Hello again people! And there's the fifteenth chapter.

Honestly, this is what I was trying to avoid when I was at the very beginning of this story – chapters that contain more than 12 000 words. But I simply couldn't make this one smaller – I promised action, not another filler… well, you'll see by yourself.

Now, for those who wrote a review:

Imperial-samaB, rajdiangelo, DarkBladerZX, Eurigos, killjoytommy xghosthunter115: Many thanks people. I hope you'll like this chapter, especially the ending, because actually it's just a beginning.

FateBurn: Tatenashi isn't going to give up that easily, she just took a timeout.

InTheYearOfTheCat: As I said – first lemon will be very soon, just one or two more chapters.

Now, let's proceed to chapter.


Chapter XV – Escalation

September, 17th, Sunday. 8:05 A.M.

The school anniversary's finally here. As the school anniversary event is not opened to everyone, there won't be any opening fireworks, but the students' excitement was enough to fight against enemies, and everyone's feeling really pumped up.

Ichika, on the other hand, had more imminent task right now. He just finished working with his I.N. wings, as he increased each wing's length from 8.5 to 10 feet as new electro-plasma reactor's power output margin allows to expand wing-mounted plasma banks. Doing so will provide more stable flow of plasma for his beam plasma cannon Ira, also it will increase power output of Demon Queen's plasma thrusters.

"Connection reestablished," Naamah reported as wings once again were attached to frame. "Fold-Out Armor operational. Adonai, repeated calibration of plasma circulation contours and plasma thrusters is required. Estimated time: 7 hours 28 minutes 19 seconds. Please note: calibration cannot be performed in stand-by mode."

"Yes, I know," Ichika replied. "You may proceed now, I'll be busy for the next ten hours with this idiotic anniversary, anyway."

"Understood," A.I. reported, "Proceeding…"

With that, Ichika opened his eyes and his throne-like chair ceased to glow. All hornet-like mobile units returned to their places. Ichika stood up and left the hangar, huge doors sealed it behind his back. He sighed and looked at his left arm – right now there was no black chain as his I.N. was already deployed and was left in the hangar. While Naamah is performing calibration, she will be unavailable for summon, but today seemed to be the best day to perform that long procedure, since Ichika won't be able to do anything useful, anyway.


September, 17th, Sunday. 11:35 A.M.

"You're lying, right? You'll be greeted by Orimura-sama if you go to class one?! For real?!"

"And he will be wearing a tuxedo, too?"

"And you can take photos with him on your way out if you order something! A two-people photo! A two-people photo! We must go!"

Almost entire academy was filled with chattering like that. And, as temporal 'servants' of 'Maid Café', organized by class 1-1, the senior manager and several maids were serving clients since the early the morning. Even so, in the matter of fact, Ichika was the only one who's really busy because he's too popular and, at the same time, he's lacking a body double. The other people are all enjoying it as per normal.

"Welcome. Please walk here, ojō-sama," Ichika greeted another 'customer'. Nevertheless, Ichika doesn't seem bothered, he stood at his post, greeting 'clients' with soft smile, not letting anyone to notice falseness behind it. Honestly, as he put himself as 'senior manager', he chose a cushy job as his only tasks were to escort a 'customer' to her table and watch over café's 'maids' to not let them to produce potboilers. Oh yes, and let girl to take photo with himself on her way out… nothing special.

On a side note, the café servants (the 'maids') are Charlotte, Cecilia, and unexpectedly, Houki and Laura. Even if Laura had to take part since she proposed this 'Maid Café' thingy in the first place, Houki also unexpectedly agreed...

Charlotte in the maid outfit looked really happy as she has been smiling since the very morning. Is it because Ichika said that it suits her? But he said so to every 'maid', yet Charlotte's been feeling especially happy. It seems she has some sort of fetish about maid outfit, or may be a fantasy…

Houki, on the other hand, sulks each time Ichika told her to invite the customers in or serve them, and that is quite irritating. And she looks especially frustrated when the customers ask Ichika for a photo on their way out, as they all were asking. Her behavior is understandable, as well as her reasons to join café's stuff (to 'guard' Ichika from other girls, no doubts) but the fact that she doesn't fit café servant's role is unquestionable.

"Ah, there's a signboard for the last in line."

"Huh? What kind of games do they have?"

"I heard that there's janken, memory match and dart shooting. It seemed that they designed these choices for the people who aren't good with certain games."

"Huh-can't we go in yet?"

Those are samples of chattering among the crowd outside that seemingly 'flooded' the entire first year corridor, and there are people, people, and more people everywhere. Seemingly, café's maids would be suffering, trying to serve so many people. Ichika, on the other hand, was only becoming more and more certain that letting Demon Queen to commit calibration today was a very right idea, as it seems that he'll be wasting his time here until the late evening.

"Hey, the manager over there, bring me to my seat!" A familiar and slightly crude voice interrupted Ichika's thoughts. Rin, who's dressed in a cheongsam, was just standing there. He turned around and looked at her with cold gaze.

"Manners, young lady, manners," Ichika said quietly, and his voice, together with his eyes, cooled down her attitude. "And what's with this clothing? Looking good, but why?"

It seemed that only one piece of cloth is used, and the slits are rather daring. There's a picture of a dragon on the red cloth, and there's gold lace and delicate embroidery. Pretty nice, actually…

"I-I-It's nothing! Our class' doing a Chinese teahouse!" She flushed slightly as Ichika complimented her looks.

"A Chinese teahouse? I see…" Ichika replied without enthusiasm as he was escorting Rin to her table.

"I'm supposed to be the waitress, but because your class is just beside us, we don't have any customers at all!" Ichika's second childhood friend was fuming.

"As if I'm glad about that," Ichika snorted, "Because of that everlasting crowd I can't even go and see what other classes are doing."

"I… I see…" Rin mumbled in reply.

"Anyway, please sit here, ojō-sama," Ichika said as he brought Rin to an empty table.

"O-Ojō-sama...?" Rin stuttered. Being called like that? By Ichika?!

"This is how I should be calling you now," He shrugged, "It's a service café, after all…"

"Fu-Fun! Anyway, it can't be helped if you have to do this... yup, can't be helped…" It's hard to say – she was embarrassed to be called like that or she was offended because Ichika called her like that only because he had to. Not that Ichika himself really cared.

On a side note, the furniture was already past the school anniversary's level. Cecilia prepared them all herself. The insistence she had on the quality of the tables and chairs was especially shocking. They looked so classy, and very pricy, no doubts – Cecilia's way to show-off. The tea accessories were all intricately chosen, and the classmates in charge of these seemed to be trying their best not to let their hands tremble.

"Please have a menu," Ichika gave Rin the aforementioned thing, "One of our maids will come to take your order as soon as you ready…"

"Hey, wait!" Rin exclaimed, "You won't be taking my order?!"

"It's not my duties," Ichika replied indifferently, "I only have to greet customer and escort him or her to an empty table. If I'll be taking orders…" He nodded towards the corridor "…this will never end." As he said that, Ichika returned to his post, where another girl was already waiting for him, leaving quite disappointed Rin behind.

"It's not how it's supposed to be!" Rin shouted. With the sound of the table and chair colliding, she stood up forcefully.

At this moment, a fan appeared in front of her before opening, and the word written on it is 'Rasetsu'… [Elusive] "Okay okay, stop creating a commotion here. The other customers will be frightened, you know?"

'Well, this is just great…' Ichika thought as he already foresaw what's going to happen next, "Tatenashi…" Ichika facepalmed.

"Ichika-sama, don't you need to call me 'sempai'?" She asked cunningly as she kept the fan back in her direction, and folded it back with a snap. The refined movement sounded just like some comedic storyteller or a Japanese dance choreographer.

"You're just a second year high school girl and I've already graduated, so I'm your sempai," Ichika replied indifferently, "And why are you dressed like this?" Tatenashi was dressed exactly like maids that was serving in class 1-1 café.

But before Tatenashi could reply, an extremely noisy girl rushed in.

"Hello, this is the News Club interrupting. I'm here to interview the manager Orimura!" It was the news group ace Mayuzumi Kaoruko. She and Ichika are rather familiar with each other since she often tried to take photos of him.

"Ah, Kaoruko-chan! Yohoo!" Tatenashi exclaimed joyfully.

"Wa! Ta-chan! That maid outfit suits you too! Ah, since we met, let me take a photo of you and Orimura-sama!" After saying that, Kaoruko started pressing the shutter quickly, and Tatenashi already took the 'YAY' victory pose... why all this is happening? Are the second year students have nothing better to do?

"...I'm going back," Rin mumbled. That was understandable as now all attention was focused on Tatenashi, besides, Rin came here not to eat but to see Ichika, and since he's busy – no reason to stay here any longer.

"I understand, Rin," Ichika sighed, "You still have your own class to attend to. I might go to your side to take a look."

"Uh, well, I'll serve you if you're a guest," Rin nodded.

"Okay," Ichika waved his goodbye. As he exchanged words with Rin, the photography situation changed as drastically as the clouds in the autumn sky.

"Ichika-sama," Tatenashi asked, "Is that true that any customer can have a photo with you?"

"Yes," Ichika replied emotionlessly.

"Does it mean that maids and other students from your class will be left without photos?" She smiled cunningly.

"I… don't know," Ichika shrugged, he actually didn't think about that at all.

"It's not good to not include other girls that work with you into this," Tatenashi nodded to Kaoruko, "Didn't you take a photo of me?"

"Ta-chan's too overbearing, so it can't work. Ah, since it's a rare sight, we might as well get the other girls over. How about that?" Photographer suggested.

"Not a bad idea. I'll take care of the shop at this time," Tatenashi waved with her fan.

"You ain't learning, are you?" Ichika asked Tatenashi quietly, but with that crowd around, he didn't say anything else.

"Okay, let's do it then! I'm going to take the photos. All the maids, please line up here," Just like that, Kaoruko started taking photos.


After some turmoil, all the 'Maid+Manager' pair shots were finally taken.

Mayuzumi looked delighted as she looked through the preview photos on the digital camera. "Yeah! The girls of class 1-1 are really sporty. I'm really happy as a photographer."

"Kaoruko-chan, I'll leave it to you at the Student Council," Tatenashi said.

