Chapter 25; Bittersweet

Simon spent the better part of two days in the medical center recovering. In that time, all of his friends stopped by to check in on him as well as to express how happy they were that everyone made it out alive. The day before he was released, Chifuyu brought everyone into the room for a closed-door meeting. Tabane was there, as well as Maya. In fact, looking around, Simon noticed that everyone that knew the truth, or at least most of it, about Gospel was there. Tabane had placed a device at the end of his bed, something that was probably used to keep people outside from eavesdropping. "What we're about to discuss doesn't leave this room. Is that clear?" Chifuyu said in a serious tone, causing everyone to focus rather quickly. When the all nodded, she continued, "After careful thought, Tabane and I have decided that the official records will be altered. If anyone asks you, this was a terrorist cell with access to IS technology. Is that clear?"

It took everyone a moment to fully process what she had just said. Finally, it was Rin who spoke up. "You want to bury this?" she asked, sounding shocked. Several others, including Cecilia, mirrored her shock, and Simon could see it was quickly turning into outrage. As several of them spoke out at once, Chifuyu held up a hand for silence. "I realize what I'm asking you all to do," she said, softening her tone slightly, "But to let the true nature of this enemy become public knowledge would do more harm than good at this point. Besides, it has already been done." "I released a few viruses this morning," Tabane told them, not looking happy with it, "They erased all of the existing records and replaced them with our falsified reports. Additionally, the IS pilots that disposed of the carrier and escort ship have also sworn to keep this to themselves. As for the ships, they are in pieces at the bottom of the ocean, making recovery difficult."

"We just need everyone in this room to agree to this, as well," Chifuyu finished, looking around. Her glare was challenging, daring any of them to try and disagree with her. She didn't like having to lie, especially not on this scale. But she and Tabane had agreed that if this fully came to light the repercussions would be massive. "So, we just have to lie for the rest of our lives?" Simon asked, trying to keep his temper under control. First, he had to lie to his friends, and now he had to lie to everyone. That was asking too much. "You more than anyone else here should understand why this is necessary, Felix," she said, staring daggers at him. She had expected either Simon or Cecilia to be the first to openly object, since they knew the entire truth. Gritting his teeth, Simon looked ready to fire back some hot-tempered response when Cecilia took one of his hands. Looking at her, they shared a telepathic moment that appeared to help him make a decision.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up and said, "Alright. I'm not happy about this, but alright." Everyone else agreed in varying degrees of enthusiasm, none of them really happy with the idea of lying but all of them understanding why it was necessary. Nodding, Chifuyu left the room with Maya in tow without another word, satisfied that they would keep their word. Those kids might be an incredible pain in her ass, but they were reliable. Tabane somehow managed to disappear without a trace, taking her anti-eavesdrop machine with her and leaving bewildered teens in her wake. "Okay, I think it's time we left as well," Cecilia said, getting up, "Oh, and Simon? Remember what I told you on the beach?" It took Simon a moment to realize where she was going, but when he saw Rin and Tatenashi hanging back in the room with grins borrowed from devils, he paled considerably.

"You wouldn't," he said too late. Cecilia had already shepherded the others out of the room before closing the door with an evil wink. "So, Feli, I heard that you've been a bad boy," Tatenashi said, walking up on one side of the bed. Rin walked up on the other side, grabbing his arm to keep him from struggling too much. "Hey, can't we talk about this?" he asked, trying to sink into the wall, noticing something in Rin's other hand. It was a large purse and looked suspiciously full to him. Smiling sweetly, she said, "Nope," before bringing out several items, some of which looked suspiciously like makeup. "Mercy!" he cried as they pounced. Several staff members passing the door heard cries and giggles before they continued on their way. Chifuyu had told them all something like this would happen, and had also said to ignore it.

When he was released the next day, Simon made a bee-line for his room and locked the door before collapsing on his bed with a sigh. His stomach still hurt from the stab wound, and would continue to do so for the next few weeks. But a person could only sleep in a hospital bed for so long before they started developing other problems. Ichika came into the room an hour later, looking exhausted from classes. The others had been given a day to recover before they returned to their studies, and the bluenette was clearly not enjoying it. "Let me guess," Simon said, sitting up, "Advanced Weapons theory?" "I don't even know why we need to learn this stuff!" Ichika exclaimed, tossing his bag down before face-planting into his own bed, "I'm a pilot, not a mechanic! Why do I need to learn how my weapons work?" "In case you need to work through a fault?" Simon offered, getting a glare from his friend. "Not helping," he mumbled before pulling himself up to the pillow, "Wake me when it's time to eat." Smiling, Simon thanked whatever deity that was looking out for him as lay back down. It's good to be back.

