Meeting B.B.

So it was a trap...

I should have known, somethings are too good to be true.

Well, it's not like I didn't suspect anything. I did a good amount of research over the place, called the university and certified myself the scholarship was real.

So what was the problem? What was the trap I was talking about?

Well...It's like this...

My scholarship allows me to enter the University and attend 6 different subjects per semester, which is the bare minimum to graduate after 5 years, and any extra class I want to attend will have to be paid separately.

That's not all. I can't choose from all university courses! No, actually there is a restricted list of courses that I can choose from and aside from basic maintenance and structural concept, all of them are targeted to those wishing to be Titan pilots, not engineers.

So in the end it's not like there are no Titan engineering courses in the university, it's just that they are all sealed by a paywall, an extremely expensive paywall, which a common foreign student like me, from a country whose money is worth crap, has no way to pay for it.

"Okay, that's a lie. I can actually pay for a single one... for a single month, that is..."

Yeah, all money I got from that damn wolf who almost ended my life is barely enough to pay for single month of a single class in this university. F my life! I'm too poor!

As I look at the ceiling of my new rented apartment a few tears of frustration escape my eyes.

"Damn! Why didn't I see this coming!? What the hell do I do now??"

Staying locked in my bedroom wouldn't solve any problem so I decided to take a walk in town to breath a bit of fresh air.

...

"I'm lost!"

No kidding! This place is huge! I have no idea where I wondered and how I got here. I was just watching the people on the streets as I walked without any direction in mind, turning right or left randomly as I progressed through my way.

"Damn, this is no joke. If I keep wondering around night will fall before I get back home! Time to use my secret weapon!"

Putting my hand in my pocket I took out the familiar device and brought it in front of me, clicking on the side bottom to power it on.

[Welco-]

Pff!!? Black! The screen turned black!

Oh no! Damn it! My address is saved in my phone!!! How am I going to go back now!?

Hmm.. Let's just walk around a bit longer and try to find our way...

...

Okay! Okay! I admit! It was a bad decision!

Now night arrived and I'm in a pretty dark neighborhood.

What will I do if someone try to assault me!?

Well, that's obvious, idiot, I will... give them my wallet and pray they don't kill me!

While I was deluding myself over the possibility of being assaulted by some gang or something a hand suddenly tapped my shoulder.

"Hey boy, it's pretty late. What are you doing here?"

My body jumped from the scare I took, but hearing the man's reasonable voice I calmed down a little bit and turned around.

"Ugh! S-sorry sir, I'm new here and I ended up getting l-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There are some stereotypes in life that normal people like me naturally keep away. People with many piercings, painted hair, heavy make up, that seem quite strong, that have an "evil" face... Well, you know, people like that. And the guy in front of me was like an amalgamation of the "keep distance" signs in a single person. Yeah, that's it. It was great while it lasted but it seems my life is finished....

"Hey boy! Are you okay! Hey! Wake up! Boy! Boy!!!!"

-//-

When I woke up I was laying over a sofa in the middle of a badly lit Titan Garage.

"...Where am....Oh!"

Seeing the Titans lined up in this place, I couldn't help but start exploring it but once I heard the door opening up, I had the impulse to ran back to the sofa and pretend I was still sleeping but unfortunately not enough time to do so, so I just froze in place with my back to the door.

"Oh! You wake up? Sorry for the scare. Fancy pants like you don't usually walk around these parts."

"Eh? I..."

I recognized the voice immediately, maybe because it was the last thing I heard before fainting it had made quite an impression to me. Since I already knew what to expect, it was easier to keep a bit of my composure as I turned around.

"Did you like what you see? These are my pride! The first one is mine and the following are Thomas', Elise's, Mike's and Gary's Titans in this exact same order."

"I-I see..."

(But I have no idea who those people are!)

"Sorry but I opened up your wallet while looking for some contact number to drop you off."

"Ah! Huh... N-no problem."

(You can even keep the money, okay. I won't even notice!)

"Drink this and calm down for a bit, let's have some talk."

"Eh? O-okay..."

(This is not drugs, right? RIGHT? Oh god, please protect me!)

...

The talk that proceeded may have felt like the longest talk in my life. At first I felt like walking in a needle bed, worrying about each word that I said, but somehow the talk proceeded in a direction that I would never had imagined in my life.

Actually B.B. (Big Bill), the scary guy talking to me, was a pretty nice guy. He led a team of Titan pilots and explored regulated Dungeons to make money selling their loot.

Last week one of their pilots named Gary had suffered an accident while driving his motorcycle playing superman and because of this he would stay in the hospital for the next few months healing himself. This opened a vacancy for Gary's Titan which was why they were now searching for someone to hire temporarily.

While looking at my wallet, B.B. noticed I was an student from a Mech University, so he decided to ask if I had interest in a temporary job. I just needed to fill in while Gary was recovering and receive payment proportional to my contribution.

The proposal sounded fair and I urgently needed money so it didn't take much for him to convince me to take the job, but before we could shake hands, there was still one task left pending which was proving my skills to the whole team and ensuring I wouldn't be holding them back.

They obviously wouldn't allow me near the cockpit before proving my skills so, to do so, we agreed to meet in the TSC (Titan Simulation Center) to play a few rounds next Saturday and see if I had what it took.

As we talked Big Bill lend me his recharger to charge my phone and after our talk was over he even gave me a ride in his motorcycle to bring me back home.