Chapter 9: The deal

IS Academy - 08:00 P.M

The nighttime at the IS Academy was in a state of tranquility, save for the odd number of crickets making themselves heard and the sound of the winds blowing the trees. The night of April in Japan was quite chilly, cold enough for someone to get a cold if they weren't properly covered when they're outside, making this time of the day rare for anyone to go outside. Tobia however, found it quite relaxing as he slowly walked along the paved road; he was the type of person who preferred to be alone when facing a hard-stress matter.

Since he had spent more than a week in this world, he had gotten himself familiarized with the school area properly thanks to the daily accompany class with Ichika and Houki.

As he kept walking, he recalled the events of the day. Cecilia had finally turned herself around and decided to restart her school life. And it seemed like she was now beginning to get clingy to Ichika, which could be that she had fallen for him, though the reason why she took a liking to Ichika remained unknown to him. The training periods were also really fun, watching Ichika struggled with doing a few basic IS controls was very amusing; for a guy that couldn't master the basic of IS, yet able to keep up with a national representative candidate would sound ridiculous for many, and then there came Ichika proving it wrong. And the evening party brought him much laughter too, though finding out he was appointed as the vice-class representative did set him back a bit.

But putting those aside, what was the reason for him to be walking outside at this time of the day?

After leaving the party early, Tobia went back to his room to take a bath as usual. However, when he got out of the bathroom, he was met with a sudden message from Haro.

Earlier that morning, following Tobia's order to investigate the places in the academy that Tabane had visited, Haro had discovered many pieces of paper being left behind by her, judging from the fingerprint scan. And on them were some random numbers that may not be anything special for normal people.

However, by putting the pieces together, it revealed the coordinate that is the Main IS Arena, together with the exact time to come. Coincidence or deliberate choosing that site on Tabanes part? Tobia didn't know, but he knew that she definitively had discovered something about him to call him to a place like that.

Now, standing in front of the large Arena, Tobia called out his Gundam, readied himself first should the same thing happened like yesterday. Putting on the anti-beam cloak once again, he walked inside without any hesitation. This time, what would she do?

"Oh, Yahoo. You come just on time. I know you would be able to find the message." Tabane spoke with a beaming smile on her face as Tobia stood face-to-face with her.

When he confirmed it was her, in his hand, he sent flying back the listenning device that Tabane had placed on him before.

"Oh, thank you. Though, I didn't get to use it much. Well at least I was able to hear some of your backstories." she frowned

"Just cut to the chase already. What do you want?" Tobia squinted his eyes and coldly replied. When she mentioned his past; his grip on Muramasa's handle tighten.

Tabane giggled. "Umu. With Chi-chan and Ikkun around yesterday, it must have been hard for you.", her tone sporting a playfulness as she moved closer to him.

Not wanting a dangerous person to get close to him, he chose to pull the large sword out immediately to create a barrier as soon as she almost reached the striking range. "Don't even think of taking a step closer."

Tabane furrowed her brows and hummed to herself as if the tip of the weapon that was only an inch away from her didn't pose any threat.

"Aww, Tobia-kyun is so aggressive. I'm just trying to give you a special deal, mou-"

A deal? Tobia pondered at the word and furrowed his brows. What was she trying to accomplice? And why a deal in the first place? Though, he knew that he wouldn't get any answer if he just kept the question to himself, albeit, with some hesitation, he moved on.

"Go on."

Tabane turned her head, and her ears perked up and began to project an image through the top of each ear. The images floated in the air, and each one showed a different picture. The one on the left showed an outline of his Crossbone Gundam, together with its stats. The other one showed a recorded video of what had happened in the main arena on the day he arrived in this world.

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes in exasperation at the familiar images that he absolutely didn't want anyone else to see.

"What do you want?"

"Hehe, you don't have to worry. I won't use them against you, because I know that you will accept my offer." Tabane for her part could only giggle in amusement when she saw the frustration in Tobia's words as his grip on the sword slacken before she further explained the reasons for the offer.

"My offer is simple. I want to know about you Tobia-kyun, your secrets that I haven't been able to figure out. And I will help to keep your information away from everyone else. Fair deal, right? Hehe."

What she just told him was... underwhelming. To be honest, he was expecting her to demand something far more ridiculous or far-fetched. The thought that she would require him to hand over the Gundam or go with her to be researched. But all she wanted was to know only his background?

