18 Baby Steps

The butler asked, "Why's that?"

Yuka replied, "To keep my average score steady at sixty."

It was all because yesterday's teacher insisted on giving her a perfect score, so she had to perform a bit poorly in mecha class to balance out her grades.

Plus, Kenji seemed to be getting suspicious of her, so Yuka decided to get a few zeros to throw him off.

Yuka clumsily maneuvered the mecha, struggling to get up from the ground, and then staggered forward.

In Kenji's eyes, the mecha Yuka operated moved as if dancing rhythmically—step forward, fall back—as if... 

It was intentional.

Kenji walked up to Yuka, "Didn't eat enough? Can't even stand straight?"

Yuka's voice was muffled, "Hmm."

"What's with the hmm?" Kenji frowned. "You're in the mecha specialization, and you can't even control your psychic power?"

Yuka replied, "Can't control it."

Kenji couldn't help but laugh at her audacity. It was his first time meeting someone who was not only unafraid of him but also dared to talk back. In the legion, he would have already dragged her to the training field for a lesson.

"Quite bold," Kenji remarked, looking at the listless Yuka. "No wonder you dared to stand up at the scene, and even lied to the Third Legion's leader."

Yuka instantly became alert, "Sir, don't get me wrong, I wasn't being bold, I was just scared."

She sat on the ground, forgetting she was still operating the mecha, and covered her face with her hands, coquettishly saying, "I just hadn't reacted yet, so I forgot to tell the legion's leader. But you were there, sir, so awe-inspiring. You must have handled everything perfectly."

The silver mecha, designed for battle with a robust vibe, was ironically softened by Yuka's bashful gesture, like a muscular tough guy coyly flirting.

Kenji, unable to bear the sight, turned away and left.

Yuka pouted.

'Such a petty man,' she thought. He might bring this up many times in the future.

She stood there for a while, noticing that most of her classmates had already mastered the balance and their movements were less awkward.

Yuka didn't really understand why they fell. For her, controlling a mecha was as easy as controlling her own body; she could even use the mecha's hands to pick up soybeans with forks.

Yuka continued to wobble forward, stopping beside Ayoi to ask, "Ayoi, what does it feel like when you drive a mecha?"

"It feels weird, like there's a heavy piece of metal tied to me, and I lose balance whenever I move," Ayoi answered.

She turned to face Yuka directly, but her control over the mecha was still clumsy. As she turned her head, the entire body of the mecha swiveled, instantly losing balance and toppling toward Yuka. 

With no time to dodge, Yuka could only extend the mechanical arm of her mecha to steadily brace Ayoi, gently pushing her back to regain her footing.

Ayoi exclaimed in surprise, "Yuka, you're so good at controlling the mecha!"

"It's nothing," Yuka quickly replied, "I'm just better at standing still; I still fall easily while walking."

Ayoi nodded, utterly convinced, and offered eagerly, "I've gotten quite good at walking now. Let me teach you!"

Yuka agreed, "Sure."

Meanwhile, Kenji, who had observed the scene from afar, narrowed his eyes. 

Even with just a human body, if someone were to fall towards you, you'd instinctively step back or at least shift your body to maintain balance. Especially for these beginners, a slight touch could send them and their mecha tumbling. 

But Yuka had stood firmly in place, effortlessly pushing her classmate back upright. 

In Kenji's experience, such skill would require at least six months of mecha driving training.

He gave Yuka a deep, discerning look before she noticed, then quickly averted his gaze.

On the other side, while Yuka was "humbly learning" how to walk from Ayoi, Alex found himself encircled by Fred and his entourage.

Fred interrogated, "Your psychic power is only A-tier, right? How did you master the mecha so quickly?"

Before Alex could respond, one of the sidekicks added, "He must have practiced secretly. Wasn't his grandfather an Admiral in the Alliance Army? He definitely used his status to illicitly drive mechas in the Alliance Army."

Fred's gaze turned meaningful, "I see. My dear brother, do you know that unauthorized mecha operation is illegal? Our royal family cannot harbor a criminal, nor allow one to be a prince."

Alex, suddenly labeled a "criminal," reddened with anger, protesting loudly, "I didn't! You're lying!"

Fred was about to mock further when he noticed Kenji standing nearby, having overheard much of their conversation.

Kenji, with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, remarked, "Class isn't over yet."

He extended the mechanical arm of his mecha and lightly patted Fred's shoulder, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Fred's sidekicks, startled, stepped back, one of them losing balance. Their mecha crashed backward with a loud thud.

The other students turned to look, curious about the commotion.

"Nothing to see here," Kenji stated coldly. "If you can all walk in a straight line, then line up. Let's see how many of you can actually pass."

Everyone instantly fell silent, dejectedly moving towards the starting line, but no one was eager to be the first. There was a lot of looking at each other, delaying the inevitable.

Alex, having regained his composure, stepped forward to the front of the line. "Sir, I'll go first," he said.

Kenji nodded, "It's a hundred meters, one point for every meter you walk straight."

Alex positioned himself at the starting line near Kenji and quietly thanked him.

Kenji, as if he hadn't heard, simply said, "Go ahead."

