Chapter 6: Ritsu Gets an Upgrade
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~Assasination classroom, early morning, around 6:30~
Everyone was rather early today, which was very surprising considering the fact that the boys weren't planning on looking up the girls' skirts with an RC tank and if they were to be asked they really didn't know why at all, not that they mind.
However, once they entered the classroom a rather strong feeling of nostalgia over took them once they spotted the black rectangular container near the back of the room, which housed their 27th classmate, Ritsu. Mainly because of the fact that she looked bigger...LED screen-wise...they had all gathered in front around their classmate with mutters of confusion.
Koro-sensei was forbidden from upgrading Ritsu and though the AI girl seemed to have maintained majority of her upgrades, she wasn't able to keep the LED display, yet here she was now sporting the same large full body screen from before.
Now, the question on everyone's mind is, if Koro-sensei didn't upgrade her again, then who did?
"Top of the morning to ya!"
Well it seems that they would be getting their answer sooner than I thought because their yellow octopus mach 20 speeding teacher had just entered their classroom wearing the same smile he almost always wore.
"Hey, Koro-sensei, you're not allowed to upgrade, Ritsu, right?" Asked the male Class Rep Isogai, which prompted everyone to look at the octopoid teacher.
"Yes, that's correct, though I do recall that she maintained the upgrades I gave her. So I don't think I would need to do so even if I was allowed to" said the puzzled teacher as he looked at all of them. "Why do you ask?"
"Well you see..." Isogai trailed off because the familiar sound of Ritsu starting up caught everyone's attention.
"Good morning, everybody. Hi there." Said the cheerful Ritsu in a full body LED display.
Needless to say, everyone in the classroom was shocked as they saw their classmates full body, complete with grassy garden background. Wow, its definitely been a long time since they've seen this version of their AI classmate.
"Umm...Ritsu?" Asked a hesitant Megu.
"Yes?"
"Not that I'm disappointed or anything, but...who did this to you and why?" Asked Megu while looking over the AI girl with wide eyes.
"I've never been allowed to upgrade you again, Ritsu. So who upgraded you? I must say that they've done a marvelous job in doing so" Koro-sensei then touched Ritsu's hair to which the AI girl responded by leaning into the touch. "It's not only a full-body LED display, but its a capacitative 3-D touch screen display. My, this is quite excellent work, I'm impressed"
"hehehe" Ritsu only giggled cheerfully, enjoying the touch, almost like she was actually feeling it.
"Wait, can you actually feel that?" Asked a shocked Okano, to which the AI girl only nodded sheepishly.
"H-How...how is that possible...?" Even Koro-sensei was taken off guard by this development as he spoke the question on everyone's mind. "In theory it can be done with the use of extremely sensitive thermal and motion sensors, along with, the 3-D touchscreen but..."
"She already has the capacity to feel human emotions and feelings" came a voice from directly behind them. They turned around and sure enough, Rimyuel was sitting on his rolling chair in his own typical manner and the same poker face. "All I did was give her the increased ability to perceive the source of said emotions in a more indept level than she once had. These upgrades would be useless if she didn't already have the capacity for such emotions" explained Rimyuel before rolling over to them at a high speed before stopping in front of the smiling and blushing AI girl. "In other words, she can now perceive and feel emotions in a way similar to how a normal girl would. For example..."
He trailed off as he turned his attention to the AI girl who was slightly blushing and fidgeting.
"Ritsu how are you feeling right now? Specifically, when it comes to your face?" Rimyuel asked neutrally.
"O-Oh, umm...well, my face is feeling rather hot right now, my chest feels rather...heavy...and I feel somewhat uncomfortable" said the honest Ritsu as she averted her gaze from the mad scientist with a smile.
"Increased Perception is the main focus of this particular upgrade." Rimyuel then spots the curious gaze of little Kiyoko Akabane. "Kiyoko" the redhead looked at the boy with tilted head. "would you like to give Ritsu a hug?"
With that, Kiyoko smiled happily and nodded before skipping in front of Ritsu and hugged her legs...or at least the part of the screen that showed her legs and Ritsu seemed to perceive and sense the feeling and couldn't help but smile and let tears of joy fall from her eyes.
