Omake - Guy Talk
Another day done, another series of trials and tribulations over, as was the norm in the IS Academy. As the day went and the sun casted a warm orange light across the waves, the winds carried a cool end of spring breeze.
"Hey…"
"Yeah?"
"Why are we here?"
Ryo idly tapped the coffee can in his hand as he bobbed his head to the beat of the music playing in his headphones. Even through it, he could still hear and respond. It was an envious skill, honestly.
"It's one of life's greatest mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here?" The courier took a sip of his coffee, tilting his head up to look at the orange sky. "Are we the product of some sort of cosmic coincidence or is there really a God watching everything, you know, with a plan for us and stuff." He took a long drought of his can, letting out a pleased huff as the tapping against the metal became more hollow. "Dunno. It keeps me up at night, really."
Ichika stared at the green-eyed teen like he had grown a second head. "What? No, I mean…why are we here specifically? At the Docks?"
Ryo paused in his tapping before shaking the headphones off of his ears. "Oh. Well, we're here because someone decided to tease one of our senpais to the point that she sic'ed her posse, who are still currently looking for us by the way, at him."
A scoff from above made the male IS pilot look up at the blonde sitting in the shadows of the shipping container above theirs. With a leg dangling over the edge and the other pulled close as he leaned back on a hand, there was still that usual arrogance and smugness present despite being at fault for the situation they were in.
"All I did was compliment her haircut and notice that she had a custom-made ribbon tie. Didn't know it would lead to her having a meltdown." Ephraim shrugged as the lollipop stick between his lips swished left and right. He had shrugged off his suit jacket earlier, with it now folded neatly on his lap. It exposed the body belt harness over his vest, the shades almost similar that they blended in.
It also revealed the holstered pistol under his left armpit, a sheathed combat knife under the right armpit, and what seemed to be another holstered gun on the small of his back, though Ichika couldn't see it properly with the shadows.
…Honestly, seeing him all geared up for combat wasn't as intimidating as it should be at this point.
Actually, how did he hide all of that in the first place? He should have at least noticed bulges when he wore his suit jacket but there were none!
"Try to be nice once in a while and I get rewarded with violence. Feh, typical…"
"No, its because you actively look for a fight in the first place." The resident courier inserted, looking up at the blonde in deadpan. "I mean, you teased a tsundere. There's plenty of them around the school and I know exactly why you like teasing tsunderes so much despite knowing the consequences."
Tap tap tap…Tap tap tap..!
The tapping came from the mechanic as his fingers danced on the laptop's keys. He was sitting on the ground beside the male IS pilot, having been dragged along by the blonde during his escape in the Engineering Bay. He was rightfully upset at having been tangled in all of this, but he had gradually calmed down.
"Their reactions are funny." The purple-eyed teen chuckled, his tone taking a sadistic lilt as he smirked. "They're just so…over-the-top that whatever distaste I have turns into amusement for a brief moment. Still don't like them though. Not my type."
"Distaste?" Ichika looked up at the blonde with a raised brow. He knew that the genteel smile he always wore was a mask and that he had a resting bitch face but for his feelings to extend to distaste?
"Orimura, are you really surprised by that?" Ephraim looked down at him in deadpan. "After the last couple of months?"
The IS pilot winced before shrugging. "Eeeh, I shouldn't be. You're that much of an asshole."
The blonde's lips slowly curled up into a wide, pleased grin.
"That I am, and don't you forget it."
Ichika merely sighed, shaking his head. Insults just washed off of the scarred teen's back like it does water on a duck's. Even the most scathing remarks were met with a smile and a counter, leading to the blonde's…mixed reputation among the student body.
Speaking of…
"What's your type anyway?" He asked the older teen, whose brows shot up at the question. The other two paused whatever they were doing and turned to him in equal surprise. "All the girls gossip about it whenever you and the other two aren't around so it's got me admittedly curious."
"Of course they would..." Ryo sighed in exasperation. He'd 'accidentally' overheard his fair share of rather… colorful descriptions of them.
The less said about how quickly those gossip turn into perverted fantasizing, the better.
