Nico Yazawa is one of those lucky dropouts who managed to secure an engineering job at Ohara Company. Back at the boot camp, the 98th Trainee Corps begins it's first official drills on the usage of 3DMGs. Everyone in attendance passed the balancing tests, including Kanan Matsuura, Mari Ohara, and Dia Kurosawa.

DIA'S POV

"Today, you maggots will be learning how to use 3D Maneuver Gears!! Pay attention!!!"

After passing the previous week of trials, all trainees have been summoned outside on a field near a forest. Hereon, it becomes clear to us that we are now official trainees. We will be taught finally about the weapon that humanity has relied so much on - the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gears!

The joy of this realisation filled my soul with pride. I stood up properly and proudly at the line, paying full attention to our upcoming lesson. Mari stood two persons away from me at my left; she too feels excited as I am. I, first princess of the entire kingdom, will finally learn to fight for my subjects!!

(Kanan is also at the rendevous, but I don't know which line she is in.)

"Here, Corporal Eri Ayase will demonstrate!!!", said Instructor Hiroto Kousaka as he introduced to us a soldier who will demonstrate to us how the 3DMG works. She stepped up, stood in front of us, and stared at us with an emotionless glare.

To my surprise, this lady caught my eye. It was not because of her beauty - I have seen her before three years ago.

"This girl before you currently holds the title as humanity's strongest soldier!! Throughout her many years of service in the Love Live Corps, she has killed 37 Alpacas and assisted in about 21 kills!! Also, she is related to the former royal family. Watch her you maggots!!"

That's right, it was her!! One of the soldiers who took part in Expedition One. That one girl who cried out and apologised at the awards ceremony! Ever since that day, I never saw her again in person. I am only told about how she is an Ayase and is of former royalty through the years since but hardly anything else beyond her bloodline and being a Love Live Legionnaire was spoken about to me. To think she will be doing the demo in front of us.

But there's more to that!! 37 kills and 21 assists!? What an ace!! Everyone is at awe hearing those records. This lady who cried years before is now a fighting machine!! FANTASTIC!!!

"Eri, show them how it's done.", the Insructor said.

Without a word, she took her cloak out to reveal the 3DMG she straps on herself. Immediately she unleashed grappling hooks on the large wooden pillar at the center of the field where we all gathered. She flew overhead above us and landed on that pillar!! Then she grappled onto the trees at our left then flew into the forest. Grappling branch by branch and bark by bark, she pulled out amazing stunts as her body travelled in midair with a sense of flightlessness and skill. Everyone is once again at awe.

"Oh my....I don't think I can do something like that....", whispered Mari. Still, my eyes shined as I looked at the graceful flight of this blonde lady. She makes the entire stunt look so easy.

"Alright, maggots!! You have seen her how well she does it!! I expect all of you to follow suit!! Humanity needs more soldiers who can do stuffs like she does!! As valuable as she may be, someone needs to replace her should the possibilty of her dying in battle comes true. Now then, line up!! Prepare for your first taste of training!!"

After that demo, she leaves because her job has been done. She has to return to HQ at Seiren to prepare for another Expedition.

Someday, I felt like I want to see her again. I definitely see her as my number one idol by now!!

(I did not see Kanan but she is paying full attention at Ms. Ayase.)

MARI'S POV

That blonde lady pulled every maneuver like a pro! As fun as it is to watch it, I just thought how impossible it is for me to show off like that once I master the gears. I would love to be part of her squad someday.

Fourteen trainees, me included, are assembled to begin their first tutorials on aiming their Maneuver Gears. The goal is for us to pull our triggers and pull ourselves to the targets. Sounds simple.

I found it rough though.

"Ouch!! My head - ", I screamed as I fell to the ground when I lost my balance after pulling the trigger.

"What did I say? Knowledge is useless without experience.", said an instructor. He is right - although I know the basics of 3DMG design and that my family has a company which makes these weapons, actually experiencing using is a totally new feeling. I realise how much I have to learn.

"Hey, you okay?!!", said a blue haired girl as she checked me if I am okay. When I saw her, I suddenly remembered something I had to do. I got up to make a move on her.

"Hold it!! Kanan, right!? I remember you.....at the awarding ceremony last year. You are one of the survivors from Expedition One! Can we talk later?!"

I blatantly said what was in my mind. It has been my goal to build some kind of relation with this girl cuz I have seen her before. I believe I could learn something from her. She suddenly looked at me coldly though.

"....see you later....", she said as she left off in haste.

"Hey!! Wait!!!", I muttered.

"Don't bother me please.", she said. Clearly, she did not want anything with me. As I bothered myself why she did that, I saw my fellow partner Dia as she joined the other recruits in aiming their grappling hooks.

"Darn it!! I can't believe that it is actually so hard to aim with these things!!", she complained.

Dia kept missing the targets. The other trainees also had a rough time, only few of them managed to succeed. This training showed us that learning how to balance is useless when our accuracy, precision and timing fail at the moment we unleash our hooks to fly.

