-Master-

-Master, wake up-

-Mapo wants you to wake up-

Tsune woke up to a robotic voice repeating similar phrases again and again. Unlike the usual monotone droning, the voice carried emotions that would belong to a positive personality. A personality that clashed with the rainy autumn outside.

"Father, what did you do this time."

The girl propped herself on an elbow to retrieve the piece of paper under the robot. She tugged on it once, twice, but the device was too heavy.

With a sigh, Tsune rose from the bed to lift the device properly. But right before she touched it, the metal orb floated up. It landed on the back of her outstretched hand; compared to before it felt a lot lighter too.

-Mapo is glad you woke up-

'Mapo?'

-Mobile Artificial Personality zerO-

Shaking off the chipper sphere, she swiped the paper off the cabinet, expecting her father's excuse. But the list was blank.

But the puzzle solved even before she looked at paper's other side. The assistant device clicked and she heard her father's unusually dry and abrupt voice.

-Mapo, tell her this message when she takes this. But start the recording from the next sentence-

The voice suddenly changed to familiar tones and continued faster, as if rehearsed.

-Hello, daughter. Before you get mad at your dear father, I'll say that I planned this from the moment I learned about the trouble my gift gave you. Now you can treat it as a pet instead of something you need to carry around.-

Someone's barely audible voice came from the background but cut off before she could understand it.

-And the others say that the upgrade is their thanks for allowing us to use it for our work.-

The message ended with loud thankful chorus in the background and Mapo spiraling to the ceiling, then back to the cabinet. There it reverted to a silent and immobile sphere.

Tsune shook her head, sending her locks everywhere and clapped her hands. It was a simple focus trick she remembered from Earth, but it worked against most of her roaming thoughts.

No longer distracted with whether Mapo was really a thank you or her father spoiling her even more, she went to prepare. Today was the first day of the senior academy practice.

-

The rain continued to pour down as she left her house, making Tsune open her umbrella. Shifting the bag with Mapo back onto her forearm to carry it above the puddle splashes, she slowly walked through the street.

Sometimes the rain would calm down, no longer threatening to soak her just for peeking out. And that's when she would look upwards.

There, the falling water interfered with the wireless power grid. As droplets fell through the normally invisible conductor paths, they absorbed a tiny bit of energy that evaporated them with momentary rainbow flashes. And since every building's spiral antenna held at least several connections, the flashes created an extensive multilayered web of light that spread throughout the city.

In a way, it reminded her of the light show that were the resort's prisms, but the dark sky gave it a solemn mood.

The girl took her time to walk slowly and enjoy the view. Unlike the theoretical classes that started early in the morning, the senior practice started late. If what she heard was right, it was because the support classes had their senior practice double as maintenance for pilot mechs.

She briefly entertained the thought of going to Z cafe, but decided that extra time would be helpful in case of problems in the team.

"And Rod is probably up to something as well."

Tsune's expression changed into displeasure when she remembered the boy. He was still in her phone's blacklist and thankfully never tried to contact her, but she knew he was stubborn.

"Well, I'll deal with it as it comes."

-

Her steady stride was interrupted when she arrived to the academy's enourmous dome. Right before the academy entrance, the flowing rain water hit the stairs and splashed everything around them.

Normally it wouldn't even give her pause, as she'd jump over it, but today she risked getting muddy water on the brand new pilot suit. And knowing Den, he would want a ceremonial photo of his team's first official day together.

'Hey, Red, why are you staring at the door?'

The girl turned around, instantly recognizing the voice she didn't hear for a while. And when she saw the ever smiling young man, she was spot on.

'Blade? What are you doing here so early?'

'Taking support classes as part time lessons. I want to learn how to make my sword even better. Are you here to add some creativity to your designs?'

'Nah, I just woke up early.'

Tsune was about to wave him goodbye, but a solution to her problem came to her mind.

'Hey, Blade. Can you carry me over the water? I don't want my suit to get wet.'

His laughter felt like an immediate punishment for asking to help her with something so petty. But the boy did not mean to offend, as the fit of fun stopped as abruptly as it started.

'Very well, Red. It wouldn't be right to refuse a lady.'

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She thought he would just lift her over to the stairs. But instead, the blonde was given the full on princess carry. It was over quickly, but Tsune was thankful that the dawn's sunlight masked her reddened cheeks. And she wasn't sure, but she might've heard him grumble about weight under his breath.

