Hello, everyone. Here I am with the new chapter, so let's roll!

For those who wrote their reviews:

Cloud Narukami, kuro yaksha: No, I'd not say that it will be a harem story. It will be pairing or dual pairing with some harem elements, at least for now I'm planning it like that.

Imperial-samaB, Redmoon2, Telron, DarkBladerZX, kreep13, xHalcyon, Guest, rajdiangelo, killjoytommy, FateBurn, Ravelt Knightwalker, sleipnir34, New Universe Returns,: Thanks for your support people, here's the new chapter.

Chifuyu and Tabane will be getting more and more 'screen' time starting from summer camp events and onward.


Chapter IV – The Equalizer

June 4th, 8:42 AM

"…I guess I also shall introduce myself then?" Ichika asked, pressing Laura's head to the floor with his boot, "I am Orimura Ichika. Pleased to meet you…"

That scene, however, didn't last long as Ichika has been grabbed by his shirt and forcibly dragged out of the classroom by his sister. "Bodewig, get on your sit," Chifuyu ordered before she closed the door shut behind herself and Ichika.

"What the hell are you doing, you jerk?!" Chifuyu's growl could be heard through the closed door. In the meantime, Laura stood up on all four, her face was expressing a deep shock, she seemingly didn't even understand what happened just now.

"That was a self-defense," Ichika's voice replied as entire class was carefully listening to the conversation beyond classroom's door, at the same time staring at Laura. "She tried to hit me, you saw it yourself, Orimura-sensei."

"You could just stop her," Chifuyu sounded quite displeased, "We already had this conversation, aren't we?"

"I could, but then she wouldn't have learned her lesson," Ichika replied indifferently. "By the way, can I assume that this is that doggy you were training for a year? Honestly, I was expecting to see a German shepherd, but that is just aChihuahua, at best. You were training that Chihuahua? That's the way to waste an entire year of your life…" Ichika noted casually.

BOOM! Seemingly, Chifuyu slammed her fist into the wall, entire class flinched. "Ichika, if you won't shut your mouth immediately, you'll regret that!" Since she called him by his first name, she was no longer a teacher, whose student committed an act of violence against another student, she was an elder sister, whose brother was behaving like a scum. Honestly, only two people in the world could infuriate Chifuyu to that extent. Their conversation lasted for about two more minutes (though only Chifuyu was talking and her voice was too quiet for people in the classroom to hear what she was saying exactly, however, there were little doubts that she was sorting things out with her brother, as, in particular, that case about Chifuyu working as an instructor in Germany actually was a state secret).

Classroom's door opened and Chifuyu returned to classroom, with Ichika following her. Laura was on her feet, but she still stood near Ichika's seat. "Bodewig, haven't I told you to take your seat?" Chifuyu asked, and that sounded like an order, with voice that left no place for objections. Laura obeyed, as she quickly backed away and sat down on the empty seat. Ichika took his seat. Seemingly, Chifuyu deliberately didn't force Ichika to apologize to Laura, as it only would humiliate her more.

Ichika was sitting as if nothing happened, while Laura was sitting with her eye shut, though her hands were trembling with rage. After that Yamada-sensei said a few things about practice lessons, Chifuyu clapped her hands to prompt everyone into action, "Homeroom lesson will end now. Everyone has to change up, as we'll be doing I.S. practice together with Class 2. Dismissed!"

Ichika stood up and headed towards classroom exit. He couldn't stay in classroom as girls are going to change into I.S. suits here, and they probably would be against Ichika's presence… at least some of them. As such, he had to find some other place to change into I.S. suit. Though, since they're going to second arena, it means that its changing room should be unoccupied now.

"Hey, Orimura," Chifuyu called for her brother when he was passing by her, "Since you're both guys, take care of Dunois."

Ichika stopped and looked at his sister with little surprise, "What, you want me to play along?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chifuyu replied, with voice that only made Ichika more confident that she perfectly knows what he's talking about.

"And you dare to call me a sadist, after that?" He whispered, returning back to class. She wants to take revenge on him for assaulting her pupil? Then why she's punishing Dunois?...

"Are you Orimura-kun? We've met for the first time, I'm…" Ichika didn't let that girl (in boyish disguise) to finish her phrase as he grabbed Charles's hand and walked out of the classroom, pulling her along. 'Interesting, onee-san wants me to find out why this girl's pretending to be a boy, or she just think that it's fun…?' Ichika thought. 'By the way, what's her real name? Probably similar to that she's using now… maybe Charlene? Oh well, I'll call her Charles for now, anyway.'

"We'll change in the changing room at the arena, and we have to do that for every practical session in future, so you'd better get used to it quickly," Ichika explained about where they're heading now.

"O-Okay..." Charles replied. Actually, she was looking rather anxious. Of course, probably Ichika made rather weird expression on her, knocking another girl off her feet… Does she now think that he's violent towards all classmates? Well, from commoner's point of view, Ichika really overreacted, but still, that Laura started it as she tried to hit him, and entire class saw it.

'Ah, probably that's what it is…' Ichika noticed that she was constantly throwing glances at his arm, which was holding her arm. 'She's one of those girls whose heart began to beat faster due to direct skin contact with opposite gender…' Honestly, he was a bit disappointed, though, in fact, he was the one whose reaction was abnormal. Of course, Ichika grew up under the same roof with Chifuyu, and Tabane hanging around, and that was hard to imagine that any of those two would be excited just because some boy would take their hand (actually, for normal boy it could be dangerous…)

Anyway, right now it wasn't important, as they have to reach changing room at second arena.

"Ahh! Rumored transfer student detected!"

"And he's together with Orimura-sama!"

Ah, and that's where troubles appeared. Once homeroom period is over, all the students from all classes and all years will send out their elite troops. If they'll catch Charles, that poor 'guy' we'll be questioned until the end of intermission between classes, which means two possibilities – he'll be late for practice, which means that Ichika has failed his task to 'take care of Dunois'; or they both be late. In either way, Chifuyu won't be pleased, and since Ichika already enraged her today it would be a very, very undesired situation…

"Stay close and follow me, as if your life is at stake," Ichika warned quietly, and then headed forward, right towards crowd of girls. "Ladies, I'm very sorry, but we're in hurry, please spare your questions for the after school," He said, still moving forward, and pulling Dunois behind himself. That was quite a weird scene – hundreds of girls flooded the corridor, but when Ichika was approaching, they all were making a step aside, making a passage for him and his 'protégé'… Seemingly, for them, Ichika was like a flame for a moth, it was so tempting to approach him but they all were afraid to burn their wings…

"Wha… What's going on? Why is everyone like this?" Charles asked as it seemed that she hasn't got what's going on, and 'boy' looked really puzzled now.

"Isn't that obvious? We're the only two guys in this entire academy," Ichika replied. 'You signed for it yourself, girl…'

"Um…?" In response Ichika got 'I don't understand' look.

"And not only that, we're "very special guys, which can pilot an I.S.," Ichika explained. "On the other hand, majority of the girls here came from girls-only middle schools, so now, sinking in their own estrogen, they're craving to at least talk with boys for a bit."

