- 4 -
"The Other Other Woman"
A few days had passed since the class rep selection match. We hadn't had Cecilia's inauguration party yet, but that was understandable.
Why, you may ask?
Because it was tonight!
I know. Huzzah, right?
I was in arena three in my IS suit, standing in ranks with the other thirty-odd girls in my class, all of whom were wearing the female version of what I wore. This consisted of three dark blue pieces: a pair of long, mid-thigh stockings and something that resembled the stereotypical Japanese school swimsuit. Minus the nametag across the chest, of course.
The material they were made out of, I'd learned, was called Notex. Which, in turn, was short for Not Latex.
Go figure, eh?
It was made of a type of conductive fibre that only transmitted neural impulses, which made the IS' movements sharper.
It was perfectly comfortable for girls, designed to cling to flesh so as to accommodate a wide range of movements. But for me, with... ummm... low-hanging protrusions, it was quite uncomfortable.
God, that sounded awkward.
Either way, I assume that you can figure out why I was having a hard time keeping my eyes focused on the ground, surrounded by so many latex- Notex-clad girls.
Chifuyu was standing in front of the class with her arms crossed, wearing her mysterious track suit as she talked to Miss Yamada.
I heard her say something along the lines of, "Okay, they have my approval. Talk to France and Germany after classes."
Yamada nodded and Chifuyu turned back to us. "Okay, class! Today we'll be practicing operating the basic movements and controls of the IS!"
Sounded simple enough.
"Murdoch! Alcott! You're both up first!"
Cecilia stepped out of ranks with a shout of, "Yes, ma'am," and moved off to the side.
She stopped and flicked the blue earring hanging from her right ear. Her body started to glow as the IS, Blue Tears, formed around her.
When the shining light dissipated, she was hovering a few feet above the ground in her blue armor. I could see that she'd had her BITs replaced.
I stepped off to the side as well and gripped my right wrist with my left hand. Closing my eyes, I focused on my bracer.
But, me being me, nothing happened.
"Hurry it up, Murdoch," Chifuyu yelled, "An experienced pilot should be able to deploy in just a few seconds!"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not an experienced IS pilot!" I yelled.
As I got irritated, my wrist started to glow. A little surprised, I threw my fist high in the air to facilitate the deployment, just like Houki'd taught me. A dozen ribbons of white light flew from my wrist and would have mowed down a few others if they hadn't ducked.
They looped back and started to wrap around my limbs instead. As it had when I first donned Paxis, the world seemed to expand; it was simpler and more clear-cut. I could see every detail of everything as my white and blue armor formed right onto my body and I was lifted off the ground.
The glow faded and Paxis revealed itself.
"Not bad, Murdoch," Chifuyu said, "Now, fly!"
Cecilia immediately lifted off; her IS shooting straight up at a very respectable speed. Well, if she could do it, so could I.
I focused on the wings that floated behind me and bent my legs. Then, with all of my strength, I jumped. The wings activated and gravity became a trivial thing as I soared upward at a pace that put Cecilia to shame.
"WAAAAAH!" I screamed, trying desperately to control the IS again. I slowed down and huffed in annoyance as Cecilia passed me again. Figuring that it didn't matter since it wasn't a race, I tried to keep myself steady at a three-hundred-foot altitude.
Chifuyu's voice rang in my head, projected over the IS Core communication channels. "You're too slow! According to the output specs, the Paxis is superior to her IS!"
I rolled my eyes and responded, "That may technically be true, but she's been doing this for years. I've been doing this for a freaking week."
"Experience isn't everything," Cecilia said, throttling back to fly beside me, "An image is just an image, no matter how you imagine it."
"You trying to say something, Blondie?" I asked. Cecilia and I had been on better terms lately. Enough so that I considered her a friend, even.
"The IS responds to what your mind says. You'll have a much easier time if you can figure out the methods of control that work best for you."
"Yeah, well that may be true, but I haven't exactly gotten used to flying the IS around just yet. Hell, I don't even know what makes it fly."
In my mind's eye, Tabane was shaking my shoulders from behind while I read a textbook, telling me to be more smarty-warty. She called me Stennie-kun, and pulled my ears every time I told her not to.
"Well, uh, if you're interested, I'd be happy to give you private lessons every day after school," Cecilia said. Her tone left me suspicious as to her actual intentions.
I raised an eyebrow.
"And when I do, it'll be just the two of us...," the British girl said quietly.
"What?" I asked, not quite hearing her.
"N-nothing!"
I shrugged. I then realized that shrugging wasn't a good idea, seeing as it angled my wings weirdly. I did my best to not smack into Cecilia while at the same time trying to stabilize myself. Just as I managed to, a channel opened again.
"Murdoch, Alcott," Chifuyu said, "Execute a power dive and come to a complete stop."
"Roger that!" Cecilia confirmed, before turning to me and winking. "Well, ladies first!"
At which point she gunned it. The Blue Tears went straight at the ground, and only decelerated to come in for a landing. It was smooth and seamless. The perfect maneuver.
"Well, I feel like shit now."
