The 7th chapter is here! Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I've been kinda busy with my college's assignment, not to mention that I'm working on my thesis as one of my graduation requirement. I hope I could make it on time this year.
For the Gundam fans and builders out there, have you heard that Bandai has announced the new line of Gunpla called HG Revive? Basically, they are the remakes of the old HG Gunpla with better proportion, more anime accurate detail look.
Now to answer the non-account reviews:
Altemier - Here's the 7th chapter. Sorry for the 1 year delay.
Hibreed - Now, now there. I'll have to figure out of how he will make appearance there and affect the storyline. So it's still 50/50 that he will appear or not. #2 And I don't have any intention to include the outside Universal Century characters for now, unless I have a brand new story idea.
Guest - I honestly doubt it. While it's true that she helped testing the IS, she never used it to outer space.
Just an IS fan - My idea is limitless. MWAHAHAHAHA!
KO - Uhh let's put the Future Century and Anno Domini Gundam on hold for a while, OK? I have no intention to put them unless I come up with an entirely new fic idea.
WhoeverIam - Banagher has more harem than Ichika? Hmm... let's see about that later, shall we? And yeah, I have seen it. Man it was awesome! Bandai should make an official HGUC of it! Even if it's P-Bandai!
GUEST - Marida will make appearance later. Neo Zeong in IS form? I wonder how tall it would be then.
Guest#2 - Hahaha, you used romanji there, dude. You mean Unicorn Gundam Crystal Frame? Dude! That would be too OP considering its supernatural like capabilities!
Guest#3 - That a powerful enough Newtype can summon the deceased souls to power up? Or a person who loves to manipulate someone else for his own benefits deserves to die? I'll leave that to your imagination.
Guest#4 - Here you go, the 7th chapter. Read it and find it out. He both one handed or two handed depending of the situation.
Chiron - Thank you very much, sir.
Chapter 7: A Weighed Down Heart
IS Academy – Teacher's Office
When the morning sun had come, the teacher's office was unusually quite loud and filled with the conversations among the female teachers. Normally at this hour, the teachers should be preparing their teaching materials or question papers for tests. However, this time almost all of them save for Chifuyu and Maya who hadn't come yet were chattering with each other with serious expressions clearly shown on their faces as if something big had happened.
Apparently like the students who loved news and gossips, the news about a certain male student from Ireland being together with a certain green haired bespectacled teacher at school-park at midnight had spread out like fire not only among the students but also among the teachers and even the Academy's staffs. How and where they got the info in the first place was unknown but it was believed that some of them might have overheard the students since one of them was the witness.
Most teachers couldn't believe that Maya Yamada, the most timid teacher they had known for their carrier would actually make a move on one of her students. This news had arose the suspicions among the teachers that her shy attitude might just a facade she pulled on the others to hide the fact that she was actually into younger boys or worse a pedophile or shotacon.
"I still couldn't believe that Yamada-sensei would do something scandalous like that!" said one teacher.
"I know that Yamada-sensei has attractive figure and she's still young I think. But hitting on a boy who is way too younger than her is just..." another trailed off before she finally found her answer, "Terrible! Yes, terrible."
"I should have known there was something behind her shy and timid personality." exclaimed the teacher with a ponytail, "She was too innocent for a woman who still doesn't have a fiancée or at least a boyfriend yet."
"Does that mean Orimura-sensei's brother might be her next target?" The teacher with glasses gasped.
"Don't be silly! Did she have a death wish with her or what?"
"But I read from magazines and internets that when someone couldn't hold their sexual desires anymore, they would do anything to satisfy it even through irrational ways!" The teacher with glasses replied back, causing the ponytailed teacher gasp as she brought her hands together to her mouth. They dare not imagine the busty green haired teacher flirting or maybe seducing the younger boys. That mere thought alone was already more than enough to send shivers down their spines.
"How scary! Does that mean Yamada-sensei would-"
"Good morning everyone~" A sweet and cheerful voice suddenly had ceased the entire conversation mute. Almost every eye present in the room now shifted towards the entrance door where their very subject of the talk was standing there with her agenda books in hands, "What was everyone talking about?"
"Ah, nothing Yamada-sensei." one teacher quickly answered her to take control of the situation, "We were just discussing about what we should have for the lunch, that's all."
As lame as how the idea sounded, the green haired busty teacher actually bought that as she clasped her hands happily, "Really? Then, I'd like to eat udon for the lunch."
