-

Seasons changed and in the first week of spring, the girl received another portion of allowance.

The war to avoid the cafe and its sweet traps was a hard fought one, with battles won and battles lost. But even her most humiliating defeat, a milk shake that combined fresh berries, cafe's special mix and the dietetic title, failed to take more than half of her funds.

Now, with a full month's worth of money, the girl arrived to the weapon floor of the item shop.

She walked through and around the floor, looking at shelves and display cases around her. Her goal this time wasn't a specific item, but rather a general concept.

She thought of it soon after losing again to Blade and on the surface it was rather simple. Using a trap.

But with idea's simplicity came the problem of it being too vague to start selecting packs. And unsure if her initial idea to use tractor beam pods was even good, she chose to restart the search for inspiration. From the very first shelves near the stairs.

She would look at all of the trap category packs on her way to her goal. If she found a better idea on the way, then so be it.

-

First section had thrown explosives with proximity detonators. Quickly ignored because both hands of her robot were full already.

Land mines. The girl stopped to read a big colorful poster for limited release packs that could contain a Multiple Launch Missile Delivery System. Capable of creating entire mine fields with custom geometry and density with a push of a single button, it was promoted as the ultimate reward.

The bottom of the poster suggested to buy other limited releases from the same manufacturer, Hover Mines and Homing Detonator, that would give the lucky customer ability to create mid air mine fields.

'Hmmm.'

Tsune picked up one of the packs and turned it upside down.

It took a while, as the tiny text blended well with the box art, but she found the chance for the promoted part. And almost dropped the box, as it was less than one hundredth of a percent.

The box was immediately returned to the display case.

The end tail of shelves had the remainder of deployable suicide drones. Basically much bigger and much smarter missiles, their gold rarity was capable to lie in an ambush.

Passed by because they had to be armed right before impact, with a signal from a separate bulky launcher. And were single use for obvious reasons.

The next section dealt with launchers. Instantly ignoring the bigger ones, she spared a look at those that fired metal spikes, blades, or wires.

Even simple physical projectiles could be debilitating, as her experience showed that other students preferred mobility over armor. At least as far as the first exam's booklet and random class and cafe talks went.

But these would need a powerful ranged weapon to exploit the opening. And the most versatile out of them, the wire, could be cut by her machine gun fire.

After several minutes of modeling the combat situations in her mind, she moved on.

Skipping through the part with deployable traps, Tsune nevertheless tooked at the posters.

Basic gun turrets that would just drop onto the ground, advanced pillboxes that could stick to any surface. And mobile vehicles that ranged from a tiny reconnaissance plane to support combat vehicles.

She took extra care when walking around the statue in the center of the floor. It was a 1/16 scale of a tough looking remote controlled tank. Its packs were stylized after military ammo boxes and lay straght on its hull, looking prone to falling.

Once past the tank packs and their price tags, the blonde arrived to her initial destination. The weapon utility section, also known by the students as the discount heaven.

'Small laser ionizers, limited weight tractor beams, surge capacitors, what else...'

The girl swiped another row of packs into her shopping bag and paused. Blankly staring at the shelves that already lost thirty items, she went through the mental list until she found the missing item.

'Oh, right. A control panel addon.'

-

Seasons were about to change again. This week, the last of spring, was the final stretch before the second exam.

The theory teacher finished transferring the data from his tablet to the whiteboard screen and turned to the class.

'This is the structure for the exam. Pairs of students that practiced teamwork would go against a random mechamonster. The student Tsune Red will have a special arrangement made.'

The last line caused a snickering fit from the class, immediately followed by whispering. It continued until the teacher hit the table with his weighty tablet pen, giving the old wooden surface yet another mark.

'Now, lets continue with the lesson. We still have to cover the history of the several pilot teams. And the Golden Coating attack that was used to defeat the Hell Doctor villain.'

-

The last week passed in a blink of an eye. And today, Tsune was in the practice cabin. If she succeeded today, it would be the last time she had to pilot in simulation only.

-Exam start.-

Viewscreens turned on, showing the familiar sparse forest of the training area. Standing tall, the Gunner's left arm had the short barreled machine gun, while its right gripped the upgraded spear.

Its middle was bulkier from to four metal strips cut from a spare cylindrical shaft. They connected to the spear's center of mass via tractor beam pairs and served as foundation for magnetic anchors. The ornate decorations, on both sides of each anchor piece, protected laser ionizers and surge capacitors.

'Hey, Red.'

Blade's Skeleton King appeared not far away from her robot.

