God of Thunder

by The 483

A New year, and new Student. The New Representative Contender from America arrives, and is immediately embroiled by the animosity of Ichika's Harem. But her claim is she had no interest in making his heart dance to her tune. What is her real goal, and where did she receive the tech that her odd IS is equipped with? Original Character x ...not Ichika. Ichika x .. it's obvious.

7. Chapter 7

Infinite Stratos: God of Thunder

By: The 483

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Infinite StratosFranchise.

Spoiler Alert: Warning: Light to mild spoilers for the Anime may be included herein.

Lagrande bataillede l'exposition

Ichika let out a tired sigh as he fingered the remote, and the old model flat screen television came to life with a pop and muted buzzing noise. He loosened his collar, and shucked his jacket, placing it on the back of one of the hotel rooms two chairs, before letting gravity win, and falling back onto the left hand bed. He was momentarily alone, as Tatenashi was out with Catherine, Houki, and Cecilia. Rin was still not talking to him, after he had taken her out, and calmly explained himself to her. That had been 3 days ago, and there was still a small ache in his gut. While Cecilia had slapped him in the face, and was now almost polite to him, Rin had slammed him in the gut with a wicked left hook. She packed a lot of force in her little frame.

He was alone, but still protected, much to his chagrin. Kanzashi was in the next room over, and on the other side, was Chifuyu and Miss Yamada's rooms. Add to that, Tatenashi and Houki were also along, Tatenashi in his room, Houki in Catherine's, just to provide support if Phantom Task decided to show its face. Not likely, what with all of the current RC's in attendance. But he hated the fact that he was being guarded. He was supposed to be the one who was strong, not pulling a 5 person security detail. He understood it pragmatically, but it still stuck in his craw.

"Hello, and welcome to another round of our coverage of "La grande bataille de l'exposition!"" A smooth female voice said as Ichika turned his attention to the television. "It is now only two days until the tournament officially begins, and here today, we have the Representatives that are currently in residence at the IS Academy in Japan." The woman on the news program was speaking in French, but subtitles were provided in Japanese. Ichika understood a little French, as most students in the school picked up at least a trade proficiency in a lot of languages, although more English was used than most of the others.

The woman on the news was standing at the registration desk, more of a smooth oak fortress then a desk, really, and Ichika recognized the footage as being taken earlier in the day.

"Coming in now, we have England's Representative Contender, Miss Cecilia Alcott, who pilots the Mark 2 IS "Blue Tears."" The Camera panned to show Cecilia walking aloofly up to the table, while a graphic displayed her mounted in her IS. This Treatment continued as Charlotte, Rin, Laura, Catherine, and finally Ichika did the same. There were some short interview, where the girls and he talked about the school, and how great their individual countries were, and how all attending the school was good for a starting point for better relations between nations. The final part of each interview was a question. "Which of the other RCs would you like most to come up against?" The drawing for brackets was random, so no one got a choice, but, the answers were routine. They wanted matchups that maximized their advantage. This made sense as to why Cecilia wanted to fight Ichika, but Rin and Charlotte both concurred, and Laura, for some reason, wished to fight Catherine. It was Catherine's answer which puzzled Ichika as he watched the replay.

"So, Miss Chambers. Who are you hoping to get matched against in the upcoming fight?" The newswoman asked, her disinterested interest and winning smile in full force.

"Oh, easy. Cherenkov." The woman blinked, and looked shaken.

"I'm Sorry?" She said, a little shakily. Catherine smiled patiently.

"I said, I am hoping to get matched against Cherenkov."

"Illesia Cherenkov?" The woman asked, still flustered.

"Yeah. The Russian RC. The betting pool seems to have her set as the front runner, and I would just love to cause an upset."

Ichika had never heard of this woman, but imagined she must be good if the fact that someone wanted to challenge her caused the newswoman that much confusion. In fact, Ichika knew that there were other RCs at the contest, but knew nothing about them. He thought there were a total of 3. Russian, African, and one from the Central/South American Union. But he didn't know for sure. The news changed to local, French type stuff, which was not subbed, and quickly escaped Ichika's poor ability, so he flipped it off. He could hear voices in the hall, and tried to get up, but found himself too lazy to do so. He rolled slightly, and that gave him enough inertia to rock through the tipping point on the other side, and land on hands and knees on the floor. Had the comforter been pulled back, he would have just fallen back down on the bed and said to hell with anything but sleep, but it wasn't so he rose and moved to open the door.

