Infinite Stratos: Rise of the Unicorn

by CasualFictionWriter23

As Banagher tried to connect the wire tow between Argama and Garencieres, the psycoframe activated and brought him into Infinite Stratos universe with his Unicorn Gundam turned into an IS. Find out how the boy would find his way to back to his universe while enrolling as the 2nd male student of IS Academy. Starts from season one of IS and between episode 5 and 6 of Gundam Unicorn.

6. Aren't Those Stars Beautiful?

Okay, here is the 6th chapter of Rise of the Unicorn. Sorry for the long wait, courses and colleges had made me busy lately that I only had time to do this on Saturday or day-off. By the way have you guys seen the Gundam Unicorn Final Episode 2nd trailer? This OVA is about finally to reach its conclusion, gentlemen.

Nearly fell from my chair when I saw the HGUC NZ-999 Neo Zeong's Gunpla. That thing will seriously suck out the Gunpla fans' wallets dry.

Oh, and Happy Easter everyone ^_^ So, how many eggs did you get?

Credit goes to:

- Windrave who had co-written this chapter.

- Vandenbz who had proofread and beta-ed this chapter.

Now, review time:

dsgundam00 - Thank you sir.

Revinator - You mean not the real Char. And believe me, he's not the only one who will come after him.

ZeonTwoSix - You got me right, pal. I actually prefer some Gundam shows in English dubs, especially the original 0079 where the White Base crew addressed each other with mister or miss like in Star Trek. It's main company is still from French. The one from Poland is just one of its main branch.

Amir-015 - In this chapter. I hope you'll like it ^^

CanadianRider - Thanks. I guess everything always comes with a price, huh?

Wing Zero 032 - Thanks. Btw I'm making the 9th chapter now along with my new Gunpla project. Do you want to know what it is?

mega1987 - Who is this White Devil you're talking about? And yes, the UC timeline is same as the White Unicorn of SEED. But I might change that later.

Grinja - Let's just say that since Banagher is in different dimension on different Earth, he didn't think the consequences first if he told them the truth, especially with how different the technology level there. But I'm sorry if that chapter didn't meet your expectations. But believe me, I have my own reason of why I did that.

HolyDragoon - Worse is if they could replicate the Minovsky physics. Same here, I don't know much about 00 except its Awakening of the Trailblazer movie.

Xorn - You have your point there. But I have my own reason of why I did that.

Fireminer - Well, I figured during the off screen in hangar before his deployment on Nahel Argama, Banagher might have been taught about Unicorn's concept. But sorry if he sounded kinda OOC. I can do Ichika x Houki, but I'm not sure with the latter... wouldn't that be incest?

Guest1 - I think someone already did that.

anon - Okay, we have discussed this on PM, so I humbly ask you not to spam me with this, okay? I'll think about something.

Cipher92 - Thanks, and your infos are really useful, pal. We already talked about that on PM, I have to watch Strike Witches first.

KPheonix - Too lazy to log in... and yet you reviewed using official account... but you got a point there pal.

reader - Interesting idea, but I only incorporated weapons from what the MS had gathered in its database so far and obviously those are more like MD Virgos from Gundam Wing in overall.

WhoeverIam - Thank you.

Final Genesis - Definitely. Now Banagher will have to be careful with whom he will talk with.

Ressan - Thanks.

ANONON - Uhh... I'm not that pro/genius. There are a lot people who are better than me out there, but thanks. Don't worry, FA Unicorn will make appearance later.

GundamGuyUC - Hahaha. Can I have three eggs instead? (gets smashed by Red, Chuck, Bomb, Blues, Bubbles, Matilda, Hal, Terrence, and Stella) urgh... okay I take that back...

Just an IS fan - Here is your update.

Crossover Story Fanatic - Thanks a lot. Good luck with your Gundam OO: IS fic as well, pal (thumbs up).

Sky Zephyrus - What's coming next? Read here and find it out ;)

GundamIS fan - Uhhh... I'm not too good with OC since I'm worried if I make them Gary-stu/Mary-sue. But I like that 2nd idea of yours. Say, are you related with Just an IS fan?

Kayman141 - She will face Banagher, but not now and not during the tournament. BTW I use Lingyin Huang.

anonymus01 - Believe me, pal. I have my own reason to do that. Like what I told you on PM, their personalities are more like DWG-esque.

Guest - Hahaha, maybe?

Guest #2 - Thank you. Maybe Banagher will get a heavy pressure from them that could almost kill him, lol.

Guest #3 - Thanks. Of course they will. In fact, two more of them will arrive sooner than you think.

Hibreed - That's a hell of idea, but I can't do that since that means it's going to be Dynasty Warriors IS Gundam fanfic. But I'll try to consider it.

Anonymous - Yeah, I thought that show would ruin the Gundam franchise about war between Earth and Colonies, but I was wrong! Now I'm one of ReijixAila fans and I hope they will make 2nd season. I wanna see more Wing Gundam Fenice Rinascita in action! I bet Banagher will be utterly shocked when he learns about another world like that and I bet the same goes to Sei when he sees one of the fictional characters in real person.

ReviveRevival - Here you go, pal.

Credits to F-14 Tomcat Lover as well who helped me with ideas.

---

Chapter 6: Aren't Those Stars Beautiful?

Nahel Argama – Lounge

The lounge area was normally a bustling place full of off-duty soldiers and officers at this hour with the sounds of conversation flitting about or a few games of space billiards already underway. The silence though was welcome to the lone occupant of the room as she sat at an empty table, lost in her thoughts. She sighed, her melancholy still surrounding her and not for the first time she wondered what Haman would say if she saw her like this. Princess Mineva Lao Zabi, or as a few knew her through her alias Audrey Burne, the last member of the Zabi family and the heir to the Principality of Zeon folded her hands under her chin and closed her eyes, not understanding why this situation seemed so much more... depressing.

It wasn't the first time that she had lost someone who 'worked' for her and she knew with a heavy heart that it wouldn't be the last as the Nahel Argama and its somewhat welcome (through a gnashing of teeth) rescuers from Neo Zeon had lost track of the Unicorn Gundam. She couldn't help but feel a constant worry for Banagher. As a Newtype, she could usually feel his presence when he was nearby, but this time she couldn't feel anything at all. 'Yet', she still hoped.

Moreover when Full Frontal had brought the mysterious pilot in the black Unicorn Gundam inside she couldn't keep her surprise from showing, not expecting to be reunited with none other than Riddhe Marcenas so soon. However, unlike the last time when she met him she could easily see a stark change within the Federation pilot; his face was very cold and stoic like a soldier who had stopped caring, a change so drastic it was like seeing a totally different person.

The quick change only added to her confusion. Could this be somehow related to Riddhe's knowledge about the truth of Laplace's Box? As she looked upward to stare at the ceiling of the lounge, she could only mutter one name.

"Banagher..."

"HARO, HARO, HARO." came a vaguely familiar robotic voice from the lounge's entrance. When Audrey turned around a green ball robot rolled in and jumped into her lap. The princess of Zeon recognized it to be the same robotic toy that had accompanied Banagher when they met for the first time. A Haro, she recalled.

"Haro?" She asked, eyeing the green robot curiously, "What are you doing here?"

"You know, normally I couldn't care less for someone from Zeon like you…" came another voice from the corridor which clearly belonged to a girl. Audrey looked up and saw another familiar face, the brown-haired girl who was around her age - now in a Federation mechanic's uniform, carrying two cans of cola and now giving her a sour look. "But I just can't stand seeing you like this."

"Miss Micott..?" Audrey asked again as Micott took a seat across from her.

Micott Bartsch then placed one of the colas on the table to offer it to Audrey, though with a somewhat hesitant motion. "Drink it. You should be thirsty, right?"

"Umm… thank you…" The orange-haired girl replied nervously before taking the can and opening it. Micott followed suit and started drinking hers. Audrey suddenly felt a very strange foreign sensation within her mouth before she forced herself to swallow. She was not one who was used to drinking carbonized beverages given her upbringing. Luckily, Micott hadn't seen that embarrassing moment… or maybe she had but didn't care too much.

For a moment, there was silence between them before Audrey finally broke the ice.

"So… what are you doing here, Miss Micott?"

"Could you please stop calling me that?" Micott replied curtly, giving an annoyed look to Audrey before her expression turned sad as she lowered her head. "You're not the only one who's worried about him, you know…"

"I'm sorry…"

Again, silence ensued between the two before Micott spoke once more.

"Say… what do you think of Banagher?"

Audrey blinked. "What do I think of... what do you mean?"

"Do you like him?"

At that question Audrey blinked at her with a confused expression. "Yes, he's been a very good companion. When we were together I couldn't help but feel..." she paused as she searched for the right word. "...secure. Yes, I -"

*CLACK*

Audrey jumped as Micott slammed her now empty can on the table.

"Not that!" Micott all but shouted. "I mean, do you l-li-like him? As in, 'like him' like him?"

Audrey's eyes widened slightly as she realized what the other girl was implying and looked down and away, brows furrowed. Banagher, she had thought, had been a good companion - a good friend, right? She didn't think it could be more than that, could it? They hadn't known each other that long, yet... yet...

Yet she couldn't help but feel good when he was around. She 'trusted' him and felt affection for him. And, and...

'I'm waiting for you, Banagher. Catch me.'

Her eyes widened at the memory. She had jumped from the Garuda and called out to him, 'knowing' that he would hear her, and sure enough after a few moments he had arrived.

But that moment, 'that' moment of knowing and seeing Unicorn in its NT-D mode coming for her she had felt such joy and elation. When he had grabbed her hand to pull her into the cockpit... how he had told her that he heard her... Even now thinking of that she couldn't help but feel her heart grow warm. Did that mean...

"Well?" An impatient question broke her from her thoughts.

Slowly turning to Micott, Audrey looked at her and Micott bit back the urge to lean back.

"I like him. I do not know if what I am feeling is love or not, but I know that I like him, enjoy being with him and want to be near him."

