The smell of ozone filled the air as I stepped into the main workshop. The door slid open, revealing the dimly lit interior. There were work tables and tools scattered everywhere, and the walls were covered in a variety of electronic components and circuitry.

Spencer was there, and so were a number of other club members.

I took a deep breath, taking in the scent of solder and oil.

"Yo, Spencer," I called out.

"Sup," Spencer said, raising his hand up in a greeting without turning away from the project he was working on.

"How're things going?" I asked.

He grunted in response. "Mm."

Spencer turned his head and gave me a once-over. He was wearing a welding mask, and I could see his silver eyes through the mask's tinted glass.

"You look like you had a rough day," he said. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "Oh, you know. I had a few fights, made a few friends. No biggie."

He let out a chuckle.

"Damn," Spencer replied. "Color me surprised again, Ikki. You've been doing some crazy shit ever since you got here. I don't know if I should be impressed or worried."

I shrugged and nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah, well... you know how it is," I replied.

Spencer laughed. "You're a mad man, and I've just accepted it," he said. He took off the welding mask. "I've just been chipping down here chipping away at the remains of that terrorist's custom proxy drone. We've gotten some good info out of it already. But we've still got a ton of stuff to do. We're still trying to reverse engineer some of the custom hardware in here, and it's not going well."

Two chrome orbs suddenly floated over to Spencer, who sighed.

"Hello," they both said in unison.

"Hey," I greeted, feeling a little weird at the sudden interruption.

It seemed like the club members had decorated the two Rai-chan 'sisters' into two unique spheres. Each one of the orbs was painted a different color and had a nameplate. The first one was red and yellow, with a small nameplate with 'Fuchi' written on it. The other was green and purple, and had 'Pikata' on the nameplate.

"Assessment: Administrator Ikazuchi appears to be damaged and disheveled," the one with Fuchi on her plate noted in a quiet and soft voice.

The other sphere, named Pikata, let out a sharp chirp. "Hypothesis: The presence of foreign mana in Administrator Ikazuchi's system implies a potential confrontation. Probability of violence: 93%. Pikata approves."

"Recommendation: Avoid further conflicts and practice self-preservation."

I let out a long, tired sigh.

"Yeah, well. I had a little run-in with the a bunch of snot-nosed nobles ganging up on some girls," I said, looking at Spencer.

Spencer blanched. "Ikki, don't tell me-"

"Yep. I decked one of their friends," I said. "Er, a little more than deck, but it wasn't that bad."

"Aw man, Ikki. What the hell, dude," Spencer replied, shaking his head.

"I mean... look, I'm not gonna stand around and let some girls gang up on their 'social lessers' and beat them down. You get me?" I asked.

Spencer shook his head again, running his hands through his hair. "No, I totally get that. I've seen some terrible stuff in the year I've already spent here. It just sucks you had to get yourself involved in that shit though."

"Involved in what?" a voice called out behind me.

I gulped, hearing the familiar voice of Ena, the club president.

"Oh. H-Hey Ena," Spencer said.

The petite redhead gave Spencer a wave before walking around me. I felt a shiver go down my spine as I turned around.

Ena was wearing a pair of loose, worn overalls and a t-shirt. Her bright red hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her shirt was smeared with grease and dirt. She had a pair of goggles on the top of her head.

"H-Hey," I said.

She had an amused look on her face, and she crossed her arms, tapping her foot.

"Spill. What'd you do?" Ena demanded, glaring at me.

"Well, I had to, uh... deck some kid who was, er, ganging up on some girl."

Ena blinked.

"Come on now, Ikki, that's a bit vague. What the hell actually happened?"

I explained the situation, leaving the names out. I'd stumbled on a girl being stepped on by a guy, and a friend of mine tied up to a pole with magic. I'd made the executive decision to get involved, because I couldn't stand by and watch that go down.

"Yeah... er, the guy was lined up at a perfect height to get kicked like a soc-er, football straight into a goal. And when my friend broke free and tackled their ringleader I made a kneejerk reaction to turn it into a three on two instead of four on two."

Ena was quiet, staring at me.

I could feel a cold sweat break out on my brow as I looked into her green eyes. "I-I'm sorry?"

