Disclaimer at chapter 1

Chapter: 5 The second childhood friend

**Room 1025**

*Click*

The door to the shared room of Ichika and Dart was closed after the boys walked through it and into the small hallway, then further into the room after their party with Class 1-1 and a few other classes in celebration for Dart's victory as the new Class 1-1 representative. The party had taken its toll on the two boys, yawning and stretching their arms and bodies around. Sitting in one spot for hours and talking their mouths off was something they wouldn't want to do again.

"Oh man I'm bushed," Dart said with sleepiness falling down flat onto his bed finally feeling some cushioning comfort from the cafeteria chair. "I think my eyes are about to die out on me."

"Same for me. But you have to hand it to those girls. They know how to throw a party." Ichika replied heading into the bathroom and turning on the light, placing himself in front of the mirror and pick up a toothbrush, painted it with toothpaste and scrubbed his teeth cleanly and thoroughly.

"I guess you're right…" Dart rolled off his bed onto his two feet and proceeded to walk to the windows while he took off his shirt. He threw his shirt on the desk and closed the blinds down and shut them. He was about to take his pants off as well but when he placed his hands on his belt, he heard to knocks on the door.

*Knock, knock*

"I'll get it," Dart spoke, walking to the front door not realizing he was half asleep and was shirtless. He walked past the bathroom and from the corner of his eye he saw Dart walking shirtless.

Ichika widened his eyes and was about to inform Dart he was shirtless, but it was too late.

*Click Whoosh*

Dart opened the door to the presence of Cecilia Alcott still in her IS Academy uniform, who wandered her eyes down Dart's bare chest and instantly blushed, looking away.

"D-Dart…" Cecilia said with embarrassment. Dart looked questioned before he tracked his eyes where Cecilia laid them. It took him two seconds to figure out what caused her to look away. His conscious was back fully awake as Dart came to realize he was present in front of a lady, without a shirt.

'Oh crap!' Dart recognized his inappropriate dress taking one step back and quickly closing the door until his body was covered and he poke his head around the door. "So what do you need, Alcott?" He asked in a casual manner still refusing to call her by her first name like she allowed today during IS practice.

Turning her head back around and her blush removed from her cheeks, she got straight to business.

"I told you can call me Cecilia," she reminded him. She didn't remember she wasn't out of the neutral forest with Dart, only with Ichika. "I've come to ask if you would like to join me for lunch tomorrow, just the two of us." She requested the date in a confident manner, despite she was hesitant and shy to ask on the inside.

'Is she asking me out on a date?' Dart asked himself mentally confused. 'She was a bitch a couple of days ago, but now she wants to date me? Is this girl mentally ill or something?'

Cecilia could see the indecisive in his eyes, so she had an idea to tip the scales in her favor. The fastest way to a man's heart is through the stomach_ as the idolism says.

"I'll make sandwiches," Cecilia tempted. Her offer knocked the indecisive from Dart's eyes and mind. If Alcott was willing to go this close to have just lunch with him, she must be really serious about it.

It was an offer he just couldn't say no to.

"Uhh, sure," Dart replied casually.

"Great!" She exclaimed with joy, "I'll see you tomorrow." She waved goodbye before she walked off the right with a pleasant smile on her face having caught Dart on the fishing line. All she needed to do was reel him in nice and slowly before she can actually starting Dart for real.

With her exit Dart closed the door behind him and heading back to what he was about to do. As he walked past the bathroom he heard Ichika spit out the toothpaste from his mouth into the sink, following a tap running. The tap stopped with a squeak and a light being turned off, flickering the bathroom light off.

"So you're having lunch with Cecilia tomorrow," Ichika commented on what he overheard from the bathroom. He walked to his bed and began to undress and change into his blue shirt top and black boxers.

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" Dart included a bit of sarcasm in his voice, though not detectable by Ichika. Dart removed his pants so his dark blue boxer shorts was the only thing that covered him. He walked up the right side of his bed and rolled himself under the sheets, placing his head on his comfy white pillow.

Ichika walked to the hallway and turned off the room's lights only leaving his bedside lamp on to illuminate the room. He walked back to his bed and went into it. To think of a conversation to help them get some sleep, Ichika wanted to inquire about Dart's personal IS.

