A/N: Here it is, the next chapter. Couldn't think of anything else to put up here this time around.
Chapter 28
Ichika was woken up the next day by someone shifting behind him. The movement continued as he opened his eyes to see a pitch-black room, the only light being that of a street lamp outside. However, once he'd twisted around, that dim light was still enough for him to spot a silhouette standing up from the bed. The figure paused as he turned to face it.
"Sorry Ichika, did I wake you?" Tatenashi whispered.
"Yeah... What's going on?" He asked, keeping his voice at a similar volume.
"I've got to catch the first bus of the day for my match, so I'm heading down to have breakfast." Tatenashi replied, moving to pick up some clothes that lay folded on the room's table.
"Oh, should I wake everyone else up to watch it?" Ichika asked.
"Don't bother. I'm up against a Naked Slate squadron, so there won't be anything worth watching. Plus, I'd rather have a cuddle pile waiting for me when I return." Tatenashi answered.
"Alright." Ichika replied, laying back down and trying to ignore the rustle of clothes as Tatenashi changed. Soon the student council president tiptoed out of the room, closing the door as quietly as she could and leaving Ichika to try unsuccessfully to go back to sleep. After what felt like a small eternity of trying to avoid shifting and waking the rest of the girls that had undoubtedly been moved to his bed once again, he checked the time. All that told him was that 4:53 was nowhere near an acceptable time to be awake, and he redoubled his efforts to rectify that.
Finally, after what felt like several hours, he heard the door open and close again, followed by quiet footsteps and the rustle of clothes. A few moments later he felt bare skin against his back as Tatenashi slid into the bed behind him with a contented sigh.
"How did it go?" Ichika whispered once she had made herself comfortable.
"Oh, you're still awake? Sorry... Anyway, the match went about as expected, and the other team didn't stand a chance." Tatenashi sighed again, this time in exasperation.
"It's just my luck that the other squadron's leader is planning to run for student council this year, and she's already accusing me of rigging the tournament. She's probably down in food court right now, telling everyone who'll listen about it." She finished.
When Ichika moved to get out of bed at that, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't bother, I've been accused of worse. It's just part of the job at this school." She muttered.
"That doesn't mean I should just let it happen." Ichika replied.
"That's sweet of you, but she really isn't worth your time and I'd rather not have people thinking you're my attack dog or something." Tatenashi replied, pulling him closer.
The room was silent for a while, before Ichika asked a question.
"So how did you become student council president anyway?" Tatenashi laughed softly at that question.
"You want the full story? Well, it all started with a tournament to determine the strongest candidates. Anyone can say they're going to run for the position, but they're not going to be allowed to actually run unless they first place high enough in a tournament. After all, the student council president has to represent the best of IS Academy, and it wouldn't do for them to be a terrible IS pilot." She began.
"Anyway, I won that tournament so it was no problem. There were six candidates starting out, although one of them quit the very next day after saying that she just wanted to test her skills, and two others dropped out after deciding that they didn't want the job after all. That just left me, Utsuho Nohotoke, and some second-year Chinese girl who, in the most polite terms, was a complete bitch." Tatenashi continued.
"What did she do?" Ichika asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Where do I start? The first thing she did after the tournament was print off enough flyers to get her banned from the academy printing room and cover every single noticeboard on campus with the damn things. When she ran out of those, she printed more off campus... I think the total was almost a hundred thousand yen worth of flyers by the end of election week." Tatenashi muttered.
"You're joking." Ichika deadpanned.
"No I'm not, and I have pictures to prove it. By the time the teachers put a stop to it, some of the notice boards around campus had two layers of the damn things covering them completely, and she didn't bother to leave any important notices visible. Of course, even after doing all that she still printed plenty to pass during mealtimes, and she wasn't shy about throwing them into people's food if the table she was passing them to was occupied." Tatenashi replied.
"So what happened?" Ichika asked.
"As you might expect, when she didn't get any votes she demanded a recount, and when it was denied she began accusing me and Utsuho of rigging the election, among other things. Anyway, you know how the rest turned out. I had the most votes so I became president, Utsuho ended up becoming vice president, and here we are now, about to do the whole election thing all over again in a few months." Tatenashi finished.
"You're running again?"
"Of course! It may be annoying to have to deal with paperwork and meetings, but it's still a fun job. Utsuho has already agreed to be my running mate this time around, so I'm definitely going to hold up my end of the bargain!" Tatenashi replied.
"Good luck then! I'll be cheering you on." Ichika said.
"Oh? You're not going to run?" He laughed at that.
"No. I feel like I've got enough to deal with already without getting into student politics."
"Fair enough." Tatenashi fell silent after that, content to snuggle into his back. Ichika likewise didn't say anything, and for a while he tried to fall asleep again. However, the very first rays of sunlight soon began to leak through the blinds and he finally gave up.
Slowly extricating himself from Tatenashi's grip, he rolled off the edge of the bed, landing as quietly as he could.
"You're not staying?" Tatenashi murmured as he stood up.
"I can't go back to sleep, and I just don't feel like lying in right now. I think I'll head down to have breakfast." Ichika replied.
"Oh, alright. We'll probably join you soon, so save us as table will you?" Tatenashi asked.
"Will do." He answered as he found his own change of clothes and headed into the bathroom to change.
A few minutes later he entered the food court, which was empty enough that grabbing finding an unoccupied table was easy enough. The lines were short, so he was easily able to grab a simple breakfast and sit down. He was alone for a few minutes, before a shadow fell over him and he looked up to see Chifuyu sitting down across from him. She looked half asleep and her hair was undone.
"Good morning." He greeted her, and she muttered the same in response before digging into her own breakfast.
"How did last night's meeting go?" He asked a minute later, causing Chifuyu to look up.
"Tatenashi didn't tell you about it?" She asked.
"We were asleep by the time it ended, so no." He answered.
"I should have been as well..." Chifuyu muttered, before shaking her head and continuing.
"Anyway, as you probably already know, we were discussing ways to avoid debacles like this in the future and cut down on tournament length. However, there weren't many ideas on how to actually do that, aside from Stukanov-san's proposal to increase the amount of squadrons per team from one to four."
"Would that work?" Ichika asked.
"It's a good ratio, as about a quarter of our squadrons have TIS users in them. Pair up one squadron with a representative candidate with three others that don't, and there are both fewer matches and all of them are on a more level technological playing field. There won't be any more matches like the one Sarashiki-san had this morning, at least." Chifuyu replied.
