(Ichika's home)
Like all the days before in his life until this point, Ichika's day began peacefully. Ichika woke up early in the morning as his older sister, Chifuyu, had taught him since he was a young child. As he entered the living room and went towards the kitchen, the home was empty. For a 10-year-old child, it was unusual to wake up at home where there were no other people around, namely no parents around. However, this was rather ordinary for Ichika, since his older sister Chifuyu was usually away from home. She was a IS user, you see, the best in the world, in fact. Ever since the invention and the revelation of Infinite Stratos, Chifuyu had been away from home. She was usually away training to become the very best of hundreds of IS users.
There was a catch for using the Infinite Stratos: the user had to be a female and also compatible with it but only women had the potential to be compatible with the IS in the first place. This had, of course, led to a societal change across the globe. Women, with the help of IS, seized control of the political and economic life. This had previously been controlled by men since the civilization began 10 000 years ago when agriculture was born. Men were no longer in power, in fact, they had been pushed down by the women. Regardless of the societal change and the change in the normal lives of the citizens that lived in this new world, Ichika's mind dwelled on his sister's absence. It had been rather distant with his sister ever since the IS was revealed 5 years ago if the recalled correctly. Chifuyu had trained relentlessly all these years, and it had paid off. There was so-called Mondo Grosso where the IS users representing their own countries competed with each other. Winning the finals was a great honor and Chifuyu had managed to win the previous Mondo Grosso, which was actually the very first Mondo Grosso Tournament ever held. She was representing Japan at the time and Chifuyu had brought great honor to Japan and herself. However, she wasn't that interested in glorious prizes as many would think. Chifuyu only cared about her little brother Ichika ever since she and Ichika had been abandoned since they were children. This year and during this day, the second Mondo Grosso Tournament would be held. Ichika had been looking forward to this. Yes, he wasn't actually watching his sister compete live because it would be much more comfortable to just watch it in his home. He was there live the first time the Mondo Grosso was held. Ichika didn't enjoy his stay there although he managed to see his sister compete live. But in Ichika's opinion, it wasn't worth it to be there. Ichika planned to just sit, relax and watch his sister win the tournament once more. Ichika was more than confident that his sister would win again. So far, Chifuyu had beaten her opponents swiftly and flawlessly, well some opponents were more than ''easy''. Especially, the previous match had been much more difficult than the others but that was to be expected since it was the semifinals. Most considered Chifuyu Orimura to be unbeatable and so did Ichika. However, this would soon change.
It was a great surprise for Ichika to hear someone ring the doorbell. He had told his friend Dan not to visit him today since he wanted to watch his sister at Mondo Grosso. Ichika thought Dan was watching it too, as well. But who else might it be behind the door, then? It wouldn't be his other friend Lingyin Huang (called Rin for short) since she was actually there to watch it live since she liked IS so much.
''Probably some advertiser because it's the best time to advertise something because most people are currently in their homes.'' Ichika frowned and then sighed because he had to rise up from the sofa where he had sat for hours comfortably alongside his delicious food. Ichika decided to raise the volume of the TV so he would still hear what was going on so he wouldn't miss anything while opening the door. Ichika saw no reason to look through a hole to see who was behind the door and instead opened the door.
A hit came near Ichika's head. He narrowly dodged it. There was a lot of power behind the punch, what Ichika could deduce. It was probably intended as a knock-out punch. Luckily for him, he knew how to dodge attacks.
''A-an attacker?!'' Ichika thought while frightened. Ichika had to continue retreating from the entrance as dodging attacks by the unknown person was difficult in such a tight space. As he was dodging and retreating, Ichika wondered what was the intruder here for. What little time he had to think, he suspected that the person might be here for stealing some valuables from the Orimura Residence. There definitely were many valuables because Chifuyu was a wealthy woman. And Ichika wanted to ensure that no one took anything from him and Chifuyu. Ichika stopped the retreat and instead, started to go on the offensive. Ichika was going to fight back – he just couldn't dodge all the time. Maybe he had to finish the fight by beating his opponent.
Ichika fought relentlessly against his opponent. Ichika managed to land very few hits. From the grunts of the attacker, Ichika could figure out that the attacker was, in fact, a woman. Her gender, however, didn't matter much, as she was a skilled fighter what Ichika could tell because she too managed to hit him multiple times but Ichika wouldn't fail just yet.
Ichika was moving around the house and the attacker followed him everywhere. Ichika decided to go towards the kitchen as there were some knives he could use against his opponent since he was unarmed at the moment. The woman had just revealed her knife. Now she meant that there was no more time to joke around.
Ichika sighed a bit in his mind as he managed to swiftly take a knife from a drawer at the kitchen and continue his assault against the female intruder. The next event made things much difficult, however.
The window near Ichika in the living room, where he was currently fighting, suddenly broke. Another intruder had entered his house. Come to think of it, the intruder could've had just used the door at the entrance since it was still open but this move definitely caught him off-guard. Now, Ichika had to fight two opponents. He could figure out that the other opponent was probably as skilled as the first intruder. This didn't bode well for Ichika. He was still a 10-year-old boy. It wasn't like he was old enough to fight, anyway. To his credit, Ichika managed to hold out well against two skilled opponents. The fact that this fight lasted so long might've just proved that maybe they weren't as great fighters than he'd thought. But Ichika could soon feel the feeling of dread around his body as he soon knew that he might not survive this encounter. One of the opponents managed to find an opening in his attack and managed to knock him out. He fell to the floor with some minor injuries around his body. The people proceeded to take him away from his home without even taking any valuables or anything at all with them. It seemed that Ichika himself was the target.
(Unknown location)
Before Ichika managed to even open his eyes, he felt something cold around his wrists. He also felt uncomfortable around his legs as it felt like they were tied to something and moving them was impossible. It was now apparent that he was tied to a chair and his hands were in chains. Ichika felt quite tired as well, perhaps he just needed a little nap as other children do but now it was impossible because this was a rather uncomfortable place to sleep at. He could see his wounds that had stopped bleeding but blood was still around his body. Minor blood loss might also be the reason for his tiredness. It didn't take long to dawn in Ichika's mind that he had, in fact, been kidnapped by some unknown people. Well, at least, he had not died yet. Uncharacteristically, Ichika didn't react by screaming and shouting nonsense and crying like a child despite the fact that he was a 10-year-old boy. He showed calmness that Chifuyu had taught him because panicking was never an answer for anything. His onee-san always had a rather calm but at the same time a dangerous aura that Ichika wanted to replicate as well. He didn't feel the so-called danger around her as other people had told him. Perhaps, he was immune to it as her little brother? The room around Ichika was dark but he could see the entrance right before him. Reaching it was obviously impossible since he was tied to a chair but escaping this place was the only thing that he had in mind.
''Hopefully, Chifuyu wins the tournament.'' Ichika thought so he would feel somewhat hopeful and ignore this horrible situation he had suddenly found himself in. There was only silence around him. Only some air conditioner far from Ichika on the other side of the room was making a sound. Ichika didn't pay attention to it because the only sound he heard was his own thoughts.
''What was the purpose of this kidnapping?'' Ichika thought as fear was spreading across his body.
''Are they using me for some sort of experiments or for some other reason. Torture, perhaps?'' Ichika pondered reasons for his kidnapping. What he could reason, there usually were only a few reasons why someone would be kidnapped.