"Ah… ahh… okay. I see." Dunois nodded. Honestly, Ichika's explanation was a bit offensive towards all girls, but Ichika used such words intentionally.

"Well, it's rather interesting, by the way," Ichika said as they were going downstairs, still closely followed by a whole crowd of students.

"What's interesting?" Charles wondered.

"I won't say that it's really hard for me to be the only guy in school, but still, sometimes there are things that guys can only discuss between themselves, you know, things that girls shouldn't hear for their own sake…" Ichika said, as Charles gulped when she heard that, though that was exact reaction the former was expecting. "Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Ichika Orimura, you may call me Ichika."

"Hmm, nice to meet you, Ichika-san. You can just call me Charles," Girl replied with somehow forced smile. That probably was only natural, because feeling that most girls were experiencing towards Ichika could be called an 'awe'. There was some sort of oppressive aura around him, and no doubt that girl, who called herself Charles, she also could feel it. But, unlike other girls, she'll be forced to stick much closer to him…

"Alright, Charles," Ichika said as arena's entrance air lock has been removed, the door slid aside, and Charles and Ichika entered 2nd arena's changing room.

"Very well, we're here, but here's not much time left, let's change quickly," Ichika said, suppressing ironic smile as he was actually interested to see how this 'boy' is going to change clothes in front of him. He himself unbuttoned his summer shirt and threw it on bench, and then removed his black sleeveless T-shirt. Speaking of which, Ichika had no problems with completely undressing in front of a girl, besides, for his age he was very well built.

"Uwah!" Charles yelped as 'he' saw Ichika undressing.

"What is it now?" Ichika asked, removing his pants, though he perfectly knew what is it, as girl's face was blushing heavily. "Man, why aren't you changing? I'd strongly suggest you to stop wasting time, as our homeroom teacher has very low tolerance towards latecomers," Ichika continued to play his role.

"O-Okay, I, I'll change. But, erm, can you please look at the other side... please?" Charles words sounded like a plea.

"Humph… very well," Ichika agreed. It's good that this poor girl didn't know that his emperor's eyes have 360 degrees' field of vision. Despite he was facing away, Ichika still was able to see everything behind his back. Charles also turned away, seemingly she didn't want to see Ichika naked (or her teenage head would explode). She began to change clothes, and she was doing it remarkably quickly. Still, when she removed her jacket and shirt Ichika got a confirmation to his guess – she really was wearing a broad tourniquet to hide her breasts (Ichika was sure that enduring such a pressure is quite unhealthy for woman's breasts, by the way). And when she removed her pants and panties – well, no more doubts – she's a girl. Girl with nice curves, straight legs and quite a palatable butt.

Anyway, as Ichika put on his I.S. suit pants, she already was fully dressed into I.S. suit (Ichika was a bit distracted, examining her body, though). "Oh, you're fast at changing," Ichika noted as he put on his I.S. suit top.

"Wow, Ichika-san, your I.S. suit looks… remarkable…" She said as he was finally fully dressed up. His suit looked like carbon-colored suit for surfing, with large image of phoenix on his chest.

"Well, when I made some requests, several companies volunteered to make suit for me, so I actually had a choice," Ichika explained. "By the way, yours seems to be custom-made as well." Well, that's obvious as male's I.S. suit should be custom made.

"Ah, um, this is a suit created by Dunois Enterprise. Though it was developed through the basic Greek design, it seems to be a thoroughly customized version," Charles replied.

"By the way, I wanted to ask – your last name sounds just like the name of the company you just mentioned, you are related somehow?" Ichika wondered, though not that he was really interested.

"Yup, that's my family's company. My dad's the President, I guess it should be the largest I.S.-related enterprise in France," She explained.

'Oh, so she's a daughter of I.S. related company's president… now it's becoming a bit interesting…' Ichika thought.

"Well, compared to me, Ichika-san's even more impressive, right? That you're Orimura Chifuyu-san's little brother," Charles changed subject.

"You think?" Ichika asked with irony, "Anyway, let's get going."


When he entered arena, Ichika was extrapolating the image of naked Charles he just saw, trying to imagine how she's going to look when she will be 18 years old. "Since you have time to think about such useless things, hurry up and get in line!" Chifuyu ordered as soon as Ichika and Charles appeared on 2nd arena. Seemingly, Ichika's thoughts were too loud… Though they haven't come late, they were the last from their class.

"Ichika-san, what happened in the class just now?" Cecilia was standing beside Ichika. Oh, what a coincidence. Since she and Ichika were two personal I.S. owners in class 1-1, she always was standing next to him. And since their 'duel' in April, she was very interested in all events with Ichika being involved. "You know that new girl?"

"Yes, what's the relationships between you two?" Rin was standing right behind Ichika. Seemingly, rumors about that little confrontation between Ichika and Laura have already reached class two, with lots of details. "Don't tell me she's your former girlfriend or something?!" Rin liked to jump to (usually wrong) conclusions.

"I'm pretty sure that it was our first meeting…" Ichika waved both girls off.

"I got it, I got it. Ichika-san's really popular with girls, right? So they just want to hit him with no reason…" Cecilia mumbled.

"Ichika, you definitely know something," Rin couldn't settle down.

*PANG* *PANG* Under the azure sky, two smacks of the attendance book sounded loud and clear as Chifuyu helped both girls to clear up their thoughts.


"First, we'll be watching a practical battle that involves close range and shooting," Chifuyu announced.

"Yes ma'am!" As it's a combined practical between class one and class two, there's double the number of people as per usual, and even the replies sound a lot louder.

"Kuu... how could she just hit my head like that..."

"...It's all Ichika's fault. It's all Ichika's fault. It's all Ichika's fault..."

Teary-eyed, Cecilia and Rin were mumbling, rubbing their heads, as being hit by attendance book like that actually was quire painful.

'Girls are funny beings, after all…' Ichika thought with irony.

"Today, I would like to let everyone see a real battle," Chifuyu declared, "And there just so happen to be two lively girls being present – Huang, Alcott, step forward!"

""What, me?!"" Both girls complained at the same time.

"Since you two have personal suits, you can start battle immediately. Okay, get out here," Chifuyu ordered.

"Why me..." Cecilia moaned as she unwillingly stepped forward.

"It's definitely Ichika's fault, so why..." Rin whimpered, following Cecilia.

"You two better buck up, don't you want to show that guy of what you two are made of?" Chifuyu silently whispered as two girls approached her.

"This is the stage for me, the representative candidate for England, Cecilia Alcott!" Cecilia suddenly began to radiate those 'princess vibes' again.

"That's right. It's a great chance to show everyone the difference in ability as a personal I.S. pilot!" Rin also perked up as that competitive smirk appeared on her face.

For some reason, both their motivation values just shot up. "What did Orimura-sensei say to them just now?" Charles asked as she witnessed sudden change in two girls' attitude.

"Don't even ask," Ichika replied, looking at his sister with narrowed eyes, as he managed to lip-read what she said, and most likely she let him do it deliberately.

"Then who's my opponent? I'm alright even if it's against Rin-san!" Cecilia announced.

"Fufu, that's my line. I'll slaughter you," Rin pointed at blonde.

