[Code Geass] Irregular 24

Chapter 24 – 23. Zero

When I returned with the Sakuradite, the human (?) Slash Harken was almost finished. Inoue, as if he didn’t even need my help, quickly created something on his own and thrust it in front of me. He explained that it was finished quickly because only Sakuradite was applied to what was already made.

“Come on.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I got it.”

Inoue, who tilted her head at my words, nodded as if she understood only then when I explained. And looked at me pathetically.

“Where the hell did you pick up and use that word?
“…Shut up.”

A little embarrassed by Inoue’s scolding, I avoided Inoue’s gaze and spit it out, and Inoue smiled. This year?

“Okay, try it now.”
“Yes. Are you writing now?”
“Hurry up and try it!”

At Inoue’s prompting, I pressed the Slash Haken’s fire button. Whoop! With a clicking sound, a small anchor with protrusions around it was fired upwards at an invisible speed.
For the experiment, I fired it at a high-rise building that seemed to be on the verge of collapsing, and it went up quite high and succeeded in anchoring it.

“Stuck!”
“Really really!?”

At my cry, Inoue became more agitated than I was and clung to me. To be precise, the human slash hacken I was holding. Uh… The chest is touching the back. What should I do?
Excited, Inoue jumped up and down, whether or not he knew what I was thinking. As he moved while clinging to his back like that, Inoue’s chest squeezed back and forth along his back muscles. Let’s calm down. It’s not yet time to touch it.

“Pull it! Pull it!”
“Okay?”
“Stop! Stop! Pull the machine and it might break, so grab the wire and pull!”
“Okay.”

Didn’t he know who I was? Is it because you’re so excited that you don’t even pay attention to me?
Still, he didn’t say anything because he had to maintain a good relationship with Inoue. Originally, I know him as a quiet and introverted character, but it was fun to see a lively side of him that I didn’t see in the anime. A sight that only I can see is a pleasure!

Just as Inoue had ordered, I grabbed the taut wire with my hand and hung on with a little force. I was dangling dangling in the air, relying on a wire.

“Oh! It works! It doesn’t fall out! Anchor doesn’t fall out!”
“Awesome! Slash Haken is awesome!!”
“Oooooh!”

Inoue and I were so excited that we didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even expect in my imagination that something so great would come out at once. But I never thought that the first prototype would turn out to be this amazing!
Inoue is the best!

After making sure it was firmly fixed enough to support my weight, Inoue asked me for the next step.

“Hold on to the machine and hang on to it! After all, the machine can only be used when it endures!”
“Didn’t you say it could break?”
“If it breaks, just make a new one stronger! It’s a part, except for the coil using Sakuradite, the rest doesn’t matter!”
“Okay?”

As I nodded, Inoue pointed to the machine I was holding and explained the buttons on it.

“This button is used to wind the rope. When pressed, the rope automatically winds up, so you can use it when going up. The other side is the button used to unwind the rope. Let’s think about it and go up first!”
“Yes. Was this button like this?”
“Yeah. I’ll have to check how fast it goes up.”
“What? Guaaaaagh!”

As I listened to Inoue’s words, I pressed the rewind button, and the line began to rewind at a tremendous speed. It was so fast that it almost felt like being fired from the ground towards the anchor. Because of his body stats and characteristics, he felt pain that he hadn’t felt much lately. The pain is like having your arm torn off.

“Ujiiiiin!”

Suddenly, I soared upwards at great speed, and Inoue, who heard my screams, exclaimed in horror. He felt like he was on a bungee drop. When I came to my senses, I went up to the 12th floor and was dangling, relying on one of the anchors. Inoue, standing on the ground and calling me anxiously, looked like an ant. Isn’t this a joke? I couldn’t trust the anchors of the prototype to be reliably anchored.

You said you had to press the release button to make it go down, right? Let’s press calmly.

Oh right.

No way.

Isn’t the winding speed and unwinding speed the same? Inoue.

“Quaaaaa!”

It wasn’t a descending speed, it was a falling speed. Fortunately, it was the speed I experienced when climbing once, so how much did I get used to? Even if he had a clear feeling that he would die if he went down like this, he did not let go of his mind. I grabbed the wire with the other hand, not the one holding the mechanism.

Shhhhh!

As I grabbed the wire and hung on to it, the mechanism alone was spitting out carbon fiber wires like crazy. When all the carbon fiber wires inside his body (?) Were released, the machine stopped making a sound and completely stopped.

“…”

I was about to die. Seriously, I almost died.

I’ve thought about returning to the real world when I die, but I’ve never tried. It was because I was not sure that if I died, I would wake up in the real world. It would be the end if the body in the real world would die as well.

And I was about to check it out now.

I slipped the machine roughly into my waistband, grabbed the wire with both hands, and came down carefully. The arm that strained when climbing earlier, and the arm that held onto the wire and stopped when falling. So both arms.
Both arms hurt. Suddenly, the muscles used beyond their limits spasmed and screamed.

