The suit turned into shadow as it moved to the right, dodging the stream of explosive plasma rounds headed straight for it before it accelerated towards the attacker, a gleaming sword in both hands. More shots came from the silver suit it faced, and again, it turned into a shadow, moving left and right as it continued to dodge the stream of fire coming at it.
"Let's go! [Revive!]"
A male's voice could be heard from the black-clad machine as it suddenly reached striking distance of the silver machine, forcing it into a deadlock with its swords as the silver machine grabbed the blades and attempted to pry it free, but the Revive simply would not budge.
"Laura, your turn!"
Yelling, the Revive suddenly broke off from the silver machine as high speed rounds made impact with its shields, smashing into the machine and sending it reeling despite the PIC unit on the IS. As the silver machine recovered, the black Revive came in again, wielding twin submachine guns as behind him, an orange Revive followed, wielding her own submachine guns. From farther back, beam rounds could be seen hurling themselves at the silver machine , dispersing off its shields as it turned towards them. However, it simply turned its back to them and focused on one other machine- a pink one floating just below it, firing its shoulder mounted Impact Cannons at the thing- and without thinking, it flew up, spinning in midair as it spread its brilliant white wings and unleashed a barrage of explosive plasma rounds at it.
"Rin!"
Breaking off, the orange Revive flew towards the Shenlong, putting its thrusters into maximum output.
"No! Charlotte!"
The black Revive watched as the orange Revive miraculously arrived at the position of the Shenlong, pulling it away from the rain of fire as it deployed its shield to do its best to protect it and the Shenlong from the incoming fire.
But it didn't survive for long.
Without relenting, the silver machine continued to open fire, aiming its rounds just in front of the suit in order to hit it, and hit it did. The explosions tore apart both the orange and pink suits, ripping chunks of metal from the larger pieces and injuring the pilots heavily.
"Charlotte! Rin!"
"Why you!"
Hearing another voice, the black Revive looked back up again, seeing the white suit, Byakushiki, zoom in on its target as it pulled back its sword to strike.
But the impossible happened.
As the white suit propelled its blade forward, the silver machine ducked down and stabbed its hand into the torso of the pilot, piercing through the Absolute Defence barrier and digging deep into the gut of the pilot before it clenched its fist and ripped its hand back out, gouging a large hole in the torso of the man.
"Ichika!"
He watched as the white suit fell to the sea, its pilot wholly unconscious as he tried to reach out to it, gunning his thrusters in an attempt to save his friend.
But another scream took his attention.
The wings of the silver machine had wrapped itself around one of the two sniper units, the Blue Tears, and what had happened inside had been hidden, but as the wings unwrapped itself, it was clear that what had once been the elegant blue suit was now but a tangled mess of metal and wires.
"Cecilia!"
Knowing he was unable to save the girl, he instead began to move towards a red suit floating in the sky, still firing away with its sniper rifle, its beautiful wings made of light spread out behind it like a dragon's.
But even then, he was too late.
Closing the distance in a heartbeat, the silver machine did the same to the Dragoon Stryker as it did to the Byakushiki, punching its arm through the chest of the pilot and ripping it out again, destroying the extra armouring that had surrounded the girl's torso and creating a hole in the middle of her chest, holding her heart in its hands before it crushed the still beating organ.
"Dammit… Stella!"
There had been seven of them, but now, only two remained- him and the girl named Laura.
"HAA!"
As a female voice came from above, he knew that it was Laura charging in for an attack and the boy instantly activated the [Shadow's Veil] system, activating the thrusters at its maximum output as it raced to reach the other black suit in time.
But it never did.
As Laura stabbed forward with the beam saber of her Schwarzer Roegen, the silver machine had grabbed her hand and locked it in place, its brilliantly shining wings spreading out behind it before thousands of rounds fired from its wings, shredding apart the black IS as metal, and even bits of flesh, began to fly from her body.
"No! Laura!"
Releasing the corpse, the silver suit looked at the boy next, seemingly grinning at him with cruel eyes despite its machinic appearance, and as the boy looked up at the suit, he began to feel woozy.
"No… this can't be real…"
Dropping his weapons, he grabbed his head, his sight beginning to blur and darken.
