"-oss, Boss, you need to wake up! Boss wake up!"

Kinoen opened her eyes to find Skewered scorpion on her chest, its beady plush eyes staring at her face in worry, defying the fact it was plush. She then grinned and snaked an arm out from under the covers, immediately grabbing the plush with the arm and squeezing it against her ample breasts, only the bed sheets between them. "Skewer, I know we agreed you wouldn't climb on my chest you naughty familiar,"

"Boss, not the time!" Skewered scorpion said as it struggled and failed to escape. "This is the IS academy. You transformed in your sleep! Your roommate is in the bathroom changing and didn't notice your change, but you need to turn back before she comes out!"

Kinoen blinked, let go of Skewer and then looked at her chest before closing her eyes. A second later there was a dull glow and she returned to being Ichika, who then sat up allowing the bed sheets to fall off his bare chest. "Sorry about that,"

"It's fine boss, you transformed in your sleep so I figured I'd need to wake you up so you didn't get discovered," Skewered scorpion said as it stood on the bed beside Ichika's legs.

"Right, thanks. But didn't we decide you would stay at home?" Ichika asked. "You are invisible to non Kampfers, but with so many girls here we had decided it'd be best for you to not be here, remember?"

"I know and do apologize. Squashed Sand Cat and Incinerated Armadillo teamed up and buried me in your bag. I couldn't even begin to squirm out until you had taken out your night pants last night, and by the time I did, you were already asleep."

"Ugh, of course," Ichika grumbled with a shake of his head. "I'll have to tell Dan to throw them both in the washing machine as punishment."

"That might be a bit-" Skewered scorpion began to say, stopping when a door clicked and Houki came out of the shower room in her uniform.

"Ichika were you, you, uh," Houki stopped and stuttered as she witnessed Ichika sitting on his bed without a shirt, allowing his surprisingly well shaped muscle to be on full display. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but he was very clearly in very good shape.

"Houki, you okay?" Ichika asked as he moved the covers and kicked his legs over the side of the bed, revealing him to be wearing loose pajama pants.

"Uh, yes, of course!" Houki exclaimed, brought out of staring by his words. "Umm were you on the phone?"

"No, I just woke up."

"Odd, I thought I heard you through the door when I was changing," Houki muttered as she shook her head. "When did you change?"

Ichika blinked and then looked down as he realized what Houki was referring to. "Oh. Last night after I turned the lights off I realized I hadn't changed, so I waited till I figured you'd be asleep before I went into the bathroom and changed so I wouldn't wake you."

"Oh, I see. Well you should get changed, if we are late to the cafeteria there may be no breakfast left."

"Oh. How do you know?" Ichika asked as he got off the bed and crouched down by his bag, noticing Skewered scorpion climbing up onto his pillow to be out of the way. Having a familiar that wasn't a pain in the ass was so nice!

"I've been here for a few days already, and I found out other first morning that the cafeteria stoops serving breakfast at quarter to nine, right before classes start," Houki answered as she pulled out her phone and looked at it for a second. "It's after eight now so there's time but, with your sister as a teacher. . . ."

"Right, I see your point. Just give me a moment," Ichika said as he grabbed his uniform, underwear and socks and headed into the bathroom without another word, being sure to lock the door as he closed it. The bathroom was small and singular in its use. It had a small shower booth to the left and across from it a sink and a cupboard. A small shelf had a half dozen towels on it, and there was no toilet at all. A room for washing your face and showering and nothing else. Making sure he used the singular toilet in the academy he was allowed to use was going to need to become a thing.

Changing did not even take a minute before he was out of the bathroom and back to sitting on his bed to put his shoes on. Houki was standing waiting be the desks and smiled ever so slightly when Ichika stood up and grabbed his book bag after making sure it had everything in it.

"You can probably leave your bag here if you don't want to bring it to the cafeteria you know."

"Yeah, but I have too much catchup to do. I need to study while I eat," Ichika stated as he walked up and the two of them left the room. It made him really wish to have a solo room so he could transform. Women held read information better than men did, and studying as Kinoen was always much faster than studying as himself. Which was just plain odd as he still retained the information regardless but he wasn't about to complain.

The walk out of the dorms was both quiet and tiring. Houki didn't feel comfortable taking out in the open and said little, but every girl they passed greeted them with a smile and tried to stat up some gossip of some kind or the other with both of them. Houki made it clear she didn't care for most gossip, leaving Ichika to smile and apologize to nearly every girl who tried to start up a conversation. Some were waning confirmation of the rumor of him beating an examiner, a rumor that had now taken on a life of its own and was blowing up out of proportion drastically along side the rumor of him not being able to answer a question in class.

If it was going to be anything like the rumor mill in middles school it would probably be a couple days until the rumor finally died unless it was replaced by another sooner.

Shaking the worries out of his head Ichika and Houki made it to the cafeteria. It was surprisingly open and large with enough seats that it felt like no one would have any trouble sitting down, and the line to get food was just as surprisingly short.

"Um, are you sure you can eat all of that?" Houki asked as she saw the pile of food that Ichika was taking. Six strips of bacon, four sausages, two pieces of toast, a pile of scrambled eggs and a slightly smaller pile of raw vegetables.

