PROLOGUE

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"Now where did Council Prez go to now?"

The voice came from a man with dark-blue hair and wearing a white school uniform as he was aimlessly weaving through the crowd at a busy fish market. It was just half an hour past noon and he was supposedly there to buy some fish for his house.

"And I still need to get back to the IS Academy before sundown or else…"

Suddenly he got a private message from his high-tech bracer, the same one which he can use to call out his personal Infinite Stratos unit, Byakkushiki.

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Ichika-kun,

I might not be able to assist you on your fish shopping today. Something important came up, prompting me to attend to it as Student Council President. I will try to make up for it some other time.

You're free to go about for now, but make sure to be back before curfew; your sister can be quite scary sometimes…

-Tatenashi

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With that, Ichika scratched his head in disbelief. He thought that with her around, he would be safe to go about outside the IS Academy. She is the Council President after all, the one considered as the most powerful IS user. And right now, she just left him all alone in a public area.

"Seriously, Tatenashi-san? Well, talk about responsibility," he thought.

Just then, he heard a loud cry from a distance. "STOP, THIEF!"

He quickly turned to the direction of the voice until he chanced upon a man running towards him, holding a cellphone.

"I can't use Byakkushiki here, lest I expose myself. Guess I have no choice…"

Just as the thief was fast approaching Ichika, the latter grabbed hold of the thief's right arm and took him down. He then placed his left knee on the thief's back, just as a couple of policemen arrived to apprehend the snatcher.

"Thanks for the help, youngster," said one of the policemen who picked up the stolen cellphone from the ground, while his partner cuffed the criminal. "Better give this to that young woman nearby; she's the one with light-brown hair and green uniform."

"Thanks, officer. Just had to respond properly," Ichika replied upon receiving the phone from the cop. Looking at the phone, he noticed a small Anglerfish figure dangling on it, and with a logo of a school on its front casing.

"Ōarai Girls' Academy?" He thought, while looking at the logo. Just then, the girl who the cop described minutes ago approached him.

"Oh, this must be yours," Ichika lightly said, as he handed the phone to her. "You need to be more careful with your belongings. There are a lot of those criminals here in the docks, you know."

"Th-Thank you…" She uttered, but could not look at Ichika; her cheeks began to turn red, as she turned away and left.

"Well, that went rather well," he said while scratching his head again. "Better get back to looking for fish…"

He then looked at the big ship docked at the pier next to the fish market. It also bore the same logo as the one he saw on the girl's cellphone.

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Meanwhile, at the observation deck of Ōarai Academy's aircraft carrier-slash-floating school complex…

"Hmmn, I think I got your idea, President Sarashiki. But a friendly Sensha-Dō match within 8 days? "

"Ms. Kadotani, I can easily set the location for the match through my authority. And despite their lack of familiarity with the concept, I can assure you that the students of the IS Academy can be as competitive as the majority of schools who do Panzerkraft."

"So why 8 days then?"

"Let's just say the timeframe will give them a chance to familiarize themselves with the sport. This will also give us a chance to procure the tanks the IS Academy will use, and for both schools to find extra crew members."

"What is it for us then?"

"As current head of the Sarashiki Family, I will authorize a reasonably sizeable donation in favor of Oarai. Also, I have received word from the top brass that the IS Academy will gladly conduct periodical inspection of the school complex to keep it as seaworthy as possible."

Anzu shook her head in approval then picked up a piece of sweet potato from her table. After taking a bite, she poured some iced tea on a couple of glasses, then handed one to Tatenashi.

"Consider this as my sign of approval, Madame President," she declaimed as both of them tapped their glasses as a sign of courtesy…

-=-=-=-= INCOMING TRANSMISSION=-=-=-=-=-

Yeah, this might be a bit short than expected, but expect some gaps between updates as I will be conducting extensive research on both series and the machines that will eventually appear thereof.

Until then…

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