By the time we dragged our exhausted bodies back to Millennium Science School, evening was already approaching.
On the way back, we inevitably ran into the patrolling white and yellow robot legion again, leading to another skirmish. Fortunately, it was not too intense, and overall the return went smoothly.
After stepping through the school gates, Eimi said she was feeling overheated and wanted to take a shower, then took her leave first. As for me, I returned to the Game Development Club's activity room together with the others.
The girls had spent the morning fighting in the exam hall and the afternoon battling on the field, leaving both their bodies and minds completely drained. After a brief discussion, we decided to disband for the day and reconvene tomorrow.
However, for an adult, there were still important matters that needed to be handled next.
Millennium Tower, top floor, conference room.
When I pushed open the door, the two students standing at the very pinnacle of Millennium were already waiting inside.
One was snow white like jade, gentle and approachable. The other was pitch black like ink, cold as frost. The two beauties, whose styles were completely opposite, sat on opposite sides of a temporarily placed round table, forming a striking contrast.
Himari smiled. "Oh my, Sensei, you're here."
Rio frowned. "Sensei, did you change your clothes?"
"Yes. How is it, does it fit?"
The first thing I did after leaving the ruins was go to the nearest clothing store and buy a shirt to make do with.
Rio froze for a moment. "From a rational standpoint, the answer is yes. But… are you asking that seriously?"
Indeed, it was a pointless question. With my handsome looks and proper build, practically a living clothes rack, any decent men's outfit that matched mainstream aesthetics would naturally suit me.
I took my seat in the chair prepared for me and smiled. "Just joking. Still, thank you for your concern, Rio."
"…That was not exactly what I meant."
Seeing Rio's gaze drift away, I could not help but feel amused.
Where did this tsundere come from?
As for the other person present, she outright snorted with laughter. "Pfft, who are you trying to fool? Yourself?"
Rio's expression darkened instantly. "Himari, if you want to start a war, I am ready at any time."
These two truly had terrible compatibility. Thankfully, I was here to mediate.
I felt that, as a Sensei, I had a duty to ease conflicts between students. In short, let me set a small goal first and work toward turning these two, who were like fire and water, into lifelong good sisters.
Just thinking about it filled me with a sincere sense of how heavy the responsibility was.
"Let's pause for a moment, you two," I said seriously. "Simply put, just as Rio suspected, my clothes were damaged during the battle."
"Oh my, it seems this exploration was more dangerous than we expected," Himari stopped bickering with Rio. "Sensei, please stop keeping us in suspense."
Rio also stopped dwelling on Himari. "Even with Eimi acting as your guard, how did things nearly reach the point where the Sensei, who did not participate in combat and was only responsible for command, was injured? What exactly happened?"
I then recounted, step by step, what we had encountered in the ruins today to my two beautiful allies.
The mysterious AI we had hoped to bring along with Aris had invaded Aris's body.
After making a strange declaration, it launched attacks against us under the pretext of "elimination."
We used the hacking drones provided by Himari, but they were ineffective, forcing us into direct combat.
A bizarrely shaped mysterious robot emitting purple red light suddenly appeared and assisted Kei in surrounding us.
And finally, another massive machine appeared and launched a missile attack against Kei, whose defeat had already been decided.
Himari and Rio listened at times, asked questions at times, and fell into deep thought at times.
At last, after I concluded my account, glossing over my own special abilities while keeping everything else as objective as possible, both of their expressions grew grave, and the conference room fell into silence.
"…Himari," Rio suddenly asked, "after hearing the Sensei's report, what did you think of?"
"Oh my, Rio, you must already have a hypothesis of your own. I would guess that you and I arrived at the same answer this time."
Rio nodded. "Yes. Since the Sensei has provided us with such important information, we should also share the information we have with the Sensei."
Himari teased, "Hehe, you even need to consult the opinion of a sickly little beauty for this? Where did your tyrannical authority go? Well, fine. Just this once, I will vote in favor."
The two who had reached an agreement exchanged a smile, then both felt a bit subtly disgusted.
