Prologue

Under the canopy of a bare-branched cherry blossom tree and the light of a lone, bright street lamp, the combat gear-clad Kobo Kanaeru and Zeta Vestia sat together on a stone bench. The two of them had chilled premium-brand cans of milk tea in their hands that felt cool in their hands. Kobo, completely unfazed by her five-hundred step journey up the staircase of the Hundred Thousand Miracles, cracked open her milk tea can without a second thought and chugged it.

Zeta, on the other hand, savored the cool can in her hands and felt the excessive heat from her exhausted body filtering out of her. Her tiredness and fatigue seemed to flow out along with it.

She listened to the songs of the nocturnal birds and insects, the hum of the vending machine's refrigerator unit and the low crackle of the streetlamp. Then, when the sea breeze blew up the mountain from Tokyo Bay, Zeta took a deep breath and let everything meld together in her mind, body and spirit.

Now, this was a moment that a zen master could have, in the right circumstances, called a glimpse of enlightenment and oneness with the world. At least, that's what the books and online articles and self-help videos that Zeta had been perusing lately told her.

Zeta closed her eyes and basked in that glimpse of enlightenment.

Enlightenment… that would be broken by the brash reactions of the fountain-haired peasant girl beside her.

"Holy shit!" Kobo gasped, "That's good stuff!"

Zeta furrowed her brow, focusing all her energies on not lashing out at Kobo at that moment. Kobo gave Zeta a sidelong glance. Their equally blue eyes met: Kobo's curious ones meeting Zeta's stern ones.

"Oh. You're having a 'moment'." Kobo spoke her mind without any filter whatsoever, "Sorry. I'll keep quiet."

'Too freaking late, stupid water fountain!' Zeta pouted. Her zen moment was long gone.

Instead, Zeta opened up her own can of premium milk tea and took solace in its rich, delightful flavor.

For a heartbeat and a half, she sympathized with Kobo for exclaiming like she did. After all, Zeta exclaimed just like that when she had her first can of that special milk tea three years ago.

A small, empathetic smile formed on Zeta's lips.

Delightful silence, paired with sips of milk tea, persisted for a good few minutes.

Another gentle breeze blew in from the bay and Kobo's eyes turned to Zeta once more.

"... say." Kobo started cautiously, "You kicked ass in flight sims today."

Zeta blinked and winced, "Kicked… ass? What's that supposed to mean?"

She furrowed her brow.

'Is this some sort of peasant slang ?' Zeta thought.

"It means you did really well!" Kobo clarified with a grin. She clapped her hands and insisted, "Really though - what's your secret? How did you fly those planes so well?"

Zeta pouted and pointed her nose up to the springtime moon.

"I practiced." Zeta revealed proudly, "That's all there is to it."

"Practiced?" Kobo asked, bewildered, "How the hell did you do that? This is our first day in the Academy!"

"I practiced before I came down to the Earth, dummy!" Zeta clarified, folding her arms, "During one of my trips to the Earth, I bought a flight simulator and had it set up in my home on the Platforms."

"You can do that!?" Kobo gasped, "How much did it cost you?"

Zeta paused, looked into Kobo's eyes and asked. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yeah. Tell me!" Kobo puffed her cheeks.

Zeta sighed and answered Kobo's question, "Fifty million Rupiah."

Kobo's jaw dropped.

"Fifty million rupiah!? That's a fortune!" Kobo mused with astonishment.

"It's just thirty-two hundred dollars." Zeta shrugged nonchalantly.

Suddenly, Kobo paused. She looked straight in Zeta's eyes and asked, "What's a dollar?"

"Seriously?" Zeta raised her brow. She then snorted and shook her head, "That's a story for another time. Anyways - yeah. I had a flight simulator of my own set up in my house. It wasn't as sophisticated - or in depth - as what we used to today but it got the job done."

"Yeah. You were twenty points ahead of the number two girl in Reine- simpai 's flying drills." Kobo admitted. Her shoulders then drooped, "I don't even want to think about my score."

"You set some records of your own, I heard." Zeta smirked at Kobo, reminding her of her disastrous first half.

Kobo puffed her cheeks and folded her arms, "Shut up!"

