Chapter 3 = Team Carbon!
A shooting star flew across the night sky, leaving a trail of shining gold. Lying on the side of a river bank, Taijin observed the stars as they flickered like diamonds. As a gentle gust of wind rushed past his hair, he grunted abruptly, and leaned up from his seat.
"Huh…what's going on… How did I get here?"
He noticed that the river banks stretched on for what seems like forever, and that there was no bank visible on the other side of the river – as if he were on the shore of a beach. The ocean was a beautiful light blue, and its waves were gentle and soft. Hitting himself on the head, Taijin sighed, and lay back down on the bank. The soft cut grass gently cushioned his head as he watched the stars dance, lighting up the midnight sky.
"Haha."
Jolting up from his position immediately, Taijin looked around frantically. He murmured to himself in confusion.
"I thought I heard a voice…"
"Haha."
A soft, feminine laugh could be heard echoing from under the ocean. Taijin slowly walked towards it, taking a deep breath as he did. The laugh was unfamiliar to him; it was sweet and cute, yet it had a sense of malice and cruelty behind it. Although it was simply a laugh, Taijin never heard a laugh that scared him so much.
The soft, cold waves wrapped around his feet as he entered the shore, hoping to find the source of the laughter. As he began to walk further deeper into the ocean, he noticed a girl who was seemingly standing on top of the water a few meters in front of him.
She wore a short, frilly black dress with silver highlights. Her black hair was neatly tied into twin tails, with red hairbands holding them together. She had two red armbands which had a scarlet shine under the moonlight. Taijin was quickly captivated by her most striking feature – her left eye was black, whereas her right eye was red.
Standing elegantly on top of the water surface, she stretched out her hand to Taijin.
"Taijin Sakamoto. So you're the next one. I see. Let me give you some advice."
Her voice was similar to Kosetsu's – monotone and emotionless. However, it resonated with Taijin, shaking his body with each word spoken. He gulped as the girl continued to talk.
"You cannot be afraid to take risks. You cannot change the world without getting your hands dirty"
She gracefully turned her back to Taijin with one beautiful spin that caused gentle ripples in the water underneath her. As the ripples continued to expand, the water that was once a stunning blue turned into a bloody red.
"Kosetsu Yukimura. Grind coleslaw. Mina Takahashi. Mitsuo Kimura. Those names will become very important to you very quickly. If you forget, for even a second, there are dire consequences."
Taijin stood in disbelief as the girl hovered above the ocean of blood. It was horrifying, yet breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. The girl's reflection upon the surface of the sea was crystal clear, not faltering to the ripples waving through it.
"But most importantly, remember this name."
The girl in black elegantly raised her hand and snapped her fingers. With the sound of the snap echoing through the ocean for what seemed like an eternity, Taijin's heart suddenly began to beat at an incredible, unnatural force. He was sweating intensely, and his vision began to blur. Collapsing under the pressure that he felt coming from nowhere, Taijin fell to his knees helplessly as the girl approached him. She graciously strolled across the water, and leaned in to his ear. Taijin was petrified, and was frozen in fear as the girl whispered to him an unfamiliar name.
"Kirami. Kirami Hatake."
"Wake up, Taijin."
Kosetsu woke up the sick boy, who was in the bed of his dorm room after an eventful night. It was nearly noon, yet the blinds blocked any light from entering the room. His eyes flickered as the gentle, emotionless voice called out to him.
"E…eh..."
"So you're awake at last."
Taijin sat up, and scratched his head violently. He thought to himself
"Geez, what a seriously messed up dream…"
About to get out of bed, he noticed another girl's head leaning on his lap. He slowly sat up, careful not to disturb her. Stuttering, he murmured
"M-Mina?!"
Kosetsu put her hand on Taijin's shoulder, gesturing him to move quietly.
"Don't worry so much about her. She just passed out waiting for you to wake up."
They both leaned over her, and admired her innocent sleeping face. Despite being so ridiculously active and hyper all the time, she slept soundly. Covering half of his face with one hand, Taijin gently rotated his body to face Kosetsu
"What happened last night?"
