« I fucking hate paperwork. » I groaned out as I let my face fall unceremoniously on the table with a loud thud. Seriously, how many fucking pages are there that I still have to read and sign? We already had the Geneva Convention (four treaties and three protocols that state how to humanely fight a war. You can see it as an etiquette guide for large scale battles and prisoner treatment.), the whole freaking Alaska Treaty, a contract of 23 pages that states my neutrality, what I have to do to hold it up and what I can and can't do for the benefit of a certain country. And that's not all, I still have to choose companies that will deliver me weapons, vehicles, food, ISes and materials to maintain them, look through different dossiers for people to join my squad and let's not forget my Medical file that still has to be filled in. They say that they'll have an 'trustable' doctor look at me. Yeah right, when that happens, hell is gonna freeze over.
"Shut up and continue working Lieutenant." Laura said impassively. Hey, I'm your superior show a bit more respect.
"Respect is earned Haruka, you of all people should know that." Laura chastised me through our mental connection.
She's right man, you earn the respect of your men by fighting. But since most of the military's elite became female you could take the fight to the bedchambers, that'll make things a whole lot easier.
Great, just what I needed to make this day complete. A perverted madman in my head to make it even more difficult to focus on the way to big pile of paper.
You do realize that since I'm a part of you, you just insulted yourself?
Please shut up for five minutes so that I can work.
Okay, okay. Sheesh, don't get so worked up.
Thank you.
…
3 minutes left
…
Just 2 more minutes.
"Goddammit Haruka, make him shut up! I can't focus with that rambling madman doing whatever he likes!" Laura snapped in her mind. Relax, I'll do what I can…
YOUCANHEARHIM/ME?
"Yes, I thought that I was going mad since I heard voices, but apparently I can see into your crazy ass mind!" Laura said annoyed through the link.
This is just plain awesome! I'm gonna see who I can drive crazy first!
This going to be a long day.
After an hour and a half, we took a break so that we could eat lunch. Psycho shut up after ten minutes thanks to Laura's quite… colorful threat. When Laura gets angry, she becomes quite imaginative with what she's going to do with the source of her ire. I think she's the only one who managed to scare Psycho. Anyway, we took a break the same moment that the school 'conveniently' had lunch break. So we got joined by Cecilia, Houki, Ichika and surprisingly enough Rin and Chi-chan. Clarissa and Chi-chan started talking while Laura listened eagerly to what they said. Houki and Rin where fighting for Ichika's attention while he pretended not noticing it. And as for me and Cecilia, well she made me stop working and eat before she just snuggled contently into my chest. Not that I minded it. Still, after this I have to find a way to get the materials for the Gunblade project and the new mods and armor of my IS while preparing Ichika for dual wielding.
"Seems like I'll have to contact her after all." I muttered softly.
"Who do you need to contact?" Cecilia asked me suspiciously. Have a little faith, I'm not cheating on you.
"Nee-san for some materials to mod my IS." I told her while closing my eyes and enjoying the calm moment with my soon to be fiancée .
"I'll talk with Taba nee-chan, you enjoy your peaceful moment." G said softly with a hint of happiness in her voice. Thank you very much.
"No problem Haru-chan. Please do spoil her, she's earned it."
Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure I did most of the work last night.
" Yeah, but a real gentleman spoils his princess." G chastised me.
"Haruka how many voices do you have in your head?" Laura asked me confused and a bit scared. She didn't dare to ask that question out loud because people will doubt my mental health more than they do already.
I have three of them, but one's a bit shy. So she can hear the others as well, huh? That's nice to know. I now officially have zero fucking privacy.
Oh, it wasn't privacy that you were fucking last night.
Crap, he's regained his confidence again. And it was finally nice and quiet.
"So Ichika, how's your training with Garisaka coming along?" Chi-chan asked Ichika.
"Quite good, he's found a way to counter my disadvantage at long ranged fights without drastically changing my fighting style. But for now we're still practicing the basics." Ichika responded vaguely. Chi-chan, Houki and Rin became curious as to what he meant, Laura looked at him with the EEEEEVVVIIIIIILLLL look for some reason ,Clarissa looked at me with a knowing smirk and Cecilia didn't care about this conversation as she was happily in her own little world. I was there too partly.