These two girls, who were complete opposites, usually could not stand each other, yet seemed to share a strange kind of tacit understanding.
Using the simple word "enemies" probably could not describe their relationship. But calling them "friends" would be even more unrealistic.
Perhaps the only way to put it was that Himari and Rio were rivals who were both enemies and allies.
The more I understood the bond between them, the more something stirred within me. I believed it was a sense of mission born from my own noble character.
"To get straight to the point," Rio said, "the machine that fought alongside the existence you call 'Aris' is most likely…"
She paused briefly.
"…the 'Incomprehensible Army' that invaded from an unknown domain."
What kind of new setting was that?
I corrected one detail. "It was Aris, whose body was occupied by Kei."
Rio neither confirmed nor denied it.
Himari followed up with an explanation. "Mechanical creations that exist within the ruins, just like the ruins themselves, with origins, causes, and purposes all unknown, and whose theoretical foundations and internal structures are completely different from modern Kivotos technology. They might be the technology of ancient people, or they might be from outside. The data we currently have is still incomplete."
It sounded impressive. Thinking back, their actual performance was indeed quite formidable.
Ordinary military robots were almost no match for students and could only contend through overwhelming numerical superiority.
But the 'Incomprehensible Army' was able to firmly entangle the Game Development Club with just that amount of force, showing how high their combat capability was.
Himari gently stroked her delicate cheek and sighed regretfully. "That is why the little toy carefully made by this genius beauty hacker could not find an entry point to invade. After all, even the programming language used is different. Of course, if I personally stepped in, I would definitely find a way."
I took in the newly acquired information, but without a clear direction, my thoughts began to scatter. Then a sudden idea struck me.
Could the reason Kei misunderstood me be related to this?
For example, after connecting to Momoi's game console and roughly understanding the huge difference between modern Kivotos programs and her own systems, my authority directly bypassed the firewall and popped up like a rogue window, just as she directly invaded Aris's body…
The more I thought about it, the more plausible this guess felt.
My impulsive action had unexpectedly brought about such a pleasant surprise. Thinking carefully, it seemed I had misunderstood things before. Yuuka's and Kotama's authorities were actually quite useful after all.
But one was already enough, two were already excessive. Please do not let there be a third.
Rio continued, "As for the robot legion patrolling the ruins and conducting the long range bombardment on 'Aris' at the end, I could not find any relevant records. They might be out of control robots that have existed since ancient times and wandered until now."
Himari nodded in agreement. "After all, it is an abandoned sewer that has gathered all sorts of things forgotten by time, with a growth environment identical to BIG SISTER's. It would be perfectly normal for unknown things to exist there. Why are you looking at me like that? It was just a harmless joke."
Does she get uncomfortable if she does not take a jab at Rio?
Pulling back her gaze filled with killing intent, Rio pondered for a moment and calmed herself. "Let us return to the main topic. First, let us align our understanding, Himari. There is only one reason why we, who have been in a state of prolonged conflict, can sit here like this."
Himari gave a slight nod. "A shared objective."
"Exactly. So there is no need for childish provocations."
"Oh?" Himari raised an eyebrow and asked Rio, "Are you getting impatient already?"
I could see that although Rio's face remained calm, her chest was heaving intensely.
I cleared my throat. "Himari, Rio is right."
"All right, all right, I know. Let us talk about the objective."
Himari said seriously, "BIG SISTER and I both want to uncover Aris's true identity."
Rio, who may or may not have fully calmed down, asked, "How is your progress so far?"
"Looking up data. You?"
"The same. But," Rio changed her tone, "even though our independent investigations have not made progress, thanks to the Sensei's information, we can already confirm one Kei point, right?"
Himari agreed. "Yes. There is a very deep connection between Aris and the 'Incomprehensible Army.'"
"That alone is already enough."
"…Hey, you are not thinking of…"
Before Himari, who had begun to frown, could finish speaking, Rio turned to me and said casually,
"Sensei, let us deal with the existence you call 'Aris.'"
"…What?"
I was not sure if my ears had deceived me.