Zeta laughed.

"Anyways - yeah, I bought that flight simulator and used it a lot." Zeta recounted, leaning back into the bench, "Any free time I had, I'd put into the simulator - thinking that it'd help me when I applied for the IDSC. Turns out it did. Day in and day out, I practiced - practiced - practiced. Whenever I couldn't sleep, I flew."

"Is that why you ran into me in the maglev station that day?" Kobo teased, "You bumped into me and fell on your butt."

Zeta's expression soured immediately.

"Yes." Zeta admitted curtly, "That's why I ran into you. Cause I was preparing for the day I'd become an I.D.O.L. Frame pilot."

Kobo nods and finishes off the rest of her milk tea.

"That's some crazy dedication you have there." Kobo commented, "You practice so hard on a flight sim - and you spend so much money on it too!"

"The money isn't a big deal." Zeta answered placidly at first. However, seeds of displeasure started to take root in her tone, "It's not really my money to begin with. It's money from my family - a family that would rather wish to have me as an aristocratic prop for fancy dinner parties or Orbital Administration cabinet meetings."

Kobo fell silent.

The fountain-girl had that look about her, Zeta thought. It was the kind where Kobo had conjured up some cheeky comment to try and roast Zeta, but Kobo held back and stayed silent.

It was an invitation for Zeta to continue her tale - an assurance that Kobo was listening.

Zeta cleared her throat and obliged.

"I come from an aristocratic family - the Vestia clan of the Makassar platform group: lords and ladies - high ranked officials of the Orbital Administration's Security Bureau." Zeta revealed, "Everyone in the clan is Worldless, so I can't say for sure if I was their daughter in whatever Known World we escaped from. But I arrived in the same escape pod as the clan, so I became their daughter."

"So you were born… or rather, 'reborn' into wealth by circumstance." Kobo hummed.

Zeta nodded. Hardly any joy reflected on her moonlit face.

"My family wanted me to be seen but not heard. They vehemently opposed my decision to try and become an I.D.O.L. Frame pilot." Zeta heaved a long, hard sigh, "They wanted me to be some desk jockey in Jakarta Central instead. They said I had no business going to the front lines - not when the Orbital Defense Platforms and their guns and missiles would protect us."

"You're a runaway princess, then." Kobo tested.

"You could say that." Zeta accepted with a sigh. She then turned to Kobo and asked, "You saw what happened when the Ancient Ones attacked, though."

"I did, yeah." Kobo shook her head, "It was a pretty close call. If it weren't for the I.D.O.L. Frames, then the AO's could have gotten father."

"Uh-huh. Everyone in my clan pissed their pants that day. My father, Lord Bazo, was calling the IDSC Garrison begging them to do something. Anything!" Zeta nodded, "Without the Frames, the simulation we had in the flight sim earlier wouldn't have been theoretical anymore. It would have been real. Real Strato-Hornets would have scrambled into fights they're not meant to win."

"Sheesh…" Kobo leaned forward, recalling the simulations. Chills ran up her spine and she shuddered, "No simulator resets. No redos. No 'spectator mode'. No nothing."

"Nope. None whatsoever." Zeta confirmed, "This world wouldn't be as peaceful as it is today if people didn't stick their necks out and reach for the stars.'

Zeta clenched her fist and pointed it at the Jakarta-series platforms sailing between the Earth and the moon.

"So that's why I want to be an I.D.O.L. Frame pilot. I want to decisively prove my father and my clan wrong." Zeta declared, "I don't care how much pain, suffering or humiliation I have to endure, but I will see this through. Nothing will stand in my way." Her eyes glared at the Orbital Platforms venomously and hissed, "I won't live in the shadow of the Vestia clan's wealth or their influence forever. Otherwise, there wouldn't even be a Vestia clan."

"Or a KW1." Kobo added.

Zeta nodded. She finished off her own can of milk tea and lobbed it into a garbage bin by the vending machine.

SWISH!

Zeta's can sailed into the bin perfectly like a basketball.

The runaway aristocrat then turned to Kobo.

