Chapter 41 - Oh crap, that's a railgun.
...
And so, Aris, now speaking in a diferently yet equally as odd way, lets me into the club room.
"What did you call me a second ago?" I ask.
"The Legendary Warrior! Momoi and Midori told me how you fought those robots before meeting me." Aris explains.
"Well... I suppose that makes sense."
The only other person inside is Midori, who begins to stir as I close the door. Oh wait, Yuzu's over on the other side. The green twin lets out a groan as she moves onto her back, before snapping upright as the sunlight peeking through the windows hits her eyes. "Morning already?! Oh, no! I have to get ready for school!"
Our resident robotic girl sneaks up to Midori quietly. Grinning, I find an opportunity as I sneak up too. "Hey, you. You're finally awake."
"Wha?! Sensei?" Midori asks, surprised to see me.
"You've finally opened your eyes... Thank goodness. Aris was not sure you were ever going to wake up." Aris says, sounding like she's quoting a game just like I did.
Midori looks at the robot girl in pure confusion. "Wait, Aris! You can speak normally now!" She cheers, upon realizing.
"Mostly." I mutter.
"Indeed, mortal. Gaze upon me and know it to be true." Aris says with a bright smile.
The green twin awkwardly chuckles at Aris' word choice. "I-I guess there's still room for improvement."
"Nah, this is fine." I say.
"Um. Good morning, everyone." Yuzu says quietly as she stands up.
"Mornin'." I say with a wave.
The door then opens, revealing a cheerful Momoi. "Good morning!"
"Mornin'." I repeat.
"Here ya go, Aris." The pink twin says, handing Aris a student ID, clipped to a lanyard.
Aris looks at it in curiosity, before smiling. "Stange item obtained!"
"Wow! You're getting so good at talking now. This is a student ID." The pink twin explains.
"Maybe it's actually kind of cool that she talks like she's in a retro game..." Midori says, thoughtfully.
"A student ID?" Our robotic pal asks.
"You need a student ID to prove you go to our school. Veritas hacked, I mean, registered you in the academy list, so you're one of us now!" Momoi explains.
"One of you? As in, Aris is an ally?" Aris asks, before smiling. "Bum bum bum! Aris has joined the party!"
"I-Is this really gonna work?" Midori asks, worried.
"Of course! We've already got the uniform and student ID! It's fiiiine..." Momoi says, drawling out the last word. "Next order of business is... a weapon." She says, pausing for dramatic effect, then turning to Aris. "All right, Aris. We've got some things to show you."
"By that you mean...?" Aris asks.
"Like a grand tour of the Millennium School!" The pink twin says, happily. "All students in Millennium, or well, Kivotos have their own personal weapons. So, you'll need one too, Aris." She explains. "And there's only one place that'll get you what you need on short notice. The Engineering Club."
"That is a new word. 'En... gineer... ing'?" Aris asks.
"Basically, they make and repair machines." I explain.
"Yeah, and they're experts at it." Midori adds. "Their members are called meisters."
"They do a bunch with machines in general and also handle remodeling the school's weapons. So I betcha they've got some spare weapons lying around." Momoi explains, before grabbing Aris' hand. "All right, let's go!"
Momoi then lead the rest of her club, minus Yuzu, and I to the Engineering Club room. It's a massive hangar filled with a bunch of metal and machinery.
Momoi and Aris had run ahead of Midori and I, so when we got there, we saw them speaking to a familiar purple-haired girl.
"...I see. You want to get a better weapon for your classmate." She says, before noticing me. "Oh, Sensei."
"Hi, Utaha. Long time no see." I say, eliciting a smile from the girl. "Momoi, you gotta stop running ahead." I say, causing the pink twin to pout.
"Well, Momoi, you've come to the right place." Utaha says, turning back to the pink twin. "A competent student is nothing without an appropriate weapon. If you look to that corner there-" She says, pointing towards a pile of metal. "-, you'll see some prototypes we've put together. It's all fair game, so help yourselves." She says with a smile.
"Wow! Thanks a bunch, Utaha!" Momoi says.
Another girl walks up to Aris and I.
