Ran found it hard to even focus on practical training after watching that whole match play out. She had never witnessed an I.S match play out right in front of her, and it was even more amazing than she could have ever hoped for.
Miss Yamada piloted a simple Uchigane, the I.S Academy's training units meant for ease of use by the students and faculty. Miss Yamada taught them the basics of how to maneuver an I.S unit, the mechanics of it all, and for the rest of class had them practice holding the Uchigane's weapon.
"This thing is massive!" cried a student next to her.
"Yeah I feel like it's gonna fall right on top of me," Ran giggled.
"I'm Alice," said the student. "Alice Astarte, but everyone calls me Momo."
Momo was the same height as Ran was, with long flowing pink hair tied back into a ponytail. She had fair skin and matching pink eyes which just accentuated her adorableness. She complained about how large the sword was, but she seemed to be holding it up just fine.
"I'm Ran. Gotanda Ran."
"That was some match just now, wasn't it?" asked Momo. "I've never seen an I.S match up close like that before, usually just over the telly."
"I know what you mean," said Ran with a smile. "And it's hard to believe they're all students at this school. Koutaro's pretty amazing too, taking on six upperclassmen like that."
"Well he is one of the Generation of Miracles," said Momo.
"I kind of get the feeling he doesn't like to be called that," said Ran. "I don't know, he just doesn't strike me as someone who likes the fame."
They swung swords around for the rest of class until Miss Yamada instructed everyone to get changed. Class was over, which meant that it was everyone's turn to finally explore the campus and see what clubs were available for everyone to join.
"You got any clubs you're interested in?" asked Momo.
"Honestly I have no idea," said Ran. "I haven't really looked at what clubs are available."
"Well why don't we go explore together?" asked Momo.
Ran smiled. "Did we just become friends?"
"Why yes, I think we have," Momo laughed.
The two quickly got changed into their uniforms and wandered around the campus. The students all had the rest of the day off so the campus was filled with people down every hall and on every floor.
"You're a representative contender?" asked Ran. "That's amazing Momo!"
"A candidate," said Momo. "I haven't officially been given the spot yet."
"You're from Australia right?" asked Ran.
Momo nodded. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm gonna get the spot. There's someone who's abilities are miles above me."
"Who?" asked Ran.
"One of the Generation of Miracles I'm afraid," said Momo. "There's no way I can compete with her."
"You're competing with one of the Miracles, you're pretty amazing Momo," said Ran.
Momo had a sad smile. "I wouldn't necessarily say competing."
Ran and Momo ventured throughout the hallway until they ran into a familiar face.
"Kusanagi-Kun!" cried Ran.
Koutaro turned to look at them. He was looking at the bulletin board, where a lot of the clubs were posting flyers.
"Looking to join a club?" asked Ran.
"Just looking," said Koutaro. "And just call me Koutaro."
"Well Koutaro," said Ran. "This is Momo, we're classmates."
"Nice to meet you Momo," said Koutaro.
"So you're the famous Kusanagi Koutaro," said Momo with a smile. "I've heard a lot about you."
Koutaro smiled. "Nothing too bad I hope."
"No, no, nothing bad at all," said Momo. "A friend of mine would always talk about you, it feels like I practically know you."
"Oh?" asked Koutaro. He narrowed his eyes. "Oh my god, I am so sorry I didn't recognize you."
Momo giggled. "It's okay, we hardly met so I wouldn't expect you to remember."
"Someone wanna fill me in here?" asked Ran.
"I know her sister," said Koutaro. "Amelia Astarte, we were on the same team for the Junior Mondo Grosso."
Ran turned to Momo in surprise. "Your sister is one of the Generation of Miracles? That's who you're competing with?"
"I told you it's not much of a competition didn't I?" Momo giggled. "How is Amy? I haven't seen her in a long time."
"I haven't seen her since we all went out separate ways I'm afraid," said Koutaro. "But from what I've heard, she's in Manchester with a friend of ours. She should be attending Cambridge."
"She's in Cambridge?" asked Ran.
"Well a lot of universities are offering scholarships to their I.S division," said Koutaro. "We all got offers, and mostly the same. But most of us decided to attend different schools, whether alone or in pairs."
"And why's that?" asked Momo.
