Irina Yeklov regarded Glade and Ada in an asypathetic manner. Adalaene stepped a bit closer to Glade, and Ms. Yeklov glared at the motion disapprovingly. "You two. You aren't fit for each other."
Adalaene couldn't quell her outburst. She stepped forward and said "Huh?!" Ms. Yeklov's expression quickly devolved from stoic to annoyed.
Glade took Ada's hand quickly to calm her down. Antagonizing the director of the academy didn't seem particularly smart, especially considering the fact that she already disapproved of them. Glade decided a more diplomatic approach would be smarter. Glade greeted Ms. Yeklov with a perfect textbook salute before speaking.
"I understand, Ms Yeklov. May I ask why?"
Yeklov seemed to appreciate the salute, as her sour expression dulled into one of disinterest. "At ease. At least one you seems to have some sense." Ada almost burst out in anger again, but she managed to reign herself in, this time.
"As for your question-- How nonsensical. How could I allow an individual with a soul force 9.7 to pilot with an individual possessing a soul force of 1.8? It is inefficient and dangerous." Ms. Yeklov approached Glade and flicked him on the forehead. "The strength of her soul force will splatter your guts all over the cockpit the moment you two enter a consor together."
"With all due respect, Miss Yeklov, I disagree." Glade disagreed with her in a polite way. Miss Yeklov raised an eyebrow at him, the large scar on her face stretching. "And why is that?"
"Adalaene belongs with me, Miss."
"W-wha..." The blunt way that Glade said it made Adalaene blush pure pink.
Miss Yeklov raised another eyebrow. "That does not mean you can pilot together."
"We can pilot, Miss." Glade insisted.
"You-"
"We can pilot." Glade interrupted Miss Yeklov before she could retort. There was a tense moment where she simply stared at him. She then started grinning. Something about this boy intrigued her. Was it the way he carried himself or his blind confidence regardless of his pathetic soul force? She felt there was more to Glade Lieber than met the eye. She wanted to investigate.
"Fine. But I have a condition."
"Condition?"
"The first year tournament in a month. If you two manage to pilot and reach the top 3, I will publicly approve of you piloting together. If you don't manage to reach the top 3, you are forbidden from piloting together. How's that?" Irina Yeklov's proposition wasn't a bad one. If the director publicly approved of a pilot pair, the disapproval of their fellow pilots would most likely decrease. Glade and Ada glanced at each other. They both had the same thing in mind. "We accept."
"Hey, guys!" Puck suddenly came into view from behind a docked consor. "Where'd you go, earlier? I coulda sworn you guys were right behind me!" Puck ran over to them, completely oblivious to the director's presence. When he noticed her he gasped loudly and did his best at a stiff salute. "Ah...! M-miss.. Yiklev! Eh... Yoklov! Ah... Y-Yarkliv!" Puck shouted his greetings at the director, mistaking her name every single time.
"My name is Yeklov."
"I-I apologize, Miss Reklov!"
Director Yeklov merely sighed at him. "Puck Clavis. Don't touch the consors again without permission."
"Geh." Puck knew he was caught. "I-I understand... Miss..."
"Yeklov."
"Miss Reklov!"
"Tsk." Director Yeklov turned around and left shouting; "Don't forget our agreement."
Glade turned to Ada. "Let's go check out the Streel consor."
"Sure."
"Let's go!!!" Puck led the way for them, moving ahead excitedly.
Somewhere in a dark corner, a girl with black eyes and hair the color of stars stared ominously at Adalaene. "Grrrr.... Even the Director favors that bitch..." The girl bit her long nails nervously. "I need to knock that slut down a peg and show him I'm better than her... I'm better than her...."
__
"It really is a Streel type... Amazing." Adalaene approached the large consor and touched it. Puck was close behind, rambling in her ear about all its specs and how cool it was. The Consor was completely black, the only color to speak of the red visor on the head part. Behind that visor was the cockpit. The Streel-type consor was the only offensive consor where the cockpit was located in the head. In every other consor it was located around the chest area. Streel type pilots needed to maintain maximum accuracy, resulting in the cockpit being situated behind its visor.
Glade inspected the large railgun. It was almost as long as the consor was tall, with grooves and edges that resembled a broken cliff.
"The railgun sure is impressive, right?!" Puck noticed him inspecting it. "It's the only weapon that manages to fuse temporal freezing with quantum copy printing AND forward rolling tessellation. Amazing, right?!" Puck went on another one of his excited rants. Glade had no idea what he was talking about. "Y-yeah..."
