I'm back! Didja miss me? Most likely not!
Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos.
As the fight continues, Thomas proves that he, too, can fly! Will Thomas prevail against two of the IS Academy's top pilots?
Can his IS handle the strain?
Thomas was quickly turning the tide of the battle.
Deja Vu!
I've just been in this place before,
Higher on the street!
He moved as though he'd vanish in the blink of an eye. He seemed untouchable now that he learned the propulsion system's controls. He easily put the hurt on both Cecilia and Laura in a matter of seconds.
And I know it's my time to go!
Calling you and the search is mystery,
Standing on my feet!
It's so hard when I try to be me, yeeeeah!
He'd quickly practiced drifting as he zoomed across the arena floor. His head still bopping to the beat of Deja Vu. When he wasn't blocking or attacking, he was doing small dances moves as the song played on. After a few minutes, the song ended, but Thomas internalized the rhythm, and hummed the song as he fought on.
It sure seemed like he was going to win.
But fate had other plans.
Chifuyu had noticed it first.
The monitor began to blink red. Chifuyu took a look, seeing a display of Thomas's IS. The blinking came from a very specific component in the IS. This component, the IS Core, was essentially the "Black Box" of the IS. It was the most vital part in an IS.
It was the one thing that definitely should never flash red.
"Scott!" She scolded, "You need to slow down, the IS Core is liable to be overloaded!"
"The only reason I'm not being beaten 'till I can't breath is because I'm maintaining this pace! If I drop down now, I'm done for!"
Thomas was not only correct, but making Chifuyu angry because he was right. Chifuyu was also a little peeved at the young boy for not using proper sword techniques, but rather made-up styles from fiction. But, She was impressed however that he was able to adapt from fighting Ichika to both Laura and Cecilia in a single day.
It was still very dangerous for him to be keeping that pace up for too long.
The problem being what constituted as "too long?"
Cecilia was having a very frustrating Monday.
First, this random American schmuck comes out of the blue. Then, he beat Ichika up like it was nothing. He also had the gall to insult her multiple times, fight back, play her for a fool, and fuel nothing but her aggression.
She wouldn't even start on having to deal with that indignant German Cow! She kept getting in the way of her shots, and wouldn't stop undermining Cecilia's performance. But her contempt for Laura Bodewig was nothing compared to how much she hated Thomas.
How dare he!? How could this...this peasant even breath in the same room as her beloved Ichika darling!? He had no right to just strut into this prestigious academy and act like he owned the place! He'd pay for beating Ichika!
If he won, she didn't know whether she'd respect him or despise him.
Laura, on the other hand, wasn't feeling the same way.
In fact, she felt quite happy that the American transfer student was finally putting up a decent fight.
She was simply a little angry at how easily he fought Ichika and won. Other than that, she could see that he was finally giving her something to get serious about. He would make a worthy opponent and ally in battle. Although, he wouldn't be quite the same as her bride, Ichika.
She'd completely forgotten why she got so mad at him in the first place.
Thomas was stunned by his own achievements. He'd never expected to be putting up such a good fight against two very skilled pilots. He'd planned for what he'd do if he was going to lose. He never thought he'd be winning. He also never knew the IS would enable him to fight like he did in his wildest fantasies.
Little did he know how fast everything would go downhill.
Something went wrong. Horribly wrong.
Thomas had fought Laura to a standstill, and managed to Cecilia on the ropes, despite how much she threw at him.
He was giving off a a joyous grin, finally letting himself feel positive and confident for the first time while fighting the girls. He was finally holding his own without pulling back, and proving just how good he was as both a pilot and fighter.
He was getting overconfident, though.
Laura came in for another charge.
This time, Thomas ran around her left, and whipped around counter-clockwise with a devastating right uppercut. The blow pushed Laura off her feet, and made her fall on her back. For Thomas, he used his feet to increase the uppercut's power, and jumped into the air with Laura. He then switched his right wrist from vertical to horizontal as he came down upon Laura.
