Chapter 15: New Friends: Part 2

It didn't take long for Tobia and Ichika to be readied for the practical training against Maya. The students of class 1-1 and 1-2 divided into various groups and stood at a safe distance away from the designated battlefield.

The training session wasn't meant to be something that was big of a deal and was more focused on the demonstration purpose and to show the students the expected capabilities of an instructor in the Academy. Still, to most of the students, the thing was only viewed as a free match for them to watch and they were all eager for it. On the contrary, however, were the two male students who had been picked out to be set as an example, much to their dismay.

"I really don't want to do this at all. It makes me feel like I'm going to bully her." Ichika spoke in vexation as he thought about the fact that he had to fight against Maya of all people, to which Tobia also agree to some extent.

The part that Tobia didn't see that he could agree on though was that they could actually 'bully' her. One of the few rules in his book was to not underestimate your enemy, regardless of how they look. Since Maya was also an instructor and that she was allowed to access the high-ranking research lab together with Chifuyu meant that she was no doubt not a small figure.

"Well, since we can't force ourselves out of this anyway, I recommend that you take her seriously if you don't want to end up in the infirmary."

"Dude, you make me scare already. You serious?"

"Yeah." As Tobia spoke, the Crossbone's mask folded down over his face, its eyes flashed a fiery shade of emerald with the system interface boosting up. "And you should be too."

In front of them stood Maya with her own personal IS, 'Show Must Go On'. Truly, it had one heck of a name, which made him wondered why she chose it in the first place. But well, that didn't matter much. What he was seeing right now in front of him was a duel against an instructor, which was his first time. It should be interesting.

Her model was a customized France's 2nd-generation Raphael Revive. It had a

No words were exchanged at that moment. Both sides simply readying themselves, Tobia with his left foot leading forward with the Muramasa held above waist-level, readying for a straight charge through. Ichika, on the other hand, just took a free stance with his Yukihira.

"Please go easy on me, Yamada-sensei." he grinned, prompting a response from Maya. "Eh, you too, Arno-kun, Orimura-kun."

No longer after a fracture of their exchange, the Crossbone's thruster binders roared, sending it forward at an inhumane speed. Responding to Tobia's action, Maya just simply flew up into the sky and unleashed her barrage of machine guns fire onto him.

Seeing the chance, Ichika immediately rushed for her exposed back with Ignition Boost with his Yukihira Nigata readied for a certain strike. However, she simply dodged to the side the moment that the Yukihira could barely make contact with her.

Within expectation, Ichika instantly made a retreat and aim for a different approach, though not before receiving some damage to his energy shield as Maya's rain of bullets fell down on him. Her pinpointed accuracy was nothing to be scoffed at as it could even put Cecilia's skill to shame.

From below came a direct beam attack aimed directly at her, and not having the time to respond, Maya could only make it out by using her four-winged shield to block the shot. Though, as thick as the defense was, it ate away quite a chunk of her shield energy.

As both Ichika and Maya turned over to observe what just happened, it was the Crossbone and its Muramasa, now in the form of a crossbow.

Realizing the chance that he was given, Ichika quickly once again charged at Maya with his Ignition Boost.

Everything seemed to be over at that moment with the advantage in their hands, what could possibly happen? That was what Ichika saw as he unclenched and clenched his first few seconds before the strike could make its way through. But of course, Maya being an instructor would definitively have her own bag of surprises.

'A grenade?' was what Ichika saw before an explosion struck him straight in the face. Even though he managed to avoid it again, this time, he had fallen into an unexpected trap of his teacher.

One, no, two, three huge winged shield binders came crashing into him, smacking him to the ground and pinning him down with no way to escape. And all of this happened while Maya was still having the situation under her control. Maya's advantage in rate-of-fire far outweighed Tobia's advantage in firepower, and she was correct on that as she left no opening for him to even take aim.

With the current situation, Maya had effectively cut Ichika and Tobia's fighting force in half, she was the one who clearly had the upper hand right now and all she needed to do was to wait for the right chance to deliver the final strike with her sharpshooting.

Tobia disgruntled. The whole situation would actually be easier if he just could just pop out his beam shield. However, he didn't want to show it off too much as both it and his I-field generators were only meant for an emergency. And he doubted Maya would actually just stay in her place while he charging in a straight line at her.