[Use of muscle strength beyond limits. Physical stats have risen by 1.]

…

What.

Was it that bad?
I stuck out my tongue in amazement at the system window that suddenly appeared in my field of vision. I’ve never had my stats go up this way before, but Inoue’s scary bitch…

“Ujiiiiin! Are you okay!?”
“It’s not okay! It’s not okay!”

Inoue called me anxiously from below and asked how I was doing. I could never say I was okay. Fortunately, thanks to the body stats that went up due to this madness, my trembling arms got better and I was able to come down quickly.

When I put my feet on the ground, Inoue felt uneasy. He ran to me with eyes mixed with sorry feelings and started kneading my arms.

…

Do you know that you have committed a mortal sin?

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I never imagined it would be like this! You’re not hurt anywhere!?”
“Heart… My heart hurt.”
“Uh…Uhh!? Yes!? I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”
“Let’s start with how to control this speed.”
“Okay!”

What I finally found out was that the speed set by Inoue was the same as the speed used by Nightmare Frame’s Slash Haken.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“Let’s slow down a bit.”
“This much?”
“Um… I think this will be fine?”
“When do you go up?”
“Um… This much? Oh, by the way. Is there a function to stop the winding or unwinding in the middle?”
“Ah, now that I think about it, I didn’t put it in. It would be right to write it down here for now, and then add the function to the next improved product. I don’t think it’s actually meaningful to try it here.”
“Yes.”

After passing the critical juncture, I was putting my heads together with Inoue, giving feedback on what was lacking in the human Slash Haken, and telling me what to fix. Since the first production was of fairly decent quality, Inoue’s enthusiasm was sky-high.

In the middle of a meeting with Inoue, not knowing how much time had passed, we felt someone approaching us. I looked up and checked, it was Ougi.

“Yeah Woojin”
“Why are you here?”

I still haven’t forgotten what he said to me the other day with the nuance of making me look old. When I spit it out as if I had seen something I didn’t want to see, Ougi laughed awkwardly.

“Smile?”
“Ah…No. Calm down.”
“I am in a very genuine state.
“Stop!”

When I said something unlucky, Inoue, who was worse off, slapped his hand on my back. It didn’t hurt. Rather, it was surprising. More than I thought, Inoue seemed to be opening his heart to me.
This is a very good phenomenon.

“Her…”

Ougi, who watched the scene in real time, looked at Inoue in disbelief. What I also glanced at was the look in my eyes, asking why I wasn’t killing Inoue when I should have cut Inoue in half by now.

Shit.

I laughed helplessly. Look at this. Is Inoue already close enough to happily accept my request?

“Inoue?”

Seeing my miserable smile, Ogi called out to Inoue with an uneasy expression on his face. Inoue, who was fiddling with the machine, opened her eyes wide when Ougi called and looked at Ougi. I somehow wanted to piss Ougi off.

“Ah. Inoue? You mean this?”
“What?”

After talking to Ogi, I cast a shoulder strap on Inoue. Ougi’s complexion turned pale. While I was laughing, Inoue’s fist was lodged in his side. It didn’t hurt at all. My body was no longer immune to attacks of this magnitude.

“What are you doing!”
“Huh? Just kidding.”
“Don’t play around! Ougi misunderstands! If Ougi misunderstands, Sugiyama misunderstands too!”
“Okay. Sorry.”

I sincerely apologized. Ougi let out a sigh of relief, probably realizing now that this was all my joke. However, he did not stop sending Inoue amazing eyes. It was natural. To evaluate me objectively, no one has ever been okay with me being this much. Even Karen can’t even dream of being so open-minded about me. We only kissed once on the cheek anyway, and we haven’t had a chance to talk properly after that.

Come to think of it, there is one thing I should pay for helping Karen during the massacre. When can I get it?

“Inoue.”
“Huh?”

While I was thinking this, Ougi called Inoue. Inoue was fiddling with Slash Haken, then raised his head at Ougi’s call and looked at him.

“He contacted Karen.”
“That person? Who was that person…Then that person?”

Inoue, who finally realized the person Ougi had spoken about, asked Ougi again with a surprised voice. Ougi didn’t want me to know. He only used the word “Him”, But I couldn’t help but notice.

It must be Lelouch.

“Who is that person?”

I politely asked. I know you won’t tell me anyway. Really polite to ask.

“He’s the one who commanded us last time.”
“What does that hide… Huh?”

Of course, I knew that I would not tell you, and while I was typing while anticipating the next line, I unknowingly spit out a panicked sound. Why are you telling me this? When I looked at it curiously, Ougi continued.

“Karen asked for a favor. If she told you to ask for help, she’d understand.”
“…Huh… Really?”

Ougi’s words made her goosebumps. Is that Karen asking me for help? You haven’t even listened to the request yet? Can you afford it?

I felt that things were getting interesting. Okay, let’s take a look at the real zero.