The First Coupling
I focused on my fingertips. The surface of the control yoke grew hot, as if it were stealing my body heat.
I took a steadying breath, closed my eyes, then opened them again. The lights streaming past the translucent hangar hatch blurred faintly in my vision.
Very slowly, I pushed the yoke forward.
In that instant, the massive joints of the machine stirred and pushed against the hangar floor. A heavy vibration pierced my abdomen. It felt like every hair on my body was standing on end.
The Dracore's knees lifted off the steel frame as if released from tension, and its upper body rose straight up. A rhythmic vibration, like the heartbeat of the machine, seeped into my back.
“Hngh…”
Yuzuki’s moan, which she couldn’t hold back from that single motion, burrowed straight into my heart. The back of my neck burned with a tingling heat.
When I gently pulled the yoke to the left, the will connected through Coupling reached the Dracore’s drive system.
Yuzuki’s faint tension immediately reflected back, correcting the joint angles in real time.
The Top uses the yoke to command large movements—advancing, evading, deploying weapons—while the Bottom binds their nerves to the coupling interface, making minute real-time adjustments to the Top’s motions.
It was as if I decided the direction, and she maintained the balance.
Eventually, the work lamps hanging from the hangar ceiling slowly crossed my field of view. With every single step, Yuzuki swallowed hard and trembled fiercely to keep us upright.
Each stride merged all our senses with the Dracore, passing through one another.
In that moment, it became impossible to tell whether we were moving the Dracore, or the Dracore was moving us.
The air inside the cockpit slowly grew thick and stifling.
“Ugh… Oppa, you’re too stiff… Be a little gentler…”
“Ah… Sorry.”
“Haa… It can’t be helped… It’s our first time…”
Was it inevitable that our first attempt would be clumsy? I honestly had no idea what mistake I’d made, but it seemed to feel uncomfortable for Yuzuki somehow.
But this… you…
I swallowed. Yuzuki’s voice and words from a moment ago had strangely tickled something deep inside me.
The current situation felt exactly like a man trying something for the first time, his awkward movements making the woman tense.
It didn’t feel like we were piloting a Dracore… but like we were doing something far more intimate.
My breathing grew shallow. I was terrified that my thoughts would flow straight into her.
Every time I had thoughts like this, I became painfully aware of just how deeply the Coupling connected us.
Her breath against my back felt thin and scorching. The body pressed tightly against the suit transmitted itself to me with embarrassing clarity.
My mind screamed that I had to concentrate, but my body only grew hotter, more helpless. This was something that went far beyond simple piloting. Unconsciously, my grip on the yoke tightened.
Had Yuzuki read my thoughts just now?
Or was she pretending not to notice?
Yuzuki said nothing. She simply matched her movements to my will, keeping the Dracore in step.
Right now, she was only pressing her body against mine in the cockpit, breathing hard.
I carefully lowered my gaze and softened my voice.
“…Moving again.”
“…Okay.”
And so we slowly pushed open the hangar hatch and stepped outside.
Other students were already moving their Dracores energetically across the training ground.
Some units turned smoothly, while others had weapons deployed and stood in tense stances, aiming at each other. We were the very last pair to appear.
Were we too late? A strange anxiety crept into the hand gripping the yoke.
“…It’s fine. Like I said before, it’s your first time, Oppa.”
“…I guess so.”
At Yuzuki’s encouragement, I gave a bitter smile and nodded.
Just then, the instructor’s voice came through the comms.
“Yes… Understood… Hngh… Today I’ll take the initiative.”
With that, the transmission ended. Yuzuki glanced back at me and said,
“Haa… Hngh… For now… let’s aim to just walk around the area… Is that okay?”
“…Got it.”
2.
How should I describe piloting a Dracore through Coupling?
It was like the clumsy dance practice I’d seen in old videos—one slight misalignment in movement and both of us would lose balance. Yet that very anxiety somehow made my blood run hotter.
THUD—!
The tens-of-tons war machine pulsed and stirred according to my will. Like a massive creature matching heartbeats, the Dracore moved by overlapping my heart with Yuzuki’s.
“Haa… Haa…”
I could feel not only Yuzuki’s but my own breathing growing rougher.
It wasn’t as simple as grabbing the yoke and mentally wishing for the Dracore to move.
Every time I moved even one joint, concentration and tension pierced my entire body.
