Chapter 8: It's a secret
October 31, 2001 (Class room)
"Shirogane, Shirogane" Marimo roars thunderously the name of the owner of a mysterious ability to drive her insane without fail with any action he took.
"Takeru, Takeru wake up" Meiya calls worriedly at the brave guy who is currently sleeping in Marimo class
Unaware of his surrounding, Takeru is sleeping innocently. However, the most notable aspect of is not that he is actually able to sleep in Marimo class but…
"How's on the Earth he able to do it?" Chiruzu can't help but sigh in amazement as she looks at the face of the crybaby ace.
"I must have him teach me this skill of his" Ayamine speaks in admiration
"Takeru san please wake up" Tama worries for Takeru's fate as Marimo is clearly reaching her limit
"ZZzz" the clown is still completely unaware of the surrounding commotion. Takeru sits straightly while his eyes are fully open and focus at the blackboard. One must admit that he could have passed easily as a diligent student who is paying attention to the lecture if not for his snoring and drooling.
"Someone wakes him up. Or I will kill him myself" Marimo clenches her fist tightly as her anger has reaching limit
The girls get up from their own sit immediately and form a circle around the sleeping beauty. They shake him furiously to wake him up and prevent his demise.
"Takeru, you better wake up fast" Meiya desperately calls while shaking the sleepy head clown
"Takeru san, wake up quick, you are going to die at this rate" Tama look back and ford between the sleeping Takeru and the furious Marimo
"Wake up quickly idiot, Instructor Jinguuji may kill you for real at this rate" Chiruzu worriedly shakes Takeru as she could sense Marimo is about to be exploded.
The clown appears to be disturbed by the noise and the shaking. However, he still shows no sight of any intention to wake up from his deep slumber. "Zzzz"
"…"Ayamine folds her arms and thinks deeply despite the commotion in front of her.
"Ayamine san. Do something to wake Takeru up as well. He will die this time for sure" Tama begs with her puppy eyes.
"No choice…" Ayamine looks furious for some reasons. Next, she extents her hand to signal the girls stop shaking the sleeping clown. She moves next to Takeru and whisper irritatingly into his right ear "Hayase is looking for you Shirogane"
Takeru was brought back from his deep slumber at the mention of that one particular girl's name. However, he is just as shocked as everyone else. [What are they doing here?] "If you girls don't go back to your seat, Marimo chan will scold you. Look! She is clearly angry at you. You better go back to your seat quick"
"No way…" the girls mutters in unison, including Ayamine herself. She never expected that could wake Takeru up at all.
"What with that no way? Quick, go back to your seat. We can't continue the lecture at this rate" Takeru is still obvious of his surrounding
"No way…"the girls are yet still unable to recover from the shock. Even they tried all sort of solutions to wake the clown up; they would have never expected he would react instantaneously to the name of the ace of the Valkyrie.
"Shi…ro…gane" Marimo eyes have gone bloodshot as she advances to the group
"Marimo chan, please forgive them in my stead, I will ask them to return to their seat immediately." Takeru could sense his Marimo chan hostility; he extremely worries about the fate of the petrified girls around him.
"You are completely unbelievable Takeru san" Tama dejectedly returns to her seat as she speak
"You can die for all I care Takeru" Chiruzu speaks angrily
"Shirogane…die" Ayamine speaks vexingly
"I have to work even harder at this rate" Meiya sadly mutters something to herself as she return to her seat.
Among the UN force, the Valkyrie is among the most famous troops. They are a group of Independant Special Task Force make up of elites among elites. Their fame is just as great as the Imperial Guard for their supreme skills and achievement. The girls are completely depressed as they tremble at the prowess of their greatest rival that Takeru has always admired. Worse, she is the undisputed ace of the Valkyrie and a beauty to boost.
Even as Takeru himself is confused at the mood of the girls, he tries his best to sooth the fury of Marimo. "Instructor, they have finally gone back to their seat. Please forgive their odd behavior and continue your lecture"
Marimo can barely contain her anger anymore at every single sentence escape from Takeru's mouth. She has long passed from the threshold of self- control.