"This all so feels like a dream" she said cheerfully with tears of joy spilling from her eyes. "Before now, I used to be only able to see you all and your world from behind my window. A piece of glass that seperates me from your world...but now...now I feel like I'm actually with you all. I can feel your presences, your warmth, everything. It's as if I stepped out of that window and managed to join you all"
The rest of the class couldn't help but smile at Ritsu' small celebration. She truly was happy about her new upgrade and no one really wanted to take her down from her personal cloud 9.
"This truly is an amazing feat you've done, Rimyuel, I am truly shocked and at the same time overjoyed by what you managed to accomplish" praised Koro-sensei as the other students looked at the mad scientist who eyed Koro-sensei with narrowed eyes.
"Shocked?" He repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Are you implying that you are surprised to find out that I have a sufficient IQ level to achieve this feat when you orginally doubted such a concept?" Asked Rimyuel with eyes narrowed in accusation, while the rest of the class just smile mischievously at their teacher.
"Nyuya?!" Exclaimed Koro-sensei as he started sweating buckets in his nervousness. "that's not it at all, Rimyuel, you just misunderstood, that's all"
"First you underestimate me IQ level to perform such an upgrade and now you're underestimating my ability to understand the meaning of your statement" Rimyuel stated with narrowed eyes while the corners of his mouth twitched up slightly. Koro-sensei didn't seem to notice because he was too busy flailing his tentacles every which way in panic as he tried to come up with on the spot explanations, while the rest of the class started laughing at the sight.
Even Ritsu was laughing now and it felt completely different from what she was used to, to say the least.
What an eventful day there's a new upgrade for Ritsu and a raging argument(?) about Rimyuel's IQ level and abilities...
And the day has barely even begun... :D.
...
Class began and things were going smoothly like any other day. For Ritsu, however, she can't help but be mesmerized by her new upgrades. She knew that it wasn't complete, in the sense that she can't physically interact with them, but still this was amazing as it is.
The best comparison she could give would be like stepping into a virtual reality world, with the exception of not being very mobile, but otherwise it felt exactly like that.
The others had already expressed that they were happy for the AI girl's upgrade and Ritsu had been very thankful towards the person responsible for said upgrades. Rimyuel had said to her that he was going to give her the "gift" he had promised her when she kept quiet about the whole Nagisa x Kayano incident, she had never expected a gift of this magnitude though.
She looked over at the boy in question who was resting his head on his arms while leaning forward on the back of his rolling chair. Honestly, it didn't look really comfortable, but the reason why Ritsu looked at him was because she was trying to decipher why he would give her such an upgrade and spend majority of last night awake as he instilled said upgrades.
True, Rimyuel did give her his reason and she quotes
"You are an Anomaly. Your capacity to feel human emotions and your free will fascinates me. You have piqued my interest, which is why I am undergoing my latest experiment project with you. You need not thank me for I am doing this for my own benefit"
He had said to her last night with his usual poker face, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was something else besides that very reason; an ulterior motive. She didn't understand why she was looking into such a concept with this much curiosity nor did she understand why she was feeling...giddy and happy by the possibility that there is.
She felt herself blush for a reason she didn't quite understand. It was like...she was hoping for something...
"nurufufufufufu" she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard their teacher chuckling subtly with a pink face. She tilted her head to the side in confusion, she looked at her classmates hoping for some enlightenment...
Only to find that most of them were grinning at her mischievously, while some of them were looking from her to Rimyuel repeatedly.
She suddenly felt herself blush for another reason she couldn't understand before looking at her classmates in a somewhat panicked manner.
"W-wh-what is it?" Asked the flustered AI girl, which only prompted most of her classmates to stifle their giggles and snickers.
"Say, Ritsu, you've been staring at Rimyuel for a while now and with a red blush, no less, care to explain?" Said a snickering Karma as she eyed the two of them suggestively.
"Looks like little Ritsu's slowly starting to get interested in boys, huh?" Said a snickering Rio as she eyed the two of them mischievously.
"This is so much like that romance manga, where the AI girl starts falling in love with a human." Said Fuwa excitedly.
