Chapter 14: New Friends: Part 1

Hidden fifty meters below the Academy's grounds was a secret research lab that only those with high-rankings could enter. Inside this place was where the body of the IS that Tobia had defeated was being stored here for investigation. The room was quite dark as the only source of illumination was from the console screens and surgery light. There were quite a few people currently working in it, Chifuyu being the one running the operation while wearing a serious expression. Next to her was Maya and many other members of the Academy who were currently carefully dismantling the black IS. Over the past few days, Chifuyu had been spending her time working to figure out the identity of the mysterious black IS. And lastly, an exclusive observer, Tobia Arno.

"So it turns out to be an unmanned IS."

"Yes, there's no doubt anymore. There is nothing inside the pilot suit but a mechanical skeleton that held everything together," Maya replied to Tobia's observation.

"To think that a pilot is not needed for an IS to function anymore. Whoever or whichever country that managed to do this, it is of no dispute that they could potentially mass-produce an army of these things." Another member commented, who was rather disturbed at the fact that she just pointed out.

"The question is who is behind all of this?" Chifuyu narrowed her eyes. "As much as we have checked, there was no marking that could be found on the inside that can indicate or give us a hint of the perpetrator."

Even the core unit was not marked.

Not to mention, the memory bank and Operating System interfaces had been completely wiped clean or fried, leaving them no way to even back-track any slightest piece of information. They weren't even sure if this unknown IS was remotely controlled or it had an Artificial Intelligent unit as the main drive. It was clear to them that this was no easy case to solve with how intelligently and cleanly executed it was. Most of all, what alarmed them was how the unmanned IS could utilize a high-density beam weapon, which rendered an IS shield barrier completely useless with how powerful it was.

"Has GAIA come up with any useful information?" Turning to Tobia, Chifuyu asked.

"No. It seems like they are also in the same position as us."

Even Tobia was annoyed at the fact, there just seemed to be no clue for them to go after. At times like this, it would be great if he could contact Tabane for some help. However, as much as he tried, she didn't once reply back.

Since the investigation was in for dead-lock currently, they just decided to head out for some fresh air. Grabbing an instant-coffee can, Tobia walked to sit across Chifuyu's seat. Seeing that mood was certainly a bit sour for the time being, Chifuyu decided to divert to a different topic.

"By the way, don't you have anywhere else to go?" she asked him while sipping her morning coffee. "The school is temporarily closed right now for the week but you only go here all days. Even my stupid brother chooses to go out for some break."

"Well, it's not like I have any real friends here to visit anyway. Ichika and the others... I still can't bring myself to go out with them yet. It also felt kinda weird for me, too."

"Hmm, it sure is hard since you came from another world, eh?" She chuckled at his response. "Don't worry, with how you're now, you will fit in with them."

"If you say so." Rolling his eyes over, the thought of his friends and family slowly resurfaced his mind once again. It was sad. He realized that he had already gotten used to this new world so much that it was so normal for him to forget the most important thing, to find his way to go back. Coupling with how he had not discovered any result to answer how was he able to come to this world in the first place was not helping either.

"Hey? Are you ok?"

The sudden call woke Tobia out of his deep train of thought. Right as he opened his eyes in confusion, he saw Chifuyu looked at him in concern of the gloomy pair of pupils that she saw.

"Ah...y-yeah, I'm good. I just...miss my family." He muttered. His fingers shakingly knitted together as he slouched forward. 'It pains me that I want to meet them again...but...' as he thought, the images of him spending his time here crossed his mind several times. 'For some reasons, I don't want to say goodbye to them now either.'

Quickly standing up, Tobia pushed his chair out of the way and headed for the exit. Though, he did not forget to leave Haro behind to scan for any possible data. For whatever that could resolve his mood right now, finding out the culprit of the incident was it.

As he walked away, both Chifuyu and Maya continued to watch over him.

"He's probably going through that phase currently. Can't help it then." Chifuyu turned back to the console screens with a sympathetic look in her gaze – a look which told that even if she may not know what kind of person he used to be before coming to this world, she still understood the sorrow and fear of not being able to see your love ones again.

