Chapter 2 baby! I managed to get this chapter out in a semi-timely manner with some delay because I was playing Destiny 2 Lightfall, and I think I'd rather finish the second chapter before pushing forward with the campaign.
Secondly, there have been some changes of plans as I'll be splitting the chapter into 2 parts due to time constraints and real life obligations so the actions will take place on the next chapter.
As usual I don't own anything.
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"And before we continue to the next lesson we still have to decide our class representative for the class league match for the week after next." Chifuyu said offhandedly.
Those last words hung in the air for everyone and before the instructor could continue someone on the back row raised a hand and asked. "Instructor Orimura, has the other class picked their representative yet?"
"Yes, in fact our class is the only one that hasn't picked our class representative yet."
The girls in the class begin to talk to themselves. Ichika turns around to talk to hari.
"Hey, do you know who the other class representatives are?" He whispered to which the Russian gave him a half shrug a silent 'no' from Hari as he coughed again.
Ichika offered a quick prayer for his health before looking at his doppelganger that is Mayotta.
It's really creepy.
"Hey Mayotta," Ichika whispered. "Do you have any idea who the other class representatives are?"
Mayotta gave a shrug before whispering back. "I don't know, but i heard someone talking that class 1-2 and 1-4 representatives are males"
Like a feline Mayotta suddenly ducked under a notebook barely missing his head by a few centimetre and sadly for Ichika he was not blessed with such instinct.
"Gah!" He shouted in pain as he held his bruised head, how come his sister know that he isn't paying attention?
"Pay attention idiot!" The teacher ordered with a glare directed at her brother who was only able to offer a slow and barely audible 'sorry'.
"Remember, The class representative is just that. They won't just participate in the league match, but also on the student council, as well as committee meetings. They're the class president. The class league match determines the various levels in competence between the different classes. Right now there won't be much difference, but competition engenders improvement. It's only going to take place once, then the ranking is fixed."
The instructor explained allowing the students to discuss among themselves for a few moments which leaves Ichika thinking on the responsibilities of being the class representatives, thank god he is plain enough that him being chosen would be one to a million at best.
'Probably kind of a pain in the butt. Bless the one who ended up with this chore.' he thought, not hard to imagine the entire class might choose Hari because he seem to be the responsible and disciplined type at the same time his weak constitution might make it bit more complicated and Mayotta-
"Well then, I suggest Orimura."
Ichika thought on how funny that this class have another Orimura beside him and his sister-
"Yeah, I agree."
He didn't care who was going to become the class representative because it sounded like a whole lot of pain in the butt, strange how he repeated the same thought.
"Then the first candidate will be Ichika Orimura. Any others? No self-recommendation."
'I sure do pity that Ichika- now wait a second!' His eyes snapped open and the black haired teen found himself standing up and everyone stared. He knew without turning around that everyone was looking, hoping Ichika would solve all their troubles.
"M-Me?!" he stuttered.
"Orimura, sit down. You're disturbing class. Any others? If not, then we don't even have to vote on this."
"W-wait what about Hari?" Ichika desperately suggested to which his sister raised an eyebrow.
"Are you suggesting someone with a weak constitution to be our class representative?"
'N-no but hold on! I'm not going to do-" he argued before getting shot down once more.
"No self-recommendation. If they recommend you, you can't refuse it. Get ready to do your job."
"N-No, I-" Ichika tried to argue, maybe even recommend someone like Mayotta. He has this air of trained discipline or an air of strictness and would be a much better choice than himself but was quickly cut off by a shrill voice from behind.
"Please wait! I cannot agree to this!" Cecilia had slammed her table and stood up. "What is this farce of an election? Do you want to disgrace this class by having a male representative? I, Cecilia Alcott, will not abide this humiliation for an entire year!"
Wait, that sounded very wrong, she is talking like the male in the room and entire academy are nothing better than some wild animals in some circus show or a zoo,
"If ability is what counts for class representative, then I should be the natural choice. I will not accept this Far Eastern monkey as my representative just because he's a rarity. I came to this island nation to study the IS and train, not to participate in a circus sham!"
"Alcott! i believe that is too far-" Hari slammed both of his hands down on the table to stand up facing the woman before bending overholding his chest in pain with one hand while the other over his mouth as he coughed which caused Miss Yamada to rush to his side.