"I've told you my story, fountain girl." Zeta asked, "What's yours? Most of the Worldless are perfectly happy to stay up in the Orbital Platforms. Why are you down here trying so hard to be an I.D.O.L. Frame Pilot?"

"My story…" Kobo mused, holding her empty can, "I wish I had one."

Kobo threw her can at the garbage bin too, but struck the rim and bounced off.

KLANG!

Kobo's can fell onto the stone tiles of the landing.

"Damn it…" Kobo clicked her tongue, picked up her can and dunked it straight into the bin.

"What do you mean you don't have a story?" Zeta asked, "I mean - the Worldless don't know where they came from before the Hundred Thousand Miracles, but they all have some kind of story when they awaken in KW1: some sort of community they were a part of."

"Maybe I would have had one." Kobo joined her hands behind her back and looked up to the moon, "But all of the other escape pods that were with me got destroyed by the Ancient Ones. I even saw someone get corrupted by the AO's before my eyes… some blonde girl with blue eyes." Kobo shook her head, "It was gruesome. It looked painful. And her eye…"

Kobo shuddered where she stood, even though there was no breeze.

"Fountain girl…" Zeta spoke with rare sympathy.

Kobo shook her head and laid her hand on her heart.

"I don't really have a story that I can piece together from before the Miracles… but I do have a story from after I got rescued." Kobo revealed, "It took me a while, but I learned that it was Moona- simpai herself who rescued me from my wreck. Olivia- neesan , meanwhile, was the one who took me under her wing and became the family I probably never had."

She perked up and turned around to face Zeta.

"I.D.O.L. Frame pilots have carried me on their shoulders from the day I was reborn. So - I want to repay them and fight alongside them." Kobo looked up to the sea of stars above her and pointed out to the distant constellations beyond her reach, "And maybe - just maybe - when I'm back out there in space, I can find out more about myself and where I came from. Maybe I'll find out why I'm the sole survivor from my world… wherever it may be."

Zeta folded her arms and nodded.

"So that's why Miss Kureiji coddled you so much." Zeta heaved a sigh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kobo furrowed her brow and glared.

"Well - Miss Kureiji treated me well too." Zeta clarified, "She was the one who negotiated with my father, Lord Bazo, to let me shoot my shot at becoming an I.D.O.L. Frame pilot."

"Olivia- neesan did that!?" Kobo gasped.

"Yeah. She risked her reputation - and the reputation of the Jakarta-series Garrison just to get my father's approval." Zeta laughed a little, "In a way, Miss Kureiji adopted me too. That practically makes us sisters."

"Sisters? With you!?" Kobo shuddered, "Eww… what the heck!?"

Zeta pointed her nose up to the moon, "I'm not a fan of this arrangement either, fountain-girl… but after getting to know you a little, I don't dislike it as much as I thought I would."

Suddenly, Kobo's face went smug.

"Ehe~" Kobo teased.

"Just don't make that face too often and I'll tolerate your existence." Zeta hissed, "I don't care what we are. Just don't get in the way of me becoming an I.D.O.L. Frame pilot either."

"Right back at you, rich girl." Kobo smirked. She glanced over at Zeta and mused, "If you can talk back again, that means you're probably rested up. There's still five hundred steps to climb, so let's get going."

"Five hundred and eighty-six." Zeta corrected smugly, "And I'm gonna beat you to the top this time!"

Without warning, Zeta picked up her rifle from the ground and started jogging up the staircase of the Hundred Thousand Miracles. Kobo, intrigued by the aristocrat's challenge, grinned and snatched her own rifle too. Then, chased Zeta up the staircase and ran all the way to the IDSC Academy grounds.

Together.

Blue Horizon

On Our Own Two Feet

Twenty-First Scene - First Morning On Earth

As expected, Kobo's first night on the earth gave her a dreamless night.

Her memories, on the other hand, were just as active as they were in her waking moments.

That morning, as Kobo fluttered between consciousness and subconsciousness, she recalled the events of the fateful day she was rescued in space. It played out like a film projector reel: rigid, chronological and predictable which left nothing to Kobo's frustratingly dormant imagination.

The difference that morning, though, was that her mental stirrings also showed glimpses of the frantic scenes of her wild flight simulator experience as ' Zero-Eight '.

