Disclaimer: I do not own any of Infinite Stratos... I wish I did.
At the IS Academy, students, for the most part teenage girls, are making their way through the campus for the start of a new year. Returning second and third year students chat amongst themselves; catching up with each other about how their winter breaks went and what kind of plans they for this year.
One young man, Ichika Orimura, makes his way through the crowd of girls as he treks his way up the stairs of the main entrance. Of course, naturally as the only male in the world that has the ability to pilot an IS and brother the world renowned Chifuyu Orimura, Orimura has made quite the popularity for himself amonst the student body. That seemed to only grow with the encounter and triumph with the terrorist from last year and the glitch with the Silver Gospel IS that went loose.
With a smile, Ichika walks into the dormitories looking for his assigned room. Feels good to be back... he thinks to himself. After exchanging quick "hellos" and acknowledgements amongst some of the second year students that he met as a first year, he finally reaches his room. As he is about to slide in his card key to unlock the door, he hears someone call out his name.
"Ichika!"
The young man in question turns to his left to see a young Japanese girl the same age as him running towards him as she waves. A bright smile spreads across his face as he looks at his first childhood friend, Houki Shinonono. Slightly shorter than Ichika, toned body, long black hair, and not in the least bit unattractive by any means, Ichika always wondered how Houki never had guys line up to court her. Of course, she was always rather very serious all the time but those who were close to her knew very well about the girly innocence she rarely showed. She still showed a good level of annoyance whenever the topic of her older sister, Tabane, came up or made her presence felt around Houki. However, after Tabane designed for her own personal IS, Akatsubaki, Houki has made progress in not fully resenting her.
"Hey, Houki," Ichika greeted with a small smile on his face. "How ya been?"
"I've been good, thank you," Houki replied politely as she returned his smile with one of hers. "How was yours?"
Cute... Ichika thought to himself. "Mine was good thank you." Ichika cleared his throat gently to nonchalantly check Houki was paying attention to him. "I uh, I missed you over winter break, Houki," Ichika said shyly as a blush spread across his cheeks, averting his gaze off into the hallway as he reached back and started to scratch his head.
Taken slightly aback by Ichika's comment, Houki gasped silently as the blood rushed towards her face. She, too, looked off to the side to hopefully hide her embarrassment and inward joy about being thought about by Ichika; let alone to be cared about enough to be missed over break when all of them were on their own.
"Baka," Houki whispered under her breath.
"Eh?" Ichika inquired as he turned back towards Houki, unconsciously putting himself closer to her. The two locked eye contact; staring deeply into each other's eyes. Houki's lips... They look so soft... Ichika thought to himnself. Usually, he would be chiding himself mentally or be too shy and polite to act so intimately with one of his closest friends but with Houki, the feeling he felt was that everything about the situation felt right.
Houki herself struggled within; fighting back the urge to pull away. Idiot! What are you doing?! Don't be giving up your first kiss so easily to him! Hey! These thoughts and all others related were muted by the look in Ichika's eyes. Those dark brown orbs, that her, and annoyingly five other girls, get lost so easily into have a mesmerizing spell hidden behind them.
"Ichika..."
"Houki..."
" " ICHIKA! " "
"Eh?"
All of a sudden two partial deployed ISs were pointing at Ichika's forehead; the muzzle of a gun and the large circular cannon that he recognized all too well. Ichika knew automatically who was behind both of the weapons respectively but he did not get a chance to truly think on it as his eyes enlarged in fear of his life and that of Houki's. Instinctively, he grabbed Houki's hand and picked her up as he ran for their lives down the hall.
"Hey! You come back here!" Cecilia Alcott yelled after the pair.
"Ichika! Don't think you can run away from us!" Lingyin Huang (known as Rin by her friends) added as the pair of girls chased them through the halls.