Micott stared at her with a cool gaze, feeling something within her tighten a bit but she gave no outward indication of it. "Then I suggest you stop moping and feeling sorry for yourself," she said softly as she rose to her feet. "If you care about him as you say then believe in him. He'll be back." With that, she called out to the Haro and made her way to the exit.

"Miss Micott?" She called out and Micott paused at the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Do you like Banagher?"

After a few seconds of silence Micott took in a breath and answered. "Yeah, I do..." And with that she turned and left the lounge, leaving Audrey to herself.

She had not even noticed the small smile Audrey had given her.

...

Meanwhile, back with Banagher

Standing before the door which had the 'infirmary' sign posted above it, Banagher bore a glum look. Earlier this morning during breakfast, Banagher had finished his breakfast first which caught Ichika and Houki's attention because it was rather unusual for him to eat his food that quickly. Ichika had asked him why he was in a rush, but the brown-haired boy replied that there was something that he had to do before the first bell rang and left the cafeteria first, which made the kendo girl blush a bit at the thought of being alone with her childhood crush. However her imagination was crushed in an instant when Honne, still in her fox pajamas, and her friends suddenly sat down at the table in Banagher's place. Had Houki not reined in her emotions the chopsticks in her hand would've snapped in two.

Banagher moved to open the door, but he hesitated before he could even touch the doorknob. Knowing Cecilia's high pride and quite stubborn behavior, there was a high chance that she didn't want to see him after what had happened. Would it be a good idea to check on her right now? He suddenly had second thoughts about this.

The young Newtype shook his head, since when had he become such a pessimist? Who was he to judge another person's reaction just because they would get an unexpected guest? With a sigh, he proceeded inside.

"Hmmnn…?" The sound of the door made Cecilia wake up from her slumber as she jerked her head toward the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the person was none other than Banagher Links.

"Y-You?!" She stuttered, shocked at the presence of the Irish representative, "W-what are YOU doing here?"

"I came here to check on you..." He answered in a low voice as he approached the blond-haired girl. "So… How are you-?"

"I know why you are here!" Cecilia suddenly cut him off harshly, giving the boy a glare as she clenched her blanket tighter. "You are here to gloat, is that not correct!? To bring further humiliation onto me!? That I, a lady of good and noble birth, should lose to some common street monkey being a height of folly!? That some MAN would dare sully this school with his mere presence and then trump one of its prized students in a duel? What would you have me do now? Are men still so baseless and to demand things of women, their betters! Come now! Out with it!"

"What...?!" Banagher blinked and backed up a bit at her sudden outburst. Sure he had expected things would heat up should Cecilia see him, but to unjustifiably accuse him with her harsh words? Did she really hate him that much without any apparent reason to the extent of giving him verbal abuse? Just what was wrong with this girl?!

"Well!?" the blonde English girl demanded, crossing her arms as she looked away. "What is it!? Come to demand something special for your victory no doubt. But I will have you know that I know enough about your kind, to know what filthy beasts you men are!"

Where had he heard that word usage before? Right. The Sleeve leaders, Full Frontal and that one guy, Angelo. He also recalled that Audrey spoke in a similar manner, but with a poise and difference to the Sleeves.

"Furthermore," the teenage girl was still going, "I shall not be made a further mockery of! You hear me!? I do not know HOW you won! But I will not bow to some lowborn, common street urchin who knows naught the way of the wor-"

*SLAP!*

Cecilia gasped as she was struck. Tumbling over the far side of her bed, she stumbled back to her feet while holding her cheek. The pain was there, but what was more startling, was how she had just been slapped. It was the first time she had ever been struck...

Banagher Links' right hand remained outstretched, not too far from where Cecilia's hand covered her cheek before it slowly dropped to his side. The furious look on his face only emphasized that the boy had endured enough of her rant. Unknown to the girl, Banagher had been reminded suddenly of Angelo's words and those of Full Frontal, how others had used them to justify things that shouldn't, couldn't be condoned in any way, shape or form.

Yes, her words hit a nerve, but it was not one she would suspect, unknowing of his past and where he actually came from. Her words were sharp and dangerous. The path she could end up following, spouting such nonsense. A trail of broken lives ruined by such words. Someone really needed to shut her mouth and seal such words away.

For her own good, lest she fall into THAT cycle. One he had personally known all of his life and still filled his dreams with nightmares.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Banagher all but shouted at her, clearly unable to repress his anger anymore. "Nobody ever wanted this to happen in the first place! Not you! Not me! Not anyone! You think I was happy when they put you onto that stretcher!? You think I felt like a champ over that stupid match!?"

Still feeling a bit shocked, she turned shakily to see Banagher with an expression she had never seen before on anyone as his overshadowed eyes and closed fist trembled with barely repressed anger and exasperation...

"Why...?" The British girl heard him mutter, breathing in and out before he raised his head, looking at her with a mix of guilt and confusion. "Why were you so cruel to me and Ichika...? What have we ever done to you in order to make you hate us so much..? Was it because we are the only males who can pilot Infinite Stratos?"

Silence filled the infirmary as Cecilia stared at the boy with a dumbfounded expression, her hand still cradling her cheek even though the pain was gone. For the first time in so very long, she felt something stirring in her heart: a feeling of shame. Yes, she wanted to say that it was because they could pilot an Infinite Stratos, she just couldn't accept it despite knowing that neither Banagher nor Ichika ever had any ill intention or ulterior motives towards her. Just like that...

Thinking back to where all of this had started in that class fiasco she caused, Cecilia finally realized how she had made a fool of herself because she was too blinded by her pride.

A moment passed until finally the British girl hung her head and uttered a single word...

"...Yes."

"...Then why?" was the response the Gundam pilot gave to her which shocked Cecilia inside. She thought he'd berate her for thinking so low of them or maybe call her a stupid selfish girl who didn't even deserve to call herself a lady, but he didn't.

Finally regaining enough of her courage to lift her head and look at him again, Cecilia's eyes met Banagher's and she answered.

"Ever since I was little, my mother was the person I really looked up to. Even before the introduction of the Infinite Stratos, she was very sociable inside and outside the house. She was everything I wanted to be..." She trailed off, looking away from him, reminiscing about the days when her parents were still alive.

The tense that she used to describe her mother wasn't missed by the Gundam pilot which made him realize that Cecilia's mother was no longer with her.

'She lost her mother too... Just like mom...' thought the young Newtype. An image of his late mother, Anna, then came to his mind. If he could say it aloud, he really missed her. He really missed the days when the two of them were still together as almost every day he could still hear the sound of her piano play.

"On the other hand, my father..." her voice brought Banagher back from his thoughts but he noticed the sudden change in her tone as if she was restraining her anger, "He was an insignificant person, both as a father and as a man. He was just a spoiled fool who could only give problems to my mother! He was a sham of what a real man is supposed to be!"

There was a moment before Cecilia continued.

"Ever since that time in my life, I grew up believing that men are inferior to women... weak and worthless like my father..."

"One day, my mother and father asked me to go on a trip with them." A small smile crept onto her face as she looked at the ceiling. "At first I was confused since I rarely saw them together, but nevertheless I was happy that we could spend time together like a family."

Suddenly Cecilia's face turned grave, "But then, it happened..."

"...What happened?"

"The train went too fast... then another train in front of us..." She trailed off, not realizing that tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. "It happened so fast... I didn't even exactly remember how it happened..."

Instinctively, Banagher picked up the nearby tissue box and handed it to the blonde girl, "Here... I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't...! I don't need a pity from you..." She hesitantly replied, using a tissue to wipe her eyes before her tears fell first. "Pity is only for the weak..."

Banagher shook his head in disapproval at her reaction. "How long are you going to keep going on like this? I don't pity you, I just sympathize with you. Besides..." He trailed off, putting back the tissue box before he looked out the window, "It means that they understand what you went through."

'At least you didn't have to watch your mother pass away while playing her piano and your father died in an explosion right before your eyes...'

"Huh?" Cecilia blinked, confused at what he had just said, especially the last part. But before she could ask further, the Unicorn pilot spoke up first.

"So... you still want to keep going?"

A silent nod was the answer he got before the blonde British girl looked at her blanket and continued.

"After that, the whole of my family's fortune was entrusted to me," she paused for a moment. "But because of my father's reputation, there have been many rivals vying to take over my family's fortune. Thus I have been through many efforts to protect the Alcott name and fortune, also being blessed with the discovery of having high aptitude compatibility, and no small amount of skill mind you as well, for the Infinite Stratos."

She paused to take a breath, "So much on both accounts, that the ministry that handles the affairs of the Infinite Stratos offered to safeguard my family's fortune and property in exchange for my coming here to study the IS technique and represent our nation as a Representative Contender."

With a small sigh she finished, "Ever since that time, when I left England and upon my arrival here in Japan, I have sought to become stronger in my mastery of both my Blue Tears and improve my skills, so I would not need to worry further about the Alcott fortune and the only home I have ever known."

Banagher was at a loss for words. All this time he had been wrong about her. He'd thought Cecilia was just a stuck-up rich girl raised in a spoiled environment by her parents that she looked down on everyone else, but she wasn't. This girl, she was just a misguided soul from a somewhat dysfunctional family environment that changed her view of the outside world, especially regarding men. Her mother was a perfect role model for her while her father wasn't. Even worse was ever since the tragedy she had to experience, she'd had to bear the burden of her family's legacy.

Maybe it wasn't as heavy for him to bear the key to Laplace's Box which potentially could change the course of the Universal Century's history, but still even he thought it was all too much for a girl like her... to lose her parents and then having the responsibility to protect her family's fortune all at once...

"Then came the news I heard regarding that boy, that young male," Banagher snapped back to attention as Cecilia began again, emphasizing the word 'male' with no small amount of malice and, perhaps, jealousy? "How Orimura Ichika, a commoner of such low birth and a man to add salt to the insult, was able to activate and command an Infinite Stratos!"

The girl before Banagher suddenly had red cheeks as she huffed angrily, "I was infuriated- Nay! Insulted! My mind swirled with thoughts on how this MALE could possibly activate, much less COMMAND, an Infinite Stratos! It was a blow to my pride as a woman and an insult upon my birth as men in general are weak and pathetic, unworthy of such a powerful gift that was provided to us women..."

