube.
"Ahahahaha ~ ~! I'll show you all, I'll show you ~~~ ... oh? huh?"
The lights came on to reveal it was just Airi's office.
"Good morning! I hope you don't mind were here early for work today."
Airi's secretaries said coming in.
Airi stiffened.
"Why did you have to disturb me i was having a moment!"
Airi said unwrapping the bandages and taking off the white coat it was perfect for the atmosphere of her laboratory, but it looked dumb and severely out of place in her office.
"Anyway, why are you interrupting me for no good reason?" airi shouted in embarrassment
as one of the secretaries launched a monitor and went to there desk
"Hey ...... Don't ignore me!"
"I'll get started on my work for the day soon."
However, the secretaries were completely ignoring Airi and were quickly absorbed in their work.
"I'll begin my work soon too."
"…………Hey you. why did you interrupt my moment!"
"I'll begin my work soon as well."
"…………ughhhhhhhhh"
"…………Hey you. why did you interrupt my moment!"
"I'll begin my work soon."
"…………that's not what i asked"
"I'll begin my work soon."
"…………Hey you. why did you interrupt my moment!"
"I'll begin my work soon."
"…………that's what the other one said"
"…………Hey you. why did you interrupt my moment!"
"I'll begin my work soon."
"Fine get started! I hate you! I hate everyone!"
Airi headed for her seat crying.
That day, Seina had a communication class as usual in his room.
"Well then see you tomorrow"
"Yeah, see you soon"
When the class was over, Seina briefly talked with Kenneth and Rajau and turned off the monitor.
Suiren, Knocked and came in with a box made of paulownia wood.
"Excuse me, I have a delivery for you Seina ... ...."
Suiren gently placed the paulownia box on the small coffee table next to seina
"Oh, thank you ... .... Oh, is this?"
Seina, was familiar with the box.
"Yes, it was delivered earlier from Airi-san's studio"
"Oh, I guess they fixed it ..."
When Seina began to remove the seal on the paulownia box, he was puzzled as to whether to open the lid or not.
"huh? What's the matter"
"oh... nothing ... ... I'm just not prepared for it to start talking to me in Airi's voice again ..."
"Oh ... ... That's right"
Suiren smiled a little and laughed.
"Your laughing?"
Seina was as a bit surprised.
"... ... Is that so strange?"
"It's not strange thing to do ... But it's strange for you ... I haven't even seen you smile Suiren ............ your face is always so expressionless, this is the first time I've seen you make such a face... ...."
Suiren was always quiet and had little facial expression changes compared to other maids. Hakuren was very intellectual and took the role as leader a lot, an Karen was always very active and tomboyish, And Gyokuren had a beautiful appearance comparable to Amane mixed with a dangerous atmosphere. Among them, Suiren was very quiet, if she stood silently,she had a presence like mannequin or a doll ... no, less presence than that. so today, Seina was seeing Suiren express herself for the first time.
( Suiren is the only one among the four that wear glasses ... ... but It feels more like she does it to seem cute rather than intellectual)Seina thought while looking at her
(But, indeed, she is also quite a beautiful person ... ...)
"... Seina, You shouldn't stare at me like that. It's rude."
Suiren suddenly blushed and turned away.
"Oh... oh! sorry"
Seina blushed and diverted his eyes in the same way.
Seina was surrounded by women like Kiriko and Amane. In order to live with top models and women who are comparable in beauty to famous actresses, it was necessary to numb him self to their beauty and to shield his mind. Otherwise it would be like torture for a young man like Seina. But even with his shields up, the sight in front of him fascinated him.
(Calm down ...... Calm down!)
Seina desperately tried to restore the shield of his heart. when suddenly:
"Hey there, Mister! Will Ya let me outta here! "
the box shook vigerously as NB yelled from inside.
"Oh sorry about that."
Suiren bowed and left the room. Seina opened the lid of the paulownia box.
"Oh, I thought I was gonna suffocate in there."
