Chapter 7: The Mysterious Encounter
Room 0097 – 06:00 P.M
I had just finished taking a refreshing bath after the day, after going through the cluster mess of a day, from the duel to the talk with Cecilia. Despite having gone through and dealing with two wars and some political incidents, I was not prepared for something like today. When it came to dealing with women, I was totally out of touch since I was still inexperienced in that type of "matter". The women I had talked with in my life had only been my mother; my sister, Aila; Belle; miss Yona when we were in the Crossbone Vanguard; and some of my female colleagues at SNRI, and they were all mainly about works.
Anyway, I got out of the bathroom and lazed down on the bed. It really was a tiring day, from schoolwork to the duel; unlike controlling a mobile suit where you only had to move the control sticks and panels, moving an IS required you to move your whole body, which was more exhausting, especially if you didn't maintain a well-trained body. If it wasn't for the PIC, many of the absurd maneuvers that I and Ichika pulled would rip our muscles to shreds. I really should train my body more from now on, but before that, I needed to take a rest first, so I closed my eyes for a bit. But...
"Master." But a voice suddenly called out to me, making me jumped out of bed in a big suprise. I looked back and turned out, it was just Haro.
"Damn it Haro, you just gave me a heatstroke there." I sighed in relief, he got me one heck of a bogger there.
"Sorry master, but I had finished analyzing the Blue Tears and Byakushiki as your request. And about miss Cecilia background, I had further investigated it and confirmed that they were 100% true." He apologized and continued to speak as he projected a hologram screen in front of me, and began listing out everything that he had been investigating so far.
Ah, almost forgot, before the duel with Cecilia began, I had told Haro to monitor the whole battle and analyze her and Ichika's ISes to use their statistics to make some final adjustments and modifications to my Gundam so it wouldn't stand out too much for the other country top brass should they take notice of it. After that, I had also asked him to recheck Cecilia's background, it was not like I thought her to be lying or anything, it was just that I wanted to make some preparation in case anyone in her household went for something against me. Well, after hearing about what Haro had told me, it seemed like the chance was low since most people in her household actually wished for her to lose badly so they could have an excuse to cease the fortune from her, what a poor girl.
Since Cecilia problem had been dealt with, I could now focus back on finding ways to go back to my world. I had been puzzling my head for the past couple of days, still didn't know how was I able to end up here.
Having assumed that the prototype Minovsky Drive was the main factor, I had double-checked the system many times, and they did indeed show a huge fluctuation in energy during the incident, but the problem was, I didn't know what had caused them. I did think about the idea of replicating the same scenario, but there was a big chance that it would teleport my machine to some random place and that would not end well for me, so I couldn't risk trying out that method. I had thought of recreating another Minovsky Drive for the experiment, but the lack of materials quickly shot that idea down. Running simulations could potentially give me more information, but its reliability would be up for question, since despite SNRI had run many tests and simulations on the prototype Drive and deemed it safe, in the end, it was not.
"Aaa, I can't think of anything dammit!"
"Heh-And what is it that you can't think up? I may have a solution for you."
"!"
All of a sudden, I heard a young female voice in the room and immediately turned to the direction where it came from. Standing at the balcony door was a young woman with purple eyes and long purple-pink hair that extended to her hips. She was wearing a frilly maid-like blue and white dress that reveals a great deal of her cleavage, and on her head was a pair of robotic rabbit ears?
Instinctively, I reached for my pistol, even though it didn't have any bullet, the female probably wouldn't know it. Issuing a command, I pulled out the gun and pointed it at her with both of my hands.
"ON YOUR KNEES AND HANDS UP!"
I didn't know how she could get in here without me or Haro noticing, but by sneaking in here, she had posed herself as a threat.
However, in a swift, she had crossed the room and clamped herself on my arm in the span of a single second. I barely had the time to register what happened, before I looked down to my right arm to see that she had locked my arms and got a hold on my neck.
"Oh, what a naughty boy you're, Tobia-kyun." She teased.