"Hey, Dart."

"Yeah?"

"About your IS, it's pretty cool. What do you call it?"

"The Build Banshee, and if you're looking for spoilers what it can do you'll have to wait for the others during the Class Rep bout."

"Aww come on man. Just one little thing," Ichika begged in fun.

"No."

"Please? I won't tell anyone."

"You ask again and I'll personally introduce you to it." Dart threatened, but in a joking manner making Ichika back away from the subject.

"Okay, okay." Ichika stopped his inquire into his IS. "Good night, Dart."

"Night, Ichika."

**Same Night, Arena 2 Spectator Room**

Miss Orimura and Miss Yamada were going over the schematics of the Build Banshee that Dart gave to them about his IS late at night. Strangely enough, it wasn't any ordinary IS made by Tabane Shinonono. It was like the Build Banshee was custom made with a small reactor instead of a black box like any IS had to operate. This Build Banshee had a reactor named the Minovsky Ultra compact Fusion Reactor.

On the screen in front of the two teachers was the 2D diagram of the IS suit in the right side. To the left side of the IS diagram it gave the names of the IS weaponry including their details, and separated from them was an ability known as the _NT-D Mode just underneath the list of weapons.

This was mind boggling for the two teachers. It just didn't make any sense. They were lost in a circle of thoughts thinking of the IS's weapons and reactor as its black box.

"I've never seen an IS like this before…" Maya said in awe and confusion at the same time. "Full armor…fusion reactor…NT-D Mode… Just what are they?"

"I don't know, Miss Yamada. But this fusion reactor…it wasn't created by Tabane." Chifuyu replied with an unnerved tone. Miss Yamada turned her head up to Chifuyu with a concerned look. "We might be dealing with an IS that has been created in secrecy."

"What makes you think of that, Miss Orimura?" Maya asked as a worried look appears on her face.

"Think of it. How many countries are searching for Tabane? Countless. Maybe the UK were desperate to find Tabane that they gave up, studied the IS core in and out to create a similar source. And besides, Tabane isn't the type of person anymore to experiment with new prototypes for one particular person." Tabane was always secluded from the others and would only contact people she knew such as Chifuyu and her little sister."

"Before we question Dart and this Build Banshee I'll get in contact with Tabane tomorrow and see if she is behind it. If she doesn't then the origin of Dart's IS will be clearer."

**The Next Morning, Class 1-1**

Dart, Ichika, Cecilia along with six other girls in the same class surrounded around where Ichika sat in his seat in gossip about a rumor, that Class 1-2 has a new student.

"The class league match is coming up soon," one girl reminded.

"Oh, that's right! Have you heard that the representative for Class 1-2 has been changed?"

"Yeah, now it's that transfer student."

"A new transfer student? At this time of year?" Ichika asked surprisingly.

"Yeah. Supposedly she's from China."

"Hmph, I wonder if she transferred to the IS Academy to learn my techniques," Alcott was back to her annoying and boasting attitude.

"I'm curious about this girl." Dart said with interest, "I wonder if she'll make a strong opponent for my Build Banshee."

"Well the only classes with personal IS are Class 1-1 and 1-4 so we'll be fine," the dark blue haired girl by the name of Shizune Takatsuki said in a reassuring manner looking at Dart standing at the front of Ichika's desk.

"That information is outdated!" A female voice said from the front door. Every person in the room looked their heads with a small gasp to the female by the door and it was a small girl with brown pigtails tied in yellow bows. She was short in stature with green emerald eyes. Her IS outfit was customized to a degree with the shoulder pieces of her sleeves cut off so it looked like she had really long sleeves reaching near her shoulders with a bit of a point.

"The representative for Class 1-2 has a personal IS too." She informed with her hand son her hips. "So it's not going to be as easy to win anymore."

"Who invited the preschooler?' Dart questioned in a mutter. No one knew the answer to his question except for the other IS male pilot.

Ichika blinked once as he stood up noticing his second childhood friend, "No way… Is that really you Rin?"

"That's right! I'm Huang Lingyin, China's Representative Candidate and I've come to declare war!" She announced aiming her right finger at Ichika, trying to act cool.

