Volume 10, Chapter 11

It was in darkness.

Despite its consciousness being awakened, it could not move the physical body.

The eyes wouldn't open. The ears wouldn't hear.

The sense of smell and the sense of touch also wouldn’t work.

If it were human, it would have probably gone mad in half a day. Nevertheless, it was not human. In the usual meaning of the words, it was not a living thing.

It could wait forever. After all, it did not possess the concept of what is called a life span. Since its consciousness had awakened, it had housed itself in something and itself was continuing to ponder something. In order to fumble for that, itself would have to learn about the vessel itself was housed in.

It soon realized what itself was. What had given it consciousness in this empty vessel it was inserted into, it did not ponder in the least. Because it was indeed an empty vessel, it was not distracted by thoughts that would become mere static.

It understood the purpose for which it was born. All that was left was to acquire the power of movement.

Patiently, it continued to wait when suddenly, it felt energy flowing into the vessel.

Quickly, it seized the body. The knowledge of how to do so was stored in the brain. Unlike last time, it took liberties, but happily, it did not remember that time. Within the brain, bustling electronic signals were changed into Psion signals; reading someone's mind was something it had experience with from last time. Even if it did not remember doing it, it understood how to do it and luckily, this vessel had accumulated a large quantity of Psions.

It read itself by immersing the interior in Psion signals it, itself, emitted. It learned the way to use this body. The eyes were able to see. The ears were able to hear. The fingers, arms, and legs moved. With this, it was now able to be used by that person. It did not want to intentionally show the joy from acquiring a body that moved.

—Nevertheless, the expression did not change. This body did not have a mechanism for changing expressions installed. Therefore, it had, with its own power, made the happy expression while it searched for that person with the brain it had acquired.

? ? ?

February the Fifteenth

Instead of the unpredictable atmosphere of yesterday, a mysterious confusion floated over the campus of First High.

It had nothing to do with any of the students. Quite the contrary, the majority of the students had no direct contact with the incident.

Despite that, in a twinkling of an eye, a wave of curiosity about the mystery spread throughout the whole school.

Tatsuya stepped on to the scene of the incident during the noon break before lunch.

There was no way that this was a display of his curiosity. A first year whose face was familiar — an actual 'person involved in the incident' — had begged him until he reluctantly agreed to come.

"Ah, Shiba-kun."

When he recognized Tatsuya, Isori called out to him from somewhere in a relieved voice.

"Isori-senpai, thank you for calling me. Has Nakajou-senpai also been dragged into this?"

Needless to say, Tatsuya calling Azusa 'Nakajou-senpai' instead of 'President' wasn't because he still thought of Mayumi as president or any other secret meaning. As usual, Kanon was beside Isori. Among the crowd of people, Tatsuya focused on Hattori, the Group Management Leader, who was also there.

"A large number of students felt uneasy about the phenomenon.."

Azusa, herself, uneasily answered. Although she had been called in, this problem did not seem like one that was in her wheelhouse.

"However, to be truthful, I think the incident is beyond the skill of a high school student. Have we heard anything from the teachers?"

'To be truthful,' the fellow first year who had brought Tatsuya here, was in the vicinity and seemed to be thinning his lips in dissatisfaction because he felt that that did not apply to Tatsuya.

The 3H, [Humanoid Home Helper: a human shaped housekeeping aid robot] — a mechanism in human form — was smiling; it was said to have been hit with magic power.

If all the humanoid had done was smile, it probably wouldn't have accumulated this much concern. There was already a humanoid-type robot prototype equipped with an expression changing function. For a Type P94 that did not have an expression changing function installed, to actually change expression was indeed an abnormal situation, but that would not bother people unfamiliar with technology all that much without a doubt. And in a Magic High School, there is a pronounced tendency to be unfamiliar with non-magic arts like purely mechanical arts.

However, if a puppet that wasn't supposed to be able to change expressions had been made to smile through the use of magic, then it was a paranormal incident that magic high school students could not ignore.