"W-what?! N-no no no, you've got it all wrong" she wanted to explain further but she couldn't quite form the words to respond and her face was feeling extra hot as well. She was definitely having trouble with these new...senses. "Ano...umm...you see...I..."
The fact that she couldn't form complete sentences was all the more reason for the class to widen their grins.
"Why are you all acting like she's some sort of teenage girl who has a crush" Terasaka said with a scoff while turning away from the AI girl. "She's still just a comp-YAH?!"
Terasaka practically jumped three feet in the air when he suddenly saw that Rimyuel was standing right in front of him with his seemingly usual poker face, but one could see that his expression was subtly contorting with annoyance and frustration. Protective much?
"Ritsu is far from being just an ordinary computer that has no free will and simply does what ever someone programs her to do, when she was first introduced to this class" Rimyuel started with his seemingly normal voice, but there was a subtle amount of venom that a normal person wouldn't be able to detect. "In her current state, she can pass for a real life girl with her enchanced perceptions and senses. Calling her a machine at this point in time would be both an atrocity as well as a personal insult to my skills as a scientist and to Ritsu's humanity as a person."
Terasaka found himself leaning back nervously in his seat as Rimyuel got in his face with every word.
"In other words, Ritsu is not a computer, machine, contraption, mechanism or any variation of the word and I will take any contradiction to said fact personally" Rimyuel finished with a small glare which seemed to make Terasaka back down.
While that little tangent may be considered as tense and threatening, this only served to add fuel to the fire.
"Whoa, someone's a little protective of our little Ritsu, huh?" Commented Rio with a mischievous smirk and devil horns
"Well, he did say that he was interested in Ritsu, so this should be expected" commented Karma with his devil horns showing.
"Naturally, I am quite sensitive when it comes to my experiments and my works, so this response is nothing to be concerned about" said Rimyuel with his usual tone of voice, albeit with a subtle amount of fondness. "And I only speak the truth, Ritsu is no longer an ordinary machine. Granted, given her physical predicament, most civilians would still think of her as a machine, but that is something I plan to change very very soon" he said while looking at Ritsu who smile back at him with closed eyes.
Rimyuel's eyes widened when he suddenly felt his heart skip a beat and blood rush to his face for some reason. He quickly turned away with a hand on his heart.
"what...was that?" He muttered under his breath as his brow furrowed in confusion.
"nurufufufufufu" was all Koro-sensei said as he jotted a few things down in his little OTP book and if one listened closely enough they would be able to hear him say. "Another pairing for this class, I always knew Ritsu would get a boy of her own"
Yeeeeaah...
...
A few minutes later at lunch time, which Ritsu planned on spending by studying her new upgrades and learning their ins and outs while her classmates had their lunch, but...
"Ritsu, I'd like to perform a few tests to see if your new perceptors and sensors are working properly" Rimyuel had approached her with the same poker face, while he was now sitting...in his usual rolling chair. Ritsu blinked before smiling happily at her classmate.
"Hai~" she replied before virtually sitting down on her own chair, while Rimyuel took out an old-fashioned pipe and blowing out some bubbles from the end in a somewhat Sherlock Holmes motif.
"Excellent. First I am going to test your sensual perceptors." Said Rimyuel, before he touched Ritsu's side, before moving his finger up and down.
"Ahahahahahaha...Rimyuel-kun that tickles" said Ritsu in between her fits of giggle, but Rimyuel only proceeded to add a bit more pressure which caused Ritsu's fits of laughter to increase.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Said Ritsu whole holding her sides in an attempt to block Rimyuel's touch. Strangely enough, it did block out the sensation to Ritsu's relief.
"Fascinating" Rimyuel muttered with his eyes slightly gleaming from the new discovery and the corner of his lips began twitching up in a smile. "Let's try something else, he then pulled out a handkerchief and pressed against Ritsu's outstretched hand.
"It feel soft and smooth, but feels really thin, though..." Ritsu said as she concentrated on the texture of what was in her hand. "Silk?"