'So, you are the special arrangement?'

'You of all people should know that I don't refuse opportunities to swing my sword.'

The boy's mech faced away from Gunner and entered a reverse grip stance.

'Look there, Red. Its the target mechamonster.'

Tsune saw an area of distorted air, almost a kilometer away. Initially it looked like a heat mirage that happens above the ground during summer. But soon, that area turned opaque and a gigantic humanoid figure slowly phased into the existence.

It was a brass statue of an unknown man in long robes. Its height reaching almost fifteen meters if measured from top of its head. With elbows half bent and fingers pointing into the sky, the statue looked like it begged the gods above.

As soon as the enemy became material, the Skeleton King rushed forward.

When it made its tenth step, the statue's hands suddenly moved. Their fingers looked straight at him and the forearms behaved like bodies of agitated snakes.

Seconds later, two spheres of light appeared before the brass eyes. They grew the size of its eyeballs and collapsed into themselves. After several seconds of compression, the energy spheres burst into two searing white beams.

-Otherworld Veil-

Blade's mech spun the sword and stabbed the air ahead. The powerful gust of wind sent most of the robot's vapor trail forward, to engulf its frame in an energy absorbing cloud.

As the enemy weapon recharged, the robot resumed running. This time the sword was held upside down, to defend the head and engine with the blade.

The beams met the center of the weapon and its surface grew blue, then red. Soon it turned white and began to flow down.

By moving the sword up as the outer layer was burned through, Blade reinforced the defense with a layer of the flowing molten metal. And the more beams moved to the sword's tip, the more molten material they had to go through.

"That guy never changes."

Tsune shook her head at the show off display. Then Gunner gripped the spear behind the anchors and raised it into a throwing position.

'Hey, what do you think the strength should be?'

Her assistant device, that sat on the floor as usual, clicked. Then projected the equation and its solution on the ceiling.

-Warning. Ally life expectancy is four minutes.-

'Yeah, yeah.'

The girl murmured the required input as she rotated the newly installed dial for throw power. Then programmed each landing area with the two sliding buttons nearby. By controlling the horizontal and vertical connections for spear's tractor beams, she could explosively repel the anchors with a precise trajectory.

'Well, let's see the magic happen.'

She pressed the dial and the first metal strip flew off, aiming to land behind the statue. The mech automatically rotated the weapon and the second one flew to front of the enemy. Then two more fell on its right and left.

When the last anchor buried its narrow shape halfway into ground, they solidified their positions by attracting to the ground. Then her assistance device clicked again.

It was the time to voice the attack name and start the attack pattern. But the girl found her lips frozen from embarrassment. Therefore she opted to use a generic command instead.

'Launch!'

Gunner took a big step and threw the spear, adding its own momentum to the magnetic launch. The spear quickly covered the distance, with its engine working hard to charge the rhombus. It was to turn that part into a powerful magnet.

When weapon entered the range of the anchor laser ionizers, their micro turrets spun to lock onto rhombus. Barely visible conductor paths connected both.

The surge capacitors discharged and the beam paths turned into unbreakable magnetic ropes. The inertia almost tore the anchors from the ground but they redirected the weapon's forward momentum into a straight downwards one.

The statue was hit straight in the head. The spearhead split it in two pieces as spectacularly as if it was struck by a titanic axe.

And seeing the result, Tsune mentally cheered for herself. It was efficient, yet flashy enough to be called a super robot special attack.

But, despite being headless and its chest covered in cracks around the embedded spear, the statue wasn't destroyed yet. Its fingers, previously dead set on following the Skeleton King, now moved erratically, as if dazed.

'I was almost worried it would detonate the chain saw's flamethrower fuel.'

'You put a flamethrower into your sword?! You really are a weirdo, Blade.'

'You are the weird one!'

His laugh boomed from the speakers, before he continued.

'I've never met anyone who used mostly white trainee equipment so late into the second year. Your spear is the only non boring part of you!'

'What's wrong with using what works? Its pragmatic!'

Irritated, Tsune wanted to continue. But was interrupted when the statue's fingers calmed down and pointed at them, one hand per robot. The brass elbows cracked apart and, with a light creaking sound, the forearms discarded the remaining body. They slowly gained height.

Skeleton King grabbed the top half of its sword, warped by the high temperature.

'We have our differences, but tell me, Red. Aren't the giant robots the coolest?'

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The blonde pilot smiled at him being a show off even when he attempted reconciliation. Gunner raised its gun to track the farther enemy.