"Eh? What do you mean Orimura-sensei?" Yamada, with her personality, ended up not getting what was happening. Though, as a teacher she was, couldn't ignore the state of her student, especially after he had risked himself saving the Academy. Eyeing back at the now-closed exit, she could only wish for his well-being.

A week had passed since the 'rouge IS' incident at the IS Academy's inter-class tournament and now that everything was finally going back to normal. Even though many of the students were still a bit disturbed by the crisis happening that day, the fact that the Academy was quick in their action to resolve it did somewhat put them to some peace.

With Tobia being the one who took the rouge IS down, the Academy officials and a few VIPs who attended the event came out to give him their thanks and offers. Much to his surprise, GAIA had decided to give him a rank in their military organization of being a 1st lieutenant, which was the same as his old one during his days in the EFSF. What a coincidence was all that he thought to it.

Both Ichika and Lingyin were also given praises and received admirations from many thanks to their action of holding back the rouge IS to buy time for the trapped students, though, the former one got quite a bit of scolding on his part by his sister and first childhood friend.

Without much else, the days in the Academy resumed back to their normal course and the same went for class 1-1.

"Hey, hey, did you hear the news?"

"Yeah, I did, I did."

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?"

"You haven't heard? Then let me tell you. It's about Arno-kun and Orimura-kun."

"Eh? What is it about?"

"Okay, remember to not tell the others too much about this. It's only in a secret circle. For the IS tournament next month-"

As usual, they were in for their daily gossiping as they gathered around in their own circle at a corner in the Cafeteria.

Sitting on the opposite side was Ichika and Tobia's group having their breakfast, joined by Lingyin, Houki, and Cecilia. And as usual, as it was, the atmosphere between Houki, Lingyin, and Ichika was once again in for shit-storm while Cecilia and Tobia just sit quietly off to their side, observing the story.

"Ah, girls, are you angry at me?"

"No, we are not." Answered at the same time, both Houki and Lingyin's tone was cold and monotone, making it super obvious to the other two sideline characters that there was indeed something between those three. Ugh, idiot Ichika properly did something that made the girls jealous or pissed off again.

"Doesn't look like that to me though..." Ichika spoke sheepishly before turning to Tobia for help with his puppy eyes.

"Ugh, Ichika, what did you do last week?" To the best of his knowledge, their relationship was relatively normal until Thursday the week before, so whatever happened must have been around Friday and today's morning.

"Hmm? Well, nothing much really. After the incident, I tried to cool my head down by going out for some video games, and then I visited my friend's house for some sleep-over. Other than that, nothing else I guess?"

"You visited your friend's house? Was your friend a he or a she?"

"Oh. He's my friend during middle school, his name's Gotanda Dan. He's a really funny and good guy. Maybe you should meet him too? I bet it will be awesome if we all hang out together." As Ichika introduced his friend to Tobia, he didn't miss out on the chance to hook them up together, which was properly because being in an all-female school like this had made him really desperate for any male friend that he could all hang out with.

"I'll take on your invite if we have the chance." Tobia smiled in reply, "But are you sure that is?"

"Hmm? Well, I think so?" Ichika hesitated for a little bit before his eyes flashed up like he just remembered something. "Oh yeah, also his sister is going to be attending the IS Academy too! Haha, Dan kinda asked me to look after her when the time comes." He spoke.

The moment he mentioned 'the sister' part, Tobia noticed that both Houki and Lingyin clenched their chopsticks tightly, which instantly explained to him the reason for all of this. 'Ohhhh, so that's why. The idiot properly told them about this like some sort of good news and got that reaction from them.' He thought to himself in pity of Ichika.

Though, as Tobia looked at Cecilia, not much of a harsh reaction came out of her, but instead, she just seemed to focus more on it and nod to herself in silence.

'Another one for him to worry about.'

Typical of Ichika, he didn't realize the notion and only went on with his story. Well, at least until he thought he had spoken enough that he turned to other things. "Hmm? What seems to be noisy over there?" Curious about all the squeals and screams coming from the girls, Ichika voiced his thought after taking a sip out of his miso soup.

Having already overheard some of the girls talking for a while now, Tobia narrowed his eyes in concern, Tobia replied with some wariness in his voice. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling somehow."

"Is there a problem then," asked Houki, who was having her usual Japanese-style meal, but her tone sounded a bit admonishing to some degree.

