A quiet morning breeze drifted through the streets as Hiroyuki walked toward school with his hands inside his pockets. The sunlight was pleasant, yet his expression looked completely drained.
"Sigh…" he muttered to himself. "I hate school…"
He kicked a small stone across the road lazily.
"Those filthy bastards would be ready to put up a fight with me…"
His thoughts immediately drifted back toward his unfinished Gundam model waiting inside his room.
"I wish I could go back home and work on my Gundam again…"
Meanwhile, a luxurious black car slowly moved along the road nearby.
Inside the vehicle, Shinn casually looked outside the window before suddenly noticing Hiro walking alone.
"Isn't that Hiro?" he asked.
The driver adjusted the mirror slightly. "Master Shinn, but—"
"Driver, drop me here."
"Master Shinn—"
"Just do as I say," Shinn interrupted casually. "I won't tell dad."
The car slowly stopped.
Hiro heard the sound and turned around.
"Yo…"
"Ah, Shinn," Hiro replied. "Never seen you walking through this route."
Shinn stretched his arms lightly after stepping out of the car.
"I always go by car, but since I saw you on the road, I dropped off here."
Hiro blinked.
"Won't it be easier for you if you go by car rather than walking?"
Shinn shrugged casually.
"Travelling in a car is so boring… I prefer walking, you know?"
"Is that so…"
The two continued walking side by side.
"So," Shinn asked curiously, "how is the Gundam?"
Hiro's eyes immediately brightened.
"Oh, about that—I finished its body."
"WHOAAA!" Shinn leaned forward excitedly. "Show me show me!"
Hiro awkwardly scratched his cheek.
"I didn't bring it with me…"
"Oh that is upsetting..."
"But," Hiro quickly added, "I got that book with me in which I drew all the concepts of its body parts."
Shinn instantly recovered.
"Oh, that would work. Show me."
"Uh, sure… here."
Hiro handed over the sketchbook.
Shinn flipped through the pages carefully while walking.
"Hmmm… let's see…"
His eyes narrowed with interest.
"The design seems like the Gundam itself is pretty agile and fast…"
He pointed toward one of the sketches.
"Hmmm… you can build a katana for it. It'll give it a cool look. Also, it is a great melee weapon."
Hiro immediately nodded.
"Right?! I was thinking about it too. I'm glad you feel the same."
Shinn continued examining the pages.
"Well… I don't see any sketches of its endo-skeleton though."
Hiro blinked.
"Endo-skeleton?… It doesn't have any…"
Shinn suddenly froze dramatically.
"Wait!!"
"That means your model is pretty much hollow?!!!"
"Uh… yeah. Something like that…"
Shinn placed a hand dramatically over his forehead.
"But an endo-skeleton is mandatory for a model, you know? Just like us having a skeleton inside us."
He flipped toward another sketch.
"By building your model with an endo-skeleton, you can increase its articulation and details. Other than that, you can add gimmicks… like armor sliding."
Hiro's eyes widened slowly.
"Whoa… I should have been more thoughtful before I started to build it."
"Don't worry," Shinn replied confidently. "We can do a rebuild version of your model with these sketches you made, you know?"
He grinned.
"We just need to add an endo-skeleton plus some improvements and gimmicks… and more modifications too."
Hiro looked ahead.
"A!— we already reached the school…"
"Ah, you're right."
Shinn casually closed the sketchbook.
"Well then, meet me at the art class at 2 PM. We will discuss more."
"Yosh. See you there."
Both of them walked toward separate hallways.
Yet strangely…
The same thought crossed both their minds at the same time.
*First time in my life I made a friend.*
---
Class soon began.
Hiro sat lazily near the window while completely ignoring the lesson.
The teacher's voice echoed meaninglessly in the background.
"Business communication is the common information to be shared between the company and—"
Hiro sighed heavily.
"I wish the class ends soon… I want to start the work on the Gundam."
Then suddenly—
"Hm?"
He looked toward the glass window near the classroom door.
"How strange…"
"I felt like someone was watching me."
Outside the classroom—
Fumi quickly hid herself against the wall.
"I hope he didn't see me—!"
A few minutes later, the teacher finally closed the notebook.
"That's it for today."
"Finally…"
As Hiro prepared to leave, a girl suddenly approached him nervously.
"Uhm… are you Mr. Aizawa?"
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Fumi asked me to hand over this lunch to you…"
Hiro blinked.
"Oh… thanks. But where is Fumi? She didn't join me on the way to school today either."
The girl hesitated slightly.
"If I be honest… she is only 'physically' present in class."