Recalling her callsign, Kobo finally awakened from her slumber just before the sunrise. Lying down on her back, her overstimulated mind felt the minute differences of the gravity between the Orbital Platforms and the Earth. Her lungs took in the fresh, crisp and unfiltered terrestrial air and exhaled a bated breath.

While Kobo looked up to the dark ceiling of the dormitory of ID3 Flight 8, a loud, bugle reverie blasted on the PA systems of Yokosuka Naval Base and the mountaintop mansion. Kobo awakened from yet another dreamless sleep and sat upright on a simple spartan bed in ID3 Flight 8's spacious but densely packed dormitory.

Kobo yawned and stretched on her bed. From there, she rubbed her eyes and watched as the lion's share of her Flight's cadets struggled to get up despite the rousing bugle blasts. The only exception was, of course, Zeta Vestia, who was already up on her feet and fixing her bed sheet a stone's throw away.

Zeta's blue eyes met with Kobo's and the two of them smirked at each other.

The two of them were the only cadets of their Flight to participate in Reine's surprise flight simulator session as the Majestic 12 so they had less time to sleep. Add the fact that they were the last of the Majestic 12 to make it back to Academy grounds.

And yet, she and Zeta were the first ones to rise.

Kobo remembered her conversation with Zeta on the steps of the Hundred Thousand Miracles well.

'Competition's already starting, huh?' Kobo snorted.

She got up too and started fixing her own bed as well, rushing to catch up with Zeta. Kobo had just spread out her blanket (somewhat) neatly on her bed when the dormitory door swung open.

Sergeant Sparrowhawk burst inside along with a handful of her subordinates.

"DORMITORY INSPECTION. STAND IN ATTENTION!" Sparrowhawk declared.

Kobo, Zeta and the rest of the cadets obliged and stood in attention. Some of their Flight-mates, though, tripped up and made even worse messes of their already messy beds.

Sparrowhawk saw this and she scowled.

"WHAT KIND OF PIGSTY IS THIS!?" Sparrowhawk screamed. Sparrowhawk marched through the room and berated the Flight 8 cadets as she passed them by, "FILTHY! UNKEMPT! ABSOLUTELY HORRID!" She swept her accusing finger through the room and demanded, "IF THE AO'S ATTACKED KW1 TODAY, WOULD YOU BE PREPARED?"

Sparrowhawk then passed by Kobo's and Zeta's fairly fixed beds and paused.

The drill sergeant doubled back and took a second look.

"Cadet Vestia. Cadet Whatthehell. There may be hope for you yet." Sparrowhawk nodded with satisfaction and gave them the thinnest of compliments. She then whirled around to the other cadets, stomped her boots and hollered, "As for the rest of you? Let me start you off with your strength exercises today! DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY!"

The other cadets did as they were told and started doing push ups. Zeta put her hands on her hips and smirked victoriously. Kobo, on the other hand, folded her arms.

' I'm stillCadet Whatthehell? ' Kobo furrowed her brow, ' What the hell!? '

Still, Kobo took her rare win with a sliver of delight.

She didn't get much time to bask in that victory, however. Not long after the other cadets finished their push ups and finally fixed their beds, Olivia Kureiji stepped into the room wearing a tracksuit.

"Ladies!" Olivia greeted with a firm, resonating voice.

"Ma'am!" Sparrowhawk, her staff and all the cadets stood in attention and answered.

"It's a beautiful day outside. Cadets, get into your athletic gear! We're going for a jog in five minutes." Olivia commanded.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Kobo, Zeta and the cadets answered.

All of the Flight 8 cadets started getting into their athletic gear. Meanwhile, Olivia herself sauntered over to Sergeant Sparrowhawk. In the corner of her eye, Kobo saw Olivia speaking intently while Sparrowhawk listened and nodded often.

Afterwards, Sparrowhawk saluted Olivia and excused herself from the room. Her staff followed her out too, leaving Olivia alone with the scrambling cadets.

"Double time, ladies!" Olivia urged, jogging in place where she stood, "Daylight's burning - and we've got a long, long day ahead of us!"

