The tournament was finally rebroadcast in entertainment format and Tsune spent the last hours of her summer vacation playing with it. To no surprise, she made Blade lose with relative ease. Granted, she had the power of hindsight but it reaffirmed what she told him after the match.

She said that he was reckless and he just laughed it off. Then he gave her a monologue about next weapon being even better than the one he lost. They argued so much that she forgot to ask him about his reasons to leave Mars.

"He just wanted an eye candy companion to walk out of the arena with, didn't he?"

A flux of emotions helped her energize and stretching, Tsune stood from the chair. If she didn't move now, she would be late to the team meeting.

When she entered her room to change, her mother was already done with her travel bag. The woman went for a hug while Tsune tried to move away from the warm embrace before she got sweaty. 

'Come on, mother, I'll be back soon.'

'But you are going to real fights. How can I not?'

'We aren't alone, we'll have a transport ship. And the academy will support us for a year.'

The woman stepped away while still holding Tsune by the shoulders. Her expression changed to the usual optimistic one.

'Bring back good photos, okay?'

'I'll even bring back a video.'

'I don't want just a recording. I want what you think of as most important.'

-

Later that day, Tsune watched Den talk from her perch atop the packed hangar equipment. The nearby active vent made his voice nigh unintelligible, but not hearing him talk to their future pilot a minor sacrifice. The pilot in question looked unkempt and wore a frazzled jumpsuit, but a clear voice and defined facial features kept his appearance civil.

As she waited, Hem came to lean on the crate below. He never contacted her about his progress on the pet and, given her own involvement, she was curious. 

But when he ignored her handwave, she didn't push it further. If he wanted to keep that pet a secret, then she didn't want to be rude. Not to mention that his summer job could leak and give him trouble.

-

The sun refused to hide behind the clouds, and she almost regretted not taking an umbrella. Even if it would make her look eccentric in the team photo. At least Mapo sat quietly on the ground, keeping her legs safe from its hot metal.

Finally, Den found his angle. Tsune brushed her hair with a sigh and escaped into the shadow of her wolf's paw. The ground there was uneven, with dry grass hiding the cracks, but she kept up the pace.

Only when she was already inside the mech, she realized how lucky she was to avoid stumbling. Or burning her hands on the outside ladder. With the rest of the day spent on transferring the mechs to the transport, even a light, but painful, injury would make the travel unbearable.

Making sure that Mapo was still in a corner, she stripped the bodysuit to its summer version before turning up the cabin cooling. As the last in the column, she needed to do her best to pilot through the city.

-

Once outside of the city, Tsune saw Den's signal on the team screen and pushed the control stick forward. Their target, nearest spaceport fort, was already visible. But its closeness was deceptive. Even off road and at top speed it would take a while before they arrive.

The building, made to protect and shelter humanity, slowly revealed it colossal size as they got closer. Tsune put away the water bottle and looked at the cap in her hand. From far away, the wide tower shared a loose resemblance with it due to its ridged sides. But from close by it was a small city, encased in armor and surrounded by turrets.

The wolf followed the tanks into the gate and its steps changed from quiet thuds to clanging against the metal floor. Unlike the well maintained outside armor, inside showed the signs of centuries of use. Thick plates looked grainy, as if painted with metal dust. Some of them outright lost volume as time and ambient static from power cables evaporated the tough metals like ice. 

In contrast with the main corridor, the branching rooms had modern vehicle bays. They housed the RC units of garrizon teams, most of them on the cheaper side.

Soon, the road rose and the mech column entered the next floor. Instead of halls and rooms, this level was split into many vertical slices, each of them an autonomous spaceship dock. Some of them were empty and dark, some had the ship surrounded by equipment and maintenance workers.

Their dock was lit by the sunlight from the open front wall. And if it wasn't for that detail, Tsune would've thought that it just arrived for repairs. The hull had no damage and painted well but its sections belonged to different ships. A small passenger front, bloated cargo middle and an armored reactor back, with multiple maneuver jet and weapon pods slapped on all three.

She almost spoke to Eider, who was in charge of finding a transport but remembered that its owner was right besides him.

'Welcome to my humble home.'

As soon as she thought about the man, she heard him speak as Eider's eagle flew in. When it landed, the ship's owner jumped out, accompanied by a hiss from the cargo bay. It was the cargo hold depressurising before it opened an entrance above the antigravity engine keel.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

-

Tsune understood that the main engine started when Mapo, floating near her hand, suddenly crashed into the ceiling. Standing up to retrieve it, she felt her feet leave the ground and grabbed the chair in a momentary panic.

"Didn't think that it would affect the inside too."

Hiding the embarrassment behind that excuse, she thought of staying in the cabin for the flight. But this was the first time she was in low gravity. She had to try moving in low gravity. Although for that, she'll have to pay the price for not reading the contract and break an unspoken taboo.

'Den, can I get down? I want to see the outside without asking Eider for live feed.'

