A/N: Sorry the updates are not as fast as it was the past few chapters. My break just ended and the Uni term started, so I may not update as frequently. So I beg for your understanding.
Aside from that, thank you for the reviews; keep 'em coming! Thanks for pointing out the typo; they really do help. As for the question surrounding pairings, I don't intend on making this a series with a set pairing; I find that to be very unexciting. Plus, pairing means I have to go off canon a bit (keep in mind, Infinite Stratos is a harem anime), which is a pain to write. Yeah, I'm lazy.
I'll shut up now.
Chapter 9
Class 1 was, as always, rowdy with whispers and murmurs of the students, but today, another small surprise was in store for them.
"U-Umm… I have another exciting announcement to make today… we have another friend joining our class."
Yamada gestured towards the short girl beside her,
"Meet the transfer student from Germany, Laura Bodewig."
The class whispered in confusion,
"What's going on?"
"Two transfer students in two days?"
"No matter how you look at it, it's very strange."
"P-Please be quiet, everyone! Her introduction isn't over yet" Yamada shushed the class, but she was thinking just about the same thing.
Chifuyu crossed her arms,
"Introduce yourself, Laura."
"Yes, Intructor." The girl obeyed, almost like a soldier.
Ichika looked at the platinum haired girl suspiciously,
'Instructor? So, that means when Chifuyu-nee was in Germany, that girl was…'
Laura continued with her introduction,
"I'm Laura Bodewig."
Yamda sweat dropped,
"U-Um… Is that all…?"
"That's all."
Instead of sleeping with his head down on his desk, like he usually does, Kazuki gawked at the new transfer student.
'That girl… I swear I've seen her somewhere. That platinum hair, red-brownish eyes, and under that eye patch…'
Kazuki brought his hands up to his eyes casually and quickly activated his thermal vision. His eyes momentarily flashed, and his sclera turned black, and his pupils became gold yellow with a dark center.
'… she has the same golden eye like mine- no; actually, it's incomplete. The color of her sclera isn't black…'
From the corner of her eyes, Laura noticed a flash, she turned to the source to see a blonde glaring at her with eyes that looked like a demon's. She suddenly reeled back in fear, but when she blinked, his eyes were back to normal.
'I-Is it just my imagination…?'
"What's wrong, Laura? Go sit down." Chifuyu cocked a brow curiously, momentarily noticing the fearful look on her face.
Laura quickly shook it off uneasily,
"N-No, it's nothing…"
However, before heading towards her seat, she noticed Ichika sitting in the front, and glared at him in contempt,
"So, it's you…"
Slap
Laura delivered a solid back hand to Ichika's cheek much to his and the class' shock.
She only continued distastefully,
"I don't approve it… I will never accept that you're her brother!"
=Perspective Change=
When I saw that Bodewig girl slap Ichika back to the 18th century, I almost blew out laughing. So I had to literally dig my head down onto my desk to hide my contorted face.
But my expression solidified,
'But that fiery personally… Yeah, now I remember…'
-Flashback-
"So, your name was… sorry what was it again?"
"I've repeated many times already, Chloe Chronicle, you dimwit."
"Right! So I hear Tabaco is your savior, huh? I'm glad-"
Slap
For some reason, the platinum haired girl decided to give me a nice back hand to the face, much to my surprise.
"Don't you dare call Tabane-sama by such a crude name."
I just looked at her with a flabberghasted expression and shook my head incredulously.
Then something jumped at me and an annoyingly high-pitch voice spoke direcly into my ears,
"Nyahaha! I caught myself a Peeping Tom!"
Suddenly, the platinum haired girl's face brightened,
"Tabane-sama!"
A vein bulged on my temple,
"I thought I told you not to call me that name."
I tried to pull her arms off of me, but she refused to let go,
"Anyway -grunt- you done with what ever -grunt- you were doing?"
Damn, the strength of this girl was unreal. So I sighed in defeat and gave up.
To my annoyance, I heard her giggle,
"Teh-het! The active camouflage should be running fine now! So now Tom can become invisible and peep stealthily!"
"I swear, when I get stronger, I'm going to send you flying."
Then, something hard fell onto my foot and I heard a very unsettling snap. Yes, Chronicle just stomped on my foot,
"OWWW! Teme! With the heels too! Kuuuhh!"
I got down immediately and massaged my foot in pain.
"And I thought I told you not to talk to Tabane-sama disrespectfully." Her expression darkened. She opened her eyes in an attempt to intimidate me. Its sclera was black, and the iris was golden yellow with a dark center like mine.
"You think I'm scared of your eyes? I have the same thing." I also revealed the very same composition of eye colors after activating it.
Chronicle tried to stomp on my other foot, but I moved it away just in time to avoid it. She pouted disappointedly but I smirked victoriously.
"My odin's eyes are nothing like yours, you primitive beast!"
"Heh, so that's what it's called? Odin's eyes."
Tabaco then clapped to stop us from ripping each other's heads off.
"Now, now! Why can't you two get along with each other?"
Chronicles shrugged and shook her head,
"It boggles me the same way, Tabane-sama, even though we share a similar past-"
But I interrupted and glared down coldly at Chronicle in disdain,
"Don't make me laugh. You don't know anything about me. You and I are not the same."
That seemed to have shushed the short girl as she couldn't say anything to that.
-End of Flashback-
Kazuki rested his chin on his hand and wondered,
'If she has Odin's eyes too, then she must also be…'
But his thoughts were interrupted when the bell rung, signalling the beginning of the school day.
"Right, today is going to be self study and all your practical training will be done individually. Dismissed!" Chifuyu finished, leaving the scene with her assistant.
Infinite Stratos
"So you do it like 'whoosh', then 'clang', then 'bang!'"