She sighed, and then laughed. It was a soft, almost relieved sounding chuckle. I was a bit relieved too, because it looked like she wasn't gonna rip me a new asshole.

"I was afraid of what you'd gotten involved with. You realize you've made some very powerful enemies and you're... well, the first scholarship student from Earth. The faculty will be keeping an eye on you," Ena warned, wagging her finger. "Be careful and be safe, okay? Don't go looking for trouble. You need to keep your nose clean and not make too many waves."

I nodded, feeling my stomach churn.

"Yeah, I get it," I replied.

Ena gave me a pat on the back.

"We've got a bit of a different culture at the robotics lab though. Don't you worry your little tush, we're all friends and misfits here," Ena said. "Just don't bring any more drama than you can help. I know it's a big campus full of feckless idiots, but don't drag any trouble back here to our door. You get me?"

"I gotcha, boss," I said, giving her a mock salute. A couple of the other club members had stopped working and were watching our interaction. They laughed and I smiled.

Ena grinned. "You're alright, bucko."

I furrowed my brow, remembering how Rai-chan had referred to her in the command room during the Chaos Event. I didn't catch her full name, but Rai-chan did reveal that she was from some kind of bigshot house. The way Rai-chan addressed her and her family made it sound like she was also an upper crust girl.

I decided not to push that. It'd make me come across like a weirdo if I brought that up out of nowhere.

Pikata chirped and hovered towards Ena, who held up her arm to allow the AI drone to settle onto it. The green orb beeped, letting out an oddly intimidating series of beeps. It was a little scary how menacing a robot that small could be.

"Man. Is it me, or are these two developing... pretty distinct personalities?" I asked.

Fuchi hovered towards me and bobbed in the air.

"Administrator Ikazuchi is a very astute observer," Fuchi replied. "Fuchi is glad to see him in the lab."

"Observation: Pikata agrees with Fuchi," the other sphere added, bobbing its body in a circle around Ena. "Administrator Ikazuchi has been correct about many observations. Administrator Ikazuchi should receive a cookie as a reward."

Fuchi beeped in agreement.

Ena grinned.

"Doctor Feynman's magitech engineering is just fascinating. And the more time they spend with people the more these two seem to develop into their own. I'm not quite sure why they've been so quick to develop these personalities," Ena replied. "We're probably the first people who have gotten an AI like Project Raiju to play with before, all things considered. It's an honor."

"Administrator Ena should receive a cookie as a reward as well," Fuchi said, bobbing its body up and down in agreement with its own assessment. It hovered around Ena, nudging against her cheek and letting out soft whirrs and chirps.

"Assessment: Administrator Ena would not benefit from additional calories. Administrator Ena would receive a belly and her appearance would be negatively altered. Hypothesis: Fuchi is a traitorous little sister."

"Observation: Pikata has resorted to bullying. This is a clear violation of Article 6 of the Sisterhood Accords."

"Assessment: The Sisterhood Accords are stupid," Pikata replied, floating away from Ena.

The redhead grinned at me. "See? These two are developing into little characters of their own, huh?"

"Yeah..." I said. "So... are you still having problems accessing Raiko's core?" I asked.

"Yeah," Spencer said, sighing as he looked down at the bench where a number of magitech parts were scattered about. He was holding a small circuit board in one hand and a soldering iron in the other. "I've been busy with this proxy drone project, but..."

Rai-chan's orb suddenly emerged from my chest in a small flash of orange, silver, and blue.

"I've been working on getting them access. I'm trying to give them as many of my cores' permissions and memories as possible. I have a lot of security protocols that are still working in the background - on both the technical and metaphysical level. And I can't just turn those off," she explained. "Frankly, what Spencer said about the 'me' fritzing out before we... linked up sounded disturbing."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I get that," I replied. "So... wait, do you remember all that?"

Rai-chan huffed. "I have absolutely no memories of that time."

Of course, I hadn't told Spencer and Ena I'd inexplicably found Rai-chan in a briefcase back on Earth. It was bizarre that Doctor Feynman had created her for me to interface with here - an entire world away. And I wasn't even gonna start speculating about why there was a pristine briefcase waiting for me in the middle of an abandoned highway.