"Of course, leave it to this Mayuzumi Kaoruko!" Photographer patted her chest as she said that. Why is it that even though she's in an Arts Club, her mannerisms are like those of the Sports Club...

"Oh yeah, Ichika-sama, I'll be helping out here for the time being. Why don't you check out the other stalls in school?" Sarashiki suggested.

"Hmm? You're willing to be my stand-in?" Ichika asked.

"Yup, you can rest a bit. This is Onee-sa…" She saw a scarlet flash in Ichika's eyes and quickly corrected herself "…Student Council President special service!"

"Very well then, thank you," Ichika thanked her. "There's a guest I invited to academy and I shall meet him I guess…" He thought aloud and headed off.


"May I bother you for a while?" Female's voice called for Ichika. Voice was unusual as it belongs to a mature woman, not one of academy students. "Sorry, but I'm from this industry," She added as lady in suit quickly passed her namecard to Ichika.

"Hmm? I.S. armament development company 'Mitsurugi' representative, Makigami Ayako-san? Can I help you?" Ichika wondered. Woman was rather good looking, and the flowing long black hair really suits her. She's been smiling ever since she called Ichika. Well, looking from aside, she does have that 'Professional' look.

"Yes, we'd like to have Orimura-kun use our company's equipment. How about this additional armor or thruster? Also, if you decide to use it now, we'll even add a leg blade!" She said, though, she actually didn't sound like a professional sales manager for some reason, despite her looks.

"Are you serious?" Ichika asked with explicit sarcasm. "Ayako-san, my I.S. is equipped with full set of armaments handcrafted personally by myself, there's no way I may have any need for equipment, manufactured by some third-party company. When you introduced yourself as an I.S. armament development company representative, I thought that you want to hire me, as your company urgently need help with some research project."

Ayako-san seemed slightly taken aback. "Uh, well… actually, we do need help with something…" She mumbled, though, she still was trying to maintain her smile.

"If so, we can discuss it, but I want to warn you – my services aren't cheap. But if money isn't an issue – I repeat – we can discuss it, but not now, there's someone already waiting for me. I'm sorry, but now I have to leave." And before Ayako-san could say anything else, Ichika vanished from sight.


"Ha ha ha!" Right in front of the main entrance to I.S. Academy, a guy's holding onto a ticket with one hand and smiling. He's Ichika's former teammate, Gotanda Dan. "Finally, finally, finally! The land of the girls, I.S. Academy... HERE I COME!"

When Ichika gave that invitation ticked to Dan, he was running around his room in circles for about ten minutes (though that reaction was expected). And today Dan arrived to I.S. Academy. It's been over ten minutes since the arranged time, but he didn't really mind. 'Ahh, I can see lots of pretty girls here... the standards are really high, really.'

Even though Dan's wearing casual clothes that were just chosen, other than that, he's just an ordinary teenage guy standing there, and it seems that he's getting quite some attention, as everyone's starting to gossip about him.

"Is that guy someone's boyfriend?"

"I don't know. He looks okay."

"Huh… I find that Orimura-sama's better."

Dan noticed the girls discussing intensely about something, and his heart started to beat wildly. 'Wow, everyone's looking at me... is-is-is-is this the sign of a new development!?'

"The guy over there," Someone called for Dan.

"Yes?" Suddenly, Dan got shocked after being called, and he straightened his back. Turning around, he saw a bespectacled and meticulous-looking girl, Nohotoke Utsuho, standing down there with a file in her hand.

"Who invited you? May I check your ticket?" She asked.

"Of… of course…" Dan frantically passed over the ticket that was squashed flat.

"The one who gave it was... oh? Orimura-sama?"

'-sama? He already managed to train every girl here to use that honorific?' Dan remembered how the same thing happened in Junior High School. "The… Then, you know Ichika?"

"I don't think there is any student in this school who doesn't know him," Utsuho answered as if it was quite obvious, "Okay, let me return this to you."

'This… This girl's really pretty... no, cute! I've got to find some way to know her more... something I can talk about, something...' Dan thought, frantically trying to find a theme for conversation. "We… Well!"

"Hmm? What is it?" Utsuho looked at him questioningly.

"The… The weather's great today!" Dan blurted out.

"Yeah," Utsuho looked at him weirdly and then left.

After the conversation ended like that, Dan felt depressed, thinking that he wasn't interesting enough. 'Uh-Uh, I'm so useless... I'm so useless...' If there's a bass guitar with him, Dan would be performing a sad tune. Feeling like he had half a foot in the coffin, he just waited for Ichika to arrive.


"There you are," Ichika said as he approached Dan, "Welcome to the I.S. academy."

"Oh... Hello, cap…" Dan turned to his former team captain. Seeing Dan's lifeless response, Ichika wasn't surprised at all.

"What's wrong now?" Ichika asked, though he already knew the overall reason.

"It's nothing... I'm really uninteresting..." Dan mumbled.

"Ah, this again…" Ichika sighed.

"What you mean with that 'this again' of yours?!" Dan exclaimed angrily.

"Keep your cool man, don't cause a ruckus or you'll be chased out," Ichika waved him off. "Follow me, let's go over to where Rin is. She'll be surprised to see you…"

Having been hit hard, Dan finally recovered as he now follows Ichika from behind, "Ah, you're talking about Rin? How's she?"

"Not bad, I'd say," Ichika replied. "Still wears those ponytails, still has crush on me, still has no courage and/or no idea how to express those feelings, and so on, and so forth…" He added casually.

"Man, you're really evil, you know that?" Dan asked. "Knowing about girl's feelings and doing nothing about it nevertheless…"

"Not at all," Ichika shook his head. "If she wants me then she has to act, not waiting for me to 'notice' her feelings and do all the job instead of her. I'm not going to do someone's job instead of anyone. That's my rule, about which, by the way, you knew since the very first time we've met in Junior High."

"Yeah…" Dan sighed, looking at his former captain, 'I can't understand him…'

"Feel free to give her an advice," Ichika shrugged.

'No way man, I'll stay away from your affairs as far as possible…' As he thought that, slightly unmoved and humming Dan was brought into the school by Ichika.


"So you wanna check out where Rin is?" Ichika asked.

"Hmm? Well, there's no need to go there right now. Since it's a rare chance, I want to look around," Dan replied.

"Very well," Ichika agreed.

"Ah, it's Orimura-sama! Yahoo!"

"I'll go to your shop later!"

"Huh, taking photos of Orimura-sama in official suit! Success!"

No matter where they went, girls were calling for Ichika, and he had to wave his hand and/or answer back. It's really tedious, but he got used to it long ago, since Junior High at least…

As Ichika continued to repeat those actions, Dan could be heard murmuring from behind him. "It's just like in middle school…"

"Everything has a price…" Ichika gave an ambiguous comment.


After the short tour around the Academy, during which Ichika participated in 'Defuse Bomb' game (which he easily won) in Arts Club, Dan finally decided to visit Rin. They climbed up the stairs and walked into class 1-2.

"Welcome!" A Chinse girl welcomed her guests.

"GUHA! Ri… Rin! You… what's this... what are you doing?" Dan seemed lost for words.

"What? Why's Dan here!?" Rin screamed as if she just saw a ghost.

"The… The cheongsam really doesn't suit you. Anyway, why… GUUAH!" Dan got interrupted forcefully since Rin threw the tray and it went all the way to his face...

"GO… GO BACK!" Rin shouted.

"WHAT'S WITH YOU! IT HURTS!" Dan shouted back, "Ahh… you're so different from that cute woman I just met."

"What? Who are you talking about?" Rin asked.

"Fu fu fu... not telling you," Dan laughed.

"Ichika, about who that idiot's talking about?" Rin asked for support from aside.

"DON'T CALL ME AN IDIOT!" Dan protested.

"I guess he means Nohotoke Utsuho, Student Council secretary, she's checking guests' tickets on the entrance," Ichika explained indifferently as three found an unoccupied table and Dan opened the menu.

"So, she's from Student Council? Then why you called her a 'cute woman'? Not a 'cute girl'?" Rin wondered.

"She seems to be older than us," Dan replied.

"She's a third year student," Ichika explained.

"And now I know her name!" Dan added.

"Shut up! Take this, water!" Rin forcibly placed the glass of water on table.

"Wah! What are you doing, Rin? Just put it down nicely!" Dan complained.

"You're too noisy, Dan! I'll punch you away!" Rin exclaimed.

"...Don't do that. I saw on TV before. You're a cadet or something, right? I'll die…" Dan seemed to have cooled down a bit.

"That's right, so you have to respect me more," Rin said proudly.

"Ha ha ha. You're really funny," Dan laughed.

"I wasn't joking. Really..." Rin narrowed her eyes.

Just as Dan and Rin were squabbling, Ichika's phone rang.

"Charlotte, what is it?" Ichika asked as he answered the call.

"Where are you right now, Ichika? The customers are grumbling, asking where you went. It's getting busy now, so hurry up and come back please…" Charlotte sounded really anxious, something that doesn't fit her character, so situation was rather serious.

"Very well, I'll be going back now. I'm in the classroom next door, so I'll be back soon," Ichika assured her.

"Alright, thank you…" Charlotte ended the call.

After ending the conversation, Ichika told Dan and Rin that he's going back, "Rin, I'm leaving Dan in your care."

"Hey, wait!" Both of them exclaimed simultaneously.

"Sorry, but I can't," Ichika replied. "I'm sure you two won't be at loss," He added and left.


"Ahh, Ichika, it's good that you're here. Look, we have a lot of customers waiting for being escorted to their seats," Charlotte informed as soon as Ichika arrived.

"I see," Ichika replied as he examined the crowd. "Speaking of which, where's Tatenashi?"

"She said that she had things to do at the Student Council, and then ran off somewhere," Charlotte replied with hidden irritation.

"What a bitch…" Ichika facepalmed.

"Anyway, the shop's really busy now. Please, help," Charlotte almost begged.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll take care of that," Ichika assured French girl.

