NoveLight ™
[MAV: Na-na-na-na-na, so excited!]
[RAIN: Me too!]
[GENE: Heh, still not enough training for everyone. A unit like me, who has been into battles before the second mecha came in, wouldn’t be surprised by this level.]
While Eugene and the other manifested members were drifting into their individual moments of nostalgia, the three mecha girls, except for a brief conversation with a polar bear, shark, or owl, were quietly admiring their surroundings. They were so quiet that even Akita contemplated whether or not to ask, "Why are they so silent?"
But their internal thoughts were different.
Since their arrival here, or perhaps even before, they had learned to communicate within their network, which evolved into a 3-person secret chatroom. It quickly became a nonstop, chaotic chatroom of random words from the three mecha girls, newly evolving into humans.
In simple terms, even though they appeared quiet on the outside, their minds were buzzing with excitement.
[RAIN: I've never seen so many carefree people before.]
[GENE: But even in the places we used to be, people didn’t have such expressions. Of course, there's a fundamental difference.]
[MAV: I wonder if in a few decades, there will be even flashier theme parks like this in that world? But until then, we'll have to ask Akita for this kind of view.]
It was their first time seeing a world like this.
Just hours ago, the visual data of the mecha Eugenes didn’t even have theme parks in their databases. Or perhaps they existed, but they were closer to combat data. Many task forces, including the Dagger units, had once ravaged areas like Orlando Disney World, which had been reduced to molten slag, and Anaheim Disneyland, broken by unmanned tanks and bombarded buildings.
The manifested members, including Akita, had new memories on top of the old ones. Unlike the past, Akita allowed them to overwrite the old memories with new ones.
[GENE: By the way, Rain, you’ve been subtly keeping your arms crossed with Akita. It’s my turn soon.]
[RAIN: No way. It’s mine.]
[MAV: ...You guys were rescued directly by Akita, right? I still haven’t been able to express that as openly as you guys. Honestly, I feel more grateful to you guys.]
If I were human, my face would have been slightly flushed.
It wasn't entirely wrong, though. While Eugene personally rescued two of them, Maverick and Mav were saved through the massive efforts of Jin and Rain, along with overwhelming firepower from the opposite world’s Ministry of Defense.
Mav, by nature, was the one most grateful to the multitude of people who helped, setting her apart from Jin and Rain, especially Rain.
Eventually, Eugene’s group reached the section showing Rain’s rescue and the introduction to Operation Ouroboros, where Rain added:
[RAIN: My master tried to rescue me six times. If he had failed, I wouldn’t be here.]
[GENE: Don’t think you’ll get away with staying with Akita all day just because of that.]
[RAIN: No way. I’ll go right; you go left.]
As if on cue, the two mecha girls moved forward and leisurely glanced around while Eugene, still grinning half-heartedly, felt the distinct sensation of their mechanical tails winding around him. His eyes widened as he noticed.
"Why are the tails suddenly tangled?!"
"W-What? It’s a sign of gratitude. Without you, I wouldn’t be here. So, uh..."
"Rain suggested it!"
"I never said that!"
Only two people knew the truth about the situation.
As they saw the scene, other friends chuckled in disbelief, and soon the group reached the end of the museum. It had been roughly an hour since they entered.
At the end of most museums was a gift shop, and, of course, this one was no exception. The shelves were filled with all kinds of merchandise: plush toys, bags, headbands, military patches, bags used by soldiers, and even exclusive skin codes for the studio.
Eugene wasn’t particularly interested, and Rain already had her Tactical Mickey headband. Jin and Mav didn’t seem to want anything either, so they all stepped outside into the still bright blue sky.
Not long after, they noticed that the clothes of the tourists and cosplayers around them had become more... diverse.
"Who are those people? Their ears are huge."
"Some are wearing some kind of silvery full-body armor, Akita."
"They must be from that game, Terra. I remember some of my friends from the Virginia Swordsmanship Club used to wear full armor like that."
"They look strong. I wonder if their weapons can pierce through if they shoot with their tails?"
"Whether it’s a plasma cannon, railgun, or ion cannon, anything they hit will leave no remains. What’s the point of expecting protection from that kind of armor?"
Mav muttered that, and someone nearby might have been astounded to overhear. The thought crossed everyone’s minds.
Olivia, overhearing their conversation, added:
"I remember seeing something like that in a gameplay video. Come to think of it, with the weapons the mecha girls are carrying, I think they could crush all the enemies in Terra."
"The power inflation of individual mechas since the debut of the prototype Alpha has been quite severe. But... I hope nothing surpasses them in the future."
"That’s true."
Everyone except Olivia had participated in Operation Ouroboros, so they understood what that power entailed. They recalled the destruction caused by the prototype that obliterated unmanned drones hundreds of kilometers away.
As they watched the scene of Artemis Patrol staff walking their robotic dogs like pets, with tourists snapping pictures, Eugene continued to peruse the list of places they hadn’t visited yet.
Then, the next comment came:
"By the way, if there’s no big issue, should we start streaming?"
"...Suddenly? I didn’t expect you to say that, Lorentina."
"Well, I’m not doing it just because I want to see it..."
At that moment, she raised her phone. As Harmony and Dice sent their excited requests to Lorentina, Eugene, too preoccupied with the mecha girls, had no time to check his phone.
As Shark laughed softly at the situation, they got the green light to proceed.
"With the new mecha girls turning into tail enthusiasts, I guess we’ll have to take responsibility."
"...Yeah, looks like we’ve reached an inevitable point."
Eugene waved his hand, and before long, a drone cam swooped over from across the area and landed in Eugene’s hands.
