Exeter Project, Chapter 6, Version... 3? 4? Honestly, I'm not even sure at this point. I think it's 3, as far as story-wide revisions are concerned.
Church's first night at the IS Academy wasn't too bad: sure, he ended up sleeping in a repurposed storage room, but oddly enough, the accommodations besides that were actually quite nice. The bed and the pillows were extremely soft and comfortable, so they had at least provided him with beds that were the same standard as the ones the students got to sleep on. Like Tatenashi had told him, trips to the bathroom this high up in the tower didn't involve any run-ins with girls, so that was nice.
Frankly, Church couldn't help but wonder how much money actually went into the Academy. He was sure that no expense was spared, especially since Japan wasn't hurting for funding anyway. Technically, the Japanese government was solely responsible for funding this highly advanced institution, but in reality, they received all sorts of money from international sponsors. After all, this was the only legal place in the world to train Infinite Stratos pilots, with the exception of military pilots. Every country with IS of their own wanted the Academy to be the best it could be.
Thankfully, sleeping hadn't been too much of a problem: Church had been worried about sleeping with a sentient AI in his head, but Cerberus stayed quiet while he rested, apparently well aware that humans needed sleep to operate at peak efficiency. That said, anxiety over the mission had kept Church up for a little while, but ultimately, he had fallen asleep at a good time.
That all led to this moment right now, in which he was sleeping soundly on his new bed at some early hour of the morning. Unfortunately, that moment didn't get to last very long, as an insistent knocking made itself known on his door.
While he wasn't a light sleeper, the knocking was loud and consistent enough to awaken the American agent. Bleary eyed, he rose from his bed and glanced around, only realizing after he was met with complete darkness that he couldn't possibly glean what time it was by doing so. He didn't have a window or an alarm clock, after all.
Ugh... Cerberus, time?
If Church's long absence from the waking world had bothered the AI in any way, it didn't show. Church didn't really want to know what Cerberus did while he was sleeping.
Approximately 0657 hours, Operator.
Church scowled as he acknowledged this information and fumbled towards the door in the darkness. Honestly, he was perfectly used to waking up at this time since Umbra Stratum was a military outfit of sorts, but he was kind of hoping this wouldn't be necessary here at the IS Academy.
Wiping the scowl off of his face before opening his door so whoever was on the other side wouldn't get the wrong idea, Church was forced to blink several times as the light of the hallway brutally slaughtered his night vision. When he finally cleared that up, the person he found across from him was none other than Tatenashi, that usual easygoing smile on her face.
"Gooood morning~! Sleep well, esteemed guest?"
Church ignored the somewhat mocking tone. Tatenashi was clearly aware that he would have rather been sleeping longer. Still, he knew how to keep up that friendly pretense just as well.
"Pretty well, considering that it's a storage room. Softest bed I've ever slept on. But no offense, why are you here so early?"
Tatenashi didn't seem at all bothered by his question or the early hour of the morning.
"Well, you've got official business here, don't you? No point in waiting around."
"Still, at seven in the morning?"
"Ms. Orimura is very busy most days, and these early morning hours are some of the only time she has available. So, this is when you have to report in."
With that, Tatenashi wagged a finger to indicate that Church should follow her, prompting him to do so. He'd slept in his clothes from the day before, so there was no need to change. In hindsight, that was going to be a problem soon: he hadn't actually brought any other clothes for this trip, in the rush to leave the Umbra Stratum base in Nevada. Heck, now that the thought of changing clothes was brought up, it also occurred to him that showering was a problem in his future.
He was housed in a storage room, after all. And while there were bathrooms on this floor he could access, they didn't have showers. So what was he going to do about that? Maybe that was something he would have to mention, embarrassing though it may have been. For now though, he decided to stay focused on the situation at hand.
"I thought Ms. Orimura was a teacher. Why is her schedule relevant to technical data exchange or anything else about my visit? Not that I'm complaining."
Tatenashi cocked an eyebrow at him as she led him to an elevator, perhaps questioning the latter half of his statement. Ultimately, she didn't comment on that.
"She does teach the first-years, but she's actually in charge, you know. She's the Academy's administrator: has to make sure the whole school runs efficiently. Unfortunately, that also means she has to directly oversee abnormal operations like this. She takes on a lot of the workload around here."
Honestly, Church found this notion kind of surprising.
"That seems odd. With how much money goes into this school, you'd think there would be too much staff, not too little."
"Well, the problem with that is how new Infinite Stratos is. The whole field of study and science is barely a decade old. That being the case, there aren't actually that many experts and experienced people to hire for things like this, especially since companies and organizations all over the world are competing for people in the field. You'd be surprised how much each staff member really has to do around here."
As the duo made it down several floors in record speed, Church nodded to himself.
"Guess I never considered it like that before. As far as technology goes Infinite Stratos is extremely young, so it makes sense that there hasn't even been enough time to train and teach a lot of experts yet. Too much demand, not enough supply."
The elevator door opened as the two of them reached the fifth floor, and Tatenashi led him away from it and down the halls.
"That's one way to put it. Truth is, Ms. Orimura is a highly sought-after individual. Every I.S. company and organization in the world wants her. I heard she even served with the German military for a time. I wonder if she's working in Japan now for some sense of national pride, or if they're just paying her exorbitant amounts of money...?"
"If they were paying her so much, wouldn't she be able to quit and live pretty comfortably relatively soon?"
His cyan-haired guide looked thoughtfully up to the ceiling, honestly considering Church's point.
"Hm, guess you're right about that. Honestly, she probably just wants to be close to her brother. She'll never admit it, but she probably missed him during her time in Germany, not to mention that whole 'sacrificing a victory at the world's most prestigious tournament for her brother' thing. She gives me tsundere sister vibes, if you catch my drift. Seriously, don't you dare tell her I said any of that."
Church kept quiet as he considered that assessment from someone who surely knew more about Chifuyu Orimura than he did, to some extent at least. He supposed he could envision it: the woman obviously gave off some very tough vibes, but maybe it was just her keeping up a strong front. While Church was decently far removed from the female centric world of Infinite Stratos, even he knew that Chifuyu Orimura was a figure of great respect and adoration. Being a hero to girls everywhere and a prestigious figure for any I.S. related organization in the world, she probably had a difficult image to maintain.
Well, maybe that was just conjecture. He wasn't going to presume anything about the woman until he had more to go on.
Church continued to follow his guide down the hall, the two of them going silent as the topic of their conversation came to a halt. They didn't really get a chance to pick something different to talk about though, because after they turned the next corner in their path, the duo encountered a handful of other people that were up this early.
Two girls were talking to each other in the hall. One was kind of nondescript, but the other had sleeves half a foot too long for her arms and some oddly Pikachu-looking hairpins. That girl noticed both him and Tatenashi in the middle of her conversation about an afternoon nap or something.
"Oh, heey~! Prez, what's this? Are you hitting on the new boy already? No fair!"
Tatenashi smiled at the girl, though from Church's point of view, it looked like the kind that was intended to hide a grimace.
"Hardly, Honne. No offense to our friend here, but he's not my type."
Church wasn't particularly upset about that, but he felt the need to comment on it anyway.
"Tell me how you really feel, why don't you?"
The girl named Honne focused her gaze on him for a moment, while her previous conversation partner eyed the whole encounter from further back in the hall.
"Shame. It's already hard enough to get near Orimu without you around, Prez! Are you sure he's not your type? New guy, do you have a girlfriend? Prez would probably make a pretty good girlfriend!"
Perhaps growing a little irritated with the line of questioning, Tatenashi moved to shut it down and get back to her business.
"Honne, quit playing matchmaker for our guest, he's not like Ichika: he has to conduct himself in a professional manner as an agent of his own country, so he can't do anything scandalous while he's here. Don't make me tell Utsuho that you've been misbehaving."