"Udon? Ah... um... yeah we will order udon for the lunch then." The teacher quickly agreed with her and then looked at others, "What do you think, ladies?"
At this, other teachers just gave simultaneous nods as their answer. Right now the very thing they wanted was to make sure Maya didn't hear a word of their conversation they had before and just acted everything was normal like usual. As Maya went to her work desk and put all of her papers and books on, she didn't even notice every other teacher who sighed in relief afterwards at their work desks.
When another teacher which was none other than the infamous strict raven haired teacher Chifuyu came in, she looked around the office and saw that everyone was busy with their paperwork and schedules before the first class session started. However, for some unknown reason, her hunch told her that something had just happened here before she came, even though she had no idea what it was.
...
Meanwhile in cafeteria
It was the breakfast time and all students were having their meals before the class began at 7 A.M. At one particular table, Ichika and Houki were having their breakfast together after the dawn practice session they had. Day after day of kendo practice and sparring to bring Ichika back into the shape, the kendo girl must admit that she was quite impressed with how their progress went so far. Back then when she trained Ichika again after years, he could barely hold his own against her and Houki could take him down only in one or two hits. Now Ichika could repel and counter her back although she still had the upper hand due of her experience and training.
However, the same couldn't be said so to the boy beside her. With a gloomy expression on his face, he took a bite of rice with his chopsticks.
This made Houki cocked her eyebrow curiously as she looked at him, "What's wrong?"
"Uh? Oh, Houki" Ichika responded, finally snapped out of his personal thoughts before looking at her, "Nothing, I'm just a bit-"
"You're very bad when it comes to lying, Ichika." She suddenly cut him and then narrowed her eyes at him, "It's clearly written on your face that something's bothering you. What is it?"
Putting his chopsticks on his bowl, Ichika took a long breath and sighed before he answered, "It's about Rin..."
'That girl again? Just what's so special about her aside from the cooking he told me?' Houki huffed silently, upset. While she could accept that Rin was another childhood friend of Ichika, it made her a bit jealous her when Ichika talked about her in front of her as if she was being second placed despite the fact that she was his first childhood friend. But right now she needed to hold that feeling a bit and get the answer. "What about... her?" She asked further.
"Rin seems mad at me." answered Ichika in slightly depressed tone, "Earlier when I met her in hallway, she ignored me and didn't even want to look at my face..." He trailed off before he looked at his half-empty rice bowl, "I wonder if she's still mad about yesterday..."
Houki almost got choked by her food when she heard the last part, luckily Ichika didn't notice it as the ponytailed girl regained her composure and drank her water to recover herself.
"Ichika! Just what happened between you and that girl yesterday?" Houki suddenly asked, her tone was clearly demanding an answer from him which startled the raven haired boy.
"W-we just talked after I trained with Banagher, that's all." Ichika answered with a stutter, shocked, confused, bewildered with Houki's sudden mood change.
"And what were exactly you talking about that now you look like this?" She interrogated him further.
"Ummm, it was..." Ichika scratched his left cheek while thinking for a good way how to explain her, "It was the promise that we made when we were still kids."
"A-a-a p-promise?!" Houki repeated the word with the look of utter disbelief on her face. She had just met Rin yesterday and her mere presence around Ichika was more than enough to annoy her since she was now her official rival. But after she learned something happened between them in which she wasn't a part of it was just too much for her.
The ponytailed girl then rose and slammed her hands on table, startling Ichika again and then glared at him.
"H-houki?"
"Ichika. What promise that you made with her and how could I don't know any of this?"
"W-well, it happened after you moved, so you didn't know about it." Ichika tried to reason with her but Houki's expression didn't change a bit, "As for the promise, 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...?"
"She then suddenly slapped me." At this, Houki blinked twice, not expecting she would receive that answer. The feeling of jealousy she had that almost on verge of exploding had vanished in an instant and was replaced with confusion as she heard him continue. "She called me a jerk, the most despicable guy ever, and she even hoped that I'll get bitten by a dog."
Finally feeling more self-controlled now, she sat back and asked again, "What did exactly happen?"
With another sigh, Ichika answered, "I only told her what I remembered about that promise. But then she suddenly got mad and slapped me then said those things. (Sigh) I really don't understand her sometimes..."
"Ichika..." Houki muttered as she started to understand what made her childhood crush sad like this. The expression on her face now also looked a bit sad. For years she had known him, Ichika was the type who always cared for others more than himself. She still remembered and had lost count how he always stood for her when she got bullied by other boys at school and how he always supported her when she was having hard times, but until now she had never done anything to him in return. It hurt her seeing her childhood friend at this state.
