Title: Rules of Engagement
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Macross Frontier.
Summary: A prequel to The Longest Battle. Ten shots where Saotome Alto attempts to propose to Sheryl Nome.

Alto inspected the wings of his paper plane and smiled to himself. Unlike his breakfast proposal failure, this was bound to work. He looked down from the top of the small hill he was standing on and down to the Galactic Fairy who was down on her knees, collecting wild flowers an humming a tune of hers.

He took one last look at his paper creation, the words ‘Marry Me’ emblazoned on the wings. He took a deep breath before cupping his free hand to his mouth.

“Oi, Sheryl!”

Hearing her name, the woman looked up to the man standing on the mount of the hill.

“What?!”

Alto gulped down his nervousness and steadied himself, that and trying to ignore the drumming of his heart. She was standing up now and brushing off petals and grass from her skirt. This was it. Despite the cool wind, Alto felt sweat trickling down his back. Sheryl watched him from below, looking curious and annoyed at the same time.

He mentally counted to three and then…

“Catch!”

With a flick of his wrist, he sent his plane flying into the playing breeze. His eyes followed the paper craft as it headed straight for his target. Sheryl giggled with childlike glee as she stood on her tiptoes, raising both arms to reach for the incoming plane. Alto held his breath in anticipation.

Just when Sheryl was about to grab his proposal, something from the air swooped down and grabbed it.

“Sheryl-san! Alto-kun!”

A bubbling young girl from an opposite hill came ambling down towards Sheryl with a jovial sprint.

“Ah, Ranka-chan.” Sheryl beamed, completely forgetting about Alto’s paper airplane.

“Sheryl-san, it’s great to see you! It was such a nice day today, so I came out here with Ai-kun.”

“Ai-kun?”

Sheryl looked up, just in time to see it rain shredded paper.

“Ah! Ai-kun! What”—

“Don’t worry, Ranka-chan. It’s just one of Alto’s stupid paper airplanes.”

“Oh, okay!” She looked over to where Alto was— and frowned.

“Sheryl-san, why is Alto-kun cursing and stomping on the ground like a madman?”

“Hmm…must be a bug or something.”