Chapter 8: Ichika's Second Childhood Friend

AN: Sorry for the longer-than-average wait, I lacked the motivation to write for a little bit of time, nonetheless I am fine now (with the help of prayer and a very helpful co-writer). If you see any plot holes or problems with the fic, don't be afraid to type out a review. It will be for our mutual benefit. While I get better at writing (typing, actually) stories, you readers will be able to enjoy the fic since it will have better quality.

Disclaimers: The Infinite Stratos isn't mine.

"Hey, Guevarra-kun. Have you heard about the rumor of the transfer student?"

It's morning right now, and as I was talking to Ichika about random stuff in the Academy, one of our classmates approached us. Hmm, where's Elaine? Normally she's one of the first people to be in the classroom.

"A transfer? But it's just the beginning of the school year! Shouldn't that count as an enrollment?" Ichika replied.

"He's right, you know." I followed. Based on what Ichika told me earlier, it seems that enrolling in the IS Academy is quite hectic. Exams, country recommendations, and all that.

"That's right. I heard she's a transfer student from China!" China, huh.

"Oh. Cool." The more the merrier I guess.

"Oh my, so is she aware of my existence and decided to transfare in?" Cecilia is doing her thing again, complete with the Elitist Pose Mk.I

"She can't possibly transfer into this class, right? There's nothing to be concerned about." Oh, Houki's here, and she's beside Ichika right now who's probably wondering just when did Houki got there.

"What sort of girl is she?"

Hmm, since she was transferred here, she's probably a Rep. Candidate. I just hope that she won't be as arrogant as Cecilia when I interacted with her for the first time. Meh, another class, not my problem. I then saw Ichika thinking.

"Dude, you worried 'bout that?" I asked. Why would he even be worried?

"Hm? Yeah, a little." Is that so?

"Good morning, everyone!" Oh, here's our Elaine, energetic as usual.

"What're y'all talking about?" She approached us immediately after she set down her bag on her seat.

"Well, someone said that there was a new transfer student from China."

"Really? Well, we have always been aroud Chinese and half-chinese people, are we?" Well, not really, only you. Still, in these last two years before I entered IS Academy, I've seen a LOT of people with Chinese blood. Not strange, since they are the most populous ethnic race in the world.

"Never mind that, don't you have other things to worry about, Ems?"

"Oh yeah, the tournament." So that was what was bugging me since last night.

"That's right, Emmanuel-san. In order to get ready for the Inter-Class Tournament, we'll be having more practice training. I will be your training partner." Cecilia urged. True, I do need training against enemies that are ranged or faster-than-average. Or both.

The prize given to the winning class is apparently a half-year's worth of free dessert coupons.

"I hope they don't have far-range IS units..." Man, do I hate fighting foes that are out of reach. Makes me feel useless!

"You can do it, Guevarra-kun! Protect our honor as men!" Ichika patted me at the back. Easier said than done, bro. Easier said than done.

"That's right! As a guy, how can you not have some self-confidence!" Hey, Cecilia, calm down.

"You have to win Ems! I want those coupoooonnnnnsssss!" Seriously, Elaine? You're making me an errand boy?

"We also want the coupons!"

"Yeah!" Everyone, stop gathering around me. I really don't like it.

"At this point, only the representatives from class 1 and class 4 have a personal IS, so it should be easy to win this!"

Suddenly, the door opened.

"Your information is outdated." Ichika suddenly turned his head around like he knew who the girl was. Said girl folded her arms in front of her chest and put a leg on her other knee while leaning on the wall.

"Rin... You're Rin, right?" So Ichika did know of the girl.

"What are you acting cool for? It seriously doesn't suit you." Hahaha, nice one Ichika!

"Wha...? Why are you saying something like that?" So, she really is only acting.

"Hey! What was that fo-" The girl, Rin, was hit by the mighty attendance book of Chifuyu.

"It's time for homeroom. Head back to class" Ha, Chifuyu really can shut just about anyone up.

"Chi-chifuyu-san..."

"It's Orimura-sensei! Hurry up and go back already, you're a bother."

"Y-Yes!" And with that, she scrammed. Welp, everyone that I met here so far is afraid of Chifuyu in various degrees. Ah, but I can't blame them, for I myself were once scared. But not anymore.

Ehh, second childhood friend of Ichika, huh. Interesting, interesting.

"So she's an IS pilot? This is the first time I heard of that..." Hm? What did you say?