NB came out swiftly like the contents of a Jack in the box.
"Hmm... the setting seems to be the same as before."
Seina looked for the place where he Usualy stored NB's box but he forgot where that was.
"Uhm NB, where was your box, where did i put it before? ............ NB?"
Seina wondered why there was no response from NB, he looked at NB but it wasn't there.
"Where did it go?"
he looked around but NB wasn't in the room and a few minutes later the first angry shout of the day was heard.
After an hour, everyone living in Amane's residence gathered in the living room and was staring at NB.
"Why were you poking around my private bathroom for?"
"I just thought I'd reconfirm the layout after all it's been a while since I've been here."
"Well then why are you peeking at people's chest and up their skirts?"
"I just following my programming young lady. My personality is set to "Old man of a Hundred Erections" In fact it was you Amane who originally installed it in me"
everyone but Amane glared at Amane. But Amane smiled a fearless smile.
"Ha ha! Don't go telling lies now! OH JEEZE that Airi is sure determined to bother us Isn't she?!"
"Name one time!" Nb said
"I can name several!"
"mmhmm!" Everyone said at the same time.
"Airi is so immature"
"Ah! ... ... that reminds me the chief secretary told me she was acting strangely when he came into work today... ..." Erma said.
Nb became transparent and disappeared suddenly.
"HEY WHERE DID IT GO!"
"Well, I guess that it has optical camouflage features now"
Amane smiled and reached out sideways grabbing the invisible NB.
"How did you find me ...!?"
NB appeared in a Amane's hand. All of the women there had received a wide variety of advanced training. Everyone blocked off any escape route the NB had keeping it trapped with Amane.
"Erma you know what to do with it right?"
"Roger that"
Erma pierced a debugging terminal into NB roughly.
"Oh! Oww ... ... please be more gentle with me then that ... ...."
A pattern like a circuit diagram emerged from Amane's arm and held NB in place. It was a guardian who had the power to crush NB very easily.
Lets see it. it looks like Several hundred plug-ins have been installed recently... let's see... "Old man of 100 erections" ............ "sexual harassment" "peeping" "voyeurism"
"What the heck is the president of the Academy thinking installing crap like that, can you delete them all? maybe we better revert it back to it's factory default state?"
"But Amane... remember it's factory default state ..."
"Oh, That's right it has Airi-sama's voice ... Well, after installing that old man voice, it still didn't begin to have this kind of behavior, so i guess if we just delete the new plug-in software and dubious programs, There shouldn't be any more problem. "
"roger that"
Erma began to delete the files when
"Ahh!"
Suddenly Erma stopped her hand and raised her voice.
"What happened?"
"Were's seina's friendship folder it's all gone!"
"I erased it."
"Why did you do that kiriko? Are you afraid he'll think about any other girl besides then you when he ..."
"What was that!"
Kiriko glared a terrible look, at Hakuren as the others were holding her mouth shut.
"Erma! You shouldn't bring up things like that"
Erma pointed to the monitor to Amane with an amazed face.
"huh what are these strange folders ............"
"Odd folders?"
"is this someone's personal data? it looks like real data."
"Oh, yeah, it looks interesting, let's run it for a bit."
"Amane!"
before Kiriko could stop them, Erma launched the data.
As soon as it started, the NB that Amane held began pulsating and began to take shape.
"Whose personal data is it exactly?"
Amane put NB on the floor and gazed it with interest
"Oh ... ... ahhhhhhhhhh"
NB let out a somewhat sexy voice and began deforming into a doll glittering.
"............ It looks like Amane ...."Erma said.
Amane's face formed.
Normaly Personal data, even if it reproduced Amane's stellar figure, couldn't reproduce her presence or appeal.
it was just a doll without a soul However, as NB changed into Amane, it had enough charm to put all the people there in bondage. It was like the birth of Venus.