Twenty-Second Scene - CWO 101

Olivia Kureiji and the cadets of ID3 Flight 8 jogged together out of the IDSC Academy's mansion and onto the well-kept grounds and trails that snaked around it. Kobo, despite a mild but lingering whole-body ache from yesterday's strenuous exercises, kept up with Olivia and jogged alongside her.

The CWO instructor glanced over her shoulder as she jogged and grinned at Kobo.

"Seems you've got quite a lot of stamina, kiddo." Olivia praised, "You kept us with us last night - and you're keeping up with me now!"

"Stamina and strength… are two of the things… that I'm most proud of!" Kobo cheered raspily in between gasps for air.

"That's good." Olivia smiled, speaking normally, "Physical strength is important for everyone in the IDSC - especially for I.D.O.L. Frame pilots!"

Olivia didn't pant or struggle in the slightest - almost as if these morning jogs were second nature to her. She turned her eyes forward and raised her voice for the whole class to hear.

"Listen up, everyone! In Combat Walker Mode, your Frame follows your body. It basically multiples the strength you have a hundredfold when you beat the shit out of the AO's in a terrestrial battle." Olivia raised up her fist and punched up through the air, "The more strength you - the pilot - have to multiply, the more hurt you can bring to those goddamned monsters!"

"Multiplication…!?" Kobo gasped, bewildered, "I don't want to do math in battle!"

"Your I.D.O.L. Frame's HALO module will handle the math, don't worry!" Olivia reassured with a wink. She twirled around and faced the class while jogging backwards, "Over the next few weeks, I will be teaching you martial arts to turn your very bodies into AO-slaying weapons! Then, I'll be training you with actual weapons that you'll use in CW mode. Knives, pistols, rifles, shotguns… anti-tank guided missiles - the works!"

"Hoh…!" Kobo's eyes shone brightly when she heard about weapons.

"We didn't have you guys lug those rifles around for nothing, you know!" Olivia snickered, "Doesn't matter if you become I.D.O.L. Frame pilots or not. You'll have to learn how to fight Ancient Ones - whether or not you have a Frame of your own."

When Olivia said this, Kobo sensed a shift in her guardian's tone. It seemed like the slightest sliver of sadness or longing, but Kobo couldn't tell for sure. She couldn't see what kind of face Olivia was making at that point in time, after all.

Then, while Kobo was gathering her thoughts, she heard the rushed shuffle of feet coming from behind her.

It was Zeta.

She, despite her sweat-slicked brow, red cheeks and heavy panting, was catching up to Kobo in the jog!

"Don't get lazy… hah… fountain-girl!" Zeta hissed at Kobo.

"Don't get cocky, rich girl!" Kobo hissed back at her.

Kobo and Zeta glared at each other while they jogged and the two of them pushed themselves to chase after their instructor. Olivia saw this and smirked.

"Good to see you two finally getting along." Olivia remarked.

"We're not… getting along!" Kobo and Zeta growled in perfect sync.

"Yeah right." Olivia stuck out her tongue. She then took a deep breath and dared, "Alright then, I won't hold back either!"

Suddenly, Olivia straightened her back and sped up her jog bit by bit. She eventually pulled away from Kobo and Zeta, daring them to try and keep up!

The two rival cadets obliged and sped up too! They left the rest of the cadets of their Flight in the dust - leaving them to grumble in frustration and envy.

…

Olivia's early morning jog came to an end before long and the schedule of Flight 8 continued on as originally scheduled: strength training in the Academy gym, followed by a morning CWO theory lecture with Olivia in the lecture room together with the other Flights of cadets.

The red-haired instructor, now in a fresh change of clothes, brought up a dozen formless projection screens from her WristComm. Each screen featured images or videos of I.D.O.L. Frames taken from training exercises or from IDSC promotional videos. Olivia folded her arms and walked around those formless screens with a proud smile on her lips.

"Alright class. I'm sure the whole lot of you have seen at least some of these pics and vids." Olivia started, pointing to the screens as she passed them by, "This here is Moona-simpai 's High Tide taking off from the IDSC Garuda fleet carrier. This one's Risu-simpai' s 1:15AM firing its full spread of missiles on a practice target over orbit in KW11. Oh~ and this one's Iofi-simpai 's Q&A=E doing an underway refueling maneuver during the ongoing KW8 campaign."