He had a feeling that she may try to gather some information to find a way of dealing with him in the future. It was a plausible explanation to him at the time. However, judging from a certain point of view, the deal was advantageous to him.

And regarding the terms, it sounded less like a proposition to him, and more like there was hardly any decision to be made in the matter. Well, again, in a good way to some extent. Nonetheless, Tobia reluctantly digressed.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you offering me this deal? You could have just used that information to hold me hostage. Yet you are giving me the choices."

The deal that Tabane had offered was not bad, to say the least, in fact, he could use it to get close to her for help. However, not much to say that she may betray him later, it was more like he was being led around by the nose from the beginning.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't actually want anything from. I just want to know about you, the anomaly of this world, Tobia-kyun. Your existence really intrigued me to no end. You're a perfect means of entertaining in this boring time for me you see, teehee."

Hearing the answer, Tobia squinted his eyes at the ridiculous statement. He was at a loss for words.

Him as entertainment? Did she view his existence as a mere fun play, a joke to be made? He snapped, before taking a deep breath. He then fully turned towards Tabane, making sure to look into her eyes.

Designed by Tabane Shinonono, the Infinite Stratos possessed technology and combat capabilities far more advanced than any other weapon system, thus already threatening to destabilize the world. Now that she wanted to add him to this chaotic equation.

Did she even have any concern for the trouble that her actions would bring or even the damage they would cause? He grimaced and balled his hand into fist as he stared at Tabane.

Though Tabane couldn't see it through the Crossbone Gundam faceplate. She still tilted her head in confusion at his sudden gesture. "What's wrong Tobia-kyun? Does it not to your satisfaction?" She tilted head indicated confusion, yet the sheer coldness in her voice, as well as the slightly narrowed eyes, staring made him feel even more aggravated.

He was not satisfied alright. She essentially forced her way on to him without any concern. A part of him at that moment really wanted to kill her to ended the ordeal, but his rational mind spoke otherwise. She was the most intelligent that he knew currently, killing her would only go against his morality and take away his only chance to find help in going back to his world. He needed to remain vigilant.

"...I have one condition for this deal."

"And what is it, Tobia-kyun?"

"In the future, I may require your help. At that time, I want some compensation." Was what he asked for. The statement, along with the firmness of his voice, only made Tabane smile at him.

"Mmm, and what can that be? It depends you know." She replied, placing a finger on her lips. Though she gave out an innocent and curious look, Tobia could feel that she was listening.

"You will know soon," he replied. "But unless you agree to it, I won't take on your deal. And if you force me to, then don't say I didn't warn you," he told her truthfully, his voice collected and calm.

She hummed to herself for a moment, before reaching the conclusion that what he asked for could bring an even more interesting turn of event in the coming time. At that reasoning, there were stars beaming in her eyes and she quickly agreed to him, making victory signs with her fingers in a celebrating style.

"Okay. Then we can consider it a mutual achievement. V. V."

Tobia regarded Tabane with a raised eyebrow before he shook his head clear and called out to Haro. When the flying ball materialized, Tabane gasped in amusement at the weird object in front of her.

Last time, she didn't notice Haro as it was being hidden by Tobia silhouette when she entered the room and it quickly vanished away right after.

Haro opened its mouth, and in it, a thin hard disk ejected out and was quickly caught by Tabane. She raised it to her eyes level and took a look at it.

"Hmm, Project Formula 91?"

Compromising with the world genius wasn't easy at all for Tobia. He was essentially cornered into the wall to become her entertainment, or else his secrets would be revealed. Though, on the bright side, he got a chance to become closer to her, which would help him a lot in the future.

However, at the moment, he didn't really want to think about it much. He had made a gamble, what was going to happen he would soon know, there's no point in debating about it.

Sitting on a nearby bench next to the dorm, he was looking upon the stars above. He had to admit, even in another world, the sky above still remained the same, as beautiful as ever, either looking through a cockpit or stargazing them through a telescope.

Yes, it was very still the same, very familiar to his world. He could imagine being with his family, going on a trip to space for a holiday. He remembered that his annoying little sister always wanted to go to space once, but hadn't got the chance too. He chuckled at the thought, thinking that he would fulfill that wish of her once he comes back.

Holding onto his coffee can that he had bought in the nearest vending machine, he took a gulp, trying to wash away his gloomy thoughts and the disgruntled state. However, unknown to him, there was also another person in the area who he would prefer not to meet at the moment, but what would you know? For lo and behold, that person was exactly there.

"Who's there!?"

