Breakfast:
[X]Breakfast: Visit Koujirou, see if he is okay.
No. of votes: 71
-[X] If he is not awake, ask his frame what exactly it thought it was doing when it let him override the safeties.
No. of votes: 26+14=40 (Pass)
[X]Breakfast: See about acquiring a medical module
No. of votes: 54+5
-[X]While you are at it, put in a request for a fabricator, through official channels. Best to be prepared.
No. of votes: 43
Morning:
[X]Morning: Go to class and study Transcendent Offense
No. of votes: 47
Lunch:
[X]Lunch: Hang around with friends
No. of votes: 36
-[X] Discuss the match and pick out where they did right and wrong.
No. of votes: 34
XxXxXxXxXx
05:31.02
Twenty eight minutes, fifty eight seconds left.
…
Surely no one will mind if you stand outside the door of the infirmary for a few minutes.
You pull up a map of the Arcology and plot out a course, spinning on your heel to walk through the door of your room.
Upon exiting a robotic dolly waiting outside your room calls for your attention, the quiet chime of its alert breaking the silence of the hallway. You glance at it and it offers you a package. Strange, from whom?
You take it and a message alerts pings in your mind upon acceptance of the delivery.
>>"Heeeey, we're sorry we couldn't really make anything out of the dough you gave us, you crushed the flour too fine, still, we worked with Crafting class to make something out of it, cheers from the Baking Club!"
>>FROM: Cadet Erica Louvre
From the Baking elective class? Ah, of course, they did say they would create something from the flour you had created during your visit.
The dolly trundles off and you open the package.
Within the package is a rack of rather beautiful cutlery, made of bronze ceramics and overlaid with bluish white filigree that covers the handles and runs along the spines of the assorted spoons, forks, and knives.
…You had expected a delivery of bread, but this was far more preferable.
You store the gift and continue onward, slightly cheerier.
XxXxXxXxXx
You come to a stop outside the infirmary and look over the block.
The entire area around the infirmary was radiologically isolated, a complete black hole to your sensors, you could even feel faint spatial ripples from an active Higgs barrier. The infirmary was better isolated than an Arcology shelter.
A small video screen appeared to be the only network access from the inside to the outside.
05:37.40
Twenty two minutes, twenty seconds.
…
05:37.50
Twenty two minutes, ten seconds.
…
05:38.00
Twenty two minutes, zero seco-
A slight fuzz of activating electronics brush at your sensors before a video starts playing out of the screen.
"Just come in already cadet. You do know you could have knocked right?" Instructor Parks says from the screen, frowning slightly, "Just make sure you don't emit any rads in here, alright? Highly sensitive equipment is lying around inside. I suppose you're here to visit Cadet Rokusabe, the First Year?"
"Yes. Yes," you agree and confirm, noting to yourself that you needed to maintain passive stealth inside the infirmary.
The door slides open and you step into a corridor, several meters long, with blank walls of cold, black metal lit by sterile white lights. In fact, they only emitted visible light and lower wavelengths.
At the terminus, there was a small lobby painted a comfortable cream white, with sofas pushed against the walls. Instructor Parks was lounging on one, eyes closed.
"He's in room zero zero one three. Recovered completely. Already awake too."
You pause slightly at the news, a warmth filling your stomach.
"Already awake? Fully recovered?"
"Yep. Surprised me a lot too. Just make sure you don't emit. He's still purging the nanomachines and the last thing he needs now is goo cancer."
Ah. You had been warned about 'Goo Cancer' in Alaska. Nanomachines were rapidly degraded by radiation, but there was a possibility that the radiation could instead damage the tiny machines in a way that only their replication restrictions were removed. The results were short lived and nasty, but even that thought doesn't diminish your improved mood.
Parks cracks open an eye and stares at you speculatively for a moment, "Anna, will you be getting a scan here before you leave? Valks occasionally do let injuries go unnoticed."
You think it over for a moment. You didn't really feel suspicious of the UN any longer and you were trusting your friends to their care, but even so…
"Not this time, perhaps later."
