Volume 20, Mortal Technica(1/3)
Spring was near.
"The weather is really nice."
Harley leisurely drank tea while looking at the scenery outside from the window of the research lab.
Recently, there had been some new students looking to enter the school next semester who had taken the roaming buses to come here, so things could become noisy easily.
However, in the end that kind of situation would only happen in the area with residences for foreigners, so the location of Harley's research lab - also the area of the Alchemy Department - was still very quiet.
More importantly, though it hadn't been long, when the deeply cold winter finished, the warm air that came with spring was washing away any tension in the atmosphere.
Just opening the closed window let fresh air flow in, making one feel fantastic.
However....
"Close the window, dust will get in."
"Guah, my files! My files are flying away! Hurry up and close the window!"
The voices coming from behind his back made Harley frown. After closing the window, he turned his head and looked behind him.
"Uh.... I think I should still say it."
The two companions who used the research lab along with him were here - Kirik and Taurus. The three of them all specialized in Dites, so they would research together, but they didn't deliberately collaborate, so the reports and research results that were submitted to the Alchemy Department were done individually.
There was the dark-personality Kirik who always wore a displeased look, Taurus who always had a bright exterior, and Harley.
"The dust in this room is definitely more than outside, and if you put your files away properly they wouldn't be blown everywhere by the wind."
"Shut up, you're not allowed to lecture me!"
Taurus yelled angrily, but Kirik just narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction.
But, this room was actually that dirty.
Though there were tables here for three people to do their work individually, research books, magazines, and paper was piled everywhere around the tables, and tools and small parts along with some wires were strewn between them with almost no gaps. When the three of them focused on research, there were quite a few instances when they would work while eating things, so there were some food scraps and some sauce that seemed to have leaked out dropped on the floor, still there even now.
In Harley's eyes was reflected a piece of vegetable that could have dropped out from a sandwich, which looked miserable after being constantly squashed and trampled by their feet.
....Why would this kind of scene make a painful feeling emerge in his heart?
"I put my files away so they don't get blown away, and I also know what files are in what place."
"Shut up! I also do that kind of thing!"
Taurus seemed very impatient. But he was normally always very impatient, so Harley wasn't concerned about his response. Though his exterior was bright and lively, his inner feelings were this explosive, just like how Kirik always had an unpleasant expression on his face. In other words, this was their normal state of mind. Harley wondered how he was able to survive in this kind of environment.
The reason everyone said alchemists were all weird people was related to this kind of situation.
After drinking the remaining tea, Harley drew out a paper from the tools and files that had been blown around by the wind.
"But, the budget increase is really great."
Today, unexpected good news had come to this research lab. Other than Military Artists, all of the underclassmen up to the third-years all belonged to the general education subject, and they could only change to a specialized department after rising to their fourth year, but the Alchemy students weren't the same. As long as they passed a special test that was held after they reached their second year, they could enter the Alchemy Department earlier. Studying Dites required proficiency in various areas, and the goal of this was to get them started earlier and cultivate the people with these comprehensive technical skills, but most people felt that they did this to 'quickly send the weirdos to where they should be'.
It was sorrowful that the Alchemy students had no way of negating that.
The three people staying in this research lab were currently in the third year, and they were all geniuses or scholars that had passed the special exam.
Moreover, the results of the Alchemy Student budget committee meeting had been released today, and they had decided to raise the budget of the research lab of Harley and the others.
"Hmph, not so much as our research findings were affirmed, but rather because we were lucky enough to have the Student Council request us to make that thing."
Kirik harrumphed and sounded displeased.
"The Adamantium Dite."
Taurus also seemed to feel displeased.
"The multiple form function I had so much trouble making didn't even get used!"
The idea of the Adamantium Dite, which could change the Dite mixing ratio during battle, had been proposed by Kirik, but Taurus had been the one who had the skills to implement this idea. So, Taurus felt very displeased that Layfon almost hadn't used the Adamantium Dite's biggest selling point - the multi-form function - in actual battle.
Though Kirik had felt satisfied at Layfon's results when he had begun using blades, the weapons that they made were slightly different from what he imagined in his heart, so he was probably also displeased.
However, Harley was different.
"Really? But I think it should be that way."