"You lost consciousness in the middle of the battle. We abandoned the battle and brought you home."
"You abandoned the battle?! But what about-"
"Don't be a retard. You think we can just keep on playing while our housemate, let alone operator, passed out on the floor? Besides, even if we did, we would eventually run out of ammo without our operator to supply us."
Taijin sighed in disappointment. He redirected his gaze to the sleeping girl next to him. Her long, red hair was covering her sleeping face. Noticing Taijin's attention to Mina, Kosetsu giggled to herself approvingly. After a short period of silence, Kosetsu questioned Taijin about the events happening yesterday
"So, why did you pass out?"
Upon hearing the question, Taijin instantly let out a long sigh. He put his palm on his cheek, and gave Kosetsu a worried look.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be failing Gunpla Battle class. It happens to me all the time when I play gunpla battle."
Kosetsu's eyes flickered with illumination. Her gaze turned from curious to serious, and began to further question Taijin.
"Ever since the beginning?"
"Yeah, from my first ever gunpla battle."
"But it's only when you play gunpla battle right? You don't randomly pass out on a daily basis right?"
Kosetsu was firing question after question, making it more like a formal interrogation rather than a friendly conversation. She blankly gazed into Taijin's eyes, which were weary and drowsy after a terrifying nightmare
"'No…I don't think."
"So when you watch it in television or something it doesn't matter right? It's only if you're actually physically there right?"
"No. It's just when I'm playing gunpla battle."
Kosetsu smiled, and whispered to herself
"Like I thought..."
She reached out her arm and grabbed his shoulder. She gave him a warm, reassuring smile
"Don't worry. I know what's going on. It's the plavsky particles inside the gunpla battle machine. They do something to the bodies of certain people who are sensitive to the plavsky particles. And you just happen to be one of those people."
With a confused look on his face, Taijin asked
"Hey, are you sure you know what you're talking about?"
Kosetsu giggled at him once more.
"Idiot. Of course I know. I was one of these people too."
After staring at each other for a few seconds, Taijin returned the favor by laughing wildly at Kosetsu's response. Despite the loud laugh, Kosetsu remained unfazed, and Mina was oblivious to the entire event.
"You have got to be joking right? There's no way you and I are the same. I was barely able to stand in front of the battle machine yesterday while you were there cutting the enemy zaku's up with your pimped up exia as if they were butter!"
"I didn't say I'm like you. I said I was like you. Now can I finish my explanation?"
Taijin snickered at her, and crossed his arms. Kosetsu coughed, and resumed her elucidation of the situation.
"Well there isn't a lot more to say. Scientists have been researching this for ages, but they haven't found anything yet regarding the Plavsky particles. PPSE won't say anything about the entire subject. For some reason they've been keeping their lips extremely tight about the entire situation. The only response that the public has gotten is that the plavsky particles may have some unexpected side effects on some people, but that's about it."
Taijin wasn't surprised at all by that remark. He knew that PPSE, despite being ridiculously famous for inventing gunpla battle, has several conspiracies. Why did they not apply the plavsky particle to other industries? Why are they so secret about the production of plavsky particle? He disliked PPSE's lack of communication with their fan base, and their extremely undisclosed policies.
His father had several cases on PPSE, being a world-famous super detective. However, each time he would come back empty handed. He even considered breaking into PPSE's battle system factory to see what they've been hiding so desperately the whole time. But without special permission given by the government and his superiors, PPSE owned land is a forbidden area to enter. It doesn't take a world class detective to figure out that something is up with PPSE.
"The scientists have temporarily dubbed this as Plavsky Particle Disorder before they can know what's up for real. Like I said they've been looking into people like you for ages and they still have no idea why some people can spend hours playing gunpla battle whereas others can barely stand in front of the machine. It's an extremely rare case that someone has Plavsky Particle Disorder though, they say that the chances are just one in one hundred million."
