Ritsu's Upgrades

Hey, Shun here!

What is intelligence? After all the years of advancement of humanity, it seems like people are still debating whether there is a universal way of grading intelligence.

Heck, we actually tend to rely on it a lot more than we want to admit. Having this so-called 'High IQ' is considered to be a ticket for having bragging rights, after all.

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(Shun's POV)

Walking out of the alleyway, I went inside a shop that sells electronic parts. There, I saw a person with an extremely familiar build.

Or should I say, creature?

"What are you doing here Koro-sensei? Buying some parts to upgrade Ritsu?" The moment I said that, Koro-sensei disappeared from his location and dragged me at a quiet corner of the store.

"Oh, it's Shirakami-kun huh… Yes. I want to help all of my students, after all. What about you Shirakami-kun? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I am here because of that as well, Koro-sensei. Mutsuko-san and I plan on doing the same thing but our goal is much bigger than just upgrading her, but maybe a full overhaul. What do you think sensei? You wanna help us?"

"Nyu-huhuhu. I'm curious as to what this overhaul is supposed to mean. Then, I will be joining you in this project of yours, Shirakami-kun. Just make sure that nothing we'll ever do will harm Ritsu-san. To make sure of that, I will also be acting as a supervisor in this project."

"Sure. I don't really mind. We just wanna do this to help and for the learning experience. Also, everything we buy here will be on me, Sensei."

"Eh?" Koro-sensei froze for a few seconds before he looked at me as if he just saw ghost.

"You're seriously willing to pay for us, Shirakami-kun!? Do you know that this shop sells the most expensive things around here? Are you an angel!? You're an angel, right!? But then again, if you spend so much, you're gonna go broke!"

"Ah, don't worry about that, Sensei. Wait, I'm going to talk to the cashier for a sec, Sensei."

I left Koro-sensei at the corner and began talking to the cashier. According to him, Koro-sensei have already chosen to buy a huge LCD Display panel and some minor parts totalling at around 400,000 yen.

Since we didn't really need this kinda LCD, I was thinking of not buying but then, I suddenly thought about the owners of Ritsu. The ones who made her.

Hmm, I thought of an idea.

Instead of buying such an expensive backwater technology that I already have a better alternative lying inside my [Storage], I decided to just buy some smaller core items that we could still make use of. It costed me a little over a million but it wasn't really a big deal.

Oh, and, we also bought some softwares for Ritsu that we could make use of. We don't really have that much time to program a new software from scratch, you know?

We didn't need to buy new tools since I and Mutsuko-san already have those.

"That should do it for our shopping, Sensei."

"You… How much money do you have, Shirakami-kun?" Koro-sensei asked while still having a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"If you could tell me how many porn magazines you have hidden inside your secret stash, I'm going to tell you, Koro-sensei."

Koro-sensei visibly twitched when he heard this. Then, while scratching his gloves covered tentacles for a hand, Koro-sensei said.

"Yaa, as I thought, it isn't that important to ask about it. It's private after all."

"Yep."

As we walked through the crowded street, we suddenly came across a shop that sells a few delicious looking confectionaries.

"Hmm…"

Looking at Koro-sensei's eyes which are firmly eyeing those confectionaries, it looks like he's one of those people with a sweet tooth.

"You want some, Koro-sensei? I'm going to buy some for the girls."

"Of course Shirakami-kun! Sensei will be extremely greatful to you if you do! I've been meaning to buy some sweets from this place but there's just too much things in my spending list that I didn't have the chance to!"

"So if I didn't arrive, you would've been left broke, Sensei?"

"Sadly, Sensei's wage isn't enough to buy me everything I want. Such a shame…"

"Haa…"

Once we brought the things we needed, I gave Koro-sensei his portion and, after telling me that he will be waiting for me back at school, I just smiled and took out my [Divine Warp Feather]. Let's just say that Koro-sensei was quite embarrassed when he saw me already there.

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Early morning of the next day. I, Mutsuko-san, Pochi, Tama, and Rokuko are already on our way to school.

Since there was a one kilometer walk between the school's entrance and our classroom, I had to use [Divine Warp Feather] to skip through it stealthily.

Why?

Because Pochi and Tama were itching to go inside this forest and catch some preys. If I let them do that, we'd be late for the first period.

When we excited through the forest, the first people we saw were Kataoka Megu-san and Kurahashi Hinano-san.

"Master [Admin-sensei]!" Pochi said while raising her hand, looking like an elementary schooler who wants to ask a question.

"What is it, Pochi-kun?"

"Why can't Pochi catch prey inside the forest nodesu? Is it bad nanodesu?" Pochi asked, genuinely curious.

"Hmm… Well, it's not bad per se. It's just that, we'll be late for class and that would be bad. You know how learning is important, right?"

At my question, even Tama answered.

"Right~!"

"—nanodesu!"

"Then, would it be bad if you miss the chance to learn some new knowledge?"

"Yes, desu?"

"Why the question mark? Hahaha, well, that's basically why you can't. But, after the school is done, we could all go and play outside."

""Haa…""

The two still looked confused but I think they are pondering about it.

Anyway, it seems like, due to our noise, Kataoka-san and Kurahashi-san took notice of us, both of them turning around to greet us.

"Ya-hoo~, good morning Kuro-chan, Shirayuki-chan, Labyrinthhart-san, Sakaki-san, and Shirakami-kun!" So early and the morning and Kurahashi-san is already so energetic. She was even striking this cutesy pose wherein her hand was forming a rock and roll symbol over her shoulders while saying, "Cheese!"