"Oh, oh! But the best part about the consor is this!" Puck ran up to the consor and clambered up on its leg like a spider. He stopped by its knee-joint. "See this joint? A Tessal spear pops out! The same with the elbows! It makes it deadly in close combat, too! If the energy drain was less the Streel-type would definitely be the most popular offensive frame consor!"
The notebooks of all three freshman collectively vibrated and lit up with red warning text.
[CURFEW WILL COMMENCE AT 20:35. CURRENT TIME: 20:10]
"Hey, Puck!" Glade shouted at Puck, who was busy jabbing his hand inside one of the Consor's many crevices. "Curfew in a bit! We should get to the dorms!" Puck heard him and perked up. "Ah! O…Okay, I'll be down in a second…" Puck looked down at the Consor's smooth, steep leg. "H-how did I climb up here without a ladder…?"
20 minutes later Puck, Glade and Adalaene were at the impasse which seperated the male and female dormitories. Puck shielded his eyes as Glade and Adalaene said goodbye to each other.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning, yeah?" Ada smiled as she kissed him. Glade squeezed her tight. "I'll see you tomorrow." Adalaene went off towards the female dormitories, leaving Puck and Glade to enter the male dorms.
"S-so you and Adalaene aren't just consor partners, then?" Puck asked Glade nervously, as if he was asking something he shouldn't. "We're a lot more than just consor partners." Puck shuffled nervously. "So… Like l-lov-"
"Puck." Glade interuppted him.
"Y-yea?"
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."
__
Adalaene entered the female dormitories and was immediately confronted with how extravagant the space was. There was a large crystalline chandelier that sparkled with lights. A large red carpet led all the way to a grand marble staircase. Adalaene didn't like it at all. Wasn't this a military academy? What's the point of all this extravagancy?
"Look, it's her…" A trio of girls sitting in plush chairs were blatantly staring at Adalaene while they whispered to each other. One of them snickered.
A devilish grin split Adalaene's face. Should she go say hi? Adalaene approached the girls and their smiles were replaced with looks of panic. Adalaene stopped in her in tracks. Maybe she shouldn't– Glade wouldn't like it.
Adalaene sighed and moved up the dorm stairs, checking her student notebook
[ROOM #151]
Room 151…? That was the top floor, wasn't it?
Adalaene arrived at her door room. …Seriously?
Her door was vandalized. Some psycho had carved into the wood with a knife to form letters.
STAY AWAY FROM HIM
"...The hell?" Hopefully she could have the door repaired. But she had no idea who the threat was about. Was it Glade? I mean… he is the most handsome guy ever… But it would be hard even for him make a girl this fanatic after only a glance. Adalaene decided to ignore it for now.
She entered her dorm… room? Wasn't this more like an apartment?
The space was massive with clean marble flooring, plush furniture, a kitchen, a queen sized bed and a bathroom– bathtub and spa included. But the most impressive part of her dorm room was the view. An entire wall had been replaced with glass so she could see the sparkling sea. Adalaene almost laughed from how exorbitant it all was.
Was this the benefit of being Rank 1 in the academy?
__
In stark contrast, Glade's room was minimalistic. A small, rickety bed and cramped bathroom. His only furniture was a small desk to do homework on. He didn't even have a lock on his door.
Was this the negative of being ranked last in the academy? His belongings were already inside the room, so he got to unpacking.
A knock sounded on his door, but before Glade could open it the door burst open violently. A boy with golden hair stepped into his dorm room– It was Golden, the boy Ada had rejected during the entrance ceremony.
"You." Golden sized Glade up. He looked at him as if he was no more than an ant. "Give her to me."
"What?" Glade glared at him. He had the nerve to bust in his door and then demand something from him?
"Give me your partner. She belongs to me."
Glade knew exactly what kind of person Golden was. He probably belonged to a powerful family– the kind who measure soul force from birth and then groom the useful children. So basically, he was a spoiled brat. He wasn't someone Glade wanted to waste his time on.
"Get out of my room."
Golden didn't like that reply. "Do you not know who I am?" He closed the distance between himself and Glade, nearly touching chests. Golden was taller than Glade by a few centimeters, but it didn't affect him. "Are you a burglar?"
"Give. Her. To. Me." Golden's eyes glowed as he prepared to release his soul force.
Glade was beginning to get annoyed. Who was this bastard to demand anything from him– Much less Ada? He hated how he spoke about her as if she was an object that could be exchanged. "Are you a broken record? Or a parrot? Is that the only thing you can say? She already gave you an answer, so if you would, kindly Fuck Off."
