The festival was over. The lanterns, the laughter, the food stalls—gone as quickly as they had come.
And for Reina Saeki, that meant only one thing.
"Finally. Back to work."
Her lab was quiet, humming only with the faint sound of machines idling and the persistent buzz of fluorescent lights. Reina slipped into her chair, halo already resting in place above her head, its faint glow steady. On the desk spread out in front of her were wires, tiny chips, and a dozen scratched-out blueprints.
[ANIER:Emotional state: relief. Estimated satisfaction level: 87% upon returning to laboratory environment.]
"Stop narrating my feelings," Reina muttered as she sketched another design. "You sound like a cheap AI assistant from an online ad."
[ANIER:Correction: premium AI with unparalleled sentience and computational skills. My market value far surpasses…]
Reina sighed, rubbing her temples. "I didn't mean literally. Just… let me think."
The target of her thoughts was written neatly at the top of her notebook page:
Objective: Install LCD Projection System in Halo
The idea seemed simple in her head. If the halo could project holographic modules into her lenses, why not allow it to cast images outward as well? Maybe onto walls, maybe into the air. Something practical for presentations… or maybe just cool.
Her first attempt, however, had ended in literal smoke.
The burnt LCD chip still lay on her desk, a charred reminder.
Attempt One — Direct Integration
"Alright," Reina muttered, adjusting her tools. "This time, I'll reroute the power distribution. Less current, steady flow."
She carefully placed another LCD chip into a carved slot on the halo's ring. Thin copper wires linked it to the main circuit, soldering points neat and precise. Reina attached a micro-power regulator—something she'd learned the hard way last time—and flipped the switch.
A faint spark. A hum.
For a moment, nothing. Then—poof.
A puff of smoke curled upward, acrid and sharp.
Reina coughed, waving the smoke away. "…Failed again."
[ANIER:Failure confirmed. Analysis: heat distribution insufficient. Suggestion: alternative cooling mechanism or use of quantum dot display material.]
"…Quantum dot display, huh." Reina scribbled the note. "But that's expensive."
[ANIER:Correction: it is expensive for most people. For you, it is one late-night auction away.]
Reina pinched the bridge of her nose. "No. I'm not blowing my allowance again. I still need food."
Attempt Two — Indirect Projection
Reina adjusted her approach. Instead of forcing an LCD chip directly into the halo, what if the halo merely powered an external mini-projector?
She scavenged parts from an old portable projector, stripping away the casing until only a crude lens, bulb, and circuit remained. With careful adjustments, she mounted the stripped-down projector into the ring of the halo, balancing weight distribution.
The result looked ridiculous. The halo sagged slightly, as if wearing a clunky hat.
[ANIER:Style rating: negative three out of ten. Current design resembles a broken ceiling fan.]
"Shut up." Reina clicked the power.
The light flickered weakly. An unfocused rectangle appeared against the wall, blurry and colorless.
Reina frowned. "Not usable. Too heavy, too unstable."
She switched it off, dismantling the projector in frustration. "This is a waste."
[ANIER:Correction: this is progress. Failures are merely data points. Statistical probability of success increases with each attempt.]
"…You sound like a textbook."
[ANIER:Would you like me to cite references?]
"No."
Attempt Three — Holo-LCD Hybrid
Hours passed as Reina sketched, soldered, dismantled, and rebuilt.
Her third attempt was more ambitious. Instead of a pure LCD, she experimented with a hybrid module—essentially using the existing holographic projector in her lenses, but redirecting its output through a prism in the halo, bouncing the image outward.
It required delicate calibration. Mirrors the size of fingernails, micro-lenses cut down to impossible thinness, wires soldered so finely that Reina had to hold her breath during each connection.
Finally, it was ready.
She powered it on.
Light beamed forward—jagged, unfocused, but something. A floating blur shimmered in front of her desk, shifting between colors. With adjustments, the shape clarified until…
"…A square." Reina blinked. "A glowing square."
[ANIER:Correction: a slightly tilted glowing square.]
"…Progress," Reina admitted reluctantly.
But within seconds, the image destabilized, flickering before fading out. The heat readings spiked again. The halo emitted a faint whine, then powered itself down.
Reina exhaled slowly, slumping back in her chair. "Not good enough."
ANIER's Proposal
[ANIER:Recommendation: instead of brute-forcing LCD integration, consider micro-projection using phased array optics. By leveraging interference patterns, light can be directed without bulky lenses.]
Reina raised an eyebrow. "…That's basically asking me to build a laser hologram system from scratch."
[ANIER:Correct.]
"…You're impossible."
[ANIER:Correction: I am statistically improbable, not impossible.]
Reina groaned, dropping her head onto the desk. "Fine. Let's test phased array optics."
Attempt Four — The Laser Experiment
She scavenged again—this time from old laser pointers, optical drives, and a miniature camera lens. Hours melted as Reina painstakingly soldered together a crude phased array, aligning beams so they could theoretically interfere and project an image in the air.
It looked fragile. Even breathing on it might snap it apart.
Still, Reina positioned it carefully on the halo, triple-checking the wires. "Please don't explode."
She flicked the power.
Thin beams of light flickered, crossing in midair. A faint outline shimmered—unstable, twitching—but recognizable. A simple 2D diagram hovered in the air like a ghost.
Reina's eyes widened. "It… works."
The image wobbled, distorted, and then fizzled out as the array overheated.
But still—progress.
Reina scribbled down notes furiously, adrenaline rushing.
[ANIER:Achievement unlocked: first successful projection. Probability of stable system: 23% with current design.]
"Twenty-three percent is terrible."
[ANIER:Correction: twenty-three percent is greater than zero. Unlike your first three attempts.]
"…I should never have given you sarcasm subroutines."
Hours of Refinement
Night stretched long. Coffee cups piled. Reina's hands were stained with solder burns.
She cycled through iteration after iteration—refining the optics, miniaturizing the wiring, embedding cooling vents. The halo became sleeker with each pass, though the desk looked like a battlefield of discarded prototypes.
By dawn, Reina had something workable: a ring with embedded micro-lenses, each aligned by less than a hair's width. The halo hummed quietly as it powered up.
Reina straightened, heart pounding. "Projection test… begin."
Light flickered outward, gathering into a crisp rectangle against the wall. The school emblem appeared—sharp, steady, glowing as if etched from light itself.
"…It's stable." Reina whispered. "It actually works."
[ANIER:Confirmation: stability level 91%. Visual quality: satisfactory. Emotional state: pride, suppressed but present.]
Reina exhaled, leaning back, finally smiling. "Yeah. Pride."
Epilogue of the Night
She let the projection cycle—shifting from diagrams to notes, even to a recording of Shion's violin performance. The sound and image together filled the lab, painting the room in soft music and light.
For once, Reina just sat back and let herself enjoy it.
[ANIER:Would you like me to store this as "Victory Moment #17"?]
"…Sure. Why not."
And with that, she allowed herself to rest, halo glowing gently above her, a new frontier of possibilities waiting in the circuits.