Harley believed that what Layfon wanted most wasn't actually improvements in the weapon's shape or performance. Layfon possessed a Kei strong enough to amaze others, so what Layfon needed should be a Dite that allowed him to use as much of that strength as possible. Because of this, Harley was working with other things as well as the Adamantium Dite in order to improve their Kei capacities as much as possible.
However, until now, Harley still hadn't been able to make anything surpassing the Adamantium Dite.
Though this made Harley feel dissatisfied, he didn't hate the feeling of continuing to move forward. After all, this would be the fourth spring to welcome in after he had come to Zuellni with the goal of becoming a Dite mechanic. He still needed two years to graduate, and after graduation he could still work with his parents as a Dite mechanic and learn many things from those seniors. Even if he could easily reach his goal, it would only make the things behind him uninteresting.
It was good for people to have something to challenge them, Harley thought.
In this regard, the other two people with bad moods and impatient attitudes were also because they hadn't reached the goals they had set. The reason they were able to keep themselves motivated was related to those attitudes. The research results of the two of them had never been affected by their bad moods or impatient attitudes, so that was probably how things were.
"Ah, whatever! In any case, we should decide what to do next!"
Taurus spoke loudly as if to change the mood.
"What? You want to make something together again?"
Kirik frowned in annoyance.
"I want to research the golden ratio of durability and cutting power, along with new materials that are able to realize that ratio."
"Rather than that, the multi-form function is better! This time I'll definitely research something useful! Let's complete the Karen Kei specialized Dite that I've been testing recently!"
"Didn't we already reach the conclusion that Karen Kei doesn't need multi-form functionality?"
"Conclusions of that level won't douse my passion!"
"There's nothing more troublesome than a researcher who doesn't think about the user."
"You're the only one with no right to say that!"
It was already a custom for the two of them to bicker, so Harley quickly stopped listening to their conversation, and turned his eyes to the window.
Many things had happened this year.
More than a year had passed since Nina had added him to the Seventeenth platoon, but if he used the opening ceremony as a starting point, it was about to be one year. Seeing the fresh new students who would enter next year, Harley felt that even more clearly.
It has almost been a year since he - Layfon Alsief - had come here. On the scale of a human's life, one year wasn't that long of a time. But, it definitely wasn't an exaggeration to say that many things had happened in a year.
He had entered the platoon competition with the seventeenth platoon that had problems even competing, had obtained continuous victories like never before, and even proved his power because filth monsters had attacked. Because of his power, the Adamantium Dite that had been rejected in the planning phase had been born. And because he was here, the Shim Adamantium Dite had been thought up especially from his fighting methods.
Moreover, though it didn't have anything to do with him, Harley had also seen progress in protective gear meant for fighting filth monsters and Kei cannons.
This was a fight for survival. Though Harley didn't want to agree with that kind of thought, it was because he was in this kind of battle that his techniques had developed this quickly. The Alchemy students had responded to the Military Arts students' requests and created new things. Harley believed that process was extremely natural.
It was because of Layfon that he had been able to spend such a substantial year.
It was because.... of Layfon........
"........"
Looking a year back, a certain scene suddenly flashed through his mind.
Harley normally wouldn't care about that kind of thing. Especially when he was focusing on research, he could even be said to be totally immersed in his thoughts.
But Harley Sutton was a person, a living being, and also a man. He had instinctive desires. Fatigue and hunger were also like that. Though he could ignore those needs when his mind was focused on researching, there were limits to what he could endure. And that was applicable to the situation, as expected.
Any healthy boy would naturally be like that.
"Ahh...."
So even if he couldn't help from murmuring that kind of thing, he was helpless about it.
"I really want a girlfriend."
What emerged in his mind was the situation surrounding Layfon. He got bentos of love, and there were people who made food for him when he was at home and in training.... Not only that, even Felli who had been reluctant to join had even become more active after he entered. Not only that, his childhood friend from his hometown had come to find him, like a girl who admired him following him to this Academy City. Would the day come when there weren't any girls around him.... Harley couldn't help but doubt that.