''Usually, they kidnap someone to blackmail someone in order to agree to their demands.'' Soon realization dawned on Ichika as he thought of that reason.
''Are they using me as a hostage in order to do something to Chifuyu?'' Ichika panicked a little as he thought of this. Ichika had always thought that he was a great burden to his sister. After all, she always had to look after her little brother and to do many sacrifices for his sake. But Ichika really wished that this situation wouldn't affect Chifuyu's situation at Mondo Grosso Tournament in any way.
For hours Ichika had sat in the chair. Ichika had no idea how long he been here. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything in ages and they'd taken their toll on Ichika.
''I'll be damned if Chifuyu tries to save me now when she has other things to attend to.'' Thought of dying or getting hurt didn't seem to scare Ichika at all. For all he had, was his older sister, like she only had him. He didn't have anything to lose. So far, he hadn't achieved anything anyway or acquired anything of value in his short life. Dying didn't seem that bad of an idea. As long as his sister was fine and would soon win the tournament, Ichika had nothing to worry about. His own death didn't worry him at all. While he fought against the two opponents, Ichika expected that he might die but it did not scare him then. Possibility of dying seemed, however, very unlikely since getting someone here in this room to starve to death wasn't probably the main reason Ichika was brought here. After he had spent hours on the uncomfortable chair with his hands chained, Ichika concluded that he was brought here as a bait in order to lure his sister Chifuyu to come to rescue him.
''There's a reason they brought me here, isn't there? I am the bait in order to get her to abandon the finals.'' Ichika had finally understood the true meaning of his kidnapping.
''But if she had already won, wouldn't they kill me soon, then?'' Ichika's face darkened. Death was probably soon on its way. Chifuyu had probably won the 2nd Mondo Grosso and brought glory to herself and her homeland. But the price of it would be her own brother's life. Reflecting on these thoughts, the tension was filling his body.
''I..I'll die soon... damn it!''
Ichika tried to make a brave face and brace whatever was going to get him.
Soon Ichika heard sounds of a commotion. Shooting could just be heard outside the room he was in. Several guns were firing. They were assault rifles or other automatic weapons what Ichika could understand. Automatic gunfire was the giveaway. Because there were multiple people, probably at least a dozen, firing their weapons, Ichika could deduce something from this.
''There must be someone, no, an organization behind my kidnapping, that's for sure.'' Ichika's suspicions about who might be behind his kidnapping arose right now. Most likely the people who did the dirty job weren't actually the people actually the one who orchestrated it. Ichika wondered who they might be firing at. Was his rescue party finally here? Or just some infighting within the organization or did another organization just pick a fight with the organization that was behind his kidnapping? He would soon find out.
It didn't take long until the gunfire ceased. Screams of men had been heard moment before the gunfire stopped. Ichika wasn't sure what was about to happen. Who fought who and who won wasn't exactly clear to Ichika since he was just imprisoned in a dark room.
''He must be in here!'' Ichika heard someone say this. It was a female's voice. A familiar voice, in fact.
''No, it can't be her.'' Ichika thought nervously. It was apparent who was here. The door in front of him exploded or rather was broken with a strike, probably from a sword what Ichika could see as his sight was blinded from the light that emitted from the outside. It had to be Chifuyu's famous sword that she used with her IS. Ichika saw his onee-san Chifuyu step inside the room with a worried expression on her face, to put it mildly. There were also countless men behind her. Ichika didn't know why there were here in the first place. Her minions or something to help her to find him?
''W-Why, why are you here, Chi-Chifuyu...nee?'' Ichika said with a surprised and tired tone.
Ichika then passed out from exhaustion and hunger. His body just couldn't take it any longer.
(Several hours later)
Ichika Orimura was furious. For a ten-year-old boy, Ichika's face looked rather fearsome when he was angry. Perhaps, his glare might match his older sister's, Chifuyu's, infamous intimidating glare when he was finally older. It had only been a few hours since Ichika's kidnapping. Ichika wasn't particularly traumatized by the incident – at least that's what he had told himself all this time ever since he woke up on his hospital bed. The people who had kidnapped him did not torture him, which was certainly a good thing, after all, his worst fears did not transpire. Ichika was only put on chains in a dark room where he waited for things to serious – which never happened. Ichika only really suffered from slight hunger and thirst and sleep deprivation because he spent almost a day there in an uncomfortable position on a chair. (Those wouldn't be an issue for an adult, but he's 10 years old for God's sake.)
But one thing infuriated Ichika immensely. Because of his failure, Chifuyu had lost her 2nd Mondo Grosso Championship. Ichika had only one task, stay at home and enjoy his time watching TV and to see her sister winning the 2nd Mondo Grosso. But no, Ichika had apparently gotten himself kidnapped by some shadowy organization or whatever, and it caused her sister to abandon the finals and to lose the finals. Chifuyu was so close to victory. Ichika was sure that her final opponent would not have been a match for her. After all, Chifuyu Orimura was the fabled Brunhilde. She was no doubt the best IS user to date. What Ichika knew even the opponent was a finalist or a semifinalist from the previous Mondo Grosso (if he recalled correctly), the opponent wouldn't have most likely beaten Chifuyu this time. All of her victories had been flawless and she had defeated her opponents swiftly with her IS. Chifuyu fled (a very demeaning word to use in this context) from the arena once she heard about Ichika's kidnapping. For her, Ichika was only family member left in this world and source of her strength (Of course, Ichika doesn't see it that way), she couldn't let any harm come to Ichika's way. For all the onlookers it looked amazing since she moved her IS with impressive speed and at the same time very disappointing when they saw Chifuyu leave the match. It was thought that the arena's barrier was impregnable by IS but Chifuyu managed to break through it effortlessly. After she broke through the barrier of the arena, she forfeited the match, and her opponent - Alicia Josestof, the Representative Candidate of Italy, was declared a winner.
It was obvious that nothing too serious had happened to Ichika considering that he only had minor wounds around his body like bruises and some cuts as the kidnappers couldn't cut deep with their knives. His wounds only needed some disinfection and bandages. Ichika knew that his protective sister had put him here just in case. Probably, doctors would have disagreed with her choice to put a boy who was not in serious danger to a hospital. However, she had ways to convince other people. Clearly, the doctors had agreed to his sister's orders. Ichika looked at the TV that was in the same hospital room as him. It was located near the roof at the end of the room but it was still a good distance away so he could see what was shown on TV. Ichika took remote that was on a small desk just next to his hospital bed, near where Ichika laid his head on the pillow. Ichika scrolled through the channels until one caught his eye. Ichika had been furious ever since he had woken up and heard the news about her sister's defeat – because of HIM – and his fury would rise to even higher after he was reminded of his failure. Ichika looked at the broadcast on the TV.