Suddenly, her tone tapered off as her words came to a stop. The pregnant pause that followed, caused her to remember who she had been talking to and thus realized the problems in her words.

But it was enough for Banagher to summarize her words and thoughts and put them together himself.

"So the reason why you were like that to us was because..." Banagher paused for a moment to let things sink in, "you thought me and Ichika didn't deserve to pilot the Infinite Stratos because we defied everything you had come to believe from your parents?"

There was no reply, only silence for an answer. However, it was more than enough for the young Newtype to guess what Cecilia would have said.

It was a selfish reason if he must say. Not everyone was born the same as people had their own strengths and weaknesses. Cecilia had failed to see that as she grew up, viewing the world only by her standards. From what Ichika had told him during their spare time together, even the boy didn't know how and why he could activate an Infinite Stratos, something which was supposedly beyond his control.

He could just say it straight to Cecilia as to how foolish and narrow-minded she had been to think like that, but as she was in such a vulnerable state, he had to try a different approach.

A moment passed between the two.

"You know... once before," Banagher suddenly started, surprising Cecilia, "Someone once told me, that crying because you care is different from just crying,"

His fingers tightened into a fist as he remembered that night in the desert with Zinnerman, not because he was angry, but because so much was unfair for them all, "He would never trust a man who never cries. It was his lifetime philosophy."

Cecilia was caught off guard. Never had she heard someone say something like that. For as long as she knew, anyone knew, there was the saying that 'Real Men, did not cry.'

Yet, here, right now, Banagher had told her that a man said the opposite.

Real men cry for that which they love. For those they love.

Then the memory came, unbidden, of her father, smiling for the briefest of moments after the train crash. Tears in his eyes, as she recalled distantly, that he was so happy she was unharmed. Her mother lay dead nearby, but one of his hands held hers as he reached out with the other to gently caress her face one last time. As his life finally left him, he gently took one of her small hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Then she felt the warmth slowly slip away.

"It's because when you care for something deeply enough," Banagher's voice brought Cecilia back from memories of so long ago, "That you can find a strength that you never realize you had. That you can grow strong. A goal truly worth attaining that can give you a determination to surpass all limitations and grow ever stronger. A will that cannot be bent nor broken, that any person can have and give them the ability to grow stronger, regardless of what they may face, wherever and whenever they might encounter it."

"The strength to fight for what is right is not all," The young Newtype looked at his hand before he turned to the blonde British girl, "It is important to be compassionate, for when everything is over, people can learn to once again trust one another and lay the groundwork to replace that which was ruined. For what is right and what is wrong, is only a definition by those who would use such words."

Cecilia took a look at Banagher's hand resting on her blanket. Compared to her hand, so delicate and fine, several sizes smaller than Banagher's own. It was amazing how they could be so similar in age, yet their builds were so different, she could see the roughness in his hands. Hands that had toiled and built their own strength, like a raw piece of iron forged into mighty steel.

'Could Ichika Orimura's hands be this strong as well?' Cecilia wondered, remembering a time when she had overheard Shinonono muttering fretfully about Ichika's hands not having held a sword in a long time and a grave concern as to why. 'She had exceptional skill that she doesn't. Arrogant she might have been, but a fool she would be if she did not look in on her classmates, as it always paid to have allies, regardless of what lands she may be in.

While the younger sister of the hiding inventor of the Infinite Stratos was not particularly as skilled or well-bred as Cecilia was, her records showed for themselves: A national level competitor in kendo in addition to high athletic skill. Her physical strength was somewhat higher than Cecilia's own, but then again, Cecilia, like most English, preferred a distant battle under control rather than a barbaric brawl. It is, after all, what built an empire that the sun never failed to light at all times.

If she had mentioned how skilled and powerful the Orimura boy was, then he might be truly powerful. Power that he had lost was clearly a distressing concept to the Japanese girl. So what brought it about? Could he regain that strength?

Then a more... concerning thought...

Did her father have such strength before his death?

"You are strong, Cecilia." Banagher once again pulled Cecilia from her thoughts. "Not because of your skill, but your resolve to fight so you could protect what you hold dear despite all the pain you endured. That resolve drove you to train hard to become what you are now. I don't think anyone, even me, would be able to bear what you went through..."

"If you really put your mind to it," Banagher continued. To her surprise, Banagher placed his free hand on her own. It felt so warm and gentle yet she could feel the power in his hand, "You can become strong. Strong enough to not have to worry about your family's legacy. You'll have the strength to grasp both with your own two hands and do what you think it's right."

Bewildered by his words, Cecilia could only guess how true they were. That he was encouraging her to become stronger, not for anyone else, just herself. And the legacy of her family that which she wished dearly to defend.

It was perhaps the most sincere encouragement she had ever been given. With that easy, but confident look on his face. His eyes, shining with a honesty that she quite frankly never thought she would see in any woman, let alone a man.

Yet, there was one question she had to ask. A question now burning in her mind...

"Why are you..." she struggled, "Why are you telling me this? Encouraging me?" Cecilia stared into those hazel eyes, 'So much like an Irish tarten,' with her bright blue eyes. "Why are you not attempting to humiliate me further? Speaking lowly to me? Why do you act as if what I said and did meant nothing to you? Instead, you speak to me in a tone of a friend rather than that of an enemy."

Banagher's expression softened as he turned his face away and let go of his hand, the girl suddenly missing the warmth she had felt from him and not realizing it until then, but his tone was gentle and understanding.

"Why should I treat you like that?" he asked instead of answering as he faced her again, "What would be the point? I won't do something so petty just because someone says I should. I don't look at people like that."

The room fell silent after he said that. Neither of them said anything until the Gundam pilot glanced at the tabletop clock and realized he had been talking with Cecilia for quite a while. A lot of time spent but it was all worth it. He had settled things with her attitude and after learning about her past, hopefully they could start again from square one.

But now, he had to leave unless he wanted to get another scolding or worse a smack on his head.

"I better get back. Class is about to start." Banagher finally said, breaking the ice as he rose from his chair. "Get well soon, okay?"

He was about to leave the room when Cecilia suddenly called out to him.

"Hey, wait!"

"Huh?"

Banagher turned back and saw Cecilia playing with one of her drill-like braids while looking at the side of the bed uncomfortably. "Umm… I think we started out on the wrong foot, so if you don't mind…" she said rather nervously and then looked again at Banagher with hope in her eyes, "If you don't mind… I'd like for us to start again as… friends maybe..?"

For a moment Banagher just stared at the blond-haired girl which only made Cecilia more nervous. Normally, anyone would think twice about befriending someone who had been looking down on them, especially when said person had finally been brought down a peg or two. But as a Newtype, Banagher could sense the sincerity within her words, besides he always preferred to make more friends rather than enemies. With a slight nod, he gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, sure."

"And don't you dare tell anyone about my story! I don't want to be seen as some kind of pitiable princess!" The blonde Britain suddenly raised her voice, startling Banagher a bit from her sudden change of tone before she pointed her finger at him "Do you understand that, Banagher Links!?"

An amused look appeared on the Gundam pilot's face.

"Okay. This will be our little secret."

And with that, the boy left the infirmary and closed the door with a *CLICK*, leaving Cecilia alone again in her bed.

The Blue Tears pilot couldn't help but feel something during the course of their conversation. A feeling she couldn't describe, but she realized how much she longed for it. From all of Banagher's words, she felt something else in her heart as her cheeks turned crimson once more as she blushed and yet... She enjoyed finally having one friend or even better; a true friend she could care for and knew that cared for her.

Yet there was one part in her mind that told her to be careful, leery of all men, remained. Remained until a new part, long forgotten or perhaps buried by her supposed experiences and knowledge, appeared and forced that former part into hiding. This was a part that told her she could trust him and that she had more than friendship on her mind.

Especially after they just agreed to keep her story as something special only between them...

Yes... She could admit it in her mind and heart, but not in voice.

Cecilia Alcott had a crush on Banagher Links, the IS pilot who had defeated her...

...

Later on at the practice field

On the open area of the school, the girls and obviously two boys were standing in formation in their pilot suits. But instead of standard pilot suits like the ones that Banagher was familiar with, they more resembled a one piece swimsuit only with the addition of sneakers. The only ones who wore different variations of them were Ichika who wore dark blue skintight shirt and shorts, Cecilia (who had finished resting and had been allowed to join) who sported a different color variation of the standard pilot suit, and of course Banagher since his suit had the most noticeable difference compared to the others.

Standing before the students were the teachers Chifuyu and Maya in their tracksuits, giving them the appearance of PE teachers.

"For today's lesson, we're going to practice operating the basic controls of the IS." She said before pointing at both Ichika and Cecilia, "Orimura, Alcott, you're first."

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

"Not a problem." The blue earrings on her ears flashed for a second and in an instant the mechanical suit armor of Blue Tears began to materialize around her body before she was encased completely in her IS. She hovered several centimeters off the ground, except this time she didn't have her energy sniper rifle with her.

Ichika brought his right arm up which had his Byakushiki in its bracer standby mode to do the same. He closed his eyes in the hope of calling forth his IS, but... nothing happened as he opened his eyes and stared at the metallic accessory in confusion.

"Okay. What's the matter with this darn thing?" He mumbled, tapping his bracer many times before he heard Chifuyu respond to his prodding.

"Move it, Orimura! Any experienced IS pilot should take less than a second to deploy!"

The raven haired boy closed his eyes, but this time he tried to focus on the IS while mentally chanting, 'Focus. Focus! Please make it work…' "Engage! Byakushiki!"

A came from the bracer, and in an instant the younger Orimura was clad in the silvery white IS known as Byakushiki. "Hey, it worked." He said in a happy and relieved tone, flexing his arms and limbs.

Cecilia suddenly raised her hand up, getting both Chifuyu and Maya's attention.

"What is it, Alcott?"

"Ma'am. What about Banagher? He also owns a personal unit just like us."