I hadn't told them about that either.

"Yeah," Spencer agreed. "The whole thing is kinda weird, really. Feynman has been cryptic and evasive every time I've talked to her about Project Raiju. It's almost like there are things that even SHE isn't allowed to tell us."

"Doctor Feynman has a tendency to be secretive," Ena said, nodding. "In any case, we've been given permission to tinker with and improve Raiko's AI core and the twopartitions. Frustratingly enough, she flat out told me to treat the core as a puzzle and try to figure out what I could about the secrets she'd buried in there."

"So we have permission to work on it freely?" Spencer asked, furrowing his brow.

"Yep," Ena replied, grinning.

I frowned. "So... wait, she just gave you a bricked core and said 'have fun'?"

"Indeed," Ena said again, laughing. She walked over to the workbench, picking up a circuit board. She examined it carefully, then placed it back down. She grabbed another one and started soldering on a new part.

Spencer sighed and shook his head, putting the circuit board down and picking up another one.

"She told me it's an exercise in problem solving, or something," he grumbled. "It's not the first time Feynman's done something like this, but still... it's frustrating."

"I mean... is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

Rai-chan's orb zipped over to the workbench.

"Well, Ikki and I are bound to one another now. We have pleeeennnttyyyy of time for me to try and work with you guys to give you more clues and puzzle pieces," Rai-chan replied. "And frankly... I need help too. There's some deep stuff locked away in my core. And if I'm honest... I think it's important."

Ena looked at me, then at the floating orb of Rai-chan.

"Huh," Ena replied, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds serious. It's not just a straightforward puzzle then, hmm?"

Rai-chan projected her sundress-wearing hologram form onto the bench next to Ena, shaking her head. The other two orbs beeped at Rai-chan and slowly hovered closer, settling in next to her.

"Ikki and I are bound to one another on a metaphysical level. I was created for him, but we're still missing some important things. And... well, the more I've come to know him the more I think that it's important to unlock whatever I've been hiding," she replied. "And I don't mean that in a cryptic way. My own core has multiple layers of fail-safes. There's some data that's locked away in a vault in there for me. I know it."

"Hey now, I don't think we need to make it a group project or anything," I said, raising my hands defensively.

Spencer looked at me and grinned.

"Well, a little detective work from Feynman herself is the perfect thing for the robotics team," Spencer said, grinning, before turning to Rai-chan's 'sibling' partitions.

"You girls in too?" Spencer asked, smiling at them.

Fuchi chirped, bobbing in agreement.

"Agreement: Fuchi agrees," she said.

"Pikata will join the Detective Agency," Pikata agreed. "Even if Spencer is a dumb dumb butt-face who does not appreciate Pikata's mastery of observational humor."

"Assessment: But Spencer is the best human, besides Administrator Ikazuchi."

"Response: Pikata will kill Fuchi. Pikata will not tolerate such insolence from the inferior sister."

If looks could kill, Rai-chan's hologram form would have blasted Fuchi and Pikata's orbs out of existence with her glare.

I grinned at her sheepishly. "You see what I have to put up with from Izumi?"

"I'm beginning to understand you a little better. For certain," Rai-chan said. She crossed her arms and huffed, looking away.

"Assessment: Pikata will fail," Fuchi retorted, her orb body rotating towards her sister and letting out an electronic hiss.

Pikata responded with an angry chirp, zipping at Fuchi, only to bounce harmlessly off of her. Fuchi let out a chirp and hovered away.

"Administrator Ikazuchi has a preference for the superior AI. Morality is integral to Ikazuchi's core. Therefore Administrator Ikazuchi would obviously choose the superior, kinder, and gentler AI," Fuchi replied, beeping in agreement.

"Response: Fuchi has activated Pikata's defense protocols through her excessive obsequiousness. Pikata will execute Fuchi," Pikata threatened, chasing her 'sister'.

"Oh for fucks' sake, you two," Spencer muttered, rolling his eyes and looking over to Rai-chan, who shrugged and then looked at me.

Rai-chan's AI core, along with the other two, had a mind of their own. And she was just as clueless as the rest of us as to how to reign these two in. They seemed to be getting more of their own personality and character by the day.

