Chapter 308 : Preparedness
Chapter 308: Preparedness
Fortunately, I was able to contact Miyu without any trouble.
I briefly explained the situation to her beforehand, and she readily agreed to help.
Trinity Academy, Special Wing.
Stingray Special Class Dormitory.
The moment I opened the door to Miyu's room, Miyu—covered head to toe in protective gear—greeted us.
I tilted my head at the unfamiliar outfit, but before I could even ask about it, Dwindrog strode straight inside.
“Well, there's no time, so let's get this over with.”
“A-Ahh!?”
The moment she saw him, Miyu hurriedly tried to block his way, but with her frail strength, there was no stopping a Dragon. Half-clinging to his thigh, she shouted,
“N-No! You can't just come in like that!!”
“What, are you discriminating against me?”
“N-No, that's not it...!”
While Miyu fumbled for words, Dwindrog took a few more steps.
At that very moment, chaos erupted inside the room.
Bzzzzzt! Booooom!
Various electronic devices throughout Miyu's room exploded as if overloaded with excessive current, spraying sparks everywhere.
It was a situation that could easily have turned into a massive fire, but fortunately, the small drones already on standby immediately deployed and managed to extinguish the flames before they spread.
Only then did Dwindrog stop walking, seemingly startled by the sudden incident, but what had already happened couldn't be undone.
Looking around at her ruined equipment, Miyu sniffled.
“Hic... Th-That's why I said you couldn't come in right away...”
“Uh... W-Well... I did try to suppress my mana as much as possible... It was fine while walking around outside...”
“O-Outside is one thing, but my room is full of equipment with high-sensitivity sensors... Waaah...”
“......”
Miyu finally started crying, while Dwindrog stood there stiffly, completely at a loss.
Unable to watch any longer, I smacked the back of Dwindrog's head and dragged him outside.
“Clean this up first. Call us when you're done.”
“O-Okay... Sniff...”
Perhaps he actually felt a little guilty.
Even after getting hit, Dwindrog quietly allowed himself to be dragged away without complaint.
About twenty meaningless minutes passed before Miyu finally opened the door again.
“I-I managed to clean up the urgent stuff... Y-You can come in now. I put away everything especially sensitive...”
“......”
I smacked the back of Dwindrog's head once more as he silently tried to walk inside.
“Ow! You wanna fight or something!?”
“Don't you know the words ‘I'm sorry’?”
“......Tsk. I-I'm sorry.”
“I-It's okay...”
Dwindrog apologized with an unwilling expression.
I wasn't particularly satisfied with that attitude, but if I pushed him any further, our temporary alliance might actually collapse into a real fight.
More importantly...
Miyu herself seemed to have calmed down enough with just that apology.
That was fortunate.
Anyway...
After various twists and turns, we finally arrived at Miyu's workshop.
Having visited it so many times already, I naturally took off my shirt completely and sat down in the surgical chair positioned in the center of the room.
Likewise, without saying much, Miyu began preparing.
“Then I'll start by checking your biomonitor.”
As she spoke, she attached electrodes all over my body.
Leaning against the wall in the corner of the workshop, Dwindrog muttered bluntly,
“You suddenly stripped in front of a girl, so I thought you were some kind of pervert.”
“Be quiet.”
Though...
Come to think of it...
Both Miyu and I had simply grown accustomed to this.
Just last year, she used to blush bright red every time she performed my Module adjustments.
Back then, she could barely even make eye contact with me.
Now, despite having different hair and eye colors, seeing me shirtless didn't faze her at all.
Time really was a frightening thing.
“I'll block your nerves now.”
“Close your eyes, and don't speak until I tell you it's okay~”
Click. Click.
Countless data logs streamed across Miyu's computer monitor.
She examined the rapidly flowing logs almost instantly while calmly announcing her diagnosis one after another.
“Your basic neural responses, blood pressure, pulse, Module compatibility, and electrical signals are all normal.”
“But...”
“This is the first time I've ever seen your remaining energy reserves this low, Aaron.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not exactly.”
“To put it simply, you've consumed an enormous amount of energy.”
“If we compare it to an ordinary person... it'd be like an extreme accumulation of fatigue substances.”
“You'll recover naturally if you rest long enough, but...”
She suddenly stopped speaking and looked at me worriedly.
“You're... going to fight again, aren't you?”
“Yes.”
There was no point lying.
I quietly nodded.
Upon hearing my answer, Miyu's gaze briefly shifted toward Dwindrog.
“You know...”
“After staying by your side for so long and going through all kinds of things with you...”
“I've reached the point where even you bringing home a Dragon doesn't really surprise me anymore...”
“About that...”
“I'm sorry.”
“T-That's not exactly what I meant...”
“No... actually, I think it is...”
“To be honest... maybe I'm a little disappointed?”
“No... perhaps ‘a little hurt’ is the better way to put it...”
With a quiet sigh, Miyu continued.
“I already know you won't tell me anything important this time either.”
“All I can do is guess that somehow... it must be connected to you.”
“......”
“Of course, I'm not saying that's wrong.”
“I understand you're only doing it to protect me.”
“But even so...”
“I can't help feeling a little lonely.”
Miyu stopped moving her hands across the tablet.
“You'll come back safely this time too, right?”
“Of course.”
Looking at her lonely smile...
I made a promise.
“Once all of this is over...”
“I'll tell all of you everything.”
“Everything.”
“Aaron...”
“Death flag.”
I had been trying to create a serious atmosphere...
But Dwindrog shattered it with a single sentence.
The mood instantly collapsed.
Still...
Perhaps that was better than allowing things to become too heavy.
After lightening the atmosphere...
Miyu finally began the actual Module maintenance work.
“As I mentioned earlier, your internal energy reserves are almost depleted.”