When the training ended, the results were pretty much expected. Most of us failed. The girl who had the best score and made it to first place goes by the name Ryo Aikawa.

After the training, everyone went back to their dorms. It was a rough first lesson, but I expect we will get into it soon. Initially, everyone is talking about the training. Some people conversed with me and Dia about any possible way to aim better. I saw a lot of trainees conversing with Ryo Aikawa, the first placer, asking her tricks to pass the training.

Afterwards, it was just the two of us again talking with each other. Dia kept conversing with me about Eri and the entire training.

".....and she flew so high!! I am so amazed by her!! Seeing her actually flying than hearing about it from our advisors at the royal palace is sooo fantastic!!"

"It is!! But...our training right now ain't doing well."

"Like it should demoralise you!! Mari, I am totally sure Eri went though what we went through a while ago!! She would not have been that good had she failed, right?!!"

"Hehe....you are correct."

"Change of topic. So, have you made some new friends, already?!", she said.

"Let's just say.....I tried to make one but she shrugged it off...."

"Huh? Someone rejected you?"

"It was Kanan.", Dia suddenly looked gloomy when I said that. See looked around to find Kanan not appearing at all as usual.

"....she is still one of the few people who never seemed to be fond of us at all. What's with her?"

"Who knows?", I said with a feeling of cluelessness.

-----

I have noticed it for a while. It has been about four days since we became official trainees, yet Kanan Matsuura still refuses to socialise with us. She has not conversed with us at all. I thought at first that she seemed to be a shy person, but the fact that she is always trying to avoid us whenever we try to talk to her is getting annoying.

A while ago, we saw Kanan talking with a group of trainees and she clearly enjoyed talking with them. But when Dia approached her, she responded by telling Dia and everyone that she needs to go and then left. Just like that!!

The two of us seriously discussed about Kanan's actions and we decided what action we should take. We decided to stalk her.

For two days, we tried various ways to catch Kanan's attention.

Why are we trying so hard to get her to notice us? Because she is interesting!! She is one of the Expeditionaries from three years ago. Learning something from her experience would greatly aid us. She is tall and pretty, she seemed to have a different aura, and is almost always quiet and calm. Finally, we met her three years ago at the awards ceremony where we saw how much she suffered. It bothered us - how could a heroine like her feel and look so broken?

It was tonight when we found an opportunity. Before our curfew arrived (perhaps about 7:50 - more than an hour before the curfew.), we managed to find Kanan travelling towards a hill near the boot camp.

We silently stalked her from behind when Dia accidently broke a twig. It made a little noise but, amidst the silence of this small forest, it was loud enough for Kanan to hear it and looked back.

We tried to hide, but Kanan already saw us before we managed to even try hiding. We forgot that Kanan is a hunter/bowman so it passed our minds that Kanan is probably experienced well enough to hear small noises like that.

"You two are still following me?", she said as we stuttered on what we should say.

"Sigh....you guys are so stubborn no matter what I do. Come here you two, we need to talk."

Kanan probably realised why we are here and why we persevere too much to befriend her.

"You want to know why I am here? I want to see the stars at night. My dad loved stargazing and he used to bring me outside to stargaze when we're bored."

"Your dad has very simple joys in life, huh?"

"Yeah, but enough of talking about my dad. I know full well that you two came here to talk to me and not ask me about my dad, right?"

We nodded. She allowed us to sit down beside her before she began speaking.

"I will get to the point. The reason I stay away from you two is because I am hesitant to befriend those with strong connections to the Queen."

"Wait....so, you hate us then?", I said since I thought she felt uncomfortable because we are royalty and she isn't.

"No, I just don't feel like wanting to build up to you two. You are both nobles - rich and all. I am poor, so difference between our views and lifestyles are - "

When she said that, I am shocked. This girl thinks us like that? I never thought she would harbor such perspectives. So did Dia.

"Hey!! What kind of stereotypical judgement is that?!! You think we are spoiled or corrupt, huh?", said Dia as she shouted at Kanan. Clearly, she wanted to know how offended she is with Kanan's judgement.

"Dia, is right! STOP JUDGING! FYI, most of our fellow classmates are just as poor as you are!! Yet we're not complainin', right?", I spoke out.

"It is more like I will not fit in with guys like you. Besides, I can't even trust you after what you did to us....", Kanan further explained.

"Huh?", we said after her explanation confused us.

"The Expedition.....your mom, Queen Nori Kurosawa, sent almost 400,000 people to die just to save yourselves from starvation. My dad died, technically, because of what your mom did."

We realise it now. Kanan probably finds us disgusting to be with after what the Queen did.

"Hey.....please don't demonise my mom....", Dia said. However, Kanan did not seem to look all that furious at us.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't hate you or your mom or even the government. I am not out for revenge or anything - except wanting to kill Alpacas, of course. I just feel that if I try to establish a connection with both of you, I will end up getting involved in your worlds. I don't want to drag or burden you both because of that, nor do I want your reputation to be tarnished in case I do something embarassing - "

What is this? How could this girl look at us so low. It made me furious. I suddenly slapped her in the face as I said:

"SHUT UP, PEASANT!!", I said with rage. Kanan is surprised.