Takeru sheepishly continues "Instructor, please continue your lesson. You are wasting time here. We still…"Just before Takeru cans finish his sentence, he flies backward from his seat as a flying attendance booklet dig it way into his skull.
Takeru lies flatted on the ground as he is still completely dizzied from the impact. His sight turn hazily as the attendance booklet still glues to his face like a magnet. "Urg", Takeru moans as Marimo flattened him to the ground with her right foot crushing his chest like a hammer. Takeru swears that he just saw the Styx River for a moment. He opens his eyes and intends to ask Marimo the reason "Why…" Then his hazy sight stumbles on something else entirely "Black…lace…". Instantaneously, Takeru's sight goes blackened as the last thing he could see is Marimo's boot stomps his face flatly.
Takeru POV (PX)
"I thought I would have die for real" Takeru complains as he massaging his bruised face
"…" Tama answer him with her unusual silence
"You deserve it" Chiruzu agitatedly states her opinion
"You dug your own grave Shirogane" Ayamine speaks monotonously
"You only have yourself to blame Takeru" Meiya speaks flatly.
"I can't help it. I got some assignment giving by Yuuko sensei to complete at night. That's why I am totally spent in the morning" Takeru cries aguishly at his squad member reaction.
"That is a poor excuse Takeru" Chiruzu folds her arms and speaks angrily. "Now the evaluation day is coming near, you have to take care of yourself better than that. Moreover, even if you are good at everything, you still need to pay more effort and attention to your daily activities"
"Don't worry too much about it. We will all surely pass it with full mark this time" Takeru tries to console Chiruzu as fast as possible before she jump into that sensitive topic.
"No, you don't know anything. We already fail it once. This time, we can't afford to fail it again" Chiruzu slams the table and speak angrily
"I am sorry class rep…" Takeru senses the mood has worsened. At this rate, Chiruzu will surely ask his opinion about that. Even so, she brought this up too early. At least wait until Mikoto discharges from the hospital. I won't able to fix the mood at it is now by my own
"Suzumiya, Suzumiya…" Ayamine
Chiruzu speaks annoyance "Don't bring it up Ayamine"
Takeru "Suzumiya…"
Meiya explains "She is the other group squad leader. Her team passed the combat Evaluation last time, and they are doing their TSF training now"
"…."Takeru can't come up with anything to change the direction of this conversation.
"… why don't you ask why did we fail the test?" Chiruzu asks
Crap. I knew it. Damn it. Now the mood is extremely bad. Why do you have to ask that one question?
"…" Takeru can only keep silent as the result
Chiruzu "…an incompetence leader who couldn't control and subordinates who won't obey orders is about right"
Tama "Sasaki san…why are you bringing this up?"
Ayamine "No, it isn't. The land mines got us because we obeyed your order"
Tama "Ayamine san, too"
Meiya "Yoroi, a survival specialist squadmate who is hospitalized now, advised us to take detour. At the time, we know how important it was to value Yoroi's intuition…"
A heavy silence descends upon the group. Everyone seems want to say something about it yet they hesitate to do so. This mood becomes more and more unbearable. I can't stand this any longer. Let's put a stop to this topic.
"I am going to be blunt. Do you girls mind if I have a few words?"
Chiruzu "…Okay"
"You're all playing victims"
"…"the girls have gone silent after listen to what I have said
"You have failed once. So what? Is the effort that all of you put into your training until now mean nothing? So what if you made a mistake once class rep? You just have to learn from it. That's all. You still have another chance, right? Why continuingly dwell in your past failure? That makes the same for all of us. You may not know it but I find myself failed several time. Failed to uphold my belief, failed to meet up with everyone expectation, failed… failed to protect what I mean to protect. So what? Even if I continue to agonize about it, nothing would change at all. If we don't continue to step forward, nothing will change."