"...Well, for one and another, I keep seeing their eyes gleaming at our table as they spoke," he answered. "And I feel like it may become a pain in the ass."

As the words left his mouth, a girl from the said group rushed to their table with an eager expression.

"O-Orimura-kun, Arno-kun i-is the rumour true?"

Unclear of what the girl meant, the two of the boys didn't know how to properly reply to her question. Tobia, on his part, just narrows his eyes even further at his suspicion of what was going on. Although, before the girl could continue, some other girls ran up to her to shut her up.

"Shhh. Idiot, didn't I tell you it is a secret!"

"Ahahaha, don't worry guys, there's nothing at all. Really, there's nothing at all, ahahah-"

Before they knew it, the girl who rushed to their table had already been taken away. They immediately retreated after their coordinated attack back to their tables and acted like nothing had happened, leaving a puzzled Ichika staring blankly as they vanished.

"Ok? That just happened?"

"Ichika, for your sanity, I reckon that you shouldn't try to know what they're about. Trust me." Placing his hand on Ichika's shoulder, Tobia couldn't help but feel bad for the guy and himself as he somewhat already felt the gist of what was to come.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Anyway, you should finish your meal hurry or we may be late for class."

Just after he said it, pushing off from the table, both Lingyin and Houki quickly left. Trailing his eyes after them, Tobia was glad to himself that he didn't have to deal with stuff like that every day. And to top it all off, he could always crack a laugh at watching them.

"Oh well, gotta finish my meal."

Getting to class on Monday morning after breakfast, it remained the same that all the girls in class were also chatting with each other happily. Everyone was holding onto some sort of catalog or magazine and the main topic of discussion was normally about fashion, specifically, their IS outfit. Rarely did anyone want to spoke about the 'rouge IS' incident as it was considered to be taboo and they didn't want to remember it again. So, appearing to be back to normal as they were, it was just that they didn't want to look weak in front of others.

'That one-week off-school does help them after all. Better than seeing everyone with a gloomy or tensed face.' spoke in his mind, Tobia went for his seat with Ichika followed after. Houki was already in class before them, figure as much and Cecilia just resumed her seat lastly in the bunch.

One thing that was different today in class though, was Yamada coming early to the class. If Tobia remembered it correctly, it was perhaps because of the request-day of the IS Academy to send out their students' specification of their own IS attire. The only exceptions were him, Ichika, and Cecilia since they had all gotten their own customize pilot suit.

Standing before the teacher's table, Yamada began explaining the importance and points to be remembered when choosing their own IS attire. Of course, it was not class 1-1 without its jokes and teases of her, simply to say that it was because of how cute and shy she was when she got them aimed at her.

"Yama-chan is really knowledgeable."

"Well, I'm a teacher after all... wait, Ya-Yama-chan!?"

"You really make us look at you with a different eye, Yamapi."

"Hold on, Yamapi?"

Yeah, that should make it that she had had 8 nicknames given to her by now.

As the class kept on teasing Maya, the sudden open of the sliding door brought everyone's attention and sight onto the review of the homeroom teacher of class 1-1, Chifuyu Orimura.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning, sensei."

Walking in like a model with confidence, she presented herself like an iron-lady. Her gaze made the whole class immediately sat down in order.

"I see that you bunch have already gone through with the information regarding your IS attire with Yamada-sensei, so I won't repeat it again. Before the homeroom period ended, we will take in your fill-out forms."

As soon as she finished with her first note, the class all answer in unison with "Yes, sensei.". Their level of discipline was a big contrast compared to when being with Maya that which made Tobia feel sorry for her.

After that Chifuyu moved on to explain the changes in their outside IS lessons in the future, being that they will all now get a chance to actually practice in a training model instead of having to observe the teachers or students with personal ISes.

"That's all for the updates. Now, we'll move on to the other news. Yamada-sensei, please."

"Y-yes, Orimura-sensei."

Chifuyu handed the class briefing paper over to Maya, but as she received it, Maya frantically rubbed her eyes before putting her glasses back, looking panic while doing so.

"E-eh, it seems like today we will be having new students in our class? And there're two of them?"

"Ehh!?"

