Chapter 4 is here! Thank you so much for your support for this Fanfic! Now on to the story.

Note: All characters & series belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 4: Troubles and 2nd Childhood Friend

IS Academy Training Area

On an open area of the school, several girls and two boys were standing in formation in their pilot suits. But instead of pilot suits like Setsuna used, they resemble more like a one piece swimsuit only with an addition of sneakers. The only ones who wore differently from them were Cecilia who wear the blue version of them, Ichika who wear dark-blue skintight shirt and shorts and of course Setsuna who wear his dark-blue and blue G-Suit. Some of the girls were disappointed because they cannot see his body structure, but they stood attention when Chifuyu and Maya arrived, wearing track suits giving them the appearance of PE teachers.

"Alright, for today's lesson we're going to practice the basic controls of the IS" she said as she then pointed at Ichika and Cecilia,

"Orimura, Alcott, you're first."

While Ichika was taken aback and surprised, Cecilia didn't lose her confidence at all as she replied.

"Understood." She then closed her eyes as her earrings started glowing and in a flash, her IS, the Blue Tears appeared. She is now hovering several centimeters above ground, except her weapons weren't with her this time.

"Okay." Ichika said as he tried to do the same. However, his IS didn't appear and this made him confused.

"Huh…eh?"

"Hurry up and do it. A properly trained pilot doesn't take more than a second to deploy there IS." She commanded. He then closed his eyes and said.

"Concentrate." Focusing his mind, he then said.

"Come, Byakushiki!" he was then enveloped in white light as his IS started to materialize. When it was finished, he opened his eyes and looked at his now armored hands. He said.

"I did it…" before Chifuyu can command them to fly, Cecilia suddenly raised her hand, getting the attention of both teachers.

"What is it Ms. Alcott?" Maya asked.

"Ma'am, what about Setsuna? He also has a Personal IS just like us." she said as she pointed at him. All the girls and Ichika also looked at him, wondering why their teacher didn't call out for him. Said person only had his stoic face but under it, he was annoyed at their stares. Chifuyu then answered.

"Two things Alcott. One, he already knows it and two, you were the only ones that I told to. Now fly!" all students stiffened at this but the two pilots complied.

"Yes." Cecilia said as she flew first into the air. Ichika was nervous as he saw her fly but also complied.

"Okay!" he said as he was getting ready to fly, but mere inches before he can float, Ichika nearly crashed but he managed to control it and he followed her. All of them were watching the two as they were racing at each other, with Cecilia on the lead. Ichika then heard his sister speaking to him in the radio.

"You're slow. When comparing specs, Byakushiki has a higher power output."

"Even if you say that…Was it "Imagine a pyramid in front of yourself."? I don't really understand."

"It's just using your imagination." Cecilia said as she flew closer to him with a smile. Down below, Houki was annoyed when the arrogant girl who was trashed by Setsuna was closing in to Ichika even though she can't hear their conversation. Then Chifuyu ordered.

"Orimura, Alcott. Perform a sudden dive and coming to a complete halt."

"Roger. In that case, I'll be going first" Cecilia said as she did what she was told. But suddenly, Setsuna felt something wrong, as he suddenly activated his Gundam. No one noticed it until they feel warm and green particles flew around them. They all looked back to see Setsuna on an aggressive pose while looking at Ichika's IS. While the other students were either confused to what's he doing or amazed to see their classmate's unusual IS up close, Chifuyu sternly looked at him and asked.

"Mr. Seiei, who told you to activate your IS?" but the answer was above them as Ichika dived to them without stopping. While the girls scrambled to get out of the area, Setsuna only looked at him until he was cut out of his stupor when Ichika called out to him.

"OH NONONONONO! SETSUNA GET OUT OF THE WAYYYYYYY!" Mere meters before he hit him, Setsuna did a high cartwheel to barely dodge him, which in turn transform his IS into its combat mode. Then…

BOOM!

