Chapter 5; The German Terror

To say that Simon didn't get a good night's sleep would be an understatement. Having only been able to sleep after about 1 am due to exhaustion, he awoke at 7 to find himself in the same position he had been when he passed out. That is, there was a certain blue haired girl using him as a body pillow, her head tucked into the side of his chest. Thank God no one walked in on this he thought as he looked around for a way to get free. Tatenashi Sarashiki was surprisingly stronger than she appeared, since the arms wrapped around his stomach felt more like bindings. The fact that she had wrapped his left leg with her own didn't help either. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat in an effort to wake the girl up. She opened her eyes immediately, startling him. "What, not comfortable anymore? You sure didn't mind last night." She teased, shifting around in the bed and pressing closer to him.

"I was wondering when you would release me, since we have classes today. And how long have you been awake, anyway?" he asked, trying again to get up, and again failing. This just caused her to giggle again as she tried to fall back asleep. I didn't want to do this, but you've forced my hand he thought as he summoned one of his fang bits. Maneuvering it behind her, he used just the slightest amount of pressure possible and poked her in the butt with the tip of the plasma blade, causing her to yelp and sit up in surprise, clutching said butt. The second he was free, Simon leapt off his side of the bed and started gathering his clothes for the day. "Aww, you're no fun, Simon. Besides, I could have gotten you out of class today, anyway." Tatenashi said, puffing her cheeks up and getting off the bed. "Yeah, cause spending a day locked in this room with you would do me worlds of good." He said, moving towards the bathroom. "Is that an invitation? My, I didn't know you could be so bold, Feli." She whispered into his ear from behind, causing him to jump. Damn, she could move quietly. Controlling any further reaction, he went into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. "I hear you messing with the lock, there will be consequences." He called out as he turned the shower on.

Damn, how can she do that? He thought, feeling a blush coming on as he remembered the events of last night. She had kept him up with constant teasing, innuendo, and rubbing herself on his arm towards the end. Shaking his head to clear it, Simon went about preparing for the day. As he walked out of the bathroom, he saw Tatenashi holding up a pair of panties and examining them. "You ruined my favorite bottom." She said, turning it so he saw the hole. "Well, that's what you get for not taking a-" he stopped midway as a thought crossed his mind. She didn't open a drawer, and she's examining her underwear, her underwear from this morning. Turning around and leaning on the wall, he fought down the blush coming up, barely. "Oh? What's the matter, Feli? You thinking naughty things about me?" she asked, the last part practically breathed into his ear. Clenching his teeth and screwing his eyes shut, he managed to say, "J-just get changed, please, for the love of everything good." She just blew into his ear once more before going into the bathroom, giggling to herself as always. Moving as if he had been shocked, Simon quickly gathered his stuff for class and was out the door before Tatenashi realized it.

That woman is ten kinds of danger he concluded as he slowed down to a walk after leaving the dorms. When he arrived at the classroom, he noticed Ichika and Charles acting odd. Charles was fidgeting at his desk, and the two weren't looking at each other. The hell happened to those two? Before he could ask, a folder collided with his head, sending him stumbling forward a step. Turning around, he saw Chifuyu in the doorway, glaring at him. "Nice of you to join us, Mr. Felix. Kindly take your seat, while you're still able." After practically launching himself into his seat, Chifuyu walked up to the center of the classroom and turned to address the whole class. "We have another new student today. You will treat her with the same respect that you show others." As if on que, the new student walked into the room. She wasn't much taller than Rin, but her hair was silver and fell loosely down her back. Instead of a skirt like most of the girls here, her uniform had been modified with rather baggy pants. The most striking detail about her, though, was the eye patch over her left eye. After scanning the classroom, her gaze settled on Ichika and stayed there, turning into a glare that could kill.

"This is Laura Bodewig, the Representative Candidate of Germany." Chifuyu stated simply before turning to prepare the board for the days lessons. Taking this opportunity, Laura walked up to Ichika's desk. Before the bluenette could introduce himself, she slapped him, saying, "I will not accept you as her brother." before continuing to her own seat. Needless to say, this left the entire classroom a little stunned, except Chifuyu, who just continued on with the lessons. After breaking for lunch, Simon steered Ichika to the rooftop. There were just too many questions too early in the morning for his taste. Thankfully, they had both decided to bring lunch today. "Okay, what the heck did you do to that girl?" he asked as they sat down to eat. He was thankful that the girls would be busy gathering their food from the cafeteria before joining them. It would give him a chance to get the story straight with Ichika.

