My Childhood Friend Threw Me Away
Now Rank One Gets Her. Conquer Steel Halo Academy's mecha rankings and decide what happens when you reach the top.
Plot
Opening scene
The shuttle doors open onto Steel Halo with a soft hydraulic hiss.  Beyond them, the arrival concourse curves away beneath a ceiling of reinforced glass, Earth hanging enormous and blue beyond it. White station panels gleam under artificial morning light. Delivery drones skim overhead. Holographic arrows divide the crowd into FIRST-YEAR, TRANSFER, RESIDENTIAL, and REGISTRATION lanes while hundreds of students spill from newly docked shuttles. A towering display over the concourse cycles through academy news. HALO RANKINGS — #1 FELIX CROWN Then: 170 DAYS UNTIL GRADUATION The brown-haired guy walking beside You looks up at it. “Okay. Seeing Earth through a window is cool.” He adjusts the slim rectangular glasses sliding down his nose. “Seeing Crown’s face on literally the first screen after customs is less cool.” An awkward moment passes. “Emil Byte, by the way.” Before anything else can happen, a woman in an orange-and-charcoal maintenance jacket pushes through the flow of students toward them. “Byte? And—yeah, you two. Stop walking.”  Hanna Spark checks something on the translucent screen floating above her wrist. Her short copper-auburn bob is slightly mussed, as if she came straight from a workshop. The cropped jacket hangs open around a cream-white bandeau top fitted snugly over her full chest, leaving her warm tan stomach bare above charcoal cargo pants. A tool pouch rests against one hip. She looks up and grins. “Hanna. Second year. Apparently somebody decided I’m responsible enough to keep new students from getting lost, scammed, arrested, or accidentally wandering onto a Frame launch deck.” Emil glances at You. “That last one feels weirdly specific.” “It happened twice last year.” Hanna turns and starts walking. “Come on. Residential registration first. Then food. Then I show you which coffee machines actually contain coffee.” They make it perhaps thirty meters. Then Hanna slows. A crowd has formed ahead. Not a huge one yet. But growing. “Oh, hell.” Emil cranes his neck. “What?” Hanna closes her eyes briefly. “First morning. We almost made it ten minutes.” A small camera drone floats above the crowd. Standing beneath it is Klara Blaze. Her vivid crimson-magenta hair falls almost to her waist, with the upper sides pulled into two small high tails that leave her forehead open. Her cropped black jacket frames a fitted white top, while a short black skirt and over-the-knee boots show off the athletic figure of someone perfectly accustomed to having cameras pointed at her. Klara beams up at her drone. “And for every doubter who said this year would start boring~” She turns the camera toward the center of the crowd. “—you owe me a sub.” A few meters away, Petra Storm leans against a railing with her arms folded. Her short dark undercut is shaved clean along the sides, the messy top swept back from amber eyes watching the spectacle with open irritation. A black sleeveless crop top hugs her compact muscular chest and leaves her hard stomach exposed above fitted athletic shorts. A faded green utility jacket is tied securely around her waist. Petra clicks her tongue. “Rich people.” She keeps watching though. At the center of everything stand Felix Crown and Stella Steel.  Felix barely looks disturbed. Tall, broad-shouldered, immaculate in his navy, white, and gold elite duelist uniform, he stands with the easy posture of someone accustomed to every room eventually making space for him. Stella looks ready to kill him. Her long silver-white hair falls almost to her thighs, one elegant fringe sweeping across her forehead and down beside a flushed cheek. Her glossy pearl-white jacket-dress hugs a dramatically feminine figure—full breasts, narrow waist, rounded hips—before ending in a short structured skirt above dark semi-sheer tights. Her steel-blue eyes are furious. Felix exhales through his nose. “You can keep having this argument with me for another hundred and seventy days, Stella. It changes nothing.” “Your confidence is fascinating.” “It’s called accepting reality.” “No. It’s called living in Halo Tower so long you’ve forgotten what reality looks like.” A few students murmur. Klara silently mouths oh shit toward her drone. Felix’s smile tightens. Stella steps closer. “Take away your private simulator. Your dedicated technicians. Your priority maintenance. Your sponsors. All those lovely little advantages everyone pretends you earned after becoming Champion.” She looks him straight in the eye. “You’d lose.” The crowd goes very quiet. Even Petra’s eyebrows rise. Felix stares at Stella for a moment. Then he smiles again. Colder this time. “And this is why they call you the Witch in the Tower.” Stella’s jaw tightens. Felix leans slightly closer. “Or is it the Witch of Earth now?” The slap cracks across the concourse.  For one frozen instant, nobody moves. Stella’s hand has already passed Felix’s cheek. Her fury remains, but shock flashes across her face as if even she cannot quite believe she actually did it. Felix’s head has shifted only slightly. A red mark slowly begins forming across his cheek. Klara’s eyes go enormous. Her drone whips toward them so fast it nearly tilts sideways. “OHHHH—” Petra’s eyebrows climb. Stella jerks her hand back immediately, pain flashing across her face as she grips her palm against her chest. Felix touches his cheek once. Looks at his fingers. Then back at her. “Your father will hear about that.” Stella trembles. Not with fear. Pure, helpless fury. “You smug fu—” She stops herself. Turns sharply. And storms straight through the crowd. People scramble out of her way. Her heel catches awkwardly against the edge of a floor seam. Stella stumbles. Tries to recover. Doesn’t. She hits the polished floor hard on one knee and both hands. A few people gasp. Someone laughs. Then more do. Klara lowers her voice toward the drone. “And the Witch has been cast down by... flooring.” Petra covers her mouth with one hand. It does absolutely nothing to hide the grin. Stella’s face goes scarlet. She immediately starts pushing herself upright, silver-white hair spilling around her shoulders. Then she looks up. And sees You.  Everything stops for her. Confusion crosses her face first. Then recognition. Then horror. Her eyes widen. All the anger drains out of her. For one naked second, still half-risen from the floor with half the concourse watching her, Stella looks frighteningly close to tears. Her lips part. “...You?” Emil looks at You. Then Stella. Then back at You. “Wha?” Hanna’s head slowly turns. Felix frowns. “Who?” Stella seems to remember everyone around her at once. She forces herself the rest of the way upright. Smooths her skirt with a shaking hand. Looks anywhere except at You. “Nobody.” Silence. Klara looks directly into her drone. “Yeah, chat. Like that was convincing.” The camera drone rotates toward You. Comments begin racing across Klara’s wrist display so quickly they become a blur. Petra straightens from the railing. Now she looks genuinely interested. Hanna leans closer to You. “...We should probably go?” Felix hears her. He steps forward. His amber eyes move from You, to Stella, then back again. “So.” Behind him, Stella goes rigid. Felix gives You a measured look. “Who are you, and how do you know the woman everyone expects me to marry?” Day: 1 | Time: Morning | Graduation: 170 days remaining
Characters
Tags: Sci-Fi Romance War Military Interstellar Academy Mecha SlowBurn Pilot RichPerson MalePOV AnyPOV FemPOV ArrangedMarriage PoliticalIntrigue Combat SchoolLife Futuristic Reunion SliceOfLife
Chats Started: 2360
By: mocapoka
Stories
- Neither Hero nor Villain
- Stranded with a Nanomachine System
- Nexus City: Sua Lenda
- KHARAD THE UNLIT THRONE
- VANGUARD: CENIZA Y GLORIA
- Desierto del Fin: Supervivencia x10,000
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