Like a Snowball
The first-year classmates who had come for the interview looked around the CT Club’s clubroom with expressions of wonder. The club had already been famous as an elite group, but after the recent raid incident, it had become the club that every cadet aspired to join. Still, no one had expected that every single applicant would quit their original clubs just to apply here. There were even a few who had tagged along simply to watch.
Half of them nursed a vague hope that they might be accepted even if they didn’t quite meet the requirements, while the other half had come purely to gawk at famous faces. At Muri’s silent nod, they lowered their heads and withdrew. Senior Muri really did have a peculiar charisma. It was the complete opposite of how I was treated among my classmates—as someone easy to tease.
Maybe I should try to be more like Senior Muri.
“Is everyone here? Goodness, there are far more people than I expected.”
Because the CT Club’s pilots and mechanics were all rather shy, Ran stepped forward as the representative to greet the juniors. I stood beside her, smiling so my classmates wouldn’t feel too nervous in front of the seniors. Yet their expressions were strangely off. A few were grinning slyly, and some stared at me so intently that when our eyes met, they whipped their heads away. The rest wore uncomfortably serious faces.
“Welcome, everyone! Shall we start with simple self-introductions? I’m Ran Geilt, a second-year operator.”
When Ran introduced herself, one of the first-years shot a hand into the air.
“Senior Ran, do you remember me?”
“Of course. You’re the first-year operator, Jena, right?”
“Yes, that’s me! Wow, you actually remembered.”
As the top operator of her year, Ran had an excellent memory. Operators had to recall constantly changing codenames for each operation, issue commands in the appropriate tactical terminology, and sometimes negotiate with commanders or outsiders for their assigned pilots’ convenience. Remembering faces and names was probably the easy part.
The first-year cadets began introducing themselves one by one. The pilot classmates were all familiar faces, and I exchanged nods with a few from other specialties who shared my class. Christine, the operator from my class, even gave me a small wave after finishing her introduction.
“Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves too?”
At Ran’s words, the other seniors stepped forward and lined up in perfect formation, moving as one like a squad following their captain’s orders.
“Rendel Zubert-ein. Pilot specialty. I’ll be conducting the pilot interviews.”
A few girls let out tiny squeals at Rendel’s introduction. As expected of a celebrity. His popularity was enviable.
“I’m Carson Gentburg, also a pilot. Have any of you with special attributes received your personal units yet?”
“Yes, a few weeks ago already.”
Yui and Clef, both special-attribute pilots like me, answered while glancing my way. Signaling like that wouldn’t earn them any extra points.
“Muri Jerin. Pilot.”
Senior Muri was about to step back after giving only her name and specialty when she paused and spoke again.
“Anyone here piloting a Vivald-class?”
So there really was someone among the first-years flying a Vivald-class. Yui, who had become acquainted with us early thanks to her special attribute, cautiously raised her hand.
“Me. I have a light-attribute Vivald-class as my personal unit.”
“Oh.”
Muri rarely showed surprise, but she approached Yui with genuine interest, circling the much taller girl like a small animal that had discovered something fascinating.
I hadn’t even realized I was smiling until I saw my name appear on the bulletin board, at which point my expression immediately stiffened. Honestly, you could never let your guard down around here.
“I’m Kirie Elaine. The mechanics all know me, right?”
“Yes.”
The mechanics department had few students, and since every year trained and worked together in the maintenance bay, it was impossible not to know Kirie, the most famous second-year mechanic. At her words, the mechanic cadets stood at rigid attention. It gave me a rough idea of what the usual atmosphere in the mechanics department was like.
“Luna, Neria. You two as well.”
“Us too?”
“Of course. You didn’t think you’d get to skip this, did you?”
Senior Ran smiled playfully and gave my back a gentle push forward. She had a point. Everyone else—first-years and seniors alike—had introduced themselves. It would have been strange for just the two of us to skip it. Even though we weren’t official members yet and weren’t on the same footing as the new applicants, we still had to follow procedure.
After squeezing Neria’s visibly trembling hand once, I stepped forward. I’d thought I was used to everyone’s eyes on me, but the addition of unfamiliar faces made the tension noticeably sharper. Still, as someone educated as royalty, Lewina was accustomed to such situations, so her voice came out steady and clear.
“I’m Luna Adelty from the first-year pilot class. I possess a special attribute and have my own personal unit.”
Applause erupted at the simple introduction. A little embarrassing.
“I-I’m Neria Seard from the mechanics class. A-Ayat. Neria Seard.”
When Neria finished her introduction with a pained expression after biting her tongue, a warm atmosphere spread through the previously stiff clubroom. As expected of the queen of memes. The bulletin board crowd had probably already captured the moment and were busy turning it into reaction images. Neria’s adorable face deserved to be shared far and wide.
“We’ve heard your introductions. Looking over the materials we gathered separately, it seems quite a few of you were previously in other clubs.”
At Senior Ran’s words, several people hunched their shoulders. One of them cautiously raised a hand.
“We heard the CT Club wasn’t recruiting this year because Luna and Neria had already been accepted.”
