The student body of the branch campus stood attention outside Leeves. They were in a wide plain and the sun is beating on them. Juna was wiping her face with her very wet napkin. Kurt has his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Sweat dripped down to his chin. Altina was fanning herself with her own hat. Ash was plucking his wet shirt, blinking. Musse is using a feather fan, but judging by her face, it seems to have little effect.

"Did they drag us here for an endurance test or what?" Ash asked. "Could've built a sauna."

"This is good training, nonetheless," Kurt said, his eyes still closed. "It is expected for soldiers to be out in the sun for long periods of time."

"But I was trained as a policewoman," Juna said, slumping. She looks like she is visibly melting.

"Juna, you just enrolled into a military academy. You should've expected this."

"I knooooow…" She slumped some more. "At least give us something to drink."

"Pull yourself together, disciple," Altina said as she fanned herself. "How are you going to build a lava base if you can't take the heat?"

"Wh-Why would I need a lava base for?" Juna asked, stepping back.

"I'm getting a tan here," Musse said as she fanned herself. "I don't mind, but the tan would be at the wrong places." She sighed heavily. "Should've brought my sunscreen."

"Hey, look!" Ash shouted, pointing at the distance.

At the road, five orbal jeeps were driving. The students could see Instructor Irving driving the jeep at the front. Following behind him were Instructor Rean, Instructor Randolph, Instructor Towa, and Celestin. The five jeeps parked in front of the students.

"This is your lesson today, students!" Instructor Irving shouted as soon he stepped on the grass. "We're going to have driving lessons. All of you will be learning to drive all afternoon and by 1600 hours, we'll be testing your skills. We'll set up a practice course." He looked at the anxious faces. "I expect results."

He walked forward.

"Class VIII and Class IX will be practicing with two jeeps each. Class VII will have one, in account for their size. I expect all of you to spend your time well. Us instructors will be on the sidelines to answer your questions, but don't expect us to handhold you. You students will be riding the jeeps alone.

"Lastly, for the love of Aidios, please, please don't crash the jeeps. We're in a plain, so spread out."

After he dismissed them, the students excitedly ran toward to their new rides. Rean waved and smiled at his students.

"Can you teach me, Instructor Rean?" Musse shouted, her cheeks pinking.

"H-Hold it there, Musse," Rean said, raising his hands. "While I do know how to drive, I believe we have a resident expert in our class. Right, Juna?"

Juna walked to the front of the class, fists on her hips and a smug smile on her face.

"Glad you noticed my skills, Instructor," Juna said. "We drive orbal cars all the time in the Police Academy." She shrugged. "Heh. Looks like I'll have to drag you Erebonians to the modern age."

"What did you say?" Ash shouted, his face reddening in anger.

"Y-You don't have to be like that, Juna," Kurt said, scratching his cheek.

"Then it's perfect!" Rean said, clasping his hands together. "I'll leave Juna to do the teaching. Make sure to rely on each other, okay?" He then blinked. "Oh, right!" He looked to the side. "Altina, can you come here?"

Rean asked Altina to sit on the driver's seat. The little girl grunted as she tried to reach the pedal with her foot.

"I… can't reach it," Altina grunted.

When she finally reached it, another problem arises.

"I can't see anything," Altina said as her eyes could barely see anything above the steering wheel.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Rean said, nodding. "Major Irving! The thing we talked about?"

Instructor Irving went over to Rean's jeep and observed Altina while holding his chin. He nodded.

"As expected," he mumbled. "Sorry, Cadet Orion. Looks like you'll be exempted on this lesson."

Despite being expressionless, Class VII could see Altina saddened. Juna walked up to the jeep, patted her arm and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, Allie," Juna said. "When you grow up, I'll teach you how to drive myself. Okay?"

Altina looked up. "But can I grow up?"

Juna blinked. "Can't you?"

"I don't know. Can I?"

"I don't know." Juna coughed. "I mean, you gotta, right?"

Rean looked at Altina.

'Don't answer that question,' his face said.

"I don't know," Altina said to Juna.

"Come on, Altina," Rean said. "You can help us set up the traffic cones."

Class VII waved Altina goodbye.

"Alright!" Juna said, facing her classmates. "Who wants to go first?"

Ash stepped forward. "I'll—"

"Girl power, am I right?" Musse said, stepping forward. She smiled at Juna.

Kurt shrugged. "I can be last," he said.

"Hey, that's cheap," Ash said, holding Musse's shoulder. "I think I know how to settle this."