"…"
"So do we agree on this? I definitely won't fail in this evaluation. I will make sure all of us will pass this evaluation as well. Let's forget the bad blood between us all. We could do fine being friends and respect each other, right? Take my hand if you are all agree" I speak and extent my hand toward them expectantly.
Chiruzu places her hand on mine and smiles "Thank you, Takeru. It was unbecoming of me as a squad leader. You are correct. We will do our best this time so none of us would fail"
Tama places her hand on me eagerly "Let do our best"
Meiya joins her hand "Let us all pass this evaluation together"
Ayamine "Cheer"
"Good, let do our best now. We have to work even harder. Class rep, you don't want to lose to Akane right" I speak
"How do you know about it? Wait, how do you know about Suzumiya Akane?" Chiruzu eyes glare dagger at me
Crap, I have to explain this quick. I sense a bloodbath going to happen "Nothing much, according to my source, she is getting scouted to join the Valkyrie with her outstanding results"
"…"For some reason, the girls tighten their grips at my hand. "Was it the same source that gives you the information about your idolized Lt. Hayase Mitsuki" Meiya stares at me and minces her own words
Crap. I spoke too much. Damn it, me and my mouth. I have to make a run quickly. "Urg". No way, their gripping is too strong; there is no way I could escape. In these days, whenever the name of Hayase comes up, it would mean a disaster, a catastrophe will definitely happen to me. I gingerly reply in a desperate fit "Ahaha,…It was the same source"
"… Takeru… you big stalker" Ayamine exclaims
"No way, I don't have any interest at all about Akane Suzumiya" I quickly exclaim as I sense my execution become near
"What's about the rest of the members of the Valkyrie?" Chiruzu speaks thornily
"I don't have any special interest toward them either" I scream this part out loud
"So you only stalk after Hayase" Meiya icily looks at me
"No way, I would never have enough gut to do that. It was always Hayase who approach me"
"!" Meiya, Chiruzu, Ayamine and Tama suddenly become petrified
Crap me and my stupid mouth, I let that one slip. Good god, I am dying. Someone let me redo this loop.
"Hayase did what?" the girls scream hysterically in harmony.
Good god, I can't believe that I make that huge slip of tongue. The girls seem to be in great shock as they are completely standing petrified. It seems that none of their CPU could handle this piece of information. I am sorry but it was true. There is no way that I have enough gut to fall in love with her let alone stalking her. It was always Hayase who approach me. You will all know about it sooner or later after all of us reassign into the Valkyrie. It was just a misunderstanding regarding this matter. There is just no way that I am her hardcore fan. I want to scream this part out loud but couldn't. Have to make a run somehow. There must be a way.
"Explain it yourself, Takeru" Meiya tearfully looks at me and asks
"I have always thought it was one side" Chiruzu grips my hand tightly while speaking to herself
"Takeru Playboy" Ayamine glares icily at me
"UUUU" Tama looks like she is going to cry at any moment
This time, I will definitely be killed. Something, I must do something. "Oh, Lt. Hayase. Long time no see"
The girls abruptly turn their head into the direction of my gaze. Yes, chance.
"Sorry, please forgive me" I apologize while making a mad dash out of the PX taking full advantage of the girls' shock.
(Yokohama hangar) 9.00pm Takeru POV
"This is good enough Kasumi", Takeru calls upon the silver hair girl to stop.
"Takeru san take this" Kasumi hands Takeru a towel while closing the monitor device.
"Ah, thank you Kasumi. With this, the XM3 is complete. We only need sensei to have a final touch at it. Since it is the result of the three of us co-operating with each other last time." Takeru speaks while wiping the sweat from his face with Kasumi towel.
Kasumi nods obediently. Takeru can't help but admit that she is just too adorable. He rubs Kasumi head "Good girl. Let's play Cat cradle tomorrow when I have some free time"
Kasumi nods obediently once more time and pick up the monitor device. "Good night Takeru san"
"Good night Kasumi"
With the closing sound of the hangar's door, the hangar is enveloped with a pleasant silence. Takeru goes back to the simulator to take the Course SSS now that he is the only one in the hangar.