Laura, Catherine, Tatenashi, and Cecilia were all standing against the far wall, outside Charl and Laura's room, where Laura was sheepishly asking Tatenashi something.

"…cannon on the shoulder is listed as a railgun. Is it not illegal, like this woman's?" She indicated. Laura had been wanting to ask this for a while, ever since the initial stink over it. Having already earned a few strikes against her from when she had first arrived at the Academy, she was anxious not to rock the boat further. Catherine smiled.

"Aww, you are adorable!" She said, causing Laura to both blush and heat with irritation. "Can I see your schems?"

"…Schems?" The German asked, puzzled.

"The schematics for the Schwarzer Regen. You have a set filed within your IS matrix, no?" Laura looked suspicious, and Tatenashi interceded.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea, Laura. She is, after all, an engineer by trade, and far more likely to be able to answer your question then I would be." Laura eased to the inevitable, slapped her thigh, triggering the readout display from the garter belt that was the collapsed form of her IS. She lifted her hand and held the palm flat, the display of options for readouts floating her palm. With a swift series of looks and blinks, Catherine linked her glasses to the system, and triggered by eye the data on the shoulder mounted cannon. She scanned it quickly.

"Ah, you've nothing to worry about." She blinked twice, and the display in Laura's palm changed and grew, showing the specs for the cannon. "See? It's not actually a rail gun. It's more like a modified Howitzer. It still fires chemical powered shells."

"Then… why is it labeled as a rail gun?" She asked curiously, slightly impressed at how fast the other had accessed the information. Catherine moved her eyes to what she wanted, double blinked, at the cannon changed to a wire frame showing the internal structure. She highlighted the barrel.

"I would imagine it was this. See how the barrel isn't a solid cylinder?" The barrel of the weapon was four composite metal wires that stretched the length of the cannon, twisted to 4 and a half full turns over the length. A ring was mounted at each end, as well as one quarter, and 3 quarters down the line. "My guess is they used this rail like barrel construction to save on weight and help with air cooling. Not bad, I will admit. Judging by the materials it says are used, it's stronger then if it were a solid barrel, and at least a sixth of the weight. Good art." She closed her eyes for a half second, and the display cleared. "Technically, the barrels are made of curved rails. But it is not a mass driver, so you are not in any way in violation of the Treaty. Unless you used like, lethal gas or "dirty" type shells."

"No." Laura said with a sharp nod. "I only use HE, or solid slug."

"Good Girl." Tatenashi said, and patted her on the shoulder. Laura was about to snap back when a voice drew their attention. Though only three of the 5 understood the clipped, accented words.

"Ah, so this is where the congregation from Japan is boarded. You've run me a merry chase." The words were mostly in English, except for the word "Japan," which the speaker had pronounced "Hapan."

The speaker was tall, taller than Tatenashi or Catherine, standing if not close to, then at 6 feet. She was sleek and toned, though it was difficult to tell under the coat and heavy trousers. Her skin was a rich, dark brown, but not African, and not Pacific Islander. Her accent spoke to Hispanic roots, as did her clear, dark eyes, silky black hair, and gaudy green and gold ribbon that held her ponytail. That, and the plastic tag with the Brazilian flag, and South American Union Crest on it.

"Careful, Claude, your Spanish is showing." Casey said, still in English while waging her finger at her. Laura and Ichika, the only two in the group that did not have a full grasp of English, although Laura had more than Ichika, looked slightly puzzled. The new woman's eyes flashed with irritation.

"Portuguese." She hissed, and Catherine waved her off.

"Whatever. You don't see me make a distinction between my 'anglish and the Kings English, do you?"

"I do!" Tatenashi, choosing to go with the flow, even thought she was meeting the SAU RC for the first time, chirped happily. "The Kings English is French." Catherine sighed overdramatically, and gave Tatenashi the finger. Tatenashi blew her a kiss.

"Anyway, now that she has killed my point, perhaps we should switch to "Japanese" so our friends can join in? You savvy, yeah, Claudia?" Catherine had pronounced "Japanese" in Spanish, just to irritate the other woman.

"I have had the hipno-pedics, yes." Claudia continued easily, in Japanese, her accent clipped and tightly formal. "Some of us didn't have our brothers to get us our IS's. We had to negotiate ourselves." If the slur bothered her, Catherine gave no sign.