The classroom was in a mutter, talking to each other in wonder about this new opponent coming from China, being their Representative Candidate and how Class 1-2 is going to deal with this new personal IS pilot.

Ichika chuckled how Rin tried to act cool, "Good one. Coming in here and acting like a showoff."

"Huh?" Rin stuttered starting to become annoyed how Ichika would treat the return of his childhood friend! "What?! How could you say something like that about me?!"

*Bonk!*

Rin was hit on the head by a hard pummel from above her. She held her head with both her arms expressing the pain she was in. "It hurt!" She turned around furiously to whoever attacked her, "What do you do tha eh?-" She stopped, looking up at the angry Chifuyu towering over her.

"Consider that your homeroom bell being run. Now scram you're in the way." Chifuyu told Rin off as she made her way past the frightened Chinese girl, turning to her side and apologizing with a soft tone in a formal manner.

She had to wrap up the business she had in Class 1-1 as soon as possible, lest she needed to encourage the wrath of Chifuyu. She turned her attention back to Ichika.

"I'll be back later, so don't you dare go anywhere! Humph," Rin took her leave in a tsundere manner.

"Get in your seats. Class is starting." Chifuyu ordered and instantly every girl and Dart rushed back to their respective seats. When everyone was seated, Chifuyu gazed her eyes to Dart in his seat. She was on edge about his IS following her conversation with Tabane earlier this morning.

_Flashback_

** _Last Night, Chifuyu Room_**

*Ring ring… ring ring…*

"CHI-CHAN! Long time no see!" Tabane greeted in a hyperactive tone speaking to Chifuyu.

"Can the tone, I need to ask you something." Chifuyu replied in a serious and scolding manner, clearly showing she has no time for fun talk and games. She just wants to get her business with Tabane over and done with so she can hang up and stop getting a headache from her constant cheerful voice.

"Anything for Chifuyu!"

"Have you created a personal IS built with a reactor called a Minovsky Ultra compact Fusion Reactor that replaces the black box?"

"Uhh…nope!" She replied with an energetic voice.

"There is a male IS pilot at the IS Academy apart from my little brother, Ichika. His name is Dart Silver and he has a personal IS named the Build Banshee, and it has weapons different from the common personal IS and a system called NT-D Mode. Do you know anything of those names?"

"No…" Tabane expressed a more serious manner. This Build Banshee was not built by her hands. "A country must have found an alternate to IS…" Having a country manufacture an IS with an alternate source of power is a very bad sign. One alternate IS comes more, and more until the country has manufactured a mass IS army. What comes next won't be pretty.

War.

"Then I'll keep an eye on Dart for the time being and try to solve this case until we fully know that where Dart got his IS from." Chifuyu hung up the phone and ended the call with Tabane.

'Dart, I will find where you got your IS, and I swear if it's illegal or dangerous, I will step in.'

Flashback End

**Lunch Break, Above School**

On top of the school building was a beautiful vantage point that had the vast sea, the school grounds and the city that was isolated from the IS Academy in sight. It was a tremendous spot for someone to go clear their mind…or do something romantic at night surrounded by the lights the school and the city illuminated.

The rooftop wasn't much in appearance except for the guard rails around the top with a square patch of green short grass in the middle.

Dart sat on the grass with his legs crossed with Cecilia in front of him, staring happily at him who had brought up a small picnic basket with her. In it was fresh made sandwiches with Western ingredients: ham, cheese, butter and lettuce. Some others had other salads and a few only had egg on them. She wanted a variation of sandwiches to ensure her made lunch appealed to Dart's tastes.

"I prepared this basket of sandwiches for you," she explained holding the open basket of sandwiches to Dart so he could pick which one he prefers. "I hope you like them."

"Thank you," Dart leaned forward so he could have an eye view of what was inside the basket. There was a cheese and ham one that interested him. He reached into the basket and took out a triangle shaped sandwich out of the basket like a crane at an amusement park. Once he got what sandwich he wanted, he leaned back and sat back on his ass, holding the sandwich in his right hand.