'Yeah, they are one of the most romantic things I've ever known.'

'Then let's keep the passion lit!'

Blade's mech tore away the sword's molten part and threw it at the closest forearm. Then followed it up with a leap attack.

-

-Exam over.-

The announcer was followed up by the voice of her Assistant Device.

-Your breathing no longer supplies enough oxygen. Consider resting.-

Completely out of breath, the girl took off the helmet. Then unbuttoned her uniform to look under it. Her black shirt was wet around the shoulder blades. And the sweat, no longer absorbed by cloth, pooled around the small of her back. The sensations were pretty unpleasant, and being exhausted so quickly was even more so.

Usually she was able to train for at least two hours, but the exam lasted half an hour at best.

She pulled the collar away, to feel a rush of cool air against her skin, But it stopped way too soon.

-Your breathing is at 37% of normal efficiency. It is advised to locate and remove the breathing impediment.-

'Impediment, you say?'

The girl deadpanned as she looked down.

The front of her clothing had two obvious sweat spots in the front, mercilessly pushed into her ribcage with the tight clothing. To be fair, she wouldn't be surprised if either of two finally gave into the pressure.

While the shirt being first was vastly preferable, the idea of her top flying into pieces was horrible. If she ever had to hide her chest with pieces of cloth, she would die from embarrassment. Or at least become a hermit.

"I guess, I have to deal with it before the third year ceremony. If I faint there, I'll never live it down."

'Mother is not going to like this though.'

-

Back from the school, the girl threw the sweaty uniform into the laundry machine and went to her room.

While standing before her cabinet's mirror, she grabbed the hem of the inner shirt. She had to apply as much power as she could before it started to peel it off. When it reached her chest, she slid one hand underneath, carefully pressing down on her breast to free it from its prison, then repeated it on the other side.

Finally able to breath freely, she stood there for several minutes, just inhaling the fresh air. Then she discarded the sweaty shirt and called out to her mother.

'Lady Red, can you help me?'

'Yes, what did you...'

To put it mildly, her mother was surprised with the development.

'Eh? Eeehhh? You are this big already? You are bigger than me!'

As if a switch was flipped, her surprised mood suddenly changed into disciplining fury. She saw the state of the discarded clothing and realized something.

'I thought you were uncomfortable asking for advice, or trying not to make me uncomfortable. So even though I never saw your lingerie in the laundry basket, I said nothing.'

'But did you really never wear a bra before? Going like that outside, are you that kind of girl?!'

"What?!'

Now it was the girl's turn to be surprised with how this was turning out. She was trying her best to suppress any and all ideas that could draw a line between her mind and body from the mirror. And even mere talks about her being in a relationship made her skin crawl. Yet her mother assumed she enjoyed everything?

'I've never even thought of doing anything for lewd reasons. I've never even thought about anything lewd! I've barely even talked to my classmates. And even that was just as classmates.'

She breathed in and finished.

'They call me miss Boring, you know!'

Seeing her daughter lose her temper as well helped the mother regain her own. She embraced her and held her until Tsune's breathing normalized.

'I'm sorry I misunderstood you. Its just that we barely ever talk to each other. I thought you had bad secrets.'

'But that doesn't mean you can continue like this. Dress up, we are going shopping.'

-

The next two hours were hectic and rather exhausting mentally.

From the size measuring that surprised both her mother and the store clerk, with the latter commenting they should go straight for adult size, to picking lingerie and spares for *different moods* as her mother called it.

And looking at one of them, she knew that her speech back home all but failed to convince Lady Red. At least about the lewd things that were very far away from her mind.

She was almost seventeen and it was the age of many pilots of old when they started their adventure. And most of them already had a partner that would later become their love interest. At least that's how it went in the fiction of her previous world and tales of this one. Maybe that was the reason behind her mother buying a lacy set of lingerie in addition to everything else.

Tsune released the breath she didn't remember taking and returned to the reality.

Her chest, that previously felt as two numb bricks, tied to her body with excessive force, was now snugly enveloped by the bra. And barely moved even as they walked out of the underwear shop to the next one.

'Wait for me, okay?' Her mother pulled a shopping cart out of a nearby stack. Refusing help from the shop's automatic systems, she walked away together with the shop clerk.

The girl carefully sat down in the lounge. But even that much made the buttons on the skirtsuit top, bought for her first exam, struggle to remain intact.

Half an hour later, she was escorted to the booth to try the chosen costumes. Most of them were a part of the digital only collection that appeared on her image on a big vertical screen. But some of them she had to try on and use the screen as a mirror.