All of the girls' eyes immediately darted toward Banagher who now felt that he should have expected this kind of thing as he sighed. All of the girls were wondering the same thing as to why Orimura-sensei hadn't picked him too. The raven-haired woman, feeling annoyed with the girls' curiosity sighed before she answered Cecilia.

"I think for a simple demonstration, just two of you are enough." The girls then immediately focused their attention back on the two pilots when Chifuyu gave them her trademark piercing glare, "Now stop wasting time and fly!"

"Right." With ease, Cecilia directed her Blue Tears to soar up into the sky, leaving Ichika on the ground alone. He stared up at the blue-colored machine for a moment before he tried to do the same.

"All right. I'll fly..." The Byakushiki then began to hover, but Ichika seemed to have a hard time controlling its movements as he flew around before he finally travelled upward, following Cecilia. Both Banagher and Houki couldn't help but feel a bit worried about how poorly he was moving in his IS.

The two IS began to fly forward with Blue Tears leading in front of Byakushiki. Ichika heard his sister speak again.

"You're too slow! According to the output specs, the Byakushiki is superior to her IS in terms of speed!"

From the ground, Banagher watched carefully as the two flew around. He narrowed his eyes a bit and he could see that both the IS pilots were talking about something that unfortunately he couldn't hear due to the range between them and those on the ground. But from the looks on their faces, Cecilia seemed to be friendlier toward Ichika who just nodded with every word she was saying. He smiled a bit at this before he heard Chifuyu order them to come down.

"Orimura, Alcott. Execute a power-dive and then come to a complete stop."

The Blue Tears came down first at high speed before Cecilia used the leg thrusters to decelerate and land on the ground perfectly. The blond-haired girl then dismissed her IS and stood in a proud stance.

"Wow, she totally nailed it. Now let's see how I do." Ichika said to himself before he dove down as well. But after a moment, he realized that he didn't know how to decelerate properly and adjust his body to land safely as his speed continued to rise by the second. Another problem was that he was diving straight towards where Banagher was standing!

"Oh NONONONONO! BANAGHER! MOVE! GO AWAY!" Ichika warned from afar.

"What the-!?" Banagher's eyes widened in shock as he saw the Byakushiki approaching at an incredible velocity. Even with his Newtype senses there wasn't enough time for him to dodge. The last thing that he saw was Ichika's frightened face right in front of him and…

*BOOOM*

There was a very loud impact, followed by a cloud of dust coming from where Banagher and Ichika had collided. The girls including Houki and Cecilia were utterly shocked and terrified at this, even Maya gasped and she almost dropped her agenda book. Normally Ichika would be okay since he was in his IS which would protect him from harm, but Banagher had been left unprotected when Ichika had slammed into him. Chances were very low that he was still alive.

"ICHIKA!" "BANAGHER!" Both girls cried out and they immediately ran over to the crater revealed through the dispersing dust followed by Chifuyu and Maya. But what they found was beyond what they had expected.

In the center of the crater, Banagher lay there while clad in his Unicorn Gundam in its combat mode while Ichika lied on top of him with his head pressed against the Unicorn's chest armor. As the Byakushiki automatically reverted itself back into its standby mode, Ichika groaned before he rolled off Banagher and lay beside him breathing in and out frantically from what he thought was a near death experience.

"Oh, man! I seriously thought I was gonna die!" He said, turning to Banagher. "I'm so sorry about that, Banagher. Are you okay?"

"Urgh… yeah… I guess so..." He replied in a slightly distorted voice by the helmet, getting up slowly as his faceplate disappeared followed by the rest of the Unicorn Gundam's frame. "What about you?" Banagher asked while helping Ichika to get up as well which earned him a nod from the raven-haired boy.

Houki, Cecilia, and Maya sighed in relief upon knowing that they were fine and still in one piece. However, Chifuyu had a different reaction as the teacher glared at her younger brother.

"You moron! Do you know how much it costs to fill in a hole this size?"

"I'm sorry about that." Ichika apologized, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Banagher's eyes widened in disbelief when he heard this. Seriously? Chifuyu was more concerned with a hole compared to her own brother's safety? Maybe it was true that Ichika would be okay thanks to the special protection on his IS, but at least she could think about his safety as well.

'Did she really mean what she just said!?' thought Banagher while giving Chifuyu an angry glare as the woman turned away.

...

Evening in the cafeteria

There was something unusual happening in the Cafeteria. Normally at this time, it was already too late for lunchtime and too early for dinner. Even if there were some students there, they might have been there only to grab a snack or chat. But now the whole area was full of party decorations and crowded with the students of class 1-1 who were having a party to celebrate Ichika's appointment as the class representative. Sitting at one of the tables were Ichika, Houki, Banagher, Cecilia and Honne with her friends who just rained the four with confetti. Above them was a banner which read: "Orimura Ichika – Class Representative Appointment Party."

"Orimura, congratulations on your inauguration as class rep!" The girls congratulated him before breaking out in applause.

Ichika just gawked in confusion, "Wait, how did I become the class representative?"

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" Cecilia answered him first as she stood up, "Since Banagher defeated me in your place, that means you gained the position." she put her hands on her hips in her ojou-sama pose again, "Be thankful to him that you're here now. Although I personally think that Banagher would have been a better fit for such a prestigious position."

"Wait! The deal was still on?"

"That's right. Oh, and (ahem)." The blond haired girl cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Everyone, I have something important to tell you."

The girls didn't say anything and just stared at Cecilia curiously, wondering what she wanted to say. This response made Cecilia become very nervous with all the sudden attention because now she had to do something as a part of her deal with Banagher if he won against her; to apologize to the whole class for looking down on Japan and its culture. With the small amount of courage she had, she glanced at Banagher who seemed to reassure her with a small smile as if he was saying 'go ahead. I know you can do it'.

"Umm… on behalf of Class 1-1 as the Representative Candidate of England…" She paused for a moment, "I, Cecilia Alcott want to apologize for my actions and behavior regarding this country before the class rep election. In regards to that, I hope you can forgive me and that we can start with a clean slate."

There was a moment of silence among everyone gathered until one of the girls started clapping her hands which was soon followed by the rest of them. Regardless to say, she was quite surprised with this outcome.

"That was very humble of you, Cecilia." said one girl.

"Yeah, and don't worry about that because we already put that in the past. Let bygones be bygones. After all, aren't we all classmates here?" Another one said. With every reassuring word that came from the girls, Cecilia felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off from her back as her face slowly brightened until it turned into a smile. She then looked at Ichika and Banagher again who gave her a thumbs-up and appreciating grins.

"That's right. And as one of ours, we'll have to give both Orimura and Links our full support as class representative and vice-class rep."

At the last statement, Banagher nearly choked on his orange soda and he turned to the girl who had spoken with a questioning look. "Vice-class representative?"

"Yeah, since you were the 2nd choice after Orimura, it would make sense to make you the vice-class rep. So you can take over his position when Orimura isn't available." The girl replied in glee.

"Wha-?"

"Ah-heh-heh-heh… actually that position was never there until now." Another girl said, slightly nervous while scratching her left cheek before turning to Banagher with the same excitement, "But since you two are the only male students we voted for, we decided to make it fair to you."

At a loss for words, dumbfounded, and utterly shocked were the best words that would best describe Banagher's state at the moment. These girls had just made up another position of class authority just for him? Just what had been going on in their minds? Well, it wasn't as if he didn't like it, but was that really necessary to give him a position just because of his status as the 2nd male student in Class 1-1? Taking a deep breath and then sighing, Banagher could only mutter a single thing.

"God, this is just getting weirder by the second…"

*SNAP*

Suddenly a flash came from a camera taking a snapshot of them. When Banagher looked up, he saw a familiar pink haired girl with glasses that he immediately recognized as Mayuzumi Kuroko. "Hello there, I'm from the newspaper club. Oh, hello again Links."

"Hi..." Banagher paused a moment, "Uhh... you're Mayuzumi Kuroko, right?"

"Yep. Glad you still remember me." The camera girl replied with a smile before looking at Ichika, then Cecilia, and then Banagher again. "By the way, could you three maybe stand up? I want to get all three of you into the picture."

While both Ichika and Banagher half-heartedly did as she said, Cecilia on the other hand was very eager since she had been looking forward to this. After the three gathered before Mayuzumi, the pink haired girl adjusted her camera a bit and noticed that there was something bland with their poses.

"Umm, Cecilia, could you maybe move over there?" She motioned the blond-haired girl to stand between Ichika and Banagher. "Good. Now Orimura, could you move over there?" She motioned the raven-haired boy to stand on Banagher's left; making the position laid out as Cecilia on the left, Banagher in the middle, and Ichika on the right from her camera's view.

"Good, now just stack your hands together and give me one big smile, okay?"

As the three did as she said, Banagher suddenly felt something wrap around his arm. Looking to his right, Banagher's eyes slightly widened in surprise when he saw that Cecilia was holding his right arm with her free hand. He even noticed that she had slowly closed the distance between them to the extent that their shoulders were nearly touching which added to his discomfort. Being held in such an awkward pose in a photo session like this, could this day get any more embarrassing?

"Ah, you will make sure that I also receive copies of the pictures as well, won't you?" Cecilia asked Mayuzumi, still clinging on to Banagher.

"You bet." replied the camera girl as she began to count, "Okay, in 3… 2… 1… and… Say cheese."

*SNAP*

In another flash, another new picture was taken. But when Mayuzumi looked at her camera to preview the image, she quirked her eyebrow in confusion because instead of the three personal IS users hand-stacking together, everyone with different poses and expressions was in the picture as well. Even Houki, albeit still wearing her sour expression was there standing beside Ichika, leaving only Cecilia, Banagher, and of course Ichika with startled looks on their faces, not expecting that everyone would jump in at the last moment.

"Why are all of you in MY PICTURE?!" Cecilia all but shouted. Her cheeks were flaming red, clearly very upset that her perfect pose had been ruined by them.

"Just calm down." said one girl in everyone's defense.

"We can't let you get ahead of us all by yourself."

...