As soon as Tobia finished his drink, he heard someone calling from behind him, so he turned around to face the person. "Orimura-sensei?"

Chifuyu was on her shift to check around the dorm when she unexpectedly met Tobia sitting alone late into the night.

"Arno?" The teacher startled a bit, not expecting the boy to be outside at the current hour. "What are you doing here? It's 21:30 already. Shouldn't you be back in your room? It's against the rules to be outside at this hour." She told him in a strict manner like a mother to her son.

"Ahh, sorry about that." He apologized, smiling wryly as he tried to come up with an excuse, "It's just that I couldn't bring myself to sleep you see."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have drink those coffee," spoke Chifuyu as she took a glance at the bag of coffee that Tobia had bought.

Realizing that his excuse was dumb now that she pointed it out, he attempted to defend himself but failed miserably as his head was completely empty.

Seeing the boy in front of her was being desperate and stuttering in futile, she couldn't help but laughed a bit at the ever so composed boy.

"What's so funny?" Tobia glowered at the teacher's laughter, feeling as if he was being made fun of.

"No, nothing," she replied, accompanied by a gentle smile.

"Anyway, it's sensei shift right now huh? Do you want some coffee? It may help you on your job." not knowing what to do with the situation, Tobia decided to invite his teacher a drink since he didn't know what else to say to diffuse the awkwardness in the air between the two of them.

"Sure, why not?"

Chifuyu gladly accepted his offer and decided to sit next to him on the bench. Since her job was only to check around the dorm at the night, it was boring and she didn't have much to do anyway, so she just kindly agreed to it to kill some time.

Holding the coffee can in hand, she was quite disappointed that it was cold instead of hot, something that she would most prefer in this cold spring night. Nevertheless, it wasn't much of an issue, and she just quickly took a shot out of it.

"It tastes quite bland. I much prefer an authentic one," she grumbled at its taste, clearly not her cup of tea, or should he say, a cup of coffee.

"Heh, is that so? Then maybe I will make you some good coffee if I find good beans." Finding some humor in her reaction, Tobia jokingly spoke.

She blinked at him repeatedly, baring a peculiar look that made him questioned whether did he say anything wrong or not.

"You may not know it but not only is my family good in baking, but we can also make good coffee you know."

Buffing up his chest, he proudly stated, feeling confident in what his family had taught him. And again, Chifuyu just smirked, before taking another shot at her coffee.

"Orimur...no, Chifuyu-san." suddenly, Tobia spoke. Chifuyu, for her part, turned to him at the sudden call of her name like that from him. "I want to say a thank you to you."

"?"

"I know it must have been hard for you. To help me keep my Gundam existence a secret in this world must be tough right? Especially after the duel with Cecilia." he confessed while scratching his temple awkwardly.

"What's with you today? Being all friendly like this?" Chifuyu appeared slightly confused at what he had just said, and then quickly shrugged it off with a slight chuckle, one which he had to widen his eyes in shock.

Though for only a glance, the smile that she had just made had distinguished her from her usual self being a teacher. It was an alluring and dazzling smile that could only belong to a mature woman.

Trying as hard as he could to put up a face as always, it was still truly astonishing for Tobia. He didn't want to admit it, but he must say that she was very beautiful, enough to make his heart raced. He had to slap himself back to reality right after that, fearing that he may drift off.

'Come on, Tobia. You already have someone you love.' he stated it to himself.

"What's wrong?" she asked, regarding his sudden reaction. Chifuyu held her arms tight to her body and silently peeked at the boy. His eyes were avoiding her; she was sure of it.

"...N-No! It was nothing! I sho-should go back to the dorm now. Right, it's late now! Excuse me, Orimura-sensei!" Tobia replied as he quickly stood up and rushed back to the dorm.

Chifuyu remained static for a while, before she stood up from the bench, and threw the empty can into a nearby trash bin. For a few seconds, she didn't say anything, only continued to stare and pursed her lips at his disappearing silhouette.

Chifuyu watched the boy left with a small frown on her face. And as he was out of sight, she shifted her gaze away from him to a figure that had been hiding in the shadow behind them this entire time. It was no other than her longtime friend, Tabane; Chifuyu gave her a harrowing glare.

"Come out already, I know you're there."

Unfazed at the gesture of her friend, Tabane only continued to smile from afar.

"Just what are you planning this time?" demanded Chifuyu as she stalked forward and stared down at Tabane. She leaned onto a tree that was in front of Tabane and stared into Tabane's amused eyes.