"No… no…"
And as he looked up at the machine, he swore that he could see the heat haze of the hot summer day shimmer, transforming itself until finally, the figure of the boy could be seen, a black figure tinged red by the rays of the sun.
"This… this isn't real right?" he tentatively asked the figure in the haze, his voice choked with emotion at the thought of his friends dying, leaving him all alone.
At that, the heat haze laughed a mocking laugh, its eyes turning into one of sadistic cruelty as it stared down at the boy who could only hold his head.
"This is all real," came the reply in a mocking tone.
And with that, the boy's already darkening vision almost reached the point of pure emptiness, and he could swear that the heat haze laughed once more as it raised its hand in farewell, the mocking tone ringing in his ears even as the boy faded into the darkness.

"GAH!"
Sitting up in his futon, Sam looked around at his room, breathing heavily as he took in the view of his own room in the resort. Wiping the cold sweat off his face, he looked over at the clock hung on the wall opposite him.
12:30 AM
"So… it was all a dream huh…"
Raising his left arm, he looked at his IS in its standby form, grabbing it as he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, wondering if he could use its power to protect his friend. Reopening his eyes, he gave himself a sad smile at how desperate he really was, knowing that he only wanted to protect his friends so that he would not have to feel lonely again, as he did before meeting Ichika and Rin during primary. He recalled that even though his uncle had cared for him and trained him, he was practically a stranger to the boy, never properly having talks like a parent and child, talks of the future and of irrelevant things just to deepen their bond.
And he'd also never had any friends to begin with.
Having a weak presence had made people unintentionally avoid him, and none attempted to approach him, let alone befriend him, and he had been unable to approach anyone in return- not until he'd made his first friend in Ichika. He sighed as he laid his head back down onto his pillow, pulling the blanket up to his chin as he stared at the ceiling, laughing slightly at the absurdity of the situation.
"It's all just a dream… I shouldn't get worked up over it… right?"
He tried to reason with himself.
"After all… nothing can break through the [Absolute Defense], right?"
But even as he did, tears began to form on the edges of his eyes. The thought of his friends dying had killed him inside, and now, he began to let it out.
"Please God, don't let it happen…"
And only after Sam had cried out all his tears did he finally stop, falling soundly asleep in his futon with the notion of death fading from his mind.

The four classes stood neatly organized lines on the beach before Chifuyu, each of them ready in their piloting suits. It was the second day of the beach school training camp and it was a day meant for testing and collecting data, and it was exceptionally tough for those with personal machines as they would have to do test runs on a large number of equipments for their units.

Well at least I get to share half the work with Charlotte… Sam thought as he glanced over at the bracer around his left arm that was his unit in standby form, and as both him and Charlotte's machines were [Revives], their workload would technically be shared amongst the two of them. He looked around a bit more and noticed the crates that were strewn all around the beach- the equipment that was to be tested had been transported there during the night by the different companies.
"Is everyone he- Hey! The latecomer over there!"
"Ye-yes!"
The sixth girl yelped as she joined the rest of the personal machine holders, and unexpectedly, it was Laura.
"Explain the IS Core Network, now."
"Okay! The IS Core network is a network originally designed to send co-ordinate information of the target in space by using all sorts of signals to exchange data. Currently, it allows pilots to communicate with each other through public and private channels, but through recent researches, the core is found to attract all sorts of signals through a sharing method as fuel to 'evolve'. As Professor Shinonono viewed these as part of the machine's evolution, she allowed them to develop continuously, meaning that it's still undergoing development."
A few moments passed as Laura finished her explanation of the IS Network.
"Excellent, as usual. I'll let you off for being late then."
Visibly relaxing, Laura let out a huge sigh of relief as she stepped back into the line, glancing over to where Ichika was before returning her focus on Chifuyu.
"Alright, each class is to carry their equipment and begin testing. Personal unit pilots are to test out their own equipment. Move fast!"
"Yes!"
The row of students quickly dispersed as several students mounted in the available [Uchiganes] and [Revives], quickly transporting their class' equipment.
"Ah, Shinonono, come over here."
"Hm? Yes!"