"You listen to me, pretty girl! You are the only one who thinks like that!! You think that your views are true? You think we behave like what you claim we do? CUT THE CRAP!!"

It infuriated me!! Does this girl not see the sincerity of our attempts to build up to her? Does she not realise the effort and time we waste to know about her?

"The fact is this: Dia and I came here to be your friend! Out of love and curiosity! We are not doing this out of pity after we saw you suffering years ago at the awards ceremony, we aren't doing this for political gain, we ain't doing this for our family!! We do this for ourselves and because we want to!!"

"Mari-san is correct! In fact, we wanted to be your friend because we are proud to have a hero in our class! It is not everyday you find an Alpacaslayer to be your best buddy!", Dia added.

"Best....buddy?"

"And finally....Kanan!!!", I said as I took her hand.

"Uh...what?", she replied. But Dia is bothered why I am talking like that. She has not heard me speak like this before.

"I have a request....", I said humbly. I want her to know how I truly feel and not what she thinks I feel.

"When we start our friendship, I, Mari Ohara the aristocrat, am requiring you to change your ways about thinking things your own way and making others do what you think they want! LEARN MUTUAL COOPERATION!!"

I want her to stop being loner. I want her to be with us. I want her to be our comrade in arms after graduation. I want her to know that even though I am a rich aristocrat, my wants and dreams are as simple as any common folk!

Surprisingly, Kanan laughed. She laughed like she showed us how embarassed she is that she had the wrong perspective about us.

"....hahahaha....Mari...I am not your employee or something...."

"Well....that is why I will make you my SECRETARY!! Hehe!!!"

Finally, Kanan no longer looked like she wanted to distance herself from us. She smiled at us, a sign that our conversation acheived

Together we held hands. All three of us.

"I am Kanan Matsuura. 13 years of age, at your service!"

"I am Dia Kurosawa. 13 years old. An honor to meet you!!"

"I am Mari Ohara!! 13 years of experience, for sale!!"

"What the hell, Mari? Don't introduce yourself like a prostitute!!"

"Oooohhhh? So Kanan knows dirty things too?! What a NAUGHTY GIRL!!"

"(blushes) S-shut up!!"

"Hahahaha", the three of us laughed together.

The three of us looked up at the beautiful night sky. Stars twinkled above, signalling the new dream that we all shared.

We will do what we can to complete this training!! Someday, we will bring mankind outside the Walls to see more of these wonderful stars!!

--- Extra Scene ---

Many hours later after Dia and Mari befriended Kanan, everyone slept at the cabin - except for Mari, who waited for Kanan to sleep.

Mari went outside and saw no one was there. She went to the back of the cabin....

Dia woke up after she heard some knocks and "lustful" noises. Luckily, only she was the one who woke up.

"W-wha?!! What is that?"

"Ahhh.....gasp...ooooohhhh mmmyyyy gggooodd...."

"It is not a ghost, isn't it?"

Dia went outside to searh for the noise until she found Mari.

"Mari!!!?"

She found Mari sitting down while covering her face with her hands. She is talking to herself like no tomorrow.

".....did I do it right? did I do it right?....did I screw up?...was my accent a bit off....ooohhh mmyyy goddd...."

"Mari!!"

"Oh!!? Dia, YOU'RE AWAKE?!!"

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

"......."

"Well? Speak!!"

Mari grabbed Dia and hugged her.

"Don't tell Kanan, please!! I am trying to let out my embarassment, that is what I am doing!!"

"Huh?!!"

"It was sooo embarassing what I did back there, right?! The way I talked to her and how jolly I was?!! It was soooo embarassing!! I have never done anything like that before!! I was so nervous when I talked to her that I suddenly thought of changing my personality and all! I am so dishonest!!"

"....I get it, Mari."

"See?! I am so embarassed because a shy, tsundere, and quiet girl such as I suddenly acted super confident and jolly to someone!! It is soo embarassing cuz I am not used to acting in such a way!!"

"....okey, Mari...relax. I won't tell her, okay? Just don't fret over it. Don't force yourself to act like that - "

"NO WAY!! If it means that Kanan will enjoy my accompany acting like that, I will!!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say....now get to sleep! Because of you, my beauty sleep got interupted!!"

"...oh...okey...sorry, Dia..."

That was how the day truly ended - Mari disturbing Dia because of a problem she just started.

------

A/N: I felt an urge to write the Extra Scene after having it in my dream. Do you like it or do you find it corny or off place? Please let me know.

As for the entire chapter, I gave it my all to write this with much vigor and detail, if not foreshadowing, that I could put. I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading - stay tuned for the next chapter cuz big events and actions are gonna happen as this volume's main arc is about to begin...