NOVEL NEXT vol. 3 chapter 2 - A Long-Awaited Visit to Ichijou-sensei
A Long-Awaited Visit to Ichijou-sensei
While walking Sou, I finally arrived at the Virtual Combat Division.
It wouldn’t be any fun if I gave her a heads-up, so I hadn’t contacted Ichijou-sensei at all.
Instead, I headed straight to the front desk.
The receptionist, seeing how I looked, treated me completely like a child.
“Hello~”
“Hi there, sweetie. Are your mommy and daddy with you?”
“Um, I came to see Ichijou-sensei… I think this should be enough to explain.”
I handed over the ID card Ichijou-sensei had given me, even as the receptionist treated me like a lost kid.
She took the card with a gentle smile and said, “Just a moment, okay?” as she began checking it.
“Sou~, let’s wait here for a bit, okay?”
“Wao.”
Sou sat obediently next to me, tail wagging.
Ughhh, so cute! Head pats, head pats~!
While I was busy showering him with affection, the receptionist finished verifying the card and turned back to me.
“Sorry to keep you waiting! Ichijou-sensei says she’ll meet with you!”
“Really?! Thank you so much!”
“Okay! Thank you again!”
After thanking the kind receptionist, I headed to the second floor where Ichijou-sensei’s lab was—a place I was quite familiar with.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, I spotted Ichijou-sensei running down the hall toward me.
“Ah! Hello, Ichijou-sense—”
Before I could even finish my greeting, the flustered Ichijou-sensei suddenly grabbed my shoulders.
“Sera-kun?! Why are you just walking around so openly like this?!”
“Ahh, I came to explain that—and to show off this body.”
“Aah… In any case, let’s go to my lab first! We can talk there!”
“Kyawn!”
Saying that, Ichijou-sensei forcefully took my hand and dragged me along to her lab.
With me being pulled along, Sou’s leash was tugged too, and he let out a distressed yelp. But Ichijou-sensei didn’t care one bit about people watching and charged straight through to her lab.
“Ichijou-sensei? Are you calm now?”
“...Yes. I figured you wouldn’t be showing yourself like this without thinking it through. Sorry, Sou-kun.”
“Wuff!”
Finally regaining her composure after reaching the lab, Ichijou-sensei apologized to Sou and then motioned for me to explain.
Sou gave a small grumble, but calmed down quietly when I patted his head.
“Well, to explain briefly—I made a sub-unit so I could move around independently. I came here today to do a performance test of this body.”
“A sub-unit, huh… Well, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to you, Sera-kun. Got it. So, what should I prepare?”
“For now, I’d like to test against a bunch of high-difficulty virtual enemies. Please set the simulator to the max.”
“Got it. I’ll prep a high-difficulty group battle simulation.”
With that, Ichijou-sensei, Sou, and I headed toward the simulator.
“By the way, Sera-kun—probably a silly question, but what about weapons? If you need one, I can prep one of those rings like I gave Aoi-kun.”
“Ah, no worries. That’s part of what I want to test too.”
While chatting, we arrived at the simulation room.
As always, Ichijou-sensei split off from me as I stepped inside.
I noticed Sou trying to stay outside like it was no big deal, so I scooped him up and brought him in.
You’re coming with me!
If this body ends up being too weak, I was planning to rely on you!
“Kyun…”
While waiting for the simulation to begin, I sat with Sou and petted him lovingly inside the sim room.
Soon, Ichijou-sensei’s voice came in—preparations were complete.
The scenery expanded outward into a thickly forested mountain.
Unusually, the moment the simulation started, I felt hostile gazes from all directions.
“Grrr…”
Even Sou, who had been sulking, quickly took a combat stance and began scanning the area.
The pressure intensified until finally, the enemies came into view.
“Virtual Enemies: Mid-size simian-type swarm. Mid-size lupine-type swarm.
Threat Level: SSS.
Commencing training exercise.”
The mechanical voice echoed, and enemies began rushing in from all sides—monkey-like and wolf-like creatures.
Alright… Let’s see just how far this body can go!