Opening song: Dr. Dre - What's the Difference Ft. Xzibit and Eminem
Liu stared in the mirror, cleaning his face as he reflected the past of his actions. Liu had been through hell back and forth.
Day one, my life has already turned upside down when I stepped foot into IS Academy. The choice of rot in jail or hell, those were out of the option when a girl named Lingyin Huang saved me out of the blue. Did I ever deserve of gaining another life? Who am I kidding? Looking myself in the mirror, I'm not Superman at all, or Ichika Orimura that stopped Silver Gospel. I don't have the traits of being a good guy. No, I'm Liu King-Sang, a Triad gangster from Righteousness Union, and I'm far from being just your ordinary boy that can pilot an IS. Ever since Three Dragons tortured me more than once to break my body apart to get his hands on Sockdolager now known as Nightmare, my fuel to kill him has burned even more. If that was bad enough, I met Raiden Hataru the blind philosophical lion to negotiate the deal, and I sold my soul to the lion. Take over the throne as a Righteousness Union, or die alone, there's no way I'll fall for those. I'm the one that decides my fate, not by those that tell me this and that.
Time: 10:14 AM – Orimura Residence
It was sunny morning and Ichika wore a plain light blue t shirt, shorts and flip flops. The house was where he and Chifuyu reside with the usual furniture not too much, but enough to keep them occupied. Ichika and Chifuyu were not the only one in the house. Mattheus and Joel sat on the couch playing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as they were focused on the game. Their fingers moved at light speed pace mashing buttons on the Nintendo controllers while Ichika served them glass of water.
The boys enjoyed their time to relax away from the Academy for once, especially Battle of Kyoto that Rain and Forte that betrayed the Academy. Most importantly, World Purge was a highlight Ichika and the gang will never forget when Phantom Task raided the Academy to rescue Autumn.
DING DONG
Ichika looked through the eye door, and to be expected, it was Cecilia wearing a fancy white dress grinning like a socialite.
"Hello there, Ichika!" Cecilia exclaimed. The English rabbit held a white box of dozen homemade donuts that looked scrumptious Cecilia made yesterday. Every time Cecilia made food, most of the time it turned into a disaster with horrendous ingredients added, and those that took a bite fell into a coma or spit out in disgust.
Ichika opened the door as Cecilia took her shoes off, and set the donuts on the coffee table. The donuts released a sweet aroma in the living room while Joel waved at Cecilia.
"Yo," Joel said, flicking his thumbs on the joy stick and buttons. "You made these donuts?"
The way Cecilia stared at the young Irish punk indicated he wanted some.
"That's right, would you care for some?"
Ichika went numb. He set his drink on the table, knowing how horrendous Cecilia's cooking is as he has to save Joel from being another victim of chemical warfare cooking. Even though Ichika ate Cecilia's cooking not too long ago that was deemed delicious, Ichika cannot let his guard down. Ichika has put his life on the line to take the hard hit.
"I'll like some too, please."
Something in him believed Ichika that he sacrificed his soul to save Joel unaware of Cecilia's cooking skills. Cecilia gave Ichika and Joel donuts as Ichika gulped, slowly taking the first bite. Much to his surprise, Ichika did not feel sick. In fact, Ichika took another bite and ate it all.
Ichika said, "This is…so good."
Cecilia worked with a smile. "I'm glad that you appreciated my culinary skills."
Joel took a bite of the donut, finishing it with a lick around his lips.
"I like it, delicious for a sweet snack."
Ichika grabbed another donut for seconds. "What ingredients did you use to make these snacks?"
"It's-"
DING DONG
Cecilia smacked the air with a grandiose backhand. "That was very rude that some people have the nerve to interrupt me."
Ichika opened the door, and it was Laura in a black summer dress, and Rin with a button shirt and red skirt. As to be expected, Laura stopped by to see her "bride." Cecilia shot a glare at the German girl as the latter could care less about Cecilia's mean mugging.
"Laura."
Cecilia's voice was bar-hoarse as she emitted rage aura. Mattheus and Joel slightly cringed at the Representative Candidate of England.
"Want to play Smash Bros to relieve your anger?" asked Mattheus.
"I'll play to see if it's worth the hype," said Laura, grabbing the GameCube controller. "My colleagues from Schwarzer Hase played that game, and they talked nonstop about it."
"Fighting games are my specialty that you two will bow down to me," Rin boasted, grabbing the controller.