However, the moment NB took the shape of Amane 's plump breasts, Kiriko reflexively kicked NB Amane in the face. It was a kind of defensive reaction to her not wanting Seina to see such a sight. and she began to punch it with tremendous momentum as it deformed like clay from her punches.
"Oh! No! Kiriko-san stop !!"
Erma panicked and stopped the program.
NB returned to a spherical shape and let out a sound as if the air was escaping a balloon, Kiriko looked down at it expressionlessly.
"Kiriko! Don't just start suddenly kicking things. you'll break it!"
"That woman. I'm going to kill her."
kiriko said
Kiriko turned to Erma.
"Please erase it all!"
"Yes, right away!"
?Erma, terrified by Kiriko's murderous intent reflexively began deleting files right away.
"What a waste that was a good copy..."
"It's no joke! As far as can tell it wasn't modified from an existing AV model's file."
"... ... ... ... ... It's a shame I really want to check and see what Airi programmed that thing to do, ha ha ha."
" not going to lie ... ... I came a little ... ..." said Gyokuren.
erma and hakuren looked at her with a strange expressions.
That's just how pretty Amane's data was.
"It's rare to see such work from a philosopher ... .... and all of our data seems to be in here."
"This isn't a joke ..."
Kiriko yelled.
Amane covered her mouth with her hand.
"Let's vote! Those wishing to see more raise your hand!"
Amane said to the others.
"Hmm ... ... that makes six people against Kiriko, Seina is a minor, he will have to leave ... Kiriko go take seina into the other room and wait for us!" amane removed her hand from kiriko's mouth
"Wait a minute!"
" what Kiriko...you want to see it too don't you... be honest"
kiriko looked around at everyone, except gyokuren who hid herself from her view.
"fine! but delete it once you're done"
"Is everyone okay with that?"
they all nodded.
"Right well then let's hurry up and check inside"
Kiriko took seina and left the room
"... ... There like little boys taking porn to school to show there friends when no one's around ... ... ... hey seina you have school work to do why don't you get started on it"
Seina sat down, launched a monitor and began working. Kiriko left to go check out the personal data.
---------
Approximately two hours later, Seina finished his work for the day, kiriko went to check up on him and when she went back into the the living room she noticed NB on the sofa.
"I deleted all the suspicious things. but i made a backup of our personal data." erma said
kiriko headed to the kitchen to make dinner with Karen. And everyone except Gyokuren headed for their own room.
Everyone was still mentally exhausted, so nobody noticed the situation of happening between the seina and gyokuren.
Seina and Gyokuren were never supposed to be alone in the same room.
"Wow this sure is something, It doesn't even have a scratch on it after that... I wonder if they uninstalled that old man voice."
Seina looked down at the NB On the sofa, with a puzzled expression.
"So...Seina... how would you like it if I put my personal data back on that Nb of yours."
"Ah! What! Oh! Gyokuren, When did you get in here?"
Seina jolted up from the sofa surprised.
"You know even though they deleted it, I think I could make you a copy of all of our personal data if you wanted. Do you think you would ever use them?" Gyokuren said smiling seductively at Seina Seina sensed something strange, his self defense instinct went off. He was on red alert.
"Sounds interesting but I'd rather you didn't." seina said. he got up and started walking away up the stairs to escape from her. But when Seina got up the stairs, he heard a voice like a Ghost behind him coming from Gyokuren .
"Please don't be scared."
It was her usual glossy and quiet tone, but for some reason it made Seina 's heart strangely uneasy.
"Gyokuren ......?"
When seina turned around what he saw looked like a silhouette of a back lit sunset.
Gyokuren's overwhelming beauty disappeared and it seems that he saw her true essence. Gyokuren was standing like a child who stood as if she was abandoned and ostracized. Seina caught sight of that image of Gyokuren.
(...... She looks like I did in the past)
Seina was well aware of the his bad luck and of Gyokuren's beauty, but not it's essence, or the suffering and loneliness it brought her. Of course there was a possibility that it was a trap of Gyokuren's, Seina had no choice but to try to shake her off and run away.