Kobo, Zeta and the rest of the cadets in the hall regarded the pictures and videos with keen interest. After a short while, the formless screens moved on to the next media file in their playlist. Olivia gave commentary about those files too.

But then, with a wave of Olivia's hand, the formless screens went dark.

"Whenever people talk about I.D.O.L. Frames, they think about their starfighter forms like what you've seen here." Olivia put her hand on her hip but shook her head, "What most folks often forget is that I.D.O.L. Frames are transforming starfighters. Watch the news - or any Hollywood flick about the Frames. You'll only see starfighters!"

Olivia aired her gripes with a certain passion that did not slip past Kobo.

'Is it because Olivia-neesan's our Combat Walker instructor? Or is there more to it than that?' Kobo wondered.

Olivia smiled and continued her spiel, "Here at the IDSC Academy, I'm here to clear the air. I.D.O.L. Frames can transform back and forth between two distinct forms: Starfighters and Combat Walkers!"

Olivia waved her hand again and the formless screens populated with new pictures and videos. Once again, the class saw Moona's High Tide , Risu's 1:15AM and Iofi's Q&A=E , but they looked starkly different.

Rather than the jet plane-like starfighters, they were bipedal, humanoid war machines with heads, limbs and bodies. Components and weapons of the starfighters had shifted around to make the new forms, but the cockpits - and the pilots within them - remained at the center of it all.

One particular picture of that presentation caught Kobo's attention.

It was Moona's High Tide in CW mode, standing on the surface of KW1's moon. Moona and her walker both stood tall and saluted the camera.

"Oh gosh, she's so cool…!" Kobo gushed over Moona and melted in her seat.

Zeta, meanwhile, looked on at the melting Kobo and cringed. The aristocrat heaved a sigh and raised her hand.

"Yes, cadet Vestia." Olivia called upon her.

Zeta stood up from her seat and asked her question.

"Miss Kureiji, we know that I.D.O.L. Frames have starfighter and combat walker modes, but how do they transform between them? They seem wildly different. That transformation looks incredibly complex. Can the Frames really do that in the heat of battle?"

"Yes." Olivia answered undaunted. She showed Zeta her open hand and declared, "The transformation takes place in five seconds. Flat."

"F-five seconds…!?" Zeta's jaw dropped with astonishment.

"Of course, it takes quite a bit of I-115 fuel to complete the transformation one way or another." Olivia warned, "But the Frames can transform that quickly. Flexibility is the name of the game! It's why the Galactic Fleet still values our contributions!"

When Olivia said this, she tapped on the picture of Moona's I.D.O.L. Frame saluting on the lunar surface. The picture started moving like a gif file and showed the High Tide transform from Combat Walker to Starfighter form in five seconds flat.

The entire lecture hall filled with gasps.

"How is that even possible…?" Zeta continued to ask, "I've seen all sorts of weaponry in the Orbital Administration's Security Bureau, but none of them can do anything like that!"

Kobo looked at the gif of the transformation looping and hummed in agreement. She, too, hadn't seen anything like it outside of fanciful sci-fi flicks.

"I knew this question was coming sooner or later." Olivia admitted with a sigh. She laid her hand over her heart and answered, "Even I don't know the specifics, cadet Vestia. I'm just a pilot. Specific technical details aren't my forte."

Olivia whispered beneath her breath, " Of all the times for Anya to take her day off, it had to be today. "

The sole instructor cleared her throat and continued, "Either way, the transformation methods and mechanisms - and just about every bit of advanced tech in the Frames - are closely-guarded Cover Corporation secrets. The technology is so incredibly rare that only a few people understand it… and so many people want to unearth it."

'That must be why security was so tight in the hangar last night.' Kobo recalled. She tapped on the face of her WristComm and remembered the photos that Anya had her delete, 'If the Strato-Hornets that we simulated yesterday were huge secrets, then the I.D.O.L. Frames are in a world of their own.'

Kobo furrowed her brow and watched the gif of Moona's transforming High Tide, wondering.

