So, I have decided that before I take this story any further I am going to rewrite the first three chapters. I feel like my writing has improved significantly since I started this fic and I want to tweak a few details to fit the direction the story will go in. So please bare with me as I rework these chapters.
And with that said, enjoy the new first chapter.
Chapter 1: First Impressions
A young man climbed down from a ladder and dusted off his shirt with his hands before focusing on the work in front of him. A proud smile taking over his face as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
'So then, is it finished.' A calm voice inquired from within the young man's mind.
"Yep." The young man nodded. "It took two years, but my own personal IS is raring to go." He added as he went about putting his tools away and cleaning up his workshop a bit.
'Took ya long enough!' A second, arrogant voice boomed from within the young man's mind.
The boy placed his left index and middle fingers to the side of his head, close to his left eye, a stream of data regarding the machine in front of him popped up in view of his eye. More accurately, the screen appeared in his vision only, his eye acting as the monitor for the small window.
"It wouldn't have been possible without her data. I still don't understand why she let me look at it, this stuff is supposed to be top secret." The boy wondered aloud. "It's as if she completely forgot about the 'gifts' she gave me." He chuckled as he removed his fingers from the side of his head, dismissing the pop-up in his vision.
'Well that doesn't matter now.' The calm reminded the boy. 'What does matter is the four months of training you have ahead of you.'
'And then stage two can begin.' The arrogant voice chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah. We'll start training tomorrow." The boy responded dismissively as a yawn escaped from his mouth. He left the room and got an early nights rest to prepare for the months ahead of him.
'Oh well done! Late on your first day of school.' The arrogant voice mocked the boy that was currently sprinting down the hall.
'Can it!' The boy mentally yelled as he stopped outside of a classroom, hoping it was class one. The boy took the time to catch his breath and straighten his uniform before opening the door.
"Alright class. I'm your homeroom teacher Ms. Chifuyu Orimura, it's my job to train you well enough that you can stand on your own in one year." The teacher introduced herself.
'Alright, I'm not that late. Just gotta get to my seat.' The boy thought before noticing an empty seat at the front of the class.
And here he was, hoping he could have snuck to the back of the class. He was one step into the classroom before Chifuyu snapped her head in his direction to glare at him.
"And you, the latecomer. It takes a lot of guts or lack of a brain to be late to my class." The teacher scolded, bringing everyone's attention to the boy in the doorway.
The boy felt a chill run down his spine as he answered. "I'm very sorry about that. My alarm didn't go off so I ended up oversleeping and then I got lost." The boy chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I didn't ask you for excuses and I don't care for them. Your punishment is to show him how to properly introduce yourself to a class." Chifuyu ordered as she pointed to a very familiar looking teen.
'I believe that is Ichika Orimura, he has appeared in several news articles recently since they found out he could pilot an IS' The calm voice informed the boy.
'Thanks Order.' The boy mentally thanked as he kept his eyes on the only other male IS pilot.
"Are you waiting for a written invitation?" Chifuyu asked the boy, her impatience coming through loud and clear. The boy jumped slightly as he focused back on the situation at hand.
"Right, sorry." Another nervous chuckle leaving his mouth as he stepped toward the front of the class and faced his peers. "Hello, it's nice to meet you all. I am Jack Moreau. I am half English and half French. Though I was born and raised here in Japan, Hokkaido specifically. I am fluent in all three languages and know some German as well since my family vacationed there once. Once again, it is a pleasure to meet you all." Jack gave a bow as he finished his introduction. "Any questions?"
One of the girls in the class raised her hand and called out her question without waiting for the go ahead.
"Why are your eyes different colours?" She called out.
"I'm heterochromatic and due to a rare medical condition, my eyes are unnatural colours." Jack explained as he pointed between his purple right eye and yellow left eye. "Anyone else?" He asked as his hand returned to his side.
"Is your hair colour natural?" Another girl called out.
Jack ran a hand through his messy, shoulder-length, wine red hair. "Yes it is. Though I don't really have an explanation for it." He admitted.
