Ace

Four

"You'll definitely love Saunders, I'm sure of that!" Kay assured Louise as the both of them left the dorm room, the blonde-haired commander shutting and locking the door behind her. "You haven't seen anything yet! Have you ever seen a schoolship before?"

"I've heard of them, but I've never even seen one before, not even in pictures" the young Tuckerman replied honestly, albeit sheepishly. "I know they're a Japanese exclusive and are massive, but I've never looked them up or seen them on TV."

Kay grinned as they walked down the corridor. "That makes it even better! You'll not believe your eyes when you look at one for the first time, and Saunders is the largest schoolship in the world!"

"Ooh, really?"

"Yes! I'm not gonna spoil it for you, Lou, just see it for yourself!"

The young Tuckerman nodded, smiling. She had known Kay for only a few days, but the natural charisma and personality of the Saunders commander was certainly highly effective.

She's great!

"Oh," Kay continued, suddenly remembering something, "don't worry about the logistics. We'll be able to get all of those done when we get back! Your uniforms' sizes are already in stock, the final registration paperwork will be done on board and whatever I've not listed the headmaster will definitely deal with em all in a jiffy!"

"That's great! Must be a surprise and a bit of a hassle to them getting a student overseas at such short notice, though."

"Oh, it happens from time to time, we've got procedures that make stuff like this easy!" the Saunders commander reassured. "Saunders had received new students from abroad many times before, and they've all been settled in just as quickly as you! Hell, I think there's a new one this year that's in the team too! How they achieve all of that I've got no idea though, but hey, I'm just a sensha-do commander, just let it flow as long as it works!"

"Mmh!" Lou nodded.

"(Hi), commander!" a Saunders girl called out as she walked past. "Oh, hey there new girl!"

"(Hey!)" "(Hello~)"

The Saunders girl waved back at the two as she walked away.

"Oh, right! Judging from your age and education level here, you're going to be in Year 1! You're going to be our junior!" Kay grinned, rubbing the young Tuckerman on her head.

"Ehehe, I see," Lou replied sheepishly, not used to this amount of attention.

Shy... Kay thought to herself. We'll fix that soon enough.

"Wait, so what year are you?"

"Ah, (I'm Year Three!)" Kay replied proudly. "I'd be heading off for college next year, so I'll only be with you for a few more months."

"Aw..."

"Don't worry, we'll probably fight sometime together before I go! Besides, when I do, I'll always be watching you!" the Saunders commander assured with a smile. "Pity that I won't directly be there, but hey, you've still got Alisa and Naomi there, so I'm not worried! Both of them are Year 2!"

"That's great! Wait, Alisa too? I thought she'd be younger than you guys."

"Oh, no, she's just smaller than us!"

"That means this makes me a junior to all of you!" the young Tuckerman smiled.

"Yep, and we'll all look out for you!" the Saunders commander grinned. "Now, let's bring you to the garage and see how your new team operates, alright? You haven't been in a sensha-do team before, so we won't go hard on you, if we're even hard in the first place."