"So this is our room, huh?" Ichika mused.

"Yes- and there are some rules you have to follow, you know? We'll go to the bathrooms at different times- I'll go first since I have kendo practice-" Houki stopped talking when Ichika took off his glasses.

There was extreme clouding in his eyes, almost completely covering the brown of his iris. After a second, Ichika broke the silence. "Are you staring at my eyes?"

"Sorry- it's just that-"

"Yeah, it can be a little disarming, or so I've heard. I hope you don't mind if we keep things kind of low light in here? I'd look a little silly, wearing sunglasses to bed."

"Of course." Houki couldn't exactly argue against that, now could she?

Breakfast the next morning was alright- it took him a minute to get used to the school's dining area, but he'd have a lot of time to get familiar. He kept his cane against his leg, of course- he certainly didn't want to loose it here. Well, he didn't want to loose it anywhere, but definitely not in the middle of the IS academy.

Several of the girls seemed genuinely enthusiastic about sitting next to him- was he really that special? Were they just sheltered, maybe? Whatever. Ichika didn't really think of himself as an exceedingly interesting person, but he was Chifuyu's younger brother after all...

Ichika honestly wished the girls had a lower opinion of him after one of them elected him to be the class representative- he wasn't opposed to paperwork, but a tournament? How was he supposed to do that?

"I do not approve of this!" Why thank you, British-accented stranger, Ichika thought- oh wait, this was that Cecilia girl, right? Her accent made her very distinctive- on top of the volume, of course. Of course, his opinion of her soured as she started talking shit about Japan- he could understand why she wouldn't approve of him as class representative, but not badmouthing the country of his birth.

As a redblooded Japanese male, how could he stand for it? Not to mention that the girl was going to burn a lot of bridges if kept on talking the way she was in a Japanese school…

"There's no need for that, I think." Ichika said. "I mean, you are here, in Japan, to learn about how to use a Japanese invention from Japanese instructors. I think it's a little rich of you to say Japan is underdeveloped- can you remind me what Britain has contributed to the Infinite Stratos recently? Heck, have they contributed anything but bad cuisine?"

"I can't believe you'd have the audacity to insult my home country!" Ichika bit back a comment about hypocrisy as she continued her rant. "This calls for a duel!" Muttering broke out- this certainly wasn't a good look for Cecilia.

"Aren't you punching down a little?" Ichika asked. "I mean…" he waved his hand in front of his face.

"I cannot stand a slight to my country's honor from anyone, but I suppose the least I could do is take on some sort of handicap- nobility obliges, after all."

"Well if I'm going to fight, the least I can do is fight you at your best." Ichika sighed. He didn't have high hopes, but his pride kept him from not giving it his all.

Ichika was interested to hear that he would get his own personal IS- of course just about everyone on the planet would want his flight data considering how he was the first male to to fly an IS and all that… it just seemed remarkable that of the extremely limited supply of cores, Ichika basically got his own reserved.

Some part of him wondered why Tabane stopped at 467 cores- did she run out of resources, or did she have some reason for making the machines artificially scarce? Technically, if things did reach the point of enough cores to equip entire armies… things would get very bad. Maybe that was why?

Unfortunately, he wouldn't get any time to train with or test his suit before he was facing Cecilia- so he was going into a fight with basically zero experience. What were they expecting from this, again? Well he had gotten himself into this mess… so what the hell was he expecting?

Houki had volunteered to help him learn the ins and outs of the IS system before he got beaten like a drum in public, but she seemed to have a bit of a focus on physical fitness over the mechanisms of the IS- thank goodness, she hadn't made him do kendo, but he had done excruciating amounts of push ups and running.

He did feel like he had improved a little, physically- not that it would be much help much when he was fighting against a representative candidate, basically as close to a professional as he could reasonably go up against. Some part of him knew that he didn't have a very good chance of winning- but how could he give anything less than his all?

He felt a bit of a thrill as he was lead to his IS. The sound of moving metal and the clanking of machinery- probably a garage or door of some kind- marked the unveiling of his IS.

"An all white IS…?" Thank you for the information, Houki- his IS was white. He had suspected as such from what he could faintly see, but he was worried he was just staring in awe at one of the IS academy's many white painted walls.

"This is your IS: the Byakushiki!" Mrs. Yamada- informed him of the machine's name. White Form- fitting, he supposed.

He couldn't help but feel sheer joy as he activated the machine- Byakushiki wasn't just some mass production model. It was his, a machine that would grow in time to be an extension of himself- how could he not feel excited, even if he was about to get his ass kicked?

Before their fight had began, Cecilia gave him one last chance to surrender- which he didn't take, of course. He would hold on until the bitter end- his sister would expect nothing less from him.

Flying an IS in combat was very different- there was an endless stream of noise pouring into his ears, alerts about his shield falling apart under Cecilia's assault, warnings about high energy signatures, the roar of Cecilia's gun, her own bragging… It was a mess of sensation, but it seemed to be getting better the more he flew.

Slowly the wild mess of sound seemed to define itself, the IS doing its magic and helping him process far more information then he probably should have been capable of.