"Why are you wearing gloves?" Yet another girl called out.
Jack focused on the thin, black gloves he was wearing. Turning his hands over so his palms were facing upwards, they fit like... well like gloves. "These are what allow me to activate my personal IS." He answered, rousing a few murmurs from the class.
"Are you single?" A fourth girl asked.
Jack felt his face heat up as his cheeks reddened slightly. "Y-yes." He answered meekly as he fiddled with the collar of his school blazer. A loud "kyaaah" erupted from the majority of the girls in the class, which was the majority of the class since the school was technically an all-girls school.
"Alright, take your seat." Chifuyu ordered as she pointed to the open seat next to Ichika.
Jack took his seat and sighed as he calmed down, he could hear the girls whispering but opted to ignore them for the sake of sanity.
'That could have gone better. You should have exerted your dominance.' The arrogant voice told the boy.
'And look like a complete asshole? No thanks. I'd prefer it if I wasn't hated by everyone if that's okay with you, Chaos.' Jack replied.
'I still question your naming sense.' Order sighed.
'Oh shut up, I was ten.' Jack whined mentally as he remembered the day he named the two voices.
'I'm just saying-' Order began before Jack interrupted him.
'Just be quiet or I'm muting both of you. Two A.I. in my head and neither can be grateful that I even bothered to give them a name.' He ordered before mentally grumbling at the end.
Chifuyu slammed her hands down on the podium at the front of the classroom, catching everyone's attention and causing them to go silent.
"That's enough." Chifuyu demanded before going on to explain what the students would be doing during the year. "The next six months begin with memorising all data related to the IS. After that, practical training where you'll have two weeks to master the basic manoeuvres. So, have you got that? Even if you didn't, say yes ma'am."
"Yes ma'am!" The class replied.
The rest of the day proceeded at a slow pace, from the staring and whispers from the girls to the lessons covering the basics. Jack had his face down on his desk, tuning out the girls and running through what he had learnt up to this point.
'I am so bored.' Jack complained to the voices in his head.
'You knew what you were getting into when you applied for the academy. Besides, you need to learn all of this if you wish for the plan to succeed.' Order reminded the teen, being the voice of reason as he always was.
'Screw that, let's fight someone already.' Chaos spoke up, his aggressive side showing as it always did.
'I swear to god you two, if I didn't need you-' Jack's thought was interrupted when someone tapped on his left shoulder, he raised his head and looked to the left to find Ichika giving him a kind smile.
"Hey, I'm Ichika Orimura. It's nice to meet you Jack." Ichika greeted the boy sitting next to him.
"Likewise Ichika, it's nice to meet you too." Jack returned the greeting a smile that matched Ichika's.
"Thanks, I hope we can be friends. It would be nice to get along with the only other guy here." Ichika admitted as he rubbed the back of neck.
"Yeah, I hope we can come to be good friends too. We are outnumbered here after all, it would be nice to we have each other's backs at least." Jack agreed as he leaned forwards on his desk.
A girl with brown hair tied back in a long ponytail walked over to Ichika's desk and glared at him.
"Can we talk in the hallway for a minute?" She asked Ichika.
"Eh?" Was Ichika's response before looking over at Jack.
"Go on." Jack urged as he gestured to the girl. "I can fend for myself for a bit." He watched as Ichika and the girl left the classroom, not failing to notice some of the girls that were peering in from the doorway follow after them. "Unbelievable. You'd think these girls have never seen a guy before." The boy whispered to himself as he relaxed in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
'In their defence, most of them have likely been training for a while to prepare for enrolment. Besides, there's a difference between normal boys at regular schools and two male IS pilots at the IS Academy.' Order defended on behalf of the girls.
'I see your point, but do they have to stalk us?' Jack retorted.
'I wouldn't say this constitutes as stalking. Besides, it's better to the alternatives. They could have completely shunned you or be physically clinging to you.' Came Order's rebuttal.
'Yap, yap, yap. Can we get to the fightin' already.' Chaos butted in with a bored tone and a yawn.