"Very well, then, Girls and guy, allow me to introduce you to the Brawler from Brazil, the Liquidator of Lima, Killer con Carne, and RC of the South America Union, Miss Claudia Jimenez." Catherine said, making like a boxing announcer, and rolling the consonants of the woman's name. Claudia blinked at her.

"Where do you come up with this crap?" She asked, faux derisively. Catherine shrugged.

"I throw a bunch of associative paths in a pot, shake it up, and say what comes out."

"Fair enough." The other conceded, crossing her arms. She turned to all those who were not Catherine. I apologies for the American's dreadful lack of manners. But as she attempted to say, I am Claudia Jimenez, of Brazil, and serve as the RC for the South American Union out of Lima, Peru." None of the Girls, save Tatenashi (and possibly Catherine) were advanced enough in class to have taken the course that outlined the state of the world post Alaska treaty. But they all knew something about the formation of the South American Union, because it was one of the defining events in the history of the late twenty first century.

(…)

It was all started by a Columbian born woman who was a slave mule back in the days when Mexico was still ruled openly by the Cartels. Ramona "Caliente Rojo" Salazar had been kidnapped after the U.S. ended the embargo with Cuba, and they promptly invaded and seized large portions of Columbia and Venezuela, as well as all of Haiti, The Dominica Republic, and Jamaica. Rather than attempt to push deeper into South America, or up through Central America, The Dictator at the time, Juan Cisneros, choose to throw the bulk of his slave armies directly at Mexico.

Since the early 2020's, Mexico had been openly controlled by the drug cartels, which fought back with much more vigor than anticipated, leaving hundreds of thousands of former slave soldiers from captured nations stranded in Mexico, while revolts in the captured nations shattered Cuba's grip on its neighbors. The U.S. did nothing, as long as all sides kept clear of its waters, as its own holding action against the cartels push northward was going poor at best, as all the Border States save Texas were still in debates over allowing militia's to patrol the border, and put down crossers.

So Ramona Salazar, a 15 year old slave soldier, suddenly found herself a slave mule, transporting drugs for the Loco Ramirez Cartel. She distinguished herself when she was instrumental in repelling a raid from a rival cartel about 8 months into her new occupation, and was placed as a guard, instead of a mule. In three years, she had risen, killed Ramirez, and was the head of her own Cartel. Acting more like a military unit then a Drug cartel, within 5 more years, she was in control of all of Southern Mexico, and at the orchestrator of a vicious civil war that she was winning.

By 2045, The President had been assassinated, and Ramona Salazar became the Queen of Mexico. While she continued to fuel her empire on the drugs they sold, never had Mexico been the unified powerhouse it was under her rule. Without all the infighting and power struggles, she moved out, taking Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic, and pumping in money and people to bring them up to the level of her own country. She then systematically moved down Central America, conquering and reorganizing as she went, until stopping on the border between Panama and Columbia in 2052. She then abandoned the drug trade that had fueled her countries in wartime, sought humanitarian aid from the United States, and converted her massive drug fields into state controlled farming, using the horded drug money to build infrastructure and education systems through her domain. There was a short and bloody series of civil uprisings, until 2056, where the 46 year old Ramona was queen of a new world power and a prospering group of countries.

That was when she sent her message southward. Join her union, unite under her, and she would rebuild and modernize a country, in exchange for their sovereign power. Quite a few nations wanted too, but needed help overthrowing their own dictators to join. To make a long story short, by 2068, the whole of the South American continent was brought under control, and the South American Union was officially complete. The details of the dissemination of power, and workings of the construct are long and tedious, but when Ramona Salazar died in 2098, she was considered as possibly the greatest unifier since the Genghis Khan, and was only slightly less infamous. At the time of her death, the SAU had joined the United States, China, Russia, and the EU as global Superpowers.

Now, had Ramona been a man, likely she would have had her genes spread throughout the Union. But, as a woman, she had less capacity to spread her own genes in one generation. So, instead of the millions of descendants of Genghis Kahn, the Salazar line was continued by 4.

