Seraphim is a Bystander

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!”
“Just take that elevator to the second floor. She’ll meet you there.”

“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!