The next few days were spent playing catch-up, as well as some specialized punishment from Chifuyu for running off without her permission. The others had apparently already had theirs, so Simon was left to do his alone. And it just so happened to include system maintenance on every IS the Academy owned. Now on the fourth machine, Simon sighed in frustration as he found, once again, a list of minor construction and programming errors. They weren't enough to actually put the pilot at risk or degrade the suit's performance seriously, but they were enough that if he left them alone it would bug him for weeks. Probably why she picked this as my punishment he thought with a scowl as he closed the diagnostic results and started to open various panels on it. He was in the middle of resetting the gyroscopes for auto-balance when he heard someone come into the shop. "If that's you, Chifuyu," he said, not even looking up, "I've only just started. At this pace I'll probably be done at the end of the month." "Well, that's no good. Maybe I should give you a hand?"

Looking up in surprise, he saw Cecilia carrying two Japanese box lunches and water. She smiled at him before placing the food on a tray and walking over to him. "Well, this is a surprise. To what do I owe your splendid presence?" he asked, smiling back. "I'd say it was Rin's idea, but that wouldn't be true," she said, kneeling down and examining what he was working on, "So, what are you doing?" "You really want me to talk tech?" Simon asked, trying not to laugh, "I warn you, I can almost be as bad as Tabane once I get started." "Then by all means, start. I wanted to spend time with you, anyways," she said, leaning in and kissing his cheek. With a small shrug, he began to explain, carefully, what he was currently working on. He pointed out every part as he mentioned it, and soon enough Cecilia was following along with him and even making suggestions. She had made a special effort since she had first started to fall for him to pay attention in the technical classes, and now it was paying off as she got to apply that knowledge here.

They worked on the IS together for an hour before breaking to eat, and by this time they both had a healthy coating of grime on their hands. Cecilia didn't seem to mind; in fact she seemed to enjoy the work, which was slightly surprising to Simon. "I didn't think you enjoyed working with your hands," he said finally. "Why? Because I'm wealthy and sophisticated?" she shot back, sounding mad. "That's not what I meant," Simon said quickly, "It's just that I didn't- I mean, you…I-" As he continued to stammer Cecilia just started to laugh. He was so easy to see through. After a while, Simon joined her, mentally smacking himself for falling for something so obvious. After they had recovered and eaten, they returned to the IS and finished it a lot sooner than if Simon was on his own. As they left for the dorms, Simon took her hand and kissed her cheek, saying, "Thanks for the help today." "Same time tomorrow?" she asked, receiving a nod.

Leaning into Simon, she was so close to kissing him again when she noticed someone standing behind him. Looking over his shoulder, she saw Rin and Charlotte, both smiling at her. Cecilia immediately turned a bright red, which got even darker when Simon turned and saw them, too. "How long have you two been there?" he asked, trying not to blush as well. "Long enough," Rin said. "My, that's quite bold, Cecilia," Charlotte commented, laughing, "I never knew you had it in you. And with machine grease on you, too." "Charlotte!" Cecilia cried, sounding indignant. "Hey, maybe that's what they use to, you know," Rin said before jumping out of reach as Simon dove at her. "You'll pay for that, half-pint!" Simon promised, finally blushing. "You'll have to catch me first, lover boy!" Rin teased as she danced out of reach again. Meanwhile, Cecilia was trying to convince a laughing Charlotte that she had it all wrong.

Up in her office, Chifuyu watched the kids in the main plaza, smiling at how care-free they were now. Of course, they don't have the distractions that adults do she thought. Turning back to Tabane, she said, "Cancel any tests you're running on the samples we have and destroy them." "Are you sure, Chifu-ni?" she asked, looking like a kid losing a favorite toy, "They have some really interesting coding. It would be such a waste." "We can't allow this to be discovered, Tabane," Chifuyu said, sitting down at her desk, "It's too dangerous. Destroy them." With a huff, Tabane turned to leave. "Tabane, I mean it," Chifuyu called after her, her tone making it clear there was no room for debate. Regardless of what the Chifuyu thought about the cores they had salvaged, there was something about the replicated cores that still nagged at Tabane. Something she couldn't pin down but knew instinctively was important. But, Chifu-ni had given her a direct order, and that woman would know if she didn't follow it. Such a waste she thought with a sigh.