"Mou, Chi-chan," Tabane's childish voice echoed out. It was only drowned out by the sound of metal being welded and being stacked onto each other. "You're scary when you get like that. Tabane doesn't like it when you go scary like that." Tabane pouted as she slowly, almost comically, shrunk down on herself as if she was a child being chided by their parent.

"Of course, I would. Remember who created that mess in the dorm? I had to clean it up and reported it back. Do you know how tiring it was?" Chifuyu smiled wryly, forcing herself to put up with Tabane.

"Oh, come on Chi-chan. I was just joking for a bit; I didn't expect it to end up like that."

Chifuyu frowned. Joking aside, she had had enough of Tabane's childish behaviors, she knew that Tabane was trying to poke around but this was not the time to play around. She only continued to stare at Tabane with a calculating look, dealing with Tabane was something that she did not like at all due to that annoying personality.

"You have that look again Chi-chan," Tabane said, her smile still plastered onto her face. "It's scary when you look like that, you should smile more. Ikkun likes women that smile you know. And maybe Tobia-kyun too." Tabane teased, hinting heavily when she mentioned Tobia. But again, Chifuyu didn't pay it any mind nor show any outward reaction.

"Tabane," Chifuyu's voice was stern, it held a determinant firmness in it. "What are you planning with Arno?" She asked again.

Tabane, for her part, sighed in return as she straightened herself and ruffled her hair a bit.

"Personally, I just want some entertainment, Chi-chan. It's like playing a lottery, you don't know which prize you will get. It will be fun, won't it."

"Enough with the bullshitting. Are you doing something stupid again?" asked Chifuyu, her gaze remained piercing and cold like steel.

Understanding the underlying meaning behind Chifuyu's words, Tabane only smirked and then gazed upon the stars. "Well, who knows?"

IS Academy – Cafeteria – 07:30 A.M

Currently, it was breakfast time and the students were having their meals before the class began. At one particular table, Tobia, Ichika, and Houki were having their breakfast together.

However, the same couldn't be said so to the blue-hair boy sitting on the far side. With a gloomy expression on his face, he took a bite of meat with his fork.

This made Ichika and Houki raised their eyebrow curiously as they looked at him, "What's wrong Tobia? Are you feeling unwell like yesterday morning?" Asked Houki.

"Uh? Oh, no..." Tobia responded, snapping out of his personal thoughts before looking at his friends, "Nothing, I'm just a bit-"

"I forgot to ask this morning, but, where were you last night Tobia?" Ichika added, seemingly worried for his fellow, "When I came back from the party, you were nowhere to be seen. Is something bothering you?"

Putting his disk to the side, Tobia took a long breath and sighed before he spoke, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I went out to clear my mind, that's all. You guys don't have to worry about it."

"It doesn't look like you are alright though. Are you sure you can go to class?" Houki looked troubled while she tried to reassure his health condition.

"As I said, I'm fine. We should finish our breakfast fast, Orimura-sensei won't like it if we're late right?" said Tobia, reminding them all that it was unwise to be late for class as Chifuyu wouldn't be tolerant.

Hearing that, Houki and Ichika quickly agreed and got back to their breakfast, though, Ichika was still silently staring at Tobia. He trailed off before he returned to his half-empty rice bowl.

Class 1-1

"Good morning, Orimura-kun, Arno-kun. Have you heard? There is a rumor about a new transfer student in class 1-2."

As Ichika and Tobia got to their seat, three usual girls came by to greet, one of which, a pink-haired girl with her overly long sleeves, Honne Nohotoke, told both of them an interesting piece of new.

"Heh? At this time?" interested Ichika.

"Umm, it seems that the new transfer student challenged class 1-2 representative yesterday evening and won. She is now the new class rep." the second girl, Yuzu Tanimoto replied.

"That's right. I heard she is from China." the black-haired girl, Sayuka, interjected.

Ichika was struck with awe from what he had just heard. For a new student to be able to defeat another class representative like that, it was no small feat. He knew it first-hand since he was the one who fought against her for the position.

He slightly turned over to Tobia to see what did his friend think about the situation, but all that he saw was only a stoic face, much to his disappointment, thinking that he wasn't interested in the topic.

"Should we be concerned about this new girl, Tobia?" Ichika asked wryly. Truthfully, he wasn't expecting Tobia to answer, though, much to his surprise, the boy did.