''The 1st Mondo Grosso Champion, the Brunhilde, Chifuyu Orimura just lost the 2nd Mondo Grosso Tournament. It was a surprise for all the spectators, for she did not even fight, but fled the scene. It was a shock to the media! Rumors say that many gamblers lost hundreds of millions of yen because of her sudden absence from the final match. Regardless, now we interview-''
Ichika couldn't take it any longer and threw the remote with all his might towards the TV. The screen broke, as to be expected, but the TV also fell down from the wall. The power of the throw was so powerful that it just crashed on the floor. Because of the noise, a nurse hurriedly walked into the room. She, however, soon turned back as she could feel a dangerous tread around her body as she looked at Ichika. He was fuming with anger. Ichika was gritting his teeth so hard that they might just break if he gritted any harder than that. Killing intent could be seen in his eyes. Ichika's eyes pierced the nurse as she could soon feel that she might just faint there and there. The nurse had never seen such fury in a person before. Ichika didn't look like a boy at that moment. He looked like a monster.
(A Few days later)
The incident haunted Ichika all the time, especially during the nights and he had trouble to sleep. The reason was not that the kidnapping incident was a particularly scary experience for him. Of course, sometimes Ichika would feel bit paranoid but he reasoned that he wouldn't be any use for any shadowy organization since he had nothing to offer them, although Ichika could be used as a bait against his sister. It seemed that he was the source of her strength - and weakness. After time went on, Ichika wanted vengeance against those who had kidnapped him. He wanted to go after those who made his sister forfeit the match. Chifuyu wasn't there to help him to solve this case. She had busied herself by going to Germany to train a certain girl for a full year. It seemed that Ichika wasn't going to see his sister for a long time. Germany had found about Ichika's kidnapping and in exchange for intel, Chifuyu promised to train a girl for Germany. And Germany desperately needed a good IS pilot. For great power, they had not yet gotten a very good pilot, which was embarrassing. Germany's great power status might disappear if nothing was done. Chifuyu hadn't bothered to get a nanny or someone to look over Ichika, which certainly was quite neglective on her part since she usually took great care of Ichika and wouldn't leave Ichika to his own devices because he was only a young boy. Perhaps, she thought that this was a formative experience for Ichika – to leave him to take care of himself and not to rely all the time on his sister.
The days spent alone didn't bother Ichika. Before that incident, Chifuyu had constantly been away from home. After all, she was the world's most famous IS user and she was busy all the time. Sure, Chifuyu tried her best to keep attention to her little brother but it was still rather difficult for a young woman like her to take care of herself and Ichika ever since their parents abandoned them when they were children. But the thing that kept pressing Ichika's mind was the kidnapping incident. He was still furious about his failure. How he failed his sister. After some consideration (as a 10-year-old boy he spent probably a single moment thinking about it) Ichika decided to act and find about those who might've kidnapped him. Perhaps then he might be more useful to his sister. Certainly, having Chifuyu here to help him would be most helpful but Ichika thought that it would be more maturing for him to solve this case himself.
Ichika put his brain to work. First, he started by thinking about the purpose of the kidnapping. ''It was done in order to lure Chifuyu away from her final match. There was no other reason. Right?'' Ichika spun this fact around in his head. ''Perhaps they would have transferred me to some other place where I would be lost and then die?'' Ichika continued in his head. Ichika proceeded to abandon these thoughts from his head. For, if that was the case, they would have tortured him also, which didn't happen. Had it been for research purposes, the people behind his kidnapping would've already put him in a lab than to a cell. Finally, Ichika came to the conclusion that there was no other reason than to make her sister lose the final match, which made him angry. Ichika pondered about the fact that who might've benefited the most from Chifuyu's defeat.
''There were dozens of contenders in Mondo Grosso, how on Earth can I figure that out?'' Ichika thought. He was sure that all the nation's from the previous Mondo Grosso were quite sore from their defeats at the hands of Chifuyu. Some of them must have conspired in order the get her to lose the finals. It would certainly be very embarrassing for the rest of the world to be defeated by Japan for the 2nd time. For Ichika it was obvious that not all nations wouldn't have resorted to such means – to kidnap a child in order to defeat an opponent – but some nations certainly are ruthless. Ichika knew little about politics. To be fair, much had changed ever since Tabane Shinonono revealed her invention, Infinite Stratos, to the world. The old elite – mostly elderly men – had been replaced by the elite of women (at least to some extent). It was hard to keep up with the everchanging world. By doing some research Ichika concluded that one of the superpowers or the great powers might have been behind his kidnapping. The Internet told him that usually great powers were more ruthless in their means to achieve their goals so it might be the case regarding his kidnapping as well. Ichika's trail of thought suddenly halted.
''But what if it was just a one person who wanted to personally benefit from my sister's defeat?'' Ichika thought and he swiftly abandoned his research about the great power's plot to kidnap him. Ichika concluded that it was more likely that a person would resort to such a desperate mean to gain victory for the sake of personal glory. After all, Mondo Grosso Championship was more beneficial for the winner than for the country that the winner represented. He started to think about Chifuyu's opponents. Ichika thought that it was very unlikely that the opponents who had already lost to Chifuyu during the 2nd Mondo Grosso were behind his kidnapping. Sure, the already defeated contenders might be pleased to see her lose the Mondo Grosso but there was no reason that they would kidnap Ichika in order to make that happen.
''How would they benefit personally from her defeat if they were already defeated by his sister or by the other contenders?'' Ichika tried to rationalize this in his head. Ichika spent quite a while who might have plotted against him and his sister. Then a realization hit his head.
''It must have been the other finalist!'' Ichika thought with joy and anger.
Here was his logic:
The other contenders did not resort to kidnapping him during the 2nd Mondo Grosso because they were still unsure about their victory until the finals would be reached. It would be pretty useless to resort to such a cruel mean long before the finals if they were defeated anyway by some other contender in the future. But once the finals were reached - the other finalist would clearly be desperate that her final opponent was no other than Chifuyu, the Brunhilde. This would then make them desperate enough to resort kidnapping Ichika since the finalist would assume that Chifuyu was too attached to her only loved one. In Ichika's mind, this logic held true since he was somewhat known by the world as Chifuyu's little brother - or at least it wouldn't be very difficult to find about him. So in essence, the other finalist found about Chifuyu's only weakness that she held (which many didn't think was possible) and decided to use it against her. After making such a complicated rationalization (for a 10-year old boy it certainly was), Ichika was determined to find more about the person who was behind his kidnapping.
In the current age, the science had made leaps in the technology, so it was not a surprise that Ichika found about the opponent of his sister easily. The Internet sure was a marvel of technology, Ichika thought to himself. Of course, the winner of 2nd Mondo Grosso had been on the news the while back but he hadn't paid attention to those then. Clearly, he should have after coming to a certain conclusion about her a while back. Ichika found out who was this finalist. Her name was Alicia Josestof, the Representative Candidate of Italy. She was no doubt a beautiful woman, Ichika thought as he saw photos of her. Ichika felt an odd feeling in his body when looking at the photos of Alicia Josestof. She was a redhead and had green eyes. Her skin was also quite pale. Clearly, she looked like a physical manifestation of her country of origin's flag - the colors of the flag of Italy. Since he was a male, Ichika also looked at her other features.
''Hmm… Alicia's body is quite similar to Chifuyu's. Perhaps they are the same age? She might be older than nee-san. Her breasts are also quite big- wait, what am I thinking?'' Ichika blushed heavily as his thoughts were getting too indecent for his likes.