"You kind of understand what she's getting at, right? It's all about the gut feeling. What? Why don't you understand, you stupid?!"
"On defense, you tilt the right side of your body at a 5 degree angle forward. When you maneuver around, tilt your body backward at a 20 degree angle angle."
Ichika's voice shook in frustration,
"Let me be straight with you… I don't get it at all!"
"Why don't you understand?!" Houki groaned incomprehensibly.
"Pay attention like you're supposed to!" Rin critized.
Cecilia crossed her arms,
"I'll explain it to you one more time! Basically, tilt your body at a 5 degree angle forward and…"
Ichika only sighed in defeat. He looked over at Kazuki who was just sitting on a make shift chair away from the group, only watching.
"They really shouldn't become teachers in the future…" Kazuki remarked, leaning back on his chair with a sweat drop.
"Ichika!"
Ichika turned to see Charles, all prepped with her personal IS up and running.
"Will you have a quick match with me? I want to fight your Byakushiki."
"Charles! No problem!"
He turned to the other three girls,
"So, I'll see you guys later."
With that, Charles and Ichika flew up higher, leaving the three girls with an unsatisfied frown.
After the fight…
After Ichika's quick loss against Charles' Revive, she began helpfully detailing out some of his weaknesses,
"Basically, the reason you can't win is that you have little grasp of the shooting weapons' characteristics.
Ichika crossed his arms in disappointment,
"Mmm… I thought I understood them though…
"This Byakushiki doesn't have an equalizer, right?"
"No; they said there's no vacant bus slot."
"I'm only speculating this, but that's probably because it's using the space, but that's probably because it's using the space for the one-off ability."
Ichika tilted his head curiously,
"One-off?"
"It's the ability that naturally emerges when the IS and its pilot are in their best condition together."
"I see…"
Ichika smiled, rather satisfied with Charles' detailed explanation,
"You explain things very simply, don't you?"
The three girls barged into the conversation and complained,
"You don't even listen to my advice!"
"After I very kindly tried to teach you…"
"What was wrong with my very articulate explanation?"
Kazuki quickly pushed the three unsatisfied girls out of the way,
"Anyway! Ichika, why don't you try learning how to use a rifle? Charles, can I leave that to you?"
She nodded then turned to Ichika after materializing her scoped rifle,
"Sure, okay let's practice using a fire arm…"
As if on cue, target holograms appeared at the empty field space in front of them.
Ichika looked at Charles rifle doubtfully,
"I thought I couldn't use someone else's equipment."
"Normally, no. But if the user unlocks it, anyone can use it as long as they're a registered user."
Ichika nodded understandingly and took his stance.
"No, no. You hold it more like…"
Charles hugged Ichika's back and readjusted Ichika's stance with her hands.
"Hey, don't you think those two are getting along too well…?" Rin pointed out strangely.
Kazuki cocked a brow and suggested mischeviously,
"Oh? Is this jealousy I see~?"
A vein bulged on Rin's forehead,
"Hah?!"
Kazuki's grin widened,
"Don't try to hide it. Houki told me. You're Ichika's second childhood friend~"
He crossed his arms with a decisive smirk,
"But that's a problem… Because Houki's now going to have a love riv-"
Punch Punch
Kazuki was there on the floor, left with two steaming lumps on his head, half dead.
Houki put her hands on her hips and laughed with an angry tick mark,
"Hahaha! Silly Kazuki! I wonder what he's talking about!"
"Hahahaha! Who knows! Kazuki's always been an idiot, so let's ignore him! Ah… ahahaha!" Rin only did the identical.
Cecilia deadpanned,
"You all do know that Charles is a boy, don't you…?"
"Ah…"
Rin and Houki stopped laughing and sweat-dropped.
Kazuki came to and remarked bitterly,
"Who's the idiot now…?"
Punch Punch
Ichika gasped in excitement,
"Ohh, look! I got 43 points!"
Charles smiled cheerfully,
"So, what do you think?"
"Yeah, it was like… I don't know, but it felt fast!"
From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a black IS unit standing atop the barracks.
The other classmates seemed to have noticed it too and started murmuring in awe,
"Hey, look at that!"
"No way! Isn't that Germany's third-generation?"
"Ehh? I heard that it's still in its trial period in this country."
The group seemed to feel unwelcoming; Cecilia crossed her arms and frowned,
"Laura Bodewig…"
Rin's face also fell into a frown when she heard the name,
"What, so it's her? The representative candidate of Germany who slapped Ichika?"
Laura glared down at the person in question,
"Orimura Ichika… So you also have a personal unit… That makes things easier. Fight me."
Ichika looked away uniterestedly,
"No. I have no reason to."
"You might not have one, but I do."
Ichika frowned under Laura's fierce glare and killing intent,
"It doesn't have to be now, does it? The class league match is coming up soon, so we can fight then."
"Well then…"
She then charged up her railgun and fired at Ichika without a warning.
Charles quickly stood in front of Ichika and deflected the shot away with her materialized shield.
"Charles!"
Charles only glared up at Laura,
"To challenge someone just like that out of the blue… People in Germany must have a very low boiling point!"
She materialzed a long rifle and a submachine gun in her hands and got into her battle stance.
Laura smirked,
"A mere French second-generation type dare to oppose me?"
"But I'm sure it works much better than your German third-generation type, which has no prospect for mass-production yet!" Charles countered, her fingers dancing around the trigger.
Laura's expression darkened,
"Then, allow me to show you what my Schwarzer Regen is capabale of! Prepare yourself!"
Several small wire-guided dagger launched from Laura's unit like tentacles and raged towards Charles.