"See? How could the academy accept such a weakling like you?" she jeered at Hari who gave her a glare but Cecilia didn't notice "The most able fighter should be the class representative, and that is clearly me! Not these weak males who I doubt even touched an Infinite Stratos before."
Her rage did not subside; if anything, she was getting more and more worked up. Ichika didn't want to be the class representative but Cecilia is slowly starting to pisses him off especially after her insulting Hari, it's like kicking a man while he is down.
"Besides, having to live in this pre-modern country is already seriously offensive to me, and-"
That was the final straw for the vast-majority in the class.
"And what are you so proud of in Britain? You've had the world's worst food for years," Ichika blurted out with a scoff which was unexpected for Cecilia.
"Wha-" before she could give a retort, Mayotta, who remained silent from the start, also added fuel to the fire.
"Besides, I heard that Britain loves to complain too much about every single thing, guess that's true after all with your attitude."
Ouch, everyone silently winces at his words or rather the way that the dark haired teen delivered it was so filled with venom it could've killed multiple people all at once not to mention his eyes are filled with the same venom.
"Y-You! How dare you insult my motherland!" she shouted, though Cecillia looked like she was about to cry.
Oh, well. It was too late to take prisoners. No use crying over spilt milk. The rock was rolling down the hill. Might as well use the best out of the current situation.
"I challenge both of you to a duel!" she declared for everyone to hear, many centuries ago she would have thrown the gauntlet to the ground, then again there's nothing to be used in the classroom.
Mayotta and Ichika shared a quick glance at each other and nodded, it was quick, silent and efficient.
"Fine. You're on. That beats all this talking, for sure." Ichika retorted with Mayotta following behind.
"We're going to beat you down."
'Woah, where did all of that aggression come from?' Ichika thought and little did he know it was also everyone's line of thought after the usually aloof and quiet Mayotta suddenly went from a house cat to a tiger.
"All right. Perfect. This will be your chance to witness the abilities of the British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott!"
But before the confrontation could escalate, Miss Yamada coughed to her hand bringing everyone's attention to her. "Can someone help me bring Hari-kun to the infirmary?"
Naturally Ichika and Mayotta volunteered.
"Both of us can bring him there." Mayotta said as he stood up and walked to the redhead and gently picked Hari's arm over his shoulder which prompted Ichika to do the same soon the three of them followed Miss Yamada out of the classroom to the infirmary leaving Cecilia still standing.
"Looks like we have a conclusion. The battle will be next Monday. Third arena, after school," Chifuyu clapped her hand signalling the end of the discussion which prompted Cecilia to walk back to her seat and slumped down. "Alcott: make your preparations until then and someone inform Orimura as well Sumika after they return from the infirmary. We will begin the lesson now."
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The first thing Ichika noticed about Hari beside how miserable he looked right now is how thin he is.
"Hey, you alright there Hari?" Ichika asked while carrying the Russian to the infirmary following Miss Yamada who looked at him and gave a reassuring nod.
"I'm fine, just got a little too excited for my own good," Hari hoarsely replied as he tried to walk on his own only to stumble and would have fallen to the floor if not for the two catching him. "I hate how weak I am…"
"Hari….it's fine," Mayotta said as he helped him up and he saw the infirmary sign while helping Hari up on his feet once more. "Just a little bit more to the infirmary."
"Are you two sure about the duel?" The redhead asked as the trio walked into the infirmary after Miss Yamada explained the situation to the head nurse who urged the males to put Hari on the vacant bed.
"Psh, don't worry about us." Ichika reassured Hari as he helped Hari up on the bed with Mayotta grabbing some extra pillows from the other beds and offering it to the sickly boy who accepted it and stacked the offered pillow before slowly leaning back.
"Also you dropped this," Mayotta crouched down to the floor and picked something and passed it to the redhead who gently took it from Mayotta.
"Ah Krasnaya, thank you Mayotta"
Ichika notice that the item is actually a red necklace connected to a silver chain, it certainly have a unique shape being very angular and aerodynamic in shape for some reason, he saw it several time wrapped around Hari left arm.
"Is that your IS Hari? Ichika asked, pointing to the necklace that Hari wrapped around his left wrist already, that can't be safe but who is to judge how someone keeps their IS?
"Yeah, what about you two? Where is your IS?" Hari asked while pointing his finger to the pair who looked at each other. Ichika couldn't help but to feel a little embarrassed at the question.
"Well, Big sis Chifuyu did say my IS isn't ready yet so yeah," Ichika gave an awkward laugh, "what about you Mayotta?"