Each of the member nations had a House of Union, which was the seat of the countries own government. Rather than a proxy rule, each country was allowed its own government. But, if they wished the benefits of full membership, they had to meet certain conditions set by the Main House, known as the Hacienda del Salazar, located in Lima, Peru, the final home of Ramona for the final 12 years of her life. So, in theory, a dictator could overthrow the government of a nation, and rule uncontested, within the laws set by the SAU HQ. Or it could break them, and find all aid and benefit cut off. The system ensured a kind of guided freedom, and had worked surprisingly well for the time it had been maintained.

Claudia was the eldest daughter of Ramona Salazar's eldest son, and by birth a lifetime member of the Brazilian House of Union. She had many perks due to her lineage, but had worked hard to earn her place as her countries, and the SAU's seat as Representatives Contender. That, she had earned through merit.

(…)

"Pfft, racist." Catherine snorted. Claudia paused, and turned back.

"Who's the racist?" She said, with a hint of incredulity. Catherine got a look of dawning comprehension, and slammed her fist into her own palm with a noise that sounded like "aha!"

"The White people! Rats." She smiled, and moved up next to the taller woman. "Anyway, Claudia here pilots "La Muerte Peluda" and one of you lot will get the privilege to fight her." Tatenashi, being the only other one there with any grasp of Hispanic tongues, cocked a brow. If any of the other girls had a sufficient grasp of French, they also would have understood.

"Really? Why that name?" She asked, with a sated smile. Catherine beamed.

"Easy! Because she doesn't sha…Urk!" Catherine was abruptly cut off as an arm snaked around her throat, and she was lifted into the air. She looked completely complacent, while Claudia had a faint color in her cheeks.

"Again, I must ask you to forgive my impatient friend." She shook Casey once, and regained her composure. "I am afraid her mind is not fully intact, see how she confuses words. What she meant to say, is that I am sometimes referred to as "La Muerte Verde," or "The Green Death," as you would say in your own language. This is due to the coloration of my IS, styled by my sponsor after our nation's flag. My unit's designation is actually "O Ouro Da Ceifeira," or "The Golden Reaper," in my own native tongue. This…" she dropped Catherine and gestured distaindfully at her, "Cadela… thinks we would name something of our make, in Spanish." She said, perhaps a little too forcefully.

"Whatever." Casey replied, flippantly, rubbing her neck. "All those Latin based language sound the same anyway."

"Why do you say, that one of them will get matched with me? Is it not far more likely that we would find ourselves paired, as the point of this exhibition is provide an entertaining show?"

"Simple. Because I want Illesia, and declared it on T.V. And now that that match is being thought about by the fans and producers, it's a shoe in. Of course they are going to sanction the match where the person was crazy enough to request the "Steel Centaur" herself." A look of sudden comprehension hit her. "Oh, I was so busy irritating you, I forgot to let the other side make talk talk. I sometimes forget not everyone knows everyone." She clapped her hands, and turned to the group. "You lot. Introductions. I'mma stop interrupting for a while."

"I somehow doubt that." Tatenashi replied, and stepped forward, her hand offered, and was impressed by the strength of the other woman's grip. "Tatenashi Sarashiki. Former RC of Russia, Piloting "The Mysterious Lady.""

"Nice to meet you. I have heard of your time as your nations RC, though sadly, I did not get to witness any. If I may, did you step down, or were you defeated for your position?"

"Oh, nothing sordid like that. I just wanted to get involved more heavily in the overall IS society, and Illesia was already a rising star in our country, so it worked out better for all of us." She stepped back, and seeing that Laura was not about to move up, Cecilia took her turn.

"I am Cecilia Alcott, The RC of Great Brittan, piloting Blue Tears." She offered her hand, and shook. Cecilia seemed to have mellowed slightly, ever since Ichika had come clean to her. There was only a trace of condescension in her voice. Laura then took a jack step forward.

"Laura Bodewig, German RC, Schwarzer Regen." She said, overly formal. There was a distinctive pause.

"Oi, you too, lover boy." Catherine verbally prodded. Ichika jumped slightly, not realizing he'd been see.

"Oh, sorry. Hi, I am Ichika Orimura, RC for Japan, in the Byakushiki." He shook the woman's had, as she gained a curious look.

"Orimura? That sounds familiar…" Catherine interrupted.

"Enough of that crap. Claude, you eaten yet? We haven't had a chance since we got in, so I am going to take these," she indicated all four of her companions, "and see if we can't chase up a restaurant that isn't too fruity."

"Always so crass, Catherine. I had lunch, but I can manage to eat. I know a nice little hole in the wall about 10 minutes from here. Not a tourist trap."