"Outstanding, truly outstanding" Rimyuel was frantically writing down data on his notebook at blistering speeds and a growing smile on his face. He then outstretched his hand and placed it on her own virtual hand.
At that moment, Ritsu could really feel the warmth of the scientist's hand in her own. It fascinated her to the point where all her attention was focused on the warmth in her palm. In reality, only a few seconds have passed yet it felt like a small eternity to the AI girl as she focused on the boy's hand...
...as well as try to calm down her suddenly rising heartbeat and aching chest...
She had subconsciously accessed similar moments like this to try and understand the warmth that she felt and the results she got, served to make blood rush to her face and for her chest to suddenly ache...in a good way.
"Ritsu?"
Ritsu was then snapped out of her reverie by Rimyuel's prompt. The AI girl blinked once. Twice. As if she had only now noticed the other boy's presence.
"Can't you feel this?" Asked Rimyuel with furrowed eyebrows in disappointment, looking crestfallen.
"I-I can, Rimyuel-kun. It just took me a little off guard."
"Off-guard? How so?" Rimyuel asked while already preparing his notebook for a new piece of knowledge that he may not have reached yet, which could lead to a whole new level of wonderful research.
"It's nothing you need to look into, Rimyuel-kun" Ritsu said while shaking her head dismissively with a smile. "I just felt my chest ache somewhat that's all"
Contrary to what Ritsu believed, Rimyuel found that little kernel of information quite interesting. Ritsu was making leaps of progress when it comes to her new perceptions and sensations faster than he had ever expected.
"Extraordinary" muttered Rimyuel with a growing smile on his face before blowing out a few bubbles from his SH pipe.
"what's going on here?"
"Are you testing out Ritsu's new upgrades? I wanna join in"
Some of the class girls then showed up from their lunch break and were currently walking towards the pair. Rimyuel looked behind and sure enough, Hinano, Hinata, Toka, and Megu were qalking towards them.
"I'm testing Ritsu's sensation perceptors, you may join in if you'd like" said Rimyuel who was still more than a little giddy from his earlier excitement.
That's when the four girls then took a seat relatively near Ritsu as they all tested her new upgrade by putting various items in her hand. It went well to say the least, but Rimyuel did find a small detail or chink in the armor. Ritsu could feel the texture and temperature of anything the touches her screen, but she is unable to visualize the shape or actually feel the shape of the object.
Definitely something to work on for the self-proclaimed mad scientist.
"Okay, it's time for the second set of tests" Rimyuel said before he turned on a small fan infront of Ritsu, who seemed to be feeling the cold breeze just fine. Rimyuel took that down.
"So you basically upgraded her senses then?" Asked Megu as Rimyuel continued to test Ritsu's new upgrades.
"Yes, as well as, improve her ability to interact with all of us. In other words, what you do to a physically human girl, will have the same effect on her." Said Rimyuel in a monotonous voice. "And you better not be planning on flipping her skirt or attempting to undress her, Okajima."
Rimyuel didn't even turn around to face the class perv, but he could practically see the boy falter.
The girls glared at the class perv with disgust.
"same goes for you, Maehara, Mimura, Takebayashi, Muramatsu, Terasaka, Yoshida, Kimura and Suguya" said Rimyuel earning him a few shocked expressions and attempted denials.
"Wh-wha? We would never do something like that to Ritsu..."
"Yeah, no way we would ever do that"
Rimyuel just scoffed before rolling his eyes withoit facing them. "Yeah and I'm the Pope" he said with his monotonous voice, but it still drew out a few giggles from the girls. One particular sound of giggling seemed to pique his attention.
He looked over at Ritsu who was trying to supress her giggles with her hands. Rimyuel found himself drawn to the sound to the point where all his attention seemed to focus on Ritsu's laugh. He even felt the corners of his lips twitch up.
How peculiar...
"At any rate, given your previous actions, your social behavioral patterns, which are largely governed by the sudden spike in your hormones that usually occurs during this stage in one's life and the fact that you had once asked Ritsu to make a fish-eye lens correction program with a similar goal in mind" Rimyuel eye twitched when he said that last part. "it is unlikely that you would let such an opportunity to pass."
"Guh."