"And how is he going to do that?" Chi-chan asked, genuinely interested.
"You'll see that when he's gonna fight Rin in three weeks." I told her. I looked at Ichika, whom nodded. He knew why I withheld the information. Chi-chan did as well and stopped prodding the subject. Instead she decided to have some fun.
"Say Garisaka, I've heard from Shinonono that you two were late due to overexertion. Did you two had a rough night?" she asked innocently with a smile that clearly said 'SUFFER FOR DEFYING ME, MAGGOT!'. Cecilia shot straight up and her face became redder than my eyes.
"W-what are you implying, O-orimura-sensei?" she stammered out in quite cute way. I just pulled her into my chest and started stroking her hair.
"Calm down mon ange, she wants you to get worked up." I told her in a soothing voice. She calmed down and laid her head in the crook of my shoulder, closing her eyes again. The others looked astonished at the scene in front of them.
"What? Is there something between my teeth?" I asked them, faking denseness. I was the only one who saw Ichika's small smirk.
"I didn't know that you speak French." Houki said surprised.
"Vraiment? Je suis sûr que je t'ai dit." I told Houki in (what I hope is) flawless French.
(Really? I'm pretty sure that I told you.)
"Uhm, how about you speak Japanese, you idiot?" Rin barked quite annoyed.
"I thought that I told her already, but apparently I didn't." I said back in Japanese with a smirk. Seems like they can't understand me when I speak French. Oh I'm going to enjoy this in the future! That and I diverted the subject, so we're saved.
"But we're digressing…" Damn you Chi-chan! I shall have my vengeance in this life or the next! Of course no one realized that I was threatening her in my mind thanks to my poker face. I still like to live you know. But then I'll have to survive this mental war.
"Wait, wait, wait! Is Orimura-sensei implying that you and the British snob have…" Rin didn't finish her sentence, but we all knew what she meant. Well except Laura of course.
Maybe you'll have to teach her, wink wink.
Shut up and let me follow the conversation. This is bound to be interesting, especially with what I'm about to do right now.
"So what if we did?" I asked with a sweet smile. Suddenly a strange, pink aura enveloped all of the girls in the cafeteria. It wasn't filled with bloodlust of rage but… curiosity? Why do I have a foreboding feeling that I'm going to be kicked out?
"Haruka and Ichika, could you two please leave?" Houki asked me in a semi-threatening tone.
"Only if you give me a good reason." I retorted. Seriously, I haven't even finished my lunch yet! And by the way, right once again!
"You should leave or would you like to know the boundaries of female curiosity? " Chi-chan said with a smirk. What does it have to do with this conversation?
"What she means is : piss off, it's girl talk time!" Rin said irritated while pushing me and Ichika toward the exit. Wait, when did I even leave my seat? And where's MY FOOD?
"Shouldn't you be more worried about Cecilia?" G asked me in a matter-of-fact tone. Relax, I'm sure she can handle herself. Rin pushed us through the doors and locked them. I saw a glimpse of Cecilia's worried face and gave her a quick smile to assure her. Right after the click I heard screaming, squealing and different questions and theories being thrown around.
"Well, that plan backfired." I commented offhandedly before heading to my room. Ichika just shrugged and followed me.
"So… how was it?" he asked me curiously. I smiled before answering.
"To be honest, you'll have to experience it before you can understand it since I sure as hell don't know how to describe it." I said while remembering last night.
"Is it that hard to describe sex?" Ichika asked me confused.
"There's a difference between mindless sex for the fuck of it and making sweet, sweet love." I scolded Ichika. He just looked at me before chuckling.
"What's so funny?" I asked him, annoyed that he laughed at what I said.
"You really love her, don't you?" he said with a smile. I just smiled back.
"So what if I do? As far as I know, I'm still doing things correctly."