"...Ichika, who was that and what is your relationship with her?"

"Is she, you know, your-"

"HURRY UP AND BACK TO YOUR PROPER PLACES, YOU IDIOTS!"

And so that's how our day began.

At the back of the classroom, Cecilia was drawing, but she is only drawing random, incoherent lines. From a normal teacher's point of view, it may seem that she is tactfully jotting down notes, but in reality she is only jotting down lines and what really is in her head is scheming. Scheming on how to improve her relationship with Emmanuel.

She thought that there was only one competition around: Elaine Castillo. Sure, the two of them really are just friends, the best of friends, but just friends. Still, there is a chance that that friendship might escalate to something more. Also, she has to compensate for the insults that she threw at him when they first met. Hmm... How, how do I do this...?

"Alcott."

"...How about I ask him out on a date? No, if I want a more effective..."

"..."

And thus, the mighty attendance book has claimed another head in its "struck hard" collection.

"It's all your fault!"

"This is all thanks to you!"

When lunch started, the first thing that Houki and Cecilia did was to scold Ichika and I. Houki is scolding Ichika, while Cecilia scolds me. I mean, c'mon, don't blame your ill-fate to us. Seriously. Just this morning, they were warned 7 times by Yamada-sensei and slammed by Chifuyu 4 times. Really, what's wrong? Y'all hungry or didn't wake up on the right side of the bed or something? It is said that blanking out when Chifuyu's near is like spreading sauce all over your body in front of a carnivorous predator, like a tiger for example, and shouting to it "Eat me!".

"Oh well, if you have anything to say, we'll talk about it over lunch. Let's go to the canteen first." Ichika interrupted. Nice save.

"Yeah. Maybe you two are often flying to dreamland because you're hungry."

" Sigh Alright, let's go and eat."

"Okay. It's not like I can't go along with you."

Having said that, all four of us now went to the canteen. Ichika and Houki both took Japanese set food, while Cecilia and I took the Western ones. On our way to the tables, we, or more accurately Ichika, was blocked by the same girl who was at our classroom door earlier this morning. The Representative of China, Huang Ling Yin. Her pet name is probably Rin, since this is what Ichika called her earlier.

"What took you so long, Ichika!?"

"Okay, okay, step aside. I can't hand over my lunch voucher and you're blocking the way for everyone."

"Ho-how rude! I know that!" She's holding a bowl of... ramen, I guess?

"The noodle will lose its spring."

"Speaking of which, it's been quite some time. How long has it been? A year? Anyway, how are you?" Ichika started.

"F-fine, I guess. What about you? At least get sick for once!" Rin countered.

"Dude, you might want to take a seat." I interjected. Reunions are cool and all, but we'd like to take a seat first to be comfortable.

"Oh, ah, sorry. Hehe." We then proceeded to take our seats at the table near the window.

"Rin? Since when have you been in Japan? How's aunty? When did you-"

"Enough questions, Ichika. My turn. How the hell were you able to pilot an IS!? I really spit out my red tea when I saw you on the news!"

Out of nowhere, Houki landed the hard question.

"Ichika, it's time you give us an explanation. Are you going out with this girl?" Hmm, wonder how this guy will answer this question.

"N-no-no-no, we aren't dating..." Rin stammered. Huh.

"That's right, why assume so much? We're only childhood friends, right?"

"..." Dude, that's just plain suicide. The girl likes you in a romantic way to some extent, and saying that was just... suicidal.

"Why are you glaring at me?"

"Nothing!" Apparently, Ichika is still clueless of what's happening.

"Childhood friend...?" Houki said surprisingly. Huh? I thought those three are childhood friends?

"Oh yeah, let me see... Houki's family moved away when we were in the fourth grade, right? Then, Rin transferred in the next year. Then, she went back to China when we were in second year high school. So it's been a year since we last saw each other."

Oh, so that's why. When one girl conked out, another one bumped in. Ichika, you lucky dog.

"Rin? This is Houki, another childhood friend of mine. She's the daughter of the dojo owner where I used to train."

A 5-second stareoff took place before they "greeted" each other.

"Nice to meet you. I hope we can get along."

"Same here."

Hehe, at this rate, they really won't get along. This is a brewing catfight over Ichika, and he doesn't even have a clue. Elaine also seems to pick up on this. Welp, looks like she will intervene again. This should be fun.

"Ahem!"

All of us turned around.

