New Roommate

Rosen turned around and saw a white man standing silently behind and to his side.

"You were looking at her, weren't you?"

The man stepped forward and stood beside Rosen. He was slightly taller than Rosen, with blond hair, blue eyes, and the typical features of a European.

Though his voice was loud and youthful, his face looked somewhat aged. Deep wrinkles were etched across his forehead in particular.

That convinced Rosen that he was German.

There were many foreigners at the Hong Kong Shatterdome, even more than locals, so Rosen paid him no mind.

"Her?" Rosen turned back, replying somewhat coldly.

"That's right. Kunlun, the one you've been staring at."

"Do you Westerners always see Jaegers as women?"

"Only because most Jaeger pilots are men." The white man grinned teasingly.

But Rosen was in no mood to laugh. He merely forced a smile, then turned and left.

Rosen had barely taken a few steps when the white man's voice came again, just as expected.

"Are you really not going to take one last look at her?"

Rosen froze at those words and stopped walking, while the voice continued.

"My name is Mike Kane, a Jaeger test pilot at the Hong Kong Base. You're Rosen, right? In three days, I'll be conducting Kunlun's final test. If her drift system really has a problem, she'll be transferred to the Anchorage Base in America for processing."

Rosen did not turn around. He merely straightened slightly and asked, "Why should a Chinese Jaeger be sent to America for processing?"

"You know there are already too many Jaegers here. So many that there's barely room for them all. This base only has six hangar doors." Mike replied, "Besides, nearly all the technicians in the entire base are busy modifying and developing 8th Generation Jaegers. Who would care about a Seventh Generation Jaeger? That kind of antique?"

When Mike said the word "antique," Rosen's hands visibly trembled. But the movement passed so quickly that Mike thought he had imagined it.

"Although I heard you failed to activate her, you were still one of her pilots, weren't you? I don't mean anything by it. I just hope you'll come watch the test three days from now. I figure once she's sent to America, she'll be dismantled and reforged. The next time you see her, she might not even be called Kunlun anymore... Maybe she'll be called the Philadelphia 76ers, or the Spurs, something like that... Hahaha, you know, being a test pilot is a job where you keep your head on the line. Compared to test-driving defective Jaegers, I prefer basketball. Do you know the charm of basketball...?"

Rosen's reply seemed to unlock Mike's floodgates. Just as he was about to give Rosen a lively lesson on basketball, the other man showed no interest at all.

"I don't like basketball." Rosen poured a bucket of cold water over Mike's head.

"And... I'll never pilot a Jaeger again."

Rosen did not even look back. He simply kept walking, leaving everything behind him.

"Hey! Buddy, don't think you can shake me off!"

Mike shouted stubbornly, but unfortunately, Rosen could no longer hear him...

Rosen was in an absolutely terrible mood.

Today had brought one disaster after another. The approaching kaiju horde was one thing, but Kunlun's fate also left Rosen feeling unsettled. He did not even know what that feeling was.

Was it the joy of finally setting down a burden, or the guilt of carrying regret for the rest of his life?

"What a joke... Is this what all my years of hard work have come to?"

He did not stop to admire the scenery again. He simply plunged into the candidate cadets' residential area.

The candidate cadets' residential area was not too different from the official cadets' area. It was generally square-shaped, with corridors crisscrossing throughout. There was only one difference—

The official cadets had single rooms, while the candidate cadets had double rooms.

"Room 2213..."

Holding his ID card, Rosen searched room by room. Before long, he found the right place.

Rosen had dearly hoped that his dorm room would still be empty. That way, he could freely work on his research materials without having to accommodate anyone else.

But... Rosen's hopes were ultimately shattered.

This dorm room had long since acquired its owner. There it was, his name written on the mailbox slot to the right of the door.

Rosen gave it a brief glance, then immediately froze.

"...Mike..."

"Kane?"

Rosen blinked.

"Fuck."

Today was an unlucky day, and there would be countless more like it ahead.

"Hey, buddy, are you really not planning to say anything?"

This was already Mike Kane's thirteenth question.

Over the past three hours, he had simply sat on the upper bunk across from Rosen, swinging his feet while chewing on a piece of bread.

The guy seemed excessively lazy. Aside from Rosen's bed, Mike's belongings had been tossed everywhere throughout the dorm—from cigarettes to magazines, from short-sleeved shirts to winter coats. Everything was there. If there were a few kaiju organs mixed in, Rosen would have thought he had returned to Dr. Newton's laboratory.

"Come on, it's not like I eat people."

Mike was still trying to make conversation, but Rosen only kept typing on the keyboard in front of him, his eyes fixed on the laptop screen without the slightest interest in chatting.

"What a strange guy..."

Mike muttered it, but to his surprise, Rosen suddenly closed his laptop and looked at him with a stern expression.

"What do you want to say?" Rosen spread his hands and added, "I can have some necessary conversations with you, but first, those hands that have picked your feet cannot touch any of my things. Understood?"

"Oh... oh!" Mike hid his hands behind his back and nodded.

"Now then, your question." Rosen pinched the bridge of his nose wearily and asked.

"What exactly are you busy with?"

You wouldn't understand even if I told you, Rosen thought. But seeing Mike's determined expression, like he would keep asking until he got an answer, Rosen casually said, "Jaegers."

"So the rumors are true. You're not just a Jaeger pilot, you can build Jaegers too?"

More precisely, he was not a Jaeger builder but a researcher. Still, Rosen had no intention of correcting him and simply nodded again.

But Rosen did not intend to remain on the defensive forever. He took the initiative to ask, "From the sound of it, you knew from the beginning that we would be assigned to the same dorm?"

"N-no, I didn't."

"Hmph. Is that so?"

Just as Rosen was about to press further, noise suddenly erupted outside the door. Among it, someone's shout of "kaiju" reached Rosen's ears loud and clear.

Rosen instinctively stood and headed for the door. Mike hurriedly jumped down from the bed and followed him.