Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 29

Akko didn’t get her chance to practice. Hannah was slightly worried about this fact, because it seemed that when the idiot had finally gotten an actually good idea, the universe had conspired to make her unable to carry it out. It had rained for two days straight and now, as the sun was setting over Machina’s horizon – a beautifully blue sunset - it was too late. Hannah and Diana were right now in a small scenario created for the sole purpose of showing off the Second Category teams.

Diana seemed nervous, but not that much. She had talked a lot with different cyborgs the past two days, and that had helped her keep her mind off the race which she wasn’t getting any practice for. And, when she wasn’t talking to cyborgs, she talked with Hannah and Barbara, explaining things about their society. About how their priests wore very thick cloaks, because their sacred duty was to spread the warmth of the sun but not enjoy it themselves, or about how most of their society learned the basics of mechanic to learn to take care of their own limbs at least for basic maintenance. She had gone on and on about how they hadn’t actually developed a writing system until very later in their society, using instead their apparently incredible memories for most things. She had explained that the metal sphere back in their room was made partly of tantalum, which was a metal that was strangely compatible with them – and humans too – and that it worked by literally synchronizing its vibration to the ones in the being inside it. Hannah had only understood half of all of the things she had explained, and she hadn’t cared about the other half. For example: The forest of fruits or whatever it was had never held any kind of fruits in it, so its name was still a mystery, which was such an interesting fact that Hannah had to thank her, lest she not be able to sleep later.

Now, however, when facing reality, Diana held her arms crossed and rhythmically tapped her finger against her arm, something she didn’t do often.

Hannah wasn’t nearly as nervous as she should’ve, given the fact that she had barely gotten any kind of practice. It was futile trying to attack the Shiny Rod, and while she did attack it from time to time to make sure her aiming wasn’t bad, the waste in energy was something to really keep in mind. If she was right, then the Shooting Star used up about one fourth of its fuel while doing the lap in a normal speed and without shooting. If one added shooting it would probably go up to a half. Hannah suddenly realized why all those pilots from the past were so sparing in their attacks and bursts. When she saw an opening where a pilot might have been able to gain an advantage or a gunman a good shot, they didn’t see it that way. The shooting star was really efficient in its usage of fuel. Brooms from the past… Well, ‘might be able’ to gain an advantage or ‘good shot’ weren’t good enough. They had to be certain what they were doing would put them at an advantage. Hannah found a new sense of respect towards those pilots.

In the little scenario stood every team. They weren’t cramped but there wasn’t much room to move either. To her left, Hannah saw the white daemon, Deep Darkness, and if she had heard right when they were presented, his gunman was called Jester. To her right, two massive cyborgs, one male and one rather androgynous female, the two of them blocking the view of the rest of the pilots.

The spectators suddenly started to cheer, a massive roar of a dozen different languages, so loud that Hannah considered buying earplugs to avoid ending up deaf. The scenario wasn’t facing them, though. It was facing the other way, towards the racing track, which kind of made Hannah wonder why they needed the scenario in the first place.

Diana stopped tapping her finger. Hannah knew her enough to understand that meant she was now nervous enough to realize she was, and had consciously inhibited any show of emotion. Because this was Diana, after all.