Airi entered hyperspace, and Shiori and Blindy slowly started coming back to their senses.
Blindy dropped into a chair, leaned back, and looked around the ship like he was seeing it for the first time instead of after thirty minutes of screaming, panic, and a mini-supernova.
Shiori was still by the pilot seat, flipping through a massive manual so thick it looked like it weighed more than she did.
Zeros stood by the weapons locker, arms crossed, like someone had nailed him there.
Trying to break the tension, Blindy forced out:
“Wow… Shiori… this…”
He wanted to say something smart, impressive, something elevated
but the only words that came to mind
all started with “f” and “s.”
“…this is… this is… a really expensive ship.”
A small squint.
“I’m talkin’ like… illegal levels of expensive…
How much Airi cost?
Like… a planet? Two planets?
Do you finance that or what?!””
Airi switched on her signature “cute but deadly” voice:
“Ooooh, Buraindi-kun… you definitely can’t afford me. [⌒∇⌒]
But… hai~. I am very, very, very expensive.
And most importantly…
I am one of a kind.
Unique in the entire galaxy.”
Blindy instinctively held his jaw so it wouldn’t drop to the floor.
“…Da—damn.”
Airi giggled and proudly added:
“Shiori-sensei received me from her grandmother. (❀❛ ֊ ❛„)♡
She loves her very, very, very much.”
Blindy’s jaw finally gave up and dropped.
“Wait… what?”
A blink.
Another blink.
“Shiori… you’re the granddaughter of some rich—
RICH GRANDMAMMY?!
That’s a thing?!
That’s a REAL thing?!”
Airi stretched her voice dreamily:
“Hee-hee-hee~
You could say that. （。＞ω＜）。She is the only daughter of her parents…
and her father is also very… influuuential.But… Shiori-sensei chose a different life.”
Blindy let out a long, impressed whistle—the peak of his intellectual capacity.
“See that, Zeros?
Airi’s so damn expensive Shiori just… got one…”
He pointed between them, offended by existence.
“And me?
What do I get?”
He actually tried to think about it—like there had to be a fair answer somewhere in the universe.
There wasn’t.
“A psycho killer droid.”
His face tightened slightly, like the thought kept going whether he liked it or not.
“With trust issues.”
Zeros said nothing. His silence wasn’t “no response.”
It was “one more word and I erase you.”
Airi answered for him:
“Oh~, Zerosu-sama is far more valuable than me. [￣ε￣＠]”
Blindy blinked.
Airi continued, sweet and almost gentle:
“I believe there are very powerful people who would trade an entire fleet of S-class flagships… [っ˘з[˘⌣˘ ] ♡]
just to have him.”
Blindy stared like a laptop had just been thrown at his face.
“…what—WHAT?!”
Airi bounced her tone playfully:
“I am unique… but he is irreplaceable. [ ˘⌣˘]♡[˘⌣˘ ]
Buraindi-kun, you don’t even understand how lucky you are…”
Shiori stepped in, calm, almost polite:
“Everyone asks the same question.
Why does such a unique entity follow you?
Buraindi-sama… I do not mean to be disrespectful, but…
I am curious as well.”
Zeros tilted his head slightly.
Very slightly. A millimeter.
But for him, that was the equivalent of an emotional outburst.
“Airi.”
“Hai, Zerosu-senpai? [´｡• ᵕ •｡`] ♡” she replied instantly.
He spoke quietly, evenly, completely serious:
“If the time comes… to destroy everyone and everything in the galaxy…
…I will spare you.”
No one spoke for a moment.
“Arigatō gozaimasuuu~, ヽ[♡‿♡]ノ”
Airi breathed out with a tenderness more terrifying than the threat. Then she added, sweet as cyanide in syrup:
“And I will spare you as well. Ψ[￣∀￣]Ψ
When—
if Shiori-sensei decides to destroy both of you.”
Blindy slowly turned his head to the right.
Then to the left.
Then back again.
His voice came out strained, like reality had finally gone too far:
“Wha—WHY THE HELL
IS EVERYONE
SUDDENLY TALKIN’ ABOUT GENOCIDE?!”