I couldn't help but grimaced at the female, who was still clutching my arm tightly. I was in the presence of a very dangerous person, and like it or not. I was at her mercy. I could barely even react to her when she crossed the room. I was already on guard, but for her to bypass my danger sense, well. I didn't know how she could do that, but I couldn't let myself be taken out this easily.
"Haro!"
I called out to him, and my pistol that she had taken control of, immediately transformed into the Crossbone. The transforming field forced her to back off, and I raised my right hand out for the armor to latch itself onto.
At this point, she had proven herself to be a legitimate threat, and I had full justification to take her down. When the transform was completed, I swung my right leg at her at full force, but the female was able to jump out of the way and back to the balcony, so I ended up swinging my leg through the TV and breaking it. She was quick, but I would see if she could dodge my dagger.
"Wait! I was just jokin-."
I didn't bother hearing her full sentence as the dagger that I shot out of my sole launched itself right at her head, but she managed to duck down at the last second and it flew right through between her bunny ears, breaking through the glass window.
I couldn't believe it, her movement and reaction time was superb, it was like she was a newtype. Even though I was using the excellent speed advantage of my Gundam in its IS form, for her to also be able to evade two of my attacks was absurd.
"Ughh...Uaaaa-Tobia-kun is a big meanie!" She felt down to her knees, crying out low.
It could just be her acting to make me lower my guard, so to be careful, I pointed the other dagger at her.
"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?" I shouted at her, readied myself should she make any suspicious movement, I would slide the dagger through her throat.
"*Sob* I'm Tabane Shinonono... *sob* I'm sorry for doing that to you, I was just joking *sob* I heard you are the second male IS pilot so I come here to meet you *sob* please don't kill me, I'm too beautiful to die..."
Tabane Shinonono? Wait, that genius professor!? Now, that I took a closer look at her, she was indeed very similar. But what did she want with me? For her to get in here without detection and avoided all my attacks like that, what kind of monster is she? Anyway, I had to put the situation under my control first.
"Why do you want t-"
*Bam* Before I could ask, my front door suddenly got kicked open. Was it her fellows? Dammit, now there were more. I turned around and saw it was Chifuyu standing outside with Maya, with Ichika standing behind them.
"TOBIA, WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Chifuyu called out and rushed straight inside.
She went quiet for a moment as she saw me pointing my dagger at Tabane Shinonono. We all held in our thought of what was happening, well, except Tabane as she was still fake crying for god sake and took a glance at each other. Then Chifuyu left out a sigh and turned her eyes to Tabane.
"...I didn't expect you to be here so soon." Chifuyu said sternly, her arms crossed as she stared at Tabane, who was right across from her.
Tabane, now seemed to have dropped her fake crying act and lifted up her face to look at Chifuyu with a beaming smile. Playing with her bunny ears, Tabane went flying at Chifuyu, spreading her hands out trying to take a hug at Chifuyu. I thought she was trying to attack Chifuyu and almost used my dagger to intercept her but...
"CHHHIII-CHHHAAANNN! I really miss you! Let's hug out to show some love-fueh"
She didn't get to finish her sentence as Chifuyu's fists came crashing down and hit her square on the forehead. She lost her balance and fell down on the floor beneath her.
"Wahhh!" Tabane cried as she clutched her head. "Chi-chan's so mean! That isn't how you're supposed to treat your big sister!" Tabane wailed as she lay prone on the floor.
Chifuyu mercilessly grabbed Tabane's face and sunk her fingers into the flesh.
"Shut up, Tabane."
"Mmmm...you're as merciless as ever."
"Wait, professor Tabane!?"
"Hmmm? Tabane-san?"
As the Chifuyu and Tabane continued to interact with each other, however, Maya and Ichika finally peeked their head inside to take a look, only to be left dumbfounded at the sight of my wrecked room. All of a sudden, the once heavy suffocating air of two people trying to take down each other, now turned into some kind of a comedy show right in front of my face as I stood there wondering 'What the hell just happened?'
