AN: Right, I definitely have the Fool arcana sorted out for the most part, with the Orimura siblings and Tabane being closely involved in it. The Judgement Link will, as per usual, reveal the real arc. Let's enjoy fluff while we still can, shall we?
Ichika might be utterly op in some ways, but things won't necessarily go the way he wants. Real life is hard. And his life is a harem comedy, so clearly, he will have some butt monkey moments in some unexpected ways. Think of him as basically Old Man Henderson harem protagonist version powered by Batman excuses.
Also, while there are serious moments, it's not an overly serious story, so just roll with the insanity. Thanks!
A New Journey: Shirokishi
"The Fool in the Upright Position. Your true journey begins here, once again. In the immediate future, you must learn to trust your instincts once again as changes will come upon your life." Igor began when flipping the first card, foretelling Ichika's immediate future.
Ichika nodded, knowing that by choosing (forced) to attend the IS Academy and skip out of being a lab rat for arrogant rich men (the type of people he would take down), he would be operating in a different manner than before.
That said, no matter what, he would be free despite everyone attempting to confine him for his 'special' ability to use an IS.
Worse comes to worse he could empower himself with his Persona and go into hiding within the Metaverse.
Although, he also knew that 'The Fool' represented optimism in a manner, and also reacting… in a way, he's lost a bit of optimism through these few years along with becoming way too calculative at times. It wasn't something he particularly found good upon reflection, but to think that he will have to channel the same way of behaving in the very immediate future… it was unpleasant to think about.
"And you will keep the terms of your contract?" Igor asked.
Nodding, Ichika replied, "Of course. I will take responsibility for the consequences of my actions."
Despite stealing the 'hearts' of many people over the years, so far the consequences seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things. Even though Ichika, Dan and Ran were prepared to deal with potential negative fallout, surprisingly, there was quite little of it.
It was both a relief and a depressing fact as it also meant that the world was still the same as it had been before.
Admittedly, the futility of it all was agitating Ichika greatly, leading to him seriously considering to make their group 'public' in a certain manner.
However, the whole IS debacle would mean those plans would be placed on hold. This would also curtail his efforts to convince Dan, much to Ichika's dismay.
"The card indicating the future beyond that is… The Magician in the Upright position. It seems that… oh my, you have all the skills and confidence needed in your journey to take advantage of the opportunities in your way. It will be a journey of self-realization, one of strong will and action. Marvelous..." Igor seemed pleased.
Lavenza nodded and looked up at Ichika's face from her position on his lap.
She had been sitting on his lap since the beginning of the fortune telling for reasons unknown to Ichika, but he was more than used to accommodating Lavenza's strange requests every so often.
"You have worked hard over the past years. No matter what obstacle in your way, you will surely triumph over them. After all you're my…" Lavenza trailed off and stopped, shook her head and hugged the large compendium she was carrying with her tightly around her small body.
"Um, Lavenza, what were you about to-" Ichika began to ask, only to get his head smacked by the large book.
"I'm not telling you yet! Not until you beat me…" Lavenza shouted, before continuing on quietly.
"A-ah, but you're so strong Lavenza, haha… guess I have to work a lot harder then…" Ichika resolved himself and smiled, contrasting his internal screaming as he was truly dreading the next time she will beat him down in a Persona battle.
"Be sure that you do! Hmm, I suppose I have a few challenges to help you on your way…"
'Oh joy! More fusion challenges! Well, it's not as if I don't like puzzle games in my life… oh lord my wallet…' Ichika grimaced internally to Lavenza's commanding tone before processing her switch to a softer one.
Igor chuckled, enjoying the time they were spending together.
"Let's see, the types of challenges you will be facing are… intriguing, The Moon in the Upright position. Mysteries, there will come a time where you will need to explore the depths of your soul and the abyss of your own nature. At best, you will reach the deepest level of self-realization… but beware of giving into fear and rejecting reality." Igor warned in a grave manner.
'... That is scary… perhaps, this unvarnished truth that I will discover has to deal with the whole IS issue. What if… it has to do with the fact I can use an IS, or my parents that Chifuyu-nee never talks about, or…'
Shaking himself out of such thoughts, shelving it for later concern, Ichika gentle lifted the cute blonde girl out of his lap and thanked Igor for informing him about what was to come.
After that, he coughed out a large amount from his wallet to fuse some skills into another of his favorite Persona's, believing that the IS Academy is going to be a tiring endeavor, he finally finished up his Trumpeter for the most part, although he kept some skill cards to replace Growth 3 in a fight.
