The Boss Is an Elementary Schooler!
The 15-meter-tall giant robot instantly captured every child’s attention. The fact that its design was modeled after the protagonist robot from a famous animation only made it more irresistible.
“W-wowww—!”
“It’s Jumbo Bot! It’s the Super Mech!”
“I-I wanna touch it too!”
The children rushed to the windows, and the more daring ones bolted straight out of the classroom and onto the playground. The fact that class was still in session—and that it was even a parent observation day—didn’t matter in the slightest.
While the entire school buzzed with excitement, even the parents were left gaping, unable to process what they were seeing.
Before long, kids began swarming beneath the giant robot’s feet, and the belatedly recovered parents started frantically snapping photos with their phones.
“Dad, Dad—buy me one of those.”
“……Sorry, son.”
“Why not?! That guy over there is just an ordinary office worker and he has one! You’re a big shot, so you can definitely buy me one!”
A few parents who overheard the child’s whining made awkward faces. Then they glanced furtively at Eight. How on earth were they supposed to explain to a young child that the man who looked anything but ordinary was lying when he called himself an ordinary company employee?
In the end, all they could do was reveal their own helplessness and disappoint their children.
Meanwhile, the very person who had gifted so many children and parents with feelings of deprivation and frustration stood there with a perfectly innocent expression, completely unaware that anything was wrong.
“Mister! Can’t you give that to me? Or, like, sell it to my dad?”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“Why not?! My dad has tons of money!”
After listening to the innocent student’s plea, Eight pondered how to explain things in a way that would hurt the child the least. He carefully stroked Regalia’s head and spoke.
“This is a present I’m giving to our Ria. It’s one of a kind in the whole world.”
“Whoa…… I’m so jealous.”
While comments bordering on treasonous—“I should’ve been born as that guy’s son instead”—popped up here and there, Regalia, who had been smiling ear to ear ever since the giant robot appeared, gently took hold of Eight’s hand as he patted her head.
To anyone watching, it looked exactly like a daughter moved by her father’s gift. Of course, the reality was completely different.
……Boss?
─We’ll talk later.
Eight let out a quiet groan as he felt the grip tightening around his hand like a vise. He never imagined that a child’s grip could be this strong.
Still, he couldn’t very well moan in pain in front of the children. Eight simply smiled brightly back at the boss. The boss smiled back at him.
The loving father-daughter smile filled the entire classroom with warmth.
The 15-meter-tall giant robot that had suddenly appeared at an elementary school quickly spread across the internet and news outlets worldwide. Given how often bizarre things happened in E City, people should have been used to it by now, yet this incident was especially exceptional.
Giant robots and super robots were humanity’s dream and ultimate romance. Even if their practicality was absurdly low, that didn’t matter. After all, this was a world where 1.8-meter-tall superhumans who could walk around actually existed. A several-dozen-meter-tall super robot would be nothing more than a giant target.
Still, there were people who wanted to build one despite knowing that, and the fact that every single attempt had ended in failure was the real problem.
To those chasing their dreams, the giant robot that appeared in E City was something straight out of a fantasy. Unlike the other 1:1 scale models that only looked the part, this one could actually move on its own.
“—No way, you son of a bitch—! I was almost done!”
And of course, where there is a first place, there is a second. If there were people dreaming of the romance, there were also those trying to make that dream a reality.
“Which bastard beat me to it……!”
Steelstone—an engineer whose name roughly translated to “Rock Hammer” in Eastern style—stared at the super robot video circulating online with pure rage. It was certainly huge and it did move on its own…… but he absolutely refused to acknowledge it as a true super robot.
Because there was no visible trace of the enormous energy required to move such a massive frame anywhere in the footage.
“This has to be CGI, right?”
Yet there were far too many videos shot from far too many different angles for it to be fake. With hundreds of eyewitnesses, he couldn’t simply dismiss it as a hoax.
He wanted nothing more than to rush straight to E City to confirm it with his own eyes, but he couldn’t leave the city he belonged to. The rulers of this city would never allow it.
Instead, he obsessively watched every video uploaded by influencers and reporters who had gone to E City, only to discover that none of their footage showed the giant robot either.
The colossal machine in the original video had either flown into the sky or sunk into the ground—it had completely hidden itself from view.