Instructor Parks shrugs a shoulder and leans back into the sofa. You nod back in farewell and stride off for Koujirou's room.
You hesitate for a moment upon reaching his door, a sudden thought striking you.
…What if he didn't want to see you? If he hated you for his injury? -Monster- -Your fault!-
You shiver slightly, the miserable twisting sensation in your stomach returning.
-Are you here to make friends?-
…It was fine. Even if Koujirou hated you now, it wouldn't matter. You're just here to make sure he was okay. Even if everyone else hated you, it wouldn't matter. As long as they lived.
No matter the cost.
Doubts dismissed, you take a decisive step forward and step into the room, schooling your face to look neutral.
Koujirou is sitting on his bed, wearing pajamas and a gauntlet attached to his wrist. His eyes are closed and he does not react as you step into the room. Was he still asleep?
You glance around the hospital room. It was rather plain, a small pair of tables next to bed and what appeared to be the output port for a fabricator. A small status monitor blinks next to the bed.
You take a close look at the last item in particular.
>Rokusabe Koujirou<
>Condition: Unharmed<
>Current Status: Undergoing nanomachine purge<
Underneath the text, detailed diagrams scroll across the screen. You heave a small sigh of relief, feeling a knot between your shoulders unwind. It wasn't as good as seeing it with your own sensors, but it looked accurate enough.
Koujirou shifts, and you gulp slightly, but he only raises his arms. A soft white glow announces something materialising from his storage, and a few minutes later, his melee halberd floats above his hands. Individual component manifestation? Impressive. It wasn't easy to express a individual component that was synchronised with the Valkyrie Frame without bringing the rest of the frame with it.
Small flickers of white light play across the length of the sword. It looks different from yesterday, broader and slightly longer. With a strangely heavy click, another section of blade extends from the handle, making the weapon much longer than what it had been yesterday. A flare of white light washes over the blade, and a series of mechanical components materialise over the back of the sword, most likely thrusters you guess.
Koujirou opens his eyes and looks over his changed equipment, smiling slightly.
"Ha-!" he gives the blade a swing, still sitting-
"-aaaaaoooly crap Anna!" he yelps as he notices you, jumping off his bed.
He was probably surprised.
"Good morning. Are you okay now?"
Koujirou stares at you for a second with wide eyes, "Y-yeah. No problems," he glances down at his gauntlet, "Just finishing my treatment now I guess..."
"I see," you respond. Koujirou didn't act any different, blithe as usual. He didn't seem nearly as hurt now, unlike… unlike yesterday.
Guilt settles heavier on your back as you think about what happened.
"I'm sorry."
The words burst out of you, almost a shout.
"Eh?"
"I… hurt you. Yesterday in the sims. I-"
"Woah! Woah, stop right there Anna," Koujirou yells, waving his arms into a cross.
You fall silent, resigned. If he won't accept your apology, then there was nothing more that you could do.
Suspicion. Condemnation. Blame. Attacks.
Retaliation?
"You didn't hurt me, I overrode the safeties on Kandakara myself. No way your fault."
You blink in surprise.
"Heck, you weren't even shooting at me. The only thing you did was that flick at the end there," he smiles ruefully.
"Even so, when we shouldn't have needed to fight, I-"
"Wait. Hold up, Anna, it was just practice, no hard feelings from anyone," he says, "I mean, I forgot to even tell you what practice consisted of until we were in sim space."
"I should have refused. I knew that nothing good would come from fighting against humans, but I…"
Koujirou huffs slightly, looking exasperated.
"Hey, c'mon now. I learned my Frame's name and unlocked one of my weapon configurations. With how things are, I might even get another one of my Frame systems next time we practice against each other."
Next time?
"No. There will be no next time, not against others. I won't risk it," you flatly reject.
Koujirou scratches his head, looking put out.
"Look Anna, we are all told to treat the scenarios in the simulators like real life. If I needed to hit an Antagonist as fast as you on the battlefield, I would have to push myself just as far," he says quietly, "This is practice for the real thing, are you going to tell me that's wrong? "
…He was right.
"I… no, but- I still don't want to hurt you- or anyone."