Takeru himself musts admit that the one who write this course is surely a talented programmer. This unique course only appears in only one single simulator that he currently mount on. It bypasses all the activation system and the command post without a single trace. What is more amazing is this program can actually record most of the pilot entry abilities and turn it into AI movement. From the move sets, reaction speed, accuracy and skills. It definitely wasn't able to replicate 100% of the pilot full ability but given the technology in this world; the programmer is one talented person. The only downsize of the program is the AI only follow a fixed number of strategies including the lack of flexibility in processing the situation. However, despite all that downsize, the difficulty level of the course is extremely harsh. It is clear that all the previous entry to the course was the record of a bunch of ace pilots. The best handicap Takeru could give is a one vs. two. Even with the advantage of knowing the strategies using by the AI and his own superior control, a handicap match is still proving extremely challenging.
Takeru waits for the entry code list to fully load. However, after waiting for a while, Takeru realized there was a significant change in the course. Only Mode A is available and there is only one entry code in the list. Takeru enters the code while wonders if it was a bug.
The familiar Mechanical voice booms through the transmitter. "All unit stand by. Mission start in 5, 4, 3, 2 ,1, 0. Destroy all opposing TSF at will."
Takeru quickly disables the supporting system just as the screen of the simulator bright up. There is only one map in this course which is the Hiragi town ruin. Takeru quickly maneuvered his type 94- Shiranui through the ruin. After fighting with the AI for a week, Takeru notice some similar pattern in the spawning and hiding positions of the opposing AI. If he wants to end the fight early, he had to check all of those areas one by one or turning himself into an walking bait. Just when Takeru is checking one the usual hiding place of the AI, he exclaims "What on the earth…" as his radar send him the position of the opposing AI's IFF. Takeru is once again surprise by this new behavior of the AI . The programmer has clearly rewritten the course. Not sure if this was a trap, Takeru move his white Shiranui to the IFF broadcasting position at the Hiragi square with great care. Once again he was surprised by the new change of the AI as he saw a black Shiranui brandishing its Combat blade. "This is an outright challenge" Takeru smiles as he throw away his gun and draws out his own combat blade.
"Let me see how strong you have become". Takeru instantly uses his booster to charge head on toward the opposing TSF. In his surprise, the black Shiranui meet his frontal charge with its own. The impact of the clash sends both the combatants stagger backward. Takeru force his Shiranui to stab its sword to the ground prevent further skidding. His Shiranui then once again charge head straight at the still landing black Shiranui with a double jump booster. "I got you now". This is what Takeru has been aiming at from the beginning. While he can manually stop the inertia of his Shiranui now that his TSF don't have any freeze time. While the opponent TSF with its OPL (Operation by light) system on, the black Shiranui will experience freeze time during the crash landing with its automatic balancing system. Then, something completely unexpected happened, the black Shiranui which is supposed to be frozen up, suddenly flares up to life. The black Shiranui let out a heavily slanted slash while spinning like a windmill with its right shoulder booster. Takeru barely has enough time to make his TSF perform a forceful spin to evade the unexpected attack. "What the hell!"Takeru was utterly surprised at the opposing TSF attack. "Don't tell me you also fight with your OPL turn off." The black Shiranui answers his question with another frontal charge, send his own Shiranui fly backward. The white Shiranui once again stabs its own sword to the ground to brace the impact of the clash. Multi error-messages stack up on Takeru screen notice malfunction in various parts of his Shiranui. "That was crazy." Takeru can't help but exclaim his inner thought. He stares hard at the floating black Shiranui. "Was it an AI create from my entry?", Takeru wonders. Then the black Shiranui once again do something that completely out of Takeru's expectation. It swings the large combat blade over its shoulders while making a challenge gesture with its free hand. "Don't tell me this is a human pilot. Heh, this stuff is getting more exciting than I ever expected."Takeru smile delightedly at this challenge from the opposing pilot. The opposing pilot is not just good, but extremely good in Takeru's opinion. He wonders just how good his opponent is with the XM3 install on the black Shiranui. "I can't ask for any better opportunity to test this new found strength of mine".