He pinned her to the ground by pushing his arm on her neck, effectively applying weight to keep her down. He grinned, seeing as he was actually getting the better of his opponent. However, that joy was short-lived.
Laura recovered, and quickly grabbed Thomas's head with both hands. She then threw him aside as though he were an empty tin can.
She threw him hard enough to send him several yards.
No doubt about it; Her IS was definitely better at Arm-Wrestling than his.
Thomas tumbled back, and hit the arena wall. The collision resulted in Thomas's IS suddenly sparking, and the armor plating on the right arm bursting opening like a crushed orange with electricity.
Thomas grunted in pain.
What just happened!?
Did his IS just drop the barrier?
Metal fatigue?
Did Laura break his shield?
A quick glance at the HUD showed the damage assessment and the shield percentage, which had yet to reach 0.
His IS was still in the game?
Thomas took a glance at the IS arm, only to find the machine had been busted open.
He was in trouble.
Cecilia noticed Thomas's IS getting damaged, and ceased her vengeful attacks.
Laura, on the other hand, pressed further with her assault.
Thomas quickly returned his attention to Laura, and narrowly dodged her oncoming attack. He had to figure out a way to finish the fight without taking on more damage, but how?
Wait, when did Cecilia stop attacking?
The random thought struck just as quick and hard as Laura's fist.
Thomas stumbled.
"Vhat's vrong?" Taunted Laura, "You're getting distracted!"
Thomas tried to make a right cross, but the IS arm wouldn't respond! It was dead in the water! What of the rest of the IS?
Just like his Wii Nunchuk back home.
"Time to end zhis!" Chuckled Laura, as she readied her railgun.
Thomas took notice, but wasn't fast enough to dodge. Laura wasn't using her AIC. Normally, Thomas would've still tried to move out of the way, but quickly found that the IS was completely unresponsive.
The fight was over.
Laura laughed, triumphant and righteously, as she fired a round right in Thomas's face.
The blast sent Thomas crashing into the wall, and took out the rest of his shield energy.
The bell sounded off, and Cecilia and Laura were declared the victors.
Laura grinned.
She had won, avenged her bride, and Thomas actually gave her a run for her money. The fight was fulfilling and satisfying to participate in. But she couldn't help but feel that something was off when she made her finisher...
Thomas groaned with disappointment as he climbed out of his IS. The machine was smoking and sparking.
The rig took a serious beating at the end.
The controls crapped out, the shield glitched, and there were several areas that sustained major damage. Thomas took a good, hard look at the IS.
"That's a lotta damage." Muttered Thomas, "And I am fresh out of Flex Tape to fix it."
Thomas slowly inhaled, and relaxed as he exhaled.
This ending would mean one of many things. He'd get respect for putting up a decent fight, he'd get seriously outed for losing, or some strange hybrid of the two.
Either way, he could at least face people with the fact that he had his foes on the ropes for a bit.
Laura called off her IS as she marched up to Thomas.
"You fought vell."
"Thanks."
Thomas blinked. He could hear electric cackling. He had a nasty gut feeling he knew what was making that sound. Laura and Thomas both turned to the Training IS, and found it twitching and jolting uncontrollably.
It didn't take a genius to know what happened.
Thomas, acting on pure instinct, shoved Laura back. But, like an idiot, he made a look back at the IS to see its condition.
A foolish move that proved nearly fatal.
The IS abruptly erupted in a fiery explosion. The shock blew flames on Thomas, and sent him flying. He tumbled to a heap next to Laura, whom was pushed to a very narrow minimum safe-distance. Laura felt the burst in heat in her face, and flinched. Thomas tumbled, and was left in what seemed like a poor imitation of the recovery position.
Like a tree, Thomas lay still.
Everyone watching was left in shock. What just happened?