Cecilia, Laura, and Rin sat together, choosing the characters that suited their play style as Mattheus and Joel watch. By the time the girls chose their characters, they turned from casual demeanor to pro gamers mashing buttons and joysticks on the controllers.
"Good call to have them play videogames," said Joel ever amused.
Mattheus nodded his head, looking at the English rabbit trying to beat Laura with combo moves.
"I can't let them destroy Ichika's house off of their anger. You know how nasty it can get with their temper."
While the girls were occupied with the videogame, Ichika turned on the AC, and prepared drinks of Ginger Ale and water to beat the heat wave. Chifuyu in her t-shirt, shorts, and slippers drank a bottle of ice cold beer while she slouched on the sofa, fetching things with her foot. Chifuyu may be in an instructor from hell, but at home, Chifuyu is very lazy.
Chifuyu grabbed another bottle of beer, but she fell asleep in the process.
"Zzzzz…"
Ichika sighed at the Brunhilde acting like a sloth hogging the sofa like a kid not sharing his favorite toy. As long as Chifuyu was asleep, Ichika was fine without her telling him this and that.
150 meters away from Ichika's house, Houki in her casual clothing saw two men and a woman in summer attire with one of them sporting sleeve tattoos. From the looks of their appearances, they were Righteousness Union associates as they stop to have a cigarette break. The male companion offered a cigarette to his friend, but he politely declined.
"Ngo zeoi gan gaai zo jin, kap jin ngai hoi gin hong aa maa!" (I recently quit smoking, 'cause smoking is hazardous to health, right!)
The female friend exhaled the nicotine smoke, sighing. "Saam lung m teng ngo gong, cung dat faan ngo gei gau." (Three Dragons won't listen to me. He even said something in retort.)
"Keoi gong mat ye?" (What did he say?)
"Ngo m zi, ngo zan hai m ming baak heoi dim gaai gam joeng zou aa." (I don't know, I really don't understand why he acts like this.)
"Zung sai nei gong!" (You're telling me!)
Houki stopped briefly to listen in on the conversation, even though she could not understand Cantonese. Luckily, the trio did not see Houki dropping in as they were occupied with their conversation.
The woman threw the cigarette away. "Ngo dei ge Hak dou zung jan jat zik pek jau baau faat noi zin jan wai…" (Our triad members are fighting that stupid civil war because…)
The man tilted his head in confusion when she stopped momentarily. "Jan wai…?" (Because…?)
"Lau King-Sang jau Saam Lung." (Liu King-Sang and Three Dragons.)
Houki could not believe what she just heard, as if the life from her was drained. At first, Houki thought they were joking around, but their tone gave it away; that they have a big issue to solve. The woman was hesitant to continue speaking as she looked down.
"Gan zyu lok lei…ze baan so gwaa sam cyun gaai dai duk hoi Dou Ji Lyun Mang." (Carrying on…those idiots bear a grudge that it poisoned Righteousness Union.)
The trio frowned in disgust at the current situation that they have problems in their own set, primarily Liu and Three Dragons' grudge that won't stop all because of IS. Righteousness Union made a mistake of selling an IS due to their ignorance, and they abandoned it. However, Liu and Three Dragons fought over IS ownership. In the end, Liu gained the ability to pilot an IS. Three Dragons won't stop dumping his resources to get back the stolen IS.
By the time Righteousness Union members left, Houki pondered.
How do they know Liu, and is he one of them? If Liu is, that must have explained why he went missing, or he only interact with Rin.
For now, Houki put it aside as she entered Ichika's house to greet Laura, Cecilia, Rin, and the boys occupied on the videogame. The vixen saw the homemade donuts Cecilia made, but Houki already ate. Then again, Houki did not want to be the victim of chemical warfare cooking like last time when Cecilia added perfume on the fried chicken balls.
"Good morning, Houki," Ichika reached out and gave her a cup of water. "How was your early morning training?
Houki looked up at him and smiling, catching her breath. "Not too bad to get my day started."
"Right."
"We have been through so much for the past few days…remember when we went to Kyoto for a school trip until Phantom Task attacked us?"
"That was not what we expected, and two of our classmates turned to Phantom Task."
Houki sized him up. "They were agents that are for sure." Concerned about her clothes now, a white button-up sundress and black heels, Houki looked at his eyes. "Ichika, do you think my clothes are not too fancy?"
"They look perfectly fine for you."
Houki checked them out with a smile. "I was hesitant to wear this for today as I'm concerned that it might reveal too much skin."