"Sounds good for me…"

"I must decline!" Laura said stiffly, then bolted. She still did not excel in social situations.

"Rats. The cute one got away." Catherine said, snapping her fingers with a fake resignation. Oh well, you all will go."

"Why should I go?" Cecilia sniffed and said imperiously. But Casey and Ichika both knew what she meant was: "I don't want to go anywhere with him!"

"Because," Catherine said, suddenly slumping to her left, and putting some of her weight on Cecilia, causing her to stumble for balance before supporting her, "it seems my leg had suddenly crapped out on me, and I need you to assist me." Cecilia looked slightly concerned, repositioned with Casey's arm over her shoulder, and then got a look of dawning comprehension.

"Wait… you're faking, aren't you?" Only Ichika looked perturbed at this. Apparently Claudia was in on it.

"Maybe, maybe not." She replied with an innocent smile. "But would you really leave me, on the chance I was not faking?" Cecilia stared for a moment, then sighed.

"You are a trick bitch, Casey."

"Yes, Ma'am!" She replied happily. "Lead the way, Claude. And if all they serve is poutine, you better hope they have some real gravy, or else I am coming for you after Illesia."

(…)

It was now 11 P.M. The five of them were still at their back table, the flickering candles were throwing shadows over the two empty bottles of wine, and half full third bottle. No one was quite drunk, and no one was fully sober, but they were all much better friends then they had been 3 hours prior, at least temporarily. Catherine had pushed a plate of some unpronounceable food aside, and lay her head on her arms. Secretly, her shoulder had tightened up and was making her neck hurt, but she didn't want to be a party pooper. Ichika and Cecilia were even interacting like friends, which Catherine enjoyed, though she wasn't 100 percent sure why. Everyone was full now; they had started light, some appetizers and a bottle of cheap wine, and an hour later got a full meal and two more bottles. Talk had ranged all over the place, and now settled down with a question on Casey.

"So, Catherine," Tatenashi purred (apparently something she did when she had been drinking) "you never told us why you wanted to fight Cherenkov."

"Obvious. She strongest." She replied, blinking one eye at a time.

"And that makes you want to challenge her?" Cecilia said airily, believing she was drunk.

"Yeah."

"Not because she killed your brother?" Claudia added with a sideways glance. This seemed a revelation to the rest of the group, but Casey flopped a hand to quiet them.

"She didn't kill him, he managed that on his own. What little Miss Mochachino there…"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry. What big Miss Mochachino means, is that he got killed using some tech that she developed. It was his own fault. The machine wasn't designed to withstand what he was doing with it, and we paid the price for that."

"…who the hell is this girl?" Ichika finally said. Casey slothfully raised herself on her elbows, noting the looks they were getting from two other tables in the restaurant, all sidelong glances. About 7 men all together.

"How do I put this… Illesia Cherenkov, the Steel Centaur, is probably the top person in her field. Absolute Genius, possible a match for Tabane Shinonono, in her own field. Which is propulsion systems. You remember the ship that was put in orbit around Jupiter's moon Europa last year? Yeah, she designed and built the engines and fuel tanks, as well as synthesizing the fuel used to do it. I would say that, if we were going to get a Warp Drive, and open up extrasolar space exploration in our lifetime, it will be Cherenkov that cracks it." She lifted her glass, sniffed it, and set it back down. "So, blaming her for my brother, would be like blaming Michael Faraday for everyone who's ever died from electricity."

"Who?" Ichika asked, looking bemused. He was tipsy enough not to fell embarrassed by the slightly grim talk. Everyone at the table blinked at him.

"Michael Faraday? Oh, he's just the guy who worked out that there was and connection between magnetism and electricity, and was a pioneer in the field, and is the most genius genius that the world has seen outside of Isaac Newton." Ichika nodded acceptance, and smiled lopsidedly, causing two of the girls at the table to notice that he was kind of cute when tipsy.

"Funny how you American's claim the best genius."

"Indeed," Cecilia added, slyly, "especially seeing as both were completely English."

"Really?" Ichika said, bemused.

"Yeah. Like, one when America was still a Colony, and the other when that whole independence thing was still shiny and new." Cecilia said, leaning back and sipping her wine, looking slightly smug over her pink cheeks. Picking at what was left of her own food, Claudia sighed contentedly and then addressed the assemblage.