'Is that all you care about?' Order sighed, bringing Chaos's priorities into question.
'No.' Chaos stated defensively. 'I care about the plan, which is why I want to start collecting data as soon as possible.' The A.I. informed what was essentially its twin.
'It'll take a while to collect everything we need and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks by recklessly challenging everyone to fight me. We're gonna take things slow, keep up the facade of a somewhat regular teenager.' Jack explained to Chaos. 'But when we do start collecting data, it would be a good idea start with those with personal IS'. Agreed?'
'Agreed.' The A.I.'s would have nodded if they could have.
Jack lowered his head and closed his eyes to take a quick nap before the next class.
"Okay. Does anyone have any questions so far?" Ms. Yamada asked the class as she stood at the teacher's podium. "How about you, Orimura? Do you have any questions?" She inquired as she leant over the podium.
"Well... Uh..." Ichika took a second to think since he wasn't expecting the question.
"If you do have any questions, ask away." Ms. Yamada beamed at the boy in front of her.
"Ms. Yamada." Ichika squeaked out as he slowly raised his hand.
"Yes? Don't be shy." Ms. Yamada encouraged the teen.
"I don't understand any of this." Ichika admitted defeatedly.
"What? Not any of it? Is there anyone else who doesn't understand what we've covered so far?" Ms. Yamada asked the class. The question was met with a deafening silence. Until Jack's hand quietly made its way above his head.
"I... I don't really understand it either." He admitted shyly with an embarrassed blush on his face. In truth, he did understand some of the material they had covered, but the rest had gone over his head.
It was at this point that Chifuyu decided to step in to deal with the situation.
"Did neither of you read the reference manual before school started?" She asked, her glare shifting from her brother to the other male pilot and back.
"Are you talking about that big book?" Ichika questioned in response.
"That's right, didn't it say required reading?" Chifuyu asked her brother sarcastically.
"Yeah, but I accidentally threw it away." Ichika answered honestly, only to be smacked with the class roster.
Jack wanted to laugh to but held back out of consideration and because Chifuyu's glare silenced him before he had a chance, thee male pilot broke out into a cold sweat from the look in the teacher's eyes.
"And what about you, Moreau?" Chifuyu asked as she rested the class roster on her shoulder.
"I read some of it." Jack began in his own defence. "But I spilled coffee on it and it became unreadable so I... ah... threw it out..." The teen's voice became more and more like a whisper as he continued to speak, mostly because he realised how this was going to end for him. Though, instead of getting smacked with the class roster, it was slammed onto the top of his head. Which caused his jaw to smash into his desk from the force of the blow.
'Is she even legally allowed to do this?' Jack mentally inquired to the two A.I.'s.
'Do you really think she'll let you live to complain about it?' Chaos asked in response, Jack's silence answered the question.
"I'll get you both new copies, make sure you have them memorised by the end of the week." Chifuyu ordered.
"A week!?" The two male IS pilots asked in unison, shocked by ridiculous order.
"Did I stutter?" Chifuyu asked rhetorically as she hardened her gaze on the two boys, they shook their heads and gave the response she wanted to her order.
"Yes, ma'am."
After class ended, the second recess of the day began.
"May I have a word with you two?" A blonde girl requested as she approached Jack and Ichika's desks, Ichika responding with a 'hmm' while Jack stifled a very obvious yawn. The girl gasped in shock at the reception, going as far as placing her hand to her chest dramatically.
"What kind of a response is that, you both should be honoured that I am bothering to speak to you in the first place. Don't you think you should behave in a more appropriate manner?" The girl asked haughtily, Jack's eye twitched slightly at the tone of her voice.
"Look, I'm sorry but I don't even know who you are." Ichika admitted to the girl.
"You don't know who I am? I am-"
"Cecilia Alcott, IS representative candidate from England." Jack interrupted. "Daughter of a noble British family and pilot of the Blue Tears." The boy explained. "Was that a satisfactory introduction?" He asked Cecilia as he finally turned to face her.
