08 Team Coordination

The training squad pulls back, regaining formation.

Jin does not attempt to force the pace.

"Damn it, don’t go showing off."

Kou’s muttered curse reaches Yuriya’s ear through the comm.

Yet the usual sharpness is absent.

"Really. Without my—my—my—support, you were on the verge of being shot down, weren’t you?"

"Che."

Kou responds with a sharp intake of breath—acknowledging, despite himself, May’s taunt.

He had fallen behind in a straightforward, frontal engagement.

Yet none of the team mistakes that for weakness.

Rather, this one ignites when pushed.

"I’m changing sniper position. Proceed as planned from here."

"Trust me. I’m riding the junk ship now."

Uria had remained stationary, continuing the sniper assault deliberately, to serve as bait up to this point.

But now that the debris field had been forced into a corner, she was no longer necessary.

In the usual cluttered debris field, threading a shot through was a struggle.

Yet Uria achieved it with ease.

"Sasamori, advance. May. You follow behind."

"Don't slow me down, you little brat."

"Fine. I'll take you up on that. Watch your back."

"Ha. Come on, try it."

The two begin arguing, but Uria ignores them entirely.

She understands this dynamic is, in a way, a form of trust.

"And what about you, Uria? You really planning to just loaf around?"

"Still hiding in your room, Captain? Hmm?"

"You two only sync up when provoking each other..."

It’s fine, she tells herself.

She had confidence that her position had not yet been revealed to Jin.

Therefore, she could become the decisive blow.

"I'll wait until the very last moment, but depending on the situation, I'll move too."

The plan was for two units to press forward, pinning Yuriya into place for a sniper strike.

Or, an assault from all three units in a coordinated encirclement.

Either option was viable—more than adequate.

With the general strategy settled, Kou's unit surged forward from behind debris, unable to suppress the urge any longer.

"Let's go, Chin-Chirin."

"You really will shoot from behind, won't you!"

The two units accelerated, trading sharp remarks mid-flight.

"Small fry! From below!"

"Scissors Combination, got it. Remember that later."

At the moment of locking onto Jin's unit, the two split apart, one above, one below.

In the void of space, up and down existed only as perception—relative to the individual.

Yet around the convoy, it was different.

A vague, massive reference point existed—unconsciously, one oriented toward it as below.

It conveyed intent more swiftly than any coordinate designation.

A pincer attack on Jin’s unit.

They maintained position with precision, avoiding each other’s firing arcs.

Verbal resistance aside, coordination had become ingrained in their bodies.

Jin, in turn, sought to place himself directly between the two craft.

That alone would prevent reckless fire out of fear of fratricide.

Ulia’s role was to thwart that intention.

Jin evaded the sniper shot—launched from a position entirely different from before—without hesitation.

But now his freedom of positioning was sealed.

Twisting the craft into a flip, he redirected the rifle barrel toward the Kou unit.

He wrenched the机体 erratically, evading the barrel’s arc.

But he couldn’t shake free, as if tethered by a thread.

One shot.

It struck directly in the shoulder.

"Damn it—got hit!"

Kou could no longer deny the loss of his right arm.

His机体 struggled to stabilize, consumed by the effort.

Without the rifle, Kou’s unit posed no threat unless closing in.

Enduring the humiliation of being turned away, Kou drew the ether dagger and charged into close combat.

"Pathetic. So pathetic, Kou! Dodge properly!"

May, meanwhile, broke free from Jin’s rifle’s arc.

For an instant, she vanished entirely from Jin’s field of view.

She struck from the blind spot, closing in instantly.

May had never trusted her own marksmanship.

Thus, after a feinting burst of fire, she followed the same pattern as Kou—delivering a single strike with the ether dagger before disengaging.

Jin's机体 is pinned by the sniper fire—unable to move freely.

A three-directional assault, meticulously orchestrated.

Sufficient to maintain the current state.

A cage insufficient to break through.

One more push.

Yulia waits for that moment.

The chance comes only once.

