DOWL Masters

Chapter 1

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The Scene of A Certain Usual Day

The curve of a man made ground. A one hundred meter tall ceiling that displayed a fake sky. Towering walls made of Carbon metal (Carbon-nano tube composite steel) and resin concrete. This is a place that forces you to know that it was not made by mother-nature.

This place is a living quarter joined with a workshop of one of the ring-shaped artificial satellites, called ‘Island’, made and implemented by the Standford-Tuarus type s.p.a.ce colony called ‘Iwato Island’. Inside this Island´s characteristic double-layered ring, in a low gravity quarter which has half G gravity (Earth gravitational force is one G), stood two armored warriors, facing each other.

Both wore a replica of plate armor, an armor made of steel that covers the wearer from head to toe. Both had a practice weapon, a spear and a Glaive.

“I’m starting!”

Said the tall young man with a spear.

“Yes, please!”

Answered the short young boy with a Glaive.

They both started moving at the same time. The man with spear deflected the Glaive’s. .h.i.t with a smooth movement with his bladed tip then he pulled it back and struck with a piercing stab, in contrast with the boy who clumsily deflected his strike.

Their replica armor, although made with metal lighter than iron, was still heavy. And with tiny shield on both their shoulders, the armor overall weight would be about twenty kilograms under one G gravity. Their practice weapon which was made from light carbon resin was still, under one G gravity, weight about five kilograms. But even though the low gravity environment was made in order to lessen this load, it would seem the young man was still not use to wearing armor in battle.

The conclusion came too quickly. The boy unable to counter attack and having his stance destroyed, after ten attacks the man’s spear tip finally reached the boy’s neck armor.

“…It’s my lost”

After hearing that the man withdrew his spear from the boy’s neck. A girl, probably working as a referee, having seen the duel, raised her hand as she declared with an uninteresting voice.

“Winner, cadet Kisaragi.”

Then she unhappily glared at the boy who sigh deeply, after pushed up the smoke shield behind his helmet.

“That was really pathetic, Aoi. You’ve been here for a month, never mind the fact that you have yet to win, you can’t even last more than ten attacks. How can you call yourself my brother?”

And it would seem her tone of voice emphasized her unhappiness as well, not just her gaze.

“…You may said that but I am improving my skill as well, Nee-san . Is just that Ryoichi-san is way too strong.”

“Hmm… well, don’t worry I’ll avenge your lost for you.”

“Avenge? But we’re just having a simple mock battle…”

Having turned deft ear to her brother’s word. She turn, with a clank sound, to the young man.

“Ryoichi, can you be my opponent this time?”

“Alright.”

She was also wearing the same armor like the two. Having her tied vibrant vermilion hair hang down behind, she put on her helmet, pulled down her helmet’s smoke shield then turned to Kisaragi Ryoichi.

“Akari, are you ok using that as a weapon?”

Seeing Akari readied her Jumonji cross blade spear, one of the tradition weapon that is considered hard to handle, Ryoichi asked her.

“It’s fine. As long as it’s still the same type of weapon, I can master them, you’ll see.”

Akari answer with a daring smile while shaking her head.

“I see. That means I don’t have to hold back.”

“Naturally, let’s go!”

“Ou!”

And without any signal, their mock battle began.

“Uwaa!”

Having taken up the job of a de facto referee, Aoi dodging the two swinging weapons he awkwardly fell on his back side. Thanks to being under low gravity he suffered no broken bones, but that doesn’t mean he would felt no pain. Seeing the clashing of two spear going faster and faster, cursing quietly in his heart and was about to get up, he heard voice coming from above.

“Are you alright, Aoi-kun?”

Sweet flower smells carried by a gentle breeze like voice. The first thing that Aoi saw after turning his head around was a two meters tall wired control humanoid robot, Marionette Dowl (nicknamed Marion) and on its right shoulder, skillfully balanced, sat a small girl.

“Reine-san”

Aoi hurriedly stood up. The girl he called ‘Reine’ removed her helmet, showing the face under the visor that has covered down to under her eyes. Long eyelashes, Hazy big eyes that gave of an image of a fairy, a delicate and transient face.

The girl, with her helmet in hands, lightly jumped down from the Marion shoulder, a very soft movement even in a low gravity environment, Aoi thought that movement befits her very much. She wore a long jacket made from thin material, its hem flutter as she descends. Even though he knows that under it she wore a short pants, it still made his heart skipped a beat.

Her shoulder length hair black hair swayed gently as she collected herself. Then, without hesitating, Reine walked up to Aoi, whose heart beat was in disarray as their distance shorten. Reine, who has a pet.i.te body, only five centimeters shorter than Aoi, look at the standing stock still Aoi with worrying eyes.

“You are not wounded, are you?”

Unable to stand her upturned gaze, Aoi awkwardly averted his.

“I’m fine. Sorry for worrying you.”

Answered Aoi, his eyes still averted.

Reine giggled as if she had found something funny.

“You don’t have to apologize. I got worry on my own anyway.”

“Ah. Yes, I’m sorry”

“There you go apologizing again. You don’t have to be so formal.”