The white Shiranui rises up and point its combat blade at the black Shiranui to answer the challenge. Takeru licks his lips and speaks "Hang in there Shiranui, we have a tough opponent to beat." Immediately, the white and the black giants charge head on at each other. Slashes meet slashes, cuts meet cuts, and charges meet charges. Takeru feel like he is fighting against himself. The black titan moves like it is the mirror refection image of the white giant. Raw power matching against raw power, raw speed matching against raw speed. Takeru has never fought such an exhilarating and tough battle like this in his entire life…
(Yokohama hangar) 1.23 AM, Thursday November 1, 2001, Takeru POV
Almost 5 hours of battle, Takeru is utterly exhausted mentally and physically. He can't believe there was such a good pilot like that beside Hayase, Tsukuyomi and Izumi. The pilot always gallantly answers his attack head on without any tricks or feints. The duel was completely a competition of skills, power, experiences and mental strength. 5 hours of battle, 12 matches were fought. 6 draw as both sides blew up the other simultaneously. Takeru managed 2 victories and 4 losses. He felt like the person he fought with is no one but his own counter part. "Even Hayase tough love would never be as mind taxing as this" Takeru mutters and tiredly climbs out of the simulator on all four. He didn't expected himself would look as pathetic as this after the fight. "Who was the other pilot?" Takeru wonders himself while return to his own quarter.
? POV (Yokohama monitor room) 1.39 AM, Thursday November 1, 2001
"No way" a blue hair beauty mutters silently as she saw the person fought against her head out of the Hangar. "I thought it would be a bigshot from some special forces, but to think that he is just a cadet in training is completely unimaginable. Which squad does he belong to?"
"If I am not wrong, he belongs to one of Instructor Jinguuji classes. I think I saw his picture in one of her attendance booklet before" an answer comes from another beauty who is leaning against the wall of the monitor room. "Are you interest in him?"
"Isn't the answer obvious?" the blue hair beauty chuckle lightly as she look at the image of the young man in the monitor screen "Who wouldn't?"
Thursday November 1, 2001 (Class room) Marimo POV
Marimo is doing her best to keep herself under self control. Right now, an extremely strange phenomenon is happening in her class.
The clown is sleeping and snoring innocently with his eyes completely open and focus at the blackboard. It is already his seventh time doing this in her class. She could barely control her wraith if it was just this clown alone. However, the whole class for some reason was under a weirder phenomenon. Ayami ne sleeps with one of her eyes open while the other half close. Tamase is down on her table and in deep slumber. Worse, the most diligent and discipline people in the class are Chiruzu and Meiya is yawning nonstop with the large eye bags on their face.
"What on the earth…has my lecture become that boring?" Marimo mutters alone. She then looks down dejectedly at the class. More than half of the class is currently in slumber while the rest is fighting hard from their own sleepiness. "What happen?" She looks around the class for some hints, any hints to explain the current strange phenomenon in her class. Then her sight stumbles on …
Thursday November 1, 2001 (Class room) Takeru POV
Takeru is sleeping innocently on his chair. Yesterday, he worked extremely hard with Kasumi on the final stage of the XM3. Furthermore, he fought against a tough unknown beauty until morning to a standstill. It's a miracle that Kasumi would able to wake him up in the morning. He would surely deserve a good rest for all of his effort. Suddenly, Takeru wakes up only find him lies flatly on the ground while his Marimo chan smiles sweetly at him and asks "What did you do yesterday night, Shirogane?"
"What happened Marimo chan?" the clown brain is still not functioning properly due to its state of sleep derived.
Marimo still smiles sweetly at the clown and said "I asked and you answer Shirogane, what did you do yesterday?"
Takeru immediately finds himself more awakes than ever. His instinct tells him that the smiling Marimo in front of him now is billions time more scary compare to her usual wraith. What happen? He asks himself. What happen indeed?