Macross Delta: Pale Shooting Star Sings on the Battlefield - A boy who fell from the sky

It was a battlefield. Right before my eyes, a building suddenly exploded. A deafening *boom* roared, and a blast of scorching wind slammed into me, knocking me flat on my back against the ground. "[scared]Whoa! What the hell is this?!" My voice trembled. My whole body was covered in grit, and my mouth was full of sand. Wasn't I just in my room a moment ago? I was lying on my bed, watching anime on my tablet. *Macross Delta*. It was the scene where that songstress, Freyja, was singing an incredibly beautiful song on top of a massive battleship. "So cool..." I remember thinking, *I wish I could fight for someone like that too.* I hugged my school blazer like a body pillow, clutching the tablet to my chest. The sky on the screen was blue, and the song was resonating. That's when it happened. The screen grew blindingly bright. White light flooded the room, and before I knew what was happening, I felt my body float up weightlessly— And the next thing I knew, I was here. I looked up at the sky. No, calling it a "sky" didn't do it justice. A gigantic ship was floating up there. A colossal battleship, 1.2 kilometers long, was pushing through the clouds with a rumbling *GOGOGO*, moving steadily forward. It was so overwhelming my jaw nearly dropped. "[whispers]The *Macross Elysion*..." It was exactly the same shape as the pictures I'd occasionally seen online. On the ship's flank, I could make out the letters "CHAOS." Chaos. The largest private military provider in the galaxy. Established in 2062, if I recalled, with branches all over the planets of this world. According to the anime's setting, they received annual contracts worth 800 million *Guld* from the New Unified Government. *Guld* was the currency here—roughly 10 yen to 1 *Guld*, or so I'd read. "Wait a second." This wasn't the time to be thinking about that. This was the world of the anime. A fighter jet streaked past right in front of me. No, not a jet. It was a giant robot-like thing with arms and legs, weaving its way between the buildings. A VF-31 Siegfried. The variable fighter used by the elite Delta Squadron. Total length: 15.6 meters. Top speed: over Mach 5.2. The official anime website said each unit cost 3.5 million *Guld*. "[scared]I can't believe this..." Then, as if chasing that Siegfried, another craft descended from the sky. It was a different color. White, with large wings and something like horns growing from its head. An Sv-262 Draken III. The one used by the Aerial Knights of the Wind Kingdom of Vindermeer. A seriously dangerous fighter that connects to its pilot through sensory antennae called *Rune*, translating the pilot's emotions directly into movement. The two machines clashed high in the sky with a sharp, metallic shriek. Rounds from a gun pod scattered wildly, punching holes into the road. An explosion erupted nearby. "Whoa!" A cry escaped my lips. It was the first time in my life I'd heard a detonation like that—a deep, visceral boom that punched me in the gut. It was completely different from any sound coming out of a TV. I could hear sirens in the distance. Someone screaming. This wasn't a game. This was real war. What planet was this? The anime was mostly set on a planet called Ragna. A temperate ocean world with a population of about 1.2 million. 82% of its surface was sea, and its capital was Ragna City. The setting had a New Unified Forces forward base stationed there. Right. This was some urban area on Planet Ragna. "[scared]Why am I...?" My legs were shaking. I tried to stand, but couldn't manage it. I'm Souma Kakeru. Seventeen years old. 173 centimeters tall, with a build on the slightly slender side. I have black, frizzy hair and pitch-black eyes. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I've got a pretty plain face. The clothes I was wearing were the same as before the transfer. The navy blazer of the National Defense Academy Affiliated High School. The school crest was on my chest. Ah, school, huh. I never really fit in at school. I didn't have any friends. The reason was my eyes. Ever since I was little, I'd sometimes see moving objects in slow motion. A pitcher's fastball looked like stop-motion animation. I could easily catch a piece of chalk thrown at me during class. At first, people said it was amazing, but gradually, they started finding it creepy. "What are you, some kind of monster?" Someone said that to me in middle school. That's when it started. I stopped talking to people much. It was easier to just watch anime alone and play games in my room. That's when I found *Macross Delta*. *—If only I could fight for someone like that too.