"No," Kei said to Sensei while they were going up a stairway as they made their way to the GDD club room. She was carrying a stack of boxes far taller than her which contained different ingredients. "I did not learn to cook just so you can have an assistant."
"I thought it'll be a good opportunity to check on your progress, and maybe trade some notes. I guess it can't be helped," Sensei said. "On another note, are you sure you don't need my help with that? You can't even see what's in front of you."
"You underestimate this unit's capabilities," Kei said with a slight smug before she tripped on the last step. Thankfully, Sensei managed to catch her, with Yume materializing to stabilize the boxes before she took a few of them off Kei's hands.
"That was close!" Yume said as Sensei also took a few more boxes and allowed Kei to actually see what was in front of her.
"...Your meddling was not…unwelcome…" Kei's cheeks were slightly red with embarrassment before she turned her attention to Yume, who landed on the ground to avoid getting attention. "You…Who are you?"
"Nice to meet you, Kei! I'm Kuchinashi Yume, a senior at Abydos High School and Sensei's 'Student'!" Yume replied with a smile. "I'm currently tagging along with Sensei as his student assistant!"
Kei looked at her with skepticism before her eyes flickered blue for a moment. It quickly returned to her pink. "...The Princess would like to talk to you."
Kei's pink iris changed to blue after a blink. "Long time no see, Sensei! And nice to meet you, Miss Yume! Thanks for assisting Kei just now. She can be a little stubborn sometimes, but she appreciates your help."
"Nice to meet you too, Aris!" Yume said with a smile. "Sensei filled me in about your circumstances."
"Aris! It's been a while," Sensei said with a smile. "Did you get things sorted out with Kei?"
"Thanks to Sensei and the others, Aris has successfully gained enough affinity with Kei that we can freely switch places now and even share control over our body at the same time, though Kei said the latter was a by-product of an 'update' to our body's programming to prevent another cyber attack," Aris said with a smile. "There are still a few things that we have to talk about between ourselves, especially about the Ark. Aris and Kei will explain more to you while we're in the kitchen."
…
…
…
Aris agreed to help Sensei with the pastries on a later date, but for now they were making lunch for everyone in the Game Development Department.
"What is the Ark, Aris?" Sensei asked while he and Aris were mixing ingredients in the GDD's kitchen.
"It's like Alchemy! Kei, can you explain more to Sensei?" Aris asked Kei while she was working on shaping the cookies. Aris' left eye glowed pink while her right remained bright purple. Sensei surmised that Aris retained control over their body's motor functions while Kei was given control over speech.
"Understood," Kei said. "The Ark of Atrahasis is a system designed by our creators to archive the Mysteries of Kivotos. It collects and transforms data from the environment to create the Ark."
"No wonder Aris likened it to Alchemy," Sensei said as he placed a tray of cookies in the oven. "The way it works is similar to transmuting an existing object to another form."
"Now that I've answered your query, I have a question for you too," Kei took control of the body as she pointed further in the room. "What manner of being is that?"
A curious Yuzu was peeking from her locker while Momoi and Midori were hounding a floating Yume with questions.
"How did you learn to fly, Miss Yume?" Momoi asked excitedly. "How does it feel to float in the air?"
"Miss Yume, are you perhaps a ghost?" Midori asked. "You disappeared for a moment in the club room before reappearing in another part of the room."
"G-Ghost…? That's not true, right?" Yuzu muttered.
"It's magic! You see, Sensei's been teaching me how to better control it," Yume said with a bright smile.
"Ehhh?" Momoi said as she turned her attention to Sensei. "Sensei, teach me how to fly too!
"Sorry, but I don't actually know how to use flight magic either. Yume's a bit of a special case in that regard in that she figured it out for herself," Sensei said.
"How did you learn how to fly, Miss Yume?" Midori asked.
"I just realized that I can float one day, so I started practicing until I got really good at it!"
"Eh?! It can't be that convenient!" Momoi complained. "I think it'd be much easier if I just ask the Engineering club to make me some flying shoes or something!"
Flying shoes huh? That's interesting, Sensei thought as he chopped some meat.
Sensei had to admit that the idea of using technology to allow an individual to fly like Yume was a huge advantage whether it be in fights or helping others. Perhaps he should run this by Utaha and the others in the Engineering club the next time he visits them to see if it was possible.
…
As Sensei continued to cook, Momoi, Midori, and Yuzu listened to Yume's retelling of her first meeting with Sensei. Sensei had to admit that Yume knew how to tell an engaging story. Considering Mystic is commonplace in Kivotos, and that everyone in the Game Development Department more or less knew Sensei's abilities, he saw no need to hide Yume's existence from them as it would be easy to pass off Yume's ability to fly and disappear to be an advanced usage of her Mystic.
Additionally, very few outside of the district would know about what happened to her two years ago.
Though I would have to explain to the students that do know about her. He already had a few Millennium students in mind as he glanced at the corner of the room, where he spotted a small camera hidden there. I'll cross that bridge when we get there.