Chifuyu quickly ordered, "Get Scott to the infirmary, and someone put out that fire, NOW!"
Several Instructors came on the scene, quickly extinguished the fire, and carried Thomas to the infirmary as carefully and quickly as they could.
He was quickly put in a bed, and encased in bandages. The right side of his head, an eye-patch over his right eye, his shoulder, and every inch of skin on his arm was covered with white bandages.
And that was just the area not covered by a blanket.
Ichika, Charlotte, Lingyin, Laura, Houki, and Cecilia raced as quickly as they could to see if Thomas was alright. They found both Chifuyu and Miss Yamada watching over Thomas. The young boy was still out cold.
"Is he okay?"
"What happened?"
"Will he wake up?"
Chifuyu silenced the students before debriefing them.
"I'll give it straight," Miss Yamada said, "He's got second-degree burns on his right side, and partially on his thigh. He's also got a concussion from being so close to the explosion, he took a heavy hit from the shock. But, he'll live. In fact, he should be mostly back to normal within the next week or so. It's a miracle he wasn't hurt worse, or killed."
"What went wrong?"
"The idiot wouldn't listen." Chifuyu scolded, putting heavy emphasis on "Idiot."
She shot a glare at the injured student, "The IS he used simply wasn't meant to handle him inputting so much so quickly. He overloaded the IS core to the point where it just couldn't keep up. He ended up causing metal fatigue all over the Unit by being so rough, and Bodewig's shot was the nail in the coffin for it."
"You mean he broke the IS by being so fast?"
"Basically, yes. He's too overwhelming for safe use of Training Models. Not that this wasn't to be expected."
The students processed the explanation given to them.
Thomas managed to wreck an IS? Did this mean he was too dangerous to be piloting any IS?
"Honestly," Complained Chifuyu, "If he weren't in such a sorry state already, I'd pummel him myself. The only reason I haven't killed him is because we were able to salvage the Uchigane, and the Core was found intact."
The students said nothing, because they all knew that she would do something like that.
"Anyway," She concluded, "The most you can do for him now is to let him rest and go on with your own activities. Knowing him, he'd probably hit you with his burned arm just to spite you if you waste time here."
Ichika knew very well from experience Thomas would do such a thing.
"Yes, Miss Orimura." They all said.
The group departed. Miss Yamada eventually did the same. Before Chifuyu left, she looked at Thomas one last time.
"You're just like your mother. What am I going to do with you?"
She then departed, reminiscing about how Thomas's mother used to act.
The day went by, and everyone went about their business feeling very uncomfortable.
Would Thomas be alright?
At lunchtime, the group all began to ask Ichika about his connection to Thomas.
"We're childhood friends."
"You never told me he was here!" Accused Lingyin.
"I was stunned when he popped up two days ago without warning." Murmured Houki.
Thomas, Lingyin, and Houki all met through Ichika. Together, the friends all became close, despite the fact Thomas lived in America. He'd make many visits to everyone in Japan by plane.
But sadly, as time moved on, the group all eventually stopped talking with each other. Houki left, then Lingyin came and gone, and finally, after an incident that started a huge controversy involving Chifuyu, Ichika and Thomas ceased any communication with each other.
"I wonder what happened with him." Said Lingyin.
"I sorta forgot him," Said Houki, "Never expected to see him again, let alone piloting an IS."
"Neither did I." Said Ichika.
"What was he like in the past?" Said Charlotte.
"He was energetic." Said Ichika, "He was incredible at schoolwork, and tutored me, Houki, and Lingyin when we were kids."
"My, my. He was that smart?"
"Sometimes I got the impression he was smarter. He just wouldn't say anything when I asked him."
"It appears he is also a good fist-fighter."
"He was popular for beating down bullies in 5th grade." Said Ichika, "Nobody ever beat him in fighting video games, either. He had a habit of doing fighting moves he saw from video games a lot."