''She has a very kind smile on her face.'' Ichika thought as he was scrolling through photos of Alicia. Quickly he remembered how Chifuyu had once reminded him about people who can deceive other people with their looks. Chifuyu was the best example of someone who was more than she looked. Chifuyu might look gorgeous but she never smiled in public and she had a rather dangerous and vile aura which could be sensed by the people around her. Ichika knew that he was often perhaps too trusting of other people. Then again he was a young child – they were supposed to be innocent and too trusting of others, even strangers. Ever since the kidnapping incident, he hasn't been as trustful as he was before. Ichika also knew that people had to pretend to look like something else when portraying themselves in public. Ichika considered that to be a sad thing since he always wanted people to be as honest as possible – the naïvety of the youth. After watching too many photos of her Ichika started to feel like some sort of pervert of whom Chifuyu always warned about. She said something the lines of ''Ichika, don't be a perv!'' Ichika doesn't recall the details correctly but apparently being too interested in opposite sex's body was not proper for a man of his age. The actual definition of the word 'pervert' is still quite unclear for a young boy like Ichika. The future had a lot to show him.
Ichika proceeded to watch some video material of Alicia Josestof. He thought that perhaps the interviews immediately after the match might reveal something about her. Maybe she would act weirdly because she knew in her head what she had done in order to achieve victory over her opponent. There was one video made almost immediately after she had 'defeated' Chifuyu. A reporter interviewed Alicia Josestof on rather trivial things so Ichika paid no attention to things that were said but rather to the fact how Alicia acted on the video. Ichika saw nothing to pay attention to. She clearly didn't feel any guilt or had any things swirling in her head regarding that incident. Or perhaps she was very good at deceiving people and keeping up the so-called façade. Ichika continued watching other videos of Alicia. He watched a video of her before the final match started. There was nothing out of ordinary there either.
''How disappointing'' Ichika thought.
''Regardless of these videos, she must be the perpetrator and she was going to pay for what she had done.'' Ichika thought and his anger rose slowly as well.
Ichika had come to the conclusion long ago that he now had to confront the woman who was behind his kidnapping. Soon Ichika lost hope once he realized that he had to confront an IS user. How on Earth was he going to defeat an opponent that could destroy entire conventional armies from the face of Earth? Clearly, Ichika had to formulate some strategy in order to defeat his opponent.
It had been a long time when he had held a shinai on his hand. It hadn't been too long since Ichika trained kendo with his childhood friend, Houki Shinonono - the younger sister of the inventor of IS, Tabene Shinonono. She was a fierce opponent in the dojo that was owned by Shinonono family. However, Ichika had trained intensely throughout his youth and managed to reach Houki's level rather quickly. Eventually, Ichika even managed to constantly best Houki in almost every duel, much to her dismay. Being slightly trained by the devil Chifuyu Orimura certainly paid off. Chifuyu had given some melee lessons to Ichika in order to quench his rather bloodthirsty nature. A very ironic way to suppress such dangerous feelings but it had actually worked very well. Chifuyu remarked quite philosophically about the weight of the blade by comparing it to the weight of human life. That remained to be seen by Ichika. His training, however, came to an abrupt end almost a year ago. The Shinonono Family, excluding Tabane, was put on the protection. And just like that, they disappeared from Ichika's life. This was due to them being close relatives of the inventor of Infinite Stratos. Not sure why they didn't do that when the invention was revealed. The most devastating part wasn't the fact that her pseudo-girlfriend Houki had disappeared from his life - he held no romantic feelings towards her, though she acted rather oddly at times when she was near Ichika – but Ichika was devastated about the end of the training. He and Chifuyu moved away from Hokkaido to near Tokyo. Ever since the training had ended, Ichika had been out of shape – not in the way we call it – rather he wasn't in his past prime. Ichika began to ponder if it was his rusty abilities that made him so easy to be kidnapped by someone. Then again he was caught off-guard. Understanding that the current situation required dire means to achieve the impossible feat to defeat an IS user, Ichika decided to continue his kendo training and perhaps try to practice using a real sword and to learn other martial arts. He hoped that his Orimura blood would guarantee him victory. Ichika knew that his sister Chifuyu was a powerful person in her youth. Perhaps he had the same potential to reach the heights she had reached. But sadly, the IS was only for women. Ichika had no way to reach such an ability to wreak havoc as her sister could. However, he didn't lose his determination. Perhaps with the help of his training, he could beat Alicia Josestof if he managed to encounter her without having an IS on her. He knew that deploying an IS without permission – even for a Representative Candidate – was strictly illegal. The repercussions for breaking the law were not worth it.
''Yes!'' Ichika deviously thought to him. He only had to catch her off-guard. After all, who suspected that a little boy like him could be dangerous? Some considered men to be no longer dangerous to women ever since the invention of IS. Clearly, those people didn't realize that not all women wear IS suits at all times.
After formulating ideas on how to defeat his opponent, Ichika started thinking about how he could even reach Alicia Josestof. If her home country was Italy and she lived there as well, there was no way Ichika could ever reach her.
''Well, I suppose I could just buy an airplane ticket, right?'' Ichika thought. Then a thought went across his mind. How can a child like him even go to an airplane without anyone noticing that he had no parents with him or someone else supervising him? Then people would become suspicious of him – or might just catch him immediately send him back home after noticing that he was a child traveling alone. Then another arose as well. A trip to Italy, probably to Rome, since that was where all the big shots lived, would cost a lot. For some reason, ticket prices are still quite expensive. Japan was also much farther than, let's say, another European country. A one-way ticket would probably cost tens of thousands of yen. And a ticket back would also cost an equal amount of money. Ichika would also have to find a place to stay like a hotel. Sure, there were dirt cheap hotels even in Rome but they are located in unfavorable faraway places, which was inconvenient for traveling across the city.
''Besides, will the receptionist even take me in because I am underage?''
It was uncommon to see a child renting a room or something. Ichika also pondered if he was in legal age to even make such huge transactions to pay for his expenses. What he had heard, some countries considered huge payments (like over $500) null and void if they were made by a minor. Though, in most cases, the transaction would be nullified if the parent intervened and demanded nullification. He wasn't sure how it was like here in Japan. The greatest problem was still ahead. Where could he even get such sums of money? At first, people would think that he should just ask his older sister for money. Sure, she had money to spare but of course, she would immediately ask where he would use the money for, etc. because Chifuyu didn't want Ichika to get used to some extravagant lifestyle and become a lazy person. And Ichika didn't want to be more of a burden than he already was. And Ichika definitely didn't want to state the true reason to her for why he wanted money – to hunt down her Mondo Grosso opponent. It seemed that getting money from Chifuyu was out of the question. There remained only one way to get money – to get employed. But who would even employ a 10-year old boy – was it even legal in this country? This wasn't some third world country like some Asian mainland neighbors of Japan - but there was a shortage of some young workforce here in Japan. Ever since feminism had reached its maximum heights since the invention of IS, the birth rates had dropped to even lower numbers than already were – abysmally low. The future workforce would be too small to sustain a country like Japan with a rapidly growing old population. Apparently, this phenomenon was widespread in other developed countries. Ichika decided that he should get a part-time job – it probably won't have a good salary (because it's part-time) but at least he could also focus on his studies. One good thing about being a young middle-schooler was the low difficulty of studies. They didn't teach very difficult subjects to kids as old Ichika was, so he didn't have to actually put much effort into his studies during his free time. Ichika could easily learn just attending the lessons and doing the homework, which was effortless for him. This made it possible for him to take a part-time job without it actually having any effect on his studies. Reflecting on his current and future situation, Ichika seemed to be pleased with himself. He would get a job even if he was too young. Exploiting the young workforce wasn't anything new here in Japan.
