What should I even call this.
Wow. Um. Wow, just… wow.
Professor Zieg sat still, staring intently at the few guests seated in the hall. The more I looked at Professor Zieg, the more an unbearable question came to mind.
They definitely had the kind of looks that could be mistaken for a man’s, but right now, they were an unmistakable female maid.
But is it okay to ask about this?
“Uh, I, um, Professor.”
There was no time to hold such questions. Whether it was due to my otaku disposition or something else, ever since coming to this world, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d held back from asking something I was curious about.
“What.”
“U-usually, it’s somehow different….”
“I know what you’re asking.”
Professor Zieg glanced at me and let out a sigh.
“You’re not someone who asks such questions lightly, and I know you’re asking purely out of curiosity, so I’ll answer. Normally, I wear compression undergarments. Is that answer enough?”
“Ah, uh, yes.”
Come to think of it, the Imperial Princess had said it was fine because I didn’t look like a man.
Maybe I just gave off the impression that I didn’t look at other women sexually in the first place. I had been a bit hurt in my pride last time, but thinking about it that way, it seemed to just mean I looked safe.
That said, it didn’t mean I felt nothing.
It was one thing when they were far away, but now that Professor Zieg was close, it was incredibly difficult to keep my eyes steady. And it wasn’t simply because of the maid uniform.
It was because of certain body parts that were genuinely questionable. Also, it was a bit scary. What if someone I thought was a woman was actually a man?
“Does it not suit me?”
“Ah, Senior Ayla. Y-your mouth….”
“Even though I brought Cadet Deep into the club because I wanted to serve him, demanding his mouth is a bit—”
“I’m asking you to shut your mouth.”
“Oh dear, I was trying to fluster you so you couldn’t speak.”
There were no normal people here.
Every time I talked to these abnormal people, I gradually realized how normal my way of thinking was. These days, I didn’t even bang my head against the wall in the morning.
Was I really becoming a normal person?
Professor Zieg, who had been glancing at me continuously, let out a deep sigh.
“Why did you come to work instead of enjoying the festival? If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have come to help Ayla either.”
“Wh-what?”
It’s not like coming to work is a bad thing.
I had wondered why Professor Zieg was wearing a maid uniform; it seemed Senior Ayla had asked them to help, thinking there would be no one coming to work.
“If you hear rumors anywhere that I wore a maid uniform, you may consider yourself the culprit.”
That’s kind of scary.
“Ah, it could be Senior Ayla, c-couldn’t it. Or maybe a guest.”
“The guests can’t imagine a professor looking like this, so they won’t recognize me, and Ayla has never once spread rumors.”
Never once?
“H-have you worn it before?”
“It might be better to silence you right here and now.”
My hand immediately grabbed Professor Zieg’s wrist. Professor Zieg’s gaze was clearly directed at the table knife.
“I d-don’t have enough friends to spread rumors. So l-let’s just go to work since it’s the festival.”
Professor Zieg stared at me for quite a while, then sighed again and slowly released the strength in their arm.
“Right. It’s not like you have enough friends to spread rumors.”
Should I just film it and upload it?
I had thought about it, but even if I actually caught Professor Zieg’s weakness, I had no way to use it. I wasn’t even sure if wearing a maid uniform was that much of a weakness to begin with.
I was in a position where I needed to learn from Professor Zieg anyway. I didn’t want to do anything that would deliberately create distance between us.
I had never once lost out by following their words. The more I rolled, exercised, and piloted as instructed, the more I felt myself growing stronger.
I guess you could say they were the professor I liked most since coming to the Academy. I felt like I could clearly sense them as my teacher.
“Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask.”
Professor Zieg, who had been looking at the hall, turned back to me.
“What are you plotting with Revan these days?”
“Wh-what?”
How did they know?
I turned my head slightly. Senior Ayla was staring intently in the direction of the hall.
Her gaze seemed natural, but it strongly felt deliberate. She was clearly avoiding my eyes.
I had thought Senior Ayla went out, leaving Ian behind, but had she actually been listening from nearby the whole time?
Wait, if that’s the case.
If I told the truth about everything right now, Professor Zieg would definitely stop our thieving. Since it was something I hadn’t wanted to do from the start, couldn’t I just ruin it quickly through the professor?