Right now we're at the Engineering Department, preparing lunch while I'm reformatting Byakushiki's equalizers. Yes, I'm using Ichika's and my IS to prepare food, I wouldn't have to resort to it if Rin had kicked us out. For those interested on how I'm actually managing to cook something edible with weapons of mass destruction, here's the simple set up. I took a plate of metal from the scrap pile that's around three square feet. Byakushiki is holding it and after drastically decreasing the firepower of the BITs, I used them to heat the plate, evidently turning it into a cooking plate. And from there on it's just cooking like usual. Ichika is making a simple meal while I'm reformatting his IS.
"You're either insane or a sheer genius to even think about using an IS like this." Ichika commented with a hint of amazement.
"Give me one good reason why I can't be both." I replied while skimming through the data Byakushiki provided me. For some reason Nee-san made a few small mistakes in some programs, making Ichika lose energy in a way too quick pace. How could she even… wait, it's the Crazy Rabbit Genius we're talking about, she probably left them in there for a reason. And if she did, she should've hidden them better.
"Oi Ichika, I can partially solve your energy problem while reformatting your equalizers. do you mind if I do?" I asked him while already fixing the most obvious problems.
"Knock yourself out." he replied while tasting the miso soup. Looks like lunch is almost ready. After a few minutes we put the dishes on a nearby table and started eating.
"Are you sure we won't get in trouble for this?" Ichika asked me a bit nervously.
"Why? I mean, they're our own personal ISes, and we're in a maintaining facility right now. If we ever tell people how we used them for cooking, they'll probably adapt that knowledge for on the battlefield." I told him while I casually kept eating.
"Yeah, but this facility can only be used by third years, the staff and authorized persons."
"Ichika, how do you think we got in here?"
"By G hacking the security systems like always?" he stated.
"You can our hack school's security? That's pretty impressive!" someone stated behind us we turned around to see a girl with red eyes and short… blue hair? Is that color even natural?
"I didn't do it, G did." I stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it kinda is to me.
"Who?" she asked confused while taking a seat as well and started eating. Ichika wanted to protest, but I raised my hand to let him stay silent. Getting information from people is my territory, his bluntness and faked denseness around women is too big a hurdle for him to being able to do it.
"I believe we didn't catch your name." I told her politely with a faked smile.
"Hmm, you two don' t know your own Student Council President?" she asked us in a teasing manner.
"We have a Student Council? How come they didn't introduce themselves at the opening ceremony?" Ichika blurted out.
"Wait, we didn't even had an opening ceremony." I corrected him, remembering our (awkward) first day. All those predatory stares I received. I still get a small shiver up my spine when I think about it.
"Oh that. I knew I forgot something. Wow, this is really good!" She stated before she started eating again. This has to be the most laid back Student Council President. Ever. She didn't see us looking at each other and engaging a silent conversation with expressions and signs.
"I told you that we would get caught! Now what are we going to do?"
"Relax Ichika, it'll work out probably."
"Probably?"
"Most certainly… hopefully."
"You have no idea what to do, don't you."
"… Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"We're screwed."
"No we're not, just let me handle this."
Ichika looked at me for a few seconds before sighing and slumping back into his seat in resignation. I turned my head again to the Student Prez, only to find her staring intently at the both of us. It's kinda creepy actually.
"Which one of you is Haruka?" she asked out of the blue while she kept staring. The. Whole. Goddamn. Time. No really, please quit it.
"I am, why?" I asked a bit taken back by the sudden question. She smiled and took a paper out.
"Please sign this paper so that you have access 24/7 to the maintenance room and so that I don't have to deal with any paperwork regarding a certain hacking incident." She said with a sweet smile. I took the paper and read it. Let's see, I hereby grant full access, yadayadaya, utilizing equipment in a proper way, blablabla, following guide lines, nagnagnag, looks OK to me! now just to sign this thing and everything is solved! I gave the signed paper back to the Prez and she left with a wave and yelling goodbye. When she left I shrugged our weird and slightly childish experience with her off and started eating again. Ichika continued to stare at the door.
"What just happened?" he asked me confused.
"Nothing, I just took care of everything." I said like I actually did something. Wait, I put my signature on a piece of paper, doesn't that count of doing something?
"You did absolutely nothing." Ichika deadpanned me.