(A Few weeks later)
After his school day had ended, Ichika had declined the requests of his friends – including his female friend Rin, who seemed to be infatuated with him – to hang out with them after school. He had rather unusual plans for a boy of his age. To seek a job.
''Playing video games is dull anyways'' Ichika tried to think about that sentence over and over again in his head so he wouldn't be too sad that he couldn't play video games with his best friend Dan Gotanda tonight. Achieving the goals he had set was much more important. Ichika forgot one detail when he was planning his schedule – meaning how he was supposed to balance school, work and hanging out with friends. He also had to train his combat abilities. After all, even after gathering the money he needed, confronting his enemy without any skill was suicidal and useless. Ichika didn't want to spend an extra year or even more just training after he had gathered the money. Chifuyu would possibly arrive back. She must not know about his plans. Hopefully, something might delay her return. Maybe Ichika could convince her by saying something like 'you can give your protege some extra training' or something like that in order to prolong her stay in Germany. Ichika's only option remained. He had to completely cut off his friends from the schedule.
''I can hang out with them in the future'' Ichika thought simultaneously thinking about the fact that his friends might abandon him if he ignored them for too long during that period. Now Ichika had to formulate some training regimen in order to increase his fighting skills and his physical prowess. Naturally, kendo was going to be part of the training. He was natural with the shinai and the sword like Chifuyu. In fact, she fights with a sword when using IS. So, swords weren't obsolete yet.
For days Ichika had spent his time looking for a job. It was now apparent to him how difficult it really was to find a job. Some jobs descriptions that clearly told that he was unfit to do such work such as a construction worker, which was probably illegal for him to even do, even if he had quite the physical strength for his age but he wasn't an adult yet. It must be noted that he hadn't even received any job interviews either. Now Ichika really understood why the media constantly talked about the high youth unemployment or about the high levels of unemployment in general. For many people, it was simply impossible to get a job - especially job that they would actually like. Ichika pondered and realized quickly that putting his real age on the CV wasn't probably the best choice of action. Ichika had learned by researching on the internet that sometimes people would leave out their age so that the employers wouldn't do age discrimination - this was clearly for older people rather for young people like Ichika. This certainly didn't work as he expected. Ichika had managed to get an interview. He was even certain that he would get a job now. Usually getting an interview was a promising sign. Much to his disappointment, the employer immediately started laughing and thinking this interview was just a joke. This was clearly a rejection. Ichika tried to even convince the employer with his Orimura glare with no avail.
While incredibly embarrassing experience for Ichika, the rejection did not deter Ichika. He had to find a job at all costs or his mission would be doomed. At this point, Ichika started to think that he might finally have to get a job at a retirement home. He had tried to avoid going there as much as he could but now it seemed that there were no other options.
''Goddamn it'' Ichika shouted angrily. He rarely cussed – a trait instilled by Chifuyu. Ichika started to think about the humiliation he might be put to endure in the future. At the retirement homes, it was common that even children were employed in order to keep some company to the elderly people. Ichika knew that he had to pretend to be some cute little boy. Yes, Ichika knew that he's a young child but he had to behave like he was some 5-year-old boy. Usually, the ways children tried to keep the old people entertained was to organize some games between old people. Usually, they did not work very well because, well, the old people were playing them. Sometimes, multiple children formed some groups in order to entertain old people. Ichika had heard about this from Rin, who had done something like this a few times (for fun apparently with her friends). Ichika clearly wasn't an energetic person like Rin. It's not like he would invite Dan to keep company. Even Dan wouldn't do things as ridiculous as that for money. Luckily for Dan, he was employed by their own restaurant. It was nothing impressive. Ichika had, in fact, asked about being employed there but there were enough employees. Dan's little sister Ran was certainly disappointed that Ichika couldn't be employed by Gatanda Family. Because he was still unemployed (not usually a bad thing for a person of his age, of course, but his situation was different), Ichika had more time to invest in training. Ichika had a lot of time to train after school since the days weren't particularly long, so until he managed to get a job, Ichika had to spend time honing his fighting skills and trying to live by a strict training regimen invented by his strict Chifuyu-nee.
It was certainly very convenient that there were many retirement homes nearby. After all, there were so many retired people in Japan that there was a serious shortage of retirement homes. They were almost around every corner.
''Too bad they can't live in their own homes but then again it employs me, so why should I complain?'' Ichika thought about the job he was soon about to get and the annoying thoughts started to creep into his head. Some final whispers of reason tried to prevent him from getting this job. The job would be no fun for Ichika that much was clear. Would the pay even be good, since there were so many retirement homes and many employees, the salary must be quite low as well? As Ichika was stepping into the retirement home's building, he hesitated. Ichika started to look around for places that might offer employment as a last ditch effort to avoid going to this dreaded place.
''Wait'' Ichika suddenly noticed as he glanced across the street. He actually hadn't gotten properly familiarized with this neighborhood so the place across the street immediately caught his attention. A massage parlor. That provoked Ichika's interest. Doing a massage wasn't an unfamiliar thing for Ichika. A year ago he started doing massages for his sister. What he knew, he was eerily good at it. At least, that was what Ichika knew from the moans and screams of his sister when he put his magic hands to work and had his hand all of Chifuyu's body. Who would've known that a 10-year-old would be that good at massage? Ichika was so good, in fact, he would probably become a highly professional masseur if he kept doing it. However, it was certainly understandable that Ichika would do something like for his own sister whom he had known for his whole life. Now, he had to do a massage to a complete stranger. It's quite likely that his onee-san wouldn't approve him touching other women the way he had touched her. (That came out wrong.) At this point, disapproval from his sister didn't matter to Ichika anymore because he wanted a damn job at all costs that didn't require taking care of the old people. Immediately, Ichika decided to walk across the road which was full of cars with people eager to go to their own workplaces. Jaywalking was frowned upon here in Japan but Ichika didn't care, hell it might even illegal in some places, because now he had to go to the place that might offer him at least some remaining shreds of hope. Ichika swiftly crossed the street, dodging cars with ease because of the training he had.
Like all the massage parlors, the entrance looked, to put it mildly, very inviting, indeed. The entrance stood out from the rest of the building that was why Ichika recognized it so well. The parlor had an impressive facade. The place looked perhaps too good considering the neighborhood it was located at. Ichika assumed that it might have been here because many people didn't live here or this was a rather quiet place if the occasional traffic was ignored. Considering the luxurious appearance of the massage parlor, Ichika started to think that it would be very unlikely that he would be employed by the parlor. He was quite sure that the massage parlor already had enough professional masseurs, so why would Ichika be even needed? While having these thoughts in his head, Ichika stepped into the parlor. The interior wasn't like Ichika had expected. The facade had literally been just a facade. It was nowhere near luxurious as he had expected. Still, the place was very inviting for a customer and Ichika was certain that no common folk probably attended this place. It's not like many people took a massage anyway. Usually, a place like this might invite other kinds of people like some perverts Chifuyu had told Ichika about. Maybe she said that so Ichika wouldn't ever consider becoming a masseur. His onee-san was too much of a bro-con to ever let her little brother touch other women – aside his future wife, whoever that would be. Then again, Ichika was quite a sis-con since he was literally hunting his onee-san's former opponent.
