[ZeroXSEED]

“Anyway, have you though about what to do until the Class Representative Match?” Since she’s not going to participate, she’s going to support him at any rate. Not that she doubt his ability, but she wanted to make sure.

“I’m going to modify my I.S. as soon as the new packet is delivered”

“Ehh?? So soon?” Normally, it took several months for a new equipment to be delivered. Creation of such equipment need a lot of data gained form prototype testing.

“My unit is not complete yet by the time I arrived here. It should be ready by next week but I request it to be delivered ASAP disregarding completion state, assuming my request will be granted, there will be a lot of testing required so I guess that’s my current plan”

“Hmm, isn’t that a little too optimistic? We pilot normally has no such privileges”

“Our engineering staffs are very quirky, though it might be because they always push themselves too hard; we’re given a high degree of independence as long as it met the stated deadline and budget by the top brass. The reason of why I request it to be delivered is to give them some time to catch a break”

“Ah, I see… I really envy you” she took a sip of her drink before continue “My government is very strict about everything, it bothered me greatly”

“Well, that’s the very reason Switzerland choose not to join the Ignition Plan” he smiled “The deadline and requirement is beyond our capability”

O-ho, is that the truth? Cecilia knew that Switzerland IS the most paranoid country in Europe, especially after the skirmish and coup d’etat that happened in German about one year ago. Switzerland also never had been a part of European Union to begin with, while ALL of its neighboring countries are a member.

Their vulnerability probably the actual reason of why they rushed their I.S. development program. Hit or miss, giving the engineers near absolute independence will result in either magnificent success or complete failure.

England actually failed in the previous generation; hence they took safe approach this time, hence Cecilia’s inflexibility. She’s struck with whatever her superior had thrown at her, good or bad. That includes her job and the I.S. she’s using.

Putting that aside, she delivered a soft smile; the awkward tension has all but disappeared.

“That’s quite a big bull you have Rito” Saruyama meddled and quickly took a seat one space away from both of them, forming a perfect triangle around the table.

“Use some courtesy, Saruyama” Rito pointed his fork, agitated, his fellow male student just grins in response “Hi there, gorgeous”

Cecilia is truly creped out and quickly covers her breast, he’s even drooling!

“Hey Sairenji, Sarashiki, why don’t you join us?”

“D-don’t, hey!” Rito wailed as Haruna and other girl approached “M-morning” he and Haruna said harmoniously, before both of them went silent in embarrassment.

“I never said you could call me by name” the other girl stared at Saruyama with her blood red eyes.

“Don’t be so picky, please take a seat there” Saruyama winked, precisely aimed so Haruna sat aside Rito “Saruyama you bastard, you done it on purpose don’t you?”.

Saruyama's erratic breath doesn't help to hide the fact that he just want to spend time with pretty girls as much as possible even if he's not perving around.

Taking the chance instead of being prissy, Cecilia also took the one in his left side. Now Rito can’t run from the close proximity, which would be too offensive.

“Uh, anyway what do you mean with Reed-san, Saruyama…kun?”

“We male pilot often has to use off the shelf parts to make out unit” Saruyama’s face suddenly turned serious “Our combat doctrine is way too different, large amount of input is frowned due to our limited compatibility and thus we’re often not qualified for experimental technology”

It's a well known fact that male pilot largely have very low sync rate, hovering around D region, and is the very minimal level. With sufficient training, they could raise it to C, but that will take time.

Sync ratio determines how much data the I.S. can send directly to the pilot's brain and vice versa, meaning they affect the effectiveness of I.S. operation. Operating I.S. at D rating condition means only half the amount of necessary data will be transferred directly, the rest will come as visual, sound and even touch,

“In exchange of given a near perfect independence in designing and testing our unit, we have severely restricted budget and more often than not use recycled fames and parts. The only exception was Image interface System, each of us has it” Rito added, finished his first bowl of rice before taking another “So I never lied when I said our staffs are quirky”

“For example” Rito partially unleashed his armored arm, covered with a medium sized shield with the 80 cm sword unfolded “The blade was produced by Jade Metal Lyman of Australia, and the shield plating is made by Dunois of France”

Now that Cecilia got a better view of it, on the sword was a corporation name, on the shield is an emblem. Those are engraved on the parts directly.

“The boosters are made by parts bought from Kirishima industries” Saruyama slap his friend’s back, “They seems to be unfit for your requirement though, by the way, We haven’t introduce ourselves properly are we? Let me start, I’m Kenneth Saruyama, I’m currently being a test pilot affiliated with Singapore”

“R-reed Yuuki, Cadet Rep and Test Pilot of Switzerland”

“Ah… Haruna Sairenji, Cadet Rep and Test pilot of Canada”

“…”

“What’s wrong, Kanzashi-san?” Haruna asked questioningly, and greatly concerned. The quiet girl simply replied in flat-noted murmur “Kanzashi Sarashiki, Cadet Representative of Japan”

“Ahem, I am Cecilia Alcott, Cadet Representative of England, currently also being the test pilot of Blue Tears” Cecilia finalized with certain confidence.

Saruyama is truly smooth operator.