"Quite. I'm glad one of you isn't completely devoid of knowledge." Cecilia nodded to the boy.
"Wait, she's an IS representative candidate? What does that mean?" Ichika asked in confusion, causing everyone in the class to fall over from the shock.
"It means..." Jack began his explanation with a sigh as he picked himself up. "...That she has been chosen by England to potentially represent them and their pilots, it's an honour typically given to those who are highly skilled." The teen concluded, sighing when he noticed the still confused look on Ichika's face. "Basically, she's strong." He summarised.
"Oh! When you put it like that it makes sense." Ichika nodded to the other male pilot.
"That's right! I am one of the elite. It is a true miracle and your good fortune to get to be in the same class as someone of my prestige. Oh, what incredibly lucky boys you are." Cecilia went over the top with the dramatics in her response, Jack facepalmed as a result.
"Oh yes, truly, we are so very lucky." The wine haired pilot said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Wait, are you making fun of me?" Cecilia questioned the boy, who simply grinned in response.
"One such as I making fun of an IS representative candidate, good heavens no! I mean, a commoner such as myself making fun of you could besmirch your good name. Oh the horrors I would face if I did such a thing." Jack theatrically placed the back of one of his hands to his head as the palm of the other went to his chest. A few silent seconds passed before he spoke again.
"Sorry, that was a bit much wasn't it? We are genuinely lucky to have an IS representative candidate in our class, I hope to learn a lot from you." Jack apologised with a bow before smiling at the representative candidate.
"Well, since I am so incredibly remarkable I can find it in my heart to forgive you. I did defeat an instructor during the entrance exam, so I am an elite amongst the elites." Cecilia haughtily accepted the apology.
"Uhm... I defeated an instructor too." Ichika interjected.
"What?" Cecilia gasped in shock.
"Well, I suppose it wasn't really defeat so much as it was me dodging and the instructor going 'kaboom' when she crashed into the wall." The black haired pilot elaborated.
"But, I heard I was the only one." Cecilia protested, her voice sounded slightly panicked at this point.
"They probably meant the only girl." Jack pointed out with an innocent smile.
"Don't tell me you defeated an instructor too." The blonde pilot whined.
"It came down to the wire, but yeah." Jack nodded. This only infuriated Cecilia, who was fuming at this point.
"Hey now, just calm down okay." Ichika said with some hope that it would work.
"Life lesson Ichika, never tell a woman to calm down." Jack sighed as he braced himself for whatever was coming next.
"How can I stay calm after this insult!?" Cecilia exclaimed towards Ichika. Luckily, the guys, mainly Ichika were saved by the bell. "We will be continuing this conversation later. Understood?" The representative candidate declared before leaving.
The two male pilots looked at each other, Jack being the first of the two to say anything.
"Well she was nice." He joked.
"Ten-fifteen, room ten-fifteen... Ah! Here we go." Jack muttered to himself as he finally found his room, he froze as he placed his hand on the door handle. 'So... Who wants to bet that I have a female roommate who just got out the shower and will hit me for walking in?' He asked the two A.I., knowing they'd bet amongst themselves even if he didn't mention it.
'I do.' Order and Chaos answered, perfectly in sync with each other.
"Here goes nothing." Jack mumbled as he slowly opened the door and walked inside. "Hello?" The boy called out. There was no response. "Alright, so either my roommate hasn't arrived or I don't have one. Let's hope it's the latter." He determined as he surveyed the room.
'Considering you probably applied later than most other students, the rooms were likely allocated before your application was accepted. It's highly probable that this room is yours alone.' Order deduced.
'Well, that'll make things easier for us then. A roommate would just be a nuisance.' Chaos scoffed.
"Yeah, but I'll be lonely." Jack admitted with a shrug.
'Whaddya mean? You got us don't ya?' Chaos reminded the teenage pilot.
"Forgive for not finding the two A.I. in my head as a permanent replacement for human contact." Jack sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
'Sorry for not being whole.' Chaos shot back with an irate tone.