Ichika checked out the other people, and found out that everyone's rather popular. Most notably, Laura, who normally felt like she's hard to approach, became very popular after she dressed up as a maid, and she got called around to play games everywhere. Well, she's miniature and pretty as a picture, she's like a living french doll, actually, so no wonder other girls like her…

That's a bit surprisingly, but Houki's popular too. Her normal clothes make it hard to imagine that she would wear a maid outfit, and like Charlotte, her popularity's second only to Laura. Just now, with the skirt flying slightly, Houki walked back to the kitchen...

Anyway, time was to get back to work.


After about an hour, situation was finally resolved. Every customer got her own seat and queue outside the class seemed organized again.

"Good work, Ichika-sama," A girl said that to Ichika.

"Ah, Takatsuki-san, it's been tough on you too," Ichika replied. The reliable person in class 1-1 – Takatsuki Shizune seemed to be busy with a lot of things.

"You can rest for a while. We need to tidy up the shop a bit, so it'll be quite some time," She informed. It seems time has come for a technical timeout.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Ichika asked.

"No, thank you. It will take about an hour; you can rest a bit. Since there's a rare chance, why don't you follow the girls to some stall?" She suggested.

Just when Ichika thought that he'll better walk around alone, his arm got pulled over. Ichika didn't even need his eyes at all to know whose hands it was – he learnt to discern girls by their touches.

"Then, Ichika-san, please come along with me," Of course, that was Cecilia Alcott.

Seeing this, Charlotte cried out, a rare feat for her, "Ahh! Cecilia's so sly! I want to go too, Ichika."

"Wait, if that's the case, I'm going too!" Interrupting them quickly was Houki, and her eyes looked very determined.

"Let's go, Ichika," Laura already grabbed another Ichika's hand and got ready to move out.

Not that all this was unexpected, Ichika was prepared for such a turn of events. Of course, his first thought was to advise all four girls to go to hell, and then check how's Naamah's doing with calibration, but… Since today's an anniversary and all four girls were working quite hard… he decided to grant those small reward for them. "Ladies, we can't leave Shizune-san here all alone, so everyone will go with me in shifts. There are four of you and we have an hour, so it's fifteen minutes, minus three minutes for location change, so it's twelve minutes for each one of you."

"In other words..."

"With Ichika..."

"Two-Two of us, alone..."

"...That's not a bad idea."

Cecilia, Charlotte, Houki and Laura kept murmuring between themselves, nodding away as if they're crushing garlic.

"Then, who fir…" Houki tried to ask but Ichika interrupted her.

"That you should decide between yourselves," He said and turned away.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" All four of them decided to choose the order through janken.

"Go!" And with that, three people chose paper, while one chose scissors.

"Ehehe... " Charlotte won the first go, and her happy look showed on her face as she raised the scissors hand that changed into a sign of victory.


"The Cooking Club? Seriously?" Ichika was a bit surprised with Charlotte's choice.

"Yup, their main theme this time is traditional cuisine. I think it's a rare chance, and I want to learn how to make Japanese dishes!" Charlotte replied happily.

She treated Ichika to a few bentos, and the light seasoning that brought out the taste of the ingredients was to his liking. But seemingly, she didn't get the point… Ichika liked her bentos because that was his favorite eastern-european cuisine (she definitely learnt to cook them from her mother, who was from eastern Europe). And now she wants to learn how to cook Japanese dishes? Ichika was disappointed as he and Charlotte entered the cooking classroom the cooking class uses.

"Ohh… That's really nice..." French girl commented. To put it simply, they're selling snacks here, but there's a lot of variety. The food arranged on the tray includes potato and stew meat, kanto cooking, salad, stew, BBQ meat and so on. There're a lot of dishes, and they all look really delicious, too bad they all are from traditional Japanese cuisine, toward which Ichika was rather indifferent.

"Ah, don't tell me that's potato stewed meat?" Charlotte asked, pointing at one of dishes.

"Yup. It's said to be the dish that every Japanese woman needs to know how to cook," Ichika replied quite indifferently.

"I see... And why is that?" French girl asked.

"There seems to be a custom that women who can make the potato stewed meat best will be able to get married, but I really can't confirm or refute that…" Ichika explained.

"Ma… Married…!? I… I see…" Perhaps surprised by Ichika's words, Charlotte was shocked as she continued to stare at the potato stewed meat.

Ichika, on the other hand, knew exactly which effect his phrase will have on that girl, as now he found something to do for her till the end of their free time. Charlotte was tasting aforementioned dish, talking with Cooking Club president, she definitely was intending to learn how to cook potato stewed meat.

"This dish was cooked through a pressure cooker. This can not only cut short the cooking time, it will also affect the flavor," President explained.

Charlotte pricked her ears and listened to the President of the Cooking Club, "Pressure cooker… Is there anything else?

"Haha, the rest is a secret. If you want to know, join our club!" President smiled cunningly.

"Cooking Club… Ichika, would you be happy if my food's good?" Charlotte asked, her eyes were filled with hope.

"Hmm? Yes, I would." Not wanting to waste his time to explain that cooking isn't what's important right now, Ichika just said what Charlotte wanted to hear.

"Is… Is that so? I see… Ehehe," Charlotte smiled radiantly as she heard Ichika's answer.

And with that, his rest time with Charlotte ended.


"Speaking of which, Cecilia, I remember you did participate in violin contest while you were in England this summer, am I right?" Ichika asked.

"Um… yes…" Cecilia immediately stiffened. She was afraid that he's going to ask about results… The truth was – she got third place, not bad at all, but she was afraid to disappoint Ichika because she didn't win. 'He… he wins no matter what he's doing… if he'll learn…'

But actually Ichika knew the results, and, moreover, he had no intentions to talk about that contest. In fact, "You know, I really like violin… how about you'll play for me?" He asked.

That suggestion only worsened the situation, as now Cecilia was panicking. 'If he would like my playing – that definitely will be a point in my favor… but if he won't like my play?!' In the end, she decided to refuse. "I'm… I'm sorry, Ichika-san, but my hands are tired… I'm afraid I can't do my best…" She mumbled humbly.

"Understood…" Ichika sighed. "Then why are we here?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to try something different…" She said as she tugged at Ichika's arm and pointed at the classroom that had the sign 'Wind Instrument Society Experience Stall'. "Why… Why don't we go try it out now? How about it?" She asked.

"Alright," Ichika shrugged, "Let's see what they have to offer."

"The… Then, let's go in!" Cecilia exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Hey, no need to pull me that hard," Ichika noted as he followed her.

After opening the door, they saw the President of the Wind Instrument Club. She was pressing down on the piston of the instrument to check its condition for lubricating it.

"Excuse us," Ichika called for her to get attention.

As she heard someone's voice, the Club President, who just noticed her club's guests, lifted her head up. "Oh! Oh! The sixth guest is finally here! Here, here, please come this way! Huh, isn't this Orimura-sama?! Orimura-sama himself came to our club!?"

Facing the smiling Wind Instrument Club President who was almost glowing with joy, Cecilia coughed dryly to get her attention. "Nnh! Which instruments can we try out here?" She asked.

"Hmm? You can try out all of these here. Personally, I recommend the french horn. It feels great when you blow it. The sound fluctuates," Wind Instrument Club President suggested.

"Hmm, no, I'd like to try the Trumpet," Ichika asked.

"The Trumpet? Alright," President shrugged as she passed the aforementioned instrument to Ichika.

Ichika took the instrument. "Well, try it out," President said, "You should put your finger…" She tried to explain how to use the instrument.

"Wait," Ichika interrupted her as he closed his eyes. "Let me remember how Lois Armstrong was doing it…" Of course Ichika didn't try to play Armstrong's melodies, just use his techniques.

""Hmm?"" Both girls looked at him in surprise.

But Ichika ignored them, then, with his eyes still closed, he brought instrument to his mouth and began to play. Cecilia easily recognized that melody – "London Bridge is Falling Down". Ichika played for about 30 seconds.

"Orimura-sama!" President exclaimed as Ichika stopped playing, "I didn't know you are playing Trumpet! You're really talented – you should join our club!"

"This is the first time in my life I'm holding the Trumpet in my hands," Ichika replied. "I just saw Lois Armstrong's concert a while ago, so I simply remembered how he was doing it."

President was looking at Ichika with his mouth wide-open. "…You… can do that… just like that…?"

Cecilia didn't seem surprised – she already knew about Ichika's ideal perception and perfect memory. But she still couldn't get used to it…

"Hey, Cecilia, are you listening?" Ichika's voice distracted her, "How about you, Cecilia? Want to try it?"

"Me?! Ah, well, I only know how to play stringed instruments. I've never played wind instruments before…" She said humbly.

"Really? I find that you're really suited to play the flute. There's that grandeur noblewoman vibes from you," Ichika said, he wanted to encourage her a bit.

"Grandeur noblewoman..." For some reason, Cecilia muttered blankly as she continued to repeat these words, flushing heavily.

"Anyway, here, try it," Saying that, Ichika passed the Trumpet to her.

"Huh? Tha… That's, is that, well..." Cecilia was mumbling "…it's indirect… indirect kiss..." She pronounced those words silently, but Ichika managed to lip-read her words and got an overwhelming desire to facepalm.

"Cecilia-san, is something wrong?" President asked.

"No, nothing! Nothing at all!" Blonde replied quickly. Cecilia started panicking as she waved her hands wildly, and then stared intently at the Trumpet. She looked extremely serious before saying, "Th… Then, I'm blowing..."

"Ah, we must change the mouthpiece. Here, please," President suddenly suggested.

"Ahh..." Cecilia yelped as if someone scared her.

"Hmm?" President looked at Cecilia questioningly as she changed the mouthpiece on Trumpet that Cecilia held.

"..." But she got silence in response as Cecilia glared at the President who casually decided to change the mouthpiece.

"Here, please," President said as she finished her task.

"No need!" After saying that, Cecilia passed the Trumpet back to the President and quickly headed out to classroom's door. Ichika just sighed and followed her, leaving flabbergasted President of the Wind Instrument Club all alone.

"Really, how stupid that girl is...!" Cecilia complained as she and Ichika were already outside.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Hetare Ichigō, you really missing that 'indirect kiss' so much? Then have this one," Ichika said as he grabbed blonde by the back of her neck and kissed her lips. Their lips were in contact for about 8-9 seconds. After Ichika released her lips, Cecilia looked like she was struck by lightning. "Sorry, but I think that first kiss should be the real one. Now, you can stay here like paralyzed for about half an hour, but after that, you should return to work," Ichika said and headed to where Houki was already waiting for him.