After the party in room 0096

It was nighttime already and everyone was ready to sleep. In the room where the two males were staying, Banagher was unbuttoning his blazer while Ichika in his casual clothes was lying on his bed. After he finished changing, the Gundam pilot walked over to his bed, ready to call it a day. But when he saw Ichika's troubled face, he felt that he should ask if there was something bothering him.

"Hey. What's the matter?"

"Oh, Banagher. Well, it's just…" The raven-haired boy replied with a groan, turning to Banagher, "Now that I'm the class representative, I'll have a lot to do now since everyone is rooting for me…"

"(Sigh) I could say the same, you know." Banagher replied with the same heavy tone, "I mean, a vice-class representative? Only for me? That just makes no sense at all…"

Ichika chuckled a bit at this. At least since he was here with him, the uneasy feeling of being the only male student at an all-girls school had disappeared which had relieved him a lot. "I guess we'll never know what the girls are thinking, huh?"

"Maybe… just maybe…" Banagher replied with a small smile as he got in his bed, but again not before he turned off the light first. After such a tiring day with a small incident this morning, a long good sleep was indeed something that they absolutely needed to clear their heads.

But little did they know that the universe always had its own sense of humor to make things more interesting, especially for Ichika tomorrow…

...

On the next day

The sounds of chirping birds and the morning sunshine had woken Banagher from his slumber. Groaning and slowly getting up, the boy let out a long yawn as he stretched his arms wide before rubbing his sore eyes. He could even feel that his head was lighter from the good sleep last night. As Banagher pushed his blanket away, he noticed that his roommate's bed was already strangely empty and tidied up. He then remembered that Ichika had told him that he also did kendo practice with Houki at dawn.

Looking at the clock which still read 06:30, Banagher got out from the bed and slowly walked to the bathroom to climb in the shower, the first thing that he needed to do before he was ready for the day.

Shortly after showering, exchanging his sleepwear for his uniform, and tidying up his bed, he was on his way to the academy's main building. Along the way, all that Banagher could do was greet any girl who greeted him first by simply saying 'hi' or 'morning' and waving his hand in return which was more than enough to make some girls squeal in happiness for being noticed by him though he simply ignored that part. Truth was most of them did that on purpose mainly after getting the idea from some high-school manga where the main girl character wanted to be noticed by her senior or 'senpai' whom she had a crush on.

"Banaa~gher." A sing-song voice called out to him from behind. Knowing whose voice it was, Banagher turned to see a happy Cecilia approaching with a lunch basket in her hands. "Good morning."

"Oh, Cecilia. Morning." He simply greeted her back. But what he didn't expect next was Cecilia suddenly hooking her right arm around his as the two began to walk together like a couple, "H-hey! What are you doing?!"

"Well I think since we are here, why won't we go to class together?" The blonde haired girl replied in a sweet voice before showing Banagher her lunch basket, "And look what I've made this morning. We can eat together during the lunch break."

Banagher was too stunned to process what in the name of the Red Comet had just happened with this girl. Yesterday she was the high and mighty princess and now she was being kinda… overly affectionate toward him. Realizing that she was still holding his arm really close much to his annoyance and discomfort, Banagher tried to tell her to 'give him more space' in a more polite way.

"Uhhh… Cecilia, must you really be this close?" He whispered, "People are staring at us. It's… embarrassing you know."

"Well, then let them look." She replied, clearly ignoring several glares of contempt and jealousy from the other girls before giving Banagher a slightly disappointed gaze, "Besides, isn't it a real man's duty to escort a lady?"

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Banagher gave her a forced smile while mentally cursing his luck. "Well, if you say so. Let's just go inside."

And with that, Cecilia's face brightened at his response and then she hugged him tighter as the two made their way to their class like a couple of lovers (from what the others thought).

...

IS Academy – Class 1-1

The class league match had just been announced to be held in the near future. Unlike the class representative match, in this one only the representative from each class from the same year was pitted against the others to determine which was the strongest class. The girls of class 1-1 without a doubt were very excited at this since that meant they would get to see Ichika fight in his Byakushiki, something that they had never seen before.

But said lucky boy didn't feel the same way because there was one serious problem: He didn't have any real experience in an IS battle at all which meant he could easily be defeated and doubtlessly shame the entire class. Even when he had fought against the instructor during the test, he had just simply dodged her attack when she dashed at him which had resulted in her IS slamming into the wall and ending the match.

Deep within his heart, Ichika really wished that Banagher would take his position for this until he heard one of Honne's friends, the redhead with twin tails speak.

"Oh, that's right. Have you heard that the representative for Class 1-2 has been changed?"

"Yeah, now it's that new transfer student, what's her face?" replied the girl with long black hair.

"A transfer student? At this time of the year?" Ichika asked, feeling more self-conscious and interested as well.

The redhead twin tailed girl nodded, "Yeah. Supposedly, she's from China."

Ichika wanted to ask more, but it was then when the door slid open, diverting everyone's eyes to a certain brown-haired boy and a blonde-haired girl beside him.

"Hi there, Banagher, Cecilia." Ichika greeted them both, waving his hand. "Want to join us?"

Feeling a bit curious with what they had been talking about before he had arrived with Cecilia, Banagher took his seat beside Ichika while Cecilia just stood beside him. "About what?"

"About the class league match that will be coming up soon." Honne answered him in her usual happy tone.

"That and about Class 1-2's new representative from China." added the girl with short raven hair.

"China?" Banagher arched his eyebrow.

"Hmm… I wonder if she transferred to the IS Academy in order to study my techniques." Cecilia wondered; already back in her ojou-sama persona again. Banagher just sighed at this, some things would never change.

With eagerness, Ichika nodded, "Oh I'm definitely curious. I bet she's good."

"Well, the only classes that have students with personal IS's are Classes 1 and 4. So we'll be fine." The short raven haired girl reassured them.

"That information is outdated." came a new unfamiliar voice that suddenly joined in their conversation which startled them. Everyone turned around to see another student standing proudly at the class's open door. The girl had light brown hair tied in twin tails with a yellow ribbon on both sides, green eyes, and one of her teeth which resembled a fang was clearly exposed a bit. Her IS Academy uniform was quite different just like Cecilia's since it had the sleeves detached from the uniform. She was also quite petite compared to both Houki and Cecilia.

"The representative for Class 2 now has a personal IS as well." She said, "So it's not gonna be as easy to win anymore."

"No way!" Ichika muttered in disbelief as he rose from his seat to face the new girl he seemed to recognize, "Is that really you, Rin?"

"That's right. I'm Rin Fan, China's representative contender. And I've come here today to declare war on you."

The last word that came from her mouth suddenly made Banagher's eyes open wide in shock as if it had triggered something in his head. Did he just hear it right? Did that girl just say that she was declaring war on them? All of a sudden, Banagher felt a similar tension and pressure just like when he had seen a broken Zaku II back in Industrial 7's war museum.

"Banagher?" Cecilia asked with concern, but the boy didn't reply as he stood up and moved to leave the class. "H-hey, where are you going? Class is about to start in a few minutes!"

"Banagher? Hey, are you okay?" Ichika asked with identical concern.

Stopping near the entrance door with a totally confused Rin who just blinked twice at the 2nd male IS pilot beside him, Banagher weakly answered: "I'm… just not feeling good. I think I need some time to myself."

He looked back at the group over his shoulder with a small smile to reassure them, "I won't be long. I promise."

Everyone could only stare worriedly at the Unicorn's pilot as he left the room. Just what had made him suddenly feel so depressed? Rin on the other hand was too shocked by the presence of another male pilot right before her eyes. Once the brown-haired boy was finally out of their sight, all that Rin could do was turn to Ichika and his group and ask one question…

"Hey. Who was that guy?"

...

Shortly after 1st period during lunch break

Usually during lunchtime Ichika, Houki, and Banagher had their meals together at one table. But this time, it wasn't like that at all. Sitting at one table was Ichika and Rin who were having their meals which consisted of rice, a bowl of soup, and salmon for Ichika and a bowl of ramen noodles for Rin. It turned out that she was also Ichika's childhood friend after Houki had moved.

At a nearby table was Banagher, who had originally wanted to eat alone this time… a thought that would have worked if Cecilia hadn't come and tried to feed Banagher her homemade sandwiches much to his embarrassment and annoyance as well. Houki? She just sat at the table next to Ichika and Rin with Honne and her friends while giving the Chinese representative a glare.

"Ah I see. So he's the rumored second male pilot, huh?" Rin confirmed, sucking in another mouthful of her ramen after Ichika had told her about Banagher. "And he's also a transfer student and representative from Ireland, right? So it was really true…"

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Rin?"

"Well, to be honest I didn't believe it at first when I heard about another boy who could pilot an IS since there wasn't much information on the news, let alone his face." The twin-tailed girl then took a sip from her ramen's soup and sighed in satisfaction, "But I guess after seeing him here in person I need to take that back."

"His name is Banagher Links. Hey Rin, how about I introduce you to him?" offered Ichika as he stood up.

Looking at Banagher who was still trying his best to refuse Cecilia's offers to feed him, Rin gave him a somewhat sympathetic smile, "Hmm… maybe later. After all, looks like he's already busy with someone."

Rin turned back to her old friend and spoke again, but this time on different topic. "Say, I heard that you operated an IS at the entrance exam. How on earth did something like that happen?"

Ichika pondered for a moment, thinking carefully about how everything had happened so fast. How and why did he end up here in the first place? All that he had wanted was a simple average life as a normal high-school student, and yet because he got lost in the multipurpose building where he was supposed to take an entrance exam for his high school his future had been completely derailed. And since he had ignored the saying that curiosity could kill a cat, he had accidentally activated an IS in a random storage room. Heck, he even still remembered how shocked the female officers were after they came in and found it out that the IS had responded to him.

"Well, honestly I couldn't really tell you how. All I can say is a whole lot of crap happened, and next thing I knew I was enrolled in this school."

"That is weird." commented Rin before she glanced at Banagher again and pointed her thumb to him, "And what about him?"

"Hmm? Now that you mention it, I never asked how Banagher activated an IS in the first place." Ichika replied in realization as he looked at Banagher who now was looking at the sandwich in his hand before Ichika turned back to face Rin again. "He suddenly showed up after my first day and now here he is. That's all."