“Hm? That’s not the case. Those two have personal connections with us and have helped us out before, so we’re treating them as temporary members. Besides, Luna ranks fourth among pilots and Neria is first among mechanics, so there’s no issue.”
Everyone nodded at Ran and Carson’s explanation. So a rumor had spread that the CT Club wasn’t taking new members because of Neria and me. I’d been too busy lately to notice.
“Then let’s conduct individual interviews by specialty. There are a few more pilot seniors, but don’t be too nervous. Operators, this way!”
At Senior Ran’s instruction, the cadets split up according to their specialties. I followed the pilot seniors into the adjacent training room.
Once we arrived, the seniors assigned training machines to the first-years. After everyone had taken their seats, Rendel spoke into the microphone on the podium.
“The CT Club is a combat research club. As the academy’s most skilled club, we only accept the best pilots. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. We’ll begin with a simple skill test. There are six pilots, correct? Everyone, log in.”
“Um, there are seven of us.”
When I pointed out that he had miscounted, Rendel lowered the helmet he had been about to put on and raised his hand.
“Luna, you’re fine. I can vouch for your skills.”
“The others might not accept that.”
My classmates looked at me with expressions that clearly said, “We wouldn’t?” Guys, I’m doing this for your sake, you know?
“Hmm. If that’s the case, then seven including Luna. All of you, come at me at once.”
Rendel provoked the first-years and logged into the virtual training ground first. The first-years hurriedly donned their helmets and followed. I also headed into the virtual training ground, already planning how to deal with Rendel.
*
Thud. The Aindium, which had been hovering slightly above the ground, landed with a heavy sound. Even though it was virtual, the magical effects and near-future technology made it feel incredibly real. While owning a personal unit was a requirement for joining the CT Club as a pilot, personal units couldn’t be registered in the virtual training ground. Especially for Nimbus-types, whose magical capabilities varied greatly by unit, there were no mass-produced equivalents, so I chose the smallest eight-meter-class Aind.
“Everyone, gather up!”
I switched my main weapon from the standard assault rifle to a sniper rifle through the settings and raised my left arm high. My classmates, who had been scattered through the nearby forest, emerged one by one.
「Luna’s taking command?」
「I’m fine with that.」
「Me too.」
“I don’t mind, but if I lead the unit, the senior might wipe everyone out, you know?”
「That’s true. Who’s first place again?」
「Isn’t it Grik?」
Grik was the classmate who had become the freshman representative in my place when we first entered. He had placed second to me in the practical exam but had taken first in the written exam with near-perfect scores, securing both the pilot and overall top spots. He truly had the ability to serve as representative. The reason I, who had ranked first in the practical, had dropped to fourth overall was probably because of the written exam. There simply hadn’t been enough time for Lewina to study Alitus history from the beginning. Not that I particularly cared about being number one.
“Then Grik will take command.”
「Ah, got it.」
During practicals and training, Grik and I had always been assigned to different groups, so I’d never had the chance to observe his piloting skills. Time to see what the overall top pilot could do.
「Let’s take position on this hill and maintain perimeter watch. I’ll keep the codenames simple—just numbers. Number one is me…」
Grik assigned numbers to each Aindium and secured a good position. His command was textbook and calm. The problem was that Rendel was an irregular who didn’t follow textbooks. I stayed close to the position Grik had designated while preparing for Rendel’s assault.
「L-Luna? Aren’t you a little too close?」
Yui, piloting her fourteen-meter Vivald-class, contacted me privately.
“Shh. There’s a reason.”
Our current formation placed the artillery-capable Vivald in the center, blocking the easier slopes of the hill. My position was on the higher part of the hill, with one side blocked off and quite far from the classmate on the other side. I had slowly backed away from my original spot and was now guarding near Yui’s Vivald.
「He’s coming.」
The forest shook as a flock of illusory birds created from zeros and ones took flight. There was no time to marvel at the virtual reality graphics. The first attack had already begun.
Rattle-rattle—
Rendel had only fired a short burst on full-auto with his assault rifle, yet two of our allies quickly lost their main cameras.
「Three and Four, fall back! Six, open fire!」
「He’s too fast, I can’t get a lock!」
Grik’s flustered orders were the kind Yui couldn’t follow. Even Muri, a specialist in artillery, needed to fix the enemy’s position and calculate coordinates first. Given how rare Vivald-class units were, Grik clearly lacked understanding of artillery tactics.
I didn’t miss Rendel slipping sideways after causing a commotion on the opposite side from me. I raised my sniper rifle.
「Where did he go?」
Where do you think? I spun around and aimed toward the high ground behind us.
Whoosh—
I immediately pulled the trigger at the blurry shadow falling toward Yui, then charged forward.
「Kyaa!」
While Yui’s Vivald was being sliced in half by the blade, I grabbed onto Rendel’s tail as he tried to disengage. Clang. Rendel looked slightly taken aback as he crossed blades with me after I reversed my grip on the sniper rifle and struck downward. He was probably debating whether to cut me down or retreat. That brief moment of hesitation proved fatal.
「Now! Fire!」
At Grik’s command, a hail of bullets rained down on the immobilized Rendel.