“Hey. I heard you got stuck with a freak-show mech.”
“Don’t call it a freak show.”
…Even if that description was kind of true.
The one who’d tossed out that half-sympathetic, half-sarcastic remark the moment class ended was the same girl who’d gotten so riled up about losing to me in the entrance exams, Ms. White Blossom…or rather, Isotani. She’d said she wanted to apologize after the Boss revealed I was a victim of the war. It turned out that, despite her piercing gaze, she was a pretty straightforward girl underneath.
The rest of the students were still unsure how to deal with me—and frankly, I wasn’t sure how to approach them, either. Isotani was the only one who’d reached out without hesitation.
Apparently, her family was affiliated with the Sixth Division, who were responsible for the Kinki region and frequently coordinated with the Second Division, where I was supposedly going to end up. For that reason, she must have decided it was practical to begin a working relationship with me now.
Sure, it was a calculated move, but relationships were often built more on convenience than sincerity. As long as it was just a chat every now and then, I didn’t really mind, so I’d gone along with it. That was how we’d ended up as casual acquaintances.
As for why I would no doubt be working with the Second Division, one of their officers had taken care of my enrollment. I could only assume the higher-ups would decide my post after graduation, so I wasn’t about to complain. But if I did get a say, I would prefer a position on the back lines. Just putting that out there.
Anyway.
According to Isotani, all the other students were already tied to various factions, which meant they couldn’t chat freely without risking political fallout. I, on the other hand, didn’t belong to any of those camps. I was a genuine civilian, even if I was in the care of the Second Division. That made me neutral ground—and apparently, a hot topic for gossip. Isotani’s superiors wanted to know more about me, so it was practically a strategic maneuver on her part to chat me up. She said her parents had even praised her for it.
I couldn’t tell what kind of intel she was getting out of our conversations or what she might be leaking, but the way she was so open about it somehow made it seem less suspicious.
Considering their statuses, all of my classmates were probably rivals with one another.
I’d also heard their families were strict with their teaching.
It had to be exhausting always being on guard.
I couldn’t help but wish Isotani would hold back a bit on extracting information, but it was hard to pour cold water on someone who was positively beaming about finally earning some praise from her father.
I just had to put up with it a little. Yes, I’d chosen to overlook the fact that she was leaking my information. It would be a problem if she shared something really personal or damaging, but we’d only been talking about everyday sorts of things. If she could get any useful intel out of that, I’d simply have to accept it as proof of her investigative skills.
And no, accidentally glimpsing her flower in full bloom when we’d first met had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
Once I started treating her like a normal friend, she turned out to be surprisingly easy to talk to.
For one thing, she rarely lied.
She probably realized she wasn’t any good at it.
If we touched on a topic she couldn’t talk about, she would just keep quiet or change the subject. That was it.
Apparently, that first confrontation had also been her way of trying to get information about me, a guy who’d come completely out of left field. She’d wanted to figure out what kind of person I was and how best to interact with me. But once the Boss outed my background in homeroom, Isotani had accepted that I was an unaffiliated civilian and decided I should be treated as someone to protect instead.
Of course, that description had only applied to me before enrollment. Now that I was officially in the academy, I was a soldier. In other words, her colleague.
To be honest, I appreciated her treating me like this. It was the right sense of distance for an outsider like me.
“So it’s got a standard upper half and a beast-type lower half? That’s pretty much the textbook definition of a freak show.”
She was also the sort of person to speak her mind. Like she had just now.
“…I don’t think it should be too bad if I can master it.”
“Can you master it?”
I replied exactly the same way I had to the old guy—er, Mogami—back in the hangar.
“I did okay in the simulator, at least.”
That said, I didn’t know how hard it was supposed to be. My tests were still just computer simulations as well, so I couldn’t afford to put too much weight on that.
“Oh? So you didn’t get shot down before it could take off? You could dodge and shoot and all that?”
“Pretty much.”
I wouldn’t have said I’d done okay if I hadn’t been able to do that…
“Don’t look so surprised. Most people can’t even start up a freak show like that. But you did. And you’re telling me it didn’t only move—it responded to you? You were able to dodge attacks? That’s definitely good intel. My dad’s gonna be so proud!”
“Right. Yeah.”
She’s sharp, I’ll give her that. Or maybe I’m just dense.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that test data on a brand-new prototype was highly valuable, regardless of whether the mech would prove usable in the long run.
Still, it was a bit disheartening to know she was excited solely because she could earn her dad’s praise.
Nonetheless, I couldn’t let my guard down too much. I might be a student, but I was in the military now.
“I better go. I’ve got training.”
“Yeah, me too.”
If it’s about me personally, fine. But letting her leak info about the unit itself can’t be good…
Having decided that, I wrapped up the conversation and made my way to the hangar, where my so-called freak show and its obsessive creator were waiting.