Standing alone was something Itsuki was used to. He leaned himself back on one of the benches, looking up from time to time.
He could hear the mummering from the nearby first years. Everything they were saying wasn’t good. Adding to the background, some hushed grumbles came from the upperclassmen.
On a brighter note, a few of the older bunch were giving him acknowledging looks. They favored the amount of force he used on that discriminatory first year.
His discrimination against beast humans touched a nerve, likely because these upperclassmen had learned from the past and were of longer experience.
In recent times, discrimination has become a growing concern since the war. Similar to the racism in the year 2000, it only seemed that while the old grudge had faded, a new one took its place after the Starfall Calamity.
Itsuki glanced up from his personal device, he found Mana and Dahlia a distance away. They seemed to be alright, shaken up a little, but who wouldn’t be? A foreign first year had just tried attacking their fellow student. How the offending student had called Mana a “filthy beast”, got on many people’s nerves, and was beyond hurtful to the receiving party.
Had he not heard Professor Cyno and his warning? Here, in Andromeda, everyone is equal. It didn’t matter if you had a different age, gender, skin tone, or race, they were one class. Though, it dawned on everyone that a few didn’t take the wise professor’s words to heart.
In lieu of the spectators who did nothing to help, Itsuki had handled the situation, but they could argue that he was too violent, a point Amanda was curious about.
“Did you have to bloody him up that much?”
“The best lessons are taught when they bleed.” Itsuki said. Amanda recalled Shisuki’s so-called training under Itsuki. She recoiled.
“Woah, so Shisuki wasn’t kidding about her stories about you. Can’t you be gentle.”
Itsuki gave a look and she could tell he was saying no, internally, she sighed.
Jeez, such a brutal guy.
“Still.” Said Amanda and she pointed a finger at him. “You sure like to poke your nose into other people's business.”
In response, Itsuki grunted. “I did what I did because it’s my job as dorm supervisor. My career as an explorer would be diminished if I don’t deliver on my role.”
“What? You didn’t do it to help? Don’t you think you went a bit far then? It looked like you were taking out your anger on that guy.”
“Mhm yeah. The bastard deserved it.” Itsuki spat, much to Amanda's astonishment. He truly has no qualms and no restraint, no wonder most of the first years avoid him. But.
“You’re the dorm supervisor!” She accused. “The headmaster might remove you if you keep this violent streak up.”
“If that were true, then the security guards should have arrested me. Plus, why do you care if I get fired? If I do, then you can get out of the work as my assistant.”
“Well..” Amanda tapped her cheek and grinned a wide smile. “My last paycheck was pretty astonishing so..”
Itsuki immediately understood. Even he was surprised by how resilient she was to his abnormal personality, but now he knew why, and shrugged. If Amanda stayed for the money, that was her choice. As long as she stuck to doing the work he gave her, then he had no issue.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about whether I'll keep my position. Also, my use of force was within permissible boundaries.”
“You are truly incorrigible.” In her opinion, Itsuki always over did it, though, today felt different, she noticed some anger in his usually stern eyes.
Maybe it was just her misinterpreting him, he was hard to read. She ran off that line of thought, sighing to let it go.
“Hah, well, you did look thuggish today? Did he get on your nerves?”
Thuggish? Itsuki recounted and had to quickly agree. His emotions lately had been somewhat acting up. His anger towards Shisuki and her lack of emotional control, his worked up fight with Amanda in their first mock battle, and his recent “work”.
Perhaps my work is getting to me, but it's too late anyway. Better to stomp out the problem then let it fester.
Not caring, Itsuki fiddled with his device. Amanda found his nonchalance for violence to be both his most common and one of his worst points.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“It’s my job to keep to school policy.” Answered Itsuki. “You heard Cyno’s speech at orientation. We all have to get along, even if we are different.”
“But.. is beating someone up your answer to keeping the peace? That sounds counterproductive.”
“It’s in my job description, I am allowed to use force while on Campus as long as it is for defense or peacekeeping.”