Upon hearing the introduction of the two new transfer students, the class exploded, which reminded Tobia of his first-time attending class 1-1. It was of no surprise to him that it would turn out like that, since gossip was what these girls feed on so of course, that would be their reaction to the news that could pass their information network, such as this. Looking at Ichika, it seemed like he also thought the same when they both had a wry smile on their faces.

"Excuse me."

"..."

The moment the class saw the two walked in, their buzzing died down and was replaced with a huge surprise. It was also the same for Tobia and Ichika as it was not within their expectation.

After all, one of them was wearing a male uniform.

"Good morning everyone, I'm Charles Dunois and I'm from France. I'm still new to this country so I hope that you could take care of me."

The first one to enter the class, Charles Dunois, dressed in a male uniform, smiled and bowed to everyone after introducing himself?

Both Tobia and Ichika were quite stunned that they didn't really know how to react to it.

"A-a guy...?" someone muttered.

"Yes, I heard that there're those who are in the same situation as me, so I decided to transfer myself here."

His appearance is that of an androgynous male with long, straight, and spiky blonde hair that is tied into a low ponytail. He has purple eyes and wears the same IS Academy uniform as Ichika and Tobia.

Upon closer inspection, Tobia still found himself in for bewilderment. How should he describe it? The person's body features were rather odd... he really couldn't describe it. He was quite a bit short for a guy? He looked too good to be a normal guy that you could say that he was a 'beautiful boy' in a sense. If he introduced himself as a girl, Tobia would no doubt totally believe it. Seriously though, could a guy even look that beautiful?

"OH MY GOD!"

"Another male student!? In our class again!? Kyaa, we are so lucky!"

"Ahhh, his look really makes you want to protect."

"Oh, why? Now we have to choose between Arno-kun, Orimura-kun, and Dunois-kun too?"

On the other hand, it looked like Chifuyu was quite irritated at the sight. Judging from the fact she was a serious type, it made sense. He now understood how she must have felt during his move-in and bowed down (mentally) to apologize to her for back then.

Standing beside her, Maya was trying her best to calm the class down.

"Everyone, please quiet down. We still have another student to introduce."

At Maya's mention, everyone turned their gaze to the second one on the stage, who you could say is quite a unique beauty.

She had long shiny silver hair, almost to the point of white, that reached down her waist in free-flown style without tidying it up. Her skin was quite pale and looked rather delicate, which made him questioned that should she even pilot an IS. Also, another distinct point of her was a left eyepatch that she wore, covering the other side of her ruby-color eye. Lastly, her IS Academy uniform is a modified version of the standard uniform with baggy pants instead of a skirt or a dress.

From the description, she just looked like a normal girl with some personal references, however, the impression that she gave off was not. From her stance to her gaze and demeanor, they all spoke of a level of discipline that normal civilians wouldn't have. It really hit home to him when observing her.

'It couldn't be that she is a soldier, right? That would make it illegal since she may at best be 16.' Tobia thought. Though, said person still hadn't said anything yet as she maintained her folded arms position, remaining uninterested as the girls continued waiting for her to speak. Right now, her eyes were only fixated on two people, Chifuyu and him?

"Hurry up and introduced yourself already."

"Yes, instructor."

'Instructor?' Just as Tobia remembered, Chifuyu was an instructor for Germany before becoming the teacher for the IS Academy. 'So, it would be that she was under Chifuyu's training and is likely sent by GAIA.' He noted to himself.

"Don't call me that, I'm no longer your instructor. And since you're a student here now, you must call me Orimura-sensei."

"Roger that."

The way she answered was also uncanny.

"I'm Laura Bodewig."

The students remained silent for her to go on, but after saying her name, she just shut her mouth up like a clam, for half a damn minute.

Unable to stand the awkward atmosphere, Maya forced up a smile and tried to ask Laura for any further information, but she only got an unrelenting reply.

"Is, is that all?"

"That's all."

That was quite cold in Tobia's opinion. He was also a bit of an introvert but at least he did actually try to socialize normally.

Still stuck in his thought, Tobia didn't notice that she gleaned over at Ichika with anger in her eyes. Out of a sudden, she walked straight towards Ichika and without any warning, she raised her hand up and slapped him. It was a very vicious strike that nobody was expecting with her words being "I won't accept you."

With such an action, the girls gasped in shock and even Maya covered her mouth at the situation.