"No need to rush, idiots," Chifuyu intervened, "Your opponent will be…"

At that moment, everyone could hear strange sound, as well as desperate woman's scream, "Ah! Ple… Please get out of the way!" Everyone looked up, only to see green I.S. falling down from the sky, and according to its trajectory it'll fall right to the place where now two classes are lined up. All girls ran into different directions.

"Oh come on…" Ichika sighed as white light engulfed his body and he deployed Messiah. POOF! Green I.S. collided with Ichika, eliciting the cloud of dust. As dust cloud dissipated, Ichika appeared holding another I.S. and its pilot with two hands. Actually, it wasn't a collision, with his eyes Ichika easily calculated trajectory and caught falling I.S. The I.S. pilot appeared to be Maya Yamada, and Ichika now was holding her bride-style.

"That, that, Orimura-san... kya!" She yelped as she suddenly realized her situation.

"Yamada-sensei, are you alright?" Ichika asked, still not letting her go.

"Ah, Orimura-san... Yes, I'm okay…" She bubbled, as her face was flushing heavily.

"I'm so envious to Yama-chan…"

"Yamapi is so lucky…"

"I want to be on Maa-yan's place!"

Ichika could hear other girls' envious voices, though now he was a bit busy, examining Maya's body. She normally doesn't wear tight-fitting clothes, so it wasn't that obvious but the I.S. suit she was wearing now is completely different. Her hefty beautiful breast curves were exposed in front of everyone.

"Mmm… Orimura-kun... Would you please let me go?" Maya asked Ichika and her words sounded like a plea.

"Ah, of course," Ichika said casually as he released her, leaving her floating about six feet above the surface as he undeployed his I.S. By the way, despite Ichika wasn't looking at them directly, both Cecilia and Rin were looking at him (and at Maya) with hatred, and Houki… she was looking into the ground but Ichika could see veins on her forehead… she's angry…

"So then, little girls, let's start already," Chifuyu said, "Yamada-sensei is your opponent."

"Wha? Erm, 2 vs 1 is..." Cecilia looked at Chifuyu in surprise.

"No, this is too..." Rin mumbled

"Relax, if it's you two, you'll lose in no time," Orimura-sensei smiled cunningly, "Though Yamada-sensei doesn't look like it, she was a former representative candidate."

"Well, that was ages ago. And I never got past being just a candidate..." Maya sighed.

Girls were already unhappy after seeing Ichika holding Maya in his arms, and now, after hearing that they would lose, Cecilia and Rin's wills started to boil, since it was important for them to beat an opponent at least once (as both lost their official matches), so their killing intent and power have risen.

"Then, let's start!" Cecilia and Rin shouted out as they flew up. Seeing this, Yamada-sensei followed them.

"I won't hold back!"

"I'm not like I was back then!"

Girls shouted their battlecries.

"Here I come!" Yamada-sensei was talking as per normal, but her eyes now were cool and sharp. Cecilia and Rin launched a preemptive attack, but Yamada-sensei easily dodged them.

"Then, during this time... Dunois, give a commentary on the I.S. Yamada-sensei's using," Chifuyu requested.

"Ok… Okay," Charles continued to watch the battle in the sky as she began to explain with a reliable voice, "The I.S. Yamada-sensei's using is a Raphael Revive from Dunois Enterprise. It's a machine developed at the end of the 2nd generation phase, but the specifications rival that of the early 3rd generation machines. In terms of deployed mass production I.S. models, it was the last to be sold, but has the 3rd largest user-base in the world. Only 7 countries are permitted to create it, and 12 countries use it as a standard I.S. Most notably, because of the controls it can allow pilots to fit what they want. By changing the equipment, it can be configured for all types of combat, including close ranged combat, sniping and defending types, so there are many partnering companies working on it."

While Charles was explaining, Ichika was watching the battle in the sky. In fact, both Rin and Cecilia were moving better than during their matches against Ichika. However, despite it had to be a 2 vs 1 combat, actually it looked like three-way battle royal, as both Cecilia and Rin were trying to show their superiority against another…

"Mm, that's enough for now, Dunois…" Chifuyu stopped Charles's explanation, "It's ending!"

Yamada-sensei's maneuvers and shots lured Cecilia and Rin to collide into each other. As they crashed, Yamada-sensei then equipped a grenade-launcher and launched a grenade at them, and once the explosion occurred, two figures crashed onto the ground in a puff of smoke just like that. Technically, girls haven't lost yet as their shields were still up, but for demonstration that was more than enough.

"Ku, ugh... to think that I actually..." Cecilia moaned.

"Ah, you... she predicted so much of your evasive maneuvers, it's so silly..." Rin complained.

"Is-Isn't it the same for you, Rin-san? We failed because you made too many meaningless mixed tactics and Impact Cannon attacks!"

"That's my line! Why did you release your Blue Tears immediately? The power was depleted so fast!"

"Ggggrrr...!"

"Kkhhhss...!"

They were growling and hissing at each other. Ichika could see the 'representative candidates with their personal suits' value was falling drastically. However, the most heartless thing seems to be that there's seemingly no limit how deep they can fall. In the end, both of them continued to glare at one another, until the girls of class 1-1 and class 1-2 started to chuckle.

"Alright, everyone should understand the ability of the teachers now. From now onwards, please show some respect to the staff members," Orimura-sensei clapped twice to divert everyone's attention from those two clown girls.

"The ones with personal frames are Orimura, Alcott, Dunois, Bodewig, and Huang. Then, we'll be dividing the class into five groups. Personal machine users will act as leaders, got that? Split up now." There were 32 students in class one and 31 in class two, so there should be three groups with 13 students and two with 12. However…

The instant Chifuyu finished her phrase, the two classes of girls rushed over to Charles and Ichika.

"Orimura-kun, let's work hard together!"

"Teach me what I don't know!"

"Hey, hey, can I join in too?"

Ah, yes, an hour ago Ichika threw a girl on the floor, and girls from both classes knew about that. But attitude towards him haven't changed a bit. In contrary, Laura now was considered as a bad person, who forced Ichika to defend himself. Honestly, her behavior was actively supporting that point of view.

"Dunois-kun, please show me your piloting skills."

"Let me join you, too!"

By the way, a new 'boy' wasn't left without attention…

Either because she couldn't stand this situation or because she was angry that she didn't foresee this, Chifuyu pressed onto her forehead with her fingers, feeling really bothered as she bellowed, "These idiots… Everyone, sort out according to seating arrangements! Group leader order will be as described! If you don't get sorted into groups fast, you people will carry I.S. units and run around the field one hundred times!"

Ah, that was a devil's roar… The girls, who were surrounding Ichika and Charles like ants, all moved quickly and managed to get into their groups within one minute. "I should have done this from the beginning. Really, they're a bunch of idiots," Chifuyu sighed.

"…That's great. I'm in the same group as Orimura-sama! I'm really grateful for my own surname..." A girl with short red hair said joyfully.

"…Sigh… It's Cecilia... she just lost so badly... and before that, too…" The girl from Cecilia's group mumbled quietly.

"…I'll be in your care, Rin-san. Please tell me more about Orimura-sama..." Girls from Rin's group also weren't happy.