"Is there something wrong?"
Looking back at Seina, Gyokuren caressed his head strangely. Seina's expression was so serious looking that gyokuren was caught off gaurd.
Seina did not answer Gyokuren 's question, but he approached her and got closer then he had ever before. but it was the same distance that Kiriko, Tsukiko, Kiyone and Tennyo stayed when Young Seina was sad in pain. Of course, Gyokuren was used to people coming up close to her but this was the first time seina had done it.
"What's wrong, Seina?"
Gyokuren was terribly confused. she suddenly had a strong urge to attack him. Because of seina Something slowly had been triggered in her unconscious mind where a tremendous destructive power was hidden.
------
Kiriko and Karen went into the kitchen and started cooking diner.
"What's wrong with airi, I can't believe she put such things in seina's NB ..."
"it's both high functioning and useless."
"Well ... the Personal data on it was super-sophisticated, it could be used even for the highest degree of medical simulation"
"I never heard of any personal data that could eat and excrete before."
"Well Airi is a philosopher so it makes since .... I bet that damn thing could even get pregnant if she wanted it to, she probably only left that out for moral reasons ...."
"The clothes selection was great too wasn't it?"
Karen remembered.
"Certainly, there were tremendous amounts of data from underwear to accessories,"
There was data of Kiriko inside of NB and data of everyone else too and a wide variety of costumes. One of the reasons why Kiriko took a long time to come back to the living room was because she was playing dressing up with the data.
"But there is no reason Seina should have such data."
"Especially if he's taking it around in public"
"Yeah! I'd hate to have that data stolen."
" .... I think the only one of us who wouldn't mind is Gyokuren."
".................. wait a second.....!"
finally Kiriko noticed that Gyokuren and Seina had been left alone in the living room together. they ran toward the living room. Karen soon noticed Kiriko's reasons for running and followed her.
(That girl! I bet she is trying to give him back our personal data.)
Kiriko, who had ran into the living room with terrible momentum, was puzzled by the strange atmosphere of the two facing each other and stopped.
"What ... ... ...?"
Karen covered kiriko's mouth and held her back as she tried to approach two.
Kiriko noticed Karen was nervous and froze up.
Both Karen and Kiriko weren't alone in the living room. Almost at the same time Amane and Erma, and Hakuren and Suiren also came running in. Like Karen, Hakuren and Suiren also noticed the appearance of Gyokuren and stopped instantaneously on the spot. But the problem was Amane and Erma.
(Please don't do it!)
At that time, Karen, Hakuren, as Suiren saw Amane and prayed for her. Fortunately, Amane, who had a sharp intuition, instantly read Gyokuren 's strange appearance and Karen' s expression, and grabbed Erma and led her back out of the room. Kiriko left too.
"What's going on Karen? "
Kiriko spoke to Karen using a special radio normaly used during battle. But Karen did not reply, she and hakuren were staring at Suiren's face. A few minutes later, Suiren looked at Gyokuren slowly, the attack impulse faded away from Gyokuren and she fainted into Seina's embrace.
-------
Everyone but seina was gathered over gyokuren's unconscious body as she laid in bed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well ... ... uhm, I thought that something like this might happen ... Gyokuren is holding a darkness in the bottom of her heart ... ... she is a complex girl, It seems to be the root of her charm. "
"Even though I have a sharp intuition like Amane, It still was able to hurt me."
Karen pressed her left arm as she said that and sighed. There was no visible scar, but she had been hurt by Gyokuren there in the past.
"... .... Gyokuren really dislikes others getting deep into her psyche .... No, dislikes may be putting it a bit wrong, It's more like something lives down there and it likes to hurt people who get close enough to see it."
"So basically we left a child to play carefree around a landmine."
"That's a good way to put it amane, even for us who have known her a long time, only Karen and Seina, and one other person has ever seen it."
"Did that person end up hurt like Karen?"