Compared to Houki's plate it was easily triple what she had, and Ichika simply smiled. "Yeah, it'll be no problem. Where do you want to sit?"

"Um, anywhere is fine I guess, but a window would be nice, I suppose," Houki said quietly as she looked away from Ichika.

'Oh gods, why are you pushing the tsundere so hard! You already know me' Ichika mentally screamed as he looked around for a seat and found a circular table by a far window. "How about over there?"

"That's fine," Houki answered qui key before the two of them went to the table and sat down. Within seconds he took out the one textbook and opened it, keeping one page open with a finger while his other hand deftly began shoveling food toward his mouth without being messy at all.

"I'm surprised you can study while eating, "Houki commented after a few minutes of silent eating. Though the cafeteria was hardly silent as a number of students were loudly gossiping about his mere existence and presence.

"It's a useful skill, and considering our teacher is vindictive I need to study as much as possible," Ichika said as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was probably just a notification, something he could check later.

"I don't think you should call your sister that."

"I'm not, I'm calling Yamada Sensei that," Ichika said seriously as h flipped a page in the textbook and continued without looking away from it. "She specifically called me to answer that question yesterday when it should be obvious that I have not had the time to study the book to know it."

"Ah. . . Do you think maybe she just didn't think about that or forgot?" Houki asked as she was looking at her phone and let out a sigh.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. Something wrong?"

"I messaged the schools resource center about our room, and they said to talk to our homeroom teacher's aide about it," Houki explained as she put her phone in a pocket and then began eating the last of her breakfast.

"Well, I guess we'll need to get to class early then," Ichika said with a sigh as he closed his textbook and went to finish his food in mere seconds, finishing before Houki had.

"Um, yes, I guess so," Houki said as she looked on in surprise at how quickly Ichika had eaten his mountain of food.

"Well, are you coming?" Ichika asked as he stood up with his bag and empty food tray. "We need to deal with this right?"

"Yes, of course, let's, go get this fixed," Houki said, her voice a little strange as she got up to head to the classroom.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Of course the rooms can be changed, it will just take another day or two," Maya said in reply to Houki and Ichika's request. "Truthfully you should not have been in the same room, but Ichika's enrollment caused some logistical issues, so Orimura Sensei suggested putting you two together because you know each other so it would be a bit less problematic."

"Of course it was my sister's idea," Ichika grumbled under his breath.

"So it would take another couple days?" Houki asked for clarification as Ichika heard the rear classroom door slide open; making it clear that some other classmates were arriving.

"Yes. It shouldn't be more than two. Can you handle that for now?" Maya asked with a smile.

"Yes that'll be fine,"Ichika said to Houki's surprise, only for her to scowl slightly at his next words. "I'm sure we can avoid killing each other for a couple days."

"Good! Then I'll handle that and keep you both informed," Maya said with a clap of her hands. "Now as you are here early I'd suggest taking your seats and getting ready for class."

Ichika nodded and headed for his seat, sitting and pending the same textbook again and delving into it in an instant as Houki left the classroom. Probably to go and get her bag.

It was slightly strange that as more classmates entered there was more talk about him, yet no one seemed to be coming up to him at all. Groups were even gathering outside the classroom just to look at him, but no one seemed willing to speak to him. It could have been because he was nose deep in the textbook and they actually respected the fact he was studying, but somehow that didn't seem like it was the reason. Finding out what the reason was would be important, if only to make sure it wasn't going to become a problem, but it wasn't an immediate concern. No, his immediate concern was catching up.

Though his immediate concern shifted in the first few moments of the class starting as his sister walked in and spoke up to the class with homeroom announcements.

"Alright settle down. Homeroom is starting and there is only one thing that needs to be decided. You all need to nominate and decide upon who will be the class representative. Duties include attending student council meetings, organizing the return of handouts to Yamada Sensei, and organizing the class cohesion and structure during outings. Who wishes to nominate someone?"

Ichika felt his heart sink as he suddenly was painfully aware of what was going to happen. The girls were going to nominate him.

"I nominate Orimura!" one girl called.

"I second that!"

"As do I!"

Ichika scowled as his fear proved correct as more and more of the class voiced their agreements. He could see Houki looking at him in worry though, so at least she knew better. With a sigh he put up his hand, causing the class to go silent.

"Ichika, are you nominating yourself?" Chifuyu asked in an amused tone.

"No. I would like to respectfully decline the position of class rep," Ichika said smoothly, causing many of the girls to start making sad noises and comments behind him.

"And why would you decline?" Chifuyu asked with an expression he recognized as amusement.

It internally passed him off, but he held back his feelings as he explained as calmly as he could. "Because I am not the person for the job, there are others better suited, and because I have only had less than a week to study the curriculum while others have had months. I need to catch up, and will not be able to do so as easily as the class rep."

"Aaawww, but that's not right," one girl exclaimed in an upset tone.

"Yeah, you would be the perfect class rep Orimura!" another spoke up.

"And why do you think that?" Ichika asked without turning his gaze away from the front of the class.