Layfon originally hadn't seemed like he had been trying to become sweethearts with any of the girls, but Harley couldn't know how that situation would turn out later. Particularly, in the business concerning Grendan recently, some sort of situation seemed to have occurred with his childhood friend, and maybe that made him realize his own feelings slightly. Sharnid always jokingly said that he had a congenital slowness, but maybe there would be a day when he would have to take back that teasing.
Harley thought that this was essentially a good thing for Layfon.
He definitely didn't feel................ unhappy.
After all, in the Academy City Zuellni, platoon members were like celebrities. Though the scales differed in size, every platoon had their own fan club, and it wasn't a strange thing for some people to send gifts over during training. Never mind Sharnid and Felli along with the Dalshena who was originally from the tenth platoon, Harley had even seen the new platoon member Naruki receive gifts.
It wasn't only Layfon who could encounter this kind of good situation particularly easily. Harley had also seen people other than the list he had just mentioned receiving gifts from their fans.
However, what should he say- it was definitely a problem of distance. Though Sharnid was frivolous, he would maintain a suitable distance when he was dealing with his female fans. Though Layfon also didn't agree to his fans' solicitations easily, from another point of view, there were many girls who were very close to him, and that was definitely the reason Harley cared about this matter.
Feeling someone's gaze, Harley suddenly returned to his senses.
"........What is it?"
At some time, Kirik and Taurus had stopped their bickering, and the two of them silently looked at Harley.
"Harley...."
"You...."
"W....what....?"
"........"
"........"
"D....don't be like that, don't look at me like that!"
The pitying gazes from the two of them sent Harley into disarray.
"Don't think about it, it will only make you feel empty."
"What? You're already that backed up? How sad."
"Shut up! Think about why that is!"
Though Harley had that thought, he hadn't thought he would unexpectedly give it words, and he realized that the temperature of his face had jumped.
"There aren't any good women in the real world. Don't we also have research! Since you have those kinds of thoughts, why don't you do this?"
Harley thought that Taurus was going to grab his own arm tightly, but Taurus offered the magazine in his hands for him to see.
On it was a two-dimensional girl.
Her body was very petite, and she was very cute. Her creator had put an extreme emphasis on cuteness into her drawing, so if she appeared in the three dimensional world, her entire body might be filled with unnatural feelings from top to bottom, but she was indeed cute when shown in a magazine.
"This is the superb maiden Lantica!"
For some reason, Taurus said the name of the two-dimensional girl with a very proud tone.
"If you make something yourself, it will have a loving feeling that something mass-produced won't, and I think that after your possessive desires are satisfied, incredible things can happen. Ah, though the basic structure is the same, models like skeletons or similar things obviously have their own differences. After all, making something that's exactly the same doesn't have any significance."
"No thanks, reality is better!"
"Bastard! This is also reality!"
"I'll enjoy that kind of thing after I've looked at reality!"
"Don't think that only reality can make you happy!"
Harley already wasn't very clear on the situation. Right now he was being lured in by Taurus into that territory that he could never come back from while being immersed in Kirik's extremely contemptuous gaze. In the end, Harley left the research lab without making any progress at all.
◇
Just sighing was meaningless.
Though no one was criticizing him, Harley who was walking along on the road back home sighed while thinking that.
Anyone single, regardless of whom, should.... yes, they would feel the sudden loneliness that he felt to be unbearable.
Of course, even if he just spoke about it unconsciously, Harley understood that it was a very empty action. Thinking from Kirik and Taurus's point of view, it would be unbearable to be forced to listen to such words. After all, the two of them were people who were even worse than Harley at communicating with others, and Harley also knew that they didn't have girlfriends.
Normally, even Harley wouldn't think of such matters. But as he was now, with his body heavy and the sounds of the city's legs reverberating through the spring air, he suddenly had that urgent thought.
Maybe the feeling of spring created the feeling in him that he would have a new encounter.
That kind of feeling would often be a mistake, and Harley had long since understood that fact, but he still couldn't stop that feeling from emerging. Even if it couldn't be confirmed, even if it were just a kind of mood, Harley still had to suddenly face this kind of loneliness and this kind of feeling.
"Hah...."
He couldn't stop sighing.
Once he left the school building, he could only return home - the current Harley had trouble bearing that current feeling. If there was a good opportunity, maybe he might be able to easily get rid of that feeling, but he couldn't control that himself, which was the unfortunate and troublesome part of critical situations. So the only thing Harley could do right now was count the constant sighs that came out of his mouth.
