5 - Home x Struggle

People are living inside Mixture, so the lighting on the station changes regularly in the morning, noon, and night.

It was already past the sunset and the stars were projected into the night sky.

After completing the afternoon classes, Ratio thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the facilities with her four friends, then returned home with a happy face to the living facility that had been granted to her and her companions.

“I’m home,” Ratio said as she showed her face in the living room.

“Oh my, welcome back,” one of the other residents said.

Everyone who’d come with her to Mixture was relaxing in their own ways.

“Oh, Ratio, how was your first day at school?”

“Mm,” Ratio said. “It was a lot of fun. I made new friends,” she said, smiling.

“I see! That’s good!”

Everyone’s cheeks loosen into smiles and some of them even pat her on the head going, “Well done!”

These are Ratio’s “older sisters” and exclusive maintenance staff of the Stella Corpus they’d brought with them.

“My, my, welcome home,” an old woman said.

“Granny, I’m back,” Ratio said.

“I told you to call me Chief, didn’t I?” the Chief said with a wry smile that said, “This child is a troublemaker.”

Even so, the Chief has a good sitting posture and still shows no sign of slowing down from age.

“It’s so amazing here!” Ratio said as she excitedly sits down next to the Chief. “There’s a beauty salon, a nail salon, an aesthetic salon, and a coffee shop all in the school!”

“Fufu, is that so?” the Chief said, smiling as she pampers Ratio.

If you look at them listening to their days while the Chief combed Ratio’s hair, it seemed just like grandmother and granddaughter.

“Ah, I’m so hungry,” one more person said as she appeared in the living room. “Is it time to eat? Wait, Ratio, you’re back.”

“I’m back, Rivera,” Ratio said.

This girl was Rivera. She was a young girl about Ratio’s age and a good friend of hers.

“Isn’t it alright if you go to school too, Rivera?” Ratio asked.

“I don’t want to,” Rivera said. “It’s too much trouble now, it’s so much work already just to take care of the horse in the stable.”

“Huh?” Ratio asked.

“More importantly than that, here,” Rivera said, throwing headphones at Ratio.

Ratio’s face lights up as she dexterously catches them. “Did Wis wake up?!” she cried.

“Yeah, she’s been calling you for a while now. Gah, she’s been so annoying and I can’t stand it anymore,” Rivera said.

Still, she’s smiling.

Ratio immediately put on the headphones and called out to her sister.

“Wis, I’m home,” Ratio said.

[BIIIIGGG SIIIIISSSSSSS!] Wis wails.

“Shut up!” the Chief yells.

On speaker mode, Wis’s wailing echoes in the living room.

[Big Sis, Big Sis, Big Sis, Big Sis! BIIIIGGGG SIIIISSSSS!] Wis cries again.

“Ahaha, Wis, calm down,” Ratio said.

[How do you think I can be calm?! I couldn’t talk to you for two days, Big Sis! I’ve run out of Big-Sister-ium! I want to hurry up and overdose on it!] Wis said.

“Mm,” Ratio said.

[Now then, Big sis! Hurry over to Wis! Or Wis will come to you!]

“Stop that!” the Chief yells at their, or rather, Wis’s rampage. “First of all, Ratio is taking a bath. Then we have dinner together. If she has any assignments, finish them first then you can talk. And don’t stay up too late.”

“Mm, understood,” Ratio said.

[Huuuh, Granny, you’re sooo mean!] Wis complained. “Wis needs a big dose of Big-Sister-ium.”

“How the hell do you even get ‘Big-Sister-ium?” the Chief asked.

[It’s from flirting with Big Sis!] Wis replied.

“Then you can just chat in the bath. Don’t get overdo it, okay?” the Chief said.

“Alright,” Ratio said.

[Hehehehehe, Big Sis in the bath. Do we have surveillance cameras? I gotta save this,] Wis said.

“There will be no such things!” the Chief cried.

[Huh?!] Wis cried.

“Stop saying ridiculous things and just get on with it,” the Chief muttered.

Only the dry tapping on a holo-keyboard resounds in the quiet room.

White wallpaper, built-in bed, desk, and bookshelf. The private bedroom in the dormitory is almost untouched and barely looks lived in.

The only thing the occupant brought in is a carrying case against the wall and an old-fashioned photo frame on the desk.

The occupant is emotionless as she keeps tapping on the holo-keyboard, and when she finally finished her work, she turned off the display and leaned back on her chair.

According to ergonomics, the chair will automatically change its hardness and position so that she could relax, it would always gently support her small body.

“Haa…”

Regina Glawis exhales deeply as if trying to expel what had been building up inside her.

Where was her sharpness during the day? As she stares blankly at the light, her whole body feels weak.

“Tired……”

The words leak out of her mouth and melt into the quiet room.

When she closes her eyes, what comes to her mind is the face of a violent woman who looks down on and despises her―Iniuria.

Both Regina and Iniuria are students sponsored by a company, what the school called the “Corporate Group”, but they belong to different factions.

Most of the students in the Corporate Group are struggling to be recognized by the companies within their factions—to become dedicated unit pilots.

However, Iniuria challenges her rival faction’s representative, Regina, with open hostility.

“… Such a nuisance.”

Her motivation is simple once you know it.

If Inuiria beats Regina, the best student in their grade, she can prove that she’s the strongest among them.

The school database lets you view your current grades, and Regina’s overall evaluation is A+. As well as classroom lectures, simulator records have also been highly evaluated.

