Break time, while everyone was clamoring around.
Akira sat at his desk, eyes on his phone, working through something with complete seriousness. He did not look up.
Completely ignoring the rest of the class.
Yada turned in her chair.
"Guys, do you know Bitch-sensei's birthday was four days ago?"
Nakamura's head snapped up.
"What? We completely missed it?"
Erika nodded.
"Well, we were busy at the nursery and didn't notice."
Kataoka tapped her desk.
"Should we go and throw her a belated birthday party?"
Maehara pointed at her.
"Yeah. Not a bad idea. We need to think of a gift too."
Yada shook her head.
"Before that, there is something more important."
"What is it?" Nakamura asked.
Yada explained.
"Apparently, Karasuma-sensei didn't give her a present. Bitch-sensei is complaining that even Koro-sensei gave her one, but Karasuma-sensei forgot."
Nakamura's eyes lit up.
"Ohhh. Speaking of them, did they take any steps forward?"
Karma leaned back.
"What step? Karasuma-sensei is a reinforced wall, you know."
Takebayashi adjusted his glasses.
"He is Da Densest, after all."
Nakamura grinned.
"So, how about we give them a little push?"
"Yeah," Yada said. "We have to make Karasuma-sensei give a present to Bitch-sensei."
Nagisa raised a hand.
"But how should we do it?"
Kayano frowned.
"More importantly, what gift should we choose?"
"That's a tough question," Nakamura said. "What would Bitch-sensei like?"
"Maybe something like jewelry?" Kanzaki offered.
Maehara shook his head.
"That's not a bad idea, but we can only get a cheap one. I'm sure Bitch-sensei has seen much more expensive ones."
Erika thought for a moment.
"How about something like food made by Karasuma-sensei? That might work."
Nakamura stared at her.
"The only things I have seen him eat are fast-food burgers and instant ramen. I don't even know if he can cook."
Okuda looked around.
"Then what should we do?"
Isogai stood up.
"How about this? We split into three teams. First, the diversion team will divert Bitch-sensei's attention. The second team will go and convince Karasuma-sensei to give her the gift. Finally, the gift team will choose a present."
Maehara nodded.
"Not a bad idea. But who goes on what team?"
That was enough to start an argument.
Names flew. Roles changed. Okajima tried to suggest lingerie as the present and immediately got shut down.
Nagisa glanced at the one person who had not joined in.
"So, what are you planning to do, Akira-Kun?"
Akira did not look up from his phone.
"Nothing."
The table went quiet, as if the sun had risen in the west.
Nagisa blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Maehara leaned in.
"Yeah. Aren't you the one who usually causes chaos in this situation?"
"What chaos?" Akira scrolled once. "Anyway, I am busy with something. I might not even come to school tomorrow."
Karma's smile sharpened.
"Oh? What are you planning to do?"
Akira looked seriously at his screen.
"I was planning to enter closed-door seclusion and increase my cultivation."
Erika stared at him.
"What does that even mean?"
Akira explained.
"I am busy with my secret work, okay? It's almost complete, and I need some time to finish the final rendering and fitting. So I am busy."
Maehara's eyes widened.
"Oh. A secret experiment? What is it?"
"It's a secret because it's a secret," Akira said. "So it will remain a secret."
Maehara looked at the others.
"What did he just say?"
Erika's voice cooled.
"Why did you decide to take a leave without telling me?"
That made him look up.
"…Oh. Ehh. Can I?"
Erika sighed.
"It can't be helped." She turned to the class. "Sorry, guys. I'm out too. I have to keep an eye on him."
The reaction was immediate and united.
"Yes. Please protect the Earth."
Akira frowned.
"Excuse me?"
Nobody answered him.
They had already gone back to the birthday plan.
Tomorrow, Erika would be staying home with him.
---
The next day, Akira was half-slumped over the worktable, still working.
In front of him stood a metallic skeleton that looked like it had walked straight out of Terminator.
Akira muttered without lifting his head.
"Internal frame and skeletal structure are complete. Core's been updated. Ritsu, are you in?"
The skeleton's eyes lit up blue.
Ritsu's voice came from the body this time, not the wall screen.
"I am in. Everything seems functional~"
Akira nodded.