"I think we should. I don't know why that new girl challenged class 1-2 representative, but now that she is your new opponent on the upcoming tournament, you should be careful, Ichika." He replied honestly.

Ichika nodded. Unlike the duel, the participant for each class would only be the class rep, so Tobia wouldn't be able to support him anymore. After the duel, he had realized the nature of a battle, unlike his past naïve view that they would only be game, experiencing them was like a deathmatch. Was it not for the constant adding from Tobia, he would have lost.

"I will do my best!"

"Umm, as a man, you should at least have that courage." agreed Houki.

"That's right, Ichika-san! You can do it. I believe you can win." spoke Cecilia. Unnoticed by everyone until then that she had joined the conversation. "Besides, Tobia-san will also train you right?" She turned to Tobia with a beaming smile.

"Ah...? Yeah, right?"

"Yeah, you can do it Orimura-kun."

"This is for the free dessert coupons!"

"We trust in you."

Everyone in class gathered around Ichika after hearing their talk and began cheering him up, making him flustered.

"-Heh? Already so motivated, aren't we?" came an unfamiliar voice that suddenly joined in their conversation.

They all shifted their attention to see a female student standing proudly at the class's open door. The girl was folding her arms beneath her chest as she put a leg on her other kneecaps and leaned on the door frame.

She had light brown hair tied in twin tails with a yellow ribbon on both sides, green eyes, and one of her teeth which resembled a fang was baring out from her grin. Her uniform was quite different from the other girls, which had its sleeves detached from the uniform.

"You guys can't possibly think that winning against me is gonna be easy right?"

As Ichika heard her words, his eyebrows raised in disbelief, "No way!" Ichika muttered in disbelief as he rose from his seat to face the new girl whom he recognized, "Is that really you, Rin?"

"That's right. I, Huang Lingyin, the representative from China, have come here today to declare war on you."

The last word that came from Lingyin's mouth suddenly made Tobia's eyes widen for a moment as if it had sparked something inside his head. The word "war" just came to him struck his mind like a hammer. Unfond memories of the past that had haunted him returned in that split instant. The crying of dying people, the numb feelings of taking away the lives of others, the vivid image of gore and explosion, his failure to save others, they were all there.

However, he didn't falter, he held his composure, keeping his face calm despite the unpleasant experience that had flooded him. He knew that the girl only said that as a form of speech, but to him, it was a hellish existence. It was nothing wrong, when he was in the Mobile Suit Academy for his military service, the word was being thrown around all the time and everyone laughed at it... until they were thrown into a battlefield all of a sudden. Looking at everyone now, it was the same, minus the different settings.

"Tobia-san? Are you fine?"

While everyone was fixing their eyes on Ling, Cecilia, who was standing behind Tobia, noticed that the boy was sweating a lot and his face paled a little bit; it was subtle, but not unnoticeable.

Being asked by the girl, Tobia quickly looked at her and made a small nod for confirmation.

"Ah, yes, I was just feeling a bit hot inside," he said as he took out a handkerchief to clean his sweat.

"Are you sure? You look tired though." Cecilia asked again, looking troubled.

"Uhm, you don't have to worry," he replied with a forced smile and focused back on the new girl. She was currently having a conversation with Ichika while Houki was staring at him intensely from behind.

Ling seemed to be a friend of Ichika as he acted very close and familiar with her, something that Houki perhaps didn't like considering her cold glare at the two of them.

"Rin, it's been a long time. And what's with your acting cool? It doesn't really suit you. You look cuter back then, you know?" Ichika spoke sarcastically, earning him an embarrassed Ling when she heard him called her 'cute'.

"Wha-What? Why are you saying that, idiot?"

Talking with each other, the two of them were like they were in their own world, being like a lovey-dovey pair in Tobia's eyes, which made him squinted a bit. "Could it be?" he thought to himself about the relationship between his friend and the new student, which also considering Houki and Cecilia standing behind.

His question, however, was to be answered later as he recognized a person that was walking into the room from the reflection on the glass window.

*PAM* taking Ling off-guard, an attendance book viciously came crashing down onto her head.

The hellish instructor, Chifuyu Orimura, had arrived. Her menacing look may scare off others, but to Tobia, it was a different story after yesterday's encounter. His last night image of her still somewhat captivated him, evidence by the fact that he was still unable to meet her in the eyes when she turned to him.

"Ouch! What was that for...?"

Ling turned back to look at who had hit her, only to be met with Chifuyu's stern face.

"Chi-Chifuyu-san?"

