The Chase and the Overlap
I stared at Yuzuki, who was glaring at Luna inside the Dracore with gritted teeth, and let out a long sigh without meaning to.
…Is this seriously bullying?
No matter how I looked at it, that’s exactly what the current situation seemed like.
So does that make me a bystander who just watches his little sister get tormented?
As her older brother, I couldn’t just stand by.
I briefly cut the comms link connected to Luna and spoke to Yuzuki.
“Yuzuki. If Luna’s actually bullying you, then I’ll—”
“W-who said I was being bullied?! It’s not like that!”
The reaction was far stronger than I expected, leaving me momentarily speechless.
“No, I was just worried…”
“Don’t misunderstand! Stay out of it, oppa! I’ll handle this myself!”
Yuzuki snapped at me, her face flushed red all the way to her ears.
Was it pride? Or did she simply hate the idea of me getting involved?
With an expression that refused to even meet my eyes, she restored the comms link.
—Sakuragi. You think I’ll just sit here quietly? If you’re going to be like that, I’ve got ideas of my own.
—Hehe… And what exactly can you do?
—I’ll… give it right back to you. You think I can’t?
—Haa… I’m looking forward to it. If you come at me like that, I might get even more excited. Can I get my hopes up?
—…What?
It didn’t feel like a simple battle of nerves. Luna’s voice was unnervingly serious.
And at the same time… she looked far too happy.
It didn’t feel like they were even speaking the same language.
After all, hadn’t Yuzuki already challenged her once and gotten thoroughly crushed?
I didn’t know what happened in the locker room, but the atmosphere back then had definitely not been normal.
—If I lose, I’ll apologize for what happened today.
—…And if I lose instead?
—Nothing? I don’t have anything I want to demand from you.
—…If you win like that, you’re just going to pull the same weird pranks as today, aren’t you?
—Maybe?
“…”
Yuzuki’s lips trembled faintly.
For a long while, she said nothing, simply hanging her head.
She looked completely lost on what to do.
Holding her breath, she swallowed a long, shaky inhale.
I spoke up carefully.
“…You’re not seriously thinking about doing this, are you?”
“…I don’t know. But… Sakuragi keeps pushing like this.”
Her tone already sounded like she was half-resolved.
To be honest, I wanted to stop her.
But at the same time, I was curious. I wanted to see how skilled Luna really was.
Yet alongside that curiosity came fear.
“…But with my current skills, can I even face Luna?”
“That’s…”
I couldn’t answer right away.
I had only started piloting a Dracore a few days ago.
Luna, on the other hand, had shown her capability when she saved us that day.
She was a veteran with real combat experience.
And above all, even in the original story, she was a powerhouse who gave Haruka and Iori a hard time.
“…Yuzuki. You remember that day, right? The one who saved us was Luna.”
Yuzuki whipped her head around and shot back coldly.
“…Don’t call her Luna. Call her Sakuragi. Why are you using her first name? Are you two that close?”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant… It’s just a habit—”
So that really bothered her.
“…Anyway. As much as I hate to admit it, Sakuragi’s skills are no joke.”
“…I know. She’s amazing. But a Dracore doesn’t move on its own.”
“That’s… true.”
Luna was the Bottom, the one who led the senses.
Without a capable Top pilot as her partner, she could only display half her true strength.
The problem was… whether I was any better than that Suzune.
Honestly, I wasn’t.
A brief silence fell.
Yuzuki stared into empty space, as if chewing over her thoughts, then spoke in a low voice.
“…Well. It worked out.”
“…Worked out how?”
“This situation… it’ll be a good stimulus for you too, oppa.”
Her voice was strangely unsteady.
It sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
—Alright. Discussion over?
Luna’s voice rang through the comms again.
I looked at Yuzuki.
Her expression had already hardened with determination.
There was no turning back now.
Synchronization Rate Rising
“Miss Sakuragi…? Are you really okay with this? How can you trust me…”
“Hehe… Suzune-chan, are you already thinking about losing?”
At Luna’s light, teasing tone, Suzune’s face burned crimson all the way to her hairline.
“Th-that’s not it… Absolutely not…”
Even as she said it, her lips kept trembling.
In truth, there was no special connection between the two of them.
She had only met Luna yesterday.
If it came down to closeness, Yuzuki was far more familiar with her.
So… why?
Luna tilted her head slightly in the cockpit and smiled gently, as if she trusted her opponent completely.
In that instant, it felt like my breath would stop.
It wasn’t a threat or intimidation, yet my mind went completely blank.