An hour later
Currently, we were sitting in my room with Tabane being tied up in the middle. It had taken us quite a while to disperse the girls trying to peek into the room to find out what we're all the noise that was created by my clash with Tabane. Once we were done finished cleaning, we turned our attention to Tabane for "interrogation", and after a while, she had finally spilled out everything.
She told us that the reason she came here was that she had taken an interest in me when she first heard about my news last week and had decided to come here to meet me. A simple and reasonable reason, as she was the professor who designed the IS and its core, for her to want to meet me, the second male IS pilot, was normal. However, I felt like she was only telling the half-truth, telling something plausible for the others inside this room to believe. The fact that she snuck into my room instead of actually contacting me was enough to take the guess, for a genius like her that many nations couldn't find out her hideout, sending a secret message to me was definitely not out of her league. Then, what was her true purpose? Did she find out my true identity and wanted to capture my Gundam for research?
"Anyway, I didn't think a 2nd male IS pilot to appear this soon right after Ikkun, so I just drop in for a chat. But Tobia-kun and Chi-chan were so mean." Tabane spoke while pouting her face like a rebellious child trying to refute her parents.
"Hmm, sneaking into someone's room without permission and even tried to pin the person down, I wonder why?"
I snapped out my thoughts when I heard the two of them talking. I grimaced slightly, making sure not to look too obvious. Truth be told, I was not quite sure what to do with this situation.
On one hand, I had found out that professor Tabane Shinonono was more than what I had thought of her; but on the other hand, I had now been able to meet the person that could help me getting back to my world. You could say that I was beyond elated, but not knowing what her view and intention were really off-setting for me. The ability she showed and what she had done to me for the past hours made me somewhat hesitant to converse with her, but if what she told was true, that she was just joking, then I should take the advantage and ask her for help.
"Well, since the misunderstanding is cleared up, we should not argue about it too much." I tried to ease off the atmosphere first, "However, professor Shinonono, may I ask, what is the reason for you to take the hassle to come here?"
Tabane turned towards me, a smile on her face that showed that she was genuinely amused at my words, "Ah, now that you mentioned it, yes, I truly have something I wanted to ask you." she replied, prompting everyone to look at her.
"Oh, I see... and may I ask what would that be?" I asked her while trying to play innocent and calm.
"Ahaha, then I will cut straight to the chase. Who are you truly Tobia-kunn?" She began; her smile broadening as she stared into my eyes, "Despite my extensive investigation, I haven't been able to find any information about you, nor does your IS. Being the one who designs all of the cores, I couldn't find out any project regarding it."
Shit, she really went straight for the point.
With Ichika here, I couldn't risk involving him, Maya and Chifuyu were unavoidable since I was in a desperate situation needing assistance back then, but he was only a student.
"I'm sorry Tabane-san, but that's something I can't disclose. One of the reasons for me to join this academy is that Orimura-sensei would help me keep my past a secret you see, it wouldn't make sense if I answer everyone who asks me this right?"
I tried to divert it to Chifuyu, hoping that she could cover me up this time too. I darted my eyes at Chifuyu for help, while Tabane turned to her for confirmation
For a few seconds, Tabane didn't react, only blinking in response at Chifuyu. But finally, she let out a sigh. "I see, what a shame."
"But you indeed have something hiding huh? I guess it has something to do with your IS right?"
Despite still keeping my calm and collective façade, her last comment really hit me hard. For chifuyu, who was Tabane classmate and had known her for quite long, to not give me any reassurance about Tabane trustworthiness; I could be damn sure that trusting her would be a grave mistake.
Tabane only smiled at me and remained silent, as if she was sure she had seen right through me. And we just grimaced at each other as Ichika sat there in ignorant of what was happening.
Knowing that I couldn't bullshit my way out of this, I knew that I only had one option left. I squint my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to be as straight-forward as possible with my reply.
"Sorry, but I have no intention of answering your question for now. Even though our first meeting may not be the most pleasant, it was my pleasure to meet such a famous figure like you, professor Tabane. However, I will have to say, our meeting should end here and I will be glad to see you again at another time."