"Yes, With Seina-sama who knows what would have happened.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, everyone"
"!"
everyone was surprised by Gyokuren's voice she got out of bed. she stared at kiriko like a carnivore would it's prey.
"but... I'm glad the cat is out of the bag."
Gyokuren smiled with a demonic appearance that was more powerful than it ever was before.
"Gyokuren, I don't want to interview you about your past, but is seina going to be safe with you and your condition around?"
Kiriko stood up and glared back at her to resist the intimidation she was feeling.
When it came to seina she was like a mother bear.
Amane got away from Kiriko and Gyokuren, and moved to a place out of the potential damage zone.
"...... It's like watching a godzilla battle about to go down isn't it?"
"I'll ask again, Is Seina going to be Ok?"
"Well ... he's already been to the inside of my mind, I was honestly surprised when he did, I tried reflexively to kill Seina, but ............"
"!!"
As soon as that was said, Kiriko 's defensive instinct raged a tremendous momentum.
"... ... I will withdraw the previous statement ... It would be better to say it's like waiting to watch a shooting match between two large Mecha."
Erma said with a carefree tone
"Hey Amane can you two protect us if things get ugly?" the three girls asked
"Why don't you try using NB as a shield"
"No don't tell them to do that. NB will be destroyed!" erma said
Kiriko groaned. Gyokuren suddenly broke her serious expression and laughed.
"Please calm down, Kiriko-sama, you will never have to worry about me hurting seina due to my condition."
"... How do you know that?"
" because I'm not prepared or qualified to hurt people who managed to step deep into my heart"
Kiriko understood. She was drawn to him by his bad luck but the strength of his heart had changed the outcome of the situation with Gyokuren just like it had done Widow. she had deep feelings for him that were close to admiration and respect. Gyokuren and widow are like a living venom that destroys others. But Seina's personality gave him the strength not to be poisoned by it.
(Has the darkness in Gyokuren 's heart acknowledged Seina?)
"Yes"Gyokuren said as if she was reading Kiriko's mind.
"... ... ... You knew what I was thinking, alright then... well Karen, It's getting late, let's hurry and prepare dinner.... ."
Kiriko diverted her eyes from Gyokuren and went for the exit.
"Kiriko ... .... do you understand what Gyokuren meant."
Amane said stopping kiriko
"She acknowleged Seina in the deepest part in her heart"
"So?"
Kiriko stared at Amane 's face strangely.
Kiriko was insensitive about it making sense to Amane because it was the most obvious thing in the world to her and all she cared about was whether Gyokuren hurt Seina or not. As the matter was settled, her vigilance toward Gyokuren had diminished.
"How do you not understand when I say this? He is the first person of the opposite sex that I have allowed to enter the bottom of my heart"
"What? ... ... ... ... ah!"
Kiriko finally noticed what it meant, with astonishment, and looked at Gyokuren again.
The power that Seina accumulated since childhood attracts only troublesome women. That was also part of seina's bad luck.
"shit.." of all the girls here who was a challenger for seina's affection, kiriko thought gyokuren was the biggest threat in the beauty department
"Gyokuren!"
Thus again the giant mecha fight broke out again.
------------------------
" ... I'm soooooo hungry, ... ...."
At that time, in the living room, Seina was holding onto a sofa a cushion as he endured his hunger.
------------
"oh my..."
in washu's lab Seto was reading the report on the incident that Minaho had given her with interest as she drank tea.
Washu came out of door with Noike supporting her by the shoulder.
"How is Astral Link going? Washu-chan."
"I just finished the transition to the core for the time being"
Washu who sat on a big cushion smiled at Seto.
Her left shoulder changed into the same type of crystal as the hull of Ryo-Ohki, in which the fetus like body of an bean sized animal was sealed.
------------------------------------------------
By the way remember the box art for washu for OVA 3?
google tenchi ova 3 episode 5 dvd look at her shoulder...