I would have shrugged again, but I was smart enough to remember stupid stuff not to do. I angled myself downward and gunned Paxis' thrusters. I had no speedometer, but I could tell I was going damn fast.
It was when the ground got a little too close for comfort and I was still going fast that I realized something was wrong.
"Murdoch, decelerate! Now!" Chifuyu yelled.
I frantically tried to slow down, but the IS wouldn't let me.
"OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAAAAAAAAAAAP!"
And so it was that I slammed into the ground with the force of a small asteroid.
That's a lot less fun than it sounds, by the way.
My classmates gasped in shock as a rather large plume of rock and dirt flew up into the air and blanketed them.
"Sten!" Houki screamed, rushing to the edge of the arena's new crater. Yamada frantically followed her, while Chifuyu just sauntered.
Seriously, your student might have killed himself and you saunter?
The dust cleared as they got to the edge just in time to see Paxis dissipate.
I was starting to think the machine had a sense of freaking humor, because it left me with my head embedded in the ground. I planted my hands and feet and pushed as hard as I could. In my head, I screamed in effort.
My head came free very suddenly, and I was sent sprawling back. "Aw, man, I thought I was gonna die!"
"You idiot!" Chifuyu yelled, "Do you have any idea how much it costs to fill in a hole this size?!"
"Do you have any idea how many brain cells I just lost?!"
The relieved smile Houki'd been wearing suddenly disappeared. She scowled as she yelled, "That was pitiful, Sten! You still haven't mastered a single thi- wah! Hey!"
The Japanese girl was cut off as Cecilia bumped past her right shoulder and jumped over the lip of the newly-formed crater. She slid down the side and immediately ran to me. She bent at the hip to bring herself to my level as she asked, in a bit of a panic, "Goodness! Are you alright, Sten, dear? Have you been injured?"
"Uh, no. I'm totally okay," I said, "Wait, 'Sten, dear?!'"
Cecilia's face reddened and she smiled widely. "Well, I'm certainly glad to hear you say that. Although, I do think it would be best for you to get checked out thoroughly at the Nurse's office. If fact, I'll escort you there myself!"
"Not necessary," Houki said, standing beside the bent over Cecilia, "It's impossible for anyone to get injured while piloting an IS."
"Oh, Miss Shinonono," Cecilia stood up, leaving me lying on the ground with a girl standing on either side, "Please understand, it's only natural for me to care about others."
"Oh yeah, because your bosom overflows with human kindness."
"Yes, it does! And it's so much more pleasant than scowling like a troll."
Houki growled and Cecilia copied her. Their heads may as well have been butting together as their eyes burned with hatred.
Exactly when did those two start hating each other so much?
Houki and Cecilia both then turned to me and yelled, "WHO'S RIGHT?!"
"Uh-uh, no way! I'm not taking sides in this!"
The both groaned in annoyance, grabbed one of my arms and yanked me to my feet as they walked back up the side of the crater. "Umm, can you let go of me?"
They both pinched me in the sides. "YIIIAH!" I screamed in pain.
The pair of demons kept walking. I rolled my eyes.
And so it was that practical training became quite impractical, what with the girls I had latched to either arm.
- IS -
Houki and I got back to the room around 6:54, which was surprisingly early for a day of practicals. Sometimes Chifuyu would keep us until 9:00. My bed was made, as it always mysteriously was every evening (we have no cleaning service and I only made my bed once a week), and there was a package on top.
Houki dropped her bag and entered the washroom as I walked over to pick it up. "Hey, Houki? Did you order something?"
"No. Why?"
I flipped the cardboard box, and sure enough, my name was on the bottom, with the words 'special order' underneath.
"I thought this package might be for you. I was wrong."
She came out of the washroom with her hair untied from its usual ponytail and stood beside me. "What's in it?" she asked.
I shrugged and said, "Only one way to find out."
I put the package down on the desk and grabbed a knife from the kitchenette. Houki stayed right beside me as I split the tape binding the box and opened the flaps.
"Aw, crap...," I muttered.
"Well, I didn't expect that," Houki said.
Inside was an ISA uniform. Only with pants.
The jacket was slightly shorter at the bottom than the female version was, and the red stripes there were gone. I liked the collar, which was both wide in one direction and tall in another. The pants were a stark white, and, I'll be frank, not very attractive to me.
"It's a bit..."
"White?" Houki asked.
"I was gonna go with gaudy, but sure. White works better."
I tossed the jacket, shirt and pants onto my bed and then saw a pair of black shoes at the bottom of the box.
"This took them a week-and-a-half?" I asked, not very enthused, "I wouldn't be caught dead in this!"
"Excuse me, do you think I like wearing a skirt that's about an inch away from flaunting my ass to the world?"
"Well, actually..."
*Smack!*
I pressed both hands against the back of my head and glared at the brown-haired demon. "Ow! Now that wasn't necessary!"
"Oh really?! You want another?!" Houki growled, her hand moving to the shinai I'd put in the umbrella stand.
"Oh no! It was completely necessary! Please forgive me, Miss Houki!" I cried, shielding my head with my arms.
I develop survival reflexes fast.