Auto Makaja, Auto Masuku, Auto Maraku, Regenerate 3, Null Physical, Insta-Heal, Heat Up, Growth 3.
His special all passives build just for dealing with the stress of an all girls school. He would have placed Invigorate 3 there, but then again, he had an SP Adhesive 3 that he found in a Palace which he could use instead.
With this, he'll always be at his best, recuperating from injuries, energy loss, possible ailments, etc… plus, he keeps his enhanced learning and observational capabilities here. Oh, and even in the real world, he'll suffer very little from physical damage.
Sorry Nicodemus, you're being shafted. One day I'll build you into an Almighty spammer instead, I promise.
Besides, having a Judgement Persona out in most cases would be good, Ichika thought to himself.
"Ah, do not fret about losing access to the Velvet Room. You may use your key to enter from your future dorm room." Lavenza reassured him.
"Whew! That's a relief. I wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't see you again." Ichika told Lavenza in a thankful and deeply grateful manner.
"I- I wouldn't know the answer to that. But I will certainly be in deep sorrow."
Igor chuckled as Lavenza didn't exactly know how to continue that line of conversation.
"It's time for you to awake. Rise and shine now." He told Ichika, before Ichika felt icy cold water being splashed over his face, groggy, disorientated, vision blurry and hearing slightly impaired, he quickly went into combat mode.
April 1, 20XX
Instantly reacting to the assault, he leaped from his bed and kicked off the wall with his feet while using the sleeves of the clothes he was given to wipe his eyes.
Landing, he quickly performed a back roll and grabbed the incoming arm that was coming at him from behind at high speeds. He grabbed, pulled and gained control of his still blurry assailant's arm, lifting and throwing his assailant onto the ground.
Sensing another assailant next to him, Ichika quickly launched a brutal Karate-styled side elbow to his enemy's gut, disabling the target temporarily.
'Someone's behind me!' Ichika thought, and reacted by turning and utilising a powerful right hook, sent that somebody face planting into the ground.
As his hearing was recovering and his vision correcting itself, he found himself staring at three large men groaning pathetically in pain. One of them clutching his gut on the floor, another was crawling away from him in fear while the one he punched in the head was just unmoving while being in agony.
He looked up, and saw a well-dressed man staring at him with a mixture of fear and awe. The other person in the room was carrying a pail that was used to throw cold water at him and…
"Eh? Chifuyu-nee? Welcome home!" Ichika defaulted to house-husband mode after straightening his back to greet his older sister, who had a pleased smile on her face, albeit, a small one.
Ichika found that rather strange as she was usually more stern, for some reason, he managed to get a sense that… perhaps she was proud of what he just did?
Huh, who knew she liked watching fights so much? Ichika quickly checked the clock on the wall, seeing that it was 3 a.m. in the morning.
"Heh… you have to improve your awareness Ichika. You aren't at home, you're still in the government facility." She corrected him.
"I-I knew that."
"Also, next time you perform a side elbow. Don't play nice, aim it at their face not their gut."
"Yes, Chifuyu-nee!"
She walked to his side and smacked his back 'lightly'.
"I told you. He's strong enough to make his own decisions." Orimura Chifuyu said to the man in a suit.
"He certainly is. I was already convinced when I saw his records but this is remarkable!" The middle-aged man was seriously creeping Ichika out right now, but he didn't let that show on his face.
"I don't believe we met before, Orimura Ichika." Ichika greeted him, holding out his hand as the man grasped his hand in a firm handshake, and shook it almost enthusiastically.
"Kuromochi Hiro, CEO and Group President of Kuromochi Machinery Development, the country's foremost experts in IS research, design and manufacturing." The man quickly mouthed off.
If Ichika was impressed he didn't show it, but rather, simply told him that it was a pleasure to meet with him.
"Oh, I sort of hit them rather hard, I won't get into trouble for that, will I?" Ichika asked, pointing to the men.
"It's fine. I hired them in accordance to your sister's suggestion when I said I wanted to test you."
"Test me? For what purpose?"
"I'm glad you asked, my boy."
Ichika was seriously getting creeped out by his overly familiar attitude, but decided to take it in stride while discreetly shooting his older sister a 'what the fuck is going on' glance.
She simply plastered a stern look and nod.
Pretty much her way of saying, 'Deal with it, you're doing alright so far'.
Or so, Ichika believed.
"You see, Ichika-kun, can I call you that?"
