Episode 2: Nagi makes his Debut!


"Wow! This is delicious!" The anxious voice of Ichika claimed as he dug into a scrumptious rice ball clutched in his right hand. The smile on his face as he munched on the delicacy was all Houki needed to confirm Ichika's opinion on her cooking. They were all gathered around in a circle at their usual lunch meeting place on top of the school building.

"Glad to hear it, Ichika" She smiled happily and blushed as she watched Ichika finish the rest of her boxed lunch while the other girls growled in frustration at her attempts to gain the lead against her. It had been a few weeks since they had fought against Madoka and Ichika had quite alot on his mind so Houki thought this would be the best way to cheer him up.

Rin, who also had a boxed lunch waiting to give to Ichika opened her bento and shoved it in Ichika's face.

"Here Ichika! You like my family's sweet and sour pork right!" Rin exclaimed as Ichika was a bit surprised by her sudden outburst. A smile graced his lips as he nodded and helped himself to her homemade pork with his chop sticks. He swallowed it and gave a pleasuring moaning sound as the taste filled his mouth.

"Your sweet and sour pork hits the spot every time Rin" He admitted as he took a few more out of the box.

Rin's frustration earlier died down as she let Ichika compliment her cooking and blushed with a small smile, earning Cecilia's, Charlotte's, Laura's, and Houki's glares. It seemed that whenever one of them tried to get ahead, someone just had to ruin it for them. None of them were going to lose and they all kept feeding Ichika their food until minutes later, he collapsed as his stomach was now comically bloated and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Everyone's... lunches were... so good" He barely let those words out as he wasn't in the best of moods for talking.

The girls all glared at one another but decided to let it go and started laughing at Ichika's silly state.

"I see you all are having a good time" The voice of a familiar friend appeared as the Student Council President, Tatenashi Sarashiki walked gracefully onto the balcony with her blue fan in her hand. covering her mouth. She put her hands on her hips and smiled as she watched Ichika slowly get up from his earlier position.

"Yo, Tatenashi-san. What's up?"

Tatenashi raised her blue fan to the sky as Ichika and the rest of the girls were confused by this action.

"Big news! Can you guys handle what I'm about to tell you?" She lowered her fan and put it above her face once again.

Ichika and the rest of his group were getting really curious as to what Tatenashi was going to spill since she was a woman known for her... surprises.

"What kind of news? Is it important?" Houki asked as she felt a little skeptical about it.

"Please don't tell me it's another contest involving Ichika again, I can't handle any more of those" Rin said as the rest of the others in the group nodded in agreement, especially Ichika.

Tatenashi let out a small giggle and then threw the fan in front of her, pointing in between Ichika and Houki.

"Look out there"

As if on cue, they all turned around to see what the commotion was about and saw a cruise ship docked at the edge of the island, with several hundred girls getting off of the ship and a few camera reporters standing on the island, acting as if they were looking for someone.

"Who are all these people?" Charlotte asked.

"They're new pilots that were scouted from different parts of the world that are joining the academy for the new semester. Some of them are really cute, don't ya think?" Tatenashi walked up to the rail on the rooftop and smiled as she waved her fan in her face.

"So? What's the big deal about that, aren't new students transferred here all the time? What makes this group so special" Laura asked with a skeptical response as she had both of her arms crossed and she was leaning against the rail.

Ichika was inclined to agree with her... for once. What would be the big fuss about a bunch of new students?

Tatenashi merely closed her eyes as she stopped fanning herself. "Don't you all find it odd that there are a bunch of news reporters in the vicinity?"

Cecilia put a hand to her chin and gave a questioning hum. "That is true... so what does it mean then?"

Enough with the suspense, Tatenashi jumped on top of the rail, now facing the group as they awaited her explanation.

"It's because there is another boy other than Ichika who can pilot the IS!" she finally announced, shocking all of the viewers present.

Ichika was speechless as he tried to take in Tatenashi's words, wondering if she was just joking around as usual or actually telling the truth.

"Eh! Are you serious Tatenashi-san?"

She wasn't expecting them to be this surprised about it as it was only a matter of time until another male pilot showed up, but it amused Tatenashi to no end seeing their reactions.

"The Student Council President never lies, silly Ichika" She put her hands on her hips and jumped down as she strutted past them.

"Wait just a minute! Are you absolutely sure that's correct? You aren't making this up?" Houki asked in disbelief.

Tatenashi came to a stop and looked over her shoulder as she watched Houki's expression change from shocked to confused.

"It's the truth, it was on the news last week and that young boy was sent to this academy to learn how to control his IS."

"But I thought Ichika was the only male who could pilot an IS..." Charlotte said as she had a worrisome face on.

"Oh come on guys, is it really that much of a shock to you?" Tatenashi asked.

"Well... no not really but still this is pretty big ya know?" Ichika started to calm down as he began accepting that he wasn't going to be the only boy in the academy anymore, which while was super sweet for him he kinda liked being the only guy since it made him feel special.

"Great, I bet it's some loser pervert that came here just to get girls." Rin said with disgust in her voice.

Tatenashi's fan flew right past Rin's head as it embedded itslef in the grass behind her, causing the chinese girl to sweat bullets as Tatenashi gave her a less than welcoming smile that had malicious intent behind it.

"It's not nice to call other people name's... Rin-chan"

"R-R-Right..." Rin's voice was panicked as she remembered messing with the Student Council President was a death sentence.

"Well in any case, classes are starting soon. Head back to class, and I better not see any of you skipping" Tatenashi proceeded to walk out of the balcony and left the group with alot of questions, mainly about the second male IS pilot. The girls decided it was best for them to leave too and not incur the wrath of the President, with Ichika promising that he would catch up soon enough.

He walked towards the rail and put his hand on it, looking at the cruise ship with deep eyes as he wondered how his life was about to change with the arrival of a new student.

"I wonder what he's like..." He said out loud to no one.

"Wonder what who's like?" A voice spoke.

Ichika looked sideways several times and even in the air as he tried to locate the source of the sound.

"Down here Sherlock..." Ichika looked below his feet and saw the unknown man with his elbows on the rail giving him a puzzled look as Ichika screamed in shock and tumbled backwards, falling on his ass as he clutched it in agony. Nagi lunged himself off of the rail as he jumped up and landed his feet on the steel footing while his body was in a crouched position with his arms dangling from his knees.

"Yo"


A/N: Nagi and Ichika meet face to face. Enjoy the chapter.