Slowly lowering the crate she held in her hands, she piloted the [Uchigane] closer to the group before dismounting.
"From today onwards, you'll be pilo-"
"CHHIIIIIIIII-CHAAAAAAN!~"
Chifuyu's words were cut off by a loud shout from somewhere, and she closed her eyes as she showed an annoyed yet embarrassed look, putting her hand on her face as a loud, continuous thumping could be heard, and Houki quickly hid behind the pilotless [Uchigane]. Sam looked towards the direction from where the voice came from and noticed a cloud of dust closing in fast, but he was too shocked to react when he saw a girl in a blue dress run straight up to him and jumped, using his face as a stepping stone to boost herself higher.
"UGYAH!"
"Onii-chan!"
Everyone stared in shock at Sam, who now lay on the floor with a red mark the shape of a shoe.
"Tabane…"
And as Sam recovered, they all looked at Chifuyu, who was now keeping the girl an entire arm's length away from her, grabbing her head and pushing it in order to prevent the purple haired girl from coming any closer.
"Eh.. you're that girl from yesterday…" Sam said in disbelief as he stood back up again.
A small, unhearable conversation occurred between both of them before the girl turned and jumped on top of the kneeling [Uchigane], looking at Houki from above.
"Ya!"
"H-hello…"
"Hehe~ Long time no see! Houki-chan's grown so much now especially the br-"
Her words were cut by Houki who jumped up and rapped the girl's head with her hand.
"Shut up."
"Wha- Houki-chan's so mean~"
Playfully rubbing her head, the girl jumped down from the suit and stood in front of the small group of personal unit users, but even then, she seemed to have gathered quite an audience as other students began to stop and look at her from behind.
"Ahh, excuse me but uhm… people that are not involved aren't-" Yamada-sensei began, but was shortly cut off.
"Hmm? Involved in IS you mean? If that's the case, then I'm currently the most important person!"
"Oi, Tabane! Introduce yourself already. None of my students know who you are," Chifuyu quickly ordered, trying to regain control over the situation.
"Ehh…! That's troublesome… But I guess it can't be helped!"
Twirling around like an actor on stage, the girl made a v-sign with her right hand and raised it over her right eye, closing the other as her left hand went to her hips.
"Hello! I'm the genius, Tabane-san! Well, that's all for me!"
Twirling around again, she didn't hesitate to turn both hands into v-signs and thrust them out towards her 'audience', and finally realizing that who they were seeing was the genius professor who invented the IS, the students burst into conversation and behind Chifuyu was the trembling form of Yamada-sensei.
"Ahh… what should I do in this situation?"
"Just continue to help out the other classes and ignore this person. All right! Everyone, back to work now!"
Her voice carrying over the area, it wasn't long before the students dispersed and continued with the equipment testing.
"Ahh… what about the thing I asked from you?"
"About that…" Tabane let out a small laugh as she pointed up to the sky. "Eyes in the sky everyone~!"
All eight students and Chifuyu looked up, noticing an object falling from the sky, its surface reflecting the light as it moved through the air…
Straight towards Sam.
"GODDAMMIT WHY? AM I BEING TARGETED?"
Yelling this, Sam waited for the right moment before he suddenly spun on the spot, shifting his foot forward and deploying his IS's shield, taking the impact with his body, his leg bending slightly before reangling his shield and forcing the object down onto the ground.
"Gwahh… that hurt…." he casually said, undeploying his shield and shaking the blood back into his hand before noticing the dropped jaw of every other person in the vicinity, excluding Chifuyu and Tabane.
"W-what? Why is everyon-"
"Did he just…"
"Block a falling object…"
"Without his PIC…?"
Ichika, Houki and Rin completed each other's words as they continued to stare at Sam, who was completely confused as to why they were shocked.
"Sam… how heavy was that?" Charlotte tentatively asked.
"Eh… I'd say somewhere around five, ten kilos?"
Sam shrugged as he turned his head back to the diamond shaped object that had very nearly crushed him.
"What's in this anyway, Tabane-san?"
As soon as he said that, the metal plates forming the diamond fell apart, revealing an IS, its armouring painted a brilliant red and its form resembling something of a flower.
