The morning after suspension lifted carried an odd tension in the air. The light panels of College Ring cast their usual white glow across the hallway at the same angle as always. Kaito walked through that light, following Seira's back from exactly three steps behind. Three steps. Precisely three steps. A distance he couldn't bring himself to close or widen. During the suspension, he remembered the day Seira came to the boys' dormitory corridor. Through the door, he'd heard her voice: "Amami-san, I——" The rest never came. Her footsteps faded away. Since that night, something between them had lingered like a splinter. (I should have said something back then.) But even now, he didn't know what he could have said. Captain Carmilla Lette stood in front of the lobby's electronic bulletin board in the midst of that awkward silence. Sleepy eyes. Coffee cup. Her usual face. But today, she held a terminal in one hand. "[cold]Both of you" They were called over and lined up. Kaito and Seira stood side by side, facing Carmilla directly. Neither looked at the other. Both kept their eyes fixed solely on Carmilla. Carmilla turned the terminal's screen toward them. Numbers appeared. 38. "[cold]Your synchro rate is 38. You've dropped below the 40-point forced reassignment threshold" Kaito's mind went blank. (38...? The forced reassignment line is at 40, and we——) "[serious]I was aware of the numerical trend" Seira responded in her regulation tone. Her voice trembled slightly. Kaito noticed. Seira herself might not have realized it, but Kaito heard it clearly. Carmilla took a sip of coffee. "[cold]If you can't improve your synchro rate in tomorrow's graduation practical exercise, the pair dissolves. Amami will be reassigned, and Seira will become a candidate for a new pairing with Shirakawa" ——Handing Seira over to Ryo. The moment those words became a concrete image in his mind, Kaito opened his mouth. He felt like he had to say something. But no sound came. The air in his lungs stopped before it could become words. Carmilla set her cup on the locker. "[cold]Now go" That was all. They stepped into the hallway. Seira walked ahead first. Kaito followed. But they went in different directions. Seira turned right down the corridor; Kaito went left. Without exchanging a single word, their two figures receded in opposite directions. As he left, Kaito glanced back once. Seira didn't turn around. Ryo stood at the corner of the hallway. Tea-colored wolf-cut hair, amber-colored drooping eyes. He'd apparently seen their entire exchange, his hand on his chin with an expression that said "I see..." "[sarcastic]...Yo" Kaito passed by in silence. --- The Mesa Hall during lunch break——the 800-seat cafeteria was filled with the bustle of midday. The smell of Academy Curry and the broth of space udon mingled together. Students' voices echoed off the ceiling, loud enough to be annoying. In that noise, Seira was alone. She sat before a tray of space udon, her chopsticks still, staring at her terminal. Whether she was reading regulatory clauses or checking synchro rate data was impossible to tell from outside. But it wasn't her usual "calculating the next move" expression. The chair across from her was pulled out. When Seira looked up, Ryo was sitting there. His usual light smile was gone. "[serious]Seira" "[serious]...Shirakawa" "Pair with me" Seira's eyes narrowed. "[serious]According to regulations——" "[serious]Forget the regulations already" Ryo cut her off. His voice was calm, but his eyes weren't smiling. "[serious]What I'm asking is what you feel. Do you like Amami? Just answer me that" Seira's chopsticks stopped. Something moved in her mind. Regulatory clauses tried to line themselves up——but the sensation that something was wrong with her trying to line them up became clear for the first time. Being next to Amami-san made her feel safe. Seira had never been able to put that sensation into words. It wasn't data. It wasn't regulations. Whenever she tried to analyze it, it slipped away. Ryo watched Seira's silence. "[gentle]...Yeah, that's what I thought" He stood up. And spoke quietly, just one thing. "[serious]A guy who makes you cry doesn't deserve to be your partner. But——if you choose him, I won't give up either" Just as Ryo turned around, a cafeteria staff member called out: "Shirakawa Ryo-san, your Academy Curry order——" Ryo turned toward them. "[surprised]I didn't order anything though..." "Isn't this for ticket number 15, sir?" "Number 15... Oh, I was number 12" He accepted the curry with a blank expression on his face. But Seira couldn't smile. The cafeteria's noise sounded distant. She'd posed a question to her own emotions for the first time, and had no answer. Her chopsticks stopped again. --- The night before the graduation practical exercise——or more precisely, just before dawn that day. The hangar block was dark. Only the faint light from the light panels creating pseudo-dawn filtered in, and there was no sign of anyone. Kaito stood alone in front of Legno Mk-IV. The 14.8-meter-long training HSS——Humanoid Starship——cast a large shadow in the dim darkness. Near its left leg section, a thin line ran across the armor's surface. A repair mark. From that day that caused the suspension. When he'd tried to move this HSS alone and crashed into it. Kaito stared at that mark intently. (Pathetic.) He couldn't make excuses. He'd felt like Seira was leaving him behind, panicked, and acted alone. And he'd broken it. That was all. (I can't do anything without Seira.) This was the first time he'd admitted it. "Couldn't sleep?" A low voice came from behind. He turned around. Yuri Blake stood at the hangar entrance. The man known as a hero of