She has short, wavy black hair that fades to grey at the tips, with all of the back of it tied into a low, side ponytail with a band with orange and purple beads. Her eyes are a rather pretty shade of grey-blue. On top of her head are a pair of aviator-esque goggles and above that are floppy dog ears. She wears a black and grey tanktop which is held up by spaghetti straps over her shoulders, next to a purple collar with a silver dogtag on her neck. She also has on a white hoodie that's yellow on the inside and has purple cuffs. Below that are a pair of short, black shorts. Her legs are covered by a pair of black fishnet stockings, while her feet are covered by short, high-heeled boots. A tail. the same color as her hair, sprouts from her back. Her halo is comprised of two, pale yellow rings, with the outside one being wider, and a third, much smaller circle with a diagonal line within at the center of the halo.
"Um, hi. I'm Nekozuka Hibiki, and, um, I'm a first year here..." She says, awkwardly to us.
"Nice to meetcha. I'm Joshua, from Schale." I greet back, causing the dog girl to avert her gaze, shyly.
"Well, um..." She turns to Aris. "Let's find you something special." She then looks through the pile, and grabs a small pistol. "How about this?"
"Oh, a pistol." Momoi interjects.
"I get the feeling this girl, uh, doesn't have much combat experience." Hibiki says. "Am I right?"
"Diagreed. I have already saved humanity twenty-seven times, defeated the demon king forty-six times, and explored hundreds of dungeons." Aris corrects, passionately.
Midori cringes.
"That's, uh, pretty prolific of you." Hibiki says, awkwardly. "Still, it seems like you're new to guns. In which case, a pistol is ideal. It has a light plastic frame, and there isn't much recoil. It's a good starter gun, but there's something even better about it. This model has a never-before-seen feature that, until recently, has never existed in the history of our school."
"Wha-What is it?" Momoi asks, completely interested.
"It sounds impressive. Please tell us." Midori adds.
"The new feature that will rock the world of firearms is..." The dog girl pauses for effect. "Bluetooth."
"Goddammit!" I shout, upset, slamming my palm against my face. "Not everything needs Bluetooth, Hibiki!"
"...Huh?" The pink twin asks confused.
"The one and only pistol that allows wireless music playback and file sharing via Bluetooth." Hibiki explains, proudly. "It also functions as a digital car key, and can be used to tag into IC panels on public transit services. And to top it all off, if you enable the NFC feature, you can use it to make payments at convenience stores."
"Why don't you just... I dunno, make it be able to fire wirelessly? I swear... first cars are phones, then watches, now guns?!" I rant and rave, but am ignored by the girls, save Aris, who's rummaging through the pile.
"Th-That's amazing." The pink twin awkwardly says.
"Hang on... That's a REALLY bad idea. Imagine going to a store and pulling out a pistol, then saying 'I'll be paying with this'." I point out.
"What do you think, Aris- wait, where did she go?" Midori asks, noticing Aris gone.
"There." I say, pointing to the robot girl.
"She's looking at..." Hibiki begins, as we see Aris staring intently at something. It's a big black and white thing that kinda resembles a cannon.
"Is that...?" Aris asks.
Suddenly, another girl appears.
She has short, curly, blonde hair and bright red eyes, covered by black, half-rimmed glasses. She wears a short white shirt, unbuttoned in the middle of her chest, giving a view of her large bust, and allowing her blue tie to rest in-between said breasts. The shirt is also short, allowing view of her stomach. On top of that is a black jacket with a fluffy brown collar. Under her bust is a black strap, holding her... skirt? It can kinda be called a skirt as it functions as such, but splits in two and is held by that black strap. Her legs are bare, but her feet are covered with black tennis shoes with blue laces and white ankle socks. Her halo is comprised of two, triangle shaped, golden rings, the outside being wider. Within the triangle are three hexagons as either point. Outside the triangle are three arrow shapes, above each point.
She chuckles boastfully. "You have a good eye, customer."
"Who are you?" Aris asks.
"I'm Toyomi Kotori, one of the Engineering Club's meisters and a master of explanations!" The blonde girl says, proudly, eliciting a confused look from Aris. "And you must be Aris, the fourth member of the Game Development Department!"