“That really doesn’t sound like what a supervisor should do. You should be more calm rather than blood thirsty. What is even your job here exactly? You’re a student and you have staff privileges, what’s up with that? It’s been on my mind recently.”
To Amanda, it did look as if Itsuki had his claws deep into Andromeda. He knew a lot of things about the Terracolony and the school, yet, he had graduated with his explorer’s license from a school in the European Bloc.
Not only that, his involvement in Academy affairs such as the paperwork and school policy were deep, deeper than a student should’ve been.
According to the stories shared from Ikki, Itsuki had become the dorm supervisor 4 years prior, that would be his first year when he started his life as a student to get his explorer license in the Western Bloc, But..why? On top of that question, the years prior, Itsuki had been hired as security for the academy.
Were these all jobs he took as an explorer? Or did he have a deep connection with the academy since he lived here before? But why did he go to the European Bloc?
The questions lingered on her tongue as she waited for Itsuki. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance, as if he were remembering troublesome work.
“Hah.. I’m mainly hired by the school to do a number of things, it’s somewhat a pain in the ass. You can think of me as a floater, the person you assign to whatever job needs filling. My Supervisor role is temporary until I graduate, and Cyno made me take the position so that I could learn how to..”Socialize”.”
“Looks like it’s not going well.” Added Amanda.
“Yeah, but I do get to meet some interesting people.”
The hint of a smile played on Itsuki’s lips, but he didn’t let it out. Still, Amanda could tell after spending so much time with him that he was somewhat happy. Apathetic as he was, Itsuki showed emotion if you looked closely and dug through his thick sternness.
“Ummm, E-Excuse me, C-Could you-“
“Hmmmm?” Itsuki looked over to who was calling to him. When he did, his black glaring eyes met the sight of a deerlike girl, Dahlia.
The moment he looked at her, she froze like a literal deer caught in the headlight. The young first year reeled back, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from running.
“Come on Itsuki! Stop glaring at her! Will you!”
Behind Dahlia, Mana steadied her friend. She already knew of Itsuki’s issue with how scary his eyes looked, and wished he’d somehow get it fixed, though that was almost impossible in her opinion.
“I’m not, you should know by now that-”
“Yeah Yeah, You’re born with that face of yours, but at least smile.”
“Hmmmm?” Itsuki stewed for a second. He could smile, but..there was an issue.
“Like this?”
Pushing his lips up with his fingers, Itsuki showed his full set of white teeth.
“Uck!” Dahlia recoiled, her deer-like legs trembling and her face going pale. To her, it was like staring at a predator that was baring its fangs and was about to pounce and eat you.
“Pfft! Bwahahahaha. You call that a smile?!” Amanda joked and Mana tensed, trying to not laugh.
“Heh.. Pfft ha ha. I’m ha sorry. T-The young girl has you there. Hehehehehe. Hahahahaha.”
Failing to keep it in, Mana bellowed into a laughter with Amanda that confused Dahlia.
Not finding it funny, Itsuki dropped his hands and let his lips go back to their blunt and implacable sternness.
“Guess not.” He shrugged, dismissing their laughter. “Anyway, what do you need? Dahlia? Was it?”
“I-I Y-yes, I just wanted to...well.”
Stuttering from both fear and how the spotlight was now on her, Dahlia tried to speak but her aversion to talking to people was kicking in. As a beast human, especially one that had deep beast-like features like her own, she had never really talked to “his” kind of people.
Originally, she was from the European Bloc where Beast humans were numerous. One of the smaller nations that made up the European Bloc was home to an uncountable number of beast humans. The ratio of them to humans was 10 to 1.
So speaking to other people who didn’t share her characteristics or physiology was foreign and uncomfortable. In the past, she had been bullied for her horns by humans as a child. Those were some deep scars for Dahlia and ever since, she went from being the bright and bubbly girl that Mana knew, to the more reserved and untrusting teenager she was today.
Still, it was her choice to become an explorer at Andromeda, and that meant getting to know people who were different.
Mana, her closest friend, patted her back, and gave her a confident and warm look.
