The scientist in her element

And so…the countdown to complete Lafon’s mechanical arm for her cosplay competition commenced. With AnimeTokyo being a month away, it was nothing short of a grind to the finish line. From what I deduced from Sato’s strategy, the first phase consisted of figuring out what materials would be needed for replacement, buying those either online or in person, which is where I could help.

This was still the Sato who almost boarded a train to Hokkaido when we were supposed to go two stops downtown.

As for a workstation, I discovered another room on this floor that looks like it was a meeting space at some point – a large table with chairs, a TV screen.

The door to this room was quite inconspicuous, as from the outside it could pass as a random storage room. With the boxes in the back…this might actually be more of a storage room now. This room probably hasn’t been used for meetings in a while, with all this dust. The house manager and housekeeping might not even know of this place.

Showing Sato the place, she was impressed by the functionality. She pointed at the TV, suggesting displaying the prototype files there as she assembles, dividing the table into different areas of development. She immersed herself in this planning process, as if this project had rekindled a flame in her mind.

She seems to be really enjoying it so far.

Back to the present, I had just finished another shift at the bookstore; Tachibana had just left for the storage room to get her belongings, and my phone buzzed as I finished packing up.

Sato: Setting up the room! Any snack prefs?

Sato: Actually I’ll bring them all

Nice, I’ll be there in 15: Ryuuto

***

In the meeting room, I watched as Sato was assembling gears together; apparently, part of the elbow of the arm.

It was starting to…kind of….look like the real thing? Definitely a lot of progress has been made, though Sato has a better understanding of how far along in the process she is.

I noticed the way she handled the pieces and tools, from the tiniest of screws to the metal rods; without hesitation, selecting the right part and instrument to utilize, cross-checking with one swift motion…she was in her element.

“What sorts of projects did you make back home?”

“All sorts of things! I used the basement of my house as a workshop,” she gleamed as she continued her work. “Model rockets, a Tesla coil, a battle bot…but most of the time just tinkering around with stuff.”

Battle bot?

“You mentioned not doing much at school.”

“Yeah….” she nodded. “My school didn’t have much funding for that stuff. But my parents helped me find summer internships and programs in the city.”

“I see. Well…what’s your favorite topic from all of it?”

“Favorite?” She placed her tools down. “Has to be astronautics.”

Astronautics.

“Astro…so space–flight–”

“Yep! Sending people, satellites, and more into space to travel to the Moon…and beyond–” she looked back at me excitedly, “that’s so frickin’ cool!”

“And all the calculations and going from theory to reality required to get there…sorry I’m getting a bit too hyped…but rocket separation, booster technology, and the physics behind reusable parts–maximizing payload and efficiency–”

It’s another fast-paced Sato crash-course on physics – a serenade of sorts.

Heh…serenade….her first name is Serina, so a Serin-ade? Nah, that was a stupid pun. And every time her ahoge seems to bounce around from her head movements, as if it were conducting a symphony orchestra. And she’s still going strong! What is a max-q….like a Q-tip?

I let out a burst of chuckles, catching her by surprise. “What’s so funny?”

“Just…enjoying your enthusiasm in speaking,” I managed before chuckling again.

“I–but–” she stuttered, “--enough about me, what about you?! I’ve been patiently waiting to hear what you like to do back home.” She sat squarely facing me, determined to hear me out.

My life back home…

“I just studied for the most part.”

She almost fell out of her chair. “Clubs? Hobbies?”

Compared to her, I had no special talents….

“I guess the student council counts as a club. That, with my part-time job, took up most of the day.”

“A job? Where’d you work?!”

“A restaurant.”

“Ah, so there’s where you got your cooking skills,” she stated triumphantly, “otherwise we might be equal in that department.”

I highly doubt that.

Her eyes wandered around the room. “And student council…my school didn’t have one of those.”

I gave her a rundown of the student council, about what I did with the cultural festival, sports festival, and school field trips, as she listened along intently.

“It’s…not really that impressive, honestly…it’s insane the sorts of skills and passions you all have,” I sighed, “...and here I am, nothing particularly extraordinary, along for the ride because of burnt noodles–”

“Hey–” she pointed at my face. “You may not think much about it, but you’ve been pretty extraordinary since we all met. For example, at the convenience store when we first met, I would have died from embarrassment if you weren’t there.” Of course I remember, she was about to hyperventilate as her phone ran out of battery.

“My grandma used to say this a lot to me growing up,” she picked up the gear and held it towards the light. “Things happen for a reason. Would I be here helping Lafon with the arm if you weren’t living here with us?”

She has a point.

“Enough sounding like an old geezer, it’s snack time!” She covered the parts with a fabric sheet and moved over to what she dubbed ‘the snack zone’. Which currently consisted of pretzel sticks, shrimp crackers, green-onion chips, chocolate-dipped wafers, matcha balls…

Hold on, there’s a lot more snacks here than usual.

As she rolled her chair, I heard another noise aside from the wheels.

Grwwwwl….

Was that my stomach?

“A–” Sato stopped in her tracks, her face tinged pink now. “Excuse me—”

“Did you eat dinner?”

“I did!” Growwwwwl– “A light one,” she pouted. Grrr– “Okay! I was so excited to build this part of the arm, so I forgot to eat a full meal!”

Must suppress my giggling or I will most certainly have my life flash before my eyes.

“Understandable…how about we get some dinner instead?”

***

Luckily, there was an izakaya across campus: open late, inexpensive, and delicious food. After being greeted by the staff and led to a table, we perused a surprisingly long menu. 

“So much on the menu–” she flipped page, after page, after page…” which ones should we get?”

“Hm…yakitori—the skewers are usually good.”

“Yes! And these ones here look so good!” she pointed at the tempura, then at the gyoza.

Did she eat anything for dinner? Now that I think about it, I didn’t really have much for dinner either.

The food arrived quickly after we ordered, and it was amazing. The gyoza, hot and crispy on the outside, are filled with fragrant flavor. The tempura with its flaky crunch, lightly battered and fried, revealing the tender meat within. And the yakitori, perfectly charred and sizzling hot—we had to order another round of those.

It must have been the long day that led up to this point, but I had trouble recalling the entire conversation we had then. Sato laughed several times, then tried taking my second portion of skewers for some reason–oh, I remember now, I was making fun of her holding her last skewer like Lafon holding a sword….along the lines of ‘Eris-sama at home.’

By the time we had made it back to the common room, I felt the effects of a food coma strongly weighing me down.

That couch looks mighty comfortable right now.

I lay there, letting her know I would be back in a minute … she said she was finishing up for the night as well. I’ll just close my eyes for a few seconds, and then I’ll go back to my room to get ready for bed. It’s been a long, long day. The last couple of hours were enjoyable, I admit.

“Alright, time to–” I opened my eyes….hold on, there’s a blanket here. But I hadn’t…where…

I am so disoriented. Not my bed…this isn’t my blanket either!

I looked at the blanket and found a note on an index card:

Good night! You fell asleep here, you dummy! - Serina

Oh, Sato…as I started to take off the covers, I heard a faint noise, a shallow inhale and exhale.

As my eyes adjusted to the dimmed lights, I noticed a figure on the other couch.

Sato…you fell asleep too!?

I can picture it in my mind now: she saw me sleeping on the couch, and when she came back with the blanket, she went on the other couch, thinking how can a person just fall asleep here…and dozed off.

Hilarious. Two can play this game.

I walked over and placed the blanket on her, with the note on top. She slept peacefully, her hair flowing in several directions across the couch. She must have an insane case of bed head.

Cute.