Golden's face transformed into one of pure rage as his eyes glowed brighter. Glade felt the air around him vibrate as Golden prepared to crush him with his soul force.
"Oh, no you don't." Glade focused his soul force to a point in his middle finger and flicked Golden on the forehead. Golden was blown back before he could release his own soul force and was thrown out of the room.
Golden sat stupified on his ass just outside of the dorm room. He recovered from his shock and was ready to annihilate Glade's measly dorm room in its entirety.
His student notebook vibrated and the screen lit up with red warning text.
[WARNING: CURFEW AT 20:35//CURRENT TIME: 20:32]
[RETURN TO YOUR DORM ROOM OR YOU WILL BE PENALIZED]
"Tch. This isn't over!" Golden shot Glade a threatening glare, but the red mark on his forehead made him look ridiculous.
"Sure."
Golden stalked away down the hall, punching through a wall out of frustration.
__
How dare he?! That mongrel bastard!
Golden was pacing in his expansive dorm room. The red mark on his forehead still stung from where Glade had flicked him.
How had the bastard manage to do that? He was weak! A soul force so weak it was laughable! But… But…! The red mark on his forehead stung. How dare he?!
And that bitch…
Golden remembered how Adalaene had refused him– The audacity! To refuse him?! And like that?!
Golden thought of everything he would do to her once he had her. The image of her jade-like skin and perfect curves filled his head. Yes– He would do things to her. He would tie her down and make her submit to him. Just like he'd done with Renne. Adalaene would break, too!
And Renne… That clingy bitch! She wouldn't leave him alone! Getting in his way of obtaining Adalaene by carving on her door like that– Renne didn't deserve him!
A mere B-rank like her, clinging to and A-rank like him… Disgusting! He had to get rid of her and obtain Adalaene… but how? He usually had others hatch his plans for him…
__
"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Ada greeted Glade with a kiss. He had slight rings under his eyes, indicating a lack of sleep.
"My bed isn't the best… But it was alright. I'll get used to it." Ada sent him a worried glance. "You should just sleep in my room. I have enough space for 5 people on my bed."
"The dorms are seperated for a reason, Ada."
"Hmph. I'm rank 1 in the academy– I think I can bend the rules a bit."
Puck appeared next to them, holding out his notebook. "Look. They published the class registers. What classes are you guys in? I-I hope we're in the same class…"
Glade and Adalaene both pulled out their notebooks…
"I'm in class A."
"I'm class B… W-what about you, Glade…?"
"...Class D"
"Oh…"
"Tch! Why are we never in the same class?!" Adalaene was frustrated. She'd hoped she would finally be able to sit next to Glade…
Glade chuckled. "I kind of expected this. It wouldn't surprise me if the class register is based on rankings, too. Puck is rank 40, right?"
"Y-yeah… I'm a B-rank…"
"See? We'll see each other during the joint classes so don't get so down about it." Glade tried to cheer Ada up.
"Fine…"
Glade, Ada and Puck seperated to go to each of their classrooms. As soon as Ada entered hers the whispers started.
"Look… It's one of the irregulars?"
"She has a soul force of 9.7, right? Isn't that kinda freaky…?"
"Go talk to her…"
"No, you!"
Ada wasn't surprised by this. She'd expected people to stare and whisper at her. She would've been content with just sitting down and ignoring them, but the worst of the worst approached her.
Golden slammed his hand down on her table. "You. Have you ditched that black haired mongrel, yet?" It seemed Golden tried to play the same tune every time and expected the reaction of the crowd to change. Adalaene wasn't having it.
"Mongrel?!"
"Yes, that incompetent 1.8… Why don't you realize he isn't worthy of you? He'll only drag you down in battle. If you partner with me…" What Golden was saying wasn't wrong. Ideally, Consor pilot pairs had a similar amount of soul force. It prevented one from overpowering the other and stalling the machine. It also lessened the strain on the pilots themselves. Powering a consor required the full release of one's soul force. If the difference is too great, one pilot could easily kill the other in mere moments.
"Do you want to kill him?" Golden tried a different approach. If he could manipulate her concern for him…
"Shut up. I don't care. I will never partner with you," Adalaene stood up and raised her voice so everyone could hear. "Or anyone else here. Glade belongs to me, and I belong to Glade. Now leave me alone."
"Tsk." Golden looked dissapointed, as if someone stole his favorite toy. "You will come to me on your own. I will make sure of it."
Adalaene glared at him. "Don't bet on that."
Golden returned his seat, a few other male and female students lingering around him. A girl with black eyes and bright hair approached Adalaene. She scraped her nails on the table and sent her a threatening glare. "You don't deserve him…!" A look of pure hate flashed over the girl's face before she left the classroom.
