Ch.47Affection

A week later, it was time for the morning assembly.

Kendra banged her head on the podium.

“T-teacher?”

“I’m sorry, everyone. I’ve put you all in danger not once, but twice. And right from the beginning of the semester… I deeply regret my responsibility as a teacher.”

Thud, thud, thud. Kendra kept hitting her head against the podium.

So this is what they call kowtowing.

Seeing a Westerner do it makes it quite unusual.

Kendra’s apology was merely ceremonial. She was apologizing because higher-ups told her to. Nevertheless, Kendra was desperate.

“I’m sorry, truly sorry…”

She was always overly concerned about others. She was someone who genuinely cared for her students.

Everyone nearly died, so it would be absurd to say she wasn’t suffering emotionally.

As she showed her sincerity, the students’ complaints subsided like water dousing a fire. Even Kristin, who loved to criticize, just scratched her head.

Well, what would seventeen-year-old students know?

They’re still minors after all. They’re weak to apologies.

But this didn’t apply to androids.

“Then why didn’t you take proper measures?”

A scathing remark followed. The voice came from right behind me.

Frilly dress. Black base with a pure white apron. Headband.

A girl with navy blue bob-cut hair in unmistakable maid attire—no, an android—stabbed at Kendra with an emotionless voice.

“For a world-renowned prestigious academia, you’ve repeated the same mistake twice. At this point, it wouldn’t be strange if the school were to be disbanded.”

“Well, that’s…”

“What is the chairman doing right now? Gone golfing? Why haven’t you created specific countermeasures?”

“We’ve already created countermeasures…”

“You mean placing us here? I suppose that counts as a countermeasure. The androids here could run things several times better than the current board of directors… mmph!”

I covered Sonia’s mouth.

She’s being harsh from the start. Of course, speaking critically like this was Sonia’s characteristic.

To handle Eidel, the android had to become fierce as well.

Her unpleasant tone was because most of her machine learning samples came from Eidel, but Sonia’s criticisms had merit.

Regardless, her outfit and manner of speaking naturally drew the attention of the students.

“…What’s with that maid?”

Most androids wear designated uniforms. And those uniforms certainly don’t include maid outfits.

“Oh, is that her hobby?”

“Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting…!”

“My head just went blank.”

This is so embarrassing.

Originally, students weren’t allowed to bring androids to Academia without special reasons. This was to promote students’ independent growth.

But after what happened, Rustila’s parents suggested allowing students to bring one android as protection during class hours.

In Seti’s case, it was Dona.

For Rustila, it was an android named Berdia.

And for me, it was Sonia.

Sonia brushed my hand away and continued speaking.

“According to the data I checked from the College planet, part of the nearby Aether Belt has been torn.”

Aether Belt.

An 80,000 light-year diameter barrier that protects humanity from foreign invasions.

It wasn’t artificially created; it was originally a natural formation. Later, humanity gradually modified and reinforced it until it took its complete form.

In any case, the area inside this barrier is called the “Golden Zone,” which is humanity’s safe living area.

Conversely, the area at the boundary of the Golden Zone is called the middle zone, and the complete outside is called the frontier zone.

Stellarium was located within the Golden Zone, but according to Sonia, it had been breached just before this incident.

I didn’t know that.

Kendra exclaimed in surprise.

“Th-the Aether Belt was breached? That should still be under investigation…”

“It’s obvious at a glance, yet you’re still investigating?”

Sonia clicked her tongue and stepped forward in front of me. She wrapped her arms around my torso and leaned against me.

She hissed venomously.

“I almost lost my young master. I really don’t like this school’s response methods.”

What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?

Fearing we might run over the assembly time, I covered Sonia’s mouth again. She seemed to have nothing more to say and quietly accepted my gesture.

Kendra nodded and sighed. It was a sign that she would report Sonia’s words to her superiors.

Meanwhile, the students’ gazes toward Sonia and me were not pleasant.

They looked at us as if we were trash.

“Tsk…”

Since everyone was glaring, I glared back. Some averted their eyes, while others were bold enough to engage in a staring contest.

When the assembly ended, only two students remained by my side.

Seti and Rustila.

That’s right.

All the classmates I had been getting along with for two weeks now avoided me.

This is all because of Sonia…

***

After the entrance ceremony, Sonia, who hadn’t even greeted me properly, suddenly started overprotecting me.

Following me to the bathroom. Staring intensely while I studied. Not letting me eat unless she prepared the food or tasted it first.

“Stop it. Eidel doesn’t like it.”

Rustila frowned and scolded Sonia.

