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Macross Frontier

8:19

By

Raymond Cooper

The following takes place between 8.19 and 8.20 on the final morning to hand in the final Drama assessment.

8:19:00

Alto watched as Michael disappeared from sight, lifted high above the rail car, before he saw the papers of Ranka's assignment flutter down towards the road. Slightly ahead of him, the black limo slowed down, but he didn't notice. Instead, his attention was on the paper, and after a moment's hesitation, he launched himself from the window as Michael had a few seconds earlier with his satchel flying out wide for balance as he reached with his other hand.

Reaching, reaching... finally, the paper touched his fingertips, and Alto managed to bring them in. He landed on the ground, dropping his satchel for a moment to roll with the force of hitting the road, but kept his grip on the piece of assessment. Ranka was relying on him to hand this in at the school.

Far behind him, Ozma appeared into the street.

8:19:15

The black limo stopped ahead of Alto, the rear door opening.

8:19:16

Klan glared into her hand.

8:19:17

Alto smiled. Everything would be fine now. He just had to get to school. He turned towards the school, to continue on his way, but was confronted by a long pair of bare legs emerging from the limo in front of him.

He didn't see Ozma approaching from behind, running, his gun out and held with both hands slightly to Ozma's right.

"Alto," Sheryl called, as she stood up from the rear door of the car. "Come. I'll give you a ride to school."

"Uh, Sheryl, you're not dressed for –"

Sheryl gave a sultry smirk. "I'll get dressed on the way."

Alto's jaw dropped and his eyes shrank. "... WHAT??"

"It's okay, you're only Alto, after all," Sheryl smirked again, walking towards him, stopping half a metre from Alto. Her physical presence was overwhelming, and Alto felt his heart race at the expression on her face for a moment until he realised she was, in some senses, just like him.

An actor, an entertainer, able to twist people's perceptions. His expression grew distrusting.

"I am not getting in that car with you."

"Oh, that would be fine, then." Sheryl shrugged, her demeanour changing on the spot. "I'll make sure these get to school on time." With that, she snatched Ranka's work out of his hand, and was gone, diving into the back of the limo.

"Hey, wait –" Alto got out before he was tackled from behind.

8:19:44

Ozma pushed Alto down into the ground as Sheryl's car started to move. He ground the barrel of his pistol down into Alto's temple, who struggled to push Ozma off and get to his feet.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What the hell did you do to Ranka?"

"Nothing she didn't want me to do!" Alto bit back, trying to get free.

"Bastard!" Ozma spat, slapping the side of Alto's face hard enough to snap it back into the hard road surface.

"Captain?" Klan asked from above. She was bending down, Michael peering over her fingers. Ozma looked up and started for a moment, keeping him off balance long enough for Alto to scramble free and grab his satchel.

"Lieutenant! His bag!"

"Got it," Klan said, snapping into action at orders, grabbing Alto's bag surprisingly quickly and gently between fingertips bigger than the bag, and throwing it.

"NOOOOO!" Alto yelled, before Ozma punched him in the back again.

8:19:59

8:20:00

To be continued...