Authors note: So this chapter is coming this fast due to the fact that it was mostly done when I posted the first. I also would like to thank you all who reviewed, faved and followed this very odd story of mine. Thank ya kindly, and I hope you like how this continues!

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Ichika sat down at his desk at the IS academy, opened up one of the IS technical books he had been given, and began perusing it to both let his mind wander and to pass the time.

It was over an hour until class began, and there was only one other person in the classroom this early. He ignored the startled look she was giving him though. If he was unnerved by every female gaze toward him it would ruin him quickly.

Luckily being a Kampfer meant he had quickly grown accustomed to a number of the idiosyncrasies that most women held.

The days before, split between reading through massive textbooks and doing video work, had been frantic to say the least. He hoped thing would be calmer now, but truthfully knew better. When he had met the principal, or headmistress as she was called, she had basically told him to be prepared to be the center of attention. Luckily he already knew how to deal with that.

Sort of. Kampfer alternative personalities were odd. He had all the knowledge of what his other persona did, but the emotions and thoughts directly connected to them were, odd. It was still him, but at the same time it wasn't.

Ichika felt a chill cross his body, telling him was being watched, and passively turned the textbooks page while he looked at the time on his desks display. There was still a lot of time until class, and the sounds of a pair of gasps from the doorway told him more students had arrived and seen him. They began gossiping to each other instantly, even going so far as to take out their phones and begin texting with them. One from somewhere behind him even took a picture of him it sounded like.

The rest of the waiting was much the same. Girls entered the classroom and upon seeing him, panicked, squealed, or began to gossip with others. A couple shyly slunk away as well, and the only girl who seemed unaffected by his presence was Houki Shinonono, a childhood friend of his who simply walked past his desk to the one marked as her own. Though she did glance at him with visible surprise at his presence.

The teachers aide walked in a minute after class was to start, a young woman with green hair who seemed a little light headed. She introduced herself as Maya Yamada and then quickly began explaining how the year would work. The classes included those normal to any high school with the exception that there were only primary subjects. All secondary classes were required, and there were two of them, both based around the Infinite Stratos. One was basic and technical theory, learning how the IS worked on a basic level including all of its subsystems, while the other class was practical usage, which seemed to double as their only gym class.

Miss Yamada then shifted gears and went to introductions, getting everyone in the class, in alphabetical order, to stand up and introduce themselves to the class. As expected most of the girls introductions were haphazard combination of long, overly cheerful and girly. They introduced themselves and gave generic lines to their hobbies like and dislikes. Some giggled or agreed at times or make friendly comments to others, but Ichika could tell most of the responses were superficial at best.

Then came his own name. Clearing his throat Ichika stood up, the whole class quieting as he did. "Hello everyone my name is Ichika Orimura. I know my presence here may be a bit strange for everyone so I will do my best to use problems for you all. Just to make it clear though, yes I am a man, no I do not know why I can pilot an IS. Thank you."

As he sat down Ichika could feel everyone's stares boring into him but paid it no heed. If he reacted to everything the girls would likely notice, and that would spell doom for him. The last thing he needed was even more attention than he was already likely to get.

Unfortunately his very own sister walked in at that moment. It was both surprising, and not, to see her. He hadn't been able to confirm what her job had been for the last couple years but had had a few ideas, and he had seen a pile of paper on the headmistresses desk earlier that had her name on it, but actually seeing her walk in with a bag of notes and place them on the classrooms desk confirmed it and was still surprising.

"That was a lackluster introduction Ichika. Do better in the future," she commented, Causing Miss Yamada to turn and notice her.

Ichika wanted to scowl. The first time in almost eight months he had seen his sister and the first thing she does is belittle him. Not that it was much different than normal though. He loved his sister, he really did, but her cold attitude was often grating and her Spartan attitude was tiring. And when combined with how little he had seen her over the past few years it was more than a little annoying. He wasn't about to make things worse though, and simply nodded. "Understood."

"Good, alright listen up then all of you! I am Chifuyu Orimura and I will be your teacher for the conceivable future. It is my job to drill the skills of the IS into you. Basic theory will come first, then eventually you will be using the IS to learn hands on. Understand? Answer if you do. In fact answer even if you do not. Well?"

"Yes!" all the girls said in unison, right before the squealing began. The girls were livid, squealing and screaming about how happy they were while feeding Chifuyu praise constantly like insane fangirls.

Which they were.

