The days slowly turned into weeks, then the weeks ticked by slightly quicker.
During weekends he spent most of the day at his home working on his "things to do" checklist, which was coming along slowly.
Ichika developed a routine and every second of free time he had was stretched to the limit.
First he would wake up hours before school at 5:00 a.m. to shower and eat, then quickly go back to his house to work on repairing the White Knight and restoring it to its former glory. He couldn't risk it being seen by anyone, not even the three precious to him. Ichika had other ideas for experiments or new technology, and he prefered to keep those private as well.
Then he would teach classes from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. after which he would practice his piloting skills in a basic Uchigane or Rapheal Revive. The government and various corporations had offered to make him a IS, but he declined. After the piloting training he would go into the engineering facilities to continue building his personal IS,which was just going to be a slightly altered Uchigane, for times' sake. Once the clock hit 7:00 he would take a short break and eat a late dinner then move on to his physical training which consisted of; weight lifting, endurance training, melee combat (primarily swordsmanship), hand-to-hand, and firearm training.
Basically, he was doing everything he could to stay in peak performance.
He rotated the training activity each day, leaving weekends open. After he finished all of his training he would go back to his dorm at 11:00 to do anything that had to do with his teaching job or adjustments on his cybernetics.
Ichika hadn't forgotten about the talk he and Chifuyu had, specifically the part about him being a workaholic. On weekends he went to visit the Orimura household or Tabane's laboratory, he'd be lying if he said they weren't currently the highlights of his life.
Tabane was always fun to hang out with and even more fun to build inventions with. Madoka was always nice to talk to and adored spending time with him. Chifuyu was the person he could have serious conversations with and, though the moments were far and few between, was very kind underneath.
He loved spending time with them, and he made sure not to spend all his time working just because he knew a threat was somewhere out there, biding its time.
However, he would not lose sight of the mission. Even if he couldn't be a workaholic, he could and would be prepared.
His students were warming up to him, gaining confidence to approach him to ask a question or just for a conversation. He tried not to talk to them before or after school as it would interfere with his priorities, but he was always open to talking during the school hours, answering questions and helping if asked. Ichika noticed his fellow teachers in the halls would look at him with pity, which slightly irked him, he wasn't some fragel thing, even physically speaking he towered over them. But they greeted him kindly as he passed by and he would nod and greet them kindly or raise a hand to wave.
[May 1st. 8:27 a.m.]
Students continued to file in the classroom before the bell would ring.
Madoka sat in her chair with her arms folded to create a pillow for her head as she rolled a pencil between her fingers, attempting to alleviate her boredom before class began.
Cecelia sat atop her desk with crossed legs, sitting tall with perfect posture and her hands folded neatly across her lap.
As for Ichika, he sat leaned far back in the teachers chair with his legs up on the desk, hands folded behind his head, bracing his neck. His co-teacher had taken the initiative for this particular lesson and was in front of the teachers podium, waiting for class to begin.
"The class league matches are next week, you should be preparing." Ichika told his sister.
"That's right!" Said Cecelia, who had become a friend of Madoka and was his first student besides Houki that began to warm up to Ichika. "Even if you did beat me in our duel for the position, don't think I'll just let you slack off on training!" She said adamantly.
"Can you train with me Orimura-sensei?" Madoka asked once more. *sigh* "I have told you before your IS is both melee and ranged centered, I am only proficient in melee and don't have my own personal IS, Cecelia would make a far better training partner for you than I would." He said, making a sound argument. "Also, while my knowledge on the IS is second only to Tabane-nee, I myself have only recently begun training on piloting an IS." He emphasized.
"But you can't deny how you are! You improve exponentially in everything you do, I'm sure with the mere weeks of experience in piloting you've already far surpassed me. Pleeeeeease train me?" She pleaded with puppy dog eyes.
"Honestly, I don't know why you're so worried, Orimura-san, you're the only representative with a personal IS besides class four." Cecelia pointed out. "If you keep up your training, it should be an easy win for you."
"That information is outdated!" Their attention was drawn to the empty doorway the voice had come from. "The representative of class One-Two also has a personal IS, you know. You can't win that easily!" The shouting voice was revealed to belong to a petite girl that entered the room.
Madoka and Celelia were taken aback, but Ichika remained stoic waiting for the new girl to continue.
"I'm the Representative Candidate of China, Huang Lingyin, and I have come to declare war!" She declared with a smirk.
