As I walked down a path to a side pavilion, Spencer walked beside me with almost frenetic energy. He had taken me up on my offer to join him for a visit and told me about his plans for the coming season. Soon, we entered the building, and I was blown away by what I saw.

The walls were decorated with colorful banners about upcoming events and pictures of competitions and teams from previous years, dating nearly half a century back. Near the door was a sizeable robotic sculpture that stood tall and proud, made up of intricate metal parts that shone brightly in the hallway's fluorescent light.

"Check out the cool stuff they're making," he said, gesturing toward the closed door at the end of the hall. "Don't worry if you don't understand - I'll be there to help ya figure things out."

I looked around in awe as we passed several workshops with glass windows, where a few students were working on some complicated piece of machinery. I slowed down a little, admiring their creations.

"The school is legitimately full of talented people," I said, admiring them. "Geeze."

"See?" he replied with a grin. "And things get even better when you join up!"

I smiled. "Things do seem to be going well here."

"Yeah, our robotics club is basically huge," he said with a blush. "We've always done pretty well, but last year was the team's first year winning the national championship outright."

Soon, we arrived at a door at the far end of the hallway and entered. I was immediately greeted by a large room full of glass cabinets and gadgets everywhere. A group of three students was inside bent over a table at the center, carefully soldering wires and placing components into something that looked like a mannequin with an open chest.

I gaped as I looked around the room, taking in the veritable treasure trove of parts, tools, and hardware. Four 3-D printers hummed in the corner, filling the room with noise and a slightly pungent smell. Several workbenches with cutting boards, soldering irons, and adhesives were all along the walls, which were covered with parts of models. There were trays filled with semiconductors, gemstone catalysts, and mana weaves for use in magitech.

"Holy crap, Spencer, I had no idea the workshop was so... stacked and advanced here. This is amazing," I said as I walked around the room.

"Told you, dude," he replied with a grin. "Wait until you see what we're working on as a group."

He looked up, and I followed his gaze. In the corner, I noticed a large sheet of paper drawn into a complex diagram and a series of numbers, angles, and figures. The top of the sheet read "Rescue and Recovery Frame — Overview."

We approached the group in the middle, and I noticed two students on the side. A pair of girls were also working with a tool I had never seen before - it gleamed in the light and looked rather strange as they whispered over a workstation.

One of the kids working on the bot, a pale, tall, and lanky boy with glasses, a bad case of pimples, and bright green hair, paused and looked up. I took a second to look over the ragtag group of nerds in front of me. They definitely gave me a different vibe from most of the student body.

Spencer waved at him. "Hey, Ivan! Crew, this is Ikki. Ikki, this is the gang. I was just telling Ikki here about the team to see if he'd be interested in checking us out. Turns out he's already self-studied kinematics, circuitry, and a basic Aether+ programming class, at that. He's one hell of a drafter too, and worked with CAD on the project that got him here too."

The boy looked at me, taking in everything Spencer said for a second. "Good stuff. Looks like you scored us a hell of a freshie. Nice to meet you." he said in a reserved tone.

"You too!" I said. "Hey uh, what are you guys building?"

"A refurb VR drone for the team," he replied lazily, glancing back at his project. "We're going to upgrade the old one after seeing some video from last year's regional tournament.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked, genuinely curious and eager to make a good impression. "I've never tried soldering on parts for anything this complicated before, but I've worked with classic soldering guns for most of my life and mana cutters for two years."

"Heck yeah, totally!", a tall Asian guy with green eyes said from behind the group, carrying some resin for the 3-D printers with a smile. "We could always use another pair of hands."

Stolen novel; please report.

Ivan turned around, rummaging in a bin before handing some small tools to me. "Knock yourself out. Just be careful with the circuitry. And — don't forget to ground yourself if you're going to be working with anything that could shock you."

"Don't worry, I know my way around a soldering iron," I replied happily, taking the tool. "I've been building things most of my life."

"You should be careful in here, at any rate," a dark-skinned girl with glasses beside me said. "Some of the stuff in here is pretty high-powered and cutting edge. And, there's a lot of static electricity and ambient mana floating around. You could get seriously hurt if you're not careful."

I nodded like a kid at a candy store. "Thanks for the warning, Don't worry, I'm feeling particularly careful today."

"Just one thing, bro," Spencer spoke up, tapping on his phone, "I'm gonna need you to sign up for the team. Don't worry — it's just a formality."

"Just a formality, huh?" I replied, punching my name and tracing a signature with my fingertips. "I suppose I can do that."