"But that would mean twenty people per team, which could make leading them pretty difficult. Not to mention, if you're planning objectives similar to what we have now, we'd need a bigger battlefield."
"That's why the next tournament is almost certainly going to just be head to head combat over the ocean near IS Academy. We certainly don't have the funds to reserve another hotel like this for an extended period of time." Chifuyu was quiet for a moment, before she spoke again.
"Oh, and I just remembered. Your proposed IS equipment store was brought up at one point, and you have IS Academy's conditional approval."
"What are the conditions?" Ichika asked.
"First and foremost, IS Academy is not an arms dealership. As such, before you can open that store, you have to prove that each of the items you are selling meet the following requirements: First, all weapons must have tracking devices placed in them, integrated in such a manner that removing them would disable the weapon. We don't want to lose track of a single gun. Second, all firearms must be chambered in a non-standard caliber of which you are the only manufacturer, so as to restrict ammunition supply in the event of weapons going missing. Finally, you must keep an exact inventory of every item you sell, as well as exactly whom you sell it to in order to ensure that we are able to collect every single one of them once a class using them graduates." Chifuyu replied.
"Why so much emphasis on the weapons not leaving IS Academy?" Ichika asked.
"Because we know full well that some of our students end up going down career paths that are less than savory, and if an IS Academy-made weapon is discovered among the arsenal of a Central Russian warlord in a few years, it would result in an absolutely terrible legal shitstorm." Chifuyu answered.
"I see. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too hard to comply with those conditions. Is there anything else?" Ichika asked.
"Yes. Officially, IS Academy is willing to sponsor your squadron's project, as we have judged that it will be extremely beneficial to the squadrons that currently lack a sponsoring company."
"Officially?" Ichika asked.
"Yes, officially. Unofficially, we don't have the money to do so, and we both know that it costs you nothing to build IS equipment. This is simply a justification for you to keep your prices affordable on a student's budget." Chifuyu replied, and Ichika smiled.
"That solves one issue, at least. Thank you." He replied. At least now he wouldn't have to inflate the prices to compensate for nonexistent manufacturing costs.
"Don't thank me, thank your friend for proposing it."
"I will." Ichika replied, making a note to do something nice for Tatenashi in return.
"I have one last thing, completely unrelated to your project." Chifuyu continued.
"What is it?"
"Two days ago, an American advanced technology company, Edelberg Advanced Designs, bought up a not insignificant portion of IS Academy's debt. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, their CEO is extremely paranoid regarding his company's product, and as luck would have it, his company has a large set of orders due to arrive in Japan next month. He has contacted us privately with an offer to pay off his portion of our debt in exchange for guarding his shipments while they await pickup in port. Normally, such a request would be refused outright, but considering the situation we have been forced to consider it." Chifuyu explained.
"Why are you talking to me about this?" Ichika asked.
"Because he asked for you by name, and I assumed then that he was someone you know from your... Time at WSI." Chifuyu replied.
"No, I have never heard of them until now." Ichika replied.
"Hmm... Then that makes the request even more unusual. Still, I told him that it was your decision to make, not mine, and if you refuse we still have an ace in the hole to stop him from doing anything unwanted."
"Tabane?"
"Yes, Tabane. I still don't know just what she wants, but she does have a vested interest in keeping IS Academy open, and has already been trickling in anonymous donations to help with our budget problems. If push comes to shove, I know that an upset CEO is no trouble for her." Chifuyu explained.
"I see..." Ichika trailed off.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, before he finally spoke again.
"Chifuyu-nee... What exactly happened between you and Tabane? I remember how you used to spend hours together every day back when I was younger, but one day it just suddenly stopped." He asked.
"Hm? What brought that on?" Chifuyu asked in turn.
"Just now, you talked of Tabane as if she were a potential threat with inscrutable motives. What..." He trailed off, unsure as to how to continue.
"You've described Tabane fairly well in that sentence. Back then, times were simpler... I didn't know just what she was capable of." Chifuyu sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"You know of my role in the White Knight incident, right?" Ichika nodded at that.
"What you don't know is the fact that, up until Tabane congratulated me on my performance when I landed, I thought that someone had really launched a nuclear attack on Japan. There was no clandestine arrangement between Tabane and I that ensured I would be positioned precisely to stop the warheads, and I only heard about the nuclear attack when every alarm in the country started going off."
"What? But that's..."
"I know now that Tabane arranged for all the warheads' flight paths to intersect at a single point so that I could stay there and destroy them all, but she didn't tell me anything until after I landed. I only found my way to the intersection point thanks to the White Knight's navigation systems, and even then I think Tabane programmed them to point me in the right direction."
Ichika said nothing as Chifuyu paused to take a sip of her coffee.
"That night she explained everything to me, and I... Hit her for the first time." Ichika noted Chifuyu's unusual pause. Evidently it was a painful memory.
"Ever since then I've been watching her. I saw her force the Alaska Treaty down the UN's throat, work from the shadows to found IS Academy... And I fear that I have barely scratched the surface of what she's done." Chifuyu sighed.
"You... You don't think she's working with Phantom Task, do you?" Ichika asked, not missing how Chifuyu's eyes sharpened at the mention of the terrorist organization.
"No. Definitely not. Tabane knows what Phantom Task is and what its goals for the world are, and an organization like that is against everything she stands for." Chifuyu replied.
"How do you know that?" Ichika asked.
"That is a story for another time." Chifuyu replied, and Ichika knew that the conversation had come to an end. His sister quickly finished her meal in silence before standing up.
"It was nice talking to you, Chifuyu-nee. I'm sorry-" Ichika began before Chifuyu's raised hand cut him off.
"It was no problem, Ichika." She replied, before turning and walking away. Once she was gone, Ichika looked down at his watch.
"Ori, contact Maya and ask her about Edelberg Advanced Designs. Unless there was a recent change, it's not one of ours." The AI did not respond vocally due to the public setting, but an 'OK' message flashed across the watch's screen.
It was a few minutes before the other girls began to make their way down. Tatenashi was naturally the first, likely having grown bored of her so-called cuddle pile.
"Good morning." She greeted as she sat down across from him, her full breakfast tray contrasting with his empty one.
"Good morning. I take it you had a good rest?" He asked.