There were really not many job opportunities for men in the new age. Sure, Ichika had many capabilities, such as physical prowess (especially for his age) and very high intelligence (that explains his unrivaled success in school), but would women just ruin his future career opportunities? Maybe Ichika's onee-san might be able to help but he didn't want to rely on her all the time. Ever since the rise of the IS, women had managed to force their way to get better job opportunities, especially in higher-paying jobs, which was certainly discouraging for men. Though men had traditionally been very dominant in the private sector of the economy, such as, as leaders of many companies or just as a normal salary worker, now their numbers have been dwindling by the years. Clearly, this might result in an economic disaster if this kept going on because entrepreneurship, which was crucial for a growing economy, had drastically reduced among the male population. There weren't enough incentives to become an entrepreneur or work at all, in general. One good thing about becoming a masseur was that it was not replaceable by robots. Women still wanted actual men (and/or women) to touch their bodies (yes, even in that way), so robots weren't a threat to Ichika in this industry. Also, being a masseur paid well. However, getting a very good salary from this kind of job required men to do something more for the women, which Ichika was clearly not aware of. Indeed, this kind of industry did have another kind of industry under it - prostitution. Sure, Ichika was a pretty boy and he would certainly look very handsome once he was an adult (the girls, such as Rin, were ogling him at school) but hopefully Ichika didn't have to be so desperate in the future to choose such a career. It would certainly be very pathetic if he was compared to his sister's illustrious career. While having many thoughts in his head, Ichika continued walking towards the reception and waited for one of the employees or better, the employer, to come to talk with him. Ichika had to wait a while. The receptionist sure took her time before she finally arrived at the reception.
''A-a boy in here? What does he want?'' The female receptionist wondered.
''Is he even a customer? A boy needing a massage was something I've never heard about.'' The receptionist continued wondering about the odd situation she had just found herself. She saw a boy in front of him at the reception. He seemed to be very nervous. Perhaps, he was asking for a massage for someone else's behalf? Maybe he was doing the reservation because the other person didn't bother to come here herself?
''W-why are y-you here? And WHO are you?'' The receptionist finally asked. Awkwardness could be heard in her voice.
Ichika, at first, looked at her nervously, even glancing left and right which looked weird from receptionist's perspective because of the small level of anxiety he could feel. Ichika soon brushed away these feelings and regained his confidence to finally answer the receptionist's questions and to ask questions. With determination in his eyes and confidence in his voice.
''I'm Orimura Ichika. And I'm here looking for a job.'' The receptionist's eyes soon widened because of his words.
''Yes, you heard me right. I'm looking for a job.'' Ichika continued even with more confidence and determination remaining in his eyes.
He stared at the receptionist waiting for a response, his gaze piercing through her. Time to put his Orimura abilities to use.
The receptionist for some apparent reason just blushed. This made Ichika feel weird since he hadn't seen woman react like that to him.
''A handsome boy looking at me… like that?'' The receptionist thought. Apparently, Ichika didn't know that his gaze could be interpreted in other ways.
''How old even is he? He looks like 13-14 years old.'' She wondered with a small blush on her face because of Ichika's gaze.
Yes, Ichika looked quite old for his age. One explanation was maybe his genes – even Ichika vaguely remembers Chifuyu looking like a young woman in her middle school years, so he might have gotten the same genes – but another reason was his physical training. He looked very toned, which made him look much older than his peers. Perhaps, that could help him get employed but usually, even 13-14-year-old children weren't employed. The receptionist finally continued speaking, which finally stopped the atmosphere from turning even more awkward than it already was.
''Umm... I don't think we employ men as young as you are even if someone resigned just a week ago. Hell, we don't employ men in general.''
''May I ask why don't hire men? I do understand why the age would be an issue, though.'' Ichika answered.
''What I know, the boss just considers men to be perverts or something. She has probably had bad experiences with men. So she just refuses to hire men.'' The receptionist answered with a sigh.
''However, many customers have demanded male masseurs.'' She added.
Ichika's eyes lit up from her statement. Perhaps, the demand from customers might make the boss accept male masseurs since even she had to listen to what her customers said. When Ichika was trying to ask another question, the female boss walked to the reception. Ichika had no idea if she'd been there for the duration he'd spoken with the receptionist or had she just arrived here.
''Ara ara. Do we have a boy here?'' The boss remarked with an arrogant smirk.
''I guess young boy like you is here for perverted reasons like all other men.'' She added with arrogance still being present.
Ichika frowned at her statement. He was no damn pervert. Right? His sister had made sure of that. Having a brother like that would be an embarrassment. When Chifuyu came to his mind, Ichika had an idea.
''Maybe telling them that I am her brother, would impress them?'' Ichika wondered as the boss started to giggle at Ichika.
For a woman in her thirties, she sounded like an obnoxious high school girl with her giggling.
''I am not sure if you might care but I am Orimura Ichika. Orimura Chifuyu's, the Brunhilde's, little brother.'' Ichika said in a loud voice, though without shouting, and with confidence.
The boss stopped her laugh. And the receptionist just stood there stunned. She had missed the part where Ichika had mentioned his name just a few moments ago. The boss looked at him with a serious look on her face. Her face soon turned into a surprised expression as Ichika's appearance was undeniably very similar to Chifuyu (like a male version of her so to speak). Ichika's gaze was also identical to that of Chifuyu. Her gaze had been recorded by the media during the matches against her opponents, so Chifuyu's gaze was certainly known worldwide. The gaze was not famous for being a nice kind of gaze, remind you.
''EEEEEHHHH~ THE BRUNHILDE'S BROTHER?'' The boss shouted.
The exclamation made by the woman made Ichika regret that he had not used this tactic before. Oh well, at least, it worked now. Perhaps, he would've already gotten a job. It was also odd how nobody had previously reacted to seeing his name on the CV. It wasn't like his surname was very common. Then again, many employers didn't take a good look at Ichika. Clearly, they should have. The woman's loud exclamation made other women around the parlor flock to the reception. Oh boy, he was going to have one hell of an audience around him. Luckily, it wasn't all the women in the parlor, though. Many were still, well, having a massage so it would be stupid to just pause the massage for one guy's sake. But those who were waiting around near the reception heard the exclamation made by the boss. The reception was separated by thin walls from the waiting rooms, which made it easy to here. Ichika couldn't fathom why there even where waiting rooms.
''Maybe the place was busy and the massages didn't last long?'' Ichika wandered about the layout of the parlor as the women were starting to surround him.
''Wait?! Her brother is here?'' One woman exclaimed.
''Is he here for getting a massage for the Brunhilde?'' Another one added at the same time trying to have a look at Ichika.
All kinds of women were surrounding Ichika with all kinds of questions in their heads. Ichika was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable when so many women were getting near him. Luckily for Ichika, he was taller than these women.