She smiled and walked back to the washroom. "I'll think about it, pervert."
The door shut and locked. I collapsed against the foot of my bed.
Yeah, she had me totally whipped.
Houki and I hung out in the room for a bit after we both showered (yes, separately. Does it look like I want to be castrated?), reading books, before she decided it was time for us to go for dinner. I reluctantly donned my uniform for the first time to find that, to my great surprise, it extraordinarily comfortable. I'd expected the blazer-like jacket to be really stiff, but it like wearing a broken-in one. The dress shirt felt like silk (even though it was probably just polyester, knowing typical manufacturing companies) and I felt like the shoes had been made for me.
...
Well, they had, but still. You know what I mean.
"C'mon, Houki," I said, standing beside the un-Swiss-cheesed door.
She was in the washroom doing whatever with her hair. I thought it looked fine in her signature ponytail, but apparently she was a bit nitpicky. Well, actually, very nitpicky.
"I'm coming," she replied, shortly before she opened the door and exited the bathroom.
Her hair looked the exact same as usual. "What happened to changing it up?"
"I did," she deadpanned.
I squinted and looked at the top of her head closer. I ran a hand down the bound ponytail, which did nothing except make Houki blush and frown a bit.
"It's the exact same."
"No it isn't, Murdoch."
I should probably mention that Houki called me Murdoch when she was angry, which was how I knew whether or not to tone down the snideness. But, this time I could see the corner of her lip twitching, which was a sign that she was trying to hold in a smile really desperately.
'So that's how it is,' I thought.
I shrugged and flippantly left the room. Houki followed behind after she locked the door. Normally nobody bothered, but Houki was apparently paranoid about people getting into her underwear. I suspected she was more afraid that people would steal mine.
Which I didn't have much of to begin with. Or clothes, for that matter. Granted, I was going to be wearing my heavenly and white uniform most of the time, but hey...
"I need to go shopping," I said, half believing that I'd gone senile.
"Why?" Houki asked, sounding confused.
"Consider the fact that most of my stuff is in a stadium back in Canada, Houki. I haven't been home since I left for Vancouver to start school."
"Aren't you annoyed by the fact that the world is treating you more like a commodity than a person?" she asked, quite suddenly.
That was a toughy. I hadn't really thought of it like that, but now that she mentioned it, I had been treated pretty badly. First, they pluck me out of school like a grape, then they keep me in a small room for two weeks, then I'm shipped to Japan in a jet that might as well have said FedEx on the side, and now I was enrolled in a school where everyone looked down on me because I had a penis.
"Now that I think about it, you're right. That does annoy me. No one's been listening to what I want to do."
"You should talk to Miss Orimura about it."
I laughed. "Chifuyu? She'd just whack me with the attendance clipboard."
"She cares about you a lot more than you give her credit for, Sten."
"Are beatings how women show affection nowadays?"
"Hate to break it to you, but it's always been like that."
We kept talking the whole way to the cafeteria, the subject varying from the political stance of the whole world to why carrots are orange. At that time (8:20) it was getting fairly dark. There wasn't a curfew per se, but it was frowned upon to be out past 10:00, generally. That left us an hour-and-a-half for dinner, which I could live with.
I pushed open the double doors to the caf, but...
"Why's it dark in here?" I asked.
No answer.
"Houki?"
Still no answer. Knowing her, she'd probably just walked away and left me.
"It figures."
As I turned to leave, the lights snapped on and about thirty girls, four of whom were holding Houki down and clamping her mouth shut, jumped out of the darkness screaming, "CONGRATULATIONS!"
"Yah!" I yelped, my foot catching my shin. Needless to say, I fell pretty hard.
Two girls picked me up by the arms, dragged me over to a table alcove and sat me down next to Houki. A gaggle of party poppers went off, raining confetti down on us.
I turned to Houki. "Did someone spread a rumor that we got married?"
A vein pulsed on her forehead and I knew I'd gone too far.
I read the banner over my head, trying to tune out the twenty-seven people talking to me at once.
CLASS REP INAUGURATION
STEN MURDOCH
CONGRATULATIONS!
...
"Wait a sec, how'd I get to be class rep?" I asked, trying to pick Cecilia out of the crowd.
It was only when she spoke that I realized she was sitting right beside me. "Oh, you were promoted because I decided to step down," she said, somehow making that kind sentence sound arrogant, "Obviously, it's true that you did lose that match, but if you think about it, that outcome was inevitable. After all, what else could possibly happen with me as your opponent? Well, I just felt awful for behaving so childishly and getting upset afterward, so, I decided to let you be the class representative!"
Well, so much for the inkling of humility I was starting to think she'd developed.
"Blondie, you won by technicality." I said, totally deadpan.
Completely ignoring me, the redheaded American on the other side of the British girl said, "Wow, that's so considerate of you, Cecilia!"
Another student, couldn't tell where she was from, nodded. "I totally agree! Since he's the only male at the Academy, we have to give him, like, our full support!"
Oh god, please no! I can only take so much female attention at once, and what I'm getting as it is is frying my freaking brain!