"Jya jyan~! This is Houki-chan's personal IS, made personally by Tabane-san!" Tabane announced excitedly as she indicated the IS that had just landed in the middle of all the students. "It's name is [Akatsubaki], and by the way, it's superior to all current IS!"
"Akatsubaki… red camellia?" Sam questioned slightly, noting the shape of the IS, to which Tabane gleefully nodded.
"I-I'll leave it to you then," Houki suddenly said, stuttering slightly as her sister gleefully nodded again.
"Let's get started then."
Pressing the button on a small remote, [Akatsubaki] activated, its form unfurling itself into that of a regular, unpiloted IS in terms of anatomy, automatically kneeling as Houki climbed in.
"I've inputted Houki-chan's data to a certain level. Now I just need to update the recent values!"
Summoning a keyboard in midair, Tabane didn't hesitate to begin her work, her fingers flying over the keyboard as the data was rapidly updated on what appeared to be a set of six hololithic display floating before her. She made several comments to the changes she noted in Houki's body but she never stopped typing even as she did so.
"Alright, optimization complete, as expected of me~"
Despite saying this, she continued to type away.
"This suit is a close-range type that's suited for an all rounder, so I guess you'll get used to it soon. It even has an automatic support system! Onee-chan prepared them all!"
"T-Thanks…"
Finishing up the updating and optimization, Tabane closed the screens and turned to Ichika, but before she could say anything, she finally noticed the second boy who had almost been crushed earlier.
"Ahh, a second boy!"
Sam had to resist placing his face in his palm as he thought of the fact that she only noticed him then, and instead simply nodded at the girl.
Are you saying that even after stepping on my face, nearly crushing me and actually responding to what I said, you only noticed me NOW? Sam thought as he resisted the urge to yell that out loud.
"Ahh, then is it okay if I see your unit? Ii-kun, I wanna see [Byakushiki] as well!"
Nodding, Ichika grabbed his right arm and was soon engulfed in light before a moment later, he appeared, encased in [Byakushiki]'s armour. Tabane then turned to Sam, who quickly nodded and moved away from Ichika to ensure there was enough space to deploy his IS. He was soon engulfed in light, and, like Ichika, reappeared a moment later, donning the armour of his [Rafale Revive Custom III].
"Ahh! A [Revive]! So you're the one that everyone in the Dunois corporation's been talking about!"
"What?"
"What?"
Both Sam and Charlotte reacted simultaneously.
"H-how…"
"I've got my sources," Tabane replied, winking slightly as she pulled out several wires from somewhere on her person.
"Anyway, let me see the values~"
Inserting the plugs into [Byakushiki], the screens appeared again and Tabane clearly looked surprised.
"Wah~ To think that it'd actually form a diagram like this! Is it because Ii-kun's a guy?"
Sam looked at the display floating before the girl, noting the evolution paths that the IS took- the diagram- before shrugging.
"Anyway, let's see yours!"
Pulling the cables out from the slots in [Byakushiki]'s form, she quickly plugged them into the [Revive], the screens appearing once more before her.
"Wah~ It's quite similar in some aspects too!"
"Uhm… Am I done here?" Houki cut in, standing awkwardly in her IS.
"Hmm? Yeah, you are. Why not take it around for a test flight?~" Tabane answered as she pulled out the cables. "It should move as you want it to."
Nodding, Houki bent her body down slightly before suddenly taking off, the huge acceleration provided by her suit creating a shockwave that sent particles of sand flying everywhere as the suit moved faster than any other suit to date.
"Damn… she's fast…"
"What do you think~? Faster than you thought~?"
"Y-Yeah…" Houki's voice resounded through the comms.
"Then try swinging your swords! The right one's [Amatsuki] and the left one's [Karaware]. Sending the special weapon data to you now~!"
Summoning another keyboard and display, Tabane quickly typed into it, sending the data to Houki's IS as she drew both swords out.
"Let's add on~ [Amatsuki]'s used to attack one person! It will create a barrage of energy lances that can turn an enemy into a beehive if used properly~"
Above, Houki shifted her body into a stance akin to that of a Western sword and shield style, yet with a tinge of the Japanese two sword style, and as she swung the blade, several red coloured orbs of energy formed in midair and shot out towards the clouds, peppering it with holes as the bullets of energy passed through it.