The twin-tailed girl wanted to ask Ichika more about him, but a pair of hands suddenly slammed down against the table they were sitting at, startling both Ichika and Rin. Looking up, the two saw a very pissed Houki glaring down at them with a face that clearly demanded an explanation.

"Ichika, I think it's about time that you gave me an explanation! Who is this girl?!" The ponytailed girl impatiently demanded.

"Geez, calm down Houki. Rin here is just my childhood friend." Hearing his answer, Rin was somewhat disappointed as she frowned, expecting that Ichika would have used something more than just a childhood friend. He noticed her change in expression. "Hm, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine…"

Houki raised her eyebrow questioningly at this because as far as she knew, Ichika had never told her anything about Rin before. "Childhood friend?"

"Oh that's right. I forgot Rin transferred to our school right after you moved away." Ichika explained to her before introducing Rin to Houki. "This is Houki Shinonono. I told you about her. Houki was my very first childhood friend. And later you became my second childhood friend."

The first and the last statement that came from his mouth had somehow made Houki feel relieved a bit. "I'm first..." She muttered.

"Now I see. It's nice to meet one of Ichika's old friends." Rin said, looking at Houki with a challenging smirk on her face.

Returning the same look to her, the ponytailed girl replied, "Yes. Nice to meet you."

Honne and her gang could swear that sparks were flying between the two girls' which served to elevate the tense situation. For Ichika, this introduction seemed to be a new step of friendship between his childhood-friends which made him smile a bit. But little did he know that there was another meaning behind it…

For both girls, this was just a formal declaration of war…

...

After school – Arena

Two IS units faced each other down in the arena where Banagher and Cecilia had clashed earlier that day, the combatants being Ichika in Byakushiki and Banagher in the Unicorn Gundam. Due to the friendly nature of their spar Banagher had the Unicorn deployed in its partial combat form, exposing his face to the open air. Held tightly in Ichika's IS-clad hands was a blade in the form of a katana, known famously as the Yukihira, a weapon previously wielded by none other than his sister Chifuyu during her time as an IS champion.

Banagher himself was currently armed with a Beam Machinegun from his arsenal. Sitting in the stands by the entrance gate was Houki who wanted to observe their training to see whether Ichika had improved or not from his kendo practice with her. Sitting there with her arms crossed, she was actually still thinking that it would be better if she was the one who trained Ichika in piloting his IS as well.

"Ichika. Are you sure that you really want to do this?" Banagher asked, looking at his training partner with a doubtful expression. In fact, he was actually still unsure about this whole idea about teaching him.

"Yup." Ichika nodded, "I have made up my mind, Banagher. So when should we start?"

His answer was a faceplate with a green visor sliding into place over Banagher's features. The white horned IS then brought up its Beam Machinegun, "Well um, how about we start with your evasion techniques first?"

"That sounds fair to me." replied Ichika. He took a deep breath first before adjusting his footing into a ready position, "Okay, I'm ready."

With a nod, Banagher aimed at Ichika as beam shots emerged from the barrel of the gun in rapid succession. The Byakushiki tried dodging them to the left and right, and then above in a basic triangular evasion pattern. But after the third dodge, Ichika suddenly lost his balance which resulted in several shots hitting his chestplate and decreasing his energy shield by 15 points.

Banagher stopped shooting as Ichika struggled to regain control and he looked at Ichika worriedly, "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Banagher. Just a bit distracted, ah-ha-ha." He sheepishly replied before adjusting his footing again, ready to keep training, "Continue please."

"Okay then…"

For the first 15 minutes, there was hardly any improvement since Ichika kept getting shot after every third dodge. The next 30 minutes however showed a decent amount of improvement as Ichika eventually got used to handling the Byakushiki's control system; he managed to stay in the air without getting hit for at least 45 seconds which was a small feat in such a short time. As time passed, Ichika continued to refine his maneuvering to the point where he even asked Banagher to increase the difficulty. Agreeing with Ichika's request, Banagher brought up one of his Beam Gatling Guns in his left hand to more than double the number of beam shots flying in Ichika's direction with a wider area of fire.

Ichika grit his teeth as he desperately evaded Banagher's attacks. Even with aerial maneuvers including barrel rolls he was grazed multiple times though the damage inflicted to his shield remained minor enough to not warrant panic on Ichika's part.

What they forgot about however was Houki who was starting to get impatient as her feet began to thump the ground after observing the two practice for a while. This kind of training wasn't enough, if this was supposed to improve Ichika's skills in battle, then why were they only practicing evasion techniques? Where was the actual hand-to-hand fighting? Unable to wait any longer, Houki finally stepped forward and spoke up…

"HEY! How long are you two going to play around like this!?"

Immediately the two stopped at her shouting and turned to the ponytailed girl who was clenching her fists to suppress her anger.

"All you've done so far was just dodge projectiles and nothing more! When will you two actually fight?!"

Both Ichika and Banagher looked each other and the meaning of her words finally hit them; the whole reason of why they had agreed to do this was to help Ichika become stronger in all aspects of an IS battle, yet all they had been doing up to this point was focus on his evasion skills. Dismissing his firearms, Banagher then pulled out the beam saber from the left recharge slot on the Unicorn's forearm.

"I guess it's time to move on something different." Banagher said, holding his beam saber tightly with both hands and he looked at Ichika again, "You ready?"

This time, the raven-haired boy also raised Yukihira as he entered a traditional kendo stance, "A bit tired, but I think I can still go on."

"You go first then."

"You asked for it, Banagher." replied Ichika before he launched himself towards his opponent, "Here I come!"

...

Shortly after the mock battle in the boys' changing room

"Oh man, that was quite tiring." Ichika said as he took deep breaths, glancing at his training partner beside him, "That last move really caught me off guard, Banagher."

"Sorry about that." Banagher replied, scratching the back of his head apologetically, "I guess I got a bit carried away."

"Hey, good work out there you two." An upbeat voice which clearly belonged to Rin suddenly emerged from the open doorway as she approached them with a sports drink and a towel in each hand. "You're okay with a sports drink, aren't you? Here." She handed one bottle and a towel to Ichika before giving the other set to Banagher, "And here's one for you as well."

"Uh, thanks." Banagher accepted them and then paused for a moment while staring at Rin, trying to remember her name, "You're…"

"I'm Lingyin Huang. The IS Representative Candidate of China and the class representative of Class 1-2 as well, but you can just call me Rin." Rin introduced herself before offering Banagher a handshake, "You're Banagher Links, right? It's nice to meet another boy who can pilot an IS."

"Yeah, that's me." He replied and accepted her hand for a brief handshake, "Just Banagher is okay."

As they let go, Banagher suddenly felt an urge to ask her a question. "… Earlier this morning, you said something about declaring a war, right? What did you mean by that?"

"Huh?" Rin blinked twice before answering. "Oh, that was just my dramatic way to increase our competitive spirits for the upcoming interclass tournament. What? You don't seriously think I would declare a 'real' war, do you? That's silly." she folded her hands behind her head and looked at Banagher with a playful smirk.

'Of course. Am I being paranoid with that word now?' Banagher mentally asked himself. '(Sigh) maybe I should go clear my head first…'

"Huh? Banagher, where are you going?" Ichika asked as Banagher suddenly rose to his feet and walked toward the door with the towel hanging over his shoulder and the sports drink bottle in his hand.

"I'm just a bit tired." He replied without even looking back as he kept walking. "I think I need to hit the shower first. Later Ichika, Rin."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you in the dorm later." replied Ichika.

When Banagher was finally gone, Rin realized one important thing: She was now alone with Ichika at last! This kind of chance might only come once in a hundred years and there was no way that she would waste the opportunity to confess her feelings to him. Taking a seat on the bench where Banagher had previously been sitting, Rin fidgeted a bit, feeling a bit nervous due to being so close to Ichika.

"So... we're finally alone together." She said first.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Ichika… I was wondering if you missed me after I moved." Rin said and hoped that he would get the hint.

However, the younger Orimura gave her a rather unexpected reply. "Well, I suppose having one less friend to hang out with did make me feel a little bit lonelier."

"That's not what I meant!" She replied, her tone now becoming a bit impatient, "I'm a childhood friend you haven't seen for a long time. And I know you've got something to say to me."

Rin hoped that this time he would reply with something like 'I missed you' or something like that. But again, she had hoped for too much when he replied to her statement.

"Oh yeah. I forgot something very important. Have you contacted any other friends from school yet? I mean, to find out that you were back in Japan. I bet they'll be thrilled." Ichika said quite casually, not even coming close to understanding the atmosphere around the two of them.

Rin felt like she had just been hit by a mallet right in the head. She'd known that Ichika was dense, but she hadn't expected that he would be THIS bad. Sighing, she tried to calm herself down until she finally remembered something that might straighten this 'now going to nowhere' conversation as she turned to Ichika again.

"Oh, by the way, Ichika, do you still remember our promise?"

"Promise?"

"Mm-hm, from school..."

"Let's see..." Ichika crossed his arms and thought for a moment, trying to dig up the memories from when he was still in elementary school until he finally remembered something. "Oh, was it that I'd eat your sweet-and-sour pork every day if you became a better cook?"

Finally getting a positive response, Rin's eyes glimmered with hope and happiness. "Yeah, yeah! That's it!"

"And that it'd be your treat, right?"

The twin-tailed girl blinked twice in disbelief, "What?"

"That's right. You promised that you would treat me to your cooking every day, wasn't that it?"

Her hopes were crushed in an instant as soon as she heard those words emerge from his mouth. Rin felt like her heart had just been stabbed by a knife, her heart twisted by the pain of Ichika's forgetfulness. Her face showed a mixture of utter disappointment and anger. How could he forget a single promise that he'd made to a childhood friend? Clenching her fists to suppress her anger, Ichika worriedly came closer to her.

"Uuhh, Rin? Are you okay?"

...