She wanted that this time, she would be the one who would help him, but there was only one way to help him and it wasn't something that she could do pleasantly: talking to Rin in hope that she could understand the root of the problem from the twin tailed girl's viewpoint.
'... I'm not really in the mood to talk with that Rin girl, but...' Houki thought with a frown and then glanced at Ichika who still looked depressed, 'I just couldn't stand to see Ichika like this. I have to-'
"EEEH?! Was it true?!" The voice of a random girl suddenly had interrupted her thought and also caught Ichika's attention. Looking at the source of the voice, the two saw Honne and her friends having a talk at the round table near the window.
"Yes it was! I saw it with my own eyes!" replied Honne.
"S-so what happened next? Did you see them doing 'this'?" Another girl asked, making kissing gesture with her hands with slight blush on her cheeks.
Honne shook her head, "Nu-uh. After I saw them, I immediately closed the window. Utsuho-nee told me that peeking at couple isn't a good thing."
"Aaaawwww~" At her answer, all girls hung their heads in disappointment. It was then when Ichika and Houki decided to join their conversation that seemed had caught their interests.
"Hey, what were you girls talking about?" Ichika asked them.
"Ah, Orimu and Shinonono." Honne said, noticing the two before she motioned them to sit, "Come and sit, we're talking about Links."
"Huh?" both Ichika and Houki raised their eyebrows slightly before they took free seats right beside her.
...
With Banagher
Banagher wondered if his situation couldn't become even worse than as it was now. This was still morning and the class session hadn't started yet, but he already had a feeling that there was something going on and it had something to do with him given from the strange looks and stares he earned from the students as he walked through the academy's hall to the cafeteria. He could even catch some of them whisper something about him such as 'forbidden love' or 'personal preference', 'adult woman' and many more.
'What are they talking about?' thought Banagher, 'And what do they mean with all of those things?'
But before the Gundam pilot could figure out the answer, a voice of girl clearing her throat had caught his attention to the source of the voice which turned out to be none other than Cecilia Alcott. The British girl was standing in front of him and for some reason she looked rather upset from the expression on her face and her arms crossed.
"Banagher." She said; her tone was serious, almost as if she wanted to interrogate him, "Care to explain this to me?"
"This?" Banagher quirked his eyebrow and looked at her strangely, "What are you talking about, Cecilia?"
"About what happened last night, of course!" The blonde haired girl almost shouted, "I heard from other students that you were together with Yamada-sensei at the park last night!"
"What!?" Banagher was genuinely surprised with this. He didn't expect that a student or maybe a few of them would be still awake that midnight and saw them. A realization then finally hit him why the students acted like this as if they were secretly talking about him.
'I get it now! They must have thought me and Miss Maya were in 'that kind of relationship' because of yesterday!' thought Banagher.
"Well?" Cecilia was getting impatient as she walked closer to him that her face was only about centimeters from his, "So was it true or not?"
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the closeness they had, Banagher gently pushed Cecilia away and answered, "Cecilia, I honestly have no idea who told you that in the first place, but what you heard was true."
The British girl gasped and her eyes went wide in shock, but Banagher continued, "But don't get it wrong. Last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to take walk in the park. Yamada-sensei then caught me stargazing near the pond and we ended up stargazing together, nothing more."
Cecilia placed her hands on hips and cocked her eyebrow at him, still not entirely convinced with his answer, "Hmmm... Really?"
"I'm telling you the truth. Besides, I have no reason to tell lie to you at all."
For a moment, Cecilia's expression remained same until the blonde haired girl held her chest and sighed in relief, her face then softened again.
"So those rumors about you and Yamada-sensei weren't true after all." Cecilia said and then held Banagher's hand, much to his surprise. "I'm so sorry for not believing you, Banagher. How foolish I am, I shouldn't have listened to them in the first place."
"Uh, that's okay, Cecilia." Banagher replied, but then he suddenly found himself being dragged by Cecilia, "Hey! Where are you taking me?"
Looking over her shoulder while running together, the England Representative replied, "Why, to cafeteria of course. We have to clear it out to everyone there that those rumors are bogus. Besides, I have prepared my special homemade sandwiches for your breakfast." she said the last part with a wink.
...
Later in Class 1-1
With the truth had been revealed that Banagher and Maya relationship were just a misunderstanding, the majority of students, especially from their class were either relieved or disappointed. The former rejoiced in relief since that meant the Ireland Representative was still 'free' and they still had chance on him while the latter on the other hand lamented in disappointment that their hopes of seeing how the forbidden relationship between teacher and student would progress had gone forever.