* I was thinking those thoughts as I fell asleep clutching my tablet. I don't think I have a gloomy personality. People often tell me I'm actually pretty optimistic. But maybe that was just a shield—a way to look away from a reality where things weren't going well. I want to be needed by someone. But I'm scared. And yet, here I was, a half-baked guy like me, somehow standing on a battlefield. That's when it happened. Something moved at the edge of my vision. Trailing smoke, it was heading straight for me. A missile. Crap. I'm going to die. My head understood, but my body wouldn't move. Fear rooted my feet to the ground as if they were glued there. I couldn't take a single step. But my eyes alone tracked that missile. It was slow. As if moving through water, the missile crawled sluggishly through the air. I could see its trajectory. Three seconds to impact. The target was a spot slightly to the right of me, near that pile of rubble. It was that familiar sensation. This kinetic vision—the very thing that had creeped people out in the real world. But now, it was different. This was going to protect me. "[whispers]Move..." How much time passed? Maybe just an instant. Maybe ten seconds. Regardless, I leaped sideways. Like a cat springing away, I tumbled behind the mound of rubble. *BOOM!* Flames erupted exactly where I'd been standing moments before. The shockwave slammed into my back, nearly knocking the wind out of me. My ears rang sharply, and I couldn't hear anything around me. But... "[whispers]I'm... alive..." I'm alive. I'm not dead yet. Every time my eyes focused, my kinetic vision kicked in. I could see each tiny fragment of debris dancing in the air in slow motion. I can use this. Another enemy craft descended from above. A Draken III. It was pointing its gun pod downward, spraying fire indiscriminately across the ground. When I strained my eyes, the bullet trails appeared as lines. Like silver threads falling from the sky, each one was crystal clear. I could see where they were going to hit. "This way!" I ran. Right, left. Duck, roll, run again. Bullets tore into the ground right behind me. Dirt and stones kicked up, hitting my cheek. It hurt. But I couldn't afford to stop. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. An old scar from a fall when I was little twinged slightly from the tension. Then, beyond a burned-out car, I spotted a figure. Someone was lying face down. When I got closer, I saw they were already dead. A Delta Squadron pilot. A young man, his helmet lying on its side nearby. "Sorry." I picked up the helmet. Then, I looked right next to the dead pilot. There was a VF-31 Siegfried, its left main wing completely sheared off. But the cockpit area was surprisingly intact. The instrument lights were flickering. The engine was still running. I looked up. The Draken III was turning back toward me. Slowly, as if sizing up its prey. My eyes told me. Twenty seconds. That thing was going to fire again. I removed the identification tag from the dead pilot's suit. A metal tag on a chain, inscribed with a name and affiliation. I didn't really know why, but I hung it around my own neck. Then, I scrambled up the Siegfried. I dropped my body into the cockpit, as if sliding into it. Right in front of me was the control stick. Exactly like I'd seen in the anime. Right lever for thrust, left for attitude control, pedals at my feet for direction—images from the operation manual flashed through my head like a revolving lantern. "Can I... do this?" I didn't know. But I had no choice. The instruments displayed the engine's breathing rhythm. This machine could still fight. I gripped the control stick tightly with both hands. In that instant. Far away, I thought I heard someone's voice. A song. A faint melody, carried on the wind. A voice from a tactical sound unit, resonating from somewhere on this battlefield—energy waves transmitted through a higher dimension called Fold Waves, meant to suppress the enemy's berserk Var Syndrome. "Freyja..." Her name slipped naturally from my lips. Ah, she's up ahead. The songstress with flowing silver hair is going to save me, dying here under this rubble. The moment I meet her for the first time, I'll know it from the bottom of my heart. That there's someone I want to protect this fiercely. But not yet. This story has only just begun. I closed my eyes and took a breath. It smelled like a battlefield. The screen cuts to black here.

日本語

Episode 1

Name: Macross Delta: Pale Shooting Star Sings on the Battlefield
Author: Novelia

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