In room 0096

The sound of water coming from the bathroom could be clearly heard throughout the room. Banagher came out after finishing his shower, wearing his casual shirt and shorts with a towel wrapped around his neck. As soon as he had finished folding his uniform and placed it inside the wardrobe, the door suddenly opened which caused Banagher to turn and see Ichika come in with a very depressed look on his face… with a red handprint on his left cheek as a reunion gift from Rin.

Blinking, Banagher questioned his friend. "Ichika..? What happened?"

Ichika took off his pilot shirt first before answering. "Rin got mad and slapped me after she thought that I had forgotten a promise we had made when we were in elementary school." He put it on his bed and then took a towel from the drawer under the wardrobe. "I just don't understand. I was certain that I remembered it perfectly. Just what did she mean by that promise?"

"Promise?"

"It's about… if I remember correctly, she promised me that if she became a better cook with her dish, she would treat me to her sweet and sour pork every day."

"…and?"

"We ended up agreeing that if I win in the interclass tournament, then she will tell me. If I lose however, I have to do any one thing that she wants." After letting a long exasperated sigh, he sat down on his bed. "Great… I think I just dug my own grave…"

At this, Banagher also took a seat on his own bed. "What do you mean by that?"

Ichika gave the Gundam pilot a desperate look. "Banagher, I'm still entirely new at fighting in an IS. Heck, I don't even have any experience in a real battle. But Rin? She's a representative candidate from China and she even defeated the previous representative of her class which means that she must be highly skilled. How am I supposed to defeat her in the interclass tournament?"

Seeing his roommate like this, Banagher couldn't help but feel sympathetic for Ichika. Unlike himself who surprisingly fought against the Kshatriya quite well thanks to the Unicorn's NT-D system, his drive to survive, and the need to protect his friends in their life and death situation, Ichika didn't have any of that to rely on. Deciding to give Ichika a small amount of reassurance, Banagher stood up and tapped his shoulder.

"Just do it like what we did during our training."

"You think? But what if I still lose?" Ichika still looked uncertain.

Banagher shook his head, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Even though you might lose, it won't be that bad, right?

"Oh, thanks for the advice, Mr. Wise Guy. I really needed that." Ichika replied sarcastically, having cheered up again and both boys chuckled.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to shower then. I'm so beat." With that, Ichika walked into the bathroom and left Banagher alone with a somewhat amused smile.

...

Later that night

The night had started out peacefully for Banagher, but things had gone downhill the moment his head hit the pillow. Like the other night, he found himself in yet another lucid dream, floating in the middle of space surrounded by the debris of destroyed Mobile Suits of many types, the amount of them difficult to quantify.

On his far left was a strange gigantic cylindrical structure which appeared to be some kind of space colony, except it didn't have any solar panels around it to gather solar energy. There was a big empty hole in the middle filled with what appeared to be some kind of power plant tubes inside.

"Again…?" He asked himself, staring at his transparent hands before he began to wander around. After five minutes of floating aimlessly to find out where he was, something caught his attention from afar. From his viewpoint there were two lights chasing each other with sparks and explosions flying all around them across a vast battlefield. Curious, Banagher brought himself closer to get a better look. His eyes widened slightly when he discovered that the two lights were none other than…

"Mobile Suits?!" He exclaimed as they finally came into view. The first Mobile Suit was quite unique compared to the others that he had learned about so far that he could assume it was a customized MS. It was a large, yellow colored Mobile Suit with a mono-eye camera and it had very bulky armor on its entire frame, especially on the shoulders, upper chest, skirt armor, and legs.

The other Mobile Suit on the other hand was white, blue, red, and black in color and it had a sleek design on its entire body frame, especially its long narrow shield. But the most distinguished part of it was its yellow V-shaped antenna with a stylized Z letter on it.

Just by looking at it, one could already tell what kind of Mobile Suit it was…

"That's... That's a Gundam!"

(Riders in the Skies – Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)

"You're being delusional!" said the voice of the Gundam's pilot, evading the beam saber counterattack from his opponent. "Can't you even see the reality in front of you?! You've already lost!"

"Tch! You little smart-aleck!" The pilot of the yellow Mobile Suit scoffed as he took aim with his beam rifle again.

"What's wrong with being smart?!" The Gundam pilot angrily replied, mirroring his opponent's action.

The two Mobile Suits fired their beam rifles simultaneously and the two different colored beam shots collided with each other, creating an explosion in which the force was enough to knock them away from each other. As the two regained their bearings, the yellow Mobile Suit suddenly turned and left the Gundam behind as it retreated toward what Banagher assumed to be some kind of massive cargo ship. The Gundam gave chase, but not before destroying a mobile suit that Banagher could remember being called a Hizack that wanted to seize the opportunity to shoot it first. When the Gundam had finally reached the cargo ship the pilot's instincts suddenly warned him to evade as a beam shot blasted down from above. The yellow Mobile Suit lashed out at him with 4 beam sabers; 1 in each hand and 2 more clutched in previously hidden arms that had emerged from beneath its skirt armor, ready to slice the Gundam apart.

But the Gundam pilot had anticipated the attack and used his leg thrusters to evade backwards. Seeing an opening, the Gundam fired its beam rifle again several times only for the yellow Mobile Suit to dodge every shot in spite of its massive and bulky appearance.

'What incredible speed!' Banagher thought, eyes slightly widened in awe as he hid within the wreckage of a Salamis-class warship despite being perfectly safe anyway.

"All you do is watch from the sidelines and manipulate people!" The Gundam pilot said, drawing his beam saber again.

The yellow Mobile Suit then did the same; using the beam sabers in its hidden arms under the skirt armor to counter the Gundam's attack, "And I know that I'm qualified to do it!"

Sparks of light emerged from the clashing energy swords of the Mobile Suits. Neither of them gave up as they tried to penetrate each other's defenses. It was then that Banagher heard the Gundam pilot speak again.

"In your arrogance, you treat people like sheep! Like tools!"

"What do you know?! You're just a little kid!" The pilot of the yellow Mobile Suit shouted back.

"What you're doing is the absolute worst thing one human can do to another!"

Seizing the opportunity the yellow one slashed at the beam rifle in the Gundam's hand, destroying it and forcing the Gundam to back away.

However, he didn't expect what happened next…

As the Gundam tossed its broken and melted rifle away numerous energy waves suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gathered around the Gundam's body, forming an intense aura which became bigger and bigger by the second. Banagher suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and he broke into a cold sweat because somehow, whether his eyes were playing tricks on him or not, he could swear that people were now visible in the form of spirits, just like when he had seen Daguza and Gilboa in a similar state.

"W-what is this feeling?" He suddenly stepped back as his body was trembling to the point that he didn't even notice the trails of sweat that rolled down his face. "So much power flowing… even though I'm not actually here to feel it…"

"What happened to the Zeta?" The yellow Mobile Suit's pilot wondered as the aura began to form into a burst of pink energy, "Is it carrying some kind of new weapon?"

"A warmonger like you who uses war as a tool will never understand… the power flowing in my body!" yelled the Gundam pilot, his Gundam now enveloped within the pink aura.

"Power flowing in your body?" His enemy asked back, his tone taunting and challenging the Gundam pilot, "Ridiculous! You think that kind of nonsense could destroy a MOBILE SUIT!?"

"Kamille is piloting a Mobile Suit that can use all of its power…"

"The Zeta Gundam…"

"A woman's voice?" Banagher was surprised as an echoing voice came out of nowhere. "But where did it come from?"

"So you still want some more!?" The Zeta Gundam pilot angrily said, returning Banagher's attention back to the battle as he watched the Zeta Gundam rush at its opponent with its saber and then destroyed its enemy's beam rifle with a blindingly fast slash. The beam saber only succeeded in grazing part of the yellow Mobile Suit though it was still powerful enough to render it immobile for a moment.

"What the!? The control systems aren't responding!?" The pilot said, trying to move his Mobile Suit to no avail, "What's happening here?! MOVE THE-O! WHY WON'T YOU MOVE?!"

As he desperately tried to manipulate his mobile suit around, he didn't notice that the Gundam had now transformed into its Waverider form and was now coming at him at an incredible velocity...

*CRASH*

"GWWAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" The pilot of The-O could only scream in pain as his Mobile Suit was impaled right where its cockpit was.

"Time for you to DIIEEE!" shouted the Zeta Gundam pilot for the last time as the two soared toward the cargo ship and rammed into its main engine, creating a massive explosion that swallowed them both, including Banagher who had been shielding his eyes from the blast. (End of Riders in the Skies)

…

"GWAH!" Banagher suddenly jolted up from his bed, sweating and breathing heavily after he finally awoke from his dream. Blinking after another few deep breaths he looked around and saw that he was back in his room with the other bed occupied by his undisturbed sleeping roommate despite Banagher's outburst. After several more minutes of silence he felt himself begin to calm down. Feeling oddly self-conscious, he slightly lowered his head and brought his hand to his face, lost in thought.

"Another one… just like the other night before…" He muttered.

What was with that strange dream he had just now? What was the meaning behind all of this? Why did he see these things? Those were the questions that came to mind which he didn't even know how to begin answering to his frustration. Sighing in defeat, Banagher glanced at the wall clock which read 11:27 P.M. Turning to the open window he saw the stars in the sky that confirmed the clock's readout. In the wake of that strange dream, Banagher found himself feeling more awake than he liked and he quietly got out of his bed and headed to his dresser.

"Maybe a little bit of fresh air will help." He said to himself, changing from his nightwear into his uniform and then leaving the room.

Little did he know that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep…

...

At the same time in a teacher's office

Maya yawned at her desk as she had finished the last of the paperwork for the day before she began to tidy up the rest of the remaining papers and books. Apparently one of the teachers couldn't finish her work since she had gotten news that her husband was injured while on the job at his construction site so she had rushed to visit him in the hospital. Before she raced out the door she had made a hasty request to the sympathetic green-haired teacher to finish up for her today, a request that Maya had reluctantly accepted, unable to say no to her.

Walking along the corridor while massaging her sore shoulders the only thing Maya could think of was getting a nice bath and then sleeping for a long while as it had been a really heavy day for her.

