He confirmed his body condition by swinging the sword, and while doing that, he adjusted his different moves.
Slowly swinging the sword again and again, focusing his attention to one single point. He no longer detected the color of Kei emitting from the blade. The feeling he had had till now, of the changes in his nerves, slowly extended to the outside, resulting in the feeling that Layfon was swinging the sword like a machine.
And as he concentrated more, even that robotic feeling was pushed outside of his consciousness. He had become empty, whereas everything else was painted with color.
He swung at that color.
The point of his blade tore a track through the intangible air. This action repeated itself again and again. No matter how many wounds blossomed in the air, more air rushed in to fill it. He repeated his motion, and only stopped when the wound, affecting the flow of air, was unable to recover.
Unenthusiastic clapping sounded.
"Ha ha, brilliant!"
Sharnid had been watching at the door.
"Seems like it's been cut up to so many pieces that it just died."
"It's not that incredible......"
"But it really is! The wind pressure was strong when you first swung your sword, but in that last swing, the wind pressure just vanished......It was amazing," Harley said excitedly.
Layfon scratched his head, embarrassed by Harley's child-like excitement.
Then Sharnid poured cold water on Harley's emotion. "Harley, have you finished what I asked for before?"
"Oh, yes, yes. It's already done."
Harley opened a box beside him and took out two Dites.
The two Dites were like rods of charcoal. They had curved handles that were smooth and polished. In the bend of the handles were metal rings, hiding a hook like thing.
"Are they guns?"
Sharnid's job was to support the team with long range fire.
"It won't do to snipe when we have so few fighters on our team. Just think of it as insurance," Sharnid said. He used his Kei to restore the Dites.
"What a crude appearance!"
The body of the gun looked very heavy. There were no blades extending from above and below, but the shape looked sharp. The gun was designed with several bulging points. Either way, it looked like some type of attacking weapon.
And Layfon could tell the texture was not of Lithium Dite, but the hard Chrome Dite.
The same material of the captain, Nina's iron whips.
"I used black Dites as requested, but the shooting range isn't as long because of the bad conductive rate for the Kei flow."
"Not bad. I don't plan to shoot long distance with this thing. As long as it can hit anyone within ten Mei, it's fine with me."
He placed his fingers on the triggers, practicing with his new Dites. He reversed the gun barrels.
"Is this close-quarters gun combat?"
Sharnid whistled. "As expected of someone from Grendan. You do know a lot."
"Ah, I think even people not from Grendan would know......"
"What is close-quarters gun combat?" Harley asked.
To put it simply, this was martial arts using guns. Guns had the advantage with long range combat, but compared with swords and daggers, they were slow in terms of close-quarters combat.
And so a new type of gun skill was invented to overcome this weakness. The skill of close-quarters gun combat.
"Ah......Sharnid senpai knows how to use it?"
"Well, people who know how to use this are either stupid people that try to look cool, or amazing fighters......And I'm the former," he said with a cunning smile.
Not sure whether Sharnid was speaking the truth or not, Layfon looked at Harley, who only shrugged.
"......I'm late."
Came the clear and small voice. It was Felli.
Her form was as exquisite as glass art, giving off a pressure as if to freeze everything in her vicinity, but Layfon and the guys were already used to this.
"Felli-chan's cute today too," Sharnid commented.
"Thanks......" She glanced at the guns in his hand, and sat down on the long bench in a corner, already losing interest.
Harley checked Felli's Dite and said "Nina's the only one not here."
"Meaning she's the last!"
"Seems so."
Nina was more determined than anyone to strengthen the 17th platoon. She was always the first to arrive for training, but today, she hadn't shown up yet.
"I remember her saying she had something to do......"
"I think she's not keen at all," Sharnid yawned.
And just as he said, a lazy atmosphere filled the room.
Not knowing what to say, Layfon gazed at his sword.
(A lot has happened after the match.)
Revealing his real strength in the first platoon match was a setback for Nina.
This time, he kept himself at the same level as the rest of the platoon and fought seriously.
But in the end, they lost the match.
He didn't do his best. It was meaningless to hide his strength anymore, and he agreed with Nina that they had to protect the city. Even so, he tried to fight with some will.
And the reason for his not giving his all in the fight was because the platoon match wasn't the real Military Arts competition.
Layfon's strength would be needed after the platoon matches.
At some time, mobiles cities would approach nearby cities and fight for territory.
In reality, it was the people living in the city who fought.
And warred.
The reason behind the fight was the fuel source for the Regios – selenium mines.
For some reason, a city would only fight against the same kind of city. To reduce the number of casualties, Academy Cities had introduced the Military Arts competition. But even so, this couldn't change the reality that the losing city might die.
Zuellni once had three selenium mines. When Layfon came to study, it only had one mine left.
