The Weight of Overload
I pressed my body deep into the Dracore cockpit.
Hot heat radiated from my hands as they gripped Yuzuki's control yoke. My breath fractured in my throat, breaking and reconnecting in ragged bursts.
Luna's machine loomed ahead. Her silhouette sliced through the ash-gray dust as it fled, burning itself into the center of my vision.
Electric feedback surged relentlessly through my fingertips.
Every forward surge made the mech's frame groan. Every step sent tremors racing straight into my brain.
I was about to catch her. Right now, I could reach her.
"Haa… haa…"
Yuzuki's moan. I etched the sound into my ears and shoved the yoke even deeper.
The Dracore shifted its massive trajectory, smashing through structures as it charged forward.
Our breaths seemed to mingle. Yuzuki's scorching exhalation pierced my ear.
My heart hammered as if it no longer belonged to me.
Just a little more. Just a little further.
The pounding of my heart and the burning current overlapped, setting my entire body ablaze.
Luna's machine grew larger. It felt like I could touch it if I simply reached out.
So the moment the Dracore stretched out its hand—
I opened my eyes.
An unfamiliar ceiling filled my vision.
As consciousness slowly rose, a sweet, strangely soft scent seeped into my nose.
Something warm and supple pressed against the side of my face.
"Oh my… you're finally awake?"
I lowered my gaze from the ceiling, and Luna's face appeared right before me.
For a moment I was confused, but then I realized—Luna had turned her own thigh into a pillow and rested my head on it, smiling down at me with a mischievous grin.
I tried to sit up immediately, but the soft sensation that met my fingertips stole my breath away.
Unlike the dream, what I was actually holding in reality wasn't a control yoke… it was Luna's breast.
The soft, elastic curve transmitted through my skin made the reality of the situation painfully clear.
Luna covered her mouth with her fingertips, wearing an expression like she was enjoying a delightful show.
"Hehe. What kind of dream were you having? Your hands are quite bold."
"…No, this is…"
I was so flustered that words failed me.
"I brought the doctor. Yuto still hasn't woken…?"
A low, tense voice. The door opened, and Yuzuki rushed in.
"…"
In that instant, Yuzuki's gaze fell upon us.
Luna with my head resting on her thigh.
And my hand, still firmly placed on Luna's breast.
With my head still pillowed on Luna's thigh, my eyes met Yuzuki's.
Yuzuki's expression went blank for a moment. Her lips trembled, and her pupils quivered faintly.
"…What are you two… doing?"
Her voice was small, as if she were holding her breath.
Her face burned crimson all the way to her ears, a chaotic mix of fury and embarrassment swirling across it.
"No, that's… this is a misunderstanding."
I tried to speak, but my tongue wouldn't cooperate.
My mind was still foggy from just regaining consciousness.
I knew I needed to make some excuse, but I couldn't even think of what to say.
Meanwhile, Luna continued smiling as if nothing was wrong.
"Heee… This is the first time a man has ever grabbed my chest. Definitely feels different because it's a guy. His grip is stronger than Yuzuki's. Thanks to that, this is a little… painful?"
Was this really something to say while smiling?
At those words, Yuzuki's eyes froze over instantly.
Her lips twitched and trembled. Her gaze darted back and forth between my hand and Luna's face.
Fury and bewilderment flooded Yuzuki's face, which had turned red all the way to her ears.
"…Just take your hand off first. How long are you going to… keep holding it like that?"
Yuzuki's voice shook, but it was firm.
That finally snapped me back to my senses.
I yanked my hand away from the soft, yielding sensation in a panic. Cold sweat still trickled down the back of my neck.
"Ah… no, really… this is a misunderstanding."
"…Why do you keep saying it's a misunderstanding? Then what exactly did I just see?"
"…Well, you see."
How was I supposed to explain this?
In the dream I'd been gripping a control yoke, but in reality it turned out to be Luna's breast?
No matter what I said, it would sound like a pathetic excuse, so I simply shut my mouth.
"So… he collapsed from Overload symptoms?"
A calm, low female voice came from beyond the door.
At the sound, Yuzuki briefly turned her head. Soon after, the academy's assigned female doctor entered the room with a completely casual expression.
The doctor seemed completely unaware of the chaos that had just occurred or the compromising position Luna and I had been in.
"Hmm? The atmosphere feels a bit…"
She must have sensed the strange mood, because the doctor glanced around, but Yuzuki whipped her head away. The tips of her ears were still bright red.
I had no idea what to do and could only swallow nervously.
The doctor's nonchalant tone cutting through the bizarre atmosphere somehow helped me breathe again.
2.
In the end, the cause of this entire incident was that my body still hadn't fully adapted, yet I'd pushed the Dracore too hard.
Fortunately, the examination showed no serious problems. The doctor said that since I was young, I'd be fine by tomorrow.