"It's kind of a long story," said Koutaro. "There's a tournament coming up, at the end of the year. Every school that has an I.S division is qualified and can participate. We all promised we'd face each other in combat, not as the Generation of Miracles but…just as opponents."
"So that means the I.S Academy will participate as well…" said Momo. "And you'll fight against my sister."
"Yeah," said Koutaro. "I remember Amy used to beat me senseless in our sparring matches and always made me work on her unit because she was always too lazy to."
Momo smiled. "Yeah, sounds just like her."
Ran began to think that all of this was about more than just facing each other in a match. But it wasn't really her place to say anything.
"Well what clubs were you thinking of joining?" asked Ran.
"Actually I was thinking of starting my own," said Koutaro. "Somebody taught me all I know about I.S units, how to configure them, stabilizing their cores, adding armaments, all that jazz. I was thinking maybe it's time I spread the love."
"Don't tell me you're an engineer," said Ran. "How can you be a fighter like that and know how build an I.S?"
Koutaro smiled. "Who do you think built the units that we use?"
Ran and Momo were wide eyed with shock.
"You're saying you built the units of the Generation of Miracles?" asked Ran.
"Well not exactly built," said Koutaro. "We were given seven units after we were noticed and I just modified each one to fit our individual fighting styles and embedded the Cardinal Flame System in each one. I had help of course, but the CFS is a subroutine exclusive to only our units."
It then sunk in that Koutaro wasn't an ordinary student, or a normal boy. Being able to pilot an I.S aside, he was an extraordinarily gifted engineer. And on top of that, he was a fighting machine. It was more than just his I.S unit, his fighting style was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"So this club," said Ran. "Have you talked to the Student Council Yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm meeting Orimura-Senpai and the others at the garage in a bit," said Koutaro. "Do you guys wanna come?"
"Ichika? I haven't seen him awhile," said Ran. "Momo?"
"I'd love to."
The I.S garages were located on the back of the school. Several garages were put up for faculty to configure I.S units for practical use or for teachers to hold classes. Apparently it was one of Koutaro's conditions for coming to the Academy that he was provided his own garage.
It was a large dome building with stairs leading down. There were several containers large enough to store an entire I.S unit, with holotables and monitors filled with data that went right over her head. There were already plenty of people inside…
"Ran?" asked Ichika. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm classmates with Koutaro," said Ran. "It's nice to see you again."
"So you really did come to the Academy," Ichika smiled. "How's Dan?"
"Same old idiot I'm afraid."
Ran and Ichika shared a laugh. She missed him, it feels like it's been forever since she's seen him last.
"Thank you guys for coming," said Koutaro.
"Are you really going to fix our units?" asked Cecilia Alcott.
"Well it might take a bit, but it'll definitely be faster than giving it back to the government to fix," said Koutaro, taking off his blazer and tossing it to a chair. He removed the spears from his earrings and placed them into a scanner at the far back container. His I.S unit materialized into the container, and it wasn't the one he was using at the match.
It's legs were twice Ran's body with large prongs sticking out from the kneecaps. There were two large shoulder pads that acted as the wings of the unit, with ignition boosters. On the back of the unit was the backpack she had seen from the match with two antennae sticking out that acted as twin scythes. At the center of the chest plate was a glowing orb, unlike anything she had seen from any other I.S unit.
"That's your 5th generation I.S unit?" asked Houki.
"To become the blessed shower that settles conflict and washes everything away…the Tranquil Rain," said Koutaro.
"That's deep," said Ichika. "You think of that or…"
"One of the Miracles," said Koutaro. "Our leader, if you wanna call it, named our units after our personalities. This is mine."
"And what are the others?" asked Momo.
"She said that we were like the weather, orbiting and revolving around the sky," said Koutaro. "The rain, the storm, the clouds, the mist, the sun, and the lightning. They all revolve and inhabit the vast and open sky."
"Your leader sounds like she has one hell of an ego," said Houki.
"I can't agree with you more," said Koutaro. "There's plenty of space, why don't you guys put your unit's standby forms onto the scanners?"
The ones who sustained the most damage, Cecilia, Charlotte, Lin, and Laura, all placed their units into the containers. Multiple monitors with data on each unit appeared and began to circle Koutaro.