If they lost in the next Military Arts competition, Zuellni would have lost its one and only mine, and face death.
At first, Layfon didn't understand what this had to do with him. He felt it was unfair, for he had already decided to give up Military Arts.
Despite that, it didn't feel bad to do what he could for the city.
But......
One of the key people who changed his way of thinking, Nina, was not happy.
Against her parents' wishes, Nina ran away from home and came to Zuellni – Without money, she had to work in the Core Mechanism.
Layfon was also half-studying and half-working.
He always bumped into her at work. Recently, they'd earned the trust of their supervisor and were assigned together to clean a larger area.
Layfon had been working from midnight till dawn beside the wordless Nina.
(This is tiring......)
Thinking back, he felt he had never been through such a long night. Anyone could see the unhappiness on her face.
(Is it really because we lost the match?) He thought.
But if he was the cause......That part he didn't understand.
Speaking of which......
(Shouldn't I speak with her?)
He was being indecisive about it. And time passed as he brooded.
"If there's no practice, can I go back?" Felli said listlessly.
"Just wait a little bit more!" Harley said. He had already finished checking her Dite, and he had nothing to do. Sharnid was leaning against the wall with eyes closed. Perhaps he really was sleeping. Felli squinted at Layfon beneath her long eyelashes, her sharp gaze reproaching him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Nina's voice saved him from Felli's sharp gaze.
Nina was in her third year, a junior, but she had become the captain of a platoon.
"You really are slow, Nina. What've you been doing? I almost fell asleep!" Sharnid yawned. To him, a fourth year, Nina was younger, so he didn't call her capt
ain.
"I had to look into something, and it took some time." She walked to the center of the training room. The Dites in her harness gave off metallic noise as she moved.
Doubt rose in Layfon.
The sound that was usually reliable and convincing now felt unnatural.
The sound of the Dites...showed she wasn't walking normally.
Nina might have sustained wounds in the previous match, but she didn't look injured. She didn't walk carefully so as not to jar a wound.
"It's late. We won't be training today."
"Why?"
Everyone was shocked. Even Felli widened her beautiful eyes, watching Nina with suspicion.
Layfon felt the same.
Nina formed a platoon to give something back to Zuellni. It was because of her passion that he felt it was okay for him to step back onto the path of Military Arts. And it wasn't just her. Meishen, Mifi, Naruki...They followed their dreams with an honest heart.
Even though the thing that really encouraged him was the letter from his childhood friend, Leerin.
"So, why?" Sharnid said.
Layfon wasn't just surprised at her canceling the training, but today's Nina seemed to lack something. Just like the sound coming off the Dites in her harness. Something he couldn't quite grasp......
"I'm thinking of changing the training method. Sorry, we'll just cancel today's training."
"Sure......"
"Go do individual training if you want. Dismissed."
She left the training room.
Layfon watched her back.
The two Dites bumped against each other.
It really was an uneasy sound.
She realized this when she was panting heavily and had to stop. She pressed her palm against her chest, just above her heart, and realized that feeling of coarseness was gone.
"Heh?"
She searched in the pockets of her uniform. The breast pocket, inside pocket, dress pocket, her schoolbag.
It was gone.
The letter she was supposed to give to Layfon was gone.
It was still on her when she left the classroom. She had wanted to give it to him in the room, but while she hesitated and tried to find an opening, he had left. Meishen chased after him, to the training complex, but as a General Studies student she wasn't sure whether she should enter the building, so she could only wait at the entrance.
(I can give it to him tomorrow......Isn't it better to hand it over now? Should I go in? Would I be interrupting? Should I just wait here till he finishes training......?)
She couldn't wait for long, as it was almost time for her shift at the coffee shop.
She had checked that she still had the letter while thinking outside the training complex.
She'd had the letter then.
While checking to be sure that the letter really wasn't on her, she couldn't help but think what would happen next.
That letter had been stuffed into the crack between the door and the wall with other letters at the dormitory. Besides the letter from her parents, she also found letters from close relatives and friends – and when Meishen was happily checking the names on the letters, she found this name.
Leerin Marfes.
A name she hadn't heard of before. She checked the name of the receiver, and held her breath.
It was Layfon.
She realized that the letter must have been delivered to the wrong place. She and Layfon lived in different dormitories with different room numbers. This letter was mistakenly delivered to her room by some coincidence.
Thinking of this, she was glad that she got to chat with Layfon. She could always talk to him, but it was another thing to talk about serious matters.
But......
(Leerin......This is a girl's name, right?)
If only she could ignore this name and stay immersed in happiness.
(What is their relationship? Friends?......What if they're lovers?)
Uneasiness filled her chest.
(......But, to peek into another person's letter......)
Her fingers shook. Looking at someone else's letter wasn't worth praising.