Koujirou stays silent, frowning, then suddenly brightens up, "How bout this, next time, you won't."
…? You wait for clarification.
Koujirou grins at you, bouncing on his toes for a few seconds.
"C'mon Anna, ask."
…He's lost you.
"Ask what?"
Koujirou pouts, then with a slight sigh continues, "Ask me what you won't do."
Alright…?
"I won't do what?"
"Hurt me. You won't."
A startled laugh escapes you at the ironic echo and Koujirou makes a small fist pumping motion at that.
"That… how can you be sure?"
"Don't worry, I wont go nuts with the safeties next time. The sim will do my job for me."
You stare at Koujirou, somewhat suspicious.
"Really! I won't be screwing with my safety settings when practicing with you. I promise."
You nod slightly at that. It was… nice that Koujirou didn't blame you for his injury, that he was still kind to you. Nice but… strange.
…You felt light. Almost floaty.
"Then I will hold us both to that."
"Cool, glad we have that sorted then," says Koujirou as he plops back onto his bed.
On the subject of safeties…
"What… are Frame safeties like? Surely they shouldn't be easy to override."
Koujirou shrugs slightly at that, "Kandakara always had a closer margin setting than other frames, but I dunno, it wasn't hard or anything, I just kinda wanted to? I mean, I'd need to go through all the menus and stuff usually, this time, I didn't need that though."
"Go through the menus usually? Koujirou, how often-"
Koujirou chokes and cuts you off before you finish your question, "Gah- Uh, I mean, I figured it out from the tutorial during my first time synching. So, you know, it isn't really-" he cuts himself off, takes a bit of a breath, then continues, meeting your eyes. "Anna, don't get the wrong idea, this is the first time I've actually pushed past the safeties, but I made sure I knew how to, just in case you know?"
You nod slightly in acceptance of the explanation, but it still strikes you as strange that he had the option at all outside of High Alert Conditions.
Maybe it was a… 'feature' of his frame? Perhaps you could try ask it directly? Durga rarely returned more than vague emotions the various times when you tried talking to her as far as you remembered, but maybe Kandakara was different.
But, no emissions allowed in the infirmary. Maybe you could bridge to it instead? No, not in such a small area and especially not inside a place where people were recovering from injuries.
Koujirou's smile grows awkward as you stand there thinking and you decide to put off trying to talk to Kandakara for the moment.
"Will you be in morning class?"
"Nah, I'm getting out at lunch."
"I will see you then, I hope you recover without complication."
"See you then Anna," he waves cheerfully and you withdraw from the room with a nod.
XxXxXxXxXx
Koujirou gains 1 affection point from Anna!
XxXxXxXxXx
You walk back to the lobby, where Instructor Parks was still lounging.
"Instructor, where can I receive a medical module for my frame?"
She raises an eyebrow at the question and think for a second, "You're cleared to just request one from eldiv. L-Div, Logistics Division I mean. You should be able to just get one from the fabricator rooms. Make sure you specify which model you want, something you'll be integrating, or just a mobile station you can express."
"What would be the difference?"
"Well with enough time, there won't be, but stations are good for just setting down without you needing time to integrate them, so it depends on how soon you'll be seeing someone who's in need of care."
She pauses for a second there, "I sure hope you will be picking up an integrated med module, otherwise I'd be rather worried about what you were doing."
You flinch slightly at the rebuke, "No I- I won't be trying to hurt-"
"Wait, I'm not saying you'd be attacking people- I was trying to make a joke," says Instructor Parks, looking slightly alarmed, "Sorry. Gallows humour, grows in you if you work in med."
Oh.
"…That was not very funny."
"It wasn't, sorry. I'll send for a med model to be fabricated and delivered along the fifth primary transit belt, you can look up where exactly it is once you leave the infirmary."
"Thank you."
You turn and leave.
Behind you, Instructor Parks quietly mutters under her breath, "Cripes, that is why I shouldn't be here."
XxXxXxXxXx
You make you way to the closest dock of the fifth primary utility transportation belt after leaving the infirmary.