"My type, huh?" Ephraim muttered, his dangling leg lightly tapping against the shipping container he was on. "Hmm, I guess I could narrow it down to strong-willed women."
"'Narrow it down'?"
"Different women have different things that get me going, like high ponytails, the ability to kick my ass, and a host of other features." The blonde listed off with a dismissive wave, ignoring the flat look the courier sent him. He then brought the same hand to his chin, tapping it as he hummed quietly. "The same goes for men, though maybe a bit less…."
Ryo sucked in his teeth with a grimace.
Davion's expression narrowed slightly.
Ichika went bug-eyed at the scarred teen, his brows shooting high into his hairline. "W-Wait, so you like-?"
"Like men also? I dunno, maybe? I'm kind of a mess…" Ephraim then frowned at him, his royal purples flashing dangerously. "There a problem with it if I am, though?"
"No, no!" The IS pilot waved his hands before him, smoothing his earlier shock to a more sheepish look. "There's nothing wrong with that at all! Though, uh…'mess'?"
Sighing, the blonde scratched the back of his head. "Orimura, most of my 'childhood', if you could even call it that, was spent spilling blood and being experimented on. Do you think I had enough development to form a coherent notion of what I find sexually and emotionally attractive?"
Ichika winced as he crossed his arms and let out a despondent sigh of his own. "Point…ugh, kind of a downer turn we went down to."
The other two Neo-Types stayed silent, their lips also set into frowns as they listened. The blonde's words were lies, of course, as they knew him to be rather…passionate when it came to things that interested him. However, there was a kernel of truth in his words, hidden behind masks and self-deprecation. Hoping to steer the conversation back around, they thought of a way to broach the topic.
Ephraim beat them to the punch, however, with the subtlety of a sucker punch. "However, for your peace of mind…you're totally not my type." He deadpanned with a carefree shrug.
"...I feel both relieved and insulted, and I don't know why."
"Ahem." The courier cleared his throat, ignoring the twitching of his eyebrow. "So… Girls?"
"Ah, right." The blonde nodded…before looking down at them in slight confusion. "I already said that I liked strong-willed women. Though, high ponytails are mostly optional, the ability to kick my ass is almost mandatory."
"Yeah, but…" Ichika rolled his hand in a 'keep going' gesture. "That's it?"
"What, do you expect me to pick a girl from our class or something?"
"Yeah." Davion spoke up, pausing in his typing. "I mean, we're having a guy talk, right? Who from our class– hell, not even our class –caught your eye?" He glanced at Ichika, however, deciding against giving too many hints that the blonde was into someone not in their age bracket.
Ephraim deadpanned. "I ain't saying."
"Where's the fun in that?" The IS pilot scoffed, a smirk on his lips. "It's just us guys here. So while we're waiting for the heat to die down, why not pass the time with talks like this?"
"It's absolutely hilarious that it's you saying that, Orimura." Dull purple stared down at him with nary an emotion.
"The heck's that supposed to mean?"
Ryo clicked his tongue to stop the two from bickering, as they were wont to do. "Well, since Ephraim is being a tsundere about it right now-"
"Fuck youuu..!"
"-you started this, Ichika, so you're going to bite the bullet and start. So, what do you think about girls with short-hair?"
Ichika cupped his chin, nodding almost sage-like at the courier's choice. "Short-haired girls, eh? So, like Nohotoke-san?"
"Eeeh, not her particularly."
"I mean...they're cute. I guess." The dark haired boy shrugged before turning to the mechanic, who was typing away on his keyboard. "What about you, Davion? What's your type?"
"Hm?" Gray eyes looked up at him in slight confusion before clarity cleared it. "Oh. Kanzashi."
Ephraim scoffed, shaking his head with an amused smile. "Of course. Big boobed women." He suddenly leaned back to dodge a pebble thrown his way.
Davion scowled at the blonde, arm lowering from the 'blink and you'll miss it' throw. "If you've been looking at her breasts, I swear I'll-"
"Easy there, boy, you know I'm not into those." The smile turned into a grin, though it was just as amused if a bit more boyish and lecherous. "I prefer my women with reasonable cup sizes."