"It seems he has some talent." Observed Laura, "I simply must fight him again vhen he ish back to health."
"He might break another IS." Considered Ichika.
"Zat ish besides zhe point! If he can break an IS, zen clearly zhe IS was too veak for him."
Ichika then took notice of Cecilia's silence.
"Cecilia, is everything alright?"
"I suppose I do feel a bit guilty for my part in this." Mumbled Cecilia.
She then perked up, "I know! I'll make the poor thing some food for when he wakes up! He's a growing boy, he needs nourishment, after all!"
Ichika, knowing very well how good Cecilia was at cooking, began to fear for his friend's life.
"You really don't need to!"
"But of course I do! He's bound to be starving when he recovers!"
Cecilia got up, and went back to her room to make food.
Ichika did his best, but he couldn't stop her.
He felt so guilty, for not warning Thomas of Cecilia's cooking sooner.
Cecilia hummed a tune as she completed her task of making a large assortment of sandwiches. She walked down to the infirmary with a basket in hand. She felt quite confident that Thomas would forgive her for any misdeeds she had done to him once he eats himself into a food coma!
It was the perfect plan!
She walked into the room, only to find Thomas still had yet to wake up. This gave her time to prepare! She quickly wrote an apology note for him, then went about the rest of her day, feeling jovial now that she made amends with Thomas. Her plan was to coax him awake by getting him to smell food, and eat it.
Now all they had to do was wait for him to wake up to the smell of delicious food.
Thomas groaned as he rolled onto his left.
"Jus...five more minutes..."
His eyes, however, were now blinded through his eyelids from bright light. He blinked multiple times. He hated it when his eyelids couldn't block out light when he wanted to sleep.
Good God, it was so bright.
He winced and groaned as he slowly got up. He had a king-sized headache at the moment. It felt like someone hit him with a truck, and then came back to do it again, and finally came back again to finish the job?
Why did he smell fried chicken?
Why was he in what appeared to be the infirmary?
The last waking moments then hit Thomas like the metaphorical truck once more as the memories flooded back in. He then glanced at his bandages. Jeez, he got really busted up. He then peeled off some of the bandages to assess the damage.
"Damn, I literally got roasted." He muttered.
"But that did explain what smelled like fried chicken." He thought.
He yawned as he tried to get off the bed.
He tried to stand up, only to have his right leg buckle and nearly fall over.
Thomas got a full examination of his body.
Thankfully, he wasn't naked, and still wearing his pilot uniform. His right arm, right side of both his head and torso, even his right thigh were all wrapped up in bandages. He also had a medical eye-patch obscuring his right eye. Sadly, he still did not qualify as a pirate.
A quick glance at the window revealed he might've been out for the entire day; It was nighttime. But what hour? He'd left his wristwatch in his room with his uniform before the fight.
His stomach rumbled.
He remembered; He didn't have any food all day! He was too invested in getting ready for the match, he skipped breakfast. He obviously missed lunch. What should he do for dinner?
Thomas turned around, finding a basket and a paper.
"Get Better, Thomas dear. You're a very skilled IS Pilot, and I look forward to watching you excel in the days to come. Sincerely, Cecilia Alcott."
Strange, but not unwelcome.
Wasn't Cecilia the angry one?
Doesn't matter; FOOD!
Thomas opened up the basket. Sandwiches galore!
They all looked appealing. But, Thomas couldn't help but feel a chill go down his spine. Did she poison the sandwiches or something?
Cecilia was rich, right? Surely, she took cooking lessons?
Aw, what the heck! He couldn't go to the cafeteria looking like this.
What could possibly go wrong?
Thomas examined each sandwich, scanning each one to decide which he would have first. They all looked appealing, which really sucked since he was indecisive in these sorts of situations.
After some time of staring like an idiot, Thomas finally randomly picked a sandwich.
He almost took a bite. He stopped, as he got more lingering doubts and fears in his mind.