I cradled my head in my hands and groaned. This school was going to be the death of me.
"Well, aren't you Mister Popularity," Houki said, taking a sip from her juice box. Hey, where'd she get that? I want one now.
"I'm not enjoying this," I replied, pulling on my bangs.
She 'hmphed' and turned away from me.
"And why are you in such a bad mood, anyway?"
A flash came from the end of the table, and I looked over to see a second year holding a Nikon camera, pointing it at us.
Great, now Houki's anger is on immortal film. Just what I needed.
"Hello there!" she said, her voice a little on the nasal side, "I'm from the newspaper club! Oh, right... Um, Cecilia, if you don't mind, would you get into the picture too?"
The blonde girl immediately perked up even more than she already had been. "What? You mean just the two of us?" a sly smile crept across her face.
I don't like this...
"Oh, you and your Personal Units are the center of attention! It'd look even better if the two of you shake hands, or something!"
"Oh, do you really think so?" Cecilia said, blushing, "You will make certain that I receive copies of the pictures as well, won't you?"
"Oh, sure! No problem! Now, come on and stand up." her face disappeared behind the camera.
I stood up beside Cecilia and gave her my right hand, which she grasped eagerly. It wasn't a handshake at all; it was just Cecilia holding my hand! Aha! The caper is capered! Or... however the hell you're supposed to say it!
"Could I get you two to move a bit closer together?"
Oh, no.
Cecilia may as well have been bumping up against me as she stepped forward and held my hand tighter.
"Very good. Now give me a big smile, you two!"
I smiled awkwardly and waited for the flash to go off. The was a great shuffling sound a second before the lens clicked and the flash blinded me, but when I could see again, Houki was between me and Cecilia, who had a look of horror on her face. Pretty much my entire class had piled up around us to get into the photo.
Cecilia's arms shot up in outrage. "Why are all of you in my picture?!"
"Just calm down...," Fox Girl put in.
"We can't let you get ahead of us all by yourself...," Takatsuki said.
Cecilia moaned in annoyance. She was pouting, and looked very disappointed. I just laughed sheepishly and hoped this madness would end soon...
That night, at the Bat Cave...
We went back to our room hungry. The chefs left before we could get to them, so I'd made Houki pasta when we'd returned
Yes, I can cook. Don't act so surprised.
Anyway, at that exact moment, I was flopped on my bed in my sleepwear (drawstring pants and a shirt) while Houki, still in her uniform, closed the blinds. I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes with the balls of my palms. It had been a really long day...
"So," Houki said, sounding a bit exasperated, sitting down on the edge of her bed, "I guess that you had a lot of fun today."
I rolled my eyes. "It was exhausting, actually. Do you honestly think you would enjoy it if you were in my shoes?"
"If I had to hazard a guess," she started quietly, before finishing by yelling, "I think I actually would enjoy it!"
*Fooff*
Her pillow hit me in the face. I grabbed it and bolted into a sitting position. "Now what the hell was that for?!"
She seemed entirely unruffled. "I'm going to change into my pajamas now, so I need you to look away."
"I don't understand why you didn't just change when I was brushing my teeth." I rolled onto my side and picked my book up off my night table.
"Hmph!" Houki yanked out the privacy slide between our beds. Seriously? If you're going to do that, why do I have to look away?
I'll never understand this girl...
Course, granted, as I listened to the sound of her taking off her clothes, I was more than a little tempted to look. I held my book in from of my eyes. It was all I could do to keep from looking around the slide.
I'm a hormone driven teenage boy, okay?
So, I bit my lip, closed my eyes and started reciting PI in my head.
3.1415926535897932384626433832 7950288419716939937510582097 4944592307816406286208998628 0348253421170679821480865132 8230664709384460955058223172 5359408128481117450284102701 9385211055596446229489549303 8196442881097566593344612847 5648233786783165271201909145 6485669234603486104543266482 1339360726024914127372458700 660631558817...
The rustling of clothes as they rubbed together and my ever-increasing heartrate were the only things I could hear. Why I was getting like this, I couldn't guess. It wasn't like I hadn't heard Houki getting undressed before.
...4881520920962829254091715364 3678925903600113305305488204 6652138414695194151160943305 7270365759591953092186117381 9326117931051185480744623799 6274956735188575272489122793 8183011949129833673362440656 6430860213949463952247371907 0217986094370277053921717629 3176752384674818467669405132 0005681271452635608277857713 4275778960917363717872146844 0901224953430146549585371050 7922796892589235420199561121 2902196086403441815981362977 4771309960518707211349999998 3729780499510597317328160963 1859502445945534690830264252 2308253344685035261931188171 0100031378387528865875332083 81420617177669147303...
I tried to regulate my breathing a bit. In, out... In, out...
Okay, that helped. I heard the clothes start to come back onto her body and let out another strained breath.
...5982534904287554687311595628 6388235378759375195778185778 0532171226806613001927876611 1959092164201989380952572010 6548586327886593615338182796 8230301952035301852968995773 6225994138912497217752834791 3151557485724245415069595082 9533116861727855889075098381 7546374649393192550604009277 0167113900984882401285836160 3563707660104710181942955596 1989- WHEN DID I LEARN ALL THIS?!
