Around the same time the two members of the Seventh Division were reevaluating their relationship with Keita, the students from the Third Division, led by the top-ranking Saori Muto, were also discussing him.
“The only reason he got to fight against the monsters is because he has no backing! The Second Division just used him to keep the rest of us off the battlefield!”
Is that really how it happened…?
“Tatsumi’s right,” agreed Kenjiro. “Once they put him out there, the Second Division can just say, ‘Sorry, we’ve already accepted a student, so we can’t take on any others.’”
I suppose he’s got a point there…
Tatsumi Kasahara, who’d entered as the fifth-ranked student, was practically shouting. Meanwhile, Kenjiro Obata, ranked ninth, nodded along smugly, clearly pleased that someone agreed with him. His sense of superiority despite being ranked lower than Tatsumi came from the difference in their family backgrounds.
The Kasahara family was one of the most distinguished lines in the Third Division, known for producing staff officers and brigade commanders. However, the Obatas were related to the even more prestigious Muroguchi family, which had produced the previous division commander, Renjiro Muroguchi. The Obata family had adopted Renjiro’s second son, and Kenjiro was his second son.
In other words, Kenjiro was the grandson of the Third Division’s late leader.
Right now, however, the Muroguchi family was without a formal heir. Renjiro; his eldest son, Nobumasa; and Yuji, the second son adopted into the Obata family, had all died during the disastrous Imphal operation.
There was Takanobu, Nobumasa’s son, but he was only a year older than Kenjiro, who was still a student, and lacking any military accomplishments of his own.
Plus, the Muroguchi name had taken a serious hit in the public eye, and it was unlikely that Takanobu would be deployed to a real battlefield anytime soon, let alone come back with honors.
All of which meant that expectations for Kenjiro were sky-high.
Kenjiro understood that perfectly. He was determined to rack up sufficient achievements ahead of Takanobu and reclaim the family legacy.
His grand ambition, therefore, was to spend a year or two at the academy, then go off to the front to complete his practical training and achieve military success. After that, he would take over as the next head of the Muroguchi family.
As such, the Kasahara family had ordered Tatsumi to support Kenjiro behind the scenes. The two were effectively master and retainer.
As for Saori Muto, her family had also produced major figures in the Third Division—including her father, the former chief of staff. Even the Muroguchi family had to take them seriously.
That said, after having lost many key members during recent campaigns, the Muto family had its hands full and were disinterested in the power struggle between Kenjiro and Takanobu. Saori’s first priority was to restore her own family’s martial reputation.
In fact, rather than support Kenjiro, Saori had been explicitly instructed to remain at a distance. Having been raised as a true high-society lady, she naturally wanted to keep people like Tatsumi and Kenjiro at arm’s length anyway, so the order was a godsend.
Though for some reason, Tatsumi and Kenjiro both seem to think I’m on their side…
Saori wanted to let out a sigh, but she decided there was no point in stirring the pot. It was better just to keep her head down and listen in on their conversations.
But that was enough about Saori and the Muto family’s motives for now.
Kenjiro, who saw himself as the rightful heir to the Third Division, understandably had mixed feelings about being outperformed on the entrance exam by both Tatsumi Kasahara and Saori Muto. He’d rationalized it away, however, telling himself, “I’m going to be their commander. Of course I wouldn’t score as well on an exam that prioritizes magicite compatibility above anything else.”
Then came the final insult—some no-name kid, not even from a military family, had scored higher than all of them. On top of that, the brat had the gall to act like some tragic victim, going on about how he’d lost his parents because of the Third Division’s defeat, and he hadn’t even bothered to introduce himself to Kenjiro. And then he’d been assigned some bizarre, experimental mech built by a company no one had ever heard of. Kenjiro had to laugh, or else he’d be overcome with rage.
But then came the news that Kawakami had been sent out onto the battlefield ahead of all of them and racked up several major achievements while he was at it.
At first, Kenjiro hadn’t believed it, but when he found out it was true, his displeasure became obvious. Rather, he completely lost it.
This meeting had actually been arranged by Tatsumi, who’d seen the writing on the wall. He’d gathered them all to calm Kenjiro down and talk strategy—specifically, what they should do to help Kenjiro earn some accolades of his own.
Which brings us back to the present.
Saori, who was from a prestigious family and enrolled as the top student, hadn’t contradicted anything they said. So when the head of their faction, Kenjiro, seemed to accept Tatsumi’s opinion, Tatsumi had gotten a little too confident and started acting even more smug.
“Exactly. Without a doubt, the biggest reason he got deployed was factional politics. Though the official excuse they used was something else entirely.”
“…The trial for the new prototype, you mean?”
“Right. Without that, even if the Second Division pushed for it, there’s no way a random civilian kid would’ve been sent out before us!”
“True. If it’s a field test for the only prototype in the academy—heck, in all of Japan—then they might have approved it as an exception. Especially if the test pilot’s expendable.”
“Yeah! That’s right! And just look at the results—clearly, that mech was meant for us!”
“Hmm. So what you’re saying is that since it hadn’t gone through a test run, there was no way they’d risk handing something potentially unstable to one of us. That’s why he got it first. That’s all it is?”
“Correct! The only reason he got those results is because of that mech. Anyone could’ve done it!”
The conversation wasn’t grounded in fact, which Kazunari or Junji would have made sure of first. No, this was just the two of them venting. Even if they believed they were having a serious discussion.
That’s not how I see it.
Saori, quietly listening, was skeptical about everything they were saying.
Though a skilled pilot herself, Saori wasn’t confident she could operate the hybrid mech Keita had been assigned. The way she saw it, merely being able to move that thing proved how capable—or maybe how uniquely compatible with it—he was.
Her feelings about Keita weren’t that different from how Kazunari, head of the students’ Seventh Division faction, regarded him.
In fact, she thought Keita was far more competent than she herself was. Her having been named top student was mostly just for show, a product of her family connections. Though she was undoubtedly more talented than a certain pampered heir who got all the same favoritism and had still barely managed to rank ninth.
The Third Division is in bad shape right now. Shouldn’t we be making allies, not enemies?
That was Saori’s personal opinion, but it also made sense strategically. Rebuilding the Third Division would be impossible without support from other factions, so antagonizing the rest of them was most certainly a bad move.
Especially Keita, who had no political backing. True, the Second Division seemed to be taking an interest in him now, but that could easily change. Perhaps they could bring him into the fold through a political marriage or something of the sort?
They could marry off someone from their family to him, or vice versa. His sister, maybe. The point was, someone who had earned military merit should be recruited, not treated as an enemy.
If we’re supposed to be biding our time, can’t they at least hold it together for a year or two? Or is this some sort of male pride thing? I really don’t get it.
“They’re saying the Second Division has requested a second unit.”
“Then let’s seize it for ourselves. Taking something from an unknown company like Mogami Heavy Industries shouldn’t be too difficult. There are plenty of people who won’t want the Second Division hogging all the new tech.”
“Brilliant idea!”
Is it, though? If you do that, you’ll be making enemies out of both Mogami Heavy Industries and the Second Division. Honestly, this conversation just proves I need to keep my distance from these two. For now, maybe I should get in touch with Kawakami. Fujita has probably already started making moves of his own, too. That makes at least two people on that side… I’ll need to start gathering allies quickly. If only these two were even remotely competent… No, I can’t say that… Ugh, what a hassle.
Watching Tatsumi and Kenjiro plot among themselves, Saori let out a quiet sigh.
Raised as a proper young lady, she had been trained to trust her instincts. And right now, those instincts were focused on the subtle, looming power struggle that was beginning to unfold.