Personally speaking, I regretted the previous version of the chapter and here it is, I manage to add the missing parts to make it all flow better despite my conditions.

First of all, I was under the weather when writing this chapter and lastly, I'm still uncomfortable writing fight scenes so I'll try my best in coming up with an alternative.

As usual, I don't own anything.

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There was a deafening silence as Mayotta crashed into the ground the spectators begin to murmur among themselves as the pink-colored IS stopped moving.

It was deafening for Mayotta, he knew they can still move he know Ciliegio have enough energy and shield to finish that irritating Representative off but why he can't move?

Why did his body refuse to listen to him? Why won't he stand?

'Because you'll add another to the mountain of corpses you built'

"Guilt…. I'm stopped because of guilt? Maybe it's for the best-" Before he chose to stay down and hope to lose consciousness, Mayotta heard someone calling him suddenly he felt his body being picked up by the arm and carried-no flew to safety.

"Ichika?" he saw those white wings of Byakushiki, and he was holding his arm as the inexperienced pilot dodged Blue Tears sniper shots with some grazing on the white IS shoulder plates leaving singe marks.

"Mayotta! You alright?"

He was speechless as he could only stare at Ichika and at that moment he realized how blessed he was in meeting him, he took a deep breath, drowning those voices in his head, that's right.

Strayed is dead.

All that is left is Mayotta Sumika.

Someone who promised to be better.

"Let's do this, we're going to win Ichika!" Mayotta replied this time his voice was firm and determined, how could he stay down and wallow in his misery? when there are things he wished to protect, dreams to chase, and most important of all people who would accept this new him.

-0-

"Did something change?" Maya asked Chifuyu who looked at the duel from the control room, how Ichika and Mayotta worked together as if there was an invisible bond between the two.

"He is her son isn't he?" she sipped her coffee and winced at its taste, it was salty. "Maya finish my coffee."

"Eh?" the green-haired woman didn't even get a chance to refuse as the former champion slammed her cup at the table. "B-but didn't you put salt instead of sugar?"

"As I said they should make the label bigger and besides, you need the coffee more than I do."

Maya didn't say anything her shoulder slumping down in defeat, returning to the match the two teachers could see Cecilia struggling to escape the pincer attack by the two first with Mayotta firing a salvo of tracking missiles with a few potshots from the PG03-SPICA pulse gun.

Both teachers noted how Mayotta suddenly changed, whatever Ichika said to him must have quite the effect.

Speaking of Ichika he closes in on the pilot of Blue Tears who is distracted by the missiles impacting and disorienting her leaving her open to Ichika who sliced the sniper rifle in half forcing Cecillia to retreat.

"They are winning," Maya stated as she kept an eye on their shield levels Ciliegio have the most shield left thanks to the pilot's dodging skill followed by Blue Tears whose shield have dropped to a dangerously low level, and lastly Byakushiki whose shield was kept draining with each missed swing.

"For Mayotta that is," Chifuyu cannot help but let a 'tch' escape her mouth as she watches her own little brothers' sloppy performance, one of them lacks the motivation until it's too late and the other is getting arrogant.

Both are death sentences on the battlefield.

"Will they be alright?" Chifuyu turned around and see Houki fidgeting as she watches the match.

"They will be. But at this point, I doubt they can win."

"Why?"

"Mayotta doesn't have any weapons left and Ichika can't even use his IS properly," Chifuyu said bluntly and speaking of IS. "Maya, have your IS finished maintenance yet?"

The green-haired woman explained awkwardly. "W-well, papa hasn't sent my IS back from Aspina yet, saying something about "I do not feel safe knowing you won't have enough weapons to blast Black One to pieces," he said through yesterday's voice mail."

As she finished quoting her father Chifuyu could only sigh at the Yamada's antic, of course, Asuma Yamada would do that, even more so knowing that The Show Must Go On core used to belong to Destroyed Boar his own personal experimental IS.

"Um….is Miss Yamada's father an Aspina researcher?" Houki asked.

"Head engineer actually." Maya corrected with a smile.

"Really?"

"Yep, he said that he worked on the fourth-generation project before moving to another one."

Houki's jaw dropped wide open in shock as no one expected the meek and shy teacher's father to be Aspina's head engineer and before she could process a loud exploding noise erupted from the arena.

"Maya, status!" Chifuyu demanded.

"Ciliegio just lost its radar must be from one Blue Tears missile and…." Maya took a deep breath. "Byakushiki is out of shield."

The result was clear as day the moment the buzzer rang out to announce the winner of the duel.

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"Battle over. Winner: Cecilia Alcott."

The combatants all froze in place trying to process what had just been announced.

"What?"

He wasn't sure what just happen, Cecilia was directly in front of him, her mouth was open. She was just as confused as everyone present including Mayotta who slowly lowered his gun down.

The same went for the audience in the arena, he could see some of them leaning dangerously close to the edge and some with mouth agape in surprise but one thing remained unchanged.

The battle ended and the two male pilots lost.

-0-

One week later after the duel Ichika Orimura was not looking forward to the class representative meeting later after school, looking out of the window he sees the blue sky and wondered what is this sense of longing that is growing inside his chest.

How the sky is so close yet far away.