Before the silver-hair girl could say anything else, however, Tobia rushed out of his table and pinned her to the ground. His training kicked in immediately as he forced her down to apprehend her. He thought that she must have had a grudge against Ichika and may escalate the situation, so he stepped in to stop it. However, he ended up causing even more of a scene in the class.

"Kuh! You-" she tried to fight back, but being a girl and taken by surprise, she was overpowered and couldn't escape. Though, for some reason, when she noticed his face, she stopped struggling.

"Arno! That's enough!"

After a few seconds, Chifuyu decided to step in and ordered him to release her. He paused for a second before realizing that he had escalated the situation, so he stood up and unhanded Laura.

"Tobia..." Ichika, despite being struck for no apparent reason, quickly went up beside his friend and tried to calm him down. "Hey, are you ok?"

"A-ah, yeah, I'm ok. I should ask you that though." Tobia replied, looking over to the visible mark on Ichika's face.

"It's fine. Though, I think you went a bit too harsh." worried Ichika as he glanced at Laura, who was being helped to get up by Maya.

"..." Looking around, Tobia saw that everyone was still disturbed at what just happened, making him feel conscious of his own action. He turned back to Laura, and reached his hand out for an apology.

"H-hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone that far."

In spite of his offer, she remained silent and lower her head to avoid eye contact.

"No, is my fault. I apologize, 1st lieutenant." She replied, though, the latter part was a bit muted before she walked to an empty table at the end of the class.

"..."

Like that, the class just quietly moved on while everyone pretended that nothing had happened.

After the homeroom period came the outside IS training lesson, so the students began to make their way out to the changing room. Being male, Ichika and Tobia were asked to take care of Charles as he didn't know the ways around yet. It was supposed to be a normal walk, however, the air was a bit... down, which was properly due to what had happened in class.

Ichika, the one who was the reason that started the situation, found himself in quite a position. He was quite pissed that Laura girl slapped for no reason, and in front of the class to boost, he couldn't think of himself going for a brawl with a girl. But then, he saw Tobia going in for his sake, even if it would make him look bad, Ichika was quite proud to have a friend like him.

Tobia had always been by his side since the first days in the IS Academy. He had helped him in training, been his bro, supported him regardless of what other girls said, and didn't even mind risking himself to protect him. Truly Ichika felt like he couldn't ask for a better friend or comrade-in-arms. Now that they were alone, he wanted to help Tobia bonding with his new male friend, and after that, if other girls had anything against him, Ichika would be sure to step out and defend him.

Trying to lit up the mood, Ichika started a conversation between the three.

"We'll be changing in the changing room at the Arena and it should be a practical session in the future, so you should get familiar with that. I and Tobia will help you if needed, so don't worry to ask us."

"O-okay." Charles meekly answered, acting quite anxious while doing so that it made Ichika noticed how different he was acting compared to his strong introduction last session.

"It's there a problem?"

"Oh, no, no, it's fine."

"Oh, okay then."

After that, Ichika speeded up his pace as he motioned to Tobia, whose head still seemed a bit wrapped around the homeroom session, which he could understand. Well, at least, Tobia did notice Ichika's sign and he quickly follows soon. The reason why they needed to do so was because-

"Ah! It's the new rumored transfer student!"

"And he's with Orimura-kun and Arno-kun too!"

-Well, that. Yeah, once the homeroom period was over, all the students of all years will send out their intelligent corps. The fact that Charles just got transferred to their class did no doubt immediately attract their attention. If they get caught in this flood, they would be questioned until they were late and that was not something Ichika would like to be in at all, his sister being the reason.

"Found them! Everyone, they're here."

"Hurry up before they escape!"

Desperately trying to push their way through as fast as possible, the girls just seemed to appear everywhere.

Quickly snatching Charles's hand, he and Tobia sweep through the crowd of girls and raced for the Arena.

"Kyaa! They're holding hands as well."

"Orimura-kun and Arno-Kun's dark hair look great together, but blond hair is great as well!"

"E-eh? What's going on? Why is everyone like this?" asked Charles with a puzzled face, which seemed like he hadn't realized what was going on.

"That's because the three of us are the only guys here!"

"...?"