Before he wanted to eat, he had to address the elephant in the room, or on the roof. He was dying to know why on earth Cecilia changed her attitude from being a sexist and condescending to Dart and Ichika, but after the class rep match she turned over a new leaf and started to willingly be closer to Dart.

"Alcott-"

"Please call me Cecilia," she interfered with correction.

"On the first day of school you were, how should I say this? Unpleasant to be around and talk to. After the class representative match you changed your ways, apologized to Ichika and myself and now you want to be closer to me? Why's that?''

Cecilia lowered her head slightly, showing a remorseful expression. It was a tragic memory to remember.

"My loathe for men started when I was a child, when I viewed my father as the opposite of a role model for a perfect man, a man that I would someday wish to marry. Instead of being chivalrous, strong, protective and caring he was a bastard, gloating in his spoilt upbringing and causing nothing but trouble for my mother. He had no purpose in or out of the house."

"Oh. So that's why you transferred to the IS Academy? To get away from your father?" Dart questioned with a sympathetic voice to the silent shake of Cecilia's head a few times.

"My parents…they died during a train accident a few years ago… Because I inherited their fortune, many families tried to take advantage and take it. I was promised if I went to the IS Academy, the British Government would protect my family's home and my inheritance."

"I…I'm sorry for your loss." Dart began to put together the puzzle in his head about Cecilia Alcott. ' She was mean on the first day because she loathed men, due to her father being a bastard and traumatized her as a child. Because of him she wasn't able to have her dream granted of marrying a man of her dreams. So when I won the fight, she saw a bit of the perfect man she's been searching for in me? That's why she's been attempting to get close to me?'_

Dart was feeling really empathic for Cecilia. All she wanted was to be with the man of her dreams and yet her father took that opportunity away from her by corrupting her heart to see the bad side of men. He walked on his knees to the upset Cecilia in front of him, placed his sandwich on top the small picnic basket on Cecilia's side.

Cecilia raised her head back up seeing a pair of legs on front of her, and she flinched seeing Dart this close to her.

"D-Dart?" She jittered and the next moment, Dart wrapped his arms around Cecilia in comfort giving her pats on her back. She felt a warm blush on her cheeks and something else, something she hasn't felt since she was a child that only her mother would provide – warmth and protection.

"Maybe I should give you a fighting chance, Cecilia." Dart said in a calm and fatherly manner. Cecilia's dream of finding the perfect husband for her might come earlier than expected.

**Room 1025, Night**

The day had finally come to an end when Dart and Ichika were back at their room. During lunch for Ichika he had talked in private with is second childhood friend, the same girl who charged into class 1-1 and issued a war. Of course when talking got a bit too long Houki interfered and had a bit of an argument with Rin, with back and forth debates in which one knew Ichika for how long, what they would do as kids and such. It was the common squabble between two people trying to out-best the other.

While Dart on the other had a pleasant lunch, enjoying Cecilia's made sandwiches she cooked for him and talked the rest of lunch by, getting to know each other. She offered to spend more time with Dart by having IS training sessions after school starting tomorrow, and he agreed. He could really use the extra training.

But not everything was okay inside the room.

Rin was inside the room with a pink sports bag with all her gear in it on the floor, as she was in Dart's face to the boy's discomfort.

"Can you change rooms with me, please?" Rin asked politely wanting to kick Dart out of the room so Rin could be in the same room as her childhood friend. But getting what she wanted was not going to be easy.

"I just officially moved into this room a few days ago, so there is no way I am going to swap rooms without being sorted out with the dorm manager on a whim." He defended against the little termite, becoming slightly agitated.

"But if you move out you can be in the same room as girl. Don't you want that?" She tried tempting Dart, to no effect.

Dart folded his arms making it clear he won't move a muscle, "My answer is still no."

"Fine then! How about we make a deal to settle this living arrangement. Next week is the class representative tournament, so when I face Ichika and I somehow lose, then you can keep this room. But if I win then you'll kick yourself out and allow me in!" She was getting more defensive.

"Uhh, Rin." Ichika interjected with bad news raising his right finger up. "I'm not the class rep. Dart is," he pointed his finger to Dart towering over the girl.

"So that means this'll be between you and me." Dart smugly looked staring down at the petite girl.