So caught up was I in trying to remember when I'd memorized 1240 freaking decimals of Pi, that when I heard the slide push back into the wall, it didn't really register until Houki said, "Alright, I'm done."
I shook my head to try to make the numbers go away. "Kay."
The uneasiness finally faded.
I sat up. For some reason, Houki slept in a yukata. I don't know, it was probably normal in Japan, but it didn't strike me as very comfortable to sleep in. It looked too hot. It was a light pink, and she usually sported a sash that was a bit darker, but tonight it was a deep burgundy. I'd never seen that one before.
Beyond her outfit, I was always shocked to see how long Houki's hair actually was. In its usual ponytail, it was to her waist, but let down, her hair went past her knees.
"Uh, hey, are you wearing a new sash tonight?" I asked.
She smiled bashfully and blushed, and everything about her countenance softened. Yeah, her tone, too. "Actually, yes, I can't believe you noticed," she said quietly.
"Of course I noticed, Houki. I mean, I look at you all the time!" I said, smiling.
Her face reddened even more. About two whole seconds later, I realized just how strange what I'd said was, but Houki was kind enough to save me.
"Oh yeah, of course you do... I mean, I'm right here and you're there... Haha, it's perfectly normal!"
Everything about that sentence sounded awkward. I could tell she was trying very hard not to turn vermillion.
"Umm, well... Yeah, we should get to sleep now." I said, focusing on her eyes.
"Yeah... bed..." she sounded a bit out of it as she stared at the floor.
We both got into our respective beds and I switched off the lights. I stared at the wall so that I could avoid staring at Houki. I was pretty sure she was doing the same.
The Paxis bracer was very annoying when I slept, mostly because I kept whacking myself in the face with it. I closed my eyes and relaxed.
"Um... Sten?" Houki said quietly. I almost turned over, but... Well, it felt a bit wrong.
"Uh huh?" I replied a little sleepily.
"I just... Well, I... I'm sorry. I was just frustrated...," Houki said, quietly.
It wasn't every day that I got an apology from Houki Shinonono. "That's alright. Don't worry about it, 'kay?"
"Oh, good. That's nice to know. Umm, goodnight, then."
"You too, babe. Sleep easy."
For once, she didn't complain about my endearment for her. That made me smile.
"Night...," I muttered quietly.
- IS -
Morning was easy to get past the next day. I had a light breakfast that would probably have generated leftovers, were I a group of ten people. Houki was calm and friendly. Dare I say, quite amiable, actually. She and I actually had a conversation about fish in which she didn't even have to hit me once.
When things started to go wrong, I was sitting at my desk with a crowd of girls around me. Just to clear things up, things didn't go wrong because of that.
"Hey, Murdoch! The Class League Tournament is coming up soon!" said a girl named Petunia. Seriously, who names their child Petunia in this day and age?
"Oh," the American redhead said. I really needed to find out what her name was, "Oh, that's right! Have you heard that the representative for Class 1-2 has been changed?"
Why the hell would they change their representative? They would only do that if there was a fight, and I'd have heard if there was a fight.
"Yeah, now it's that new transfer student, What's-her-face."
I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A transfer student? At this time of the year?"
Takatsuki sat on the edge of my desk and smirked. I noted that she showed off quite a bit more of her slim thighs than she had to. "You're one to talk, Murdoch."
"Point taken. Nice thighs, by the way," I said. She smiled proudly, and we bumped fists, "But in all seriousness, is there actually a new transfer student?"
"Yeah!" redhead nodded. "Supposedly, she's from China."
China... Hmm...
Cecilia crossed her arms and smirked haughtily. "I wonder if she transferred to the IS Academy to study my techniques!"
"Cecilia," I said, "Much as I love you, your ego is driving me nuts."
She blushed and shut up (thank god...). And so, I returned to the topic at hand...
"Well, I'm sure curious," I said, "I bet she's pretty good!"
"Well, the only classes with a student with a Personal IS are classes one and four, so we'll be fine." Takatsuki said definitely.
"That information is outdated!" someone said from the door.
She was a short Chinese girl, probably the new class rep, with brown hair in two high pigtails and green eyes. Her uniform was really odd, in that the entire thing had been split so that the sleeves were mostly separated, revealing a pair of pale shoulders.
"The representative for Class 1-2 now had a Personal IS as well, so it's not going to be as easy to win anymore!" she continued.
Finally, it dawned on me that I recognized her. "No way," I gasped, standing up. "Rin?!"
"That's right! I'm Lingyin Huang, China's Representative Contender, and I've come here to declare war!" she pointed a finger at me dramatically.
I struggled to hold back a fit of giggles and failed spectacularly. I broke into hysterical laughter and doubled over, slamming my hand against my desk repeatedly.
"Exactly who is that new girl? She seems much too friendly with my Sten!" Cecilia said possessively.
"Good one!" I yelled, "Coming in and acting like a showoff! It's so unlike you, Rin!"
"WHAT?! Why would you say something like that about me, huh?!"