"Yeah, I did, no thanks to you." Tatenashi replied.
"Considering your state of undress at the time, I don't think it would have been best for me to remain in that room once everyone else started waking up." Ichika replied, causing Tatenashi to laugh.
"Fair point."
He let her eat in peace for a few minutes before asking the question on his mind.
"So when were you planning on telling me about Edelberg?" Tatenashi paused at that name, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth.
"Hm? Oh, that. Later today, definitely. It's not a company you'd know about, if that's what you're curious about." Tatenashi replied. Ichika's eyes narrowed at that information. So Edelberg was definitely not an Organization-run company, meaning that this wasn't some covert assignment for him.
"That makes it even more unusual for them to ask for me by name." Ichika replied.
"Then I suggest reading any contract they may send you carefully, and contact me or Maya if something's not clear. It might be a scammer like during the festival." So Ichika wasn't the only one who suspected Phantom Task involvement.
"I will keep that in mind. Let me know if anything else comes up." Ichika replied.
"I'll be sure to do that." Tatenashi replied with a smile, before returning to her meal.
Laura and Charlotte came down a minute later, sitting down beside him with their own meals.
"Good morning! Looking forward to your match today, Laura?" Ichika greeted.
"Who wouldn't be? It will definitely be interesting to see what's next for the U.S. military and how good German engineering compares to it!" Laura replied with a smile.
"So you know what you're dealing with?" Charlotte asked.
"I know that she's flying a TIS test type of the next American Hellhound MPIS variant, so I have a general idea of what to expect from her. I'm not sure what her squadmates are flying, but I'm betting that they're using surplus equipment from Hellhounds as well, assuming that the Americans didn't just ship a few mothballed Hellhound-A suits over." Laura replied.
"Knowing the Americans, they definitely took the cheaper option, which begs the question of is it cheaper to strip the equipment off a mothballed IS and ship it over to be installed on a Blank Slate chassis, or retrofit a mothballed unit to make them compatible with the IS Academy power grid." Tatenashi mused.
"I'd say the former would cost less, especially if they're also bringing over experimental gear. The Blank Slate is already designed to have almost every part of it swapped out for something better, while a combat IS like the Hellhound would be much harder to retrofit, even with just a wireless power receiver. That would be like trying to convert an old fifth-gen fighter to run on a different kind of fuel." Ichika replied.
"Makes sense." Laura replied.
"So what's your plan?" Charlotte asked.
"You'll see soon enough!" Laura replied, laughing at Charlotte's mock pout.
"So how did your own match go, Tatenashi? We didn't exactly get to see it, after all." Charlotte asked as the rest of the girls entered the food court and got into the various lines that were now beginning to grow.
"About the same as Cecilia's match, but with less sniping and more spearing. Didn't feel like it was worth waking you all up so early when my opponents couldn't put up a fair fight... That's one thing that should be fixed by the time the next tournament comes around, at least." Tatenashi replied.
"I'm still a little confused as to why we didn't just set aside a squadron of Revives or Uchiganes for un-sponsored squadrons to use. After all, last semester anyone who was participating in a tournament could use an Academy IS if they didn't have a personal unit." Charlotte pointed out.
"That was brought up, but unfortunately we had already signed off all the original academy trainers to various squadrons and we didn't have the funds to purchase more." Tatenashi replied.
"Why not just temporarily take them from the squadrons operating them?" Charlotte asked.
"Logistical problems, I think. There just aren't enough suits available to keep a good recharge and repair rotation going considering the amount of matches we're flying every day." Ichika replied.
"Yeah, that was the main reason." Tatenashi confirmed as Cecilia and Rin arrived at the table. Houki and Kanzashi were not far behind, and soon the table was filled.
"So Ichika, I've been thinking." Tatenashi spoke up after a few minutes of quiet.
"What is it?" He asked.
"The Mysterious Lady is a good IS and all, but I think it's time for an upgrade, specifically in the long range department. I'd like your thoughts on that."
"What do you have in mind?" It was Kanzashi who asked, beating Ichika to the punch.
"Well, definitely a better gun of some sort. The ones in my spear are good in close quarters, but at the ranges I'm going to be seeing in future tournaments they just aren't enough. In addition, I'm thinking a few drones to spice things up." Tatenashi answered.
"Hmm... How big of a gun are we talking?" Ichika asked.
"At least as big as that tank cannon you're planning on selling, maybe bigger. It's definitely not going to be a projectile weapon though, I'm leaning more towards particle weapons where ballistics aren't as big of a problem." Tatenashi replied.
"Hmm, with a weapon of that size, you're definitely going to have to rely on rapid switching. It will get in the way of your spear otherwise." Ichika mused.
"A particle weapon of that size is going to generate a lot of heat, and if you're rapid-switching it out the cooling mechanism has to be integrated directly into the weapon. That would make it even bigger, maybe even too big to use effectively with your suit's hands." Kanzashi pointed out.
"How is the recoil on particle cannons?" Ichika asked.
"I'd say it's pretty similar to a plasma gun. The ones on my IS suit are secured well enough that it's not a problem, but your gun is both bigger and lacks a secure mounting like mine. Plus, if you use a cooling system that vents its coolant, you'll have to consider the additional recoil from that." Kanzashi answered.
"Why not do something similar to Charlotte's ISSpace hardpoints? That still allows you to rapid-switch the weapon out for close combat without forcing you to sacrifice a secure mounting. Depending on where it is located, it could even leave your hands free to use your spear." Cecilia suggested.
"That's certainly possible. The Infinite Arsenal has similar systems as well, so it is definitely doable." Ichika replied.
"That leaves the question of where the cannon goes... Ideally it would be somewhere close to the suit's center of mass to prevent its recoil from applying too much torque to the IS." Kanzashi mused.
"Hmm, it's a bit too big to fit conveniently into a hip mount... Perhaps between the legs?" Cecilia thought aloud, causing the rest of the table to look at her.
"What?" She asked. Ichika took pity on her and came to the rescue.
"I think that a gun of that size would be a bit too thick to fit well between an IS suit's legs." He replied.
"You'd know about such things, wouldn't you?" Tatenashi teased, causing him to flush.
"Get your mind out of the gutter!" Houki shouted, her own face crimson as well.
"L-Lewd!" Laura added.