Current Shield Energy: 550

"Damn, she is no joke alright." Still being led around with Maya's attack, Tobia jokingly spoke to himself after glancing through his remaining shield energy.

'Seriously, I just want to enjoy my time with my own Gundam.' he sighed, before making up his mind. He just wanted to end things quickly. To hell with keeping secrets.

Tobia changed his direction and headed directly into Maya's line of fire.

Upon noticing his sudden, her eyes immediately turned sharper as she switched one of her machine guns to a sniper rifle. In her mind, it was now or never. Her sight lined up and her trigger readied.

"Hah!"

The moment that Tobia charged at Maya, bullets upon bullets kept eating away his shield energy. 500 down to 300 and 200. For each point he sacrificed, he got closer and closer to Maya. With the Crossbone's acceleration, Maya's Raphael-Revive couldn't hope to outrun it. And once the distance between them was only 50 meters left, Maya knew she had to end the battle with a single precise shot from her high-power sniper rifle.

But as if Tobia would let her have the chance.

Pointing the tips of his Muramasa at his target, with a single squeeze from the trigger, the Crossbone released a powerful attack all focused at the tip in the form of a thick torrent of a mega particle beam.

"!"

Unlike what Maya had expected would be a ricochet off from her shield binder, this time, the beam completely punched a giant hole right through it. This caused an explosion and jerked her trigger prematurely. Yet, even with that, the shot that Maya had delivered was still an extremely accurate one as it only flew 2cm off to the right of Tobia's face and would no doubt be a winning ticket for her... had it not been that the Crossbone just stopped it with its Beam Shield at the last second.

"My win."

With his Muramasa pointed right at her, Tobia announced his victory with his helmet off.

He had expected to see a grimace on Maya, seeing that she had really been having him in her hand the whole time, yet the victory didn't come to her. Her calculation failed because she didn't put the Crossbone's beam shield into consideration and how quick it was to close the distance with her.

But contrary to his belief, what came instead was a bright bun of sweet sunshine of a smile on her face, which really surprised him a bit.

"Yes, it's your win, Arno-kun."

In the end, had it not been for the Crossbone's specs and abilities at his disposal, he doubted that it would be an easy win against her considering skills-wise. Now that he looked closer at it, he felt bad that he was basically bullying her in a way.

Slowly as they descended to the field, both Maya and Tobia were all greeted with cheers and applause from the other students and teachers.

"Heh, not bad, to be able to defeat Maya huh?" Chifuyu snickered. "I was expecting for you to get your ass handed just like that idiot brother of mine."

"What do you mean by that, Chifuyu-nee." Emerging from the blunder, Ichika tried to argue with his sister. At the same time, he also got a hand to help him get up from Tobia. "You should get up first."

"Ah, thanks."

Chifuyu clapped her hands twice to gather everyone's attention back to the class lesson.

"Anyway, with the practical training over, we'll move onto the operating session. We'll split into 8 groups. Those with personal IS will act as the leader and provide a guide to the other students on how to operate their training model. Now, hurry up."

The instant she finished, the 2 classes divided up to as they were told, though, most of them kind of ended up rushing over to Ichika and Charles. As he stood next to Chifuyu, he noticed that there was even already a dedicated group also waiting for him.

"What are you still waiting for, we don't have all day."

"Hey, Chifuyu. I have a few things regarding that girl, Laura."

"Hoh, you are quite brave to dare call me by my first name like that." She spoke back to him, only to see that he had shot her an eye. At it, she couldn't help but squinted hers and sighed in return. "Make it quick."

"First, I think that she is from GAIA and is likely sent here as a spy. You once being her instructor could easily confirm this, correct?" He pointed out, eyes fixing on the said girl standing in the distance with her eyes constantly shifting at and away from them.

Remaining silent for a few seconds, Chifuyu finally decided to acknowledge his confirmation. "I can confirm the first part, the second one, on the other hand, is none of my business."

"Fair enough. Then the next one, you just acknowledged that she is a child-soldier, correct."

"Hmm, so you do care about this world now eh." She said, earning her another glare from him to which this time, she really didn't give much of a care. "You're also right. This is how this world is. How the truth behind these ISes being a sport is, it was just another mask to hide the ugly truth underneath. That it's evolving to just another form of warfare." She said, eyes rolling to Tobia's Crossbone. "And I guess so it was in your world before they actually get turn into what you're now wearing, wasn't it?"