War? Someone who declares war with a smile is either a sadistic psychopath or knows nothing of the world's true horrors.
"Rin!" Madoka shouted, leaping up from her spot on the desk and hugging the new girl.
Cecelia looked at Ichika, who just shrugged. "Care to introduce us?" Ichika asked.
"Oh, right! Ah. Orimura-sensei, Cecelia-chan,-" Madoka gestured to Houki, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the room. "-Houki-chan, this is Huang Lingyin or Rin. She is my second childhood friend, she started attending my school almost right after Houki-chan left."
Madoka switched her audience, now talking to Rin. "Rin, this is my first childhood friend Houki Shinonono. A new classmate of mine Cecelia Alcott. And… I know I told you a lot about him but he was… taken… before we met, Ichika Orimura, my elder brother and teacher." Rin looked starstruck at Ichika, but before she had a chance to start stuttering her thoughts were interrupted.
*Smack* Rin's smirk morphed into a face of pain as she was hit on the head by Demon Principle Chifuyu.
Whilst fiercely rubbing her now aching head, Rin began to protest. "Hey! What was that for-EEK!" She cut herself off after having turned and looked at who had hit her.
"It is almost time for the student home room. Get back to your class Lingyin-san." Chifuyu demanded. Ichika swore he could feel the authority radiating off of her. Intimidation was not the way he normally went about things, but he'd be damned if it didn't work flawlessly for the Brunhilde.
"Chi-Chifuyu-san…" Rin whispered under her breath. Ichika could see her eyes widen in fear, clearly Chifuyu scared her. If someone could survive having been drained of all blood, they would've looked like Rin. The poor girl had gone pale enough to look like a walking corpse. Well, a walking corpse whose knees were shaking in fear.
*Smack* Every student in the classroom winced sharply as Rin was hit in the head by the Demon Principal's feared attendance book.
"You will call me Orimura-sensei! Now stop blocking the door and go back to class! You're bothering me." Two attendance book hits and getting yelled at. A deadly combination.
"S-sorry…" She was trembling. "I'll come back later. Don't run away Madoka!" She demanded and retreated from the door, making a dash to her classroom. Chifuyu gave Ichika a nod and exited herself, continuing her trek of the hallways. The demon went back to stalking her prey.
Ichika retracted his legs and stood up, clearing his throat in an attempt to get his students attention. "Everyone to your seats." He said as the bell rang, proceeding to start the lesson.
Unlike every other teacher, Ichika ate lunch with his students. In reality… he had started eating with Madoka at the start of the school year, then Houki joined them… then Cecelia… and now Rin. He would have eaten with Chifuyu, but she was always so busy with work that she stayed in her office for meals.
Sure, some of his co-workers may have called him unprofessional behind his back, but he didn't really care. Besides, they were all likely too busy blushing whenever he talked to them to think he was the unprofessional one.
"Onii-kun doesn't like to touch anyone, most people feel too intimidated to even talk to him, I myself am surprised you shook his hand on the first day you met him." Madoka explained somewhat jealousy. Rin had introduced herself to her elder brother and teacher after the classes had ended.
"I have every right to not like being touched, and I try to not be rude even if such things are honestly a waste of time." He countered.
Madoka's face saddened knowing what he was referencing, she looked down. "Yes, Onii-kun."
"What happened?" Rin asked. Without warning Ichika dropped his fork and stood up sharply, drawing the attention of the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was long gone. He wasn't there. It was the prison. It was hell, the one he would never escape. The harsh coldness contrasted with the fresh hot blood that oozed out of his wounds. His sight, his taste, his touch, it all meant nothing. It was just pain. Endless, and overwhelming.
As soon as it had come it had disappeared.
His senses came back to him. He was in the cafeteria. How much time had passed? Was it seconds or hours this time? Everyone was staring, it couldn't have been long. With a deep breath drawn in and out of his lungs, he calmed himself. All of his students looked confused, but only the few at his table held faces of concern.
Why was he so exhausted?
"It's private, no offense intended." Ichika stated, trying not to sound harsh. He turned to Madoka "I've lost my appetite, imouto, I will see you all in class." Ichika said while getting up and leaving.
"You idiot." Houki and Cecelia were surprised at the normally happy Madoka taking such a harsh tone. "Can't you tell by the scars covering his face and hands, not to mention the eyepatch, that he has been through some tough shit? He's trying to move on and doesn't need to be constantly reminded of what he has gone through." She questioned angrily.