"ANYWAY, I think a shoulder or centerline over-head mount would be best!" Ichika exclaimed.
"An over-head mount might not work, as it might end up being too far from the center of mass. As for shoulders, it could work but it would effectively blind her on that side while it is in place. Plus, a shoulder hardpoint might not be large enough to support the weapon effectively, especially if you want it in a turret." Kanzashi added while cuffing her sister across the head, her own cheeks a light red as well.
"Perhaps take a page out of Lily's book and put it in a spinal mount? That would certainly be big enough." Cecilia pointed out.
"That could work, but that would mean having to rotate your entire IS to aim the gun. You can't turret-mount something in that position, as the wings would get in the way of its rotation. The most you'd be able to get is a few degrees of horizontal and vertical wiggle room for fine adjustments." Kanzashi replied.
"Still, it's a sniping weapon. She isn't exactly going to be dogfighting with it, so a few degrees and a stable spinal mount might be the best way to go." Ichika pointed out.
"I like that idea. It might also give me some leeway to make the gun even bigger." Tatenashi added.
"Careful not to overdo it. Your suit doesn't have much in the way of an upper back, and I'm not sure if the ADS will protect you from your suit's own overheated gun." Kanzashi replied.
"Noted. Now, how about drones?" Tatenashi asked.
"That depends, are you planning on using disposable drones like Ichika does, or something closer to mine?" Cecilia asked.
"I don't think my suit's ISSpace facilities can support mass disposable drones, so something closer to yours. I'm thinking of some sort of drone that extends my water manipulation abilities." Tatenashi replied.
"Generally speaking, you want to mount drones somewhere whey they won't get in the way. Wings are the best place for them in my opinion." Cecilia explained.
"That may be a problem. While your wings are skeletal and have plenty of room for attachments, I know you use them as accessible storage spaces for water. That means it might be difficult to place the necessary drone nests there." Kanzashi added.
"I see. Still, I think I can make room, either in the wings or on my suit's back." Tatenashi answered.
"Remember that you're going to need to install wireless power transmitters for every drone you plan to use, unless you want to have to recall them to be recharged every few minutes." Ichika added.
"Alright." Tatenashi nodded.
"Where are you going to get the components you need for all of this?" Houki asked.
"Here, there, everywhere. The cannon, for instance, was a scrapped Sarashiki AISR project that I'm restarting. The drones I can cobble together from existing parts I draw from my ISSpace, and I'm already planning to requisition a suit of pilot armor from WSI..." Tatenashi trailed off before turning to Laura.
"Oh, and one more thing. Laura, do you mind if I look at your squadron's IS suits? I want to figure out how the cham-weave was applied." Laura shook her head at that.
"I am afraid I can't let you do that. Why do you want to know?" Laura asked.
"Because as I was taking inventory of my family's assets about a month ago, I came across a decent amount of Chinese cham-weave, enough to cover an entire IS. I want to see if I can integrate it into the Mysterious Lady's design for twice the mystery." Tatenashi replied.
"Are you sure it still works? The Chinese version doesn't stand up to heat as well as the German one, and unless it was properly stored in a cool, dry place it might have degraded to the point of uselessness." Laura replied.
"It was stored in a properly air conditioned room, so I know it works. All I want to know now is how to strap it to my IS in order to give it visual concealment." Tatenashi replied.
"How did you get your hands on that much of it anyway? That stuff isn't for sale!" Rin exclaimed.
"I honestly have no idea. It was acquired a few years ago, before... Before I took control of the family." Tatenashi's smile faded.
"Oh... I'm sorry." Rin murmured, looking away.
"It's... It's not a problem. In any case, it will probably be the last thing I'm adding, after everything else is in place and working. Then, I think I will try to wrap the various components in it as best I can. ISSpace will take care of maintenance." Tatenashi answered, looking away. After a moment, Ichika reached across the table and covered her hand with his own. For a few seconds Tatenashi was quiet, before she abruptly stood up.
"Anyway, I'm finished with breakfast. I'll see you all upstairs." She said, before turning and walking away. Kanzashi stood and followed after her a moment later.
"Should we go up as well?" Houki asked, concern plain in her voice.
"No. We should give them some time alone." Laura replied firmly.
"I still want to know where her family got that cham-weave from. That stuff isn't for sale, meaning that they must have acquired it illegally." Rin muttered.
"That is probably a question you don't want answered, Rin. Even I have no idea of how much of her family's activities were illegal, but it's practically a given that the Sarashiki family was pretty well connected in that regard." Ichika replied.
Rin said nothing in immediate response, choosing instead to stare at her tea for a while before sighing and downing the cup.
"Fine. I guess some things shouldn't be looked into... But still, if I do find out that she is participating in acts of espionage against China's military, I would be obligated to report it. For the sake of our friendship I'll turn a blind eye to this as she personally wasn't involved in the act, but I still want to know the name of whoever sold her family that cham-weave. That's a national security risk, after all." She said.
For a few moments the table was silent before Laura chuckled dryly.
"What a fine mess we have found ourselves in!" She laughed, and Ichika couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.
Eventually they did head back upstairs, returning to the room that, by now, might as well have been shared between them. Ichika half expected to find the Sarashiki sisters missing, but when he entered Ichika saw them sitting on the bed, leaning against each other as the screen in front of them played the ongoing match.
"Oh, you're back and just in time for the next match! It's a pretty good one, both squadrons are sponsored with representative candidates. Thailand against Brazil." Tatenashi greeted them with her usual smile as they walked in, although her reddened eyes betrayed the fact that she had been crying. Kanzashi said nothing, continuing to hold tightly to her sister.
"Should we come back later?" Ichika asked.
"No, no, come on in! I even saved you plenty of room on the bed!" Tatenashi replied. Ichika accepted the offer and sat down on the offered spot beside her, the rest of the girls crowding around them. As the match went on in front of them, fought between a pair of representative candidates in state of the art IS suits and their squadrons armed with military surplus equipment shipped over on short notice, Ichika felt the rest of the girls relaxing around him. Houki's head soon came to rest on his shoulder, while Tatenashi's hand came to rest on his own.
Eventually, the Thai and Brazilian IS suits clashed in melee, and the Thai unit proved better equipped for that sort of combat. The match ended with the Brazilian IS falling out of the sky as the screen flicked out.
