The MECHAs and its pilots had returned to the original place where they were supposed to be. Far from the dry wasteland, in a nation with existing humans. The pilots had come back and the MECHA were stationary, fixed to the rigid supports in back.
There was a bridge which moved towards the MECHA's upper chest and attached itself to it. The front part of the the chest opened into four parts each in a diagonal direction. The pilots who were on the seats inside the MECHA stood up and got on the bridge.
Hiro came out a bit slow than the others.
"Our monarchy, seems to have gotten a fair amount this time."
"I do agree with that".
Two people who were coming out from a tunnel attached to the bridge spoke those words. They were coming towards the pilots. Hiro got out from the cockpit and exhaled.
"Don't get so cocky of yourself.", Ker told Hiro as he charged towards him, pressing him the wall.
The two who were walking towards them were shocked by this and moved towards him.
One of the two kept his hand on Ker's right arm saying, "Stay in your limits, Ker. Hiro saved you."
Ker got offended and annoyed, replying, "I didn't want to be saved by this swine."
"Leave him, or you would invoke the wrath of me and family. I also guess it wouldn't be too good for the Farfal family as well."
Ker was disgruntled at his words and said to him, "You're a disgrace to the nobles, Anton."
'Anton von Nielsen', a young man with chestnut hair and mature attitude continued, "Learn to respect people already, whether they are nobles, commoners or peasants".
Ker freed Hiro and Hiro exhaled out from relief.
"Thank you very much, Anton", Hiro told to Anton.
"Don't sweat it, Hiro."
"But you've been saving me since we've both studied at the academy."
"If you want to do something save the world with me then."
Hiro was kind of stunned at his words. Hiro and Anton were close friends.
"Well, we are MECHA pilots and only we can save the world.", Hiro claimed and continued, "I will save humanity in this last surviving nation, Kreiss."
"Yeah, I hope so.", Anton replied while smiling and thought inside of himself, "This monarchy needs to be saved externally and internally"
'Kreiss Monarchy' is the sole surviving nation with with humans in it.
Then, Hiro took a glimpse at his MECHA 'Vernier'.
"MECHA- Mechanical Entities Controlled Humanoid Automations. They are the only beings that can fight the RIORS"., Hiro spoke to himself.
The remaining MECHA pilots and all went to their dressing room. They wore a special latex suit which was white with stripes corresponding to the colour of their MECHA with specialized gloves and slight metal armor i.e., breast plate.
"The date today is 2nd day, 7th month, C626."
The calendar of the world they lived in was called as 'Cosmic Calendar'. It counted the days and months in number and the years had the letter 'C' before the number of the year. The letter 'C' denotes the year in the cosmic calendar. They had 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month with 30 or 31 days and 12 months or 365 days a year. The 2nd month of an year has 28 days and a 29th day every 4 years.
After changing, they were summoned to the assembly room and had given their salute. There was special sort of salute for MECHA pilots. While saluting, the untouched side of the index finger of the right arm must be facing the neck.
"This salute shows that MECHA is a double edged sword. It can either be used to kill RIORS or kill the holder."
The assembly room was a large room with a stage in the front edge of the room. It had many other MECHA pilots on it.
A man in a military suit with walked towards the center of the dias.
"ATTENTION!"
His single order made the 30 MECHA pilots there give the special salute which MECHA pilots are supposed to give and made them stand still like a lifeless object with a serious look on their faces.
His cleared his throat and began his speech,
"Many years, the time before we could even know or remember, Humans prospered everywhere in this world."
The attentive soldiers listened without batting an eye.
"We were the top of the food chain."
Some swallowed their saliva to his words others were intimidated by his words.
"But then one day, these inhumane beings called RIORS came. They don't possess any sort of intelligence but they are not animals. They are much stronger than us in any ways."
The speaker took a deep breath and continued, "Some call it the punishment God has given us for our sins. Some call them as otherworldly lifeforms. But we cannot say who these organisms really are."
"How long is the commander gonna blabber the same story over and over again?", Hiro wondered in his mind.