Charles opted to block, but her vision was obstructed by another IS unit infront of her.
It was Lyka, and he caught all the wires into a single hand and pulled back slightly, putting Laura off balance.
"Y-You are!" Laura gritted her teeth. Even with the face covered, she knew exactly who it was.
Kazuki began nonchalantly,
"I understand that you're eager to try out your new toy, but let's not get carried away, shall we?" he finished in a slightly dark tone.
Once again, Laura saw his eyes flash with black and yellow, only for a split second however.
"Y-You fiend! How do you have Odin's eyes?!" She screamed, the fear clearly embedded into her voice.
"Odin's eyes…?" Charles repeated obliviously. She looked over at the others, but they all had the same expressions on their faces.
However Kazuki didn't give anything away and remained silent.
"You students over there! What do you think you're doing?" A loud voice boomed in the arena.
Laura clicked her tongue,
"Tch, I'll let you go for today."
She deactivated her unit, making the wires disappear from Kazuki's hand, opting him to deactivate his unit too.
"Wow… Ichika, you really are a chick magnet. In a lot of different ways…" Kazuki said as he wiped a bit of sweat off his face.
"What was that about, Ichika?" Houki demanded, unable to overcome her curiousity.
"Did something happen between you two before?!" Rin added.
Ichika only stared at the spot where Laura was with a grave look.
Infinite Stratos
With training finished for the day, Kazuki, Charles and Ichika returned to the locker room.
Charles saw Ichika in a deep thought and asked in concern,
"Ichika are you okay?"
Ichika noticed the boy's worry for him, and nodded,
"Yeah, you saved me earlier, thanks, Charles. You too Kazuki."
Kazuki hung his blazer over his shoulder with a grin,
"Heh, it was no trouble at all."
Charles pulled her own blazer on with her training suit still on,
"Well, I'm going back to the room now. Kazuki, are you going to take a shower first?"
"No, you go on ahead, I'm going to take one here later."
Ichika then looked at Charles strangely,
"Charles, you're not taking a shower here? You never do."
Charles sweat dropped nervously,
"E-Eh?"
Ichika then approached her with a mock frown,
"Why does it bother you so much to get changed around me?"
"I-It doesn't!"
"I know it does! C'mon, let's get changed together for a change!"
Charles quickly glanced at Kazuki as if requesting for help. He then sighed exasperatedly.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Orimura-sensei was looking for you, Charles." Kazuki lied.
"Eh? Really? Oh man. Forget changing then. Charles, you better go now. She's quite strict with time, you see…" Ichika urged.
Charles nodded furiously,
"Y-Yeah, I really should! Thanks for reminding me, Kazuki."
Infinite Stratos
The day was approaching the end, and was dusk. The campus was empty, and Ichika was walking silently by himself to his accommodation.
"I don't approve it… I will never accept that you're her brother!"
He contemplated on these words said by the new transfer student and continued on his way until…
"Please answer me, instructor! Why are you at a place like this?"
"Don't make me repeat myself over and over. I have my own role. That's all."
Ichika heard voices from the otherside, so hid behind a tree and peeked over to see Chifuyu and Laura talking. He decided to eavesdrop silently.
Laura seemed very frustrated and had trouble understanding,
"What role do you have at a place like this in the Far East?! Please, Instructor! Teach us in Germany once again! You can't exert even half of your ability here!"
"Oh?" Chifuyu slightly raised her brow amusedly.
"First of all, the students in this academy don't even deserve to be taught by you! They lack a sense of the danger and mistake the IS for some kind of fashion or something! It's unbelievable that you give the time of day to people like that!"
"That's enough, little girl."
Laura stopped immediately when she felt a cerain coldness in Chifuyu's tone.
"Looks like you've grown arrogant since I last saw you. I'm in awe that you're already acting like a chosen one when you're only 15."
"I-I was just…"
"Go back to your dorm. I'm busy."
Laura saw the stern look on Chifuyu's face and could only look down silently in frustration. She then turned and ran off, leaving Chifuyu staring out into the lake horizon as the orange color of the setting sun painted the area.
For a second, Ichika was still in his spot, daring not to make a sound, but…
"Male student over there, eavesdropping? Aberrant sexual propensity is distasteful."
Ichika jumped out and retorted,
"Why does it turn out like that, Chifuyu-nee!"
Chifuyu's voice was strict,
"Call me Orimura-sensei at school."
"H-Hai…"
Chifuyu turned to him and gave him an obvious look,
"If you've got time to do stupid stuff like this, you should be out training. At this rate, you'll be defeated in the first round of the tournament."
"I know…" Ichika nodded tiringly.
But he changed subject,
"Hey, about what Laura said about me earlier today about how she doesn't accept that I'm your little brother. She was talking about how you missed the opportunity to win the second championship because of me, wasn't she?" Ichika looked away and slightly cringed guiltily.
Chifuyu must have seen that and answered indifferently,
"That's all in the past. There's no need for you to worry about that."
"But-"
"Hurry up and go back to your accommodation. It's already past dinner."
=Perspective Change=
Without being able to say another thing, I obeyed and continued on my way back, I couldn't hold back from making a guilty frown.
That's right; the 2nd Mondo Grosso, the world championship of the IS… On the day of the final match, someone kidnapped me. I still don't know why they kidnapped me. I was detained and imprisoned. But Chifuyu-nee abandoned the final match in order to come to my rescue. Of course, she lost the finals match by default. Everyone had no doubt of her back-to-back victory, so it caused controversy when she abstained from the match. And in order to repay the German Army, who provided the information on the location where I was being held during the incident, she worked as an instructor for Germany's IS unit for about a year; of course, this was a deal that was negotiated under the table, so that the Japanese government wouldn't notice.