Taijin began to shake nervously, as Kosetsu noticed the fear in Taijin's eyes. She sighed, and picked up the pace on her explanation
"The community have called these kind of people "Pilot errors". Basically people like you who can't play gunpla battle. It was believed for a long time that pilot errors would never be able to win a gunpla battle against a regular pilot, and that they would never be able to recover from the unfortunate disorder. But this isn't true at all."
Kosetsu gently placed her hand on Taijin's shoulder, which was still quivering in fear. Her warm palm eased the trembling, as he looked her in the eyes
"Three years ago there was a girl who was diagnosed with Plavsky Particle Disorder. She was a pilot error. But after about six months of continuously losing to her classmates, she seemingly overcame the disorder. One day she stepped onto a battle machine and operated it as if she was never affected by it- destroying her surprised classmates. After that moment, she went on a winning streak that she still hasn't lost to this day, and she is known as the first Pilot esper – named the god esper"
A hint of confusion could be seen in Taijin's look of fear. As if reading through the situation completely, Kosetsu added onto her explanation
"Yeah, Pilot esper. Apparently that's the name that the community dubbed for the people who were formerly Pilot errors but overcame the disorder. The name is pretty misleading though, no powers are gained through suppressing the disorder. It's just the community's way to congratulate those who fought through it by calling them espers..."
Taijin's trembling grew weaker and weaker as the explanation continued. His breathing patterns began to regulate, to the joy of Kosetsu.
"So what are you trying to tell me?"
Gently placing her hand on Mina's sleeping head, she smiled at Taijin.
"You've been to this school for how many years?"
"Four"
"And in all four of those years you had to play gunpla battle?"
"Yeah"
After gently patting Mina's head, Kosetsu stood up and strolled towards the door. Her silky cream hair fluttered as she turned around to him before leaving the room.
"Meet me downstairs in two hours. We are going to the hobby shop. There's a certain friend I have who I think you need to meet."
Closing the door gently as to not awaken the sleeping girl, Kosetsu left the room. Sighing, Taijin looked at Mina, who was still sound asleep on his bedside. Her eyes began to gently flicker, as she leaned away from Taijin's lap
"T-Taijin..."
Rubbing her eyes, she yawned wildly. As she stretched freely, Taijin, blushing and stuttering, reached out to Mina
"H-hey. Mina. Did you fall asleep here?"
Mina's face was bright red, as she energetically turned away from him
"You freaking idiot. I was so worried. Making such a mess in an event like the gunpla fiesta. Idiot."
"Hey – hey … no need to call me an Idiot... Please don't go all Tsundere on me…"
Her faced continued to grow redder, until it reached its peak as the word "tsundere" was uttered. She rapidly turned to Taijin, who was still in bed, and proceeded to yell at him
"IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING CALLING ME A TSU-"
Reluctant to say the next word in the sentence, Mina abruptly stopped yelling at the poor boy in bed. She halted her verbal assault on Taijin, and began to walk to the door. As if she had a complete changed in mood, she turned around and casually asked Taijin
"By the way, we are all going to the hobby shop in 2 hours right?"
In a panic, he hastily responded
"Eh? You heard that? I'm sorry, that must have mean we were too loud… I must have woken you or something…"
"No, I just woke up at the last minute."
Before she left the room, Mina gave Taijin a few last words
"In future, if that ever happens again, wake me up when you do, just like you did today. That pat on the head felt really nice."
Closing the door, Taijin was left to himself. He uttered
"But it was Kosetsu who patted you on the head…"
Leaning on the corridor, Taijin was waiting for Mina and Kosetsu. He was wearing a red shirt and black pants, carrying his rarely used GP base with him. His eyes were weary, and he felt like he would rather stay home. Getting some more sleep instead of going to an area with another gunpla battle machine despite what happened yesterday. The very idea of going was absurd. Just thinking about it, he let out a huge sigh.
"We're not going to play gunpla battle necessarily. I'm just bringing you to meet a friend"
As if reading his mind once again, Kosetsu reassured him of the situation as she walked down the stairs. She was wearing a black banshee shirt and a Sinanju printed skirt. She had the black gunpla holder strapped to her belt, and she was carrying her GP base in her hands.