"Heh," she grinned liking this new challenger and the meaning when she beat Dart instead of Ichika. "Fine with me. I'll enjoy kicking you to the dirt and then out of this room." Her overconfidence rivaled Cecilia's.

"You better be careful of what you wish for, lass." Dart educated turning his smile upside down in a frown, "No one in this IS Academy has no idea what my personal IS is capable of. You better be ready for plenty of surprises."

"He's telling the truth, Rin. He beat England's Representative Candidate with a practice model, so he hasn't been in a fight with his personal IS yet." Ichika informed Rin shocked to hear this.

"He beat a candidate with a practice IS? What a load of crap!" She refused to acknowledge that fact yelling in Dart's face instead of Ichika's. "I'll see you in the arena next week!" She huffed before turning around, snatching her bag of possessions from the floor and closing the door angrily behind her.

"I'm starting to think that you pick questionable friends, Ichika." Dart said turning his head around to the boy shrugging his shoulders.

"She wasn't that bad when I first met her, so I don't know what happened to her during our time apart."

"Just some advice: Think before you befriend someone," Dart chucked as he walked to Ichika and gave him a quick pat on his right shoulder. "But don't worry, when it comes to the class representative battle I'll be sure to win against her so you don't need to get upset about me leaving." He teased implying Ichika wouldn't be able to live without him around.

"Hey!"

**Saturday, Outside of IS Academy**

Standing outside of the entrance to one of the few IS Academy buildings waited Dart leaning against the wall in patience, not able to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach. He wore his casual civilian clothing combining of his white Nike walking shoes, black pants with the elastic band and a plain black polo shirt with a sown on white Welsh feathers on the left chest near his heart.

He had to keep his promise to Mira Katane for helping him train after school to prepare for the Class representative match against Ichika and Cecilia. The price of this training was a date with her today, where she was going to take the lead for the day and act as his tourist around the city.

Outside with him, although keeping their distance from him and staring in wonder were girls who also had worn casual clothing, some even wearing there is Academy outfit. They stared at Dart waiting alone by the glass doorway with questions and tried to theorize what he wanted to do.

"Hey look, it's Silver Dart." Girl A said

"I wonder why he's out here doing nothing." Followed by Girl B

"Is he waiting for Orimura?" Added by Girl C

"…Or he could be waiting for his date!" Asked by Girl B

"Really?! But who?" Wondered by Girl A

Dart overheard the girls talking about him and couldn't help but give a long mental sigh. It was only one date with Mira Katane and nothing else.

A few minutes passed when the door next to Dart opened and out came Mira sporting in white closed sandals with a strap going across the top. She has a light green skirt and light green shirt with a long sleeved white unbuttoned jacket, over her top. Her hair was nicely combed and she radiated an intoxicating smell of perfume, Dart could instantly pick up the smell as she walked through the door. On her left arm was a small yellow bag with a purple flower on it.

"You look lovely," Dart complimented getting himself off the wall and walking to the left side of Mira as he held his right arm towards her, offering his arm.

"Thank you," Mira took the compliment with a glad smile hooking her left arm around and through Dart's held arm. "You do too, Dart~" She purred.

"Kyaah!"

"Silver is dating Katane?!"

"But she's a third year…and he's a first year!"

Dart ignored the speculations of this date from the girls chatting about the two, starting to walk away from the IS Academy with Mira hooked into him.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Katane. This date is just for today as part of the deal," Dart tried to let her down as politely as he could.

"It's okay," Mira understood and felt the same way too. It was best to go on a date with a friend of the opposite gender, not because of an agreement. "But who knows, you might enjoy the date that you'll want another, and then another until I have you all for myself."

"Heh, then you'll have to try your best to show me fun and the best parts of town and you might get your wish." Dart replied with a tease as the two set off into town and began their date.

**20 Minutes Later**

The pair walked into town after a 15 minute walk across the long bridge connecting the city to the IS Academy. Mira had led Dart to a nice ice cream shop a bit into town where they could go for the first part of their date. She bought two ice cream sundaes in a tall glass with a red and white stripped straw sticking out of the vanilla ice cream on the top, surrounded by whipped cream around the glass and chocolate sauce on the vanilla. They also brought out two plastic spoons in packaging to help scoop away the ice cream.

