Author's Note:

() or ' '- is for thoughts

[]-is for words on something

{}- is for everything else

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos.

Prologue

It was day like every other day for Orimura Ichika, being the only boy who can pilot an IS and also being the only boy in an all-girls school may be like heaven for some male students but for Orimura Ichika, it is more stressing than it looks… being chased around by girls and having a harem which you don't really fully understand can tire you out mentally too.

Orimura Ichika was no different… sometimes a man has to stay in solitude for a change… Ichika was currently in a café as he had a cup of hot chocolate on the table. It was fairly cold outside and it was Saturday and so he decided to use the weekend to loosen up.

The café he was in looked quite empty… usually it's fairly full in mornings so it made Ichika wonder why there was no one much in here. The café had just a few tables that were taken and Ichika was stationed in the corner since staying in the corner table is usually the quietest but judging from the number of people in the café, anywhere should be quiet and muffled. He planned to do the finishing touches on his assignment here so at last he finished.

Ichika wanted to stay in this café for the morning since he kind of wanted to avoid his harem… He likes them all of course but recently, some of them has gotten slightly aggressive to whoever gets him and so he went into hiding just so that they may calm down and extinguish the flame of their excitement.

Recently, one of them who call him the 'waifu' (cough, cough, Laura Bodewig) tried to sneak up on him while he was bathing but ultimately failed when she found out that he was right behind her, expecting her to be the one who was going to peep on him while he was bathing. That day which was yesterday made him plan to head out and go by himself for a change… but he thinks they may have followed him or something…

(I think I am being too paranoid… They can't be following me… could they?) Ichika begun to doubt that his self-encouragement is working. (I planned this out before I even left for the weekends so I have to keep my cool even if they may have really followed me… I must be fully prepared to face the worst case scenario where they really did follow me…) He made himself forget about it for now but little did he know that his intuition was right.

"Tsk, tsk… If you wanted time alone then all you could have done was ask me, you know…" Laura muttered as she was hiding right behind the window from her 'waifu'. "Now tell me… What could my waifu be doing in a café like this?" She peeked from the glass window as she saw him sipping from his cup of hot chocolate.

Not so much later, Ichika finally left the café and began heading back to the school so that he can place his assignment in him room then go on and have fun. He doesn't know where he wanted to go but all he wanted is some space for once… Being in a harem may have benefits but it also has the downsides… Luckily, no one was in his room and so he easily left without a trace… except he didn't know that Laura was shadowing him.

Where he is planning to go you ask? Ichika had a lot of thing to where he was supposed to go and one of them is to go relax in a hot spring. The only think that tormented him about this plan is that the hot spring at Saturday just might be mixed… Ichika isn't a big pervert but who would not get tempted to peek while the person right beside you is someone bathing with you… He wasn't used to that unless it's not mixed, he feels uneasy.

Ichika left the building and was heading for the east of town.

Somewhere else...

Laura had a thousand questions in her mind now… What was her waifu planning to do without her being informed? She may not have known him for as long as Houki or Rin but she wasn't even thinking of backing down from this. Her figure may be quite small but that was the thing that made her sneaking 100% effective unless Ichika does some trick like when he pretended to be showering but was actually behind her… That truly frightened her when she figured it out.

She was pretty sure that he wasn't planning to be with any of them but that didn't make her feel any less tense… What if he was actually planning to go out with someone that she has no data on?!

She was currently wearing the IS Academy uniform as usual as she started to follow him around again. The action she took did not go unnoticed by her close friend, Charlotte Dunois. She became rather curious about seeing her best friend, Laura, in an uneasy state. She overheard something from the conversation of Orimura-sensei with Yamada-sensei which stated about something with Ichika as the main topic… something about him going abroad for reasons she didn't hear…

(What were they talking about? I know it is wrong to eavesdrop on people but I heard it by accident and not intentionally… Ichika-san's going abroad?! Where is he going?) Charlotte felt like she was going to object about it but she had to think about this is a different point of view… She may just be wrong about it but what if what she heard was true? That is what she fears the most… If he did go abroad then what would she do? She cannot stop him… All she was to him was a friend and nothing else…

She decided to go over her principles and listen to more of the conversation so that she will learn what they actually mean.

"Why do we have to send him to one of these countries then? He hasn't trained enough to protect himself without a teammate yet… he has a thousand things to learn before he will ever make me think he's ready…" It seems the one talking currently is Chifuyu who seemed doubtful about her brother's abilities.

"Orimura-sensei! The government requests that Ichika-san needs to assist one of the countries but I still have no idea why they're being so aggressive today… We could have him stay here… I think it was because some argument happened recently…"

"What if his choice meant otherwise then?"

"Then we should ask him what he thinks about it and decide if he wants to go to other countries or he could stay here to help ours."

"Or he could accept all the pending requests of Tabane for me since she keeps asking me to lend her Ichika but why would I let that persistent bunny-loving scientist borrow him? She is too hyper and annoying for me these days…"

"Ahh… cut her some slack, Orimura-sensei… I think it's quite cute on how the two of you get along. I know you actually care for your younger brother, Orimura-sensei."