"Hey…do you have the ability to read minds or something?"
"No, I don't. Carrying that kind of expression around, anybody can tell what you're thinking."
Kosetsu's calm yet impacting delivery of her response shook Taijin to the core. She continued to walk towards him, and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. I was once like you too. Naturally I'd be able to tell what you're thinking- at some point I was thinking the exact same thing. I used to hate gunpla battle too. But I just need you to trust me on this. Now let's go"
Kosetsu put on her char colored sneakers as she prepared to exit the building. Taijin, who was seemingly convinced with Kosetsu's explanation, sighed heavily as he followed her out of the front door.
The two highschoolers were standing in front of a large building after a short 15 minute walk. At first glance it seemed like one of those high class stores that sell overpriced jewelry. The walls were painted a clean white, and there were double sliding glass doors that led into the building. But upon closer inspection, there were glass cases that were displaying gunpla, and a banner containing the words "Masaka Hobby Shop"
Shocked at the building before him, Taijin was rather reluctant to enter. He froze on the spot at the face of the overwhelming store.
"Hey…is this really a hobby shop? This seems like a restaurant for royalty…"
Completely ignoring Taijin's lack of movement, Kosetsu calmly strolled into the store. Turning around, she intimidated him with her usual emotionless voice.
"Are you coming or not?"
The building's interior was just as polished and classy as the exterior. There were three air conditioners keeping the room cool at all times, and several shelves were lined with gunpla boxes. There were display cases of refined gunpla in the corner of the room, and the counter was neat and tidy.
Behind the counter, there was a large, muscular man wearing an apron with the logo of Masaka hobby shop. He was in his mid 30's, and had black hair and a beard. Noticing the two new customers, he leaned over the counter and called out to them in a friendly voice
"Yo, what can I do for you?"
Kosetsu responded in her blank voice as Taijin proceeded to wander off to the display cases of gunpla, wanting to inspect their quality.
"We're just here to meet a friend."
As if remembering something, the man let out a large gasp. He then walked around the counter, and proceeded to walk towards Kosetsu, who joined Taijin in admiring the exhibited gunpla.
"Could it be? You're Kosetsu?"
Reacting immediately to hearing her voice being called out by someone she doesn't know, Kosetsu turned around and instantly questioned the man's intentions.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?"
Instantly threatened by the little girl's interrogation, the man put up his arms and stopped dead in his tracks. He closed his eyes to avoid Kosetsu's terrifying yet emotionless stare and he began to laugh nervously
"Haha…I heard a lot about you from Mina just now. She told me about you, and how you destroyed so many zakus as if they were nothing. If what she says is true, you're one of the best players to transfer here in recent time"
Releasing her prisoner from her vicious stare, Kosetsu returned to observing the qualities of the gunpla being displayed. The man added onto his explanation
"I'm Masaka, the owner of this shop. Nice to meet you Kosetsu."
Leaning over to see Taijin, Masaka redirected his attention to the boy carefully inspecting the gunpla
"And this boy is…"
"Approximately 9 nub marks visible on entire model. Painted over using an airbrush. Minor details likely applied using gundam marker. Must have taken around a week to complete this High Grade Gaia Gundam…"
Placing her hand on her face, Kosetsu sighed at Taijin's lack of awareness for the situation. As if speaking for him, Kosetsu responded
"He's Taijin. Taijin Sakamoto. He's a pilot error."
The man stared at Kosetsu as if she were crazy. He sighed heavily, and scratched his beard.
"Hey…are you sure? You do realize what you're saying right…and how ridiculously rare pilot errors are?"
"Of course I do. I'm a pilot esper."
Intensifying the stare, Masaka continued to gaze into her eyes. After a short, silent staring contest, he burst out into an unstoppable wild laughter.
"Hahaha! You're hilarious... Look at him! Usually pilot errors hate gunpla and here he is inspecting them as if he were an expert! You seriously want to believe that he's –"
"I do hate gunpla battle."