“Don’t worry Dahlia, Itsuki’s trustworthy.. or well. I think he is. The academy teachers and his fellow fourth and fifth years have enough confidence in him. Plus, he’s an explorer, he’s ahead of us already, don’t you remember?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“O-Oh, you did talk about that. I thought, well..um..”
“What?” Mana asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Er? Well, the way you, “described”, him. He’s different?”
Recovering from her laughter, Amanda chimed in.
“Different how? I’m not sure how else you can describe this guy. He’s pretty plain if you take away his weird personality.”
Dahlia played with her fingers, unsure to say it out loud, but she pressed her foot down and let it out.
“I thought.. you’d be.. taller?”
Immediately, Amanda’s face turned red and she heaved, clutching her stomach in such joyful pain.
“Bwhahahaha, yeah, I bet you weren’t expecting this shrimp to be an explorer! Bwhahahaha, I was the same.”
She doubled over onto the bench, trying to get some air and keep herself from falling to the floor. Itsuki on the other hand was giving Mana his death stare, or was it his regular look? Mana couldn’t tell, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t scary as all hell.
“What have you been telling her about me?” Itsuki asked, not menacingly, though Mana sure felt like it was. Coming up with a response, Mana opened her mouth, but was not in time.
“Mana..told me that you’re a..hard ass and that you’re..um..a runt who doesn’t know how to have fun.” Said Dahlia. “She also told me that you probably like to-“
“Okay! That’s enough!”
Before Dahlia could say any more, Mana covered her mouth and led her away, keeping her back away from Itsuki to make sure he didn’t rip into her.
“Those were just jokes, right Dahlia?” Mana said, laughing wryly as she backed away. All the while, Itsuki gave her a look, as if ready to kill her at any minute.
“Yes..just..a joke.”
“It was really just a joke, I swear.”
“I believe you.”
“ARE YOU SURE!” Exclaimed Mana, untrusting of the look in his eyes. “IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT!”
“I am!”
“..!”
Still unconvinced, Itsuki sighed.
“I’ll deal with you later.”
“I knew it.” Mana exclaimed “You are angry!”
“I said! I’ll deal with you later!” Itsuki proclaimed. “Just settle down, it’s almost time.”
As if on cue, Itsuki’s phone rang, as well as many other upperclassman' personal devices. Mana’s wrist device pinged and she glanced over to the notification.
Immediately like ice melting in a fire, Mana’s expression hardened and so did Itsuki’s. That creeped Amanda out and got herself out of her laughing fit.
“What’s up with you two? Did something happen?”
They didn’t answer, instead Itsuki gave Mana a look.
“It’s time. You ready?”
“Hmph! Born ready.” Mana dragged Dahlia off and Itsuki began to look to the sky.
“Itsuki? Just what the heck is going on?”
Amanda tried to understand what was happening and her commotion was drawing her group’s attention. Ikki, Stella, Shisuki, and Richard came over.
Just as they did, the pounding sound of something booming filled their ears. Many first years covered their ears, but the upperclassmen looked to the sky, seeming as if they were already used to this.
Coming into view, the silhouettes of enormous mechanical giants flew over the expansive courtyard. The leaves were kicked up and every first year marveled at the technological sight.
These were TACs. Tactical Armored Core suits, the same ones from the 3D simulated recordings from Cyno’s class. These 10 to 15 meter tall mechas were capable of flying at speeds that could reach Mach 2 while also having armaments straight out of those old anime mecha movies.
Really, it was like seeing the mecha fantasy come to life. The world changed after the Starfall Calamity War and, as a result, so did human technology.
Making way, the students were herded away from where the TACs were landing. Along with the descending mechas, numerous aircraft followed and began their vertical descent to land.
These were dropships, with their wide horizon profile and narrow height in comparison, were specifically the ODSC-Mark 10. Historically, they were based on the old American Osprey, which had the needed maneuverability and the right range of troop capacity for Explorers to operate in the old lower attitude drop strategy.
Now, in the modern day, the aptly named dropship, Orbital Drop Ship Carrier, was made to now handle the Orbital Storm strategy, employed to counter Star depth swarms, whose numbers were too hard to hit head on. Taking them from above had been found to be preferred.