"Oh, hello again, Kotori." Midori greets. "What is this huge thing here?"
"It looks like a cannon." I point out.
"Excellent deduction, uh..." Kotori says, not knowing my name.
"Joshua, from Schale." I introduce.
"Excellent decuction, Sensei!" Kotori corrects herself. "This here was produced using about seventy percent of the club's budget for the second half of the year. Allow me to introduce our most ambitious project yet! A railgun fit for an intergalactic battleship!"
"A railgun?!" I ask, kind of excited. Railguns are fucking awesome.
"An intergalactic b-battleship... That's nuts..." Momoi says, a bit worried.
"Didn't a lot of people get horrible colds when you tried making that cryo-sleep hibernation device?" Midori asks the blonde meister.
"Well, I mean, the Direct to Future Express is still in use today..." Utaha pipes up. "...but now as a refrigerator. We're sending food into the far future, so it wasn't a complete failure."
"That's quite the name for a fridge." I say, deadpan.
"The Engineering Club is going to develop an intergalactic battleship... right after some helicopters and general-purpose work robots!" Kotori says, proudly. "This railgun is the beginning of that plan. A live-ammunition weapon developed for use in the vacuum of space! No one's ever attempted this in the history of Millennium!"
"When you put it that way, it gets me kind of excited!" The pink twin says, happily.
"Me too! If anyone can do it, it's our Engineering Club." The green twin adds.
Kotori laughs awkwardly. "You can count on us!"
Hmm... I wonder if anyone from Kivotos has been in space.
"But, actually, we, uh... The whole plan is on ice for the time being." Kotori admits.
"Why'd you hype me up just to shoot me down?!" Momoi shouts.
"Like usual, our problem is not a lack of imagination or passion, but one of budget." Kotori says. "It took seventy percent of this semester's budget just to make this one gun. To make an intergalactic battleship, we're going to need a thousand times more."
"Then why did you make this gun in the first place?!" Momoi shouts back.
"The better question is why not?" I ask.
"See, Sensei gets it." Utaha says. "It's simple, really. It's because we love laser beams."
Hibiki nods in agreement to the side.
"Well said, Utaha." The blonde meister says, agreeing. "I agree wholeheartedly of course. If Momoi can't appreciate laser beams, then she's surely a fool."
"Lasers are pretty cool, but railguns are fucking awesome." I add.
"I'M SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS!" Momoi roars.
"No you're not. You're surrounded by us." I say with a grin, causing the pink twin to all but roar in frustration.
"By the way, the official name for this passion project is..." The dog girl pauses for effect.
"...'Supernova: The Sword of Light'!" Kotori finishes the sentence.
"Another overblown name..." Midori says with a groan.
Aris, however, shakes with some emotion. "The... Sword of Light?!"
"Whoa! Look at Aris' eyes sparkle!" Momoi points out.
"Wow! Incredible!" Aris cheers with a happy smile that makes me want to kill anyone who would dare harm this precious creature.
"I-I've never seen her so excited..." Midori says, surprised.
"Aris... wants one." Aris says, giddy as can be.
"...Huh?" Hibiki asks, confused.
Aris then goes to the Engineering Club girls and bows. "O great formers of steel, bequeath unto me the might of the dragon's breath."
"Uhhh... I'm glad to hear you're so... passionate." The purple haired meister says, slowly.
"But we couldn't possibly fill that request!" The blonde meister adds.
"But you said everything in this corner was fair game!" Momoi shouts, in outrage.
"...We have our reasons." The dog eared meister says, looking away.
"What reasons, though?" Aris asks, curious. "Is Aris' level too low? What stats does Aris need to equip this weapon?"
"That's not really what we mean." Utaha corrects. "With matters like this, you have to be realistic."
"Ah. I knew it. This is about the money." Momoi says, deadpan. "Don't worry, Aris. If I must, I'm willing to part with Midori's FlyStation."
"Huh?!" Midori shouts.
"That's not it either." Utaha corrects again.
"What are we getting realistic about if the issue's not money?!" Momoi snaps.