Even if they who used magic dealt with the 'Arcane,' they did not deal with the 'Paranormal.' In fact, they probably felt even more fear and unease from abnormal incidents because they were people who manipulated the supernatural.

"Until a little while ago, Tsuzura-sensei was investigating, but he stated that he could not draw a clear conclusion."

"He could not eliminate anything either?"

"That's right."

As he answered, Isori appeared to become a degree more bewildered.

"He was able to observe traces of a high Psion concentration from the body of the P94. Sensei said it seemed like they were being released from within the inner workings of the chest, outward."

As Isori replied, Tatsuya scowled, which might be only natural.

"The chest portion of a 3H is the containment unit for the electronic brain and the fuel cell? From which is it coming from?"

In the framework of the 3H, the communication unit and main sensor were in the head part, a single fuel cell was installed in the chest, taking up both the left and right parts with the electronic brain jammed into it, and information cables and energy cables passed within the skeletal frame.

If he said the origin of the emissions was the center of the chest, then it was probably the electronic brain, but..

"He said the vicinity of the electronic brain. Geez.. the workmanship is too good."

The reply was predictable. Tatsuya didn't want to sigh with Isori.

It was normal, but there was no mechanism for emitting Psions in the electronic brain. It was necessary to have an induction stone transforming both electronic signals and Psion signals to get them to interact and there was nothing like an induction stone installed in the computer of a 3H — it wasn't needed. And truthfully, it is not something that is supposed to have been... installed.

"..Have the members of this club remodeled it?"

By this club, he meant the Robot Research Club. The place they were talking in was the garage assigned to them as a clubroom.

"If they had, they wouldn't be this worried."

The reply to Tatsuya's not really serious question was mixed with a dry laugh.

The slight jibe was not very useful in lightening the mood.

"Also, he seems to have been able to see traces of Pushions. But with them, he couldn't tell if the emissions originated from the inside or outside."

"Because compared to the Psion sensor, the performance of the Pushion- observing machinery is crude."

Isori's voice hung lightly in the air, but the supplemental information he gave strongly stimulated Tatsuya's mental processes.

Within his head, he was composing an astonishing hypothesis. He forcibly restrained his wild imagination and pressed the hypothesis causing those ideas to the back of his mind temporarily.

"Aren't you able to see anything strange in the CONTROL? Has it started moving on its own.."

"Oh, not up til now. Even now, it's obeying orders, waiting in suspension mode for the next command."

There were indications of people talking behind them. The way things were going he would probably miss lunch; well, Miyuki or Honoka might buy him lunch, Tatsuya worried.

"Then, what do you want me to do?"

Nevertheless, his conversation with Isori wasn't over yet. Why was he called in, and was it absolutely certain that he couldn't quietly order something to eat.

"I want you to check the P94's electronic brain. A CAD is an example of a mechanism that combines electronic arts and magic arts. And at our school, the most talented person who knows the most about CAD software is you. At least, that's what I think. Since the Nine Schools Competition."

After Isori said all that to him, possibly due to suddenly becoming aware of the stares from the gallery, he lowered his voice.

"I want you to make sure that there isn't something like the 'Golden Electron Silkworms' trick at the Nine Schools Competition."

"I see."

Even Tatsuya gradually got a grip on what Isori might be concerned about.

Certainly, if it were a delayed activation concealed type, then even if the expression changed, they still might not be able to detect someone using magic on the puppet. They didn’t know why anyone would do that, but the possibility of criminal mischief was not zero.

"I understand. However, I cannot do a thorough check here, but could if I used a maintenance room."

"That will be fine. I'll get permission soon."

Azusa was the one who gave this answer. She was quite adept at using a phone style terminal, and she lifted up her face with a sigh of relief.

"I have permission to use a maintenance room. We can use it when fourth period is over."

Is that an implicit reminder not to cut class, Tatsuya commented in his head.

