OH MY GOD.
This took forever mainly because I had to rewrite it multiple times, so I do hope you guys understand why it's so late compared to the 2nd chapter, any-how as promised this is the more action packed chapter.
As always i dont own anything.
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'Maybe I went too far with the training?'
Houki thought to herself as she stood in front of her locker in the changing room, she couldn't shake the thoughts from her mind as she dried her hair, it had grown longer to the point it had reached her waist.
When she looked at him, a part seemed to be the same as when he was a child, and another had grown up with age. It made her heart beat so fast.
Shaking her head Houki tried to keep her imagination in line back to reality and the more pressing topic on how weak he is, not just in kendo but also in piloting an IS just now both of them finished training with an IS that she managed to borrow.
'Looking at the closed form of the Uchiganes remind of of wedding ring-'
The japanese girl punched the locker door, no that is too far! Too far! Houki bit her lower lips trying not to imagine such a scenario, then again she did remember how gallant he looked when fighting her using the IS.
Ichika had been really strong six years ago, and he was always just so cool.
"..." she didn't say anything as she pulled the towel down from her hair, thinking of their previous battle, it upsetted her just to think about it, not to mention next Monday is the day of the duel for the class representatives position they only have two or three days left.
While not saying it outright the dark haired girl was also angry at the remarks and insults that England representatives threw at everyone, especially calling her nation backwater and outdated.
Those words alone irked her to no end.
Houki can't help but worry a little about Ichika, especially Mayotta Sumika. Just who is he? Appearance wise he was nearly identical to Ichika save for the fact Mayotta hair is a little shorter but everything else?
He could pass as a twin or clone of Ichika….
It's quite the morbid thought that Houki quickly banished as she finished dressing up in her uniform and smiling as she pat her pocket feeling the special coupons in there, honestly it surprised Houki how much both of them have changed and grown over the course of six short years.
'I'm surprised he still recognizes me.' she thought while closing her locker with a smile, she couldn't even hold back a giggle at the idea of the two of them going to that famous cafe in the mainland.
It's going to be a date and no one can ruin it!
"Hehe..."
"You know, I'm starting to think what Shinkai told me about you is true." a heavily accented voice said from the left.
"Ah! Who are you?!" Houki jumped at the voice, startled to the point she could feel her heart in her throat while pointing at the interloper.
The first thing Houki noticed is that she is wearing the IS academy uniform with a yellow necktie, the next is the senior's appearance, milky white skin with a well-endowed body like many others in the academy with short spiky blonde hair that is tied into a low ponytail. Giving her a tomboy look contrasting her body and a cicada hair clip.
She gave a mischievous smile as she giggled at Houki's reaction."Well, that was a bit rude of me isn't it?"
"Y-yes, wait who are you?"
Houki can't shake the feeling that she met this foreign girl before to which her senior sighed and tuck a few strands of hair behind her ears.
"You forgot? I mean I know my hair was a little longer last year."
The mention of her hair being longer and the heavily accented voice, it took a second for Houki to process before her eyes widened alongside a smile before squealing her senior name.
"Anjou!"
Anjou opened her arms wide in an inviting manner to which the Japanese girl didn't hesitate to jump and give a hug to her cousin's girlfriend, how could she forget? Anjou visited her several times last year, to say that Houki sees her as an older sister is a major understatement.
"How are you doing Houki?"
"How-why are you here?"
"Ah, where's my manners?" Anjou placed Houki down before taking a step back and giving her a mock bow. "Loire De Orleans. At your service."
Houki cannot help but to laugh at Anjou's introduction, the situation was so absurd she cannot help but to laugh out loud, though it's nice to have someone familiar in the academy beside Ichika and Shinkai.
"So Houki," Anjou asked with a teasing smile. "What were you thinking? To be in such deep thought to the point of not noticing me. Was it Ichika?"