"Like Cecilia?" Ryo snorted, smirking at the pointed look the blonde sent him. Ichika blushed slightly, having wanted to not think of his friends in that way.
Which was…very hard, admittedly. All of them were very beautiful…
"Well, her breast didn't swallow my hand, so, yes."
…
They stared.
Ephraim blinked.
"...Shit, that was supposed to be a secret." He cursed, his expression a mix of mortified and annoyed.
"You got to second base with her?!" Ichika gaped at him. "Damn, you work fast!"
"Are you sure it wasn't an accident or anything?" The courier was looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Knowing your luck-"
"It wasn't an accident. Also you're the last person to be talking about luck." The blonde hissed. "She just…"
"What did she do?" Davion looked up at him in morbid curiosity.
"...I'm not saying." Ephraim crossed his arms and turned his head. "I refuse to ruin her reputation."
"We're not going to gossip about her." Ryo deadpanned. "We're not girls."
"Uh-huh." The blonde snorted with a slight roll of his eyes before narrowing them at the glasses-wearing swordsman. "And how was your experience with Charlotte, hmm? After all, you two had the bathhouse aaaaall to yourselves before she outed herself as a girl."
"Wait wait," Ichika turned to the blushing courier. "So that rumor was true?!"
"I'd rather not talk about that, thank you very much." The green-eyed teen brushed it off, fixing a dirty glance at his grinning roommate. "I'd leave it to your imagination."
Which only made Ichika's assumptions all the more vivid.
"What about you, Ichika?" Davion spoke up, if only to prevent either from saying anything else that could spark an argument. "What do you look for in a girl?"
He did not see the deadpan looks the Ephraim and Ryo were sending him.
"Wha- Me? Well," The IS pilot scratched the back of his head. "I'm not really that particular about their physical features, y'know?"
"So you aren't an 'Oppai is Truth' guy like these two losers?" Ephraim gestured at the two other Neo-Types with a grin.
"Shut up, 'Medium is Premium' white bread."
"Fuck off, 'Flat is Justice' lolicon."
"I ain't a damn lolicon!" The blonde looked ready to throttle the poker-faced mechanic, his expression instantly changing from amused to affronted rage. "Just because I also find short and petite women attractive doesn't mean that I'm one of those!"
"...Never was an 'Oppai is Truth' guy anyway." Ryo closed his eyes as he sighed, head turning slightly when he heard something odd.
"Easy guys, easy…" Ichika physically walked between all of them and spread his arms placatingly. "Let's not break out into a fight, the girls'll track us down in no time if we did."
"Too late."
Ichika and Davion whirled around to see two third years scowling at them, with Ephraim merely turning his head with faux-surprise on his face.
The two girls were also in Rafale-Revive Basics.
One of them had a Vent rifle in hand.
The boys stared.
The other girl grinned viciously as she punched a fist into an open claw. "We've got you now!"
Ichika glanced to the side at Ryo, seeing his face morph from disinterest to a friendly and phantasmal smile before he himself turned towards the gathered, and rather agitated, pair.
"Good evening girls~ So, why don't we be civilized and be calm and reasona-"
Flick!
Ephraim immediately tossed a cylindrical object from the small of his back, the object bouncing off against the shipping container parallel to him.
Ting..!
Ichika had enough video game knowledge to know the familiar sound of a safety lever flying off of a grenade and he quickly turned his head and covered his ears.
BANG!
The flashbang went off in the narrow space where they had been hiding in, immediately blinding and disorienting the two IS pilots confronting them.
"My eyes!"
"Why does he even have that?!"
Still, despite his precautions, the flashbang had knocked him on his ass with the world spinning around him. A hand wrapped around his bicep and pulled him up, causing him to open his eyes and squint into the sharp greens of Ryo.
"Come on!" The courier barked as he hauled the male IS pilot with him, slipping past the two girls with Davion following close behind. Ephraim, in a petty yet acrobatic feat, leapt off of the container he was on, landed on top of one of the girls' heads, before kicking off, all the while slipping his suit jacket on.
Flick!
Ting!
Pfsssh!
"Run for it, lads!" The blonde ordered as he landed on solid ground, smoke quickly filling the area behind him. The four boys ran away from the Docks, making sure to dart into the alleys between warehouses to lose any potential pursuer.