Cecilia is the representative from Great Britain with her own private IS known as Blue Tears. Originally, much to the poor relationship she had with her father up until his death along with her mother - seeing him as weak and as really used marriage as a way to rise in society - she indeed looked down upon men as being inferior to women in every way possible. That, of course, changed when she fought Ichika for the title of class representative which she really didn't win mainly because Ichika's personal IS ran out of shield energy before he could deal the finishing blow that would have won the fight for him.
Rin is the second childhood friend of Ichika and also harbors very strong feelings for him from a promise that was made between the two of them. Ichika being Ichika, he did not pick up the hint that he promise he made was for him to be Rin's boyfriend if she were to improve her cooking. Her parents' divorce was what had forced her to move away from him during their younger years but she still did not forget him or the promise that they made. Last year as first years, Rin was in the second class as its representative and the representative from China. Her personal IS that she pilots is known as Shenlong.
Bursts of blue lasers and charged orange particles were shot after the poor Japanese teenagers as their British and Chinese friends seemed to show no change in their tenacity in punishing the boy. Screams amongst the other girls who were onlooking echoed throughout the hall, much of it just really fangirling over the physical closeness that Ichika and Houki were sharing in their current situation. The former was more concerned about their physical wellbeing while the latter was also reveling in the way Ichika was carrying her down the hall. Ichika finally was able to make it out of the dormitories and out onto the courtyard before they were noticed by another pair of girls that were close to him and Houki.
"Ichika! What's going on?!"
"Wife! What is the meaning of this?"
The two new girls entering the situation were Charlotte Dunois and Laura Bodewig.
Charlotte was originally sent to the Academy from her home country by her father and his corporation's orders to get more information on Ichika's personal IS. Part of the charade was to go under the alias of being another male pilot but that cat was quickly let out of the bag when Ichika accidentally walked in on her showering. What didn't help was the rumor that the two had taken a bath together the previous night which incurred the wrath of Houki, Cecilia, and Rin at the time. She is the representative for France, piloting a second generation IS known as Rafale Revive Custom II. What enchanted her for falling for Ichika was his willingness and kindheartedness to help her despite knowing what her intentions originally were. Her personality of being the shy, angelic type is what allows her to be very close to Ichika, much to the chargin of the other girls.
Laura is a different type of girl from the rest of Ichika's close friends on many different levels. For starters, her first meeting with him had begun with a slap across his face. Initially hating him for being the cause of her mentor leaving (coincidentally, Chifuyu Orimura), Laura saw Ichika as nothing more than a nuisance that was better dealt with before becoming a serious obstacle with her relationship with the older Orimura sibling. Her feelings for him were created during a tournament that brought her against Ichika and Charlotte when he saved her from within her IS known as Schwarzer Regen. That led to the famous incident when she charged into class and kissed him in front of his whole class and proclaimed him to be her "wife"; one of the few things that Laura is misinformed about Japanese culture.
Before he could answer, explosions erupted from behind him as Cecilia and Rin closed their distance between him and Houki. The force of the blasts propelled him and Houki toward Charlotte and Laura, respectively landing on the girls as they did so. Houki and Laura were able to push themselves off of each other and the ground while they gaped wide eyed at the other two that were forced to the floor. Ichika's body was sloppily sprawled over Charlotte's as she too looked like someone just nonchalantly dropped her on the floor. What had everyone's attention except Ichika's was where the poor boy in question had his left hand - right on Charlotte's left bosom. Humorously, the hand didn't look like it was an accidental or gentle cup of the breast. More so, an intentional grasp or squeeze seemed to be more appropriate.
"Ichika..." Charlotte started, too shy and embarrassed to outright tell the boy she loved was coughing a pretty good feel at the moment.
Ichika groaned in his attempt to push himself off of Charlotte only to find his left hand was on top of something soft. For some odd reason, the lights up stairs weren't on and the one couldn't be carried over without him pushing down and squeezing, getting quite the handful from Charlotte.
"You pervert..." Charlotte finished with a blush on her face.