The room was silent for a few moments, before Tatenashi sighed and leaned back, her head coming to rest in Charlotte's lap. The French girl squeaked as the student council president smirked and made herself comfortable.
"So, the next two matches aren't going to be exciting, and Laura isn't going until tonight, so why don't we all find something fun to do?" She asked.
"What do you have in mind?" Charlotte asked as she inspected Tatenashi's hair. At one point she attempted to brush a lock away, only for the student council president to gently push her hand away and sit up.
"I don't know. Normally I'd propose a practice match or something, but we're not allowed to fly outside of sanctioned matches until the tournament ends and we return to IS Academy so there isn't much to do." Tatenashi replied.
"We could go out for lunch." Cecilia suggested.
"Nah, don't feel like it." Tatenashi replied.
"Then what do you want to do?" Cecilia asked.
"I don't know, something where we stay in here that's more fun than watching Blank Slates punch each other... Kanzashi, do you have any anime series we can watch?" Tatenashi asked.
"Hm? Oh, yes!" Kanzashi exclaimed, snapping out of her own thoughts and looking away from the window.
"Any recommendations?" Tatenashi prompted.
"W-Well, Waifus und Warmachines has gotten its second season, and the first was pretty good. I've also watched the first episode of Magical Girl Laserface a while back, and it was funny enough although I'm not sure about the series as a whole... There's also Eisenhertz, that one sounds interesting although all I have to go on are reviews... There's also some interesting Americanime out this season, although those tend to be hit or miss." Kanzashi replied excitedly, all worries temporarily forgotten.
"Whoa there, how about you slow down and tell us about them so we can take it to a vote!" Tatenashi laughed.
"Right! Where do I begin... Waifus und Warmachines is a high school anime, set in a school that's definitely not IS Academy, that follows a team of girls as they make friends and fight in international tournaments, and I loved the first season. Magical Girl Laserface is a parody of the magical girl genre, and Eisenhertz seems to be a fantasy desielpunk war story. As for American shows, the only one that stood out was Battletech: Invasion, and that was mostly because of the marketing stunt they pulled." Kanzashi explained.
"What was that?" Charlotte asked.
"They built the world's first fully operational giant mecha. The Gundam fandom is still sore about that, theirs wasn't finished until a few months later." Kanzashi replied.
"So are there any objections to switching out that for a more entertaining show?" Tatenashi asked, pointing at the screen where two identical Slate teams were once again converging on each other."
When no protests came, Tatenashi called a vote.
The rest of the day was spent in a marathon of Eisenhertz, and they were approaching the final arc when Laura stood up.
"My team has a strategy meeting coming up, and we'll be taking the bus after that. Wish me luck, and save me a spot for when I come back. I'll probably bring dinner up with me." She said as she grabbed her pilot suit from where she had stored it and headed into the bathroom to change.
"Thank you, and good luck!" Ichika called out, the rest of the girls doing the same.
Laura emerged from the bathroom a minute later, now clad in her pilot suit. She quickly put on a jacket over it and, with a final wave, headed out the door. As she left, Tatenashi lifted up a blind to peek outside.
"It's pitch black. Heavy cloud cover and no sunlight, but no rain either." She reported.
"That would make things difficult, especially if neither side has a radar." Kanzashi mused.
"Does the Hellhound have a radar?" Ichika asked.
"Not as far as I know. I believe it's equipped with a laser guidance system for air to ground attacks, but it also is capable of firing impulse seekers." Rin answered.
"That matches what I know." Cecilia confirmed.
"Then again, these are prototypes of the next generation upgrade and details on that unit are pretty sparse. For all I know, the new version does have a radar." Rin continued.
"Also true." Cecilia replied.
"What about Laura? I know her squadmates also have missiles." Charlotte asked.
"Those are also impulse seekers. As far as I know, her squadron also lacks a radar." Kanzashi replied.
"Then it looks like both sides are fighting blind, unless they bring radar drones in." Ichika observed.
"Literally blind, from the looks of it. Even with a hyper sensor you'd be hard pressed to see anything out there, especially within those clouds." Tatenashi added.
"Looks like Laura has quite the challenge ahead of her." Charlotte summarized.
"Cecilia, could you set up the match viewer again?" Houki asked.
"Alright." Cecilia answered, standing up from the bed and walking over to the holographic display. She spent the next few minutes fiddling around with menu screens before entering in her VIP ID, at which point the screen turned completely black.
"Is something wrong?" Rin asked.
"No, this is the video stream. It's just that dark out." Cecilia replied, flipping through a side menu and switching to thermal cameras, at which point the silhouettes of IS suits became visible. Both sides were flying low, below the clouds, trying to find their way to the island. Slowly, Cecilia switched from camera to camera until finally she reached one that provided an overview of the island. Then, she quickly cycled back to normal camera view, which revealed that one of the IS squadrons possessed built-in floodlights, which they were using to scan the island for the flag. Of course, as soon as they switched them on they quickly gave their positions away, and within seconds the darkness was criss-crossed with tracers as the opponents zeroed in on the bright light.
The other team tried to return fire, but dazzled by their own light they could barely trace the incoming fire to its source, and their return shots were inaccurate against their erratically maneuvering opponents. Less than a minute later the light-bearing team was taken out, having scored no kills of their own.
"Whoever thought they could just turn on floodlights like that really needs to learn that light goes both ways." Rin commented.
"I think they just did." Cecilia replied with a laugh as the camera cut out. Meanwhile, Tatenashi had pulled out her phone and was looking through the list of upcoming matches.
"We've still got eight matches to go before Laura is up." She reported after a minute of searching.
"Then we might as well get comfortable." Charlotte commented.
Finally, nearly two hours later, Laura's match came up. Ichika gently nudged Rin and Houki awake, the two girls having taken a nap after the fifth match dragged on for a particularly long time on account of neither of the unarmed Blank Slate squadrons participating being able to find each other, or the island with the flag for that matter.
"Mmh? Is it time?" Houki murmured as she opened her eyes.
"Yeah, Laura is up next." Ichika replied as Rin swatted his other hand away and sat up.
As if in agreement, the screen flickered to life to show complete blackness, and the announcer made her usual introductions as Cecilia once again switched to thermal cameras.
"Starting over Habomai and sponsored officially by the German Luftwaffe, we have Squadron 003, Die Schwarze Kätzchen!" Charlotte giggled slightly as the name was mentioned, muttering under her breath about how Laura liked her present after all.