Ah, I bet Rikka and Satania-san would get along just fine with her.

"Good morning." On the opposite end of the spectrum is the extremely serious looking Kataoka-san.

"Morning to you too, Kataoka-chan, Kurahashi-chan! Yaa, it sure is nice in here, isn't it? Getting some exercise early in the morning through this short mountain hike is really quite good, isn't it?" Mutsuko-san said while twisting her body. After sweeping back her hair using her hand, Mutsuko-san showed a radiant smile at the two.

She's almost been exclusively a crafter in our group but I forgot that Mutsuko-san also likes to train her body. Well, her fighting style is quite bizarre though.

These days, she's been trying to learn some techniques from me. She even pulled me into a voice chat before this quest where we talked about and theory crafted some kind of combat style that's borderline insanity.

"Ya-hallo, nanodesu! Goooood morning nodesu!"

"Good moooorniing~?"

As if they didn't want to lose, Pochi and Tama also showed a pose of their own, mimicking what Kurahashi-san did. With a higher energy than her, of course.

"Uwaaa! How cute! Kuuuh, I wish I have little sisters like you, Kuro-chan, Shirayuki-chan!"

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When we entered inside our classroom, we were greeted by the sight of our classmates marveling at the new and improved Ritsu-san and the new black box that's the same size as Ritsu-san behind my seat.

The new Ritsu have the ability to simulate different kinds of clothing and put it on her avatar as we installed that kind of software on her. The screen is now fully covering the front of her box, showing her full body that looks ultra realistic.

She could also change her and everything else around her into something ultra realistic giving her the ability to simulate herself like she is a part of our classroom, sitting on her own desk and writing her own notes. Because of these upgrades, her eyes also changed from red to a blue color.

Ritsu-san could now communicate freely with our classmates. Heck, no one could probably even tell if she's really an AI or a human who have poor acting skills, pretending to be an AI.

Meanwhile, the machine right behind my seat is like her previous iteration, a dull black box.

"I wonder what this new black box is for? Don't tell me it's another Ritsu?" Nagisa-san muttered.

"Man, give me a break. I really wish it's not. I don't want to encounter the problem that happened yesterday." Maehara-san replied.

"It's such a fine weather we're having today isn't it everyone? It's such a perfect day to spend with you all." Ritsu said, with a gentle breeze slightly moving her hair.

"Man, she really became so cute overnight." Okajima commented.

"Is that really the fixed artillery…?" Everyone inside our classroom are having their doubts as they looked at the new and improved Ritsu.

While almost everyone are starting to accept Ritsu, one of the hooligans on our classroom couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Don't be fooled by her appearance. I bet it's just a program that that yellow octopus installed on her to fool us! It might be acting all nice now but a machine's a machine." Terasaka-san said. This guy, he seems to be so passive aggressive against anyone and everyone.

Unfortunately for him, one of the people who upgraded Ritsu was having none of it.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Mutsuko-san probably felt like she's the one being attacked since she's one of the people who upgraded Ritsu.

"Haaa—!? What do you have to say, new girl? Didn't you see what she did to us yesterday? We couldn't even learn a damn thing because of her!" Terasaka-san shouted.

"What do you mean, 'learn a damn thing'? I was observing everyone and about eighty percent of you weren't even interested in the class, especially you. I bet, even if Ritsu-chan weren't here, you'd still be relaxing on your seat and not paying any attention to the lessons, won't you?"

"You—!"

"You what? What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Mutsuko-san quipped. This, of course, garnered the reaction of our resident cat beastkin girl.

"Nyuu~?"

"Not you, Tama-chan. Onee-chan is talking to this loudmouthed, brawn over brains person."

This finally made Terasaka-san snap as he tried to stand up from his seat in an attempt to attack Mutsuko-san. However, before he could do so, I decided to stop him.

"I think I'll rethink my decision to attack her if I were you. She may not look like it but she could probably beat all of you combined just using her martial arts. I taught her, after all. Well, if you wanna be a suicidal maniac then I won't stop you though."

"Tsk!"

"Also, if you have problems about Ritsu, you could tell it to me. I'm the one who modified and added that software on her, after all."

"That…"

The classroom once again descended into silence. However, it soon broke when Ritsu began to talk.

"I'm terribly sorry for what I've done yesterday, everyone." Along with her apology, she covered her face and began to cry. The background behind her even changed into that of a dark and dreary room.

"Ah ahh~. You've done it now Terasaka." A blonde girl named Nakamura Rio said.

"You fell so low already…" Hayami Rinka added.

"Haa, Terasaka, you made a 2D girl cry…" Terasaka-san's seatmate, Hara Sumire, said.

"Cut it out! People might take that the wrong way!"

"I'll hold out on my own assassination attempts for now to help everyone on their own assassination attempts. That way, I hope everyone will forgive me and be friends with me."

"Tch!"

By the way, I, or anyone of us three for that matter, never taught Ritsu to say that. I mean, even I am surprised at how she managed to assess that currently, many people on our classroom doesn't have a favorable impression of her and that she needed to change that.

Isn't she learning so fast?

Before long, Koro-sensei arrived and our lessons finally started.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ Haa, done, finally. There's so many things I wanna do but I have so little time to write a chapter xD.

※ Honestly, the need to fix many things just to not get restricted or something of the sort bummed me out a little since I dunno what the heck was going on xD. Who freakin' knew that you'll get restricted when you type out a Japanese character here while also including 'ō' and 'ū' in your title.