Ichika started to feel good. "Don't worry about it too much. Look at Cecilia and Laura that wore clothing similar to yours."
Cecilia, Laura, and Rin were so focused at the videogame that they did not hear the conversation between Ichika and Houki. Mattheus grabbed a chair nearby to take a seat with his left knuckle resting on his chin, and took a deep breath.
"Are you all right, Mattheus?" Ichika said.
Mattheus nodded, waiting. "The crime rate has skyrocketed that is primarily related to IS, especially Titan –M5."
"Chifuyu was working on Operation Exorcist for a while," Houki said. "Nothing slowed her down from completing the project."
"Now that you mentioned it, Chifuyu studied a sample of Titan –M5 to understand why it was created in the first place."
Laura had spoken to Chifuyu about the mission she and Liu took in that went horribly wrong. The mission was somewhat a success, but in Chifuyu's eyes, it was a failure when Liu was captured and subsequently tortured by Three Dragons. Even though Liu put up a lot of resistance, the damage was enough to increase his fuel to kill Three Dragons even more.
Liu made a deal with Raiden to acquire another sample of Titan –M5 in exchange for information about Three Dragons' operations, and immunity for Righteousness Union.
Ichika's stomach growled so loud that Cecilia, Laura, and Rin pause the game.
"Yeah, and I'm hungry right now."
Cecilia told the blue boy, "You should have had more of my donuts."
Ichika shrugged. "We'll have them later as desserts. Let me inform Chifuyu that we're going out."
Joel stiffened as he said, "Anyone thought of an idea of where we should eat?"
"I have no clue at all," said Laura, reacquainting with the controller. "Actually, there's a diner three blocks away from this house that is popular for reasonable prices."
"What is this diner place that you are talking about?" asked Cecilia.
"I'll show you once Ichika is ready."
Chifuyu lazily waved her hand at her little brother with her eyes sealed shut. The five left the house to get some fresh air. While the others have a chat, Houki saw Liu on the right side hanging out with his friends. Houki saw a glimpse of his tattoos on his right pectorals that caught her attention before she turned away with the gang.
Time: 11:45AM – Diner
The diner was not too big or small, but it was just about right to house 45 customers. Wooden floors, tables, and seats with leather cushion decorated the eatery as the waitress showed Ichika and the gang a big table. Charlotte and Cecilia were in awe at the new environment that they have never seen before.
"This is a diner that you speak of?" Cecilia asked, looking at the menu.
"That's right," said Ichika. "It's very popular for reasonable prices, and very delicious food. As you can see, there are different types of people, such as families, elderlies, workers, and even those that are the same age as us."
The English rabbit was surprised seeing the diversity of people dining as she did not have this sort of eatery in her hometown. When Cecilia saw pictures of food, it was the first thing she was surprised of.
"This is intriguing because it even showed the amount of calories per each dish," said Charlotte.
"I'm surprised that one does not require a dress code and reservations," Cecilia replied before she turned gloomy looking at the high calorie meals.
"However, many of these meals have so many calories that it can ruin your daily intakes…"
"Oh don't be so uptight now," said Laura, looking at the menu. "There are times like this where you need to be loose at least once a while."
Mattheus nodded. "Eat in moderation so you don't have to worry about gaining weight."
Charlotte slightly frowned at the Flemish man. "Mattheus, you make it sound easy because you're a guy…"
"To put it this way, order something that does not have a lot of calories," Joel suggested, pointing a salad.
"You're right, Joel," Cecilia replied. "In that case, I'm getting Bangers and mash with peas."
"I'm settling for Yakizakana and Yaki udon so everyone else can share it," Ichika pointed the Japanese dishes.
"As for me, I'm settling for spicy beef ramen," said Rin, licking her lips. "Just by looking at it makes me hungry."
Charlotte and Cecilia clicked their tongues that they wanted to order food to share with the blue boy. They could have simply ordered more food, but Laura beat them to it when she ordered pork ginger. Combined with the humongous amount of high-calorie meals, Charlotte and Cecilia cannot afford to gain weight.
Ichika had something to say when he kept a calm expression. "Where we left off about Phantom Task, Shen wreaked havoc the most at Kyoto."
"Don't remind me at all because she was the worst of all to begin with," Mattheus replied, remembering the invincibility Shen possessed. "She did not have any weakness at all, and to top it off, she clobbered Chifuyu pretty badly."