Interrupting his speech, Taijin responded quickly and brutally after hearing a comment that implied that he liked gunpla battle. The thought of him enjoying gunpla battle drove him to insanity. How could he enjoy something that can easily drive him unconscious?
Sensing the drastic change in atmosphere, Masaka instantly stopped laughing. He bowed his head down, and apologized for his inaccurate statement.
"Gunpla battle robbed me of my entire life. I would never like it. But don't worry about it – it's not like you knew all of that"
"Well, I think I've said too much. I'll be heading back to work. I'll be at the counter if you need me."
As Masaka proceeded to walk back to his counter, Mina, Grind and Mitsuo bursted out of a double door in the back of the room and walked towards Kosetsu and Taijin – gleefully talking about gunpla battle as they did. Noticing the trio approaching, Taijin called out to them
"Hey guys! What's up?"
Mitsuo, noticing Taijin calling out to them, responded loudly and clearly.
"Nothing much man! Just heading out of the battle room after some intense training from Grind. Man, that guy's training is harsh…"
Completely ignoring Mitsuo's comment on his training methods, Grind rushed up to Taijin and patted him on the head. He had a large, cheerful smile on his face, as the last time he saw Taijin, he was unconscious.
"Man, glad to see you're up and going already! Mina told us how you've been all morning!"
Blushing at the comment, Mina raced up in front of Taijin and violently shook his shoulders – trying to hide her flattered expression.
"Nevermind that, look look look!"
She held up an A4 poster, advertising an event for the school. Taking the poster from Mina's hands, Taijin began to read the information off of the poster out loud.
"Raizen High exclusive, five man gunpla battle tournament. Form a team of four players and one operator and compete for awesome prizes. Takes place on May 1 until May 3 – It ends a week before school starts again. Champions get 3 years' worth of gunpla, a dorm makeover and a secured spot in one of two of the school's all-star teams, second place gets 2 years' worth of gunpla as well as a dorm makeover and third place gets 1 years' worth of gunpla. Top 5 teams all get credit from school. Sign up now, Raizen students exclusively."
Grabbing Taijin's head, Grind excitedly yelled out to him
"We should totally join this! I mean, it's during the holidays, so what harm is there in going?"
Adjusting the angle of his glasses, Mitsuo cleared his throat, and added
"The extra credit would be useful too. You don't want to drop out of school because of gunpla battle class, right Taijin? Then join us."
Shocked at the comment from Mitsuo, Taijin refuted immediately
"You guys are kidding right? You saw what happened yesterday! I could barely stand in front of the machine let alone participate in a tournament! Sure the extra credit is nice and all…but at this rate I'll just be deadweight if I join…"
Kosetsu leaned over his shoulder, and reassured the group.
"Don't worry, leave that bit to me. I'll be sure to help this hopeless pilot error out."
Grind scratched his head, unconvinced of the idea. Mitsuo coughed and adjusted his glasses, looking away from Taijin. With a confused look, Mina tapped Kosetsu's shoulders.
"Tai-Tai is a pilot…error?"
Grind and Mitsuo exclaimed in surprise.
"E…EH?!"
"What…It's not like he faints in front of battle mach-"
Cutting her sentence off midway, Mina abruptly went quiet. She looked downwards to the floor… and rubbed her chin as if she were in deep thought. An awkward silence ensued amongst the entire group, as everybody watched Mina lost herself in her own train of thought. Suddenly, Mina broke the silence by screaming energetically
"AHHHH! HE'S A PILOT ERROR! HOW COULD I NOT HAVE KNOWN?"
The entire group exploded in an awkward laughter as they watched Mina react to her moment of realization. Taijin laughed along nervously – although Mina's grades are top notch, she acted like an alien. How could she not have noticed him avoiding gunpla battle machines and fainting whenever he had to operate one? Breaking the awkward situation, Kosetsu stepped forward and reassured every one of her plans.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of him"
Although her tone of voice was always the same, the group could sense an unbreakable confidence behind those words. Mina smiled at her optimism, approving of her willingness to help out Taijin. Mitsuo, concerned for the success of the recovery treatment, asked Kosetsu
"Hey…are you sure this will work? Like, do you have any experience treating pilot errors…?"