"All right. Next, we install the mechanical musculature and outer mechanical frame. Are you ready?"
Ritsu appeared on the screen again and winked.
"I am always ready~."
Akira pressed a switch.
Robotic arms unfolded around the body and started fitting muscle bundles and plating into place, one section at a time.
Akira watched for a second, then let his forehead drop toward the table.
"It'll take some time. I guess I can finally get some sleep."
Selena's voice slipped into his head.
"How much time will it take?"
Akira turned his head around.
"About thirty minutes, I guess."
Selena sighed.
"You need a better sleeping schedule, brother. You didn't sleep a wink last night, and it's already afternoon."
Akira face-planted onto the table.
"I'm busy, all right."
The basement door opened.
Erika came down with a plate of French fries.
"So, is it finished?"
Akira slowly sat straight and pointed at the arms still working.
"Right now, her outer frame is still being fitted, so it's mostly done. We still need to add the E-skin and calibrate it. A bit more work, I guess."
Erika frowned.
"So when will it be finished?"
Akira tilted his head.
"Maybe tomorrow."
Erika set the plate down.
"Can't you finish it today?"
Selena cut in before he could answer.
"Erika-chan, people take months to finish this kind of work normally, okay? Anyway, can you put Ritsu on privacy mode? I want to discuss something with you guys."
Akira nodded.
"Makes sense."
He locked Ritsu out.
The blue eyes in the skeleton dimmed back to standby.
"So," he asked, "what is it?"
Selena explained.
"I just want to talk about the next arc. Because it's an important one. Remember?"
Erika set the snacks down.
"Yeah. The Reaper arc."
A notice popped up on Akira's screen. He started typing again while he talked.
"Oh, it's nothing. The students try to set up Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei, Karasuma messes it up, Bitch-sensei walks away angry, meets the Reaper, goes to the dark side, teams up with him, acts like she's being kidnapped, the students go to save her and get trapped, Koro-sensei comes to save them and gets trapped too, then Karasuma saves everyone, brings her back to the light side, beats the Reaper, and they live happily ever after for that episode. So there is nothing really to worry about here."
Selena's tone sharpened.
"Brother. By now, you should know that with you two here, things won't just go as they did in the original story. And the Reaper definitely knows about you. He'll have to keep you occupied first. I'm sure he'll think of something."
Akira grabbed a handful of fries, stuffed them into his mouth, and kept working.
"Oh. I see. That's bad…"
He did not stop typing.
"Akira, be serious. This is—" Erika stared at the plate, which now only had a single fry. "Wait. Did you eat all the fries? Mine were in there too."
Akira answered with his cheeks full.
"I can just store all of them in my cheeks and eat them slowly. It reduces time consumption."
Erika's eye twitched.
"What are you, a cow?"
He swallowed once.
"No. Cows store food in their stomachs, not their mouths. A chipmunk or a squirrel would be more appropriate."
Erika looked at the ceiling.
"Why are you like this? Can't you eat normally?"
Akira swallowed the rest far too quickly.
"I'm busy, so I can't waste time slowly eating or thinking about the Reaper. I can just beat him when he comes. I have more interesting things to work on here."
Erika exhaled.
"So what exactly are you this interested in? I thought everything was almost over."
Akira explained.
"It's the artificial E-skin. I wanted to make her look completely human. Feel and function as humanly as possible. So it takes a bit of time."
Erika tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
Akira turned the screen toward her.
"Let me show you. The model I designed for her body."
Erika looked at the screen.
Then she went scarlet.
"Wha—wha—what is that?"
Akira looked at the screen again.
"Just the rendering model."
Erika's voice jumped.
"Why is she not wearing anything?!"
Akira immediately swallowed the last of the fries.
"Huh? But… it's a model based on a human body. It's supposed to look like—"
Erika clapped both hands over his eyes.
"No. You can't look. Delete this."
Akira was more confused than anything.
"What? Why?"
Erika stammered.
"Because it's—it's—"
She never finished.
The alarm of a Venator-class Star Destroyer started blaring through the basement.
The alarm cut the argument in half.
Erika's hands were still over Akira's eyes.
"What is that?"
Akira pulled free and started typing.