Her words hit hard, much to his dismay.

But he wouldn't deny it, for it was the truth that must be accepted.

"Yes. That's true."

"Honestly, when I first came to this world and began to interact with it, I was really jealous of how peaceful this place was. But at the same time, I couldn't help but also admired it as it looked just like the ideal version of what I once wished to be in my world."

His fist clenched tightly almost to the point that it could draw blood.

"But lately, I have seen signs that tell me something terrible may happen if this world steps onto the wrong track." He eyed Laura. "One of those signs is even right in front of me."

"The bloodiest war I know in my history book. It happened 55 years before I was born. The One Year War."

At the mention of his world, Chifuyu rolled her eyes over.

"5.9 Billion people died in it, with many of them being child-soldier thrust into a battle to fight for a meaningless war. And yet, following after, the mistake just kept being repeated that resulted in millions more to perish."

And at the admission of what had happened back in his world, her eyes couldn't help but falter slightly, despite her best effort in holding up her iron expression.

"The latest war that I had fought in myself was just 3 years ago, and you could probably already tell what will always happen during times like it... And in it were many of my comrades, the youngest barely about to have his 17th birthday."

It was painful to relive those hellish memories once again.

July U.C 153, the Zanscare Empire attacked Side 2 which was under-controlled by the Earth Federation. Having learned and worked alongside his father's friend, Tobia Arronax, for many years prior, he was informed of the Zanscare Empire's hidden plan a few months before the event happened. However, to the best of his pursuit to warn the Federation about the upcoming attack, none believed him.

And so, the attack came, and the Federation was caught completely off-guard. With a weakened command structure, their defense was easily overrun. In desperation, the stationed force made clear order to absolutely not retreat, and with the majority of the troops came from Side 2, they stood their ground to the bitter end.

At that time, Tobia, who was also a part of the defense force, with the rank of ensign was promoted to 1st lieutenant and put in control of a squad of twelve mobile suits as he was the one with the most skills after both of his superior officers were all shot down in battle.

And following the given order as a soldier Tobia did, even if as the days went by, casualties just keep piling up with no clear indicator of who was holding the advantage.

And then, it came.

"Ensign Arno, retrieve your squad back to ship. There has been an order for the immediate abandon of Side 2 in the next 3 hours."

"Retreating? What do you mean, captain!? If we fall back now, our front line will be punched through."

"The high-command has decided that it's no longer worth it to hold back Side 2 anymore, so our original mission here is no longe-."

"Are you telling us to throw away the position that we have struggled to protect for all this time that easily!? Then what about the men on the ground, still fighting inside Side 2? They won't have enough time. We can't just leave them."

"... I regret to say this, but their fate could only be decided by god from now on."

"How can you say that! If we abandon Side 2 now, then that's no different from disgracing those who have fallen to protect this place. And we're abandoning the ground garrison no less. How can you expect me to follow such an order!"

"I will not repeat again Ensign. It's a direct order and you must retreat immediately with your squad. The deed of the men who have fought here may be forgotten, however... but at least the rest of the fleet and your squad will survive. After all, they are all flesh and blood, and they still have their family, so you shou-"

"They're all flesh and blood you said! 800 people died defending this sector and a whole garrison is still down there! Now you're telling me this crap as we're about to throw away the meaning of their sacrifices! DO THEY NOT ALSO HAVE FAMILIES!"

In the end, the EFF fleet finished abandoning their former Side 2 colonies they were protecting. The land garrison that stayed behind fought to their utmost to inflict as much damage as possible onto the Zanscare Empire's installations. Their action was brave, but... it only ended up with the majority of them fallen in action.

And the worst of it all, out of the eleven pilots who flew under his command in their mission to defend Side 2 for 29 days, nine of them didn't make it back. Most of whom were friends and comrades that Tobia had made during his days in the Mobile Suit training academy.

"I won't deny it. Now that I've been in this world and get to know people like Ichika and his friends that I now do care about it. I want them to have a bright future going ahead."

Their eyes met again, with this time being an honest plead towards Chifuyu.

