And, as usual, I have no clue if this thing's undercooked or burnt to a crisp straight from the author's kitchen
(Kael Rukmono - late afternoon, May 28, 2011)
Almost a week has passed since the Gacha pull section..
My apartment has become a delicate ecosystem of impossible technology and domestic disaster.
In the kitchen, the battle continues.
"Shizu, remember the recipe?" I watched the automaton work. She was standing perfectly straight, holding a bowl for making pancakes
"Affirmative, Master," Shizu Delta replied, her flat voice devoid of inflection.
Her emerald eye with the target reticle was locked onto the measuring cup."100 grams of wheat flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar,a pinch of salt to taste, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 chicken egg, 100 ml of milk, 30 grams of butter."
"Good I think you now know what to do next"
Shizu nodded and immediately start putting the ingredients into the mixing bowl quickly, all the ingredients were added to the mixing bowl without any errors.
Much better than before, when Shizu thought adding all the ingredients was the same as dumping them into the bowl without opening the packaging.
Then, she began to mix the wet pancake ingredients until they were evenly mixed.
Then, she greased a frying pan with a little butter and heated it on the stovetop. Then, she poured a ladleful of batter onto the pan.
"Remember, pay attention to the bottom until it turns golden brown, then flip it."
"Understood, Master."
Then, she cooked the pancake until it turned golden brown and bubbles appeared on top. Then, flip it over and cook the other side until cooked through.
Once both sides were cooked, she took a plate and served the pancake and poured pancake syrup on top.
"Am I doing it right?" Shizu asked me.
I leaned over the counter, staring at the pancake.
grabbed a fork, and cut a small piece of the pancake. I brought it to my mouth. The texture was perfect—fluffy and light. The flavor was right, too; a gentle sweetness balanced by that essential, tiny pinch of salt.
I chewed slowly, letting the relief and genuine pride wash over me. It tasted like success.
"It's perfect, Shizu," I said, my voice warm. "This is a ten out of ten pancake. You nailed it."
For the first time in six days, I was looking at something Shizu made that actually resembled food rather than a biochemical hazard.
Then, acting on instinct more than thought, I reached out and placed my hand on her head.
"Master…" she said, in a voice a fraction quieter than usual.
"I'm happy with your work. You earned it."I confirmed, giving her one final, gentle ruffle before pulling my hand back
Suddenly, a cheerful chime and a bright blue flash interrupted the quiet kitchen domesticity. TB's avatar, a small, pixelated girl with a brilliant blue streak in her hair, materialized on the laptop screen sitting on the nearby counter.
"Shikikan! Mission Update!" TB announced, her voice energetic.
I sighed, already bracing myself. "Please tell me you didn't try to hack MI6 again."
"Correction!" TB raised a triumphant finger. "This time I hacked all relevant UK governmental databases simultaneously. Much more efficient!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "TB…"
Shizu tilted her head. "Master, is this 'Mission Update' related to my operational status?"
"Yes!" TB spun around, tapping a holographic window that appeared beside her like she was presenting at some digital PowerPoint meeting.
Rows of official-looking documents scrolled by passports, national insurance records, residency permits, medical files, even a library card.
"Behold!" TB announced proudly. "Shizu Delta is now legally speaking an upstanding resident of the United Kingdom of Great Britain"
"That's… horrifyingly impressive."
Shizu looked at me. "Master. Clarification requested. Does this mean I am no longer considered an illegal autonomous construct?"
"Technically," TB chimed in, "you are now a fully recognized, rights-bearing human citizen with a clean record"
"Well… that means if anyone asks, you can say you do belong here." I smiled at her. "Legally and everything."
Shizu's emerald eye flickered softly, as if processing something deeper
"Understood, Master," she said. "I will… endeavour to fulfill the expectations associated with such a designation."
"And Shikikan? Are you still having that dream again?" TB asked me.
yeah that reminds me of when I used Compound V 2 days ago
(2 days ago - 26 May 2011)
The Modified Compound V sat on my desk, a vial of deep blue liquid that seemed to pulse with an inner light.
Four days had passed since the gacha pull section.
The initial feeling of being overwhelmed had faded, replaced by a quiet, simmering resolve.
TB was right. I wasn't being forced; I was being given the tools.
I picked up the vial. Its cool glass contrasted with the warmth of my palm, my reflection staring back at me with a new, steely determination.
"Are you sure, Shikikan?" TB's voice was softer than usual, a subtle concern in her digital tone.