A loud crash echoed through the area, then a large cloud of dust appeared where the two boys had collided. The girls, especially Houki and Cecilia were shocked and terrified at this, even Maya gasped and she nearly dropped her attendance book. Normally, Ichika and Setsuna would be okay since their IS will protect them, but they were still worried because they could've collided with each other. Chifuyu however, suddenly understood.

'Hmm… so that's why he activated his IS.' Remembering one of the benefits of an Innovator as she connected the dots.

"Ichika!" "Setsuna!" the girls cried as they went to the crater revealed after the dust settled. But what they saw were beyond to what they expect.

On the center of the crater, Ichika's face hit the dirt while his butt sticking out and above him Setsuna floats with his IS in combat mode. When Byakushiki dissipates, Maya asked.

"Orimura, are you okay?" he then pulled his face out. Breathing heavily, he replied.

"Ouch… I thought I was gonna die." With his response, Houki and Maya gave a sigh of relief. Chifuyu then said.

"You idiot. What do you think you're doing opening a hole in the ground?"

"Sorry." Was the only reply he can muster. Then Houki said.

"You're pathetic, Ichika. Did you already forget what I told y-"but she was interrupted by Cecilia who pushed her aside and went to his side. After Ichika got his IS, Houki decided to train him, i.e. to be close to him. She then followed afterwards.

Setsuna then landed next to him and reached a hand to him.

"Need a hand?" he said calmly. Ichika then reached out his hand to him as he stood up.

"Thanks." He said as he wiped his face off the dirt. When the girls arrived, Chifuyu said to them.

"Alright, that's enough. Since Orimura could be injured, Alcott, Seiei, continue where we left off and fly again. Orimura, you stay still."

"Yes ma'am." The two of them said while Ichika only nods. The class continues where the two students were told to do difficult maneuvers while the others stare in awe. The male pilot was flying his IS so graciously in the air that he performed all maneuvers easily and even outrun Cecilia many times. The girls, including Cecilia, were cheering. Ichika could only stare at him up high.

IS Academy- Hallway

It has been a week since the duel between Setsuna and Cecilia and the aftermath is annoying for him. Now his privacy is being invaded many times by the first years who were trying to convince him to teach his moves to them. That also includes Houki and Ichika, but he seems hesitant for the moment. But the worst of it all…

"Set~su~na Sem~pai~!"

Cecilia Alcott, the proud British representative, is now following him like a cat when an opportunity strikes. That voice irritates him. It reminds him of someone who is so obsessed with him in his own world. Both are also blonde as well.

In 00-verse

Graham Aker sneezed.

"Is there something wrong?" His friend Billy Katagiri asked.

"I think someone is talking about me." He replied. Billy only raised his eyebrow.

Back to Setsuna

He turned to the owner of the voice and tried to give a cold glare at her so she goes away. Unfortunately, it didn't affect her at the least, smiling even more. Mentally sighing, he responded.

"What do you want Cecilia Alcott."

"Hmm? Oh nothing Sempai. It's just that our class might invite you to go to the cafeteria after our lessons are over. So I decided to tell you earlier."

She replied with a happy tone. Although he can sense truth in her words, he can't remove this feeling about her having an "agenda" with him. And that agenda appeared when she clung to his arm.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a calm voice although he a bit irritated at her actions.

"Clinging to your arm of course! Hey sempai, can we go to class together?" she asked in an active tone as she begins to pull him but,

"No." he replied coldly but,

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

'She's persistent.' He thought. Sighing, he replied.

"Fine. Don't get too close to me."

"YES!" She said happily as they walk to their classroom. They were seen by many students on the way and he can feel their jealousy of Cecilia who is smiling and tugging on his arm more. He then let out another sigh, this time louder.

IS Academy Cafeteria

As expected to what Cecilia told him earlier, Setsuna arrived at the cafeteria only to see it changed from its normal setting to one fit for a celebration. While there are still other students from other classes either eating snacks or chatting with each other, most of them were from class 1-1 to celebrate Ichika's appointment as the class' representative. The celebration was delayed because of reasons. Now in one of the seats were Ichika, Cecilia and Setsuna and Houki while Honne and her friends were showering confetti at the four.

