No one continued to think this was some sort of magic trick.
Suddenly, an elongated egg-shaped metal ball popped out from Ninamori's head at the center of the three legs, causing gasps of surprise from her classmates. Well, of course—the metal ball was several times larger than the girl's head. This was the first time Naota had witnessed such a large metal monster appear from such a small portal. It was an absolutely grotesque scene. It seemed as though "they" were able to distort space to pass through.
The robot revealed itself completely. It was probably a robot, anyway, as it wasn't human-shaped. Its form resembled a three-legged octopus more than anything else. The three legs bent considerably, no doubt because the thing had to stoop down on account of the classroom ceiling being too low.
Lemon squeezer, Naota thought. On the only occasion he'd visited Mamimi's house with his brother, Naota remembered Mamimi's family had a lemon squeezer that looked very similar.
Everything above Ninamori's nose was melded into the robot's rounded body. As if she'd lost all power to fight back, her legs and arms were covered in sweat and dangling limply. The only things that moved were her lips to breathe.
I have to do something. I have to separate Ninamori from this lemon squeezer thing, Naota told himself.
When the one-armed robot had appeared, Naota's head hadn't fully separated either, and he'd lingered on the border between life and death for a short while. Ninamori's situation felt a lot more urgent, though. The lemon squeezer was treating Ninamori as if she were part of its own body.
«PS has integrated the route device as part of its own body 13:14.
No problems with battle movement. 13:14.
Possibility that the route device's conscience will interfere with the control systems…»
Ninamori's classmates stared, speechless, at the transformed body of their class president.
All of a sudden, the lemon squeezer started moving, heading straight for Naota.
"Argh!" Naota grimaced, finding himself pinned against the wall by the monster's amazingly quick movements.
For some reason, the lemon squeezer was trying to push a part of its metal body onto Naota's mouth. It almost appeared as if it were trying to kiss him.
"What are you doing? Stop that now, Ninamori!"
The class' homeroom teacher, Miyaji, screamed hysterically, and the lemon squeezer immediately stopped moving. Miyaji, who'd come to oversee the play rehearsal, had observed the chaos and decided it was Ninamori's doing.
"If I'd known it was going to turn out like this…" Haruko gave a little tut that she hadn't brought her guitar weapon with her, but she was relieved when she noticed one of the boys nearby had a ukulele in his hand that he'd been using as a stage prop. "Let me borrow that," Haruko demanded, snatching the ukulele and raising it high above her head.
Unfortunately, simply because Haruko held the ukulele in her hand didn't mean it was going to turn into a super weapon. The moment she brought the instrument down on the metal robot's body, it splintered into tiny bits. "Ukulele no good." After uttering such a nonsensical statement, Haruko whistled with all her might.
In a flash, the Vespa that had been parked outside Shigekuni Bread started its engine, turned on its lights, and drove off.
There wasn't anyone on the scooter, so it had to have been summoned by Haruko's whistle.
The driverless Vespa headed straight for Mabase Elementary School.
The classroom had descended into a panic.
The lemon squeezer had integrated Ninamori's body as a functioning part of its own and was running wild.
Moving like a bug's jaw, the two pale schoolgirl legs gnawed at Naota's body.
"Let me go!" Naota insisted, trying to pry apart Ninamori's legs, which were wrapped around him tightly.
Haruko snickered cheerfully as she looked on. "Ooooh, that looks dirty!"
With Naota still in its grips, the lemon squeezer aimed its sensor eye at Canti. It seemed the control system had merged with an impure entity and had meaninglessly captured the young boy; however, it suddenly remembered what its original prey was.
With an exaggerated holler, Haruko jumped into the corridor with Canti by her side.
Still holding onto Naota, the lemon squeezer used its remaining three legs to chase the antagonistic duo.
"Let me go!" echoed Naota's futile scream down the corridor.
After kicking open the metal hatchway and exiting onto the roof, the lemon squeezer searched the surroundings for its fugitive prey.
"Up here!" yelled Haruko, gazing down from the water tower. Behind her, like a faithful dog, was her Vespa. Haruko smiled cruelly before opening the Vespa seat and retrieving her guitar-shaped, time-space interference weapon from the storage space. "Better get ready. Time to meet your maker!"
"Stop!" Naota screamed, still in the lemon squeezer's clutches. He already assumed Haruko wouldn't spare a thought for him or Ninamori and would go all out in her attack on the lemon squeezer.
Naota was right. With an evil smirk, Haruko started the hand-operated generator on her weapon.
Sensing the threat from its opponent's shining weapon, the lemon squeezer took a few steps back and prepared to fling Naota in the direction of Haruko. Ninamori's long legs hurled Naota's body, turning it into a weapon.
"Waaahhh!" Naota screamed as he shot through the air.
"Get out of my way!" Haruko demanded, mercilessly knocking Naota aside. It was only a halfhearted swing, but it nevertheless sent Naota's body high up into the air like a fly ball. That guitar was a terrifying weapon.
"Hiii-ya!" With her super weapon in hand, Haruko leapt from the water tower and used all her strength to inflict a blow on the lemon squeezer's round body.
All of a sudden, a lightning-like bolt illuminated the midday roof. Immediately afterward, the lemon squeezer began to emit a cranking sound as though something wasn't working properly, and it then began to move irregularly, stumbling around the rooftop without direction. It appeared to be in great pain.
"Uggghhh!" Practically in sync with the lemon squeezer's groans of pain, Ninamori began shrieking in anguish. Her legs thrashed about, and her body twisted and squirmed as if she were being administered electric shock treatment. The violent thrashing alone would've been enough to break her bones, but fortunately, the struggling girl managed to separate her body from the lemon squeezer before falling limply to the ground.
Haruko smiled boldly.
In the meantime, Naota, who'd been thrown high into the air, was thinking that he must be the most unfortunate person in the entire world. His misfortunes seemed to have infinite variations. After Naota reached the apex of his flight, his body made a small arch and was pulled down by gravity.
Canti stood on the roof at Naota's exact point of landing, as if the robot had been predicting the boy's course all along. Opening up a part of his frame, the robot gobbled up Naota's flying body. It was a nice catch.
In an instant, Canti's dark blue body changed to a deep crimson, and his humanoid appearance once again evolved into a giant cannon, the form it took when he was in autonomic gun mode.
The fight was decided in a single shot. At light speed, a red laser shot out from near Canti's cannon mouth, locking onto the position of the lemon squeezer. With a great blast, the cannon ball pierced straight through the middle of the lemon squeezer's metal body, destroying it, and proceeding to create a gigantic hole in the roof of the school gymnasium on the other side.