Currently, Rustila also had an android named Berdia sticking to her like a doctor fish.

Perhaps she felt a sense of shared suffering?

When I didn’t say anything, Sonia tilted her head.

“I have a duty to protect my young master. I can’t trust this school. They’re too slow to detect and prepare for disasters.”

“That may be true… but you went too far!”

Rustila knew better than most how annoying interference could be.

Anger filled her eyes. If I didn’t intervene, she looked ready to have a serious confrontation with Sonia.

Berdia also stepped in and said,

“Your young master? Please refrain from approaching our lady unnecessarily.”

Sonia shot back without hesitation.

“Make sure your lady doesn’t lay a finger on our young master.”

“Are you suggesting our lady is dangerous?”

“I’ve seen the recorded footage from the reassignment test. She could certainly be dangerous enough.”

“You…”

Zap!

Lightning seemed to spark between Berdia and Sonia. The two androids stared at each other in silence for a while.

Android communication doesn’t require much. They can just share information wirelessly while looking at each other.

It was usually a process that took only a few seconds, but strangely, the two robots frowned and faced off for nearly a minute.

What’s going on? Is the Wi-Fi not working?

“…I still can’t trust your young master easily.”

“I can’t trust your lady either.”

Rustila and I sighed simultaneously.

“It’s suspicious. Your young master’s actions have been quite peculiar. As if possessed by a foreign entity.”

“Are you done talking?”

“And your interference is even worse than what I do to our lady. At the very least, I’m different from other androids. Just as I’m granted autonomy by humans, I also try to guarantee Rustila’s autonomy to some extent. In contrast, what about you right now?”

“Warning: Do not insult my young master any further.”

The tension between the two androids continued to escalate.

Sonia seemed to be losing ground. Even Sonia, who never seemed like she would lose a verbal battle to anyone.

I examined her expression.

She was flustered.

An android.

It was a subtle expression, as if she were human.

After a moment’s thought, I could find the source.

Sonia’s mind contained ten years’ worth of information about Eidel. Berdia had learned this information through scanning, and thus also knew about me.

Ten years of Eidel’s misdeeds.

Yes. I had created a structure where Sonia couldn’t help but lose the verbal battle.

Berdia was meeting me for the first time. She was wary of Rustila and me being close because of what she had read from Sonia’s database.

“Step away, my lady.”

“Step away, young master.”

While I was wondering how to separate the two androids, Rustila extended her hand.

“Here.”

“…?”

I didn’t immediately understand why Rustila was offering her hand.

Sonia and Berdia were also taken aback. The two made a fuss trying to separate us.

The more they tried, the more firmly Rustila extended her hand.

It was a signal to grab it as quickly as possible.

I took her hand.

For a girl, she had quite a few calluses.

How much sword practice had she done? And under parents who didn’t allow her dream.

The traces of her effort were clearly felt.

“Ah, my lady!”

“Young master…”

Berdia fell into a panic, and Sonia’s eyes became hollow like someone who had been rejected.

We ran off, still holding hands.

“Ugh…! Wait!”

After running for a while, Rustila pulled her hand away. Though we hadn’t moved much, she was breathing heavily.

“Th-this doesn’t mean anything! You understand, right? I just saw you were in trouble…”

Her cheeks were red.

“Really, really, there’s no other meaning to it! Okay?”

Why is she so flustered?

For a moment, romantic thoughts crossed my mind, but I quickly shook them off.

For reference, I’ve never been in a relationship.

In other words, I’m single.

I’ve had a few crushes, but whenever I went on blind dates or tried to talk to women, things would always get awkward.

A representative incident happened during my final year as a doctoral student at a ski resort.

While riding the ski lift, a pretty woman sat next to me. As we were going up, perhaps feeling bored, she started a conversation with me.

After exchanging a few words of small talk, the topic of occupation came up.

‘What do you do?’

The woman asked.

‘I’m a physics graduate student.’

I answered, and the conversation died.

Damn, I should have said I was a drama scriptwriter.

Anyway… based on that and many other experiences, I almost lost interest in romantic relationships. I stopped getting my hopes up.

Women are incomprehensible. And they still are.

In front of me was a flustered Rustila.

I can’t read her intentions…

Fortunately, I had a skill to penetrate others’ psychology and a small amount of Pron I had accumulated over the past few days.

I wasn’t sure why Pron had accumulated. I hadn’t done anything that foreign entities would like, nor had I done anything that would build up madness.

Anyway, it was a good thing. Being someone who couldn’t stand curiosity, I continued to activate the SAN parameter while running.

And I encountered an unbelievable result.