"REALLY?! YOU COULDN'T HAVE JUST LET ME TALK OUR WAY OUT OF IT!?" The courier shouted against the wind, leading ahead as they followed suit, knowing the most efficient paths to take.
"And give them time to call for reinforcements?!" The blonde retorted as he stuffed his tie into a jacket pocket. "I'd rather not be cornered by angry misandrists and potentially horny schoolgirls, thank you very much!"
"Damn it, where do we hide out now?" Ichika had to ask once he got his bearings back, thankful for all the physical training the three gave him as he kept with their pace.
"There's always the usual place I hide out in." Ryo offered, turning his head every now and again to see if they were being followed.
"Oh fuck, seriously?" Davion groaned as he leapt over a shipping crate being carried by a forklift, the driver of which yelled at them as they passed. "Will we even fit in there?"
"You'd be surprised."
Ephraim scoffed as he unbuttoned his collar. "Ugh, into the maintenance vents we go then!"
"Could be worse places to hide in." Ichika grinned slightly, finding a sense of camaraderie with the three as they ran. "At least we aren't hiding in the girls locker room."
Davion turned his head to look at him oddly. "Sounds like there's a story there-"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
AN:
Beta'd by Project Ryo.
I live!
And Merry Christmas! Damn, 2022 really went by that fast, huh? And this fic's officially more than one year old now... *sounds of existential crisis*
Just returned from a family trip where I nearly tripped into a river because a damn chicken ran out from the bushes and spooked the hell out of me. Fun times! Though, I had to endure so many 'when are you going to get married?' and whatnot. So...not that much of a fun time. Ugh.
I could have uploaded this earlier if Project Ryo didn't share the same fate as I and got dragged into a family trip.
Ah well.
The Episode chapter is still being worked on by him so hopefully it can be uploaded soon-ish.
Oh, and did you guys see the Armored Core trailer in the Games Awards? Total Hype. I played the Armored Core games since I was a kid both on the Playstation 2 and 3, and on the PSP, so I'm so damn happy that FromSoft hadn't forgotten the Soulsborne's older brother franchise. This old Raven's gonna fly once more, I can't believe it...
Speaking of, I was plotting out a potential Gundam SEED fic but eeeh, I don't have the capability to make it a reality as of right now. Gone Astray is my main focus.
I might as well answer the reviews here so that I won't feel guilty as hell later on.
RoyalTwinFangs: Thank you!
KnightOfZaku: Bonds will be broken for sure once the painful truth gets out, that's for sure. As for that idea, well, we'll see later on~
mega1987: Technically, the Perfect Gold Frame is a canon form. It's the original and intended version of the Gold Frame Amatsu, equipped with Phase Shift as opposed to not having one. But Gina was impatient about it and sortied with the incomplete Gold Frame Amatsu as we know now, and well...you know how it went down. Maaaybe having that Phase Shift could have prevented the Tactical Arms from cutting through, eh?
And of course, the Mirage Colloid will always be there. Won't be the Gold Frame Amatsu without it!
P.B.S: ...I want to sound smart and say that I knew what I was doing in repressing Houki's memories but that would make me disingenuous. I uh, I actually had no idea that the Akatsubaki could even do that. I mean, I had a suspicion that the IS COREs were hiding some nefarious systems but that really comes with the package of 'Miraculous McGuffin that no one else can make other than the creator'. So...happy little coincidence, I guess?
When things start winding down, ugly truths and bitter reveals come to show. And trust me, most of the next chapter is action, so hopefully you'll be satisfied.
Guest: Pitying Houki? Phew, that's good. I don't mean or want to portray her as an irredeemable character, she's just...stubborn and emotional to the point of being unlikeable. She's young and brash, making mistakes that she thinks are minor or will be swept aside but actually have a greater ripple later on. She wants to prove herself after being put down again and again, and that makes her dangerous to her allies. She means good, but her means of doing good causes more harm that not. And an emotional teen girl is prone to volatile outbursts and manipulation more so than others; see Operation Angel Down.
And so!
With that, this is a festive Cipher, signing off!