The first was made from silk and had multiple layers.

The inside was a sports bra that offered additional support. The middle was taken by a waist length sleeveless shirt that covered her entire front and back, but left the sides mostly open.

Above both was a loose sleeved blouse with a deep frontal cut that was covered by fishnet. Small decorative straps on its rim hooked onto tight fitting shorts. And the hooks were hidden under a smooth belt.

With a sigh. she changed the colors of the fabric on the screen until she stopped on white and light blue. Pressing the *confirm* button she waited to see the next set.

The second outfit was a sleeved cotton shirt with a frontal zipper. It looked plain at the first sight, but the girl noticed a somewhat stretchy belt that went right under the breasts. It made the top half of the shirt follow her curves and was connected to the seams on her sides and back that were reinforced with a rigid material.

As for legwear, she saw plain looking cotton pants that were, if she had to put her impression into words, artfully torn in some places.

Swiping through the color select, she chose the now default option of white for top and blue for pants.

As for the third and final, she didn't wear it. She held the dress on her hands for quite some time, but put it down nevertheless.

It was a strapless dress with a lace covered top, middle that managed to follow every line of her midsection and bottom with a side cut. The cut started all the way at her hip and revealed pantyhose that would seamlessly continue the dress print if she stood still.

The screen showed a beautiful girl, but even after almost two years, Tsune couldn't bring herself to identify with her.

After an unanimous vote of confidence cast by her mother, and everyone she dragged into it, the dress was bought regardless of her opinion.

Now wearing the bought shirt and pants, she was pulled into a beauty salon.

-

'Hey, I just noticed that my hair has green tips now. Is it normal?'

As she was tended to by the salon's robot, Tsune noticed something out of ordinary. The blonde lock of her hair, that hang before her eyes, had emerald green ends.

'Ah, well.'

Her mother took out a small photo album, that she carried in her purse, and turned the pages as she spoke.

'You see, Tsune, it was when we learned that I had you. The doctors said that during the first weeks it was possible to influence your looks and even gave us the image of you all grown up. We decided not to change your appearance, because everything about you is created out of our love. But then I couldn't help myself and added green to your hair.'

'That's... touching.'

"Like something out of a dating visual novel."

"But isn't this like character creation?"

That thought dug out a long forgotten memory and the girl felt a vague sense of dread. She remembered how she chose the game's default character and then made a single change.

But no matter how hard she tried to recall how big the change was, she was too sleepy back then. She only remembered maxing the cup size slider, because she thought she would regret it otherwise.

-

The next morning she caused quite the excitement as soon as she entered the class.

Instead of the usual tight black shirt, she now wore proper support and the white top from yesterday. The uniform shirt's zipper couldn't overcome the hills, so the half-closed shirt made her chest stand out even more.

'Wow.'

'Holy'

'Were they always that big?'

'Yes they were. Miss Boring just decided to quit her fake modesty.'

"Stop talking about this!"

The cry was from the bottom of her heart but she couldn't give it a voice. Others would forget with time, but her embarrassment will stay with her.

'Its not fair at all for one person to be so blessed.'

'Hey, don't be mean. She's a nice girl.'

'What do you mean *nice*? Did you mean she has a *nice* curve?'

'That's not what I'm saying at all. I meant her serious personality.'

'As if!'

"Ahhh, why is this such a big deal all of the sudden."

The girl could swear the stares materialized and prickled her all over. An uncomfortable tingling spread through her back and arms. Even worse, that much attention brought back the estrangement of early days. She thought she suppressed but here it was even without a mirror.

'I know the shop she used.'

'Her taste is a little boring, no?'

'Then it fits her well.'

The words and snickering of others added one sticky thought after another, as if they wanted to merge the mind she still considered her own and the appearance from her reflections.

'Oh, man. If only I knew she would grow like this when I first saw her.'

'Yeah, its like straight out of a special magazine.'

'Keep quiet you guys. If she hears you, she'll hate you for life.'

'Enough!'

'Stop it! This is just a game anyway!'

Sputtering, Tsune abruptly rose from her seat. Almost forcing Blade from his seat, she walked by the teacher that just entered the class.

'Where are you going?'

The man tried to stop her but another voice interrupted him. It was Rod Rhodes.

'She doesn't feel well, I'll escort her to the med bay.'

-

The girl was walking through the halls and the boy held her shoulder. But when they entered an empty corridor that led to the medbay, she felt his hand tighten to stop her.

'Tsune, those words. Did you come here from another world?'

-