"Whoa, seems to me that someone is just a little jealous" said Rio with a mischievous smile as she walked her towards the other girls surrounding Ritsu.
Rimyuel only raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why, pray tell, would I have any reason to be jealous?"
Rio only smirked wider. "No need to be so reserved, I can tell that you wanted to do the same thing."
"What? Were you planning on doing that?!" Said a furious Megu who got up on Rimyuel's face.
"Do I look like the kind of person who would be the least bit interested in seeing any girl's undergarments and/or exposing them indecently for the same reason as them or any reason that doesn't involve experimental data gathering and scientific observation?" Rimyuel asked with a raised eyebrow and a poker face, though his tone did sound a bit sarcastic.
Megu just eyed the boy for a while longer, scrutinizing him with the same eye that a mother-in-law would examine her daughter's boyfriend.
"what do you mean by that last part?" She said in a tone that sounded of strict authority and protectiveness.
"If my experiment demands such a situation to happen, then I would have no choice in the matter. However, I can assure you that I have yet to encounter such an experiment and encountering said situation would be highly unlikely and even if I did, it would be in a controlled setup"
Some of the girls then looked at Rimyuel with shock and the guys behind him began to visibly conspire. The pervs!
"Do not attempt to conspire behind my back, for I will not allow you to observe along with me" said Rimyuel while shooting down their plans. "Furthermore, Ritsu will warn any of the girls should you attempt to do such a thing without their...consent"
"What do you mean consent?! Of course, we wouldn't allow that!" Said Megu strictly, while Rimyuel just looked at her as if she grew a second head. He opened his mouth to respond but thought better of it.
"Phew, well at least we have someone to keep the boys' pervy antics in check" said a relieved Okano while shooting a glare at said boys.
"Wait so what happens if we get caught doing that to Ritsu or the others..." Questioned Okajima nervously and immediately regretting his decision when the air suddenly became cold and a really creepy chuckle suddenly sounded from the mad scientist. Even their hair was standing on end.
"hmhmhmhmhmhmhm" Rimyuel eccentric laughter then suddenly escalated quite reminiscent of a cliché mad scientist. "Hahahahahahaha!"
Needless to say, the class was unnerved, aside from Ritsu who felt...slightly flushed and giddy oddly enough, must be because Rimyuel was so protective, though she didn't know why it made her feel giddy.
At any rate, once the eccentric (and admittedly hysterical) laughter died down he turned his head to face the boys with a smile, except it wasn't the 'awww how cute Rimyuel is smiling' kind of smile it was the 'terrifyingly small smile that promises punishments' kind of smile
"We'll see" was all he said.
...So protective...Of course it didn't really come out as 'threatening bloodlust' it came out as a more comical 'they might have to change their pants after this'
Rio didn't seem at all fazed as she eyed Ritsu who was holding her blushing face with both hands and had her eyes closed with a smile.
"Looks like someone's protective and Ritsu's milking every moment of it hehehehe."
...
Why?
That was the main question flooding every thought in Rimyuel's mind. It didn't exactly annoy him, it simply got him thinking; it got him wondering about a lot of things that had happened when he joined the end class, especially things that mainly concerned a certain blue-eyed and purple-haired AI student.
Why was he so...involved with her? More to the point, why was he clearly going out of his way to involve and associate himself with her?
Time and time again he would ask himself those questions and everytime he would tell himself that he was merely intrigued and curious about Ritsu's free will and her unique capacity to feel emotions, which he has ascertained through multiple encounters.
Rimyuel believed that such capacity and her personality was not something any computer program could instill.
While those answers were certainly true at the time, after a while such responses became half-truth, at best, to the self-declared mad scientist. He no longer believed that mere curiosity and intrigue was the cause of his overt involvement with her. He wasn't so naivé to delude himself into thinking otherwise.
Why, because he believed that he had already acquired a sufficient amount of information on the AI's girl's free will and capacity to feel emotions to satisfy said curiosity and intrigue...at least for the time being.
And yet...here he was, having just finished upgrading the AI girl in question in order for her to feel more immersed with her classmates, to feel more like how her classmates felt, to feel more human, while also making future plans to turn her make her biological body.