"Whatever, don't you have class in like five minutes?" I replied with a full mouth. Ichika looked at the clock on the wall and bolted out of the maintaining room. Don't worry I'll clean everything up… But first I'm gonna take some more delicious miso soup.
After cleaning everything up and doing the dishes in my room, I went back down to the maintenance facility that G had sealed off. No it wasn't to piss anybody off, Ichika's IS stands there unguarded. I ain't gonna take any bloody risks. I unlocked the door and started working. Everything was peaceful for a change, and I heard nothing beside the music coming from Superstes' gauntlet. But as always, something had to ruin the moment. I was done reformatting the equalizers of Byakushiki and tried to minimize the energy leaks in her system. And as to why I know it's a her, well the little kid with the sunhat is floating right in front of me, watching me work and making sure I only do what I said I'd do. But besides having a little holographic kid watching me, everything was quite peaceful and normal for a change.
"Byaku-chan, I can decrease drain of shield energy while using the One Off ability around 35%, you mind if I do?" I asked her. I'm calling Byakushiki Byaku-chan because it's shorter and easier to pronounce. She doesn't mind it, so why not?
"Please do. How far could seal the energy leaks?" she asked me quite emotionlessly. Kinda like Nagato Yuki now that I think about it.
"I have made sure you lose 42% less energy, but that's about all I can do." I said in a defeated tone. It's already a lot, but he still loses energy too fast. In a practical match I'd say I gave him around fifteen minutes extra operating time while he could have easily gained another 25 minutes if i found a way to close the major means I'd have to rebiuld her from close to scratch.
"Please do not feel inferior. Calculations show that Shinonono Tabane hid the mistakes so well that only a very skilled engineer or another IS Core could detect the problems. Said technician would only be able to fix 10 to 28% of the problem while the core would've been able to decrease the leak by 33%. In other words, the fact that you are the fusion between an organic and an synthetic gives you an advantage in the Engineering field that brings you closer to the level of Shinonono Tabane than any other being currently on this planet. That is quite an impressive feat for one young as you." Byaku-chan went into a long monologue. Okay, now I'm sure she's a Nagato Yuki. But still…
"Thanks for the compliment." I said while smiling gently at her. She showed the same smile that scared the crap out of me and Ichika a few days ago. But now I think it's kinda cute to see a child smiling like that. What, Nee-san refers to the Cores as her children, so why can't I see them as human beings? And I'd love to rant on, but this is the moment my peacefulness ended. Make an educated guess who did it.
"HAAAAAARRRRRUUUUUUU-CHAAAAANNNNNN" I heard someone yelling. I shot up surprised and materialized my M-5 directly in my hand, pointing it at the source of the voice. Only to find a screen with Nee-san's smiling face on it.
"Were you just now trying to give me a bloody heart attack?" I asked her agitated.
"Haru-chan is so mean! I only wanted try to surprise you since you were busy working on Byaku-chan, but you suddenly pointed that gun at me." she started whining. *sigh* I don't have the time for this, I need to finish Byaku-chan's last programming and then I'm done with modding her. And then it's back to the paperwork, oh joy. So I did what any trigger happy moody teenager would do; I shot the transmitter and started working again.
"THAT'S SO MEAN TO TREAT YOUR NEE-CHAN LIKE THAT!" This I flew out of my chair. Nee-san materialized a hologram of her right in front of me with her angry pouting face.
"Well, after I'm finished with Byaku-chan I still have paperwork waiting for me, so sorry if I'm not in the mood for playing around." I snapped at her.
"Don't worry about that, it can wait. I've got much better news!" she exclaimed cheerfully like toddler.
"Byaku-chan, are you sure she's the one that created the IS and its Cores?"
"Affirmative, though her radical and infant behavior is quite… unfitting with the image most people have of her." I swear that I could see a very small sweat drop on the back of her head.
"Hello, are you still listening?" Nee-san asked us in a reprimanding tone.
"Yes, what was it you wanted to tell Nee-san?" I asked her. The sooner I'm finished with her, the sooner I finish my work, the sooner have free time to spend with Cecilia.
"Oh, that reminds me. the parts you needed will be there shortly." She said with a smile.
"How short?"
"15…"
"15 what? Hours, days?"