Right, even among the female students, there were some of them who actually shipped this kind of romantic relationship from the manga they read aside from the boys love.
Sitting in his desk, Banagher rubbed his temple with an annoyed expression as if he was having a migraine after such the eventful morning. While he was grateful to Cecilia for helping him out from this false rumor, that still didn't reduce the number of students from outside his class who were still gossiping about his relationship with the green haired teacher. It was understandable though since not all students from all three years were present at cafeteria, but still he hoped that this would end soon as he already had enough of this.
'I can't believe that I'm going to say it, but for once, I prefer myself to be in my class listening to Professor Bancroft's history lectures right now...'
Another student then came to his desk which then caught his attention to turn around and see his roommate Ichika standing there with a slightly worried expression.
"Ichika?" The Gundam pilot blinked at him, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, hi Banagher. Nothing... it's just..." The raven haired boy scratched his cheek, thinking his words carefully so he wouldn't offend him. While Ichika only wanted to clarify whether the news from the Honne girl about him and Maya was true or not, he couldn't risk that the poor choice of words would get him on his bad side which could worsen their friendship just because of his curiosity.
Finally, the younger Orimura then asked, "Houki and I heard from Nohotoke that there's something going on between you and Yamada-sensei. Is that true?"
"Again with this..." Banagher muttered, a bit annoyed before answering him, "It's all just a misunderstanding. Yamada-sensei just caught me stargazing at the park because I couldn't sleep yesterday. Then we ended up stargazing together until I felt tired, that's all. I thought Cecilia already told you that at cafeteria."
"She did?" Ichika raised his eyebrow and the glanced at Cecilia's seat before looking at him again. But before he could ask more questions like the reason of why he couldn't sleep last night, the bell suddenly rang, signaling the first session was about to start which prompted him and other students to go back in their seats.
When Chifuyu and Maya came in, everyone immediately behaved at the presence of the raven haired teacher. However, when Maya passed Banagher's seat, she waved her hand slightly at him with a small smile, an act that instantly earned the brown haired boy the stares from all his classmates with exception of two teachers.
Banagher sighed in defeat. It seemed this issue wouldn't end sooner than he hoped.
...
Meanwhile in Class 1-2
Rin wasn't in her usual high-spirited self. During the class session, all the girl did was looking outside the window while propping her chin on her desk and tapped her finger. Sometimes she even sighed without actually paying attention to what the teacher was teaching about. Her classmates who either sat in front or behind her tried to call her out of her stupor, so she wouldn't get herself into trouble, but the twin tailed girl was too preoccupied in her own train of thoughts.
It was then when someone finally cleared her throat and then called her name, getting the China's representative attention which was none other than her teacher who looked very unpleased with how one of her student was paying attention to somewhere else rather to her lecture.
"(Ahem!) Did you understand what I just said, Miss Huang?"
Rin was surprised when her teacher called her name. Out of her reflex, she immediately stood up and answered loud, "Ah y-yes! The answer is two-thirds, ma'am!"
There was a brief silence among the class before the entire student burst out in laughter. From the reactions she got, Rin knew that either she had answered wrong or...
"Miss Huang Lingyin! We are in IS technical engineering class now!" The teacher scolded her in stern loud voice which caused Rin to flinch. When the students finally stopped laughing, the teacher leaned on the wall and took a deep breath then sighed.
"Miss Huang. Please remember that you are now a Class 1-2 representative for the upcoming interclass tournament which means your actions will reflect upon the reputation of this class and your classmates." The teacher reminded her, fixing her glasses.
"Just because you are a representative contender from China and you have your own personal unit, that doesn't mean you could just daydream in your seat while ignoring me all the time! If you can't follow my teachings and find them boring instead, I could just strip your status as class-rep and give it to someone else here who is more qualified to hold that position! Do I make myself clear, young lady?" The teacher glared at her from behind her frameless glasses.
"Y-yes, ma'am. I... I'm really sorry for my action and I won't do it again..." stuttered Rin in low voice while looking down in shame.
Feeling a bit satisfied, the teacher nodded, "Good. Now you may sit back and I hope nothing will distract you anymore."
When the twin tailed girl sat back as she had been told, she could still hear some students were snickering at her misfortune. Her face started to turn red in shame as she opened her textbook and used it to hide her face. Never in her life, Rin felt so ashamed of herself and that was because of someone's fault that she got herself into this.