It felt like someone had seen right through me for the first time.
First love…
No, it was an even stranger sensation than that.
My heart pounded violently.
Thump. Thump.
It felt like the inside of my ears were ringing.
…She’s beautiful.
It was such a pathetically simple thought.
Luna’s red eyes sparkled with captured light.
Her slightly narrowed gaze, the curve of her smiling lips.
Everything about her made my body stiffen from head to toe.
“…I-in return… if I win, can I ask you for one favor too?”
“Hm? A favor?”
“Yes… Please be my Coupling partner again tomorrow.”
Before I even finished speaking, my heart sank with a heavy thud.
Only after the words left my mouth did I realize what I had just said.
But it was already too late.
Luna tilted her head in mild confusion.
Her crimson eyes filled Suzune’s entire field of vision, piercing straight through her.
“Oh my… That’s quite an unexpected request. Why all of a sudden?”
Luna slowly rose from her seat in the cockpit.
She stepped right up to her.
Her breath brushed against her.
It was cool, soft, and dangerously sweet.
Her heart could no longer endure it and began racing wildly.
“…Hehe. I don’t know what it is, but that expression… it’s cute.”
Luna whispered softly.
Suzune lowered her head, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Luna’s eyes and voice kept swirling through her mind.
“I’m counting on you for tomorrow too.”
“…Yes…”
Her voice trembled, soaked in embarrassment.
She thought herself pathetic, but she couldn’t do anything about it.
Just having Luna’s face so close made her feel like she was suffocating.
Suzune realized it.
No matter how much she denied it, she had already fallen.
The outdoor mock combat field was bathed in the midday sun. The Dracore’s exterior gleamed under the light, radiating heat.
Luna’s clear voice echoed across the comms channel.
—The rules are simple. If you catch us within five minutes of the start, you win. The entire mock combat field is the activity zone. Easy, right?
—Yeah.
Soon, Luna’s machine appeared on the Dracore’s sensors as a sleek, shimmering silhouette.
Though she held a poised stance, there was no tension in it—only a strange composure.
—Then let’s begin.
A virtual countdown flickered into view on the interface.
Residual heat shimmered across my sun-heated vision.
The hand gripping the control stick grew damp. I couldn’t tell if it was sweat or nerves.
The moment the countdown hit zero—
Dust exploded across my sight, and Luna’s machine left behind an afterimage as it fled.
I immediately shoved the control stick forward.
The machine’s joints contracted sharply, kicking off the ground and launching forward. The speed as it weaved between structures increased with every passing second.
Our breaths tangled together harshly.
An electric-like feedback surged through the control stick and raced up my wrist.
Luna’s machine skimmed the ground like a fleeing beast, then suddenly veered hard to the left. It was an incredibly agile movement.
Is Suzune’s skill better than I thought?
Such movement couldn’t come from Luna’s skill alone.
“Hngh… Oppa, go left!”
I was already planning to do exactly that.
I yanked the control stick. The Dracore’s massive frame twisted and instantly changed trajectory.
Luna’s machine appeared in my sights again.
But in the brief moment it had vanished, the distance had already widened.
The joints of Luna’s furiously sprinting machine contracted in rapid succession, releasing shockwaves.
As a result, a tail of dust was swept up behind it.
“Oppa, increase the speed more!”
Yuzuki’s voice trembled thinly.
Feeling my heartbeat syncing with hers, I gripped the control stick tighter.
A tingling numbness spread from my fingertips as the machine’s neural network fused with my own nerves.
The Dracore’s fuselage shuddered briefly, then the acceleration of its joints climbed another level.
With every step, the friction against the ground erupted like explosive booms.
Then Luna’s machine ran along the left-side structure as if scaling it.
The frame’s organic tissue twisted and smoothly dug into the surface. It looked as if the Dracore itself was alive and moving.
At this distance, simply chasing wouldn’t close the gap.
Luna’s maneuvering patterns flashed through my mind.
Just before turning left earlier, she had briefly bent the frame. If she turned the nose the same way again, then surely—.
“Yuzuki, get ready. I’m aiming for the next turn.”
“Got it…! Don’t worry about me, just push forward!”
My breathing was ragged.
My heart pounded distinctly.
Sweat and heat tangled together inside the suit.
In my vision, there was only Luna’s machine.
Soon, Luna’s machine attempted another sharp turn. The frame twisted smoothly, changing direction.
“Now…!”
I yanked the control stick with sudden force.
The machine drew a parabola and cut straight into Luna’s trajectory.