"10…"
My eyes widened when I realized what the duration was.
"8…"
"Oh crap." I quickly flipped the table and hid behind it. I know I'm overreacting, but it's the Bunnynator we're talking about, you can't be too careful when she's involved. I waited a minute before carefully peeking from behind the makeshift cover. Which was a bad mistake. The moment I looked up, a Carrot Pod crashed through the wall and landed (more like crashed) without miraculously hitting something. I did have to duck for the debris though. When everything calmed down, I looked over the table to estimate the damage. Let's see, the wall is completely destroyed, debris lies everywhere, but the equipment and Byaku-chan are thankfully still intact. I observed the Carrot Pod that lied there open and a large black crate with a cartoonish bunny on it lied in it. was lying actually, two feet high robots in the form of pink bunnies carried it out of the Pod and started taking their gear out of the Pod.
"Don't worry about the wall, my Bunny Bots will fix it." Nee-san said like it truly was nothing.
"Just when you think nothing can surprise you anymore." I muttered softly in a defeated tone.
"She'll always find a way, I can vouch for that." I heard Chifuyu say from the door opening while she was glaring at Nee-san. And if looks could kill, the whole friggin world would have exploded thanks to Chi-chan.
"Hi Chi-chan!" Tabane shouted while waving. Chi-chan threw her book at her. Wait, it's a hologram and I'm –
*BAM*
Standing right behind it. And she didn't held back that much. While I haven't done anything for once.
Wow, this is the second time you're thrown into a wall with a book today. Going for the world record? Psycho asked me tauntingly. I just pulled myself out of the wall and tried to get rid of the blurry vision and dizziness. Judging from the sound, two people ran towards me and guided me to a chair. When I could see clearly again, I saw Ichika's and Cecilia's worried face.
"Well, that was uncomfortable." I said jokingly.
"Yep, he's fine." Said to someone out of my field of vision.
"Good. Orimura, go and take your IS back and leave us then. Me, Alcott and Garisaka still have things to discuss." Chi-chan ordered us. I'm so not going to like this.
... I'm starting to think that last sentence has become my catchphrase.
And Chapter 21 is finally here! i apologize for the lateness, I forgot that i went to Northern Italy for a week with my family, so i couldn"t write then. This is the un-betad version since i can't seem to contact Mandalore Requiem for some reason. Meh, he'll respond eventually and I'll just edit this chapter and afterwards to the Drawing Board!
Haruka: you still have to respond to the reviews.
You can do it, I'm busy at the moment.
Haruka: you can decorate that mask later with tribals. Aaaand he's not listening anymore. *sigh* guess i'll have to do it then.
Cappa: He tries to update and write as soon and much as he can, but he faces some trouble since his scenario has been altered greater than anticipated thanks to an unforseen variable. His words, not mine.
AnimeL0ver00: CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING THE 100th REVIEWER! and thank you for being the news anchor, we hope to continue this cooperation, here and at the ONI Station.
LeafeonLover: The Book of Doom is actually an ancient martial arts skill passed down from generation to generation of an order called Spartan Teachers. NOt much is known about it, but we have determined that it used a certain form of energy called 'Odo'. it's apparently the same energy as Mana but find within oneself instead in the surroundings. You use the 'Odo' to strenghten your arm and the book to maximize damage. this takes years of practice. If you do not know on how to get in touch with your 'Odo', you can always take a dictionary and practice throwing with that. Then it'll be useful for something.
I hope it's helpful!
Haruka: And now you have time to answer?
If you keep answering boringly like with the first two, then yes! And admit it, it's funny to imagine an order of Spartan Teachers.
Storyteller of Darkness:I Hope i can keep it up, with all the ensuing chaos coming forth MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Shade Seeker: I read my work over, but my attention span is quite -COOKIES! *nom*nom*nom*- fluctuating most of the times. And as for those intervenrions, those are the comments of Mandalore Reqiuem on the story. i personally thought that there were a few good ones between them.
Skullcandy198: Who is James Patterson and what kind of books does he write? Maybe he has something interesting written.
That were all the reviews, take care and until next time! I still have a mask to pimp!