"Well, ladies, and Ichika. As fun as this was, we have the lot drawing tomorrow morning, along with the press coverage and Meet and greet starting pretty early. Shall we call it a night?" There was general consent, but Catherine stopped them before they got up, signaling the waiter to bring the check at the same time.

"Know what, Claude? I think you would look good with glasses. Do me a favor, and try these on." She removed her glasses, and handed them to the woman, who was looking at her curiously. She put them on, looked intent, and let her eyes wander back and forth for a moment before nodding.

"Maybe not so bad." She conceded. But I think Tatenashi had more of that mature air that looks so good with simple frames such as these." She removed them, and held them for the Russian to take. She did with an appeasing smile, which turned slightly predatory as she put them on. She pulled them off, and rubbed her eyes, the change in focus blurring her vision slightly.

"Cecilia, don't want you to be left out, here." Cecilia didn't know what was going on, but had picked up of the chilly change in the atmosphere, and was concerned when she put on the glasses, and to her utter astonishment, found that writing and a diagram swam in the air infront of her face.

It was a short message. "Seven men, all paying far more attention to us then we merit. Defensive." On the right side was a grouping like the "five" side of a die, the middle dot labled Ichika centered, with Claudia and Cecilia out front, and Catherine and Tatenashi to the rear. This made sense, as Ichika had little practical combat experience, and Cecilia was the only one of the girls that was tipsy. Maybe Catherine was being paranoid, but having been shot by a zealous fan, and unsuccessfully assaulted a by a number of others, she did not take chances.

As the waiter took the money and the group got up and left, the others in the restaurant did not move. But once they were clear and moving up the softly lit brick paved street, they rose and followed. They continued ambling along, chatting inconsequentially, all aware of the people closing in behind. After about 4 minutes of them tailing and a constant distance, one of them suddenly called out hesitantly in what was clearly native French.

"Excuse me." It was not aggressive sounding, but the girls turned, and stood ready.

"Yes." Tatenashi, who could manage a scathing school marm when she put her mind to it, replied.

"We are sorry to bother you… but we could not help but notice that you have the lanyards and tags for Le Exposition." He pronounced it almost reverently. This was true. They were wearing their hard plastic pass tags around their necks or clipped to shirt or pants. The speaker suddenly became quiet, and one from behind pushed him out of the way and stepped forward, causing Catherine to unclip her knife, and grip it to draw.

"If we are not mistaken, you are participants, are you not?" There was clear excitement in this one's voice. Tatenashi equipped a frosty smile.

"We are, yes." There was a loud exclamation from the group as a whole that was generally unintelligible, although it was clearly heard from one in a reverent whisper "See, idiot, I told you that was Cecilia Alcott!" A third stepped forward.

"We apologize for following you, but you see, we just could not believe that a Representative Contender would be truly eating in my cousin's restaurant. You see, we are all big fans of the IS circuit, though, of course, our true passion lies with Dunois."

"Of course." Tatenashi shifted her smile to a warm one. "And rightly so. Charlotte is an amazing pilot, and a demon on the field. She runs her Mark II in line with just about any of the Mark III's without issue." They were all thrilled at the praise for their own representative. The group talked for a while, tension easing as it was found that these were just regular fans, and they explained their joy, as they could not get tickets to the show. There were shocked and pleased to discover that there were 3 other RC's in the group, and had all secured a full set of autographs, including Tatenashi's, before they left. Once they were gone, all four girls looked at each other, and laughed at their paranoia. Except Ichika, who was dead on his feet, and already mentally in bed. When they arrived back at the hotel grounds, Claudia bid them goodnight, and the rest of the girls made it to their hall with no issue. Tatenashi took full custody of Ichika, and Catherine slipped quietly into her own room, seeing Houki was already asleep. She moved into the bath, brushed her teeth without turning on the light, and hit the bed face first. The slight adrenaline rush made the idea of striping two layers of clothes, one skin tight and balky, just to slip in something else unappealing, and wondered two last thoughts before she slept.

1: How much was Houki going to hassle her for sleeping in her clothes, and…

2: really hoping Ichika didn't have a hangover in the morning. The kid was a lightweight.

End 7

Sorry this took so long. Hit a snag where it floundered, then Heavensward came out, and that ate all of my free time. Anyway, here it is, more at some point, but other projects tug at me, so could be a wait.