"Charlotte! You know I'm not like that!" Ichika screamed in his defense.
Unfortunately, his pleas fell on deaf ears as the remaining girls looked at him with glares in their eyes that froze the poor boy in his current position; straddling Charlotte with her right boob in his left hand. Ichika probably would have sweat all of the remaining water in his body right then and there if he were to continue being under the piercing gazes he was under right now - all of his friends with personal ISs and a temper with a fuse the length of a paperclip.
"Orimura." The name came from a stern, deep woman that had seen the events unfold before. The look of annoyance was wrought over her face as her eyes were closed to further drive the idea home that the behavior displayed by the six teenagers was embarrassing. Tall, slender, ample physical attributes, Chifuyu Orimura looked more like a model than the world's strongest woman even with the office attire that she always sported while on campus. To her side was Maya Yamada, her assistant teacher to class 1-1. On the calmer, quieter, and shyer instructor's face was more embarrassment and slight discomfort due to the memory erupting forth from last year during a demonstration that left her in a similar situation that the Dunois girl was in.
Instantly, Ichika shot up like a soldier called to attention by his superior office - his back straight and stiff as a board, shoulders back, chest up, hands stuck to his sides. The girls looked on with amazed faces, still surprised to see what kind of effect the older Orimura sibling had on their friend. "Y-Yes, Chifuyu-nee."
A smack to the top of his head by a rolled up stack of papers met his head for his usual mistake of addressing his older sister whilst still on campus.
"It's Orimura-sensei to you, baka."
Ichika rubbed his head gently with embarrassment in his tone. "Sorry about that."
The sibling doing the questioning opened her eyes and cooly gave an order to her younger brother.
"Settle into your dorm. You will have a roommate this year," Chifuyu Orimura said to Ichika but the volume of her information was directed at all six of the strongest second years. Houki and the other girls stood shocked that there was going to be another student rooming in with Ichika.
Ichika too was very surprised by the news. All through last year, he had three different roommates; Houki, Charlotte, and Tatenashi Sarashiki - the last bringing much frustration and agitation to the all five girls; her constant flirtations with Ichika were blatant and caused much discomfort for the aforementioned boy and yet, she did so constantly out of pure enjoyment. There was some speculation that she too may have done so out of her own feelings for Ichika but that is another matter. Great... Another girl for all of them to be upset with me over. It's not like I enjoy the fact that they fight over me and bring trouble for me. However, if it is another student, then I will get along with her. It must be somewhat important for Nee-chan to come talk to me about it.
"When will I get to meet the new student?" Ichika inquired.
"You'll get to meet the new student in class today. However, I do have something to ask of you regarding this new student," Chifuyu stated, her tone conveying the importance of the matter at hand. Ichika remembered the exact same tone during the Silver Gospel incident and the run-ins with the terrorist group, Phantom Task. "I want you to be close to this student. Aid in whatever is asked of you. Can you do that?"
"Y-Yeah..." Ichika sputtered out.
"Good. See you in class." As soon as she finished her last word, Chifuyu Orimura and Maya Yamada turned around and began walking back towards the campus buildings where the lecture part of classes were held.
"One thing," Ichika called after. The older Orimura sibling stopped in her tracks as did Yamada to look back at the younger sibling. "Why is it so important that I get along with the new student?"
Without turning back towards her younger brother/student, she said, "Because the new student is a boy."
A/N: Hey guys! This is my second fanfic that I will be currently working on and my first Infinite Stratos piece! I am really excited as to what becomes of this one so reviews are all welcome.
If you are familiar with my Rosario + Vampire fanfic (if not, you are welcome to go check that out at your own discretion), I will be continuing that as well so please wait patiently. My muse regarding that piece is taking a break whereas this muse came to me a few days ago. Forgive me - I feel like such a man-whore for picking up another muse so quickly. _"
Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I am really looking forward to this one! Farewell for now!