07 Jin's Instruction
"Today's simulator training will be adjusted. We'll conduct a mock battle instead."
The training squad—mocked as the underperforming unit—had just barely assembled. Before them, Jin stated this.
Their reactions were different.
Kou bared his teeth, as if he'd been waiting for this.
Yuria widened her eyes, surprise evident, yet suppressed it quickly.
May nodded calmly, as if she'd expected it all along.
Kou's attitude was exactly as predicted.
A smirk that said he'd test the newcomer's strength.
It felt as though he were the one challenging a superior.
Jin's expectations for Yuria had not strayed far from reality.
May was the one who deviated clearly.
(Perhaps this one isn't as simple as she seems.)
A demeanor that suggested she'd anticipated every detail.
Her analytical capabilities were unrecorded in the data—possibly far higher than expected, prompting caution.
A complete miscalculation.
May’s performance had been a calculated show, a deliberate impression of depth—she’d simply thought it would look more imposing that way.
Perhaps, in that sense, she wasn’t entirely without merit.
May hadn’t expected Jin to raise his alert level.
“Meet in the second simulator room at 0900. Dismissed.”
Jin had preparations to make. He turned toward the instructor’s changing quarters.
Behind him, Kou slammed his fist into his palm.
“Didn’t think I’d get a chance this soon.”
“Just so you know—reckless actions aren’t tolerated, Sasamori.”
Yuria doused Kou’s enthusiasm.
She twisted her face in distaste.
“We’re a squad. Don’t go charging ahead without thinking.”
“Hmph. That’s your problem—you can’t keep up.”
"Easy there, Kou. Impatience isn’t endearing."
May stepped in between the two, instantly cooling the tension.
She tried to calm them both.
"Who’d want to like someone like you, anyway?"
"Who’s the small one?!"
"May, just stay quiet—your words only make things worse."
Instead of calming May, Yuriya seized her by the arm, pulling her back.
"Whatever you think, I am the squad leader here—Sasamori."
"Hmph…"
Yuriya’s overall score surpassed Kou’s.
That was the reason for the assignment.
"Obey my command."
"Fine. I’ll follow your orders—so long as they make sense, Squad Leader."
Kou said it with sarcasm, then turned and walked ahead into the changing room.
Yuriya watched his back, exhaling slowly.
"Troublesome, his freedom of spirit. Really."
"Freedom's not your strong suit either, May..."
Given his disposition, Kou generated friction within the squad more than most.
Yet May, who openly provoked others without hesitation, was strong in a different vector.
"Anyway, he'll probably charge in as usual. We'll build around that."
"Kou's easy to read. He's itching to see the new Instructor's skill."
"Better to let him charge than try to stop him. Those kinds of boars..."
Despite their verbal clashes, the three had worked together as a unit for over a year.
They knew how to manage each other.
"Wow. Yuriya, you're quite the temptress, luring men like that... But what exactly is a boar?"
"I've never seen one myself. Leave the support to me. I'll bring it down."
May muttered, watching.
Hmm. Everyone in my unit’s a carnivore, huh. Ah, I’ll conserve energy so I don’t get hungry. You all do your best.
“May, you really are….”
Yuria exhaled, a sigh of resignation, staring at May’s unwavering resolve.
Meanwhile, Jin re-focused his intent.
After days of training as a combat instructor, Jin had realized.
He was unsuited to teaching.
A fatal flaw for an Instructor.
Yet it was also the consequence of relying too heavily on instinct.
He could not verbalize his piloting sense.
He could not justify each action taken.
Thus, what Jin could offer them was only the technical aspect.
Tactics. Maneuvering.
The subtleties learned only through actual combat.
To instill that.
“Simulator One to Three. Are you ready?”
‘One. Confirmed.’
‘Two. Ready anytime.’
‘Three. All clear!’
The trainees have already boarded the simulator.
Having confirmed it, Jin also entered the simulator.
Set the battlefield area near the convoy.
The most obstacle-laden combat zone.
Debris from detached components drifts from the convoy—worst of all, the convoy itself becomes a shield.
And for some time after commissioning, this is where the most combat occurs.
Survive.
Survival alone is enough to make one strong.
If even a small amount of experience is accumulated, and that can be carried forward afterward.
And at the same time, if one were to die, everything would end.
No matter how strong, nothing remains behind.
Jin learned that truth with painful clarity.
Thus, instill the means of survival with absolute rigor.
Jin had decided it.
The combat that had seemed so promising just after the Instructor's arrival vanished completely from mind.
All out.
The purpose of this exercise is to crush—there is nothing Jin can demonstrate but combat.
The simulator activates.
"Then, how will it come?"
The机体 performance is even.
Thus, detection favors the side with greater numbers.
At the very least, the first strike will be yielded.
The issue lies in how the first move will come.
Intuition.
An instinctive alarm ringing: this position is dangerous.
Thrusters flare—sideways skid to the right.
A single beam of light streaks through the space Jin had occupied a moment ago.
"Sniper...! First unit, is it Nastin trainee?! To hit at this range—!"
From prior data, Jin deduces only Yuriya could execute such a maneuver.
Yet, it surpasses expectation.
