37 - Graduation (2)

This world isn't real.

Parallax Academy isn't real.

I'm not a student.

Kaya and Saya are telepathic. The Hoshi-no-ken requires one sister in the cockpit, and one sister in the command center. That's how communication between the mech and the command team works.

I used to know all this, and now I know it again—the twins have 'beamed' all this info into my head.

The only thing I can't seem to remember is … what came before all this.

All of us, we came from somewhere—I just can't seem to remember where, exactly.

"… You'll have to reach that on your own, Odd-kun," says Kaya, smiling softly at me, as I slowly stand back up again, the pain in my head fading.

"You'll remember, Odd-kun. In due time," says Saya. "… In due time. But we can't do it for you."

We feel the faint rumblings of the Terror's rampage above us. The hangar shakes, dust falls from the high ceiling.

"A-and to get out of 'here' first … To return to where we came from …" I point upward. "We have to get rid of that thing. And that … man."

Saya and Kaya nod silently, their expressions grave.

I gulp.

I feel—I know—that that man has taken something from me. Something precious.

… But what?

"Who is he?" I ask.

I look around the room, but nobody knows any more about him than I do.

"I … can't," I say, falling back down to the floor on my butt. I hug my knees, curl up into an upright fetal position. "I can't, Saya! I can't do this!"

Saya marches up to me, grabs me by the arm. "Now, listen here! Only you can pilot this thing, Odd-kun! We're all counting on you!"

"Why me!?" I whine. "I can't pilot that thing!"

Saya clicks her tongue. "The fate of our true world hangs in the balance! This is why I can't stand weaklings like you—"

Alex cuts in, "Ehh, you know, I wouldn't mind piloting a giant robot. If Odd-kun doesn't wanna do it, I'm up for it."

Himacchi joins in: "Yeah, same here. I'll get in the fucking robot."

I hold out an open palm. "Guys, hold on—I'm just committing to the bit. Just let me get through it. We all know I'm getting in it."

Alex, hands on hips: "Well, no—bit or not, you've expressed you don't wanna do it. So no takebacks. I wanna pilot the Hoshi-no-ken!"

Himacchi: "Well, so do I now! Who decided you can take Odd-kun's place!?"

Anyway, the three of us bicker a while longer about who gets to be the Action Pilot, and eventually we settle on rock-paper-scissor'ing it.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." (Draw.)

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." (Draw.)

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot."

"HA!" I shout. "Suck it, losers."

Alex and Himacchi grumble, as I do an undignified victory dance around them.

"This is all very funny," giggles Kaya, "but we can't waste any more time."

The head of the Hoshi-no-ken opens up with a hiss.

Saya grabs me by the hand, leads me toward the foot of the robot.

"So, uh—how do we get in?"

As soon as I say this, the platform we're on begins to rise (Me, wobbling unsteadily, grabbing onto Saya for support: "Whoa whoa whoa!"), lifting us up to the robot's open face.

Saya grabs my hand again, and leads me inside.

*

The head closes, sealing us inside.

Two seats in tandem, the front one set lower than the rear.

Only the front seat has a full set of controls—so that one's mine, obviously.

Saya takes her place in the back as the Resonance Pilot, straps in.

And I follow suit, as the Action Pilot.

Once I'm in, I hear machinery humming, various parts of the Hoshi-no-ken coming to life, as the runes on my control panel begin to light up.

I mean, I call it a control panel, but it's really a stone slab—no doubt a piece of lost technology salvaged from the remains of an ancient civilization from Saya's homeland … the last of whose people perhaps no longer even exist.

… I think Kaya explained something like that to me, once. (… When, exactly? … Was it back in the 'before' place? Before the Academy?)

I recall her telling me that the robot was an attempt to replicate the technology of 'modern Earth', using the medieval fantasy setting's magic framework.

I mean, I guess that explains the 'Dwarven steel' thing Kaya mentioned earlier, when we entered the hangar.

But … the rest of that doesn't make any sense.

What the hell does 'modern Earth' technology mean?

… And Saya and Kaya are from a distant country, but they're not from a medieval fantasy. … And magic isn't real.

Wait, hold on—neither are elves.

Wait—

Sharp pain in my head.

I don't want to think about this any longer.

I turn around to look at Saya, grimacing. "Hey, Saya—… Listen …"

"Shhh." She brings a finger to her lips, shushing me. Her eyes are closed. "… I have to sync us."

Instead of asking any questions, I shut up and watch.

I can make out rapid twitching behind her eyelids. And then—

And then I 'see' it.

I feel it.

I can feel the Hoshi-no-ken. I can feel Saya. As though we're connected through some kind of psychic link.

Which, I guess—we are.

"… The Resonance," I mutter, awed.

And soon enough, as Saya's psychic connection extends to her sister in the hangar's command center below, I can also feel the others.

We're all … connected now.

I can even see, in my mind's eye, perfectly clearly:

Kaya sitting in her Resonance chair; Alex standing over her, hands clasped behind his back; and, seated at their respective command consoles, Sunny, Moeka, and Himacchi—

Wait.

… Wait!

'Himacchi'!?

"Alex," I say out loud in the Hoshi-no-ken, my voice being relayed through Saya behind me, back to the command center below, where Kaya beams it into everyone's heads. "… Why the fuck are we calling Valerie 'Himacchi'!?"

I see Alex scratch his head. "… That's a good question, Odd-kun. Hey, yeah—that's fucked up! It's like we're treating her like she's cute or something."

"Yeah," I say. "And we both know that's plain wrong."

Alex and I share a grating, obnoxious, aristocratic chuckle—telepathically—while, in my mind's eye, I see Valerie pouting at her console.

Then, after we've had our fun, I see Alex adopt a severe expression. He looks determinedly up at the Hoshi-no-ken.

"… I've always wanted to say this," he says.

He draws in a breath.

Then—

"…—HA-SSHIN!"

An electric crackle.

The restraints holding the robot in place disengage.

I can hear the ceiling above us open.

And the next thing I know, I'm crushed into my seat as we shoot straight up, launched from the hangar, my vision tunneling from the sudden G-forces, while steel beams and dirt rush past me—or rather, the Hoshi-no-ken, technically—the two of us one and the same, inextricably linked together through Saya—the Hoshi-no-ken is me, and I am it—as we rise, up, up, up—

—until we emerge through an opening in the school's soccer field, into the blinding light of the afternoon sun.

There's the Terror, towering over our school's crumbling main building.

It stops its rampage for a moment, turning to face us.

Atop the Terror, I can make out the man in the eyepatch, riding it as if it were an animal.

He tips his cap, waves at us.

And then the Terror roars.