the Helios Conflict——the five-year armed conflict between the Mars Republic and the Jupiter Sphere Autonomous Union over energy collection rights near the sun——walked slowly through the dim hangar with his arms crossed. "[serious]I once had a massive fight with my partner during the Helios Conflict and our synchro rate dropped to single digits" Kaito said nothing. Yuri stood beside Legno and looked up at the machine. "[serious]There was only one thing that kept us alive in that war. We threw away all our pride and threw our true feelings at each other" Those words pierced something in Kaito's chest. Memories flashed back. ——Every time he showed weakness in front of his family, they laughed. His father said he was meaningless if he wasn't first. Don't show your effort. Don't cry. Fake strength. He'd always done that. ——And another memory. Two years ago, the face of a senior who'd left the academy in a chain of pair rejections. They were smiling. But their eyes weren't smiling at all. That person couldn't say their true feelings either. They'd left without saying them. Kaito's fist clenched tight. Yuri turned his gaze toward him. "[serious]Isn't there something you want to tell Seira?" With just that, Yuri left the hangar. His footsteps faded. Silence returned. Kaito stood alone. He took a deep breath. His stomach growled. "...Worst possible timing" He made a self-directed comment and felt some tension ease. Then——he gripped his fist again, tighter. --- The exercise began at dawn. Kaito and Seira boarded the Legno Mk-IV's cockpit in silence. The pilot's front seat and the operator's rear seat. In the narrow two-seat cockpit, only their breathing echoed quietly. The same distance as that day——when they'd first boarded this cockpit together. The difference was that both of them were silent now. The instruments activated. The synchro rate monitor displayed the numbers. 38. The neural link connection countdown began. The device at the base of his neck felt faintly warm. Kaito closed his eyes. (Let's do this.) And——he tore down every wall inside his heart. Intentionally. Consciously. One by one, all of them. The moment the neural link connected, Seira let out a small sound in the rear seat. "...!" Because it flowed in. Kaito's emotions, like a muddy torrent. His complicated feelings toward his family. Two years of loneliness from hiding his weakness. Guilt over the senior who'd left due to pair rejection. The shame of panicking and going berserk out of jealousy toward Ryo. The nights he'd cried alone during suspension. And——the terror of being hated by Seira, and the feeling that he needed to be beside her, all of it, in its pre-verbal form, all of it at once. Tears welled up in Seira's eyes. This person was carrying all this... Kaito's voice shook. "[sad]When I heard you were pairing with Ryo, I was terrified. You're the only partner I need" Whether it was a romantic confession or a declaration as a partner, even Kaito didn't know. It was just the truth. His first true feeling with all his pride stripped away. Seira's hand moved slightly on her lap. And——Seira lowered her walls too. Flowing into Kaito's neural link. The terror of being abandoned if she wasn't perfect. Memories of being scolded every time she showed emotion, raised in a military family. The reason she'd tried to solve everything with regulations. And——being next to Amami-san made her feel safe. That feeling she hadn't even recognized in herself overflowed without words. The synchro rate monitor moved. 38——45——52——60——68. The numbers jumped upward. The values displayed on Carmilla's communication window. Carmilla's eyes widened unusually, and she tilted her coffee cup before stopping herself. The contents nearly spilled, but her eyes couldn't leave the numbers. In the cockpit, the two said nothing. Words weren't necessary. Everything had already reached them. Then—— All the sensor buoys in Training Field Zeta went dark at once. Complete darkness. "[cold]——This is not an exercise. All units return immediately, I repeat——" The moment Carmilla's emergency transmission came through, communication jamming swept across. Half the training machines' signals were cut off. Red alerts lit up one after another on Kaito's monitor. Shadows appeared in space. One. Two. Three——no, there were more. Black armor. Completely different from Federation-standard training machines. The model number was unreadable. The weapons were glowing. Not low-output training beams. Real combat armaments. The force the Federal Intelligence Bureau called Void Crow——the black-armored HSS used by the unidentified armed group——was slowly deploying across Field Zeta. "[scared]Kaito——what are those" He couldn't answer. A light beam struck a training machine of one of his classmates directly. An escape pod shot out from the cockpit. But the other machine in the pair——in the light——disappeared. "[scared]....." Seira screamed. A scream without sound. Kaito's hands trembled on the control stick. It was a sight he'd seen hundreds of times in the simulator. But this was different. Those were real machines. Real pairs. Real——death. "[scared]Seira" He called her name. From the other end of the neural link, a trembling voice returned. "[scared]...I'm here" From their worst first impression two years ago, through repeated arguments, synchronizing at summer camp, hands touching under moonlight, falling apart during suspension——everything they'd built up together took on meaning in this moment. Two pilots with only training machines were thrown into a real battlefield. Kaito gripped the control stick again. His hands were shaking. Still shaking, he held on. The synchro rate monitor showed 68, unchanged.