“W-well, actually.”
“Well, I’m not particularly interested in what you all are planning.”
What. Please show some interest.
That’s not how this was supposed to go.
“Most things aren’t much different from being legal as long as you don’t mess up or get caught. The Academy itself—no. The Empire itself condones it.”
It didn’t seem like a wrong statement.
Because otherwise, Ian wouldn’t have been able to steal a thruster so casually.
It was true that Ian was unusual to begin with, but even when I told them about stealing the thruster from Professor Sumeragi, they hadn’t looked particularly surprised.
If the Empire had a lenient atmosphere toward such things from the start, it was somewhat understandable.
Stealing ally supplies to replenish one’s own unit during a war was something that had happened even in the Korean War.
You couldn’t say the Empire at war was much different.
“Still, don’t do anything that could become a problem. Avoid it if possible.”
“But that’s—”
I was in the middle of trying to say that.
“Yes, I know you’re already doing that. But there’s also a problem you don’t know about.”
In the very moment I was thinking, *Can’t you please listen to the end?* I had no choice but to stop talking.
A problem I don’t know about?
“There’s a possibility that A12 is stolen property.”
“What?!”
Those weren’t my words. It was Ailey shouting through the vibrating smartwatch.
Professor Zieg looked slightly surprised.
“The AI spoke without being called…?”
“T-that’s not important. What do you mean by that?”
“Haven’t you heard from Ian, the engineer, that A12’s frame structure is a bit different from other Titans?”
I had.
I had heard it right before the midterms. He had said he would take apart Ailey’s gauntlet and check properly after the midterms, but I hadn’t heard anything related yet.
I hadn’t expected to hear this from Professor Zieg. Had Ian already taken apart the gauntlet to check, and coincidentally told Professor Zieg first?
“I was just passing by the hangar and saw it, but the frame structure was similar to what the House Luna developers use.”
What?
“D-does that mean Ailey is the stolen property of the Luna, Luna House…?”
“It’s not certain. I’m only presenting a possibility. It’s merely similar, not exactly the same.”
Not being exactly the same was even more unsettling.
If it were completely identical to the frames used by House Luna, it would simply be a case of a House Luna Titan leaking to the outside and being coincidentally sold to the Academy.
I’d have no reason to clash with House Luna, and House Luna would hold the Academy responsible rather than a mere cadet like me, and the matter would end after receiving compensation.
But what if Ailey was an experimental unit of a new Titan that House Luna was developing?
The fastest way to recover a Titan was for the pilot aboard it to die.
“Th-then what should I…?”
“What do you mean, what should you do?”
Professor Zieg shrugged. The swaying frills that followed the movement were truly, unbearably mismatched.
“I told you. As long as you don’t fail or get caught, it’s legal.”
“Ah. That applies here too?”
“Ailey’s internal frame showed House Luna’s design, but the exterior didn’t. Someone who recovered the stolen property probably changed the exterior to erase existing traces.”
They could tell that just from passing by? The average Academy professor seemed too highly skilled.
“That’s also why Count Luna’s household hasn’t noticed.”
“S-so it was m-modified all over the place as stolen property?”
“I wouldn’t know that far. I only saw it in passing.”
“But I don’t have any memories like that?”
The smartwatch speaker suddenly rang.
“I don’t have any memories from when I was stolen property! My memories are a bit hazy, but my first memory is meeting Deep!”
“When a Titan completely shuts down due to something like insufficient power, a strong shock is delivered to the AI. Receiving such a strong shock can damage memories.”
“Ah, really? I had no idea!”
“Or you might have been reset.”
Those were scary words.
An AI was ultimately intelligence. Looking at Ailey, she was at a level where she even possessed a personality.
Could an AI that had had its memories reset be called the same person as the original AI?
“P-Professor, you’re incredibly, knowledgeable.”
Professor Zieg let out a hollow laugh.
“Have you never thought that calling an Academy professor knowledgeable is praising them for something too obvious? Most professors have at least this much knowledge.”
Could praising someone for something too obvious be considered rude instead?
If it was a compliment that wouldn’t be obvious for Professor Zieg…
“P-Professor, you l-look good in the maid outfit too.”
Professor Zieg picked up a table knife.
It took about thirty minutes to talk them down.