n

n

nThe general and his companions were staying the night with their departure scheduled for the next day.

nSam was busy the entire evening organizing the materials and equipment Wolf brought for him, only stopping to perform the daily examination on the three Valkyries.

nLooking at it Sam thought it was strange that he bothered to bring so much when they were being relocated to the headquarters in a month’s time.

n“Hm? Why won’t this…” Sam mumbled, staring at his ID card.

nHe was standing in front aloft a large black container. When he slid his card through the digital lock he got a red window saying ‘access denied’, which was rather peculiar considering his recent promotion.

nHe checked the list of the objects delivered and saw that it was listed as ‘important materials’, which wasn’t very specific.

n“Guess I’ll have to ask Mr. Schneider about it…”

nFor the time being he instructed the drones to carry the the container into the storage room.

nWhen his job was almost done he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. A message from Shizuru arrived asking if he’d be there for dinner. Sending a confirmation he quickly finished everything he needed to do and headed for the usual meeting spot.

nSoon enough he was able to spot Shizuru, however the next next moment he couldn’t help but grimace seeing who was there with her.

n“Hi there! Sam!” Elina said with a bright smile.

n“What are you doing here?” As he asked the question, Sam glanced at Shizuru and saw the smile plastered on her face. He could tell it wasn’t the usual radiant smile he was used to but a fake one that hid an significant amount of rage behind it.

n“I was waiting for you, obviously.” Elina said. “And then I just so happened to run into this very nice woman here who said you’d pass by here any time now.”

n“So it’s all a coincidence?” Sam said, looking at the female scientist with half lid eyes.

n“Hm? What do you mean?” Elina looked genuinely confused.

n“Doctar~” Shizuru spoke, her voice sounding colder than usual. “May I know why I’m hearing rumors about you dragging one of the visitors to your room?”

n“Um… uh…”

n“Oooh! So you two know each other?” It took her a couple of seconds to connect the dots and when she did Elina’s eyes went wide as she turned to Shizuru. “It can’t be… the new girlfriend?”

n“… yes…” Sam said with a sigh.

nHis mind was in quite the mess after all the things he heard today so he didn’t even stop to consider the consequences of what his ex did this morning.

n“I-I-I-I see! So you’re his new girlfriend!” Elina entered full panic mode. “M-m-my name is Elina Braiens! S-Sam and I u-used t-to date a while ago…”

n“Why are you stuttering so much?”

n“Is that so?” Shizuru replied, still wearing the same terrifying smile. “I’m Shizuru Kurokami, Doctor’s current girlfriend.” Turning to Sam she asked a question. “Don’t you think it would’ve been for the best if you informed me that your ex is here to visit?”

n“Well, it’s not like I knew she is coming.” Sam replied, slowly averting his gaze.

n“And taking her to your room the moment you were left on your own. I guess you still have some lingering feelings, hm?”

n“Not really.” Sam replied instantly.

n“Wha- That’s harsh!” Elina got over her nervousness almost immediately. “So you forgot about me just like that!?”

n“Yep. Just like that.” Sam replied, his voice laking any kind of emotion.

n“How terrible…” Elina said. “So I was just a piece of meat to you? You never had any feelings for me!?”

n“Elina, just drop it already.” Sam sighed. “You should’ve known how it would end from the get go. Stop wasting your time and move on.”

n“Move on, you say!? You make it sound so easy for someone who’s still in love with his childhood crush to this day.”

n“Hmmmm… sounds very interesting.” Shizuru said. “I would love to hear more. How about you join us for dinner?”

n“Eh!? S-sure…”

nSam glanced at Shizuru asking her what’s she planning, however she just smiled at him. The three of them went to the cafeteria got their food and sat down to eat. Only then did Shizuru start the conversation.

n“So, ms. Braiens, what did you mean by he still has a crush on his childhood friend?”

n“Well…” Elina glanced over at Sam, feeling a little guilty all of a sudden.

nOf course the Asian girl already knows everything, because of that Sam didn’t understand why she is bothering with such questions.

n“I-it’s nothing important.” Said Elina with a nervous smile. “Don’t let it bother you.”

n“Is that so… then-” pausing for a moment, Shizuru followed with another question. “How about you, Ms. Braiens? It seems you still have some feelings for Doctor.”

n“… Well, it’s kinda difficult to forget…”

nSam wanted to get the hell out of that place immediate, however he had nowhere to run.

n‘Hey, Elina, why are you blushing like that?’ Sam thought, doing his best to not look at his ex.

n“How was he like when you were dating?” Shizuru went on with the questions.

n“Hm… let’s see…” Elina gave her answer after thinking for a moment. “He was always focused, and ambitious. Sometimes he would spend days in the lab without eating or sleeping.”