"…Dunois-kun! You can ask me about anything you don't know about our academy! Also, I'm still single!…" In contrary, girls from Charles' group seemed quite pleased… Oh, if only they knew…

The only group, in which no one was saying anything was the group of that German transfer student – Laura Bodewig. The tense atmosphere, the presence that refuses to work with others, the cold stare-down on the other students, and the mouth that never spoke since the beginning. Only thing she was doing is glaring hatefully at Ichika from time to time. Facing such an iron wall, even those pure-hearted 12 girls wouldn't even dare to talk to her. All of them stood, looking to the ground, not daring to say anything.

"Then, please listen up. Each group is to take one training suit. There are three Uchigane and two Revives, so each group, please decide on the type of frame you like the most. Ah, it's first comes first served," Maya gave instructions. Yamada-sensei's seem more confident now. The mock battle just now really helped…

"Orimura-sama, please teach me how to pilot an I.S!"

"Aahh, this I.S. is really heavy. I never lifted anything heavier than chopsticks."

"I remember that the practical lessons require 2 people in a group. Orimura-sama, please let's start."

"Hey, hey, it's great to have a personal I.S., right? I'm so envious of you people…"

Girls in Ichika's group took the opportunity to surround him, and since he's the group leader, he couldn't just ignore them. By the way, Houki's also in his group…

"Every leader is to assist each group member in putting on the suit. As everyone needs to use it, we removed the optimizing and personalizing modes. Anyway, before lunch today, everyone please practice on the initializing," On the I.S. broadcast channel, Yamada-sensei's voice could be heard. "So then, please queue up in order of your student number. Practice your walking."

"Register №1! Aikawa Kiyoka of the Handball club! My hobbies are watching sports and jogging!" Girl with dark crimson eyes and purple hair jumped forward. "Nice to meet you!" She bowed deeply and extended her right hand out. Seemingly, she wanted to shake hands with Ichika.

"Aa, that's too sneaky!"

"I wanna do that as well!"

"Please make a choice based on your first impression!"

For some reason, all the other girls, except for Houki, lined up and bowed politely, like her, extending out their right hands. From aside, that looked quite cute as those girls were looking like little kittens… Though, Ichika was indifferent to kitties, he decided that it's easier to simply shake their hands, so after that they'll proceed quickly.

"""Please take care of us!""" At this moment, several other voices could be heard from behind.

Behind Ichika, there was another row of people, which were bowing in front of Charles, each waiting to shake hands with him (her). She seemed quite troubled, to say the least.

"""Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"""

That was a chorus of perfectly timed cries. Yes, yes, the attendance book's still as hard as always, and it's quite easy to use it on girls' heads as all of them are lined up… As Charles's girls were rubbing their heads and looking up, they all seem to realize that nightmare is especially horrible when it smiles… "It's great that you people have that much of enthusiasm. If that's the case, let me see your performance. Who's first?" Chifuyu asked, and girls seemed chilled to the bones by kindness of her voice.

"Ah, no, that's..."

"We, we'll just have Dunois-kun teaching us... that's all."

"How, how can we let sensei trouble herself..."

"Oh, there's no problem at all," Chifuyu assured them, "There's no need to be so polite. In sake of your prospects, I must give you all a certain level of training... ahh, alright, let's start by seating arrangement."

'I have the best sister in the world,' Ichika smiled to himself, words in his head sounded ironic, but they were completely honest. "Shall we proceed?" He asked girls in front of him. Seeing the terrible state that befallen Charles's group of girls, the fear struck Ichika's group, and they naturally fell in line. Right now, Aikawa was opening the exterior of the I.S. controls to confirm the values. Their group was using second generation I.S. unit of Uchigane type.

Naturally, there were no problems with the suiting up, initializing and walking, and the practice went by smoothly. However, when time has come for a second girl to suit up, there a small problem appeared.

"I'm sorry, but, I can't reach the cockpit..." Green-haired girl pointed at I.S.

Right… Actually, that was Ichika's fault. While Aikawa was practicing walking, he submerged into his own thoughts, so he forgot to remind her that she has to kneel down before getting out of the cockpit. And now unit was in a standing position.

"What's wrong?" Yamada-sensei asked as she approached.

"I'm sorry, but it seems that I forgot to instruct Aikawa-san to leave the I.S. in bent down position…" Ichika admitted. "Nevertheless, that shouldn't be a problem," He assured Maya as light engulfed him and Ichika again deployed Messiah.

"Yeah, that's right," Maya nodded as she realized what Ichika wants to do, "That'd be the safest solution, please carry Kishisato-san up."

"What?! Why?!" Houki jumped in. Oh, well, it's obvious why she didn't like this idea…

"Since the I.S. can fly, if he just needs to send her into the cockpit, this would be the most suitable method," Maya explained, though it seemed obvious.

"There's no need to do that. Just let him be a stepping board!" Houki stated, "Hey?!" She shouted as she saw that Ichika simply ignored her.

"Then let's hurry up, Kishisato-san," Ichika said as he grabbed the girl with both hands.

"Che… whatever!" Houki just turned her back to Ichika and walked away.

"Hiyaaa!?" Kishisato let out a strange sound, "O… Orimura-sama's really forceful..."

"Hold on tight or you'll drop," Ichika warned.

"O-Okay..." She mumbled in response.

After confirming that Kishisato-san's grabbing onto his shoulder with slightly trembling hands, Ichika slowly raised her up. "Then, move your back in and raise your body up. Also, it's better to put your hand on the armor there. Do you understand?" Ichika instructed her.

"I, I'm okay," She replied with slightly trembling voice.

As Ichika haven't let go of her yet, their conversation was held in a rather tight position. Kishisato-san's eyes were wavering about… was she excited?

"I'm letting go now. Are you ready?" Ichika asked.

"Huh? Th… This..." She stuttered.

"Is there a problem?" He wondered.

"It's more like I'm in dreamland..." She whispered. Ichika mentally facepalmed.

While Ichika was busy with transporting Kishisato, the other groups were starting to talk.

"Ahhh! Wha… What's that?!"

"That's too sly! I want to be carried like that!"

"Why?! Why's my register number is 14?! I'll hate the ancestor who gave me this family name, until the end of time!"

"Any… Anyway, I'm okay. Hurry back, Orimura-sama. If this keeps up, I don't know what will happen to me later..." Kishisato mumbled.

"I understand…" Ichika said with irony. "Try activating it then." As he said that, the unit's initiation started. The opened armor locked up and secured the pilot inside.


The practical training seemed like it was a success, and the second girl finished activating the I.S. and walking. Before Ichika managed to say something, she seemed like she just thought of something as she removed the I.S. while it was still in a standing position. With that, the cockpit's stuck on top like how it was before. Ichika, however, showed no reaction on it, as that was expected. He perfectly saw those glares that remaining 11 girls were sending to the one who was practicing just now. If she'd left I.S. in bent down position, those 11 definitely would've become her lifetime enemies.

Of course, Ichika could threaten that girl by himself, surely she wouldn't dare to disobey him. However, that really would make him to look like a bad guy, and that wasn't worth it. He decided that it's not that hard to grant a few seconds of happiness for those remaining girls, carrying each one of them into cockpit within his arms.