"No problem."
"Excellent. You may call me Hiro-kun, by the way, special treatment and all. Get used to it, you're basically the darling of half the government now."
"And the other half?"
"They hate you."
'What a surprise! I never saw that coming~!' Ichika sarcastically thought in his head while the 'Last Surprise' song jingled throughout his head.
Ichika would unfailingly defend his decision to spend almost a hundred million yen to get Shoji Meguro and Lyn Inaizumi to compose and sing an entire soundtrack for their team.
Granted, Dan made him spend an entire Sunday in Tokyo's Memento's dungeon grinding for cash.
Apparently, Shadows cough up money when they are confused. Memento Boss shadows cough up more money.
Ichika had to make a max Luck Persona with immunity to physical damage, before spamming Pulinpa to confuse the boss and basically spent the entire day farming.
It was the most tedious exercise of collecting money and waiting tanking attacks. Dan and Ran were simply chilling out in a cafe somewhere while he had to make up for the money he spent.
It took two Sundays to make up their budget deficit along with another 40 million yen in profit.
Of course, the most painful part was the fact he had to go through a lot of hoops to have the coins gathered exchanged into cash and banked into his false identity bank account that they used for their group purchases.
Despite the trouble, it was so worth it! He now had the rights to an awesome soundtrack just for their battles and for daily use. Ran had agreed to his decision in the first place and enjoyed the music greatly. Eventually, as soon as Ichika broke even, Dan had admitted it was the best music soundtrack he had the pleasure to listen to.
Ran's favorite was 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There', Dan's was 'Life Will Change' and Ichika's personal favorite was 'Rivers in the Desert'.
Personally, he had no idea what kind of drugs or natural inspiration the composer was on, but it was so worth it.
"I suppose this involves some family politics, entrenched connections and gender politics?" Ichika blandly mentioned.
"Exactly. Of course, I could care less about that. Unfortunately, frankly speaking, my board members outnumber me and are divided on many issues."
He was seriously wondering what the Kuromachi boss wanted from him, until he entered a room with several IS's being worked on.
Eventually, he brought Ichika face-to-face with a hulking behemoth of an IS.
"This… is a Third Generation Unit, Japan's next generation Infinite Stratos. Far greater engine output than older IS's, it's brute force compensates for it's large size. But what's special about it is it's One Off Ability that we're trying to replicate…" The man went on-and-on about the IS, which could be summed up as 'literally all expansion slots are dedicated to this one melee weapon that can wreck any energy barrier like tissue'.
If it was a Persona being optimized for one attack then Ichika would approve, but this was simply some ridiculous Isekai-like cheat ability from some shitty light novel, Ichika believed, and hence, wasn't that impressed.
During this time, his older sister seemed to be watching him from the side, as if she wanted to let him stand on his own.
'Fine by me', Ichika thought, he wouldn't want to burden his sister at all if possible.
He asked Hiro Kuromochi why is he showing the Prototype IS to him, and he told him that half the government, his company and he himself… wanted Ichika to pilot it. The other half wanted to stick with the plan of giving the prototype to the cadet representative of Japan who would be starting her term at the IS Academy in this same day.
"We decided to let you have the final pick after seeing your astounding credentials."
"What credentials?" Ichika asked the man, who took out several folders from his suit and read from it.
"Let's see, Student Council President for three years in middle school, honorary member of several sports and hobby clubs… And what's this? First place in several Nationals for Kendo, Judo, Kyudo, Chess, Shogi and … Karate. And all this within three years, without being a member of the clubs where the club presidents had to beg you to enter? I've seen overachievers, mostly women these days… but this? You are literally Japan's Übermensch. You are exactly who I've been looking for."
To be fair, it wasn't like he could get part-time jobs or go out without much scrutiny at their age, so he was simply finding things to do, people to help out… suddenly there he was with his face on the newspaper… Ichika reminiscence on how the hell did he get in this mess?
Although, something bugged him about the term he used.
"Übermensch? You read Nietzsche's work?" Ichika probed.
"And well read too! Considering that you have one of the highest IQ's in the country I shouldn't be surprised… well, of course, that blasted Shinonono woman is still the smartest but-"
Ichika knew this sort of look anyway, he almost looked obsessed with something, with an ideal… oh crap…
"Anyways, all you have to do is give me verbal confirmation that you'll take the prototype. Besides, you deserve better than some generic training IS that they plan to saddle you with. Everyone knows that the Uchigane is scraping the bottom barrel of the 2nd generation IS's."