"Nope."
The entire group fell into another silence. With their jaws dropped onto the ground, the group sighed depressingly. Grind placed his hand on his face and scratched his nose
"It's hopeless…"
Mitsuo chipped in on the brooding, as he took of his glasses and began cleaning them with his school uniform
"How will Taijin enter the tournament like this…?"
Kosetsu tilted her head with an innocent expression, confused as to why the atmosphere has suddenly changed from hopeful and excited to depressed and fatalistic.
"I don't have any experiences taking care of pilot errors. So I called in a friend who does."
Right after Kosetsu uttered those words, a long, black limo stopped in front of the store. Exiting from the limo were two, tall male butlers, who opened the car door with a noble gesture. A young girl left the car, and walked towards the store entrance.
She was accompanied by the two butlers, who were loyally by her side. She was wearing a long red skirt and a white shirt. Her long, blonde hair swung as her butlers opened the door into the hobby store. Noticing the group of people as she walked in, she calmly snapped her fingers, dismissing her butlers back into the limo. Kosetsu, aware of her presence, turned to face her, and greeted her with a smile.
"Thank you for coming, Cindy."
The girl responded in a calm, contained yet energetic voice. She spoke in an accent of a noble, which differentiates her from any other girl in the city.
"Any time you like, Kosetsu. So, which one is it?"
The group, excluding Kosetsu, was staring at the girl in shock as she quickly looked at everybody. Mitsuo, putting his glasses back on, once again questioned Kosetsu regarding the plan
"So…She has experience treating pilot errors?"
After hearing those words, the girl made a quick rebuttal as she quickly marched right into Mitsuo's face. Intimidatingly, she roared
"Just who do you think I am?!"
Clearly shaken by her aggression, Mitsuo, stuttering intensely, backed off and responded
"I-I-I don't know…"
"Cinders Elizabeth La-Nicole Graham Heathers. Cindy Heathers for short."
Stepping in to stop the rising tension, Kosetsu added on to Cindy's introduction
"She was my best friend before I moved to Raizen. She helped my issue as a Pilot error and turned me into a Pilot esper."
Mina rushed up to Kosetsu and violently shook her shoulders after hearing those words. Her eyes were tearing up from joy, yet nobody understood why
"You too! You were a pilot error too?! WHY AM I NEVER ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PILOT ERROS AND NON PILOT ERRORS!? WHY MUST FATE BE SO CRUEL!?"
Gently pushing her away, Kosetsu answered
"I was one. Now I'm not. Thanks to Cindy"
Surprised at Kosetsu's shocking revelation that she is a pilot esper, Grind scratched his head and commented
"Incredible… I couldn't even tell. Cindy must have did a good job – Kosetsu fights as if she were normal"
Taijin stepped forward, and identified himself to Cindy, who was scratching her head trying to figure out who she was meant to be helping out.
"Excuse me, I'm Taijin Sakamoto. I'm the pilot error among the group."
Contrasting with her violent assult on Mitsuo, Cindy gently spun around and gave Taijin an illuminating smile.
"Nice to meet you Taijin. I'm Cindy. I'll be working with you over the next few weeks."
Kosetsu tugged Taijin's shoulders as he smiled back to Cindy's pleasant introduction.
"Let's go, Taijin"
"Eh?"
"Well we aren't going to get rid of your pilot error tendencies here, right? We are heading off to her mansion."
"EH?!"
Mitsuo, who took the poster from Taijin, read it through thoroughly.
"Hey, make sure you guys are back next week. I'm going to submit the form okay?"
Rushing in energetically, Mina shouted loudly.
"WAIT! WAIT! WE NEED A TEAM NAME!"
"That's right…let's all think of one together"
Standing around in the shop, the group all brainstormed together several team names, ranging from Dogs of Jaburo to Doodoogun. Everyone contributed several ideas, yet none of them seemed to stick, or not every person would approve of the name. After nearly 20 minutes of getting nowhere, Taijin created the foundation for a brilliant team name"
"Hey, we are dorm C1 right? Why can't we just name ourselves team Dorm C1…this is a school event after all"
Mina instantly denied the name right after hearing it, exaggerating it with an X hand gesture.