"Well you are the only boy that can use the IS, so you would be perfect! "A different girl stated with a giggle.

"Oh, I see. You want me as the class rep to parade me around like a trophy, is that it?" Ichika asked as he turned around with a scowl on his face and venom in his voice. Unsurprisingly many of the girls were shocked or surprised by his tone. Even Houki looked surprised and when he looked back at his sister he found her amused expression gone, replaced with curiosity instead. "I am declining any nomination, Sensei."

"I understand your opinion, however nominations do not work that way, and if no one else is nominated then the position will still go to you," Chifuyu said seriously. Though Ichika could see the faintest sliver of a smirk on her lips. She was doing this on purpose!

"Alright," Houki then spoke up with a light sigh as she raised a hand up. "I will nominate mys-"

"I will not accept this!" Cecilia suddenly declared as she abruptly stood up from her seat, cutting Houki off. "It would be shame, an insult, for a man to represent out class! I will not live in shame underneath a pathetic man for an entire year when living in this woefully underdeveloped country is already difficult enough!"

Everyone was silent for a moment, simply staring at Cecilia in shock at her words. Then Ichika stood up, his chair pushing back and slamming against the desk behind him, startling many including Cecilia. As He turned around, many in the class leaned back, terrified by his dead cold gaze as he turned to look at Cecilia. "Do you get off on being arrogant?" Ichika asked bluntly, causing many of the class to gasp at his choice of words.

"Wha, what?! How dare you ask such a vulgar thing, have you no shame!?" Cecilia demanded angrily.

"Yeah I do. After all I wouldn't insult the very country I am staying in," Ichika snapped back at her. "You know most our class is Japanese right? And I don't think you have a right to call Japan underdeveloped when we are one of the most high tech countries in the world and actually have food that actually tastes good," Ichika declared before smirking as his bracelet, though unseen to the class, glowed angrily as his emotions were running. "Didn't England win the world's worst food award for a decade straight?"

Cecilia let out a gasp, as did some of the other students. "You, how dare you insult my country!"

"You are the one who insulted most of the class's country first. Maybe you should think before opening your mouth," Ichika stated as he turned to sit down, smiling as he felt his piece was said quite well.

"You, you think I will stand such boorish insults?! You are nothing but an uncouth man who cannot even grasp the most simple points of the IS! I will not stand this and you will learn your place, I challenge you to a duel!"

Ichika stopped for a moment before grinning and turning around to look at Cecilia. "I accept, and I'll see you in the kendo room after class!"

"HAAAH? What madness has invaded your skull?" Cecilia exclaimed, causing Ichika to raise a brow.

"You challenged me to a duel, that would be the best place to have it," Ichika said before a thought crossed his mind. "You, do know how to use some kind of sword, right."

"Are you daft? I am a representative candidate!" Cecilia declared proudly as she took a pose that was probably supposed to look special, but to ichika just looked like pointless posturing. "If I am challenging someone to a duel, it is to be with the only weapon that matters, the IS!"

"I really should have seen this coming," Ichika said with a sigh before looking right back at Cecilia. "So you, someone with a personal IS and likely a lot of experience is challenging me, someone without one who has used one once? Yes, I'm sure that sounds fair."

"Oh, were you not saying yesterday how you had beaten an examiner as well?" Cecilia countered coyly.

Ichika inwardly scowled at her brining that up, ignoring what else he had said. He needed to end this before it got out of hand. He was sure he could win in a regular duel, but using an unfamiliar IS would be a serious disadvantage for him. "In the first place if we were to duel in IS it would need lots of space, and I doubt it would be simple to request that, so why don't we both-"

"It's done," Chifuyu suddenly said, causing the whole class to look at her as she tapped her phone and slipped it into her pocket. "The second arena is booked for the two of you to have your duel in one week. And as no one else has spoken up, the winner of the duel will be the class rep.

Ichika gaped in horror. His sister had ruined everything in a single instant and had a smug look on her face as if she had just simplified things. "Orimura sensei, I don't even want-"

"Stow it Ichika," Chifuyu said as she took a step back and smiled. "This has been decided so the two of you will stop arguing and taking up the classes time. And before you ask, you will be allowed to use the training units to prepare yourself before the duel, and your situation in regards to what to use in the duel will be looked into. Is that understood?"

"But i-" Ichika began to saw, only for Chifuyu to interrupt.

"Is that understood?"

Ichika faltered as he recognized Chifuyu's tone. The same tone that meant she was not allowing argument whatsoever. He was stuck with the situation for now unless he could later convince her or Cecilia otherwise. "I understand," he then said as he promptly sat back down without another glance toward Cecilia.

Something was said to Cecilia, but he zoned out almost instantly as the entirely of what happened led him to a single, but very annoying, realization that his alternate personality had seeped into his own for a few seconds somewhere in that conversation. It had happened in the past, mostly when he was utterly done with dealing with someone, but it was still a problem that he needed to deal with.

Luckily the easiest way to deal with it and stop the other personality slipping in was to go and fight another kampfer. So it was obvious what he was doing after classes for the day were done.