The camera panned over Laura's squadron, although the thermal vision made it impossible to make out the details of their paint job. Still, the IS suits were visible enough that their individual armaments could be made out. Laura's squadmates all carried the same equipment that they had used against him in practice matches, namely large underwing missile racks that Ichika knew from experience could be reloaded on the fly with assistance from Laura. Each of her squadmates also carried a twin-barreled cannon in their arms, with ammunition stored in a back-mounted drum that could also be refilled on the fly, along with a small shotpistol for close quarters combat on their hips. Unseen, of course, was the cham-weave based optical camouflage system, although considering the poor visibility it might turn out to be irrelevant depending on its efficacy against thermal sensors. The Schwarzer Regen's familiar silhouette stood out in the center of the formation, highlighted in white against the black ocean.
Soon, the camera switched over to the other squadron, and the announcer spoke again.
"And starting over Shikotan, we have Squadron 059, the Iron Owls, sponsored by the United States Army and QuantAir Advanced Technologies!" The silhouettes of the American squadron were similar, each possessing a large missile pod on their left shoulder, an identical rifle held in its arms, and a mix of missiles and gunpods under their wings. However, while they were similar, the IS in the center of the formation was still visibly different from the others. There were no extra missiles under its wings, the pilot instead apparently deciding to use a pair of larger gunpods that seemed to be turreted to some degree.
"Let the match... BEGIN!"
"Here we go! Everyone, engage stealth and climb to the bottom of the cloud layer. Keep an eye out for lights down below. Radar drone will activate in twenty seconds." Tina called out as her squadron sprang into action, while Cecilia quickly switched the camera over to get an eye on Laura's team.
By the time she did so, Laura's squadmates had already vanished from view. Evidently, their cham-weave also worked in the infrared spectrum. As for their leader, she was already barking out orders in German.
"Charlotte, can you translate for the rest of us?" Tatenashi asked.
"Sure! Laura's just ordered her squadron to do the same thing as her opponent, to climb into the bottom of the cloud layer before activating their radar drone. She's also brought a jammer drone with her, so the enemy's radar drone shouldn't be able to detect them." Charlotte translated.
"Finding any of those drones under these conditions is going to be a fool's errand without specialized equipment... That means Tina's squadron is going to be fighting blind." Rin observed as the two squadrons reached their designated altitudes. A few seconds later, one of Laura's squadmates called something out.
"The radar drone isn't picking anything up... Must be the stealth that Tina was talking about." Charlotte reported. A moment later, Tina's squadmate made a similar report.
"Our radar's jammed. I can't see anything!" She exclaimed.
"Damn, we're fighting blind... At least they've got to do the same. Alright, change of plans. Arm your impulse seekers, but do not fire. Report if you get a lock." Tina ordered.
"Roger!" Her squadmates chorused as Laura gave out her own orders.
"She's ordered her teammates to stay close to her, so that in case they are ambushed she can cover them with her AIC." Charlotte translated.
"But what's her opponent doing... She's armed missiles, but... Oh!" Cecilia exclaimed.
"She's going to try and use her missiles built-in impulse sensors to try and detect her opponents... Laura's squadron may be invisible in infrared and visible spectra, but as far as I know there is no way to effectively hide the impulse signatures of IS impulse drives." Kanzashi commented.
"Laura's squadron should be able to do the same though. They have impulse seekers equipped too, after all." Houki added.
"She'll have to think of it first." Tatenashi replied.
It was difficult to tell how close the two squadrons were, as Tina's squadron was running cool enough that even thermal cameras could barely detect her in the clouds while Laura's squadmates were completely invisible. However, after about a minute of waiting, one of Tina's squadmates broke the silence.
"I have a lock! Target dead ahead, same altitude."
"Same here, I have a lock!"
"Got a lock!"
Three of Tina's squadmates reported within seconds of each other, and the fourth was not far behind.
"Fire one volley, then reload. Arm missiles as soon as they're loaded, but do not fire again until I give the order." As soon as she gave the order, Tina's squadron opened fire, emptying their six-cell missile pods at their targets. Their plasma motors glowed through the clouds on the cameras, shining bright enough for their targets to easily spot them. Laura began shouting warnings a moment later as she deployed her AIC. The entirety of the incoming missile barrage converged on her, likely thanks to her squadmates being extremely close by, and she deployed her AIC just in time to freeze thirty missiles in their tracks. She held the field in place for several seconds, allowing the missiles' plasma motors to run out of power before releasing them and allowing the defeated weapons to fall into the ocean. Then, she gave another set of orders.
"She's ordered her own squadron to arm missiles and fire all but one. I think she's caught on." Charlotte translated as Laura's squadmates opened fire.
"Incoming! Flares, now!" Tina shouted, releasing impulse flares as she did so. Her squadron did the same, but two of the incoming missiles were not fooled by the countermeasures and hit home. The clouds flashed bright white for a second as missiles struck either shields or decoys, their light giving away the position of their targets more effectively than any missile lock. Laura shouted her next orders, and Charlotte translated.
"She just ordered her squadron to burn upwards for a few seconds before feathering impulse drives until they get behind the enemy. She'll act as bait down below." As Charlotte spoke, Laura ignited her suit's plasma blade and opened fire, her suit now shining like a beacon on thermal cameras.
"That's plasma... It's the Schwarzer Regen! Ashley, Sarah, you are free to engage her. Remember what Orimura and Dunois did and attack her from multiple angles! Her AIC can only cover one side at a time! The rest of you, start scanning for the rest of her squadron, Bodewig is probably acting as bait. You are free to engage with missiles, but save one so you can see." Tina ordered.
"Roger!" Two of her squadmates chorused as they released a second volley of missiles, emptying their pods and letting one final volley be loaded in from a back-mounted magazine.
In response, Laura cut her impulse drives and dropped out of the clouds, the missiles losing their targets and flying past her into the distance. She re-ignited her impulse drives just long enough for her opponents to lock on with their wing-mounted missiles, before cutting them again as they were launched. Eight more missiles streaked over her IS, speeding away into the ocean as Laura once again re-engaged her impulse drives and opened fire. Her two opponents burst out of the clouds moments later, one of them blazing away with her rifle while the other held fire and attempted to circle around. Laura's railgun tracked the first girl, the AI likely controlling it seeing through her attempts to throw it off by flying erratically and firing at irregular intervals. Although the girl was able to avoid the majority of the incoming fire, three shots did slam home, bringing her IS to the brink of elimination while her own return fire was caught by Laura's AIC.