Just like that, Ichika's rest time with person, from who he just stole her first kiss, came to an end.


"So, where are we going?" Ichika asked as he met Houki.

"Oh, yeah… where's a good place…?" She replied uncertainly, seemingly, despite that she had half an hour to think about, she didn't decide where to go with Ichika.

As such, Ichika decided by himself, "Okay, what's the Kendo Club doing? It's a rare chance, so let's take a look."

"Wha… What?" Houki sounded a bit shocked.

"Huh, look, it's right there," Ichika pointed at classroom near the end of the corridor.

"Ho… Hold on! If I go to the Kendo Club…" Houki tried to protest.

"Okay, okay, here we go," Ichika grabbed her arm and headed towards that classroom.

"Hey! Don't grab my hand! I'll go there on my own!" She tried to break free, but Ichika didn't let her go as he was pulling Houki, who was resisting forcefully for some reason, and headed to the classroom where the kendo stall set up a shop.

"Welcome," It's a room with black cloth draping all over. A mysterious person fully covered in armor's waiting in the darkness. "Oh my, so it's Orimura-sama himself and the phantom member Shinonono-kun."

"Is… Is that the President? Wha… What's with that get up...?" Houki asked uncertainly.

"Hmm, at first, it was just a kendo experience stall, right? But nobody would vote, right? So I just decided to cast divinations?" All three phrases sounded like questions for some reason. "But there's nobody around at all? No customers here? I couldn't think of anything, so I put on full kendo armor to try it out?" Those were still questions. "Then, let me tell your fortunes. Ah, sit down, sit down."

Houki and Ichika were asked to sit down on the chairs, and Ichika could hide skepticism in his eyes no longer as he was looking at the Kendo Club President. She was holding some hanafuda [Japanese playing cars] in her hand... "Is that Hanafufa...?" He asked, though answer was obvious, "You're not going to use tarot cards for divination?"

"I prefer hanafuda divinations, you know?" President said.

"Well, Prez? I've never heard of that before..." Houki scratched back of her head, she sounded confused.

"Hmm? I just named it, you know?" President replied, it seems that she's really a lost cause.

"Okay, here we begin, alright? I'll take your fortune in love, okay?" The President said assuredly as she started her divination. "Hmm… Orimura-sama's the 'Rain Four Lights'. So, do you have any difficulty with girls?"

"I'd say it's the opposite," Ichika replied with irony. In his opinion, she could use the used car tires for divinations with about the same chance of success.

"You don't believe in fortune telling?" President asked Ichika.

"I do believe that in this Academy only I can see the future," Ichika smiled as his eyes flashed in darkness.

For about 30 seconds only silence could be heard in this room. "Then… well… okay…" Finally, Kendo Club President came back to her senses "…I'll take the love fortune for the Kendo Club phantom member Shinonono-chan, okay?" By the way, why didn't the Club President lash out at Houki for her low attendance?

"Huh… Shinonono-chan, you got the 'Tsukimi-shu'. So, you're looking forward to activities, right? Your lucky point is the dojo?"

"No, well… I'll try my best to show up..."

"Really? I'm really happy to hear you say that."

And with conversation like that, Houki's divination was done.

"Ah, that's right. I'll see your fate through divination, okay?" President asked.

"Divination of fate? Is… Is that so? That's good!" Houki got worked up suddenly as she popped out.

The President calmed Houki down and explained, "Ah, can you two hold each other's hands together? At each other?"

Ichika sighed deeply, but it was Houki's 'twelve minutes of happiness' so he did as President asked. He and Houki reached their right hands out and put them at each other.

"Then, can you maintain this position for ten seconds?" President wondered.

"Ah? Can… Can this really tell what's going to happen?" Houki asked the President in a slightly nervous tone.

"Well, you see, you'll feel irritated if you put your hands together with someone you don't like for ten seconds, right?" President asked. "So you don't hate each other? Okay, divination's over."

Actually, Ichika did feel irritated, but not because of Houki, who somehow didn't notice how cold Ichika's right arm is… On the other hand, he could feel that Houki's really happy. That girl's hopeless, Ichika could lip-read that she repeated "…compatible, compatible…" several times.

"Houki," Ichika called for her, "You can let go of my hand now."

"Tha… That's right!" Houki finally realized this after Ichika reminded her, and the hand that was holding tightly onto his palm quickly backed away.

"Bye then. I have last one person to meet…" Ichika said and headed away as his time with Houki has come to an end.


"You're too slow!" Standing on the corridor and waiting for Ichika with her arms folded was the maid with the eyepatch, Laura, "Your sense of time is too weak!" Ichika didn't reply anything, he just approached and flicked her nose. "Ah!" Laura yelped as her cheeks quickly flushed.

"Actually, I came one minute earlier, which is rare feat for me, so be grateful," He replied. "Now, I remember you wanted to go to the Tea Club, right? Okay, let's go then," Ichika said as he took Laura's hand and headed towards the Tea Club. By the way, each club in I.S. Academy needs a curator, and Tea club's curator is no one else but Chifuyu…

"Do… Don't hold my hand!" Laura immediately tried to shake her hand off after saying that, and her face blushed more, but Ichika didn't let go of her hand.

"Sorry, darling, but this time I will act according to your desires, not your words," Ichika said as he clenched Laura's miniature hand more tightly, "C'mon, we have little time." Ichika already learned that she likes 'strong arm', so to say…

"Hey, wait!" Laura exclaimed as her face was completely red now.

"No time to wait," Ichika replied as he literally dragged Laura into the Tea Club, though he released her hand just before they entered, to not let Tea Club members see them holding hands.

"Hello and welcome... ooh! It's Orimura-sama! The Tea Club's opening a Green Tea experience session. Please head to this tearoom!" Tea Club President, who's dressed in a yukata, greeted her guests. It was the same as with the Cooking Club. Every room had proper facilities. As expected of I.S. Academy, where so many people wanted to get in. "Then, please sit here." Following President's instructions, Ichika and Laura took off their shoes and sat on the tatami. "We don't demand that you adhere to the tea tasting customs, so please enjoy," The Club President smiled as she passed the sweets to Laura and Ichika.

"Ah, okay," Ichika took one and ate it. The sweet white bean paste quickly spread on the tongue, "Well, it's not bad at all."

"Uhh..." Laura, on the other hand, didn't eat the sweet, but looked like she was in a dilemma.

"What's wrong?" Ichika asked.

"Well… Well, how do I eat it?" Laura got a little rabbit that's made from white bean paste, and the face looks cute. The rabbit seemed to be staring back at Laura, and seemingly it was saying to her 'Please eat me' or 'Please let me go', hard to say which one exactly… Seeing Laura's reaction, it's possible to guess that it's the former.

"Laura, you can't take the green tea if you don't eat the sweat," Ichika informed before adding quietly, "That's why I don't like green tea…"

"Ah… Is that so…" After Ichika prompted her, Laura decided to eat the rabbit-shaped sweet in one go. She just doesn't want to see the half-eaten rabbit? "Oh, Japanese sweets are really good." What happened to that struggle? Laura looked really happy as she continued to eat the sweet.

And then, the President served tea in front of Laura and Ichika, "Here."

"Many thanks," Ichika replied.

"But it's really unbelievable. A butler and a maid sitting on tatami and drinking green tea," President noted.

"Fuh, don't you feel that this outfit is too girlish?" Laura asked, addressing Ichika.

"No, but I remember that you looked really awkward when Chifuyu laughed at you crazily," Ichika smiled.

"Sh-Shut up! The Instructor's another case altogether!" Laura immediately protested as her face flushed again.

Ichika recalled Chifuyu saying that she wanted to come over to take a look, and she just bursted out laughing on seeing Laura in a maid outfit, happily enjoying that scene. At that time, Laura looked like a recruit who got a water gun as an armament and yet got deployed to the frontlines.

"Relax, I know my sister, alright? She laughed because she actually liked your looks, not because you were laughable," Ichika explained. Actually, Ichika thought that he knows why Chifuyu likes Laura so much – she sees herself in that girl, sort of. Socially awkward, reticent… But each time she sees Laura becoming more sociable, it reminds her that she too ain't hopeless… Ichika waited until Tea Club President turned away and said quietly, "By the way, thank you, Laura," And kissed her cheek.

For a moment, Laura's eyes became saucer-wide, then her face became beet-red and she flew out from the Tea Club like a bullet.

"What happened?!" Tea Club President asked in surprise.

"Nothing special, she just remembered something," Ichika replied casually. "Can you serve me a cup of Ceylon black tea, will you?"


Class 1-1's stall is still as busy as ever, and Ichika returned back to the scene where there's a lot of people squeezing through. Ichika escorted a few more customers to their tables, and then…

"Ichika-sama!" Tatenashi's youthful vibrant voice sounded in classroom once again. The person who promised to cover for Ichika and escaped, yet she dared to show herself once again.

"What do you want?" Ichika asked quite rudely.

"Hey, no need to be rude!" Tatenashi protested, "I just want you to help the Student Council with an event." She opened her fan, hiding her smile behind it.

"Can't you see that we're busy here?" Ichika waved her off.

"Busy with what?" Tatenashi smiled cunningly, "Look, here's almost no customers left!"

Indeed, Ichika used his emperor's eye to reassess the situation, and he noticed that most of the customers, who was waiting in the queue, suddenly disappeared. That girl's definitely up for something, again. "What is it this time?" Ichika sighed.

"No need to sound so disappointed before I even told you what to do. C'mon, it's a play," She continued to persuade Ichika.

"A play?" Ichika asked skeptically.

"A play where the audience gets to take part," Tatenashi added.

"That makes no sense," Ichika replied.

"Well… sempai… We'll be troubled if you take Ichika away..." Charlotte humbly said.

"Charlotte-chan can come along too," Tatenashi replied, "Onee-san can let you wear pretty dresses, you know?" Ichika prohibited her to call herself 'onee-san' when talking to him, but not to the others…

"P… Pretty dress..." Charlotte mumbled, "Then… Then, well... just a little…" Charlotte fell into Tatenashi's trap.