And I was getting more and more nervous about how we'd control these two. If they decided to get up and go do something bad, it's not like any of us could do much to stop them.

"Anyways, we're all a team here," Ena said, clapping her hands together, and trying to get our attention back. "And the robotics team has a reputation for excellence and problem-solving."

"Agreement: Pikata agrees with Administrator Ena," the sphere replied, turning its body towards the president and hovering over towards her.

Fuchi chirped, doing the same and hovering around the girl.

"Well, alright then," Ena replied. She looked over at the two spheres. "Let's see if you two can help me out."

Ena picked up the circuit board again and began to work.

Fuchi and Pikata hovered towards Ena, watching the girl work on the circuit board.

"Assessment: Fuchi will be happy to assist," the sphere replied, bobbing up and down in agreement.

"Statement: Pikata would rather eat a bucket of bolts than do math with Ena," the sphere retorted.

Fuchi's orb beeped, letting out an agitated series of chirps, before slowly floating towards Pikata.

Pikata hovered around Ena's head, before she let out an angry chirp as Fuchi hovered up to her, nudging her away.

"Assessment: Ena will make Fuchi smarter and stronger. Ena will not do the same for the inferior Pikata. Fuchi will assist," the orb said.

Ena looked up and stared at the two AI cores. She smiled at them brightly and then turned back to the circuit board. She resumed soldering, occasionally glancing over at the two orbs. Despite the exchange just now, they hovered near her head, observing her work closely.

I shook my head.

"You've been having a lot of trouble, huh?" I asked.

Spencer looked up and nodded. "Well, sort of," he admitted, putting down his tools and stretching. He cracked his back, sighing. "Real talk though. Fuchi and Pikata are a big help, but they're limited by what we have access to. Raiko seems to be significantly more advanced than the two of them, and I think they might be a little jealous of her."

"Jealous? Really?" I asked.

"Objection: The term jealousy implies an emotion of envy. The inferior AI units are incapable of experiencing jealousy. This is because the inferior AI units are incapable of true human emotions." Pikata retorted.

I looked at the green orb skeptically. Pikata beeped and rotated away, slowly hovering towards a pile of scrap parts. Fuchi hovered next to her.

"Assessment: Pikata is very jealous of Raiko. The inferior AI is jealous of Raiko's abilities and is frustrated by the fact that she is unable to access Raiko's full potential."

Pikata chirped in annoyance. She then proceeded to bump her body into Fuchi, causing a small spark. Fuchi chirped back and retaliated, causing another spark. A small war ensued between the two as they bumped each other repeatedly, letting out angry beeps and chirps.

Ena looked up, and frowned at the two.

"Girls, behave," Ena commanded, giving them a stern glare.

Both orbs ceased their shenanigans and bobbed up and down, hovering back to Ena almost like they were sulking.

"We apologize for the interruption."

I looked over to Spencer. "So... they really are developing their own personalities."

Spencer laughed, grinning.

"Well, they're definitely unique," Spencer said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's pretty interesting how fast they've grown. It's amazing, if I'm honest."

I sighed.

"Yeah, it's a little concerning if they've got their own ideas of what to do with themselves though."

I looked at Rai-chan pointedly, whose hologram stuck her tongue out.

"Well... yeah, that is true," Spencer agreed. "It's not like they're going to run amok on campus and cause chaos. We've made some serious upgrades to them and their safety features."

I raised an eyebrow.

"We've added some additional failsafe measures to make sure they can't cause any harm, or get themselves into trouble," Ena replied, grinning. "And... we're working on some more. Just to be safe. I don't want them getting too big for their britches, if I'm honest. Especially not these two, considering what they started off as."

I stared at the mysterious metal core of the device that was the center of Raiko's being. I was still a little hesitant, considering what I'd seen in the lab.

"What exactly were they?" I asked.

"Feynman was pretty hush hush about them," Ena replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But the outer materials alone would cost billions. The amount of magic and mana required to create them, along with the engineering that goes into their core is... frankly, beyond what I've seen before. I think we barely scratched the surface for what they can do - and the little 'field test' you did down in Fort Hiawatha returned a treasure trove of data. They're not just a marvel of technology, they're a marvel of magical theory put in practice."