"Pay attention, idiot!"

"Gyah!"

The pilot of Byakushiki shrieked as he felt something impact his head, which clattered on his table, it was a pen throw with precision against his forehead which brought him back to reality, he murmured a quick apology before his older sister huffed and returned to the lesson at hand.

"As I was saying, the Alaska treaty was revised several years ago after the Phantasma incident," the Instructor explained before she moved on she looked at the students. "Are there any questions before we move on to the next topic?"

Cecilia raised her hand.

"What is it, Alcott?"

"Excuse me Instructor Orimura but why do we need to learn about the Alaska Treaty? I thought it was common knowledge."

"Common Knowledge? Of the original maybe," Chifuyu replied sharply as she turned back to the board and began writing. "Considering you kids don't have much for attention spans it doesn't surprise me barely any of you know much of the current revisions"

With that final jab, she set down the stylus, and slammed a hand back on the digital board which now has some sort of mind map written on it that explains the process of revision but with the cause boldly written and circled to emphasize its importance.

"But I'm sure even the most isolated of you in this class at least remember Phantasm, yes?" and with that, an uneasy silence fell over the class.

Seeing the silence Chifuyu then continued. "The current Alaska Treaty has adopted a zero-tolerance policy and I'm here to make sure that all of you know why they did it."

She looked around the room and her little brother raising his hands, naturally, she already expected that Ichika of all people would ask a question that many would be considered stupid but not her considering he still learning of the deeper IS history.

"Big si-I mean Instructor, I know this might sound stupid but what happen?"

Chifuyu closed her eyes, remembering the news from that day. An unknown machine that singlehandedly tore down the army sent to destroy it, Tabane's panicked voice in the calls, and finally that white IS with the shield.

"Can someone tell me and by extension our class representative what the Phantasma is?" Chifuyu asked the call to which some students raised their hands including Cecilia, Hari, Houki, and Mayotta it's good that some of them know their history but let's test the quality of the representative a little more. "Alcott, can you tell me what is the Phantasma?"

The representative of England stood up, of course, her wink to Ichika was not missed by some if Houki's souring expression is any indication. "The Phantasma is an unknown machine that uses technology similar to the Infinite Stratos which singlehandedly defeated the combined naval forces of the world militaries and many have compared it to the White Knight incident but taken to its worst possible conclusion."

Ichika appeared to pale a little after hearing the explanation.

"Very good Alcott, perhaps there is still hope for you after all," Chifuyu said causing the blond girl to smile with a proud huff and sit back down as Chifuyu picked up the stylus once more and wrote something.

It was number ten.

"Do any of you know what this number means?"

Someone raised her hands and with a shaking voice, she answered and said. "t-the number of pilots that died?"

"Correct."

Now the atmosphere of the class quickly turned cold and silent as the students slowly but surely processed the information, everyone knew how powerful the IS could be proven by the White Knight singlehandedly defeating and embarrassing the world's military during its incident.

"Naturally, I hoped that all of you know the weight of your responsibilities as IS pilots, especially those with personal units," the Instructor begin as she erase the boards and when she is done she turned to face her students. "Now before I end the class, are there any questions you wish to ask of me?"

This time it was Ichika who raised his hands. "Instructor Chifuyu, who defeated the Phantasma?"

Now that was an unexpected question because the existence of the person who destroyed the Phantasma was kept under tight wrap, mainly because the day the mysterious pilot was used as a convenient scapegoat the entire world roared out, demanding the release of the pilot from unlawful imprisonment by the governments.

Suffice it to say the existence of the Ravens is now feared by those in power because their existence can disrupt the current world order.

"Good question," She tapped her tablet a few times, and seconds later a picture appear on the digital board. It was a blurry picture of a lightweight white-colored IS with a sleek design which some of the students quickly recognize especially those that consider themself well-versed in IS designs.

"Instructor," Honne raised her hands and asked a question. "That's a second-generation IS called the YC07 Vixen?"

"Good, perhaps this class of idiots won't be so hopeless after all, but what Nohotoke said is true, the YC07 Vixen is an old IS by today's standard and it singlehandedly destroyed the phantasma and killed the one piloting the monstrosity….you can imagine the feeling of that third-generation IS pilot present there."

Naturally, those pilots would be infuriated because the situation is the equivalent of a world war two plane fighting a futuristic weapon of mass destruction, and before the Instructor could continue the homeroom bell rang out signaling the end of the school period, Chifuu sighed that she didn't manage to drill the new Alaska Treaty into her students head but at least she managed to drill the importance of it.

"That is all for today,'s lesson everyone," Chifuyu clapped her hand bringing everyone's attention to her. "and before I end today's class I will give you homework: I want all of you to research and write an essay regarding the importance of the revised Alaska Treaty is that clear?"

""Yes instructor!""

"Good class dismissed!" as the students begin to leave the classroom she called her little brother out. "And Ichika! Don't forget you have a class representative meeting, don't embarrass yourself."

"Yes, instructor…." his shoulder slumped down in defeat as he walked out of the class.

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Next chapter we'll be meeting the other class representatives in the first year, that's all from me and I'm sorry for the very short chapter.

This chapter is named after AC Nexus soundtrack of the same name.