Whoever this Utsuho was, the threat of her being informed of things seemed to work on Honne.
"Aw, that's so mean! Sis doesn't need to know anything about this, I'll behave!"
"Good, then the two of you need to shoo! We've got important places to be and things to do. Miss Orimura will also be very upset if she finds out you stopped us from getting to work."
Mention of the elder Orimura sibling put a note of fear into both girls' faces. Even the one hanging in the back found it in her to speak up.
"Y-y'know, maybe we should get going, Honne. How about breakfast? We're already up early anyway!"
Honne made a pouting face, but ultimately relented in her quest to apparently push Church onto Tatenashi, or vice versa. With a wave, she jogged back to her friend, and the two of them walked away down the hall to escape Tatenashi's ire. Church cocked an eyebrow as he watched them leave, wondering why anyone would be up this early if they didn't have to be. He supposed some people were just early risers.
"Man, competition over Ichika is even more fierce than I expected."
Motioning for him to follow her, Tatenashi shared how she felt about that statement.
"Well yeah: if you're a straight girl, there's not really anyone else to like around here, so it goes without saying that a lot of hormone driven teenagers are fighting for his attention behind the scenes. Not to say he isn't a great person too, of course. Even if he was the only boy around, if he were a jerk to everyone he'd be hated. Besides, there's really not that many girls seriously pursuing him. For most of the student body, it's kind of just... obligatory? Woman's pride, or something like that."
"And are you one of the few seriously pursuing him?"
That question actually put a look of consternation on the girl's face as she continued walking.
"That's... complicated. I wanna say yes, but... well, for now I just like making him blush. He's so naive and pure, it's a hoot!"
Church got the feeling that was obvious evasion, but didn't press her. After all, it wasn't really much of his business, even if he was curious just how convoluted the romantic conflict surrounding Ichika Orimura was. Honestly, the more he learned about the boy's situation, the less enviable it really seemed to be.
The duo didn't get a chance to pick up much more of a conversation, mostly due to the fact that their journey didn't have much longer to go. Within another minute of walking or so, they reached a door that was labelled 'Research and Development 2-13.' Tatenashi wasted no time in opening it, which revealed a large chamber with all sorts of mechanical equipment within: large arms that were obviously meant to move heavy gear, benches with tools scattered about, harnesses that probably held I.S. during maintenance... these types of rooms must have been the main place I.S. arsenal development took place, though the name of the room made that obvious.
Tatenashi led him inside, allowing Church to see that it really was a very large room once he was past the door frame. Probably a thousand square feet, at the least. Stepping into the room also revealed that it wasn't just him and Tatenashi there, though he had been expecting one of the occupants. Chifuyu Orimura, professional looking as ever, was sitting at a desk near some equipment, her focus on a computer that rested atop it. The other person present, however, was more of a surprise.
At a different bench was a girl tinkering on some sort of small robotic part that looked remarkably similar to Tatenashi: the same shade of cyan hair, the same crimson eyes. Other than the glasses and the attire, Church almost would have called her a twin.
Speaking of Tatenashi, she wasted no time in announcing their presence.
"Good morning, fellow early birds! I've brought our prey!"
The girl that looked like Tatenashi took her attention off of what she was doing, but Chifuyu kept her focus right where it had been, seemingly unperturbed by the loud entrance. She scarcely missed a beat.
"But not your prey, Sarashiki. Need I remind you that your only job here was to guide our guest? You can return to your normal duties now."
For Church's part, he couldn't ignore the fact that the elder Orimura had gone along with defining him as prey. Tatenashi didn't seem to mind the attempt to shut her down.
"Aw, Sensei! I scarcely ever get to spend time with my little sister, and there are other people on the student council, you know? Let them take care of things!"
The revelation that the other girl with the glasses was Tatenashi's sister did not come as any surprise. Church had honestly pegged her as some sort of relative right away. Kind of hard not to. Ironically, that sister didn't seem too pleased with the whole situation, pointedly turning her attention back to what she was doing before.
"Sensei probably thinks you're just too loud, Tatenashi. We have actual work to do this morning."
The elder sister of this duo donned a feigned expression of hurt.
"Kanzashi, always so cold and distant! Is Ichika the only one you're willing to show your dere side to? I'm your sister, but all I ever get is tsun!"
This all got Kanzashi to pay attention again, though it involved a lot more blushing than before.
"T-this has nothing to do with Ichika! It's just that you're annoying, Tatenashi!"
The girl accused of being annoying simply laughed it off, though the brief exchange did give Church some more insight into something Tatenashi had said earlier, that her romantic feelings for Ichika were 'complicated.' If her sister also loved the same guy, Church could see how that was a conflict of interests. Must have been tough, to have to restrain yourself in such a way for a loved one.
Operator, must we dwell on such frivolous things?
Contrary to how things must work for a computer, real life is full of inefficiencies, Cerberus.
Tragically...
With no one else privy to that conversation, Chifuyu was soon trying to get things back on track. She apparently had a pretty busy schedule, according to her role here at the school.
"Tatenashi, go back to your regular business. Don't think you can defy me just because you're the student council president."
This statement was punctuated by a glare that left no room for disagreement, even from someone like Tatenashi. That said, the girl still kept up her usual demeanor as she prepared to make an exit.
"Alright, alright! See you later, little sis. Let me know if you learn anything cool!"
The younger sister merely sighed as her elder sibling left the room, closing the door behind her. Church had to wonder if they were actually close, or if it was a weird one-sided thing. More importantly though, mention of Kanzashi learning anything of import raised a point that he had to address.
"Um, I don't mean to offend anyone, but any detailed information about my suit is..."
Picking up on his meaning without any trouble, Chifuyu allayed his fears immediately.
"Don't worry. Kanzashi is only here to help with some of the technical parts as part of some extra credit she's doing. She won't be privy to any detailed information that is gathered from these tests."
From her bench, the girl in question commented on this as well.
"T-trust me, I'm a little too busy tweaking my own I.S. to worry about an entirely different machine. Though I'll admit I am intrigued..."
From within his mind, Cerberus also felt the need to comment on this situation.
It's irrelevant anyway, Operator. I will falsify all viable data that is acquired through these tests. Nothing of actual value will be given to our hosts.
Frankly, Church found it hard to believe that it would be as easy as all that.
The Commander didn't say anything about falsifying that kind of information, though I guess it makes sense... but will other people really be fooled by falsified data? What if they catch on?
Cerberus didn't seem worried about this at all.
Leave that to me, Operator. Nothing of import will be compromised.
Rather than get into a lengthy mental discussion about that since he was in the presence of other people, Church decided to just accept that for what it was. Who was he to question the artificial intelligence?
"Well, good enough for me. How are we going to go about these tests?"
Since Chifuyu was the one in charge, she was the one who answered that question.
"For today, we'll probably just focus on the most basic details. While I'd like to just get everything out of the way in one day, I don't have the free time on any day of the week to dedicate that much time, so we'll have to do this in increments when the opportunities arise. I hope that's not a problem for you?"
While he had to admit that he found Chifuyu Orimura a little intimidating, Church couldn't deny that the idea of spending a few hours every morning with a woman as obscenely beautiful as her sat pretty well with him. At the very least, he didn't have any problem with it.
"Well, I won't complain with you in charge."
Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at him, though it wasn't clear if that was because she was confused or surprised. Ultimately, she turned her attention to Kanzashi again. Now that her older sister was gone, the teacher was sure to address her by last name.
"Sarashiki, you can head to the booth now. We'll begin right away."
Church watched as the girl in question nodded and began moving towards an enclosed booth of some sort in the far corner of the large room. He could only assume that some important things would be done from that booth, though it would have to be done by radio or something, considering the distance and the fact that walls would be between them.