It's simple really. It was my fault for being good-for-nothing. What a pathetic brother I am… I can't continue to have Chifuyu-nee, or Kazuki for that matter, watch out for me all the time…
With these thoughts swimming in my head, I headed back to my room.
=Perspective Change=
Chifuyu was still stood there on the grassland by the lake. Her eyes shifted into a glare when she heard an all-too-familiar voice coming from behind her,
"Eyaah~ You're quite strict even to your little brother, huh, Orimura-sensei?"
Chifuyu sighed in annoyance,
"-sigh- it's you…"
Kazuki ignored her frustration and chuckled to himself,
"But 'aberrant sexual propensity'? That was pretty funny."
Chifuyu deadpanned,
"Oh, looks like you misunderstood me, Satoshi. I was talking to you when I said that."
Kazuki's chuckling stopped immediately and sweat dropped,
"Seriously?"
Much to his chagrin, she nodded.
"Why does every single person in this world think I'm a pervert?"
Chifuyu only face palmed in mental fatigue. She felt her life chip away every second Kazuki talked. To her, he was sounding very much like Tabane.
"Looks like you've got nothing better to do than stick your nose into other people's business."
Kazuki smiled,
"I'm only here to sniff. I don't really intend to do anything."
"Hurry and go back to the accommodation. I really don't have the energy to put up with your nonsense today."
Kazuki shrugged his shoulders,
"Oh well. Then I'll be seeing you tomorrow."
However, he stopped after taking three steps,
"Oh, and actually, can I say just one thing before I leave?"
Chifuyu's eyes opened and her ears perked up,
"What is it?"
"I know I'm being needlessly nosy, but even though you did lose that championship, I think it was very valiant of you to rescue Ichika yourself. So allow me to say, thank you." Kazuki smiled. But little did Chifuyu know, it was a melancholic one.
Chifuyu only looked at him strangely,
"Why are you thanking me? It's kind of creepy in a way."
Kazuki forced a laugh,
"Even so… If you didn't rescue him, who knows what'll have happened to him…"
He unconsciously grabbed his right arm and his grip tightened painfully.
'Don't bring that up now… It's all in the past… Isn't it…?'
Kazuki's expression and words only confused Chifuyu more,
"I… see… Then, I'll be on my way. Don't be late for class tomorrow." She sent a death glare, to which Kazuki waved her off with a smug.
With that, Chifuyu left the scene. Kazuki's gaze fell onto the lake. A beautiful gradient of orange, purple and blue was painted onto the calm surface of the water, and it was a relaxing scene for the blonde youth.
Infinite Stratos
The night had passed, and the sun rose again to begin the day. Today, class one was again, rowdy with the most current rumors. But it was the same rumor from the other day going around for those who didn't catch wind of it.
"No way! Are you serious?!"
"I-Is that really true?" Cecilia shyly inquired, pushing her excitement aside.
Rin, for some reason in class 1, only crossed her arms doubtfully, that being said, she was hoping it was true,
"You better not be lying!"
Aikawa Kiyoka only affirmed stubbornly,
"I'm telling the truth! The entire school is talking about this! If you win first place in the tournament this month, you'll get to date any of the boys you want!"
On the other side of the room, Houki just sat in her seat silently with an embarrassed blush.
"Are the boys aware of this too?" Cecilia asked slightly in concern.
But another girl in the circle whispered reassuringly,
"Well, actually, it sounds like they don't know much about it."
Rin tilted her head in confusion,
"What? What's going on?"
"Supposedly, it's a decision that was made among the girls."
Suddenly, Ichika's voice made the group flinch,
"Good morning."
They all jumped when Charles leaned in with a bright smile,
"What are you guys talking about?"
The rest of the girls ran away screaming, but Cecilia and Rin remained, pretending like nothing was wrong.
"Well, I-I'm going back to my class…" Rin scratched her head innocently and walked off.
Cecilia, too, feigned ignorance,
"R-Right, I should get to my seat too…"
Charles only hummed obliviously and turned to Ichika for answers.
"What was that about?" was his only answer.
Then, the whole class heard the sound of running in the hallway, and then Kazuki popped into the room panting.
"Phew… I'm safe…"
Then he noticed the stares of the whole class and inquired curiously,
"W-Why is everyone staring at me?"
Like a computer command, as soon his words left his mouth, they all looked elsewhere, some one them going as far as whistling away innocently.
'What did I do this time…?' was his only though in that moment, but he shook it off and went to his seat.
Infinite Stratos
"Why?" I said to myself to the skies, grabbing on to the railings on the edge of the school roof.
Regretfully, I remembered what I said to Kazuki the other day,
"If I win the tournament… I-I'll have you go out with me!"
"How does this..."
Then I recalled to the rumor this morning,
"If you win first place in the tournament this month, you'll get to date any of the boys you want!"
"…turn into this…"
I sighed in mental stress. For a second, I let the words sink into my head.
"Go on a date with any of the boys, huh…?"
Does that mean if I win, will I be going out with Kazuki?
I violently shook my head in denial,
"No, no, no, no! Just to buy my supreme earl grey! Nothing more!"
But, if it was just for shopping, why wasn't I going out with Ichika? That's what I wanted to do all this time, right?
I briefly massaged my temples tiredly and dug my fingers through my front hair.
No. That changed. Ever since Kazuki enrolled… Ever since he came, my feelings towards Ichika began changing…
At this point, I didn't know what to think. I was conflicted.
'I'm supposed to hate Kazuki. That jerk made my life more chaotic and troublesome. All he's been doing is confuse me and lead me astray… But… even so…'
I couldn't come to hate him.
I pushed the thoughts out of the way because it was too mentally taxing.
