~Death of Innocence~

Flickering screens and static sounds filled the darkened room as a rather well-endowed green-haired woman sat typing away on a holographic keyboard. The focused expression on her face betrayed her usual, aloof demeanor, but it couldn't hope to rival the one held by the figure standing behind her.

"Find out anything Maya?" asked the figure with a stern, yet feminine voice.

"No. It doesn't appear that anything is out of the ordinary Orimura-sensei." Maya adjusted her spectacles before continuing to type. "Shinonono's Akatsubaki shows no ill effects from the accident earlier today. What do you think Chifuyu...I mean Orimura-sensei?"

Chifuyu pretended not to notice the hand that had quickly clasped itself over her assistant's mouth; instead leaning forward to get a closer look at the data from that day's training session. She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"It doesn't make sense Maya. Hows does Shinonono get injured if her IS was fully functional? Even her shield rating was above fifty percent according to this data." The raven-haired instructor loosened the tie around her neck that matched her form-fitting black suit. It had been a long day, even for her, and if there was anyone who knew a thing or two about long days, it was Chifuyu Orimura.

"Has she woken up yet?" asked Chifuyu, adopting a softer tone of voice.

Maya shook her head sadly. "Not yet."

"Are Ichika and the others still down there?"

"As of an hour ago they were."

Chifuyu pulled out her phone and checked the time.

1:57 a.m.

"Alright well I'm going to go down and check up on her before finishing up some paperwork. I trust you'll notify me of any new developments?"

"Of course sensei! Have a good night!" Maya bowed her head slightly before turning back to the numerous data projections in front of her. Chifuyu allowed a small smile to pierce her features before walking toward the exit.

"Don't stay up too late Maya. Good night."

With the door closed behind her, Chifuyu began to make her way to the infirmary where she suspected she would find a certain someone.

Ichika...don't you know it's a school night you baka?

Ichika yawned loudly before scratching the tuft of dark hair at the back of his head. He looked at the clock on the wall of the infirmary.

1:58 a.m

It was definitely getting late and on a school night no less! Ichika shook those thoughts from his head, however, as he looked over at the girl resting peacefully in bed. Closing his eyes for a moment, he tried to recall the incident that had occurred earlier that day. Chifuyu-nee had decided that Class 1 would run solo drills at the end of class. Each student was assigned a different "target" or goal to meet. It sounded harsh, but in reality most of the instructions were fairly straightforward and simple as would be expected at the end of a long day. Houki was the last student to go and her goal was to execute a simple dive maneuver before flattening out and landing safely on her mecha feet.

Something went awry, however, and Houki crashed straight into the training grounds. Ichika's face scrunched up as the vivid memories came flooding back into his mind's eye. Despite the relative safety of IS units, especially in non-combat situations, Houki was found to be unconscious and was rushed to the infirmary for further testing. Flash forward to the present and Ichika was the lone survivor among his sea of friends still standing. All of them came up with flimsy commitments that they needed to tend to, but Ichika saw the worry and exhaustion in their eyes and ushered them off to get some rest. Ichika himself had decided to wait for his first childhood friend to wake up, but even he was getting restless as the hours passed. Sneaking a glance at the clock one last time, Ichika decided it was probably best to get some sleep and began to rise from his seat before a stirring noise caught his attention.

"Houki? Are you awake?" Ichika rushed to the side of his first childhood friend.

"I-Ichika?" Ichika recognized that Houki's voice was weak, but the fact that she was awake and conscious was more than enough to lift his spirits.

"Yes I'm right here, are you alright? How are you feeling?"

"I'm...better...now that you're h-here."

Confused, Ichika was about to ask Houki what she meant by that when all of a sudden she blurted, "Ichika you're so sexy! Come here!"

A red-faced Houki and mouth-agape Ichika stared at each other while the silence continued to envelop the room. After what seemed like an eternity, Ichika was finally able to muster a retort to Houki's exclamation.

"Eh?!"

A/n: Hopefully that wasn't too bad, the writing is a little rusty at the moment heh. As always, thanks for reading and reviews, comments, and constructive criticism are more than welcome!