Average height of Japanese women is not very impressive compared to Westerners, hell even Chifuyu is only 165 cm tall (5.4 feet), and Ichika is taller than her, over 170 cm (≈5.58 feet) currently as a 10-year-old boy, though he is exceptionally tall for his age because his puberty has started early – a year ago. (In the anime and light novels he's 174 cm or 5.7 feet tall)
''I'm not here for getting a massage for Chifuyu-nee,'' Ichika said. Women were confused because of his statement (well, except the receptionist).
''She is not even in Japan at the moment,'' Ichika added. Women were surprised as they thought that Chifuyu would still be in Japan. It had not been too long since the Mondo Grosso Tournament, after all.
''I am not going to say where she is or why she is away. I'm not allowed to tell you.'' Ichika continued. Disappointment could be seen in women's faces. Some of them probably thought that Chifuyu would come here in a few days if she had a massage here.
''Well, could you recommend us for her then at least?'' The boss had finally opened her mouth. Certainly, having the Brunhilde here would bring this place a lot of publicity – and revenue – so it wasn't a surprise that she would ask this. She hoped that Chifuyu would come there when she returned from abroad.
''We've had IS users come to us before. I guarantee our service will be more than satisfactory.'' The boss continued enthusiastically and trying to persuade Ichika with an annoying smirk on her face.
''She doesn't require a massage from any of you. I massage her myself!'' Ichika stated with confidence with images of Chifuyu during one of their massage sessions popping into Ichika's mind. Silence followed his surprising statement.
''EEEEEEHHH? Brunhilde's little brother MASSAGES her?!'' All women screamed in confusion.
''Damn, this hurts my ears.'' Was the only thing Ichika could think of. Suddenly, much to Ichika's confusion, women started to blush for some reason.
''Fufufu. Chifuyu gets her massages from her little brother.'' The boss exclaimed with excitement.
''Ara ara. Who would've thought that her brother pleases her every night?'' The receptionist said.
Women blushed even harder as they heard the woman say that. Ichika had no idea what they meant.
''I guess that's the reason why she still doesn't have a boyfriend or a husband.'' Another one added.
''She has her brother!'' She continued giggling. Some of the women started to have nosebleeds as their thoughts became more indecent and their imagination started to run wild.
''Ehehe~. Forbidden sibling loveeee~!'' One of the women exclaimed loudly.
''Who would've known that she's a big shotacon? She is 18 years old, right? And he's….'' Another one added.
''What's wrong with these women all of a sudden?'' Ichika was very confused about women's behavior.
It wasn't like Ichika was dense or anything even if it looked so. He knew how his female friends have reacted to him but this kind of behavior was just odd for Ichika. Meanwhile, the women surrounding Ichika were losing their marbles because of their misunderstanding of the relationship between Ichika and Chifuyu, the boss finally decided to speak.
''Okay, let's calm down a bit.'' The boss and other women started finally relax in some way though blush was evident on their faces.
''Then what's your reason to come here?'' The boss continued.
Ichika sighed and then continued with a confident voice for he knew it attracted the attention the most and made him more believable after seeing how it affected others.
''I'll say this again as I had said to the receptionist. I'm seeking employment… as a masseur.''
The boss and the women didn't laugh, just looked confused.
''B-but you are underage – and a male?'' The boss said.
''And most importantly, are you even skilled masseur?'' The boss asked Ichika.
''I know you said that you performed massages to your.. your.. sis...sister..'' The boss couldn't help but blush as 'thoughts' came to her mind but abruptly came back to her senses.
''But are you even skilled, that's the question? Do you know that you are qualified?'' The boss inquired. The other women were also eager to know the answer.
Ichika was starting to realize how he should answer her questions to get the right reaction, however, his next answer was full of truth, nonetheless.
''She sure as hell screams and moans my name when I massage her hard and have my hands all over her,'' Ichika said with the most confident and the somewhat erotic way that he could although he didn't have any idea about the implications of his own words.
''AAAAHHH!'' The women screamed like high school girls as their faces became full red because of this erotic statement. Women were convinced of what he said because his behavior and expressions didn't signal that he was lying.
''Well, it might be the case that you can perform a good massage. After all, they say that the Brunhilde is hard to please? The boss said this half-jokingly and continued giggling like a girl alongside with the other women.
Ichika was starting to lose his sanity with these women. He was done with the odd behavior of this flock of girl-like women. He wanted clear answers regarding his employment now. This conversation had derailed for too long for his liking. Ichika had no time to waste.
''DAMN IT! Do I get the job or not?'' Ichika said furiously. His killing intent – comparable to the Brunhilde – started to spill out unintentionally.
All the women around him froze up because of his fury. Some started to pale and fear was evident in many of their faces. Ichika started to glare at every one of the women that were present and surrounding him. All of them, including the boss, started to shake from fear. Then Ichika began to realize how far he had gone.
''I-I'm sorry. My temper got the best of me.'' Ichika apologized and the dangerous aura surrounding faded away immediately. Finally, women could breathe.
''It's just stop… stop teasing me.'' Ichika continued and started to speak in a sheepish and innocent voice. The atmosphere in the room finally started to normalize.
''I-I… I just want to look for a job so I won't be a…. b-burden to my onee-san.'' Ichika continued, his voice is full of boyish innocence, which started to warm hearts of the women around him. Ichika started to stare at them with puppy-like eyes but at the same time with a determined stare so the women, especially the boss, knew that he wasn't messing around.
''I-I see now.'' The boss answered in a normal voice, which Ichika hadn't, in fact, heard the single time during the conversation.
''I guess I could employ – and I don't like employing men – nor do I employ the underaged, mind you.'' The boss continued, glaring at Ichika.
''I know that,'' Ichika said.
''M-maybe I could prove to you that I can do a good massage?'' Ichika continued with confidence knowing how the other women would react after seeing their reactions too many times.
''W-well, I guess you could do that but what are your demands regarding your… salary?'' The boss inquired.
The salary was perhaps the most important things to take into consideration when choosing a job, of course, alongside many other factors like work hours. This was apparent even for a boy like Ichika. He had investigated what were the salaries of masseurs, which was difficult to determine. In the end, the market decides the salary, right? A successful parlor would be able to pay high salaries to its masseurs. Ichika had no idea how successful this place, however. The facade and the quite impressive interior suggested that the pay wouldn't be at least low.
''Well, what are your suggestions? I guess you can take into consideration that I'm the newcomer so then my pay might be lower than your full-time worker. Also, you can just give a part-time worker's salary.'' Ichika suggested to the boss.
The woman was surprised by the suggestions made by Ichika. For a boy, he sure did know a lot. She'd seen even some idiot adults during her career as an employer. He definitely wasn't one of them.
''I suppose I could give you a part-timer's salary once you show your skills as a masseur.'' The boss said giving Ichika a radiant smile. It was pretty, too.
''If you manage to nail this customer, I will hire regardless of your age or sex, even if the law stated otherwise.''
Her smile was all the Ichika needed to know that she was willing to give him a chance to show his talent. Was he a talented masseur? Ichika believed it himself. And he had no delusions about himself. Being overshadowed by the glorious Brunhilde sure made one know their place but even Chifuyu-nee didn't possess skill like Ichika had when it came to massage. And household chores. She was helpless in the kitchen. He never teased Chifuyu about that, though, because it would be suicidal.