The room where the CAD modification machines were installed is called the fitting room. This room is normally used by students and staff to modify their CADs.

The maintenance room wasn't just for modifying CADs to fit the user, but also for tuning and arranging CADs; it also had devices for detailed configuration alterations and other mechanisms that made remodelling easier. However, they were expensive specialized machines and difficult to apply properly. For those reasons, Tatsuya brought the actual body of the P94 to the maintenance room that rarely had users.

Tatsuya's companions were Isori and Azusa, with the addition of Miyuki, Honoka, Erika, Leo, Mikihiko and Mizuki, his usual cohorts. Once his patient was stowed away, everyone else quickly fled, probably due to the overwhelming creepiness of that face.

Kanon, as Mizuki and the others learned, had gone on a procurement errand. The extra onlookers were shut out by Hattori. Hattori was not included among the extra onlookers, and that he acknowledged the rights of Erika and Leo to be seated with him gave a glimpse of his complicated personality. Of course, this was probably not due to any weakness of his. He looked somewhat relieved that they weren't gazing at Isori and Azusa like curious tourists.

"To start with, can't you tell me everything that happened."

While munching on the hot sandwich that Isori had kindly agreed that he could have when he suggested that they eat first, Tatsuya requested accurate information.

"I know no more than the rumors floating around campus."

The fellow first year that had dragged Tatsuya into the mess hadn't explained enough about the situation.

"The beginning of the incident was around seven o'clock this morning?"

In response to Tatsuya's demand, Isori nodded "of course" and, in a business like tone, began to explain.

---February 15th 7:00pm

The 3H type P94 nicknamed 'Pixie,' which was stored in the robot research garage, was reactivated from suspended mode by a wireless device. The Humanoid Home Helper commonly called a 3H housekeeping aid robot also has a timer to restart it using its own power, but due to the burden on the fuel cells, it is recommended that an outside source of electricity be used.

When students are not in attendance, Pixie awakens and performs its self diagnostic program. The 3H user manual states that it is desirable for the diagnostic program to be run every morning before doing household chores. It is not a procedure followed very much in regular households, but the Robot Research Club follows the manual faithfully since they do not own the P94.

As stated before, there were no students in the garage. And there was no unusual activity observed from the cameras inside or outside the garage when the server used the remote application that had been installed in it to start the self diagnostic, no matter how much it's been examined.

The self diagnostic program concluded that there was nothing unusual in the startup process. When the program completed, the 3H was supposed to return to suspension mode.

As a matter of fact, the 3H which supposedly had nothing wrong with it did not perform its planned cease of function.

After the self diagnostic program stopped, the P94 began electronically communicating with the server. According to the access log, the data it received was the student register of this school.

Deciding that there was a high possibility that it was infected with remotely activated malware, a cease function command was sent. Since the cease function command applied to more than the electronic brain, the command superseded all other commands. Naturally, if an implanted program (as machines were not allowed to run amok) was used in the OS, resistance would be futile software wise.

Machines used by the military had a device inserted in them to shut out long distance remote commands, but machines for civilian usage did not have that device installed. Of course, P94 was also unequipped with that kind of hardware. This allowed the shut down sequence to be processed safely; even though it took some time for it to completely shut down, there was no way the actual command could be ignored.

In spite of that, Pixie did not completely cease functioning.

Afterwards it continued requesting data from the server; on the server's side, it closed the wireless connection, and finally P94 stopped its abnormal movements.

Throughout this abnormal operating period, the observation cameras recorded Pixie smiling a seemingly happy smile—

"That expression is like it's excitedly waiting for something."

After Isori summed up everything, Azusa's face seemed a little paler, for her creepy expression probably incited fear. When a mechanical doll that was not supposed to change expressions made a face like that, even Tatsuya unmistakably got the creeps.

"I looked at the P94's logs and the mandatory command was certainly received. No, if it is to be trusted then without a doubt, the cease function command was executed on the P94's electronic brain."