Joel shook his head. "Let's not forget that American forces raided the Academy to search for the unregistered IS core, and once again, Phantom Task rescued prisoner Autumn."
Not once, but twice that Phantom Task assaulted the Academy just for spreading destruction, and the other was to rescue Autumn. They succeeded laying half of Kyoto to waste, along with retrieving Autumn safely because she will be much more dangerous with her out of the cage.
"I tried to save Liu, but Kaori captured him to let Three Dragons torture him," Laura closed her eyes from the horrific incident. "He put up a lot of resistance to not give up Nightmare at Three Dragons."
Houki slightly shuddered hearing Three Dragons as the boy is nothing but trouble. Three Dragons will use whatever it takes to steal Nightmare, even if it meant breaking the rules of Righteousness Union.
"When Phantom Task sent in The Lion, they tore their way through with brute force," Mattheus commented, sipping a glass of water. "They appeared to be invincible against the attacks we dished out, not even a flinch at all."
Ichika patted at the Flemish man's shoulders. "Tell us more about The Lion you and Joel encountered."
"The Lion behave like special ops unit that they strike without warning. I'm not sure if they are IS pilots because their genders are hard to distinguish. I advise you to be careful if you ever encounter them. The last thing you'll see is their lion balaclava."
The girls memorized the descriptions of The Lion as they wait for their food. Mattheus did not joke around when he talked about The Lion when they tried to kill him and Joel in order to rescue Autumn. Their mission was a success with none of their units killed in the process.
As the gang reflected the past events related to Three Dragons and Phantom Task, the waitress served them food, and Charlotte took out her iPhone 7 to take pictures of the scrumptious meals. While they eat their respective dishes, Laura slowly ate her food that caught Ichika's attention.
"My wife," said Laura, chewing the pork ginger. "I should have ordered a lower calorie meal as I should have been on a diet."
Her frown made Ichika confused as he scratched his head. "Laura, you won't be able to grow stronger if you don't eat a lot."
"You said a very rude thing to me."
The blue boy sighed that he did not provoke the black rabbit. "If you really want to go on a diet, take in moderation of oil and sugar. Consume fruits, vegetables, and fish regularly. Lastly, exercise as your daily routine so you won't have to worry about gaining weight."
The girls were star struck at Ichika's short lecture on nutrition while Joel and Mattheus did not appeared surprise.
"Ichika," Cecilia said. "You sound like a professor that's about to retire within the next month."
Ichika looked back at Cecilia eating her food. "What!?"
The girls laughed at Ichika's outburst while Joel and Mattheus couldn't help but to giggle at the blue boy's mishap. Cecilia shared some food with Ichika that made the girls slightly ticked off. Ichika sheepishly shared his meal with Cecilia to not make her mad, ignoring Charlotte maintaining her angel of death smile.
"That's quite manly of you, Ichika," Charlotte said. "Will you exchange food with me please?"
"I'll be right there, Charlotte."
"Yeah, like you that never says no," Rin snickered, folding her arms. "You'll be the perfect leading cast for the sequel of Yes Man."
"Who are you calling a yes man!"
Charlotte blinked. "You act instinctively based on what you feel it's right like how Cecilia wanted to try new food."
"Eh? That is normal for people to share food, and I have no shame to do so."
The English rabbit saw Ichika's glass out of water as Cecilia had the finale to attract him. "It appears that your drink is empty. I'll take pleasure to refill your drink if you would-"
"Stop right there, ballhog," Laura interrupted. "You have done too much for today. Why don't you take a breather? I'll do the honor for my wife."
Cecilia clicked her tongue at Laura's smug as she grabbed Ichika's empty glass towards the drink bar. Cecilia stared at the machine contained with various drinks. The problem was the drinks did not have English translations, and without any second thoughts, Cecilia impulsively mixed Coca-Cola and coffee together.
By the time Cecilia gave Ichika his drink the blue boy took a sip, and spit it out immediately.
"AAAAHHHH!"
Cecilia freaked out, grabbing napkins to clean up Ichika. "O-oh no! Are you okay, Ichika?"
"What did you put in my drink?" Ichika gasped for air.
"I don't know because the machines did not have English written!"
Joel face palmed in disgust at Cecilia's attempt to attract Ichika, and making a dangerous drink was not the best option to start with. Then again, Cecilia has still a lot to improve on her culinary skills. The gang settled down from the mess, ordering desserts to conclude their lunch time.