Well, at least from her perspective...
'Stupid Ichika, it's all your fault!' Rin mentally blamed him. 'Why didn't you get it? If only you weren't dense as a brick...'
...
Later in Class 1-1
"Okay, so that concludes this part of the topic." Maya said, closing her textbook followed by the students. Currently, Chifuyu was nowhere to be seen as she had been called for the sudden meeting which left Maya and the students only. The teacher then leaned forward on her desk and looked around, "Do you have any question before we continue?"
A girl then raised her hand up. Coincidentally, she was the same girl who asked her about the resemblance between IS-pilot relationships with a couple.
"Yes ma'am. We heard rumors that you are in relationship with Links. Is that true?" She asked quite loudly.
When Banagher heard the question came from her mouth, he could only face palm himself and dropped his head on his desk, groaning in defeat. Ichika could only give him a sympathetic look while Houki sighed, mentally felt sorry at the misfortune Banagher had. Cecilia was very shocked; her face blushed slightly upon the boldly asked question as she looked at the said girl.
Maya was taken aback at the unexpected question her student asked and gasped in shock then brought her hands to cover her mouth. Her face then turned a bit red from embarrassment. "W-w-what's with that question?" She stuttered.
"Nonohon said that last night she saw both of you together near the pond at park. Right?" The girl turned to Honne who merely nodded several times before looking back at the green haired teacher.
"Yamada-sensei. Please tell us the truth." Cecilia suddenly stood from her seat, her face looked quite or rather very anxious, "As a student of this class and for the sake of our class' reputation, I couldn't just let a rumor about our vice-class representative spread out like this without actually knowing the truth behind it."
"Yeah, sensei. Please tell us the truth." Another student stood up and asked her, adding more pressure to the green haired teacher.
"E-eeh? Uuuh..." Maya now was nervous. She knew that it was just a mere coincidence when she saw him wandering around the park that had brought them watching the stars together, but she didn't know how to explain it. Either she was afraid if her answer would bring the girls more misunderstandings or she was too nervous to answer that.
"We really want to know if you did-"
"THERE'S NOTHING HAPPENED BETWEEN YAMADA-SENSEI AND I!" A very loud yell suddenly silenced the entire class in an instant. Everyone was surprised by the sudden outburst and then turned to Banagher who had his eyes closed with a very annoyed expression. Normally, he wouldn't care and just ignore it when he was being talked about, but enough was enough. This time, he felt things had gone too far.
After calming himself by taking a long breath, he continued, "Yamada-sensei just caught me watching the stars last night at park and we ended up watching together. Nothing more happened after that... right, Yamada-sensei..?" he looked at the teacher.
"Ah, um... well..." Maya scratched her cheek first before turning to her students, "As he said, there was nothing happened between us last night. I can assure that."
"So... you two just stargazed together and nothing more?" asked a random student.
"Yeah, just stargazed together and... nothing more..." Maya replied and then sat back, but then her expression turned a bit sad when she said the last part. At her answer, some students once again groaned as they sat back. After a brief of silence, the class door slid open, revealing the homeroom teacher Chifuyu Orimura.
"Sorry for being late, Yamada-sensei. The meeting took longer than I expected." The woman said as she entered the class, but once again she was greeted by an utter silence.
Feeling that had happened while she was at the meeting, she approached the green haired teacher, "Yamada-sensei. Did something happen while I wasn't here?"
"Ah, nothing happened, Orimura-sensei. Not at all." replied her.
Chifuyu however raised her eyebrow. 'Something had obviously happened here while I was gone and she didn't want to tell me. But what was it?' She wondered, 'Well, I could always ask her later.'
The black haired woman then turned to the students, "Alright, since Yamada-sensei has explained to you this far, we can now continue to..."
And so, with the return of the black haired teacher, the class then continued normally as usual, well... almost if one didn't count a bitter heart feeling teacher assistant at her desk and one particular male student who looked both a bit tired and annoyed...
...
Later at evening in arena 3
That evening, Banagher and Ichika were having another sparring again without Houki watching them this time. Since the arena 1 was being prepared for the upcoming match, they had to use another arena for their sparring match. As Ichika now had finally got better feeling of his movement and control, he requested his training partner to do mock battle from beginning instead of warming up with basic training which the latter agreed considering the very little amount of time they had until the tournament not less than two days. Thanks to the intense kendo training he and Houki had for days, Ichika had remembered some of the advanced moves he learned before and he had built more stamina to go on.