After a grueling week of classes, Simon found himself sitting at one of the empty docks. He enjoyed the view of the sun setting over the mainland. The reds and oranges would get caught and reflected by the many buildings, making it look like the city was lit up. "So, 13, what's your answer to that question I asked you?" Simon asked, looking down at his watch. A small hologram of the AI appeared above it, looking up at him and smiling. "I think we both know what my answer is, Simon," she replied, giggling, "But, just so you can hear me say it; yes, I would like to remain as your core." He had asked the AI earlier that week, feeling slightly guilty about her position. She was essentially a person, but she was delegated to being his core's AI. He had wanted to know if she had wanted more freedom, and he hadn't hesitated to mention that if she didn't want him around that he was okay with it.

"Remember, Simon, I'm not a slave, whatever my situation may be," she said as if reading his thoughts, "If I didn't want you as my operator, than I wouldn't have responded to you." "Well, that's good to hear," he said, relaxing, "One more thing off my shoulders." "Have you been cheating on me, Simon?" Cecilia asked, startling him. He hadn't realized she had come up behind him. He could almost imagine a gun barrel pointed at the back of his head, but when he turned around all he saw was the girl he loved smiling at him. "So, are you going to introduce me?" she asked, her tone full of humor. 13 beat him to the response, saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you in person, as it were. I am the Artificial Intelligence that governs IS core 13. You can just call me 13, to make it easier." "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, to, 13," Cecilia responded, bowing slightly, "I also want to say thank you for saving this dimwit's life. You helped greatly." "Someone has to look out for him when he's on his own," 13 said, smiling. "Hey!" Simon said, trying to sound indignant and failing.

13 then turned back to Simon and winked before flashing out of existence, leaving the two of them alone. Cecilia then joined him as they watched the sunset, scooting closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Without hesitation, he snaked his arm around her hip and pulled her closer. "This is a rather nice view," she remarked, although it wasn't really the view she was interested in. "I'm guessing that you're not here just for that," Simon said, sensing some tension in her. "I wanted to talk to you, actually," she said, sitting up and looking at him, "I wanted to know what you wanted to do next. What we were going to do next." This earned her a soft laugh from the blonde, to which she responded with an indignant look and a slight shove. "Hey, I'm being serious!" "I know, and I'm sorry but it's just too funny," he said, pulling her in closer, "You really think I plan things out that far? Really?"

Cecilia just looked at him for a moment, a little too stunned for words. "I never really laid any extensive plans in my life," Simon told her, smiling, "I was never much good at it when I tried, so I stopped a number of years back." "So, does that mean-?" "I'm not done," he interrupted, "I won't try and predict where we'll be in a few years; I'm not that ambitious. As long as it's with you, I don't think I care where I end up." Smiling back, Cecilia felt herself starting to tear up. It wasn't from sadness or pain this time, but happiness. While not exactly what she wanted to hear from him, it was close enough that she felt at ease. "I feel the same," she said as she leaned into him. Cupping her face with his other hand, Simon leaned in and gave her a long kiss. When they separated they returned to watching the sunset, content with the way things had turned out. We will always have each other they thought, snuggling closer.

Up in Ichika and Simon's room, Ichika was sitting at his desk and working on some classwork when he heard a knock at the door. When he opened it he was mildly surprised to find Houki standing there. Smiling, he let her in before closing the door. "So, something I can do for you, Houki?" he asked, sitting down on the bed. "Uh-um, y-yes, there is," she said, blushing and looking away, "Just sit there for a moment, o-okay?" Tilting his head to one side, he looked at her, confused. She was acting a lot shyer around him than usual. It was true that she wasn't really comfortable with displays of affection, even when they had been alone. Something they both grappled with, actually, and Ichika reminded himself to ask Simon for some pointers to get over that nervousness.

"I ju-just wanted to s-say that…" she stammered, turning a brighter red, "Aw, screw it." Without any hesitation she walked over and pushed him down on the bed before sitting on top of him and kissing him rather passionately. Caught off guard, Ichika laid there for a moment, too stunned to do anything. He then reached up and pulled her down onto him before returning the kiss. Finally releasing him, she rolled off, panting and still looking very embarrassed. "What's with that all of the sudden?" Ichika asked, still confused. "I-I just thought that since we were, you know," she said, averting her eyes, "Together, that we should be doing this more often. It is what people do." "Houki, if you don't want to do this, don't force yourself," he said, getting up on one arm, "I'm not saying I don't like it. I do. It's just that I don't want to do this just because you feel you have to."