*PAM* another hit, but this time, with less force.

"It's Orimura-sensei! You're blocking the way, move. It's time for the homeroom session already."

"So-sorry..."

"Hurry up and get back to your class!"

Rin trembled as she retreated from the door, showing that she was afraid of Chifuyu scolding, something which Ichika and Tobia understood as they subconsciously nodded in sympathetic, though, for different reasons.

"I will come again, Ichika! Don't you dare run from me?" she said, before shying away from the door and dashed back to her classroom, which was right next to them.

"So, she's an IS pilot and a representative of China huh? I didn't expect that..." Ichika uttered in amazement, which earned him an icy glare from Houki.

"Ichika, tell me, who is she? You two are rather "close" right?" she questioned him, smiling sarcastically.

"Ichika-san, who is she? What sort of relationship do you have with her?" asked Cecilia, who also had the same facial expression as Houki. And the other girls soon joined in as well.

*PAM*PAM*PAM*PAM* multiple strikes landed in succession on to their defenseless heads.

"I TELL YOU TO GET BACK TO YOUR SEATS, YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS."

In the Cafeteria

Normally, during lunchtime, Ichika, Houki, and Tobia all had their meals together at one table. But this time, it had a minor difference. Taking a seat at a nearby table, Ichika and Houki who were having their meals which consisted of rice, a bowl of soup, and salmon; Tobia had a light lunch which included some sandwiches and salad. Two new companions for them today, however, were Rin and Cecilia.

Sitting together, the three girls were all hesitant towards each other whereas both of the boys didn't pay much attention to their glaring. Much to their initial disliking, they all chose to ignore it with the presence of Ichika and even Tobia at that.

Ichika, like his usual self, was oblivious to what was happening. Meeting his friend again after a long time, he couldn't hold himself back from many questions and wish to listen to her story.

"Hey, Rin, from when did you become a representative candidate? I didn't expect that at all."

"You too, I wasn't expecting you to be a pilot either. Seeing you on the news really took me by surprise."

"Yeah, I didn't expect it myself either.

"Say, I heard that you operated an IS at the entrance exam, Ichika. How on earth did that happen?"

Hearing the question, everyone perked up at Ichika while he pondered for a moment, thinking carefully about how everything had happened.

Tobia was also interested in Ichika's case. His was irrelevant because the Gundam simply didn't share the same background characters with the IS, but Ichika was a special case for this world, where it was believed that only females can pilot an IS.

How and why did Ichika end up here in the IS academy in the first place? He began speaking about it. All that he had wanted was a simple average life as a normal high-school student, and yet because he got lost inside the building where he was supposed to take a high school entrance exam, his life had taken a very drastic turn. The curiosity had taken over him and by some chance, he accidentally activated an IS in a random storage room. Heck, he even still remembered how shocked the female officers were after they came in and found it out that the IS had responded to him.

"Well, in the end, it's a complicated mess, to say the least. Let's just say that curiosity kills the cat and then, here I am." he finished.

Houki, who had already known about the story, didn't have much of a reaction. Cecilia and Ling, on the other hand, both felt awe at what he had told them as they didn't expect it to be such a coincidence case.

About Tobia, he must say, it was quite interesting for Ichika to came by it through such pure chance. Sure, he still didn't know why the IS react to Ichika like that, it was still intriguing nonetheless. He also wondered that except for his Gundam, could an IS of this world react to him if he tries? Maybe he would ask Tabane later when the chance arrives.

"Hmm. So, you're the rumored second male pilot, huh?" Said Rin enthusiastically as she turned to Tobia, after taking sup out of her ramen, "You are really famous on the news you know?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Rin?" curious Ichika.

"Oh, you didn't know? Despite him being the representative of Austria, none of the governmental authorities knew about him. However, both Orimura-sensei and even professor Shinonono have vouched for and backed him up publicly, so the Austrian government has to accept it." The girl continued. "His identity is being hunted all over the internet right now."

Tobia didn't say anything at Ling's comments, but inside, he was relieved that Tabane had held her words. The world still discovered his existence, however, with Tabane and Chifuyu backing him up, he would have nothing much to worry about for the time being.

"Heh?" surprised Ichika as he looked over to Tobia for confirmation. He wasn't expecting that his friend would be such a hot topic on the news like that, and when he took a deep thought about it, many questions and speculations started to form.