Xxxx

The morning, once he had calmed down, had gone by surprisingly quickly. The morning classes were primary subjects unrelated to the IS and he managed fine through all of them and managed to keep up without any issue much to a number of his classmates visible surprise. Which was more than slightly insulting as it seemed a number of them seemed to assume he would be terrible at classes in general.

Lunch it seemed, was very much a group thing, with students not being allowed to hang in the classroom and having to eat in the cafeteria. This would not have been a problem, if Ichika hadn't noticed he and Houki were being very obviously followed as they got into the cafeteria line up.

"Is something wrong Ichika?" Houki asked as they waited for the line to shuffle forward.

"I'm being followed," Ichika simply said with a sigh, causing Houki to glance back at him with an incredulous look.

"You are a guy that can pilot an IS, of course you are being watched."

"Not like that," Ichika stated as the line shuffled forward, allowing Houki to accept her plate of ordered food. "They have been following at a distance since we left the classroom and not gossiping to anyone else."

"Probably looking to talk to you for favors or something then," Houki mumbled as she stepped away, allowing Ichika to take his tray of food. "Do you want to take a window booth so there's nowhere for them to hide?" Ichika grinned and nodded, the pair heading to a booth by the window and sitting down. "I do have a question though Ichika," Houki asked as they sat down and started eating.

"That is?"

"How are you planning to prepare for that, duel?"

Ichika couldn't help but scowl. "Well, my plan is to talk go my sister after class and try to make her understand I don't want to be the class mascot, but failing that I'll keep going over the book and practice with those training units I guess."

"I don't think she will budge, she looked too,-"

"Pleased with herself, yeah I noticed too," Ichika said, saving Houki from having to say it herself. "But I still need to try," Ichika stated as he noticed someone approaching the table.

"Well, if it doesn't, do you think you will need any practice with a sword?" Houki asked hopefully. "If so, maybe we could-"

"Hey there, Orimura right?" a girl asked rather loudly as she stepped up to the table, interrupting Houki from continuing.

"Yes, because there is another boy in this school who happens to be related to my sister," Ichika deadpanned.

The girl looked mortified for a moment before partly composing herself. "Well, that's pretty rude. I would have thought the brother of the Brynhildyr would know how to respect people."

"Respect is earned, and someone who tries to follow us all the way from our classroom doesn't deserve it." Ichika stated, making Houki realize she the girl was.

"Wha, what are you talking about?" the girl sputtered in obvious shock.

"We both have very powerful siblings. Did you think either of us would not notice you following us?" Houki spoke up, knowing it would help out Ichika in the conversation.

"Wha, no I just, um, I figured calling out in the hallways would be, bad and uh-"

"You were clearly following us, so what is it you want?" Ichika abruptly demanded.

"I, I heard that you were to be having a duel with a representative candidate later in the week, and considering what I've heard about your lacking knowledge of the IS I figured you could use some pointers," the girl explained before proudly striking a pose that accentuated her chest. "As a third year, I doubt you could find a better teacher after all!"

"No thank you," Ichika said as he turned back to his food.

"Excellent we can meet at," the girl began to say proudly before Ichika's words caught up with her. "What do you mean no?!"

"I mean, no I will not take teaching from you," Ichika said simply.

"What would make you decide that? I am a third year and can help you!" the girl exclaimed.

"I can learn myself,"

"And i will be helping him if he needs it as well!" Houki declared causing the third years gaze to land on her.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"Houki Shinonono," Houki said as she stared the girl right in the eyes, watching her expression turn to shock as she realized what that meant.

The girl gaped and turned to speak for a second before promptly turning and walking away, leaving Houki and Ichika somewhat alone again, and causing the rumor engine to turn back on at full force as girls at nearby tables began talking in hushed tones.

"Haaah, this is going to come back as some absurd rumor," Ichika stated as he went back to his food.

"Well, maybe it won't?" Houki suggested hopefully.

"I'm not going to hope," Uchika said as he dug back into his food, hoping the afternoon would be as problematic as the morning had been.

Xxxxxx

Much to ichika's pleasure the afternoon class went by better than he had expected. The IS curriculum was still for the most part flying over his head, but there were few parts he could make sense of, and he wasn't called upon to answer questions he had no way of knowing the answer to.

A few of his classmates were looking at him strangely, likely due to the tone he had used In the morning and his choice of words. And of course Cecilia herself was scowling in his direction anytime he even slightly saw her out the corner of his eyes. It wasn't surprising, and he didn't let it bother him.

By the end of classes most of the class was leaving the room and heading to their clubs, while Ichika immediately grabbed his bag and rushed out not to follow them, but to catch his sister who had somehow managed to call an end to the class and leave the room bare seconds after the bell had rung.

"Orimura Sensei," Ichika called as he followed his sister, causing her to stop and turn to look at him.

"What do you need Ichika?" she asked tersely.

" I would like to talk," Ichika said simply, leaving it vague in the hopes that maybe after getting the class rep situation dealt with he could get some answers out of his sister.

"Very well. Follow," Chifuyu said as she turned and continued walking down the hall.

