At a Certain House

In a certain kitchen, at a certain house, a tall skinny girl in apron, happily hums as she browses through her fridge.

"Hmm~hmm~hmm~

What should I cook? What should I cook?

Hehehe. Let's make some burgers for lunch.

Ms Ram's gonna love it"

The girl's name is Dr Nava Einstein. She looks like your everyday person. A normal, earnest and hard-working girl.

*Sizzle* She puts the burger patty in the frying pan, smiling as she cooks.

*20 Minutes later*

"Ms Ram! Lunch is ready! Let's eat before turns cold"

Nava calls out from first floor.

*silence*

"Sigh. Again?"

Nava goes up the stairs and walks to the room at the end of the dark hallway on the second floor.

Nava could see faint flashes from underneathe room's closed door.

*Knock! Knock!*

"Ms Ram, it's time for lunch"

*silence*

"Ms Ram?"

Nava opens the door.

In the dark room, there is an elf in a hoodie, sleeping comfortably on her belly on the bed, and drooling.

"Ehehe . . . mmm ~ Stop feeding me . . . I can't eat . . anymore . . " the elf is sleep talking.

She is holding a game controller in her hands.

A television flashes in front of her displaying *Game Over*

"Geez.

You played till you fell asleep again.

And I've told you so many times to take it easy on gaming.

Ms Ram! Ms Ram!"

Nava tries to wake Ram up.

"Ms Ram.

Time to wake up.

It's lunchtime.

I cooked your favourite burger"

"Mmm~ I can't eat anymore . . . ehehe" Ram rolls around as she sleep talks.

"What should I do?

She's not waking up. . .

Ah! I know!"

Nava goes down stairs and brings Ram's lunch up.

It's a steaming hot and juicy beef burger.

"Ms Ram~ Look what's in my hand~"

Nava hover the plate in front of Ram's nose.

*Sniff! Sniff!*

"Burger~Nom nom" Ram is still sleep talking.

*Growl*

"Sigh.

You should wake up and eat if you are hungry.

Geez"

Nava slowly feeds Ram who eats while she remains asleep.

*wipe wipe*

Nava wipes Ram's mouth as she's done eating.

*zzzzz*

Ram is still in deep slumber.

"Ehehe" Ram laughs to herself in her sleep.

*1 hour later*

Nava is in her basement workshop.

She has removed her apron, and instead put on her lab coat and glasses.

She is doing maintenance work on a long jet-black magnum gun.

There are letters carved on the side of the gun.

*PANDORA SYSTEM*

Nava measures the gun and makes the appropriate adjustments.

*workshop's automatic door slides up*

"My lady! Here you are!" Ram walks into the workshop.

"Ah, Ms Ram. You are awake. How are you feeling?"

"Yawn~ I am still sleepy" Ram rubs her eyes.

"How weird.

Even though you are an android.

I wonder if I made a mistake when calibrating your system.

Should I take a look?"

Indeed, Ram is an android with the appearance of an elf, created by Nava.

It makes one curious when considering their relationship.

Ram acts like a spoiled teenage girl who likes to shut herself in her room and do nothing but play video games.

On the other hand, Nava acts like Ram's caretaker. She clearly pampers Ram.

However, it is more accurate to say that Nava simply has a very kind heart.

So, little things don't bother her.

"Nah.

That's such a pain.

Rather than that, come upstairs and play with me!"

Ram, like a little kid, tugs on Nava's sleeve.

"I'm sorry.

I'm quite busy at the moment.

I will play with you later, okay?"

*tugs!* *tugs!* Ram is not letting go.

"Come upstairs and play with me!"

"Geez.

You are such a spoiled child!

Fine.

I'm finished with Pandora's daily maintenance anyways.

Let's go"

Ram pulls on Nava's sleeve as they go to the second floor.

Ram's room is as dark as ever.

"So, what did you want to play"

Ram pulls out Round Enix's latest game, First Fantasy VII Remake.

It's the best-selling game of the year.

"Ms Ram, you really do love this game don't you?

You even made your hairstyle similar to the main character, Claude Strive.

Hmm?

I seem to remember that this game only allows for one player"

"RE released an upgrade yesterday.

Now, there's a dual-player mode for the main story!

Let's play together!"

Ram hands a game controller to Nava.

*5 hours later*

"Wow!

This game is really addictive!

No wonder, you got hooked up"

*silence* Ram didn't reply.

"Ms Ram, your character stopped moving.

Ms Ram?"

Nava turns to Ram, and sees that Ram has fallen asleep again.

"Well, we did play for a while.

Haha!

Ms Ram is so weird.

I've never seen an android that sleeps as much as she does.

She's just like a human baby"

Nava pauses the game, stands up and stretches.

"Mmmmmpphh~

Let's leave her to sleep for now.

I should go downstairs to make some dinner.

I wonder what I should cook"

Nava makes her way downstairs.

The first floor is completely dark now that the sun has set.

Nava makes her way to the switch.

*SLASH*

A mysterious swordsman appears out of nowhere from behind Nava, and tries to cut her with a sword.

Nava ducks down instinctively, and . . .

*PUNCH!*

*SPLAT!*

Nava punches the swordsman in the face so hard that his head bursts open.

Everything happened so quickly.

