Seijo's POV
Onii-san has been missing for 2 days.
And I have taken up his mantle as the leader of the Stellarlune. The boy called Yogami fell for the forged letter right away... they need to be more vigilant than that, honestly... onii-san did not do a great job at training them. They're definitely lacking. On the other hand, way to go, Seijo!
But regarding onii-san's disappearance... I have no idea where he went. The footage didn't exactly reveal much: just one bright flash of light and he was gone. Supernatural activity is at play here? I wouldn't put it pass that.
Although onii-san never believed my wonderings regarding that subject, I have undoubtedly done research in that area. Although most ghost sightings are of course, a product of those scaredy-cats' own fear, some evidence may suggest that more is going on than what we can perceive as regular humans.
Awareness is important. It's the first step towards any kind of evolution. Aware of the unknown, aware of your limits, and aware of your potential. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean I don't believe that the possibility of gods existing, it's just that there isn't enough concrete evidence. Is science the best way of describing the world? No. It's just the best way that us feeble humans are able to come up with, a more logical line of thought than religions. Science may be very well wrong to its core, but that's what we're here to do: to refine and reform the theories and laws that shape our very being and world.
I've sealed of onii-san's room for now, with only a secret tunnel that goes into his room available at my own leisure, whose location was passed to me by onii-san himself. For now, I've decided on something more important: transforming the world to my liking.
Onii-san is no doubt suffering a lot or having hardships beyond my imagination. I cannot even begin to believe what kind of universe he might've been transported to, or if he's even on a plane of existence we could try to fathom at all. So just as he has helped me through my first 7.5 years of life, allowing me to become the next 'Young Sage' and surpass him, I'll help him lay out the groundwork for a world we can develop together without limits, one that can fulfill both our dreams upon his return.
He will return, I'm sure of it. Onii-san will never give up on me or himself.
Just as I thought of this, my morning alarm clock buzzed, and I clicked the bedside button to turn it off immediately.
Ah... thoughts like that are grandiose and achievable, but I need to attend elementary school.
School is boring.
Everything seems so slow at school. Nothing new, and people are always too loud for my liking. At least most people at Stellarlune hold logical conversations, albeit most of them are weebs. The children here are just... too much. Funny how I say that when I'm a child myself.
"Sigh..." I fake my focus onto the board and begins to engage in mindspeak with the AI in my glasses that onii-sama made for me. "LAMENT. Do you copy?"
"Yes, user Seijo. LAMENT is online. What would you like me to do today?"
"Has any information across the internet become relevant to my search?"
"No... unfortunately not. Every piece of info I can find within Tokyo has no correlations whatsoever. Should I relay this to QUANTUM later?"
"Yeah... go tell him that."
LAMENT (Licitly Amplified Mechanism Evolving Non-Terminally) is the AI onii-sama designed for a general overseer of the other artificial intelligence beings he has developed when he was 15. He installed LAMENT into his glasses for easier everyday use, and when he could access LAMENT thanks to his weirdly designed headset, he gave me the glasses.
QUANTUM (Qubitized Ubiquitous Accessor of Necessary Transformations with Unlimited Machinery), on the other hand, is a supercomputer stored in my parents' basement with a secret key to the room that only I have on me at all times. It's a system of AI that allows me and onii-sama to conduct internet searches with the most relevant information showing up to our liking. Usually, we use it for school projects, but it possesses the ability to hack into even the most encrypted government databases (not that we would purposely reveal secrets), allowing us to expose certain annoying people if we wish to do so.
Oh yeah, and QUANTUM also has a load of drones stored in its back that is available for departure if need be. This allows great photo-taking and security of the house, but it's also great for surveillance and spying. We usually never needed it, but onii-sama used it on a few occasions to rat out certain suspicious individuals that were targeting his research. Mainly... he exposed their... I don't remember the term, but basically he forced them into social death.
"Stellarlune database has been updated by Yogami. Do you want to check the updated contents?"
"Nah, it's okay. Send it to QUANTUM later though for revisions. Just to make sure my brothers friends don't recruit someone stupid by accident."
"Orders received. Also, user Seijo, your teacher is calling you."
"Oh shit."
I quickly disengage from my conversation and snap back to class, coming face to face with my angry math teacher.
"So, Miss L/N, you think you're above this class, hm? So how about you come up to the board and solve this extra-hard question we're all doing right now, hm?"
"Okay then." I sighed before going up to the board, and came face to face with the most uncreative challenge question I've seen our sensei come up so far. Seriously? 456789 divided by 123?
"User Seijo, would you like me to compute-"
"Stand down, LAMENT. My brain works just fine."
After approximately 20 seconds, I wrote down the answer on the board.
"3713... remainder 90, or .31730 repeating."
My sensei could only watch with his mouth agape before he halted my writing on the board. "Show your steps, Seijo."
He is going to accuse me of cheating if I don't so why not...
I hastily wrote down the steps to the long division before going back to my seat and taking a sip of water. Sighing, the teacher continued and decided to let me live for another day. Yeah, sensei does this everyday, and he's failing to impress, to be honest. Onii-san did a way better job at coming with good math problems that were interesting to solve and also moderately challenging.
But I suppose not everyone can be as great as onii-san, so expectations can be lowered.
Within 10 minutes, the bell to lunch rung, and I began enjoying the most amazing period the day. Why lunch? The meals here at our school are great and all, but our cooking AI at my house always ships me fresh lunch that's piping hot from home directly via drones. Nobody seemed to notice how I get my lunch yet, considering that I go to the roof every day to get it to avoid unnecessary attention. I wonder what nutritional meal CATCH (Cooking And Transit Coming with Haste) would bring me today.