When the class finally calmed down and started it turned out to be a simple day one class to start off. Classes were explained in depth, as were the expectations of students and the facilities the school grounds offered. Being that the school was a boarding school where students could only leave on specific days the school grounds had a very wide variety of facilities for the students use. Everything from a gym and pool, to a variety of small shops and stores. Of course they were tailored to an all-female clientele as the academy had been designed for such a thing.

It made Ichika inwardly groan knowing that basic necessities for him could be slightly difficult to come by.

By the time the first class had ended, it was time for the day's first recess. Some girls dispersed into groups with each other, while others left the room. However before Ichika could even think of something to do he noticed the gathering throng of girls outside the class, looking through the high tech windows that spanned the entire wall that, during class, had been opaque and looked like solid wall.

It also became painfully obvious that they were gathering to see him, something that the gossip he could hear around the classroom both confirmed and mirrored. "It's like I'm an animal at the zoo," Ichika grumbled under his breath as he reached for his phone and took a look at its screen, noting a text from Dan.

Before he could open it however, Houki came up in front of his desk, looking down at him with an odd expression on her face. "Ichika, can we talk? Elsewhere perhaps?"

Ichika quickly realized that Houki was a bit embarrassed and smiled a bit as he stood up. "Sure, the roof work? I think I saw a doorway up there when I arrived earlier."

"That's fine, just, let's go already," Houki said as she ever so slightly glanced around at the class, understandably irked by the gossip that was forming even as she spoke to Ichika.

Ichika simply nodded in understanding as he and Houki left the classroom, ignoring the comments of the girls around them as they went. And trying to ignore the group that began tailing them through the halls.

Ichika heard Houki mutter something about harpies as they went through the halls but held his tongue until the two of them came up onto the schools roof, finding it empty of other people.

"I was surprised to hear that you could pilot an IS," Houki began as she walked up to the railing at the roofs edge and looked out over it. "You, seemed more composed in there than I would have thought you'd be."

"Well I was just as surprised when I ended up activating an IS too," Ichika admitted as he scratched the back of his head, avoiding how he was so composed, and deciding to change the subject. "Oh yeah, I heard you won the Kendo nationals, congratulations."

"Why, do you know that?" Houki asked in sudden embarrassment.

"A friend and I were watching the match online actually. Your form was very good," Ichika said with a grin as he happened a glance over the railing to a few students walking through a courtyard, a blue glint flashing his eye slightly from below.

"W-why would you watch kendo online?" Houki demanded incredulously.

"Well, there are reasons," Ichika said as he turned to Houki, deciding to think about the fact of blue Kampfers in the academy at a later time. "But can't I just keep informed of how an old childhood friend is doing?"

"Ah, r -right, of course," Houki said nervously, right as they warning bell for classes rung out over the campus.

"Well, back to the frying pan I suppose," Ichika grumbled as he noted the gaggle of girls that had been watching them from the door to disappear.

"It's not that bad really, the classes are not that hard yet," Houki commented simply as she headed for the door.

"I've only had a couple of days to read through three different introductory books, and my sister is our teacher," Ichika spoke up, making Houki straighten up a bit.

"Ah, I, think I see what you mean. Maybe she'll go easy on you?"

"Easy would be her throwing me right on the coals instead of the pan,"

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Ichika groaned as he rested his head on his desk feeling defeated. The first classes of the year and he already felt like death had warmed over him. He wasn't a straight 100's student, but he was not dumb either. With the time to learn he could manage to be solidly average in any major subject, but the classes on IS had destroyed him. As had the teacher.

What kind of teacher asks the student who didn't have prolonged access to the textbook, and had not done any study to get into the school in the first place, about something that they'd only know from having studied for it? It was beyond idiotic. The textbook he was suppose to have studied from was over four hundred pages long, there was no sensible way he could have studied even half of that in two days before classes even if he hadn't been busy with video work!

"At least that is the end of classes," Ichika muttered as he glanced down into his bag at the keycard that was supposedly to the dorm he was being given. Having a room to himself would be nice, and would allow him to really study and do the catchup he needed to.

It would also make it much easier to not get caught if his bracelet started acting up or if he needed to go hunting. Something that was admittedly rather tempting if he had indeed seen a blue bracelet on someone's wrist. And as he could do it while simply looking around to get familiar with the academy layout, it seemed the best thing to do since he had time on his hands.

Unfortunately as he got up from his desk he found one of his classmates, a foreigner with long blonde hair done into odd spirals, walk up to him with an odd expression in her smile. "May I have a moment of your time?" she asked in an accent that marked her as probably English.