For a brief second she thought he was rejecting her, and it was almost enough to trigger her ass-kick mode. Then she actually thought about what he had said, and she smiled up at him as she finally understood. He loved her for being her, not some other girl. Forcing herself to change because she thought she had to wouldn't get them any further in the relationship. "I understand," she said, "And I want to be more, Ichika." Reaching up, she brushed his chest while trying to pull him into another kiss. Reaching out, he stopped her, smiling sadly. "I can't say that I don't want that either. But if we got caught doing that, neither of us would live it down." Sudden understanding flashed through her mind and Houki blushed furiously as she realized what she had just asked of him. Getting up, she stammered an apology before darting from the room. Looking at the closed door for a moment in longing, Ichika laughed to himself quietly while thinking, yeah, we really are a lot alike.

The last few months of their classes passed with relatively little incident, although it took Houki a while before she had recovered enough to be around Ichika without blushing madly. This only gave the others something to rib the two about, and Rin and Tatenashi spent a solid week trying to figure out what they had done together to cause such a reaction. Aside from that, and a rather interesting festival in which Simon and Ichika were forced to guard their crowns from a horde of girls (all of it Tatenashi's doing, of course), the year ended with little real excitement. This suited Simon just fine. A few near-death experiences tends to mellow a person out, and he was content to have his friends and girlfriend. At the celebration marking the end of their first year, Simon and Cecilia were voted the cutest couple, although it was a close race between them and Houki/Ichika. Despite both boys being officially taken, they still had quite a fan club with the first-year students.

Several members of the staff delivered rather moving speeches before Maya called for Simon to join her on the stage. "Wait, I thought it was the job of the student body president to make the final speech?" he asked, looking around. "It normally is, Feli," Tatenashi said from behind him, making him jump, "But I decided this year it can be all yours." "Wait, what? No, I don't do speeches-" he managed before she took his arm and dragged him onto the stage. "I'm sure by now all of you know this boy very well," she said, keeping a firm grip on him, "So, I give you Simon Felix for the closing speech." And with that, she left him on the stage. Staring at the microphone, Simon struggled not to tense up too much. "Alright, as I'm sure some of you know, I'm not one for speaking publicly, so I'll try to keep this brief," he began, starting to relax, "When I first came to this Academy, I was expecting to slog through endless classes and lectures. I expected to be bored out of my mind by the end of the first month. As I'm sure you all know by now, that didn't happen.

"Throughout my time here, I met many wonderful people, both students and staff. In time, I called them friends, and one of them even became something more to me." At this, several girls in the crowed 'awed,' causing Cecilia to blush madly. "And while I can't say that this was the most interesting year of my life, since I still have another two years here," he continued, getting a small chuckle from the crowd, "I can say that it is one that I will never forget. You are all wonderful people, despite any disagreements we may have had, and I sincerely hope to see all of you back here next year." Without saying anything else, he stepped back and turned to leave. Not the best speech he thought, but not bad for an improvised one. He wasn't prepared for the applause, though in hindsight he shouldn't have been too surprised. It quickly picked up and was shortly followed by a few whistles and cat-calls as some of the more energetic girls got fired up. "Not bad for your first time," Tatenashi said as he returned to his seat, blushing slightly. "What do you expect?" Cecilia asked, "He's my man, after all." Rather than deny it, Simon put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her head. "Yes, I am," he said as several of them laughed. Those two were so cute together, after all.

And with that, their adventure ends. Simon and his friends have finally dealt with the human IS, ensuring that the future Maylin warned them of would never come to pass. They now move towards the future, secure in the knowledge that they have won.

This completes the Raven Arc, with Simon and company moving on with their lives, some of them even marrying and having children. I would like to take the time to thank everyone that stuck it through with this first story, especially since it was my very first.

System reset complete

Running basic diagnostic

Reserve power: 86.56%

Primary weapon system: offline

Secondary weapon system: offline

Flight system: offline

Movement/balance systems: 5.34%

Sensors: 22.93%

Long-range communications: online

Distress beacon activated

Confirmation signal received

Rescue ship inbound

They will pay, they will all pay

Oh, right. That victory might not have been as complete as they thought. Hehehe…

To be concluded.