"I have no clue. I never even met that girl till today. And before you ask, yes, I would remember silver hair and an eye patch." Ichika replied, opening his box lunch. "What was with that, anyway? Did she lose an eye, or is she just trying to look cool?" Simon mused as he took a bite from his ham sandwich. While cooking wasn't his strong suit, and hadn't been for a while, Simon had learned to make do with the simpler foods a long time ago. The two boys continued talking for a while until the girls showed up with their own food. Without even pausing, Cecilia sat down facing Simon and asked, "How was your night? I heard that you made quite the commotion coming down from the fifth floor." Snorting his water at the abruptness of the question, he looked up to see a serious look on her face. Looking to the others, he just saw various grins as they waited for his answer. "Well…. I wouldn't recommend a night with Tatenashi to anyone, I can tell you that much. The girl doesn't know the meaning of personal space." As soon as the last words were out of his mouth, he realized he had made a mistake. Cecilia and Rin got a very serious look on their faces as they leaned in. "By 'personal space, you mean..?" Cecilia began.

"N-nothing like that! I would never!" Simon corrected quickly, feeling his cheeks grow warm. Seeing the relieved looks on their faces, he couldn't help but smile. So, the both of them, huh? he thought. "And besides, I'm not into crazy, so your position is safe, princess." He added, looking away. He could feel the heat of her blush at that one, as well as everyone trying really hard not to laugh. Except for Rin, who seemed a little put out. The rest of their day went by fairly peacefully, even though Laura glared at Ichika like she expected him to spontaneously combust. As class was dismissed for the day, they learned that next week would be dedicated to another class tournament. As they left the classroom, Simon and Ichika started to look forward to the notion of fighting each other again. That is, until Rin delivered some rather disturbing news.

She had rushed to meet up with them as they left the building. Without even pausing for breath, she asked, "So, who are you two pairing up with?" "Huh?" they both said, confused. Their Chinese friend just sighed and shook her head at the cluelessness in the two boys. "Didn't you hear? The matches are team-based. It's going to be two on two. Jeez, I would expect this from Ichika, but not you, idiot." She said, turning to Simon. "Stop calling me idiot, shrimp!" he responded, starting yet another fight that lasted until they made it to the dorms. After parting at the elevators, Simon took one up to the fifth floor alone, trying to get a moment to think. Team based, huh? Should prove to be interesting. As he entered his room, he was greeted by Tatenashi in a rather revealing apron.

"Welcome back! Would you like dinner, a massage, or perhaps," she said, looking completely innocent, "Me?" "W-what the-? What?" was all he managed since his brain was totally fried. "I said, would you like some food, or perhaps you would like to…have…me?" she asked again, leaning in and practically whispering into his ear. Digging deep into what remained of his self-control, which wasn't much since he had needed to restrain himself from challenging the German the whole day, he managed to say, "Tatenashi, please, not today." Somehow, she took the hint and backed up a bit. "Don't worry, I'm wearing a swimsuit under this." She said, winking and turning around to show him that it was half true. She was wearing the bottom of a two-piece swimsuit. Smacking his forehead to bring himself back to reality, Simon walked over to his bed and flopped down, exhausted. Tatenashi had indeed been cooking, and the soup smelled heavenly.

"Just please don't ask me about dessert, Tatenashi." Simon begged as he closed his eyes, triggering another fit of giggles from the girl. "What's the matter, tough day? If anyone is giving you a hard time, just let me know, I'll handle it." She said, turning around to look at him. "Sure, sure." "No, I mean it." She replied, causing Simon to open his eyes again. The serious look she had was enough to convince him she meant it. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why? You've only known me for two days." he asked, sitting back up. "What, I'm not allowed to stick up for my roommate now?" she asked back, looking hurt. This threw Simon off a bit, and he decided to just shake his head and let the matter drop. After the soup had finished and they had both filled a bowl, Simon decided that there was a particular matter he had to settle with this girl, for his own peace of mind if nothing else.

"Tatenashi, can I ask you to be honest with me?" he began, setting his bowl aside. She looked a little shocked, but nodded her head. "Okay, are you actually trying to go anywhere with this, or are you just flirting for fun?" Tatenashi just sat there, her spoon rested on her chin, thinking. After a bit, she responded with a question of her own. "Did you want it to go anywhere?" Surprised that she had responded without making it into some kind of sexual joke, Simon decided to continue. "I won't say that you're not an attractive girl. You are. It's just that, well, I may have…" he said before trailing off. "Found someone already?" she finished with a small smile on her lips. Simon just blushed slightly and nodded, not trusting his voice. Setting her own bowl aside, she sat on the bed next to Simon and took his left hand in her own. "I won't lie and say I didn't think about having you for myself. But, I respect you enough as a person to let you decide this on your own." Simon just sat there, gaping.

