This Is My Lab Now (2)
It had been six weeks since Rustila last enjoyed a proper night’s sleep. The moment the Celestine tragedy ended and vacation began, she was effectively placed under house arrest. She could go outside if granted permission, but she always had to be accompanied by an android. While eating. While bathing. Even while sleeping. If she so much as moved without Jermel or Verdia at her side, her parents would scold her.
“Miss, please hand me the knife.”
One of her personal androids, Jermel, deftly sliced the steak with practiced hands. Beside him, another personal android named Lisha checked the temperature of the soup. And next to her was yet another personal android whose name was—
“Ah.”
A piece of bread slipped into her absentmindedly opened mouth. Verdia set down her fork and asked, “Does it suit your taste?”
“…Yeah. No.”
“I apologize, miss. We are fully aware that our interference in your life has become excessive.”
“Then…”
“However, that incident happened only recently. You must take care of yourself.”
There was logic in Verdia’s words. The family’s sole heir had been attacked by an Avatar, nearly losing her life. Students had actually died. For parents who cherished their child, this level of caution was only natural. She understood. She really did.
“Miss, please eat.”
A perfectly cut piece of steak was offered to her. Rustila accepted it like a baby bird and barely held back the tears that threatened to spill. She was already seventeen. She had outgrown the age for crying. Besides, if she kept showing weakness, Idel would hate it.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Rustila, I’m coming in.”
It was her father, Lloyd Kersil. He sat beside her and set down a folder and a tablet PC. “Are you all right?”
“…”
“I’m sorry about what happened to the Rheinland siblings. Still, don’t let it get you down. Your mother is worried.”
Lloyd had begun treating Rustila far more gently than before. He had heard about her performance during the Celestine incident.
Your daughter can wield both Stellar Sword Energy and Body Reinforcement. She is a genius among geniuses. By the time she graduates from the academy, she will have reached EX-rank. Upon graduating from college, she will likely attain Great Omega rank.
“Father, Mother. I hesitate to say this after such a tragedy, but please entrust your daughter to us. We will raise her into the Federation’s greatest swordsman.”
Just last week, two Great Omega-rank swordsmen had come and literally slammed their foreheads against the floor. They called her a prodigy that appeared once every hundred thousand years. They claimed that if she did not become a soldier, it would be a loss for the entire universe. Honestly, his heart had wavered then.
He had wanted her to become a lawyer because swordsmanship was dangerous. Yet his one and only daughter had fought an Avatar on equal footing with raw sword skill. It was a cursed talent.
“Rustila, look at this.”
After Rustila had been listlessly picking at her food for a while, Lloyd handed her the tablet. “You know about the students who died in the Celestine incident, right? I just finished handling their life insurance claims. The public insurance company kept trying to weasel out of it.”
“I see.”
“Those bastards were truly vile. They tried to dump the entire problem onto the school. The law isn’t supposed to work that way. It’s like pouring oil on the wounds of the bereaved.”
“I see.”
“So you see, Outer Deities aren’t the only enemies. Fellow humans can become foes just as easily. It is the duty of those in the legal profession to judge the villains who create such injustice.”
“I see.”
Rustila’s eyes remained dull, showing no interest in her father’s story. What did judging other humans matter? With a single flick of an Outer Deity’s finger, Seti could close her eyes forever. With one kick, Idel could be dragged off to prison. In the end, there was nothing she could do. Her shoulders trembled with helplessness.
“…Thank you for the meal.”
Rustila returned to her room in a daze. The androids tucked her into bed. She began to sob—slowly, silently. She had lost her friends. She had lost her freedom. In this house, she wasn’t even allowed to hold a wooden sword. She wanted to die. She didn’t want to live. She truly, desperately wanted to die.
— The Pure and Persistent God comforts you. —
How much time had passed? She stirred under the bright moonlight pouring through the window. Even after crying so much, only her eyes were swollen; she felt no relief. Instead, her chest felt heavy and numb.
“Seti… Idel… Idel…”
Once you entered Alcatraz, it was essentially a life sentence. Unlike Seti, whom she could at least see sleeping if she went to the Spirit Hall, Idel had become someone she might never see again.