Then, Laura's second attacker opened fire, launching a quintet of missiles and firing a long burst of cannon fire. Once again Laura cut out her impulse drives, causing the missiles to lose their lock and fly past her, while the gunfire was caught by her AIC.
However, moving her AIC opened her up to fire from her first opponent, who was able to get a short burst of gunfire off before a fourth railgun slug hit home and knocked her out. With her AIC still blocking shots behind her, there was nothing from stopping this perfectly aimed burst of fire from striking its target.
"Damn, I'm alone down here! I need support, now!" Her remaining opponent shouted.
"Joy, Claire, see anything?" Tina demanded.
"Occasional contacts, but nothing to lock on to." One her squadmates still in the clouds reported.
"Alright, everyone out of the clouds. Let's try to focus down Bodewig before her teammates can arrive. Sarah, hold tight." Tina ordered, and her entire squadron dove out of the clouds, firing off missiles as they went. Once more, Laura cut impulse drives and plummeted further, splashing down into the ocean a moment later while shouting orders of her own.
"She's just ordered her own squadmates to attack. Short bursts only to maintain stealth." Charlotte translated. A moment later, the Schwarzer Regen emerged from the ocean, its railgun blazing while muzzle flashes from invisible rifles marked the exit of her squadmates from the clouds.
"Above us!" Sarah called out as shots converged on her from above and below, her wing-mounted guns firing upward in the general direction of one of Laura's squadmates while her rifle continued to fire down at the Schwarzer Regen. However, all this accomplished was give away her position, and ten seconds later she was tumbling out of the sky.
"Cease fire and cut engines!" Tina shouted. Immediately, her squadron obeyed and fell out of the sky. A few seconds later, three splashes were heard as they fell into the ocean.
"We can't win this fight. Head for the island, we're going to try and feel our way to the flag. Stay underwater until you reach the island. As soon as you reach the shallows cut your drives and walk. As soon as you find it, report it and escape underwater. The rest of us will escort and stall if needed." Tina ordered.
"Roger!" Her squadmates called out.
Laura, meanwhile, had regained altitude and reignited her plasma blade, now using it as a flashlight to try and scan her surroundings. Soon, Charlotte was translating her next set of orders.
"She's going to look for the flag using her sword as a light, and wants the rest of her squadron to cover her."
Laura did just that, and began circling the island at low altitude. This went on for several minutes before Ichika caught a glimpse of something in the water near the island.
"Owl 4 in position." Tina's squadmate reported, her head peeking just above the water, no doubt watching Laura circle and ready to dive back under if noticed.
"Owl 5 in position." Half a minute later, Tina's second surviving squadmate reported from a different side of the island.
"Owl 1 in position. Anyone see the flag?" Tina asked.
"No... Wait, I think I do..." Owl 4 reported.
"What do you mean, Joy?" Tina asked.
"It might have been a tree, I want to wait for her to make another pass before... Yeah, it's definitely the flag!" Joy replied.
"Wait for now, but keep your weapon ready. As soon as Laura lands, to retrieve the flag, we're going to surface and catch her in a crossfire. No impulse drives, just stand and fire." Tina ordered.
"Roger." Her squadmates chorused.
Laura kept circling for several minutes before saying something in a frustrated tone to her teammates.
"Oh no... She just told her squadmates to cover her while she lands for a closer look." Charlotte gasped.
"She's landing... She's down. Everyone, aim... FIRE!" Tina shouted, and tracers shot towards the Schwarzer Regen from three directions. Joy's were caught by the AIC, but Tina and Claire's fire made it through, tearing through the Schwarzer Regen's shields and taking the German IS down.
"Dive! Dive and head for deeper water!" Tina shouted as bullets splashed into the water around her. Her squadron did just that, and soon Laura's squadmates were shooting blindly at nothing. After a few seconds, one of them gave the order to cease fire.
After several seconds of silence, Tina surfaced and scanned the skies for a few moments.
"They're circling the island, but I think they're blind. Joy, rush for the flag, no impulse drives. Claire, help me cover her." She ordered.
She was right about one thing, at least, namely that Laura's remaining squadmates were effectively blind. Joy had little trouble surfacing and making her way onto the island, walking as stealthily as a small mech-suit could until she finally reached the general area of the flag. On the thermal camera the flag's position was obvious, but it took several minutes for the IS pilot to locate it in the darkness. Finally, however, she found it.
"I have the flag!" She reported.
"Good, now get the hell out of here! I'll escort you. Claire, stay here just in case they decide to keep circling." Tina ordered.
However, Joy only made it halfway to the safety of the ocean before Laura's squadmate gave an order and four patches of light blossomed on the island.
"Karen just ordered them to use their holographic decoy projectors as searchlights." Charlotte translated.
"That's all well and good, but they're giving their positions away by doing so. In this darkness, the projectors are visible." Tatenashi commented, frowning. Tina must have been thinking along the same lines as she promptly took aim and ordered Claire to open fire with her. Immediately, the searchlights scanning the island converged on them.
"Claire, you're free to fly! Joy, get out of here! We'll draw their attention!" She shouted as she dodged away from the first incoming shots, drawing the searchlights away from Joy and allowing her squadmate to finish her run to the water.
"Missiles away! Leave one as a sensor!" Tina ordered as her own missile pod released its contents, and Claire promptly launched five more missiles. Two of Laura's squadmates cut engines in time to dodge Tina's barrage, but Claire's missiles all converged on a third, all of them slamming home and knocking her out. Now it was three against two, and with each second victory was slipping further and further away from Laura's squadron.
However, those numbers quickly changed once more as Claire, pinned down by two searchlights, went down to concentrated fire. Kate, who seemed to have assumed command after her squad leader went down, then ordered one of her remaining teammates to go search for Joy, while she and her other teammate exchanged fire with Tina.
"Joy, one of them is heading for you. Surface and rush for base, we can't let them cut you off there!" Tina ordered, and Joy did just that, breaking the surface of the water and pushing her IS to the limit as she rushed for the island. Laura's squadmate reported a contact and gave chase, but Joy had a significant head start. Bullets whizzed past her as her pursuer opened fire, but she was shooting blind and couldn't even see where her bullets were going due to Laura's squadron deciding to forgo the use of tracers. Even as her teammates circled around Tina and chipped away at her IS, Joy rushed towards the island, and soon enough the match was over.