I smiled, a genuine unburdened smile. "Yeah. I'd rather have too many options and be confused about how to use them than have no options at all."
Shizu is currently in the nearest supermarket to buy daily necessities after the past 3 days of practicing cooking food that was at least edible.
My gaze drifted to the map of the United Kingdom on my laptop screen. A tiny pin marked my location in Boston, a fair distance from London, the heart of the magecraft world. The headquarters of the Mage's Association, the Clock Tower, was a known hotbed for supernatural activity. Magus and other otherworldly dangers were closer than I cared to admit.
The quiet life I wanted was a pipe dream without some serious muscle to back it up.
I uncorked the vial and immediately a chemical smell wafted out of the vial, causing me to move it away from my nose.
TB's avatar shifted on the screen, her glowing blue eyes reflecting my apprehension, "Shikikan, are you really sure about using it? According to various wikis and internet pages connected to the internet where your previous life came from, Compound V can have unexpected effects."
"I'm sure, TB," I said, a wave of calm confidence washing over me. "The gacha description specifically mentioned it was This isn't an unstable version. This is the ultimate, user-friendly version."
I picked up the vial and brought it to my lips. "This isn't a reckless gamble, it's a calculated investment in my future." I tipped the vial and drank the whole thing in one gulp.
The world immediately dissolved into a kaleidoscope of pain and light. My muscles seized up, every nerve in my body screaming at once. It wasn't a normal hangover. It was a terrible, beautiful unraveling hangover.
I'm lucky I can still steer my body toward my bed, which isn't far from my desk.
The last thing I heard was TB's panicked voice calling my name.
(???)
The world rushed back into focus, not with a gentle fade-in, but with a tidal wave of sensations. My body felt like it had been put through a cosmic blender and then reassembled incorrectly.
The throbbing pain I felt before was gone, replaced by a dull, constant ache that felt like a phantom limb. A cool, salty mist kissed my face, and the air was thick with the scent of the sea.
I blinked, the world coming into a blurry focus. I wasn't in my room anymore. Instead of the familiar ceiling, I saw a sky of roiling, dark clouds, streaked with veins of what looked like lightning. I was lying on a beach of some sort, but it wasn't sand.
The ground was made of countless tiny, shimmering particles that shifted and pulsed with a faint, inner light.
A gasp escaped my lips as I sat up. Before me was a vast, shimmering ocean, but it wasn't a normal blue.
It was a swirling mix of deep blues, purples, and even faint reds, with waves that seemed to move in slow motion, like liquid silk. And stretching out into the water, a long line of crimson torii gates marched out into the horizon, each one leading to the next like a set of divine stepping stones.
The scene was beautiful, surreal, and deeply unsettling.
"Hey, you got here quicker than expected."
The voice snapped me out of my trance. My head whipped around with new senses on high alert.
"Not Truly dead," the figure continued casually. "Just… temporarily connected to here. Interesting."
"Who are you?" I demanded.
The man sat cross-legged on a glowing dune. And he wasn't just similar, he was me. A perfect mirror image, wearing my face with a confidence I'd never seen in my own reflection,
The figure smiled. "You can't recognize your own face? Though I suppose this is a... less handsome version of it."
"…Huh?"
He then stood up. "Would you like to take a walk around this beach for a while? I haven't done that in a long time." Seeing that he wasn't doing anything strange, I accepted his invitation.
"Alright….., lead the way, i guess" I replied.
We started walking side-by-side along the beach, the ground of shimmering particles giving way with a soft, shifting sound under our feet. The crimson torii gates stretched out into the distance, a silent, surreal path across the strange sea.
He broke the silence first, his casual tone not quite matching the alien landscape around us. "So, what do you do with your time?"
"Mostly. Computers, electronics, you name it," I said, my gaze still fixed on the horizon. "It's a hobby. Keeps me busy."
"And what about people?" he asked, his voice low. "Is there anyone... or anything... in your life that's particularly important to you?"
I didn't have to think about it. "My family then had an Automaton combat Maid that tried to learn to be a Maid, then TB I guess…..."
My double stopped walking. I took a few more steps before I noticed he wasn't beside me anymore. He was staring at me, his face unreadable.
"TB," he repeated, the name a strange sound on his lips. "What does that name... mean to you?"
I frowned, a knot of confusion tightening in my gut. "TB? You mean the AI that I created?"
