3rd POV
Winter break at the academy wasn't entirely a break.
While most training schedules were relaxed, a different kind of structure took over. Students from the second year—soon to become the next third-years—were scheduled for short advisory sessions.
Not interrogations.
Not recruitment.
Just... "career counseling."
At least on paper.
The advisors came from multiple places.
Academy counselors.
Defense attachés from several countries.
Corporate representatives.
Former IS pilots now working in logistics or policy roles.
The rooms were warm, comfortable, deliberately non-threatening.
And the same question came up again and again.
"So beyond combat, what do you think you can explore?"
Some students answered quickly.
"Engineering," one said.
"Command structures," another replied confidently.
"Training and instructor roles."
Some were uncertain.
"I'm still thinking about it."
Others had very clear ambitions—military deployment, government contracts, corporate development programs.
Each response was logged quietly.
Not judged.
But definitely remembered.
Two students, however, were notably absent from the standard rotation.
Rei Kuroshima.
Yap Haruto.
No one said anything about it openly.
But a few of the counselors noticed.
Rei spent most of the break far from the academy.
At a quiet conference room within Arclights Industries headquarters.
Her father, Hiroshi Kuroshima, sat at the head of the table while several senior engineers and executives presented reports.
Prototype energy cores.
Shield distribution architecture.
Next-generation synchronization interfaces.
Rei listened more than she spoke.
That alone told the room something.
At the end of one meeting, Hiroshi slid a thin envelope across the table toward her.
She looked down at it.
"Future R&D initiative," he said evenly. "Internal project designation only. For now."
Rei opened it.
Inside were preliminary outlines—research tracks Arclights intended to pursue in the coming years.
Not product marketing.
Not corporate expansion.
Fundamental IS system evolution.
Her eyes scanned the technical headings.
Adaptive neural interface modeling.
Pilot stress-threshold stabilization.
YOU ARE READING
A Vengeful Retribution
Fiksi Penggemar(OC X Infinite Stratos) I guess you know where this is going. 2nd Male IS Pilot thing. Meet Yap. Growing up in South East Asia wasn't easy for a young boi like him. Compared to kids in other countries, he has seen what a kid doesn't; Bloodshed, assa...