Luna’s machine twisted late in an attempt to evade, but this time my prediction had been faster.
Just a few meters now.
All my senses converged into one.
The surrounding heat, vibrations, and even my heartbeat overlapped like a single pulse.
In that moment, my breath and Yuzuki’s breath completely synchronized.
“Just a little more…!”
I pushed the control stick forward again. The Dracore’s frame trembled uneasily. It felt like I could reach her now.
But at that exact instant—
“…What…?!”
At a distance where I could almost touch her with my hand.
Luna’s machine suddenly burst with speed.
As if she had only been playing around until now, she began accelerating without restraint.
Both Yuzuki and I gasped in shock.
“What the hell is that? It’s way too fast! How can it suddenly accelerate like that…!”
“…Stay calm, Yuzuki.”
“Ugh…”
I steadied my breathing and pulled the control stick harder.
But at that moment, the machine shook heavily. It felt like the Dracore’s core was screaming.
“Hngh…!”
Yuzuki could no longer handle the speed I was demanding in order to catch Luna.
No matter how hard I pulled the controls, it was ultimately the Bottom—Yuzuki—who managed the machine’s balance and limits. Any maneuver beyond her capability was impossible.
Yet Yuzuki’s unyielding breath trembled thinly and reached me.
The tension of forcibly holding every joint in place transmitted through the Coupling and brushed against my skin.
Every time the Dracore’s frame vibrated, the sensation of her gritting her teeth and fine-tuning the machine seeped directly into me.
It felt like I was enduring with Yuzuki’s heart instead of my own. Her desperate stubbornness and urgency hit me like an electric current.
“Haa… Haa… It’s not… over yet… I can… go further…!”
Within her suppressed voice, I could feel her desperately struggling not to disappoint me.
And at that moment, astonishingly, the machine’s trajectory corrected itself and its speed increased ever so slightly.
At the same time, a burning heat spread through the hand gripping the control stick.
…This is…?
Yuzuki’s desire to catch Luna no matter what pierced into my mind.
In that instant, something stirred inside me. Unconsciously, I wanted to lend her even greater strength.
At the very least, I didn’t want to see the Yuzuki before me lose to anyone else.
And when that feeling was transmitted—
As if drawn by an invisible thread, the senses of the two people converged into a single point.
Yuzuki’s heart overlapped with mine, sending rhythmic vibrations all the way to my bones. It felt like my breath was being cut off. My vision turned pure white.
“Ha… Hngh…”
Her suppressed breathing echoed in my ears.
When my heart beat, hers pounded in tandem. Our senses tangled, mixed, and soon became impossible to distinguish.
Inside the Dracore’s cold shell, we fused into one.
Was this what it meant to reach the extreme limit of Synchronization Rate?
The senses layered in parallel mercilessly shattered all boundaries. For a moment, I forgot I was even human.
It felt like approaching a new consciousness. A dimension of sensation beyond the body opened up.
Leaving behind my body in the cockpit, the entire Dracore frame became me.
The trajectory of the passing wind, the gentle heat of the sun, even the sand and dust scraping across the frame.
Everything the Dracore experienced seeped into me.
Soon, Luna’s machine, which had been pulling away, grew steadily closer. The outlines in my vision sharpened and expanded, feeling as if I could reach out and touch it.
…This is a bit surprising.
At first, I hadn’t intended to go all out. I simply wanted to test the two of them.
I knew Yuto had only just finished his walking practice, and that he had only been Coupling with Yuzuki for a few days.
So at the beginning, I deliberately slowed down and left openings so they could catch me at any time.
But when I looked back, the sight that entered my eyes was completely different from what I expected.
Yuto and Yuzuki’s Dracore was chasing right on my tail, almost impossibly close.
The movement wasn’t clumsy at all. It was a perfect pursuit where their consciousnesses seemed completely overlapped, even the tiniest tremors synchronized.
For a moment, Luna’s fingertips went cold at the sight. She hadn’t expected this.
…They were this good?
She was surprised even at herself.
Until just moments ago, she had felt only playful tension, but now it was different.
The two of them weren’t simply following. They were growing in real time.
Their speed was increasing, their movements becoming smoother.
At this rate, she really felt like prey being hunted, so Luna took a short breath and laughed.
This sensation of her heart racing was actually incredibly welcome.
Just who was leading this growth?
Was it Yuto after all?
If Yuzuki’s skill had purely been this outstanding, rumors would have already spread throughout the academy.
Of course, that didn’t mean Yuzuki’s skills were poor.
She was simply at a level slightly above average, comfortably in the upper ranks. Originally, she shouldn’t have been at this level yet.
