You know, I've had a lot of people over the years tell me that they see connections to other fandoms in this story. Oddly enough, most of them are coincidental. Other than Church's name, that is. But that's about it really.

A few days after the Crucible incident and Church's rescue, the boy was still sitting in the infirmary. By now, the bandages over his eyes had been removed, but while his sight was returned to him, much of the rest of his body was still damaged. During this time, he had been checked on by Chifuyu every once in awhile, but mostly in passing as she was going about her business. Other than that, he hadn't been visited by anyone, much to his dismay. That said, he imagined there was probably an explanation for that. If Rin and Laura had been willing to go out there and save his life, surely they would be invested enough in his recovery to check on him if they could.

Whatever the reason, the American agent had been left mostly in the dark during this initial period of recovery. He hadn't been able to discern what had happened to his suit, or to Cerberus. He didn't know what he may have been suspected of, but he got the feeling he was not the prime suspect for the attack: after all, he was being treated remarkably well for that to be the case.

Of course, without Cerberus or Exeter available, he'd been unable to contact Umbra Stratum either, so he had no clue what was happening on their end of things. He imagined that Marcus was quite worried, considering that he had hung up on the guy right before getting blown to kingdom come. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it right now. He didn't have any normal communication channels with Umbra Stratum, and even if he did, his phone had been damaged beyond repair during the Crucible explosion.

Hopefully he hadn't missed any important calls from Doctor Warner over the last few days. Considering the stagnating medical situation though, Church doubted it.

Right this moment, many of the bandages that had been wrapped around Church's body had been removed. They were being exchanged for fresh ones, and the nurse was checking on some of his injuries in the meantime. Currently, Church was sitting up in bed, with the nurse behind him. She was examining his back and the serious burns he had suffered.

"So, how does it look?"

The nurse answered in a way that wasn't particularly reassuring. "You don't want to know how it looks, kid. But don't worry about that. Many burn wounds look worse than they are, in the grand scheme of things. Considering what you survived, second-degree burns are quite a favorable outcome. It's a miracle that you don't require a skin graft anywhere. No third degree burns at all. That nifty technique using the ocean as a shield saved you for sure. Well, of course your shields and armor also played a big role..."

While Church had already been told that he hadn't suffered any third degree burns, he had been told that a great deal of his back was second degree. He couldn't help but worry about that.

"I know I should be more than grateful for the simple fact that I'm alive at all, but... how badly is all of this going to scar?"

"Well, with this-"

Church felt a cool, wet sensation poured gently onto his back, at least as far as he could feel at all. His skin had mostly been numbed by the exact substance that was being applied to it right now, that mysterious miracle gel that Tabane had made by accident in the past.

"-most of it won't scar at all. I won't say that none of it will scar: some of the burns are worse than others and even with this stuff, they might still scar. But for the most part, you'll likely have to worry about changes in skin pigmentation more than anything else, once the recovery process is complete. Normally that would be a two to four week process, but considering our amenities, you should be mostly fine in a week or so."

Even though he had witnessed firsthand the miraculous healing Rin had undergone after her accident, Church still found it hard to believe that this stuff was so incredible. A week and a half after almost getting vaporized by a cold fusion nuclear missile, and he would be mostly fine? It was unreal.

"I wonder how long it will take this stuff to become widely available... the medical world will be totally revolutionized."

The nurse nodded her head in agreement as she finished applying the substance in question and began wrapping Church's torso in new bandages. She had already done the other burns elsewhere on his body, like the back of his arms.

"Tell me about it... will we even need people like me anymore?"

Church was actually interested in pursuing that line of questioning, as it had real merit to it, but he didn't get the chance to, since the door to the infirmary slid open at that moment. Behind it stood Rin, who, despite certainly knowing that he was in here, almost seemed shocked to lay eyes on him. Well, considering the circumstances, he supposed that was understandable. With everything that had happened, he was a little shocked to see her as well.

In the next moment, the broadest smile he had ever seen was on her face, and she was rushing into the room, or trying to, at any rate. She only managed to take one step forward before she was stopped by a hand on the back of her collar, causing the brunette to choke and gag for a moment as her own momentum strangled her.

The hand belonged to one Houki Shinonono, who had an irate look on her face. "Don't rush him, Rin! He's probably still extremely hurt!"

Rin rubbed her throat as she glared back at the girl. "I wasn't going to rush him! I'm not an idiot!"

From a little further in the hallway, Church heard a voice that belonged to Charlotte. "You said but minutes ago that you were going to hug him harder than-"

"OK, OK, shut up! Geez..."

With the brief squabble settled, Rin walked more calmly into the room, followed by not only Houki and Charlotte, but Cecilia and even Ichika as well. Oddly enough, Laura was the only one absent from this gathering. Church was curious about that, but he didn't get to ask, since Rin was talking to him as soon as she had gotten her friends off her back.

"Damn, you look like hell! All this time in the infirmary and you still aren't better yet? Gosh, so lazy."

While such things would have been insulting out of context, Rin was smiling, so Church knew it was friendly ribbing. That said, he wasn't just going to let it go.

"You're one to talk. You're peeling like a snake..."

Indeed, thanks to great amount of first degree burns Rin had suffered amidst the Crucible explosion, which was several days ago by now, she was peeling all over the place. It looked like she had done her damnedest to get rid of most of it, but with a full body burn like that, it was expected that such a thing was impossible, and there was still plenty of peeling skin to go around. It wasn't a good look, admittedly, but it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. Still, the girl folded her arms in displeasure.

"What a way to talk to your savior..."

If Church had a rebuttal to that, he didn't get to offer it, since Charlotte cut in. "Mon ami, I'm so glad you're alright. We were so worried for you!"