A series of corridors and elevators linking throughout the Arcology, the transit belts are responsible for the vast majority of production moving through the Arcology, with only extremely large objects moved through the utility tunnels that you had travelled through to get to the lower Arcology.
Almost as soon as you arrive, one of the docks flashes green and you receive a message that your package had arrived.
With a hiss of airlocks cycling, the door opens and reveals to you a cube three meters to each side and rather blurry to your sensors. Hmm.
Ah, there was a cylindrical radiation shield around it. You place your hand on it and concentrate. There is shiver in space and then your storage opens, taking in the medical module along with the radiation shield.
You analyse it carefully, now that it was in the safety of your storage and no longer threatened by accidental damage. A series of nanoscale assemblers was the heart of the module, probably to synthesise drugs and nanomachines, then there were a series other components, dialysis machines, cell vats, structure meshes and what appeared to be a direct surgery set being the ones you immediately recognise.
The medical module was… above average in complexity, less so than your hypervelocity cannons, but more than your laser systems. You ask Durga and receive a reply that it would take approximately two months to completely integrate it.
The radiation shield also sits inside your storage, useless at the moment. Along the same lines as integrating a medical module, it would be nice to again have a proper, dedicated fabricator. All your fabricators are currently integrated into your weapon systems, the ones you have back from the town indistinguishable from your heavy particle projectors, and your other fabricator reformed into a single-purpose ammo generator for your hypervelocity cannons.
In fact, you probably could right now.
You ask the Arcology for a standard fabricator for Valkyrie integration and it promptly responds, sending a spare up to you. Within the minute, the dock opens with another hiss of depressurising air and the fabricator arrives.
Once again, a cube three meters to a side appears, but this one unshielded. You confirm that it is a fabricator and take it into your storage. The fabricator was primarily macroscale, but there was a particle chamber for elemental conversion, and microscale assemblers, not quite at the level of accuracy necessary to form molecular nanomachines but good enough for chemical synthesis and micro scale nanomachines.
It was just past six in the morning, what else was there to do?
…Maybe you should just go wait in the classroom-
Durga chimes in, alerting you to another one of those mysterious messages suddenly arriving. You sigh and open it and your voice whispers out, "Reminder to Anna Sanchez. Sleep. Eat breakfast. Do other normal things. End message."
Ah, sleep, that's right.
You turn on heel and head for your room.
XxXxXxXxXx
Gained: Medical Module: 64 days to integrate.
Gained: Fabricator: 60 days to integrate.
XxXxXxXxXx
After two and a half hours of sleep, you wake up, again just before the alarm clock begins, and you shut it down with a flick of thought.
With a slightly regretful sigh, you wriggle out of your blankets, turning on your Impeller field and get dressed.
When you arrive at the cafeteria, you pause for a moment, wondering if you should start eating food by regions as Yukari had shown you last night or if you should continue your list.
Hmm.
Nah. You continue down your list, now in the general area of the middle of 'C' and the beginnings of 'D'.
XxXxXxXxXx
Arriving in class, you settle down and wait for the rest of the class to arrive. As the class fills up, you note that Setsuna does not arrive. You are momentarily concerned until you see a bye notice on her network profile, stating that she would be taking a bit of a break from class this morning.
Instructor Leonhart glances at you and gives you a slight nod of greeting, and you return it. You like the rather distant Instructor much more, if only because she had been there last night to comfort you.
Sandra looks over with an expression of concern when Instructor Meyer herds the last of the cadets in and neither Setsuna nor Koujirou appear, sending you a message asking if all was well.
You mull over your response for a moment.
All was not well, not in your opinion, not in the least.
Did it make sense to worry others though?
Sandra appeared to be rather in control of herself though, and you send back a brief explanation. A very fast response arrives.
>>"Anna, please do not take Shuri's method of training as an example to be followed. Whilst her intentions are good and it returns very fast results, it is also rather destructive to the cadets who cannot keep up. I am attempting to convince her to ease off with some success and hope that you do not now try to force results in her place."
>>FROM: Cadet Aleksandra M. Cambridge.
…That was not even-
You don't-
You sigh and return a message reassuring her that you were not attempting to force more results than can be reasonably expected.