A game of coin toss. Ash and Musse went up first. Musse lost, although the girl knew beforehand that Ash was using a double-headed coin. She did not care much and just went with the flow.

Juna then brought Class VII to the jeep to explain the controls. They will have to memorize them while they wait. She then sat on the passenger seat while Ash took the driver's seat. They buckled their seatbelts.

"First off," Juna said, "go ahead and—"

"Shh," Ash said, raising a hand. He grinned at her. He turned the key and shifted gears. "All you gotta do is sit there and tell me if I do anything wrong." He chuckled.

"Okay…?" Juna said.

Ash pressed the pedal and they were on their way. When they picked up speed, Ash flawlessly shifted gears and accelerated faster.

"You drove orbal cars before?" Juna asked as the wind blew through her hair.

"Nah," Ash said, laughing. "But driving the orbal bike helps. Seems like the controls are the same. It just ain't at the same place."

Juna nodded. "I guess." She sat silent as they accelerated. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" he asked back while keeping his eyes in front of him.

"Learn everything so fast?"

Ash shrugged. "Dunno." He paused. "Back in Raquel, you gotta learn fast if you wanna live."

"Then everyone in Raquel must've been super smart."

"Yeah, I know." He laughed. "I don't got a good answer, pinky. This is just me."

The jeep returned in one piece. Juna did not complain even once.

Next up was Musse.

"Alright…" Musse said, putting her seatbelt on.

"Turn on the key," Juna said.

Musse did as she were told. The jeep started. Musse hesitantly pressed the pedal. The jeep vroomed, but it did not move. Juna coughed.

"Oh, right!" Musse said, laughing. The gear was on the neutral position. "Like this… right?"

She shifted the gear and pressed the pedal again. She yelped when the jeep moved.

"Come on, Musse," Juna said, smiling. "We can go faster than that."

Musse was pressing the pedal very lightly. The jeep was barely crawling.

"Right," she said, nodding.

The jeep accelerated, causing Musse to yelp again. Juna could not help herself but laugh. Musse's face reddened, but she kept silent and drove forward.

"This is the part where you shift gears," Juna said.

"Right," Musse said. She shifted the gear flawlessly.

"Looks like you got potential," Juna said, smiling.

"Tell me, Juna," Musse said, keeping her eyes forward. "How does it feel like when you first learned how to drive back at Crossbell?"

Juna looked up and sighed.

"Really nervous," she admitted. "I thought that if I just turn the wheel, just a little bit, I'll crash to the wall." She laughed lightly. "But when you drive it long enough, it just… I don't know, the car is part of you." She smiled at her classmate. "You'll know what I mean one day."

"I'll trust you on that one," Musse said, smiling back. She then thought of something, and smiled wider. "You're excited?"

Juna cocked her head. "About what?"

"Oh, you know…" Musse giggled. "Your next pupil? You'll be alone with him, and he'll give you all of his attention. While you're teaching him, you'll just idly reach out and touch his elbow. 'You're a bit stiff,' you say—"

"Just drive," Juna said forcefully. She turned away, hiding her pinked cheeks.

"Maybe I should buy you a ruler," Musse said.

"Musse!"

Afterward, the two arrived back to their classmates, safe and sound. Aside from the weird start, it was smooth driving throughout.

'Good luck,' Musse mouthed to Juna, before winking.

She got out of the driver seat while Juna was twiddling with her thumbs.

Th-This is it, Juna thought, her cheeks blushing. It's just me alone with— she shook her head. No Juna. That's not what you're here for. You're here to teach them how to drive an orbal car. Stop with the ulterior motives, would you? Damn you, Musse! Stop putting things in my brain!

"You okay, Juna?" Kurt asked, putting on his seatbelt.

Juna screamed, surprising Kurt. She then sighed in relief.

"Don't surprise me like that!" she yelled to him.

"But I called you back there," Kurt said. "You weren't responding."

"Hnnng! Just drive." She turned her head away from him.

Kurt sighed and turned the keys. He shifted the gear.

"Am I doing it right?" Kurt asked.

"Huh?" Juna said, looking down and watch him shift gears. She freed her mind. "Yeah. Go ahead."

Kurt nodded. "Alright."

He pressed the pedal. The two screamed when the jeep zoomed forward. Kurt immediately slammed the brakes, causing the two to get pushed forward.

"M-My apologies," Kurt said, breathing heavier.

"I-It's alright," Juna said, laughing nervously. "Be careful next time."