"Someone with heavy weaponry is closing in."
Erika looked at him.
"Heavy weaponry?"
Akira nodded.
"Something like a tank, I think."
Erika's voice jumped.
"What?!"
He turned the monitor toward her.
Four trucks were moving up the mountain road, each dragging a container.
"It's probably whatever's in those."
An emergency alert slammed across the screen.
Akira clicked his tongue.
"Oh. I forgot I locked her out."
He unlocked Ritsu.
Her face snapped onto the display, already mid-sentence.
"—finally in. Akira, it's an emergency… wait. There is an emergency here too?"
Erika leaned in.
"What do you mean, here too?"
"An assassin named Reaper kidnapped Irina-sensei," Ritsu said. "He told everyone to come to a location. He also warned us not to call the teachers, or he will cut Irina-sensei into little pieces and send them to everyone."
Akira's expression turned serious.
"So, thirty pieces. Can he even divide all of it equally?"
Erika punched the side of his head.
"Stop joking. This is a serious situation. And we have whatever those things are here too."
Ritsu looked between them.
"Yeah. What even are they?"
Akira watched the feed.
"We'll find out. Look. They stopped."
The trucks halted at a distance. The container doors dropped.
Four machines rolled out.
They were about seven feet tall, a cross between a robot and a tank. The upper body was humanoid, with missile launchers on both shoulders. Each hand had been replaced by a pair of Gatling guns. Caterpillar tracks crushed the dirt as they turned toward the house and started forward.
The slit in each head glowed red.
Akira's eyes lit up.
"Are those early-type Guntanks?"
Erika stared at him.
"That's the first thing you say? We are under attack."
"Don't worry, don't worry. The house has defenses." His fingers were already moving. "But first, where did they even come from? I need to find out."
He dug through the machines' systems.
"Hmm. They have a good security setup, but not enough… oh." His mouth tightened. "Their core program is based on the perfected Ritsu program I gave those scientists when I bought Ritsu's freedom."
Ritsu froze.
"What?"
Erika's voice dropped.
"Then why are they attacking us now?"
Akira didn't look away from the screen.
"I don't know. Probably to distract us. Or they wanted to test those robots on us. Probably."
The mechs stopped just outside the usual approach line.
Shoulder hatches opened.
Missiles left the rails.
Akira hit a switch.
Turrets punched up from the garden and the rooftop and picked the missiles out of the air, one after another. The detonations stopped short of the house.
Akira sat back a little.
"Good. Our defense system is working as expected."
Erika pointed at the feed.
"Why are they not attacking the robots? They're only shooting down the missiles."
Akira said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Because they are a defense system. Not an attack system."
Erika and Ritsu both looked at him with dead-inside expressions.
A second wave came in. More explosions bloomed over the yard as the turrets intercepted them again.
Erika grabbed his sleeve.
"Can you hack them and shut them down?"
Akira made a face.
"Yeah. I mean, they took my already-perfected program and somehow made it worse. Seriously, all they had to do was copy and paste."
Erika's grip on him tightened.
"Be serious!"
"Fine." He lifted his hands from the keyboard. "I can shut them down. But I have a better idea."
Erika stared.
"What is it?"
Akira turned toward the worktable.
Ritsu's outer mechanical frame was finished. No E-skin. No softness. Just a completed metal body standing there, its faceplate now shaped like hers.
"Since we have a rare chance," he said, "why not use this situation for a test run?"
Ritsu's voice jumped.
"What? It's not complete yet. We have terabytes of calculations before an actual fight—"
Akira smiled.
"Ritsu. Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."
There was a pause, then Ritsu asked,
"…Is that from Iron Man?"
Another set of impacts rolled across the mountain as the turrets caught the next missiles.
Erika's patience ran out.
"Don't talk! Do something!"
Akira looked at the metal body, then at the screen.
"So, Ritsu. Do you want to do this?"
Ritsu was silent for a second.
Then she said,
"…Fine. But I don't have any weapons."
Akira's smile widened.
"I don't think you need any."
Ritsu looked determined.
"…All right. I'll do it."
Akira pressed the switch.
"Activating Ritsu Mark 1."
The unfinished android's eyes opened.
Blue light filled the sockets.