Still, all the information in the world didn't give him any new approaches: all he could really do was charge, thanks to his machine only having one weapon. Thank goodness it was a sword, which he knew how to work with- he'd really be in trouble if the machine had popped out a flail or club- or even worse, a ranged weapon.

Cecilia had ranged weapons to spare: that big gun of course, but from what Ichika could tell she had several other pieces which flew around. How was he going to handle that? He couldn't see her, even if he could hear her over the radio…

The radio. She had to communicate with those bits of hers somehow, right? So Ichika did his best to fly through the air randomly while he tried to get his IS to sense radio waves, something, anything….

It was like being struck by a wave- he swerved wildly, accidentally dodging a shot from Cecilia, his mind filled with so much chaff it was hard to comprehend. Radio chatter from planes, the gentle crooning of singers, argumentative talk show hosts, an endless stream of information from the internet- hell, it was almost nauseating.

But in that mess, there was something- a constant stream of data flowing between where he thought Cecilia was, and 4 other places- where he assumed the bits were. Once he had picked it up it seemed almost blindingly obvious, and the bits were practically tied together by their radio chatter- presumably they needed to be aware of each other's positions so they didn't crash into each other.

Admittedly, it wasn't much, but it gave him targets. So he inhaled- and then charged at the first bit, striking at where the waves emanated from- and considering the amount of the drone he cut through, he probably cut the thing in half, lengthwise.

"What? How?!" Cecilia shouted- giving him a better idea of her location- and Ichika had to admit that he shared in her shock. There was something… strange about feeling the hum of those radio waves, of knowing (seeing didn't seem like the right word) what was hidden away.

While Cecilia was still stunned by him actually managing to land a blow, he struck again- cutting another one of the bits in half. Attempting to seize on the advantage, he spun and swerved through the air while approaching the next- even as bolts of energy struck at his shield, he charged on. There was no way he was going to scrape a win if those bits were flying around.

In time, two more of the piece fell, and it seemed like Cecilia was getting spooked, even if Ichika's shield had paid dearly for what damage he dealt so far. "Well, no use in just letting her shoot me from a distance," he muttered… before charging.

Perhaps he wasn't really capable of seeing her as more than a blur with his eyes- but with his IS suit's communications system… Cecilia shone like a beacon, a constant stream of data about energy and shield levels- how could you not detect her? Her gun was a different matter entirely- but get close enough and it was useless.

He swerved wildly on his approach, but Cecilia still sounded confident. "I see you fell for it- sorry, there are more than four!" She crowed before he heard the cough of projectiles launching- missiles?

If he was on the ground he probably would have fallen on his ass- instead he just made an undignified retreat, the sound of the missiles close on his tail until….

Perfection. He had already liked the IS suit before, but now, in First Shift… it felt even better. It felt smoother, even more natural, like a body part he had forgotten he had, and the flow of information from the sensors was somehow more manageable on top of that. His IS- with a new ability?

Thankfully, the IS had a text to speech device that read him the sword's name: Reiraku Byakuya, before telling him all about the sword's unique ability. Ichika grinned. He could certainly work with this.

So he charged with abandon- it was almost like kendo. One perfect blow, and it was all finished- that would certainly be a way to start his IS career.

As he swung at Cecilia, he could hear something… shaking? Her suit seemed to be trembling- or was she the one trembling? Was she afraid? Suddenly, Ichika's mind was filled with memories: the terror he felt when he was kidnapping, unpleasant memories of helplessness both before and after his visual impairment… And he couldn't bring himself to swing down at her.

And then he lost. Right, the sword's special ability drained his shield energy- what was he thinking, not waiting until the last possible moment to turn it on? Stupid.

Of course, just about the least equipped person to dodge IS attacks got the stupidly offense oriented glass cannon suit- wonderful.

After the match, Ichika and Houki walked to the dorms, talking as Ichika swept the ground in front of him with his cane.

"Are you upset that you lost?"

"I mean yeah- I would have preferred to win, of course, and I feel pretty stupid for misusing the Reiraku Byakuya like that, but I did a lot better than I had any reasonable hope to."

"How… how did you know where Cecilia's drones were? You struck at them so accurately… did the IS fix your vision?"

"No- but it gave me another way to look at things- it picks up transmissions. Radio and stuff- so I could figure out where the were drones that way."

"That's… impressive, but you've certainly got a long way to go!" Houki said, and Ichika couldn't help but agree. He had initially been fine with the idea of being a mediocre pilot, as he saw no way to fight at a professional level- but how could he settle for that when he had this chance in front of him? "Would… would you like to train with me, Ichika? IS training, of course."

"Sure- I don't think I know anyone I'd rather train with." Houki made a funny sort of squeaking noise at that- did she see something weird?

The next day, during IS drills, he was reminded- again- that he still wasn't Cecilia's equal, nowhere close to it, even. At the very least, Chifuyu respected him enough to hold him to the same standards as the representative candidate- he did not like being coddled, even if there were times when he was willing to accept help.