'What's with that 'What's the problem with that?' look on his face?' Ichika cried to himself at how Charles didn't get it, but thanks to Tobia stepping in to explain, it saved him from the pain.

"It's because we're the only guy who can pilot an IS in this world, so we're like an exotic animal to them in a way."

"Ah-ah, okay, I see."

"Also, since the IS Academy used to be an all-female school, the fact that they can have boys to interact with would of course be daunting."

'Thanks, Tobia, for explaining it but that last part didn't need to be told you know.'

At last, they were able to escape that crowd of maniacs and got to the Arena's changing room. With the sound of the automatic door slid open, Ichika could finally let out a relieving sight with Charles and Tobia following the same.

"Phew, we made it."

"Haha, yeah, we make it."

"Well, stuff like this will happen more than often, so you should be ready for those too, haha."

As they laughed together, it really lightened up the mood significantly, which Ichika was glad of as he made a victory pose.

"Oh, by the way, I haven't introduced us properly, right? My name is Ichika Orimura, and it is Tobia Arno. Ichika is fine."

"The same for me, Tobia is fine."

"Ah, nice to meet you two. Then, just call me Charles please."

Both Ichika and Tobia nodded in unison, but before they could continue with their talks, Tobia noticed that they were running out of time so he gave Ichika the warning.

"Ah, shit! We're almost late!" Hurried Ichika as he quickly threw off his uniform to change to his IS attire, the same went for Tobia.

"Uwa!"

"?"

Though, for some reason, Charles got all surprised and covered his face, which struck a confusion at the other two.

"You forgot something?" Ichika asked, "Well if it's not important, you should hurry up to get change first. Chif- I mean Orimura-sensei won't like it if we're late."

"A-ah, no, it's not that. But... Could you guys turn away?"

"?"

Tobia, who really didn't give much of a care, just turned the other way, while Ichika was still a bit weird-out about why them seeing each other changing was a problem. Well, just like Tobia, he also just followed soon anyway without many reactions.

"Ah, okay. But you should change fas-"

"And done."

Unlike what Ichika had thought, Charles had already managed to change into his outfit while he was still taking off his pants.

"Oh, that's fast. Do you have any tips? Changing into these is quite a hassle."

"O-oh, no, not really..."

"Heh... But really though, these things are a paint to suit up. I have to strip myself to wear it on and it easily gets tangled." Ichika spoke with a wry face. As he was still dressing, he remembered that Tobia had a full body suit and was secretly feeling bad for him. Though...

"Man, I guess that Tobia has it worse huh? Seriously man, how could you even wea-?" Before he could finish asking, it turned out that Tobia had already managed to fully dress up.

"Bro... How could you always dress up so fast?"

"Hmm? Ah, I guess that if you get used to it then it's fairly easy."

"Heh, so this Tobia-kun's IS outfit huh?" Charles, who appeared to be curious about Tobia's full-body outfit, decided to voice her question. She was observing it quite extensively.

"Ah, well, you could say that."

"It looks so cool with the coloring, and you look like a real pilot too. Unlike ours though... It's a bit revealing..."

As Charles pointed out, Ichika couldn't help but agree. The white suit with red and dark blue linings on it looked very sharp. And those grey padding and pockets on it also added quite a lot to the style, making it as Charles said, 'look like a real pilot, suit. But still, stylish as it was, he didn't want to think of the suiting up sequence at all.

"But still, your suit is also quite good-looking. Where's it made?"

"Ah, um, this is created by the Dunois Enterprise. It is a customized model I think, so it properly won't be sold yet."

"Ah, I see. But Dunois Enterprise, huh? So, does it mean that you're...?"

"Umu, my dad's the president."

"Oh, so you're the son of the president. No wonder, you look like you grew up in a great environment."

"...Great environment huh..."

Charles suddenly looked away at his remark, making him felt complicated that he just said something wrong. Ichika tried to say something, but Tobia beat him to it as he placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You're late."

"...?"

"You're late, idiot!"

Ichika was currently being singled out for getting late to class, as he spent too much time talking in the changing room, he ended up late. Ironic that the one reminding others to quickly change ended up not making it in time himself. Tobia and Charles on the other hand went out first and still made it. Now, he had to receive some scolding from his own sister.