All the other girls in other groups were looking in envy, of course they also wanted to be carried like princesses. However, Devil Lilith aka Chifuyu had other thoughts about that matter, "Oh, so you still have time to look at other places, right? To reward you of your boredom, I'll let you run 20 laps around the field. How is it? Are you satisfied?".

"""Tha… Thank you, sensei...""" They moaned in chorus.

"Okay, who's next?" Ichika asked, ignoring what was happening in other groups.

"Ahem," After clearing her throat to get ready her feelings, Houki tried to act calm as she said, "Me."

"Very well, c'mon," Ichika said as he approached her and wrapped his arm around her waist. For Houki it looked like it was happening in slow motion. As his hand reached over, Houki's heart started to beat faster, and her body temperature began to increase.

"Ahhh!" She let out quite a lustful moan. 'I-Id-Idiot! Who in the world carries someone so suddenly like that!? Is, is he trying to scare me... speaking of which, it feels like he's so well-trained...' Though Ichika was wearing closed helmet, Houki couldn't see his face, but it seemed even cooler that way – like a princess carried by the mysterious hero…

"Well, you're well acquainted with this I.S. unit, so I guess you don't need my instructions," Ichika noted, bringing Houki closer to cockpit.

"Ichika," Houki asked as she already was in training I.S. cockpit and Ichika was about to step away.

"Yes? What is it?" He asked.

"We… Well… You see, do you have plans for lunch today?" Though she was trying to act calm, her voice obviously was a bit louder than usual.

"Sorry, but yes," Ichika replied. "Chifuyu asked me to take care of that new guy, and I have to show him where canteen and cafeteria are. And after that I have to go to engineering, there are some things I need to prepare." Houki tried to hide it, but she was disappointed. Ichika just smiled, "Houki, my room is just next to yours," He winked to her, "If you want to see me alone, just knock to my door…"

"Ah?!" Houki's face reddened, but Ichika turned away and stepped aside, not giving her any chances to say something foolish.


"Then, please let me repeat this again. It's nice to meet you," Ichika greeted his new roommate again.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Ichika-san," Charles nodded. As expected, that girl became Ichika's roommate, as for now only Ichika knows that she's a girl.

Well, it was expected that she'll be settled in Ichika's room in such circumstances. To be honest, Ichika wasn't glad about that, as being the only room resident has many advantages, like listening music anytime he wanted, shower cabin's always free, besides, Ichika needed some place where he could gather his thoughts. On the other hand, he had no intentions to play this game for long, anyway.

Time was 10:34 PM. "Sorry that I had to leave you alone in canteen," Ichika said, "But I have a lot of things to do before inter-class tournament…" Ichika ate quickly and left to engineering, leaving Charles alone, allowing countless girls to surround her, so she was assaulted with questions, and it lasted for hours…

"Oh, no, it was nothing," She replied, though Ichika could see traces of stress on her face, seemingly, that 'interrogation' was quite bothersome.

"Here, take this," Ichika offered Charles a cup of black tea he just brewed. "Assembled and packed directly in Sri Lanka, it's hard to find a better taste."

"Oh, it's nice," She made a sip, "Though I'm surprised, I've heard that people here prefer 'Japanese tea'."

"Some of us do," Ichika nodded, "But I'm not among them. I'm sort of 'white crow' here, because, despite I'm Japanese, I prefer Eastern European cuisine."

"I see," Charles replied, "You really are interesting person, Ichika-san," She smiled. Honestly, this girl's smile was gentle and natural, trying to be a boy really doesn't suit her… "By the way, are you always coming back to your room that late?"

"Usually I'm trying to return until 10 PM, but few last weeks I was working on something in engendering, and I was eager to finish it today," Ichika replied.

"Really?" Charles perked up, "What's that? I've heard that you made many modifications to your I.S. unit by yourself…"

Ichika looked at that girl with evaluating sight. No doubts she already asked around and learned that Ichika possesses Ragnarök, a weapon that's capable of changing its form, so probably telling her about it won't hurt, even despite she's a potential adversary in inter-class tournament. "Well, I guess it's not a big secret," Ichika decided, "Since I'm going to use that in my trainings, I won't be able to keep it in secret anyway. In my last battle I was really missing a rapid-fire weapon, and I was working on it." When Ichika was creating his sniper rifle, Ambassador, he had a reference – Cecilia's Starlight Mark III, so he spent only three days. However, rapid-fire weapon was a green-field development, so it required much more time.

"You… you've developed a new weapon all by yourself?" Charles' eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes," Ichika replied as if that was nothing special. "If you want to see it, let's have a mock battle tomorrow, you have a personal unit, right?"

"Yes," Charles nodded, "Aright!"


June 5th, 7:09 PM

Time was about 7 PM, Ichika was on 3rd arena, with his I.S. unit already deployed. Though Ichika didn't inform anyone (aside from his usual 'followers' – Cecilia, Houki and Rin) about that he's going to have a mock battle with Charles, a lot of people assembled on arena's stand. Probably Charles mentioned it to someone earlier, without considering consequences. Though 7 PM was actually a bit late for mock battle, Ichika got special permission, because he had to go to the town after classes for a few hours.

"Sorry I'm late," Charles' voice said from behind. No doubts she came later deliberately, to be sure that she won't have to change to I.S. suit together with Ichika. She appeared from arena's gates with her I.S. unit deployed. Her unit looked like Raphael Revive, which Maya Yamada used yesterday, however it was colored orange, with some white elements, and seemed heavily modified.

"I just came myself," Ichika replied as Charles was looking around perplexedly, because she definitely didn't expect to see so many people on stands. She probably still couldn't completely comprehend the situation in which she was, pretending to be a boy. Mock battle between two boys was an event that definitely would draw a lot of (quite unhealthy) attention. "Okay, let's go," Ichika said as he began to gain altitude. Charles followed him and few seconds later both units were floating in the air, in about two hundred feet between each other. Ichika unit's wings began to glow, extending Fold Out armor, and switching plasma ejectors to thruster mode, seemingly he decided to go with full force from the very beginning. Ragnarök in its sword form, Redeemer, appeared in his hand, extending glowing plasma blade.

'So, this is the Ragnarök… a weapon that can change its shape…' Just as Ichika expected, Charles made some researches and learned that Ichika's I.S. has only one weapon but it can change its shape, and shape-shift is a very quick process. 'But what is that?' Charles thought as she saw Messiah's glowing wings, that was the first time when she was seeing Fold Out armor.

Since it wasn't an official match, here were no automatic countdown, so Ichika gave it himself: "Three! Two! One! Go!"

Ichika and Charles rushed against one another, however, Ichika used his plasma thrusters from the very start and distance between him and Charles shortened much faster that French pilot's anticipated. 'What?!' Her eyes widened as she saw Ichika only six feet away from herself, rising his sword, while she only began accelerating. Taken by surprise, she instinctively tried to use metal shield on her left hand to cower herself from the sword attack.