Ivan grinned at me. "Welcome to the team, then. Stick around. I'm sure you'll learn a lot if you do."

I nodded as I began to get down to work. It was... strange being welcomed by a group of new people once again. I had never thought of myself as social, but I wasn't exactly stunted and asocial, either. I'd never been at the same school for more than three years back home, and it felt nice to be welcomed with open arms by a new group.

"What's up with this workshop?" I asked out of curiosity, admiring the place. "This is amazing. It feels better-funded than some heavy industry robotics companies, even."

Barring anything radioactive like Uranium or crystallized Chaos Energy, they had all the conventional parts they'd ever need here.

"Dude, it's St. Antonia's. Our school is a bottomless pit of funding and resources," Ivan said with a shrug. "We have a real old as heck library, a woodshop, a fully-functional magic lab, a greenhouse, and a detached observatory with our own small telescope, for crying out loud. With the number of techie kids on scholarship, they'd be crazy not to dedicate a big chunk here."

"Yup!" the girl with the glasses explained. "My brother was part of the robotics club at Neumann Secondary School. They have some pretty decent stuff, but it's nothing compared to this. If you formally enter the team's competition roster, you get access to the workshops here and more lab space. It's a good opportunity. Anyway — my name's Nia. It's nice to meet you, Ikki."

"So, where are you from?" another girl spoke up, finally walking over from the hood on the side. She was a bit chunky, with orange hair and freckles. The girl had an unusual way of speaking. Instead of saying "where," she pronounced it "ware." It was kind of cute. She was carrying something that looked like a laser gun filled with some sort of snowflakey glass or crystal. "Do you have any family nearby?"

I froze for a second before answering, "Erm. I'm from Earth."

"Earth?" she asked. "Sheesh. That's so cool. I've never met anyone from there before. I'm from Otarra City."

"Yup, same here. Welcome to the not-Earth," said the lanky Asian boy from before. "I'm from Neucom. Local. Name's Eugene."

"Nice to meet you," the orange-haired girl said. "I'm Ann. I'm local too from the city proper."

"What kind of hobbies do you like?" Ann asked. "I'd love to hear what they're like across the portal."

She paused. "Wait. Hold on you're that Ikki, right?"

I froze and paused for a second before putting a hand on my forehead and groaning. "Oh, geez. Please tell me I'm not that infamous already."

"I dunno, man. It's hard to escape notice after dunking on Carrie Kong like that." Eugene replied, shrugging and holding back a laugh.

"Eh, none of us here are really normies anyway," a new girl I hadn't been introduced to commented idly while walking over. "It's whatever. And, what happens in the robotics club stays in the robotics club."

It was the girl who'd been with Ann at the hood off the side. She was the shortest of the group, and it looked like she was carrying some sort of sensor or monitor. The girl had bright red hair and wore a pair of strange, green goggles like the lab technicians wore.

"So you're from the parallel Terra, huh?" she said, tapping the eyepieces on her goggles. "Sounds like a fascinating place. I'm Enya. It's nice to meet you."

I was feeling pretty good after that. The kids in the workshop were lovely and welcoming, and I was already feeling good about my day.

We talked briefly as Ann and Spencer walked me through a few parts of their mannequin thing and what they did. I was surprised by how easily the conversation flowed. They were extremely curious and asked many questions about Earth, and I did my best to answer everything.

"Earth definitely is an interesting place, huh!" Enya muttered. "I've been reading about it on the internet for years. It's bizarre how we ended up in such a similar place with all these different borders, names and small differences in geography and whatnot."

I nodded as I fiddled with the silicon mannequin on the table. As I pulled out the small mana-infused gemstones and wires to meticulously resolder them, I couldn't help but feel a slight glee. "For sure, it still weirds me out that things that are obscure back home are big here, and vice versa."

"Anyway, it's amazing to be able to work on something this big," I said breathlessly as I started to sweat. "This is really cool."

"Well, sorry to be a spoilsport, but we'll be doing this a lot over the winter so you'll get tired of it quick." Nia said, ruffling my hair on her tip-toes. "But, still. It's not much but it's honest work for a newbie."

"I-I... well, still," I said. "It does feel kind of good." I nodded. "Thanks for welcoming me the way you have."

"No sweat," Spencer said with a grin, presenting me one of his giant fists. "We're a team now, right Ikki my man?"

I grinned back at him. Between this and the group I'd met at lunch earlier today, I'd been looking for a home like this, and I'd found it. This was perfect for me.

"Right. Team it is."

I bumped my fist against his with a smile.