"I told you before. Orimura-sensei was the one who took me in before you became a pilot with the condition that my personal information would be held a secret. So of course, none would know of my existence. I don't want my family to be involved." pointed out Tobia, noticing that his friends were having many questionings look on them.

Ichika nodded at the logic behind the reason, while Houki appeared to be the most understanding of his decision. Basing on her childhood, being the sister of Tabane, her family life had gotten into many troubles because of it, thus it was no wonder that she empathized with him. Cecilia and Ling also had a similar line of thinking.

The girls were all stuck in their line of thoughts for a while until Houki realized that she had been off track and even forgotten one important thing.

"Anyway, I think that's enough. Ichika! It's about time you tell me who she is!" said the pony-tail girl as she grumbled and pointed at Ling.

"Oh, yeah, that's right! Tell us what is your relationship with her Ichika-san!" followed Cecilia when she also remembered her purpose of joining them.

"Oh, I haven't told you guys yet?" realized Ichika as he turned over to Ling to introduced her to his friends. "This is Lingyin Huang, I usually called her Rin. She's my childhood friend."

"Childhood friend?" Houki inquired with a surprised tone.

"Oh yeah. Houki's family moved out when you finished 4th grade, right? Rin transferred in during 5th grade. After that, she went back to China when she finished her sophomore years in middle school." Ichika replied and looked over to his twin tails friend.

"Rin, this is Houki Shinonono. I have talked about her before, right? Houki is my first childhood friend and you're the second. She's the daughter of the dojo owner where I used to practice kendo."

"Oh, I see." Rin stared at Houki carefully, and Houki also did the same in return. Their eyes matched with each other in a fierce battle. "Nice to meet you, hope we can get along well."

"Yeah, me too. As Ichika's first childhood friend, of course, I will." Houki made quite a cold smile towards her adversary.

Tobia could see the sparks flying between the two girls' which was easy to guess the reason why based on their backstories and tone towards a specific guy. Though for Ichika, this introduction seemed to only be a type of girl bondings between his childhood-friends, which made him smile a bit.

For both girls, it was a formal declaration of war.

Feeling being left out, Cecilia quickly interjected to assert her position (A/N: T pose for dominance!). "Ahem, it would be bothersome if you forget about my existence, Huang Lingyin-san." said the blonde as she coughed into her hand.

"Oh, and who are you?"

"What!? You don't know... I mean, I am Cecilia Alcott, the representative candidate of England. Please remember my name." For a second, Tobia thought that the girl was about to boast something prideful, but much to his surprise, she didn't and even tried to remain polite. Well, on the surface at least since her face was flushed red from anger.

"Hmm, not interested." Replied Ling as she stood up with her finished bowl of ramen. "But let me say this. I won't lose to any of you guys." she hinted her eyes at Ichika.

Getting the point that their adversary was trying to get across, Houki and Cecilia's eyes sent spark flying at Ling when she was leaving.

"Wait, Rin! You're going already?" Ichika tried to reach out.

Immediately, both of the other two girls also took their finished lunch and left the table, leaving a dumbfounded Ichika behind.

"Even them too? What's wrong with them today?"

Sitting on the side with his cup of coffee, the only guy who understood what had happened, Tobia rolled his eyes at his ignorant friend, pondering to himself for how dense could the guy be for it could already be made into mobile suit armor already. 'What a sinful guy.'

After school hours

"Wait, Houki...!"

After school, in the 3rd training arena, two IS units were currently facing each other down in the field. On one side was Ichika in his Byakushiki while on the other side was Houki in a training unit, the Uchigane, a highly-reliable 2nd generation IS frame. The Uchigane was a very elegant model with its samurai-like design, something that Tobia quite fascinated with from the perspective of a mobile suit lover.

After the school hours, Ichika, by his routine, went for training with Houki. After some talking, Tobia had agreed to train Ichika in multi-field IS combat and be his sparring partner, whereas Houki would still train him kendo techniques since he had already familiarized himself with the Houki's sword teachings. And right now, they were half-way through a mock duel.

"What's wrong, Ichika! You're too slow!"

"Listen, Houki. This is to- whoa!" Ichika didn't get to finish his sentence as Houki suddenly charged forward, her sword came crashing down with an immense force.

He jumped back just in time to avoid getting hit. His face showed visible confusion; still trying to figure out what had made his childhood friend so aggressive. Though his irrelevant thinking caused him a moment of delay of reaction and sure enough, he found the tip of Houki's sword leveled at his throat the next instant.