Speaking of, Cecilia had been surprisingly helpful in explaining the mechanisms of the IS in flight- she seemed to have warmed up to him after their fight, even offering to teach him more the basics. And he definitely needed to brush up on some of those flight basics, considering how spectacularly he crashed into the ground- at the very least Tabane made the IS tough.

That didn't mean he got out unscathed- he was sporting a killer headache, one that would only get worse the longer he was out- the crash had handily snapped his sunglasses. He covered his eyes- the sunlight was fierce, even in the crater he had made with his crash.

"That was pitiful, Ichika! You still haven't mastered-" Before Houki could finish rubbing the salt into his wounds, someone shoved her out of the way, given her indignant shout of "Hey!"

Faintly, he heard someone skidding against the ground, before their silhouette blocked some of the sun's intense light. "Goodness, are you alright, Ichika dear? Have you been injured?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Ichika replied automatically, before pausing. Ichika dear was a strange turn of phrase- had Cecilia really warmed up to him that much? Offering to practice with him after her previous disdain was one thing, but calling him dear…?

Before he could fully consider the implications of that particular turn of phrase, Cecilia and Houki started bickering back and forth- he supposed it made sense for Houki to be angry, if Cecilia was the one who shoved her… but what would explain Cecilia's animosity torwards Houki?

Was it… was it something as silly as arguing over him? Ichika shook himself. Come on, would a girl like Cecilia really fall head over heels for him so quickly? Still, some part of him whispered maybe- it wasn't like the pool of eligible boyfriends was very big at the IS academy. Plus, if that was the case… why was Houki always so irritable when around him? Surely, if you liked someone their presence wouldn't enrage you…

To lay another shocking discovery on top of that particular can of worms, he had somehow become class representative, thanks to Cecilia stepping down. Dumping a massive workload on top of him was a strange way of apologizing to him, but it was honestly heartwarming to know that his classmates believed in him and wanted to support him.

They had felt the need to throw a little party in celebration- and he hadn't had time to grab another pair of sunglasses, so he could practically feel the stares directed at his cataracts. Well, there was always a lot of staring (or so he gathered) but the whispered comments about how "weird" or "interesting" his eyes were betrayed what the girls focused on.

The feeling of being gawked at was increased by the flash of a camera- hey, he was light sensitive!- and a request for a photo op from a member of the newspaper club. It wasn't like he was against the idea… "Could you maybe turn off the flash? The eyes, you know- photophobia and all that. I'd really prefer if you didn't…"

"Of course, of course-" The girl sounded flustered- it seemed to be another honest mistake.

"Now I think I'm pointing the right way, but please tell me if I'm not." Ichika stood.

"Oh that's perfect, Orimura- could you stand next to him, Alcott? You two are the stars of the story, after all- maybe hold hands?"

Cecilia's hand seized his before the photo-girl (sorry, Ichika didn't have a magical ability to recognize voices) even finished talking. Ichika could feel his cheeks flushing- he hadn't much contact with girls before and Cecilia was acting awfully nice all of a sudden...

Somehow, a two person photo became a massive crowd shot- it seemed like just about everyone nearby felt a need to get into the photo. Ichika honestly thought it was a little funny, but it was clear Cecilia was upset. "Why are all of you in my picture?"

One of the girls (he couldn't tell who) replied, "We can't let you get ahead of us all by yourself."

Ahead? Oh. Ohhh.

He was boned, wasn't he?

That particular revelation left him silent- an entire school of girls after him? It was like a bad anime, but real. Admittedly, a lot of it was probably surface level fascination, just because he was such a novelty- a boy, but not just any boy- but in a school with super weapon mechsuits, with teenage emotions running high? This was going to be a disaster.

"So I guess that you had a lot of fun today." Not really Houki, Ichika thought, considering the mess he had stumbled into.

"I really just feel exhausted- I think I might need some aspirin or something." Ichika shrugged. "Do you think you'd be happy in my shoes?"

"I think I would!" Houki huffed, before- a pillow smacked into his face.

"Could you not do that? I'd really prefer it if you didn't throw things at the visually impaired person."

Houki inhaled sharply. "I'm sorr-"

Ichika tossed her pillow back. "Could you maybe enlighten me as to why I deserve a pillow to the face after one of the most exhausting days I've ever had?"

"Hmmph." That's not an answer, Houki! "Now look away- I'm changing."

Ichika managed to bite back a comment about how he was legally blind- not like he'd really get much out of any peeking other than a blur- and tried to go to sleep. On the bright side, there was at least one girl in the school who wasn't interested in him: Houki was just her own special kind of enigma.

This is kind of how I imagine Ichika fighting for now- using radio chatter/ the communication system of the IS to track his foe down. It's not perfect on purpose- he'll struggle against anyone who employs radio silence for whatever reason, on top of not being able to see whatever normal weapons the enemy throws at him. I didn't want to give him some Daredevil "vision 2" powers- I think the current solution is interesting.

I will say that I'm quite fond of Cecilia. All the girls could do with a bit less slapstick violence, but Cecilia's a favorite- along with Laura and Charlotte, who are queens, fight me. And Kanzashi. Actually quite a few of them are good...