Seeing the giggle Reina, Aoi once again, for more time than he could count, felt that her likeness of fairy was not limited to appearance alone. The words Reina uttered were in no way moody or unreasonable, most of themwere sensible. But she gave off a hard to grasp atmosphere. Maybe because she was a special ‘ExA’.

“By the way… Is it ok if we leave that alone?”

Having looked to the direction Reine were pointing, Aoi finally remembered the duty he must accomplish.

“Nee-san! Ryoichi-san! What are you guys doing?!”

The subject of this training was to use weapon in a mock battle and to let your muscle get use to moving while wearing armor. But both Ryoichi and Akari has since let go of their weapon and start wrestling while rolling around on the artificial lawn.

For a women, Akari was considered to be on the bigger side, still she was twenty centimeters shorter than Ryoichi. Normally there would be no ways she could win in a grapple contest, but her body that got use to fighting, shown no hesitation whatsoever in close quarter combat.

“Come on, both of you. Get away from each other!”

Aoi somehow managed to get between both of them, but he ended up getting elbowed and kicked away in the end. He took no damage owning to the fact that he was still in his armor, but he would not accomplish anything by trying to hold off one of them. As Aoi prepared himself to use the last resort, calling an instructor, a pair of clumsy robot arm stretched to the fighting two from the side.

“Akari-san, don’t you see that Aoi-kun is being troubled? You too Ryoichi-san, do you feel nothing about wrestling with a girl?”

Helmet wearing Reine pleasantly smiled at the hanging upside down Akane and Ryoichi, while perhaps bothered by the fact that there were cables stretching from the back part of her head, she played with her hair. The other end of the cable was connected to the nap of the Marion that has, in each its hands, ankles of two hanging upside down people. Which implied that this was Reina’s doing.

“Really, you two. What were you guys doing?”

Reine reached her hands the both Akari and Ryoichi’s helmet and, without any resistance from the two, their helmet opened up, exposing the faces hidden under them.

Exposed to Reina’s direct gaze without the protection from their smoke shield, Akari averted her eyes, while Ryoichi desperately forcing a dandy smile.

“Well, to be able to have the Marion perform a completely different movement from her own. Reina is really something.”

The answer he gave has nothing to do with Reina’s question. No matter how he tried to change the subject, the fact that they were being hang upside down would not change. Even though they are zero point five G, blood was surely starting to pool in their head. Facing the upside down smiling face of Reina, Ryoichi was the first to raise his white flag.

“…it’s my bad. I’ll apologize for getting to excited so can you please let me down? It’s true that the gravity is lower here but being in this posture while wearing armor sure is painful.”

“Sorry, Reine. Now that I’ve apologize can you stop this already? I feel like having a nosebleed.”

Following Ryoichi, Akari also apologized. Feeling satisfied, Reine operated her Marion to quickly let go of its hands. Even though falling upside down, none of them suffered the unsightly fate of having their heads. .h.i.t the ground. Both Akari and Ryoichi struck their hands at the ground and rolled up, taking no damage.

“I think you should come up with some excuse for the instructor than apologizing to me though.”

Having damaged the two with her speech, Rein turns to Aoi. Smiling as if nothing has happened she, without noticing or rather, pretend not to notice, that Aoi was still a bit terrified, started a conversation with him.

“Why don’t Aoi-kun come practice with me? I think you are more suit to MITU more than NITU.”

“But I’m…”

Seeing the hesitated Aoi, Akari puffed out her cheeks.

“If you think is better to train with Reine then have it your way!”

Looking back and forth between the mysteriously smiling Reine and the turned away Akari, Aoi tongue was (mentally) numb.

“Being popular it’s hard, eh? Aoi.”

With expression as plain as day that he was holding his laughter, Ryoichi teasingly whispered to Aoi.

Aoi did not want to look up at the sky, knowing all he would see was but a limited camouflage sky. Of course, he knew that there was no way to worsen the situation that he was in.

And here I though everyone would be more uptight than this…

All he could do was to make idle complain in his own heart ―Enjoying the time when he could still make complain about such unimportant things.

Iwato high-cla.s.s training school, an educational inst.i.tute under direct controlled of the Solar System Development Organization army. This was a school where officer or cadet from the age of fifteen to twenty four were taught not only in military affairs but the knowledge and skill of modern citizen as well. The education here maybe a bit behind the era due to the fact that outdated generic terminal is still in use here, but there is a lot of helpful old people here so it is obvious that you would be obtaining all kind of knowledge. For Aoi whose since childhood has an idea that in order to survive one must steal skills from those who truly worked on the field, this place was a dream-like environment. No, for the pa.s.s two month this place has been more than just a dream.

Two months back ― 31/7/2417 C.E. Everything started after that battle. At that time only one beside Aoi was his sister, Akari. Ryoichi was an enemy. Reine was a stranger who lived in a different world.

“Cadets, a.s.semble!”

As he thinks about the pa.s.s two month, the instructor command brought him back, to the painful and busy but also happy ‘present’.

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