The Story of an Ace Pilot Who Is the Only Man in an Alien Army Where Chastity Has Been Reversed

Reason behind his Strength
“How was it? The [Caliburn-Revive].”

“It felt pretty good. But I prefer the maneuvering system to be more subtle.”

It’s been about 30 minutes since the mock battle with Saki and Schleer concluded. Currently, Kisei is giving his impressions of the [Caliburn-Revive] to the mechanics at the hangar.

“That’s surprising. Our Aces usually prefer that we optimize the striker to perform at peak capacity though.”

“It’s a little too sensitive for me and I think it would be difficult to handle outside of combat. Even inside combat, I don’t think I will have time to adjust for the minimal differences too.”

“Is that the case? Well, I will adjust it for you.”

“Thank you.”

When Kisei was thanking the mechanic, someone tapped on his shoulder from behind. When he turned around, he found Saki with a towel on her shoulder standing there with a dissatisfied expression.

“Oi…..are you free after this?”

“Probably.”

After looking around, Kise replied. He was sweeping his eyes around for Schleer but she’s nowhere to be found. She probably went off to have a meeting with her staff again. Since she’s a princess, she should be quite busy after all.

“Do you have some kind of business with me?”

“No, Uhh…..Uuum.”

As her reply became vague, Saki turned away from him with her face dyed red.

“…..I’m a little hungry. Can you guide me to a food vendor here?”

“Tsk, can’t be helped then. Follow me.”

Contrary to her words, Saki’s expression as she replied was a bright one.

“Man, I’m full. As I thought, Nissin’s miso ramen really is the best.”

After a short while, they find themselves inside a break room for pilots. Kisei and Saki were sitting facing each other at a small table there. Both of them have already taken off their pilot suits and currently, Saki is wearing her Calencian military uniform while Kisei is in his usual flight jacket.

An empty styrofoam cup is placed in front of Kisei. It was the cup noodle that he bought from a vendor here.

“……that thing, you like it?”

“I like cup noodles in general you know. Even if you are clumsy in the kitchen like me, you can make a delicious meal if you follow the instructions. This thing is a victory of civilization.”
“Hmmm.”

In front of Saki, there’s a big messy pile of vinyl wrapping from the various kinds of bread she was eating. Considering that they are only having a light meal here, the amount is quite a lot.

“So, what do you want? You have something you want to ask me right?”

“Well, it’s not really a big deal though.”

Saki looks away as she crumples the pile of messy wrapping with her fingers.

“It’s just…..a little hard for me to ask.”

“Ok.”

After staying silent for a while, Saki finally continues.

“You, how are you so strong?”

With a short pause, she continues her question as though she finally made up her mind to ask.

“It’s a little…..no, it’s pretty weird. I mean, I met a lot of strong guys on the battlefield but, you are just on a different level.”

Too overwhelming. Too out of standard. Saki did hear about how he defeated a Nored’s Zenith using a modified training striker. However, she thought that was just some nonsense. Now, she knows full-well of Kisei’s prowess so she has no choice but to recognize his strength.

“I mean…..don’t get angry, okay? I did feel like I was cheating too. Well, to put it simply, it was like a game of rock-paper-scissor for me.”

Hearing that, Saki doubtfully stared at Kisei.

“What, why are you saying it like you cheated. I’m not the kind of woman that would unfairly accuse you of cheating after I lost alright. Still……”

“No, your feeling is not necessarily wrong you know.”

“Eh.”

Perhaps finding that unexpected, Saki stared intensely at Kisei. In response, Kisei grins and lightly fidgets his fingers.

“In rock-paper-scissors, if you know what your opponent is going to play, your victory is practically guaranteed right?”

“Well, yeah.”

But if it could be done then she wouldn’t have a hard time thinking about it like this. That is what her face is saying right now.

“What? You are going to say that you are an esper now?”

“No, no. I’m talking about the I-con system. Your striker also has one right, Makishima-san.”
(Reminder: the I-con system here is a Bidirectional Brain-Machine Interface)

The I-con system is a standard control system that comes equipped on all strikers. It perceives the pilot’s brain waves, interprets them into commands, and sends them to the striker. Conversely, the feedback from the striker also transfers to the pilot’s brain. This technology made the complex task of precisely controlling humanoid weapons possible.

“That’s obvious right? What of it?”

“So, you know that the I-con system receives the thoughts from the pilot’s brain and sends them out as commands right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, if you can perceive the brain waves of other pilots, you would be able to tell what they are going to do next right.”

“Ha?”

Saki raised her eyebrows. She understands the theory behind it but the idea of pulling such a thing off is just too crazy. The I-con system is technically just a control device. There shouldn’t be such a function included in it.

“That’s strange isn’t it. If the I-con picks up the thoughts from your enemy then that should interfere with the control of the striker since it would be treated as a command right.”