However, that was what Ichika has expected. When Charles stopped and prepared to block the sword attack, Ichika, instead of using his sword, used his plasma thrusters to abruptly change his flight direction, and he almost instantly appeared above and behind Charles' I.S. At the same moment, his sword turned into three-barreled shotgun, Arbiter, and Ichika pointed it into Charles' back.

BOOM! Three plasma charges hit Charles' point plank, eliciting bright plasma flash. "Aaaa!" Charles screamed as her unit was sent down by powerful plasma blast. "Defensive armor pierced. Damage: 98. Shield damage: 270. Shield Energy remaining: 380. Actual damage assessment: Medium." Charles heard her I.S. report while she still was falling toward the ground. 'What the hell was that?!' She couldn't understand what just happened. She never could imagine that I.S. can accelerate so fast and change its trajectory so abruptly, besides, she just lost more than tierce of her shield points with only one hit.

"And now I'll show you what I was working on during the last month, behold, Ragnarök's 5th shape – the Equalizer." Charles heard Ichika's voice over the broadcast channel (he seemingly wanted everyone to hear it), while she still was trying to stabilize her machine. When she finally turned around Charles saw that Ichika's weapon again changed its shape. Now he was holding five-barreled heavy machinegun. Barrels were covered by half-transparent jacked, so glowing coils of electromagnetic accelerator could be seen, as well as glowing plasma core in the middle, between barrels.

"Bow your head…" Ichika said as he opened fire. Plasma charges were quite big, their energy capacity was just a bit lower than of sniper rifle, Ambassador (about 85%) and their velocity was also somewhat lower (815 m/s, or 2.4 M). At that moment, Charles's I.S. was assaulted with a hail of plasma charges, as Equalizer's rate of fire was about 45 shots per second. Five barrels weren't rotating, they were just firing in turn in counterclockwise order.

By the way, shape of plasma charges, generated by Ichika's weapon, have changed. In his previous battles charges were like formless white bits of plasma, but now they became more ball-like, with more sharp contours, and they were whiter, even with slight blue tint. These changes were thanks to molecular oscillator, recently installed by Ichika. Thanks to concerted particle oscillation, charges became more stable, enthalpy decreasing rate during charge accelerating was reduced, so charges became hotter, thus emittance temperature also increased.

'What the hell!?' French pilot couldn't understand what's going on, as, despite all her evasive maneuvers she couldn't avoid that plasma hell, created by Ichika's weapon, as he was shooting with lead compensation, using his eyes foreseeing capabilities. She managed to avoid direct hits, but plasma blasts around her were rapidly reducing her shield, and literally within several seconds her shield dropped to near zero, forcing her I.S. to activate an absolute barrier.

Battle was over. In matter of pure fact, Charles, representative candidate for France, lost to Ichika within 48 seconds. French girl just couldn't comprehend what just happened. She didn't even equip any weapon, she was simply crushed by an overwhelming force. 'What is that thing?!' Right now she was eyeing Ichika's I.S. with saucer-wide eyes. Not just that its acceleration and maneuverability was astonishing, that plasma machinegun… 'Power drain of that weapon should be insane! What's the power source of that I.S.?!'

People on arena's stand also were shocked, most of them didn't even notice what exactly happened.

"Am… amazing…" Rin whispered in awe; she, Cecilia and Houki also were watching the battle from arena stand.

"Is that guy really so weak?" Houki wondered, looking at shocked and defeated Charles.

"No, he's not unskilled, it just looked like that because he was against Ichika-san and his I.S." Cecilia shook her head. "Ichika-san's great pilot, but that's not all of it, I also think it's just the difference between their I.S. units," She already saw the full power of Messiah.

"4th generation I.S…" Rin mumbled, she remembered how easily Messiah threw away that huge unmanned I.S. a month ago.

Ichika's machinegun disappeared into his quantum space. "Well, don't be too depressed," He said, and this time he used a private channel. "It wasn't just difference between our skill levels, there are also huge technical gap. Your I.S., even if it's been modified, it's still 2nd generation machine, while Messiah is a full-fledged 4th generation I.S unit…"

"So it's actually was the truth…" Charles sighed… "Yesterday, in cafeteria, I've overheard some girls talking that your I.S. actually is 4th generation machine, but I didn't believe…" She still seemed a bit shocked. "All countries only began testing their 3rd generation prototypes, it was hard to believe that 4th generation unit can already exist…"

Charles and Ichika's conversation suddenly was interrupted

"Huh, look at that..."

"No way, that's the 3rd generation German model."

"I heard that it's still in the testing phase in their country..."

The arena started to buzz all of a sudden. At the same moment, Messiah reported about appearance of another I.S. unit nearby. Ichika lazily turned towards newcomer. Standing over there was the other transfer student, the German representative candidate, Laura Bodewig, with her I.S. deployed. Ever since the moment when she first transferred in, she had never interacted with anyone in class, let alone said a single word. She was a lonely and proud girl. Considering Ichika, their only interaction was when he made her kiss the floor when she just arrived.

"Hey," A voice could be heard from the I.S. communication channel. It was Laura herself. However, Ichika would never reply on such a disrespectful call. Though, despite Ichika ignored her, Laura continued to speak as she glided down. "It seems like you possess a personal IS. If that's the case, it's simple. Fight me." Seemingly, she didn't know that Ichika just had one battle, or she just didn't care, nor she was interested to know battle's result. She probably didn't even make any researches about Ichika, since only now she learned that he has a personal unit, according to her own question.

"Get lost," Ichika replied indifferently. Actually, after this battle Ichika got some data, as it was the first time when he used his new machinegun in real action, so he wanted to make a few adjustments to Equalizer, but that girl ain't worth to explain his reasons to her.

"If it wasn't for your existence, instructor would have easily reclaimed the championship, so I will never, ever, agree to your existence!" Laura shouted, she definitely was eager to fight.

Due to closed helmet no one could see it, but Ichika's eyes flashed with dreadful light. Mentioning that incident… that girl really should have kept her mouth shut. "You want to fight me that badly?" Ichika asked with scornful voice. "Okay then, bark three times, and I'll fight you." There was a three seconds long silence. "What?" Ichika asked, "You're the onee-san's Chihuahua, aren't you, then she at least had to teach you to bark when asked…" Of course, just like Laura, Ichika was talking via broadcast channel.

Laura was already shaking with fury. Without saying anything else she switched her I.S. into battle mode, pointed a large railgun that was mounted on her left shoulder at Ichika and immediately shot out.

Ichika was prepared for that, as he already summoned his weapon and switched it into sniper rifle mode. He shot simultaneously with Laura. Laura's railgun shell and Ichika's plasma charge collided, causing a shockwave.

"Pathetic attempt," Ichika commented.

"You, student over there! What are you doing! State your year, class and register number!" The teacher who was supervising this arena today interfered. In the end, Ichika only got permission for one mock battle, and that one has been already concluded. As such, Laura had to stand down. Since the authority interfered, she only could growl powerlessly and look at Ichika with unmasked hatred. She got rid of her battle mode and left the arena through the gates.

"Now, if you excuse me," Ichika said casually, as if nothing happened, turning back to Charles, "I'm heading to engineering now, see you later."