"Peel off the band-aid, Scott." Thomas affirmed.
Thomas then opened his mouth, and took a massive bite of the sandwich. He chewed and chewed. Until finally, he swallowed the bite of the sandwich, and let it settle into his stomach as he received the results.
Instant regret.
It felt as though someone teleported their fist into his guts with a full-force punch. Did Cecilia come up with a new type of warfare? "Stomach discomfort" was abandoned long ago, this was a frag grenade going off in his intestines.
Cafeteria it is.
But first, Thomas had to get rid of the evidence.
That way, Cecilia wouldn't know, and Thomas would live to see another day with a semi-intact appetite.
Thomas limped out of the infirmary.
Hopefully, he could up and leave whenever he wanted. If not, that would end badly for him. Especially since the school nurse would throw a fit if she found out he vanished. Wait, did the IS Academy even have a school nurse?
He also had to keep a low profile. He may have purged the potential threat that would doom Humanity, but he had to watch out. If Cecilia caught him...
...He already broke one IS. Chifuyu would kill him if he broke another. Hopefully he wasn't already a dead man walking, or in this case, sneaking. Thomas looked around himself as much as he could. It stung a little when he turned right.
Thomas could only pray he wouldn't look like Two-Face for the rest of his life.
The young boy sneaked his way through the halls, watching carefully for Cecilia while trying to reach the cafeteria for real food. He'd have the savory, mouth-watering taste of literally anything on the menu...
He then realized his wallet was still in his school uniform pants in his dorm room.
He blanked.
If anything, it wouldn't be a real stealth mission without something like this happening.
Thomas then changed directions, limping and crouching at the same time. It hurt a little, but it had to be done in order to be stealthy.
Now that he thought about, he probably looked very suspicious right now.
He just hoped no-one was around to-wait. Wasn't he keeping track of that?
A quick glance yielded not a soul in his sight.
Thomas moved quickly, and keep an eye on his surroundings. If Cecilia saw him, she'd question him about the sandwiches. He had an easy alibi, but Thomas learned that alibis were very risky.
He had to get his wallet, and get some decent food in his tummy.
His stomach growled. He could only pray that it wasn't rejecting that abomination Cecilia called a sandwich. If he barfed now, that would just make his current condition worse than it needed to be.
Besides, it'd just hurt him a lot worse.
The dorms! Finally!
Thomas scanned the metal labels on the doors. He had to find his room with all possible haste. Out here, he was exposed and vulnerable.
The thought occurred to Thomas that Cecilia would make him more food.
A terrifying method of the worst kind of torture.
There it was! His room! At last!
Thomas looked around as he opened the door and quickly raced inside, closing the door quietly afterward.
The foreign transfer student rummaged through his belongings for his wallet. After a few minutes of searching, Thomas had located his quarry. He was about to leave as he then paused.
Should he really go into the cafeteria looking like this?
It's not as if he could just take off the bandages and roll with it. Still, he got a lot of hassle for wearing nothing but spandex shorts once, when he was in a play and couldn't eat in his costume.
Maybe he should put on some more clothes...Nah. It'd just be a big pain to put them on and take them off with his current injuries.
He decided to risk it.
Thomas then jogged quickly and cautiously as he made his way from the dorms to the cafeteria.
He probably should've gotten his watch when he was in his room.
Thomas scanned the cafeteria as he finally managed to get from one place to the other without trouble. One glance revealed it was still something relatively close to dinnertime. So he wasn't too late to get food.
Now if only everyone would stop staring at him.
He quickly got in line, receiving an increasing number of stares from girls. He could hear them whisper and gossip about his wounds and his body. When he placed food on his tray, the lunch-ladies might've blushed a little. He did feel a little anxious with everyone in the room simply staring at his body, but he wasn't about to complain.
He couldn't tell who was or wasn't, he was too busy putting food on his tray.
"He looks hot."
"He's a cutie."