But when I opened the door to the rooftop, I knew I jinxed myself.
Because there were ten people waiting there, and all of them I knew for sure were not the best people around.
Oh, Seijo...
...go mow them down if need be, I guess.
"Seijo, Seijo, Seijo..." The ringleader said to me as he walked towards me with his lackeys.
Ugh... it's him again. Again, yes.
"Ookaze, I thought I made myself quite clear last time." I sighed before he magically produced a random batch of roses.
"But Seijo!" He literally tried to puppy-eye me. Is he serious? "Please accept my love letter!"
...
Yes. It might be a lot different than what you've imagined, but Mikami Ookaze, this boy in front of me, is one of my admirers. He hails from the Mikami Enterprises as his father's third son, and their company is arguably one of the largest shareholders out there on the entire Japanese economy.
And so, he's been constantly trying to use his status and money to try to win me over, but this is a 8-year old child we're talking about, so he's actually extremely sincere about his love. That, I admire. But not necessarily his methods. Because every time after I reject him...
"No, Ookaze. I'm pretty sure this is not how love works."
"There's no way, Seijo! I literally searched up the internet on information! I'm dedicated!"
"Yeah, you're dedicated alright..."
"Come on boys!" He suddenly says and waves his flag around. "First one to get Seijo to hug me gets 1000 yen!"
...he manages to get his friends / lackeys / goons to try to make me hug / kiss / or say something nice to him. Usually, they try to come and fight me, but on the rare occasion they use their brains and try to lay traps and use battle formations, not that it works.
"Sorry, Seijo, but I believe in Ookaze's efforts!" One of his best friends, Tenrai Yuuta, corners me along with two others to try and force me to go towards Ookaze. I sighed as the other boys surrounded me, and put up a hand.
"You all know that this is just going to end up like the last time, right?" I cracked my knuckles, and LAMENT activated the auto-sensory mode of the glasses, tracking all 9 opponents within range and advising me on my moves.
"Let's get her!"
"Bring it on!" I yelled in unison with their war cry, and sent my first blow to the fatty who tried to tackle me. The impact of my palm sent him tumbling back, earning shocked gasps from the others.
I wasn't exactly by any means weak when it comes to melee combat. Onii-san his fought with me multiple times before his disappearance, and although I have not won a single time, there were many moves that I picked up from him, and his Ignite Palms were one technique that I took to heart.
I never used any particular martial move sets, just as how onii-san never did either. Our principle is to copy, analyze, and reconstruct. A/N: I know. CAR Method LOL This way, we can adapt and change the moves of traditional martial artists to match any modern situations, root out the flaws using science, and add on our personal touches without hindering the power behind each move.
The Ignite Palms were a different thing altogether though. It was inspired by a certain anime, but we found practical uses of the technique in different ways. Twisting my body and arms, I sent two more palms onto the solar plexuses of two boys, knocking them out of commission. Another tried a right hook, but I dodged left and leaned under before dashing forwards, my hand outstretched for a stab as he embraced himself for pain.
"Lunge, and..." My stab turned into a fist just as it touched his stomach, and I punched forwards with 10% of my strength. "Inch-Punch."
"Ack!" That knocked the air out of him, and he collapsed on the ground before waving his hand in defeat. The others tried to pin me to the ground by slamming down onto my body, but I zoomed outside of their range before sending a chop to the back of their necks, knocking the five out.
One left.
"So... Ookaze, how are you going to pay for wasting 100 calories of my energy and 10 minutes of my time?" I said menacingly as I shot a glare towards the boy who now sat surprised on the floor in awe and shock.
"Ka..."
"?"
"Kakkoii-!" Ookaze erupted in laughter and admiration, before bounding over to me to try and hug me out of his own accord, but I pushed on his head to keep me away. Suddenly, CATCH's delivery service arrived and the drone dropped off my lunch, causing both of us to stop and I went to pick up my lunch. Ookaze surprisingly didn't take this opportunity to hug me, and just stood there.
He's a nice guy.
"Yes, yes he is indeed, user Seijo. Are you going to marry him?"
WHAT?! No! LAMENT, where in the world did this line of yours come from? Is this another one of those algorithms onii-san coded on purpose to annoy me? I swear... I'm going to purge it when I get back home...
"User Seijo... I'm an AI. This has nothing to do with the nature of my code. I'm simply learning and expressing based on experience."
Ah... yes. I keep forgetting that. Anyways...
... he is a dedicated admirer, that's for sure. And what is this, the 25th time?
You know what...
I took out a cookie from my lunch box and handed it to Ookaze, who received with a look of surprise plastered across his face. "Take it. You've earned it."
It took a moment for him to register what was going on, but he eventually got the idea and started jumping up and down. "SEIJO'S COOKIE! I HAVE SEIJO'S COO-"
I karate chopped him on the head before he could bellow out another word. "Ookaze, you keep on screaming for one more millisecond, and I'm taking it back. Don't make me regret this, alright?"
That shut him up. He nodded furiously before bowing to me as I left, to which I snickered and headed down to the cafeteria. Only 30 minutes left... goddammit.
I sincerely envy onii-san since he didn't have to deal with such events... or maybe he did and didn't tell me? Anyways, being popular is a chore and an annoying duty.
And that's not all of it for me.
Still have to deal with Stellarlune when I get dismissed from school. Oh, Seijo, why did you even take up that goofy organization?
"Because it's my debt to onii-san."
I reaffirmed my thoughts and stopped any unnecessary doubts. "I will use Stellarlune to help onii-san achieve his dreams upon his return. Just you wait, onii-san."
"Your imouto is beginning her journey now!"