"I guess so," Ichika replied simply, figuring that it did not matter how he spent his time before heading to his room. Getting to know some of his classmates was probably a good idea anyway, and he could go hunting for the blue kampfer at any time really.

It seemed the girl however thought differently, as her expression was aghast. "Ah, that is it? That is all you have to say when I of all possible people come and speak to you? When my beauty is before you?"

Ichika felt himself frown at the girl's reaction. She either was insanely narcissistic or very stuck up. Unless she was some kind of legitimate English noble, which would probably mean she was both. Hopefully that wasn't the case. "Sorry, but I really don't know you. Class introductions are nice in theory, but I'm not too good with names," Ichika responded, hoping such a reasonable answer would be well received.

It wasn't.

"Haaaaa? Not being good with names is no excuse to not know of I, Cecilia Alcott, representative pilot for the glorious nation of England and the top score in the entrance exam!" Cecilia declared proudly before scowling at Ichika. "Have you been living under a rock?"

"No, I've been living at home in Kyoto and, up until recently, basically ignoring the IS," Ichika answered honestly. He had, after all, so many other things to do up until now that had been more important. Like not being killed by blue kampfers and juggling that alongside his schoolwork and his, Dan and Ran's alter egos work. The IS had been the least of his problems and it had been rather easy to avoid those who were crazy about it even in school.

"Are you mocking me!?" Cecilia demanded to know.

"No, I'm answering your question," Ichika replied, finding Cecilia's tone to be more than a bit grating with the way she was acting. "Didn't you want to ask me something?"

"I was not intending to ask, but to offer," Cecilia said as she stood up and posed with a hand almost on her collarbone while the other was extended to the side. "As it is clear to me from both your words now and your pathetic answers in our class that you are totally inept in regards to the IS, I have deigned to show you true English nobility and I offer you the gift of being allowed to beg for my assistance in helping you learn the simplicity of the IS that your male brain is incapable of learning on its own!"

Ichika found himself simply staring at Cecilia in utter shock with his mouth agape. Her tone, words, her total and complete arrogance, to say nothing of her clearly voiced opinion on men, was absolutely shit and only made him angry.

So angry he could feel his kampfer bracelet trying to burn a hole though his wrist, telling him just how much his other personality wanted to come out and, likely quiet literally, cut her down to size.

Ichika closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down. Yelling would get him nowhere, and the louder he was the worse things would likely get. "No, but thank you for the offer," Ichika managed to say in a normal tone as he reached down and picked up his book bag, zipping it shut on his desk before flipping it over his shoulder to leave.

"Excuse me?! Did you not hear what I said? I am offering you the privilege to learn from a true noble like myself!" Cecilia nearly screamed as she stamped her foot on the ground, startling others still in the classroom.

"And I said no. I will be fine, so excuse me I-"

"YOU WILL NOT BE FINE!" Cecilia literally screamed, causing others in the classroom to over their ears. "A man such as yourself clearly has no idea what they are doing here, but I am offering you the privilege to be under the tutelage of I, the lone person to defeat an examiner in the entrance exam!"

Ichika felt a smile creep onto his face and couldn't resist speaking up. "Oh, you beat one too?"

The whole class just stared at Ichika for a moment before one of his classmates spoke up. "Um, Orimura, are you saying, you beat one of the testers?"

"Yeah, I did," Ichika said simply. It was going to get more attention on him but at this point he didn't care. Simply knocking the arrogance out of Ceilia would be worth a bit more attention. Not like he wasn't going to be the center of it anyway.

"Impossible!" Cecilia exclaimed in a rage. "There is no way a man such as you could beat a skilled teacher and examiner!"

"Sure there is," Ichika said with a grin, directing it right at Cecilia. "She rushed me, so I moved to the side and dodged her strikes while figuring out how to move. When I felt comfortable moving the IS I went on the attack and won. Both IS only had swords, and she clearly had little to no practical knowledge of how to use a sword. It was easy!"

"But, that is, you couldn't possibly do such a thing, not when you couldn't even answer such a simple question in class!" Cecilia insisted.

"Alright here is a question for you then, or for anyone here," Ichika spoke up, garnering all attention in the less than half full classroom. "Those questions were simple according to most of you, right?" many girls nodded their heads in agreement. "Okay, was it stuff you studied to get into the academy?"

"What kind of question is that? " Cecilia asked in annoyance. "Of course such topics would be studied to enter here!"

Ichika smiled. "How long did you study to get in to this academy? Anyone?"

"Uh, a few months?"

"I studied for about half a year."

"A year for me; I really wanted to get in."