Ichika promptly followed, passing many other students as he went winding down the halls and up a stairwell to a hall way that appeared to be nothing but office for the faculty. Entering one office behind his sister Ichika found the room to be bare, utilitarian and simple. A bookcase on the left wall beside a filing cabinet, a single desk in the rooms center and, as expected of his sister, a sword hanging on the right wall.

" I have a meting in half an hour, so we need to make this quick," Chifuyu said as she sat down at the desk and looked at Ichika, and then the singular metal folding chair that sat across from her.

Ichika took the hint and sat down across from his site n cleared his throat. "there doesn't need to be a duel between me and Alcott."

"You accepted her challenge," Chifuyu countered.

"I had thought she had been meaning a normal duel with swords, not a machine I have no experience in," Ichika said before shaking his head slightly. "That is not why though. There doesn't need to be a duel because I do not want to be the class rep as I had said in class. If she wants it, then she can have it."

"It has already been set, the arena is already booked, and no one else was nominated."

"Houki was going to nominate herself before you interrupted her."

"Then she should have been faster," Chifuyu countered again. "The arena is already booked and it would cause issues if the booking was changed, so I suggest you get practicing."

Ichika felt himself starting to get angry as it was clear his sister was intent on the duel occurring for some reason. Then a thought crossed his mind and made him smirk as he stood up from his chair. "The winner is to become the class representative, correct?"

"That is what I had said in class."

"Then I am forfeiting the match right now," Ichika said as he turned and began heading to the door.

"So you are running away from a challenge? I know I raised you better than that, Ichika," Chifuyu said seriously, causing Ichika to stop just before reaching the door.

Ichika felt the last few years of essentially raising himself flash into his thoughts. If it wasn't for Dan and Ran's family he would have spent nearly every night cooking eating alone. If it wasn't for becoming a Kampfer alongside Ran and Dan, he probably would have been leaving school, Studying and going to sleep and having absolutely no social interactions of any kind. He would have been a grim and uncaring person who had no idea of how to act to others, or how the concepts of family was supposed to work. "Really?" Ichika asked after a few moments of silence as he turned around to face his sister. "You may have raised me before, but considering that I have barely seen you for almost two years, I don't think that really counts.

"'Excuse me?" Chifuyu asked, clearly upset by his words.

"You ran off to Germany for almost a year barely a month after I was kidnapped, never coming home, and then have barely been home since as you were at some other job, here I would assume. I have barely seen you at all in years, and the first thing you do is berate me and make me the center of attention in a place that I do not even want to be in," Ichika said as clearly as he could, his gaze never leaving his sisters. "why am I even here? Even if I can use the IS, I have no training, have done no studying and the fact I can use it could have easily been hidden. So why did you enroll me here without even considering my opinion or position?"

Chifuyu looked visibly shocked for a second before composing herself and answering. "It is for your own good."

"My own good?" Ichika asked in annoyance. "Why? Why is it so important I be in this place with only one person I know, instead of a proper school where I know people, and actually know half the curriculum and am not mocked for being a man and having an opinion or ogled for the same reason?"

Chifuyu simply looked at him for a second, clearly conflicted for some reason, and sighed. "it is for security reasons. For your safety."

"For my safety?" Ichika asked incredulously.

"Yes. If it was hidden, and a less than reputable organization found out about you being able to pilot the IS, something could happen to you."

Ichika could hear the worry and fear in his sisters voice, making it clear she was recalling when he had been kidnapped, but it still pissed him off as her logic didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. "so instead you make it public knowledge and drag me here, where I am out in the open and the center of attention all the time because of you being my sister and my gender. Yes, because that is smart!"

"the IS academy has extremely good security,"

"Yeah, sure it does," Ichika said as he turned back to the door and gripped its handle before stopping for a second and sighing. "If you are not going to tell me the real reason I am here, then I'm leaving, and I am forfeiting the match."

"Ichika, you cannot do that."

"Then why am I here!?" Ichika almost yelled as he spun in place and glared at his sister. "and do not give me that, it's for my own safety bullshit! If you actually cared about my safety you would have taken me to Germany with you instead of leaving me! You would have actually been home on occasion instead of never being home, and acting like I am nothing to you, so it clearly is not for my, safety, as you call it!" Ichika said in visible anger at the years of neglect were now boiling to the surface. "Why am I here?"

"I, cannot tell you yet. Its classified." Chifuyu said after a few seconds of silence.

Ichika wanted to scream, but stopped himself as he felt his bracelet trying to burn a hole through his wrist. It was never painful, but it was a good way to control himself as emotions did have an effect on his transformations. "Fine," he finally said with a huff, deciding that, if his sister wasn't willing to trust him, then he would simply have nothing to do with her, just like she had nothing to do with him for years. "If you are unwilling to tell me then I will not press. Orimura Sensiei, I am forfeiting the match at this moment. That is all," he said as he turned back to the door and opened it.

"Ichika, calm down and think for a-"

"Orimuara sensei, please refer to me by my family name in the future," Ichika said, interrupting Chifuyu and making her stare at him in shock at the unfamiliar way he was speaking to her. "My business here is done, thank you for your time."