"It can reach the range of an assault rifle at best, but it's balanced out by [Akatsubaki]'s speed~"
Nodding, she prepared to strike with her second sword, raising it as she prepared to slice downwards.
"Next is the [Karaware]~! It can create an arc of energy and extend the range of the slash, so it's super useful against groups! Try hitting some of them here!"
Raising her hand, she summoned something similar to a missile pod, firing all sixteen of its missiles at once.
"Hey, Tabane-san…" Sam suddenly said.
"What is it~? You don't need to worry, she's in an IS so she'll be fine~"
"No, it's not that… that pod that this thing came in- it had an active PIC didn't it?"
"Oh~? You noticed?"
Above, the missiles detonated as a large pink arc of energy cut through them with ease as Sam nodded.
"The impact should've been more than what I took, logically speaking- an IS isn't that light. And I also noticed that there wasn't any proper physical contact between my shield and the pod."
Chuckling slightly, Tabane turned her attention back to Houki.
"Ufufu~ Looks like we've got an interesting one right here," she muttered to herself whilst nodding away and smiling happily at the results of her work on the [Akatsubaki].
"TH-TH-TH- THIS IS BAD ORIMURA-SENSEI!"
Running in from the beach was Yamada-sensei who held a tablet in her hands, which she quickly passed to Chifuyu as the [Akatsubaki] finally landed on the ground.
"P-Please, look at it immediately."
Taking a look at the image shown on the tablet, Chifuyu's face darkened instantly.
"Class A Special mission and an urgent request for immediate response."
"Tha- that's located at the Hawaiian research-"
"Don't leak information to the students."
Nodding, Yamada-sensei began to communicate to Chifuyu in sign language, and after a few minutes, Chifuyu suddenly clapped her hands.
"EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION!" she yelled towards the students as Yamada-sensei moved off.
"The IS Academy staff will be carrying out a special mission, which means today's testings are cancelled. Every class is to keep their IS and return back to the resort. Everyone is to stay in their own rooms."
"Huh?"
"Testings are cancelled then?"
Several voices could be heard from the students at the sudden unexpected situation, but Chifuyu, somehow more impatient than usual, suddenly yelled out.
"Everyone is to hurry up and head back! Anyone coming out without permission will be locked up, am I clear?"
"Y-Yes!"
Faced with Chifuyu's sudden rage, every student began to move quickly, shutting down and placing the ISes back onto the transports before escaping back to the resort.
"Personal IS users are to gather! Orimura, Alcott, Bodewig, Huang, Dunois, Blackburns and…. Shinonono!"
With most of the group already present, the group only had to wait a short while for Rin to arrive, but in that time, Sam, Ichika and Houki had all deactivated their ISes, the units in standby form around their arms, and Tabane had already disappeared.
"I don't like the looks of this…" he heard Laura mutter.
Nor I…

"Now, let me explain the situation."
The eight personal IS users currently in the seaside school sat around the table in the deepest banquet hall of the resort, with Chifuyu standing before them, a giant screen floating behind her. Around them, teachers were working on terminal, tapping away at keyboards as they scanned through the data on their screens.
"2 Hours ago, a 3rd Generation military use IS developed by Israel and America, named [Silverio Gospel], has gone out of control in the test facility in Hawaii and has escaped the surveillance facility."
Hearing this, the eight students tensed up slightly, the atmosphere in the room growing more and more electrified with each passing second.
"Through satellite tracking, we found that the [Gospel] would enter our airspace two kilometers from here in roughly fifty minutes, so the higher ups decided that we'll be the ones dealing with the situation."
On the screen behind her, an image from a live satellite feed appeared, showing the silver machine moving through the skies at supersonic speeds, and though at this angle its form was unclear, Sam thought he recognized some parts of the suit.
"Now, moving on to tactics," Chifuyu placed her hands on the table. "The staff members will be using the school's training suits in order to form a perimeter around the mission area. The main operation will be done by personal IS, so anyone with doubts, please raise your hand up."