Time: 1:47PM – Shopping Center
Mattheus and Joel returned to the Academy while the gang went to do shopping while Ichika found an empty bathhouse. This was a dream come true for Ichika to have it for himself. Last time the Academy had an open bathhouse Ichika took the advantage of, but he had too much fun, and collapsed for staying too long in the bath when Ichika attempted to use a fan to dry himself up.
"Wahooo!" Ichika shouted in joy, swimming and jumping around the bath. "I can have this bath for myself!"
The blue boy did not learn his lesson because he was supposed to clean his body before entering the bath. Ichika did not stay hydrated, which it's dangerous to stay in the bath for too long. By the time Ichika stepped out of the bath, he looked like a Hawaiian surfer with a lot of tan. Ichika used a fan to dry his body, he became lightheaded as he was bound to make the same mistake.
Ahhh, what's happening to me? I'm feeling dizzy, I'm about to…
THUD
Ichika fell backwards like a slinky toy with his back arched. When Ichika did not listen to Chifuyu and Maya's warning of staying hydrated, and not stay too long in the bath, this is what he got. An employee carried the unconscious Ichika to a couch to leave him be. Houki and the others swing by to relax at the bathhouse only to find Ichika slouching.
"Ichika…care to explain why you look like a mess?" Houki questioned her childhood friend.
"Is this your friend? Well, he stayed in the bath too long, and collapsed. Give him plenty of water so he will be back on his feet."
As the employee went back to work, Laura face palmed in disgust. "You're far from being a man I once thought of. You failed to acknowledge your mistakes from your incident at the bathhouse in the Academy."
"Mmm…"
The girls took the time to relax at the bathhouse with Ichika recovering in the couch by staring at the ceiling. If Ichika learn to control himself, he would not get in the predicament again.
The gang went back to the Academy while Houki stay behind to shop for new clothing. The vixen bought a simple purple blouse, and a leather jacket. Even though the gang had a fun time at the diner, and hanging out at the shopping center, Houki felt something was not right, which was the conversation about Liu and Three Dragons.
Was it really Liu that I saw with tattoos on his right pectorals? It can't be him, and the people that blurted out his name sounded like they know him. I'll have to find out when the time's right.
On the other side of downtown...
"I see…So, you want me to use Titan –M5 for further enhancement to make it compatible for non IS pilots?"
Three Dragons was in the middle of an important phone conversation with Squall inside of Shen's BMW M6. Shen and Three Dragons were not the only occupants. Next to Three Dragons was Tabane happily munching on a package of Hello Panda strawberry biscuits. Three Dragons slowly nodded his head to finalize the deal he made with Squall.
"Well, Titan –M5 was originally made to enhance IS pilots, but I'll get back to you when testing is finished. Until then, I'll see you later."
Three Dragons put away his iPhone 6, tapping his finger on the door handle, and Tabane burped out loud. The former did not mind the rabbit's lack of manners as Three Dragons turned his head at Tabane.
"Is it complete, Dr. Tabane?"
"Your present is finished, Three Dragons~" Tabane replied, revealing a hologram of a Guandao with IS components. "This weapon has state of the art IS technology that will allow you to summon it by your thoughts. That way, it will give you the playing field if you encounter Liu~"
Three Dragons acknowledge the genius scientist as Kaori walked up to him, holding a Titan –M5. The rabbit typed in codes on her holographic computer at light speed pace. Three Dragons took a closer look at the stimulant to make sure there were no other substances added.
"That will be it for today," said Three Dragons, returning the stimulant to Kaori. "Starting tomorrow, your training will commence with Phantom Task. Shen and I will assist you, and remember to lay low until orders are given by Squall. Liu will definitely hunt us down, and I have a feeling he will take training soon. If you encounter Liu or any of his friends from the Academy and Righteousness Union, do not engage because the last thing I want to see is you on the breaking news."
Kaori did not like it, but she had to learn how to restrain herself from unnecessary outburst. The firebird nodded, returning to her Lamborghini Aventador, and sped off. Tabane tapped Three Dragons in the shoulder with strawberry biscuits on her right hand.
"I'll pass, I already ate two minutes ago. I'll have to see the Guandao in person you made for me."
Three Dragons whipped out his GSh-18, briefly staring at his signature sidearm before he put it aside, and stared at the window. Three Dragons may have resources to use, but he has to begin his training so he can take down Liu. The IS Academy and Phantom Task are not backing down as the training will soon begin.