Chapter 3: Shiroinu Reina
「’First Orange Panic’, the incident where the stock price of powered suit maker RE Corp plunged sharply, has been blamed on the revelation of manufacturing details in the so-called ‘Orange Book’. We have with us the ever-loquacious Professor Nagashaberi, known for his long-winded explanations, to discuss this issue. Professor, what exactly caused this problem? 」
「The biggest issue was that the Orange Book contained detailed instructions on how to manufacture Apollyons. They were distributed to the U.S. military in 2055 for mass-producing low-cost Apollyons using existing facilities on a large scale leading up to 2055. Publicly revealing globally how to produce inexpensive Apollyons like this using current equipment over a short timeframe, you see…」
「What exactly is the problem if the manufacturing method for these Apollyons becomes known? I don’t really understand the connection between Apollyons and powered suit makers.」
「Mass-produced Apollyons were optimal for transporting items too large for powered suits to carry around in environments made difficult by the ‘Torrent Phenomenon’. Things like small nuclear devices, for example.」
「…Um, I’d like to ask about the relationship between Apollyons and powered suits from a technical rather than operational perspective.」
「Sorry, sorry. You can think of mass-produced Apollyons as gigantic powered suits. The technology is basically the same, including artificial muscle fibers, neural connections, and so on. So when the previously proprietary manufacturing method for the state-of-the-art seventh generation synthetic muscle fibers suddenly becomes publicly known worldwide despite the currently patented tech being third-gen, it causes problems for RE Corp, you see.」
On the morning of March 2nd, I rub my sleepy eyes as I lazily eat a late breakfast while streaming some internet show. Yesterday, I only managed to repair the right half of the Apollyon. Updates to HAO kept crashing, accounts were getting banned from streaming, it was a mess. As I open the thread while wondering if yesterday’s stream successfully conveyed the appeal of giant robots, I see it’s already become a raging discussion.
【Orange Livestream】HAO Strategy Thread Part 102【RE Corp Stock Price Looking Bad】
92 Anonymous Player
Update Info
・4 Apollyon types
・Cities added
・2050 and 2055? Is this the grand quest-like storyline for the whole game?
93 Anonymous Player
Seriously, they added 2 maps on day 1, should’ve been there at launch
94 Anonymous Player
＞＞93 They’re probably not updating periodically. But already have a huge amount of patches prepared and are unlocking them as the game progresses. That’s what it feels like anyway.
95 Anonymous Player
＞＞94 Nothing’s progressed in-game though. Stuff progressed in real life with RE Corp’s stock tanking, but yeah.
96 Anonymous Player
How’d yesterday’s Orange stream go? Couldn’t watch cause of work, give me the rundown
97 Anonymous Player
Just a stream of Orange and the chat working together to repair an Apollyon. Though there was that shitty forced account ban event by RE Corp.
Oh and Orange was surprisingly cute, made me laugh.
98 Anonymous Player
Any new info learned?
・Apollyon and powered suit materials are compatible
・Maintenance manual is super detailed but has to be done manually
・Sudden oxygen deprivation leading to game over affecting Esper and Powered Armor Human players determined to be due to abnormal atmosphere low on oxygen
99 Anonymous Player
＞＞98 Oxygen thing already reported overseas. Also vids of the stream are being shared as The Orange Live. Engineering boards are blowing up, maybe it really is confidential lol
100 Anonymous Player
Is the stuff actually meaningful that’s in those Orange Book? Why’s everyone making a fuss over game data
101 Anonymous Player
＞＞100 Showed it to my prof, he went “nice” then disappeared from his office. Wanted to ask him about my thesis too, dammit…
102 Anonymous Player
＞＞100 My company’s development team is freaking out. Those unregistered patents got leaked so we can claim total rights just by filing now. Please let it succeed, I need that bonus lol. Also anyone got the stream vids please send (on knees begging)
103 Anonymous Player
Devs sure are suspicious. Searched the company name “Hereafter” and weird stuff about oxygen production came up. What’s it even for
104 Anonymous Player
＞＞103 Preparing for oxygen depletion after the end times, duh (lol)
Seeing Orange’s name thrown around online, RE Corp’s viral marketing seems to be working. Are they crashing stock prices intentionally to profit? There’s probably ways, like propping up share prices as justification to up their stake for cheap.
Well, no use thinking about that. It’s spring break, so I’ve got nothing better to do than play this game into the ground! First up is:
「Getting myself a job, yeah…」
That’s right, HAO supposedly has jobs… Based on forum posts I see Security Guard, Transporter, Prostitute(?), and Thief confirmed. But what happened to the 100+ jobs mentioned in prerelease info?
The answer’s probably in the cities themselves. For production jobs especially, apprenticing at factories via some initiation event might work. I thought piloting Apollyons required specialized skills, but repairs might need a more roundabout method first.
It’s already past noon…about time to log in, I think, stretching as the doorbell suddenly rings. Wasn’t expecting visitors. Aside from her, nobody visits without messaging first… And as I open the door, sure enough:
「Yo, Orange」
「How’d you even know that name…」
「Well duh, I started playing HAO too」
Shiroinu Reina. Fellow gamer who lives nearby, same age as me at 18. Doesn’t seem to attend high school but might be going to college? No idea. Long platinum hair and aqua eyes so perfect they seem artificial, for a girl she’s as tall as me. But unlike my proportions, her limbs are very long with a slender waist – model body type, basically. Wearing a loose T-shirt and jeans, zero frills. Never seen her without that cap either.
We met randomly in a western VR FPS when she called out to my avatar that looked just like me. I’ve never beaten her absurd reflexes at any quick-time events; she easily grabs world first places in action games. So every time, other players try blowing her up, poisoning her, etc. She says “I could take it IRL” but for real… you can’t, dummy.
「Saw yesterday’s stream, you’re seriously off the rails lol. Sudden change of heart into crashing markets and bullying investors?」
「Hell no, I was just playing along with RE Corp’s viral marketing. If anything they should be thanking me.」
Without asking, she slips off her shoes and plops down on my bed like she owns the place. When I casually respond to her earlier question, Reina freezes up for a second before nodding along awkwardly.
「…Yeah, that’s just the kind of person you are. Going at your own pace, seeing things your own way, and this is what happens. I’m starting to feel bad for RE Corp here.」
「Huh??? Anyway, you’re playing HAO too right? Let’s party up. 」
「Sure, why not. I already got a job so I can show you the ropes a bit.」
She’s more progressed than I expected. Any doubts about her abrupt visit vanish instantly. With Reina’s help, blazing through to a production job might be possible. I turn to her excitedly just as she starts tidying the junk on my floor. Dropping by irregularly, she’s the natural enemy of my lifestyle – make a huge mess then deep clean every couple weeks. Although with her barging straight into my room unannounced, she’s seen it all like clothes drying post-laundry. But Reina’s used to it by now, neatly clearing distractions before tilting her head quizzically.
「Still no separate device for ero stuff, huh…」
「The hell you looking for! ? 」
「I heard boys nowadays intentionally keep different devices for everyday/ero use so search history doesn’t give away their fetishes. I’m very curious what kind of stuff you’re into.」
「That’s what incognito tabs are for, dummy.」
「I keep them separate.」
「Didn’t need to know that…」
….Well, she’s pretty frank for her looks but easy enough to talk to.
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