'Hic, I thought we're comrade.' He wanted to cry his heart out, believing that at least Tobia would stay side-by-side with him.

"Next time, if you're late again, you better expect to clean those toilets! Now, hurry up and get back in line!"

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

As he got in line, he was greeted by Charles and Tobia, 'traitors.'

"Told ya should hurry up."

"Bruh, I thought we're comrades."

"There's a huge ass difference between being comrade-in-arm fighting together to the bitter end and simply being an idiot who didn't check his time properly."

'Dude, uncool.' Even though it's true, Ichika wished that it had been phrased differently.

While still thinking to himself, Ichika noticed that Tobia was gleaming in a certain direction – which is at the silver-hair girl, Laura Bodewig, was it? He guessed that Tobia still felt a bit wrong regarding his action.

Now that he thought about it, were the girls around them abstaining from talking to them? Usually, they would be poked fun at for being late, yet, there was none. Well, at least, Houki and Cecilia were still looking in their direction.

'Figure that it's a bit difficult to approach with something like that huh.' He sighed, hoping that everything would get back to normal tomorrow.

But it's unfair.

Ichika clenched his fist. It wasn't justified for them to treat him coldly like that in his opinion. Yes, he should make sure that Tobia was fine.

"Hey... Tobia, I know that you may feel bad at going out at a girl like that. But the fact that you have stood out for me like that, I'm thankful."

His sudden comment didn't get an immediate answer but instead a raised brow from Tobia before he laughed it off.

"...Yeah, no problem, my friend," he said with a smile, giving Ichika ease of thought. "And if you're worried about me, it's okay. The girls are just finding it difficult to cope with what had happened, so it's not like they're intentionally avoiding me. After all, if you see someone else getting hurt, then it's not wrong to help them, right? The same goes for them, as thus, you should let them have some time to sort it out."

"...I see. Yeah, you're right."

It was certainly weird for Ichika to say this but, Tobia was indeed a very mature person; had it been him; he would properly rage out sooner or later or weakly accepted it as a loser. It was moments like these that Ichika admired Tobia's personality.

"Hey, hey, what's up? Don't mind if I join?"

Not expecting the devil, it came straight to him as Rin caught him by surprise from behind, which almost caused him panic as he thought that Chifuyu had overheard them talking during the lesson. By the way, today's lesson was a joined one with class 1-2 for convenient reasons. By going up to them normally like this, it must be that she hadn't known about their class 'drama' yet.

"Oh, it's you Rin."

"Hehe, what are you guys talking about?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Only some... minor thing in our class."

"It's that so? I heard your class has new transfer students, is it about that?"

"Eh? Well... you could say that."

"Hmm, you're not targeting another girl, are you?"

"Hah? What do you me-!"

"Eh, what's wrong, why did you sto-"

*PAM*

Under the azure sky, the smack of an attendance book landing onto her head could be heard loud and clear across the field. And god was it a fierce one.

Standing in front of Rin was the hellish instructor of the IS Academy and class 1-1, Chifuyu-nee. He got lucky that he stopped just in time as he saw her walking towards them, he really did not want to get a 2nd strike in a row that day.

"As all of you must have been informed, today we will be having a practical training, as such, you will first observe a duel between an instructor a student with personal IS. After that, you will all get the chance to handle a training unit and also do a mock battle."

Chifuyu-nee re-explained what we would be doing for today's outside class, once again making sure that everyone was on track with the plan. As she finished speaking, she scanned around to find any suitable student to spar against an instructor, which he still hadn't known who it was yet.

After a few seconds of examining, she seemed to have made up her mind of who would be chosen. 'For whoever it may be, please just don't be him' was his wish for now, since he was not really in the mood for now.

"You."

Eh?

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come up here."

Who was she talking about? Ichika looked around in confusion, (intentionally) looking unaware of who was chosen.

Despite knowing that he was picked, Ichika was in denial right now as he really didn't want to have a training fight. Since he already had so much for a fight already the other week before.

"It's you, Ichika." By his side, Tobia took the words out of him and told him the cold fact that he didn't want to hear right now. Thanks, Tobia, you really just had to say it out.

"And also, you," Chifuyu-nee spoke again, this time her finger was pointing at Tobia, which was also, much to his dislike considering his reaction.

"..."