The Byakushiki made its first move by dashing towards Unicorn and did an overhead slash, but the latter just sidestepped and then used its saber to hold down the grounded Yukihira. Ichika gritted his teeth and then pulled his sword back and then spun around to give Banagher a surprise horizontal slash. To anticipate this, the Gundam pilot grabbed the blade portion of Byakushiki's weapon inches before it hit him and pulled his opponent inside. Seeing his opponent was quite startled from his move, Banagher then used this chance to sneak up behind Ichika and did a vertical slash with his beam saber.
Ichika saw that Banagher wanted to strike him from behind. Out of his instinct, he immediately spun around and raised his katana in defensive stance, blocking the incoming beam saber slash. For a moment, two ISes were just in deadlocked position until they finally backed away to get some distance from each other.
"Raaaaaaahhh!" With a battle cry, Ichika once again leaped to his opponent. This time, he aimed the Yukihira straight at him. From behind his helmet, Banagher's eyes widened a bit at how Byakushiki's speed kept increasing as Ichika dashed towards him. However, the difference between their reaction time had gave Banagher an upper hand as the Unicorn Gundam used its booster to dash towards Byakushiki as well and then tilted its booster slightly to change its trajectory from straight line to slight left, completely missing the tip of the Yukihira blade and then raised his right arm.
"Wha!?" Ichika was surprised when his attack was missed and instead he was faced with metallic arm of Banagher's IS. Next thing he saw was his vision suddenly got turned upside down before he realized that he had been knocked down by Banagher's lariat move.
"Ichika... are you okay?" He heard the Unicorn pilot ask as the faceplate of Unicorn Gundam dissipated, showing his concerned look.
"I'm fine Banagher. Just a bit startled, that's all." answered Ichika before he stood again using his Yukihira as support.
"Do you still want to continue?"
The answer he got was a nod from the raven haired boy before he nodded back at him. The faceplate formed again and both combatants then readied their weapons again. However, just before either of them could make their move, there was a loud whistle which halted their battle. Turning to the source of the whistle, both Ichika and Banagher then saw Chifuyu in her tracksuit walking towards them.
The elder Orimura sibling walked up to Banagher first, "Sorry, for interrupting your sparring, but I want to borrow Orimura for a while. You can return to your dorm first, Links."
"Ah, okay then, Orimura-sensei." at her request, Banagher then deactivated his IS and then went back inside the changing room, surprising Ichika who didn't hear their conversation.
"Huh? Hey Banagher, where are you going?" Ichika called the running figure of Banagher but the said boy was already gone inside. Confused, he turned to his sister who now was approaching him "Chifuyu-nee, what did you tell hi-"
*BONK!*
A fistful hand instantly landed on his head before Ichika could finish his sentence, causing the younger Orimura sibling wince and then rubbed his head in pain.
"What did I tell you about that!?"
"S-sorry, I mean Orimura sensei." Ichika apologized and then corrected himself. After he had recovered from the pain on his head, his eyes widened when a holographic screen suddenly appeared from Byakushiki which showed him his shield energy had decreased one point from the fist on his head.
'Seriously!? Even a mere fist from her could cause a minor damage!?' thought Ichika in horror. While he already knew that her sister had earned the title 'The Strongest Woman', to able to damage an IS with her bare hand albeit with very minor damage had taken it too literally to the new level.
Feeling satisfied either from his response or punishing his brother, Chifuyu then cleared her throat, snapping Ichika out of his thought as well getting his attention.
"Now Orimura, I suppose you're wondering why I'm here, right?"
"Uh-huh." He replied with a nod.
Chifuyu then smirked a bit, "Well, since you now had gotten used with your IS, I'm going to teach you a special move that would give you advantage for your first match."
"Huh?" Ichika blinked twice at her words, almost didn't believe what she just said before he questioned her, "Are you okay, with this, Chifu- I mean Orimura-sensei? Isn't that a bit unfair for my opponent?"
"That's coming from an inexperienced class representative who never fights in an actual match and will go up against an experienced representative contender who had been fighting up for her status." The black haired woman simply replied back which was more than enough to make her brother slump in defeat.
"I guess... you're right..." muttered the boy before he looked up at her face, "So what kind of special move will you teach me?"
...
With Rin
Rin was walking in the hallway with her face looked down at the floor in depression. The sound of her footsteps echoed through the hall as she was the only one walking there. She still couldn't get over what happened yesterday. Deep within her heart, the twin tailed girl felt guilty for slapping Ichika after not seeing each other for years. But she had lost control of herself when she heard his answer and couldn't resist herself from slapping him.