Upgrading Ritsu certainly wasn't a cakewalk either. He and his family specialized in the field of Biology, not electronic, robotics, cybernetics, and mechanical engineering, so he had to spend an extended amount of time studying said sciences.
Not to mention the fact that he spent quite a noticeable amount of money to acquire such parts, not like he cared about that though, he could easily earn back the money he spent by selling one of his unique specimen in the garden.
What bothered him was the simple fact that he had WILLINGLY spent over 1.5 million yen and devoted a measurable amount of time studying four sciences that were somewhat, if not completely, foreign to him all for the sake of his AI classmate.
Rimyuel turned to Ritsu as the girls began tesing her upgrades. He was only half-paying attention to them, he was too preoccupied with his thoughts at the moment.
He had told her that she was simply a part of her experiment that he was doing all of this for his own benefit.
He didn't believe that.
That statement was a half-assed lie at best. He couldn't consciously see any benefits that this little endeavor would yield him now or in the future and he had no such experiment lined up for Ritsu save for his little tests. Granted, the tests did give him some interesting discoveries, albeit in sciences that were the polar opposite of what he specialized in, but he had just came up with those experiments on the fly, he hadn't planned them before he upgraded her.
The main point is that, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, Rimyuel had upgraded Ritsu on a whim, an impulse, a sudden desire.
To a boy, like Rimyuel, who was methodical, calculating, procedural, systematized and liked to thoroughly plan ahead of time, as well as, think things through thoroughly, doing something on a whim wasn't something they were comfortable with.
Why did he upgrade her in the first place? Why was he planning to give her a real body? Was it all just a whim? Did he have ulterior motives that he wasn't aware of?
He stared into Ritsu's sky blue eyes.
Why was he so entranced by those eyes? Why did his heart quicken at the sight of her smile? Why did blood rush into his face when he saw her?
Rimyuel shook his head at the direction his thoughts went and the implications that they brought. Completely ignoring the fact that his face was a touch redder than before, he tried to think more logically.
Why was he planning to give her a body?
His gaze saddened a touch and he looked down at his hand.
Maybe...I do have ulterior motives...ones that I was not aware of or simply refuse to acknowledge... Maybe upgrading Ritsu did yield me a few benefits, as well as, allowed me to perform a simple experiment...benefits that I refuse to acknowledge and an experiment that I only planned subconsciously...
Rimyuel opened and closed his hand as he thought this. Stray tears lingered at the edge of his eyes.
Or maybe...
He took out a photo from his outfit's pocket and took one look at it.
He scowled.
...I simply couldn't stand the idea that this girl, of all people, has been tasked to supposedly be Ritsu's stand-in...
Rimyuel's eye twitched in irritation at the sight. As far as diverting suspicion and staying inconspicous went, this wasn't the smartest decision they made.
Anyone with half a brain would surely raise an eyebrow at the overt difference in appearance between what is on Ritsu's school record and what they would see in the main campus.
...The students in the main campus may be mindless drones, but even they surely would not fall for the excuse that Ritsu is only photogenic...
Rio had apparently spotted his disgusted glance and gazed at the photograph in his hand. She blinked once. Twice.
Let it never be said that Rio growing devil horns was a good thing...much less even possible, to begin with...
"What's wrong, Rimyuel?" She made a show of looking at the photograph in his hand. "Upset that Ritsu's stand-in looks nothing like the real deal?" Waggling eyebrows on Rio is never a good sign either.
"Yes." Rimyuel answered honestly. It was true, he was, as far as he knows, upset because this made diverting suspicion all the more difficult.
"Ohoho? Really now?" Rio said mischievously, while leaning forward with her elbows on the desk interestedly. "Why is that?"
"because staying incognito would be very difficult if the stand-in and the actual student look incredibly different from each other" Rimyuel said monotonously.
"Really?~" Rio drawled mischievously. "Hmmmmm? Is this the main reason why you want to give Ritsu a real body?"
Rimyuel had considered and entertained the thought just a few seconds prior. It was a very real possibility and he couldn't really deny the fact that it would make staying incognito easier, not to mention that diverting suspicion would be easier.