"I dunno, maybe the fact that it's a giant railgun that likely weighs half as much as a tank?" I point out.
"Oh." The pink twin says, in realization.
"Don't get me wrong, the budget is something to be concerned about." The purple meister explains. "But Sensei is correct, this weapon is way too heavy-duty to be used as a personal weapon."
"But itself, the railgun probably weighs a hundred and forty kilograms. Add the optical accuracy device and battery, and that's almost two hundred kilograms!" Kotori explains.
Aris hums in thought.
"So it's... what, four hundred forty pounds?" I ask, doing the math mentally.
"Exactly." Utaha says, turning to Aris, who looks a bit downtrodden. "We're happy you're so interested in our creation, and were you able to actually handle it yourself, I imagine we could part with it."
Aris tilts her head.
"Don't worry." I say, patting the robot girl on the head. "If you can't lift it, I take good care of it."
"Can you even lift something like that, Sensei?" Hibiki asks,
"I bench two hundred twenty five kilos every morning, two hundred's nothing." I shrug.
"Oh?!" Aris suddenly squeals in joy, running up to Utaha. "Are you certain nothing beguiles your thoughts, technomage?"
"Huh? She's speaking weird again..." Utaha whines.
"Are you sure about letting her have it? That's what she asked." I clarify.
"Of course I am. How about this, do you want to try holding it?" The purple haired girl asks Aris, who nods happily.
Aris then moves toward the railgun. "She who lifts this weapon high..." The robot girl intones. "...shall rule this land!"
Kotori lets out a hearty laugh. "That's the spirit!"
Aris then grabs the railgun, and with a quiet grunt... "Hup...!"
"B-Be careful. Don't hurt yourself... We really should have the crane over here to-" Whatever Hibki was going to say is cut off by Aris' loud grunt...
"Wha..." Utaha gasps.
"HUH?!" Kotori shouts.
...Aris picks up the railgun and holds it with a happy smile across her face. "Hooray! A-Aris did it!"
"No... way..." The dog girl breathes.
"Umm... So how does button layout work?" Aris asks, innocently. "Would this be the R trigger...?"
"W-Wait!" Hibiki shouts, in worry.
"Blinding Light!" Aris commands as she presses the button.
"GAH!" The meisters shout.
"WHOA!" The twins shout.
My eyes widen as I struggle to keep my footing as an explosive sound assaults our ears and knocks us all back a bit.
Aris, upon calling out the attack name, blows a hole straight through the roof of the Engineering Club's building.
Huh, I'm the only one who stayed standing.
"Aaah! The roof!" Kotori shouts.
"Holy crap." Midori says.
"...Amazing." Aris says in awe. "Aris will equip this to her weapon slot."
"W-Wait! Pick something else! We put so much of our budget into that one..." Kotori pleads as she scrambles to her feet.
"It's okay." Utaha says. "She should take it."
"Is that really okay, Utaha?" Midori asks, helping her twin up.
"No one else can use it anyway." Utaha says with a shrug, before turning to the dog girl. "Hibiki, put together a shoulder strap and add some handles so Aris can carry it more easily."
"Can do." The grey haired girl says with a nod. "On the plus side, we're going to be able to collect a lot of good data from, uh, REAL combat scenarios." She says, before walking off and getting to work.
"This is crazy! I feel like we just got a super rare item! Thanks guys!" Momoi thanks the meisters.
"Th-Thank you!" Aris says with a slight bow.
"It's a little early to be thanking us." The purple haired girl says.
"What now?" Momoi asks, worried.
"Kotori. Go get all of those drones and robots we were going to throw out." Utaha orders.
"Okay!" Kotori replies, before running off.
"Ah. Lettin' her get some practice, huh?" I ask with a grin. "Or are you just making a test to see if she's worthy?"
"You catch on quick, Sensei." Utaha says with a small smile, before turning to Aris. "If you want that weapon..."
"...You'll have to get through us!" Kotori shouts, coming back suddenly, dragging a crate of robots and stuff on wheels.
"Oh?!" Aris shouts.
"S-Seriously?! I thought you said she could have it if she could lift it, Utaha!" Momoi accuses.