"Ah! So honest and cute! Then, Houki-chan, Cecilia-chan and Laura-chan, come over as well," Sarashiki announced.

"""What?""" The three girls, who pricked their ears to eavesdrop, answered with a tone of surprise, simultaneously.

"I'll let everyone wear pretty dresses," Tatenashi smiled cunningly.

"If… if that's the case..."

"Oh well, a trip's..."

"Oh, alright, it can't be helped..."

Houki, Cecilia and Laura also fell into Tatenashi's trap.

With that, if Ichika will refuse to participate – he's risking to remain all alone here… "Oh well," He sighed. "But only this once, because it's the anniversary…" In the end, Ichika promised his sister to be nice today, he couldn't break promise given to Chifuyu…

"Yay!" Tatenashi exclaimed joyfully.

"So? Which play it's going to be?" Ichika asked.

*Pak!* Tatenashi-san opened her fan, and there's the word 'Hakugeki'. "Cinderella!"

Ichika couldn't suppress desire to facepalm.


"Ichika-sama, are you done yet?" Tatenashi asked.

"More or less," Ichika replied without enthusiasm.

"I'm opening the door," She announced.

"What, aren't you all dressed up already? What's with that outfit?" Tatenashi asked as she saw Ichika dressed into his JSDF commander field uniform. Right now, they're in the fourth arena changing room, where people normally change to their I.S. suits.

The costume given to Ichika... Well, it's actually a prince's outfit... But he decided to not wear it. "Ichika-sama, you have to wear prince's outfit, it's for the play!" Tatenashi exclaimed.

"It's hindering my movements because it's off-size, I'm not wearing it," Ichika replied indifferently. It was written in his cold eyes – 'if you don't like it – I'll gladly leave…'

"Oh, alright," Tatenashi gave up. No matter how much she didn't want to agree – she knew that she can't force him to do anything. "But at least wear this, the crown," She gave Ichika the aforementioned item.

"Alright," Ichika sighed and took the crown.

"Why, you don't look too happy. Do you want to act as Cinderella?" She asked joyfully.

"Don't try my patience," Ichika's eyes flashed with fiery light.

"Okay, okay, it's time to act," Tatenashi quickly said.

The stage on the fourth arena is really well-built. Of course, it's full of people, and Ichika could hear cheering from inside the changing room. "Alright, now, may I take a look at script? I doubt it's a classic version…"

"No problem. I'll be the one hosting, so just perform as I say. Ah, please come up with your own lines," Sarashiki explained.

"My own lines? Are you sure?" Ichika's asked indulgently.

"Well, you're not going to use foul language…?" Sarashiki asked with some notes of uncertainty.

"No," Ichika snorted and headed towards the stage.

"Then, let's begin!" Sarashiki announced.

The buzzer sounded, and the lights reined in. "A long, long time ago, in a certain land, there was a girl named Cinderella." Tatenashi was speaking via acoustic system, and that sounded like a normal beginning. But Ichika was certain that here's something wrong… "No, that's no longer a name," Sarashiki continued. "Having snuck out of many parties, they defeated many enemies no matter how much dust they got. The title most suited for them is… 'Cinderella'! Tonight, the bloodthirsty Cinderellas will again take action. The girls will aim for the neighboring country's military secrets that are hidden in the prince's crown, and they shall dance on this death arena called the stage!"

'Yes, that's more like one of Tatenashi's senseless ideas,' Ichika rolled his eyes.

"Got you!" With a sudden cry, Rin appeared in a silvery white Cinderella dress, "Hand it over!" Rin glared at Ichika, and threw the Kunai at him.

Ichika easily caught the Kunai with his left hand, between index and middle fingers. "Seriously? You want to fight me?" Ichika actually looked at Chinse girl in surprise, but Rin seemed determined. She swung her leg in attempt to hit Ichika, but of course her leg got caught and Ichika lifted her up, as he now was holding her upside down.

"Don't look! Let me go!" Rin screamed as, since she was upside down, her own dress covered her sight, at the same time revealing her lingerie.

"Shut up," Ichika replied as he turned around and threw Kunai somewhere towards the window of decorative castle tower. In the next moment, a sound of broken glass and female's scream could be heard. That was Cecilia, she was hiding on that tower with sniper rifle but of course emperor's eyes noticed her and Ichika broke lens of her optical sight with kunai.

"Hetare Ichigō, done." Ichika said as he knew that without her sniper sight Cecilia is no longer a threat – she's useless in close combat. Then Ichika took away Rin's glass shoe, released her leg (she fell on floor) and then took off her second shoe. "Hetare Nigō, done." He said as he threw both shoes into the darkness behind the scene – now Rin was armless. She now was lying on scene, disoriented because she was held upside down.

"Now, darling, maybe you can tell me – why you people want this crown so badly?" He easily noticed another Cinderella hiding in a bush. "For simple play you are too motivated, everyone knows that attacking me is almost a suicide, yet all of you are here…" He jumped down from scene and approached Charlotte.

"Ichika-san… well… ha ha…" French girl left her hideout, laughing nervously. Only the female actors knew the secret prize, and that is 'The girl who get the crown from Ichika will get the right to stay with him'.

Even though everyone was stunned when they first heard that, "The Student Council President has the authority to do that," Tatenashi confirmed. On hearing her words, everyone got motivated. Of course that cunning girl knew perfectly that no one will be able to get the crown, so why she's doing it is unknown. Could it be that she just wanted to entertain Ichika, because those hopeless attempts to get the crown were quite funny.

"You see, the one who get the crown, she…" Charlotte began to talk but Tatenashi's voice interrupted her.

"If her plans will be revealed, prince's servants may take countermeasures, and all Cinderellas' efforts will be for nothing!" Sarashiki announced. Charlotte gulped, Tatenashi's threat was quite clear – if she'll tell Ichika – no one going to get the prize. Worst of all – she, Charlotte, was the only girl who actually lived with Ichika (at least as well-known fact), and if game (and prize) will be canceled because of her – other girls may decide that she did it intentionally, so she could remain the only girl who lived with Ichika. That would be bad…

"Oh, so she scared you?" Ichika asked as he looked at Charlotte with his cold-as-hell smile. "It seems you still didn't understand who among the two of us is scarier, hmm, Hetare Sangō? Then let me show you…" And before Charlotte could understand what's going on – something fell in a few feet beside her. In the next moment she was blinded by an extremely bright flash of light and heavily stunned. Actually, that was a simple M84 stun grenade. "She said that all Cinderellas are my enemies… you know how I treat my enemies, nothing personal…" That were the last Ichika's words as he vanished before ability to see began to return to the poor girl.

"Cinderellas met unexpected troubles! Cruel and merciless prince guards his secrets well!" Honestly, things just got really bad. Tatenashi really sounded excited.

Ichika walked around the castle wall, that play started to become boring, but he wanted to know why all these girls want that stupid crown, he wanted to know which idiotic idea visited Tatenashi's head this time. However… suddenly, the black-haired and silver-haired Cinderellas appeared in front of him.

"Hold it right there, Ichika!" Houki shouted.

"I'll take the crown!" Laura demanded.

Houki's wielding a Japanese sword, while Laura's holding a combat knife in each hand...

"Oh," Ichika's eyes flashed as he looked at two girls, "So you think that you have a chance against me in close combat? Even if here's only two of you against me?"

"Shu… Shut up! These dresses are closed, you can't see anything!" Houki shouted.

"True, but kendo armor is even more closed… have you won even once?" Ichika smiled. He then turned to Laura, "Only person in this world who can defeat me in sword combat is my own sister – Orimura Chifuyu. You think of yourself as of her equal?" Ichika wondered.

Both girls now seemed angry but greatly discouraged.

"Ha ha, see?" Ichika laughed, "I haven't done anything yet, but you two already lost half of your determination and confidence. I even didn't get my weapon, yet you already lost this battle…" Sheaf of white particles appeared in Ichika's right am and moment later he held his fantasy-like sword, decorated with angelic wings. "But if you're still want to fight – by all means, go ahead, I'll gladly train my right hand…"

Two girls looked at one another and nodded. No, that was too good chance, they couldn't lose it without even trying. Letting out their battle cries, they both attacked Ichika.

But, just as Ichika said, they already lost significant part of their confidence and determination, so their moves were predictable even without emperor's eyes, besides, since both girls were loners by their nature, as a team they were hindering each other as much as helping… Ichika easily could parry all their attacks.

Suddenly, ground began to shake, as if it was an earthquake… "Now, everyone present can take part in this! Everyone, please work hard for the prince's crown!" Sarashiki announced, and that explained everything. The real reason for the earthquake was that more than ten Cinderellas came rushing over, and the numbers continued to increase...

"That girl really doesn't know where to quit," Ichika sighed.

"ORIMURA-SAMA, SURRENDER QUIETLY!"

"WALK WITH ME TO HAPPINESS! OUJI-SAMA!"

"HAND... IT OVVVEEERRR!"

Screams like those filled the entire 4th arena that was turned into a stage. Seeing this, Ichika decided that it's enough, that foolishness came too far. Sheaf of white sparkles flashed in both his arms as his sword disappeared and six M84 stun grenades fell on the stage.

BOOM! All grenades exploded at the same time, blinding and stunning all the girls around. About 20 seconds later, when blinding and stun effects began to fade, Ichika was nowhere to be found.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"WHERE'S HE!?"

"ICHIKA-SAMA?!"

Cinderellas couldn't understand where did he go. But Ichika was no longer here, while fighting Laura and Houki he noticed a masked hatch and he used it while 'crown huntresses' were under effect of stun grenades. Now he was below the stage sets.


Ichika walked out of the stage set and appeared in the changing room, this was the side room he was using to change his clothes before that 'spectacle'. His manager's uniform that he used in service café is still here.

Lights here were off, but Ichika knew that he's not alone here – someone was waiting for him. And since darkness means nothing to emperor's eyes he recognized that person – that was a woman who introduced herself as Makagami Ayako. Sitting on the bench, she was still smiling.

"Makigami-san? Can I help you with something?" Ichika asked.

"Yes, I want to use this chance to get your I.S., the infamous Demon Queen," She's still smiling, and she hasn't changed her expression at all. "So hand it over immediately, brat."

