The Weight of Being Number One
I knew it. Of course I did. But no matter how I thought about it, the realization still hit me like a truck. The academy really does think things through. I’d wondered why the announcement for the top student was delayed. The fact that it only came out right after the club application period ended felt like an incredible coincidence. But it wasn’t a coincidence. It was deliberate.
The school was intentionally holding back the announcement so students wouldn’t all flock to the top student’s club. How did I know? Just look at this packed-as-hell café right now.
“Drinks! Faster!”
“There are way too many customers! Do you even know how long the line outside is?!”
“How would we know?! We haven’t been able to leave the kitchen!”
Revan shouted at the upperclassmen. The maids who were calm and gentle while serving in the hall turned into absolute beasts the moment they stepped into the kitchen. Senior Aila, who was supposed to be managing the hall? She was at the very front, yelling toward the kitchen. The only difference was that unlike the others, she wasn’t scolding anyone—she was smiling.
“Our masters are here in full force, aren’t they? Please hurry~!”
That woman… she probably just really wants to work like a maid, doesn’t she?
Even while thinking that, I didn’t have time to turn my head toward the hall. I was too busy quickly brewing coffee and moving cups. If I hadn’t worked part-time at a café before, this would’ve been impossible.
And of course, the main culprit and victim of all this chaos was in the same boat.
“K-Kiiyaaahou…”
That wasn’t excitement. That was the sound of someone completely drained of stamina. She was just desperately trying to keep her energy up. Every so often, voices from outside sent chills down my spine.
“Is Revan not here?”
“I’m Revan’s friend! No, I’m serious!”
“What kind of relationship do you have with that maid? If there’s no relationship, then there’s no reason to blush. Just wait your turn.”
“I’m actually friends with the maid over there, okay?!”
Villains. Villains. And more villains.
The commotion outside never stopped. While the maids and butlers rushed around trying to mediate, Senior Aila would say things like, “Even vulgar people like that are our dear masters,” with an expression that suggested she actually enjoyed it. I felt like I was losing my mind.
“You didn’t come to the academy just to work at a café, right?”
Revan, who had been trying to hype himself up earlier, muttered under his breath.
“Why… why are so many people showing up?”
Yeah. Exactly. Probably because you’re the top student, you idiot.
“Why the hell is business so good?!”
There was no one to answer him.
Two weeks had passed since I joined the club. I hadn’t gotten particularly close to Revan, the top student, despite being in the same club, but I was still reaping plenty of benefits. Enough that I didn’t regret turning down Professor Sumeragi’s offer to be her assistant. The pay was surprisingly decent.
The only annoying part was having to turn down Senior Aila whenever she asked me to help with her maid training after closing. Other than that, the work wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t like I was doing hard labor or getting beaten up.
When I told Ran how much I was getting paid per week at the café, she looked a little surprised. The amount was apparently much higher than what other clubs offered.
“A club that can actually generate profit? Deep, you really had it all planned out! When you said you weren’t taking the assistant position, I honestly thought you were an idiot!”
“No, he is an idiot. He definitely didn’t think it through. Guaranteed.”
This fucking bastard.
Anyway. The joint training between grades was coming up soon. The more money, the better. If I had steady income and good information, I could buy the right parts in advance and customize my Titan ahead of time.
“W-what exactly… do they do… in the j-joint training?”
Ran seemed to have been waiting for my question. She immediately turned on her smartwatch. At the same time, several large and small holograms floated into the air. We didn’t have to worry about our meeting or the holograms being exposed. The Servant Club had lent us one of their private rooms, so we could hold meetings here.
“Take a good look, okay?”
From between the holograms, Ran grabbed a long block of text and enlarged it.
“The rules are pretty simple. An outstanding second-year student will act as leader and form a five-person squad.”
Ah. When I slightly opened my mouth, Ran smiled and continued.
“It’s just team play. We did pretty well last time, right? Don’t be too nervous!”
No. The reason the three of us didn’t have any major problems during team play was because we didn’t meet the number the old sage mentioned. Among five people, there’s always one piece of trash. If five people don’t gather, the chance of there being trash is almost zero. There was no point explaining that—she wouldn’t understand, and this mouth of mine wasn’t good at explaining anyway. So I decided to just stay quiet and listen.