(But......)
She really did mind it. If this Leerin was someone important to Layfon, then what about Meishen herself?
She was afraid, thinking that the truth could be written in this letter. Even if she just left the letter alone, she'd probably have insomnia.
(No......But......But......)
Shaky fingers lightly touched the covering of the envelop. She mustn't peel it off too obviously. Lightly, lightly......
(Ahah......)
And she read what was inside.
What she felt afterwards were a sense of self-hatred and rivalry.
She relaxed, knowing she herself was the only one looking after Layfon's diet. Yet at the same time, she was jealous of the time that Layfon had spent with Leerin.
The guilt and self-hatred of peeking into another's letter stayed with Meishen. She had decided to give him back the letter when she was making him a bento. She had wanted to, but somehow dragged it out till after school......
......And now this had happened.
"......But it was there earlier."
She wanted to cry, her eyes feeling hot and her body weak. She sat down on the ground, hugging her schoolbag and searched in her memories for a hint.
"......Oh!"
Perhaps......
Because 'she' had appeared before Meishen, who was determined to stand outside the complex and wait for Layfon. She didn't mind being late to her job at the coffee shop, since this was her fault. But when Meishen had worked up her courage, 'she' appeared.
Felli Loss.
Hearing Felli's question, asking what Meishen wanted with Layfon, the determination Meishen held vanished like a puff of smoke, and she ran off as if she was escaping.
She must have dropped the letter then.
"Uuuu......"
She could do nothing without Naruki and Mifi. She hated herself for getting nervous before unfamiliar people. Once again, she returned to the training complex, searching for the letter on the ground – and failed to find it.
"I find it strange," Felli murmured in incomprehension as she went home.
Nobody felt like training after Nina left, so they just dispersed. Sharnid left immediately to go somewhere, and Harley went back to his lab after saying to Layfon "I'll find you if something comes up."
Layfon and Felli ended up leaving together, as their dormitories lay in the same direction.
Felli was one year older than Layfon, but she looked like a girl just a little over 10 years of age.
"She actually suggested we cancel training. This doesn't feel right."
Layfon smiled sourly at her.
"What?"
"......Nothing. Senpai's worried about the captain, so......" He smiled. Felli glared at him, her pale face turning pink.
Felli's level of psychokinesis was of the level of a genius, but she hated to use it. She was in the 17th platoon because her brother Karian Loss, the Student President, forced her into it.
"As if I'd worry about her," she said.
"I meant that her coming up with weird ideas doesn't feel right."
Felli increased her pace, her argent hair fluttering behind her.
The male students walking past the pair couldn't help but stop and look at her.
Layfon caught up with her, walking past the dreamy-eyed male students. "But, it really is strange."
Even if she were changing the training methods, there was no need to cancel today's session.
(It was more like she was distracted by something else.)
That's what Layfon thought.
However, he didn't know what it was.
He remembered Nina's attitude at work last night.
A cold expression coupled with silence. Was it really because they lost the match?
Perhaps she was thinking of something else.
"But I still don't get it."
"Oh, sorry." He had sped up his pace unconsciously.
The Felli he knew now always had some sort of expression on her face. This was different from when he first met her. Neutral. A face like a doll's.
"You won't find the answer by thinking too much. All you need is to observe more keenly."
"True," he nodded.
"Compared to that......"
"What?"
"Nothing." Her lips moved, then, clamped down altogether.
"?"
"My brother......wants you."
"The Student President needs me?" Layfon frowned.
Knowing Layfon's past, Karian had forced him into the Military Arts department.
"I wasn't told why, but he said it's important."
Felli was also unhappy.
"Shall we go and meet him?"
Why didn't she just tell him at school?
"No," she shook her head.
"He said it's secret......We'll talk at my place."
"......What?"
"I need to buy groceries for dinner. Please come with me."
Why Felli's place?
Before he could ask that question, she had strolled ahead of him.
He followed silently.
And now he was holding shopping bags in both of his hands.
(Just how many days of groceries has she bought?)
Felli was also walking with her hands full.
Instead of parting at the usual place, they headed for Felli's dormitory. Layfon felt uneasy walking in an unfamiliar part of the city.
"......It looks big."
It looked more like a villa than a dormitory. On the first floor was a big living room enclosed in glass walls. A spiral staircase (next to the sofa) took them up to the second floor.
Layfon clearly felt the gap between the rich and poor as he pushed open the engraved door.
It was too naive of him to get so excited over having a twin room all to himself.
A wide corridor stretched ahead to another spacious living room, and from there was a door that led to more rooms.
"Please leave the groceries over there."
The kitchen was about the same size as Layfon's room. He didn't know whether to feel comforted or disappointed by this.
"Please wait outside. I'm going to make dinner."
Silent Talk Page 2