Hmm," Tabane hummed in thought at my answer. She shrugged her shoulders and easily set herself free from the rope that Chifuyu had tied her up with, but no one in the room bothered with that fact, except Ichika.
"Oh, I see." Tabane began in an affectionate tone. "If you don't want me to be privy about your past, then I won't force you any further," Tabane said with a smile and stood up.
"You really make me interested in who you are, Tobia-kun. Soon, I will find out the truth about you."
And so Tabane left through the balcony just like how she arrived, though not before leaving some parting words at Ichika with an affectionate smile. "Give Houki-chan a greeting for me ok? Ikkun."
Ichika's POV
Two hours ago, after coming back from the arena with Houki and taken a bath, Yamada-sensei came to my room and told me that I was now re-arranged to room 0097 with Tobia. At first, I didn't get why I there was a need to change despite both Houki and me was perfectly fine with each other, but Yamada-sensei explained that since there had been another male student moving in, the school had put both of us together to be more appropriate, as a male sharing a room with a female wouldn't be comfortable for the latter, and I agreed.
Houki for some reason seemed rejected at the notion, in the beginning, even trying to reason with sensei that she had no problem with me. However, with some talking, she finally reluctantly gave up, and with nothing more, I packed up my belongings and went with sensei to Tobia's room.
When we got there, I saw Chifuyu-nee walked to us from the opposite side of the hall. She was wearing her usual white jogging suit during training, and on her hands were a black coffee can and some piece of paper. Not expecting that we would conveniently meet each other right at Tobia's room, I walked over to give her a greeting.
But then, all of a sudden, there were many loud shattering noises coming out of his room accompanied by a strong vibration. Chifuyu-nee and Yamada-sensei instantly went for opening the door, though, it was already locked. I was oblivious to what was happening and could only stand there, ready for the worst, while Chifuyu-nee, in a split second, made a decision to ram her body through the door and rushed inside when there was another shattering. Sensei and I stood outside readied ourselves as she went in for a check when we heard some fighting, both of us walked into the room.
Inside, everything was in a complete mess, the TV was utterly annihilated, the books and clothes were scattered everywhere, with broken-glass fragments lying on the floor near the now non-existent balcony windows. In front of us where Chifuyu-nee with a stern face and her hands crossed together with Tobia, wearing his IS armor and was in a defensive stand with a dagger, glaring at... Tabane-nee?
It was a true surprise for me, for Tabane-nee, the peerless genius to appear like this. Though... I didn't get why Tobia and nee-san were being hostile to her. She was being held down by Chifuyu-nee's powerful hands like she was just a sack of potato. But seeing them like this was somewhat nostalgic for me since when both of them were still students, I always saw them hanging around like this. It really brought back the memories.
Still, what Tobia and both of them had done in this room had caught the eyes of everyone living in the dorm and they were beginning to surround this place to take a look. Chifuyu-nee asked Yamada-sensei to block off the girls and tell them to return to their room. After an hour, we were able to bring everything back to normal in the dorm and cleaned up the room. Tabane-nee was tied up by nee-san rope that she pulled out of nowhere subsequently and was forced to explain everything.
It turned out that the reason she was here was to meet Tobia, but when she was trying to pull some joke on him, she ended up going too far and instigating a fight instead. Tobia, trying to defend himself from an unknown person sneaking into his room, went all out on her until Chifuyu-nee arrived and helped him to subdue her in a more "peaceful" manner.
Currently, we were having a talk about the reason why Tabane-nee had taken interest in Tobia. Even though I was sitting together with them, I found it quite hard to join in or keep up with them. Yamada-sensei also seemed to be like me, I guess? She didn't speak anything and only kept silent the whole time.
As the conversation moving on, Tabane-nee tried to ask Tobia about his past and IS, something that I had been quite curious about when he had mentioned that Chifuyu was the one who found out his talent for IS when she was in Germany, but didn't say anything in detail about what happened to his life before that.
Overall, he was quite a mystery, his past was essentially non-existent. I had tried to found out more about him by asking Chifuyu and searching through internet articles, the latter didn't mention anything about him, while the former only told me something along the lines that he was born in a family of bakers, which was really vague.