"But she is lost somewhere in her thoughts."
She looked at Hiro curiously.
"I noticed she is always hiding from you. Did something happen between you two?"
Hiro immediately looked confused.
"Mm? No?"
"Okay… I'm going now."
As she walked away, Hiro quietly stared at the lunchbox.
*I wonder what's wrong with Fumi…*
---
### Time — 2 PM
Inside the art classroom, Hiro sat sketching weapon concepts across several papers.
"Yo, there you are…"
"Ah," Hiro replied. "Just working on the weapons…"
Shinn leaned over the table curiously.
"Hm? Weapons? Let me see…"
His eyes widened slightly.
"Ah… a sniper midrange rifle, and a katana?"
"Yeah," Hiro admitted awkwardly. "I got so confused at selecting the weapons, so I ended up selecting them all…"
Suddenly—
"Uhm excuse me? Is that a Gundam?"
Both turned around.
A boy wearing glasses stood nearby staring at the sketches with excitement.
"I'm Sho Matsumoto from the program and web development department."
Shinn blinked.
"Weren't you the one who won the toughest coding competition done in Asakuza?!"
Sho shrugged casually.
"It wasn't that tough, but yeah, it was me."
"Yeah," Hiro added. "Even I heard about it too."
Sho immediately leaned closer toward the sketches.
"Whoaaa… just look at this Gundam sketch. Seems like it has great mobility and speed."
Shinn looked shocked.
"How did you know?!!!"
Hiro stared blankly at Sho.
"He seems like a hard-copy of us…"
"Ehem ehem," Shinn coughed dramatically. "Sooo… are you willing to join our club?"
Hiro whispered quietly.
"What club are you talking about, Shinn?..."
Shinn whispered back instantly.
"The Gundam club ofcc."
Sho raised his hand excitedly.
"Yes yes I'm in."
"Hehe… yosh, welcome."
Sho adjusted his glasses.
"So how are we gonna build it? 3D printing?"
"Yeah, most likely."
"But we don't have one though," Hiro replied.
"I have a high precision 3D printer in my workroom," Shinn answered proudly. "That will do."
"Are you sure? Is it okay to use it?"
"Of course!"
Sho suddenly pointed at the sketches.
"If you give me the sketches, I'll just turn them into a 3D model."
Shinn's eyes widened.
"Oh that will be a huge help!"
"Hmmm…"
"Then let's start the work—"
Sho suddenly interrupted.
"Hmmm… but looks like we are missing a part."
"Yeah," Shinn nodded. "The jetpack."
"I'll design it," Hiro replied immediately.
"Yosh then," Shinn grinned, "we first need the endoskeleton."
Sho looked around.
"So are we gonna start working here?"
"Yeah…"
"Nope," Shinn interrupted. "We are going to my house after school is finished."
"YOSHHH LET'S GOOOO!"
"The school is not finished yet, Sho…"
"Aww mannn…"
---
Over the following days, the three constantly spent time together inside Shinn's workroom building the model piece by piece.
The room slowly became filled with printed parts, sketches, tools, and mechanical components.
One evening—
Sho carefully attached the final pieces onto the robot skeleton.
"Phewww…"
Shinn stared silently for a moment.
"Whoa, the details are crazy"
Sho immediately pointed dramatically.
"IKR?! It looks even more beautiful than I thought!!!"
"Hmmm…" Hiro examined the structure closely. "The joints are really firm and accurate."
"Of course it is," Sho replied proudly. "I made the model move many times in the software using programs before I put it to printing…"
"I see… really impressive."
Then suddenly—
"Oh wait," Shinn said. "We haven't named it yet though."
Hiro blinked.
"Now that I'm thinking about it…"
Sho immediately raised his hand.
"What about Slayer?"
"Eh… isn't that too straightforward?"
"Fineee..."
Hiro quietly looked toward the mech.
"Hmmm…"
"What about… 'Kuroi Shingen'?"
Sho instantly slammed the table.
"THAT'S IT."
"Yeah," Shinn nodded. "That seems fair."
"I guess we also need a katana to adore this model's beauty."
"Yeah," Shinn replied. "That feels right."
Sho adjusted his glasses again.
"Also, as per tradition, the katana that one makes needs to have the name of its purpose. That purpose becomes the name of the katana."
"I see…"
Sho slowly smiled.
"Let's name Kuroi Shingen's katana…"
"…Muramasa."
A strange silence filled the room.
"The Muramasa swords have often been depicted as cursed swords with demonic powers…"
"The name Muramasa was the name of a Japanese swordsmith…"
"…who was famous for making cursed blades."