'Crap, this is… how can I solve this… think Ichika think!'
He quickly glanced around the engineering area and was surprised to see something that he didn't think he would see again.
"Wait… is that… the Shirokishi?" Ichika muttered in awe and wonder, the Mother of all IS's were in this room… but why?
"You recognized it? Of course you do, everyone does! Yes, no one has seen the White Knight ever since the incident is what everyone says but… that Shinonono woman and the uh, anonymous pilot, placed it in our hands one day. We actually used its core to place in the Byakushiki, the prototype." The man explained further, his excitement spreading to Ichika despite alarm bells ringing loudly in his head that the Kuromochi Hiro was dangerous.
"Despite being the Zeroth Generation IS, it's specs are pretty much above most second generation IS's, capable of full flight but it has a way smaller battery pool and weaker engine. However, it's lighter weight and human-like size gives it the mobility unrivalled by any IS to date! Even though it's a ghost of the past, if it were to arise again then…"
Ichika spent a moment reflecting. On one hand, he could screw himself over the first two choices while either ending up with an over-specialised IS or a crappy IS that can't even fly or…
Ha… he'll be laughed at for sure by the world, he could even alienate the man offering him the choices but...
'Ah… it's time to trust my instincts. The path has revealed itself to me, it seems. The Fool Arcana, the beginning of a journey… was the White Knight, the Shirokishi, not the beginning of an era?'
"Kuromochi-san?" He addressed the man formally.
"Yes, Ichika… Orimura-san?" Grasping the seriousness of what Ichika was about to say, Kuromochi Hiro also stopped being overly familiar.
Ichika pointed at the deactivated Shirokishi.
"That one… the one that herald a new age of warfare, the IS that cemented it's place in history, the one that became… a legend. Let me carve my own legend from here on out with that Infinite Stratos."
Several hours later…
Opening the Metaverse Navigator App, Ichika said the name of the candidate of a possible Palace he wanted to infiltrate.
"Kuromochi Hiro."
"Candidate Found." His P.A.D. replied, confirming that he did in fact have a palace.
"Kuromochi Machinery Development Main Office."
"Candidate Found."
'Alright, now I just need what he would view it as… what he would view the world as in his eyes… but what are my clues?'
"A… workshop?"
"No Match Found."
Alright, so his near obsession with IS's wouldn't mean a workshop then… perhaps, it is related to his usage of Nietzsche's writings.
But what could be related with an Übermensch?
'What the hell does he want with me? If he sees me as the Übermensch then… what does it mean?'
Damn, I have the name, palace location correct but… if I want to infiltrate it then I'll need to understand just how Kuromochi Hiro sees the world as if I want to gain access to his palace.
And since he'll be in the IS academy that will limit his options quite a bit.
Ichika closed his P.A.D., looking on with trepidation while riding the train to the IS Academy site.
Thankfully, they allowed him to gather some personal belongings before being relocated to the academy. He used the allotted time to brief Dan and Ran about his suspicions and gave them some details on how they were going to meet up from now on.
He didn't know why, but Chifuyu-nee simply walked out as soon as she heard his decision. She didn't stomp out or feel any killing intent, so he didn't think she was angry but he couldn't be sure.
Kuromochi Hiro was mad at first until he calmed down and started shaking Ichika as if he was his best buddy, saying something like "Sasuga Ichika-kun!" and about how it was a "Brilliant Solution!" to their dilemma.
He quickly got his engineers to re-implant Shirokishi's core back from the Byakushiki and would have it delivered to the IS academy later in the day.
'Well, at least I avoided a political land mine with the Japanese Cadet Representative. Although, I'll be the laughing stock and target practice of the entire engineering community after this… ah well, it can't be helped.'
He didn't regret his decision, not one bit. He was going to live with, and OWN his decision!
That, after all, was what he swore when he signed the contract with Igor.
It was his duty as the Wild Card to see this through.
IS Academy Entrance
Although… going into a class and become the staring object of an entire group of girls was out of question!
That's just an unreasonable game!
'Fuck that shit! I've got a better idea! Okay, I will be the center of attention anyways so… I'll have to creep the girls out instead of acting the way I was in middle school.'
Back then in middle school, literally every girl stared at him from afar and giggled. That was uncomfortable, but he needed a variant of that sort of reaction this time around that would guarantee a lack of desire to be a topic of concern.
Whilst he wanted to be an excellent IS pilot, he really wanted a distorted impression as well so that he won't be harassed too much. But… who said it had to be a contradictory desire?