"Wait, Ichika!" Chifuyu called as Ichika left and closed the door behind him, leaving Chifuyu alone with her thoughts.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ichika stormed down the hall and only stopped when he was halfway down the stairs that had led up to the faculty offices. He knew he would be somewhat angry if he had a chance to talk to his sister in private, but he had not expected her to be so pointlessly tight lipped about everything. Did she think he was a child still? Did she somehow think that, after being kidnapped and left alone for years on end without a peep from her that he has somehow not grown up or gained a spine?

His grumblings were stopped from continuing as his phone began vibrating incessantly in his pocket. With a sigh he pulled it out, swiped and put it to his ear. "Hello, Ichika Orimura speaking.

"Hey Ichika, how's life in PMS land!" Came Dan's voice.

"About as enjoyable as being forced to shop with your sister during a sale," Ichika replied with a sigh.

"That bad huh?"

"Being seen as a trophy or mascot, being forced into a duel, being stalked by students hoping to get things from helping me, yeah, lots of fun," Ichika explained sarcastically.

"Yeah, sorry I asked. Uh, look, I was hoping not to, but I'm going to make your day worse it sounds like," Dan said, sounding honestly upset at the fact.

"Alright, what is it?

"Uh, Ran's alter went and posted our group video that we were nearly done editing-."

"Okay, I don't see-"

"-and mentioned in an added part at the end that Kinoen would not be posting anything for a while because she's at the IS academy."

Ichika was quiet for a few moments before letting out a short chuckle. "Okay, yeah I can use that. Maybe it can overrule the other rumors going around."

"You, are taking this better than I expected when you had made it clear to her you didn't want that known or even insinuated," Dan said, sounding legitimately worried.

"Since I've arrived here I've been hounded and been the focus of rumor after rumor," Ichika said with a sigh. "Not to mention the girls that come up to me clearly hoping to get on my good side. Probably to get closer to my sister who they seem to worship. I may have also had an, argument with her."

"Oh. You unloaded on her, didn't you?" Dan asked knowingly.

"she refused to give me a straight answer as to why I am here, and has been doing things that are making things harder for me for some reason I can only assume is personal, so yes, I unloaded on her with everything and will be talking to her as if she was not family until she apologizes and gives me a straight answer."

"Well, I guess she has it coming with years of not saying hi, but you probably should have done it a bit gentler," Dan said with a sigh. "What set you off? I mean, you had told us you wouldn't unload on her unless she was the one that made you, right?"

"Well, she made a comment of how that wasn't how she raised me," Ichika admitted.

"Oohh, that would do it. What brought it on?" Dan asked. This led to Ichika giving him a quick, but accurate explanation of everything that had so far managed to occur in the not even two days he had been at the IS academy. Which, understandably, led to a single comment from Dan. "Man, that is fucked up."

"Not the word I'd use, but yeah," Ichika responded with a sigh.

"No, but Kinoen would use those words," Dan said with a chuckle before he regained his seriousness. "You going to be okay though? Sounds like a whole lot of shit is going on with the only good thing being Houki being there."

"Well, I think a rumor of Kinoen being here will calm down the rumor mill, aside from that I just have to take it as it comes."

"Jeez. Well if you need to talk, even to vent, just call me or Ran and we'll listen."

"Thanks man, I may need to take you up on that at some point."

"No problem," Dan said before letting out a slightly awkward noise. "Um, did you read those texts I sent you?"

"Um, no I hadn't had a chance?"

"Then sorry. They were me trying to tell you to call my sister and tell her to not post her addendum at the end of the video mentioning Kinoen."

"I'll deal with it, in the big picture it's not that bad of a thing, and it's just Schad trying mess with us," Ichika said, referencing Ran's Kampfer form by name.

"Well, she does like messing with people. All of ours do really."

"Yeah, that we do. How have things been back home?"

"no change. I don't think the blues around here have even noticed Kinoen is not around. They probably will in a few days when the videos start fully circulating though. It was posted just a couple hours ago," Dan said with a grunt, making it clear he was probably exercising or going for a run. "How about over there, any red or blues?"

"I think I saw a blue bracelet once yesterday, but I haven't since. I was actually thinking of going hunting for them to blow of some steam."

"Fair, I'll let you go do that then, keep us posted on who you fight and I'll add them to our archive."

"Yeah sure, but before you go Dan, I need you to do something for me."

"Wipe your hard drive?" Dan asked, clearly joking.

"Lock Sandcat and the Armadillo in the washer and dryer for an extended period. They teamed up on Skewered and buried him in my bag."

"Good to know, we'll properly punish them."

"Thanks. I'm hoping things calm down enough that I can check my phone regularly, so if something comes up just text me."

"Yeah I'll do that. Good hunting Ichika, stay safe and don't blow any roofs apart this time!"

"That was one time!" Ichika retorted, only to find that Dan had already hung up.

Taking in a deep breath Ichika let it out with a small smile. Getting everything off his chest had helped a lot. He didn't feel like he was about to explode with rage anymore and almost felt calm again. Of course that meant he was now calm enough to realize he had defiantly let his emotions get the better of him when taking with his sister.