"Tsk… of course I do but still… Anyway… we have an eavesdropper here… You can come out now whoever you are… you have already been found out…" Chifuyu actually knew that Charlotte was there which made Charlotte jump from shock upon knowing that she knew that she was there.

"H-Hai… Orimura-sensei…" Charlotte moved away from her hiding spot and obediently moved towards Chifuyu.

"If you wouldn't mind… please text all the representative cadets to gather here so that we can make that Ichika decide… my phone doesn't have their numbers but I do have Tabane's number… I may regret calling her though…" Chifuyu sighed as she got her phone.

Ichika's P.O.V

The event that made me worried the most was actually occurring… Luckily, I'm not a pervert like some of the other boys who would take advantage of this situation…

Fortunately, no one I know is in the hot spring currently. I dipped into the warm waters and relaxed my tired out body from all the usual fights and problems when it comes to some of the usual times where they get angry at me and I don't know the reason why they are angry. The water of this hot spring makes me feel relaxed as I feel like all my aching muscles from what happens on those times finally find rest…

I felt a small tug on my back which made me back away quickly out of instinct… I looked back to see who was the one who touched me. That person who did that to me was no other than Laura Bodewig, the German representative for the IS who… is not very modest whenever she tries to do some things to me…

"My waifu…" She muttered as she tried to go closer to me but I refused by backing away farther from her. "Why did you leave without telling me anything? I was getting quite worried until I began following you… What are you planning, waifu?"

"For the last time, I'm not your waifu, Laura-san…" I wrapped my towel around myself and left the hot spring… what a waste of my resting day…

I was in the changing room once again. I was supposed to put on my pants but my phone rang and so I answered it right after I clothed myself. "Moshi, Moshi?"

"Oi... Ichika, come back here in my office… I have something to inform you about."

"Ehh? What is it Chifuyu-nee?"

"It's Orimura-sensei…"

"Anyway… what did you call me for? It's rare to see that you're calling me like this."

"Don't mind it… just go to my office as soon as possible…" She hangs up on me

…What does Chifuyu-nee need me for? There's only one way to find out I guess… I left the changing room after I finished wearing my blue t-shirt and jeans. I don't know why but I began running towards the location which made me question myself until I looked back and knew the reason… Why was a car chasing me?!

I ran as fast as I could… I couldn't use Byakushiki since it is still in maintenance… I don't know why this car was chasing me like it wanted to crash me but I managed to lose it when I made a quick turn down an alley which was coincidentally a shortcut to the Academy as well. I cautiously looked around and sprinted across a freeway and I was just a few kilometres away from the academy.

(Just a few more minutes of sprinting and I should be fine… I hope that I got that car out of my trail… I wouldn't want Chifuyu-nee to worry about me just by something like a car chasing me… wait… that is something to worry about but still!)

After about 5 more minutes of sprinting, I went in the academy and made my way to Chifuyu-nee's office but of course... I took some breathing time first… That run wasn't easy! I had the knob of the door in my grip and I slowly opened it, feeling a bit nervous at first but I went in and the people I saw in the room were: Houki, Rin, Char, Cecilia, Chifuyu-nee, Kanzashi, Tatenashi, Tabane (?), and Laura (How did she go here before me?!). What are they all doing here? I thought Chifuyu-nee just needed to talk to me…

"Chifuyu-nee, why are they all here? I thought you told me that you just needed to talk to me." I questioned Chifuyu as I noticed that the others had a look of desperation on their faces… except Tabane who was doing some sort of tinkering on something as she kept humming to herself (Yeah… That's Tabane).

"They are here so that you can make your choice… You can either go to a different country with one of the Representative Cadets, stay here and help out in Japan or… hide in Tabane's lab… which I don't really recommend… Also, It's Orimura-sensei… so do not call me casually here…" Chifuyu-nee seems to not want me to go with the third option…

"Chi-chan! That was sho mean of you~" Tabane frowned when she heard what Chifuyu said about her. (Yes, Tabane turns things like 'so' into 'sho').

"Why do I have to do this then, Orimura-sensei?" I managed to catch what she said about going abroad but I still didn't grasp the reason why.

"A meeting ended up in an argument and so to cool the countries down, we had to do something with you. A week should be enough to cool them all down but to be safe, we were supposed to send you to a country so that you can put together the trust again but we thought it may be against your will so we decided to let you choose." Chifuyu told me which still didn't make my uneasiness go away.

"I-I see, Orimura-sensei… so I have to… choose one of them to become my companion for a week? " I asked her which ended up with her sighing. "Or is it so that I can help a country and earn trust points of or something?" (Shoot… I think I made a fool out of myself… Chifuyu-nee's not going to like this…)

"… Ichika, Just choose one of them and I'll explain the rest of the details later… Choose one, be with them for a week… that's all there is to it…" She walked a bit to my side and showed me the other girls who were waiting patiently for my answer. "Now… Which one will you pick, Ichika!"

End of Prologue

Next Chapter: Laura Route Chapter 1.