For him to display such an amazing feat during our duel with Alcott-san of taking zero damage from all of her attacks and taking her out with a single strike, hearing that he came from a normal baker family without any training background was absurd. He was calm and rational the whole time like he had already gone through similar events; while I was panicking and making rash decisions as it was my first time. Truly, he was an amazing and reliable guy, we may not be that close yet, but I hoped we could be soon since we would spend 3 years together at the academy.
Though, much to my disappointment, Tobia still chose to keep his past a secret. I had thought that he may have some bad memories that he didn't wish to share, which was normal for anyone.
When Tabane-nee received was refused by Tobia, her face showed a few signs of dissatisfied, and quickly followed it up with a smile, saying that she wouldn't divulge any further but she was still very interested in Tobia.
I was really surprised and impressed when she suddenly stood up and somehow was able to set herself free from the rope. But Tobia and Chifuyu-nee didn't have any reaction to it and only continued staring at her. I could definitely feel there was something wrong with our conversation, but I knew that I had no right to join in so I just kept my mouth shut.
Tabane-nee walked to the balcony and before she left, she told me to send Houki a greeting from her, and I nodded. In a blink, she disappeared from my sight, causing me to jolt, thinking that she was a ghost, it was like she just vanished into the dark. I was gasped in shock and confusion, but it seemed like I was the only one bothering with the fact because Tobia and Chifuyu-nee just overlooked it and turned to each other.
"I guess that is it for today. Sorry Arno, but she was quite a troublesome to deal with."
"It's ok, I don't really mind it, it is just that I wasn't expecting her personality would be like that. However, I'm more concerned about what's her true agenda."
"Yeah, Tabane is really self-centered and she always creates trouble for others. You should be careful with her."
"Um... by the way, why are you here, Ichika? Do you need anything?"
Both of them were having a serious talk until Tobia seemed to have finally noticed that I was still in the room, so he quickly changed the topic.
"Ah, yeah, Yamada-sensei told me that starting from today, we will roommates. Has sensei not told you before-hand?"
"Oh, yes, I have heard it already. Sorry for having to make you see all of this. I hope that it won't bother you too much. Anyway, since we will be roommates from now on, I hope that we will get along well."
"No, no, it's fine. I also wish the same."
As Tobia finished his sentence, he extended his right hand out to me, and I happily accepted his gesture, knowing that he was only trying to divert my attention. Well, as much as it piqued my curiosity about their conversation, I respected their privacy, so I would not ask anything about it.
"Arno, I hope that you could take some time to look after my idiot brother if you can. You may know this already but, he's quite hopeless." Chifuyu-nee spoke while patting on my head like I was some sad puppy.
"Chifuyu-nee! I can look out for myself, why would you say that?" I tried to protest her but she just laughed it off and proceeded to get to Yamada-sensei.
"Well, since it's quite late now, Arno-kun and Orimura-kun should take some rest to prepare for tomorrow's classes."
"You guys handle your own things now, I and Yamada-sensei will return to our room now."
They then left, leaving me and Tobia alone in the room. And Oh was it awkward, not having anything to say and the whole Tabane-nee things just happened. But luckily, Tobia was quick to pick it up.
"Have you had dinner yet?"
"Ah-I haven't, have you?"
"Me neither, what do you want to eat? We can use the kitchen; I have bought many groceries."
"Then... instant noodles would be fine."
"Ok, I will make some sandwiches too."
"Yeah, that sounds good, I will also help."
He was a really considerate guy, and friendly too. Damn, it felt awesome to have another guy with me in this school. Oh, and the school had said we would soon have an independent open bathhouse, how cool was that? I had been missing my old bathtub after using the shower for a while, but not for long anymore, since we would be getting a giant bath. Hooray.
After a few minutes, we had done preparing our dinner, though, it was not that much, it was still enough for the night really.
"Wow, the sandwiches are really good!"
"Oh, thanks for the compliment. My father taught me how to make them."