-

After entering the academy, she couldn't help but slow down. She hoped for traces of her embarassement to go away before others could see it. But even though that didn't happen, her hope was answered in a different way in the training hall.

The place, where her dream of being a mech pilot turned out to be reality, was so full that nobody even looked in her direction. Nevertheless, she chose to walk alongside the wall.

As she made her way through, many flashes of light reflected off the brand new uniforms. Most of them were from phones that called their owners to step out of the crowd. And with other students pushing back to let others pass, pushing through to their new or friends, or just being restless, it was a time consuming challenge. It even sparked arguements that were immediately extinguished by the attentive teachers.

After they got out ,the students formed the lines before their future teachers. Some would learn the support roles, some would study in the fields unrelated to robots, while others would repeat Tsune's choice. But she sincerely hoped for their academy years to not be as turbulent.

-

When she arrived to the senior training grounds, Tsune was met with a surprise. Her new student card, that was supposed to unlock the door, was as useless as her previous one.

-Access denied-

Receiving the same message after retrying, the girl turned to the guard post near the door.

'Why isn't my card working?'

Before answering, the man projected a map of the senior training area on the glass that separated them.

'You are in a combiner team, not a Majin team. Therefore you should use your team hangar entrance instead of the public one.'

Pressing several buttons, he made a red line connect their position and a point on the outside of the training dome.

"Sheesh, do I have go through all those people again?"

"And why did nobody tell me where to go beforehand? I expected at least Eider to pull something again."

Thinking whether it was normal, or an omen of the storm of Aery's wrath, she made her way outside and around the dome.

There she saw a row of big sliding doors that were built into the ground around the dome. Some of them laid flat on the ground, hiding lifts that led into underground vaults. Others were vertical, each shielding a sizable tunnel entrance. Her target was the tunnel entrance that was painted into chrome, red and blue.

-

Peeking inside the human sized door that was unlocked by her phone, she was met with the hiss of hydraulics and a loud stomp. Going down the tunnel she could make out a giant metal paw and clanking of tools. She even felt the walls vibrate when the paw raised and then returned to the floor.

"Should I be here this early?"

It was her team's hangar but she wasn't sure if people below were from her team. But with the alternatives being waiting in the barely lit tunnel, or under the rain, she chose to go forward.

Entering the hangar proper, the blonde girl stopped in awe. The scene was like an artbook's concept art brought to life.

A red mecha eagle stood in the center of the open space, its metal feathered wings spread over two tall and tough looking tanks. Easily dwarfing their remote controlled counterpart, they stood at around four meter tall. But the dangerous feel they had paled in comparison to the menacing look of the twin mecha wolves.

Tsune stood there and took in everything about that display. And she would've stared for even longer, if she didn't see a crouched figure below the eagle.

To her surprise, it was Eider, which showed that the team's maintenance was done in-house. As she walked further in, she noticed Hem who was half inside of the head of a mecha wolf.

Finally making a choice among tools that were scattered on the floor, Eider noticed Tsune as he turned around to pick up the tool bag.

'Good morning to you too.'

After throwing a rough looking box with several dials into the bag, he pointed at the wolf that the other boy worked on.

'If you didn't believe me about having to rescue Hem from living here, you now have a golden opportunity.'

Closing the bag, the boy swung and threw the entire thing on top of the eagle's back. As he climbed the ladder, he continued.

'Help Hem if he asks for it, okay?'

-

"This is a bit too small."

The girl moved around, trying to find a better position. She even pushed herself back into the chair as much as possible, but her bust still threatened to cover the controls.

"Should I tell him?"

She wasn't sure she could take the embarassment of telling him the reason. And even if she grit her proverbial teeth and ignored it, it left a completely valid excuse for him to worry about it later. She was still growing after all.

The girl looked around once again, searching for a different reason that was relevant enough to tell Hem to remake the cockpit.

Both joysticks were convenient, neither forcing her to reach out in the farthest positions, nor making her elbows press into her sides or past the chair. The buttons and screen console in front had been designed for easy navigation.

Unlike the VR training's mass produced controls, they could be operated in a blind rush. To be frank, she could bet that everything here was at least of purple rarity tier.

"If I tell him to remake everything, it'll be just a repeat of that date aftermath, wouldn't it."

A memory of that flashed through her mind. And the blonde had to struggle with the urge to hide her face with her hands.

"Oh, God, I wont be able to bear having him as an awkward shadow again."

'Is everything fine?'

Hearing Hem's voice and, still lacking a valid reason, Tsune couldn't bring herself to return this unwanted gift.