"Not that I regret it in some ways, she definitely has had this coming," Ichika muttered to himself before he shook his head and slid his phone back into his pocket. "Right, no more gloom, its time to go hunting!"

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The IS Academy was big. It wasn't big because of the amount of students though. Sure there were hundreds, but the average school easily dwarfed the number of students. No, the IS academy was big because it also needed to house the engineers who maintained all of the academies Training model IS's, as well as any personal IS's students or teachers had, as well as had to hold the IS's themselves. The fact the academy had no less than five full size arenas for the is to use also contributed to its size, as did the fact that is was like a boarding school and therefore had to house all of the students themselves.

The places students were allowed to frequent however made up only a portion of the entre academy itself. Students had no reason to go the maintenance buildings or the arenas unless training, and the teacher's dorms and offices were seldom visited as well. This meant the variety of clubrooms, the fields, classrooms and the small shopping district were the most likely areas in use after classes had ended aside from the cafeteria for dinner.

Luckily Ichika did not have to wander for long before his bracelet gave him a response, pulsing lightly to inform him of a nearby foe. Looking around he found a door to what was marked as a library and slipped inside in a perfectly normal fashion.

The library it turned out was huge, taking up multiple floors with the upper floors looking down on the ones below them. He could see many girls gossiping at tables while studying. He also could see a girl on the floor below his who was looking around uncomfortably, as if expecting something. It made it clear she was possibly a Kampfer, but it was her obviously foreign looks that truly caught Ichika's attention. She was very well endowed in the chest, easily as large as Houki was, though not as much as his alter was, and her blonde hair was done up in a tight ponytail. She also appeared to be wearing pair of bike shorts instead of the uniforms skirt.

Ichika wanted to just change, jump down, and attack, but him and many other having done that historically and quickly causing property damage is what led to Kampfers having to be more careful, so instead he took a piece of paper out of his pocket, quickly wrote on it, crumpled it, and then tossed it down so that it bounced off the girls head and onto the floor. He then quickly moved away from the edge and left the library.

After all, it wouldn't do to be seen as the one who left such a short, but accurate message. Now all he needed to do was to see if she took the bait.

Leaving the school Ichika wandered for a bit and found a dark corner in the shade and out of sight. Checking in every direction he then let his bracelet do its thing, and a Second later Kinoen stood there in his place, but instead of her usual clothing, she was wearing the IS Academy uniform.

"Hmm, not bad I suppose," Kinoen said as she looked over the outfit and brushed the skirt. "Think I'd prefer it to be a slight it longer but there's no helping it I suppose.

With a quick stretch she then ran away from the wall, only to turn and jump at it, quickly scaling the wall with skill and ability no normal human could muster.

Kampfer's were after all, not entirely human.

As soon as she launched herself up over the wall and above the roof she could see the blonde from the library standing on the roof looking around in the opposite direction. Good she followed the notes directions, now she just needed to confirm if she was a Kampfer or not.

Kinoen landed soundlessly on the roof and struck a pose, putting one hand on her hip as she spoke up. "So, you came."

The blonde spun in place to look at her and was rather surprised, but did not let it stop her from talking, her voice having a clear accent that marked her as probably American. "You're the one who hit me with that note?" She asked as she was clearly looking Kinoen up and down, her gaze lingering on her body for a few seconds more than was probably necessary.

"I am yes," Kinoen said as she began slowly walking towards the blonde. "I take it you do not know who I am?"

"No, should I?" The blonde asked nervously.

"No, I'm just well-known here in japan, so I figured I would ask. My name is Kinoen, from the phrase Edge of Gold. Kin- no- en. Kinoen."

"Um, okay, I don't see the point of names like that but, why did you call me here? I haven't seen you in the academy. Are you a third year maybe?" She asked again Eyeing Kinoens body, specifically her chest and the fact she looked a slight bit too old and curvy to be a high school student.

"Well, I wanted to confirm something," Kinoen said with a smile.

"And that is?" The blonde asked, now becoming more than a bit annoyed by the way Kinoen was avoiding her questions.

"Well,-" Kinoen began as she suddenly took a step forward and thrust her hand forward, forming her Odachi in in her hands perfectly so that it formed with the tip a few centimeters from the blondes face. She took a second but then realized what had happened and jumped backwards, her body glowing for half a second as a blue bracelet appeared on her left wrist. At the same time her blonde hair became very pale pink, and a handgun appeared in her hand. "That is what I wanted to confirm!"

"What, you're a Kampfer? But, where is your bracket!?" the blonde demanded as she aimed her pistol at Kinoens face, instead of her body.

"Oh, I just have it hidden," Kinoen said with a mental command, causing her red bracket to appear on her right wrist. "Just like you can hide it in your normal form, you can take the boon to hide it even in your Kampfer form. It can be awfully useful after all, wouldn't you agree?"

The now pinkette scowled as she took another step back, keeping her pistol trained on Kinoen. " So you're an enemy then,"

"Yes, you are blue, and I am red," Kinoen said as the gold of her hair began to shimmer while the black seemed to inversely absorb light. "Shall we have a little dance?"