“I miss you, Idel.”
She prayed to the moon. Just once. Please let me visit him.
And then it actually happened.
“Huh?”
When she came to her senses, Rustila was standing on the planet Alcatraz.
“Please disembark.”
She looked up at the blunt voice. It was Sonia, Idel’s personal android maid. The situation was as follows:
That day, while Rustila had been crying, a single email had arrived.
The next day, Rustila staged a suicide attempt. When she went on a dawn walk with only Verdia, she climbed the zelkova tree in the backyard while Verdia was distracted and threatened her own life.
If you don’t let me go to Alcatraz, I’ll die right here.
She had meant it. Who was Idel? In the days when no one recognized her talent, he had been the only one who encouraged her swordsmanship. The tender feelings that had bloomed from that moment were like a double-edged sword. With him, she would be happy enough to die. Without him, she would be miserable enough to die.
All right! I’ll let you go! I’ll take you secretly, so please come down!
In the end, Verdia, who had thrown up both hands in surrender, escorted Rustila together with Sonia. And then… they met.
“Idel…!”
The person she missed most in the world. The moment Rustila saw him, she sprinted forward at full speed and threw herself into his arms.
“I missed you.”
“Uh, um…”
Rustila clung to him so tightly that Idel’s hands had nowhere to go… or so one might think. In reality, both of his hands were holding research papers. Sonia ground her teeth and mimed patting her own head.
“I missed you. I missed you so much.”
Even a nerd who only studied had some sense. Idel set the papers down and gently patted Rustila’s back and head. The touch felt unfamiliar.
“Well, well. This is something.”
The prison guard, Vizel, who had been watching the two, rubbed his mustache.
Afterward, Idel kept patting Rustila until she calmed down. Perhaps because she was a fragile girl, she cried a lot. Thanks to that, six whole hours had passed without him exchanging DMs with Professor Feynman.
“…”
Idel sat in front of the monitor, trying to decide what to say. How on earth was he supposed to explain this situation? And when? The discussion thread he had been participating in was now more than half a day behind. He couldn’t even remember what he had been doing. He was even afraid to click the voice message at the very bottom.
Idel turned his head. Rustila, who had finally stopped crying and calmed down, had stolen the blanket he had been using and wrapped it around her entire body.
This crazy girl! Crazy! Crazy!
No matter how he thought about it, what had happened earlier had (by Rustila’s standards) crossed a very significant line. Hug me. He hugged me. She had done such a thing with an unrelated man. The only future left was her parents lighting up with fury and tormenting her. The fact that she would never be able to marry was just a bonus.
Unaware that Rustila was internally kicking her blankets in shame, Idel checked her PRON value.
PRON characteristic: When it exceeds 50% of the maximum, the subject begins contemplating suicide. When Rustila had first arrived, it had been around 750. Just as Sonia had said, things had nearly gone terribly wrong. Fortunately, Rustila had a special buff where the value dropped rapidly whenever she was near Idel.
“By the way, until when is the visiting time?” Verdia asked.
Idel answered, “There isn’t one.”
“?”
“I work here now.”
“Please get hit a little.”
Sonia beat Idel with movements that looked as if she were possessed by an Outer Deity. If Rustila hadn’t barely stopped her, he would have rolled his eyes back and fainted.
“Do you have any idea how many people are worried about you? The mania treatment is over, yet instead of thinking about coming out, you’ve basically rented the entire place?”
“Yep. This space is my lab now.”
“Ha. Really. Ha.”
Sonia dragged a hand down her face. The katyusha she was wearing slipped off with a clatter.
“You’re doing this in the control room—don’t the guards say anything?”
“As long as I meet my workload exactly, they don’t touch me. The lab atmosphere is really nice. A+.”
Idel gave a thumbs-up. Only after receiving another smack on the head from Sonia did he stop joking. Instead, he put on a serious expression and looked at Rustila and the two androids.
“I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
While the two androids frowned, Rustila was prepared to listen to anything Idel said. After all, he had protected her dream. So she wanted to protect his dream as well.
And soon, Idel opened his mouth.
“Become a graduate student.”
Rustila’s mind came to a complete stop.