But, as said before - for good opportunities and encounters, since he couldn't control them, the people involved had no way to knowing when they would occur.
So, Harley didn't know at all that there was a person blocking his road. Harley had no way of knowing that this person was a girl, or that that girl would open her mouth to speak to him, or what her words would be.
In other words, all of this suddenly happened.
◇
Recently, she hadn't had many opportunities to meet Harley. If they weren't during the refurbishment of the Military Arts hall. Though the two of them were childhood friends from the same hometown, if they lost the opportunity to see each other, they obviously wouldn't meet.
But, even if there was no platoon training, she had a character that wouldn't neglect her individual training - that was the reason Nina was Nina.
With no other choice, Nina went to Harley's research lab to ask Harley to fix her training Dite.
However, Harley wasn't inside the research lab.
"He hasn't come at all recently."
So, the person burdened with the repairs turned into Kirik who was wearing the same discontent face as usual, and the Dite was connected through a special machine to his terminal.
"Is he sick?"
It was really strange for Harley to not come to the research lab, a situation as strange as Nina skipping training without a reason.
"No...."
Several wrinkles were added to his unhappy expression as he murmured quietly. The movements of his hands didn't stop as he did that.
"No.... In some sense, it counts as a sickness."
"Nn? What does that mean?"
Nina didn't understand what Kirik had said, so she tilted her head and showed a confused expression.
"No...."
Kirik replied very vaguely. But, maybe his mind and hands could function independently, as the repairs of the Dite had already progressed to the next stage.
"It's a material deterioration. Recently, the lifetimes of Dites have become shorter."
Kirik spoke while reaching into the box next to the console.... from Nina's perspective, she really couldn't make out what difference there was between the contents of that box and the trashcan beside it, but he still took out a new Dite material from inside it and commenced replacement work.
"Ah.... It's because...."
Just as the words were about to leave her mouth, Nina retracted them.
Previously when Zuellni had been caught in a crisis, Nina's ability had increased in a short period of time, even making it so that she couldn't use her own power completely with a normal Dite - a similar plight as Layfon.
Because of this, Nina had gotten in trouble, but resolved this problem by obtaining the Electronic Fairy's help.
However, she couldn't use those in routine training, so she could only use a normal Dite. But, maybe Nina hadn't achieved Layfon's level of power control, and normal Dites would become scrapped in her hands.
"What happened?"
"Uh.... maybe I've grown?"
"It's hard to say."
Nina had originally planned on fudging it with a joke, but she got a thorny reply from Kirik.
"Actually, it's more accurate to say that you're being manipulated by a new toy."
He had said that if he observed the condition of the Dite, he could understand almost everything about the Military Artist who was its wielder.
The worlds he spoke stung her chest.
"If it were that guy, he could use the Dite while understanding its limits."
'That guy' obviously meant Layfon. Even now, there were several unrestored Dites arranged on the table. Their forms were all blades, so they were definitely weapons made for Layfon. Kirik also had things he was responsible for, and judging by how he talked, Layfon perfectly fit the part.
Just as Nina was thinking about that, Kirik finished repairing the Dite.
"If there's something you're not satisfied with, go find that guy."
"Thanks."
Nina received the Dite. Kirik gazed at the data in the image reflected on the terminal, like his interest had already moved to a different place. After thanking him again, Nina left the research lab.
Just then, the other resident of the research lab walked in, but he seemed very angry, so he passed by Nina without even noticing she was there.
The angry slam of a door made Nina tilt her head, but she didn't do anything other than feel confused.
"Damn, that bastard!"
Taurus let out an angry voice as soon as he entered the research lab, but Kirik just frowned, not moving his gaze from the image on the terminal.
"Sheetty guy, to think he would show those colors!"
It seemed that he was shouting abuse while forcefully kicking the things scattered on the floor, and his feet had kicked something large and hurt a lot. Even with that, he was still angry as he sat down on the chair in front of his working desk.
"........"
"Hey, you couldn't have missed it, right?"
Kirik still kept his ignoring attitude, so Taurus spoke to him with an impatient tone. Kirik expressed the displeasure in his heart with a frown, and then put the hand that had been on his chin to the wheels of his wheelchair. But, he still didn't look at Taurus.