"Besides… It's not going to be a problem as long as I win the tournament… as long as win… It's going to be different from last time… It'll be fine…"
After being forcefully separated from Ichika due to my sister's announcement of the IS, I was interviewed countless number of times, and was placed under strict surveillance, and I was very much affected by that physically and mentally.
Despite all this, however, I continued my kendo training. Because it felt like that was the only connection that I had with Ichika. But on the day of the national kendo championship last year, I was such an ugly person. Swordsmanship is the mirror that reflects your inner self. I was practicing kendo only to beat up my opponents so I could vent myself…
That was nothing but violence. That couldn't be called strength. That was not the definition of strength. But I wonder… If I'll be able to win without misunderstanding the true meaning of it? No. I have to win. Win against myself of all things!
Infinite Stratos
Meanwhile, Rin was on the arena field, seemingly preparing to practice, but a chirpy voice resounded from behind her,
"Arah? Isn't this Rin-san?"
Rin looked at Cecilia in slight surprise,
"You're early?"
"I thought I was the first one." Cecilia said in her own way of being surprised.
"I was going to train to win the tournament."
"That's exactly what I was going to do too."
Both girls faced each other in a glaring contest and they remained mute.
Rin sweat dropped nervously,
'This girl; she's always with Kazuki isn't she?! Does she intend to win this tournament to ask him out?! Like I'll let that happen!'
Cecilia nervously glared back at the shorter girl with the same amount of pressure,
'I see! She's planning to win this tournament to monopolize Kazuki-san all to herself, isn't she?! Hmph! I knew from the day she started calling him by his first name!'
Lightening could be seen discharging from the clash of their killing intent.
Rin finally broke the glare contest with a huff,
"Maybe it's not a bad idea to clarify who's better than who, right here, right now!"
Cecilia beamed brightly,
"Fine with me. Let us duke it out and find out who's stronger and more elegant!"
"Although, it's quite obvious I'm better than you on all accounts."
"Isn't it true what they say about a weak dog barking more?"
"What do you mean by that?!"
Cecilia only smirked mockingly,
"You're overestimating your ability. That's so typical."
Rin's hands clenched into a fist,
"I could say the same about you!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she deployed her unit. Cecilia also did the same without another moment to waste.
They flew into the air and was about to commence their little spar, but an explosion of dust on the ground next to them paused them in confusion.
"What?" they both exclaimed in unison.
On the barracks, Laura stood with a blood thirsty smirk, her unit already deployed.
"Laura Bodewig…" Cecilia trailed off as she read off the specs of Laura's unit.
Rin only yelled at her heatedly,
"You've got some nerve, shooting at us out of the blue!"
Laura only ignored Rin's angry retort, and examined the two girls units,
"China's Shenlong and England's Blue Tears, huh?"
She then smirked scornfully,
"They seemed much stronger when I looked at their data alone."
Rin only smirked provocatively,
"What? You wanna have a go at us? You came all the way here from the German countryside just to get beaten up by us? You must be quite the masochist! Or is it something popular to do in the potato fields?"
Cecilia joined in sarcastically,
"My, my, Rin-san, it seems that she doesn't speak the same language. It's not very nice to tease her so much."
Laura's tone remained unimpressed,
"To think that people like you have third-generation type machines just like mine…"
She turned to Rin,
"The country that's all about quantity…"
Then to Cecilia,
"...and the country that's all about old traditions; they must be extremely short handed."
The two girls both gritted their teeth in rage.
Final safety device unlocked
"Seems like she wishes to be scrapped!" Rin concluded angrily.
Cecilia added,
"Seems to be the case."
Laura provoked,
"Why don't you two come at me together? There's no way I'll lose to the bitches who fight over the stupid stallion."
This only served to add fuel to the fire.
Rin's temper only worsened,
"What did she just say?! To my ears, it sounded like 'please beat me up all you want.'"
Cecilia raised her voice angrily, which was very unlikely of her,
"How dare you disrespect someone who's not even here? I'll make sure you'll never be able to insult other's like that again!"
"Bring it on." Laura smirked and gestured them to come at her.
"Fine with us!"
Infinite Stratos
"But I gotta say, you have my pity, Ichika… Training everyday is hard I'm sure. That being said, you're going to train today too right?" Kazuki said stretching his arms out.
"Yeah, we don't have much time left before the tournament." Ichika agreed.
Charles jumped at the opportunity,
"Oh, if you're going to train, can I come too?"
"Yeah, sure." Ichika nodded.
However, their idle chatter stopped when they heard a group of flustered girls run towards the arena,
"…they said 3 representative contenders are having a practice match in the third arena!"
At this, Kazuki's expression brightened,
"Wow, now that is something to see!"
While Kazuki's face beamed in excitement, the other two only gasped in surprise.
The three students followed the crowd towards the arena.
Infinite Stratos
There already were other students sat along the spectator seats, watching the match with a bit of worry in their eyes.
Kazuki, Ichika and Charles ran down to the front row of the seats to see Houki there as well.
"Oi, Houki! What's going on?" Ichika panted, trying to see through the cloud of dust on the arena.
Houki's expression was filled with unease and concern,
"This isn't good…"
Then the dust cleared to reveal Cecilia and Rin on the ground, struggling to get up.
"Just what are they doing…" Charles trailed off.
Rin stood up on her feet and charged up her impact cannons.
"Take this!" The shot raged through the air towards Laura.
The platinum-haired girl only smirked confidently,
"It's no use against the Schwarzer Regen's Cancel Barrier!"
Laura raised her hand and created a spherical force field to completely neutralize the cannon projectile.
Ichika gaped in shock,
"She stopped Rin's impact cannon!"