"And lastly... You should keep an eye on that girl, for she may still hold something against your brother, whatever it may be. But I don't think that's good to leave her like that. For some reason, I have a feeling that there's a lot of animosity inside her, yet conflicting aspects as well. I'm not sure why. But at times like these, when their state of mind may still be quite fragile, I think that it's important for us adults to guide them properly into the right path."

"..."

Believing that he had delivered the message across, Tobia bowed to Chifuyu and walked away to his waiting group, leaving her with her own conflicting set of thoughts and predicaments.

"What with him being all emotional like that?" She chuckled mildly, not because she found it amusing, but instead, it quite resonated with her to some level. Gaze trailing back at him, she could only bid him luck with his way of thinking.

"For a man who couldn't solve his own problem yet going around worrying for others. I really feel bad for what you will eventually have to face in the future. But for now, I wish you luck."

And...

'I entrust my brother to you, Tobia Arno.'

For the noon break that day, for some reason, both Tobia and Charles got an invite from Ichika to join lunch with him on the rooftop when they were changing in the changing room. What was weird about it was that he got an invite itself as if they hadn't ready to join together on lunch all the time. And why to the rooftop at that? Isn't it better for them to sit at a table in a cafeteria? Was Ichika up to something?

Well, seeing that Charles just came to the Academy, inviting him to somewhere else that is not noisy like the cafeteria did have some merits. It wouldn't make feel him overwhelmed and anxious at the sight of all the girls staring at them during lunch, and it could create some personal space for all of them to talk to like guys.

Though, as great as it may sound. Tobia found it hard to accept that it was the main reason for Ichika to invite them like that. It was a bit bad to say it but, for Ichika to be that much considerate to have such a thought process was kind of impossible.

'If he's that bright, then he wouldn't have run into all those troubles with the girls.' Tobia laughed over it with a wry smile.

Anyway, it could be that he was just overthinking it. After all, he should have some faith in his friend, right?

As he made his way to the destination, a warming scenery greeted him when he came. Even though the building's rooftop was mostly laced with stone-cold floors, around them were gardens that were decorated beautifully with seasonal flowers and exotic-looking plants. Sitting in the middle of all of it was as he had expected, Ichika and Charles... and Lingyin and Cecilia?

Well, it could be that Ichika was also thoughtful enough to invite both of them too to help Charles getting familiar with the group? Yeah, it could be it.

But why were the two of the girls looked a tad bit disinterested and pissed though?

"Oh! Tobia, you came."

"Yo, Ichika. I didn't expect you to also bring along Cecilia and Huang-san."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that, sorry man. But I just thought that the more the merrier, you know."

'Well, it certainly didn't look like it though.' Tobia reckoned as he eyed the other two girls. It was clear to him that Ichika must have also done the same to them and gave the two the wrong idea. Hell, of course, it would be like that.

"I see. But I'm surprised that you didn't invite Houki this time." Tobia said as he sat down next to Charles, who somewhat gave a hesitant look, probably because he also understood what was happening.

"Ah, no, of course, she would come. She's the one who invited me first after all."

Grinning from ear to ear, Ichika spoke casually as if it had nothing wrong with what he just said.

"Wait, what?" Upon hearing what Ichika had just said, Tobia immediately realized just how bad his friend just F'ed up, and it was one of the few basic rules out of that when it came to a male and female relationship.

"Hmm? Something wrong?"

'Bruh, of course, there's something wrong. You just turned a girl's invitation for a serious talk into a house gathering. WITH OTHER GIRLS NO LESS.' was what he would have said for had it not been for that he was keeping his brain from bleeding out.

"Ichi-!"

And speaking of the devil, right a second later, the exit door opened, and there came Houki, who appeared to have been looking forward to the current event for the longest of time in her life... Only to faltered at her steps a moment later when she glanced over to see both Lingyin and Cecilia.

"...What is this."

Houki's eyes spoke for themselves. She was certainly far from happy with what she was seeing, and the clenching on her fist was even a more obvious tell-sign.

'Yep, awkward it is.'

"Hmm? Ah, Houki, you came."

The situation was not going at all as Tobia could already feel a stormy reaction happening coming from Houki. Earlier that morning, Ichika had already made Lingyin and Houki's mood soured, and if it was how he saw it right now, then that was a big strike 2 for Ichika with their relationship.