Women who had not long ago surrounded him like he was some sort of pop star started to beg that he should massage them. This was not a surprise, even for an inexperienced boy like Ichika who hadn't ever before massaged other women. Ichika sensed that these women hadn't somewhat been… in a male presence for a long time. Ichika could swear that Chifuyu's senses would soon scream even if she was in Germany after he touched another woman as he had touched her.
The female boss, her name being Aoi Fumi, already had a client ready for him. Apparently, it was someone else's turn but she decided to hand over the woman to him. Ichika was certainly glad that it wasn't one of the eager women whom he had seen earlier. Who knew what they would do to him. Maybe the boss knew this. Ichika hoped that the client was... not too vital for the parlor. Because if he managed to screw up a little, well, he was doomed – perhaps, even the parlor. Then again, he was confident in his abilities as a masseur so he didn't have anything to worry about but it was always healthy to have some doubts and not to be overconfident.
''Maybe Chifuyu-nee was overconfident and that's why she left me unprotected during the 2nd Mondo Grosso.'' This suddenly came to Ichika's mind, which didn't bring him any joy, now that he was reminded about that event. Ichika definitely didn't like questioning his sister's abilities and intelligence but one might wonder that didn't she put him to safety for the duration of Mondo Grosso. He should have attended the damn tournament live. Maybe he should've watched it together next to Rin (much to her delight) and with rest of Huang family. Ichika's mood, for a moment, turned dark but as he finally entered the massage room, the mood finally changed.
''Oh boy, I haven't done a massage in a few months come to think of it.'' Ichika thought. Despite a long time since the last massage, it would be very unlikely that he had lost his touch. After all, Ichika had good muscle memory. Besides, he could always ask the woman he massaged how she felt – like he does with Chifuyu. She sure would be surprised that her masseur wasn't, in fact, a woman – but a boy. But often a masseur didn't have the ask for advice since her reactions would tell where was the right spot.
The woman, who seemed to be a redhead with fair skin. She was no doubt of Western descent than Japanese, even without seeing her face which was currently turned away from Ichika. Seeing Western people wasn't unusual in Japan anymore. Sure, there had been people from the West continuously ever since the 19th century but now there were even more of them ever since the invention of IS. Because the Infinite Stratos was the child of Japan – Tabane Shinonono's more accurately – Japan had become the world center of scientific research regarding the Infinite Stratos, which was every scientist's focus at the moment. The redhaired woman was on a prone position on the floor with her hands wrapped on the soft mattress under her chin like the people usually were when they were given a massage. There was a kimono – a traditional Japanese dress – near her, which Ichika assumed to be hers. Not many Western women liked to wear kimonos – neither did many Japanese women. Ichika could see all of her flesh, except those parts of her body. Her body no doubt reached, no, definitely exceeded the Western and Japanese beauty standards. Ichika could only deduce that she definitely took care of her body by training rigorously and often. Her back had strong muscles and also her biceps were large – for a woman – though not larger than Chifuyu's, perhaps even smaller. And, of course, much to a man's, and to Ichika's, liking she had large breasts from what little Ichika could see under her longs arms. The redhaired woman didn't say anything as Ichika entered. He concluded that the woman only expected to get a massage – and no chit chat. Perfectly fine for Ichika. Maybe Fumi did put her as his client because of this reason? While surprised by her silence, Ichika decided to continue going even more towards the redhaired woman. Ichika descended towards the woman by going on his knees since she was laying on the ground as Chifuyu had done in their home. Ichika proceeded to do the massage style he knew the best – the old classic, Swedish massage (the massage we all love and recognize). As Ichika was doing the massage he could hear the moans of the woman, begging him where to move his hands next, where to apply pressure, etc. It started to remind him about the massages he'd done to Chifuyu. Come to think of it, the places where this woman needed the most help with were almost identical to Chifuyu's. Did she do similar activities to Chifuyu like the same kind of physical training or something? Ichika could only think that maybe the woman was an IS user. Fumi did, not too long ago, mention that many IS users attended this massage parlor. That would explain why Ichika had such thoughts about this client being exceptionally important. After all, the IS users, even the low qualified ones, were wealthy people. Ichika also realized that her level of enjoyment was similar to Chifuyu's, which emboldened Ichika since Chifuyu was a woman hard to please. Ichika decided to mirror the same actions he did to Chifuyu even more than he had before. Soon he noticed that it had a great effect on the redhaired woman. No doubt, she was an IS user. He could only deduce that the training methods were similar enough, perhaps, between all IS users, so the required massage techniques applied almost similarly to every IS user if Ichika were ever to massage every one of them. Or maybe she was part of the elite IS users who shared similar methods to Chifuyu since she was the very best of the IS users. Maybe all were trying to copy her. Regardless, the same massage techniques Ichika had used during his massage sessions with Chifuyu had similar effects on the redhaired woman. Her reactions were, in fact, much stronger than Chifuyu's. Maybe she was slightly more sensitive or had never experienced such a massage. If the last one was the case, Ichika would have a lot of pride in himself that he might have outperformed many of the masseurs in this massage parlor.
''Th-thank you very much. You may leave for I want to rest for a while.'' The redhaired woman said. Ichika decided not to answer – which was odd – but he reasoned that answering with his male voice might freak her out. She had her eyes closed during the massage – convenient for him – and still had her eyes closed. Ichika managed to get a good look at her face – he had not paid to attention to it during the massage – and it seemed somewhat familiar. Her voice too was also something that Ichika could swear he'd heard it somewhere before. However, Ichika didn't waste any time and swiftly exited the massage room.
Ichika went to the boss's room to tell her the news. Before he managed to talk to Fumi, she quickly left the room and went towards the reception. Her client, or rather Ichika's client, was there to thank her. Aoi Fumi surprised her by telling that it wasn't her that massaged the redhaired woman but Ichika.
''So… you finally employed a man? Or.. more accurately... a boy?'' Was all the woman could say. A surprise could still be heard in her voice.
''Yes, he... despite his age.. assured that he had the skills of a professional masseur, even better, in fact.'' Aoi Fumi answered.
''You were right to employ him, that's for sure. He's better than you, Fumi-san.'' The redhaired woman answered with a smirk on her face.
''It'd been hard times lately. Massage helped a lot.'' She added.
Fumi was surprised by her statement – but her face soon turned to a radiant smile. She had definitely employed a worthy employee. That was certain. Ichika was also relieved that the woman didn't freak out because a boy had just massaged her.
As the redhaired woman left the parlor, Ichika left the boss's room to watch her leave and to talk to his boss.
''So, what was her name anyway?'' Ichika inquired.
''Oh, I must've forgotten to tell you. Her name is...''
''… Alicia Josestof.''
Ichika could only stare in shock at the exit where Alicia just left moments earlier.
A/N:
It's pretty odd how nobody ever bothered to find out who kidnapped Ichika. Apparently, it was the Phantom Task in the original timeline but why didn't anyone bother to search for those who kidnapped Ichika? Why didn't Ichika do anything to find about them?! That was why I decided to write this fanfiction.
Also, it's odd how Alicia Josestof doesn't appear in any fanfiction in this site despite her being the 'rival' of Chifuyu.
Yeah, Ichika now works as a masseur. It would make sense since he is a skilled masseur, after all. I made Ichika much more mature despite his young age, so it would be much more comfortable to write about his adventures with women.
Sorry for any grammar mistakes! English is not my first language!