"Hmm, that's certainly an interesting way to win a match." Tatenashi commented as the feed cut out.
"If there was any light source down there at all, it wouldn't have worked. Both sides were fighting blind, and Tina was just a bit more clever than Laura with how she fought." Kanzashi added.
"What interests me, though, is the American stealth system. Until now, I hadn't heard anything about the Americans building anything that could hide their IS suits on radar." Ichika mused.
"Me neither. It seems to work very well though, and on an MPIS platform no less. It must have been in development for a while." Tatenashi added.
"It couldn't hide their impulse signatures though, which still allowed both sides to detect each other." Rin replied.
"Detect yes, but not actually target. I noticed how during that match, neither side was able to attack accurately unless they had a visible source of light to shoot at. Their missiles' impulse sensors gave them a proximity warning and likely told them where to look in order to find their enemy, but they weren't integrated into the suit gunnery control systems and thus they couldn't give the pilot the target's speed, heading, or its distance. They needed a muzzle flash, or a missile explosion, or something else bright for their hyper-sensors to track in order to get their guns on target... Of course, now that people have seen the usefulness of impulse sensors against IS suits even in the presence of stealth systems that hide them from radar and optical detection, I'm betting that we'll be seeing the first impulse-based targeting systems coming out before we graduate." Tatenashi explained.
"Of course, the logical next step would be to create stealthier impulse drives. I mean, it's definitely doable as hiding underwater makes an IS suit's impulse signature about fifty times more difficult to detect without rendering the impulse drive inoperable." Tatenashi continued.
"How do you know that?" Houki asked.
"Easy, I tested it. My squadron is optimized for underwater combat, after all!" Tatenashi answered.
"Does that mean we'll be seeing your squadron swimming in its next match?" Charlotte asked.
"Depends on the conditions. I might not need to do so, although it could certainly work. The bigger problem is that if we travel close enough to the surface to observe the enemy, we'll be making a visible wake in the water. I could probably get rid of it with my suit's water manipulation, but I'll have to figure out how first." Tatenashi replied.
The room was quiet for a few moments, before Charlotte stood up.
"I'm heading down to meet Laura when she returns. Anyone want to come with me?" She asked.
"I'll go." Ichika replied standing up.
"I think I'll stay up here and set the table for dinner." Tatenashi said a moment later.
"You make it sound so fancy... I'll help." Cecilia sighed, the rest of the girls agreeing.
Soon enough, Ichika and Charlotte found themselves sitting alone in the hotel lobby, watching as the next bus pulled up and Laura's squadron disembarked. Laura spotted them immediately upon entering the hotel, and waved them over.
"I take it you saw what happened?" She asked.
"Yeah... You fell right into Tina's trap." Charlotte sighed.
"I didn't think she'd be able to reach the island so fast underwater... Looks like I've got some blind-fighting practice to do." Laura sighed.
"Not to mention how they stole the flag out from under us... I'm almost afraid to watch the match recording, we can't have been far off the mark!" One of her squadmates added.
"Yeah, you just barely missed her, and you waited a little too long before pursuing her." Charlotte replied.
"True..." The other girl sighed.
"Out of curiosity, why weren't you using tracers? Tina's squadron was using them, and from what I saw they seemed to be much more accurate with their guns than you were." Charlotte asked, and Laura shook her head.
"Our squadron didn't get any tracers issued to it in our ammunition packages. The justification was that they would render our stealth system redundant by pointing directly to the invisible IS suit's location, but in conditions like what we just flew in optical stealth was completely redundant. We could have painted out IS suits bright orange and it wouldn't have made a difference." She replied.
"It's definitely something we should look at, though." One of her squadmates suggested.
"Better night-vision sensors are also something you might want to look into. My upgraded Revive would have been able to spot the enemy well enough below the clouds, or if they opened fire inside of them thanks to its additional helmet-mounted sensors." Charlotte added.
"I agree. Why those sorts of things aren't standard in all IS suits yet, I have no idea." A new voice interrupted, and Ichika looked over to see a blonde girl walking over with a friendly smile on her face.
"Good match, Laura. You nearly had me there!" Tina Hamilton continued, extending her hand.
"Yeah, but you got me in the end." Laura replied, shaking her opponent's hand.
"Please, we got lucky. If one of your squadron's searchlights had landed on Joy instead of Claire, the match would have probably ended differently." Tina said.
"True, I guess." Laura replied, looking away for just a moment before smiling again.
"Anyway, I hope we can get a rematch in the next tournament. We'll be sure to be ready for it." She finished.
"Likewise... Anyway, I'm treating my squadron to dinner in the food court. Do you girls want to join us?" Tina asked, gesturing at Laura's squadron. Laura shook her head in response.
"Thank you, but I've already promised to bring food up for my friends. If any of you want to join her though, feel free." Laura replied, turning to her squadmates, several of whom were already talking with their recent opponents.
"Oh, alright! See you around, I guess!" Tina replied with a smile.
Half an hour later, Ichika and Charlotte were helping Laura carry the food upstairs. The rest of the girls were waiting for them, having set a comically undersized table for eight people. As he helped set the food out on the table, Ichika smiled. Today had been a good day.
A/N: Here it is, the last of the first round chapters. After this, I will be timeskipping through the rest of the tournament, including a few more battles, specifically one each for Tatenashi and Cecilia and maybe one or two others for flavor before wrapping up this tournament arc and moving on to the next major story arc.
Now, the centerpiece of this chapter was the Laura vs. Tina battle, and I had a lot of fun with it. Designing and writing a battle where neither side could see the other, and then figuring out ways both sides could overcome this obstacle was extremely enjoyable, and I hope you all enjoyed it too even if Laura ended up losing at the end.
In addition to this, I have also shown off a bit of Tabane and Chifuyu's relationship and given form to how the Student Council President is chosen (that story about the candidate who spent a ridiculous amount of money on flyers is derived from personal experience, by the way.)
Finally, I have also shown my full plans for this story, upcoming events, and its conclusion to certain volunteer reviewers, and so far the feedback I have gotten on it is positive. Thus, it will go on as planned.
As always, I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far. I apologize for the delay.