Once Kanzashi made it to her destination and got herself situated in it, she started messing around with some of the controls available to her in the booth. Soon enough, she leaned towards a microphone, and her voice came over some speakers.
"Cameras are green, Sensei. Ready to visually record the testing. Preemptive diagnostics on other equipment appears green as well, but that can't be confirmed until we've actually begun."
Chifuyu donned some sort of headset that had been sitting at her desk already, though it only covered one ear.
"Thank you, Sarashiki. So, Church: are you ready to begin?"
"Just tell me what you'd like me to do."
"Well, we should probably start with actually manifesting your suit for testing."
Since she had a fair point there, Church wasted no time in doing as he was asked. In a moment, he was covered in pale blue light, something that always forced him to close his eyes. Another moment after that, and he was opening his eyes to the altered and technologically advanced view of a HUD, thanks to the fact that his suit had finished manifesting over him. Chifuyu commented on the process as soon as it was finished.
"That process appeared to be remarkably similar to an Infinite Stratos activation."
"It's my understanding that the process is either very similar or exactly identical."
His older observer typed some things on the computer she was using as she inquired further.
"The data is stored in cyberspace somewhere, then manifested via Instant Corporeal Transmission, right?"
While Church heard what was said, it didn't make any sense to him at all.
"Uh..."
Yes Operator, that is the way the Exeter suit, and indeed all materials produced from a Hyperspace Arsenal, work. You should really know these things.
You know, pilots of aircraft don't exactly learn all the nuts and bolts of the things they fly. It's my job to fly the thing, not fix it!
Ultimately, he decided to save face and simply agree with what Chifuyu had said.
"Yeah, it's Instant Corporeal Transmission. Guess there's no need to fix what isn't broken, right?"
Apparently, Chifuyu agreed. Or at the least, she didn't seem to care too terribly much, since she shrugged.
"It's not like Infinite Stratos technology is licensed on a general scale. You can't license the concept of ICT anymore than a combustion engine. On that note, I don't see any weapons: I assume those are also manifested via ICT on command?"
Since Cerberus didn't say that he couldn't, Church went ahead and answered that.
"The suit does have a few built-in weapons that can't be removed, but yes: there's a lot of other weapons that I can summon on command via ICT."
"I see. Any other similarities with I.S. that I can go ahead and write off as identical? Makes reports a lot less tedious."
"Well, there's vague similarities: you know, energy shields, electric-rocket hybrid engines, stuff like that. But I don't know if those things are identical to Infinite Stratos."
Chifuyu typed out some more things on the computer she was using. She wouldn't admit it, but she was actually quite curious about a lot of the technical aspects of this unique air vehicle. She wasn't an engineer or anything, but she had professional interest at the least.
"I have to ask, seeing how different your suit is to a powered mech like Infinite Stratos: can it operate independently? Do you have to be inside of it?"
Instead of immediately answering that question, Church simply decided to demonstrate as he allowed the front of the suit to open up so he could step out of it. The back wasn't feasible, what with the engines and whatnot back there.
"No, I actually don't."
Before he could comment any further, Cerberus spoke up inside of Church's head.
Operator, do not say anything about my existence or imply that the suit can operate at full capacity without you. Say that its autonomous operation is limited.
Instead of answering Cerberus, Church simply kept that in mind as he continued.
"It can't fight effectively or operate without me like it would with me, but the suit can autonomously follow simple commands."
Chifuyu didn't seem to find any of this too surprising. Of course, she'd dealt with a number of autonomous machines lately, so that probably made a fair deal of sense.
"Well then, you may as well take a seat: you don't need to be inside of the suit for any of our tests today. Unless you really want to, for whatever reason."
Church didn't see any reason to get back within the suit, so instead, he glanced around the room to try and find somewhere to sit. Thing was, there was only one option, that being another chair that was near the desk Chifuyu Orimura was sitting at. The idea of taking that seat intimidated him for a moment, but then again, she had insisted that he take a seat, and that was the only one available, right?
With that in mind, he did exactly that, though he was sure to keep a decent gap between himself and the woman in the room with him. He didn't want to come across as too presumptuous or comfortable. Apparently, he did a decent enough job of accomplishing that, because Chifuyu didn't seem that bothered by his actions. She just kept on going with the testing.
"Could you have your suit move towards that diagnostic setup on the wall?"
Church simply motioned towards the location Chifuyu had indicated, and Exeter stalked over to it in a distinctly robotic manner that was nowhere near as fluid as when he was in control. Chifuyu questioned his lack of verbal direction.
"Mental commands?"
"There's uh, a neural link. Infinite Stratos has that too, right? Sorry, didn't occur to me when you asked for similarities."
Chifuyu didn't seem bothered by the oversight. She was swiftly addressing Kanzashi over the comms once Exeter was positioned within a metal frame and some mechanical arms that had all sorts of gadgets and tools.
"It's fine. Sarashiki, please attach the sensor nodes on arms two and four."
The girl in the tech booth answered back in a moment, her focus on whatever she had to do in order to achieve that.
"Of course, Sensei. It'll just be a moment or two."
Church watched as the mechanical arms around his suit began to move, with two of them attaching some sort of nodes to the shoulders of the suit. He assumed this would provide his Academy companions with readings of some sort, but what those readings may have been, he had no idea. He did notice Chifuyu doing a bit more clacking on her computer for a moment, though that didn't tell him much. If he had to hazard a guess, the gathered information would be the basics.
That said, he couldn't help but wonder what could be falsified about things like that. Moreover, would lying about basic data matter anyway? Church supposed he was better off just leaving it to Cerberus.
His thoughts didn't remain undisturbed for long, thanks to a comment from the older woman at his side.
"The shield strength for such a small machine is remarkably high."
Figuring she wouldn't have spoken aloud unless she wanted some sort of response about it, Church offered one up.
"Well, a smaller machine means less surface area for a shield to cover, so I'm sure that helps. It also doesn't require the same degree of engine power that an I.S. does, so there's less power draw there as well. Not to mention that there's no non-vital sections, since it's a suit and not a mech. Protection is pretty important."
Chifuyu didn't glance his way during any of this, keeping her focus on whatever she was recording.
"And yet, the armor rating is quite low. Though I suppose that's unavoidable: there's only so much mass you can attach to a flying machine of this size."
Saying that, Chifuyu finished typing and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms as she did so.
"Well, at this point there's little to do but wait. A full technical readout will take some time to compile. I suppose it depends on how much data there actually is, but I'd say an hour at least. Seeing as how you don't have to be in your suit for this, I suppose there's no reason you have to stay here in that time frame."
Ordinarily Church would have been happy to hear that, but considering the circumstances, that wasn't quite the case right this second. For one, he didn't want to leave the Exeter suit just lying around, regardless of whether or not he trusted these people. It was just bad practice. Secondly, he didn't really have anything to do as an alternative, as he assumed everyone that he could have interacted with to further his objectives were sleeping.
That being said, on a purely superficial level he certainly had no qualms with staying here with someone like Chifuyu. She was decidedly out of his league, but that didn't mean he couldn't take what he could get. There were probably thousands of men and women alike that would kill to be in his position.
"I don't mind waiting around. There's companionship in mutual suffering, right?"
At this, Chifuyu actually gave him a curious glance, but nothing more than that. Perhaps she hadn't expected him to take her up on waiting around here.
"I suppose so. Though I'm used to being up this early, so I believe the suffering is mostly yours. This is technically work, but at least it's a break from the banshees I call students."
Church himself was a little surprised that the woman would be so frank with him, but maybe she felt that it didn't matter, seeing as how he wasn't a student himself. Then again, maybe she would say these kinds of things to her students as well.
"Do you always have to be up this early? Tatenashi implied that it isn't unusual, at the very least. According to her, you have to do a lot of work around here for a single person."