Rin wanted to apologize to him; however a part of her also felt that she wasn't entirely guilty for slapping and badmouthing him. Ichika also had the same share of fault of not getting the meaning behind their promise, and for that he deserved to get beaten by her in interclass tournament.
But then again, remembering how Ichika was quite dense and insensitive back then when they were small, she should have expected it. Besides, the promise she and Ichika had made was a very long time ago and it wasn't strange if Ichika didn't fully remember it, and despite of that he still tried to. Perhaps she had expected too much from him?
Feeling frustrated with her mixed feelings and inner struggle in her heart, the Chinese girl then finally screamed out.
"AAAAAH! This is so frustrating! Why can't I just say that I like him already!?"
The twin tailed girl then breathed in and out to calm herself before she continued walking. After a few more steps ahead, Rin then spotted a door with its light was still on followed by the sound of the locker opened. She then immediately recognized that it was the pilot changing room where she slapped Ichika yesterday.
Without wasting any time, the girl then rushed towards the door and then peeped from the window to see who was inside. Because the door used the frosty glass, Rin couldn't get a clear view of the person who was changing inside, but from the masculine appearance the long trousers the figure wore, she could tell it was a guy.
'I-Ichika...!?'
Rin was about to grab the doorknob and open it but then suddenly stopped. Should she open it? She had been avoiding him this entire day that she didn't even want to greet him back because she was too upset with him that time.
'W-what should I say when I see him? It would be very awkward for us if I don't say anything!' Rin thought frantically, 'Aaah, what should I do?!'
But then, Rin shook her head to diminish that thought. "Get a hold of yourself Rin! This might be my only chance to make up and confess to him! Yeah, it's now or never!" She told herself.
After finally calming herself, the twin tailed girl then grabbed the doorknob firmly like she wouldn't let it go from her hand and...
"Ichika! I want to sa-"
She suddenly paused in the middle when she found out that the person inside the changing room wasn't Ichika at all! It was none other than Banagher Links and the boy was half naked in the middle of changing his clothes! Right, she forgot that there was another male student in this school since she was too preoccupied with her thoughts about Ichika. Rin could even see his upper body which she could describe as slim and semi build from the faint muscles on his shoulders, chest and belly. With the addition of the sweats running down his face and body, it was such a tempting sight that could maybe make any girl red and have nosebleed.
Blood suddenly rushed to her face and Rin found herself blushing, unable to say anything as she was frozen in her place. Worried at her current state, Banagher put his towel on the bench and then approached her.
"Umm... Huang? Are you... okay?" He asked but there was no response from her. Confused, the Gundam pilot then waved his hand in front of her to make sure she was okay.
"A... aa... aaa..." finally Rin was able to utter some words, but that was only for a moment before...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
...
A moment later
"So you thought I was Ichika?" Banagher asked, now fully dressed. Currently the two was sitting on the bench next to each other with Rin was looking down in shame. Not only she had mistaken the boy next to her as Ichika but she also had given him a good slap on his cheek out of her freak after seeing him half-naked.
"Yeah..." answered Rin with a nod before she noticed the red hand mark on the boy's left cheek. "Oh, and sorry about your cheek, I didn't really mean that."
"Ah, that's okay. Really." Banagher tried to reassure her, "But if I may know, what brings you here to see Ichika?"
She looked back at the floor, a bit hesitant before finally answering him in low voice, "I... I wanted to apologize for what I did to him yesterday..."
"You mean for slapping him?"
"Wha-!?" Rin's eyes went wide at this as she looked back at the boy, surprised. "How did you?"
"He told me last night." The Gundam pilot simply explained her, "He told me that you slapped him because he didn't get the meaning of the promise both of you had made back then."
There was a moment of silence between the two. The twin tailed girl then brought up her knees and curled up herself. A sad frown then appeared on her face before she turned to Banagher.
"It was actually a confession! My confession to him that I like him ever since we were little kids!" She exclaimed, almost yelling at the brown haired boy before looking away from him, "But that numbskull... he didn't get it... he didn't get it that all..."
"So is that why you two ended up wagering on whoever wins the tournament?" Banagher asked again, raising his eyebrow slightly.
"So he told you about that too, huh?" Rin took a long breath and sighed before she nodded slightly. "Yeah... if he wins which I doubt that would happen, I'll tell him directly about my feelings to him." She answered with a sad smile while still looking down at floor, "But if he loses, he will have to do any one thing I want..."
