“How was it?” Katja asked as soon as I returned from the test. I raised two fingers in a V shape.

  “It was a success. It said I can easily handle a Matching Weapon.” Which is what I’d expect. My base stats are much higher than a normal human’s thanks to the VISS Driver. If I had any problems, it’d be because the VISS Driver interfering somehow, not due to ck of ability.

  This b, or research center, or whatever it was called, was pretty big, but we only cared about two rooms. The pce looked like a clinic. One of the rooms combined a waiting room with a doctor’s office. The other had heavy machinery required for the test, which is where Carol is right now.

  “That’s good.” Katja let out a sigh of relief. “I expected nothing less. You’re much stronger right now than I was when I got my own weapon. It would be strange if you failed.”

  “Is that so?” I sat down next to Katja. “Now we only have to wait for the result of Carol’s test. She’ll pass too, right?”

  Katja nodded. “I have no doubt about it. She’s on a completely different level now compared to before. Carol has always been good at using her head during a fight, but that’s only because she had to make up for her ck of strength. With her recent training, she’s got the fundamentals down, and now she’s quite the force to be reckoned with. Not only is she stronger, but she still has her clever tactics from before.”

  Somehow, I felt fuzzy inside hearing that… It’s a shame Carol’s not here to hear this. She would have been happy. “She’s on a bit of a streak tely. It’s good to see.”

  The door to the other room suddenly opened, and Carol came out together with Reia. Carol showed no emotion on her face, which caused my heart rate to spike. No… She isn’t smiling, but that doesn’t mean anything. She’s the type that likes to act like it’s no big deal.

  “Carol, how did it go? Is there any weapon type you’re compatible with?”

  “No… It didn’t really work out.”

  “Huh?!” I stood up, and Katja did the same. “Why? How is that possible?”

  “That doesn’t make any sense! Not a single type of weapon? Are you sure there wasn’t a problem with the machine?” Katja asked Reia.

  Reia nodded. “Her numbers decreased. There might be interference inside her.” Her expnation didn’t help much, and the two of us rushed over to Carol.

  “Her numbers decreased? Even though she’s gotten stronger?” Katja looked between the two of them, unsure of what to say. “Sorry, Carol. I may have rushed the test too much. There is no way your numbers could have decreased after the training you’ve been through. You must still be tired after our mission. Let’s try again after you’ve rested, okay?”

  “Yeah… It doesn’t really matter either way.” Carol crossed her arms. “Even without a Matching Weapon I can still fight. I don’t really care…” She doesn’t care…? There’s no way that’s true…

  Katja went silent, unsure of what to do. The three of us sat down in a row in front of a desk, while Reia fiddled with a computer on the other side. I was between the two of them and tapped Carol’s shoulder discreetly. “Are you alright, Carol?” I whispered.

  “Of course… Why wouldn’t I be?” Carol… She was really looking forward to some redemption… She’s been training all this time for a Matching Weapon, so it’s only natural she’d be heartbroken. “I just don’t understand how my numbers got worse. It doesn’t make any sense.” She said with a strained voice.

  Carol… I feel really bad for her… If she failed because she was tired, how come I was able to pass without any issues? We’ve had a whole day to rest since our fight. We should be fully recovered. “Could it be because of your magic? Reia mentioned some interference inside you. What if that’s it?”

  “No way…” Her eyes widened in shock. “Really? You really think that’s it?”

  “I mean… Why not? It’s the only expnation that makes any sense, isn’t it?” Carol remained quiet, but the painful look completely disappeared from her face. A glimmer of light had returned to her eyes. “Either way, don’t be too harsh on yourself, okay? Even if you can’t get a Matching Weapon, you have something else unique to you. You have your own way of getting stronger.” Carol nodded with a faint smile.

  Reia, unaware that we were whispering, interrupted us. “Do you want your weapon very strong?”

  “Huh?” I was caught by surprise. “Su- sure…? Is that something you can control easily? I don’t really get what makes Matching Weapons stronger than normal weapons in the first pce…”

  Reia looked at me with an apathetic look. “Magic.” What?

  “It’s not magic! It’s science. You have to be careful about what you say, Reia. People won’t understand if you don’t expin things properly.” Katja interrupted her like the punchline of a joke to clear up the misunderstanding. Reia looked at her for a second before focusing on the screen in front of her again.