"It's the AIC" Charles stated gravely.
It hit Houki like a hammer when she heard the term,
"AIC. I see, she didn't even attempt to dodge the impact cannon because she's equipped with it…"
Ichika pondered on the word,
"What's the AIC…?"
"It stands for Active Inertial Canceler. Seems like it's that German girl's trump card." Kazuki pointed out helpfully.
"It's also known as inertia cancelling ability…" Houki added.
Ichika hummed quietly,
"Hmmm…"
"Did you understand that?" Charles inquired.
Ichika nodded,
"I saw what it does. That's good enough."
Rin saw another projectile disintegrate in Laura's AIC field and grimaced,
"I can't believe we're this incompatible!"
Laura dispatched several wire-guided daggers and they flew towards Rin like heat-seeking missiles.
Rin attempted to avoid them, but eventually, a wire wrapped itself around one of Rin's ankle tightly.
"Hmph, you call it a third-generation type weapon with this kind of finishing? It's a joke." Laura swung the wire wide, flinging Rin away far, the wire still wrapped tightly.
But she couldn't afford to drop her guard as several blue drones began shooting a barrage of laser projectiles at her from behind.
She shifted her center of gravity and maneuvered around the arena ground to dodge all the projectiles, making them miss and hit the ground next to her feet each time.
The drones gave pursuit, but Cecilia also fired her missiles, not giving Laura any break. Laura moved through the air quickly and drifted from time to time in order to shake off the heat-seeking missiles. But she momentarily forgot about the drones. The drones surrounded her and was about to fire, but Laura managed to stop them using her AIC field just in time. However, Cecilia noticed that Laura had stopped moving.
"Looks like your movement stopped!" Cecilia smirked while aiming her sniper rifle at her opponent.
Laura also smirked,
"You too!"
Laura's rail gun at her back fired at the same time Cecilia fired her rifle. The impact created a large explosion in the center.
However, Laura wasn't finished, she pulled on the wire wrapped around Rin and flailed her directly into Cecilia.
The two collided and fell onto the arena grounds heavily.
Laura flew down to them and smirked. However, in an act of desperation, Rin, once again, charged up her impact cannon.
"Naïve… To think you'd use a heavy air-pressuring weapon in this situation."
Laura shot Rin's cannon with her rail gun before Rin could fire her impact cannons. Cecilia quickly took this chance to shoot Laura with her missile. Another large explosion.
Cecilia immediately hovered back from the dust cloud, joined by Rin, who now only had one impact cannon at her back.
"To think you'd use a missile at such a close range… You're reckless, aren't you?" Rin pointed out.
"You can complain later, but this must have done some damage to her…"
Just as she was saying that, the dust cloud subsided to reveal a completely unscathed Laura and her unit.
She launched a pair of wire-guided daggers and wrapped them around the girls' neck. Laura violently pulled on them, causing Cecilia to fall, and Rin's feet to drag on the ground.
Laura flew right up to them and began punching them and kicking them repeatedly with a scary smile.
Warning: Exceeding life support
Charles tensed,
"At this rate, the shield energy won't hold out much longer!
"If the damage accumulates and the IS mandatory unlock gets activated, their lives will be in danger!" Houki added, a nervous sweat forming on the side of her face. It reminded her of her kendo championship; how she shamelessly beat down her opponents.
Kazuki only watched silently as small pieces of armour shattered with each kick and punch. But Ichika couldn't just stand there and watch the ordeal. He slammed his fist against the transparent barrier,
"Stop it, Laura! Stop it!"
But Laura's mercilessly beating only continued.
Unable to stand it any longer, Ichika deployed his unit and broke through the reinforced barrier with his sword in the Yukihira form.
"Ah, Ichika, if you do that…" Kazuki was about to stop him, but was too late.
Ichika hastily landed and charged angrily,
"Get your hands off!"
Ichika struck down with his yukihira, but Laura turned and activated her AIC just in time to root him in place.
"W-What? I c-can't move my body!" Ichika struggled under the force field, but thanks to his effort, Cecilia and Rin deactivated their units and fell safely onto the ground.
But Laura didn't notice them, and only looked at Ichika's frozen body in contempt,
"An emotional, linear thinker… You're a stereotype of a fool."
Ichika's Yukihira disappeared, and he only struggled more.
Laura exclaimed, "Just as I thought, you're no enemy. Before Schwarzer Regen and me, you're just one of the masses."
Ichika was faced with the end of Laura's railgun. Laura almost fired, but the gunshots from behind her prevented it. Ichika took the chance to escape and quickly move towards the downed girls.
"Ichika, get Cecilia-san and Rin-san to safety!" Charles flew in with her guns going off.
Laura clicked her tongue and dodged the hail of bullets,
"Tch, damned little fly…"
Ichika grabbed the two girls,
"Hang on."
He stared down at his low energy gauge,
'Please, Byakushiki, let me use the ignition boost!'
He flew across the arena ground toward the barracks, but Laura wasn't letting them get away. Her aim locked onto Ichika and fired her rail gun at them.
She smirked manically,
'Die.'
However, someone else was standing in her line of sight, and deflected her rail gun projectile away, allowing Ichika and the girls to escape unharmed.
Ichika set the girls at the far edge of the field and sat them leaning on a wall,
"Are you two okay?"
"Ichika…" Rin grunted weakly.
Cecilia's face fell into a frown,
"I'm sorry you all had to see that…"
Ichika sighed,
"Thank goodness, both of you are conscious."
Meanwhile, Charles' face brightened in relief when she saw the full-body unit,
"Kazuki!"
Laura's eyes widened when she saw the wolf-like IS unit now standing a few 100 meters from her. Her hands clenched into a fist, and they shook in rage,
"A-Again… You dare interfere again?!"
