Chapter 291: Hikigaya: Unbelievable, This Is How I Got Promoted?
Life in Academy City was never static.
But the pace of change was so rapid it left people feeling a bit out of sorts.
Take the chicken used in the city's KFCs and McDonald's, for example. It was a locally produced, low-cost variety with eight legs and six wings.
Shirogane Miyuki not only knew the origin of this chicken but was also aware that Anti-Entropy was preparing to launch an even more impressive creation: a legendary chicken with twelve legs and eight wings.
Was it delicious? Absolutely.
But was it... edible? It had taken Shirogane over two months to work up the courage to eat his first drumstick.
Since then, even more unconventional species had been introduced. The new varieties of cows, sheep, and fish were too numerous to count, as if no one had stopped to consider the potential consequences for humanity.
Shirogane was powerless to change the situation. He could only hope that medical technology would keep up and not fall dangerously behind.
If some strange genetic disease emerged and infected humans through their food, it would be a catastrophe.
Shirogane didn't want the new food sources he had helped create to become dangerous unknowns.
Is it really okay to just eat these new animals enhanced with Honkai factors? Just because our Honkai Energy resistance is higher, that doesn't mean we can be this reckless, right?
"Shirogane-niisan, aren't you eating? You don't like it?"
A young girl's voice pulled Shirogane from his thoughts. He looked down at the drumstick she offered him, unsure if he should tell her the truth.
"I was just lost in thought..." he said, then began to eat along with her.
The girl was Komachi Hikigaya, a little sister figure who had become quite attached to him after he rescued her.
They had come out for a walk and stopped for fast food. The fried drumsticks, golden-brown and crispy, gave off a tantalizing aroma.
Shirogane sighed, helplessly picked up a drumstick, and began to chow down.
It's fine, it's fine. Plenty of people are eating it now.
Seriously, though, is this really okay?
This was the downside of being a researcher. Knowing too much created a crisis of confidence when it came to food.
He glanced at a nearby patron—a sharp-featured individual with long, gray hair—who was tearing through their meal. Anyone could tell they were a Valkyrie, someone who burned a massive amount of calories. In Academy City, only Valkyries could eat so heartily without a care for their figure.
Their special training regimen easily burned off all the extra calories.
The person dining out was, in fact, Kiana Kaslana.
She occasionally transformed into Fu Hua to come out, eat, and blow off some steam. She would change her appearance depending on the time and her mood.
But there wasn't much fun in playing as other people. The most enjoyable disguise, she found, was Durandal, because she could catch disobedient Valkyries and give them a stern lecture.
"Doesn't taste much different, maybe even a little better. I should have Mei try cooking with this sometime."
Kiana wasn't the least bit worried about strange things like genetic mutations. All she cared about was whether it tasted good.
Academy City was getting stranger by the day. Benares had teamed up with Sirin to form a new magical girl group, leaving her old partners behind.
The poor Vodka Girls had been ruthlessly abandoned by Bella. Now, their fans were engaged in endless flame wars with Bella's fans online.
They were all dragon girls, but the Olenyeva sisters' fate was just a bit too tragic.
Unable to bear watching, Dr. Tesla had let them transfer to a normal student track. For now, the Vodka Girls had left the sorrowful world of entertainment, a world where they were backstabbed by a teammate and abandoned by their fans.
Everyone's fortunes are different. Just as Shirogane Miyuki had never imagined that Hachiman Hikigaya would one day skyrocket to fame.
Thanks to his highly successful body modifications, Hachiman Hikigaya had become the poster boy for the City Guard trainees.
"It's a rare holiday, yet instead of staying home with your brother, you're out looking for a boring old senpai like me. Komachi, have you not made many friends at school?"
Shirogane didn't quite get it. In his eyes, Komachi was a social powerhouse, yet she had very few friends she was genuinely close with.
After school, Komachi usually went straight home.
"No..." Komachi's expression was complicated. She hesitated for a long time before saying, "It's all my brother's fault for getting so weird. I can't help but wonder if he's a robot that just looks like him."
"He got inexplicably handsome after the modifications, and I'm not sure what's up with the City Guard's PR strategy..."
"I just don't get how a guy like my brother ended up as their poster boy. He told me that whole story about him flying up to fight a Herrscher was actually just him losing control of his body and shooting into the sky by accident."
"And... well, never mind... It's nice that you still look the same as when we first met, Shirogane-niisan..."
The girl sighed. She felt that Academy City was changing too quickly; even someone as unflappable as her couldn't keep up.
Even a researcher like me can barely keep up...
Shirogane glanced at a passing man with a tiger's head—a sinner, belonging to the lowest caste in Academy City.
These individuals were forbidden from modifying their own bodies.
Everyone else could change into whatever they wanted, and their modifications wouldn't result in such fearsome, bestial forms.
Due to the increasing number of perverted furry enthusiasts, Academy City had been forced to make the sinners' appearances more animalistic to distinguish them from the typical anime-style furries.
This had barely managed to preserve the sinners' "chastity."
And the reason it was "barely" was because beastman enthusiasts were still lurking, waiting for their chance.
"Hey, Shirogane-niisan, if I graduate, can I try to get a job at a research institute? I hear the pay is great, and it seems like the most valued place in Academy City. I just don't know if it's still easy to get in."
The young girl's thoughts were as naive as Shirogane's had been when he first arrived.
You'd be better off... no, maybe a research institute really is safer.
Shirogane felt he was beginning to understand some things more clearly, and he thought his good friend had been dealt a terribly unlucky hand.
Kiana paused, her burger halfway to her mouth. She, too, had remembered something.
Hachiman Hikigaya... I remember hearing he became the new priest for the remnants of that Holy Mother Cult. He doesn't admit it, of course, but Bronya told me about it. They even put him under review for three months because of it.
What terrible luck. No wonder they're putting him on all the posters. The moment something goes wrong, he'll be the one to take the fall.
Whatever. I think I'll go check on Cocolia next. It's a bit of a pain to transform into her, since she's always got that stern look on her face.