Speaking of Sandra and Shuri, you glance over at their Flight.
All three neophytes had already left, and the remaining original member, Catherine Han, was snoring into Shuri's shoulder, somehow managing to shuffle into class and immediately fall asleep leaning against the other Valkyrie. The ace didn't seem too bothered by it, gently poking the other girl awake as Instructor Meyer steps up to the podium.
"Welcome to class cadets. You've had a few days to adjust to synching into your Valkyries, so today we are going to talk about frame equipment, replacing current frame equipment, and changing frame configurations, as well as different frames should you wish to change frames altogether."
You are not at all interested in replacing Durga, so you dive into your research into the wave force, looking into the background of the paper on the Ginnungagap weaponry and what you would need to form a similarly expansive theory.
XxXxXxXxXx
Morning Class Roll: 50
(Transcendent Offense) Static Wave level 1: (114)+ 50 = 164/900
XxXxXxXxXx
The cadets are sweeping out for lunch when you receive a message from Koujirou.
>>"plz don't tell"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
…?
Okay?
Fractions of a second after you receive the first message, a second message arrives, this one from Setsuna. You feel a sense of unease form as you contemplate the message. Even if Koujirou didn't blame you for his injury, what about Setsuna?
Hmm, thinking about that, you haven't explored the 'Elite' cafeteria yet, maybe today was a good time.
But... what about Yukari?
…
Well there was no point putting it off. You open the message-
>>"Anna, have you seen Koujirou?"
>>FROM: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
Hmm? That wasn't anything along the lines that you expected.
You did see Koujirou this morning and you tell her as much.
>>"I mean recently. He's missing, instructor parks told me he'd just checked out but now I can't find him."
>>FROM: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
>>"Anna halp need to hide"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
What.
>>"Are you trying to attack Koujirou again?"
>>TO: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
>>"Is Setsuna trying to attack you?"
>>TO: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
Two messages almost immediately respond.
>>"I'm just going to call him out on his stuoidity."
>>FROM: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
>>"mentally yes send aid"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
Hmm. You look through the cameras at where the two were.
Setsuna looks peeved, leaning against a robotic dolly in an empty corridor near the infirmary while tapping at her datapad.
Koujirou was hiding… right next to her, inside the package the robot dolly was carrying.
…
You ask the robot dolly to move away. It warns Setsuna and starts rolling off as she stands upright. She continues looking down corridors suspiciously, occasionally glancing back down at her datapad.
>>"He's trying to hide from you right now. Sorry."
>>TO: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
>>"I am moving you away from Setsuna, stand by."
>>TO: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
>>"TY ur lifesaver"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
You frown at the false praise and continue monitoring the situation. Setsuna stares at her screen in bewilderment and starts angrily typing. You read her message through the camera even before she sends it but you decide to wait until your receive it to give it consideration.
>>"Anna, your enabling him yknow. He gonna do stupid things again unless you call him out on it."
>>FROM: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
Are the 'stupid things' mentioned Koujirou injuring himself? In that case, that… is a good point. You stop the dolly.
>>"Is it safe to leave now?"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
After a moment hesitation, you turn the dolly around, feeling a slight sense of regret.
>>"why going back stop robot anna"
>>FROM: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
>>"I'm sorry, Koujirou. I'm afraid I can't do that."
>>TO: Cadet Rokusabe Koujirou.
Koujirou practically bounds out of the box while it was still out of Setsuna's view and rapidly escapes.
…Oh well.
>>"We will talk to him in afternoon class."
>>TO: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
Setsuna sighs slightly and composes one last response and sends it before tucking away her datapad and walking towards the cafeteria.
>>"Alright."
>>FROM: Cadet Masaya Setsuna.
XxXxXxXxXx
You meet with Setsuna and Yukari inside the cafeteria, feeling nervous.
Yukari waves at you, seemingly in good cheer as she continues talking to Setsuna.
You sit down and Yukari immediately questions you, "You said he was awake in the morning? When we visited, he was asleep."