He said nothing as he pulled his sleeve revealing a light pink bracelet. "I have Ciliegio already since last month."
Ichika can't help but let out a whistle at the bracelet. Real men wearing pink was the first thing that came to his mind, though where has he heard the name Ciliegio before?
"I'll admit. I'm a little jealous of you two." The younger Orimura admitted, "I wish I had one."
"Didn't Instructor Orimura say that you'll be receiving one?" Hari asked leaning further into the bed, he could feel the drowsiness slowly catching up to him.
Ichika said nothing but a shrug as Hari closed his eyes.
"Anyway, i'll be going first…please let me copy your notes tomorrow."
"Sure thing," Ichika said, assuring the red head with a nod as he slowly drifts away to sleep at the same time Mayotta decides to drape the blanket over him.
"We should head back to class soon." The dark haired teen said as he stood up and dusted off his pants and noticed that Miss Yamada was gone. "Wait…where's Miss Yamada?"
She was gone….did the teacher left them in the infirmary?! Isn't that a bit irresponsible for an adult to just leave her students on their lonesome?
Ichika panicked at the idea of missing class especially when it's his big sisters thats teaching and when he looked tk his fellow he sees Mayotta calm as ever in fact he looked far more relaxed for his own good!
"Want to skip class?" Mayotta asked casually while stuffing both hands into his pockets.
The younger Orimura cannot help but to feel a sense of approaching doom the second those words left his friend's mouth.
"Where?" Ichika said but he is mentally screaming 'why?! Did I say that now Big Sis is going to kill me!"
"The Infirmary, let's just say we are looking over Hari," Mayotta explained before turning around and walking back inside. "Besides, I'm not going back to class because Alcott is still there."
'Ah…that's quite a bit unreasonable Mayotta.' Ichika thought to himself but he cannot help but agree on the second part, deep inside he is still irked at Cecilia's words especially calling his country pre-modern.
In Ichika's humble opinion that is too far.
He sighed before going back into the Infirmary silently praying that Chifuyu won't hit him in the head or make him stand in the hallway carrying water buckets like some shaolin apprentice.
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The Cafeteria sure is a pleasant place to be in.
Ichika admitted the food is great especially when you have great friends to share them with especially when you're having a Japanese breakfast, incidentally; there was rice, natto, sliced salmon, miso soup, and also some vegetables as a side.
The same could be said about Houki and Mayotta choice of breakfast except the cat-like-person substituted his natto for a second serving of sliced salmon.
'He really liked fish.' Ichika thought as he saw the dark-haired teen eating nothing but fish for dinner last night.
Though….he did note that Houki who sat across from him beside Mayotta is still angry for some reason or another.
"Hey..."
"..."
"Hey, are you still angry at me?"
"I'm not angry," said Houki, curtly taking a bite out of her sliced salmon.
Honestly Houki's emotional spectrum is far too big for Ichika to even understand, not long after he sees a certain redhead finally arrive with his food.
"Honestly, the line was far too long." Hari compiled as he placed his tray of food revealing an oatmeal and an assortment of breads before sitting beside Ichika.
"You like oatmeal Hari?" Mayotta asked as he finished the miso soup, judging from his expression oatmeal isn't exactly his favourite.
"It is one of my favourites, shame there's no berries to be added," Hari admitted before he started eating, leaving Mayotta in silence intending to finish his breakfast before class starts.
Though while enjoying the company of his new friends Ichika looked across the table to Houki and before he could say anything Houki already said it first.
"I told you that I'm not angry."
She brought that up herself, though. She hardly ever looked at Ichika, and if their eyes met by accident, she'd look away. Was she really angry or is it something else? Even then there is still hope to regain some semblance of peace.
"You're quite unreasonable to poor Ichika Houki," a cool masculine voice said behind Houki as a hand gently patted her head and before Houki could do anything Ichika stood up smiling at the familiar face.
"Shin!"
Standing behind Houki was her cousin Shinkai Shinonono, naturally he was taller than everyone on the table with a trained body of an IS pilot, not to mention his dark hair that is tied into a short ponytail but what's more surprising beside wearing a male uniform is the yellow necktie.
"It's been awhile, Ichika," Shinkai greeted him with a wave. "And you too, Houki."
"Since when you're a student here?" Houki asked, pushing away the hand on her head while looking at her cousin dead in the eye. She feared the worst when he suddenly moved out last year but here he is, in the same Academy as she is.