"I-I'm sorry I-I didn't mean to-I wasn't trying to…" "I don't care what you were intending to do, now if you'll excuse me I have to go find my brother." Madoka stepped up and left in an angry "humph".
"..."
"Don't worry, she'll forgive you, and Ichika is all logical and stuff right? He knows you didn't intend to trigger bad memories." Cecelia comforted Rin.
"... ya think?" Rin said.
"MMmm." Cecelia hummed. "I mean, he may only hang out with us cause his sister is usually with us….but…. he's still a good guy." She shrugged.
"Mmm."
"Dammit!" Rin yelled as Madoka once again took her opponent down in the training session. They both deactivated their IS and walked toward Ichika and Cecilia.
Madoka smiled and looked back at Ichika, who was standing a few feet from them even though they were in massive IS's. "How did I do, sensei?"
"You have gone well. You won 4 out of the 5 practice matches, a solid success rate." Ichika said, making Madoka glow. Ichika saw Rin's disappointed face. "Rin." She looked up.
He switched to Chinese Manderin, allowing for a more private conversation. "Do not worry if you cannot defeat an opponent, people improve the most when they have someone that can push them to do better."
He speaks Chinese? She looked surprised, then smiled and nodded. "Then… who pushes you to strive better, sensei?"
"Many." Ichika ended the short conversation by switching back to Japanese.
This guy… always so mysterious.
Celelia and Madoka were looking confused. Madoka puffed her cheeks. "No fair Onii-kun, we don't get to have private conversations."
"That would be because we all speak Japanese." Ichika replied.
"...do you speak English?" Cecilia asked in her native tongue.
"It is my secondary." Ichika replied in her tongue, she smiled.
"No fair! I demand equality!" Madoka said jumping and clinging to Ichika's arm.
"Wait, just how many languages do you speak Ichika-kun?" Rin asked.
"As many as I need to." He keeps so much information secretive.
[May 9th - 12:00pm]
[Day of the Class League Matches]
Ichika was once again standing next to Chifuyu, watching as the first match of the interclass tournament was about to begin. The few people he had made friends with were all participating in the tournament, so he couldn't sit with them.
The first round was Madoka vs. Rin, which was quite convenient in Ichika's eyes. However, Madoka seemed less confident, but he assured her she would do well whether she lost or won. Rin was across the arena staring down Madoka ready for the fight, determined to beat Madoka. The crowd roared as the countdown sounded and the two IS charged each other. The match continued as the minutes ticked away with Madoka gaining a small lead. However, the fun didn't last long as a sound broke Ichika's focus away from the match. His eyes shot up above the arena, looking farther than any normal human could.
"What?" Chifuyu asked after noticing Ichika's odd behavior.
"The Academy's airspace has been compromised." He pointed up into the sky as everyone followed his finger.
"I don't see anything." A teacher behind them said, who's mind quickly changed as a figure began flying quickly down from the sky straight at the arena. The whole arena shook as a massive IS slammed into the center of the field, creating a small crater in the middle.
The arena is surrounded in a highly powerful AIC field, it's the reason you can't get in or out of the arena and how the stands are protected, how did that thing get through? Whatever it is it must be strong. We should be able to easily take it down with support from the teachers.
"THE MATCH IS CANCELLED, RETURN IMMEDIATELY!" Shouted one of the teachers over the intercom as an alarm began to blare, signaling the Academy was under attack. "DON'T!" Chifuyu yelled. A flash of movement blew past her as metal walls flashed up, covering all of the stands. "Idiot! You just trapped two of our students in the arena with that thing!" Chifuyu scolded her fellow teacher, who had activated the alarm.
The screens in the teachers stands were still on as well as those of the student stands, so all of the audience could still see what was happening in the arena.
In the center of the arena was a dense cloud of dust where the unidentified IS had landed.
The dust slowly settled to the ground, revealing an unknown large black IS. It looked to have been built solely to be a tank, with large and thick pieces of armor across the entire IS. Around a hundred feet to the golem IS were the Shenlong and Silent Zephyrus stood, having stopped fighting. The Golem turned to the two IS and raised one of it's large arms. The particle cannon began glowing with power.
A volley of bolts flew toward the two students.