She started going on about how I was a jackass, but I wasn't laughing anymore. In fact, I was more than a little scared.
For her life, that is.
Behind my babbling childhood friend, Chifuyu was standing akimbo, glaring a hole in the back of the Chinese girl's head. Of course, Rin just kept flailing her arms and flapping her lips until, finally, the Teacher From Hell smacked Rin over the head with the attendance clipboard.
"OW! That hurt!" Rin whipped around. "What did you do that fo- ...?!"
"Consider that your homeroom bell being rung, moron," Chifuyu said menacingly.
"Chi-Chifuyu?!"
"That's Miss Orimura. Now get back to class; you're in the way."
Chifuyu sauntered over to the lectern and handed the lesson datapad to Miss Yamada, whose nose was buried in an IS textbook.
"Fine!" Rin shouted at me, "But I'll be back later, so don't you run away, Murdoch!"
She then left with her panties in a twist.
Who'd'a thunk it. Lingyin "Rin" Huang, a Representative Contender...
Ever heard the expression, "The shit's gonna hit the fan"?
Let's just hope it's a Dyson fan.
The first half of class passed with Chifuyu giving an in-depth explanation of why the generation of Unit power was hindered by the use of Shield Regenerators, which ate power like bonbons.
I stared blankly at the chalkboard the whole time, pretending to be listening. Paxis didn't have the ability to regenerate shield energy, so it wasn't something I felt I needed to know.
Every IS has an internal power unit, and the various pieces of equipment are all hooked up to a bus rig. Every model of IS had free bus slots for modification beyond their factory equipment. Modification packages, or Equalizers, provided support for different classes of combat, defence and racing. The weird thing about Paxis was that it didn't have even a single free bus slot.
When Chifuyu finished, Miss Yamada came up to the board, erased everything, and put down the words:
"Pilot"
"Operator"
"Mechanic"
This caught my attention, and I leaned forward a bit, my tablet's stylus in hand. The tables, it turned out, had embedded tablet screens that you could use a stylus to write notes on, which were then transferred to the student's personal datapad. It was incredibly convenient.
Miss Yamada turned back to us. "Some of you already know what these words mean in relation to the IS. For those who don't, I'll explain. This school, while dedicated to training IS pilots, does a lot more than that. We also train operators and mechanics, which are two relatively small parts of the school's population," she said.
I wrote furiously. I was actually following the lesson! Holy crap!
"Mechanics, as the name implies, are the ones who work on the machinery of the IS. They develop new weapons, shields, brainstorm how to increase power efficiency, and maintain a pilot's IS. A single professional pilot can have up to ten mechanics on their team, but for school tournaments, we limit everyone to having one personal mechanic for the sake of fairness."
Which made sense. Not everyone was friends with someone in the mechanic department. I knew I wasn't.
"On the other hand, operators are the ones who strategize. As per Mondo Grosso rules, a pilot can only have a single operator, but that's usually more than enough. An operator feeds information to the pilot during combat. They're the eyes and the ears, you could say."
That sounded familiar. I raised my hand.
"Yes, Murdoch?" she asked pleasantly, smiling.
I lowered my hand and asked, "When I was fighting Cecilia five days ago, were you acting as my operator?"
She walked back to the chalkboard and started writing. "That's right! When a new pilot arrives at the Academy and has to fight before they can choose an operator from the students, their sub-teacher will typically fill in as operator."
"So, it's essentially like a substitute?" Takatsuki asked.
"Exactly!" Yamada cried joyfully, "I filled in as Sten's operator because he was new here, and he didn't know any operators yet!"
I didn't miss that she'd slipped up and called me Sten. Not in a bad way, either. I preferred being called by my first name.
"However, a mechanic squad isn't entirely necessary. An IS pilot is trained to maintain and modify their IS to begin with, so as long as you don't take too many risks, a team can survive with just a pilot and an operator!"
The Fox Girl raised her hand. "Then why do pilots even have mechanics?"
"Well," Yamada started, "That's because sometimes a patch up job may be too complicated for the pilot. Or, and this is the more common case, a pilot is injured and needs to rest while their IS is repaired."
"Oh," was the reply.
"Miss Yamada, is an operator necessary to participate in the Class Tournament?" I asked.
"Good of you to ask, Sten!" there it was again! "The answer is yes! You'll be barred from participating and automatically disqualified if you don't have an operator, so make sure to find someone fast!" she made a thumbs-up gesture that very subtly pointed toward herself. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it, either.
Oh, Yamada...
I chuckled quietly as I opened my 'shit to do' list and put down "find an operator".
Miss Yamada went back to teaching the lesson with a beaming smile on her face, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She had to reach while standing on her toes to write at the top of the board.
Why do I always get stuck with the cute ones?
...
Actually, I have a better question.
Why the hell am I complaining about that?
Then it was lunch. After we ordered, Rin, Houki and I moved to the pickup line.
"You scared the crap out of me!" I said, "Why didn't you tell me you were transferring in?"
"Don't be stupid!" Rin replied, smiling, "If I'd done that, it would've totally ruined our dramatic reunion!"
