Archangels of War

I had suggested that we just throw the rest of Erika's uneaten food away, as neither of us had much of an appetite for fries, and Masayoshi agreed. As I grabbed the massive platter and walked over to the trash, I bumped into someone. If it wasn't for the death tight grip that I had on the plate, as well as the help of some magic, the massive heap of fries would've definitely crashed into the floor. I looked down at the person I had bumped into. She was pretty short, although her uniform denotated her as a third-year student. She had long brown hair that came down past her shoulders, and her green eyes were framed by a pair of box-shaped glasses. I reached out a hand to help her up. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." 

She looked back up at me with a confused and slightly dazed expression. "Oh! No! It was my fault. I was running." She accepted my hand hesitantly and I pulled her up. Even standing up she still seemed short, only coming up to around my shoulder level. I decided it would be improper to let the conversation end there, so I put my best foot forward and asked for her name. 

"Oh, m-my name? Its, Minerva....And you?" 

Raiden...." A long silence followed the introduction. 

Great, two people who have no idea who to keep a conversation up, are currently trying to have a conversation. 

Just then, Minerva seemed to notice the massive platter of fries that I held in my hands. Her eyes seemed to dimly light with interest as she asked, "Were you planning on t-throwing that away?" 

"Yeah, I was. My friend ended up ordering much more than she could handle, and also fell asleep mid meal." Did I just call her my friend? I assumed that Minerva was just going to ask if she could have it instead, which I wouldn't have been opposed to, as it would have meant no food would have been going to waste. However, what she suggested was very different from anything I could predicted. 

"O-oh. If that's the case, then, if you don't mind, c-could I use it for something?" 

"Of course I don't mind. What exactly are you planning?" I was genuinely curious as to what she could have wanted it for, besides eating. 

"Well, if you'd like to see, then follow me." She led me through a tight pack of students, which was pretty easy for her considering her build, however it was extremely difficult for me, not only because of my height, but also because I had to maneuver a massive plate of fries throughout the crowd without accidentally hitting someone in the head. I probably said, "excuse me" and "sorry" right then, more times than I had in my entire life. Which was really saying something considering my past. Finally, after sifting through what felt like an endless wave of students, we arrived at a table that was relatively crowded, with all third-year students except for one outlier, which was Nova. 

When we arrived at the table, the first thing that happened was that I locked eyes with Aqua, who's eyes lit up at seeing me. What exactly about meeting people does this chick find so jolly? I sidestepped out of the way of the flying hug, thinking I was safe; however, she was surprisingly quick on her feet-or should I say in the air-as she twisted her body and grabbed my shoulder. She then displayed her impressive strength by then completely changing the direction of her fall despite her momentum being at odds with her, and pulled her self-back in my direction, latching onto my back like a koala bear cub would do to its mother. "Hey Raiden!" She greeted me with a very cheerful expression, and she quite literally crushed me with a hug from behind. 

"Hey Aqua, how are you doing?" I hoped the misery in my voice didn't seem too obvious. 

If it was, Aqua chose to ignore it completely as she grabbed some fries from the platter and then responded to my question, "I've been having a great day! Three years at this school and yet no other time of the day has managed to beat out lunch yet!" The pressure on my back seemed to suddenly vanish and I looked back to see Leo holding Aqua by the back of her blazer like a scene you'd fine in a cartoon. 

"Alright Aqua, Raiden is pretty obviously uncomfortable so lay off." Aqua crossed her arms over her chest and put a pouting expression on her face. I shot Leo a look of thanks, and he smiled. Finally, I turned back to where Minerva was standing, looking through a bag before finally pulling out some sort of odd contraption out of her bag. It had the rough shape of a pistol, but besides that, nothing else about it resembled the weapon. It was constructed mostly out of wires which twisted in and out of each other and wrapped together to form the shape of a pistol. All of the wires converged at the point of a small ball at the tip. It looked like some sort of alien blaster. 

Nova walked up behind Minerva, glancing at the contraption. "Oh, Minerva, is that what you were working on?" Minerva jumped slightly before turning to face Nova while scratching her head, laughing nervously. 

"Yep! I finally finished it, no to test if it works." She turned her eyes to the massive platter in my hands. 

"Oh Raiden, I didn't see you as the type to enjoy eating such a large amount. Thats always been something Erika would do...That belongs to Erika, doesn't it." The realization seemed to dawn over Nova, and I nodded confirmation. I then turned to Minverva. 

"So, what is it meant to do?" 

"Well, essentially, it's like a gun, however instead of shooting, it would instead absorb things. So, in this case, It would absorb the fires and convert them into magical energy, that could be stored and used for different purposes." She got the whole explanation out without stuttering. That seemed like it could be fairly useful, as it was not possible to absorb things that weren't spells, even if they had magical energy. The item had to me made of magical energy for absorption to even be possible. 

"So, this is what members of the magical engineering branch get up too?" Minerva nodded. 

"We work on all kinds of things; this was just kind of a personal project of mine." I nodded, pretty impressed. I guess I didn't give the branches as much of an opportunity as they deserve.

"Well then let's try it." I held out the platter of fries in front of me." 

"O-ok." Minerva held the gun out in front of her, before pressing the trigger. Instantly, a light washed over the plate, and slowly, the fires began to decompose, and slightly visible dots of magic returned to the gun, causing it to slowly light up from the base. 

Minerva's face brightened immediately, and a wide smile appeared on her face. "It WORKED!"" She squealed, at the same time, Aqua hugged her, squealing right along with her. I couldn't help but give a small smirk as well. it was impressive. At this point, the platter was almost empty. However pretty soon, a concerned expression washed over Minerva's face, replacing her joy. "Uh oh...." 

"What's the problem?" I asked. 

"Well, I didn't exactly design a method of differentiating the process of the gun firing, from when it got fully charged so, once the guns light reaches the point, it's going to automatically fire." 

I would have made a comment however it was too late, as the light had already reached the point, and a beam was fired.