“Motegi.”
A voice called Rin’s name as she left the lodge, wine in hand. “Oh, Okayama?” she asked. “What’s up?”
Okayama was an Attacker from the Sagara Squad. She’d gone up against him in several mock battles, and they’d been in the same class for three years running, so she knew him pretty well. He’d been learning Machine Fencing from Okegawa Kuon alongside the Air Force Cavalleria, too.
He was of average height and build. Neither tall nor short, neither handsome nor ugly. There was nothing particularly memorable about his appearance, but he smiled when other people didn’t and picked up on the strangest things. When they were both second-year students, the Fuji Squad and Sagara Squad had stayed up all night watching horror movies in his room, and he would break out laughing when everyone else was scared, pick up on clues no one else did, and blurt out the identity of the killer, making everyone else punch him.
It had been kinda cool, so Rin had a comparatively positive impression of him. Like a tier below Hanabi, Fuji, Kuon, and En. Just then, though, he looked pretty serious. “Can we talk a bit? Alone?” he asked.
“Huh? Sure.”
That was careless of her. Later, she felt like she should never have let him take her away.
He was a boy. She was a girl.
She didn’t even think about that until they were around the back of the lodge, out of earshot of the barbecue revelry. There was a look in Okayama’s eyes that wasn’t usually there. He looked super serious and really tense.
Stuff happened a lot in war. Especially in mixed-gender units; very especially ones filled with younger boys and girls. Girls could activate DMs too, but if their Device was stolen, what could they do? If she and Okayama started grappling, how could she fight back? She was a Sniper and he was an Attacker. She’d never stand a chance. She wasn’t one for childish ideas like saving herself for the one she loved, but she hoped to at least have mutual consent.
She bluffed as best she could. “What are you bringing me over here for? Revenge for kicking your ass in that mock combat? Or are you gonna ask me out?”
She laughed out loud, trying to hide how scared she was.
That was a mistake.
Okayama silently took a step closer. Rin couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back. Uh-oh. Super uh-oh. Alarms went off in her head, and she held her Device tight behind her.
“Yeah,” Okayama said. “That’s what this is.”
“What?” she blurted out, having forgotten the thread of the conversation.
“Like you said… Don’t make me say it. It’s embarrassing.”
“Huh?”
“I mean it, Motegi. I love you.”
“What?” She couldn’t understand him. What is this? Is he really asking me out? Calm down. Wait. No, obviously. Of course.
He was a boy, she was a girl.
And I’m a pretty hot one…so I guess asking me out was a possibility, too. Internally, she apologized profusely for doubting him.
“Motegi?”
“Um…right, okay. I get it. It’s been a while, so you caught me off guard.”
She’d actually been quite popular before high school. She was a Mote… No, never mind. But what now? She knew what he was thinking. “Um, Okayama…you…love me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Why…?”
“Not to say it myself, but I’m kind of a handful? Like, my personality?”
“I know. Three years in the same class and Lunatic Order stuff.”
“Yeah, so why me? Not like you’ve been nursing a crush this whole time.”
“Well…”
“You’re a friend, so lemme be blunt. Just cause there are couples all around us doesn’t mean you need to rush it. Half of them are just together to forget they’re scared. You want someone for that, get some other girl. I’ll hook you up.”
“Like Suzuka and Okegawa?” he said, scoffing.
Annoyed, she snapped, “Not them. Don’t be stupid.”
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Okayama burst out laughing.
What now? Rin thought. What made this guy laugh? “Is this a setup? Are there cameras rolling?”
“No, no. Ha ha ha, sorry. I take that back. Suzuka and Okegawa aren’t like that. We all know that. Man, you really get worked up about Suzuka, huh? Normally you’re the first to laugh.”
“Of course I do! And I dunno about first…”
“I mean when you care about someone, you’ve got their back. You’ve been with Suzuka this whole time, helping her be a better fighter. It’s because of you that she stopped being a headlong charge-in berserker and got as strong as she is, right?”
Yeah…
“You put your friends before yourself. You even warned me. So, like, I dunno… That kinda thing really caught my eye, you know? Once I picked up on it, I started seeing more, and before I knew it…I was in love.”
She had no response to that.
“I thought you and Fuji were together for a while,” Okayama continued. “Guess he’s got no taste.”
“I’d never go for someone so uptight, either. And I agree about his taste.”
“I’ve got way better taste, right?”
“I dunno. But I’ll think about it.”
“Mm, sure. Oh, but…we don’t have long till our next deployment. So…try not to take too much time, okay? If one of us died, that would really suck.”
“I…I know that…”
“Then cool. Sorry I dragged you out here. Oh, and here.”
Okayama pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to her. She scrambled to catch it. It clanked against the DM Device she was clutching in her hand. It was the key to a motorcycle. “This is the prize for…” she began, awed. The prize for the headmaster’s beach volleyball tournament were motorcycle keys. As one of the semi-finalists, Rin held the key in her palm, staring at it.
“Motegi, you like bikes, right?”
How did he know that?
“Your extra weapon, Falcon. Same thing, right? Long distance, high speed, mountable. And I ain’t got a license so…that bike’s yours. Gimme a ride sometime, okay?” With that, he turned and walked away.
Left standing behind the lodge, Rin, one of the semi-finalists, stared down at the key on her palm. “The guy’s supposed to be the one giving the girl a ride…” she muttered. Man… she thought. He really does love me.
“Oh, I forgot…”
“Yikes! You scared the hell out of me!”
“This’ll be hard to say if you gimme a no, so I figured I’d better say it now,” Okayama said sheepishly. Just his head was poking over the wall. “You got a haircut after the Capital battle, right? I think it looks great.”
“…Thanks.”
She was not confident she managed to hide how red she’d turned.