Mention of work and her schedule put a frown on Chifuyu's face, though it was obvious that it wasn't for him as much as it was for the topic.
"Unfortunately. Yamada tries her best to carry some of the load, but the truth is, there's too many roles and not nearly enough people to fulfill them. Everyone in this institution does more than would be expected of them anywhere else. I just happen to have the most experience with I.S., so I get saddled with most of the hassle."
"Yeah, Tatenashi mentioned that too. Guess that's what happens when you're the first expert on an infant technology. That said, I don't think the situation is helped by gender locking the field. Seems to me like restricting who can be taught and hired for all of these jobs to females is making things arbitrarily more difficult than it needs to be."
The look on Chifuyu's face made it obvious that she was intrigued by his statement, maybe because she hadn't expected him to speak on something like this, considering his age, gender and occupation. Their acquaintance was very fresh, but this was a good indicator of the type of person he was, at least as far as his thought processes went. The theorist: a type of person who didn't mind discussing any sort of hypothetical, even if it had little or no relevance to themselves or their lives.
Admittedly, Chifuyu kind of liked that. She spent most of her time surrounded by teenage girls, most of which didn't think about much other than proving how great a pilot they were or how to get Ichika to notice them. Not that they were all like that, but 'deep thinker' wasn't how she would describe most of her students. It was nice to have someone who might have been a bit more of an intellectual to talk to, even if they were a teenager as well.
"Ordinary men can't pilot an I.S., so I don't think they'd be qualified in any way to teach others how to fly them, do you?"
"Well no, but there's plenty of jobs that could be done by a man. Teaching theory, maintenance, any of the non-I.S. related subjects that are taught here, considering that this institution still has to adhere to academic standards... heck, what you're doing here right now could be done by a man, then maybe you could get an extra hour or two of rest."
Frankly, Chifuyu couldn't deny that. He wasn't wrong, after all.
"I suppose that's fair. Although, being an all girls school, I can imagine that many students are more comfortable with female staff. That said, I won't say you're wrong: it's mostly arrogance and bigotry standing in the way of co-ed expertise in the field."
Church knew what she was talking about to a degree. The introduction of a superweapon that could only be used by women had done some serious damage to the overall balance of power between genders in the world. Not that it had been terribly fair in the first place.
"It hasn't affected me much all things considered, but I get what you mean: there's been a lot of elitism going around the world ever since Infinite Stratos debuted. Always felt unwarranted to me, but I'm kind of surprised you feel that way. Not to speak for you, but you're like, one of the first pilots to demonstrate how powerful an I.S. really is. And it's my understanding that you're one of the best pilots to date, so if you were equipped with an I.S., you could feasibly take on whole countries, albeit smaller ones. Doesn't that make you inherently superior to people who can't do that?"
Once again, Chifuyu was impressed with the level of thought put into this conversation. This really was a nice change of pace, and no one had really asked her this question before. She'd expected this whole encounter to be awkward and tense, but instead they were having a stimulating and meaningful conversation. She had to give Church kudos for managing that, especially since most people were intimidated by her whether she meant to do that to them or not. She'd been less than enthused with having to spend her early morning hours doing this before, but honestly, this wasn't so bad.
"Possessing a tool that someone else lacks does not make me inherently superior to them. It simply means I have a tool. In the case of a weapon like an I.S., that tool makes it easier for me to defeat other people, but the tool is doing the work, not me. If I have a sword and someone else doesn't, I could kill them, but it doesn't make me better than them. It just means I have a sword, and they do not."
For a moment, the look on Chifuyu's face grew notably displeased. Maybe this was something she had actually thought about more than once.
"The problem with many women today is that they feel superior to men not because they have swords, but simply because other women have them. Women who will never pilot an I.S., women who will never even see an I.S., consider themselves objectively superior to men just because they have the theoretical potential to pilot one, while men do not. It is truly asinine."
Needless to say, Church hadn't expected this kind of sentiment from the woman he was talking to. After all, she was a major face in the world of Infinite Stratos. Then again, she was speaking ill of people, not the machines themselves.
"That's a good point: kind of like feeling superior to others because someone in your demographic is a pro athlete, even though you'll never be one. I guess it's actually even more ridiculous with I.S. though. Aren't there only like, four hundred IS cores in the world or something?"
"Four hundred and sixty-seven, actually. In truth, there is almost no profession as narrow and elite as that of Infinite Stratos pilot: four hundred and sixty seven cores, to be distributed among nearly four billion women, and that does not even take into consideration that roughly a hundred cores belong to the Academy for training units. Then, you have to consider that no one is going to take on an older pilot that only has a few years of performance left in them, and that potential pilots already need to be in the upper echelon of intelligence and aptitude. They can't be physically deficient or ill either. Finally, there's the fact not all nations even have I.S., and thus have very poor representation in the field."
For a moment, Chifuyu glanced at the booth where Kanzashi was working. The girl seemingly had no means of hearing anything outside unless Chifuyu used her headset.
"Ultimately, the chances of any one girl becoming an I.S. pilot is infinitesimal. Even the majority of the students here at the Academy will never become professional pilots and will never touch an I.S. again after they leave here. That being said, it's utterly ridiculous for any woman to harbor a superiority complex over men because of Infinite Stratos: just like those men, most of them will never be I.S. pilots."
Church was silent for a moment as he took all of that in. Most of this was something he technically already knew: basic math dictated that the odds of piloting an I.S. were very slim when the odds were four hundred and sixty seven to four billion, but he had never really taken the time to think about it. Like Chifuyu had just said, the profession of I.S. pilot was truly one of the most inaccessible in the whole world, even for women. It was no wonder it had also become one of the most prestigious and funded fields of profession of all time, even though it had existed in the world very briefly in the grand scheme of things.
This of course reminded him that he was sitting next to, and even chatting with, the absolute most elite and legendary member of that already extremely limited and prohibitive club. Speaking of odds, that was pretty amazing, wasn't it?
"Well, taking all of that into consideration, I guess I'm extremely lucky to be talking to you, aren't I? You're the absolute best of the best of this already super tiny group, after all."
Oddly enough, Chifuyu's expression soured rather than lifted. Church had pegged her for the type that didn't necessarily care for praise, but he hadn't expected an outright negative reaction. Still, she didn't seem to direct the ire at him, even if it seeped into her words nevertheless.
"Don't start with all of that, what I've enjoyed about this conversation thus far is that it doesn't remind me of my students in any way."
For the life of him, Church felt that there had to be a deeper-seated reason to feel that way than mere standoffish personality, but he wasn't going to pry in his first meaningful conversation with Chifuyu. No need to ruin the good thing he had going, which was why he took the last topic and used it to springboard into something else Tatenashi had brought up earlier.
"I'll take that as a compliment. But you know, considering that pilots are already rare and you're one of the most experienced alive today, do you even have to work here? Governments should have been paying you loads of money for your services, right? With the narrowness of the supply and the excessive demand, I'd imagine you could demand almost any salary."
Seemingly pleased by Church's intuition in turning the conversation elsewhere, Chifuyu scoffed.
"You're naive if you think the government won't find other ways to squeeze service out of citizens they deem useful. Not that they pay me poorly, but I'll hardly be retiring as a billionaire anytime soon. Besides, I don't do this job for money."
"Then why do you?"
For the briefest moment, there was an expression on the woman's face that indicated the answer was not something she wanted to share. But her response made that obvious enough anyway.
"Reasons."
Figuring that he was in no position to push his luck so soon with this woman, Church simply left it at that. He'd have to find other, less intrusive things to talk about for the remainder of their morning together. Thankfully, he was pretty good at that.