"It just means he's also a man."
"Is that it?"
"Could it be that you have some way of resolving it? Do you want to go convince him to wake him up?"
"Yeah, of course I'll go convince him, I'll tell him to hurry up and wake up. Something like a three-dimensional girl will only bring unhappiness."
It was hard to imagine that the man who had proposed taking two-dimensional girls into three dimensions not long ago would say that kind of line.
No, maybe something taken from two dimensions to three wasn't the same as something that had been three-dimensional from the beginning. But, Kirik had no interest at all in the difference between the two.
"You're the one who should be convinced."
"What did you say!"
"Though it's insignificant, you should wait for that kind of thing to calm down by itself. Right now, nothing we say will be effective."
In order to end the topic of two and three dimensions, Kirik quickly butted in.
"Tch...."
Taurus clicked and shut his mouth, and Kirik once again focused his mind on the terminal image.
"........Could it be that you're jealous?"
"You're annoying!"
Kirik's simple question made Taurus's face go red.
◇
Her name was Nene Mia Monsouf.
"It's fine to call me Nene or Mia, but don't call me by both names. Since no one would do that in my hometown."
Harley recognized her from when he had just entered the Alchemy department.
She was a senpai one year higher than Harley, and moreover had looked after him quite a bit when he had just entered the Alchemy department. She was quite tall, with a head of short silver hair, and small glasses perched on her nose. He had heard that it was just a measuring instrument she had made herself, so she wasn't actually nearsighted.
Her Alchemy research was autonomous machinery. Like the cleaning machines that could be seen moving back and forth in rooms or buildings, or the trash-picking machines that were occasionally wandering the streets, or the paper book organizing machines in libraries, or the artificial intelligence machines that could be seen everywhere on the roads - any citizen would be able to see those machines.
Battle machines that Military Artists would see during training were also included.
And her focus was being responsible for inventing battle machines used in training.
She seemed a bit neurotic if observed from afar, but if one came close, he could feel that she had a gentle temperament. Was it because she possessed an upright posture like a Military Artist along with friendly eyes? Harley thought so.
"Um, does it trouble you that I suddenly confessed to you?"
"It doesn't, no way."
The intellectual atmosphere she had that Harley did not possess, along with the slight loving atmosphere she gave off, made his face grow hot.
Right now, Harley was in her research lab. This place didn't have to be shared by three people like Harley and the others', but was a personal-use research lab.
There was an object covered by sheets in the room. Though he didn't know what it was, the interior of the room was surprisingly tidy other than it, and a tea set had even been placed. It was a level of tidiness worlds apart from the research lab of Harley and the others, even making him have the thought 'Is this place really a research lab?'.
However, the smell of oil that couldn't be completely removed still told him a fact - this place was the same as the research lab that Harley and the other used, a space that existed to be used for research.
Harley felt a bit light-headed from the sharp aroma from the tea while he tensely sat on the chair.
In the night before, while Harley had been blankly walking on the road, Nene had been the one who appeared in front of him.
What was surprising was that she had confessed to Harley.
This incredibly surprising fact made Harley gape wordlessly in doubt, and he even looked in all directions to see whether there was someone else in the darkness sneakily laughing at his incredulous appearance.
However, he hadn't noticed anyone else there.
"Um, am I no good?"
"Th....That's not the case at all! Of course that's not true!"
Her words easily captured Harley.
Even now, he still had some doubt about this matter in his heart.
After all, she was a beautiful girl, and excelled to the point of having her personal research lab. Including coming up with the Adamantium Dite, this year Harley and the others had assisted the seventeenth platoon and Layfon, and helped out with the requests of other platoons as well, and showed their activity in many other areas. Though those results had been recognized by their increase in budget, they still hadn't been permitted to have their own personal research labs for the next year.
Right now, only Layfon could use the Adamantium Dite, so its usage wasn't very widespread. In that regard, the Adamantium Dite couldn't be said to be a breakthrough invention. Though the Shim Adamantium Dite had received a high evaluation, its cost control was poor due to a usage of large amounts of Dite material, and because of this the Student Council hadn't ordered it to -->>