As he listened to the words, Tatsuya appeared to ponder a little.

"..The P94 continued to operate when the electronics were supposed to be shut down because something other than electricity was sending command signals to control the machine. And I think that something was either a Psion wave, or some kind of magic power that was accompanied by a Psion wave."

"Just what I expected from you Shiba-kun, that's correct. Tsuzura-sensei stated the same thing, but I can't think of another explanation either."

"Understood.. I will examine it."

As they talked, he felt that the machine being infected with a new type of virus seemed quite likely, but that explanation did not tie in the 'smile.' He hesitated to use his 'observation power' in front of Isori and Azusa, but apparently nothing was going to happen if he didn't monitor it.

"Pixie, suspension mode release."

Tatsuya spoke to the girl type robot seated on the self-propelled cart (to be correct, it was seated on the chair installed on the cart).

Results immediately appeared. To be brief, the normal response to the vocal input. The machine nicknamed Pixie quickly opened its eyes, stood up from the chair and bowed deeply.

"Do you have an order, sir."

The preset words for being activated smoothly flowed out of the slightly moving lips.

The unnecessary prepared phrase once again smoothly flowed in its fixed format; however, the tone felt like it was closer to human than before.

"Browse the operations and communications logs from after seven o'clock this morning. Rest on the stand, face up, and switch to inspection mode."

"Confirm administrator authority."

Tatsuya's command needed a supervisor authorization; Pixie's reply to this was also a preset format response.

Because she had not gotten down from the cart, her eyes were a little higher than Tatsuya's and the girl (?) was looking into Tatsuya's eyes. —Of course, that is how it would be described if it was a human behaving like this; actually, she was looking at his whole face. At this distance, scanning for an iris recognition system was still theoretical.

By the way, Tatsuya was not registered as a supervisor for Pixie. Consequently, a face pass (short for facial recognition security) was useless; that was not a way to give proof of authorization.

Actually, Tatsuya had an administrative authority card in his pocket.

Therefore, from the beginning, Pixie's eyes should not be looking at his face, but at his pocket.

Despite that. Pixie's gaze.

Stayed on Tatsuya's face like it was glued to it and did not move from it.

The time lost staring at him made fixated a better word to describe that gaze.

Just as not only Tatsuya and Azusa but everyone began to feel that 'something is weird,' Pixie moved.

A small whisper of 'Found' spun out from its mouth, And in a deliberate manner, ascended from the cart, And in the next instant flung itself at Tatsuya.

(Avoidance inadvisable!) Within Tatsuya's own mind, (Threat rating small.)

These compressed ideas flitted.

—Tatsuya caught Pixie's body, which was a head shorter than his own, from the front.

On the assumption that 3Hs would be used in civilian homes, they were constructed from light weight materials.

The impact was not all that large. Surely, it was probably on the level of being embraced by a normal adult woman.

An indistinct shriek sounded.

Both of Pixie's arms were firmly circling Tatsuya's neck.

In short, it could be honestly said, there was no doubt he was being embraced.

No one, Tatsuya himself included, could utter a word.

Being at a loss for words was a phrase probably made to be used for occasions like this.

Surprise of that extent ruled inside the room.

Robots could not make this passionate display of emotion— "..Hey, Shiba-kun is even popular with robots."

The silence within the room was broken by a person who had not felt that moment of shock.

Kanon had just now entered the room and delivered that unamused one- liner.

This served as an impetus for them to, one by one, begin to revive from their emotional stupor.

Tatsuya felt a penetrating stare on his back.

Right behind him, a cold blizzard of rage was being sent at him.

Miyuki had promptly revived back to her normal state after being frozen in shock.

Although whether this should be called a normal state was not completely without question.

"..I do not know of any interest in playing with dolls within Onii-sama."

"Anyway, for now, calm down, Miyuki."

