Notes: Just me going back over a few scenes that stuck out as something that could have turned out differently to me from the anime - which happens to be a whole lot of them... T^T

Ichika's Party...?

by Tempest 35

"So Ichika, who's costume did you like the best?"

Silence reigned in the hearts and minds of 5 young women as the object of their desire pondered the question posed by the green-haired teacher. An almost imperceptible glance at Orimura-sensei relieved their young maiden hearts a bit in noting that she appeared more engrossed in her tea than in hearing Ichika's proclamation. All the better for them.

"Hmmm, who indeed..." Ichika rubbed his chin with a hand.

To tell the truth, he was rather stunned that they would wear what they did, especially Houki and Charl. He had tried so hard not to stare at the amount of cleavage they were displaying but he did get some impressive glimpses of their breasts. Houki's fox ears, thankfully, was something he could focus on.

Cecilia was a surprise for him though, displaying her 'talents' in billiards like that. He was honestly intrigued by the game and would not mind learning more of how to play - as long as she dressed normally. Those poses she struck tonight while wearing that bunnygirl outfit made him just slightly uncomfortable.

Rin's turn was taken by Tatenashi-sempai, who seemed to try her best to get a rise out of him, which she nearly accomplished. Honestly, that girl was going to get him killed...! He wondered why she was asking about her little sister in such an uncharacteristic way...

Playing darts with Laura was fun while it lasted too. The bunnygirl outfit she had on was rather cute too. If the girls would be willing to play normal games like they did with him tonight, he'd enjoy being with them a whole lot more. Ah! But he was suppose to pick which outfit he liked... Wait, did that include Chifuyu-nee too? He never thought that Chifuyu-nee would EVER dress up in anything like a maid outfit. She did look cute, even though her scowl looked a bit out of place. She definitely could have worked at a Tsundere Maid Cafe...

"Ah man, how am I suppose to pick," he breathed, rubbing his head forcefully. "I mean, I had fun playing billiards with Cecilia and darts with Laura, having tea with Houki and cookies with Charl was very nice too. I just wish we could do these sorts of things as a group - we're all friends right?" "

...has Orimura-kun learned that for girls, 'All is fair in love and war'," Yamada-sensei whispered to Chifuyu, who finished her tea.

"...nope." She kept an eye on the scene in front of her. Judging by the girls' expressions, they were not happy.

"We don't care about that," Rin shouted at him.

"That's right! Who did you like the best!"

"We didn't dress up in those outfits just to receive that sort of wishy-washy answer!"

"Why are you forcing me to choose," he asked them, his face showing a bit of confusion but to Chifuyu's sharp eye, there was a touch of sadness there as well.

"BECAUSE!"

Ichika suddenly felt angry. Why couldn't they see that he just wanted to keep things nice and amicable for them all? Why did they insist on this 'competition'? "Fine! I choose Chifuyu-nee," he all but shouted, surprising all present.

Yamada gaped in surprise and Chifuyu suppressed the tea that threatened to come up again, but her eyes were concerned when she saw how upset Ichika was at being forced into deciding this. This won't end well for them...

"What!?"

"Why are you always picking Orimura-sensei, you siscon!"

"Well, she isn't forcing me to choose who I like between my friends," he raised his voice. "All of you were great but you're ruining everything with this!"

"Wa-wait a minute, time out," Yamada-sensei placed herself between her students. "I-I didn't mean for the question to become that serious, Orimura-kun. It was just a silly question."

"...no, but they always want it to be this way," he muttered, turning around and walking out of the door, leaving the girls in different stages of being upset, embarrassed or angry.

"What's with him!? He can't answer a single question honestly?!"

"And then he runs away - typical man."

Yamada-sensei was the first to react by edging away from the elder sister of the world's first male IS pilot. Experience as a woman told her that Orimura-sensei's 'big sister side' was about to rear it's head...

"Yare yare, you girls really don't know when to quit," Chifuyu put her tea cup down with slightly more force than necessary. The resulting klank sounded like a death knell. "You know, I had assumed that all of this was for Ichika's birthday, not to fullfill your own egos, you brats. Now you pretty much ruined whatever good feelings he had with this birthday party we threw for him." Her glare pierced right through their anger and shamed them instead. "Stop thinking about yourselves all the time and maybe he'll think about you the way you want him to for a change. Chances are he probably already does but you're not making very good cases for yourselves." She made her way to the door but paused at the doorway, not looking back at them.

"And you wonder why I won't turn him over to you girls..." She walked out of the room, leaving them to themselves.

Or any other girl for that matter.