"Congratulations Ichika-san for being the Class representative!" the girls said in unison and they applauded.

"Wh-what's with all of this?" Ichika asks, obviously confused with the events happening right now.

"Let me explain." Cecilia said as she stood up from her seat and continued.

"As I lost to Setsuna sempai in our duel, which means that you are the class representative now. And because of that, the class decided to throw a party." She finished with a proud smirk on her face.

"Wait. It was still on?!"

"Of course. And everyone…" she then looked at her classmates and bowed.

"I am sorry for my attitude last time. Please forgive me." Setsuna felt that her feelings were true, and the response were gentle as well.

"Don't worry about it."

"We are classmates after all."

Seeing their positive reactions and smiles, Cecilia couldn't help but smile back. As the celebration started, Ichika went close to Setsuna to have a chat.

"Oh man, I can't believe this. (Sigh) I did not know that bet was still on." He said to him. Setsuna nodded.

"By the way, do you have free time in the next few days? I may want to-"but before he can ask a question,

*SNAP*

A flash came from a camera and took a snapshot at both of them conversing. When the two boys looked at the culprit, they saw a girl with glasses holding said camera. She then introduced herself.

"Hello there, I'm from the newspaper club. Can I take a picture of the three of you? Your duel last time was incredible and we want to put it in our headlines."

Setsuna thought about it. He was sure that whatever he do, his existence was already known by the governments of this world and the secrets of 00 may be compromised. But then again, his deal with Chifuyu will come into play. While wondering if he should accept or not, someone already made a decision.

"Oh, of course." Cecilia said, surprising the two men.

"Hey! That's way too fast. Can't we think about this?" he then looked at the girl who has a pleading expression. Damn those puppy dog eyes. Ichika then looked at Setsuna who sighed and nodded. Facing her, he also sighed and said.

"Alright."

Then the girl's mood lightened.

"Thank you very much! Now then, Orimura could you please stand here?" she pointed at the middle part of the seat. When he did, the girl then looked at Cecilia.

"Good. Cecilia, please stand at Orimura's left." After she did it as well, she then looked at the victor who still had a stoic expression.

"Um Setsuna, please stand at Orimura's right." Now the positions are as follows: Cecilia at Ichika's left, himself at the middle and Setsuna at the right.

"Good. Now stack up your hands together and give me a big smile okay?"

As the two did, Setsuna is having second thoughts again. It is confusing that he have to do that again. But they may get upset, so he'll go with the flow. He forced a gentle smile that made the girls as well as Cecilia blush and are having thoughts about it. The member then focused on the task. As soon as she nearly took the picture, Cecilia asked a question.

"Can you give me a copy of the picture?" she asked all the while clinging at Ichika's other hand.

"Oh, sure." She replied. "Okay then, in 3….2….1…. say cheese."

*SNAP*

In another flash, a new picture was taken. But when the member looked at her camera, she quirked her eyebrow in confusion because instead of the pilots, the picture revealed everyone doing different poses and expressions. Even Houki was there with a sour expression in front of Setsuna. This leaves a surprised Ichika and Cecilia as well as stoic Setsuna whose smile quickly vanished and was replaced by his signature face with a raised eyebrow.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL DOING IN MY PICTURE!?"Cecilia shouted, but all she earned were teasing smiles of the other students. Ichika could only sigh.

IS Academy Dorms

With all the commotion earlier at its end the students left to their dorms. Inside his room, Setsuna is reading the books that Maya gave to him last time. While reading, he got an idea, looked at HARO and asked it a question.

"HARO, can you check the status of my gundam in this amulet?" he then pointed at the amulet dangling at his neck. It then responds.

"Maybe. Maybe."