Without a moment's hesitation, Cecilia shot her hand up in the air, requesting for the data and specifications of the machine, a request granted by Chifuyu after a word of warning was passed to the students. A moment later, the screen behind Chifuyu shifted from the satellite feed into a screen filled with data of the suit itself, showing schematics of its design as well as statistics on its weapons and capabilities.
"It's a unique, long ranged type designed to clear areas… It seems like it can launch a full scale assault, just like my IS."
"Yeah, like mine too… and it seems to have a highly mobile frame… I think it'd outrun my [Stryker]."
"And not to mention that it has an attack focused frame too… and its overall specs are much better than my [Shenlong]..."
"It's unique armour since to be tough to handle… My country's sent a few [Revive] defensive and offensive equipment over, but it'd be quite hard to defend and attack against that consecutively, right, Sam?"
There was no response as the boy continued to stare at the screen.
"Sam…?"
No response.
"Sam…?"
She noticed that something was wrong with his mannerism- the boy would usually respond to one call unless he was overly focused on something, and even then, only two calls were needed- but before Charlotte could call him again, Laura spoke up.
"It's got an unknown variety of fighting capabilities, if we're only looking at these figures. Can't we investigate anyway?"
"Unfortunately not," Yamada replied. "It's still moving at supersonic speeds, and its got a maximum speed of over 2540 km/h, meaning we've only got one shot at this."
Everyone turned to look at Ichika, even Sam, as the other boy raised both his hands in front of him in a defensive manner, an awkward expression on his face.
"Ichika, beat it with your [Reiraku Byakuya]," Rin chirped at him.
"That's a given, but the problem is-"
"How are we going to get him there?" Laura and Charlotte finished each other's sentences.
"And catching up to a high speed unit… the hyper-sensors will play a big role here, right?"
"W-Wait, I'm going?"
Confused, Ichika finally spoke up, receiving a quick stare from the six girls as they all said in unison- "Of course!"
Feeling himself cornered, he looked to the boy sitting next to him, only to see him with a look similar to fear and anger on his face as he stared at the screen, one which quickly faded when he noticed Ichika's stare.
"S-Sam…?"
"Orimura, this isn't training, it's a real battle so if you're not ready, there's no need to force yourself."
At his sister's words, Ichika immediately kicked the cowardice inside him and nodded, accepting the responsibility of the mission.
"Very good," Chifuyu nodded in response. "Now, who amongst you pilots have the fastest speed?"
"Me-"
"Me-"
Both Sam and Cecilia said together, surprise forming on their faces as they looked at each other before Sam nodded a "go-on" towards Cecilia.
"England had just so happened to send the [Strike Gunner] package for my [Blue Tears], and it just so happens to have a high powered sensor equipped with it as well."
Smiling, Cecilia looked at Sam in a slightly smug manner, and whether or not she meant that, Sam simply nodded back before speaking up.
"You've got that, but I've just received a special package upgrade from Dunois' Hydra lab," he began before pulling up a hololithic screen from his unit's standby form. "It's called the [Reaper] and it's essentially a higher output upgrade to the [Shadow's Veil] system and the [Revive]'s systems in general, allowing me to reach supersonic speeds with ease."
He looked at Charlotte and smiled slightly at her.
"It seems that technology-wise, the Dunois corporation isn't losing, huh?"
"Wait… Hydra? Is that system approved by the higher ups?"
Sam shrugged, thinking about the chances of it not being approved by the rest of the Dunois group.
"I should think so, or else it wouldn't even be here."
Nodding her understanding, Charlotte turned her attention back to Chifuyu.
"And how long have both of you been training in supersonic mode for?"
"20 hours," Cecilia said.
"42 hours," Sam said as well.
A look of utter surprise formed on Cecilia's face as she stared at the boy who simply shrugged back at her.
"I had a month to get that much time in."
"W-wait, how long did you train a day?"
"About… say, five hours?"
"T-then, doesn't that mean you trained in supersonic almost everyday for more than two weeks?"
He nodded before turning back to Chifuyu, whose face was deep in thought as behind him, Cecilia's jaw practically dropped to the floor. And his face wasn't his usual cheery face, but one filled with determination and hatred.