"Ah… yes, okay…" She said while Ichika was flying towards another gates. She seemingly still was under strong impression after her defeat, and after she saw how easily Ichika intercepted Laura's railgun shell with counter shot.


About 9:30 PM. Charlotte (when she was alone with herself she could use her real name) was in shower. In fact, she returned to her and Ichika's room right after their match, but after that she spent about two hours just staring into the wall, before going for a shower. Not that she was waiting for Ichika (he most likely will be back after 10 PM, just as yesterday), she was just thinking. And she was still thinking, while streams of hot water were flowing down along her smooth, youthful skin.

'Orimura Ichika… Just who… or even what are you?!' Even before their battle, she knew that Ichika is a very good pilot. To be honest, mentally, she even was prepared for that her ass might be kicked. But she couldn't imagine that it'll be kicked so badly. '48 seconds… and I even got no chance to fight back! How?!' They were so unequal…

'Oh well, if I think about that soberly, that was a 4th generation I.S., after all. To think that 4th generation machine actually already exists… But…' Charlotte suddenly remembered about the very reason she's here. 'Damn…' She was ordered to obtain data about Japanese newest I.S., and that would be Byakushiki, which is now bears the name 'Messiah'. But… that was easier to said than done.

Today, while Ichika was in city, Charlotte went to engineering. According to rumors, since his enrollment, Ichika, in total, spent several weeks here, doing different things, like tuning his I.S., upgrading his weapons and other things. But she couldn't find ANY traces of his activity there, no matter where she looked. She checked everything she could – main and auxiliary data banks, engineering console activity logs, even reserve drives, but she found nothing, as if he actually was never there!

On the other hand, girls from engineering department (who were taking additional I.S. servicing lessons), confirmed that they saw Ichika regularly, and he was doing some stuff, using engineering equipment here.

As such, all that knowledge was leaving only one possibility. 'Ichika deliberately was destroying all data about his activities, and he was doing it very carefully, as everything was wiped clean…' Charlotte came to conclusion.

No, in general, it's quite understandable – no one's willing to disclose his I.S. design documentation of course, at least until it's not in mass production state, but some service data should be accessible. For example, Charlotte found some service data about Cecilia's Blue Tears and Rin's Shenlong, as well as data about 2nd and 3rd grade students personal I.S. units. 'Ain't it just paranoia? Destroying data about all his actions…' Charlotte thought, closing the water in shower room. 'Oh well, maybe I'll be able to get data about other 3rd generation I.S. units. Maybe it'll be just enough to satisfy my father…'

With those thought, Charlotte opened the shower room door and made a step out… and froze on place, as she almost bumped into Ichika, who stood in front of a washbowl, drying his hands with towel.

"I-I-I...chika...?!" She stuttered in shock.


Few minutes ago, 9:52 PM. Ichika returned to his room as he's finished some fine tuning of his new plasma machinegun, it didn't take too long. He heard water in shower room, his roommate was taking a shower. 'What she was doing all these two hours since she left the arena? Why she's there right now… That's why I don't like living with a roommate.' He thought with slight irritation, he didn't take shower since their mock battle, and would like to take it now, yet shower cabin appeared to be occupied. At least he could wash his hands. However, when he just finished, and was standing, drying his hands with towel, water in shower room has been closed, door opened, and the one who was there came out, ignoring Ichika's presence and almost bumping into him.

Quite an eye-catching view opened to Ichika's eyes. A girl. Her drenched blond hair was long and curly, with such softness and elasticity, and she has nice long legs on her slender body. Her slender waist also indicates larger breasts than what they should be. Her breasts are probably at least size C no matter the measurement method. The crystal clear skin carried beads of water on itself, and they looked as beautiful as diamonds. Well, actually Ichika already saw her naked, but this time he definitely got a much better angle.

Anyway, the girl was completely naked, and Ichika was a bit surprised with her actions. Seemingly, that girl, who called herself Charles, was so deeply in her thoughts that she simply didn't notice someone's presence in the changing room.

"Well, that's pretty bold, I give you that," Ichika commented as girl was staring at him in silent shock.

"KYAHH!" Suddenly recovering, the girl hurriedly covered her breasts and escaped back into the bathroom.

'Oh well, that was awkward, but at least that means I don't need to play along anymore,' Ichika thought as he returned to main room.

Two minutes later, the changing area door opened softly, and trembling female's voice said: "I… I'm done..."

"Okay, got it," Ichika replied, and, as if nothing happened, headed to the bathroom.


About ten minutes have passed since Ichika came out from bathroom. He turned on his personal halo console and was reading today's news or something, virtually ignoring Charles' presence. A girl was sitting on her bed, starring into the floor. Seemingly, she was gathering her thoughts.

"Ichika-san…" She finally spoke out. "You… you didn't seem surprised when… when you saw me… in a shower room…"

Ichika turned towards her. "Well, actually I was a bit surprised. Since we've met, you were behaving quite humble, and now such a bold demonstration…"

"That's not what I mean!" She exclaimed resentfully. "Ichika no ecchi…" She mumbled very silently, but Ichika managed to lip-read that.

"Relax, I know what you meant," Ichika replied calmly. "You're asking about did I know that you're girl before I saw you in the bathroom? Yes," He began to reply to questions, that Charles no doubts wanted to ask. "Since when? Since the moment you were introduced to the class. Does anyone else know? I'm pretty sure that Chifuyu onee-san's aware of that as well, and she noticed that about the same instant as me; does anyone else know? Unlikely. By the way, she was the one who, maybe indirectly, asked me to not expose your true gender for now…"

"Why?" Charles seemed completely bewildered.

"No idea," Ichika replied. "Would you like some tea?" He asked casually.

"Huh, okay, I'll have some..." The girl replied, she still seemed heavily confused. Ichika boiled the water using the electric kettle and poured it into the teapot. Both were silent while tea leaves were dissolving.

"Okay, here's the cup," Ichika gave her a cup of tea.

"Tha… thank you," Charles received the teacup and took a gulp of tea. Ichika let her make a few more sips before he decided that she's ready to talk.

"Well, I guess that crossdressing as a guy wasn't your personal choice," He said, looking at her, "Why did you do that?"

She made one more sip from teacup before replying. "That's because... that... my... someone in my family, he told me to do..."

"Hmm? Your family? That's the Dunois…" Ichika said quietly.

"Yes. My dad's the chairman of that company, and he ordered me to do it," She replied with deep sight. Ever since she began to talk, it looked obvious that Charles has some bad memories about it. "You see… well… I'm an illegitimate child."

Ichika slightly tilted his head, as it wasn't an answer for his question at all. He breathed deeply, as he already realized that instead of a simple answer, he's going to hear some sob story, but that's probably necessary if he actually wants to hear the answer…

"I was sent back 2 years ago, about the time when my mother died. My dad's subordinates came looking, took me to main facility and put me through many check-ups. They immediately found that my I.S. aptitude was extremely high, so... while it was unofficial, I was made a test pilot. I only met my dad twice, and only talked to him those two times. I usually stayed somewhere else, and was only summoned to the main house once… and it was horrible. I got beaten up by the real wife and labelled 'a thief's daughter'. It was miserable... had my mother told me more, I wouldn't have been so lost. Ha ha ha…" Though Charles laughed softly, her voice was still dry and without emotion.