"Hah...?!" Houki stared at the mention of her childhood, h-how did she know? Was she that obvious?! though, compared to when they were kids. At that age, boys and girls would start to…
"Yes, you were that obvious Houki."
"Uuuuh"
"Anyway, I'll leave you to it," Anjou walked past Houki giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before leaving the changing room, "I'm sure you'll win his heart over like how your cousin won mine over."
Houki stood there alone in the changing room. The only thing left was her reflection,she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but her reflection seemed a lot more bright-eyed than normal, almost like a different person.
It didn't make any sense but now was not the time to worry about such things, when there were more important problems at hand. Time was of the essence such as training Ichika to the bare minimum.
She won't need to worry about Mayotta, he is after all a A rank…it did make her feel a little jealous.
'No, for now don't even think about it.' She shook her head trying to clear it out, for now she needed to find Ichika and ask if he was willing to accompany her to that famous cafe. She crossed her arms and nodded at her reflection.
Beside There was absolutely no ulterior motive, none whatsoever. She is only worried about her fellow student's well being and as his childhood friend Houki has every right to look after him in such dire times.
This is legitimate!
LE-GI-TI-MATE!
Now where on earth is Ichika?
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Ichika sneezed.
"Ew."
"Sorry Hari." Ichika wiped his nose with a tissue before flicking the used tissue to the trashcan to which the redhead russian rolled his eyes before tapping on the tablet in the middle of the table.
"We really need to talk about your match with Houki today in the arena."
Ichika could only weakly groan as he took a sip of his tea, it's strange really how sudden things changed one moment he was changing into his casual wear then Mayotta and Hari suddenly drop by to the dorm and unceremoniously drag him out.
30 minutes later they find themself sitting in one of the most famous cafes in the mainland, and it's only several minutes walk from the train station.
Original Fantastique. It's a beautiful place with a tasteful decoration and reminded Ichika of those bars in western movies, especially how the place is dominated by antique furniture and other strange trinkets.
Ichika will admit he sometimes caught himself staring at the employees of the cafe.
"Ichika focus." Hari snapped his finger twice in front of Ichika's face which brought him back to the present.
"Ah, oh yeah…so how badly did I do?"
"Terribly." Mayotta looked up from the menu, raising his hands calling for a waiter to order his food before looking back to Ichika. "You'll be dead in less than 2 minutes against me with that kind of sloppy piloting."
Ouch, that's one way to hurt someone.
"What Mayotta said is true, be thankful your experience in Kendo should give you a small chance of victory, sadly your opponent next monday might be the worst matchup in your life."
The red head took the tablet and gave it a few taps at the same time a waitress came over to the table.
"Are you ready to order?" She said with a smile like all the other waitresses and waiters working there she wore a green coloured formal shirt with a black vest on top matched with dark pants and half boots. True to the review Ichika finds she is rather attractive: brown wavy hair paired with her chocolate coloured eyes does make quite the combination.
"I'll take the Chocolate and Hazelnut parfait," Mayotta ordered before looking back at the menu to order a drink. "And a jasmine tea."
"Anything else?"
"None."
The waitress said nothing as she jotted the orders down before nodding and walked to the bar to place the order. Speaking of the bar, Ichika noticed that there's a girl with long silver hair sitting there. She looked around their age wearing a black shirt and baggy pants with jockey boots.
She looked out of place sitting there sipping what is essentially a milkshake.
"Focus." Ichika let out a yelp as he felt Mayotta smacked him behind the head, honestly it reminded him of his sister for some reason.
"...sorry…"
"Anyway, one thing for sure is that you need to survive and try to pull your own weight whenever possible," Hari explained while pushing the tablet back to the middle of the table this time showing Blue Tears, the IS that Cecillia Alcott uses. "It's a long ranged machine which puts you at a severe disadvantage."
"Can't Mayotta duel her at long range?" Ichika asked to which he shook his head.