More importantly, there was a phrase that caught my attention.
“Should we skip the training objectives for now? Since the goal is obviously to come in first anyway. The joint training is basically conducted as squad battles.”
Squad battle. That term was officially used in the first Titan Core as well. In Titan Core, one-on-one Titan fights were called duels. Most PVP revolved around duels, but squad battles enjoyed just as much popularity. Five people formed a team to achieve specific objectives or fight until one side was completely wiped out.
In the end, there was only one ultimate goal.
“This joint training will continue until only one team remains. Pretty tough, huh?”
Coming in first. It would continue until only one team was left.
“T-that means…”
“It means it could last for days. Probably.”
“That’s right. I looked it up out of curiosity, and last year’s joint training was also squad battles. It lasted four whole days.”
Four days?
My body flinched. There was no way this body could pilot a Titan continuously for four days. In other words…
“We’ll have to communicate smoothly with our squad members and coordinate rest times while fighting.”
Which also meant…
“We’ll need to hold a separate team meeting, just like we did before the exam.”
My face twisted slightly. Ran noticed my expression and looked like she’d realized something.
“If it’s too much pressure, should I go instead?”
She had good sense. Normally, the leader of a Titan team was the pilot, but it wasn’t absolutely necessary for the pilot to attend every team meeting. Ran had picked up on that. There was no reason to refuse.
“I-if you could do that…”
Bzzzzzzzzzt!
There wasn’t. My wrist suddenly vibrated. It was my smartwatch. All three of us flinched at the same time and stared at my wrist. A familiar voice rang out from the speaker.
“No! You have to go yourself!”
“Ailee?”
Ran looked flustered.
“N-no, that’s not necessary. Of course the other teams will probably send their pilots as representatives, but you really don’t have to—”
“Are you serious? This is a total power struggle!”
What the hell was she talking about? I couldn’t just dismiss it as nonsense—Ailee’s voice was way too firm.
“The other squads are sending their pilots! But if we only send an operator? That’s completely disadvantageous! Obviously the pilot, Deep, has to go!”
“Ailee, if we’re going by that logic, shouldn’t Ian, who has the strongest presence among us, be the one to go?”
At my question, Ailee shouted as if she was frustrated.
“What’s an engineer doing at a meeting?! Just stick to customizing!”
Ran and Ian both fell silent at the same time, then spoke at the same time.
“Deep… why don’t you stutter when you talk to A12?”
“If you were a person, I’d smash that thick skull of yours right now, hu—”
A startled Ran quickly covered Ian’s mouth. Ran’s hand jerked several times as muffled grunts came out. Eventually Ian seemed to give up and stopped making noise, so Ran slowly lowered her hand.
“Later when I customize, I’m gonna take a hammer to your core and fucking—”
And she covered his mouth again.
Watching the two of them bicker, I leaned back against my chair. I wasn’t trying to watch the show—I just needed a moment to think. There was some truth to what Ailee said. In a Titan crew, the pilot naturally held the highest authority, followed by the operator, and the engineer came last. That didn’t mean engineers should be disregarded, but it was true that compared to the pilot who went out onto the battlefield, engineers were more replaceable. In the end, the one who could speak with the most persuasive power among the Titan crew was the pilot.
“Well… the decision is ultimately up to Deep anyway.”
“Deep! If you don’t want to do something, you have to be able to say it out loud!”
Even if she said that, there were still plenty of people in the world who couldn’t say they hated something even when they did. Being able to say you hate something and actually saying it were two completely different things. What was easy for Ailee was difficult for me.
Ian stared at me intently. Even though his mouth was still covered, his message came through loud and clear.
Do it.
That’s what Ian would have said.
“I-I’ll do it.”
I knew the difference between what I could do and what I had to do. Usually, what you had to do was something you didn’t want to do.
Ran looked a little surprised. Her lips twitched a few times before she simply nodded.
“I’m counting on you, Deep.”
“Good choice, Deep!”
Ailee let out a short, happy vibration.
“Then we’ll have Cadet Deep maintain a constant state of high alert. It doesn’t seem like he’ll be very useful as combat personnel anyway.”
Ah. Maybe I should just kick the table like Ian would.