"It would be bothersome if you forgot about my existence. Representative of China, Huang Ling Yin-san?"

"... Who are you?"

Pfft.

"Wha- I'm Cecila Alcott, the representative candidate of England! Don't tell me...?"

"Um, I don't really care."

I silently laughed to myself. That's an epic response right there.

"Wha-wha-wha-"

Really, Cecilia should stop that "all high and mighty" act. It really doesn't bring her any benefit.

"I-i'll let you know that I won't lose to someone like you!"

"Really? If we were to fight, I would win easily! Sorry, but I'm really strong." Hmm, there's no insulting tone there, but it's still annoying. Of course, her claim may also be valid. Better not take chances again like I did with Cecilia. Speaking of Cecilia, she's beet red right now, flushed with anger. Or something like that.

"..."

"You, you really dare me...?"

Houki then put down her chopsticks whilst Cecilia trembled in rage. Again. The instigator, however, is just eating her ramen casually. Talk about confidence.

"You." She then faced me. Once again, the tone meant no harm. But, she has no... ladyness? Well, at least if we become buddies, I can treat her like "one of the guys", so to speak.

"Yo." I looked up from my Corned Beef lunch set.

"I heard that you're the class 1 representative."

"Yep. Nice to meet ya. Name's Emmanuel, but you can call me Ems, for short." I said, reaching out my hand for a handshake. Diplomacy before artillery, as I always say.

"Yeah, nice to meet ya!" She shook my hand rather nicely. Then she picked up her bowl and drank the soup from the edge of her bowl. Well, almost all of us are done now.

"Ichika." Rin then faced Ichika

"Oh?"

"Are you free after classes? If so, can I teach you a bit about your IS piloting?" She then abruptly faced away, trying to hide her... blushing face.

"That would be-" Ichika was interrupted by the sound of the table being slammed. Turning around, he saw Houki standing up with an annoyed expression.

"Hey, that's my job! He personally asked me to do it!" Cecilia, who was silent all this time, started whispering to me.

"It seems Ichika-san is being fought over. Ufufufu~."

"Yeah." Turning back to the brewing catfight, we watched on in fascination.

"I'm talking to Ichika right now. Would people not involved please leave?" Hahahaha...! Ichika is looking confused as ever. Typical Ichika.

"Who, who said that I'm not involved? He practically begged me to train him!" Oy you, stop lying.

"I didn't just pop out of nowhere, you know! I've known Ichika longer than you have!"

"Well, so have I! Besides, Ichika even used to eat at our house!"

"Is that so? Well, the same goes for me!"

"..."

"..."

I am now thoroughly convinced that Ichika is an idiot when it comes to romantic feelings and relationships.

"I-Ichika! What's going on!? You never told me about her!"

"W-wait, wait! Calm down! It's just that... we're just childhood friends, ok? And about eating at her house, I often went to the Chinese cuisine restaurant that Rin's family owns."

"O-oh, so it's just a restaurant... sigh you should have told us from the start!"

Oh, I forgot. Looking at my watch, it's almost time for class. Well, better pack up, for I have to go to my room for a quick brush of teeth.

"I gotta go ahead, still need to go back to my dorm room. See ya in class."

"Okay, Emmanuel-san!"

"Aight, Ems!"

"Ah, sure, Guevarra-kun!"

Houki and Rin were too distracted fighting each other in a verbal debate.

"What?"

"N-nothing."

We are currently at the arena, again. At the right side is Cecilia and me, while on the other side is Ichika and Houki. We are doing our respective training mock fights.

"Let's set the default shields at 500, to be equal. So, are you ready?" I said as I checked my weapons list. Hmm... Something changed with the weapons...

"Yes!" Ceclia said as she deployed her Starlight Mk. IV (the last one got destroyed, remember?). Aside from upgraded range and damage (ouch), it also has the "net" featured installed, so that Cecilia won't need to swap in the middle of a fight. She now also has the ability to spawn "mines" in the sky, like those ones underwater, but in mid-air, floating and waiting for me to hit them. There's also something about her ammo, but I'm not so sure.

Summoning my Greatsword, I noticed that it now has design and features, whereas before it was just plain. There's now the "veins" that are identical to the ones in my IS and my blade is also serrated now, but instead of small, spiked sides, mine is very large but it has large gaps in between. I think it's purpose is to snag the IS while I slash, so that the damage is even higher than before.

-Partner.-

Oh, hi Black Legend.