However, the doctor made a fuss about how this was the first time she'd ever seen a male suffer from Overload, which led to an unnecessarily thorough series of tests.
They said that since I was male, there might be differences from the female pilots.
Anyway, after all the tests were finally over, I was advised to rest for a while just in case, so I lay in bed passing the time.
…I never thought I'd experience Overload myself.
In the original story, there were frequent scenes where Haruka and Iori would collapse and faint after pushing themselves too hard in battle. The reason had been Overload.
In other words, they'd overloaded their bodies by operating the Dracore beyond its limits.
And now that had become my reality.
One corner of my mind found the fact fascinating, but at the same time, it left me with a strange feeling.
Had I really pushed myself that hard?
As that question arose, a memory surfaced—of how during Coupling, without realizing how far my senses had expanded, I'd simply tried to sink deeper.
…Yeah. That was probably it.
At that moment, I had completely crossed the line.
With the single thought that I might be able to catch Luna, I'd forcibly latched onto the Dracore's nervous system.
Only now did Instructor Kyoko's words truly sink in.
Just because the Synchronization Rate was high didn't mean it was unconditionally good.
When you stood on that boundary, the overwhelming power of the Dracore came with sensations too intense for a human body to endure.
…In the end, I'd grabbed a power I couldn't properly control. It was like handing a sharp sword to a child.
And if this had been real combat, the result would have been catastrophic.
…Haruka and Iori really are incredible.
I'd collapsed after just a few minutes of pushing myself to catch Luna once, yet in the future those two had fought against an enormous number of Outers while enduring these same sensations.
As expected of the protagonist duo. Their abilities felt even more impressive now.
The one comforting thing the doctor had said was that this Overload was closer to severe muscle fatigue, so I shouldn't worry.
But strangely, no matter how much I rested, the fatigue wouldn't fade.
It wasn't my body. It was my head.
My brain felt heavy, as if the inside was hollow and numb.
The lingering aftereffects of the sensory feedback still echoed in my ears. Yuzuki's breathing and the sight of the fleeing Dracore replayed in my mind over and over.
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and let out a slow breath.
The tension that had remained in my shoulders finally released, and my whole body sank downward as if being sucked into a vacuum.
My eyelids grew heavy.
No thoughts entered my mind.
My heart beat slowly. Very slowly.
It felt as if I were still inside the Dracore.
In that illusion, without any resistance, I simply—
Slid into sleep.
And after who knows how much time had passed.
When my eyelids slowly lifted again, a soft sensation gently pressed against my cheek.
Plump, warm, and strangely familiar.
On top of that, a faint, sweet scent lingered at the tip of my nose.
The senses that had been asleep stirred hazily. Without thinking, I rubbed my face against that soft sensation. Unconsciously. Defenselessly.
It was a touch I didn't want to let go of. It felt so good that I thought it would be fine to stay asleep like this forever. I remained like that for a long while, savoring the feeling.
"Mmm…"
A thin, cautious moan that sounded somehow familiar.
At that small sound, I jolted awake and opened my eyes.
The sensation that had brushed my cheek was far too familiar.
Soft and warm.
Only then did I realize. Once again, my head was resting on something.
Like déjà vu, the memory from earlier suddenly resurfaced.
Luna's thigh. That absurd lap pillow.
This time too…?
At first I thought Luna was playing another prank, so I unconsciously opened my mouth.
"Hey, it's you again… No matter what, doing it twice—"
But what entered my vision wasn't Luna's mischievous grin.
Golden twin tails flowed loosely downward, and beneath them was Yuzuki, her face flushed red as she tried to hide it.
She had carefully placed my head on her own thigh and was looking down at me with panicked eyes.
"…Y-you're awake?"
Her voice was a low whisper. The tips of her ears were already dyed bright red.
One hand clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, trembling slightly.
I remained stunned, unable to speak.
My mind went completely blank as I remembered how I'd unconsciously rubbed my face against her just moments ago.
So… I'd been rubbing my face against Yuzuki's thigh…?
"…Sorry. That just now, I didn't do it on purpose…"
"……I know."
Yuzuki turned her head away as she spoke. But her voice grew smaller and smaller.
"D-don't misunderstand… This is… Luna… Today during the game I lost, so… it's a penalty she made me do… So it's not like I wanted to do this…"
The more she spoke, the more her shoulders hunched inward. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor, trembling, while her fingertips clutched her skirt hem and shook faintly.
Yet her expression held an unusual amount of hesitation and a carefulness that seemed to be hiding something.
I kept my lips sealed and stared at Yuzuki's reddened ear tips.
I knew it instinctively. This was a lie.
This wasn't because of Luna, nor was it because of some game penalty.
It was simply because Yuzuki herself had wanted to do it.
But I couldn't ask her directly about that truth, so I swallowed my words as well.