"Nii-chan…?" Stella started, noticing her brother's less than happy face. But she was interrupted by Chifuyu before she could ask him.
"Well… those times are indeed more than suitable-"
"HOLD ON~ Stop with that strategy~" an energetic voice suddenly said.
And from above, Tabane's head appeared from what appeared to be a ventilation shaft in the ceiling, her purple hair dropping down below as she popped her head down into the hall.
"Yamada-sensei… please escort that person out," Chifuyu sighed as she placed her hand over her face. "Now."
"Y-Yes… but…"
She looked up at the head of the scientist as she thought of ways to get her down, but before that could happen, the girl flipped over and landed on the floor with such graceful form, it was almost as if she was a trained circus performer.
"Chi-chan~ my brain is now printing an even better idea~"
"Get out…"
"Listen to me~ This is definitely the time for [Akatsubaki] to show her true abilities~"
Screens began to appear around Chifuyu, each one showing a different aspect of [Akatsubaki] as she explained what she meant to the teacher, even to the point that the main screen had switched from the specs of the [Gospel] into that of the [Akatsubaki].
"See here-"
Before Tabane could continue with whatever she's about to say, Sam suddenly slammed his hands on the table, standing up as he did so. Everyone stared at him in shock at the sudden action, and even Tabane was looking on with a surprised face.
And without a word, he left.
"Is he okay?" Chifuyu asked the students after a brief moment of silence.
The students looked at each other and shrugged, and Chifuyu found herself surprised that not even Stella knew what was going on with her brother.
"I-I'll go check on him," Charlotte said as she stood up, quickly running towards the direction that the boy went in.
"I just hope he's fine. Anyway, Tabane, continue."

"I'll kill that thing myself."
Walking hastily along the corridors, Sam clenched his fists hard, feeling his nails dig into his skin as he bit his lower lip. His face was filled with hatred and rage, and he knew exactly why.
The machine that he'd seen on the screen was the same one that appeared in his dreams.
He increased his pace and turned the corner and onto the soft sand of the beach, walking all the way to the water's edge before stopping himself and taking a deep breath.
"With the [Reaper] packet, I should at least be able to strike it a few times."
Raising his left hand, he focused his thoughts on deploying the IS when he felt a familiar presence behind him.
"Charl…" he softly muttered under his breath.
"Sam… are you okay?"
There remained to be no response from the boy.
"Sam…?"
Although he tried to ignore her, he simply couldn't and he lowered his hand slowly before turning to face the girl with a rueful smile.
"Funny isn't it, how dreams can sometimes predict the future?"
Showing a confused yet surprised face, Charlotte approached the boy, stopping only when she was an arm's length away.
"What… what do you mean?"
Sighing, Sam conflicted within himself as to whether or not he should tell the girl about the dream he had- one in which all his comrades die at the hands of the silver machine.
"Sam…?"
Unable to bear the worried tone of the girl, he took a deep breath and decided to open up.
"That machine… I saw it in my dream last night."
"E-eh…" Charlotte responded as she took a slight step back.
Sam nodded and continued.
"It appeared exactly like that… and it…"
He clenched his fists tight as he looked down, his hair dropping over his face and hiding his eyes as he began to tear up from the memory, the scenes of their deaths unfolding itself once more in his head. He felt Charlotte's hand softly hold on to his as tears began to stream down his cheeks, falling in droplets.
"Sam, tell me, what happened?"
He contemplated telling her what happened, but decided to simply summarize ir all.
"It… It killed everyone…"
By this time, Sam's tears were flowing and although he tried to suppress it, he couldn't. But he soon found himself blushing as Charlotte suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, slowly stroking his back as she comforted him.
"It's alright, it's just a dream."
Still hugging him, Charlotte didn't let go until she felt Sam's breathing recompose itself and his tears had stopped completely, and Charlotte pulled away slightly.
"Feeling better?"
He nodded as he turned his head away, hiding his face which was now completely dyed red, but he noticed that the girl's face was red too.
"A-anyway, we should head back. Tell them what you know of the unit."
Nodding, Sam followed the girl back to the hall as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart.