Rise of an Angel Chapter 2

A bell rang as Ayu and her mom entered the Kurogane shop. This was her mother's first time visiting the shop. A shinki with braided blonde hair stood on a shelf and bowed as they came through the door. "Hello. Welcome to the Kurogane shop" she said politely. Ayu's mother looked for the source of the voice, only seeing the shinki on the the shelf when Ayu waved at it. "Hi Yukari" Ayu said, smiling. Ayu's mom looked at the shinki curiously before looking to her daughter. "Is this a friend of yours Ayu?" she asked. Ayu nodded. "Yeah. She's the shop owner Alice's Shinki, Yukari" Ayu said. Yukari bowed again. "It's very nice to meet you ma'am" she said. "It's very nice to meet you too Yukari. My name is Hope Kisari. I'm Ayu's mother" Hope said, smiling. Yukari nodded. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Kisari. May I call you Hope?" she asked politely. Hope nodded. "Sure" she replied. "Hey, Yukari? Where can I find Alice? It's a bit urgent" Ayu said. "Alice should be at the register. She just finished shelving the new shipment of parts that came in this morning" Yukari said. Ayu nodded. "Thanks Yukari" she said, quickly making her way through the store.

Approaching the counter, Ayu could see a girl in her early twenties with long blonde hair bent over sorting through a cardboard box. "Um, Alice?" Ayu said. "Huh? Oh, hey Ayu. Did Yukari already tell you about the new parts we got this morning?" Alice asked, moving herself upright.
"Yeah, but I'm not here today to check out the new Shinki parts" Ayu said. "Oh? Then what brings you here today? Don't tell me, you're finally getting your own Shinki today?" Alice asked, smiling. "Not exactly..." Ayu said, placing the case on the counter and opening it for Alice to see. "What happened to her?" Alice asked, now highly concerned. "I don't know. I found her like this outside my window this morning. Her arm and leg need to be replaced, and I think her sphere holder is damaged" Ayu said. Alice carefully picked the damaged Shinki up and put on her glasses before studying the damaged chest area. "Yeah. Whatever did this to her hit her hard enough to break through the protective breast panel" Alice said, reaching into her shirt pocket and pulling out a small tool. Touching the small panel with the tool, the three colored sphere floated out and hovered above her. Returning the tool to her pocket, she gently set the Shinki back into the soft case before taking the floating spheres and placing each onto a large, circular panel plugged into the computer by the register.

After tapping several keys, a blue light surrounded the panel, and Ayu watched as the damaged spheres began to repair. "While those being repaired, let's take a look at her armor. This booster on the right wing is as good as gone, and it looks like the right wing was somehow broken. Replacing the damaged pieces of her armor won't be a problem, but her sphere holder needs to be replaced, which is a very difficult part of the Shinki to repair" Alice said. Ayu smiled. "Don't forget who you're talking to here Alice" Ayu said. "Heh, you're right. If anyone can handle a job like this besides me, it's definitely you" Alice said, smiling.

As the blue light disappeared, the colored spheres slowly floated down into Alice's hand. Reaching under the counter, Alice took out a small case and placed the spheres inside. "Put this in your case. It'll keep the spheres safe until you're done with the repairs" Alice said. Ayu nodded and took the tiny case and placed it in the larger case she brought with her.

"How is she Ayu?" Hope asked, approaching the counter with Yukari sitting on her hand. "She's going to need her arm and leg replaced, and I'm going to need to repair her sphere holder if she's ever going to wake up again" Ayu said. "Are you sure you can handle such a difficult repair job Ayu?" Hope asked, lowering her hand to the counter to let Yukari hop off. Ayu nodded. "Absolutely" Ayu said, smiling at her mom and giving her a thumbs up. "Oh. Are you Ayu's mom?" Alice asked. Hope nodded. "Yes. My name's Hope Kisari" she said. Alice smiled. "It's nice to finally get to meet you. I'm Alice Kurogane, and from the look of things, you've already met my Shinki Yukari" she said. Hope nodded. "Do you think you have the parts Ayu will need to fix her?" Hope asked. "You bet. I have a couple other things Ayu will need if she's going to take care of a Shinki too" Alice said, bringing out a circular panel exactly like the one plugged into her computer.

Hope nodded. "This is definitely an essential for any Shinki owner to have" Hope said, looking at it. "You know about Shinkis?" Alice asked. "Not as much as Ayu, but yes. My husband has been working on the development of Shinkis for years now, and I've had plenty of time to learn about the equipment used to care for them" Hope said. "Looks like you and I are going to get along just fine" Alice said, smiling. "Now lets see about her armor here... she'll definitely need replacements for her wing and booster, but it may be best to replace both wings and boosters. A She'll need a new chest plate as well as a new chest panel too. The armor for her arms and legs seems to be intact. Did you find any kind of weapons with her Ayu?" Alice asked. Ayu shook her head. "No. I brought with me everything I found her with. Do you think she was attacked or something?" Ayu asked. "Considering the damage to her chest, it might be possible, but unless she's activated again, we have no positive way of knowing" Alice said.

"Did you see who she belongs to yet?" Yukari asked. Ayu sighed. "That's the weird thing. She isn't registered to an owner, and she doesn't have a name or registry number either" Ayu said. "It's possible her previous owner may have disowned her then" Alice said. "If she was disowned, would Ayu be able to take her in as her own Shinki?" Hope asked. Yukari nodded. "Yes. Before you'll be able to activate her, you'll need to program a name for her. Once you decide on a name and activate her, she'll automatically be given a registry number, and after hearing your name, you'll be registered as her owner" Yukari said. Ayu nodded. "Okay then. I don't know how she ended up like this, but I do know she deserves better than this" Ayu said, looking down at the damaged Shinki. Alice smiled. "If you're set on doing this, let me go get those parts for you" Alice said, stepping out from behind the counter. "Oh! Before I forget, one last thing you'll need" Alice said, bringing out another small box. "Once you have her activated, slip the blank card included with this and it will make your Shinki battle card" Alice said, setting the box down and making her way down an isle.

Moments later, after Alice picked several items from the isle, she returned back to the counter. "Okay, this should be everything you'll need to repair her" Alice said, setting down the items. "Will you be using this to replace her arm and leg?" Hope asked, picking up a package with a faceless white Shinki inside. Ayu nodded. "Yeah. Blank models are mainly made to be used for repairs or custom Shinkis" Ayu said. Hope nodded. "You're really lucking out here. Repairing the Shinki you found is a lot cheaper than buying a new one entirely. All this is also cheaper together than a brand new Shinki" Alice said, smiling and ringing up the items Ayu was getting. "Oh, and as long as you guys keep what I'm about to do our little secret..." Alice said, looking down at Yukari, who smiled and nodded at Alice. "I'm going to give you the sphere pad for free" Alice said. "I-is that really okay?" Ayu asked, surprised. Alice nodded. "Yeah, but just this time. Think of it as my gift to you for raising your grades the way you did" Alice said, smiling. "Wow, thank you Alice" Ayu said, smiling. Hope payed for the other items before Alice bagged them. "Once you get her all fixed up, I'd love to get a chance to see her" Alice said. "You got it. If I can fix her by tonight, I'll bring her over tomorrow so you can meet her" Ayu said. "I'll hold you to that. Oh, and remember, our little secret, okay?" Alice said. Ayu and Hope both nodded. "Our lips are sealed" Hope said, winking at Alice. "Thanks for all you help Alice" Ayu said. "Anytime. Come by tomorrow to tell me how things went, okay?" Alice said. Ayu nodded and waved as she and her mother left the store.

To Be Continued...