"Rin!" Madoka yelled while dodging the energy blasts, breaking her friend out of her surprise.
"Right!" Rin responded, as the boosters on her IS flared back to life, allowing her to dodge the shots from the unknown IS.
"Orimura. Lingyin. Retreat. This shall be dealt with." Chifuyu's voice reverberated from the speakers of the arena, but the fact that they were still alone with the threat made it clear they didn't have that option.
"The movements… they are…almost inhuman." Ichika spoke in almost a whisper. "I wonder…" He put aside his theories about the unknown IS for now, and looked around himself.
Most of the teachers in the stands were panicking, doing their best to find a way to get to their students. Chifuyu had remained level headed, and was clearly dwelling on something.
"Ichika." Chifuyu got his attention, the other occupants of the teachers stood silenced to allow her to speak.
She motioned towards the wall 'protecting' the stands. "Can you get through?"
He approached the wall and squinted his eyes, hitting it gently in a few places.
"Thickness?" He asked Chifuyu, who shook her head, having no answer.
"Material?" Another no.
"It's made of a highly dense alloy of Chromium and Titanium." A second year teacher, who specialized in IS Engineering, spoke up.
"How do you know that?" Another teacher said, which everyone else promptly ignored.
Honestly it should just be an energy barrier, but I suppose it makes my job easier.
"...I can get through." Ichika claimed as all eyes locked onto him. "I just need an IS's heavy impact firearm, long range would be best." One of the teachers nodded and held up her arm as a massive IS sniper rifle appeared in it, which she instantly dropped from the weight. Ichika ran to the weapon and expertly began taking it apart while the teachers only stood watching his genius at work.
"Madoka and Lingyin have engaged the target." Chifuyu warned Ichika who immediately sped up his work as his hands flew across the firearm, efficiently but delicately disassembling it. Her profession alism was slipping as her concern became more and more obvious.
It was clear from the start that the fight was not going too well.
For her part, Madoka was actually doing a good job of bobbing and weaving between shots from the unknown IS, but it had been almost half a minute, and she hadn't seen any openings for attack. The IS was inhumanly fast. Everywhere she moved to dodge she immediately had to dodge away from again.
Rin was fairing worse. It was clear that her piloting skills were still lacking, and her IS was simply outmatched in terms of speed. For every handful of shots she successfully dodged, another three hit her directly. While Madoka focused on dodging, she had attempted to shoot the unknown IS with her particle cannons, to no avail.
"Both have been heavily damaged." Chifuyu informed him. He gave up deconstructing the rest of the firearm and punched straight through a remaining large piece, wrenching a glowing part from the center of the weapon. He quickly jammed it into the mechanism he had built.
The teachers stood in astonishment of his work.
"What is it?" The same teacher who offered the firearm asked while pointing at the mechanism in Ichika's arms. Massive leftover parts covered the floor where Ichika had been building his machine. Ichika dashed to the metal wall, his mechanism busting to life as a small but thick lazer flared at the end starting to cut through the metal wall.
"A high density, hand held, plasma cutter." Ichika answered as he angled the lazer, continuing to carve through the wall.
"How the hell did you make that out of a sniper rifle in a minute and a half?!" The teacher who had given him the rifle, questioned.
Ichika ignored that question all together, only concerned in breaking through.
"RIN!" Madoka yelled as a screen, showing Rin in her own IS, popped up on Madoka's HUD.
"What?!" Rin yelled back, clearing having all her attention on dodging.
"I'm going on the offensive! I need you to cover me!" Madoka said as various energy bolts wizzed mere inches from her face, colliding with the wall behind her.
"How-" "NOW!" "Okay!"
BANG! BANG! Rin fired her impact cannons. Though she was doing her best to both shoot and dodge, her shields were already draining absurdly fast. Madoka would have to end this quickly, for her sake.
"How much longer!?" Chifuyu yelled as she watched her sister charge and slice at the IS, getting a few solid hits in before getting batted away.
"Longer if you keep distracting me!" Ichika yelled back.
Not that they weren't freaking out themselves, but it was odd for the many teachers in the room to see their two normally stoic and calm co-workers panicking.
Madoka groaned as she sat up. The Silent Zephyrs had taken a shot to the face, which sent it, and her, slamming into the side of the arena. Scuffs now covered her IS as she pulled herself up.
Her eyes finally focused, and they did not like the image. Rin was still engaging the IS, having continued to draw fire as to prevent the unknown IS to fire upon the downed Madoka.