"Heh-"
What Chifuyu-nee said also seemed to be true too, that he came from a baker family as his kitchen skills were really good; he had made some very appetizing looking sandwiches and a burger too. Upon trying one of the sandwiches out, I could say that his skills were a league above me; despites having quite a pride in myself as a cook for having taken care of Chifuyu-nee meals since young, I was nowhere near him, well you could say that his parents may be professional bakers, so having some guidance helped him out whereas I was self-taught. Anyway, I was just envious of his talents, not only was he good at piloting IS, but he was also a good house husband type.
"Tobia, could I ask you something?"
"...? Sure, go ahead."
"Ahh, it was just that... I haven't known that much about you yet. Since we are going to be friends for the next 3 years, I just want to know some more about you..."
When he heard my question, he gave me a somewhat confused look, but he then made a small grin.
"Ah, yeah, well it was true that I haven't told you much about me. Well, I guess telling you a few things won't hurt."
Seeing that he had finally opened up a bit to me, it made me quite happy in return. Now that I heard from the man himself, it would personally connect us more.
"Well for starter, I was born in a baker family. I was the first child and I had a younger sister; her name is Aila and she is a year younger than me, heh, and she is one heck of an annoying sister too."
"My dad was my role-model, he was really cool and strong, always handle everything in the house smoothly. He was a pilot that had gone through a rough time to be with my mom. She was very strict, but she was also very caring and loving."
"Since a young age, I have always had a passion for mechanical stuff, my father told me that I inherited it from my grandparents since they were an engineer and a researcher. I always love learning about them, and always tried to do stupid experiments and got my ass wiped by mom hahah."
"We have many good friends, most of them are my dad's long-time comrades, and my name is actually named after his most trusted friend. He was like a mentor figure to me, has taught me many things. And he also had a daughter, her name was is Belle, she is a very beautiful girl... Ugh... And we also had a friend, he's Font... jeez, I am starting to miss them this much already."
When Tobia talked about his family and friends, he was very emotional, as he gripped the sandwich tighter. He lowered his head and turned away from my gaze. I tried to look at his eyes, and they were colored red, almost on the verge of crying.
Did he miss his family that much? I didn't really know how to think about this when my only family was Chifuyu-nee, I had never had a father or mother figure so it was somewhat distant for me to feel it. Though I had 2 childhood friends, which one of them was currently with me, I did somewhat understand his feelings when we were separated from each other. To see this side of him so soon, I was not expecting it.
"Tobia, a-are you ok?"
"Ye-yes, I'm ok, I'm sorry Ichika, showing something this embarrassing to you like this."
"No, no, it's ok. Crying because you care and miss your family is normal. It would be weird if no one does. When Houki moved away when I was young, I cried too, it's not embarrassing at all..." I tried to help him to ease off himself, he definitely had gone through many tough things and hadn't been able to see his family for long.
"..." He looked at me again, but this time with his teary eyes. It was hard to see him like this when you had viewed him as a strong type guy, but now that I saw him like this, I understand that he was just like any other person out there.
"Yes, you're right. Thanks, Ichika. Your words were really familiar to him."
I didn't understand what he meant by that, but he just got out of his seat to clean up the disks, once he was done with them, he went outside to the balcony. I let him alone to give himself some privacy and went to review the lessons.
That night, he ended up staying outside longer than I expected, but still not wanting to disturb him, I silently went to bed first. Hoped that by tomorrow morning, he may get back to normal. Without much more thinking, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
A/N: Thank you guys for reading this, it has been quite a fun time for me. I know that I am quite shit in storytelling, as this is just me messing around with silly ideas and trying to kill time during the COVID outbreak. But I am still glad that you guys like my shitposts here and I will try to write more shitposts for you guys :D
By the way, I have a question. Do you guys prefer reading in 1st person of the character or in 3rd person? Depends on your answers, I will change it to better suit your preference.
And for time king zi-o's question: Well, spoiler, axis power :) and some of the girls from the game Archetype Breaker. Though he will only truly fall in love with one girl, the others are more like following him around.