Only thing Ichika wanted to say is that Charles' father was rapidly losing points as a 'man', but he kept these thoughts to himself.

"After a while, the Dunois Corporation was facing a crisis," She said.

"So I've heard," Ichika nodded. "Your company got troubles with development of 3rd generation armaments, if I remember correctly. It was mentioned in some article about EU's 'Ignition Plan'…"

"You're correct," She nodded. "Dunois Corporation has the third largest share of mass-produced I.S. in the world, but the Revive is still a second generation machine after all. I.S. development needs a lot of money, and most of the enterprises were only able to develop after getting the support of their respective country. However, just as you said, France was omitted from the European Union's "Ignition Plan", and facing this crisis, they had to create 3rd generation frames. Though it was out of national defense concerns, for a country that doesn't have enough capital, what awaits it is doom if they don't get any benefits right from the beginning."

"As far as I know, only England's project Blue Tears, Germany's Schwarzer [Black] and Italy's Tempesta II [Thunderstorm II] are still in competition," Ichika said. "No wonder that some prototypes of all three projects are here, in I.S. academy." Cecilia Alcott was here with first prototype, Blue Tears itself. Laura Bodewig came here with one of Schwarzer prototypes, Schwarzer Regen [Black Rain]. And Tempesta II belongs to 2nd year Italian girl, whose name Ichika knew very well, but due to certain circumstances he had no desire to discuss it now.

"You're right," Charles said. "Besides, Dunois Corporation was the last one who started to sell 2nd generation units, which means we collected too little operational data… In the end, the situation had become one such that 'If the company fails in the next selection, the government will completely cut off funding and even revoke the rights to develop I.S.'," She explained.

"Okay, I've got the overall picture," Ichika concluded. "However, it still doesn't explain why you're pretending to be a boy. As much as I understand, you were sent here with primary goal to obtain data about other 3rd generation units, and, as far as I know, here, in I.S. academy, there are at least five different 3rd generation I.S. units and a few that can be considered the 2.5 generation. However, if you've come here as a spy, you'd like to gain as little attention as possible. But you did the completely opposite thing…"

"It's simple. I was supposed to gain publicity. And also…" Charles looked away from Ichika and said with an anxious voice, "If I'm a guy, it'll be easier for me to approach the current irregular case that appeared in Japan. If possible, I'm to take his I.S. and biometric data back. Just like that."

"Ah, I see…" Ichika's snorted. "It's just the demonstration of that how little your father knows about me… He thought that another guy would be like a safety-valve for a poor boy, locked among 350 girls?" Ichika asked ironically.

The girl in front of him nodded, "Though he was so wrong, as I understand it now…" She added with wry smile.

"Guys around me, including my former classmates and even football team members, I always was keeping them at arm's length," Ichika said. "I actually like girls more, but, in our case, boy or girl – it doesn't matter, acquiring my secrets is not possible, I know how to work without leaving traces, I guess you already learned that?" Ichika asked with slightly arrogant face expression. Girl in front of Ichika just sighed deeply. "By the way," Ichika suddenly asked, "Charles isn't your real name, is it? What's your real name?" Ichika wondered, "I guess it's something similar, though… Are you Charlene?"

"No… it's Charlotte," She smiled sadly.

"Ah, so close…" Ichika said with false regrets. "Anyway, Ms. Dunois, what are you planning to do now?"

"I guess it depends on that person…" Charlotte said sadly. She talked about her real father like an outsider. That's not a father, that's just a stranger – that's the way she segregated him out of her life. "But since my cover was blown, I'll definitely be recalled back... as for Dunois' Corporation, whether it collapses or merges with other enterprises, it shouldn't be the same as now, right? And it doesn't matter to me anyway... Now, I guess it's a matter of time. When the French government learns the truth, they will revoke my rights as a representative candidate without saying a word. If I'm lucky, I'll spend some time in prison..." She gave another sad smile. "But still, I feel a lot better saying it out. Thank you for listening to me… Also, I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry…"

"Humph," Ichika snorted, "There's nothing to be sorry about. More accurately, me and Chifuyu onee-san should be sorry for toying with you, since we knew everything from the very beginning… though, I'm not sorry, of course. But, more importantly… are you alright with destiny that awaits you?"

"That doesn't matter. I have no right to choose. This can't be helped…" She mumbled.

At that moment, Ichika's eyes flashed and Charlotte physically felt his scorn towards her. "You know, if you were a guy, I'd really like you to spend some time in prison, for saying such idiotic words… but, since you're a girl…" He sighed. "I.S. Academy, clause number 21 of the special directive: students who are studying in this Academy will not be affiliated to any country, organization or syndicate. Without the student's agreement, external organizations are not allowed to manage them." Ichika turned towards window and added, "In other words, while you're the student of this academy, you and your I.S. are out of any government's reach. They can, and probably will, however, deprive you of your representative candidate status as soon as possible, and, after your graduation, you'll have to return them your I.S. unit as it still belongs to France… In any case, there are three years ahead of you, demonstrate yourself as a good pilot, and many countries or organizations come to you with an offer to hire you and give you their citizenship, and a new personal I.S. unit. And this is only one of many possibilities…"

"Ichika…" Charlotte said with widened eyes, "You're really amazes me sometimes…" She really didn't know what more she could say. "But… can I really stay here?" She wondered, "After all that masquerade?"

Ichika turned back to her. "Ask my sister," He said shortly.

"What?!" Charlotte's eyes widened in fear.

"Hmm," Ichika smiled, and that was quite warm smile that only could be seen when he was talking about his elder sister. "Understandable reaction, but… maybe it's not obvious, yet she definitely is the most kind and noble person in this entire facility. Until your actions have caused any harm to other students, she'll help you to resolve your situation… She still didn't say who you actually are, after all… By the way, I'm also not going to tell anyone yet, so you should have some time to think…" Ichika said, putting off his shirt. Time was about 11 PM and he already was a bit sleepy.

"I… I don't know what to say…" Charlotte mumbled, despite all of her actions she was offered with the way out of her desperate position.

"Don't mention it," Ichika said casually, though he obviously has some plans about that girl, and one day she'll learn about that. "By the way… forgive me my curiosity, but… from which country was your mother? Your long, blond, slightly curly hair, cute small nose, few other features… it's not French, but more like Western-Slavonic appearance… She was from Czech?"

"Slovakia…" Girl smiled, flushing slightly as Ichika complimented her appearance… "You're really amazing…"

"I know," Ichika replied, adjusting his pillow. "One last thing. If you decide to stay here, I'd suggest you to admit that you're a girl as soon as possible. You'll have to do it sooner or later, and when other girls will learn that another girl was sharing the same room with me… well, here are some yandere characters that may try to tear us apart… but since most of them are afraid of me – you may become the only victim, so don't think too long…" Saying that Ichika covered himself with blanked, saying, "Good night." His eyes already were closed so he didn't see how Charlotte gulped when he mentioned yandere characters…


And that's it for chapter four, don't forget to write a review!