"Ah, since last year after I moved." Shinkai admitted then he spotted Hari, "Is that you Hari? You looked worse than the last time we met."
The russian rolled his eyes at the comment. "Better than ever actually, what about you? I doubt you're the only Orca around here?"
'Orca? Isnt that the name of a whale?' Ichika and Houki thought at the same time and how come Shinkai is so familiar with Hari not to mention Mayotta shoulders suddenly started to cough at the mention of the name. Did he choke on his vegetables? Ichika thought as he saw Houki passing a tissue at Mayotta.
Shinkai snorted at Hari's question. "Trust me, ORCA got a bit out of hand recently, Terumi got himself into a fight with his sister and the last thing we knew our little club suddenly became public."
"Terumi?"
"Thermidor."
"Ah."
Now Ichika really wants context and before he could ask for one Shinkai turned around after hearing someone shouting his name in the distance sighing before turning around and leaving the table.
"Well, it's nice for us to catch up but I need to go now," he gave one final wave before leaving the cafeteria following the other second years to their class, Ichika then turned to Hari and before he could ask for the context for Orca the redhead left the table and when he look for Mayotta he is also gone likely to the bathroom.
"What the hell is Orca?" Ichika asked and before he could get any answer a loud clap rang out in the cafeteria.
It was Chifuyu. "How long are you going to stay here and eat? Finish your food efficiently. If you're late for class, I'll make you run ten laps."
Naturally everyone quickly returned to eating even Mayotta who just returned from the toilet quickly finished up his glass of water and same goes with Hari who quickly finished his oatmeal.
A lap around the IS campus was five kilometres long. Having to run all of it was no joke. Ichika quickly finished his food as fast as possible as well. His battle with Cecilia was next week. He had to be able to pilot the IS with some degree of proficiency by then.
At the same time the younger Orimura cannot help but to think if Mayotta or Hari could at least share some tips on piloting an IS…maybe asking a senior for advice isn't such a bad idea…
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Shinkai Shinonono famously known as the Ice Prince of the Academy could feel the exhaustion creeping into his bones as he walked to the 3rd year class for his weekly club meeting.
His dark blue eyes linger on the door handle, contemplating if he really should be attending the meeting today, could he hang out with Anjou instead of coming here and listening to Terumi running his mouth for hours.
Taking a deep breath he then opened the sliding door only to be greeted with a dimly lit class 3-1.
"Yo, Shinkai." He turned toward the source of the voice and found himself face to face with Julius Emery who was waving her hands at him urging him to get into the room, reluctantly he did and quickly found himself seated beside a sleeping Masaru Hayami.
Masaru and his habit of overworking is a tad bit concerning, especially his position as the vice-president of Orca, must have taken the brunt in Tarumi's recent spat with his sister, even in his previous life as Mazel this is just ridiculous.
"So what's today's topic going to be?" Shinkai asked while crossing his arms and leaning back.
Julius just smiled, sure some would call Julius charming or beautiful even like many other female students in the academy but what set her apart was her snow white hair and her body is well-balanced proportions, she could easily pass as a supermodel. "You know the duel that got everyone talking?"
"The one where the younger Alcott challenged Ichika and Kasumi's son?"
"That one, Terumi said something about wanting to discuss something regarding either of the two"
Shinkai covered his face and stopped listening as he knew where the conversation was going. Is this another scouting or evaluation? In fact it seems that Orca is trying to recruit Ichika, then again it would make his day if Ichika can join their little club when the first years are given the chance to choose their extra curricular activity.
"So where's Terumi anyway?" the moment Shinkai asked that the class door open and the topic of conversation walked in.
Terumi Sarashiki, the eldest and so-called black sheep of the family, wearing the standard academy uniform with little to no modification beside his usual dark blue with black trimmed jacket, the only thing that ties him to his younger sisters are his dark red eyes and blue hair.
fitting since his 'main' IS unit Stasis is also blue coloured.
The reincarnated revolutionary walked to the class podium and coughed to his hand which attracted everyone's attention, he scanned the room for a few seconds before smiling.
"Welcome back to Neo Orca everyone."
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Orca have made their triumphant return this time as Neo Orca, terribly sorry for the abrupt change of plans. Honestly, honestly I was not expecting things to become so hectic recently with my real life.
Anyway you can expect the next chapter to involve th duel to happen, this chapter is named after a AC 4 OST.
Till then.