Ultimately, most of Church's time with Chifuyu that morning was spent sitting at that desk with her, trying to find things to talk about that didn't annoy her. As the older woman had predicted, gathering a full technical readout of on paper stats for the Exeter suit had taken a great deal of time, and more than she had been expecting. That being the case, it was pretty much time for her to prepare for classes by the time that was finished, and any further testing was moot considering the short timetable.
When that was made obvious, Chifuyu had excused Kanzashi and recommended that Church consider the cafeteria for breakfast, though she did mention that he'd be better off waiting for another thirty minutes since classes hadn't quite started yet. The natural implication was that there would be far more girls in the cafeteria since they didn't have anywhere else to be yet.
Church had considered that issue, but ultimately, his hunger won out over reason. Besides, he had thus far gotten the impression that the girls in this school didn't find him as approachable as Ichika. Maybe it was his own personality, or maybe it was the fact that Tatenashi had scared off some of them and word had gotten around. Either way, Church didn't feel as though he would be in too much trouble going to eat now. He'd even passed a few students on his way to the cafeteria, and while they had all stared at him, none had attempted to actually speak to him.
Thus, he made it to the cafeteria with little incident. Upon entering the large room, he took stock of the type of presence he would have to deal with. It was a little less than half full, with the girls Church assumed were the procrastinators, or just wanted as much rest as possible before classes started. They definitely weren't the early riser types, to still be here. Unless they were socializing, that was.
Scanning the rest of the room, he spotted a few other people of interest. Dunois and her possible boyfriend Ichika were here as well, though the latter seemed like he wanted to be in bed still. Not necessarily wanting to attract their attention, Church swiftly took in the rest of the room with mildly heavy eyes, ignoring the many flirtatious or interested looks he was getting from different students, until he spotted the most dangerous living thing within a hundred miles of his current position.
Laura Bodewig, someone he hadn't expected to see since he would have pegged her as an early riser that would have eaten breakfast by now, sat at a table on the opposite side of the room. She was currently leveling a very pointed glare at Church that could have probably incinerated his soul if it remained on him for too long. Why she was sitting by herself instead of with Ichika was beyond his concern at the moment, but if he took the time to analyze the situation, Church probably would have noticed that she seemed irritable about the situation between said boy and Charlotte.
Ignorant of any of that, Church quickly looked around the rest of the room for any means of salvation from a painful and grisly death that was certainly not an imaginary exaggeration in his head, but there weren't too many options. Any empty tables would require more than a dozen steps to reach, and the ex-soldier could totally intercept him in that time. With few options to begin with, he noticed the top of a brown-haired girl's head in one of the booths to his left. Not caring what the stranger might think of it, Church sidled over to the table and sat down across from her, hoping that Bodewig would be less likely to murder him if he had someone else to witness the crime.
Before he even identified the girl he now shared this table with, Church glanced over at Bodewig to see if his plan had worked. Luckily, she didn't seem to be making any moves towards him, though she was still glaring and frowning pretty strongly.
Operator, I doubt she intends to actually harm you based off of your one previous encounter with her.
Well you know what Cerb, if there's one person I don't want to take even the slightest risk with, it's probably her. And Chifuyu. But definitely her next.
If Cerberus had any comment to make to that, it didn't get the chance to do it, since a different voice demanded Church's attention. Of course, it stood to reason that it was the girl at the table he had joined.
"Y'know, when you said you'd see me around, I didn't think you meant this soon."
Recognizing the voice of someone he had actually held a decent conversation with thus far, Church turned his attention to his new breakfast companion. Of course, he was also shocked to see her at all.
"Rinin? Should you be out of the infirmary? You can't possibly be fully recovered this soon."
The girl across from him, both her arms and her head wrapped in bandages (or in a sling, in the case of her more severely injured right arm), and covered in healing cuts and bruises, cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really? Did you figure that out all by yourself?"
Church frowned at the vitriolic retort, though he supposed it was somewhat justified. "Hey, I'm just worried. Besides, I have a right to be confused, don't I? You are out of the infirmary, after all, and ridiculously soon at that."
Seeing that she was hardly in the right here, Rin sighed in defeat. "OK, that's fair... ugh, I just don't feel great. Sorry for taking it out on you."
Nodding knowingly, Church recalled what Cerberus had said yesterday about that medical substance Tabane had accidentally created. The AI had claimed that it accelerated the healing process, but was it really to this extent? Rin's injuries had been fairly serious: at least serious enough that no one would expect her to be walking around on her own in mere day.
"No hard feelings. But seriously, did you run away from the infirmary or something? There's no way the nurses let you out voluntarily with how many cracked and broken bones you have."
The Chinese girl leveled a displeased glare at him. "No, I didn't run away! I'm out with permission, thank you very much. Not that it was really my choice... the nurse said I was healthy enough to make a visit to the cafeteria on less painkillers than yesterday. You know, kind of like a test to see how well I'm recovering, I guess. She said my broken arm was really the only serious thing left as far as injuries are concerned. Still feel like crap though..."
Church looked at his table companion incredulously, mostly not believing that she could be so well off so soon. Even the most minor bone breaks often required at least four to six weeks to heal. The acceleration factor of Tabane's mysterious substance was downright astronomical. Well, he supposed he also had to take into consideration that one could actually move relatively normally before cracked bones healed completely, so maybe the healing acceleration factor was slightly less.
"Well, I suppose rapid acceleration of your body's natural healing means rapid acceleration of its energy consumption as well, right? It's no wonder you don't feel great..."
Rin wasted no time in agreeing with the assessment.
"Probably explains the unfortunate coincidence of Chifuyu coming across me while sitting upright in bed and complaining about how hungry I was. But hey, I was starving! I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my life!"
For the first time, Church noted the extremely full plate of food in front of Rin, though he also noticed that she hadn't actually touched it yet.
"I can see that. Did I catch you before you could get down to business?"
Coincidentally, a faint rumbling noise erupted from Rin's side of the table before she could answer him, prompting her to both blush and grimace. Following that, she glanced at her one free arm.
"To tell you the truth, even though I'm still on some painkillers, moving my arm around hurts enough to make it unpleasant. And with this much food, the amount of times I'd have to move my arm to and from the plate... ugh, I really want to eat, but I don't even know if I'll be able to really enjoy it..."
Feeling bad for her conundrum, Church looked around the cafeteria to see if anyone around could help Rin with it. Sure, she was supposedly out here to see how well she was doing, but even then, shouldn't a nurse have been around to supervise her? What if she wasn't doing well at all, and collapsed or something? What if there was some medical complication and she needed attention immediately?
Maybe the infirmary was close enough that a medical professional could get here quickly, but Church felt it was an unnecessary risk nevertheless. Regardless, he supposed it was best to just focus on the situation at hand instead of worrying about why it was at hand at all.
With that in mind, he turned back to face Rin, who was staring longingly at her food, but was unwilling to make the necessary motions to put any of it into her mouth. While he wouldn't say it out loud, the girl truly looked pathetic at the moment. Perhaps due to that, Church pushed past the sense of awkwardness that his intentions emanated and went all in with them. He had never expected to say something like this to another person, but this was a unique situation.
"Rinin, if it would really be too unpleasant for you to eat by yourself, I uh... don't mind feeding you."
Flustered by the suggestion for obvious reasons, Rin gave him a peculiar look that clearly expressed her surprise at the offer.
"That's... kinda weird, you know?"
Feeling a new surge of awkward energy thanks to Rin's reaction, Church wondered if he should just cut his losses and try to save face. But on the other hand, why did he have to do that? His intent was entirely pure and rooted in altruism. Rin wanted to eat, but also wanted to avoid needless pain and discomfort. Church was present, and had the capability to help her do that. He had no reason to apologize.
"It's only as weird as one makes it. If it would make you feel better, it can be an exchange of favors. I do this for you, but then you do something for me, so it's just fair trade for your benefit and mine."
