Gloves

“Wow, damn.”

“Wow.”

“You know her?”

“First time seeing her.”

I’m soooo screwed.

It’s not like there aren’t cadets wearing glamorous, revealing dresses.

There’s no young lady who dislikes standing out at a ball.

If I had to name someone who would, it would only be an extreme case like Soraya.

Still, there’s a reason the phrase TPO exists in this world.

Who in the world wears a backless dress to an academy ball, seriously.

On top of that, it jiggles.

It was customized so it wouldn’t feel out of place.

“Aili.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you think you can let go of my hand now?”

“Right?”

A newcomer walking around holding hands with someone you see all the time stands out twice as much.

“I meant we should let go.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

She won’t let go.

Having this many eyes on me is a first too.

Until now, it was just the level of people being interested in me.

“Wow, they’re staring like crazy.”

Karina, who’d been walking beside me, laughed as if dumbfounded.

“Because of the dress design, I customized every part of the body that could give it away.”

She wasn’t lying.

There was no part whatsoever where you might look at Aili and wonder if she’s a machine.

If anything, it was just that her pupils sparkled like glass.

On top of that, it was a navy dress that matched my hair color, as if blatantly making it obvious she’s my partner.

It was so pretty and glamorous it was absurd.

Did Lord make this by pouring everything into it, like he wants me dead?

“Mmm! Food! It’s food!”

Aili grabbed my hand and yanked hard.

Startled, I tensed my legs and held my ground.

I held.

“Huh?”

“Yeah?”

Karina shrugged and passed right by us, heading toward the table with the food.

“Of course I finished regulating the strength devices too. If someone who looks like that was three times as strong as an adult man, it’d feel way too alien.”

So she was three times stronger than me.

“But her weight is the same as before, so keep that in mind.”

She brought over food with something on top of bread.

“It’s a canapé. An hors d’oeuvre. Considering your capacity, eat just one.”

What’s an hors d’oeuvre?

Aili took the canapé from Karina, then immediately went to the table and picked up another canapé.

“Mashita.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“But ith delithuth? You’re thupposed to praithe delithuth food for the cheffth to like it, right?”

“No young lady talks while eating.”

“But I’m not a young lady?”

Now I understand why Aili is like this.

Having never once moved under her own power until now, she’s moving directly for the first time.

She’s excited.

That’s exactly how kids who just started running around act. I know because I’ve seen it.

Aili immediately put the next canapé in her mouth.

Karina frowned slightly, then turned her head toward me.

If she has no intention of listening anyway, giving up is the right call.

“Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

Come to think of it.

“Karina-sunbae, don’t you have a partner?”

Joshua definitely said you should go to the ballroom with a partner if possible.

Karina’s expression darkened, and she glared at me quietly.

“You think I’m funny too?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m asking if you think I’m funny.”

“Ah, no?”

The eyes that had been glaring quietly turned toward the inside of the ballroom.

“There are plenty of people who come to enjoy the ball without a partner. Asking someone without a partner by their side about that can be seen as hitting on them, so be careful.”

“Ah, then….”

“Of course, someone who has a partner but asks someone else if they have a partner is undoubtedly the worst.”

Karina looked at me, then turned her head.

It was an expression of moderate satisfaction.

“Still, I’ll praise you for keeping your back straight. They say you’ve been learning noble etiquette these days; seems you didn’t learn it in vain.”

That’s a relief.

I’m just standing here awkwardly straight, keeping only my back straight as I learned.

Before coming, I’d listened to this and that cautionary advice from the Chairman.

I can’t remember a single thing now.

The only thing I can do is stand here with my back straight.

At least it’s bearable because I can watch Aili eating canapés.

“First, he told me to keep my back straight. He said a tailcoat is ruined if you slouch.”

“Really? And what else did you learn?”

Since nothing came to mind, I pondered for a moment, and then remembered something I’d heard not from the Chairman, but from Lord.

“He s-said throwing a glove means you want to fight.”

“You don’t really need to know that. It’s not like anyone would challenge you to a fight anyway.”

Karina shrugged, then grabbed Aili and yanked her hard.

“I could eat mooooore!”

As Aili tried to break free again, this time I grabbed Aili’s hand.

She immediately became docile.

“Stop eating.”

“Okay.”

Before Karina could say anything in disbelief, I quickly took the initiative.

“B-But.”

“What?”

“Why do you throw a glove?”

“They say in the old days, they threw gauntlets at opponents they wanted to challenge or duel. Later on, that changed into throwing gloves.”

Tap.

Suddenly, a glove fell at my feet.

Karina opened her eyes wide, then pointed at the glove with her chin as if telling me to pick it up.

It’s hard to bend down without assistive devices.

As I picked up the glove and raised my head, the murmuring around us suddenly grew louder.

“Picking up that thrown glove means you accept the opponent’s challenge.”

“Excuse me?”

“Diiiiiiiiip!”

I jumped.

When I turned my head, someone I didn’t know glared at me.

“She who tore off the wicked dragon’s wings! Hero of the western front! And the academy’s rising star!”

“I-I don’t know such a person.”

Had that many titles piled up without me knowing?

Actually, are epithets something that only pile up when you reach Fafnir-class, or do they just call you whatever and see what sticks?

“When your rank rose by a hundred places, I was silent. Because I was above fiftieth place anyway!”

Aili looked back and forth between that man and me with an intrigued expression.