"Humanity couldn't do anything but suffer at the hands of these beings. Either being killed or eaten by them. Then, humanity came up with the idea of building these giant automations called 'MECHA'. Thus with their help today, Kreiss Monarchy was found."
He took a stop at his words inhaling deeply and made a strong look on his face.
"Today, no, I will repeat this as many times as possible. The future of humanity lies in the hands of you MECHA pilots."
"Yes", every pilot there replied to his words in a loud voice.
"DISPERSE", the commander ordered.
The pilots there dispersed and everyone moved towards the lobby to go home.
Hiro went to the public transport train, he noticed eyes looking at him suspiciously or with annoyance or dismay. He went to the metro of the area. He looked at the situation at the metro. He saw that a person was getting beaten up by three people.
"Another one of my kind is getting beaten up again.", Hiro thought in his mind.
He could feel the gazes of others as the announcer of the metro announced, "Please segregate higher and lower class people. They have their separate lanes and cars. Please cooperate"
"Is he the peasant who became a MECHA pilot.", a person who was glaring at Hiro spoke to the other woman beside her, which Hiro could hear but he didn't care much.
"I wonder how a peasant like him became a pilot. Its an insult to the Nobles working as MECHA pilots."
Hiro was annoyed at the words and wanted to fight back but he couldn't. It was due to his status.
The train which would move towards his area had come and he entered it. He held the hanging straphanger and sighed. He sighed and said in his mind, "Not only is the monarchy the sole nation with humanity, it is also separated by class."
Hiro thought about it as the train entered moved towards his area.
In Kreiss monarchy, people are separated by a 'class system' which acts a de facto status in society. There are two kinds on classes in the nation, the 'Higher-class' and 'Lower-class'
The people in the Higher-class are considered as 'Nobles'. They get to enjoy all comforts and luxuries in life. But they also have a power struggle in there.
Meanwhile, the people in the lower-class are considered as 'commoners' or 'peasants'. They exist in the lower class of society. They are the majority of the nation but they are treated badly by the nobles.
The higher class and lower class areas of a city are segregated and are separated 30-meter walls and have 10-meter toll plaza allowing a commoner or a noble to commute through official permission. The areas were called as 'districts'.
While, public transport like metro trains have easier access to commute from higher class area to the lower class area for work reasons. They could afford a train pass or use credits. 'Credits' were the form of currency in 'Kreiss', much different from the word 'credit'. They were the digital form of currency which everyone within the nation who was '18 or above' had.
The capital city was called "Krusch".
"Only Noblemen can become MECHA pilots and commoners or peasants shall be foot soldiers"
Hiro muttered slowly as the train reached his stop while he was spacing out. He came back to his senses and rushed out of the train. He came out of the station and gazed at the starry sky.
"Why does it always feel different when I look at you?", He muttered to himself again and moved out. He went to the street where his home was, in the back alley of the main street of lower class area.
It was the district 'Macross'.
"Oh Hiro, you're back."
"Good work out there."
Two elderly people Nobuhiro and Karan greeted Hiro from the inside of roadside inn greeted him.
"Thank you very much, Sirs", He replied.
"Drop the formality, Hiro. You're keeping up the name of us lower class lads", Karan told him while laughing happily. Karan and Nobuhiro were happy to see Hiro.
"We're happy that you're just here.", the receptionist at the roadside food stall told him.
"Thank you aunt Yuki"
"Drop the formalities again, Hiro.", the receptionist 'Yuki' told him and continued, "Don't call me an auntie, I am just 34,"
"But you have two children already."
"What's going on here", a voice asked in middle. It came from a middle aged man with black hair. He looked slightly grumpy and was the husband of Yuki.
"Yuki, what is going on here?", he asked and looked at Hiro. He was pleasantly surprised.
"Hiro, you're back alive.", he told to Hiro with a smile and patted on his head.
"I am still not a kid, uncle Raj.", Hiro told him and pushed away his arm from his head continuing, "Don't throw me off dead already."
