Reina Saeki pushed open the door to her lab for the third day in a row, the familiar scent of metal, paper, and faint ozone greeting her like an old friend.
"Home sweet home," she muttered, ignoring the fact that she had just skipped another full day of classes. Not that her teachers would complain. At this point, they probably saw her as untouchable. A girl like Reina didn't need tutoring. She probably knew their lesson plans better than they did.
This time, though, she wasn't just wandering in for fun. Her steps carried confidence. Her mind was sharp and her hands itched to work. Last night in her dorm, she had scribbled down new formulas and ideas, lines of notes filling her notebook until the pages crinkled from the pressure of her pen.
If this worked—if she really pulled this off—then her "halo" wouldn't just be a silly trick. It could become something far more. A propulsion system. A magnetic thruster in the shape of a holy ring.
A giant halo above a spaceship. A crazy dream? Maybe. But she was Reina Saeki. Dreams were just prototypes waiting to happen.
Back to Work
She rushed to her workbench, flipping open her notebook and spreading out the halo parts she had left unfinished.
"Alright… let's do this properly this time."
For the next several hours, Reina buried herself in testing. Scribbling equations. Tightening screws. Cutting pieces apart only to rebuild them with a new design. Failure after failure, then tiny successes that kept her going.
At one point the ring hovered for less than a second before clattering onto the floor. Another time it spun violently and nearly smacked her in the face.
She didn't care. Each mistake carved the path forward.
By mid-afternoon, her persistence paid off.
The halo floated. Stable.
It hovered a few centimeters above the mannequin's head, not wobbling, not shaking, not crashing. Just quietly glowing with that soft white light.
"...It works." Reina's lips curled upward.
Then she frowned.
Another problem.
The air felt different. Her instruments began to spike. She glanced at the EMF reader and nearly dropped it.
"High electromagnetic radiation… great." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "So basically, it's cooking people's brains. Perfect."
Testing Outside
She knew what to do next.
Reina grabbed the halo and the chip powering it, carefully placing them into a padded box, and marched straight out of her lab. Her destination: the science wing.
Of course, she didn't even hesitate to barge into a classroom full of upperclassmen. The students froze, staring wide-eyed as the campus' "celebrity genius" strolled in like she owned the place.
"Excuse me," Reina said flatly. "I need to borrow some equipment. I'll only take a few minutes."
The supervising teacher blinked. "Uh… Saeki-san, what exactly—"
"Radiation tests."
No one dared stop her. Within seconds, she had her halo hooked up to professional instruments.
As expected, the readings went wild. The halo practically screamed electromagnetic interference. Enough to fry circuits, maybe even pacemakers if anyone got too close.
Reina sighed and packed everything up again. "Thank you for letting me run the test." She bowed politely, then left just as quickly as she came.
The upperclassmen broke into whispers immediately.
"W-what was that?!""She just… walked in…""Was that a ring? It looked like it was glowing—"
The teacher sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Don't question it. That girl lives in another dimension."
Back to the Lab
By late afternoon, Reina was back at her bench, hunched over the halo again. She adjusted the input and output power, carefully tuning the circuits until the EMF levels dropped.
She tried again.
The halo floated. Stable. No dangerous spikes on her meters this time.
A grin spread across her face.
Time for the real test.
She clipped the chip into her hair, nestling it under strands where no one would notice. The halo hovered above her head, perfectly balanced, glowing faintly like a crown.
"Alright… walking test."
She stepped forward. The halo followed smoothly, as if tethered to her by invisible strings.
"Tilting test."
She leaned sideways, even jogged across the room. The halo didn't budge. Still floating. Still glowing.
Her heart raced. It was actually working.
Then she felt it.
A strange looseness in her mind. Her thoughts became sharper, clearer, like her brain had been running at half speed before and suddenly kicked into overdrive. A faint vibration buzzed against her scalp, gentle and soothing. Almost like a cat's purr.
Reina raised a hand and touched the halo carefully. It vibrated softly in her palm, almost alive.
"...This is dangerous," she whispered. But her smile betrayed her fascination.
Not Quite Holy
There was only one problem left.
She studied the reflection of herself in the lab's polished window. The halo floated perfectly above her head, but… it didn't look angelic. Not at all.
It was sharp, jagged in places, glowing with a harsh white light that made her seem less like a saint and more like some fallen angel from a nightmare.
"…Menacing," she muttered. "I look like a final boss."
Reina groaned and pulled the halo off, placing it carefully on the table. She opened her notebook and began scribbling observations and hypotheses, forcing herself to think practically instead of emotionally.
Still, a part of her couldn't shake the feeling that it fit. Not divine. Not holy. But undeniably hers.
The Audience
She sighed deeply and finally spoke aloud:
"You five can come in now."
The lab door creaked open.
Sei, Arisa, Mei, Himari, and Ren all shuffled inside, looking half guilty and half relieved.
"You knew we were there the whole time?!" Mei squeaked.
"You're terrible at hiding your voices," Reina said flatly, setting her pen down.
The five of them crowded around the workbench, eyes darting to the glowing halo. Their reactions were immediate.
"...It's kinda scary-looking.""More like a cursed object than a halo…""Still, this… this is amazing, Reina."
Reina crossed her arms. "You're not wrong. Which is why this stays between us. Understand? I'm not parading around school with a creepy glowing ring over my head. It's nonsense."
The others nodded quickly. They knew the risks if word got out. Fame. Attention. Sponsors. Pressure. It could bury her alive.
But at the same time…
They couldn't deny it. What Reina had built was history in the making.
Naming the Prototype
Reina glanced back at the halo one last time. It pulsed faintly, as if waiting for her decision.
She exhaled slowly.
"...Fine. You want a name?"
She tapped her notebook, then wrote it down in bold letters.
'Prototype Angel II — Fallen Crown.'
The name echoed in the lab. Heavy. Fitting. A little scary, but undeniably true.
Her friends exchanged nervous glances, then small smiles.
Sei scratched his head. "Sounds more like a weapon than an invention."Arisa smirked. "...It matches you though."Himari whispered, almost to herself, "Fallen Crown… huh…"
Reina just stared at the glowing ring, her lips tugging upward.
One day, she thought, maybe this would be more than just a prototype.
For now, it was hers alone.