"...And what could it be?"
"That... uhhh..." At this, a faint blush appeared on the girl's cheeks. She was a bit nervous as she played with her fingers before answering him, "If... if I win, I will ask him to be my boyfriend..."
"Huh?"
Rin then held her chest and then explained him, "I have harbored these feelings for long enough ever since I saw him last time." she then finally turned to face him again with an anxious look on her face, "I... I'm just afraid that if I didn't act first, I might lose him to other girl like that Shinonono!"
After the twin tailed girl had voiced out her inner feelings, she looked down again, leaving Banagher alone to comprehend her words. Banagher wasn't an expert when it came to problems like this one, he didn't know anything about one-sided love nor he really cared about it. He wasn't like Micott who really loved to talk about boyfriends and stuffs with her friends every time when he overheard them. However, seeing Rin in tangled state like this had made him feel that he should help her or at least ease up her feelings.
Finally, Banagher then spoke up, "Huang, I-"
"Nah,I told you to just call me Rin, Banagher. There's no need to be formal with another student, you know." She suddenly cut him, waving her hand in diminishing gesture.
"Okay, Rin." He corrected himself, "While I don't know what happened between you and Ichika, nor I want to know..." he trailed off before continuing, "Don't you think you're being a bit too forceful on him?"
"Huh?" The girl was quite baffled with his words as she looked at him, "What do you mean?"
"You have your feelings towards him, I can understand that." explained Banagher. The boy then stood up in front of her, "But have you ever gave a consideration whether he actually feels the same about you or not?"
Rin's eyes went wide when she heard that question. She didn't know how to answer that. She had a crush on him ever since their childhood, but she never thought in that way. She was too focused on how to win his affection. "...! That... I..."
"Ichika is a good man who values his friends including you, I can see that..." She heard him speak again, "But what if your friendship with him would change forever just because you want him to notice your feelings so much? I'm not saying that you should give up on him, but I'm just not sure if he wants it to turn into that way..."
There was a brief silence before Rin finally looked up at his face with an exasperated look, "Then what should I do now!? I don't want him to reject me, but... I also don't want our friendship end because of that..."
"Give him time." was his simple reply to her which earned him another confused look from the twin tailed girl.
"Huh?"
"Give him time until you feel that he is ready to hear what you want to say and then let him decide what the best is afterwards for both of you." Banagher explained her, "After that, it's up to you whether you want to accept his decision or not."
After Banagher finished his sentence, there was an utter silence between two students. Neither of them said anything until Banagher then heard a small chuckle coming from the twin tailed girl.
"You know what... you are quite a wise man for someone around my age." Rin said with a hint of amusement in her voice before she cocked her eyebrow curiously at him, "Are you really fifteen?"
Banagher chuckled back while scratching the back of his head sheepishly at her remark. Full of wisdom? He only copied what Captain Bright did to him to encourage him back. Also fifteen? Technically he was sixteen, so he was actually older from first year students here.
Rin took another long breath and sighed. But instead of exasperation, it was the feeling of a relief that she felt now. "You know, I think I'm feeling better now after talking to you. It feels like a heavy weight has been lifted off from my shoulder." She said and then stood from the bench and then thanked him, "Thanks for accompanying me, Banagher."
The twin tailed girl then ran towards the door to leave. But before she left out the room, she suddenly turned around and pointed her finger at Banagher.
"But that doesn't mean I'll hold any punches to him. The deal is still on!" declared Rin before she scratched her cheek in consideration. "Although, I'll maybe reconsider it if that Ichika loses... Bye, Banagher."
"Bye..." Banagher waved her with a small smile. As the figure of the Chinese representative had finally gone, Banagher suddenly found himself a bit guilty over what he had done as his expression turned into frown. He only intended to mean that Rin should take her way slowly before she confessed to Ichika, but he felt that he had given the other girl alias Houki an unfair advantage. From how the ponytailed talked and spent her time together with Ichika, it didn't take a love expert to tell that at least she also harbored the same feelings towards the raven haired boy just like Rin.
And he basically had just told Rin to hold her feelings because he didn't want her to get a breakdown out her fear that other girls might win over his affection.
"Did I... do the right thing..?" He questioned himself before walking out of the room.
This chapter serves as the prelude before the battle between Ichika and Rin (which will have my additions of course, heheheheh).
Next chapter will be longer and it will be after my 3rd chapter of my CROSS ANGE and Gundam UC crossover fic.
R&R and until next time.