The broadcast had begun.
"…Are you satisfied now?"
"How can you enjoy such a fun situation all by yourself, Eugene?!"
"In exchange, I demand 30 minutes of tail petting time!"
"…The new mecha girls are becoming more shameless by the minute."
In Florida, Orlando, at the EPCOT Virtual Reality Studio.
Right in front of them stood Harmony and Dice, who had finally arrived and, immediately upon arrival, started making strange comments. Even Lorentina, who usually maintained her composure, was left speechless by their antics.
Of course, it was true that they had been neglected for a while, so Eugene reluctantly agreed to their request. Harmony and Dice logged into the humanoid systems spread throughout the virtual reality studio, and holograms of them appeared, their smiles wide, almost stretching to their ears.
At this point, I honestly just hoped they'd be happy with the tail-petting.
As for Jin and Rain, they immediately recognized Harmony and Dice. Before anyone else could speak, Jin and Rain chimed in:
"Long time no see. When was the last time we saw each other? Was it during Operation Ouroboros? Anyway, it's been a while. Are you both doing well?"
"Long time no see. Harmony, Dice. I think this is our first time meeting in real life... but you look so happy, is there something special going on?"
"Mecha Eugene... in real life..."
"Oh, I must be dreaming. Seeing it for real is unbelievable..."
It might be considered fortunate or not, but the fact that those two spoke first meant Maverick’s introduction was delayed. Given Mav’s presence, there was some reluctance to broadcast, especially since the upcoming new Incursion would feature a new mecha (Unit 3), which was very different from Mav. But there were many ways to explain that to the viewers.
Mav was primarily for promotional purposes—at least that’s how Icarus had officially explained it on their homepage—while the mecha for the new Incursion was entirely different, and the studio had notified everyone about that.
It was possible that some viewers might feel disappointed or question it, but... well, that wasn’t really my concern.
A few days from now, they'd see each other in person, but having revealed their faces this much, I had to do my part. And perhaps those two knew this, so they decided to reveal themselves here.
I then asked:
"By the way, how’s the preparation for the Asia qualifiers going?"
"There hasn’t been much dramatic improvement, but we've done everything we could. We’ve checked all the variables we could and, whenever we had time, we did practice matches. We’ll know if the preparation was sufficient or not after beating all the opponents in the qualifiers the day after tomorrow."
"What about Harmony?"
"Well, this is my first time participating in such a competition, so I can’t say for sure, but I raised my win rate to 40% against Dice... So I don’t think I’ll lose to anyone."
At this point, it wasn’t necessary to dig further into their current skill levels. The upcoming qualifiers would reveal that in due time.
After some more talk, I asked them:
"By the way, are Harmony and Dice interested in Disney’s animated films?"
"Of course! We’ve seen them in storybooks, animations, movies... I used to always write 'princess' in the 'desired career' section when I was in kindergarten."
"Well, I wasn’t that extreme, but I’ve seen pretty much everything. I know almost all of them."
"I guess I should have brought you two to Disney World instead of us. We're total beginners in that area."
At that moment, the chat was filled with comments like “The destroyers of childhood” or “These people could drop bombs on Disney,” which caused a stir. But I couldn't help but wonder... how did they know?
It seemed like viewers were just trolling, but if it were true, I didn’t feel the need to control the situation. None of us, not even Logan, Lorentina, or Olivia, reacted.
The ones who were more surprised were the viewers, but as we quietly moved on, the discussion shifted again.
As we passed through, I summarized the situation and added:
"Mina and Yerin should come with me separately next time. As you can see, this area is based on the Dark Zone theme, and since my group has already seen almost everything, we’re moving on to the Glory and Honor area next."
"Ah."
"Was there anything special we shouldn’t miss?"
"Hmm. I don't think there’s anything specific to note. But I guess the real special thing is that the mecha Eugenes visited here."
"I guess that’s fine. Let’s head out."
Here, the Dark Zone area was wrapping up for us, and the next destination was set—Renaissance-style buildings hidden behind ivy-covered ruins. EPCOT's Virtual Reality Studio was known for its bizarre division, bringing together three completely different games in one space, but it made sense that such decisions were necessary.
Thinking about that, we moved to our next destination.
"Is this… a mercenary broker’s place?"
"Get a grip, rookie. This is the regular Glory and Honor area."
"Seems like... everyone is doing some kind of sparring here."
It wasn’t outright sword fighting, but more of a... fighting ring, so to speak. The area resembled a sort of experience hall rather than just a themed zone.
As I surveyed the area, I noticed a familiar figure had somehow vanished into thin air.
"Lorentina?"
"Hmm, looks like it’s a game where you break ice and collect items inside. With hammers, axes, and maces, it seems like they’ve made sure it’s tough."
"Haha, indeed. We mixed in some epoxy to make sure it doesn’t break unless you hit it hard enough."
"Let’s give it a try."
And with that, Lorentina raised a rapier. The people nearby, as well as the event organizers, were all staring wide-eyed, but I had a feeling this was just the beginning of something epic from Shark.
Lorentina spun the rapier around, testing its strength, then, with a swift motion, it disappeared into the air.
In the blink of an eye, the rapier had completely pierced through the thick ice wall. Time seemed to freeze as everyone stood with their mouths open.
"This isn’t going to cut it. I’d rather use a hammer."
"...Well, we’ve already seen something incredible."
"Heh. Poking and stabbing through ice with a rapier? Easy."
I wasn’t doing it, someone else was.
If not them, then me.
The manifestation show was always sailing smoothly.