The Villainess Takes the Cockpit

The simulator's operating hum fell silent, and the hatch slowly released. Having finished the white-hot mock battle, Letaria stepped out of the simulator pod.

At the same moment, Priscilla emerged from the pod right beside hers.

"That was an extremely worthwhile match. Thank you, Miss Letaria."

Priscilla wore a gentle smile and extended her right hand smoothly toward Letaria.

"Likewise -- it was a splendid battle, Miss Priscilla!"

Letaria, sweat glistening on her brow, gripped the offered hand firmly in return.

"Ohhh--!" "We did it--!"

A wave of cheers and applause rose all at once from the Vigilante Corps members gathered in the observation seats and around the pods. Voices celebrating their comrades' victory mingled with voices praising the skill the homeland military's elites had shown.

"You were all genuinely strong. And here we are, supposedly a special-forces unit..."

Priscilla swept her gaze around as if honoring everyone's efforts, looking toward Letaria, Grain, Ethan, and then Merry.

Maybe she'd dragged the team down, going out so early -- that seemed to be on Merry's mind, judging by the wry, awkward smile she wore, shrinking in on herself. Ranses spoke up to her.

"You've got good skill. You wrecked my weapon, after all. It's just that your suppression-style sniping and my full-support style happened to be a bad matchup."

"Eh... o-oh, thank you...!"

At Ranses's words, Merry let a bashful smile slip out.

Amid that warm mood, Adelina leaned in toward Priscilla with a slightly teasing smile.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you scream, Priscilla~! Turns out you make a surprisingly cute sound, huh?"

Adelina grinned mischievously -- hehe -- and Priscilla answered without ever letting her broad smile drop.

Priscilla laughed softly. "...Ah, a topic has suddenly come to mind that I would love to discuss with Sergeant Adelina, 'in private.'"

"--?!"

Noticing that Priscilla's eyes weren't smiling at all, Adelina's own smile froze in an instant.

Letaria laughed softly. "I confess I was thinking something rather similar myself."

Letaria smiled as if backing her up, Adelina nodded, and this time it was Priscilla who colored slightly at the cheeks and looked away.

◆

With the tension dissolved, the Vigilante Corps and the special-forces unit spent a while happily trading impressions of tactics and machines in the simulator room.

"My Makina should have had the highest specs among all of us here, and yet I don't understand how you cornered me that badly."

Adelina walked up to Ethan and asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

Adelina's specialized Radure was, by anyone's judgment, an off-the-charts, ultra-high-performance machine. Against it, Ethan's Rude Custom was, no matter how much it had been modified, still originally a general-purpose machine at its core. Set against a homeland-military ace machine, the spec gap was overwhelming.

"Ah, well... I suppose it just comes down to experience."

Ethan scratched his head, looking a little troubled. Ranses, watching the scene from a short distance away, suddenly seemed to hit on something and spoke up.

"...Could it be you're 'Sergeant Major Ethan Broe'?"

The instant that name came up, Ethan gave an uncomfortable, wry smile. Ranses took that as confirmation enough and nodded, deeply satisfied.

"I see, I see... I'd heard rumors about you from your time in the military. That you were one of the training-corps instructors."

At Ranses's words, not just Adelina but Priscilla too widened her eyes in surprise.

"So that's how it was...! No wonder someone like me got overwhelmed! I absolutely will not lose next time -- I strongly request a rematch!"

"Ha ha... go easy on me. Some other time, sure."

At Adelina's fired-up declaration, Ethan laughed it off with a look that said he'd been caught out.

Off to the side of that exchange, Priscilla's gaze happened to drift toward Milea.

"...Captain Grain's machine -- is that a Syn-Fibra prototype?"

At the sharp observation, Milea wore a wry smile.

"Yes, that's... right. Though it's still at the classified stage..."

Sensing from Milea's delicate expression that her position wouldn't allow her to say any more than that, Priscilla nodded.

"Combined with Captain Grain's exceptional piloting skill, it demonstrated remarkably high combat capability. The homeland's development division can't afford to rest easy over this one."

"It helps to hear you say so, but... I was the one who ended up taken down, after all."

Grain said this with a shrug, and Letaria cut in immediately from beside him.

"Indeed! As leader of the Vigilante Corps, you simply must win decisively next time!"

"Yes, yes, I'll do my best."

Grain brushed off Letaria's scolding lightly.

"No, that match was truly a close-run thing. If Mr. Grain's machine had been running its full, properly intended output data, I'm certain I would have lost."

Priscilla said this not out of modesty, but as her genuine belief. Then she turned to face Letaria.

"Arden, too, was a wonderful machine. To defeat Lieutenant Ranses and even overcome me... Miss Letaria, you truly are a magnificent pilot."

Faced with such straightforward praise, Letaria thrust out her chest with pride, even as her cheeks flushed a little with embarrassment.

Letaria laughed softly. "I am deeply honored by your praise! Though I shall tell you now -- our true strength does not end here."

Warm applause, honoring everyone's hard-fought efforts, rang out once more through the simulator room, and the mock battle came to a bright, cheerful close.