-Your Greatsword now also has the feature to "change" itself. I have noticed that in situations like this, it is more effective if you would wield something fast, so I modified the Greatsword to have another form, the Longsword. In this form, it sacrifices damage and range for speed and accuracy. Give it a try.-

Following Black Legend's advice, I concentrated on the Greatsword... It glowed brightly for a second before the light faded and sure enough, it is now a longsword. It has a single vein running through the blade.

"Wow. So you also got an upgrade!" Cecilia congratulated me.

"Nah, it's just the other form of my Greatsword. Never knew. Thanks anyways."

"You're welcome, Emmanuel-san. Ready?"

"Let's get it on!"

Gripping my longsword tightly, I flew off in her direction. Noticing that my speed is faster than before, I formulated various plans in my head, mainly about how to counter that sniper rifle.

-Warning, enemy has entered targetting mode.-

Tch. Do I have any gap closers?

-Well, the easiest one to execute right now is Ignition Boost, which is like a "dash" of sorts.-

Alright. Here goes nothing...!

ZOOM ZOOM! Piung piung!

-Energy shields down at 378-

Her attacks still hurts as hell. However, I'll try not to use the Aegis this time. It's only practice anyway, and besides, what if there's a situation where I can't use my Aegis? Hmm, the blade is glowing beautifully, shining something like an "aura" of sorts, but only dull. I also noticed that the Starlight's attack rate is faster, because it's a bit harder, despite my IS being faster than it's default settings, to dodge her attacks.

*Ziung!

I slashed at her, hard. It seems that wielding a longsword is quite difficult from the get-go. It failed, however, as she sidestepped and shot me directly at the back.

-Energy shields down at 300-

Ouch! I then spinned, blade outstretched. Fortunately, Cecilia was still on the spot, preparing for another shot, which caused her rifle to be sliced in half. Again. However, she just smirked and spawned another one. Almost panicking, I spawned my chain to my left hand and swung it to her left foot, making the chain wrap around her left thigh and the hook dug and clicked on her armor.

"Tch! This again!?" Cecilia screamed in frustration.

I then pulled her and when she got in range, I sliced a clean line through her, straight from between the legs to the tip of her head.

-Enemy energy shields down at 435-

Not having done with her yet, I swung the chain back so that Cecilia's in front of me again and sliced at her like one would slice a carrot on a chopping block to really small pieces.

-Enemy energy shields down at 368-

Finally regaining her composture, Cecilia broke away from the chain by shooting her net at blank range, causing me and her to fly backwards. Hearing her gun click, she started opening fire as soon as she stopped hurtling through the air.

-Energy shields down at 233-

"Damn!" Spawning my Aegis, I brought it up in front of me for cover. Why doesn't her attacks...

"Ha! That 'Aegis' of yours might deflect energy weapon fire, but I'm using ammunition!"

Wait, so that's why her attacks don't fly away! Dismissing my Aegis and Katana for the Spear, I rushed at her while she was reloading. She sidestepped, and so I went Crescent Sweep at her. Again.

-Enemy energy shields down at 376-

"You never learn, do you?" I taunted.

"Aaaarrrrghhh!"

Taking advantage of her control loss over her IS, I dismissed the Spear and spawned the Chain on my left hand and the Katana on my right hand. Quickly focusing, I returned the Katana to it's original Greatsword form and launched my Chain at Cecilia, which barely hit. Pulling her again, I slammed at her torso, damaging her shields greatly.

-Enemy energy shields down at 298-

"THAT'S IT!" Cecilia raged again and brought out her rifle. Making several clicks, it then started to open fire at me. The difference is it fired at a very fast rate, almost like an assault rifle. She also started deploying mines around her. This is bad. I can't approach her without slamming into one of those, and even if I dodge them, her rifle is waiting for me. Wait, if this works...

"Hahahahaha!" She said, firing at me. I hope she accidentally hits one of her own mines.

"Ha! Having difficulty hitting me, eh?" I taunted again. Please, please deploy those bits...

"Wh-why you!" She then deployed the bits, which is a hard thing to do because of the minefield. Out of her rage she started to fire at me. I then quickly replaced the Greatsword with my Aegis, making the energy fired deflect to a mine, which exploded. The explosion triggered a chain effect on Cecilia, and soon enough she was defeated.

-Enemy shields down at 0-

Phew.

AN: Sorry for postponing the Inter-class tournament fight. I had to check on whether I can still write properly or not. Stay tuned and review!