"Wandering thoughts have no place in a battle, Ichika!" She admonished him for his lack of focus, something that would cause him dearly if he was to be on a real battlefield.

"Ugh. You're too strong for me Houki." Grunted Ichika as his body protested in pain from many strikes that she had landed on him before.

Having watched from the command room, Tobia must admit, he was really impressed with Houki's performance and skills. Simply put, she was incredible.

She moved with the fluidity and precision of a professional despite her age. It was very stunning for him to see such a delicate-looking girl for any normal eye, yet having an extremely solid style. Her style was exquisite, it removed any excess movements while relying heavily on the foundations of the Japanese swordplay. No wonder she was the champion in the national Kendo tournament according to what Ichika had told him.

Her IS piloting skills were not the greatest, though, her strength in the sword would be enough to give many a run for their money. Tobia himself sure that a 1vs1 against her without using an IS would not end well for him, he could tell it.

Thanks to the bio-computer, by feeding him his past mobile suit combat data into his brain, he was able to utilize many fighting techniques and movements while using the Gundam. However, since mobile suit combat is a lot more predictable than a real person-to-person fight due to their nature as a machine; should he find himself in a situation without his Gundam, other than his basic CQC and firearms knowledge during his service, there's not much for him to rely on against a skilled personal like Houki. An example would be when Tabane got into his room, he was pinned down in an instant.

"You know, Tobia, I believe for you to train me is still better. I don't think I can handle Houki's gorilla training." Said Ichika, his IS disappearing into blue mots.

"Houki got a point you know. You shouldn't have slackened off during a fight like that." Deadpanned Tobia with his reply. "Your reaction time is too slow, specs-wise, you should have been able to avoid most of Houki's attacks. Yet, you ended up being her target practice."

"Hah, you sound like Chifuyu-nee just now."

"Anyway, it was properly due to your inexperience and that you haven't completely adjusted to Byakushiki specs yet. As thus, we will need you to have as much familiarity with your machine as possible and learn some evasive maneuvers." Tobia speculated while trying to come up with a training plan.

"Since your CQC is being handled by Houki, I will help you with learning long to mid-range defensive and offensive tactics. This would be best if Cecilia helps you out, however..." He glanced over to Houki, when she wasn't noticing, and slowly rolled his eyes over again, "...She may be busy, so I will help you out on this."

Tobia told a half-truth, as he obviously didn't want to see a catfight in the training field and having to clean it up since he was the one who asked for permission to use the arena, so he would have to bear full responsibility should anything happen.

"Thanks, Tobia. I knew I could rely on you bro."

"I would have preferred if you didn't," Tobia murmured to himself.

Slowly moving to the launch pad, Tobia called upon his trusty partner, the Crossbone Gundam. This time, he would be Ichika's opponent again, but unlike a good wrestling match like the day before, Tobia is about to show Ichika a few of his tricks, as well as being a small test for him.

"Ready yourself, Ichika. I'm about to go hard on you." Tobia spoke through the comms.

"Anytime, Tobia. I'm ready for a re-match." The raven-hair boy replied as he IS re-materialized after taking some rest. However, he was unawarded of what was about to come.

"Good. Then, Tobia Arno, Crossbone Gundam! Launching off!"

Thus, as a silver silhouette flew out from the hangar, Ichika readied his Yukihira once again. Rooting in his place and waiting for a close approach from Tobia, he had formulated many plans to combat his silver opponent.

"There he is. Come!" Taunted Ichika as his body curled up to make a jump back when he saw the familiar figure of the Crossbone closing in. He was ready for it, the first strike from the Muramasa. Yet, it didn't come, what arrived instead, was a barrage of beam raining down onto Ichika position.

A/N: Thanks for supporting this fanfiction. I only posted this as a shitposting since no one seems to care about the Crossbone Gundam and F91 series, which is a shame really. But seeing that you guys like it, it is wonderful to see some fan of Crossbone out there. I hope that we can go further on this journey to see how Tobia will turn out.
Also, a question, do you guys want him to reveal more of his arsenal or you guys want him to take more of a realist approach and only pull out certain ones depends on the situation? Oh yeah, the Crossbone Full cloth will be revealed somewhere down the line of season 1 of Infinite Stratos, so please wait. If you guys wonder about the Ghost Gundam, it won't appear for a while, since that thing is more akin to a trump card and all.
I would like to see some review from you guys to see how I can further improve this one; any questions can be sent to the messaging. Oh well, see ya all in the next chapter.