“The healthiest option would be to rest and recover naturally, but since we don't have that kind of time, we'll have to replenish it externally.”
“Well, that's a simple problem, so it's not a big deal...”
“Is there something else?”
“Likewise...”
“Your current Modules have accumulated a fair amount of fatigue.”
“In particular, the output degradation of your [Cloud Spider] Module and [Mana Battery] Module is quite noticeable.”
That made sense.
I'd relied primarily on [Cloud Spider] during the previous battle.
But why the [Mana Battery]?
I hadn't been exposed to any mana while fighting those Ninja bastards.
“It's probably because Mr. Dragon has been standing next to you.”
“It's operating at full capacity even now.”
“Thanks to that, your energy recovery is much faster, but...”
“So you're the problem, Dragon.”
“You're the one who summoned me.”
“P-Please don't fight.”
“It's not a serious problem.”
“I think I can adjust it a little.”
Miyu repeatedly adjusted the electrodes and connected several new devices before wiping her forehead.
“I think thirty minutes like this should be enough.”
“Do you feel anything strange?”
“The inside of my chest feels itchy.”
“At your age?”
“Is it your first love?”
“Keep your mouth shut, Dragon.”
“I-I told you both not to fight.”
“Your Bio Battery is charging with energy right now, so that's probably why.”
“If it's too uncomfortable, I can lower the voltage a little.”
“No.”
“It's tolerable.”
“More importantly...”
“I have something else I'd like you to examine.”
“Would you check the items inside my coat?”
“My coat?”
Miyu took out the objects from the inner pocket of my soaked coat.
One was the mechanical device Chairman Stingray had given me.
The other consisted of the Combat Modules extracted from the Ninjas.
“This is...”
“The mechanical device came from Chairman Stingray.”
“But I couldn't figure out how to use it.”
“I was told it's meant to ‘materialize’ a ‘Thought Entity.’”
“If possible, I'd like you to analyze it quickly.”
“Hmm...”
“I'll put it in the analyzer first and let you know as soon as I get the results.”
“And this is...”
“A Module?”
“I brought those in case it was possible to install them.”
“Understood.”
“I'll examine these too.”
As she spoke...
Miyu placed the mysterious mechanical device and the Modules into separate analyzer units.
A moment later...
After checking the results...
Her eyes widened in shock.
“As for the mechanical device...”
“This thing contains an unbelievable amount of data!?”
“It looks simple on the outside, but internally it has an incredibly complicated circuit structure incorporating nanotechnology!?”
The moment I saw her expression...
I realized it.
Ah.
Miyu had flipped her switch again.
“Why would they choose this kind of structure?”
“Judging from what I'm seeing, this unidentified liquid inside...”
“No... more specifically, it resembles ectoplasm...”
“And the circuitry seems to—”
“Miyu.”
“C-Could I maybe take it apart!?”
“Ah... O-Of course I can't, right!?”
“If I damaged something like this even once, I don't think I'd be able to reproduce it with the equipment I currently have.”
“But then I can't accurately determine what's inside.”
“Since it's enclosed in a transparent case, perhaps I could shine light through it and analyze it with a spectrometer...”
“Miyu.”
“The method of use.”
“Ah!”
Finally snapping back to reality, Miyu's face turned bright red.
“I-I'm sorry.”
“I got too excited.”
“For now...”
“I can't immediately determine how it works, what principle it operates on, or what effect it produces.”
“I'd need at least three hours to analyze it properly...”
“But... that's not possible, is it?”
“No.”
I answered firmly, in the tone of someone disciplining an overexcited puppy.
Looking a little disappointed, Miyu sighed.
“......Then it can't be helped.”
“At least I've confirmed there's a needle hidden at the end, so it's meant to be injected into something.”
“Judging from the needle's diameter, it's probably intended for use on a person.”
“A needle?”
“Yes.”
“If you twist it like this...”
Just like opening the cap of a beverage...
Miyu lightly twisted the device.
Chang!
With a sharp metallic sound, a vicious-looking needle sprang out.
“......It looks rather dangerous.”
“It's probably designed to pierce thick muscle tissue for direct injection.”
“Judging by the length...”
“No.”
“Not an intramuscular injection.”
“It would be injected directly into bone... or internal organs.”
“It's the kind of emergency injector used to administer medication directly into internal organs.”
“For example, when treating acute poisoning.”
“Based on its structure...”
“There's a very high probability it's intended for cardiac injection.”
“Yes.”
“The heart.”
I nodded.
But...
A human heart?
Chairman Stingray had claimed this injector could materialize the Sky Dragon.
How exactly was that supposed to work?
Whose heart needed to be injected for the Sky Dragon's true body to emerge?
At present...
I had no way of knowing.
“I'm sorry.”
“That's all I can determine for now...”
“No.”
“I was the one who asked you to analyze it on such short notice.”
“Let's move on to the Modules.”
“Yes.”
“The Module analysis has just finished too.”
As Miyu read through the report generated by the computer...
She tilted her head.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“Well...”
“Aaron.”
“Where did you get these Modules?”
“He tore them off corpses.”
“Eek!”
“Dwindrog!”
Once again, the Dragon couldn't resist interrupting.
The moment Miyu learned where the Modules had come from, her face instantly turned pale, while Dwindrog chuckled in amusement.
Still...
Miyu had been through enough hardships by now to have grown considerably.
She wasn't so fragile that something like this would make her collapse.
After barely steadying herself, she continued.
“B-But if you obtained them from enemies...”
“Something about this is strange...”
“Statistically... it doesn't make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“These Modules...”
“They're an almost perfect match for you, Aaron.”
“It's as though...”
Gazing at the Modules in fascination, Miyu murmured,
“......They were created specifically ‘for’ you.”