Rin leaned back in her seat a bit as she cocked an eyebrow at his offer.
"And just what would you want in return from an infirm girl, huh?"
Glad to see that Rin's demeanor had gone from weirded out to honestly considering the offer, Church elaborated on that offer with confidence.
"I'd love to learn more about you and your culture, if you're alright with it. That'd be enough of a return favor in my books."
For some reason, the frank desire to learn more about both her and her culture made Rin a little happy, which prompted a small blush as she pretended to deliberate further. Truthfully, she had already inwardly accepted the idea Church had presented, but she was going to put on airs regardless.
"Well, I guess I can accept that... although, does a guy like you even know how to use chopsticks?"
Smiling at his success, Church gathered up the mentioned wooden utensils in his hands.
"Hey now, we do have Chinese food in America. I frequented Panda Express enough to develop some chopstick skills."
Hardly able to keep a straight face with a comment like that, Rin made some noise that was between a snicker and a snort.
"I'm going to pretend like that wasn't an insult to my whole country. I bet if you tried my sweet and sour pork, you'd never go back to that crap quality trash again."
Seeing an opportunity to dig his feet into this budding acquaintance level relationship, Church smiled at the girl across from him as charmingly as he could manage.
"I don't suppose that's an invitation...?"
While she was caught off guard by the question at first, Rin eventually smiled back. Was this how it felt to have a pleasant, lightly flirtatious conversation with a guy? Ichika was the only man she'd talked to in so long, she'd almost considered something like this as unattainable. Of course, she would have preferred for Ichika to pick up on this level of conversational skill, rather than getting it from a relative stranger. Maybe she could convince Church to give the target of her affections some pointers?
Still, at this exact moment, she wasn't having this conversation with Ichika. She couldn't ignore the present for some fantasizing about the future. Besides, while it may not have been coming from the man she loved, Rin was happy that anyone was taking an interest in her cooking and her culture, both of which were very important to her. That being the case, she certainly wasn't going to reject Church entirely just because he wasn't Ichika.
"Well... I guess I can take it into consideration. I'm not against the idea, but I have to finish vetting you first. I won't just cook for anyone, you know?"
Considering that he hadn't been able to talk at length with a girl around his age in some time considering his recent past, Church was immensely glad that the militant training with Umbra Stratum hadn't dulled his social skills. Sure, it technically wasn't relevant to the mission, but he was glad that he could get a cute girl to talk happily with him, never mind consider cooking for him. Of course, that second part may have been primarily due to the girl in question actually being a cook.
Wielding the chopsticks with some admittedly decent proficiency, Church grabbed some sort of sticky lump of what he believed was rice lying on green leaves. Unsure of what exact it was, he figured he may as well cash in on his favor now. It would be weird if they didn't talk while he was doing this anyway. He asked his first question as he reached across the table to offer the food to his companion.
"I'll do my best to impress. That aside, uh... what exactly is this thing I'm feeding you?"
As hungry as she was, Rin waited until she had taken her first bite before actually answering. On Church's side of things, he found himself rather struck with the way this girl's lips wrapped around the food he was offering her. He felt a little ashamed for being so easily flustered, but he had been unable to interact with too many women throughout the last few years, so perhaps his resilience would need time to develop back to a normal level. Most of the people at the Nevada Umbra Stratum base had been men, and the few women had been types like Strelka, who, while beautiful, had also been intimidating in one way or another.
Either way, Rin swallowed her food so she could answer the question Church had posed without being entirely rude.
"It's called Zongzi: people in the West sometimes call them rice dumplings. It's sticky rice with different fillings, cooked by steaming or boiling. That one was pork, it's a super popular choice in Jiaxing."
Offering her another such dumpling from the plate, Church waited until she swallowed again before asking for more elaboration on that front.
"Can I assume Jiaxing is your hometown? Or did you just spend a lot of time there?"
While a normal person may have hesitated to answer such a question for a variety of reasons, Rin didn't in the slightest. Perhaps that was because such questions were pretty normal to ask in a school with as much ethnic diversity as this one.
"Yeah, it's my hometown. Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. It's on the eastern coast."
Eager to keep the conversation going lest it come to an awkward standstill, Church wracked his brain for something relevant to the tangent they were on. Fortunately, he did actually know a little tidbit, though he couldn't recall where he had learned it.
"I've heard of the Zhejiang Province somewhere before. The provincial capital is Hangzhou, right?"
Cocking a surprised eyebrow at him, Rin actually seemed impressed by this piece of knowledge.
"I'm surprised you actually know about provincial capitals at all. That's not common knowledge for most westerners."
Since it was a roundabout form of praise, Church tried to shrug it off modestly. Truth be told, he'd done a lot of learning about foreign cultures throughout childhood and adolescence as a form of escapism from the hardships of his life. Being unhappy with the places and situations he'd lived in, learning about other amazing places around the world had often given him some small comfort.
"It's not too impressive. I've just done a lot of internet tourism, that's all."
Church was somewhat worried that Rin would look deeper into that statement, which would inevitably lead to uncomfortable topics the young man didn't actually want to talk about, but it didn't seem like his brunette companion picked up on any subtle meanings. Instead of even asking for any sort of elaboration, she simply asked an unrelated question of her own.
"Say, I didn't think about it before, but what are you even doing here right now? You could have avoided students altogether if you'd waited just a little longer."
Honestly, Church probably would have still been asleep if circumstances hadn't demanded his presence in the waking world, but he figured there was no need to tell Rin about the nitty gritty details of doing tech work with Chifuyu and Kanzashi.
"Well, I don't want to spend my whole time here not talking to anyone at all. This seemed like a good time to avoid a crowd, but still find a charming lady friend like yourself to talk to."
Rin shook her head at the compliment, wondering if it was serious or just talk.
"So you picked the short girl with the broken arm and mummy cosplay out of everyone in the cafeteria? You've got weird taste."
Church was about to muster some sort of defensive response to that, but ultimately, he didn't get the chance to. Someone else did it on his behalf.
"Hmph. I'll say."
Church immediately recognized the posh voice of a certain blonde that he had spoken to yesterday. A quick glance to his side further confirmed his suspicions, since there was hardly anyone else whose uniform consisted of a full length dress. He didn't get to address her sudden appearance, since Rin beat him to the punch, though she sighed first.
"What do you want, Cecilia?"
Cecilia's hands went to her hips immediately, almost like some sort of reflex.
"Do I need to want anything? I can stand wherever I please!"
Under normal circumstances, Rin would have been up to a little verbal brawling with Cecilia, but for a number of reasons, she wasn't really feeling it right now. For one, she was exhausted, which was hardly a surprise considering what she had been through recently and the fact that she was healing. Secondly, she was actually enjoying her breakfast and the conversation that was going with it, so she wasn't particularly happy to have Cecilia interrupting either of those things.
"Well could you kindly stand anywhere but there? Your presence is increasing my suffering. Exponentially."
"Why, I'd never-! I'll have you know, I was simply concerned about you. If you're not at your best by the time of our next match, thrashing you will just make me look cruel. Well, more than usual since you're usually no match for me anyway."
While she was tired, this obvious affront to Rin's piloting abilities did stir a bit of her usual fire in her. She and Cecilia had this type of relationship: they were technically friends, but a heated rivalry was a major part of it.
"Big talk coming from the girl I throttled in our last sparring match. You know damn good and well that your Blue Tears is too damn slow to take on Shen Long in a one on one fight."
Cecilia recoiled as if she had been struck, taking a step back in dismay as Rin crippled her offensive. Still, she was quick to try and save face.
"Don't get too cocky! As soon as Supermarine finishes the new thruster modification for my IS, that issue will be a thing of the past!"
Rin cocked an eyebrow, apparently confused by something Cecilia had said.
"The hell is a super marine?"