That being said, he couldn't comprehend why hearing his thoughts said outloud from Rio would elicit this sort of response.
His cheeks grew a shade redder and his heartbeat suddenly started quickening.
He definitely had no idea why hearing his thoughts spoken outloud should embarass him in such a way.
"W-What are you implying?" Why was he stuttering?!
Rio's smirk got even wider. "I'm just saying that you looked kinda disappointed that Ritsu's proxy looked nothing like the original, which is why you're planning on making Ritsu a new body so you can appreciate her using a more hands-"
"D-do not be daft, Nakamura. I have no such lewd-minded intentions. I simply thought that Ritsu would rather enjoy having a body of her own and that giving her a body would-"
"Oh so you're doing this to make Ritsu happy then?~" Rio said while smirking at him deviously.
"T-that i-is only a benefit to my real intention" Rimyuel stuttered as he tried to maintain any semblance of his composure.
"Which is?" Rio prompted mischievously. "Why are you doing all this, hmmmm?"
Rimyuel opened his mouth to speak and his eyes widened at the sudden realization.
He didn't have an answer to that question; at least not one that was both solid and completely true.
Had he really been outsmarted by Rio? Unintentional it may have been, he couldn't deny that it was quite impressive.
Not many people could think things through better and plan ahead farther than him, so this was very commendable.
Then again, he hasn't really been able to think straight, as well as, act like himself recently, which he really didn't the reasons why.
"I-I" Come on say something! "I have no obligation to inform you"
Smooth.
Rio was about to pry even more, if the mischievous smirk on her face was any indication, but the bell signalling the end of the lunch break suddenly rang and Rimyuel let out a mental sigh of relief when Koro-sensei immediately entered and urged everyone to go back to their seats.
As everyone proceeded to take their seats, Rimyuel could only shake his head in disbelief and confusion. He had been so...off his game recently...
It was strange and completely unlike him.
He hadn't acted and felt this frazzled and flustered, since what happened three years ago.
Class E was having a much more significant affect on him than he had previously anticipated.
...
Eventually classes ended and everybody was packing up their bags and saying their goodbyes, which was mostly directed at Ritsu since she's only one who really never left the classroom at all.
Before her new upgrades, Ritsu's point of view and immersion in this classroom was rather limited, to say the least; it was painfully obvious that he was only staring at them from the other side of a piece of glass. Ritsu hadn't really minded that, but she didn't really enjoy it either.
For lack of a better term, it felt like playing an RPG game on a console, where her classmates would only be on the other side of a piece of glass for her.
But now? Everything was different. With her new upgrades, Ritsu did not get the same impression nor feel the same as being on the other side of glass pane. Right now, it was as if she was standing still in the classroom, with no obstruction on her four sides whatsoever. It felt like she had just entered a virtual reality world, where finally felt like she wasn't just a computer anymore.
Granted, her mobility still hasn't changed, but it did little to sadden her mood.
This was probably the best upgrade she ever had.
Still, there was a somewhat gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. Rimyuel had all but confirmed that he was going to create a real body for her to use and while Ritsu would be certainly grateful for that, she knew enough to know that, even with her somewhat limited knowledge on classified information, that creating an organic body for her would not be an easy task.
That had been the origin of the gnawing feeling in her stomach.
She did not wish to be a burden to her classmates or cause them any trouble and yet that was what Rimyuel waa deliberately doing.
Don't get her wrong, she was already thankful to him as it is, but she did not want Rimyuel to strain himself only for her sake and not his.
The idea itself didn't sit well with her.
"You seem troubled" Ritsu jumped slightly at the sound of his voice before she looked behind her and saw Rimyuel looking at her with a poker face. His voice sounded concerned though.
"In a way, I am Rimyuel-kun..." Admitted Ritsu sheepishly.
Rimyuel simply raised his eyebrow at her.
"Well, don't get me wrong, I am grateful that you upgraded me and all, but...I fear that I am becoming more trouble to you than I'm worth, if that isn't already the case that is. I do not wish for that to happen" Ritsu admitted sadly, while Rimyuel remained quiet. "What I mean to say is that...I feel like I am burdening you indirectly because you-"
"You are not a burden. As I've said before, I am doing this for my own benefit"
Ritsu didn't know why, but he got the distint impression that he didn't believe that himself, but she didn't comment on it.