However, instead of his bright and cheery voice, Kazuki's tone was slightly lower than unusual,
"Let me ask you something, Laura Bodewig. Is it really that fun to pick on the weak?"
Laura's frown forced up to a confident smirk,
"T-That is exactly what makes it fun. You teach how weak they are against an overwhelming power."
Kazuki smirked under his snout,
"Heh, is that so? What a coincidence. I feel exactly the same."
Kazuki extended his black claws and exploded towards Laura at an incredible speed. Laura almost didn't react in time, but activated her AIC to stop Kazuki in his spot, much like how it did with Ichika.
Laura tried to smirk,
"Heh, looks like you were all just talk. I thought I told your stupid friend-"
But she didn't notice the railgun suddenly materialize on Kazuki's back, aiming straight at her. The shot fired without a warning and created another large explosion.
Laura reeled back, slightly flustered. She swung her arm powerfully to clear the dust cloud, but she felt a strong punch to her back.
"Tch!"
Laura quickly flew away from the cloud of smoke and turned to glare at Kazuki, casually walking towards her, with his claws extended threateningly.
Then the image of his odin's eyes flashed into her memory,
"You fiend! Where did you gain such strength?! Was it from the instructor?! Tell me!"
Kazuki only silently walked towards her, much to Laura's annoyance.
Laura then materialized a charged blade on her wrist and charged at Kazuki for a close-quarter combat.
She swung horizontally for his neck, but he leaned back and dodged. She then did a few thrusts towards Kazuki's armored face, but he only shifted left and right, the blade almost grazing the side of the face each time.
Frustrated, she powerfully swung inwards, only for her arm to be blocked with his, the tip of her blade ending just above the side of Kazuki's head. Kazuki wrapped his arm around Laura's blade arm, and kneed into the side of her stomach. The attack took her by surprise, so she just kneeled there in pain, her eyes wide in shock.
'Kuh! What fearsome strength… But it's not over yet!'
Laura struggled to get up on her feet. Even though the shield absorbed most of the damage, she could still feel the pain pulsating in her sides. Her head hung down, but she brought it up to readjust her center of gravity. But when she did look up, she saw strands of electricity buzzing dangerously on the surface of the claw blades.
Laura's eyes widened,
'He added an attribute to his weapon?! Is that even possible?! But the sparks coming off his claws… There's no mistaking it…'
Laura tried to raise her blade hand, but there wasn't any strength left in her, and she didn't have any time to counter it. Kazuki was right in front of her, his energy charged claw raised.
Kazuki swung down, but only to be blocked by a large metal katana.
Laura's eyes remained wide, but it widened a lot more when she saw who it was that saved her,
"I-Instructor?!"
Kazuki's gaze fell to see Chifuyu standing in front of Laura, with her katana blocking his energy charged claw.
Kazuki's eyes also widened in surprise,
"O-Orimura-sensei!"
He quickly stopped channeling energy into his claws and retracted them. The instant he took his claw off of the katana, the weapon disintegrated into a bunch of metal and plastic scrap.
Chifuyu sighed in annoyance,
"Honestly, this is why dealing with kids is tiring… If the grip of that katana wasn't made out of plastic, I would have been very dead, Satoshi."
The raven-haired teacher casully dusted her hands,
"I don't care if you want to have a practice match, but as a teacher I can't keep quiet when you start destroying the barriers in the arena. Just settle your score of this match in the upcoming tournament."
"If that's what you say, instructor." Laura obeyed.
Chifuyu then turned to the three,
"You three, you're all okay with that, right?"
Ichika stuttered,
"Y-Yeah…"
"It's 'yes' to a teacher, you fool." Chifuyu turned to him with a scary glare, to which he slightly flinched.
"Y-Yes."
Charles nodded in agreement,
"I don't mind that either."
Chifuyu nodded in satisfaction,
"Very well. Then, I prohibit you all from engaging in any personal match until the tournament. Is that understood?"
"Hai!"
No one dared to oppose the scary teacher and only nodded mechanically at Chifuyu's orders.
Just when Kazuki was about to head back into the barracks, the raven-haired instructor's strict voice stopped him.
"I thought you, at least, would handle the situation maturely… I'm disappointed, Satoshi." She was unimpressed; she wasn't even trying to hide it.
Kazuki grunted uneasily,
"It's kind of troublesome having other people hold that kind of expectations for me…"
"I see. Then you wouldn't mind not participating in the tournament this month?"
"Eh?"
"Hai?" the others tilted their heads in confusion.
"You're disqualified to participate in the tournament as a punishment for destroying an IS equipment."
"But that was just a lame old katana!"
"Lame old katana you probably won't be able to afford."
"How much."
Chifuyu stared at Kazuki, and he stood his ground. His arms crossed; he braced for what was to come.
"15 000 000 yen. That would be 150 000 USD in equivalent."
"That's extortion! Don't screw with me!" Kazuki yelled comically.
Chifuyu chuckled jokingly,
"Hmph, it was a joke."
Kazuki relaxed slightly in relief. Thank goodness it was-
"It's actually 400 000 USD."
"…"
Kazuki just stared at his teacher dumbly for the next douzen seconds.
"You really are enjoying this aren't you…?"
Meanwhile, while Kazuki was being mentally abused by Chifuyu, the others were going through some serious thinking.
'If Kazuki can't participate, that means we don't have to fight him!' Charles mentally fist pumped.
'To think Orimura-sensei would disqualify such a strong pilot from the tournament… Good job, Orimura sensei!' Cecilia also smiled to herself in bliss.
'Now my odds of winning are so much higher with him out!' Rin silently chuckled evilly.