Of course……
Steelstone was convinced the robot in the video was fake. That was why it had run away and hidden its appearance the moment the truth risked being exposed.
It had to be. Otherwise, why would anyone create something so magnificent and then hide its true identity?
Yet…… even though suspicion that it was all a lie filled his chest, Steelstone hurried his hammering.
I have to finish this as fast as humanly possible—
He had to complete it. Clang—! Steelstone layered another steel plate while gazing up at the colossal figure whose top was so high it couldn’t be seen no matter how far back he tilted his head.
His lifelong dream. The ultimate weapon he was building with investments from countless corporations. The giant robot that would finally reveal itself to the world……
“—I was wrong.”
I have no sin. Honestly, I still don’t really understand what I did wrong this time. But that isn’t the answer the boss standing in front of me wants to hear.
“I clearly told you not to cause any incidents! I told you not to ruin my perfectly normal school life……!”
“I thought something on that level would be fine……”
“Just who—! In what household—! Walks around with a giant robot like it’s normal—!”
“I couldn’t let the boss be called a liar by her own daughter.”
“That doesn’t matter! And no one would call me a liar over some toy that isn’t even real!”
I stayed silent for a moment before bowing my head at the perfect timing. The big data stored in my head had calculated the ideal moment for an apology.
Sure enough, after watching me bow, the boss continued to vent her anger, but the flames gradually began to subside. It was a textbook apology technique that had successfully calmed countless professors in the past.
“Should I erase the children’s memories? If you just give me permission—”
“Do you think I’m some kind of psychopath? You want me to order you to wipe children’s memories just to protect my so-called normal school life?”
“That’s what I figured. As expected of the boss. I believe the day will come when the people of E City learn of your great mercy.”
I smoothly shifted the topic from the giant robot to memory erasure, gradually steering the conversation away from the original issue and making the boss forget why she had been angry with me in the first place.
After some time had passed, the boss seemed to have completely forgotten why she had gotten mad at me and simply looked bewildered.
“Hmm…… Right. Now that I think about it again, it doesn’t seem like something worth getting angry over. You may go. You worked hard today.”
“Not at all, Boss. I was happy to be of help to you.”
“I won’t ask you for anything next time, so keep that in mind……”
Leaving behind the boss who was sighing heavily, I exited the president’s office and returned to the lab. When I saw Arima waiting for me there, I broke into a bright smile.
He seemed to already have a rough idea of what had happened and chuckled.
“All done? The boss was pretty pissed, huh?”
“About average, I’d say.”
“Yeah. I knew she’d blow up like that.”
“……You knew and still helped me?”
“Huh? You really didn’t know?”
Watching Arima play dumb, I felt a twinge of irritation. If he knew the boss would get angry, he could have at least given me a heads-up. He’s a magician, isn’t he? Telepathy shouldn’t be that hard.
I was busy piling up pointless resentment when Arima held out his hand.
“Here, give it to me now.”
“Give you what?”
“What do you think? The potion to turn me back to normal.”
“Oh, that—”
I nodded in understanding and held out my own hand instead.
“I’ll make it for you. Bring me the ingredients.”
“……Huh?”
“You completely lost all your Y chromosomes when you turned into a woman, right? Without your original DNA sample, I can’t turn you back.”
“Wait, hold on…… Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Arima stared at me with a stunned expression. I looked back at him as if to ask what the problem was. He broke out in a cold sweat and answered.
“……I clean my room in the mornings.”
“Yes. You have very neat habits. And?”
“Well, I use magic for cleaning—and it’s really effective, you know?”
“You didn’t.”
“I cleaned my room with magic again this morning.”
I didn’t need long to understand what that meant. It meant there was no longer any material left in Arima that could be used to turn him back into a man. In other words, he could never return to his original form.
“—Have a good life.”
“E-Eight—! You can do something about it, can’t you?! Right?”
“Nope. I have no idea.”
“Oh come on—! Just once!”
Watching Arima cling to me desperately, I let out a small snort of laughter. Serves you right. Go ahead and suffer a little.
Who knows? After a month or so, once he starts experiencing menstrual cramps, maybe a kind-hearted scientist will take pity and make an antidote for him. Though of course, the only scientist here is an evil one.