He could be weird and undesirable while still be an excellent pilot, Ichika reasoned.
'I've got to be weird enough that everyone will try hard enough to not think of me! That way, less people will bother me and I can have more free time to go into the Metaverse.'
In the end, Ichika felt that he belonged in the cognitive world as that was the place where he was most assured.
But he knew he couldn't go on like that. Real life… that was the challenge. In the Metaverse, power reigned supreme, and that was easy after all these years. This new journey of his would be entirely different, it wasn't as easy as targeting an enemy's weakness to win, it was an uncertain chaotic world.
However, it was also the place where he could make his mark. Ichika swore to himself that he would change the world for the better, whether it's through reality or the cognitive world, it doesn't matter.
So long as no little boy would have to be in a position where he feels nothing but despair, where a child wouldn't have to curse his own weakness in a cruel and deadly world…
He would do whatever it takes so that such a world would cease to exist.
Even if he would have to fake his way, where a mask, pretend to belong… as long as it takes until he's learned enough to strike down anything in his way.
First, he applied some Stealthanol (made with some materials he found) to erase his presence. Hooray for bullshit items that still work in the real world somehow! (To an extent)
He didn't enter the classroom, instead, he activated a certain hack he developed that allowed him to find the sensors and cameras in the school. After learning it, he decided to dash between the blind-spots and avoided any of his fellow students.
His bags would be delivered to his room so he only had to focus on getting to class.
Diving into a bush, he shuffled along silently to right below the first window of his classroom 1-A.
Opening a pouch of his, he threw a tiny listening bug up a storey high until it attached itself to the edge of the window, and then he waited, making sure to pick out all the leaves attached to his body.
8 o'clock, homeroom is starting.
"Congratulations to everyone on entering this school!" Ichika heard a cute voice greeting the class upon hearing the door opening through his listening device micro ear receiver.
He had needed to use these types of equipment in order to spy on his targets to learn more about them.
Ichika seriously lamented the lack of opportunity to bug Kuromochi Hiro back then as he didn't have access to his equipment then. After quickly scrolling through the class register (to think that Houki would be here…) and seating arrangement in his P.A.D., he quickly formulated a strategy into dealing with this.
"I'm your homeroom teacher's assistant, Yamada Maya."
Her friendly introduction was met with utter silence.
Ichika pitied the woman instantly even without seeing her.
Well, if he was going to be met with scrutiny anyways, he may as well give them a false impression to latch on.
'Alright, excluding me, there will be 29 other students and one teacher's desk.
Looking through his 'gift pouch', he found that he still had dozens of homemade chocolate truffles. Another look into his 'miscellaneous pouch' he managed to find around forty mini-cushions that some shadows left behind in that weird Palace two years back.
Perfect.
"E-eh...a-ahhhh… Starting today, you are all students of the IS Academy. This a boarding school-"
The cute sounding assistant teacher continued some exposition and saying some cutesy welcoming stuff. Eventually, they began with class self-introductions. This was his time to act.
Putting his P.A.D. on silent mode, he went into the metaverse, climbed up and broke through the class window, before exiting the class and went around the hallway, exiting the metaverse and casually walked towards his class in the real world while listening to the receiver in his ear.
Having hacked into the camera feeds from his modified P.A.D., he knew no one would be walking through the nearby hallways yet but he needed to make it look like he came from somewhere after all.
Waiting outside his classroom, he held a huge amount of cushions with a single chocolate truffle neatly in the center of the cushion. He waited just as his name was about to be called following the alphabetical order Yamada Maya was following before entering the class.
Immediately channeling the full power of his Persona, his auto-buff skills speeding him up greatly, time slowed down as he rapidly walked across the classroom distributing the chocolate truffle on a cushion to each desk (except his own), giving double to Houki who sat by the window and double to his assistant homeroom teacher.
It was as if time was slowed by a factor of 50, but his body was beginning to feel the strain of using his Persona at full power without summoning it in the real world.
Thankfully, being a Persona user meant that some laws of physics were optional, something like leaving sonic booms behind when going at maximum speeds can be done, but they had to will it to happen.
Usually, Dan, Ran and himself would not do so as they wanted speed AND stealth.
A loud sonic boom would be counterproductive at the speeds they fought and ambushed at.
He swiftly tossed up some colored Vanish Balls into the top of the class, activating them to a minor extent, creating some low noise distraction and a small amount of colored smoke.