“The deciding factor for the I-con system to interpret the brainwaves as a command or not is the strength of the brain waves. It doesn’t perceive the thoughts as commands from the start. You can read those thoughts no problem.”

“…..is that even possible?”

“It is. I’ve been doing it.”

At Kisei’s immediate affirmation, Saki folded her arms and frowned. She could take it as a joke but thinking back on Kisei’s movements in the earlier exercise, it certainly makes sense. There were a lot of times where she could only think that her movements had been completely seen through after all.

“……I see. So how do I do that too.”

“It’s not like moving your body so I can’t really explain it. Each person has differences when they synchronize with the I-con system after all.

Kisei’s answer was merciless.

However, he continued.

“But one thing I can advise you on would be to always keep your calm on the battlefield. If you do not have your composure with you, you won’t be able to perceive the weak brain waves after all.”

Saki has a bitter look on her face when she heard the word ‘Calm’.

“Ugh…..I’m the type that always gets heated up in battle. But you are the same right.”

“Getting heated up during battle is not a problem at all. You should stay as you are, Makishima-san.”

Kisei answers with a gentle voice. In fact, Kisei thought that the ability to feel the heat of battle is necessary for a pilot. The purpose of his yell and shout during battle was to bring his spirit up after all.
“The point is that you keep your soul hot while keeping your heart serene.”

“That’s a contradiction right.”

“I guess it is.”

Kisei smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, in the end, it’s something that I can’t explain with words. It relies on your sense after all.”

“I guess so.”

Saki sighs.

“Anyway, I understand how ridiculous of a pilot you are now. About what I said earlier…..well…..I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to that already.”

“I guess you are.”

Said Saki as she bitterly smiled at Kisei. It’s insane to think that there’s a man who is fighting on the battlefield as a striker pilot. Surely, a lot of people must have said the same thing to him many times already.

“But as I thought…….it’s not good for a man to be on the battlefield. I am certainly weaker than you but I still can’t just accept it.”

“You don’t like it after all?”

“Of course. If you get shot down and become a prisoner of war, your fate will be worse than death, you know.”

“Then it’s fine as long as I win. I’m the strongest after all. Don’t worry.”

Saki frowned at Kisei’s easy-going attitude and looked around. This break room is reserved for pilots so there aren’t many people around but Kisei is still the only man here. Kisei sticks out like a sore thumb in this place.

“There are times where you might get betrayed by your allies. No matter how good you are in a striker, if it comes down to physical strength, a man can still be easily knocked down alright.”

“Well….that’s true.”

Remembering how he got preyed on by a group of girls the other day, Kisei could only groan. The strength of average Vuld women surpasses that of even the strongest Terran men. Moreover, since Kisei is physically below average as a Terran male, he can not possibly resist such an advance.

“It’s a miracle that you’ve been safe until now, you do know that right.”

“I used to have a reliable manager after all……I left the firm after my last job though……”

“Are you serious?”

Saki said with her eyes narrowed. From her perspective, Kisei is too defenseless. He won’t survive alone in an army full of women.
“….tsk, can’t be helped then. I will protect you.”

After a while of silence, Saki said that with her face bright red. She’s also diverting her eyes away from him.

“This is a special case alright. You are just so defenseless that I can’t leave you alone, that’s all.”

“Eh, really?”

In response, Kisei jumped up from his chair. He then holds Saki’s hand and shakes it.

“Man, I’m really thankful you know! Makishima-san is a good person after all!”

With someone to escort him, Schleer should permit him to leave his room. Kisei was overjoyed, thinking that his house arrest had finally come to an end.

“Y, Y, Your hand……!”

Saki’s face was dyed crimson and she lost her ability to speak with the sudden development. She tried to say something after that but a loud voice interrupted them before she could.

“Oya Oya, Kisei-san! So you’re here. I’ve been looking for you.”

When Kisei turned to look at the source of the voice, he saw Schleer cheerfully smiling at him.

“Oya….Kisei-san, that won’t do right? If you casually touch a woman’s hand like that….there will be some misunderstanding you know.”

“Misunderstanding?”

Kisei doesn’t understand what she meant but thinking that it might be rude to suddenly hold someone else’s hand, he lets go of Saki. Saki then gazes regretfully at his hands and gives Schleer a dissatisfied look.

“Your Highness, do you have some kind of business with me?”

“No, not with you.”

Schleer, who was on the receiving end of her gaze, replied with a smile. However, the same could not be said for her eyes.

“We have decided on our strategy so I came to inform you about it, Kisei-san.”

“Hmm…..then may I join too? Since I’m the ace of this fleet, I should have the right to know too right?”

“Hmph.”

Schleer calmly nodded in reply.

“Alright then, come with us.”

Perhaps it’s not something that she can talk about in a break room, Schleer turned her heels and walked off leaving the two of them to follow her.