Purple aura of ill intentions can be seen oozing out; it creeped Ichika out.
Kazuki quickly turned to the girls for help,
"Oi, you guys! This is clearly unfair, right? She can't just do that!"
Cecilia covered her mouth in a posh manner and chuckled,
"My, my Kazuki-san, you did destroy an IS weapon, and quite magnificently so."
Charles raised a point with an eye smile,
"You know what they say; you reap what you sow!"
Rin also added,
"Don't oppose the teacher Kazuki!"
Kazuki only stood there incredulously; feeling the betrayal at full force.
Chifuyu's grin widened, much to his humiliation,
"Well, there you have it, Satoshi."
With that, she left the scene. All the other students followed suit.
Kazuki was left standing there in the arena, the cold breeze rushing past him without a care in the world.
Infinite Stratos
"W-What do you mean we can't participate in the tournament?!"
Cecilia and Rin were in the infirmary beds, a good amount of bandages wrapped around their arms, shoulder, and etc..
Yamada frowned,
"The damage to your IS is over level C. It would be too dangerous to participate in the tournament."
Rin protested,
"No way! I can fight just fine!"
Cecilia nodded furiously,
"I don't understand either!"
Yamada denied strictly and slightly raised her voice,
"No means no! If you don't focus on repairs for a while, it will lead to major problems later on."
The two girls fell silent.
Rin's mind was working and was effectively running through many senarios,
'Whoever wins the tournament will get to date any boy in the school, right?'
Cecilia's mind, too, was working towards a resolution,
'We must stop that from happening no matter what!'
'So that means the winner has to be…' the two thought in unison. Almost telepathically, they nodded at each other.
They suddenly turned to Ichika and Charles waiting in the corner of the room,
"Listen, you two! You have to win the tournament no matter what!"
"I want you to give it your all for us as well! We will cheer you on from the bottom of our hearts!"
Ichika and Charles only sweat dropped,
"O-Oh, you can count on us!"
"Thank you, we'll do our best to meet your expectations."
Yamada smiled obliviously,
"Such beautiful friendship!"
Little did they all know, Charles only grinned with a dark expression, running through scenarios of her own.
Infinite Stratos
Kazuki had just finished taking his shower, and had returned to his room to see Charles already there. The two then casually prepared to go to sleep.
"You know, when you're alone with me, you don't have to force yourself to talk like a man."
"But before I came here, I received extensive training to carry myself like a man and speak like one, so I might not be able to lose that so quickly."
He hummed in understanding.
Charles looked away and her voice trailed off shyly,
"B-But, if it bothers you, I'll try hard to speak like a girl, at least when we're alone."
Kazuki sweat dropped,
"Like I was saying… It's not like that…"
"You don't like that?" Charles intently stared into Kazuki's eyes, almost as if she was about to cry.
"-sigh- just… do what's more comfortable for you. Besides, if you're used to the boy dialect, well, isn't that cute in its own way?"
"C-Cute? Me? You're not lying, are you?" Charles' face melted into a dreamy smile.
Kazuki looked at her strangely,
"Why would I need to lie? I'm just saying what I think is true."
"Okay, then I guess it's all right!" she blushed happily.
"Anyway let's get changed, I want to sleep already… I'll be outside, so just knock when you're done.
"Eh? It's okay. I'd feel bad too… and… I don't mind…" Charles fidgeted nervously.
"Well, you say that, but I do."
"But we're both supposed to be men, so I think they'll be suspicious if they see you waiting outside while I'm changing."
Kazuki sighed exasperatedly,
"Well… you're right about that…"
For some reason, Charles smiled happily.
"Yosh. Then we'll change with our backs to each other. How's that?"
"Mm. let's do that."
With that, the two turned around and began changing. The weird thing was, the two were standing literally a foot away from each other.
Kazuki threw off his school blazer and then stopped.
'I almost forgot… She'll see my limbs if I take off my long sleeves…'
His hand fidgeted and was deep in serious thought until he heard a thud and a yelp behind him.
He turned around to see what happened, but he regretted it instantly. Charles had fallen face first, her behind was sticking out infront of him, and her plain white undergarment was also in 'plain' sight.
"Ouch… my leg got caught…" Charles grunted, but she saw Kazuki looking at her, half naked. Her purple eyes widened in panic.
"W-Wait, before you- GAH!" Kazuki made an attempt to diffuse the bomb he set off, but instead, he was rewarded with a kick, with the heel, to his family jewels.
Charles must have noticed the painful grunt and the contorted expression on Kazuki's face;
"Eh?"
"H…Ho… Home run… Kah…" Kazuki automatically collapsed, face down, onto the floor like a dead man.
Infinite Stratos
Charles helped Kazuki to his bed, and to her guilt, he was out cold. She then covered him with his blanket and wiped off a bit of sweat.
'Gosh, he was heavy! I wonder if it's what they call muscle mass…'
Her hands unconsciously reached out for Kazuki, but stopped midway with a flustered blush,
'What am I doing?! Let's just go to bed!'
However, she paused two feet from her own bed and turned around.
"So stay here. We can protect you." She momentarily recalled to the reassuring voice of Kazuki.
'Right then, I felt needed by someone for the very first time…'
She walked up to Kazuki's sleeping form carefully and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"Goodnight, Kazuki."
Infinite Stratos
Next day…
"Hey look, the opponents have been decided." Charles pointed at the T.V. screen for Ichika to see.
But when they saw who they were up against, they both gasped with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Meanwhile, in the girls' changing room, Houki glared at the tournament matchup chart,
'What kind of pairing is this… this is the worst…'
Laura Bodewig, Shinonono Houki vs Charles Dunois, Orimura Ichika