"Ah, Houki! We're waiting for you! Come and make yourself comfortable." Tobia quickly cheered up the mood by making one of the fakest smiles he could while also appearing to be very eager for the lunch.

"Yeah, Houki what're you still waiting for?"

"... If you say so..." Thankfully, it seemed like his effort stood as Houki was reluctant enough to stay back.

As she sat down, Ichika noticed that Houki brought with her 2 bento boxes. During the IS training period when she invited him out to the rooftop, she had told him that he didn't need to buy lunch for the day. At first, he thought that she was going to buy him one, but now that he saw 2 lunch boxes in her hands, could it be that she had brought it for him?

"Neh, Houki, why do you have 2 bento boxes?"

He intentionally asked her while playing dumb to test out his theory. At first, she didn't reply immediately, but after darting her eyes away for a few seconds, she finally decided to turn back with a small sigh.

"Yeah, I made it for you, idiot."

"Wait, you really made it for me?"

Even though he only half-jokingly made the assumption, it was still a surprise that it turned out to be true for Ichika as he blushed slightly at the fact that his childhood friend did have a softer side to her.

"Thanks, Houki. I'm really happy." He smiled at her with genuine happiness, which resulted in the other's face reddened in response.

In fact, the sight was so radiated with an air of lovey-dovey that it almost made Tobia bleed his eyes in jealousy, but he wouldn't acknowledge that as he was still an adult at heart after all.

But damn...

And not only that, Lingyin, who had been fidgeting around with how things were developing that she couldn't help herself but turned to Ichika with her own container.

"Here, Ichika! This is for you!"

"Oh!? Is the sweet and sour pork dish that we used to have together."

"Yup, I made it this morning. D-Didn't you say it last week that you wanted to try it again."

"Wow, I don't know what to say. Thanks, Houki, Rin. You guys are really my best childhood friends."

And so, it seemed like their little quarrel this morning had finally come to an end, or at least on the surface. Either way, it was fine that they wouldn't go around and bitter at each other anymore.

Seriously, though, if Ichika would just be a bit brighter then maybe all the trouble he had with the girls wouldn't have happened. But to be fair, had he been just like any normal boy, then they would probably never become friends with this fun dynamic that they all enjoyed right now.

Off to the side, Cecilia also appeared to have had something prepared but only to narrowed her eyes as she found out that she may have missed her earlier chance to impress Ichika. Sighted in defeat, she opened her box to reveal a humble lunch set with sandwiches and some salad, which for some may not be much compared to Houki and Rin's offers.

Cecilia, however, noticed that Tobia had been observing for a while and decided to offer it to him first instead.

"Eh? For me?"

"Well, yes, if you don't mind. I first intended to offer Ichika-san a portion of mine, but seeing that he got his hands all full right now, I think it's best to give them to you, Tobia-san."

"Oh, I see, I'll take on your 'kind' offer then."

Tobia gave off a wry smile to her explanation, for he thought that he actually got a girl that cooked for him, though turned out, his hope was a bit too high. It was not like that he was really desperate for someone else cooking since he could do it himself, but the thought that someone would put together some dishes for him did sound nice. And to be honest, even if he could ask one of the girls in his class for it, it wouldn't really have the same meaning.

'Reality is often disappointing indeed.'

How come is Ichika being a lucky bastard that despite fucking up so many times still got these girls caring for him? It was really unfair that Tobia ended up shot him a glare but only got a thumb up in return.

'I wish I have the sanity to teach him how everyday normal things are but I really can't.' Tobia grumbled to himself as he took a small bite out of Cecilia's tray, hopeful that it would be some saving grace for his already misfortune of a day. And said no more it was as the thing turned out to just make him regret his life decision even more.

While Ichika came up with the idea to exchange a portion of their food and was happily enjoying his huge variety of selections, Tobia was suffering in extreme agony. While the sandwich that he had taken a bite out of was just a simple strawberry jam one, its beautiful and delicious look was deceivingly dangerous as the moment he consumed it, he was immediately bombarded with the fascism equivalent of saltiness and sourness.

Noticing that something was wrong with Tobia, both Charles and Cecilia looked at him in concern, asking if something had gone wrong. And hell, there were many things wrong with what he just experienced indeed.