"Well I only needed to study for a few weeks to brush up. I am a representative candidate after all!" Cecilia declared loudly after a few other girls spoke up.

"How nice," Ichika commented before his smile disappeared and he put on his best serious face. "When I activated that Is a few days ago was the first time I had touched one. I was given the book to study the day after. I literally have had less than a week to study a over four hundred page book that many of you took months to study. Of course I can't answer the technical questions about an IS, I have not had the time to study it at all! That's why I couldn't answer that question."

No one in the classroom said anything, though many of the girls looked visibly surprised or ashamed.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have to go find my dorm room," Ichika finished before leaving the room so quickly no one could say anything.

The hallways were surprisingly empty, telling Ichika just how long he had been talking in the classroom. Just the fact he had to explain his situation to make them seem to understand was a bit annoying, but it had been nothing compared to having to hold back from Cecilia's tone and words.

"If she talks like that again, insults me to my face like that again, I might just lose it," Ichika grumbled to himself as he turned down a hall and glanced out the window to find a number of students out on the field running around the circuit. "A track and field club on the first day of school? Is that why there's no one around? Because of clubs?"

No one was around to answer so Ichika simply shrugged and wandered around the halls, hoping he would get some kind of response from his bracelet. He wasn't worried about it being seen, as one of the upgrades he had taken made it invisible to others until he transformed, so all he had to do was wander and hope it would heat up to tell him there was a blue Kampfer around.

Unfortunately after two hours of wandering he had gotten no response, so he headed to the dorms to find his own room and get settled in. The rooms were surprisingly well numbered and easy to follow and it did not take long to find his own room the end of a hall, with only one way into the hallway.

Totally safe in case of a fire, or if he was being hunted down by psychotic women. Totally.

With a heavy and almost defeated sigh he stepped up to the door, slid the keycard through its slot, and stepped inside. The room was quiet nice. On the right wall was a long desk with mirrors and to the right a couple meters in were a pair of large beds with a divider between them and drawers built into the sides. To his immediate left was a closed door, likely leading to the bathroom. Stepping further in he could see his bags beside the closest bed, and another bag that was not his siting on the floor by the desk with a kendo stick sticking out of it.

"Did they seriously put me in a room with a girl?" Ichika grumbled out loud as he walked across the room to the window and looked out, finding the window facing the sea and not the inside of the island. Not perfect for hunting, but good for privacy.

Then he perked up as he heard the bathroom door in the room click open. "Is someone there?" came Houki's voice.

"This is going to end in screaming, or violence," Ichika mumbled as he continued to stare out the window as he spoke up. "Hey Houki, seems like some idiot teacher decided to put me here."

"I-Ichika?!" Houki exclaimed in surprise and what sounded like embarrassment. "What are you doing here, get out!"

Ichika sighed as he used the window to look behind him, and seeing that it looked like Houki was at least covered in a towel, held up his room key and began to turn around. "Look Houki, I've been put in this room it seems so-"

"Don't look!" Houki ordered as she stepped forward, showing a large amount of leg as she did, and plucked the Kendo Shinai out of her bag and swung it down at Ichika as she stepped further forward.

Ichika was surprised that Houki's first response was to attack, but held himself back from smirking as he stepped to the side. The Shinai came down and smacked against the windowsill with a loud crack, allowing Ichika to then plant a hand on it and holding it down as he spoke. "Yes this situation is probably a problem Houki, but attacking me is not going to fix it. Now, I'm going to turn around and look out to the window, so please put the Shinai away, and take your clothes back into the bathroom before your towel slips," Ichika said as he then noticed that a pink bra was hanging off the end of the Shinai, very close to his hand. He carefully inched his hand away from it.

Houki said nothing as she, in order, went pink in the face, clutched her towel close to her body, let go of the Shinai, grabbed something off her bed, and then quickly stormed back into the bathroom.

Letting out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding Ichika flipped the Shinai up into the air and caught it by the handle, while he caught the bra in the other and placed both back on Houki's bag before walking over and laying down on the bed that was, in all likelihood, his to use.

Sharing a room was not a good thing. Sure he knew Houki so it would be marginally less awkward, but he had expected the faculty to know better. Sure he was the schools only male student and that had caused some logistical issues, such as there was one bathroom in the whole campus he was allowed to use, but something like rooms should have been obvious in how they were dealt with in regards to him!

"Why are you still here?"

Ichika looked up to see Houki standing at the foot of his bed in a sleeping kimono, her hair untied and flowing behind her. "As I said, this is the room I was told I would be using," he said as he sat up and showed the keycard again, making sure Houki could see the room number on it.