'Just what in the world isan I.D.O.L. Frame?'

As Kobo stewed in her thoughts and speculations, Olivia held up three fingers.

"At the end of the day, the ID3 Strike Force will only be able to accept three new pilots. Only three fortunate souls will have the high honor and distinct privilege to pilot the Frames and carry their secrets in their hearts." Olivia glanced at Zeta and asked, "Does that answer your question, cadet Vestia?"

Zeta nodded politely.

One look at Zeta, though, told Kobo that Olivia's answer just planted new seeds of curiosity in her mind.

Chatters and whispers started to pop up throughout the lecture hall, but Olivia clapped her hands and silenced them.

"While we may not know everything about I.D.O.L. Frames, I can assure you that the IDSC Academy's program has prepared all of the pilots to operate them." Olivia swore wholeheartedly, "Moona-simpai , Risu-simpai and Iofi-simpai went through the same program that Reine and Anya and I went through - and that is the same program that you folks are going through right now. With significant improvements, of course!"

Olivia's words sated the curiosity of the class for now, though embers remained. Once Olivia had everyone's attention once more, she faced the cadets and made a declaration.

"Later today, after lunch, all of you will get a chance to see a little bit of the I.D.O.L. Frame technology in action. A tech demo, of sorts!" Olivia grinned, "The Majestic 12 cadets will be operating Training Walkers using HALO modules!"

"The Majestic 12…?" Kobo and Zeta both thought out loud.

Kobo squealed and felt her heart skip a beat, ' That's us! '

Silence permeated through the lecture hall at first. Then, chuckles followed with laughter.

Kobo and Zeta shrank where they sat.

"Good to see you kids are excited." Olivia laughed too. She gave a thumbs up and confirmed, "It won't be anything as fancy as the flight simulators from last night, but it'll be a pretty good taste of I.D.O.L. Frame tech!" She stood upright and saluted the cadets, "That said, all ID3 cadets - report to the Yokosuka Naval Base after lunch. Our CWO class resumes here."

All of the cadets stood up from their seats and saluted Olivia back.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" The cadets answered.

"Class dismissed." Olivia smiled.

Epilogue

Kobo and Zeta joined the dozens of other ID3 cadets and descended down the steps of the Hundred Thousand Miracles. Even before they reached the Yokosuka Naval Base landing, they saw heavy machinery in motion. They heard it too, more so than usual.

THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!

From their perch behind the rails of the mountain staircase, the cadets saw thirteen hulking mechanical, eight-meter tall beasts marching in formation on the concrete quay of the naval base.

One look, even from that distance, told Kobo and Zeta that these weren't I.D.O.L. Frames. Zeta pointed to those machines and spoke to Kobo.

"Those are Mechanized Labor Walkers. MLW Mark III's." Zeta revealed, "We have those in the Security Bureau. They're heavy-lifting workhorses."

"So, they're like forklifts?" Kobo asked innocently.

"You're not far off, actually." Zeta hummed. She then furrowed her brow and watched the marching machines, "Our MLW's don't move that quickly or that smoothly though."

"Think it's because of that HALO thingy that Olivia-neesan was talking about?" Kobo guessed.

Zeta shrugged, "There's only one way to find out."

The two cadets followed their peers all the way down to the naval base landing. There, they gathered as the thirteen ML Walkers marched towards them, lined up, kneeled down low and powered down. Their cockpit hatches opened with mechanical hisses, revealing their pilots.

Sparrowhawk, IDSC garrison troops and Olivia Kureiji.

"Good afternoon, ladies!" Olivia spoke from the cockpit of the ML Walker and waved to the cadets, "Gather round! The lesson's about to start."

Kobo, Zeta and the cadets obliged and approached Olivia's machine. As they got closer, Kobo saw a strange yet crude device wrapped around Olivia's head like a bandage. A myriad of wires connected that bandage-like device to the control panel of the mechanized walker.

' What the hell is that thing? ' Kobo raised her brow, ' That weird duct tape spaghetti monster's the HALO module? '

Olivia slipped the device off of her head and let her red hair flow down gracefully. She raised up the device for the cadets to see.