"Isn't that the American foreign transfer student?"
"He's stacked!"
"He's immoral! He should put some clothes on! The pervert!"
"What's with those bandages?"
"Didn't you hear what happened? He got caught in an explosion!"
"What!? How!?"
"everybody's saying he broke an IS and caused it to explode."
"No way!"
Ichika and the rest heard the chatter, and took notice of Thomas getting food. Thomas checked out and set off to find a table to sit at. He then noticed Ichika waving for him to come over to the table and join the group.
And then he saw Cecilia sitting with them.
This quickly turned into a very awkward situation.
"Hi guys." Said Thomas, putting on his Poker-Face. He then set his tray down at the table, and struggled to sit down. He picked up his fork with his left, and proceeded to devour the excessive amount of food before him.
The group simply stared as Thomas ravaged his tray.
"Even after all the sandwiches I made you, you're still as hungry as a hippo! Typical boy at your age!" Cecelia joked offhandedly.
Thomas began to fear for his life. Cecilia put him on the spot, if she figured out the truth...
"Mhm." He whimpered, his mouth full of food.
Crisis averted.
He just might make it to tomorrow.
"You really shouldn't be so active after getting hurt like that, idiot!" Scolded Lingyin.
"Lingyin!?" Thomas had only now noticed the small girl.
"Hmph! You don't even recognize me! Stupid-head!" She insulted.
"Good to see you awake." Said Houki.
"Houki! Haven't seen you in years, how have you been?"
"I've managed."
"Good to see you-!"
Thomas stopped, and stared at Laura. He seemed entranced, as if the sight of her put him in a daze. To Thomas, he was seeing Laura's face in full detail for the first time. He wasn't attracted by her beauty, but rather, her face had sparked a memory he'd completely forgotten.
"Ish something vrong? You are staring."
"No-no...Just got a weird sense of deja vu...It's nothing." Thomas said, not wanting to pursue the topic any further. Quickly, he switched subjects, and made it obvious to everyone he was hiding something.
"A-Anyway," He said, "How're you all doing? I thought you lot would've gone nuts when you saw me like this."
Ichika didn't speak, currently trying to think of why Thomas was so abrupt with his transition. Ichika eventually decided that he'd ask Thomas about it later.
The group talked and talked as Thomas dusted off his dinner. They talked of stories that had happened after they all stopped seeing each other. Funny stories, romantic stories, even a few sad stories.
"Do you have a crush, Thomas?" Questioned Houki.
"No!" Blurted out Thomas. Houki gave him an unconvinced look.
"Maybe."
Houki was still not convinced.
"Okay, fine, yes." He finally admitted.
The others all brought down the questions on him.
"Who's the one?"
Thomas was quickly on the spot, embarrassed and blushing.
"H-Her name's...Nana."
"What's special about her?"
"She's...Nice."
"You can't fool us! There's something you're not saying!"
"She was the only one who didn't laugh at me as a kid."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I had a dream of being an IS pilot back then. When I told everyone about it, they all laughed. Nana was the only one who stuck up for me. After that, she'd became the prettiest girl I ever saw."
"Oh..."
"Come to think of it, I guess I'm living my dream."
"Did you confess?"
"No." Said Thomas, "She...Was always so busy as time passed. I didn't want to add onto her workload. Besides, she ended up going to an all-girls private school. We exchanged contact info, but I haven't got the the chance to call."
Thomas lied. He was truthful about the contact info, her moving to an all-girls private academy, and that he did not confess to her. He lied about her being too busy. He could've confessed anytime he chose, for she never seemed too busy to ignore Thomas. He simply didn't confess out of anxiety.
He lied about it to maintain the impression that he was not afraid of anything.
If only he could talk to Nana...
"Didn't expect you to be the lovey-dovey type." Chifuyu's voice came from nowhere.
Thomas jolted, whipping around to find Chifuyu standing behind him. Her arms folded, and her expression with an unamused glare. The aura around her simply screamed blood-lust and murder.