"It's easier said than done, Ichika." Mayotta said as the same waitress as before came over to deliver the parfait he ordered which Mayotta quickly took a spoonful of and ate it. "While it's true Ciliegio can duel Blue Tears, it's a mid-range machine not to mention I'm not that great at dealing with snipers."
"So what can we do then?"
"Simple. Have you ever watched Aqmar Jarnefeldt, the pilot of White Glint fight?" Hari supplied a smile.
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It was now the next Monday: the battle between Mayotta Sumika and Ichika Orimura against Cecillia Alcott.
Mayotta and Ichika sat in the maintenance area waiting for the latter's IS unit to arrive, Ichika can't help but to feel a little nervous after watching the video Hari sent his way yesterday.
To say that Aqmar Jarnefeldt is a powerful pilot would be a major understatement as he easily defeats four different representatives with relative ease at the same time terrifies him, the way he piloted the White Glint a fourth generation IS can be described as beautiful, methodical, and efficient.
As if he lives and dies in that machine…
"Nervous?" Mayotta asked him to which Ichika nodded, his stomach felt uneasy even with constant training from Houki and sometimes from Mayotta about dodging long ranged weapons will come in handy during the duel.
"Hey Mayotta, who called you just now?"
"My mother," he replied with a shrug, "she is a stern and strict woman who can be quite unreasonable even then i still love and respect her."
"Must be nice…having a mother."
The atmosphere between the two suddenly grew heavy and awkward, thankfully before it could become any heavier that it crushed the morale of both people Miss Yamada came running.
"O-Orimura! Orimura! Orimura!"
She didn't have to call Ichika three times but it seems to be quite important, especially the fact that she is running to the pair wearing heels which made her look unstable and ready to just sprawl on the ground with her unsteady running.
"Ms. Yamada, please calm down. Take a deep breath."
While Ichika dealt with the sudden arrival of his IS unit Mayotta looked at Houki who remained silent until now.
"So? How did it go with Ichika?" he asked which startled the girl a little considering this might be the first time they actually interacted in a meaningful way.
"H-huh what do you mean?"
"I mean how did his IS training go?"
Houki looked away at the question but it was enough for Mayotta to know the answer and before he could think about it he heard the threadmark WHAM! Followed by Ichika yelping in pain and Instructor Orimura yelling something to him.
"- I want you out on the field immediately." she ordered before turning around to face Mayotta. "The same goes for you Sumika, once Ichika is suited up into his IS i want you to follow him out do you understand?"
"Yes Instructor."
He would never get used to the fact that Instructor Orimura looked like his mother….maybe it's the opposite?
It took awhile and at that point Mayotta already summoned Ciliegio, it's no AALIYAH that's for sure but he can appreciate the fact that the light pink IS isn't a massive energy drain to use, while it's bit uncomfortable sometime with how scantily armoured his IS is, then again it used to belong Kasumi Suika so he understand the feminine colours and design.
"That's quite the IS you have."
Mayotta just snorted at the remark, his IS hyper sensor already picked up Ichika the moment he entered the pit, still isn't it bit rash to send him out when his suit is still in the default stage showed by the grey coloration of his IS and the rather 'mundane' feel it had.
"So you're ready?" Mayotta asked out of consideration, to which Ichika gave a thumbs up, seems like the training with Houki really did acclimate him to piloting an IS, seems like the fitting process wont take that long.
"Ichika." Houki called him.
"Yes?"
"Make sure you win."
"I'll be back."
And thus both males moved toward the gate, Byakushiki and Ciliegio soon made their way out following the command of their pilot.
"Oh, you haven't tried to run away, I see," Cecilia cooed with both hands on her hips as she watched both pilots make their way out to the arena.
Her light blue unit was named Blue Tears. It had four visually striking armoured fins on the back, so far it matched the information that Hari managed to gather for Ichika and Mayotta the day before the battle.