"Cecilia... what did you put in this?" Holding his stomach in pain, Tobia grunted in pain as he tried his best to hold his rational thinking for all seriousness, he really wanted to seek out the nearest toilet right now.

"Eh? I just put in some sugar and light milk into it. Did I make a mistake?"

'It couldn't be that she actually mistook salt for sugar!?' Yet not before he could be able to voice his thought, Tobia had to go rushing for the toilet, leaving a dumbfounded Cecilia and Ichika's group behind much to their confusion.

"What does he mean by that? I'm sure that it - Ugh" thinking that Tobia had overreacted a bit, Cecilia took a bite out of the one that he had just tried, and the result ended up just as anyone could guest as the girl also felt the same tragedy of the unlucky guy that was now racing to the toilet for his life.

Two casualties were recorded on that day.

"Man, are you alright?"

Peeking over, Ichika asked his friend, Tobia, who appeared to be on the verge of dying from stomach pain.

"I can still feel my stomach throbbing even right now – Ugh, dammit."

"That looks certainly painful though, are you sure you're really fine?"

Charles, who was standing beside Ichika also raised her concern.

"I have asked the infirmary for some medicine but it only lessens the pain to some extent."

"Wow, that's rough. I wonder what did Cecilia put into her sandwiches."

"I have also asked her when we both met at the infirmary. It seems like she really mistook salt as sugar and the strawberries she bought had ran expired due to her keeping it for too long as she bought a bunch for practices."

Speaking of Cecilia, the girl sat together with Houki and Lingyin while observing them from the side immediately reddened her face at Tobia's mention.

"Bruh. Then I guess our special training for this evening is canceled? You don't look to be in the best state for that right now." Ichika commented, a bit of sarcasm yet wariness lingered in his voice.

"Sorry Charles, it seems like the training you wanted to see can't happen now. Maybe another day?"

"Uhm, that's fine. I just hope that Tobia will get well soon."

Tobia, who had already been considering taking on Ichika's proposal to stop the training, felt a bit sense of guilt now that they had made their way to the Arena, and not to mention, Ichika had made some sort of promise with Charles. He wouldn't really want to disappoint Charles on his first day at the Academy now, would he?

"You know what, maybe we can still carry out the special training."

"Eh, are you sure about that? You don't look too good though."

"Yeah, but today it won't be me as your opponent though. Charles, could you help me out on this?"

"Eh, me? Are you sure, I still don't have much experience though?"

"You're too humble. The fact that you're the representative candidate of France already tells me that you would be a very formidable and knowledgeable opponent. Which, I believe that is what Ichika is needing right now, for his lack of grasp in combat tactics and weapons specs are what is holding him back currently."

Not to mention, Tobia was also interested in what kind of IS would Charles be using, for it could be a new learning experience for Ichika as a whole.

"Hey, I-I at least still won against Rin... That's something."

"Yes, you did. But it was more thanks to your training with Houki. The moment Ling used her long-range attack or that time when she saw through your patterns, it was clear as day that you struggle a lot. Lucky for you that suicide charge actually worked since she wasn't expecting it."

"..."

That look on Ichika's face... that must have hurt him quite a bit. Well, sarcastically speaking as the guy pouted slightly.

'What are you? A kid or something?'

Oh, wait...

"Now, now. But is Ichika okay with me being his partner?"

"Yeah, I'm good. My intention is for us guys to interact with each other more anyway."

"I see, then shall we summon our IS now?"

"Your call."

At Ichika's peakon, Charles took a stance off to the side and put his hand on a pendant that was stylized in the shape of a shield with a pair of wings. The moment he called upon his suit, a flash of light that was now a common sight for both Ichika and Tobia came to surround Charles's body. Pieces of armors began latching onto frame pieces around his body, and soon, even bigger pieces like the thruster binders and shield bits came attached to the IS to complete its form.

A customized Raphael-Revive model that bared a distinct orange color scheme with a few white paint touch-ups and gold highlights, which, surprisingly, suited Charles's look pretty well.

"Oh, so your unit is also a Ra-Raph-Revive, just like Yamada-sensei's, huh?" Noticed that Charles's unit bared a resemblance to Yamada-sensei's unit that he just engaged during the morning, Ichika commented as he trailed his eyes around the IS but failed to say its name as he wasn't the type that would immediately remember a new IS a model.