Jin’s Leopard has not yet locked onto the enemy with radar.
Yuriya’s unit is equipped for sniping. Its radar detection range must be wide.
Even accounting for that, Jin had never witnessed such long-range sniping before.
As if to prove the previous shot was no accident, the sniper fire continues—second, third.
A skill that induces shivers.
If limited to the single point of sniping, Yuriya’s ability surpasses that of a regular soldier.
“But too predictable.”
All three shots struck the same point. The fourth did too.
An attack from the same location can be easily avoided with minimal focus.
The opponent’s position is entirely clear.
Now, is this a lure—or not?
Undoubtedly a lure.
He cannot be unaware of the danger in halting his advance.
“Are you the one planning the tactics, Nastin trainee? Let me see your skill.”
He accepts the lure.
Smiling, he thinks: if the Instructor is to display her strength, then he will break through the trap and devour it whole.
He advances straight toward the first unit.
A piece detached from the convoy.
Debris generated by nearby combat.
An ambush from within that debris.
The maneuver through the gaps is astonishing.
And this location is exceptionally concealable.
Jin, who has felt a persistent prickle at his nape since earlier, now waits with deliberate stillness.
And now, at the moment he evades yet another shot—how many times now he cannot count—a silhouette emerges from behind the debris.
A mark of two on its shoulder.
"Here you are, Trainee Sasamori!"
Jin smiles, as expected.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the second unit, Kou grins fiercely.
"Let's go, Instructor!"
Jin's unit lags by a fraction of a second to evade.
That fraction is precisely what Kou has waited for.
The moment of unconscious alertness from Jin—created by his own vigilance—becomes the opening.
The second unit fires its rifle in rapid succession.
Jin evades the barrage with rapid, micro-thrust adjustments.
No shield is included in this equipment loadout.
The craft’s armor surface is coated with ether, exhibiting strength beyond its appearance.
Yet if struck with sufficient ether, penetration will occur.
Thus evasion remains the only option.
Jin does not remain passive.
Between evasive maneuvers, he returns fire with his ether rifle.
In contrast, the Kou unit is equipped with a shield.
It advances without hesitation, closing the distance at the shortest possible trajectory.
When the range is sufficiently reduced, it discards the shield and draws its ether dagger with its left hand.
“Just as expected!”
Close-quarters combat is Kou’s strongest specialty.
That this would be the chosen path was known from the beginning.
Jin responds accordingly.
He too grips his ether dagger.
Two blades of light glittering in the vacuum.
They clash—bodies collide forehead to forehead.
Blade-to-blade contact.
The struggle for dominance continues with unrelenting intensity.
Kou targets Jin’s Leopard’s wrist, entangling the blade.
The blade severs the lower arm—
—when the attack halts abruptly, as if blocked by an invisible wall.
Ether coating: directional dispersion.
Concentrated at Jin’s left wrist, the defensive field was redistributed.
Naturally, defense elsewhere weakens. This is not a passive measure.
Kou, blades locked, clicks his tongue—outmaneuvered.
Next, a violent impact.
Jin’s Leopard has slipped between the two machines unnoticed.
The sole of the leg strikes Kou’s torso with force.
In the brief opening, the rifle barrel twists into place.
Kou, stripped of his shield by relentless fire, cannot press the attack with force.
A tightening pressure—like silk winding around the throat, inch by inch.
The breakthrough came through the sound of triumph echoing across every machine’s communication line.
‘Yeehaw!’
Positioned directly beneath Jin’s unit.
Miraculous.
A single Leopard machine, tracing a motion too intricate to describe, climbs upward in a maneuver beyond comprehension.
More than the maneuver itself.
Only one person comes to mind who would use forbidden full-line communication—such a fool.
“Third unit, Bellwahr trainee! Report to the instructor’s office after this!”
Jin raises his rifle, voice sharp with reprimand.
But—
(Fast!)
Not even a fraction of a second shared on the same trajectory.
Shifts in the blink of an eye to a completely different position.
That sudden turn.
A combat maneuver at such a high G-force it rivals Jin’s own performance.
Such a maneuver is impossible without a profound understanding of inertia control.
One’s internal organs would be reduced to stew in the next instant.
Even in a simulator, the G-force is simulated with convincing fidelity.
A low whistle of grudging admiration.
Only a minor disappointment remains—had Jin’s shooting been better.
The ether projectiles scattered in all directions barely graze Jin’s craft.
Yet the dense, multi-directional barrage forces evasion.
With May’s support, Kou’s unit also retreats into the debris field.
Seeing this, May’s unit disengages as well.
“Drawn a map this precise, Trainee Nastin?”
Jin praises with steady command.
Frontline pair. Rear support unit.
And still, the first unit—the Yuria unit—remains unseen.
Only one unit remains hidden.
It continues to exert a slight, persistent strain on Jin’s nerves, vigilant across all quadrants.
Sniping has ceased entirely now.
A movement that knew precisely how to preserve itself most effectively.
……Impressive.
Truly, Jin sighs, if only in technical skill, she already matches regular soldier level.
Yet her flaws far outweigh even that strength.
Primarily in conduct.