It both scattered the enemy and was the shortest and fastest route to the leading targets of a swarm.
Confused why military grade equipment was coming in fast, the first years started to panic. Many of them had no idea if they were caught in the middle of a military drill or if this was part of today’s special class curriculum.
Just as they were thinking about that, the speakers scattered around the courtyard blared. Affixed to the scattered lamp poles, the sound of a gruff voice descended.
[To All Academy Staff Members, Practical Training Class will now begin! You know the drill! Move it!]
Immediately, the upperclassman dashed, running to the dropships as if their life depended on it. Welcoming them, the dropship‘s rear hatch opened and the ramp extended.
“MOVE IT! TRAINING STARTS NOW!”
“ALL STUDENTS! LOAD UP! YOU’RE BEING GRADED FOR YOU SPEED AND REACTION TIME! SO MOVE!’
“IF YOU’RE GRUNTS FROM THE CDU OR CAU, GET GOING YOU SLOWPOKES!”
Out of nowhere, the staff and many teachers who were surveying the thousands of students began barking orders as if they were drill sergeants. This perturbed many first years but a good kick to their rear got them moving.
“YOU WANT TO BE EXPLORER’S RIGHT! THEN YOU NEED TO EARN IT! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”
Startled by such harsh attitudes, Amanda turned to Itsuki for his advice.
“What is going on? Itsuki?”
“mhm! Confirmed. Order received.”
Not answering her, Itsuki finished whatever call he had gotten and turned to a crowd of nearby students. His core energy stirred and permeated around him as if it were an intimidating aura of silver fury.
Everyone that was near him cowered and felt themselves almost drop to their knees. Their insides feeling as if they were getting churned, the students realized it was Itsuki who was causing this pressure.
None of them dared to speak, nor could they, they were too confused and scared for their lives and Itsuki could see it, the quivering in their eyes, as if realizing they stepped on a tiger’s tail after already crossing the line.
“YOU HEARD THE STAFF! MOVE!”
That they did, and at a faster pace so that they could get away from Itsuki. He continued to bark and bellow, as if he were in command, and many first years caught on.
“MOVE IT GRUNTS! SUIT UP AND GET FLYING!”
“YES, SIR!”
Affirming, students who were more on the ball began putting on their equipment. With how Grunts made up 90% of explorers, a considerable amount were in training here at the academy.
Producing modular and bulky pieces of equipment from their rucksack, they snapped it all together and assembled their tools. Suited up, the in training grunts wore an exoskeletal body armor, a rucksack, camo clothing, and mini jet propulsion unit affixed to their waists.
Overkill in Amanda’s opinion, but after knowing Itsuki and his background, it was starting to make sense on why he had so much equipment. If grunt trainees in Andromeda were given this standard issue, she could only imagine what else they would be issued or used in the future.
Taking off, the grunt class trainees flew over to the landed TACs. Instead of getting to the dropships, it seemed they’d be taking a different mode of transportation.
Still confused, Amanda again tried to get Itsuki to explain, she tugged on his shirt, but he pulled away giving her only a sidelong glance. He was keeping an eye on something, but Amanda had no idea.
“What the heck is happening?”
“The training has started Amanda.” Itsuki said. “Explorers are always on call, so move it!”
This still made no sense and Amanda shook her head, as if thinking this were some kind of mistake. Had they gone to the wrong location, was this the wrong class?
“But Itsuki this-“
Cut off by the roar of Itsuki’s jet propulsion unit, he dashed off like all the other grunts. He, and many other fourth and fifth years, were adorned in full augment suits, kitted to the teeth with weapons of war and military tech that befuddled her.
“Damnit!”
Not wanting to be left behind, Amanda was about to run, but looked back. She found that Ikki, Shisuki, Stella, and Richard, were all in a daze as to what to do.
“Come on! If this is training, let’s go!”
“R-right.” They all gave a scattering level of reply, Amanda would too, today seemed as if class was going to be just one of those strange days. Maybe they’ll learn something new, or face a challenge. In any case, they needed to move, or be left behind.
