Night had arrived.
"Ririring! Wake up! Wake up!"
The alarm Rai set with his System Watch cooed loudly like a parrot. Its sound was annoying and echoed inside the small room.
"Ugh."
Groggily, Rai opened his eyes and raised his body. The sound continued annoying him, so he slapped his wrist to stop it and stretched his arms above his head.
"Yawn~ That was a nice nap."
Rubbing his eyes, he surveyed the room only to see that Ami wasn't there. The shower room was also shut close, and the pudding was still on the table.
"Where is she? It's already 6 PM." He muttered and got off the bed, "Ugh, what a troublesome roommate."
To get his plan going smoothly according to schedule, he needed to talk with Ami today, or Ossa would call him stupid and worthless tomorrow. There was also probably a chance that the spirit would say,
[Then let the one who likes you and is willing to become your portable Magicule reserve as your roommate. Here, Miss Clown is willing, so suck her nicely.]
Somehow, that image flashed in Rai's mind with Ossa's stupid round face right before him.
"I still have dignity as a man. If I were to stay in the same room as her, there was a chance she would dress me up like a girl! And I refuse that."
Indeed, Rena somehow liked him more than what he did for her. That was strange, but Rai didn't want to know the reason.
"Ami is probably in the training area. Let's check it first."
Exiting his room, Rai locked the door before looking around cautiously.
'No Rena in sight. Great.' He nodded his head and went to the training area.
The corridor was a bit busier than before, with minions returning to their room after having fun or doing some training, as some minions still had sweat dripping down their bodies, making female minions with tight bodysuits appear to be appetizing to Rai.
'Thankfully, I can't smell that coffee scent in my basic form unless the side effect kicks in.' He smiled and walked at a bit faster pace.
After a while, Rai arrived in front of the training area. When he stepped closer to the door, it automatically opened, and he went inside.
The training area was vast but still smaller than the dining hall, with various gym equipment from normal to strange. Many doors were located to the side of the wall, equipped with simulation technology to train in actual combat against virtual opponents.
No one was inside at this time. Humanoid robots with white color tidied up the equipment and swept the floor, moping it to clean puddles of sweat created by around a thousand minions doing work out.
The simulation room had a small window to see whether someone was inside or not. Among the adjacent rooms, only one had light coming from the window, and that was the first room.
Rai went to that door and peeked through the window. As expected, his partner was inside, but what he saw was shocking.
"Wow… A human can sweat that much?"
Ami was inside the room, dressed in a simple white crop top, tight black shorts, and a suspender holding it together with her crop top. She sweated profusely, and her long hair stuck to her skin.
Many puddles of liquid from her sweat spread around in the small 5 by 5 meters room. She was breathing heavily, holding some kind of dagger in her hand.
"Huff… Huff… This isn't enough."
*Clang!*
The dagger fell to the ground. She muttered in pain, holding her face, which frowned deeply. For some reason, she didn't seem to be satisfied with herself. That was what Rai felt from seeing her.
'What's wrong with her?' He thought as he watched her resume her training.
With her System Watch, she operated the room, and an enemy appeared. It was a Guardian wearing an exoskeleton suit. From the body's type, the image that was projected by hologram technology was a man, but it had no face and was a bit see-through.
Ami immediately took her dagger from the floor and ran toward the projection. She brandished the dagger and jumped, spinning her body to give more momentum as she slashed horizontally.
The projection dodged easily and unleashed a kick. The girl seemed to anticipate that as she kicked the leg coming for her.
*Pa!* A loud sound reverberated as their legs contacted, and Rai was taken aback.
"The projection has a mass?"
That was the most advanced thing he had ever seen after coming to this world, more than the robots and flying disks or cars.
The battle inside the room continued. Being a minion, Ami had higher physical abilities than normal humans. She had already undergone a procedure to enter the organization and had a base body added to her normal body to make her able to awaken her Magicule Core one day.
Of course, it was the standard one, unlike Rai, who got the highest-grade one. And the fact that Ossa had also awakened her Core as she was promoted to Captain increased her STR and AGI slightly.
"Hah!"
With a last shout, Ami delivered a quick stab toward the projection's neck, severing the artery as the hologram created a special effect to show that the projection was indeed cut. It then disappeared into a mote of light, leaving the girl breathing roughly.
"Huff… More… It's not enough. I am not strong enough."
*Clap clap clap!*
Much to Ami's surprise, a clapping sound echoed inside the room. She immediately threw her dagger at anyone who just entered without checking.
"Woah."
*Clang!*
Fortunately, Rai was quick enough to dodge it. The dagger bounced against the wall and fell to the ground.
"That was dangerous, Ami." He commented casually as he picked up the dagger. "I might lose my ear if this thing grazed me."
"Rai?" Ami asked, raising her eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking on you." He answered and played the dagger as he approached Ami. "You didn't return to the room even though it was 6 PM, so I became worried and searched for you. As expected, you lost track of time and were still in the training room. Still…"
Rai paused a little and looked around the room.
"This place is impressive."
He returned the dagger to Ami and then put his hands inside his jacket pockets.
"Is that so?" Ami looked down at the dagger she just received before sheathing it back to her back. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Rai smiled at her. "Say…"
"Yes?"
"Are you free after this?" He asked, seizing her from down to up. "I mean, after you take a shower."
"…"
Ami didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Rai suspiciously and asked.
"Why?"
Hearing her answer, he smirked.
"What do you think of eating outside? The meal in this place sucks."
"Outside, as in…"
"I mean in Alpha City."
He noticed a slight change in Ami after he mentioned Alpha City. It seemed like she wanted to go out but, at the same time, didn't want to. It was confusing, and he thought it must be related to that. So he added.
"My treat."
"Alright."
Only then did Ami nod her head. She only spoke when it was necessary, so it was a little hard to see her emotion.
"Great."
The plan to get Ami to accompany him was a success, so he nodded happily.
"Let's return to our room first. You take a shower, and I will ask permission from Ossa."
"Yes."