"No way! That name is never going to stick! Imaging the MC's saying "congratulations, dorm c1" that would be the most anticlimactic award ceremony of all time!"
Grind added onto the idea of naming the team after the dorm.
"It would be pretty cool if our team name tied to the dorm name of C1. After all, that's where all of the team members live, right?"
Sensing that the conversation is headed somewhere, Mitsuo continued Grind's idea and expanded on it.
"Maybe, like, some sort of hidden secret or something. Like how you take some letters from the periodic table and you can make funny stuff"
Kosetsu's eyes shone brightly as she had a great idea of what to name the team.
"Carbon. We should be called Team Carbon. After all, C is carbon on the periodic table."
Everyone in the room nodded to the idea. Mitsuo already grabbed his pen and began filling in the team name on the registration form
"A fundamental element to sustaining human life… I like it. Team carbon."
Mina laughed as she nodded, giving Kosetsu two thumbs up.
"Team Carbon huh? It almost sounds like car bun. I love buns and I love cars!"
Grind smiled at the group as everybody laughed and smiled at the new name.
"It will stick too. We'll never forget. After all, we live in dorm C1…"
Taijin clenched his fists together as he smiled at everybody in the group.
"So it's decided. Team Carbon is our name."
Everybody smiled at the new name. Mitsuo completed the application form, folding it up and putting it in his pocket. Cindy folded her arms and gleefully watched everybody sink into idle chatter.
"So when is this tournament you all need to attend?"
"Well it starts on May 1st…"
"Brilliant, we have a lot of time to work with."
Pulling out a large, expensive gold-plated phone from her pocket, Cindy marked on her calendar the day of May 1st. Looking towards Taijin, she declared
"From today, Kosetsu and Taijin will stay at my mansion. We'll be in charge of treating Taijin's pilot error. We'll be back before May 1st."
Mitsuo and Grind nodded in approval, and Mina scratched her head, replying
"Can't be helped I guess…I guess this is for the better of Team Carbon. We'll reunite soon!"
Outstretching his fist into the center of the crowd, Taijin smiled at the members of the soon to be Team Carbon. Catching onto what Taijin was trying to achieve, everybody outstretched their fists to meet Taijin's. Reluctantly, Kosetsu sighed and joined in as well. As everyone leaned in towards each other, Taijin yelled
"Team carbon on three! One, Two, Three!"
Energetically, everybody threw their hands into the air, roaring
"TEAM CARBON"
-
Leaving the building and walking towards the limo, the 3 high schoolers began their trip to Cindy's mansion. Suddenly stopping for a bit, Taijin asked Kosetsu a question that had been bothering him for a while.
"Hey Kosetsu"
"Yes?"
"You mentioned that the first ever person to overcome this pilot error thing was this one girl, right?"
"Yeah, 3 years ago. That would make her about as old as us right now. What about it?"
"How good is she?"
Sensing the arrival of a subject that she was very knowledgeable about, Cindy contributed to the conversation by adding on her information about the first pilot esper
"She's probably one of the best if not the best current players around. Unfortunately she disappeared from the competitive scene after PPSE made the rule where people have to compete in teams. It has been said that she has yet to suffer from a single loss ever since she overcame pilot error. She's truly terrifying."
Gulping, Taijin, who was overwhelmed with curiosity, continued to ask more about the girl. Cindy, without hesitation, continued to explain all she knew about the girl.
"The red and black dress that she wears is absolutely iconic. Her fighting style is elegant yet brutal, or so I've heard. The last time she was in the competitive scene she used a custom version of the O gundam, but then again nobody has seen her in 3 years. There's very little information about her…she's done a very good job suppressing her location. The god esper, the black and red eyed queen of gunpla battle."
Taijin's eyes widened in fear as he realized who Cindy was talking about.
"Kirami Hatake."