"That girl, Yume…" Kei muttered as she worked on her side of the kitchen. "She's a unique being that has traces of Sen—your foreign Mystery."
"She has her own special circumstance like you two," Sensei said with a smile. "I hope you'll treat her just like any student."
"Hmph…You don't have to tell me that," Kei said as she—or rather Aris made a thumbs up as they met his gaze with their heterochromic eyes. It made for quite a funny sight where Kei was visibly grumpy, but did a thumbs-up. Based on how Kei's cheeks were tinged red, she was aware of how silly she looked.
…
…
…
In a certain room currently being used as the temporary club room for the Super Phenomenon Task Force, four students were currently occupying it. The first two were Rio and Himari, with Toki standing behind them. In front of them was the first year student named Izumimoto Eimi who sat in front of the computer terminal that controlled which camera view was currently being displayed on the screen.
"The Princess and the Key are both active," Rio said as she stared at the screen currently showing the Game Development Department's club room. "That is not ideal. Especially not when the Eighth Prophet is still in Millennium."
"And yet it is not the worst case scenario either," Himari said. "Frankly, I don't think my cute little juniors will actually destroy Kivotos."
"...You already think that the Key—Kei will eventually give up."
"Someone who can make a smile like that while cooking probably wouldn't want to destroy Kivotos," Himari said as she recalled older footage that showed Kei smiling while cooking.
"'Probably' is not good enough, Himari," Rio said. "The only reason I'm even letting this continue is due to Sensei's own abilities, but even he cannot always be there to watch over Aris and Kei."
"That's why we're keeping an eye on her, aren't we?" Himari said as she put a hand on her temple and slowly shook her head. "With that said, I'm surprised you're still in the campus instead of doing whatever it is you're doing with the funds you're embezzling from Millennium."
"Dealing with the Princess of the Nameless Gods is one matter, but the presence of the Eighth Prophet of Decagrammaton in the campus is a much more immediate issue," Rio said. "Eimi, please switch the display."
As the screen switched the camera view to one that showed Momoi, Midori, and Yume. "That Abydos student seems familiar…But where have I seen her before?" Rio muttered. "And how did she suddenly appear in the middle of the campus? Cloaking? But I personally oversee the regulation of that technology, and hers doesn't work the same way…"
"Then there's the fact that she can fly so freely too. Perhaps I should add some flight capabilities on my wheelchair…"
"Hmmm…" Eimi said, "Having the ability to fly anytime is quite efficient."
"Rio, do you think that perhaps that could be upgraded to include flight capabilities?" Toki asked.
Rio looked at Toki with curiosity before turning her attention back to the screen with a curt smile. "I'll look into it, but we're losing our focus here."
"I could go for a few more ideas," Himari said with glee.
"Himari."
"And just when you were actually fun to talk to for once…" Himari lamented as she looked at Yume's face more closely.
"With that said, I feel like I've seen this student before too…" Himari said as she hacked into Abydos High School's student database in the GSC and let out a surprise. "Would you look at that…This is certainly a fortuitous opportunity! Take a look at this, Rio."
Rio turned her attention away from the camera screen and widened her eyes as she saw on the smaller screen a certain Abydos student's profile on full display.
"Kuchinashi Yume…?" Rio muttered before she widened her eyes. The shock on her face was clear. "The Abydos Student Council President that's been missing for two years…?! But the chances of her being alive after all this time is virtually non-existent!"
"And yet Sensei somehow found her. I wonder…could she be a ghost?" Himari said with a hint of fascination. "Eimi, Toki. Just to confirm, but the two of you are seeing a cyan-haired girl wearing Abydos High School's uniform on screen, correct?"
"Yes," Toki said.
"Yes," Eimi said. "Am I not supposed to?"
"Thank you for that," Himari said with a smile. "Rio, either the Abydos Student Council President miraculously survived and somehow has access to cloaking AND flight technology that we somehow can't detect using Millennium's advanced technology, or we are seeing evidence of the supernatural taking place right before our eyes."
Yume's body disappeared from the couch before it reappeared next to Yuzu as the former whisked the latter with a giggle while she said, "Come join us for lunch, Yuzu!"
"E-Eeek! Ghost!"
"I'm confident it's the latter," Himari said with excitement as the monitor switched cameras once more back to where Sensei was standing, who was discreetly waving at the camera. "Ah, it seems he noticed us."
Sensei pulled out his phone and fiddled with it before putting it away as he got back to preparing lunch. At the same time, Himari's phone received a message notification, which was also displayed on her wheelchair's holo-display.
Sensei: [I'll explain later.]
"I'm looking forward to it," Himari said with a smile as she sent the same message to Sensei via Momotalk.
Author's Note:
Just a heads-up, but with this chapter FFN has finally caught up with AO3 and Spacebattles. The releases from this point onward will be sporadic.
With that said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.