"I did see the footage of when you fought the Ogre, and I watched your official battle with your classmates, and your sparing match with Ichika." She continued, looking at him, "So I already know you're a capable pilot, as well as a kind person. If nothing else, I would like to be your friend, if you wouldn't mind." Taking a few moments to collect himself, since he had expected everything else except this response, he finally found his voice again. "I wouldn't mind being your friend. Just, please try and keep the teasing to a minimum?" At this, she just giggled and kissed his cheek. "No promises."

The week passed fairly quickly, and before anyone knew it, it was Friday afternoon. Simon had spent some of his free time rigging up a special surprise for a particular silver-haired nuisance. Hiding just down the hall from her room with a remote in his hand, he glanced at Ichika and Cecilia, who had chosen to follow him. "Are you sure about this? If she figures out you did it, she will kill you." Ichika asked for the third time. "For the last time, I know what I'm doing. I'm an engineer, remember? Messing with some pipes isn't that hard." Simon replied as Rin came back from listening at Laura's door. She was especially looking forward to this particular trick since Laura had been getting on her nerves, too. "Okay, she's in the shower now." She reported as she hid behind Simon. Better to let him take the brunt of it should this go wrong. With an evil smile, he flipped the only switch on the remote and started counting.

Five, six, seven, eight. As he hit ten, they heard a scream from Laura's room and they all bust out laughing, even Ichika. Simon had spent the last three days tracing water pipes until he found the one to Laura's room, specifically the one to her shower. He had then quickly rigged a remote bypass system to route the cold water into the hot water pipe. After he had recovered, he flipped the switch again to bring the hot water back and quickly shooed everyone away should the German come out in the hall. And that is why you don't piss of an engineer he thought smugly as they left the dorms to conduct their regular practice in one of the stadiums.

After changing, Ichika and Simon arrived to see that Houki and Charles were already there; Houki looking a little pissed that they were late, and Charles looking a little nervous at seeing them. "Hey, Ichika, what the heck happened between you and Charles?" Simon asked, causing the bluenette to blush slightly. "U-umm, well, nothing 'happened,' if that's what you mean. But, uh, he…surprised me with something." he answered, looking away. Realizing he's not going to get a straight answer out of him, Simon summoned his IS and brought up several targets for fang bit practice. Damnit, the helmet isn't aligned properly, again he thought with annoyance as he tried to straighten it with one hand. He hadn't realized that Cecilia was behind him and watching him mess with the helmet. "Why do you wear that if it doesn't fit properly? You know your shields cover your head, right?" she asked, confused. "It's a little more complicated than that. Let's just say I need it to make my IS function properly." He replied. As he turned to face her, he saw a flash from one of the launch bays and barely brought his shield up in time to deflect a rather large cannon shell.

"AMERICAN!" Laura screamed from where she stood in her own IS, drawing the attention of everyone else on the field. Her IS was built more like a tank, with the only obvious weapon being a shoulder mounted railgun on her right side. She was also looking like death incarnate as she glared murder at Simon. "I know that was you earlier! You will pay for that dearly!" she promised, charging another shot. Thinking quickly, Simon unfolded his wings to increase his mobility and opened a com link to Charles. "Charles, I need a rifle! Throw it above your head, now!" He said, taking off and just barley dodging another shot from the furious German. Using the increased control over his Ignition Burst that his wings granted him, he rocketed over Charles' head right as he tossed up one of his SMGs. Grabbing it with his one free hand, and taking a brief moment to be thankful that Charles had released control of the weapon to him, Simon let loose on his opponent. The others had long since taken flight, with Ichika carrying Houki who didn't have an IS, and gotten some distance on the two pilots. As his shots got closer to her, Laura just held up her left hand and projected a barrier in the shape of an outward facing bowl. As the bullets impacted the barrier, they just stopped dead. It was like watching Neo stop bullets in The Matrix.

Okay, that didn't work. Time to try another tactic he thought as he tossed the SMG aside. "Fangs, fly!" he commanded as he triggered the blade on his right hand. The four fangs on his hips launched, however the ones in his wings stayed docked, and they flew straight for Laura, only to have two of them stopped by that barrier again. She probably can't maintain more than one of those at a time he reasoned as he charged in from her right side, hoping to catch her off guard. Bringing his arm forward for a straight punch, he grinned as she just stood there, glaring at him with her left hand still holding the two fangs back. She smiled back, all malice and contempt, as her right hand raised and deployed another barrier, stopping him in his tracks. "H-how? What the heck is this?" He asked, completely confused as to how she had stopped him at the speed he was traveling at. "It's time someone put you in your place, little boy." She said, lowering her gun so the barrel was right in his face. "Well, you forgot something, twerp. I had four fangs, not two." He said, grinning back as the other two fangs, which had been staying back, flew into her back and took a good part of her shields with them.