She was in a good mood.
"Good to see you still have the energy to get up, Scott."
"Mhm." He whimpered with very audible voice cracks.
"However," She stated, "Students don't just up and leave the infirmary without telling someone. There's a process for these things."
He was so dead.
"I'd hit you, but you're already injured enough as it is. That said, I'll come up with an fitting punishment in due time."
"Mhm."
"I was going to wait until you were to say this next part," She then went on to tell him the news, "After your little 'accident' with the Training IS today, I'm prohibiting you from piloting IS Units, until one that can handle you has been provided."
"Does that mean I can get my own rig!?" Thomas asked, his voice brimming with joy.
"Something like that, yes."
"Well," He said, trying to calm down, "If I could pick and choose, I'd want to use a Rafale-Revive."
"Oddly specific. Tell me why."
"The IS has a modular system, making it more versatile in the air and on the ground. And simply put, it's just an easier IS to use for all-range combat."
"You seem to have quite a bit of knowledge abut IS Units."
"I wanted to be one as a kid. So, I did some research."
"Anyway," Concluded Chifuyu, "Seeing as you can function normally, you can sleep in your own room tonight, instead of the infirmary. Be advised that this does not excuse you from classes, since you've proven you can continue."
"Yes, ma'am." Groaned Thomas.
"And by the way..."
Thomas paid attention.
"...Put on some real clothing, at least. If you come to class like this, your current injuries won't help you. You were transferred from a public school, so there weren't strict dress codes. But this is a private academy, we have standards."
"Yes, Miss Orimura." Thomas said, quickly snapping to attention.
Chifuyu then left the group to finish up their meal and go to bed.
Thomas had finally gotten out of his pilot uniform and into his pajamas.
It took a lot of strain and effort.
If he applied pressure, sudden movements, or hefty lifting, the burns would begin to hurt. It was very annoying to deal with.
"Hey, Thomas?" Said Ichika.
"Yee?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why'd you stare at Laura?"
Thomas breathed in, and sighed. "I suppose there's no point in trying to convince you otherwise, is there?"
"No. Tell me."
"Bodewig reminded me of something."
"Like what?"
"I...Don't know. That's the problem. Pale skin, crimson eyes, silvery hair...Or was it snow-white? I just...Felt like I saw those features somewhere before."
Thomas paused, before letting out one last answer.
"I could've sworn it was someone familiar. Satisfied?"
"Y-Yeah, I guess."
"Good, because this conversation's making me uncomfortable.
The boys went to bed without another word.
Ichika passed put almost instantly. He was used to Thomas giving cryptic messages. He usually went cryptic whenever it was a topic he was uncomfortable with, or with the intent of letting others figure it out themselves. Either way, tomorrow is another day.
Thomas, however, sat on the edge of his bed to think.
He couldn't fall asleep.
That strange, recurring image of a certain mystery person playing over and over again in his thoughts. Uncertainty lingered as Thomas considered the only explanation he could think of.
"Did Laura remind me of mom?"
A/N: Ta-da! Another chapter complete!
The hardest part was finding a way to shift Thomas's mother-subplot into the story without too much complication. Although it probably would've been smarter to introduce his mom's facial features earlier, the idea didn't occur to me until now.
In eventual chapters, I'll start revealing what makes Thomas so special.
It's also worthy of saying that this story starts off between episodes 8 and 9 of the anime, and will start to be a part of the storyline roughly by next chapter. This story will still follow Thomas, in case people are wondering.
Anyway, Thomas is going to learn about things he'd long forgotten next time!
Next Time: Shopping Trip.
Thomas has to get ready for a school trip to the beach coming up soon! He races to the malls to get what he needs; Games, DLC, consoles, and probably something actually important. Whatever that may be.
And that's when he notices the world outside the IS Academy isn't as calm and collective as he thought it was.
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