In the real world, it's much less effective and would pale in comparison to a real smoke bomb, but as a light distraction, it worked.
He stood next in between the teacher's desk and his desk (which was right in front of the former's desk) as his internal time adjusted itself back to normal.
"Good morning everyone, Orimura Ichika, pleasure to meet you all!" He greeted in what he thought was a 'casual' manner, if this was an anime everyone would have giant '!?' symbols on top of their heads as they finally registered his presence.
"I apologize for my late arrival. The chocolate truffles I made took a bit longer than expected, please, enjoy yourselves." I motioned my hand to one of the desks in front of me, shocking the all female class with the revelation that there was a pretty little cushion with a single chocolate truffle in the middle of their desk.
"Houki." Calling out his childhood friend's name, which caused her to look at him in surprise (honestly, this is their default reaction at this point, he mused), "I got you double." He dropped those words with a wink before turning to his shocked teacher.
"You got two as well, Yamada-sensei."
"A-eh? Ah, chocolate… thank you for the treat!" The green haired teacher bashfully replied before immediately putting the chocolates into her mouth.
'What's with that reaction? Shouldn't you look at me with suspicion or something? Hey, come on! After all the effort I put to look like some overly dramatic occultist weirdo?' Ichika internally despaired at such a reaction that reminded him of Ran's reaction when encountering his homemade chocolate.
"Oh dear gods! This is the best chocolate I've ever tasted!"
'Wha, really?'
"Mmmm! Heavenly!"
'Oi, I think that's an exaggeration.'
"Sasuga Ichika-sama!"
'Why the hell is there a sama suffix attached! What happened to female superiority? Did the chocolate send her back in time or something?'
Ichika had exasperated reactions to the overly positive reactions of his classmates.
"Kyaa! Ichika-san is so cool! That entrance, that everything!"
'NOOOOOO! Please get your eyes checked!'
"National Champion in several competitive martial arts and now a Patissier?! Is there anything Ichika-san can't do?"
'Anything that isn't writing in my backstory of 320 pages.' Ichika dryly thought to himself.
"I-I cannot stand for this!" Ichika felt his hope soar as some upper class looking blonde looked angry at him.
"Why, pray tell, are praises being sung for this... boy, that has zero experience in piloting an IS!"
Ah, this is Cecilia Alcott, isn't it?
"Exactly!" Ichika agreed out-loud with Cecilia.
"...Huh?!" For whatever reason, she wasn't expecting him to react that way. Still, he hoped that she would play along.
"I have absolutely zero experience with piloting an IS. Please refrain from praising me, I am but a mere fellow student, just like most of you here. I am here, to learn alongside all you talented students that have worked hard to get into the IS Academy, unlike me, who got in through unusual circumstances." Ichika quickly tried to get everything under control.
The class was silent for a bit, before another girl voiced out.
"Ichika-san… you're so humble!"
Ichika's ploy to get everyone to keep away from him failed, in the end, he simply rode the flow and sat back down in his seat as class introductions continued on longer than expected.
After that, he buried himself in his textbook, ignoring most of the world.
Eventually, Chifuyu-nee entered the classroom during their first class right after she just got out from a meeting.
"...Is he speed reading the entire textbook? It's over 600 pages." Orimura Chifuyu asked her assistant teacher and friend that she respected, Yamada Maya.
"He sure is! He's amazing you know! I asked him questions and he managed to answer them perfectly even, I think he has perfect memory." The cheerful assistant teacher replied her friend.
"Hmm, not bad." Ichika heard Chifuyu-nee's compliment and thought that this was such a special day to get two compliments from her.
Eventually, Chifuyu introduced herself as their teacher, and the girls went full fangirl on her.
Unlike Ichika, she actually had a method in shutting them up.
Ichika wished he had that sort of authority.
Much to his dismay, when the ten minutes break between subjects began, the girls started giggling and gossiping while keeping a distance from him.
Ichika was praying for the beautiful blonde to come and spew some hateful drivel at him.
"...Can I talk to you for a moment?"
Ichika looked up, and saw Houki was the one who spoke.
Okay, that might actually be a lot better.
"Yes! I would love to Houki!" He enthusiastically agreed. 'Salvation at last!'
"W-wha, l-love, what are you saying?" Houki stammered, Ichika was wondering if she might be a little feverish considering her flushed face, but decided that Houki was a strong young woman who could take it!
He grabbed her hand and used his prior knowledge of the school's map to lead them to the rooftop.