The hangar door clicked to let Tsune in from the training field. Opening wide enough to let the girl through, it warned her team about a guest.

Eider was the first to speak out of her four teammates. 

'Did you forget something?'

'No, there'll be an announcement for senior students soon.'

Instead of going to her mech, the girl sat on the eagle's clawed foot. She didn't know for how long she would have to wait but it wasn't for long enough.

If she had to pilot the mech now, she would just let Mapo do it. She was honestly all but stunned that her cherished meeting with her role model might lead to a tragedy. And she had a feeling that something invisible, a higher force, forcefully aligned her life with a preset course. It reminded her of the sea resort's self-fulfilling prophecy.

'I see. Then we will wait.'

Den looked up from his phone but to her relief, he didn't ask for any proof. He was probably satisfied with seeing her walk in from the field, because the direct entrance from the academy building was usually locked to them.

The phones rang in a choir as they delivered the event notification, but Tsune didn't move.

She was too focused on restoring her composure. Remembering that the game tutorial's weird portal attacked the player, instead of the pilot, helped a lot. But with the shocking memories as livid as they were, she had a hard time deciding whose side was closer to truth. Her memories or his script.

"Why did I think that? Did I believe Rod?"

Recalling both the tutorial, and the last year's talk with Rhodes, the girl searched for a reason to discard her worry. And all she found was a single technicality; he said that Destiny was defeated in the prologue, which the tutorial was only the first part of.

"Did he sacrifice himself later to save the player?"

When a new idea that merged both versions came to her mind, Tsune decided to put a stop to her ramblings. Otherwise she would go down the same slippery slope as before.

She imagined the needless memories and current nervous thoughts as items that laid in her hand. Then she clenched it into a tight fist.

And as soon as the mental image, of those items being crushed into a monolith ball, became stable enough, she stood up to follow others out of the hangar.

-

The part of the training field, where Tsune made her decision to join a combiner team, was already crowded. The pilot of Destiny and their current teacher quietly talked a fair distance away from the student lines.

Ending up close to the center of the newly formed third row, Tsune stood near Aery. But, unlike her usual self, brunette showed no interest in whispering to Den. Instead it was Den who glanced in the blonde's direction.

With all the students accounted for and standing in neat lines, the older men turned their attention to the teenagers.

The first to speak was the teacher.

'Students! Warriors must be self reliant and you all have been taught this truth. But today is a unique day. The top pilot of our time, the owner of the Destiny mech itself, wishes to speak to you.'

With that announcement, the teacher stepped away with a wide welcoming arm gesture. The guest made a military sharp step forward to speak with the baritone that made Tsune's skin tingle. She couldn't help but admire him.

'I'll be brief. I asked the esteemed Academy to organize a tournament for the senior class. The winner will start their live mission combat year under my tutelage. That is all.'

The effect that these short sentences had on the audience was similar to an explosion aftermath. First the silence was broken by several incredulous whistles and then it blew up with a choir questions.

But the guest ignored everyone and stepped back, while the teacher raised his hand. Once his request for silence was satisfied, he started to fill in the missing details.

'First. The tournament starts tomorrow. I want those who are not ready to send their reasons to me. I will put them in later brackets.'

The choir of questions started again and the teacher raised his hand once more.

'Second. All students from the senior class can join. If a combiner mech, or remote control teams win then the entire team would receive the reward. Third. After a bracket is finalized, changing team members, equipment, or mechs to counter your opponent will instantly disqualify. Fourth. If you have complaints, you know where to find me. Dismissed.'

With that, the teacher offered the honored guest to move to the main building. And the students ranks moved aside without question, hungrily taking in the last moments of their meeting with the celebrity.

After the pair disappeared from their sight, Tsune felt somebody tap her shoulder. It was Aery showing that Den and others were on the way to the hangar. But before the girls left as well, the brunette leaned in to whisper.

'Please calm down. It won't look good for the team if you keep being that nervous.'

-

The first thing the blonde heard when they returned to the hangar was Den uncharacteristically happy voice. He positively beamed with joy.

'This is better than almost anything I could hope for. With a name like his, we are all but guaranteed to succeed. Even if our live mission videos fail to sell well, we'll be set for life.'

Opposite of him was Eider. He tried to make the team leader to turn to reality.

'We might not win. We have many other good pilots against us. And before the teams get locked, their line-ups and equipment will get optimized even more.'

But his arguements were handwaved away by Den who noticed the girls return.

'We have a secret weapon. Maybe you didn't notice but Tsune walked in from the field. That means she met either the teacher, or the Destiny pilot himself and followed them in. The teacher wouldn't speak to her, because they can't pick favorites, and the pilot has no reason to talk to random students.'

Finally understanding where Den was leading him to, Eider looked at Tsune. The girl in question sat nearby, with the same expression as when she listened to her father's schemes.

If these recent events really were the world correcting her life to fit a predetermined story, it was doing a much better job than before. But even if her team was overjoyed to follow this path, she refused to accept it as the only choice.

'Yes, I met him before. It was when father took me to a trip.'

'Then its settled! I can only ask you, but any advice from the best will help us immensely.'

For a second, Den looked like he intended to take her hands into his, but thankfully he didn't give Aery another reason to dislike her. So Tsune simply nodded and stood up to leave home.

The timeline of script she had at home was all but over, but it was worth going over the end again. At least to see where she would be pushed to next.

-

Closing the door of her room, the girl fell on her bed with a big sigh of relief. She could finally release the mental discipline she had to keep up.

"Finally home. So tiring."

Without even noticing, Tsune drifted to sleep. The dream was an adventure that was full of scenes from her past. But instead of a singular vision, they were fragmented and some even merged together by playing simultaneously. It was like trying to watch TV from its reflection on the phone screen that played a video of its own.