[10 minutes Remaining. Anyone not on the transports will fail today’s class. I repeat, you have 10 minutes]
Giving it all they could muster, Amanda and her friends dashed. The dropships and TACs had landed in a loose formation in the courtyard. Many of the TACs and dropships were already away.
The only ones left were a far distance to get to, so they ran and were bogged down by the crowd.
It dawned on Amanda as to why the upperclassmen rushed to get in. If you were first, you’d pass, if you didn’t, you failed. But why hadn’t they shared anything about this.
Unpredictable and brutal were how she could describe this situation. They had no warning, no hint, not even concise reasons as to what was going on. The headmaster’s words about the academy came to mind.
We have a strict education and we do things very differently.
Amanda thought she had already realized how different the curriculum was here, but now? She wasn’t even sure what to make of this.
What did Andromeda have entailed for them?
As a school to train the defenders of humanity, perhaps this was to ready them for the future.
No matter. Amanda thought, tightening her resolve. She’d get through this and see what was down in the star depths.
“Last Call!”
Shouting from the back of the dropship, one of the staff members called out. Quickening her pace, Amanda and her group filed in. As soon as they did, the staff inside seated them..
The passenger compartment could seat twenty people in total. Ten seats on each side and a space in between that she recognized as the bomb bay doors.
Steering clear of that, Amanda sat down and strapped in. She had done this before during one of the previous classes, going over how to operate inside one of these. But, it was a whole lot different from doing it on a model than doing it in a chaotic situation like this.
She slipped a few times, the buckle not going in all the way. Just when she thought she got it, the dropship lifted and the jolting movement startled her. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she forced the buckle in and tightened the strap.
***[Meanwhile, Outside the Dropship]***
Itsuki, flying up with his jet propulsion unit, clambered onto one of the hand holds on the TACs. Adjusting his grip, he inserted the augment suit’s reel lines. Installed on the back of the suit, it would allow grunts like him to hook himself onto the flying mech.
This allowed for a small group of explorers to follow the enormous mechs into battle. It wasn’t all great though. Grunts were literally hanging on for dear life on the side of the mech. Their survival would be in the pilots hands, so it took guts.
That was something missing from the current batch of trainees, who fumbled with the reel lines and were shaking in their boots.
[This is TAC-043. Lifting off!]
“Confirmed. Full house accounted for, let’s get moving!”
Relaying that they had everyone they could onboard and strapped in, the TAC pilot pulled up on the controls. A force of a couple G’s hit the grunts, their bodies straining against the pull of gravity.
This! Was what training was like at Andromeda. As he saw the ground depart, Itsuki pitied those who couldn’t make it. Quite a number of first years failed to heed anyone’s command. They were too panicked or uncertain to move.
That was fatal! An explorer could die in a moment of hesitation. You either act or you die, this was what Itsuki knew Andromeda taught their students.
Pinging in his ear, his heads-up display in his augment suit pulled up a call. It was Cyno and his cheery voice made it evident that there was no substitute for a guy like him.
“Itsuki here, what do you need?”
“Checking to see your progress? Give me a sitrep.”
“Practical Training Class is in motion. Previous clean up targets and dropouts have been dealt with. Should I move on to phase two?”
“Yes, you have my permission. Additionally, you’ll get a bonus should you bring them in. Be sure to also capture the high value targets. We will process them after this operation.”
“Operation? Are we starting it now? Should we not start that at phase 3?”
Itsuki usually would not ask or second guess his client’s request. An explorer like him had a level of professionalism to keep up but to move onto “that” operation now? It seemed a bit premature from what he knew of the situation.
This was too soon.
“Correct!” Cyno said. ”We’ve identified all that we need. You can proceed with Operation Hidden Assassin.”
“Understood, then I will proceed as planned. I’ll move up the timetable.”
Itsuki cut his comms and wondered about Amanda and the rest.
“They’re going to hate me for this.” He shook his head, remembering not to bring personal matters into work. “No, this is necessary. It must be done.”