"This device - is a prototype for a mass-produced HALO module." Olivia revealed proudly, "Right now, it's still a crude imitation of a real I.D.O.L. Frame's HALO, but it's as close as we can get to telepathic command input. It does the trick too - which counts for something, right?"

The red-haired CWO instructor turned her eyes to Kobo, Zeta and the Majestic 12 cadets and gestured to them.

"Come on over, Majestic 12. Let's start learning how to walk!"

The twelve top-scoring cadets looked at each other with cautious eyes. Their other colleagues, on the other hand, sat back under the shade of trees and watched with both excitement and relief.

Kobo heaved a sigh and came forward first.

"Alright. Let's do this." Kobo answered Olivia's call with a healthy dose of wariness.

Sergeant Sparrowhawk helped Kobo aboard her ML Walker and crowned her with the prototype HALO device. Then, Kobo sat down in the cockpit of the robot.

' At least it's not uncomfortable… ' Kobo thought, tapping on the elastic circlet and tugging on the wires. She closed her eyes and mumbled, ' I just hope it actually works .'

"Sergeant, is she strapped in?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, ma'am!" Sparrowhawk answered with a salute, "Shall I start her MLW?"

"Please do." Olivia nodded.

Sparrowhawk flipped a switch in the robot's cockpit and its gasoline engine roared to life.

WHIRRRR!

"Whoa…!" Kobo gasped. She felt the rumblings of the robot from head to toe.

Sparrowhawk hopped off the robot, leaving Kobo alone in the cockpit. The rest of the cadets, meanwhile, watched the machine with awe.

Only Zeta remained silent. She furrowed her brow and watched every inch of the ML Walker and its pilot with inquisitive eyes.

Kobo, on the other hand, gripped onto her cockpit chair fearfully.

"W-what do I do now?" Kobo asked, shouting over the whirs of her engine.

"The HALO module should be online now, Cadet Kanaeru!" Olivia answered, "Use your mind to close the cockpit hatch. Then - stand up on your own two feet. Still your mind and focus on your thoughts! Make the MLW obey your will!"

"Still my mind… focus my thoughts…" Kobo gulped, mumbling Olivia's instructions like a mantra, "C-close… close the cockpit hatch!"

She took a deep breath and did as she was told. And then…

FTTTT-HISSS!

The cockpit hatch of Kobo's MLW closed with a loud, hydraulic hiss. As the door closed, her HALO device glowed faintly powder blue.

Just like an angel's halo.

"It followed my command…!" Kobo blinked, astonished. She held onto her seat and focused her thoughts again, "If you're listening to me… then… up on your feet, soldier!"

Again, the machine rumbled wildly. Her HALO device glowed powder blue more brightly, translating Kobo's thoughts into ones and zeroes. Moments later, servos, gears and devices shifted and turned.

Gravity lost hold of Kobo for a brief moment. Then, somehow, the Earth felt a little bit further away than before!

Kobo's ML Walker had gotten up from where it knelt and carefully stood up. Through the glass of her cockpit, she saw all of the ID3 cadets looking up at her from the quay.

Zeta, in particular, watched Kobo closely with rising intrigue.

"I did it…" Kobo's jaw dropped. Then, she covered her face and cheered, "What the hell? I did it!"

Kobo's voice was then echoed by the ML Walker and broadcast on the machine's speakers. Then, the robot covered its face too - just like Kobo was doing in the cockpit!

"High synchronization… that quickly?" Olivia muttered beneath her breath and watched Kobo piloting the ML Walker with surprising competence, "The kid's a natural."

So, Olivia flipped the switch in her own ML Walker and brought it to life as well. She closed her cockpit too and spoke to the cadets gathered at the quay.

" So then, ladies! Who wants to volunteer next? " Olivia asked through her robot's speakers.

Zeta stepped forward through the crowd and raised up her hand without hesitation. She looked up to Kobo in the cockpit of her standing mech, pointed at her and declared.

"I'm not gonna let you get ahead of me, fountain girl!"

Kobo looked into Zeta's fiercely competitive eyes and smirked. She and her mech pointer back at Zeta and she answered her.

"Come and get me then, rich girl!"

To Be Continued