Hah, eat your heart out Tobia! She just chose you too.

"Oh, well, well, look who just got picked."

"Shut up."

Heh, it looked like he had gone back to normal too.

Anyway, now that he had had Tobia for support, he no longer had to afraid of getting beat up easily anymore. Even though he did defeat an instructor during that accident where he unintentionally activated an IS, it must have been just some pure luck.

But why would Chifuyu-nee choose them though? If you think about it, wasn't that calling them up to demonstrate would just make it more awkward? After all, they had seen Tobia going against Laura just now, so by making them going against a female instructor this time wouldn't just make it worse?

As both of them made their way up to the field, they stood waiting for the instructor, which hadn't shown up yet for some reason.

"Chi - Orimura-sensei, who are we going to go against?"

"Oh, it's properly Yamada-sensei?"

"How do you know?"

"Well, since she is not here right now while both of class 1-2's teachers are here, yes, I'm sure of it. And speaking of her, the timing is just perfect."

What did he mean by that? And what was that sound that he's hearing? Sounding like the air was splitting... Wait, could it be?

As Ichika looked up, he saw a person falling down directly at them!

"Ahhh! Please get out of the way!"

Oh, shit, the moment he saw her, Ichika immediately jumped to the side to avoid a collision, and it seemed like he made it in time as a second later, he heard a huge booming noise.

It was a good thing that he activated his Byakushiki also at the correct moment so he didn't get any injury from the impact force.

"Tobia, are you okay!?" worried for his friend, Ichika quickly turned back to help him, but what ended up smashing into his eyes was straight out of a rom-com manga.

"Are you okay, Yamada-sensei?"

"Ah... I'm Arno-kun, t-thank you."

Kneeling on one leg, Tobia was holding onto a blushing Yamada-sensei in a princess-carry pose, and there was this romantic air that was surrounding them at that!

"T-that, Arno-kun, you see, I'm troubled by this. No matter what, we should only keep a student-teacher relationship only, you know? But, if you don't mind, then-"

"?... What are you talking about Yamada-sensei?"

Tobia!

"Kyaa, he's so bold!"

"Oh no, is this what they called the forbidden student and teacher relationship?"

"This is bad, Yamapi is going to be taken!"

Coming from class 1-2, they spun into complete chaos at the sight, which was soon followed by the girls of class 1-1. A moment later, everyone was laughing with vivid amusement.

"I see, so what he said is true after all." Ichika grinned to himself.

With the field now filled with laughter, it really made him feel happy for Tobia too. Heh, Tobia was no doubt a lucky bastard with this going easy on him.

"Yo, you guys seem to be enjoying yourself there, don't ya?"

Oh...

"GET BACK IN ORDER AND BOTH OF YOU WILL RUN 10 ROUNDS AROUND THE FIELD AFTER THIS!"

NOOOOOooooooooo! Have mercy Chifuyu-nee!

Hey, I'm back. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter; on this one, I tried to focus on Ichika's POV for a bit so that's why you guys didn't see much of Tobia's thought and reaction. Anyway, this update was meant to be chapter 2 of my GundamUCxGate fanfic, though I'm currently having a 'slight' problem with it, so I'm sorry for those who were waiting for it. I will try my best to deal with it so I hope that you can wait until then. Thank you. Now for the comments.

Dragon Lord Syed 101: I'm glad that you like it. And yeah, the original Tobia Arronax is surely a badass indeed in Crossbone Skull Heart and Ghost, I wish that SUNRISE would just make an anime for him already, together with Seabook too.

R reyes: If you ask why Tabane did what she did, you should remember that she was also the one who hacked all the world missile to fire them at Japan just so that she could make a debut for her I.S - White Knight after they got turned down thinking that it was a silly idea. So yeah, she's a crazy one so any of her reasonings are mainly to entertain her, being the world's genius. And will Tobia find out or not? You're about to know in the upcoming chapters.

time king zi-o: Well... about that... :V

Guest: Well, I really like writing this piece as it allows me to tell my story to others even if it may be shitty in writing and plot, but as long as there are those who enjoy it, I'm happy. I also don't want to abandon it anytime soon, but hey, this is life, who knows what may happen?

Reader: Well yes but actually no. Spoiler: Psycho-frame. :D