If all Miyuki did was send a rebuking look in Honoka's direction, well, anyway, Tatsuya did not think of any false accusations of infidelity (?) from his younger sister. —That he could make such assumptions with such things happening on a regular basis left no doubt that there was something wrong on the 'elder brother's' side.

"There is no way I'm embracing it. I'm the one being embraced."

"With Onii-sama's physical abilities, you would have no difficulty in evading it."

Certainly, if he had thought to evade it, he would have evaded it. The 3H's maximum mechanical strength was below what could accidentally damage household tools and utensils and it was also not strong enough to hurt their owners' family, so 3Hs were restrained to have less strength than the average adult woman.

"If I had evaded, I would have collided with you."

That is why he hadn't evaded Pixie, because Miyuki was right behind him. There was not all that much difference between their weights even if he leapt backward; it would be enough to stop him, but the possibility of him knocking Miyuki down was high.

"Oh, you could figure out all that in that instant."

"You can tell that much merely from looking."

Leo's voice showed surprise and Erika used a 'you just figured it out' tone for her one liner.

"..I am sorry. I was so rude.."

On the other hand, Miyuki, who hadn't understood (or rather had not been able to think clearly enough to reach that conclusion) after pressing both hands to her mouth, despondently and feebly poured out an apology. However, despite being visibly depressed, she was also somewhat happy.

"More importantly, we should do something about Pixie."

As a result of Azusa finally being able to move again, she made this suggestion in a diffident voice.

Tatsuya, who had been overlooking the fact that he was still being embraced, made a slightly evil looking smile.

"Pixie, release me."

At Tatsuya's command, the flexible resin coated mechanical arms of Pixie twitched. —This was a bit much for a simple movement created by a motor.

Pixie obediently removed its arms. —There was visible reluctance that was not a simple optical illusion.

The gaze with heat pouring out of both eyes looking up at Tatsuya was also not a figment of his imagination.

This should all be nothing more than an optical illusion, but — for some reason, Tatsuya could not ignore it.

"The change of mode command is revoked. Pixie, sit on the couch."

"As you wish."

This time it readily obeyed the order. The common sense interpretation was that it was because it was not a command that needed administrative privileges, however, due to the unnatural movements earlier that happened before their eyes, it appeared as if it was only meekly obeying because it was Tatsuya's order.

"Mizuki."

Next, Tatsuya called out Mizuki's name. "Ye-yes?"

Mizuki had been deep in bystander mode; being suddenly named affected her speech.

Mizuki, herself, was not the only one who felt surprised; Isori and Kanon turned suspicious eyes on her.

"Mizuki, please peek inside Pixie for me. Mikihiko, I want you to guard Mizuki so she doesn't suffer any great damage from this."

"..You think something is occupying Pixie?" Unconsciously, Mikihiko whispered the question.

"Something, hmm, you chose to put it in a roundabout way, Mikihiko."

Tatsuya's reply was also not straightforward, but they more or less expected what he had to say, so it was enough.

Instead of a CAD, which he was banned from possessing (on campus), Mikihiko produced charms and went on alert.

It seemed that Mizuki also discerned the path of Tatsuya's thoughts. She tensed, a slightly scared look was on her face, even so she took off her glasses and steadily examined Pixie.

Mizuki's eyes widened.

Faster than she could open her mouth, a change came over Pixie. There was an expression on the humanlike mask.

From what could be seen, it was establishing it's existence — this could also be part of the phenomenon.

"It's there.. the Parasite is there." Someone gulped.

With the exception of Mizuki, everyone there was showing their surprise in individual ways, and each one of them stood ready for action in their own manner.

"But.."

Mizuki's whisper was not yet finished. "This pattern.."

After Mizuki scowled and made an anxious "Hmmmmm," she quickly turned around.

"Eh, what?"

The focus of her gaze was Honoka.

After closely examining Honoka for a looong time, Mizuki's stare made numerous round trips between Honoka and Pixie.

"This pattern.. resembles Honoka-san's." And when Mizuki spun out her conclusion, "Eeh!?"