  “*Sigh…*” Katja then turned to me and gave me an expnation in Reia’s pce. “Matching Weapons’ cores are made out of materials gathered from the monsters we kill to grant the people strength on par with said monster. The matching process is all about creating the connection that will allow the weapon to channel that power into you when you need it.”

  “I see… So the strength of the weapon depends on how strong the monster that the materials are gathered from is.”

  “That’s right. But it also increases the strain it pces on the body. The stronger the monster, the harder it is for a person to match successfully.”

  “It’s like a double-edged sword then…” I turned to Reia. “So, uhmm… Reia, you asked me if I wanted a very strong weapon, right? What material were you pnning on putting on mine?”

  Reia pced a gss cylinder on the desk with a small object inside. “This.” Inside the tube was a single silver flower. Neither Carol nor Katja reacted much, but I immediately had a realization. Silver Flowers… The Endless Silver… That post-game area in the other world with never-ending ndscapes filled with them. Does this flower come from there?

  “Wait, Reia, a flower? Is this a new thing? Matching Weapons don’t use pnts. Will this really work?” Katja asked.

  “Maybe? It’s an experiment.” Instead of expining anything else, Reia pced a tablet with information about the pnt on the table. The three of us leaned over to take a look.

  The first thing on the screen was a rotating model of a hunched monster. It had a rge piece of soil on its back with many silver flowers growing on it. Yeah… Looks like it’s a monster that came from the Endless Silver.

  “Wasn’t this a monster defeated overseas? If I remember correctly, it gave their fighters a lot of problems, didn’t it? They said it was a blessing it appeared in a desote pce since they had to resort to rge scale weaponry.” That definitely didn’t make the news though… Almost sounds like humanity could have been wiped because of that one. That’s a monster from a post-game area for you.

  “What else does it say?” Carol swiped up, and we saw the full report about the flower.

  “Highly unstable first results…” Katja summarized what she saw for us. “No one has managed to successfully match with a weapon using it, and some can’t even try. But the numbers about its strength are off the charts. It’s a real wild card.”

  Wow… Hearing all that is making me a bit excited, but also scared. Miyuki said I was gonna die or something if I tried to match with my weapon… The flower’s probably the source of that… I should straight up reject it… I should do it, but… What if I can make it work out? Her predictions are not absolute… The first thing she ever told me was how the girls from the House were going to lose against the mermaid, but I changed that. If I brace myself, I might be able to do it.

  “Are you sure about this, Reia? If something goes wrong, Iroha might get hurt.” Katja was the one who posed the question, but Carol fully supported her.

  “It’s fine. I’ll heal her again.” She’s confident… Also, again? Looks like she remembers me… She shows so little emotion that I wasn’t even sure. “We’ll swap to a normal material if it fails.”

  “Still…”

  “It’s alright, Katja. I’ll take the silver flower. I wanna give it a try.” That’s right… I finally managed to get some adorable girlfriends. I can’t afford to lose them because I’m too weak. This is an opportunity for me to get stronger, so I’ll take it.

  “Okay…” Reia nodded and grabbed the gss tube with the flower. She got up and moved to the door, stopping for a moment before leaving. “Wait there.”

  “Wh- where is she going?” I pointed at the door, and Katja sighed.

  “If I had to guess, she probably went to work on your sword right away. I wish she’d make herself easier to understand sometimes. I guess that’s how prodigies think… They live in their own worlds.” Katja shrugged.

  “Couldn’t we have the sword delivered to the House or something?”

  “Yes, but it’s too te now…” Katja answered Carol’s question. “Matching Weapons are supposed to take a few days to be made, but apparently she can get it done in a few hours.”

  “I don’t know if that’s impressive, but does that mean we’re gonna have to wait here until she’s done? Give me a break…”

  “Sorry, Carol… Looks like that’s the case.”

  “How great…”

  …

  ……

  “Hey, Iroha, did Reia even ask how you wanted your weapon? Matching Weapons are supposed to be customized to the user’s needs.”

  “Yeah… After the compatibility test, there were a few other tests to find out what I found most comfortable and suited me more… Grip adjustments, weight… Stuff like that.”

  “That’s good… I was worried she would have glossed over that…”

  There was a single window in the room, and the orange sky was quickly growing darker. Ever since Reia suddenly left, our momentum had awkwardly died down. Guess there are times like this in life… Times when you gotta sit around and watch as the sun goes down while car horns occasionally bre in the background. I was so excited after reading about the potential of the silver flower too… At least I don’t have to wait here alone…

  Bam100