Himari covered her face with her hand, her tone both annoyed and helpless. "I knew it. A leopard never changes its spots."
At that moment, neither Rio nor I paid attention to her verbal attack.
Rio asked in confusion, "Is what I said difficult to understand?"
I stared into the strange crimson eyes of the Seminar president. "When you say 'deal with,' you are not referring to killing Aris, are you?"
"How could that be?"
I had just let out a sigh of relief at Rio's answer when the latter half of her sentence reached my ears.
"It is just a machine, not a student. So saying that we let it disappear from this world would be more accurate."
"Hey, that is enough."
Himari said coldly, "Have you even thrown away the one thing that barely counts as your strength, your brain? Aris is registered on Millennium's student roster, and you personally stamped her admission application. And now you are saying she is a machine, not a student?"
"AKE-BO-SHI, HIMARI!"
Even a clay figure has some temper.
Rio might be overly rational, but that did not mean she would not get angry. She slammed the table and stood up. "I have endured you for a long time!"
"Oh? So our great leader of Millennium still retains human emotions after all," Himari sneered. "What? Everyone has to follow the logical framework built entirely on your cold blooded nature?"
"Is it not you who has failed to understand the situation? From every possible angle, eliminating this dangerous factor from Millennium, from Kivotos, is the only correct choice!"
"If you have delusions of persecution, go see a doctor! If Millennium cannot cure you, go to Trinity and find the Remedial Knights. Trust me, let their captain punch that primitive brain of yours, filled with malicious, ignorant, and stubborn thoughts, and you might still have a chance to recover!"
Once Himari started insulting, Rio was doomed to lose.
Seeing Rio's eyes redden with anger, as if tears might fall at any moment, I finally stepped in to mediate.
"Himari, if you want to reason, then reason. Do not resort to personal attacks."
"Hmph, what is there to reason about? Rio and I have never been on the same path. With such vastly different ways of thinking, neither of us can ever convince the other."
In other words, knowing it would end in a falling out, instead of wasting words, it was better to attack directly?
Why did that almost sound reasonable?
"Hehe. But since we are in front of the Sensei," Himari, who had just been relentlessly attacking Rio, put on an elegant and polite smile, "as the proud alpine flower of Millennium, I still need to maintain a perfect image."
…So self confident, so embarrassing. Definitely has a crush on me.
"Anyway, both of you calm down and take a breather."
Rio said flatly, "I have always been calm."
Yes, yes, you are the calmest. Later, when you hide under your blanket, do not alternate between crying over how you were verbally demolished just now and grinning foolishly while imagining how you could have insulted her back.
Himari, meanwhile, just sneered.
"I have thought about it seriously just now, and I think I understand where the core issue lies."
I asked Rio, "Rio, do you perhaps not consider Aris to be a life form?"
"What else would she be?"
Rio asked in confusion. "I have said from the very beginning that it is merely a machine, not a real student. If you have developed the illusion that it has emotions like a human, Sensei, that is simply the ELIZA effect."
"Perhaps," I said. "But is it not possible that Aris, AL-1S, truly possesses intelligence?"
"…What?"
I continued calmly. "For an existence whose structure and principles we cannot understand, and that has not done anything wrong, making a hasty judgment without observation is no longer a rational decision, is it?"
Rio fell silent.
"I know you want to protect everyone," I said as gently as possible. "But if Aris truly has feelings, then she is also a member of Millennium, is she not?"
"But…"
"So indecisive. That really does not suit your usual style, BIG SISTER."
Himari's attitude toward Rio remained cool, but her tone had softened slightly.
"Aris will be taught by the Sensei, observed by me, and judged by you. The three of us will become Aris's 'parents.'"
What a bold proposal. From any angle, it suited me perfectly.
Seeing Rio hesitate without replying, Himari pressed on. "What? Have you even lost the courage to wait?"
"…Sensei, what do you think?"
"I also hope that you can agree, Rio."
Those words finally made Rio resolve herself.
"…Let me make one thing clear in advance."
The tyrant of the Seminar closed her cold eyes.
"My patience will not be abundant."