"Okay, the damage isn't too extensive," said Koutaro. "The most severe on is with Charlotte, but your core isn't damaged. I'll have them fixed up by tomorrow."
"You're kidding…right?" asked Ichika.
Koutaro turned to face them. "The damage is limited to only the hardware, all of your unit's software subroutines are perfectly intact. All I have to do is repair the damage metal and make sure everything's running smoothly."
"You are one incredibly guy," said Ichika.
"Honestly I'm kind of surprised most I.S pilots aren't this informed," said Koutaro.
"Well either way…you're still an extraordinary person," said Charlotte. "Even the most experienced engineers wouldn't be able to modify and rebuild a broken I.S unit with the core barely intact let alone do everything you've done."
"Hey Koutaro," said Ran. "What's the glowing orb on your unit?"
"Oh that?" Koutaro slid over to his unit and pulled up data. They were schematics for some sort of…box.
"This is an arc reactor," said Koutaro. "A fully self-sustaining energy source that acts as a primary battery for my unit."
"So it's not powered by your core?" asked Houki.
"It is, but in the unit's default setting, the core isn't used as a power source," said Koutaro. "And while Tranquil Rain is in it's 1st shift, the armaments and weapons are powered by the reactor and not the actual core. It helps to devote as much power to the shield energy as possible."
"So that's how you were able to do all of that stuff even in a default setting," said Charlotte. "I've never seen an exoskeleton suit like that work without the unit being in 1st shift before."
"Yeah well I had a lot of help developing all of these ideas," said Koutaro with a sad smile. "She and I developed most of what we use today."
"Who?" asked Houki.
"An old friend," said Koutaro. "I hardly see her anymore."
"Sir, you didn't tell me we were having guests over so soon."
"Who said that?" asked Ran.
"Everyone, allow me to introduce you to my partner," said Koutaro. "Overly Mannered Nagging Intelligence, OMNI."
"Hello everybody." A mechanical voice spoke from Koutaro's I.S unit in a British accent. "I am OMNI, an artificial intelligence who runs this garage. Can I get you all some drinks?"
"OMNI, go over the damage reports on these units and fix them will ya?" asked Koutaro.
"Yes sir," said OMNI.
"You…have your own A.I?" asked Ran, completely speechless. "An actual…A.I?"
"Well I couldn't have programmed him myself," said Koutaro. "Isn't that right big guy?"
"Affirmative sir," said OMNI.
"You know," said Ichika. "After seeing what you can do in the arena and with an I.S…you building your own A.I doesn't seem so crazy."
Koutaro smiled. "We're pretty much done here for today. I'll bring you your units tomorrow morning before class."
"Why don't we all go grab something to eat?" asked Ran. "Have ourselves a little party?"
"Sounds good," said Ichika.
"OMNI, you know what to do," said Koutaro, getting up and grabbing his coat.
Everyone began to walk up the stairs and out the door, but Ran waited for Koutaro as he got his things.
"Everything okay?" asked Koutaro.
"Y-Yeah…" said Ran. "You're just even more amazing than I thought you were."
Koutaro giggled before joining her. "I'm just…Kusanagi Koutaro."
"Yeah, sure you are."
…
From the stands in one of the arena's, Sarashki Tatenashi smiled as he opened and closed her pocket fan. To be honest, she didn't think too much of it when she heard that Kusanagi Koutaro would be attending the Academy this year, but to think that she'd finally get to see what he can do close up. She was even more excited than she thought.
In the first place, having one of the Generation of Miracles attend their school is amazing for them, the publicity and sponsors would mean better equipment and opportunities for current and future students. As Student Council President, that was all she cared about. But then she got the news…
"The I.S World Championship Series," said a familiar voice. "Teams of five with two substitutes compete against one another and the final five teams will compete against each other to win. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn't it?"
"I don't know Miss Orimura," said Tatenashi. "I guess that means we're gonna need one hell of a team."
"I guess you didn't hear yet, did ya?" asked Miss Orimura. "It seems somebody found out that Kusanagi is enrolled at the Academy. We've got ourselves a transfer student coming in tomorrow."
"We do?" asked Tatenashi. "You know, the amount of transfer students we've had this past year is kind of insane."
"Tell me about it," Miss Orimura laughed. "There's a storm coming kid. We can only brace for the worst."