For the first time in a long time, Adalaene was stunned. "What… the hell?"
__
Puck sat nervously in his chair. A few other male students approached him. They were textbook delinquents, and to them Puck looked like an easy target. The awkward way he carried himself and his timid manner of speaking was a dead give-away for a lack of self-confidence. The leader of the bully group grinned. He could exploit that.
"Hey… What's your name, buddy?" a few of the other males snickered.
Puck, in his innocent naivety, couldn't tell what was happening. He was just glad someone spoke to him. "O-Oh! My name is Puck! Nice to meetcha!" Puck stuck out his hand for a handshake. The bully leader was a bit taken aback by it.
"A-ah… Yeah…" He grabbed Puck's hand. "Nice to meet you, Puck…" The bully gathered some soul force in his palm, nearly breaking Puck's hand. "You can call me buddy. We're buddies, right?" The bully crushed Puck's hand some more.
"O-Ow! No way…!" Puck gathered his own soul force and transferred it to the palm of his hand, but the bully had the advantage as he was already crushing his hand. "Oww! Stop!"
The group of delinquents snickered at Puck's pleading. Yes, this was it. This feeling of power always felt great, no matter who it was you bullied. "You want me to stop, buddy? Then how about-"
"You guys are pathetic." A girl with black eyes and bright hair entered the classroom and interrupted the bullies.
The bullies turned around with pissed off expressions. "Huh?! Who are you t-" The bully stopped mid-sentence. The girl's beauty had captured his heart– was this what they called love at first sight…? "Ah..! Erer… S-sorry! I'm sorry! I wasn't doing anything bad, you know? We were just making friends, right, Puck?" The bully hurriedly let go of his hand put his arm around Puck's shoulders.
The girl looked at Puck, who still had tears in his eyes. She then glared at the bullies. "Get out of here."
The bullies hurriedly left, the tone in her voice scaring them off. The girl grabbed Puck's injured hand rubbed it gently.
"Ow…!" Puck pulled away from her.
The girl grabbed his hand again and rubbed it, this time applying some soul force. Puck's hand immediately felt better. "You shouldn't let them take advantage of you like that, you know… You're too naive."
Puck glanced at the girl appreciatively. "O-oh… Yeah… Thanks. Why did you help me…?"
The girl gave him a short and simple answer. "I hate bullies." She let go of his hand and extended her arm towards him. "My name is Renne. Nice to meet you."
Puck became flustered by her pretty face. "O-oh! I'm Puck!" Renne smiled sweetly at him. "I know."
Puck looked down, embarrassed. "A-ah… You're pretty…"
Renne blushed suddenly. She hadn't expected such a frontal assault from the shy Puck. "Oh… Y-yeah… Thanks."
__
Renne knew who Puck was. She'd seen him hang around the 9.7 slut, after all. When he was getting bullied she knew it was her chance. Puck was way too naive and he was easily manipulable. If she saved him from the bullies and put a bit of a smile on her face… She could make use of him.
His weak presence and awkward attitude annoyed her to no end, but she would bear with it. She needed a way in if she really wanted to hit the 9.7 slut where it hurts… and Puck was her perfect way in.
And then… Golden would tell her he needed her again.
__
Glade received a similar reaction from his classmates when entered his classroom as Adalaene did; hushed whispers and tentative stares. The biggest difference were how mixed the opinions of him were.
"Hey, that's the irregular…"
"The incompetent 1.8, right? Want to go mess with him?"
"You think the EX-rank will choose me over him if I beat him up a bit?"
The male students all held some form of jealousy or animosity towards him. But the females were of different opinions.
"He's hot…"
"His soul force is still pretty similar to mine… you think I've got a chance?"
"He's tall…"
"S-should I go talk to him?"
Glade intrigued most of the females with his handsome looks and balanced frame. His black hair only added to the interest. The 'regular' hair colors such as blonde, brown and black were extremely rare. After the human race evolved a much broader spectrum of colors ranging from red to purple became more common. After more than twenty generations of evolved humans, a person with a 'regular' hair color was one in a million.
One of the female students approached him shyly. The girl struck up a conversation and Glade went along with it naturally. This only added to his male classmates´ distaste of him.
"Who does he think he is?"
"I think he needs a beating."
One of the boys interrupted Glade's conversation. "Hey, is it true that your soul force is only 1.8?" The boy asked it in a smug way.
Glade wasn't embarrassed and answered him honestly. "Yeah, it is."
The boy grinned smugly "Well, mine is 3.6– Doesn't that mean I'm twice the man you are?"