Yuka stood at the end of the line with Ayoi, both craning their necks to watch Alex's performance.

Alex walked slowly but steadily. His first few steps were a bit shaky, but as he continued, he became smoother, almost walking in a straight line to the finish.

Kenji finally showed the first smile since the lesson began. He noted Alex's score on the chart and announced to everyone, "Alex, 96 points."

The students behind clapped and cheered in good spirit. Alex, slightly embarrassed, pressed his lips together and stepped aside, waiting for the others to finish.

Fred's face darkened like a storm cloud.

He pushed past his classmates to the starting line and said to Kenji, "Sir, I'm starting."

He also walked steadily but accidentally stepped out of the line midway, scoring lower than Alex with 90 points.

After completing his walk, Fred stood beside Alex and said with a sly tone, "My dear brother, you really are full of surprises."

Mindful of Kenji's presence, Fred refrained from confronting Alex further and walked away, obviously frustrated.

Perhaps encouraged by the high scores of the first two, the others eagerly stepped forward. However, reality soon hit hard. One after another, they struggled, barely passing or failing outright.

After another student barely scraped a pass, Kenji called out sternly, "Next."

Ayoi shrank back slightly but managed to maintain her balance, completing the course with a score of 80.

Finally, it was Yuka's turn. She took a deep breath and started her shaky walk along the red line.

Kenji put down his scorekeeper, focusing intently on Yuka's performance, curious to see how she would do.

As everyone watched, Yuka began her 'performance'.

In the crowd, someone nudged their classmate in disbelief, asking, "Is she drunk?"

Another student, just as baffled, responded, "I don't think so... maybe she just naturally has poor balance?"

Kenji was speechless, stunned by the display.

Kenji watched, dumbfounded, as Yuka maneuvered her mecha like a drunken guy, swaying from side to side of the red line. She seemed to avoid the line as if it were dangerous, never once stepping on it. It was as if the red line would explode upon contact. 

Even more bizarre was the way Yuka's mecha moved. Several times the mecha leaned at a thirty-degree angle, yet it never once fell over.

After Yuka finished, Kenji remained speechless for a few seconds before looking at his scorekeeper and struggling to announce her score: "Yuka… 5 points."

Yuka shook her head, not quite satisfied. 'How did I even get those five points? Did I accidentally step on the edge of the red line?'

As the class ended, everyone still in shock, they mechanically left the simulation training ground and exited the teaching building. 

Ayoi looked at Yuka with some concern, only to find that she didn't seem as upset about her score as Ayoi had expected. In fact, she seemed... 

Happy?

Indeed, Yuka was in a good mood because Black One had just messaged her, saying they had found information on Nori.

Ayoi asked cautiously, "Yuka, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Yuka smiled, "Are you worried I'm upset about my score? Don't worry. Between you and me, I never really wanted to stay in the Combat Department."

"Ah?" Ayoi blinked in surprise, "Then which department do you want to go to?"

Yuka replied cheerfully, "The History Department."

Ayoi nodded, somewhat dazed, "Oh."

Yuka patted her on the cheek, "Let's go eat."

In the afternoon, while Ayoi went to see her brothers again, Yuka collapsed on her bed and opened the file sent by Black One.

The butler warned, "Master, this file contains a virus."

"Hmm," Yuka acknowledged, "Can you handle it?"

The butler puffed up proudly, "Of course!"

He dragged a pixelated trash can from off-screen, opened the file, threw a blob of something black into the trash, then dragged the can off-screen. After a moment, he returned and reported to Yuka, "All done!"

Yuka casually praised him, "Great job."

The butler bashfully set off a firework effect for himself.

Yuka opened the cleaned file and found that the useful information was scarce. 

The data revealed that Nori was a student of the former head of the Alliance Science Academy, mainly assisting the dean with no significant research achievements on record.

There was only one photo of him included, a blurry image taken from a paper titled "Longevity, Humanity's Eternal Pursuit: Research on Human Cells."

In the photo, there were three people. One of them was the former head of the Alliance Science Academy, standing next to Nori, who was holding a test tube. The third person was on the opposite side of the lab table, peering into a microscope, their face obscured and name unknown.

After viewing the photo, Yuka sent a message to Black One: "Is that all?"

Black One replied quickly: "That's all for now. Also, the boss wanted me to tell you that the unpublished materials are hard to find, so please be patient."

Yuka responded with an "OK" emoji and closed the chat window.

On the other end of the conversation, Black One set down his opticomputer. A pair of hands rested on his shoulders, and a woman's distinctive husky voice whispered in his ear, "Did you find anything?"

Black One, with a bead of sweat forming on his nose, stammered, "No, nothing."

Before the woman could react angrily, Black One quickly added, "Phyxier might be an opticomputer expert. She detected the tracking virus we embedded in the file. She initiated a counter-trace when she opened it, and we had to disconnect to prevent her from tracing our location."

The woman withdrew her hand from his shoulder, "Oh, is that so. Next time, put a more advanced virus in the file. I don't believe she can escape every time."

She chuckled lightly, "Once we find out who she is, bind her and bring her here."

Black One wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied respectfully, "Yes, ma'am."