"W-We just wanted a weapon for Aris..." Midori whines.
"Were it any other weapon, I would happily let it go." The purple haired girl explains. "But for this project, you need to earn my approval first."
"Wh-What does that mean?" The green twin asks, worried.
"I guess it's more of a qualification exam than a bid for approval." The purple haired girl corrects herself.
"I don't understand..." Midori pouts.
Suddenly, the drones and robots whir to life.
"Combat drones and robots detected. Danger confirmed." Aris says. "Here they come!" She shouts, as she readies the railgun.
Midori squeaks in fright.
The Engineering Club girls, sans Hibiki, who's busy, and I step back, allowing the three gamer girls to begin fighting the robots.
"Get ready, you three." I warn.
"Wait, us too?!" Momoi shouts.
"Good luck!" Kotori cheers.
White combat robots, equipped with simple rifles begin firing at the trio. Midori and Momoi dash in either direction to dodge. Aris, despite holding something the size of a fridge, moves unabated.
Midori presses a button on her rifle and fires five, glowing green rounds into five robots, downing them.
Drones chase after Momoi, who shoots a few, but a couple of them dodge, which agitates her. She presses a button on her assault rifle and sprays a burst of pink rounds, clearing the horde quickly.
As for Aris, she's dodging gunfire from robots and drones alike, and with great effectiveness. I think she might be quick as me! She presses a button on the railgun, but doesn't aim nor fire, she just keeps on dodging. After a moment, the railgun begins to glow red instead of blue.
"Oh, she used that." Utaha says, in realization.
" 'That'?" I ask.
"It's a special ability we gave the railgun. It allows a single shot to be 'charged up', so to speak." Kotori explains.
"Shouldn't we stop her? She just blew a hole in the roof with an un-charged shot." I point out.
"Yeah, but it was still at full power. Now-" Kotori stars.
FWOOSH
The railgun fires a glowing-red beam from it's barrel, demolishing the remaining robots and drones with a single shot.
"Now, it's powered down." The blonde meister finishes.
"...Aris HAS to let me shoot that sometime." I say, eliciting a hearty laugh from Kotori and a chuckle from Utaha, who is keenly observing the trio of gamers, who've finished off the rest of the robots and drones as we talked.
The trio walk up to us, with expectant looks, directed at Utaha.
"...Not bad." Utaha says after a long moment.
"Aris! The Sword of Light is now yours!" Kotori announces.
"Hooray!" The robot girl cheers, a bright smile on her face. Protective instincts... taking control...!
Midori lets out a relieved sigh. "Everything worked itself out."
Hibiki, who's come back with new stuff for the railgun, speaks. "I still can't believe you can even lift the gun... Anyway, uh, come here, Aris. I can give you some operating instructions and reinforce the grip some more."
As the girls begin to do this and that, I turn to Utaha. "Hey, Utaha?"
"Yes, Sensei?" The purple haired girl asks.
"I almost forgot to say thanks for makin' that harpoon a while back." I say with a grin. "It really made hunting that 'white whale' easier."
Utaha lets out a soft chuckle, smiling as she does. "You're quite welcome, Sensei."
Hibiki and Aris walk to the side as the dog girl begins to work on the railgun, much to the awe of the robotic girl.
As this goes on... Utaha thinks to herself as Sensei and the twins converse with Kotori.
'Grip strength of at least one metric ton, being able to maintain balance while firing, and she has superhuman strength. Not to mention a 'body' which perfectly maintains itself... It could be self-repairing itself via nanomachines, meaning it was designed for use in harsh environments where constant maintenance is required. Obviously, one such environment immediately springs to mind... the battlefield.'
The purple haired meister looks on at Aris smiling happily while Hibiki works.
'...Just who is Aris, really?'
AN
OH CRAP, THAT'S A RAILGUN!
ALSO, DID YOU GET THE SKYRIM REFERNCE?!
Also, I added a section to Chapter 40, so give it a re-read, would you?
Edit: January 5, 2023: Changed Aris referring to herself from 'I' to 'Aris', since she speaks in third person. The text in Global has her speak normally.
Edit: January 22, 2023: Added some dialogue about Binah.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!