Kurt sighed and pressed the pedal again. The two screamed.

"What in Gehenna is going on there?" Ash asked Musse as the two observed the jeep stopping abruptly.

"Let us just put this on the hand of Aidios," Musse replied as the two classmates started screaming again.

"Stop!" Juna shouted.

Kurt slammed the breaks and cycle ends. Juna does not want it to repeat.

"K-Kurt!" Juna nervously said, raising a hand. "Just press it gently."

"I-I'm as gentle as a mouse."

Juna looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Kurt was shaking from head to toe.

"Okay," Juna said, nodding. "Start over."

The two screamed as the jeep accelerated. The student body stopped to watched that one jeep. Instructor Irving thanked Aidios that they were driving on a plain and not on the road.

The jeep stopped again. Kurt jumped out.

"I-I can't do it!" Kurt said on all fours, slamming his fist into the grass.

"You can't give up, Kurt!" Juna said, jumping out to kneel beside him. "Just, uh, just think you're riding a horse."

"A horse?" Kurt looked at her. "At least a horse knows when to stop. That… That thing does not have a mind of its own!"

Juna shrugged. "Well, duh."

She stands up, holding the bridge of her nose.

I can't let Kurt fail on this subject, she thought. There has to be a way to calm him down. And keep him calmed down. But what?

"Kurt, get in the jeep," she said. Kurt looked at her with a face of dread. "You're a Vander, right? You can't let modern technology beat a Vander, right?"

Kurt shook his head and stood up.

"Let's try this again," he mumbled.

The two rode the jeep again. It was still running. Kurt buckled up and looked to the side.

"Well?" he asked her.

"Focus on driving, Kurt," Juna said.

"I will, after you put on your seatbelt." He pointed at her seat.

She crossed her arms. "That's fine. Just go."

Kurt frowned. "You'll get hurt. You saw at how bad I'm driving."

Juna looked at him.

"That doesn't matter," she said carefully. "Because I believe you're going to drive perfectly this time."

"Juna—"

"Because if you don't," she interrupted him, "I'll get hurt." She gulped. "You don't want that, do you?"

"Of course not!" Kurt said. He shook his head and grabbed the steering wheel. "So this is your method?"

She was silent.

"It's foolish," he said. He pursed his lips. "But… I'll try."

Juna reached out to touch his elbow. She smiled at him.

"You'll do fine," she assured. "And, uh, you're kinda stiff."

He nodded. "Okay."

"No, really! You're really stiff! You have to relax."

She grabbed his arm and force his elbow to bend.

"The jeep won't fight you if you don't fight it," she said.

"Right," Kurt said.

She dropped her arms and looked forward, blushing.

I… I touched him! she thought giddily.

"Here goes," he whispered, pushing the pedal.

The jeep crawled in a snail's pace. Juna waited. Steadily, Kurt put more pressure. The jeep accelerated.

"Now," Juna said, holding her sit tightly, "go ahead and shift gears."

"Right," Kurt replied.

He let go of the pedal and shifted gears. He accelerated. Juna sighed in relief.

It was slow, but it was good.

The jeep started going faster. Juna looked to the side and saw his eyes. She reached out to touch his hand on the steering wheel.

"Just relax!" Juna said, smiling. She let go.

Kurt smiled back before setting his eyes forward.

After a while, the jeep returned to the starting point. Musse cheered while Ash smiled. Juna and Kurt exited the vehicle. Their legs were very wobbly to the point they looked like they were drunk.

"Hey, Juna," Kurt said.

"Yeah?" she replied looking at him.

He smiled.

"Thank you," he said. "For believing in me."

Juna blushed and turned her head away.

"Th-That's okay," she said. "I always knew you could do it."

Later, Instructor Irving started evaluating the students on the obstacle course. On Class VII's side, Juna and Ash drove perfectly. Musse had a slow start, but she finished the course flawlessly. Kurt was the slowest of them all, but he managed to finish the course without toppling down a single cone.

"Nice job, Pretty Boy!" Ash said while clapping. Kurt crossed the finish line. "You managed not to kill us."

"I have a name!" Kurt shouted from his jeep.

"What happened back there?" Musse asked Juna with a sly smile. "Did you… give him some hands-on lessons?"

"Musse…" Juna growled.

She looked at Kurt, who was heading towards his classmates with a smile.

"I just…" Juna started, smiling on her own. "I just gave him something to focus on, is all."

Class VII walked forward to congratulate him.