'It's not our fault we were torn in two upon implementation.' Order defended.
"I wasn't referencing that and I don't blame you two for it, I just meant... Never mind." Jack shook his head as he sat down on one of the two beds in the room; it was the one closer to the balcony. "Two beds with bedside tables, two closets, some shelves, a computer and a TV. It's kind of like an apartment." The boy thought aloud.
'You forgot the bathroom that only contains a shower.' Order pointed out.
"The explains the toilets at the end of the hall." Jack nodded to himself before coming to a realisation. "Wait... Where am I gonna go!?" He shouted as he panicked.
'I saw plenty of bushes outside.' Chaos suggested in an amused tone.
"No." Jack flat out refused, he was repulsed by the idea. Sighing, the boy got up and opened the closet closest to his bed, he was pleasantly surprised to find his clothes already hung up. Picking out a pair of pyjamas that consisted of a pair of shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt he set them down on the bed, ready to change into once he had a shower.
After taking a shower and getting changed, Jack was laying on his bed watching TV. He occasionally flicked between the channels to see if there was any more interesting than what he had been watching on. Sometime later he decided it was time to get some sleep for the next day.
"System operation: strain relief." Jack told himself, feeling his right arm and both of his legs become lighter soon after. "Wish I didn't have to do this every night." He muttered as he crawled into his bed.
'Well, you don't necessarily have to; you just run the risk of your arm and legs freezing up during the day.' Order reminded the boy.
"Right, and I really don't want to deal with the problems that'd bring." Jack yawned as his eyes closed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.
"Are you still mad at me?" Ichika asked the ponytailed girl from the day before.
"I'm not mad at you." She replied as she continued eating her breakfast, Ichika gave her a frown.
"Then why are you still wearing the mad face?" He questioned.
"Get used to it." The girl told him harshly.
"Well you two are good friends, huh?" Jack chuckled at the display in front of him.
"Is that what it looks like?" The asked him coldly. Breakfast was going rather quietly, barring the whispers from most of the girls.
"Hey Houki do you think-" Ichika began to ask.
"Don't use my first name!" Houki practically screamed at him as she slammed her fists down on the table. Jack inched up the table a bit, so he was sitting across from Ichika instead of the girl he was slowly becoming scared of.
"Ms. Shinonono." Ichika corrected himself.
Jack flinched at the mention of that name, he began shivering as a few memories came to mind.
"Jack? Are you okay?" Ichika inquired when he noticed the behaviour from the boy across from him.
"Just fine, Ichika. Just fine." Jack smiled awkwardly. 'This is just a coincidence right?' He asked the two A.I. desperately.
'Don't kid yourself.' Chaos spat, a low growl coming from him shortly afterwards.
'To think that one of your classmates is her sister, at least this one seems more down to Earth.' Order looked on the bright side of things, but even he couldn't repress a sigh at the thought of the other Shinonono.
'Yeah, I don't I could handle another damned rabbit.' Jack admitted. As he focused back on the conversation, he noticed three new faces at the table. The three girls were asking Ichika questions, though Jack couldn't get passed the fact that one of them was wearing a fox onesie.
'Alright. What'd I miss?' Jack thought to himself.
"I think I'll excuse myself now." Houki dismissed herself as she stood up and walked off.
"Okay then, I'll see you later." Ichika called out to the retreating girl.
"So, I hear you and Shinonono are good friends." One of the girls mentioned.
"Well, we are childhood friends." Ichika admitted.
"Huh!?" The trio of girls and Jack exclaimed. "The two of you are childhood friends?" The girls asked.
"Yeah, we started going to the same kendo dojo. We were in class together until the fourth grade... but I don't remember much of it anymore. About the past." Ichika explained, he seemed pained thinking about it.
The sound of clapping caught everyone's attention. Searching for the origin of the sound, Jack noticed Chifuyu standing near the entrance of the cafeteria.
"Less talking and more chewing, pilots have to eat quickly and efficiently. I'm the freshmen dorm supervisor and anyone who's late to class will be doing to ten laps around the school." The older Orimura threatened.