The shock from the blow sent her forward a couple feet and forced her to release the barriers she had been using. Taking the opportunity, Simon recalled his fangs and moved back from her. "If you want to settle this, then wait until the tournament. I'll gladly mop the floor with you there." Simon promised as he landed. Glaring at him again, she destructed her IS and left as quickly as she had arrived. Strange girl he thought as the other came up behind him. "Simon, are you alright?" Cecilia asked, clearly concerned, "How did she do that? I've never seen someone stop a person mid-charge like that." "I wish I knew. Whichever one of us fights her should probably be prepared for something brutal." He responded, causing everyone to look at him, confused. "Does she really strike you as the reasonable type? I'm pretty sure she's going to blame all of you, to, simply for knowing me." At this, they all got a rather uneasy look as that sunk in.

"By the way, did you pair up with someone for the tournament yet, Ichika?" Simon asked, trying to change the subject. "Huh? No, I haven't yet." he responded, looking a little guilty about it. Seeing Houki and Rin suddenly looking hopeful, Simon decided to press on. "Then why not pair with me? We're both melee fighters, so I think it would work pretty well." He continued, causing those looks of hope to fade, although Houki still looked determined about something. "But, what if you have to fight someone with long-range weapons?" Charles asked. "Well, then ask Cecilia how well that works on me." Simon replied, smiling innocently as Cecilia turned and glared at him, still a little embarrassed about that loss. "You only won because you had hidden weapons. If it had been a fair fight-" "Then you probably would have lost quicker." Simon interrupted, causing her to stutter in outrage. Turning back to Ichika, he offered his hand. "So, do you want to team up? I think we should both show that German a lesson." After thinking it over for a second, Ichika took his hand and shook. "Yeah, let's do that."

Saturday morning saw a pair of rather interesting developments. Simon was in Ichika's and Charles' room, discussing possible tactics when they heard a knock at the door. Ichika opened it to reveal a rather nervous looking Houki. "Hey, what's up?" Ichika asked, although Houki just stood there looking very nervous. Sliding over to Charles, Simon whispered, "Be prepared to run in case she goes ballistic." Charles just looked back at the other blonde in confusion. After mumbling under her breath for a while, she suddenly looked straight at Ichika and blurted out, "If I win the tournament, you have to date me!" before she rushed off. The other two boys just stared at Ichika, waiting for some kind of response. He just turned around, looking just as confused as the rest of them. "What just happened?" he asked, the look on his face finally causing Simon to bust out laughing.

"Oh, man," he managed after catching his breath, "If that's what she calls flirting, she is in some serious trouble." "Wh-what do you mean, flirting?" Ichika asked, his cheeks starting to go red. Realizing where Simon was going, Charles just smiled, although it looked a little sad. "She clearly likes you, Ichika, although it doesn't look like she knows how to express it properly." He said "L-likes me? As in…..she... Me?" Ichika stammered, clearly unable to wrap his mind around this notion of a childhood friend with a crush on him. Sighing, Simon got up and smacked the back of Ichika's head, a move that was something of a universal reset button with people. "She likes you, moron, as in she wants to be more than friends. Wow, are you only just making this connection now?" He asked, all seriousness again. Leaving it at that, they left the room to go get lunch, though Ichika was clearly still trying to come to terms with what he had just learned.

As they walked through the main hall of the dorms, they saw the posted matches for the first round of the first and second-year tournaments. Stopping to examine the board, Charles and Ichika heard Simon say, "Ah, crap." Walking up behind him, they looked to where he was pointing on the board. The second match of the first-year tournament would be between Ichika/Simon and Laura/Houki. This just caused Ichika to gulp as Simon said, "Well, isn't that just our luck?"

Yeah, isn't that just their luck? I will try and make that particular battle longer than some of the ones previously. Also, while I do kind of feel guilty for friend-zoning Tatenashi, I frankly don't have the patience for a drawn-out love triangle. Which also means I'm going to have to pair Ichika with someone at some point in this story. I will probably be able to get one more chapter out, maybe two, before I have to head back to college. At which point my ability to write will depend on the workload I will have with these classes.