"Beyond that, it looks like you've got some problems with Chifuyu. Who would've thought that you knew her brother, What's-his-face."
"His name's Ichika. And I don't have problems with Chifuyu, I'm just not good at handling her."
She turned back to the counter as the lunch lady handed her a bowl. "Here's your ramen!"
I chuckled. "Ramen. You really love your ramen, don't you? It's been, what? Three years since I last saw you, Rin? How the hell have you been?"
She then turned stern. "Look, I've been doing just great. Really! Maybe you're the one who ought to get sick or injured for a change!"
Rin would never stop confusing me. One second she's completely agreeable, the next, she's a bit of a bitch.
We walked over to a free alcove table, coincidentally, the one Houki agreed to teach me at, and sat down with our respective lunches. As we ate and talked, Houki, Cecilia, Fox Girl, Takatsuki, the redhead whose name was actually Lucy and another girl sat down around the table adjacent to ours.
"Man, I really still can't believe you became a Representative Contender," I said, taking a bite of chicken.
"And what about you, huh? I almost had a heart attack when I saw you on the news!" Rin replied. She put down her bowl of ramen.
"You think you were surprised? Hah, well lemme tell you, the last place I thought I'd be going to high school was here. Actually, it didn't even make the list."
"I heard you operated an IS in a compatibility trial, but how can that be possible? Can you really fly an IS, or is this all some sort of Canadian publicity stunt?" she asked skeptically.
I rolled up my right sleeve and held out my armored forearm. "This real enough for you?"
"What's that? A fashion disaster?"
"Ha freakin' ha. This is my IS, Paxis."
Rin's jaw dropped and she started examining my wrist, looking for something to indicate that it was a fake. When she found absolutely zilch, she leaned back and sighed. "I can't believe it. How'd this all happen?"
I rolled down my sleeve and went back to my food. "Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure how it happened. You know that the IS arena in Vancouver is attached to a big high school, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I wish they'd put up a sign, because I wandered in..."
-The high school's facade was tall and mostly made of glass. I shrugged my backpack further up onto my shoulder and gripped my duffel more tightly. It was now or never. My first course was Phys Ed. I checked my timetable. Room 314 was the classroom I was supposed to meet the teacher in.
Five minutes later, I was signed in, up the elevator, and totally lost. I was standing at the center of a completely unmarked junction. No one was around. I hated this school already.
Down a hallway to my left, I saw an unmarked door. I thought I was in the general area of where I was supposed to be, so I approached the door and pushed it open. My surroundings changed from the concrete walls of a school to the metal walls of somewhere much more important. I was about to leave when I noticed something in the center of the room.
It looked like an old Japanese Samurai, minus most of its body. It was called... Uh, I thought it was called an Uchigane, the Japanese mass-production unit.
I walked up to it to take a closer look. Ever since I was a kid, I'd always had a fascination with the IS. It sort of broke my heart and crushed my soul when I learned I couldn't fly one.
No one would mind if I touched it, would they?
I quickly cast a glance around the empty room. No one was around. I placed a hand on the Uchigane, if only just to see what an IS felt like.
But something else happened.
My hand felt like it burned. Actually, I could see steam and smell burning flesh. I frantically tried to pull away, but the IS wouldn't let me go. The armor opened.
I called for help over and over, but no one came, and the IS seemed to absorb me. But then, the pain stopped. The burn on my hand disappeared as the gauntlet closed around it. The world seemed to expand before me. My vision was perfect.
I could feel the tiniest disturbances in the air as I floated up into it.
My entire body flooded with power as an alarm started to blare. But, no matter how much power I had, I was still terrified beyond words as the door smashed open and a pair of women with guns entered.
"Land! Now!" one of them yelled, cocking the pistol. I cringed.
The other one's eyes widened, and her grip on her gun slackened. "Oh my god... Deb, that's a boy!"
The other one took a closer look at me and balked. My hair was longer than the average guy kept it, for sure, it being all the way down to my shoulders, but other than that I didn't look anything like a girl.
"Even if he is a boy, he's not allowed to steal an IS!" the one called Deb shouted.
I was about to say that I wasn't stealing it when a trail of green lights appeared below me, leading to the now-opening pit doors.
"I think I should tell you that I'm not flying this thing," I said.
"I think I should tell you that if you fly an inch toward that door, I'll put a bullet through your skull!"
I tried once again to land the Uchigane, but it didn't listen. The pit doors clanked open and the IS jetted toward the opening, bullets piercing the air all around me and bouncing harmlessly off some sort of shield.
Finally, it stopped. I was hovering about a hundred feet off the ground, opposite three girls in identical units to mine. They took one look at me and balked.
Every news camera in the arena swivelled to me, and I tried my best not to faint from sheer confusion.-
"Well, a whole lot of crap happened after that. Next thing I knew, I was here."
At that point, I was done my lunch.
"Huh," Rin said contemplatively, "That is weird."
Suddenly, two pairs of irate hands slammed down on the other end of the table. Unsurprisingly, they belonged to Houki and Cecilia. Also unsurprisingly, they looked quite mad.