Glade frowned at him. "Excuse me?"
The boy just turned around and went back to his seat. A few more male classmates spoke to him and said something similar before the lesson started. They were trying to make him feel inferior using the only way aspect they knew they had an advantage in- the intensity of their soul force. But to Glade, it was merely a confusing experience.
By the time the lesson started he knew the soul force intensity of almost half the boys in his class.
__
After an entire school day of simple introductory lessons Glade, Puck and Adalaene were catching up on their experiences at Café Séléne. Puck told them about his experience with the bullies and the pretty girl who'd helped him. His naive boyish-ness shone through as he spoke about her excitedly.
A second year with white hair interrupted him, speaking over Puck's shoulder. "Yo! Are you talking about Renne Blýd?"
"Uaah!" Puck was startled by the sudden voice in his ear. Cistelle went on; "I'd suggest you stay away from her. She's one of those 'powerful family' types. They're all snobs who only know how to use people. Bad bunch to be around if you ask me."
"She's not like that!" Puck remembered her pretty face and kind words. She couldn't be like that.
Cistelle put her arms up. "Woah, easy there. I´m just giving my humble opinion." Cistelle looked over at Glade and Adalaene. "Yo, Glade, Ada." Glade returned her greeting while Adalaene snapped at her. "Don't call me Ada."
Cistelle smiled knowingly. "I get it– Only your partner is allowed to call you that, right? My bad."
A large man cut into the conversation, his wavy orange bangs swinging across his forehead. "Cis! Didn't I tell you to stop bothering the freshmen?" It was Cid, her partner. "Tsk. I'm not." Cistelle crossed her arms. Cid looked over at the group of freshmen. "Sorry about Cistelle. She can be a bit pushy, right? Come talk to us if you need anything. We'll leave you alone now." Cid pulled the complaining Cistelle away from their table.
Adalaene followed them with her eyes. "I like Cid." She turned her attention back to Puck. "Hey, Puck… I've been meaning to ask this but who's your partner?"
Puck sipped his hot coffee and looked down at the table sadly. "I… I don't have one. She uhh… She swapped partners as soon as she could… S-she told me I cared more about Consors than I did about her…"
"Oh." Adalaene felt a bit bad that she'd asked a sensitive question. She tried cheering him up. "W-well, I'm sure you'll find another partner soon! You're a B-rank, right? I'm sure there's a bunch of female pilots who would want to partner up with you." Glade chimed in. "Yeah. Who knows, maybe Renne would want to be your partner?" Puck perked up. "You really think so?"
Glade leaned back in his chair and grabbed Ada's hand. "Yeah, why not? Just give it a shot." Puck looked at their linked hands with a sense of longing.
__
A day later the first joint class was in session– Traversal and Cognition training. A large obstacle course was prepared for the students and they had to clear it in record time. In order to do this a person needed to use their soul force and empower their body, improving speed and agility. The classes had all lined up neatly on the training field. The instructor was describing the course and weather conditions.
Renne looked around the practice field and found Golden a few rows across from her. She tried to get his attention but he was too busy staring at the Adalaene to notice her.
That 9.7 slut… Renne had an ominous gleam in her eye as she focused on Adalaene. She turned to a female student next to her and whispered something to her. The female student's face transformed into one of horror as she whispered back; "W-what? I can't do that!"
Renne glared at her "You're from the Ritt family, aren't you? Aren't you entirely dependent on my Blýd family? Should I tell my father you can't even do me a simple favor?"
A look of panic overcame the girl's face. "W-what? No, please don't! I-I'll do it!"
Renne gave the girl a satisfied smile. "If you do well, I'll make sure to put in a good word, alright?"
The girl trembled nervously as she thought about what she was about to do.
Moments later all the students had lined up in neat rows at the start of the course. The obstacle course had been terraformed and was 10 kilometers long, with environments ranging from sticky swamps and sinkholes to lush jungles with many environmental obstacles.
An instructor moved to the front, holding a starting pistol. "Your performance will affect your rankings, alright?! Those at the top get a good bonus and those at the bottom will receive a penalty! Understood?! Make sure not to lose your notebooks! We use them to track your progress! Starting positions!" The instructor readied himself to start counting down. He held up the starting pistol.
Golden looked behind him and spotted Glade at the back. He would make sure to crush him.
Excitement coursed through Adalaene as she readied herself near the front. Renne sent a threatening glare to the trembling girl next to her.
Puck was... somewhere.
The instructor started the count-down.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[START] The starting pistol shot into the air.
The large mass of first year students all shot off at once.