“When they said you reached the twenties, I was silent. Because I could acknowledge your talent!”

“Excuse me, but what are you trying to say?”

“But!!!”

The man spread both arms wide.

“Bringing two women to the ball is absolutely unforgivable, Diiip!!!”

Wow, I see.

So that’s how it looked to others.

No wonder people were looking at me like I was crazy.

“Um, I’m sorry, but Karina-sunbae is not my partner.”

“That doesn’t matter! No! Bastards who say that are even more detestable! Ask me why!”

I didn’t ask.

Even without asking, he ground his teeth and spoke.

“Because it means even though you have a partner, you can walk around the ballroom with another woman you know!!!”

Pfft.

Karina burst out laughing, then immediately covered her mouth.

“Come to the simulation machine! I can’t stand this! A duel, right now!”

I didn’t want to stand out.

Still, I’d really only had a tiny bit of hope.

Only a tiny bit.

***

The simulation devices in the ballroom were incredible.

First, they looked completely different from the ones in the training grounds or simulation rooms.

They were used by wearing goggles that looked like VR devices and sitting in dedicated chairs.

It was also fascinating that you could watch two-person sparring through a holographic device in the center.

They were literally making the people dueling into content for the ball.

Unlike simulation devices where you have to open and close a hatch every time, or where it’s so hot inside you feel like you’ll suffocate.

Boarding a device completely cut off from the outside definitely helped you focus more, but this wasn’t a bad method either.

“Kuaaaaaaaack!!!”

The big downside was that even if you didn’t want to hear the surrounding chatter or what your opponent was saying, you could still hear them.

“To think I’d lose!!! Justice!!!”

“I-It’s not like I did anything bad.”

His skills were indeed befitting of someone who said he was above fiftieth place.

But by now, if you want to beat me or land an effective hit, you need to bring at least someone in the top 20.

At the start, we charged at each other; I entered at a ricochet angle against the barrage of bullets, dodged close-range weapons, and pile bunkered the core position.

But since it was still moving, on a hunch I stabbed the groin area with a blade, and the duel ended.

So depending on the Titan, the core’s location can vary.

The duel wasn’t long, but it was decent information.

Since one duel was over, there was no need to stand out anymore.

When I took off the device immediately, this time there were three gloves placed in front of me.

They weren’t just thrown.

As if they’d discussed and decided the order among themselves, like placing coins in front of an arcade machine in turn, they had truly been lined up in sequence.

As I slowly turned my creaking neck, another pilot quickly nodded.

“I’ve wanted to face you once.”

“Your rank skyrocketed in just one semester. Let me have a taste.”

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

At the sudden alarm sound, everyone raised their smartwatches.

“Ah.”

It was the midterm exam rank announcement.

The eyes of those who quickly checked their ranks immediately fastened onto me.

“Shall we have some fun competing for seventeenth place?”

Are they looking at me like I’m prey?

When a stranger challenged me, I was silent.

There was no one left to speak for me.

“…W-Well, I look forward… to our match….”

“Aha, well now. You don’t have to accept the duel?”

He had an expression that said if I didn’t accept the duel, we’d have to do actual combat.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them and shook my head.

I looked back for a moment.

Aili was sitting in a chair with her eyes closed, sleeping.

To be exact, it wasn’t Aili, but an empty body without Aili.

Since she was sleeping in a spot where only people who wanted to rest gathered, it seemed no one was bothering her.

Good. I should just leave her like that.

I put the goggles back on, concentrating.

Start.

“…What was it? Just one more match.”

“What one more? Get out of the way?”

The battlefield was a wasteland.

The opponent was bombardment-heavy armor type.

I identified that the opponent was using high-explosive shells in the first artillery fire.

I deliberately gave distance, giving them the timing for artillery fire, and the moment they stopped to bombard, I shot the high-explosive shell magazine with a railgun.

The duel ended with the sympathetic detonation.

“…So it’s different from a plain high-mobility type, it really is.”

“Move, loser.”

The battlefield was the sea.

The opponent was bombardment type.

Unlike Lord, a type that fought purely with missile firepower.

I could feel they weren’t controlling the missiles individually but using heat-seeking.

After inserting flare rounds into the grenade launcher and firing, the moment the missiles lost direction, I immediately fired the railgun.

There was no sympathetic explosion, but it seemed to have hit the thrusters, and they lost mobility.

I immediately approached, turned off the thrusters and hovering devices, and submerged in the sea.

The heat-seeking missiles rained down on the opponent who had lost mobility, and the duel ended.

“Wow, this is absurd.”

The battlefield was a jungle.

The opponent was high-mobility type.

A shootout with trees that couldn’t even be penetrated by rifle rounds between us.

I fired the railgun once to reveal my position, then detached the railgun and propped it up, and hid in the opposite direction.

The opponent who immediately turned on their thrusters and rushed in aimed for the railgun and raised their muzzle, and the moment they did, I cut the main sensor with a blade from the opposite side.

The duel ended.

By now, the surroundings had gone completely quiet.

If they’ve watched me win this much, they should be getting bored soon.

I took off the goggles, hoping there were no challengers left.

There was exactly one glove.

Good. Fighting about one more person shouldn’t be a big problem.

Thinking so, I raised my head.

“Sh….”

Shit.

I shut my mouth before the word could jump out.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then opened them again.

“Might I join as well?”

Professor Flavia looked down at me with a smile.

Karina wore a bewildered expression.