He didn't reply. His casual, easygoing smile was completely gone, replaced by a blank stillness. He just stood there on the glowing sand, his eyes wide and distant, as if my simple answer had just shown him a ghost.
"Can you promise me you'll make sure she stays as 'Our' TrailBlazer and make sure she won't become 'Zero' just for the sake of his greedy desires."
"What do you mean by that?"
he said something but his voice barely a whisper as his form blurred and dissolved with the rest of the world.
As his form blurred, the strange beach dissolved around him, replaced instantly by the stark simplicity of a land covered in white, where only a single, silent door stood.
I didn't have many choices, so I decided to approach the door, open it, and then enter through it.
Immediately I heard the Sound of Chime echoing and at that moment I was also enveloped by a blinding light
A gasp ripped from my lungs, and my eyes snapped open, a violent jolt back to reality.
The world wasn't a kaleidoscope of pain and light this time; it was just my regular bedroom, bathed in the soft glow of the laptop screen.
My body, which had felt like it was reassembling itself from stardust moments ago, was now heavy and uncomfortably drenched in sweat.
"Shikikan! You're awake! Are you alright?!" TB's digital avatar, usually so serene, was flickering erratically on the monitor. Her glowing blue eyes were wide with genuine panic.
"I've been running diagnostics on your vitals. Your heart rate spiked dangerously. What happened to you?"
My hand went to my throat, which felt raw and dry. "How long was I out?" A sense of temporal disorientation hit me. It felt like I had spent an eternity on that strange beach, yet also like no time had passed at all.
"Approximately five minutes have elapsed since you ingested the since you drank Compound V, and a few minutes ago I contacted Shizu and she is currently heading here quickly."
I stared at the empty spot on my desk where the vial had sat, now just a empty vial.
My gaze drifted to TB's avatar on the screen. Her luminous blue eyes seemed to hold a new depth, a question I couldn't answer
Suddenly, the door to my apartment seemed to be kicked in, and Shizu appeared carrying her groceries.
"Master!!!" She said as she dropped her shopping bag while making sure I'm okay
'I hope nothing broke in there.'
Seeing that she was still a little anxiousby making sure I'm okay, I put my hand on her head and started to stroke her gently. "I'm fine, Shizu, except I fainted for about 5 minutes."
For a moment, Shizu just stood there silently, letting me stroke her head.
"Query: What is the nature of this physical interaction?" Shizu asked, now with the anxiety gone and it's back to how it was when I first summoned her, with a voice somehow even flatter than usual, bordering on a glitch. "My current database suggests this action is known as a 'Headpat' and is typically deployed as a positive reinforcement gesture. Is this correct, Master?"
"Yes, that's right," I said to her, "this is also a physical way of saying that 'I'm fine.' "
"Understood, Master," She replied before I stopped stroking her head.
I sank back onto the edge of the bed, feeling the lingering ache fade.
DING!!
Suddenly, a notification came from my laptop, signaling that an email from Starbearer had arrived, or further information about the abilities I had gained after drinking Compound V.
'Okay, better give me something useful after that confusing vision.' I mutter
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[Master of Arms]
|Rare Ability|
Whatever weapon you are holding, you get a temporary intermediate mastery for it for as long as you hold onto it.
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'Huh, I think I have the Lite version of Eternal Master Arm, cool i guess.'
"So as long as you use any weapon, you can use it as if you were trained with it, right, Master?" asked Shizu, looking at my laptop.
"Yeah, so if you need a spotter, I'd say I'm pretty reliable."
"Understood, Master."
'I think that's fair.'
(Present day)
and since that day I started having strange dreams
Usually they were just small, unclear flashes and the day after I drank that Compound V, I woke up at 3 a.m. and felt like I'm waking up from a nightmare, even though I don't remember what nightmare it was.
Memories from the past? So far, my memories from my previous life are almost the same as now.
Is it from someone who looks very similar to me?
Until now, I'm still confused about it.
"Shikikan?"
"Oh, sorry TB, I'm fine and for once there was no dream that made me wake up as if I was being chased by debt collectors"
"If anything happens, please tell Shikikan," said TB before disappearing from my laptop screen.
"make sure she won't become 'Zero' just for the sake of his greedy desires huh...."
What he meant was Observer Zero, but that's impossible, right?
I know that since I now live in a world where It's just a gacha game that is an expansion of the original game, which is an eroge.
the possibility is not big, but it's also not impossible.
I'll think about that mystery for another time.