The Empire of Reimia (3)

Latro consulted the code containing information about all the students at the school, which he kept in his memory. "No... no... no... here it is!" He found the right page. "Kaori Nishikino, class four. Short in stature, but with a big heart. I've seen her a couple of times at the shooting range; she has decent grades in Physalis. I remember her from the first Competitive event. I even aimed a little to the side so as not to hit her... Yeah, she would have been a good candidate to swap with Lotta from day one..." He folded his arms across his chest and nodded seriously. "Hmm, excellent choice. Possibly even the best, in your situation, hmm," he nodded a couple more times, recalling the details. "Yes, I think that thing would fit her perfectly. You say you have no experience in this, but in reality, aesthetics and technology often go hand in hand. You wouldn't just hammer together a clumsy lump of metal – such a mechanism wouldn't function properly. You have to file, weld, and grind, match component A to component B. Avik is sometimes such a jerk; he doesn't even touch on this aspect, but he enjoys criticizing my junk. I didn't realize this until recently; I was too focused on my own failures. I don't know if he simply doesn't care, or if he's just trying to make us figure out these details on our own." Hoping that he had lulled his comrade into a false sense of security with his chatter, he abruptly changed the subject – or rather, returned to the main topic: "So, have you taken her anywhere yet?"