She, like Setsuna, doesn't appear to blame you for Koujirou's injuries. A tide of relief washes over you, but you don't let it show, concentrating on the subject at hand.
"Yes, he was. That was at five thirty in the morning though, so he may have gone back to sleep."
Both girls raise an eyebrow in sync at that.
"That would make sense then, we visited at eight."
Apparently reassured, Yukari lapses back into silence.
Setsuna however, stares unhappily at you, puffing out her cheeks.
"Anna, you really should have told me where he was hiding, haven't you ever heard the saying strike when the metal is hot?"
Well…
Yukari saves you by shaking her head minutely and speaking up, "Koujirou might appear absentminded, but he's actually fairly perceptive of the people around him, I don't think we will need to worry too much about him trying that again."
"Speaking of yesterday, you were totally amazing Anna," Setsuna suddenly chirps with a grin, "When can we do that again?"
"I agree," says Yukari with a slight shake of her head, "I understood that you were skilled, but that was beyond all my expectations."
You lean back in your seat, slightly alarmed at Setsuna's eagerness. It was comforting that neither hated you after yesterday, but to wish to fight against you again… Yukari was not objecting against the idea either. Rather, she was looking over with an expression of obvious interest.
Were both of them like Koujirou, actually looking forward to matching against you again?
Ugh.
"I… lets uh, review! Review how the battle went yesterday first," you deflect.
"Alright."
"Sure."
Both look eagerly at you.
Uh.
…
Were you supposed to start?
"Well come on, how did we do?" asks Setsuna, drumming her chopsticks against her fingers.
Apparently so.
"Well… what the three of you tried was good. Setsuna, you had good weapon coverage arcs. That missile minefield tactic was also really good."
Uh.
"But the way you were shooting, it was too indiscriminate, you could have hit Yukari."
Setsuna frowns in contemplation at that but Yukari waves her hand dismissively, "Last night was practically a Missile Defence or Zero Suppression scenario, I can afford to take a few hits if it means it's more likely the main target is hit."
…You're not sure if you'd be okay with that.
"Uh, Yukari, that close range weapon of yours was interesting. You had good timing on your primary projectile weapons, but there's too much build up time. I could tell when you were about to attack, especially with that lightning blaster system."
Yukari leans her head against her palm and frowns, "I was using capacitor dump to charge both my laser and particle system. Unless we go into bomb pumped lasers and casaba howitzers, it's impossible to fire either one faster. As for Raitei, that's impossible to aim without buildup. How did you deflect it anyway?"
"I dumped the charge that you built up in my Impeller as you fired."
She stares for a second and sardonically asks, "You dumped the charge? Just like that?"
Uh.
"Yes?"
Yukari rubs her face with her hands and sighs slightly, "Okay. I should diversify I guess and I do need take some new systems to replace the ones I lost."
Setsuna bounces in her chair, "What can I do to get better Anna?"
Uh. Well…
"I uh, think you need to be faster. Your weapon control is already better than most of the other cadets in our class."
"So inertia cancelling and frame configuration practice?"
Both would help her speed up so you nod.
"…Alright then."
Setsuna looks sightly disappointed there and you awkwardly shrug.
"Well, we should probably talk it over with Koujirou in class as well. I'll start focusing on this this afternoon I guess," she says.
At that, conversation changes to other more casual topics and you busy yourself with food, ignoring Yukari's still present and obvious amusement whenever she looks your way.
XxXxXxXxXx
Still to come:
[]Koujirou
-[] If he is not awake, ask his frame what exactly it thought it was doing when it let him override the safeties.
-[] Discuss the match and pick out where they did right and wrong.
Any specific pointers to Koujirou as to how he can git gud?
[]Write in?
[]Nah.
What to study?
[]Afternoon: Self study. Continue as is. (Target rich environment)
[]Afternoon: Self Study. Write in.
Make any plans for between dinner and elective classes?
[]Dinner: Write in.
For evening, have any plans?
[]Evening: Write in.
Or any particular elective classes you want to see?
[]Evening: Continue down the list.
>[]Evening: Write in.
[]Evening: Do something else.
>[]Evening: Write in.