Madoka gritted her teeth. Summoning her Star Breaker, she took aim at the IS attacking her friend.
BANG! BOOM!
Less than a second after she fired, it hit the IS dead center, sending it slamming against the wall opposite to her, topped off with a satisfying explosion.
Her hopes that it had been destroyed were shattered as it emerged from the rubble, flying straight towards her.
Never one to shy away from a fight, Madoka met its charge head on.
A large crash sounded as a hole fell out of the metal barrier.
Only mere milliseconds before hitting the Golem head on, Madoka diverted her path upward. Instead of dodging the attack, the Silent Zephyrs plowed straight into the top of the Golem, tackling it to the ground.
Coming up from the tackle, the Silent Zephyrs pinned the Golem against the dirt arena floor, pushing it down with a foot on it's chest. The metal frames of the large Mechas groaned in protest as The Silent Zephyrs planted a knee on the Golem's chest, forcing it completely flat against the ground.
In the smallest flash of light, the Silent Zephyrs' Star Breaker was replaced with a long, jagged IS knife.
Madoka heavied the Silent Zephyrs's knife over the chest of the Golem.
"Surrender!" She yelled in a naive attempt to give the IS pilot one last chance to surrender, only for it to struggle under the weight of her IS, trying to escape. With a yell of strength, the IS's knife was plunged into the center of the Golem, shattering the armor completely. The glowing eyes slowly flickered… and died.
The teachers had immediately ran through the hole in the wall. The large group summoned their ISs, some with personal IS, but most without. They flew straight toward the center of the arena, only to see the unknown IS had already been taken out.
The alarm quickly faded as the walls retracted into their original position in front of the stands, Ichika observed the arena, now in the empty teachers section of the stands. All eyes were locked onto the many IS pilots in the center of the arena that surrounded the now broken down unknown IS. Both Madoka and Rin were being quickly escorted out of the arena to the medical bay, in case of any injury.
Ichika deeply observed the broken down IS with his mechanical eye, there was no pilot stuck in its broken frame nor were there any new people standing amongst the teachers. No pilot? Could it be wirelessly controlled? It isn't very plausible that it had an AI as advanced as Shirokishi, but it could be.
He began talking to Shirokishi as Chifuyu excited the stands, heading to the Academy's medical facilities.
'Kishi-san, is it possible that the unknown IS has or had an AI that was controlling it?' Ichika mentally asked her.
"No. I cannot detect any coding advanced enough to be an AI in that machine. It isn't an AI, but it is pre-programmed."
'Good…..'*sigh* "We need to end this dance between you and Phantom Task before it begins." Shirokishi informed.
'...I know…. I know…We need to be prepared for a full on assault…..I just need more time.' Ichika replied as he turned and slowly exited the stands, his steps echoing across the now silent arena.
"Something we are running out of….far….far too quickly…"
A/N: This story has grown a lot more than I ever thought it would. A warm welcome to all of the new readers.
Thank you all for the support. I really don't know what to do besides just give an honest thanks.
It's been really nice getting to know this fandom. I've loved getting to know the few people I've had conversations with through DM.
About this chapter in particular. I did have an alternate version where Ichika took out the IS himself, but I decided to opt for giving Madoka some time to shine.
Online college is….interesting. Calculus, Engineering, and Chemistry online. It's…..a new experience? That's the best description I have. Way better than High School though.
The majority of my target audience is 13-25 and mostly male with some female according to Wattpad, which means the majority of you probably had to attend online schooling as well. I hope it went well and you're all staying safe. My luck to you and your studies. And if you're not attending a school right now, then good luck in whatever you want luck in. :)
No one may care but I do plan on re-writing this fic eventually. They're are already a few small changes I would make, and I cringe whenever I even think about chapters 2 & 3, they are poop. It would be far into the future since I want to improve my writing skills first. I know I want the rewritten version to be as near to an actual book as possible, something you would read and not recognize as being fanfiction if you didn't already know. That's the dream.
Personal Response:
Just Some Guy: I Thought Chifuyus' actions would be unexpected, I wanted to show a more emotional side of her that people rarely get to see. Also I needed a way to begin sowing the seeds of history between the characters. I'm glad your cool with irregular uploads. After all, taking time away from this to perform well in College means I can have a career, meaning I can write fanfiction for years to come.