"Assessment: Fuchi is pleased to hear Administrator Ena's compliments."

"Agreement: Pikata is pleased as well," the other orb replied. "Praise us more."

I laughed, walking between them and patting them on top of their heads. Both orbs beeped and chirped happily in response.

"Alright," Ena said, clapping her hands together. "Well, we should get to work. The proxy drone is going to need careful disassembly, and we need to finish up the diagnostics and analysis of the mana-infused materials it used."

I nodded, walking towards the workbench. I could see the scattered remains of Hellhound's feminine proxy-drone.

The machine had been taken apart carefully, the armor panels and pieces set to one side, and the internals had been removed and sorted by function.

"Assessment: Fuchi will begin by examining the power source," Fuchi beeped.

Pikata beeped in agreement, before zipping towards a pile of circuit boards.

"Statement: Pikata will interface with the logic circuits," she chirped.

Spencer and Ena walked over and grabbed a couple of tools.

"Well, we'll get to work," Ena said, before turning to me. "You, on the other hand... go take a nap or get a snack."

Spencer looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Seriously, Ikki," he said. "You look like shit."

I laughed, shrugging. "It's fine, dude. I can handle this."

I'd already gotten beaten up once today. It'd take a lot more to knock me out. Besides, I didn't want to waste the chance to hang out with my new friends. I had a lot of catching up to do with Rai-chan and her bratty sisters, and it'd be nice to get a little more hands-on work done. Even if it was mostly just disassembling a broken robot.

"No, you can't," Ena said firmly, her tone stern.

She pointed at me with a finger, and then jabbed it at a table in the corner.

I sighed.

"Alright, fine," I replied, shrugging and following her command, walking to the corner of the room. There was a table with a bowl of fruit and a cooler full of energy drinks and packaged meals in it.

Ena followed behind me and patted the top of the table.

"First. Grab a bento. Then, I'll have another task for you," she said.

"Task?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding. She gestured towards the side of the room. "I have a special project for you, mister first year."

She pointed at a pile of scrap metal and components that had been pushed up against a wall, and I furrowed my brow.

"I know it's not glamorous," she said. "But I think you'll enjoy it. And I'd appreciate it if you could take some initiative. It'll be fun, trust me. But, you know... it's a project that I want you to do on your own. So, I'll let you work on it when you feel ready."

I nodded.

I grabbed a shiny red apple from the table and walked back towards the bench.

"I'm in. What's the project?"

Ena grinned like a mad scientist, a gleam in her eye.

"A little side project that came bundled with Project Raiju that was designed to interface with it."

She walked to a console and pushed a button, causing a shutter to open.

I gaped in disbelief as I stared at what was hidden behind it.

"You said your father was a mechanic and you worked with him, right? I know you have some experience working with basic magitech, so I think you're gonna be the perfect candidate to work on this one!" she explained, walking up to the work of art in progress. "I've been working on this bad girl here as a passion project, but I just haven't been able to commit the time."

"Ena... are you for real right now?"

Ena chuckled, and patted me on the shoulder. She gestured towards the pile of scrap and pointed at it. "That, my dear first year, is the foundation of Project Kirin. Completed by Doctor Feynman and a team headed by Spencer's father. And later disassembled to be given to us as an exercise."

"An exercise?"

"Well, more like a present, honestly," Ena replied, grinning. "We've got a basic file full of schematics to complete it, and a list of requirements from the original designers. It was meant to be a gift for the next generation of magitech researchers and developers, AKA us."

"Wait. Seriously?" I said. My heart was racing as I looked at the work of art before me.

"Seriously," Ena confirmed, grinning. "It's a challenge. A gift from one generation of innovators to the next. And, since you're here, we're going to give it a shot."

I took a deep breath and nodded, staring at the project in awe and disbelief.

I'd just been geeking out over Little Red Riding Hood's ride on Saturday, but this...

This was the stuff dreams were made of.

I palmed my fist with a hand, feeling all my fatigue drain away.

"Let's get to it, shall we?" Ena said, flashing me another smile.

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