She wasn't going to give up easily though.
"I understand that to be the case and that while upgrading me to such a degree wasn't a cakewalk" Ritsu started and looked down on the ground, but she could still feel the weight of Rimyuel's gaze. "What you're planning to do, to give me a physical and organic body, it's impossible and I do not wish to burden you with such a task that may not yield you the gain you were hoping for"
She didn't know why, but she felt tears sting her eyes. The very thought of Rimyuel exerting and strining himself to the limit to give her a body while she could do little but merely watch, hurt her in a way she wasn't expecting.
She heard Rimyuel breathe in and sighed.
Ritsu felt his fingers on her chin and she slowly felt her head lifting upwards to meet his gaze.
He still maintained a poker face, but his eyes held a stern and kind gaze that made it hard to look away.
Those eyes entranced her.
"Several centuries ago, humans believed that it was impossible to fly through the sky" Rimyuel started monotonously as he held her gaze. "Several decades ago, humans believed that it was impossible to fly to the moon, and up until recenly humans believed that it was impossible to achieve a speed that is 20 times faster than the speed of sound, much less for a being to actually survive the G-forces"
Ritsu kept on looking in his eyes with her mouth agape.
"Humanity's greatest gift is their imagination. They never cease to use that gift to further their achievements and milestones. Over the years, they kept on using that gift to innovate, to evolve, to move forward, to surpass their own limitations" Rimyuel ran a finger down her hair and she leaned in to the touch.
All of a sudden, Ritsu found herself unaware of her surroundings.
"Humans continue to improve and to innovate because of so-called impossible feats. They move forward and do not remain steady because they wish to achieve the impossible and so far, humans have succeeded. That being said,"
Rimyuel closed in on her face. There was only 2 inches of space left between them. Her chest ached and her thoughts became frazzled. Her cheeks became warmer and she struggled to respond.
"What you claim to be impossible is simply something that has yet to be achieved" He said softly and Ritsu may have seen him let out a small smile. She couldn't be sure, she was having trouble registering what was happening to her.
"In your case, something that will be achieved in a short span of time." Rimyuel said confidently before raising an eyebrow. "Assuming that I'll have your support on this"
Maybe it was because she wasn't accustomed to her new upgrades, but Ritsu could barely focus on anything else but Rimyuel. She had only one response to the question, though. She smiled at him and nodded.
"Yes"
...
...
"Nyuya?! That's it? Where the scene in the preview? I was sure that the author gave me the right preview for the next chapter...could I have mixed it up?!" Koro sensei panicked as he sorted through various papers on his desk at Mach 20. "No, I definitely got the right one so why did the scene not app- Nani?" Koro sensei paused as an unnamed figure approached him and gave him a small card. He thanked the figure as it quickly retreated.
Koro sensei read the piece of paper and nodded to himself.
"Ah, now I see, apparently the standard chapter length has been exceeded and this would be the most appropriate place to cut the chapter in half. Well, that's understandable. Not all readers want to read a huge wall of text afterall." Koro sensei reasoned before cleaeing his throat. "At any rate, don't feel so upset at the author, he's having a hard time as it is, since he's starting his 3rd year of college and it has been hectic so far"
"Anyhoo, the author says that you can expect more slightly intimate Ritsu x Rimyuel moments in the next half of this chapter, the scene in the preview, and we'll get to meet Rimyuel's mother and father too" Koro sensei recited excitedly. "And as a bit of a teaser, the chapter after the next chapter, that is to say chapter 8, will be about Rimyuel's next experiment, which will involve..."
Koro sensei took a closer look, blinked once, twice, three times, and did a double take.
"...umm...cross-dressing, swimsuits, costumes, and a few seduction pranks..." Koro sensei stared at the papee quietly, befoee finally saying "I'm not exactly sure where the author is going with this, much less how this could be spun into an experiment, but...that's what he wrote here, so I guess I'll see you next time then"