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The memory trip ended with what she considered to be the first memory of this world. The empty expanse of blue light that suddenly transformed into a land of mirrors.

When she looked into one of them, she saw the reflection of a girl who could be her twin. And suddenly woke up.

The room was dark and after reaching for her phone, she saw that her bed time was already close. Yawning, the girl stretched, making her hair fall from the shoulders down.

Whether because she slept in her clothes, or because of the weird feeling that lingered on, but she was barely rested.

And that weird feeling permeated a large part of the room with her body at the center. She tried to describe it but the best words she came up with were: tension and the sound of running water, or maybe the sound of her blood running through the veins.

"I really don't have time to spend on weird dreams."

Shaking her head free of illusions, the blonde stood up to get dinner. She had no doubts that Den would decide to start the tournament as early as possible to leave at least one bracket behind. So gathering energy for tomorrow was the most important thing left to do today.

-

Walking into the kitchen, she saw her father eating his supper. When he noticed the girl, he put the fork down to remove the transparent lid off a sandwich plate.

'You looked tired, so she left you food that doesn't need heating. Come. '

After moving the plate to the chair opposite of him, he motioned for her to join.

'She could wake me up.'

Sighing at the sight of the light snacks, the girl nevertheless wasted no time. And after she took her first hungry bite, silence returned to the table for a while.

After everything edible was gone off the table, Tsune gathered the plates for washing but her father stopped her.

'I'll do it myself. I don't have anything big tomorrow, unlike you.'

Giving away the stack, the daughter used the moment to ask.

'Do you and Destiny know each other? I thought that the tournament might be your idea. To show everyone how good Mapo is.'

'No daughter, it was not my idea. As for that man, I met him when my lab started its first major project. And, I know you admire him, but don't trust that man blindly. He always puts duty before everything else.'

"Are you saying that I'm a genuine suspect?"

Hearing that her favorite pilot might've approached her to keep an eye on a suspect, Tsune had to put in effort to contain her retort. The idea made sense but she didn't want to abandon the thought of being his detective partner. At least without proof.

But she couldn't ask for it, as her father went over the kitchen duties as if he was alone in the room.

Soon, she felt silly for hoping for more and relented. Whether it was about that secret from the Red Labs or not, she had no time for his riddles.

-

Next day.

Their team joined the fight as early as it was possible, just like Tsune predicted. Stronger opponents were busy maximizing their chances and would keep at it for a while, so they had a better chance to move through brackets. Even one victory would cut the number of harder fights they would have to go through.

-Griffin versus Crush!-

Tsune expected the tournament to be quick matches with both opponents openly facing each from the start. And initially it all went according to her expectations.

The opponent's robot, a lean looking Majin, walked to the opposite side of the field. There he raised his weapon and pointed it straight at them. The big barelled gun looked like trouble but it rejected common sense by being strapped to the left forearm.

'Oh, man, he looks cheap. Looks like he had the same plan as us.'

Eider's voice came from the team screen, radiating smug confidence, and Tsune couldn't help but chip in herself.

'Maybe he's just unlucky and couldn't get better placement. I bought a lot of packs and had only a handful of good parts. Or maybe he has a plan.'

'I'm not knocking him down. I'm saying its good to have an easy opponent as our first fight.'

-Field preparation-

Their talk could continue, but the next announcement echoed through the dome and the field started to change. 

A swarm of training drones flew in to form a wireframe of the future battlefield. Deploying and combining their forcefields, they created material terrain and obstacles. And ceiling bound combiner cranes finished the job by projecting opaque holographic textures onto the transparent energy surfaces.

As soon as dome finished its transformation into a rocky hill, the teachers started the fight.

-Engage!-

'We are moving in.'

Den's decision arrived simultaneously with the mech's movement. The robot leg tested the fake hill but the force field surface didn't even buckle.

Shifting all of its weight to make the first step, the mech started to ascend. Every step was faster and faster.

It was practically running when it reached the apex. And as Tsune worried, they underestimated their opponent. Instead of trading accuracy for mobility, the lean mech had braced its left elbow against the wall.

The high caliber shot hit Griffin's dead center and blew up, shattering one of the armor plates into molten confetti.

Luckily for the team, the mech's momentum was great enough to negate the impact, otherwise they would be thrown clean on their back.

-Cape Wing-

Following Den's command, Griffin moved its arm back to connect the forearm to the edge of the eagle's wing.

With the arm held above its chest, the wing cape flowed down as a shield. Flexible but strong enough to absorb most of the second shot.

The third shot tore several feathers off, revealing the wing's skeletal structure, but it was already too late. Griffin's clawed fist bashed the cannon off its fixtures and sent it tumbling on the floor.

The follow up punch stopped a mere meter away from their enemy's side after the surrender signal. For a fight between humans this would be a sign of fast reaction and mercy. But for slow moving robots it was simply a show off move for the audience.

-Winner is Griffin. The next battle is in three hours, when the field is cleaned from the debris and re-checked.-

The sudden absence of battle sounds made the announcement especially loud, it even made Tsune wince. Or perhaps it was because her senses were especially sharpened by the first real battle and the first victory.

Looking down on her hands, she saw that most of the blood was drained from her fingers and they were slightly shaking.

-

'Good job, team. I'll see you tomorrow.'

After their return to the hangar, the team leader congratulated everyone with a calm voice.

But even though he didn't look jittery, Aery continued rubbed his hand all the way out of the hangar.

'Well, I guess we are staying. That guy won't get any sleep tonight anyway.'

Pointing at Hem, Eider waved to Tsune and pulled the other guy to the tools in the corner. The blonde watched them fall into their routine and mumbled before she turned to leave.

'Yeah, I might not get any sleep today too.'