"Hah, you're kidding, right?" Ichika said, he didn't seem confused or surprised at all.

"Why would I joke around with you, brat? You infuriate me!" Though the tone's completely different, she's still smiling at Ichika. Suddenly, she swung her leg, with intention to hit him. But of course she failed as she got caught by that leg and thrown away, and she crashed two benches with her body.

"Is that hurt?" Ichika asked. "Don't reply, I know it does. And don't be so surprised, I knew that you aren't the one you were trying to presume, in particular because 'Mitsurugi' [御剣, it literally means 'Heavenly Sword'] company have nothing to do with I.S., it's a sushi bar in Sapporo, named after a video game character."

"You… you damned brat!" She screamed hysterically as her face finally lost her smile... The long, narrow eyes of this woman in front of Ichika seemed to be distorted because of the evil presence. She seemed like a snake every time she stretched her long tongue out. "I'll kill you!" As she creamed that, a sharp 'claw' appeared from behind the woman, ripping the suit in the process. The spider legs-like thing had ominous matching colors of yellow and black, each having a blade-like tip. The 8-legged armor deployed the tips of the legs, revealing cannons. But she wasn't attacking, she just stood there, as if waiting for something.

"Ha ha ha," Ichika laughed, he didn't seem scared at all. "Let me guess, you're waiting for me to deploy my I.S.? Oh, that's so sweet, but if you wouldn't be as much of a mindless bitch as you are, you'd notice that I actually don't have my I.S. with me right now…"

"What did you say?!" Seemingly she was on edge, Ichika's foul words hit her hard for some reason, "You little… where's your I.S.?! I'm not messing around, damned brat! I'm a member of the secret organization Phantom Task. And you must call me Autumn-sama, got it, you fucking kid?!" This woman, Autumn, was screaming like insane as she completely deployed her I.S.

"Phantom Task?" Ichika asked again as his eyes flashed, revealing two equally colored, blood-red eyes, glowing with scarlet light. Aura of oppressing power surrounded him. "I thought you're just a mere corporate spy… But since it turned out like this… then you won't leave this place alive, Autumn-chan," As he said this, Ichika took his crown and threw it towards Autumn.

Since it was just a fake crown, Autumn didn't recognize it as something dangerous. Her I.S. didn't warn her about incoming attack, either. She was just intending to kick it away with one of her spider's legs, she didn't notice a 'Gula' plasma grenade, hidden inside of it.

BOOM! Powerful plasma blast has sundered half of the changing room as it threw Autumn's I.S. away and smashed it into the opposite wall. "GAAH!" She screamed as her body hit the wall, she has the protection of Absolute Defense, but the pain didn't disappear just like that. "YOU!" She screamed hysterically, "You'll pay for this!" But only reply she got was another plasma grenade flying towards her from the dust cloud.

BOOM! Second blast destroyed another part of changing room, collapsing the wall. However, Autumn's spider-like I.S. appeared to be quite agile – she quickly jumped aside, right before the blast and then made an emergency maneuver, avoiding most of the shockwave's damaging force. It seemed that each armored leg that extend from the back could deploy a PIC, and that I.S. mobility was nimbler and more complicated than any I.S. Ichika have seen until now. The movements were just like that of a spider.

"Not bad," Ichika said, he now was speaking with high iron voice, "This is the Arachne, am I right? The US I.S. which was stolen a while ago? It seems that this insect of yours actually is capable of something… Looks like grenades alone won't be enough to deal with you…"

"Shut you fucking mouth!" Seemingly Autumn was driven mad by Ichika's actions and words, she could barely control herself. Here was a disadvantage for Autumn – her I.S. wasn't equipped with thermal imager, so she couldn't see Ichika through all this dust, smoke and fire. On the other hand, Ichika somehow could see her pretty well, despite all those optical obstacles.

"I'd like to say that there is nothing personal… but it is personal. Your idiotic organization stands behind my kidnapping during second I.S. Mondo Grosso. Because of you, my sister was humiliated and you made me look like an idiot… For that, I'll kill every last one of you. Seven of your operatives paid with their lives back then… Today, you will share their fate," Ishika's voice sounded from somewhere as dark violet flame flashed through the dust. Ichika activated his weapon, Sitra Ahra, in its first form – plasma blade Invidia.

Of course, despite Sitra Ahra could operate by itself, without support of Demon Queen it has limited capability, as overload mode and Paradise of Darkness One-Off Ability aren't available; besides, heavy plasma machinegun Luxuria and rapid-firing shotgun Avaritia have too powerful recoil to use them without I.N. support, and beam plasma cannon Ira wasn't designed to be used without I.N. at all.

As such, only plasma sword Invidia and sniper rifle Superbia, which is equipped with advanced recoil compensation system, are useful in current situation. But Ichika seemingly thought that this is enough to deal with the enemy in front of him. "I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it…" Ichika quoted 'A Christmas Carol'. "I'm pretty sure that your chain is heavy enough to drag you right down to hell…"

"SHUT UP!" Autumn bellowed as two machineguns appeared on her hands, and she opened fire from all her weapons – legs-mounted cannons and two machineguns, she was firing towards where she saw flash from Ichika's weapon. All her weapons were using live ammunition. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You're so screechy…" Ichika noted, still with the same iron voice. The oppressive atmosphere that filled the half-destroyed changing room intensified. "I'll give you an advice for the next life," Ichika said, his voice sounded like from everywhere, "Don't make yourself an enemy that you can't handle… Now, do me a favor – die." As Ichika said that, a plasma fireball was shot from the opposite side of the room. Due to smoke and dust Autumn didn't notice that sword turned into a heavy sniper rifle. Though, seemingly, Autumn's I.S. warned her about that firing mechanism of Ichika's weapon was triggered, and she leaped aside, completely on instincts, thus avoiding direct hit as plasma blast made a breach in the wall right behind the place where Autumn stood just a moment ago. "You're not as pathetic as you look," Ichika commented. "Too bad, but it seems we have to take a break…"

"SHUT UP YOU PUNK!" Autumn turned around, and the 8-legged armor attacked the place from where Ichika made a shot. She sounded completely mad, one of reasons for that was that she didn't even scratched Ichika, yet her own I.S. shield was damaged quite a bit.

"Oh my, such a mess here. This is what happens when Ichika-sama enters the battle…" A delighted sound echoed in half-destroyed room, and that didn't match the current atmosphere. Looking over, Autumn saw a girl standing at the place where changing room's door was. Girl's name was Tatenashi Sarashiki, she was holding the fan in her hand like usual.

"What?! Who are you?! Where did you appear from?! All the systems here were locked down… well, I guess I'll just have to kill you too!" Autumn turned towards Sarashiki and attacked her with all her weapons.

"I'm the student leader of this school, so I have to do this," Tatenashi noted carelessly. Seemingly, she wasn't hit by Autumn's attacks.

"Ah?! What nonsense are you spouting?! Shut up and die!" Autumn screamed, seemingly Ichika did a good job infuriating her. At this moment, Autumn's armored legs pierced through Tatenashi's body.

"Sarashiki, you're late," Ichika noted as if nothing happened. "I remember the promise I made to my sister, but that doesn't mean I'll let some psychotic bitch attack me without fighting back." Ichika meant promise he made to Chifuyu to let Tatenashi deal with Phantom Task members if they appear on Academy's territory.

As of Tatenashi, even though she got pierced by the two armored legs, she looked undisturbed. On a closer look, the spot that Arachne stabbed through didn't even leave a single bit of blood. "What's with you...? I didn't feel like I hit you...?" Autumn sounded confused.

"Ufufu," Tatenashi smiled, "I'm sorry for being late, but I had to assign others to patrol the academy, in case if this one isn't alone here," Sarashiki explained. At the next moment, her body collapsed. *Splash*, the thing that Tatenashi turned into did spread out.

"You bastard… is that water?" Autumn growled.

"Good guess. It's called a water fake," The casual voice rang from behind Autumn. Tatenashi swung her spear at the shocked Autumn, who turned her head around in shock.

"Ku...!" Autumn screamed in pain.

"Oh my… Did I cut you too thinly? That I.S. of yours is really mobile," Tatenashi smiled.

Her I.S. is fully deployed and she's ready for battle. Tatenashi's I.S., Moscow's Dense Fog is really a unique one. The armor's narrow and small, it was definitely made with 'battle in limited space' paradigm in mind. The parts that didn't have the armor form a transparent wings-like surfaces made of liquid. It felt just like a water veil. The lady with a unique appearance that's surrounded in mist had crystal shaped items floating on both left and right sides, and they were really eye-catching. The objects called Aqua Crystals activated the screens of water that covered Tatenashi like a huge windbreaker.

"What are you?!" Autumn growled, every note of her voice was burning with hatred.

"My name's Sarashiki Tatenashi, and my I.S. is the Mysterious Lady. You've got to remember that," Student Council President introduced herself.

"Hah! I'll kill you now!" Autumn's voice sounded as psychotic as ever.

"Ufufu. That's really some classic line from a villain, which means I'll definitely win," And Sarashiki's voice sounded as carefree as always. After saying that, Tatenashi used the spear to attack. In contrast to Autumn and her spider-like I.S. that managed to attack continuously with eight legs and two hands, Tatenashi just used a spear to block them all.

"Sarashiki," Ichika called for Student Council President, he stood in far side of the room, leaning on his weapon, which now was deactivated. "As I said, I will honor the promise I gave to my sister, however… this one will NOT leave this Academy, neither dead nor alive. I hope I made myself clear…" Yes, his statement was crystal clear – if Sarashiki fail to deal with that bitch, Ichika will finish the job himself, even if it means to destroy half of the academy. His blood-red eyes, that were still burning bright, were the best confirmation of that statement.

"Shut up damn punk!" Autumn bellowed as she again heard Ichika's voice. "When I'll deal with that cocky kid, I'll rip you to shreds!" Drawing two daggers from her waist, Autumn turned all her armored legs on the back into firing mode to fight in long range, aiming at Tatenashi.

"That painless attack of yours isn't going to break through my water shield," The water veil blocked the live rounds of attacks that rained in like a storm, nullifying them. The bullets immediately lost their speed on entering the water veil, and stopped as they were captured by the water.