Her question was meeting by a trio of pistol shots that were swatted out of the air with a single swing of her long blade. She continued to fire over and over again, and with shot Kinoen swatted the bullet out of the air or even simply bisected it with her blade.

"Hmm, you have good instinct and accuracy, but you really should be shooting at my body, not my head. Larger target and all that," Kinoen said as she deflected a round and then brought her sword behind her in both hands. " CASCADE!"

With a heavy horizontal swing Kinoens sword let loose a scintillating cone of energy towards the pinkette. She fired at it, only for the bullet to be dissolved, and upon seeing as such she took a leap backwards and then jumped up onto the top of the fence, watching the wave of energy go underneath her and shred the chain link.

To Kinoens surprise she then simply dropped down off the fence post, letting it fall to the ground after her, and formed a second, much larger pistol in her other hand before aiming and firing it. It let out a thunderous crack, and when Kinoen sung her sword to meet it felt actual resistance from the bullet before it was split in two.

"Hmm, large caliber, a .45 I guess, yeah?" Kinoen asked with a grin as she readjusted her stance to deal with the heavier ammunition.

"How did you-"

"I have a bit of experience being a Kampfer and have fought a lot of Gewehr like yourself. Have a friend who is one as well," Kinoen said with a grin before she suddenly lunged forward, her blade singing through the air.

A swing, a gunshot, a couple smaller shots, a block, a dodge, another swing. Each swing of her odachi was blocked by the backside of the heavier pistol, while the pinkette used the lighter pistol to try to unbalance her and make room to use her larger caliber. It was a good tactic, but one that was best used when a Gewehr had backup or was fighting a Schwert with less reach than an Odachi. After a few moments more of parrying each other's blows Kinoen figured she had a solid feel for her opponent and took a step back, allowing her opponent to do the same.

"Hmm, not bad, you have some experience and with your bracelet invisible before and having a second pistol that is a bigger caliber you have at least two boons from your familiar," Kinoen explained before smirking. "What is your name?"

"Tina Hamilton," the pinkette Kampfer replied.

Kinoen looked at her for a second before slouching and letting out a heavy sigh. "Ugh, and here I thought maybe you would not make that mistake. That is your real name, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, why is that-"

"Idiot!" Kinoen shrieked, surprising Tina. "Think for a moment, if you give your real name how easy for someone to find you does it become? We Kampfer are beyond human. We could sneak into any school and rampage through their student databases until we find the one we fought and then go deal with them on our own terms instead of having to actively hunt of them!"

"What?! Then, then why are you telling me this?"

"Because I have dealt with Kampfer who did fight like that and I hate it," Kinoen said seriously as she shook her head before then pointing her odachi back at Tina. "In the future, come up with some sort of fake name or Alias for yourself."

"Wait, you are not trying to off me then?" Tina asked in confusion.

"Oh no, I am," Kinoen said as she raised her bracelet up, it suddenly showing a thin white line around it. "I'm still going to do my best to off you as we both should as kampfer, but it's clear to me you only have a few boons right now, so it wouldn't sit with me well to just off you when you are clearly new. When did you become a Kampfer?"

". . . Three weeks ago," Tina replied honestly.

"I've been a Kampfer for over a year and have twelve Boons," Kinoen admitted with a grin as she swung her odachi up and rested it on her shoulder. "I'm willing to bet you have three at most, which is still impressive, but not enough to be a challenge for me if I was taking this seriously."

"So your just, letting me go because you think I'm weak?" Tina asked inn anger.

"No, I'm letting you go now, so that the next time we meet we can really go after one another's heads like we mean it! And because you are weak."

Tina looked at her for a moment before scowling. "So this was just to test me, to see if I was worth going after?"

"Yes, it was," Kinoen said with a rather cruel grin. "it's no fun to just go and off another Kampfer without a little challenge after all!"

Tina did not seem to take that well, but simply stepped back toward the door to leave the room, her pistols both never leaving from pointing at Kinoen. "Fine, but I am not going down, you hear me, we will take you down!" she declared as she ran off and disappeared from sight. Likely not realizing she had let slip an important piece of information.

We will, meaning multiple, meaning she had allies either at the academy itself, or who she could call on short notice.

"Looks like I'll be able to have some fun when I need it," Kinoen said as she walked over to a large water tower on the roof that was near a number of other machines, likely air conditioning, and found a shady spot between them. She then summoned her book bag out of whatever space they went when she transformed and sat down, pulling one of the books out.

It was still a while until dinner would be served at the cafeteria, so she could use this time to do some more reading and really retain it.

Hopefully the next few days would be better than this morning had been.

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Authors note: Alright, duel preparations perhaps set, more fleshing out of Houki and Ichika and how they deal with their classmates, and even a meeting with another Kampfer who, in canon, if you did not know is Rin's roommate from the US.

Having mentioned the boons a bit in this chapter I am wondering, do people think I should give a more complete explanation of them and give a list of the ones Ichika/Kinoen has perhaps?

Something to think about. Well I hope the argument between siblings wasn't completely weird or overly complex, anger doesn't always make things easy to explain, but I hope it isn't too bad. hope you all enjoyed the chapter!