On the other hand, Iniuria received a comprehensive evaluation of C. Her piloting skills are average, but her fighting style is messy, and her handling of everything is so sloppy. In addition, she skips classroom lectures and does whatever she pleases with her underling students, known as the Stulti.

If you ask why these delinquents have yet to be expelled, it’s because of the interference of the corporation that funds them.

Even though it’s a military school, its administration can’t perform decisive actions by itself because of the influence of the companies that invest in its operations.

However, it doesn’t mean that the Corporate Group holds the reins.

Even though they are recommended by companies, the students are disposable and can be replaced. They’re just tools to demonstrate the usefulness of their company’s products.

So it doesn’t matter if Iniuria and her minions do what they want.

“… Aaah, I want to kill her.”

The stress is building up.

Better yet, she wants to crush her in a Stella Corpus.

But it can’t be done.

To begin with, the Stellar Corpus cannot be piloted for personal grudges.

The machines are strictly managed by the school staff, and it can only be operated in the training ground and the surrounding space. Furthermore, restrictions are built into the control system, and all machines can be remotely accessed in the training ground’s control room.

If a Stella Corpus goes out of control during training or is used in a personal grudge, the control room operators can forcibly stop the rampaging machine immediately.

Also, even if they rampage on foot, it’s a military school. With strong teachers and troops to maintain public order, they would be quickly subdued.

They would love to shout, “Subdue Iniuria and her lackeys.” but the corporate backers get in the way.

“Ah, gah…” Regina huffed. “I wish I should have just let her try to kill me anyway.”

She’s reminded of today’s lunch.

She was so stressed she couldn’t calmly handle the situation, that’s what she tells herself. However, she has a limit to ignoring those who look down on her.

She took the offered fight.

She was was fortunate that her body reacted to her aggressor’s serious blow.

Regina is small compared to her peers. She is considered weak by most people because of her appearance.

She hates being mocked the most.

That’s why she drilled herself for classroom lectures, piloting techniques, and even martial arts, even if she ended up vomiting blood.

It was a pleasure for her that the results of her training were able to be demonstrated in her fight with Iniuria.

However, if it was possible, she wanted to slap away that fist and kick her in her ugly face.

“… Ratio Winkrum. You’ve gotten in my way…”

And then the transfer student interfered.

She’s a girl who wears glasses, which is rare these days.

Good posture. As if she had already been training to be a pilot, her body is supple. She doesn’t know much about her classroom ability yet but she must have some ability after passing the transfer exam.

However, she is also part of the Corporate Group.

When Regina looked it up, she was related to a group of up-and-coming engineers. Ratio is the only student who came to Schola Sanctus with their backing.

And she’s the only one who’s entered the school with a dedicated unit.

It’s a privilege that even Regina doesn’t have.

She clicks her tongue once.

“But she moved beautifully.”

She lifts herself and rests her chin on her desk.

When Iniuria attacked Regina, Ratio stepped in and stuck a knife to Iniuria’s throat, even if it was a table knife.

Anyway, if you could slit someone’s throat with that, she would have praised her without question.

“What a strange girl.”

Regina jumped off her chair and walked to the bathroom to freshen up.

Punch.

Punch. Punch.

Punch with all her might.

A gloved fist drives into the punching bag.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! FUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK….!”

A powerful straight rocks the punching bag.

Still, the anger that burns within her cannot be subdued.

“Haa… haa…”

Sitting on the floor covered in sweat is Iniuria, the tall, brown-haired student.

This is a dedicated training facility owned by the company she belongs to. Everyone else sponsored by them can use it, but right now Inuiria is the only one.

“Fuck you,” she swears as she bangs her fist against her head and grits her teeth.

What comes to her mind is the incident in the dining hall.

She saw Regina, the girl she most dislikes now, talking to the rumored transfer student, and when Iniuria lightly teased her, Regina arrogantly rebuffed her.

For someone with uncontrollable violent urges, Iniuria immediately snapped and raised her fist to strike.

There was no hesitation.

Just driven by an impulse, she was about to smash that hateful face in—and then she was stopped.

The culprit is that transfer student.

She had a knife pointed at her throat.

“…!”

There was no problem if it was just tableware. Even though it’s a knife, Iniuria’s skin is hardened by her training and it would have only caused minor injuries.

But she stopped as she saw the eyes of the transfer student, Ratio.

Ratio’s eyes were black.

If it was the dining room that always took in plenty of sunlight, those eyes should have been sparkling.

However, the eyes she saw then black like the void of space above.

Iniuria only saw it for a few seconds.

Despite this, the fearless Iniuria felt a mysterious, eerie feeling and found herself stepping far back from Ratio.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH….!”

She jumps back up and punches the bag again, punch, punch, punch.

Those black eyes flicker in her mind.

Those hideous black eyes that seem to suck you in, they’re burned in Iniuria’s mind.

“Gah…!”

Not anger. Not hatred.

She knows the name of that feeling. But she turns away.

Because Iniuria threw it away because she thought it was the most unnecessary thing in the world. Because it’s no longer inside her.

Because she will never feel that emotion toward the weaklings she looks down upon.

“Guh… kaha,” Iniuira huffs.

No matter how much you train, the limit will come.

She continues to move her body as her impulses lead her, and finally, she collapses into a heap.

Her lungs burn. She hears a high-pitched noise with every breath. She feels tired all over. All of them annoy her. The annoyance does not disappear and continues to smolder.

“I won’t forgive you… Regina, Transfer Student. I’ll kill you no matter what! I’ll kill you whatever it takes!”

She stares at the brightly lit ceiling.

Her eyes were burning with even brighter flames of hatred.