"Its just good to see you alive. Being a MECHA pilot itself is dangerous. You must become something like the 'hexagonal pillars of justice' do. Plus collecting the cores of RIORS which act as source of electricity and other forms of energy for us."
'Hexagonal Pillars of Justice' are the 18 pillars composed of energy from cores which form a wall-like structure covering the place to repel RIORS from entering the city. The RIORS themselves are allergic to cores from other RIORS like humans are repelled towards the corpses of other humans.
There are six pillars kept in a hexagonal pattern at the ends of the city. These six pillars are called as 'Primary pillars.' and the remaining twelve pillars are placed between them. They had a translucent layer of energy in between them which acted as a form of barrier.
"Collecting cores huh..."
Hiro muttered slowly again and Raj put his arms on his shoulders saying, "Why the silence, come I'll treat you something free this time. But it won't be free the next time."
"Yuki go prepare a bowl of ramen or a plate of fried rice. This chip's gonna eat to grow.", Raj said to Yuki and upon listening to his words, she walked to kitchen saying, "Yes dear" with a smile.
"I ain't a kid, you know. Uncle, I am gonna turn 21 within a few days."
"You're still kid to me Hiro.", Raj said with a big smile on his face.
Yuki brought him a plate of fried rice and he ate it. The conversation extended towards him and was exaggerated for about an hour.
"I wish Hiro still keeps this smile even in the toughest times"
Raj thought in his mind and grinned. He stood from the chair he was sitting in and walked towards Hiro asking him, "Did you get your siblings anything?"
Hiro glanced at the clock while eating and was shocked to see that the time was 9:45 pm.
"E-EK!", Hiro let out a sound a chomped down the food in front of him.
"Calm down, the food's gonna get stuck in your throat", Raj said to him out of concern.
"Thanks for the food." Hiro said and got up from the seat immediately running out of the store.
"Atleast drink some water", Yuki told him while he ran out from the stall. Looking at him Yuki smiled.
"Hiro's grown up right, my dear.", Yuki said to Raj.
"He used to be that small kid back then. Its really nostalgic."
"Bet Alma's taking care of him and his sblings.", Nobuhiro spoke to Raj
"I think so too father-in-law.", Raj replied to him.
Hiro ran towards his house. It was a double-storey independent house in the back alley. It was slightly ragged down. It had a gate which was quarter the size of a human. It had a backyard and could be called the house of an average person.
Hiro opened the gate slowly to not make any noise and did the same for the door of the house as well. He walked on his toes like a thief to not make any noise. He went into the living room sneakily without making any noise and the light turned on.
He was stupefied as the light turned and he saw his siblings and a woman beside them.
"Big brother you're late.", his sister Haruna told him.
"Alma had to take care of us.", his brother Varuna told him.
"Atleast respect Alma a bit for brother dear.", his other brother Tohji told him.
Haruna, Varuna and Tohji were his siblings. The three of were about ten years old. Alma was a another woman in his neighborhood who took care of his siblings in his absence. Alma was a slightly tan skinned woman who was 19 years old.
"Thank you very much, Alma.", Hiro told Alma while sobbing and trembling.
"Ehh, why are you crying?", Alma asked him a tensed tone.
"He's just playing"
"Yeah"
"Let's go sleep, I'm tired"
His siblings without any concern went to the bedroom and slept.
"You guys are mean.", Hiro said while sobbing and trembling
"They are just kids.", Alma told him.
"I know.", Hiro said with a smile while wiping his face with a handkerchief and sat on a sofa continuing, "Those three are the only ones I have to call me family."
Alma sat beside him and smiled muttering slowly, "Why don't I also become a part of your family"
"Did you say something?", Hiro asked Alma.
"No, no I d-didn't", Alma replied while moving her hands here and there.
"Me and my three siblings, we are just four orphans who live together"
Hiro spoke in his mind and said to Alma, "We four aren't related by blood but they are my family."
"Please take care of my siblings."
Alma's pupils dilated at his words and she smiled saying, "Yes I will".