But in that split second, Nava's eyes turned very cold.

Her eyes were that of a merciless killer.

In that split second, Nava was a completely different person to the usual kind Nava that looks after Ram.

"Hmm?

*Gasp!*

I lost myself for a second there.

Sigh.

What do I do?"

Nava examines the headless body.

On the shoulder of the body is an emblem.

A crescent moon and a tetradecagram.

"The Empire, huh?

And this person is probably from the Royal Assassin Association.

They sent a swordsman this time.

Are they still looking for me?

I hope they'd just leave me alone.

It looks like this person is just a scout"

Nava looks towards the outside.

Her biomechanical eyes lets her see through the wall.

"24 men standing outside.

Looks like they are all swordsmen.

The Division III's Shinsengumi, huh?

The one furthest back in a long coat has an unusually high energy"

*WARNING!*

*S-CLASS THREAT*

A warning notification displays within Nava's vision.

"A King, huh?

It must be King III, King Hijikata.

Looks like it's going to be a long night"

"My lady" Ram woke up and came downstairs.

"Ms Ram!

I'm sorry.

I must have woken you up!

I was too loud"

"No, I just needed to go to the toilet"

Again, being an android, Ram is oddly human-like.

"Rather than that, my lady, it looks like the Empire found us.

What should we do?"

"You noticed too?

It's such a problem.

I don't think we have much choice at all.

Let's gear up and kill them" Nava says casually.

Ram wasn't taken aback by Nava's words in any sense but it got her thinking, and her thoughts inadvertently came out . . .

"You can be surprisingly scary, my lady"

"Eh?

Where did that come from?"

Nava and Ram proceed to the basement workshop. They left the headless body on the first floor.

In the basement workshop, Nava opens the weapons vault.

*sound of gears in door spinning*

Nava walks to the furthest end of the vault.

A large metal brief case is secured on the wall.

There are letters carved on the brief case.

*PANDORA SYSTEM*

These are the same words carved on the gun that Nava was maintaining earlier.

Meanwhile, Ram is putting on some military gears; a black top, black military pants, military boots, and oddly enough, a giant broadsword that's as tall as herself.

Letters are also carved on her sword.

*Berserker*

She places the sword on her back, and ties her hair up.

"Are you ready, Ms Ram?"

"Yes. How do I look?"

"Hmm. . . You look just like Claude Strive from First Fantasy"

Nava says exactly what Ram want to hear.

"I see.

Then, let me show you what a 1st Class Officer can do" Ram is clearly very pleased.

Saying that she looks like her favourite game character is the best compliment for her.

"Wow . . . That's so cool. . . Haha . . ." Nava forces a laugh.

[Ms Ram . . . When did you get Eighth Grade Syndrome?!]

Eighth Grade Syndrome, it's an unfortunate disease that typically occurs in delusional teenagers who genuinely think that they have some sort of hidden power.

"I can feel him.

Oh no!

ARGHHH!!!

THE GENEVA CELLS IN ME ARE REACTING TO HIM!!

IT WANTS TO DRAW ME CLOSER TO HIM!!

TO MY ARCHENEMY, CERAFI!!!"

Ram's 8th Grade Syndrome is acting up (she's being delusional).

[Ms Ram looks like she is having fun.

Just how much does she love the game]

"Let's go Ms Ram"

"I will take on my rival, Cerafi.

Don't interfere!"

Ram's syndrome has not settled yet.

"You mean the King?

Are you sure?"

[She's now calling Hijikata, Cerafi]

"How stupid!

No one but me can take Cerafi on!

This is my destiny!

While I take him on, you take care of the small fries.

To be honest, even a 1st Class Officer like me may not be able to take him on"

[What should I do?

Is it really okay to let her fight a King by herself?

Why is she getting so excited?

In the first place, First Fantasy is a game.

Cerafi and Claude are just fictional characters.

The King is an S-Class threat. He is not going to be an easy opponent.

Mmmmmmmm. . . ]

Nava is in deep thoughts, having to deal with Ram's delusions.

"I understand.

You take on the King Hijikata.

I will keep the other swordsmen occupied in the meantime"

"Not a bad judgment, Bullet.

I am trusting you with this!"

Ram arbitrarily names Nava after another character from First Fantasy.

[Bullet?

Isn't that the character who replaced his arm with a gun?

Is she calling me Bullet because my weapon is a gun?

Let's not overthink and focus on getting out of here]

"Let's go, Bullet!" Ram rushes out.

"Eh?!

You're going head-on?!"

Of course, Ram's random actions would catch Nava by surprise.

*SHATTER*

Ram breaks through the glass window of the house.

A group of swordsmen, dressed in black military uniforms, similar to Ram's, surround the house.

One swordsman in particular stands out from the rest.

He wears a white long trench coat over his uniform.

There is a roman numeral on the back of his trench coat.

It's "III".

"There you are Cerafi!" Ram runs past the other swordsmen, and rushes towards the swordsman in white coat.

"WHAT THE F*CK?! SHE'S TOO FAST!"

"STOP HER!! PROTECT THE KING!"

"DON'T LET HER GET TO THE KING!!"

KING HIJIKATA!!!"

Ram swings her broad sword down on Hijikata.

*SWASHHHHH!!*

Ram and Hijikata clash swords.