I had to imagine the angles of dozens of joints in my head and match Yuzuki’s neural responses in real time. All those sensations flooded in at once, tightening my chest until I could barely breathe.
Still, after moving around for a while, I started to get the hang of it.
And at the same time, I felt it.
Just how perfectly Yuzuki was matching my piloting, far better than I’d expected.
At first it had been clumsy and precarious, like a newborn taking its first steps. But thanks to her support, after only a few strides it began to feel as natural as moving my own body.
Every time I took an awkward step, Yuzuki gently caught my balance with a tender sensation.
That soft feeling wrapped around my bones and heart. Gradually, confidence bloomed. Now it truly felt like we had become one, moving this body together.
Maybe that was why I unconsciously muttered while panting roughly,
“It feels better than I thought…”
“What…?”
“Piloting the Dracore… It’s more fun than I expected…”
“…You should be grateful your partner is me. If we were both beginners, the Dracore would probably be rolling on the floor by now.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
I didn’t deny Yuzuki’s words.
In that regard, Yuzuki was clearly an outstanding Bottom pilot.
How much longer did we keep moving like that?
The hand gripping the yoke gradually grew heavy and numb.
It wasn’t just about issuing commands. My temples throbbed from the concentration, and a strange burning fatigue seeped from my forearms all the way to my shoulders. With every exhale, I felt my limit drawing closer.
Yuzuki quickly noticed my condition and spoke.
“Haa… Haa… If it’s getting hard, you can stop… There’s no point pushing yourself right now…”
“…Yeah, the stamina drain is insane.”
“Especially the headache, right? That’s normal for a Top. When you focus and strain your nerves, blood vessels constrict, breathing gets labored, and heat builds up in your temples.”
It wasn’t just that she sensed my condition through Coupling. Her words were so precise it was as if she had experienced it herself.
“…Yuzuki. You know a lot about this.”
“Well… As a freshman, I experienced both Bottom and Top roles.”
Of course, they wouldn’t separate Bottom and Top from the very beginning.
Right now she was panting beneath me, but I found myself a little curious about what she would look like gripping the yoke and leading.
…Not that I had any intention of ever taking the Bottom role.
That was impossible for a man. At least as long as my tastes didn’t change.
Especially not when I was already feeling pleasure from gripping the yoke and moving her like this.
“…You’re having dirty thoughts again, aren’t you?”
At those words, my body flinched.
Had my thoughts been leaking through the Coupling? With my fingertips trembling faintly on the yoke, I couldn’t give any answer.
“Haa… Really…”
Yuzuki let out a low sigh.
And then it happened.
I was certain no words had been spoken, yet for some reason I had the illusion that I heard Yuzuki’s voice.
3.
After circling the training ground once, we returned. I no longer had the energy to maintain concentration.
To be honest, I had been a little excited at first. I thought I might show an amazing performance from my very first piloting session, that perhaps I had some special talent hidden inside me.
But reality was different.
Simply making the machine walk left my whole body drenched in sweat and consumed so much mental and physical strength that my mind went completely blank.
As I leaned against the lift on the way down, Instructor Kyoko turned her gaze toward us.
“That’s better than I expected. Just managing to make the Dracore walk properly on your first try is a huge success. Everyone usually ends up rolling on the floor at the start.”
At the instructor’s words, Yuzuki let out a small, steadying breath beside me and smiled.
“Hear that? She said we did pretty well today. Like the instructor said, this is good for a first attempt.”
“I guess so.”
Yuzuki’s calm praise made my breathing calm, yet strangely caused my heart to pound.
It felt, just a little, like I had been acknowledged.
Well, thinking about it, I wasn’t even part of the protagonist duo, so this much was probably enough. I was convincing myself of that when Instructor Kyoko scanned the monitor and tilted her head.
“…What? Your synchronization rate is even higher than last time?”
“I-is it?”
Yuzuki’s voice trembled in a way that was unlike her.
I turned to look at her. Her face was visibly flushed.
I wondered why she was so flustered—then the voice that had lingered in my ear earlier came back to me.
Maybe that hadn’t been a hallucination after all. The moment I realized it, I felt my own face burning.
“…Why are both of you making those faces? Are you feeling sick somewhere?”
At Instructor Kyoko’s question, Yuzuki and I shook our heads at the same time. Our eyes met, and we both quickly looked away.
“…What is this? So suspicious.”
Instructor Kyoko, who had been watching the two of us, frowned and muttered under her breath.