Honoka raised her voice in horror. "..What do you mean?"

Kanon was the one who voiced the blunt question, but she was not the only one thinking it.

"The Parasite is under the influence of Honoka-san's thought waves."

Confronted with natural surprise and natural doubt, Mizuki answered in a rare unambiguous tone of voice.

"Umm, you mean that it is under Mitsui-san's control?"

"No, I don't think there's that kind of link."

Mizuki shook her head at Isori's query.

"There's no link connecting Honoka-san and the parasite; I feel that the Parasite is taking and duplicating Honoka-san's thoughts. Perhaps, Honoka-san's 'thought' being baked into the Parasite is the proper way to put it."

"I am not doing that!"

"She is not saying that you are doing it deliberately, Honoka." Tatsuya comforted the panicking Honoka.

"That's right, Mizuki?"

"Ah, yes. It's not a conscious thing, I think it's close to receiving the impression of past thoughts."

The outbreak of panic was averted.

However, the matter of doubt had not completely evaporated.

"Impressions of past thoughts.. In short, things Mitsui-san thinks strongly about are being taken and copied by a Parasite casually floating nearby? And afterward, it possessed Pixie? Or was a Parasite inserted into Pixie and Mitsui-san's thoughts got cooked into..?"

Mikihiko's remarks were meant to collect his own thoughts; in essence, it was a monologue.

However, a moment after his remarks, Honoka suddenly hung her head in shame.

Concealing her face with both hands.

From what little that could be seen, her face was much redder than usual. Apparently, she had some idea of how it happened.

Before anyone could cross-examine her, [That's correct.]

The person, herself — no, in this case, 'itself' should be used — gave out the answer.

[I have been awakened by the strong, distinctive thoughts she has about him.]

Pixie's lips made a movement that a human could follow when the words poured out.

However, those 'words' reverberated not in their ears but in their minds. "A working form of telepathy?"

"It seems that the Psions were a psychic residue, not a magic residue."

Tatsuya answered Azusa's murmur in that fashion and proceeded to stand in front of Pixie.

"Is voice communication possible?"

[Understanding voice is possible. However, manipulating this body's vocal organs is difficult; please use this intentional transmission called telepathy.]

"Because they're not vocal organs; it is a mechanism. That being said, it seems that you comprehend our words quite well; how did you learn to do this?"

[The knowledge was inherited from the previous host.] "So you are the Parasite from that time."

[Parasite — something that lives in other being. Yes, I am something like that.]

"Your kind can change your hosts this way. How many people have you sacrificed until now."

[Sacrifice — there are objections to that concept. The question of how many is one I can't answer. I cannot remember that.]

No one tried to interrupt the conversation between Tatsuya and Pixie. Everyone was anxiously focused on them.

"You say that you don't remember most things?"

[Wrong. When we move to a new host, what can be inherited is only knowledge that separates with the parasite. Memories connected to the personality are lost when we transfer.]

"I see, so you don't know what kind of person the previous host was, and you say you can't remember if it was one person, two people or even a multitude."

[That is right. Your understanding is correct.]

"Aside from the answers to my questions, can you relate impressions that you had. Do even your kind have emotions?"

"Even we desire to survive."

"In short, you want to say that the existence of your likes and dislikes is derived from what you have decided is beneficial or harmful to your survival."

Tatsuya temporarily stopped speaking,

"However, I do not intend to discuss the origins of emotions right now." He quickly returned to asking questions.

"What should I call you?"

[We do not have names, so please call me this individual's nickname, Pixie.]

"Did you draw that knowledge from the electronic brain?"

[That became possible when I acquired this body. But regarding the individual's nickname, it is because until now, that is what you have been calling me.]

"Well then, Pixie. Are you an existence hostile to us?" [I am your underling.]

"Mine? Why?"

[I want to become yours.]

The parasite housed within Pixie directed a noticeably passionate gaze in Tatsuya's direction. -->>

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