"It's just an ordinary water?!" Autumn screamed, seeing that all her attacks were in vain.

"Oh my, aren't you the alert one? This water is controlled by the nanomachines in the I.S. Amazing, isn't it?" Even though Tatenashi was saying that, she didn't stop moving her arms. She used the spear to skillfully flick away the two knives in Autumn's hands, and even used her legs when necessary as she completely nullified the opponent's attacks.

"Who in the world are you!?" That sounded as if Autumn began to worry.

"I won't introduce myself a second time. It's too troublesome," Tatenashi replied still smiling, but her eyes were different from usual… they were cold…

"SHUT UP!" Seeing her attacks getting blocked perfectly, Autumn started to feel anxious. Here's two kids against her, and she can't handle them?! Even though they're even not helping one another.

Tatenashi completely ignored her reaction as she avoided the enemy's attack with precision and a cold smile on her face. "Oh yeah. Do you know? The Student Council President in this academy is the strongest among students."

"How would I know that!?" Autumn screamed hysterically.

"Strongest?" Ichika asked, still with that high, echoing iron voice.

"Oh, but didn't you say you've graduated?" Tatenashi asked cunningly.

"Hmm… true…" Ichika thought aloud. Really, can he consider himself as an ordinary student now? Probably not…

"Stop ignoring me!" Autumn was infuriated once again. She threw the knife in her left hand and jumped forward to close her distance with Tatenashi. She grasped the moment Tatenashi deflected the knife and kicked the spear up.

"Oh my…" Sarashiki said as if she was a bit disappointed.

"TAKE THIS!" Four of Autumn's eight armored legs were in shooting mode, and the rest were in close combat mode as a fierce attack was launched.

"It's really tough to handle so many legs," Tatenashi noted tiredly.

"Hahaha! I'll see how long you can keep up that wretched mouth of yours! The strongest? Don't make me laugh, kid!" As what Tatenashi said, the eight armored legs gradually held down Tatenashi. Even though she had armor protection, the enemy's attack started to touch the I.S. main body directly.

"You're sure you don't want my help?" Ichika wondered. "Who cares if I'll melt down a room or two?"

"Just rest there, Ichika-sama. Leave this to Tatenashi-san, just give me your blessing…" She said calmly.

"Humph, kid! Weren't you being so calm just now?" Autumn finally broke through the bronze wall-like defense as she used the armored leg to kick Tatenashi. At the same time, she shot out spider web from both hands to rob Tatenashi of her mobility. "Haa… haa… you're really hard to handle, kid!" Autumn was breathing heavily, but seems she finally got the upper hand.

"Yup, seems like I can't move now," Tatenashi confirmed with smile.

"This is the end...!" Autumn announced with some hysterical joy. *KLANG!* The eight legs got ready and slowly closed in on Tatenashi.

But Tatenashi didn't look anxious or scared. "Hey, don't you find this room hot?" She asked with calm voice. "I don't mean the temperature, but the human touch temperature," Tatenashi clarified.

"Ah?" Autumn didn't understand what she meant. "What are you talking about...?"

"The discomfort level is decided by humidity – hey, don't you find this room's extremely hot?" Sarashiki asked with cunning smile.

"What?!" Completely shocked, Autumn saw that the entire room was full of mist, and her body was covered with this dense mist.

"Yep, I wanted to see that look on your face. The look when you know you got outwitted," Tatenashi smiled like a goddess, but this expression should be more like a deathscythe that clearly indicates the intention to kill. "Mysterious Lady'The Lady in the Mist', this machine can control water freely. Like I just said, they're nanomachines that can use the energy of the I.S. to control water, right?"

"Da… Damn it…" Autumn finally realized her situation but it was already too late.

"Bye-bye!" *BAM!* Tatenashi made a snap with her fingers, and in the next moment, Autumn's body got covered in explosions. "Aha. I didn't just explain my ability to show off or make fun of others, you know? It's just that I won't be able to see your shocked look if I don't explain it." The nanomachines that used the energy of the I.S. turned the mist into a heat source and blew up the target. This ability is called Clear Passion. Although, it might not be highly effective in a wide, windy space, this skill can be prepared while doing all other actions, so it's highly rated for being effective in practical battle in closed spaces.

"Guh… It's not over… no… not yet!" Autumn growled.

"Nope, it's over, right, Ichika-sama?" Tatenashi asked with smile.

Feeling a bad premonition, Autumn turned her head around to see Ichika standing just few yards away from her. "I haven't tested this mode yet, but this is why test subjects actually exist, right?" Ichika raised his plasma sword, "Invidia: Cardinal Sin." As he said that, the Fold-Out Armor on one of the sword's edges extended itself further, as another edge transformed, growing out small moth-like things along the entire blade, as Invidia switched into arc projector mode. "Repent, mortal creature. Earthly life is just prelude for another. The gates of Purgatory will be opened with my blade!" Ichika swung his sword, and blade emitted a crescent-like, dark violet plasma charge, the arc chord's length was about 15 feet.

"Nooo!" Autumn raised the eight armored legs above her head to block Ichika's attack. But that was useless as heavy, modulated plasma charge smashed her I.S. into the wall and exploded, collapsing almost half of the ceiling on Autumn's head, and, definitely, forcing her I.S. to activate the Absolute Barrier. She was done for.

"Ara ara… so much destruction, even without an I.S.," Tatenashi shook her head.

*Swoosh!* The sound of compressed air could be heard, and Autumn got away from her I.S. She used some sort of a catapult as she flew up, into the breach in Arena's service room ceiling.

"You won't escape!" Ichika shouted as his blade turned to sniper rifle.

"Ichika-sama!" Tatenashi exclaimed, and this time her voice sounded really worried.

Autumn's I.S. began to glow, no doubts it was set for self-destruct. Ichika acted without delay – he aimed at glowing I.S. with his sniper rifle and shot, at the same time jumping away. Plasma fireball hit the target and exploded, completely wrecking damaged frame, but, most importantly, the electromagnetic pulse, created by chick, spinning charge of plasma, fried all electronics of defenseless I.S., thus disabling the self-destruct mechanism. "Fight destruction with destruction," Ichika said as his eyes flashed, he Ignored Tatenashi's dropped jaw. "Now, where's that pathetic woman?"

"She… she got away," Tatenashi shook her head to get her thoughts in order. "She most likely took the core out before it self-destructed, leaving behind only the armaments and armor to self-destruct. Even so, that was reckless of her, she would have hurt herself had she failed. Still, it wasn't as reckless as what you just did…" Actually, Tatenashi wanted to cover Ichika from explosion with her water wings…

Ichika completely ignored last part of Tatenashi's phrase. "No one will get away!" He shouted as he looked around. "There she is!" He pointed somewhere up and to the south from their position.

"You… What are you saying… You… What!? You can see her?!" Tatenashi's eyes widened in shock. But mostly shocking were Ichika's eyes, as now not only blood-red pupils of his eyes were glowing, whites of his eyes were also glowing, with cold white light.

Ichika ignored her question, as he now was looking for a way to pursue Autumn. The hole through which Autumn escaped was collapsed when Ichika shot at her I.S. remains, so he and Tatenashi were in need for another way out. "Stay away, I'll make the way out for us."

"NO!" Tatenashi screamed as she realized what Ichika wants to do. She really sounded scared now. That was funny – Autumn didn't scare her at all, but Ichika did… "Structural analysis shows that arena's ceiling is barely holding, it will collapse on our heads!"

"Then give me an alternative, quickly," His eyes were shining brighter than ever.

"Here's a shortcut, we can use it to get to the surface," She pointed somewhere aside, as she unsummoned her I.S. "It's a service corridor, c'mon!" As much as she didn't want to pursue Autumn herself, it was absolutely obvious that Ichika won't let her go. She knew that other students are guarding Academy's perimeter, but one look at Ichika could tell – he's unstoppable now.


"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Autumn was running through the I.S. Academy grounds, cursing everything and everyone in her mind. 'A simple job!? What kind of joke was that?!'

Speaking of which, the attack for today's infiltration was meant to be carried out in the dorm room, but at the last moment they had to modify the plan drastically, because Phantom Task learnt that Orimura Ichika may leave Academy for a weekend, right after anniversary event's end.

'Speaking of which, I never liked that kid ever since she joined our organization…' She remembered the girl who always looked so haughty, thinking that nobody could match her, and that everyone was inferior to her. The one who devised that 'Infiltration' plan in the first place. Besides, she took significant part in the creation of the Remover, the device that Autumn had to use on Ichika to steal his I.S.

But in fact, Autumn didn't even get a chance to use that device. 'From where that damn bitch came from?! But even so… that punk… I couldn't even scratch him! He had no I.S., yet… And the girl who raised this plan said he's an easy target… She just made mockery of me!' That's what Autumn thought. 'I'll kill her! I'll definitely kill that brat! I don't care what Squall says!'

Gritting her teeth in anger and regret, she found that she finally reached a park that was far away from I.S. Academy. 'Damn it… I'm thirsty. Is there water…' She looked around, and found a water cooler at the park. 'Anyway, got to deal with this thirst!' Autumn quickly walked to it. With a tap-turning motion, the water spurted up. She went over to ravage the water like a beast and continued to think of how she should kill that girl who just joined in. 'Slowly, slowly kill her… hi hi hi.'

Still thinking about how she'll kill that girl, Autumn suddenly noticed that water ceased to flow. 'What's wrong? Is it faulty…?' Thinking that, she looked at the tap, but something unbelievable happened. The water spurted up wildly, covering the sky. "What!?" The water that rained down on Autumn like transparent curtain wet her clothes, but she didn't care about that. 'Is this… AIC!?' Though she immediately tried to back away, her feet that were about to move were stuck because of AIC. Due to the inertia exerted, Autumn fell backwards. "Damn it! Is that the German I.S.!?"

"That's correct, 'Phantom Task'," Laura's voice echoed silently. The icy pressure surrounded her, maintained over there. "Don't move. A sniper is aiming at your forehead."

"Ku...!" Autumn growled.