She yawned and raised her arms high, stretching them as much as she could. "Wha~at a long day I had today…" She muttered, removing her glasses to rub her sore eyes. As soon as she put them back on though, she suddenly saw something in the shadows walking away from the window which made her gasp in shock.

"Wha-?! W-who is that?" Maya stuttered. 'Who could be walking around outside at this hour?' Most if not all the teachers and all of the students should already be sleeping in their rooms.

'A-a burglar?! No, a spy perhaps?!' As late as it was the idea that there should be nothing that could penetrate campus security was going to be delayed in crossing her mind. Curious and more than a bit afraid she braced herself to follow this mysterious figure from behind, hand ready in her pocket to take out her phone and notify the other staff if any problems should arise. If only she knew who the other person was…

...

Back with Banagher

(Merry Go Round - Chemistry)

Nighttime at the Academy was completely silent, save for the odd number of crickets making themselves heard. The night air was chilly, cold enough for someone to get sick if they weren't covered properly while the lampposts provided what light they could for anyone that should normally not be out at this time.

Banagher however found this quite relaxing as he slowly walked along the pathway in the park. Although he had spent almost a week here in this strange new life he hadn't got a chance to explore the school area proper and alone since he was usually accompanied by Ichika and Houki. He tried though not to think of the number of girls who always seemed to stalk him with a strange form of curiosity or interest much to his annoyance and discomfort. As he kept walking, he tried to recall what had happened today; Cecilia somehow became a lot more friendly and likable than before although she still had a bit of her arrogant side. It did kinda make him feel uncomfortable with how she was now beginning to get clingy around him as he now remembered the photo session where the blond haired girl had been so close while clinging onto his arm.

Putting that aside, a new Representative Candidate from China named Lingyin Huang had transferred into the Academy today and it turned out that she was also a childhood friend of Ichika's after Houki had moved. She seemed upbeat and full of energy which was a good thing indeed but the moment that she declared war on class 1-1 he couldn't help but flinch. How could one say such a thing so easily like it wasn't a big deal? Sure he knew that she meant it in another way, but did she even know the horrible meaning behind that word? War had quickly become one of the worst words in Banagher's mind within the last month. War gave rise to nothing but sadness, agony, pain, and despair. It was something that should be avoided at all costs…

But then again, he reasoned, had she ever experienced the real thing? Memories of his first sortie with the Unicorn came to the fore; when he was only given a choice between kill or be killed where the latter result would have been to watch a lot of innocent people get slaughtered right in front of you and not being able to do anything... The feeling of guilt when you realized that you actually had killed someone…

The Unicorn's pilot shook his head to clear his mind. It was bad enough that he had become a murderer by killing Neo Zeon pilots and he prayed that he wouldn't have to do it again…

After several minutes of wandering he lied down on the grass near a pond where he could see the many stars above. He had to admit, even in another world, the stars were still beautiful just like when he had seen them in the desert with Zinnerman. It was a bit different seeing them in space, where many saw them as nothing more than balls of furious energy. The Colonies weren't any better in that regard as you didn't actually see them since the solar panels were normally in the way. But on Earth it was like seeing the sky glitter.

'Even until now I didn't have any idea that the stars could be this beautiful…' Banagher thought, taking a deep breath of cool air and folding his hands behind him to pillow his head. Before he could get comfortable his moment of peace was disturbed when he suddenly heard noises coming from the bushes behind him.

"Who's there!?"

As soon as Banagher got up and turned around he gasped in shock as he saw Maya coming from behind the bushes, "M-Miss Ma- I mean Yamada-sensei!?"

"L-Links..?" The green-haired teacher was startled as well and blinked twice, not expecting that the trespasser who she thought a burglar or spy was actually Banagher. "W-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you in your room with Orimura?"

Looking a bit abashed he replied. "I-I couldn't sleep… so I thought I could walk for a bit until I feel sleepy again…"

"But you shouldn't be here, Links. The school regulations forbid the students from leaving their dorms after 9 P.M." Maya warned him worriedly, her more normal personality and teacher persona now back on display. "You could get in trouble if you stay here any longer."

"Sorry about that, ma'am." He apologized before giving the teacher a pleading look, "But could you let me stay here a bit longer?" he turned around and looked at the sky again, "I just want to see the stars."

"The stars?" Curious, Maya looked up and the expression on her face shifted to one of awe when she saw the number of stars in the sky tonight. "Oh my! They're so beautiful. I had no idea that there were so many visible tonight. Usually the lights from the city drown them out."

"Yeah…" Banagher said, lying on the grass again before he noticed that Maya was now sitting beside him much to his surprise. "Yamada-sensei?"

"Well, it's not good if you stay here by yourself, Links." She said as she scratched her cheek before looking at him with a small smile, "But maybe just this once, I could make an exception and say that I allowed it by staying with you."

Banagher gave his teacher a grateful look before he returned his gaze back to the sky. For a short time the two just sat there, doing nothing but enjoying the view of the silent night sky filled with the sea of stars.

Unfortunately for them, there was one thing that neither knew…

That they were being watched by one particular student in fox pajamas from her dorm room on the 2nd floor who coincidentally was having her midnight snack…

"E-eeehhh? Links and Yamada-sensei? No way! I have to tell the others tomorrow!" (End of Merry Go Round)

.

.

.

Universal Century – Earth's orbit

Two Mobile Suits; one a crimson red and the other black could be seen flying around the Earth as if they were looking for something. They were none other than the Sinanju and the Unicorn Gundam Unit 02 Banshee which had been upgraded with Armed Armor DE and Armed Armor XC into the Banshee Norn. Their pilots were Full Frontal who was after the last coordinate of the La+ Program to find Laplace's Box and Ensign Riddhe Marcenas who had been assigned by Alberto Vist to either bring Unicorn back into ECOAS' hands or destroy it in order to protect the secret of Laplace's box.

Although the two had entirely different ideas of what to do once they got their hands on the Unicorn, right now they had the same goal which had united them in this alliance… to find and capture the Unicorn Gundam…

"The Unicorn was last seen around here from what the report says if I'm not wrong." said Full Frontal from the Sinanju's cockpit.

"…" Riddhe didn't give any response and just kept silent as he trailed behind him. At his empty response, Sinanju's head began to turn and it looked at the Banshee over its shoulder.

"Is something wrong, Ensign?" The masked man casually asked him like he was asking a friend about the weather.

"…" Again, there was no reply.

"Well, I think I can understand your feelings for coming from an influential political family." He said sympathetically as the Sinanju's head turned back to its original orientation, "But-hmm…?"

Suddenly, the psycoframe sensor which had been installed in his cockpit to track down the Unicorn's whereabouts blinked several times albeit in a weak signal. Full Frontal noticed this and then looked at the coordinates of where the Unicorn Gundam had supposedly been. Strangely, when he checked their positions to locate where the Mobile Suit was, it turned out that both of them were floating right on top of their target's location.

'Odd… the readings indicate that the Unicorn is right where we are…' The masked man wondered, looking right and left, 'But then where is it?'

Suddenly a swirling purplish blue light appeared right before the two which caught their attention. Both of them were taken aback at first from the sight of the strange phenomenon until Full Frontal noticed something about the strange light; it possessed the same energy reading that had engulfed the Unicorn Gundam before it vanished inside the Psyco-field. Not only that, but he also noticed that the signal reading from the psycoframe sensor had become stronger for every second that they were near the light.

"The psycoframe reading is getting stronger from that light..." Full Frontal trailed off, "But what is-"

Before the masked man could finish, both Mobile Suits' operating systems suddenly blared a warning.

"WARNING! AN UNKNOWN ENTITY HAS BEEN DETECTED! EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION!"

From the light, purple lightning sparked out as the swirling light spiraled open, showing a single endless hole at its center, revealing itself to be a black hole. Immediately both the Sinanju and the Unicorn Banshee turned around, attempting to escape from getting sucked in by the black hole... if only their control systems weren't jammed from the anomaly caused by it.

"You damn terrorist! So this was your plan from beginning?!" Riddhe angrily yelled at him from his cockpit. "You are trying to trap me in the black hole so you can pursue Banagher and the Unicorn to get that 'Key' for yourself!"

"Ensign Riddhe, I don't have any intention of that." Despite the current situation which would put their lives at stake, the red Mobile Suit pilot calmly answered him, making the Banshee pilot even more agitated at this man that he felt an urge to just shoot him dead while he still had a chance. "We can settle it later. Right now, we have to find a way out of its range. Otherwi-"

The masked man couldn't finish his sentence and for the rest of the transmission, only static was heard. Ignoring what had happened, Riddhe stepped on the main booster propulsion pedal many times, hoping it would work while trying to activate the Armed Armored XC boosters.

"Come on! Move you useless piece of scrap metal!" cursed the Banshee pilot. "Damn you Full Frontal! Damn you all to hell!"

Inside the Sinanju's cockpit, Full Frontal was also facing the same situation. Fingers on one hand scrolled through the screen options while the other tried to reactivate the mobile suit's thrusters. And yet all of their attempts failed...

"Comm. link has been cut off, the controls are still not responding." Despite his calm voice, Full Frontal was actually as anxious as Riddhe behind his mask. "This isn't good... at this rate- what?"

The man's attention suddenly turned to the increasingly close black hole.

'The signal is getting stronger... could that mean that the 'Key' is...'

But before he could finish his thoughts, the entire panoramic view slowly turned dim before completely shutting off. Sighing, Full Frontal looked back at the now completely inactive psycoframe sensor. Now they were truly unable to escape their predicament. On the other hand, if the sensor signal grew stronger as they approached the black hole, that could mean the Unicorn Gundam and its pilot might be on the other side.

It also meant right now that the Sinanju and the Banshee Norn pilots were gambling their lives with the odds of 50% survival or not...

"I guess this is all or nothing then..."

And with that, Full Frontal released his hands from the controls and clasped them together, looking above with eyes closed behind his mask in resignation.

The next thing he felt was a complete darkness, devoid of anything before his consciousness left...

---

Aaaand that's it! Now I better continue my White Unicorn of SEED and my SD Sazabi project to custom paint it using spray cans.

R&R and no flames, okay? Good night everyone ;)