"Well, not fully. It's indeed based on the Raphael-Revive, however, my personal unit is a heavily customized one that is designed solely for me. Hence, I call it the Raphael-Revive Custom II."

"Oh, I see. So, what're the differences?"

"Ah, some upgrade made to the thrusters, a few tweaks to the control interface to allow for a faster reaction time that wouldn't cost too much on the pilot. And most importantly, the functionality has been multiplied to allow access to more equalizers after removing some pieces of equipment."

"Wow, those sounds impressive. It almost like a completely different model now, right?"

"To be fair, you could say that it's considered a 2.5 gen compared to the original Revive, which is 2nd gen. Making its close to compete against the now testing 3rd gen models." As Charles finished his explanation, he eyed Tobia for a short glance before returning to continue the talk with Ichika as the boy kept nodding in return. Though, how much did Ichika understood, though, was only half of it.

Before long, Tobia had finally felt a bit better and decided that he could sort of joining them for some light exercise. After hearing through all of Charles's description, he had gotten a fair amount of what his unit would perform, which composed Tobia to test himself out against his new friend a bit. But not before Ichika could have some training with this friend first, though.

"Alright, lean over a bit more to the side... Move your left arm here. Yeah, that's good."

Charles was currently behind Ichika, guiding him into a proper position to try using out the borrowed Custom II's sniper rifle. When Ichika heard that despite his Byakushiki not capable of carrying extra weapon due to its special ability yett was still possible to borrow it from another as long as the weapon's user was registered, he got all fascinated in trying out all type of different weapons that Charles had to offer.

"Woah! Shooting a gun really gives you a whole different experience compared to using a sword."

"Well, of course. And what is it that you feel different?"

"They're fast and versatile, I guess that's how I can put it? Unlike a sword where you actually have to deliver a very precise strike at the right time, a gun, however, not only can disregard it to some degree and can still keep the enemy at bay."

"Hah. That's a very clumsy way to describe it, but I guess you're still correct."

Finally decided to interject, Tobia also hit it with some sarcasm as well, which resulted in Ichika once again pouting.

"Well, sorry for that. It's my first time using a range-weapon after all, Mr. Know-it-all."

"Pfftt. Thanks for the compliment."

Thankfully, Ichika was not the type who would hold in his anger, so he had decided to move back onto his exchange with Charles.

"Anyway, thank you for letting me borrow this. But in the end, it's really not my style."

"I understand. Since your Byakushiki is a close-combat oriented frame, it would be difficult for you too."

At that, Ichika left out a long sigh, which Tobia could understand why. In all seriousness, the fact that he could utilize others' weapons wasn't all that great. Not only would it be required for him to be registered with the weapons that he would borrow, but he would also need specific installment onto his machine to fully utilize their potential, which the Byakushiki currently could not do. Not to mention, his ally would also need to be in a consistent pairing for him to actually execute it, and at that thought, both Ichika and Tobia eyed each other.

"Hey... You wouldn't mind if I could-"

"Borrow mine, correct?"

The fact was, the Crossbone was designed around being a close-quarter-combat frame. As such, with the Byakushiki sharing the same aim, most weapons that could be offered from the Crossbone should technically work well with the Byakushiki without much requirement.

"Well...yeah...So, do you think that I could potentially borrow your Muramasa?"

Tobia considered it for a few seconds. If he toned down the output, it should work fine with the Byakushiki without draining the energy too much while still being able to act like a medium-power beam saber or rifle. This could serve as a great primary weapon for Ichika before going in with his Yukihira Nigata one-off ability.

With Tobia nodding in agreement, Ichika let out a victorious 'Yes' and readied himself to take in the blade. At the same time, Tobia opened up a pop-up screen once he had summoned the Muramasa, and began typing in the Byakushiki's ID to register it.

"And that should be it."

After finishing some last touch, Ichika was finally able to wield the Muramasa in his hand. The first thing that he noticed was how much heavier it was compared to the Yukihira despite being the same size. Another point was that after linking the sword to his core, a massive amount of energy for supplying it was reported back to him, topping off even the Yukihira. However, with a limiter being placed on it by Tobia, the power output would not be too draining to the point of eating away the shield energy.