Jack scoffed down the remainder of his meal like his life depended on it and dashed off to class.
"Two weeks from yesterday you will be asked to choose your representative for the class tournament. A class representative not only participates in the tournament, but also attends student council meetings and committee meetings. Essentially it's your class leader okay." Chifuyu explained from behind the teacher's podium. "I will now take nominations. Any suggestions?" She asked the class.
"I'd like to nominate Orimura!" One of the girls called out.
"Dude, I think that's a great idea." Another girl agreed.
'Good luck Ichika.' Jack mentally prayed.
"I want to nominate Moreau!" A third girl called out.
"Me too." Yet another girl seconded.
Jack was initially caught off-guard by the nomination but quickly composed himself.
"I object!" He yelled as he slammed his hands on his desk and stood up.
"Yeah, what if neither of us want to do this?" Ichika asked as he stood up too.
"I do not approve of this!" Cecilia exclaimed as she stood up from her desk as well. "This type of selection is absolutely unacceptable. It would be shameful to have a boy as our class representative." The blonde pilot stated, irking the boys in question. "You can't possibly think that I, Cecilia Alcott, should have to deal with this sort of humiliation for a whole year. In the first place, simply living in a country with such an underdeveloped level of culture is unbearably painful to someone such as myself, oh the agony." The representative candidate ranted, pushing the male IS pilots over the edge in the process. Jack was the first of the two to speak up.
"Well it's not like England's that much better! Our food isn't great and we don't have any original exports." He mocked.
"Yeah, how often has England won the worst cuisine award?" Ichika joined in.
"We English have many delicious dishes. I can't believe you would have the audacity to insult my country!" Cecilia argued with the two boys, the rest of the class, teachers included, watching on in silence.
"Hey, it's my country too and I still insulted it." Jack pointed out, earning a glare from the blonde.
"You said it yourself yesterday did you not? That you were born and raised in Japan." Cecilia reminded the boy.
"I still had to eat English dishes growing up. In a French-English household, might I add?" The wine haired pilot countered.
Cecilia was at her boiling point now.
"This calls for a duel!" She declared as she pointed to the two male pilots.
"Fine by me." Ichika accepted.
"Bring it on." Jack smiled confidently as he accepted.
"And if either of you lose on purpose I will make you my servant, no I shall make you my slave." Cecilia stated.
"How much of a handicap?" Ichika asked Cecilia, earning him the stares of everyone in the classroom.
"Oh? Are you asking me for a favour already?" The blonde pilot questioned as she raised a brow to Ichika's question.
"No. I mean how much of a handicap should I give you." The black haired pilot explained, causing all the girls in the class, minus Houki and the teachers, to laugh at him and earning a sigh from Jack. Which Ichika was confused by.
"Ichika... Have you forgotten that women are considered more powerful than men due to the implementation of the IS?" Jack asked his fellow pilot with a concerned look. "Even with the two of us here, the shift in power doesn't change." He added for clarity's sake.
"Oh, damn. That's right!" The realisation struck Ichika like a bolt of lightning.
"If anything, it should be me asking if you two want a handicap." Cecilia began laughing, obviously amused by Ichika's lack of knowledge. "Japanese boys are so humorous aren't they?" She asked the rest of the girls in the room rhetorically.
"You're just in denial about me being anything other than Japanese, huh?" Jack sighed as he shook his head at the girl.
"Hey, if you two ask really nicely. A real lady might still give you that handicap." One of the girls told the male pilots.
"Yeah, well a real man doesn't go back on his word. I'll pass." Ichika responded, adopting a serious look on his face.
"I don't know about that 'real man' stuff, but my answer's the same. Pass." Jack stated with a smile on his face.
"You're both underestimating her." The same girl warned the boys.
"It sounds like it's been settled then. The duel will be staged in arena three, which I believe is available on Monday. Orimura, Moreau and Alcott, I expect you to come fully prepared for combat." Chifuyu announced.
The three contenders stared at each other before returning to their seats to continue the day.