Blue Archive story · Act 2: Volume 1, Chapter 1, Episode 7
Act 2 Vol. 1 Ch. 1 Ep. 7: Pairing
1 scenes, 142 lines
1. Front of General Student Council Building Entrance
142 linesI was on my way back to Schale after finishing up my work with the General Student Council.
...Sensei.
May I request some of your time?
"Oh, Plana! Hi!"
"You don't usually reach out first."
There is a subject I wish to discuss with you.
What is your evaluation of that woman, Sensei?
"Do you mean the General Student Council President?"
"Um... She didn't seem like a bad kid."
Negative. She cannot be trusted.
She is a fake. She is not the General Student Council President.
True identity and intentions unknown. Recommendation: take caution around her.
"So you think she's a fake too..."
"Is there a possibility that my memories are wrong?"
Negative. Your memories are not wrong, Sensei.
Because the real General Student Council President is...
Ah, Plana! Did you find out where the real General Student Council President is?
Not even I, the Super Arona, was able to find her whereabouts, and I'm the Shittim Chest's OS! How did you find out?
And more importantly, what are we waiting for, then?
...
Negative. I do not know the location of the real one.
However, I am certain that this one is fake.
Above all, she did not recognize us, the OS of the Shittim Chest.
We are not simply an artifact. The Shittim Chest is designed with the capability to manipulate the very essence of Kivotos.
This was true in my world. It is true in every world. Conclusion: it is impossible for the General Student Council President of Kivotos to be ignorant of the Shittim Chest.
And the General Student Council President cannot be President if she is unable to perceive the Shittim Chest for what it is. No amount of competence can bridge that gap.
Like that Mimesis pretending to be the President.
Just like with other cases of Mimesises, she will destroy order and bring chaos to Kivotos.
"If that's true..."
Hold! Plana! You can't judge someone just based on their abilities!
Arona...?
Maybe she just lost her memories in a bad accident, and that's why she can't remember anything about the Shittim Chest!
You can't make all these assumptions about someone without even talking to them face to face! That's rude!
...*sigh*
What's with the long-suffering sigh?!
...Regardless, she's still not using the General Student Council President's power properly.
You are already aware of what happens when an uncontrolled power is left unattended, Arona.
Ugh, that's true, but...
"Plana, do you know anything about the Staff of Shaqed?"
Negative. Because I am also an OS resident within the Shittim Chest, I have no information in my database about other devices managed by the General Student Council President.
Even in the world I am from, the Staff of Shaqed was not used until the end times.
...But if the Staff of Shaqed is an artifact commensurate with the Shittim Chest, as the former Chief of Defense stated, then I can partially access its structure.
"...How?"
Seriously, how?
The process to verify authorized identities chosen by the General Student Council President, and access the Sanctum Tower, is done wirelessly.
So two devices using that same process should theoretically be able to "pair" with each other and synchronize data.
This is a basic feature of the Shittim Chest...
I-I knew that! There's just been so much surprising stuff this conversation, I forgot!
I can request the Staff of Shaqed to transmit unique identification information right away, with your approval, Sensei.
Requesting authorization.
Authorize.
...
...
...
Pairing to the Staff of Shaqed...
Attempting to pair...
Checking response from the auxiliary operating system, S.Q.D.
...
...
...
...As expected. Requirement: additional biological authentication information.
Sensei, could I ask you to renew your biological authentication information?
"By biological authentication information... You mean something like my fingerprints?"
Positive. It appears new authentication is required to unlock the new operating system.
A formality, but an important one. Requesting cooperation.
A little closer.
Please place your finger against the tip of my finger.
Yes, as if making a promise.
...
"...Is there a problem?"
...Negative. An old memory resurfacing. That is all.
Confirmation received. Sensei, the user of operating system A.R.O.N.A. is still you.
I will reattempt pairing with the renewed biological authentication information.
Downloading system data
from the Staff of Shaqed...
...
...
...
...Pairing complete.
Authorizing access to the auxiliary operating system, S.Q.D.
Rebooting the OS
to launch new system...
...Huh? Where are we?!
Why is everything in black and white?!
Apology. Temporarily optimized the environment in order to acclimate the new device's system within the Shittim Chest.
The issue was caused by system overload. It should return to normal when the process is complete.
Yeesh, warn me next time, please! I thought my visual capacitors were on the fritz!
Noted.
"Wait. If you were able to pair with it..."
"Doesn't that mean the Staff of Shaqed really was the Presidents' artifact?"
Positive. It appears that the smartwatch that the former Chief of Defense took was genuine.
Side note: her obsession with the superhuman, and specifically the General Student Council President, should not be disregarded.
Ugh... Are you sure things are gonna go back to normal?
My strawberry milk...and my pudding... They won't taste the same like this.
Huh? This box in the corner is new.
Plana, is the new data from the Staff of Shaqed in here?
Positive. That is the new data from S.Q.D. that does not already exist in the Shittim Chest.
Let's see...
It's mostly dummy data used for the drive system.
...Confirmed. This over here is the S.Q.D. system's core file.
It looks like a little fruit.
But without the colors, we can't tell what kind of fruit it is!
Plana, can't we disable the optimization mode for a little bit?
Yes. It would be difficult to analyze in the current environment.
Temporarily disabling the system optimization mode for data analysis.
Disabling optimization mode in 3... 2... 1...
...?!
H-Huh?! Th-That's too much data for me to process at once...
My head...is spinning...
"Arona, Plana!"
Temporary data has exceeded the processing limit.
At this rate, the operating system's memory will overflow...
M-Must proceed with force shutdown of operating system...
"Force shutdown! Now!"
Proceeding with force shutdown of main operating system, A.R.O.N.A.
Found overflow-related bugs and logic circuit errors. Attempting to reboot with backup file.
Rebooting OS to relaunch the system...
...*gasp*
...We made it in time.
Wh-What just happened, Plana?
I let my guard down.
Our processing capabilities have been improved thanks to Perez Uzzah. However, the Staff of Shaqed is also an operating system created to support Sanctum Tower's management.
Running A.R.O.N.A. and analyzing the S.Q.D. system's core is not possible with our current power.
I was of no help. My apologies, Sensei.
"I'm just glad the two of you are safe."
"Thank you for looking into it, Plana."
Fufu, I wouldn't say it was all meaningless.
Because I, Super AI Arona, firmly held onto the core of Shaqed while the system was rebooting!
Here, look!
...Arona.
What you are holding right now is an ordinary almond that contains no data.
Eh? B-But how...?!
I was holding it super tightly! When did it get away?
It appears that the paired data was lost while rebooting the OS.
Boo...
...We should investigate the Staff of Shaqed more at a later time.
More importantly, Sensei, it seems someone is tailing you.
...You've noticed.
That wasn't my intention, though.
"Isn't this voice..."
"...Rinny?"
...Don't call me Rinny.