Ichika immediately aimed the tip of the Muramasa at the practice board once again and mimicked Tobia's action as he squeezed the trigger on the second handle. From inside, a huge torrent of energy was unleased and flew straight at the board. Since Ichika didn't have any aiming assistance optical, the shot missed the core of the target but was still able to melt more than half of the board away with its heat alone.

"Such power..." both Ichika and Charles noted at the immense destructive capability of the Muramasa. Even if it was still a miss, what could be observed was an extremely lethal attack even against an IS. If not, it could potentially push an IS to pull up Absolute Defense just to block it.

Looking back, it had cost Ichika 50 shield energy points for that shot alone. It still wasn't as costly as the trigger of the Yukihira Nigata, but the power was undoubtedly still in the same category.

"Yo-Tobia, how could you even handl-"

"You fiend! How could a coward like you be allowed to touch our experimental model!"

Still in the middle of his sentence, Ichika was quickly cut off by a loud voice and a storming figure of Laura Bodewig in her own personal IS.

Both Houki and Cecilia stood up in alert, while Ichika only narrowed his eyes slightly and readied himself for the trouble that was about to come.

But before things could escalate any further, Tobia decided to step in to talk it out.

"Miss Laura Bodewig, I don't know what's the problem, but I would prefer us refraining from violence."

"First Lieutenant..."

It seemed like whatever story had GAIA made up for him was now working to his advantage, as such, Tobia decided to use it to calm down Laura's aggressiveness first.

"It would be best if we don't repeat what happened this morning."

"...I-I understood. But even so, isn't it not allowed for members of the project to disclose information to outsiders? I cannot allow such action against the protocol, especially with that coward holding onto it."

"First of all, I'm allow full control in any matter regarding the Silver Phantom and my position is also different compared to you. If you don't believe it, you can ask your superior about it."

Of course, Tobia made that up, but since someone in those big 3 had decided to put him in a position of power like that without asking, then they wouldn't mind if he took some liberty with it as long as it didn't violate their original contract.

"I-I'll verify this with the team later," Laura responded.

"Anyway, you must be here for a reason other than throwing a tantrum. So, if you have anything to say, please be quick and stay away from us."

Houki, who had been holding in since the morning was quick to vent her anger passively. Even though she was still angry about Ichika at a few things, the fact that an unknown girl who just moved in just came and slapped him was something she absolutely could not forgive. Who in their right mind would even do that?

"Don't you dare to talk to me like that Bitch Horse. I came here for what matters you not."

Both Laura and Houki glared at each other with enough animosity that could even kill a person, but before things could turn out any worse, both Tobia and Ichika decided to step in.

"That's enough. I would prefer if we stop this here."

Once again, at Tobia's words, Laura just immediately took a step back. It really verified that her personality was based around a soldier more than a normal girl.

Having throughout observing her during the day, the girl appeared to uphold this appearance of a military personal. Tobia could only conclude that his theory of her being a child soldier was true, and sadly, this bothered him about the background of the organization that he was currently working with.

The uncanny that it reminded him of who he once what. A child lost in a war that he did not sign up for.

"First lieutenant, I came here because I do have something to tell you. If I have shown any sign of disrespect, please forgive me."

At Tobia remain of silence, Laura continued.

"Under Instructor Orimura's order, I have been now assigned to you, beginning today."

"HUH!?"

Sufficed to say, Tobia was not amused with the news.

Hey...guys. Sorry for another late update. Part-time jobs and assignments kind of got in the way quite a lot so it really pushed the thing back. I'm happy that the chapter is finally out, thank god for that. Regarding the Gate: Advance of Zeta 2nd chapter, it should be out by Sunday or Monday. The old laptop that I used to write the chapter got broken and I lost the damn work, which I ended up having to rewrite again. Anyway, on to the comment.

Dragon Lord Syed 101: Yeah, I agree. But hey, a new Metal Build Crossbone X-3 just came out and f*ck my wallet.

R reyes: Well, she is indeed a cunning one who likes to mess things up that would make you hate her, but in the end, it's difficult to do anything let alone dealing with her head-on.

Amazing EZ-8: Hope my private message answer your question.

Luke: Spoiler...yes, he will. But a very long one from here.

Kogane1089: Thanks.