When they received their order they went back outside and sat at one of the tables outside of the shop shaded by an open umbrella. They both sat one at each end of the wooden tables.

"Thank you Katane," Dart thanked with a little nod before he moved his mouth over to the straw.

"For today can you call me Mira?" She insisted.

Dart pulled back his head away from the straw just before he could wrap his mouth around it. "Alright, Mira. Thank you for the sundae." Dart repeated himself with the new name going back to his straw and started to bring up the melted dairy underneath the ice cream in the straw. When he had sucked enough out with the ice cream now below the top of the glass cup, he stopped sucking and began to pop open the plastic package for the spoon so he may get to the ice cream without a fear of the ice cream suddenly falling down the side of the glass.

He popped the package open and brought out the plastic spoon and scooped a piece of ice cream.

"You know, I'm glad you called me out on a date in exchange for teaching me how to operate a practice model," Dart said relieved as he took the scoop into his mouth. Mira gazed her eyes up with interest from her sundae as she slurped more from her glass. "With the class league tournament in a few days I've been feeling a bit anxious to be honest. I guess having a calm day away from the IS Academy is all I needed to calm me down. So you have my gratitude, Mira."

"I guess we're both in the same boat, coming on a date for a different reason other than complying with the agreement we made," Mira chuckled. "As you know of the female dominance in society, males and females have been separated into different schools, granting more privileges to the females than the males. Because of this, both genders have lost the connection to go out and interact with the opposite gender, as hinted by the girls in the IS Academy. They're too shy and afraid to approach you and Orimura in case they did a bad job and ended up being hated for their awkward interaction with you. By going on a date with you, I'm getting more experience interacting with a male so you're a lifesaver as well."

"You didn't seem to be shy when you confronted Ichika and myself, well not shy, it seems you were jumping a bit too far when you acted seductive towards Ichika and I." Dart found a plot hole in her explanation.

"Trust me," she said with a smile. "I might have acted normal when I approached you two, but beforehand my heart was racing and I was so anxious. I sort of went with the temptation route when I approached to use the easiest way to talk with you two."

"Did you also know that might have been the most uncomfortable or awkward way to use?"

"Yeah…I had a hunch about that." She taped her fingers against her glass with shyly.

"If the girls really are inexperienced with talking to boys, I think Ichika and myself should talk to the other shy girls more commonly, even if it's just a simple greeting to help them interacting with the other gender. I mean, he and I might be the only boys the girls get to talk to before they graduate from school and enter the wide world." Dart rhetorically spoke with helpful suggestion to assist the other girls in the school.

"Yes, I think that'll help the girls a lot. Maybe sit with different girls at lunch every day, or greet them before and after school." Mira agreed with his idea with a nod and approving tone.

"Just because genders are divided outside, doesn't mean it has to be that way inside the academy, right?"

"You're more mature than I thought," Mira complimented smiling back.

"Only if others were the same in this separated world, eh?"

Mira and Dart continued their date at the ice cream parlor, went to the aquarium and ended the date with a stroll on the beach during sunset. After the fun and talk they had, the two headed back to the IS Academy before their curfew began.

Dart was a gentleman and escorted Mira to the door outside of her third year dorm. Mira who was taking the lead turned her body around holding her yellow bag at the front. She had a very pleasant smile on her face looking at her date, facing her and the door behind her.

"I really enjoyed spending the day and talking with you, Dart." She walked a few steps forward and peeked her kips up to Dart's right cheek planting a quick thank you kiss. Dart blushed and rubbed the kisses spot slowly in a daze, causing a chuckle from Mira. "Good night Dart," she cheerfully bid goodnight walking into her dorm and out of Dart's sight.

Dart stood idle for five seconds being speechless. At least it wasn't on his lips and stole his first kiss away. With a happy smile on his face, he walked away and headed back to his dorm, more than ready for the class league match in a few days.

**Next chapter will be the Dart vs Rin fight and I will confirm there will be no big robot to interfere with the tournament.**

**Until next chapter guys!**