"I'm actually surprised you haven't run away after realising you're stuck in a two against one situation." Mayotta naturally shot back, Ichika noted that it seems today he is as spiteful as a wild mountain cat at the same time he summoned a pair of weapons to his hands, a railgun for the right hand and a laser rifle.
Following Mayotta's lead Ichika summoned the only weapon he had, a close ranged blade.
"I will give you two last chances."
"Last chance for what?" Ichika asked while sharing a glance with Mayotta as the left side of his IS opened up like origami showing its nature as a radar and wordlessly shared the information with Ichika.
"This battle has a foregone conclusion. If you don't want to be crawling in the dirt by the end, I will let you off easy if you apologise!" she said, with the widest smile across her face as she raised her rifle and fired.
The sound of her shot pierced through the air. Immediately after, both male pilots boosted in opposite directions in an attempt to divide her attention with Mayotta instantly returning fire with his LR02-ALTAIR.
"Do you really think your laser rifle will-" Before Cecilia could boast the moment the first few bolts hit her eyes widened as her shields began to rapidly drop forcing her to dodge to avoid her shield being completely shredded.
Though it seemed either from arrogance or sudden panic she forgot that Ichika was there.
"Haaaah!"
Ichika shouted as he pushed his IS forward with a loud roar and a sharp flash delivered a devastating downward slash at Cecilia who blocked her with her rifle and sent her crashing down to the walls of the arena.
"That worked out better than expected." Mayotta commented as he boosted beside Ichika who nodded, it was different using his own personal IS opposed to using the Uchiganes, in the good way that is.
"Y-yeah..if we keep this up i think we can win this."
"I'll admit I didn't expect you two to come up with such a plan." Cecilia said as the smoke cleared it revealed four floating bits that have detached from her frame. "But I'm afraid this match is already over."
"..."
"I'm getting real sick of that attitude of yours."
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27 minutes later and the battle still rages on even after the unexpected change to Ichika's IS unit which achieved its 1st shift.
It only intensified as Cecilia who already lost 2 of her bits to Mayotta's accurate shots with the RG01-PITONE with the occasional missile bombardment from the pink coloured IS which depleted her shield even further.
The Representative of England slowly felt panic swelling in her chest as the 3rd bit was sliced in half by Ichika and the last one shot down before it could do anything, even after Cecilia sent the missile pods she'd revealed towards Ichika . They spread out to surround him again. Their speed was much faster than the laser bits, but not fast enough.
He sliced through one of them with ease, even more with the information provided with the data-link between Byakushiki and Ciliegio's radar providing him with an accurate location on the missiles pods to him.
With the second one being blasted by Mayotta's own missile, he discarded the laser rifle long ago after it ran out of ammo by throwing it at Cecilia.
"Ichika keep going! I'll open a path to you!" Mayotta shouted as he raised his railgun and fired off the few remaining shots left trying to chip whatever shield was left of Blue Tears, it reminded him of his previous life.
Watching his enemy flail around in panic as him or his allies closes in for the kills. powerless utterly so just like the cradle-One hundred million.
'What' Ciliegio suddenly slowed down as the railgun fell out of his hand, his mind suddenly filled with screams, the smell of fire and kojima particles filled his senses and the humming.
One hundred million.
One hundred million.
One hundred million.
One hundred million.
What's wrong with adding one more?
"Mayotta!" Ichika shouted at him which snapped him out of the trace but it was too late, he felt the shot from the 67-calibre laser rifle hitting his head. Even with the shield provided by the IS unit, he couldn't help but to fall to the ground face first.
Ah.
'I think I deserved that one.'
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"It's him, humanity's greatest monster."
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First of all i'm really sorry if the quality suddenly dropped in the action part because i'll admit it i'm not that great in writing action scenes, i'll try to rewrite it in the future if i'm given the opportunity
Again, I'm sorry if this chapter is disappointing.
This chapter is named after the Master of Arena most of the same name.