n“I guess that part didn’t change…” Shizuru remarked.

n“I really enjoyed working alongside him.” Elina said. “I had no doubt that one day he would rise to the top of the scientific community, but one day he just decided to leave it all and come here.”

n“I still continued my research, you know.” Sam said. “Don’t talk as if I abandoned it.”

n“Yes, I’ve seen the papers. I’m impressed that you’ve managed to find a way to stabilize the nucleotides while tearing them apart. At this rate genetic reprogramming isn’t that unrealistic of a dream.”

n“No, it’s still impossible. Keep in mind that we have yet to prove if any of the things I came up with could work.”

nAccording to Wolf Sam’s research was so close to his own that it was difficult to believe they came up with it separately. If that’s really the case then there was no need for Sam to bother with practical trials since the old man had already proved its effectiveness whi he cured Alice.

n‘That said…’ thinking back to the second task Wolf had left him with, Sam let out a sigh. ‘Turning humans into Valkyries, huh…’

nTheoretically it’s doable, however Sam wasn’t so sure that he would be able to. Using his nano machines transplant rejection wouldn’t be a problem, however he didn’t know how far they could go before the brain itself would stop functioning.

n‘This isn’t as simple as replacing organs with artificial ones.’ As he brought his spoon to his mouth, Sam ran several calculations through his mind starting to work on the task without even realizing it.

n“So, how did you two meet?” Shizuru asked. “Or would it be better if I asked how you got together?”

n“Well, we just hooked up while working late one night.” Elina replied. “I had feelings for him before then but I never acted on them, but after that night i was unable to take him out of my mind so i decided to shoot my shot.”

nBy this point Sam was so deep into his own thoughts that he had filtered out all the noise from his surroundings. Noticing that he was on auto pilot Elina leaned in and informed Shizuru in a quiet voice.

n“I see…” the Asian girl said. “So this is him when working…”

n“It’s better to not interrupt him when he goes like this.” Said Elina.

n“I’m afraid I already did…”

nSam made a habit of ignoring his surrounding whenever he was in deep thought, not just while he’s working. Though since she didn’t know that Shizuru thought that she had been a nuisance since she shook him out of this state many times already.

n~◇~

n“Shit, to think I’ve spaced out for that long…” Sam grumbled as he made his way to his room.

nAs he was busy brainstorming over the stuff Wolf had dropped over him, his girlfriend and ex seemed to have bonded while talking about him. At some point they decided to just leave him there and he didn’t notice that they were gone until it was time for the cafeteria to close. When he checked his phone he found a message from Shizuru saying she would be spending the night with Elina so they could talk a little more.

nHe was happy that the two of them seemed to get along however he still had a very bad feeling about the nature of their relationship.

n‘I hope Elina doesn’t say anything stupid.’ He sighed, opening the door to his room.

n‘Hm? Did I leave the lights on?’

nUsually the room would be dark until he stepped inside, after which the lights would turn ou by themselves. However they were on right now even though he was still standing outside.

n‘Did Alice decide to stop by?’

nAll of a sudden Sam felt the need to be on high alert. Alice was the only one beside him who’s able to unlock the door to his room, however the two had agreed that they would only meet in her room going forward, and even if she decided to do things differently she would’ve asked for his opinion first.

n‘Maybe I should just get out of here.’

nWith that thought in mind Sam walked inside with careful steps, keeping the door open just in case he needed to run. He looked around to see if anything was moving or missing, however what he found only served to add to his confusion.

nOn the floor beside his bed were a bunch of clothes laying around, the next moment he heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom.

n“I’m back!”

nSam let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping as he realized it was just his white haired lover. He went in and began picking up the clothes waiting for a reply, however the water only stopped and no answer came from the bathroom.

n“Can you please stop throwing your clothes around?” Sam said, picking a white piece of cloth that appears to be a handkerchief. “Well, if doesn’t really matter as long as you pick them up yourself.”

nJust then the door opened and his head automatically turned in its direction.

nHe was expecting to see the white haired beauty, coming out in her birthday suit to surprise him, however what he saw wasn’t the beautiful figure of his childhood friend. One could argue it was beautiful, however it was severely lacking, a bit small and underdeveloped, lacking the curves that came with a mature body such as Alice’s.

nGolden hair flawed behind it, still damp with the weather from the shower. Sharp blue eyes turned to stare at him, their fierceness sending a chill down his spine.

nIt was a Valkyrie, the same one who had interrupted his conversation with Elina earlier that day.

nAs he stared at her naked body in pure terror, the young Valkyrie reached out with her right hand spoke.

n“Do you mind returning that?”

n