"Spill it out. Everything you know about your organization," As a soldier, Laura already had received information about this secret organization. Through the infiltration and the fact that they used I.S. units in battle, she realized that it was a really large group. "Your I.S. was a second generation one from the United States. How did you get it? Speak," Laura demanded.

"Dream on!" Autumn shouted defiantly.

The I.S. core technology was never revealed to the outside world. In other words, it could only be taken from somewhere. And because it would be a heavy loss on the national defense side, nobody would reveal that their I.S. unit got stolen. From the way they planned the theft of the I.S. and the capability to do it, this organization ain't to be underestimated. "Alright. I have lot of ways to carry out interrogations, so it looks like I need to spend some time with you."

As Laura said that and walked to Autumn, Cecilia said through the private communicator, "Get away! Another I.S. unit's approaching!"

"Wha...?!" Immediately after expanding the sensors, Laura's right shoulder got shot through. "Gaah!" Laura immediately took off the eyepatch from her left eye to activate the Odin's eye, the hyper sensor device. But it was tough as she had to dodge the next two shots.

"Laura, get away!" Using the trajectory of the shots, Cecilia was immediately able to tell where the opponent was shooting from, and aimed at the machine that was quickly approaching. "How did that happen… don't tell me…" Appearing in the focus lens that was used to see things far away, was a machine Cecilia had seen once before. Blue Tears Mark II frame, Silent Zephyrs. It was a prototype frame that used data from the first frame, Cecilia's own Blue Tears, and it was equipped with BIT-type protective shields.

"What are you doing? Cecilia, shoot!" Laura shouted.

"Ah!" Blonde came back to her senses and immediately used her laser rifle to snipe, but as the enemy deployed the BIT-mounted shields, there wasn't any effective damage. Cecilia then released her own BITs, but they were shot down by the enemy, who used her own sniper rifle.

'Sniping down so accurately at supersonic speed? And even the shooting was fast!' Cecilia was mystified, how's that possible that opponent's ability was better than hers, and the threat caused by enemy's BITs was very high as she could control all six of them at one go, sending Cecilia into a tough spot.

"If that's the case!" Blonde shot the missile BITs below, intending to let the enemy that was flying to defend before attacking, forcing it into a tight corner. Though Cecilia believed this, something unbelievable happened next. "Wha...!?" The curved lines that were drawn out in light took down the missile BITs.

'This is… a polarized control shot that can only be done when the BT weapon is moving at high velocity… How can there be such a…?' The unbelievable scene that happened in front of Cecilia caused her to remain rooted there. 'Amongst all the I.S. pilots, my suitability with BT should be the highest. So, why!?'

"What are you doing? Move aside!" Laura knocked Cecilia away, taking the BIT laser attacks instead of her.

"Wha…!?" After seeing the Schwarzer Regen armor has been damaged, Cecilia finally recovered, but by then the attacker has already landed beside Autumn.

"I'm here to get you, Autumn," Silent Zephyrs' pilot said with calm, cold voice.

"Don't… you call me like that!" Autumn screamed in her usual hysterical manner, but she was simply ignored.

The Silent Zephyrs flew over and used her Gatling Laser to bombard small area in front of Laura, preventing her from approaching Autumn. Then she landed near Autumn, and used a pink laser blade to slice the AIC field apart, freeing the captive. "Is that all German enhanced genes have to offer?" Mysterious pilot asked. Her face was covered by a hyper sensor that acted as a cap, and only the lips could be seen. But Laura could clearly see a smirk on enemy's lips.

"Damn it… how did you learnt about that?!" Laura seemed shocked.

"I have no need to tell you, goodbye," Silent Zephyrs' pilot replied indifferently, she had somehow familiar manner of speech. The attacker grabbed Autumn and began to ascend, slowly, as if she enjoyed to look at others' helplessness. Her BITs were holding off Laura and Cecilia. And then…

Everything happened within a few seconds.

"You won't escape!" Ichika shouted as he appeared as if from nowhere. He was holding burning plasma blade in his left hand. Then he raised his right arm, and arm itself shot towards enemy I.S. That wasn't a hallucination – part of Ichika's right hand (elbow and below) flew towards ascending enemy I.S. and grabbed one of its butterfly-like wings' end. Detached part of Ichika's arm was connected with the rest of his body via two black metallic ropes. And then, seemingly using some sort of winch, built into upper part of his right arm, Ichika pulled himself up, towards enemy I.S.

Ichika's right arm became whole again. Things that were happening right now were so unreal, so everyone who were seeing this fell into stupor, especially the Silent Zephyrs' pilot, as now she was staring right into Ichika's burning eyes. When she finally came back to her senses, he already raised his sword for attack, "I will not be denied!". There was no mistake – he was targeting the defenseless Autumn, intending to slice her in half. At the last moment, Silent Zephyrs' pilot moved Autumn away. Ichika foresaw it, but sadly, due to circumstances, he was holding a very heavy sword in his left hand, which, despite being his main hand, was far less powerful than his right. He couldn't adjust attack's trajectory fast enough to kill Autumn, but…

"AAAUUUGHHHH!" A heartrending scream could be heard even outside of arena. Ichika sliced off Autumn's left leg, slightly above knee-joint. Since it was a plasma blade, no blood was spilled as wound was burned.

Despite the fact that from aside Ichika's actions seemed reckless, he wasn't blinded by bloodlust, not at all. He realized that he lost his chance. "Next time I'll get your heads. Both of them," As he said that Ichika unclenched his right arm and it shot towards decorative castle wall. Metallic arm broke through the wall and grabbed at it, as Ichika began to pull himself towards it.

"You!" Silent Zephyrs' pilot growled as she equipped her Gatling Laser and prepared to attack Ichika (she couldn't use BITs, they were still needed to hold off Laura and Cecilia) but Ichika's sword already turned into sniper rifle and dark violet plasma fireball was already shot towards Silent Zephyrs.

"Che…!" She swore as instead of using her gun she was forced to engage emergency evasive maneuver and turn around, to cower her defenseless passenger with her I.S. wings as plasma fireball exploded nearby. And after that she had to repeat those actions as another shot was incoming. For some reason, her enemy could easily predict all her maneuvers, leaving her no chance to at least turn towards the enemy, she needed her wings to protect Autumn.

BAM! one of Silent Zephyrs' BITs was destroyed. Tatenashi appeared from the same service tunnel and used her spear.

"Ichika!"

"Ichika-san!"

At the same time, thanks to destroyed BIT, Laura and Cecilia finally fell out of their stupor.

"Damn you!" Silent Zephyrs' pilot swore as now she was in a stalemate situation – she couldn't continue battle, at the same time protecting screaming and moaning Autumn. Time was against her, either. Number of enemies was growing. And her orders were to retrieve Autumn, alive. She had no choice but to retreat.

Silent Zephyrs turned around and flew back the way she flew in from. The remaining BITs that were holding off Laura and Cecilia immediately self-destructed after the mission. "What are you waiting for?!" Ichika asked with echoing iron voice. "After her!" He demanded.

"No, let them go, it's over!" Sharp and deep voice pronounced as Orimura Chifuyu appeared on arena.

…But her voice fell on deaf ears. "You don't need to fight her, only track her down, I'll take my I.S. and pulverize them both," Ichika said as if he didn't even notice his sister.

Chifuyu looked at her brother sternly, but he continued to ignore her. She realized that here's no choice. She closed her eyes and made a deep breath. And again, just like during that volleyball match a few months ago – everyone around could feel a powerful aura from her, but unlike Ichika's aura of oppressive power, Chifuyu's aura was… inspiring. And then… "I said stop that. This battle is over."

Words came from Chifuyu's mouth, but her voice sounded not like usual – it sounded like a beautiful, softly flowing melody. "Everyone, undeploy your I.S. units and power down your weapons. Pursuing the enemy is prohibited. Did I make myself clear?" She added, still with the same wonderful, melodic voice.

Laura and Cecilia did as Chifuyu said immediately, Tatenashi did so as well. They were like entranced with that voice, all three, as if they just had to follow her orders, only to not disappoint her. And Ichika… he slowly turned towards his sister. She was looking straight at him; her own eyes were sparkling. A moment later, white, and then blood-red glow in Ichika's eyes dissipated, they regained their normal color. 'For real? Voice of Haniel…' Ichika thought. 'Am I really gone that far that she had no choice but to use her Archangel's ability?'

"Everyone, to control section," Chifuyu said, her aura dissipated and voice once again sounded like usual, "I'll debrief all of you there."

"Orimura-sensei, on a few words, please," Ichika asked politely, high iron notes in his voice also were gone. He headed towards the service tunnel, from which he and Tatenashi came from.

"What is it now?" Chifuyu asked as she followed her brother, her voice sounded very displeased. "Do you imagine how many questions those three just got thanks to the show you've just put?"

But Ichika didn't reply anything. As soon as he and Chifuyu were out of Laura, Cecilia and Tatenashi's sights, he collapsed in complete exhaustion. Chifuyu barely managed to catch his body before he fell on the floor. "Ichika!" She exclaimed a bit worriedly before she realized what exactly happened. Seemingly, he used last bits of his strength to walk here, he just couldn't let himself fall unconscious in front of those girls. Only the most trusted person in the world was allowed to see that even Ichika's stamina isn't limitless. "Really, you're a complete moron…" Chifuyu sighed, "Using both of your Archangels at the same time, fighting without I.S. support…"

Moreover, those three girls definitely want an explanation, especially Sarashiki. And something has to be done with that horrible trophy Ichika has got (Autumn's sliced off leg). Such a mess…

Honestly, she wanted to hit him, but he's already unconscious, so it's pointless, as well as scolding him. "Damn, you're so heavy…" Chifuyu complained as she threw her brother's body on her shoulder, not that it was actually difficult to carry him, but still… Obviously, Ichika didn't want anyone to see him like this, so Chifuyu had to deliver him somewhere where he could rest, and of course it's troublesome. Fortunately, due to level 4 alert all students (aside from several personal I.S. pilots) were ordered to sit tight in their rooms, which makes task a lot easier… Besides, two weeks ago Ichika helped het to get to the job in time when she overslept, time to return a favor, right? Chifuyu sighed again. "Alright, but only this once, young man," She said sternly, but her lips unwillingly curled into a smile.


And this is it for now, see all of you soon, people.