"That's unacceptable; boys and girls can't sleep in the same room after they are seven."

"Awfully specific," Ichika said with a chuckle. "But we'll just have to deal with it for now. I don't think whoever we would have to speak to is in the office anymore for the day."

Houki looked like she wanted to argue, but looked at the clock on the wall behind her and then scowled. "You are probably right," Houki admitted as she looked away and then back at Ichika. "We should set some ground rules."

"Such as?"

"Shower schedule, seven to eight for me. Eight to nine for you," Houki decreed.

"I'm assuming you are meaning in the evening?"

"Of course."

"Sure that's fine," Ichika with a shrug, realizing that it would give him much more time to go around hunting or for studying. "I may use it in the morning sometimes too."

"Why would you shower in the morning?" Houki asked in confusion.

"Helps me wake up," Ichika said, knowing that it would be impossible to explain how he had gained a pathological disgust of coffee. Mostly because it involved a lot of Kampfer related events, including twelve pounds of ground coffee, a public pool, a number of fireballs and a burnt swimsuit.

"Oh, I see," Houki said as she walked over to her bed and sat down. "I heard a rumor that you claimed after class that you had beaten a tester."

"Yeah, I had," Ichika replied swiftly.

"How?"

"The rumor didn't say?"

"No, it was just that you had claimed as such when speaking with one of our classmates."

Ichika groaned in annoyance. As per usual the female rumor mill was working at full power and was just as bad at keeping details straight here as it was everywhere it seemed. It was annoying, but pretty typical. "As I explained in class, the tester simply charged at me and I managed to dodge and quickly grasp how to move around. Both IS had swords, so once I knew how to move the IS it was simple," he explained before chuckling. "She didn't even have a proper stance of any kind. It was very easy to knock the blade of her hand."

"Sloppy," Houki muttered in disgust. "I take it you will be joining the kendo club then?" she then asked, sounding clearly hopeful.

"No, I stopped doing kendo after you left," Ichika admitted.

"What? Then how did you beat the tester?" Houki asked in confusion as she got up and was standing beaten the two beds.

"Hey, its not like I didn't keep up with my practice, I just also expanded a bit."

"What do you mean expanded?" Houki asked as she pulled at the wall, revealing a sliding divider that came out and made it impossible to the other bed.

"I've learned other kind if swordplay. A bit of Fencing, HEMA, also learned a bunch of other sword styles too," Ichika explained with a smile. "My favorite to use is probably the Odachi."

"I, didn't expect that," Houki admitted, sounding genuinely surprised as she moved and disappeared behind the divider.

"Well, most people don't go out of their way to learn how to use all kinds of swords, but it came in handy. That's how I won. She knew nothing, I knew a lot."

"I see," Houki replied as the sound of bedsheets being moved could be heard. "You've changed a bit Ichika."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You are more. Direct I guess," Houki said uncertainly. "You used to be more humble and withdrawn I guess."

"Is that a bad thing?" Ichika asked, silently smiling at Houki's words and knowing that he had indeed changed a lot from when they had last seen the other.

"I, don't know," Houki admitted, causing Ichika to just chuckle.

"Well I can say I'm happy you didn't really change that I can tell."

"Wait, really?" Houki asked, sounding both pleased and angry all at once.

"Yep, you're still the girl I know, " Ichika admitted before realizing this much calmer atmosphere was perfect to bring up what had happened earlier. "Though, Houki, attacking a home invader would be one thing, but attacking someone your rooming with, especially someone you know, just because you are angry or embarrassed is probably a bad idea."

"What? Ichika, you know that boys and girls-"

"I know Houki, but what would have happened of I hadn't moved to avoid that swing of yours?" Ichika asked before then answering his own question. "You would have hit me on the head, with a full strength overhead swing of a Shinai. I wasn't wearing padding, so how much would that have hurt me?"

Houki was very quiet for a few moments before she replied in a very quiet tone, as if remembering something bad or sad. "You would have been hospitalized."

"Probably, yeah," Ichika stated simply. A regular person would be heavily hurt by a Bokken, but as a kampfer even his untransformed body was much tougher than normal. All he would have probably gotten was a headache, but Houki didn't need to know that. "Why was your first reaction to swing at me anyway? Like, you know me, so why?"

"I . . . . . It's complicated, "Houki said after a heavy pause.

"I guess I'll leave it at that then," Ichika said as he reached over to the bedside table and picked up a control off of it, using it to turn off the rooms lights before putting it back. "Good night Houki."

"Y-yes, good night."