"Sten, I think it's about time you gave me an explanation!" Houki snapped.
"That's right!" Cecilia agreed, "You had better explain this! Don't tell me you're actually dating this transfer student now!"
Rin actually looked like she hopped out of her skin. "No! It's not like that at all, I swear!"
"It's true," I supported, "We're just old friends."
Out of the corner of my eye, Rin moved. I turned to see her glaring at me. "What's eating you?"
"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine!" she growled.
Rin turned away from me with her nose up. She always got like this when she was mad at me. What I didn't get was why it was happening now.
"Wait," Houki interjected, "Old friends?"
"I never told you about Rin?" I asked?
"No! You didn't!" she snapped, "Tell me!"
"Well, I'll tell you as long as you don't beat me with a shinai later."
A vein popped on Houki's forehead and her left eye started twitching. This was the angriest I'd ever seen her. "FINE!" she yelled.
I planted my elbows on the table and rested my chin on my knuckles. "Rin used to live in a town that was really close to where I live. Or rather, used to live, what with the whole ISA thing I've got going on. Anyway, Rin moved back to China a few years ago."
I very faintly heard Rin wistfully say, "I'm first? Yesss...!"
"Ah," Houki said, "It's nice to meet one of Sten's old friends."
She said it really rudely, but if there's one thing I'd learned at that point, it was that I had no way of controlling either Cecilia or Houki.
"Ahem!" that was Cecilia, "Since you seem to have forgotten about me, allow me to introduce myself!"
I sighed. Just what I needed. A third member added to the pissing contest...
"I am Cecilia Alcott, the United Kingdom's Representative Contender! As a matter of fact, Sten and I had a fierce battle over the title of-"
"So I heard you were recently chosen to be Class 1-1's representative." Rin said. Cecilia of course, being Cecilia, kept talking, too focused on herself to even notice that Rin wasn't listening.
"Yeah, I was." I replied.
My old friend brightened up a bit. "You know, if you want, I could help you with your IS practice drills. Wouldn't that be fun?"
"Yeah, for sure! God knows I need all the help I can get."
Finally, Cecilia seemed to notice that no one cared, and scowled. "Look here! Are you listening to me?!" she shouted angrily.
Rin smirked. "Sorry! I'm just not interested!" she said, her voice thick with mock kindness.
Cecilia's face froze. "I can't believe you said that..."
Houki slammed her fists down on the table again. "And in any case, it's my job to teach Sten!" she shouted.
"You're from Class 1-2, aren't you? I'm not looking for any assistance from the enemy!" Cecilia spat.
Rin looked at them both levelly, not losing her cool at all. She was one brave little teenage girl. After all, I was twice her friggin' size and I would have been cowering at this point.
"Look, I'm having a nice chat with Sten right now. We weren't talking to you, so you need to back off!" Rin said.
My classmates growled angrily. Seriously, what are you guys? Wolves?
"Well, you certainly have a lot of nerve! You're the one who entered the picture after we did!" said Cecilia.
"Actually," Rin corrected, "It wasn't after you. I mean, I've known him longer than either of you have."
Couldn't argue with her there.
As the three stared each other down, I noticed a pair of heated glares coming from across the room. I looked over at the source and saw two identical faces staring me back. Steely blue eyes, chestnut tresses...
I recognized them. Just vaguely, but I did.
Olivia and Valerie Murdoch. My older twin sisters.
They stood up and left as soon as they noticed my stare, though, so I went back to Rin, Houki and Cecilia's argument. They'd just gone through some sort of thing about dinners...
"Sten, just what is she talking about, and how come you never mentioned any of this to me?!" Houki shouted from about three inches away.
"You never mentioned it to me, either!" Cecilia put in.
"Never mentioned what?!" I cried, my hands flying up on instinct to protect my face.
Both of them looked totally outraged, but neither tried to hit me. Weird...
"That you consorted with this girl at her own home! What kind of indecencies did you commit?!" Cecilia cried, pinching the bridge of her nose as a vein popped on her forehead.
I really, really, really hoped that question was rhetorical. Not that there was anything to tell, but I'm sure you can get where I'm coming from.
I leaned back in my seat a bit more, trying to put some distance between me and them. "My dad and I used to go eat at a Chinese restaurant her family owned. There a problem with that?"
"Oh, a restaurant," Houki said, relieved, "At least that makes sense..."
"Well, if her family owned a restaurant, I suppose it's only natural you would have eaten there."
Rin looked away a bit.
"So Rin! How's your dad doing?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
I failed miserably, by the way.
"I, uh... I think he's okay." she said, sounding unsure.
That confused me. Rin had always been close with her father when I knew her. For her not to know how he was, something bad must have happened.
The bell rang.
"Alright, I'll see you after school! I'll come by around the time you're finished practicing with them, so make sure you're available, okay?" she said as she picked up her tray and walked off.
I watched her go, before turning back to Cecilia and Houki, who were both glaring at me.
"Uhhh... What's up, guys?" I asked already moving my hands up to shield my head.
""STEEEEEEEEEN!""