The boy nodded without surprise and Tsune sighed with relief. If being battle ready at all times was required, then she could go even leave the hangar.

A whole bouquet of mechanical smells that invaded the cabin through the door. They almost made her reconsider going out. But after a minute, that terrible mix began to segregate. Machine oil, burnt metal and plastic, the cleaning chemicals, once she knew the components, she could bring herself to bear it. Or maybe her nose went numb from overload.

Instead of using the ladder, she just jumped down. Landing had a lot more bounce than she wished for and her long hair blinded her a for second. But the feeling of flight, spiced up by the light fear of falling, could only be described as exciting.

Tsune looked at the team mechs around her, their cockpits lit from the inside. If it wasn't for the audience, she would spend the remaining time experimenting.

"Can't look silly before the pilot either."

Filing away the idea to fly in low gravity, she went to the passenger part of the ship.

-

Several hours later, she watched the land below with as much interest as before. The change was gradual but temperate forests and plains of her homeland gave way to lakes nested between many hills.

The ship arrived to an especially large river and turned to follow its course. It was one of Three Rivers that gave the region its name. Right after the turn she heard a quiet question.

'Can we speak?'

Turning away from the glistening water, the girl saw Den standing in the passageway. After a nod, she moved closer to the window to free the other seat.

'You forgot your phone, so I decided to tell you myself. And this a good chance to speak about personal matters while keeping everything between us.'

Tsune felt her expression stiffen. She remembered Aery saying that she fit his tastes, But even so, he was probably the last person she expected to hear that from.

'I'm listening, but I can't promise anything.'

'Yes, of course. I've heard from Eider that Hem went after to you to the Old city. He also barely spoke to him for most of the summer but you often visited him. And today he kept away from the rest of the team to stay closer to you. Is there anything I should know that might affect the team in the future?'

"And he followed me to the tournament."

The girl remembered Eider saying that he pushed them together to get Hem out of his reclusion. While Den waited for answer, she thought that the eagle boy's plan was a road paved with good intentions.

"Wait, wait. There's no way that's right."

As she thought more about her visits to the boy's house, she found one event that proved that this is a misunderstanding. Hem came to the tournament with a boxed present and left without giving it to her. Or trying to arrange a meeting. He even cut their work short earlier that morning.

A small smile returned to Tsune's face as she returned her attention to her team leader.

'He asked me for advice while he worked on a robotic present. As for other stuff, he stopped talking to me too. I think he's trying to be self reliant to impress somebody.'

After a brief pause, Den nodded and the tension between them disappeared.

-

When her mech left the destination space fort, Tsune found herself on a flat mountain top. On one side, she saw a far away mountain range, mostly hidden by clouds. On another, was the great river, flowing between the mountain and the hills on the other side. After parking the wolf, she opened the cabin door and breathed in the clean, fresh air.

'This looks so good. Where's the city?'

She addressed that to nobody, forgetting that she was still close to the team screen. The answer from the ship's pilot was almost immediate.

'Below the mountain. Anyway, girls and boys, I think I already gave you the keys and even blind would find the cable cars. I'll see you when I'm done with my other jobs.'

His connection cut off and the fresh mecha team was left on its own.

-

Surprisngly, the taxi was manned. And it surprised them again, when the ride ended sooner than they expected. Way sooner than it should've had, according to the map. However it was hard to argue, as the further roads had a layer of gravel and river shells instead of pavement. It was thick enough that Tsune almost lost her balance when she got her bag out.

While the higher districts had at least two or three-story buildings, these houses were one story at most. And they looked cheap, rows of wooden squares on visible metal chassis.

"Well, at least it has furniture."

Tsune fell on the empty bed, feeling her legs ache after walking on gravel for what seemed like an hour. The thin inner walls barely blocked sound, so she couldn't help but hear Aery talk to Den. About how much time did he take to do something as simple as calling a teammate back.

Sighing, Tsune stood up. It was time to unpack, change clothes and leave. Otherwise there was a risk that Aery could call her in as a witness.

-

Wearing a long white sundress, she went to the small corridor. But before she could leave, she heard Eider stop her.

'Wait a bit, I think the pair are almost done.'

'What for?'

'Remember the phone numbers we got for tournament's 2nd place? One of them is in this city and Den wanted to introduce everyone.'

With a shrug, the blonde leaned against the wall. Soon, she felt the loose cloth absorb enough sweat to stick to her back. Immediately leaving the wall, she decided to distract him with a question, as she tried to unstick it.

'So, what was that ship we flew on?'

Eider saw through her and turned away before answering.

'Three Rivers is not rich enough to afford battleships. So they mix the parts from transports and decommissioned battleships and call it a warship. Just don't tell that to their pilots, they prefer to think that they are equal to proper battleships.'

Light laugh followed the last sentence, but it wasn't for long. Den and Aery walked out of the room, hand in hand. Without looking at anyone, Den waved for everyone to follow him outside.