Since the two of them were doing little more than fighting and Church felt a little awkward just sitting there listening to it, he chose this moment to chime in. Besides, this was a part he could actually comment on with some degree of knowledge.
"Supermarine is an aviation manufacturing company. They made the Spitfires in World War Two."
This time, Rin gave him a look not dissimilar from the one she had offered Cecilia a second ago. This prompted Church to elaborate further, a little surprised that it was required of him.
"Oh come on: Spitfires? Battle of Britain? They're only like, one of the most legendary fighter aircraft lines of all time. Supermarine is a legacy name in aviation manufacturing, and Alcott here owns it, last time I checked."
With an air of superiority and pride about her, Cecilia raised a haughty finger.
"Quite correct. I'm glad to see someone around here understands just how meaningful it is to own such a prestigious company. Supermarine is in charge of all engine designs for Infinite Stratos in the UK, you know. Being in charge of such a company is a great honor!"
Rin didn't look particularly impressed by any of this, which wasn't surprising considering that none of it had initially meant anything to her anyway. Church, on the other hand, was a little more knowledgeable, and was thus able to carry the conversation a little further. Besides, he was curious to what extent Cecilia actually cared about the company in question. Lots of rich people owned things they didn't really care about, but still boasted about owning it.
"She's right, you know. Like I said, the Spitfire is legendary. Though I have to wonder which particular model our esteemed friend considers the most iconic."
Seeing his question for the subtle challenge that it was, Cecilia outright scoffed at him.
"Oh please. There's no contest: a Merlin engine is what makes a Spitfire a Spitfire! Not to say the Griffon engine models weren't excellent, but the unparalleled maneuverability of the Merlin models is what set them apart from all of their contemporaries."
Honestly a little excited to talk nerdy with a girl about old airplanes, Church couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, I'll admit, you've earned some points in my eyes. Merlin Spitfires are indeed the objectively superior variants."
Cecilia initially seemed happy to hear that, even blushing a little bit, but she tried to deflect it in the end.
"As if I need any favor in your eyes..."
Glancing between the two of them, Rin felt mildly irritable to be left out of the exchange, especially considering that Cecilia had stepped into her conversation in the first place.
"Alright, alright, whatever! Do you mind Cecilia? I was enjoying myself before you showed up!"
Cecilia folded her arms as she smirked at the brunette sitting at the table.
"Oh? Finally accepted the futility of your efforts and moved on, Rin?"
Glaring back up at the blonde's blue eyes, Rin tried to alter her statement.
"My breakfast. I was enjoying my breakfast!"
Once again ousted from the overall conversation, Church felt a little insulted simply due to the turn it had taken. No one was saying anything outright, but it wasn't all that subtle. It pretty much amounted to 'oh, are you moving on from Ichika' and 'yeah right, as if I would.' Not that Church felt entitled to Rin's affections as a stranger, but she didn't have to make it sound like the mere idea of him and her was laughable. He took some small solace in the fact that it was probably less about him, and more about her dedication to Ichika.
It was unclear how long the two girls would have sniped at each other, and no one would ever know, since the conversation was once again interrupted by a new arrival. This time, it was a dark haired girl with a white ribbon pausing as she walked past the table. One Houki Shinonono had apparently overheard them while going about her own business.
"Why are you antagonizing her, Cecilia? Shouldn't you just be glad one of your 'rivals' is getting out of the way?"
That was all the Japanese girl said before resuming her walk, apparently content to say her piece and go on her way. Cecilia seemed to take her words to heart, merely shrugging as she offered a dismissive wave to the table's occupants and turning away herself.
"Well, I suppose she's right about that. Enjoy your breakfast, Rin."
With her departure, this left only Church to listen to Rin angrily shouting after Houki.
"Hey, what the heck did you mean with that emphasis on 'rival?!' Don't think that just because you're tall and well-endowed and all doesn't mean I'm not a threat! Dammit..."
Losing steam as the weight of her own words settled on her shoulders, Rin sunk down into her seat as proverbial storm clouds accumulated over her small frame in droves.
Glancing between her and the retreating Houki, Church couldn't help but wonder just how serious their so called rivalry over Ichika really was. Were they friends nevertheless? Bitter enemies? Some weird in-between thing where they were technically on friendly terms, while still seriously competing over something that fostered some animosity?
Frankly, Church would have bet on the latter. It seemed to him that the girls were friendly enough with one another, which should have been a given considering the life or death experience they all shared with the Silver Gospel. But they clearly also had some degree of enmity between them, though it was hard to tell how serious it was.
Either way, Church now had to deal with the aftermath of Houki's passing as well, since it had kind of ruined the nice thing he'd had going between himself and Rin. Thing was, he wasn't sure how he could go about comforting her, without saying something that was incredibly awkward. Well, maybe it was better to just go for it. It was up to Rin to take whatever he said as the compliment he intended it to be.
"This... will probably sound a little weird, but I think you're a very tough competitor for a guy's attention, Rinin."
Rin didn't seem particularly uplifted by his words. She didn't even lift her face from the table, now that she had planted it there.
"Right, right... I'm very tough competition for the tall, stacked girl with the strongest I.S. in the world. Sister of the inventor of the world's strongest weapons, to boot. Good joke."
Church cocked an eyebrow at the crestfallen girl, having not pegged her as one with an inferiority complex. Well, maybe she was fine normally, and just felt a little out of it due to being hurt. Recovery could take a toll on a person's emotions. Then again, maybe there was more permanence to these feelings than Church really thought. After all, Rin kind of had a point: as far as conventional 'desirable' female traits were concerned, Houki's larger bust and greater height had her beat.
But conventional aesthetics were stupid anyway. Those were the same aesthetics that expected women to be thinner than the hopes and dreams of the Libertarian Party in American politics: while still having basketball sized breasts, at that.
"You know, there is such a thing as taste, Rinin. Personally, I don't think Shinonono is any more attractive than you are. It's different types of attractiveness, but your caliber seems equal to hers if you ask me."
Rin lifted her head to level a clouded expression at her table partner. The look was difficult to interpret, which made Church nervous. Was she upset? He was just trying to say she was pretty, what was there to be mad about?
Ultimately though, the brunette across from him snorted in amusement, before shaking her head and offering some semblance of a smile.
"I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about girls with the word 'caliber' before. Nerd."
Glad to see that the situation had gone better than expected, Church grinned back at her.
"Yeah, alright, but it made you smile, didn't it?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Rin's face briefly, but it disappeared fairly quickly as the brunette returned to her general state of being before Cecilia had showed up.
"...yeah. Yeah I guess it did. Hey, did you forget that you're supposed to be helping me with breakfast here?"
Happy that his partner had returned to some state of contentedness, Church grabbed the chopsticks he had been given before Cecilia intervened on their conversation. For the first time since getting here, the troubling details of his mission didn't intrude on his thoughts at all.
"With how much is still on this plate, I couldn't possibly forget. What do you want next?"
Since Rin wasn't obligated to be in the classroom in her current physical state, she was in no rush to finish her meal like everyone else in the cafeteria. Thus, she and Church ended up sitting around for the better part of half an hour, which included the lone male eating some breakfast himself. With Rin in a better mood despite Cecilia and Houki's intrusion earlier, most of that time was spent talking about lighthearted things. Mostly, Church got the opportunity to ask her more questions about China, or more specifically, its food. Rin got especially animated whenever he asked about food, which he supposed was no surprise considering that she was the daughter of a chef or something. At the least, her public dossier mentioned such a profession for her father.
Church didn't mind having the conversation be mostly about Chinese food, because he'd been more than content to listen to her speak about it so passionately. It was a wonder she'd become an I.S. pilot at all, when she loved cooking so much. Naturally Cerberus had complained about the waste of time, but Church had resolutely ignored the AI.