"Good. I want you to check its overall data, all weapons it has, and if the 0-Raiser can still be accessed." He then picked it up from the table and went to the computer. Connecting a series of wires to its "mouth" the screen popped up to check its progress. When it was finished, Setsuna could only raise an eyebrow at the data given to him.

The IS's status is still green, much to his relief. But it ends there when he checked the weapons category. In it, an add-on can be seen which shows the 7-sword pack that was scrapped in favor of the current arsenal. And the most confusing of all, a weapon called GN Sword II Blaster was in it as well, which make it the 7-Sword/G pack. He seriously has no idea where that came from. Then another one arrived in the form of the GNR-010/XN XN Raiser which can be switched from the ordinary 0-Raiser. He also saw that this new fighter can change 00 into its "Second shift".

"HARO, where did all these came from?" he asked.

"All from data. All from data." It responds. Now he was more confused.

"You mean all of these data suddenly materialized to be used in combat?"

"Yes. Yes."

"What about Trans-am, can it also be used?"

"Yes. Yes."

"And where did that GN Sword II Blaster came from?" He knows the 7-Sword pack's data and XN-raiser's, but he really did not know where that came from.

"No idea. No idea." It responded. He can only sigh in this great confusion. Now he's having a headache. He then ordered it.

"HARO, prepare the data file for the GN Particle countermeasures. I still have a deal with her." Tomorrow, he will check if the 7-Sword/G package and 0-Raiser can be used here, but for now, he need a cold shower.

Next day, IS Academy Class 1-1

The class league match has been recently announced and everyone has been talking about it. Class 1-1 for example, are very excited to see Ichika to fight in his Byakushiki, a thing he didn't do before. But for the man in question, this made him really nervous. He doesn't have any real experience in using an IS and the other three who could teach him are either too powerful, acting a bit strange and constantly tries to flirt with him. While pondering from his thoughts, one of Honne's friends spoke.

"Hey, did you know that the representative of Class 1-2 got changed?"

"Yeah, I heard it was a Transfer student from China this time." A black haired girl replied. This got his attention.

"At this time of the year? What does she look like?" Ichika wanted to join the conversation, when the door opened revealing Setsuna with his stoic face and Cecilia who was following him behind. After they put their bags in their seats, Ichika greeted them.

"Hey Setsuna, Cecilia, want to join us?" Setsuna raised his eyebrow while Cecilia stood beside them.

"About what Ichika-san?" she asked.

"I heard that there is a new transfer student and apparently she is now the new representative of class 2."

"Maybe she was here to study my techniques." She said proudly. Ichika only sweatdropped anime-style. Her attitude is still there. But he then nodded.

"I'm curious, is she good?" he asked Cecilia.

"Only Class 1 and 4 have students with personal IS's so we should be fine." She replied, but-

"I'm sorry, but that information is outdated." An unknown voice suddenly joined the conversation which startled them. When they look at the source, a girl appeared at their room's door. Said girl had light brown hair tied in twin-tails with a yellow ribbon at both sides. She also has green eyes and one of her fangs is a bit exposed. She wears a customized academy uniform with the sleeves removed. She is also quite small unlike Houki and Cecilia.

"The representative of Class 2 now also have a personal IS." She said. "So winning won't be easy anymore."

"No way," Ichika said, looking shocked as he stood up from his seat. "Is that you Rin?"

"That's right. I'm Lingyin Huang, the representative of China. And I am here to declare a war on you."

Everyone was shocked at her declaration, but the air suddenly tensed up. Fear quickly creeped up on everyone, which includes Rin herself. They have never felt this very strong killing intent in anyone. It was even felt at the other rooms. And its source? A partially deployed IS, a GN Sword II in Rifle mode pointed at Rin, and a completely frowning Setsuna. Everyone's mind can be summed up in a few words when they saw a pissed off Setsuna.

'Oh Shit'

AN: Sorry if it took sooooooooooo looooooong to update. I planned to update this for the last two months but because of college life, well, stuff happens. Anyways, read, enjoy, and R&R! Constructive criticism is acknowledged, but no flames guys. NO FLAMES!