Only when caught off guard.

Jin's机体 chooses close combat, drawing the ether dagger.

Dual-wielding: a bayonet-type blade mounted near the rifle's muzzle, complementing the dagger.

This allows him to evade Kou and May's wave attack and avoid the sniper's line of fire.

Yulia's sniping is deliberately avoided—she refrains from targeting where Kou and May's机体 would obstruct her shot.

Deprived of her opportunity, Yulia's rhythm falters—her precision visibly declines.

Her habitual flaw emerges.

She pretends patience, but is unexpectedly irritable.

Jin is too absorbed in the fight before him to recognize the proper moment to disengage.

May is showing signs of fatigue. Her maneuvering under high G-force is losing precision.

This balance cannot last much longer.

A sense of urgency grows within Yulia.

She hesitates—should she wait for an uncertain chance, or overwhelm through sheer numbers?

Yet Yulia’s close-combat skill is not exceptional.

Can she insert herself into the coordination between Kou and May?

More likely, her own presence will become a barrier—herself (—) obstructing her own shot.

Thoughts fragment.

In the midst of doubt, the opportunity she has been waiting for enters her field of view.

Jin’s unit, attempting to evade May’s slash, collides with debris and halts completely.

No hesitation.

As planned from the start of the simulation, her body moves.

Yuria’s Leopard, its Ether Reactor shut down to evade radar detection.

All prior sniping had been conducted by remotely controlling a rifle fixed to debris.

Using only the residual Ether in the frame, it lunged from behind the debris.

Debris is dense. The rifle may not be able to destroy it.

A split-second decision. Yuria raises her Ether Dagger.

Timing is perfect.

Yuria’s emergence from empty space should have been impossible to predict—certainly for Jin.

Yet.

It was blocked.

Without seeing, the left hand—extended at an impossible angle—held firm against Yuria’s slash.

How.

Before the question forms, the rifle’s muzzle glints, sighted over the shoulder.

The next instant, the words “Simulator terminated” flashed into Yuria’s vision.

She had been shot down.

Understanding came quickly.

The mock battle would not end just because Yuria had been shot down.

Kou, unshaken by the destruction of the squad leader’s unit, saw the opening in her movement and lunged forward.

Both right and left hands were aimed at Yuria’s unit.

The surprise attack failed—but for Kou, that alone was more than sufficient.

Perhaps a final act of defiance.

A single remote sniper shot fired just before her destruction.

It would widen the gap in Jin’s unit.

“Got it!”

Confident of victory.

Until Jin’s unit began spinning like a toy top.

The sniper shot deflected—Kou had not anticipated it being sliced apart by the Etherdagger.

A foot blade unleashed from within the spin.

Her left hand crushed—literally.

The two blades, still spinning, continued their motion and sheared through Kou's機.

Following Yuri, the stop symbol flickered on Kou's simulator.

She clenched her teeth until they ached.

She slammed her fist into the armrest and roared.

"Damn it!"

May, having witnessed both machines fall in an instant, tried to create distance.

She weaved through debris in a sharp spiral.

But she could not shake the pursuit.

No room to curse like Kou.

To do so would only risk biting her own tongue.

The enemy remained perfectly aligned behind her.

Worse—she was slowly closing the gap.

Proof that their maneuverability was more efficient than her own.

Then May barked inwardly.

(How about this?)

Edge Turn—stopping dead in mid-maneuver, reversing direction instantly at high speed.

May maintained her composure despite the high G-force pressing against her body, certain she had broken free.

Even if she could match the maneuver, Leopard’s speed would grant her a single moment of reaction time.

An attack from behind. That still left room for possibility.

Yes. That was it. May murmured.

“What kind of reaction speed is that?”

Jin’s unit remained perfectly aligned behind her.

The fact that he had executed the exact same maneuver without delay became clear.

The barrel glinted. May followed Yuri and Kou.

Combat time: approximately fifteen minutes.

Drenched in sweat, they finally understood the absurdity of their instructor’s performance.