But when all was said and done and there was nothing left to eat, there was no reason for the two of them to just sit around in the cafeteria, and Rin had implied that she was expected to go back to the infirmary once she was done eating. While she had struck him as well enough during their conversation, Church had offered to walk back with her, and while she hadn't jumped at the proposal, Rin had ultimately agreed to it, so he must have been making a good impression of some sort.
The walk back to the infirmary hadn't been a particularly long one, but when the duo did arrive, they found that the place was devoid of its medical professional, prompting Church to question what the woman was doing all the time.
"She sure does leave the actual infirmary a lot."
Rin, clearly a little more winded than a healthy person should have been, nevertheless managed to share her thoughts on that.
"Can't say I blame her. Few students actually get hurt badly enough to require a visit, thanks to I.S. and all that. Must get boring when only one idiot falls out a window a year."
Church watched the girl's back as she slowly walked over to her bed, wondering how long it would be before she stopped beating herself up over that. He supposed it was a somewhat embarrassing thing, but accidents happened to the best people. Besides, considering that she had lost consciousness, it wasn't like she had been entirely at fault.
But he didn't say any of that. Friendly though they had been today, they were still acquaintances at best. He didn't think Rin would care to have him telling her to think better of herself. Instead, he leaned on the door frame of the infirmary as Rin sat tiredly down on her cot.
"For all the energy you had earlier, you look like you could use some sleep."
With only a mildly irritable frown, Rin sniped back at him.
"Look who's talking..."
"Yeah, OK. I could probably use some sleep too. Anything you need before I make an exit?"
Yawning, Rin laid back on the bed, clearly not terribly bothered by doing so in front of a relative stranger.
"I don't really need anything, but thanks."
Having expected a little more, Church wondered if this was his cue to leave. Maybe she really was pretty exhausted? Because he was considering whether or not he was expected to go away now, Church missed a somewhat curious glance Rin gave him from her position on the bed.
"Say... you going to watch the matches tomorrow?"
Caught off guard since he had been weighing his next move, Church didn't respond very eloquently.
"Matches?"
"Yeah, there's an individual division tournament tomorrow. I was going to participate of course, but now... well, best I can do is watch. Just curious if watching matches like that is something you have to do for your job or whatever."
While Church wasn't actually sure how much meaningful information could be gleaned simply from watching I.S. combat, he figured there was no harm in it. After all, he had only ever fought against simulations of I.S. before, and it was possible that he would end up sparring with some of these pilots as well. That being the case, it wouldn't hurt to get some sort of leg up. And besides, on a completely unprofessional note...
"It's not mandatory for me, but I'd certainly like to watch those matches."
With a sheepish glance towards the ceiling, Rin extrapolated on both his statement and her own question.
"Well, if you ask nicely, I guess I could consider sitting with you in the stands. I need someone to listen to me complain about how I'd sweep the whole thing, if only I could participate. But all my friends will actually be in the tournament, so..."
Church folded his arms, gracing the girl with a mockingly offended expression.
"So the chopped liver is your only option, huh?"
"It's not as bad as all that: we've only just met, but do you really think I'd let someone I hated feed me breakfast? You're pretty cool, so I deem you worthy of hanging out for simple stuff like this."
Frankly, Church still found it a little odd how Rin divided him from people she considered friends, but he supposed it was pretty understandable, since they had indeed just met, and had only spoken to each other for a very brief time. They both liked each other well enough based on first impressions, but it wasn't like that could just jump straight to friendship. Church supposed this was actually pretty solid advancement as far as a new relationship was concerned.
"I see. Well then, do you want to watch the matches together tomorrow, Rinin?"
With a cheeky smile, the brunette gave her answer.
"I suppose I can oblige you, since you'd be lonely otherwise. Come meet me here at noon and we'll go together."
Shaking his head, Church figured now was a good enough time to leave.
"Alright, it's a date then."
Rin's smile became turned a little less cheerful and a little more wry.
"Yeah, on the calendar. Don't get any funny ideas just because I said you're alright."
Church raised his hands in defense, using wit to skip by any awkward air.
"Just wishful thinking, don't mind me."
With that, he turned his back to leave, missing a mild blush from his newest acquaintance, as well as a contemplative expression.
"Hold on a second."
Surprised that she still had anything to say, Church glanced over his shoulder at her, which prompted Rin to continue as she averted her gaze elsewhere. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why this made her so nervous: she had told this to plenty of people throughout her life, but maybe it was because it was a boy. She'd only said this to a boy once.
"You can, uh, just call me Rin now. I guess we're far enough past total strangers to make that alright."
Considering this to be some sort of milestone in their very young and budding relationship, Church smiled.
"Well, Rin it is. You can still call me Church: that's as friendly as it gets, even for people that I really like."
Rin smirked at him as he made that statement.
"Alright, what terrible first name do you have?"
"If I told you that, it would defeat the purpose of protecting myself by having you call me by last name."
"Tch, fine... see you tomorrow."
Sure that their conversation was finally over by now, Church offered a wave that Rin tiredly reciprocated before making his exit from the infirmary, feeling unusually giddy about everything that had just occurred.
A pretty girl had bestowed the right to call her a personal name upon him. She'd admitted to thinking he was pretty cool, and openly expressed a desire to hang out with him again, even if she had vehemently assured him that it was by no means a date. Maybe it was a little pathetic to get happy about all of those things, but considering his lack of free time to hang out with girls in recent years, Church was glad that this relationship was starting off so well, even if it was only going to be friendship.
As he began to walk down the halls and towards the elevator, he was interrupted by Cerberus in his thoughts. Well, it wasn't like the AI could be quiet all day.
Operator, I feel obligated to label all of this as a grievous misuse of our time.
His mood instantly soured by thoughts of the mission, Church provided a rebuttal.
And I feel obligated to remind you that I'm in charge here, and that I have full discretion to carry out the mission as I see fit. Besides, we talked about this already: getting close to those close to Shinonono moves us closer to her, and in a much less suspicious manner.
I am in your thoughts, Operator. You are clearly interested in getting close to the Chinese girl for reasons outside of our mission.
By now, Church was actively frowning. Considering that it hadn't been clear how they would go about the mission prior to arrival, some serious questions were now being asked. Namely, questions about his personal feelings and strategic objectives intersecting. Strategically, he needed to use Rin as means of reaching his goal, and nothing else. Personally, he was interested in it being an actual relationship somewhere along the way. He could see why a computer would find a problem with that.
So what? I can enjoy spending time with a girl and still use her to achieve my goals. They're not mutually exclusive.
Cerberus didn't seem to buy his reasoning.
They will be when you start caring more about one than the other.
I'm not going to compromise the mission for a girl, Cerberus. Need I remind you, I have very valuable benefits resting on my service to Umbra Stratum. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy some meaningless sense of normalcy along the way.
Cerberus was quiet for a moment, likely considering the weight of these words and whether or not they could be trusted. Ultimately, the way it responded was something else entirely. Church wasn't sure what that implied about the decision that it had reached.
What are we going to do for the rest of the day, Operator?
Smirking to himself as he stepped into an empty elevator and pressed one of the buttons, Church answered with no shame at all.
Today? I'm going back to sleep right now, and then we'll see.
The young agent was certain that Cerberus sighed at him in his head.
And like that, my heightened confidence in you has been brought back to its normal levels, Operator.
As far as early chapters go, this one got a pretty big overhaul. Maybe not the biggest of all the early chapters in the long run, but probably the biggest thus far. That's because it mostly involved the addition of entirely new scenes, rather than simply touching up old ones. But these additions really help the story by introducing characters and meaningful relations at an early point in time, which will ultimately add value to their relationships in the future.
Plus, I've always wanted to mention how stupid it is for there to be some 'female superiority complex' in the I.S. universe, and Chifuyu was the perfect person to do it.