“Th-they’re catching up!”
As the distance narrowed, Suzune let out a restless voice.
Luna smiled brightly.
“It’s fine even if they catch us.”
“Ehh? B-but…”
“I’ve already confirmed everything I wanted anyway.”
She didn’t particularly have any competitive spirit for this game.
It had only been pure curiosity.
In that sense, Luna was already satisfied. In fact, the results exceeded her expectations and left her in a good mood.
They were just about to be completely caught by Yuzuki and Yuto.
—What the hell are you four doing?!
A sharp instructor’s voice burst through the forcibly connected comms, and suddenly the Dracore’s movements began to slow.
“…How old are you all supposed to be? You’re not even high schoolers… Haa…”
Kyoko-sensei’s short sigh echoed lightly down the hallway.
The four of us—including me—stood with our backs against the wall and both arms raised high.
The strangely humid air, the slightly flushed tips of our ears, the sweat forming in our palms.
The reason was simple. We had attempted to pilot Dracores in the mock combat field without the instructor’s permission.
“…Especially you, Yuzuki. I’m very disappointed. You, who are supposed to be the most diligent student in the entire academy, doing something like this. Why didn’t you stop them?”
“Th-that’s… I mean… I’m sorry…”
At Kyoko’s coldly sunken voice, Yuzuki’s shoulders trembled noticeably.
Her usually neat and expressionless face twisted slightly.
The way she forcibly lowered her gaze and swallowed the end of her words only amplified her shame. There was no room for any excuse in that expression.
“…Luna. Raise your arms properly. Can’t you see they’re only half-bent?”
Luna, who had been slyly bending her elbows in an attempt to cheat, was caught. She lifted the corners of her mouth for a brief moment, then shrugged her shoulders as if nothing had happened.
Within that short smile, a subtle enjoyment of even this situation was hidden.
As if she alone was savoring the air of shame that everyone else found humiliating.
“Yuto. I have a question for you too. How many times did I try to contact you during that situation… Did you not hear me?”
Kyoko stood in front of me, pressing a finger to her forehead as she asked.
I finally managed to steady my breathing.
“…No.”
My voice cracked more easily than I expected.
At that time, I really hadn’t heard anything. Only the dull pulse of my heart and Yuzuki’s heart beating in sync had filled my ears.
Yuzuki had probably been the same.
The surroundings had disappeared, and every sense had been clinging to the Dracore’s massive frame.
In that moment, no external stimulus could break through.
“Good grief… Just how high was your Synchronization Rate…”
Kyoko-sensei’s expression briefly crumbled.
A gaze mixed with surprise and worry passed over me.
“Yuto. You know this already, but the ultimate goal of Coupling is to fuse the nerves and senses of two people into one and connect to the Dracore’s nervous system. Because one person alone cannot control that enormous body.”
“……Yes.”
It was a familiar explanation.
I had heard it countless times from Yuzuki while lying in the hospital bed.
The reason two pilots, divided into Top and Bottom, were necessary.
In the end, moving a Dracore meant a human forcibly infiltrating the neural network of a giant bio-mechanical weapon and overlaying their own body and senses onto it.
That was why one person couldn’t endure it, and the only option was to overlap two people’s minds.
If one person wasn’t enough, then two could combine.
In that sense, the reason Synchronization Rate was so important was simple. It was to erase the boundaries between each other and reach the critical point where the Dracore could be perfectly controlled.
“However, a high Synchronization Rate isn’t unconditionally good. If you can’t control it properly… it becomes dangerous instead.”
In the original story, scenes of awakening would appear as the Synchronization Rate rose.
So I had always thought it was purely a good thing.
But apparently… that wasn’t the case.
I lowered my head inwardly, reflecting on Kyoko’s words.
But at that moment—
Before she even finished speaking, a strange sense of dissonance brushed through my mind.
Without any warning, my vision began to distort. My breathing grew shallow, and a faint ringing echoed in my ears.
It felt like body heat was draining from my toes. Something hot flowed down from my nose. Before it could drip from my chin, I instinctively wiped it with the back of my hand.
A red stain spread across my fingers.
My nose was bleeding.
“…Ah.”
My heart thudded two beats late.
I couldn’t breathe properly. My body suddenly felt heavy and tilted.
In the distance, Kyoko’s mouth was moving, but no sound reached me.
Strength left my arms, and my fingertips trembled in the air.
In that instant, the sensation of falling swept over me.
Without even having time to focus my gaze, I collapsed on the spot.