That was deicting this scene.and this scene can safely be said to happen right after nobuyuki's wedding in ova 4.
-------------------------------------------------
"speaking of Seina, he sure is having a hard time lately, I dont like it."
"Aren't you interested in why women keep being drawn to him?"
"I've tried to find that out but I don't have any solid answers yet do you?"
"I'm surprised ...... To be honest, it's quite interesting that Seina's probability bias is managing to attract people so much ... ... I should've made him a guinea pig while he was here on earth. " Washu grinned holding her fists up in a chaotic manner.
"This is a report that just came in earlier,"
Seto moved the monitor plate she was reading in front of Washu's eyes.
It was about what happened with gyokuren.
"...? ......... uhuhuhuh, what a splendid encounter, but as I expected it seems that everything worked out smoothly"
Washu finished checking and roughly poked the monitor plate with her little finger. The monitor plate stopped in front of Noike this time.
"oh! ...... Gyokuren and ... ... Kiriko seem to be giving him quite a hard time" Noike stared at Seto knowing full well seto was to blame for this.
Noike was also seto's daughter and like Minaho, with whom she felt like she was her bigger sister, she understood how tiring it was to deal with seto's shenanigans.
Especially because she had to deal with Mihoshi's on a daily basis.
the two often would meet up with food and alcohol in each others private rooms several times a year just to vent their daily frustrations.
Washu saw a glimpse of Seto. Seto who noticed it smiled back.
"Hahaha ......... Hey Seto If you want I can check on things again?"
"Did you find out something about the astral link?"
" that's a secret"
"Sorry, Ms.goddess."
"I think it is unnecessary to worry about because there is almost no possibility, but ... well what do you think about adopting kiriko?"
Washu noticed noike's reaction. noike was sent in order to keep an eye on tenchi's house which had quite a concentration of military power and it seemed like she was suggesting that might happen with Seina.
?
"Indeed ... ... That would be interesting"
"I thought you would say that, I think this daughter of mine is going to be made into a different concept from Ryo-Ohki. all I can say is... well.. look forward to it."
When Washu said that, there was a sound of the bell attached to the door leading to the Masaki family house, Ryo-ohki and Sasami came in
"Noike, it's about time for lunch ..."
Sasami said pausing at the door
"Myaaa!"
Ryo-Ohki, who was on her shoulder, suddenly ran towards Washu when she noticed something.
"ryo-chan!"
"I have already talked about it, so it's fine."
Washu beckoned to Sasami who tried to stop Ryo-Ohki. Seto also smiled nicely and nodded.
"Grandmother, are you busy today as well?"
Sasami asked as she came running over to Washu.
"We can do something together around noon."
"Yay!....oh !??"
Sasami clung to the shoulder of Washu and noticed Ryo-Ohki watching something. there was a crystal on Washu's shoulder at the end of her line of sight.
"Washu ... ... your shoulder, what's wrong?"
Washu smiled to get rid of Sasami's worries.
" I'm planning to build a new ship.This child is its core"
"For who?"
"Myaaah!Myaaah!"
"No, Ryo-Ohki. this child hasn't been born yet, she can't play with you."
Washu looked into the crystal and pulled a squealing Ryo-Ohki off and gave her to Sasami. sasami stroked Ryo's head to calm her down.
"This child will be Seina's ship, but it's a secret."
"oh... is that why we haven't seen you for dinner in so long."
"I have to transfer it to it's eggshell today, I will be up for dinner tomorrow."
"Yay!"
"Noike, can you help me prepare the meal?"
"Okay, let's go, Sasami-chan"
Sasami took off with Noike and they went back to the living room.
When Sasami and Noike went out Washu rushed up to seto really close by scooting up to her.
"I'll my send what i'm planning to you later"
Seto got close to Washu's side and supported her body by holding her arm,
"... this crystal is troublesome, but this is comfortable."
When she said that, seto picked up Washu and took her down the stairs.
----------------------------
end of chapter two
next chapter is the events of episode 8
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