While a little surprised, Church was glad to see that Charlotte was apparently not as nervous around him as before. Then again, maybe an awkward memory seemed unimportant next to the events that had transpired recently.

Either way, Ichika built off of her words. "Yeah, I mean, Chifuyu said you were alright, but she wouldn't let anyone check on you these past few days. She's got a weird way of showing concern, but I guess she just really wanted you to rest. She only just gave us permission to come here a few minutes ago."

While it didn't really strike him as necessary, Church was glad to hear this explanation as to why no one had visited him these past few days. "So that was why it was so lonely in here. So, uh... was Laura busy? Not that I'm not happy to see all of you of course, I just noticed that she's the only one who's absent..."

Scratching the back of her head, Charlotte explained said absence to the best of her abilities, though that wasn't much. "She said she would visit you later. I'm sorry, but she didn't say why she didn't want to do it now..."

Church didn't know what to say to that, but he didn't have to say anything, since Ichika beat him to the punch. "Maybe she just wants to get you alone? She might have something special to say, or something like that!"

There were many looks from the girls around Ichika, ranging from disbelief on Houki's face, to something that almost appeared to be pity from Charlotte. Rin looked like she was about to face-palm harder than anyone ever had before, and Cecilia... well, she actually didn't seem to notice. Oddly enough, she seemed preoccupied with some inner thought, having not spoken a word since coming in here. Either way, Ichika was oblivious to all of these looks.

Church was not confused about why such looks were offered: to the best of his knowledge, Laura liked Ichika romantically, and Ichika had just insinuated, with a fair deal of enthusiasm, that maybe Laura was going to confess to Church or something. He was either totally oblivious to her feelings or actively wished them on someone else. Either wasn't a good look in the eyes of a bunch of girls who were in a similar boat to Laura.

Then again, maybe Ichika didn't mean it like that at all, and they were all just jumping to unfair conclusions. Either way, Church felt the need to take some heat off the poor guy. He found himself feeling that way quite often, actually...

"I'm sure she just had something important to do. Anyway, I haven't heard squat about what's been going on these past few days. I can't imagine it's been business as usual, all things considered..."

Normally the quiet sort in these large gatherings, Houki nevertheless chimed in here. "Not in the slightest. All classes were cancelled the instant the attack happened. Students have been confined to the campus since then, and instructors have been conducting regular patrols... the teachers said that a school-wide mandatory vacation was going to be enacted soon. The entire student body will have to vacate the premises until it's lifted. Most students will go home, others will stay in the surrounding city, I suppose..."

She glanced over at Ichika before continuing. "I'm not quite sure what we're going to do, ourselves. I assume we'll all go back home until the situation changes...?"

This was a tentative probe into the thoughts of the other present girls: obviously, Ichika and Houki both lived in Japan, while the other girls all hailed from other countries. If everyone went back to their homeland during this time, she'd have a valuable opportunity to be alone with him for a potentially long time.

This fact was clearly not missed by the other girls, most of whom offered some sort of disgruntled expression at the insinuation, but it was actually Cecilia who responded, for the first time since she had gotten here.

"I've been thinking about that, actually... er, I must put more thought into it, but ultimately it will involve everyone. Well, anyone who wishes to partake, that is."

With all eyes on her, including Church's own, Cecilia grew unusually flustered. "I-it's just a thought, pay me no mind..."

Shrugging, Rin turned her attention back to Church at about the same time the nurse finished bandaging him, after which the woman proceeded to leave the room. She didn't really need to hang around and listen to a bunch of teenagers jabber. Besides, they probably wanted the privacy.

"Forget that for now, you need to tell us what the hell happened! How'd you end up sticking to the side of a giant missile heading right for the Academy, huh? The official excuse of the faculty is 'equipment malfunction during a training exercise' but no one with half a brain is buying that crap."

Houki spoke up again. "Actually, I think most of the student body is buying that crap..."

"Yeah, well, that's because they're stupid. Everyone was at lunch and it's not like the faculty trains against each other. What kind of training exercise would have even been going on at that time?"

Admittedly, Rin had a very good point, proving that she was sharper than many people gave her credit for. The excuse was kind of flimsy, but Church got the feeling it was one of those 'official' kinds of explanations, where everyone knew it was bullshit, but what mattered was that you officially stated it, not that people believed it was true.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder if that was what was going to be used as an explanation when this matter was no doubt discussed internationally. If it was discussed internationally... it was possible that Japan would keep the whole incident under wraps. After all, admitting to the rest of the world that they had been so vulnerable, that their many representatives had almost died, would be very bad. Much of Japan's current clout in world affairs was tied to the I.S. Academy. If everyone lost faith in its security, it was bad news for most aspects of the nation, including its reputation and in some regards, even its economy.

Church wasn't sure if the incident would really see the light of day unless Japan admitted that it had happened: any civilians that had noticed the huge explosion could be convinced of the 'training malfunction' argument, and unless other countries had satellites observing this area at the exact moment the incident occurred, it wasn't like they would be any wiser. That left the students who knew something was afoot, but there was no way to predict what they would tell.

Perhaps Church was spending too much time on this. It was the problem of someone else... though his current problem was tied to it. Everyone was expecting an answer, after all. But what could he really tell them? Not the truth, obviously... Chifuyu clearly hadn't given them any sort of real information either. If he was going to lie, he had to come up with something that he could stay consistent with as investigations continued. That said, the people before him were not individuals of any kind of authority... that meant he didn't have to lie in too complex of a manner.

"Unfortunately... I'm not at liberty to tell you the truth behind this incident. Once I report it to Chifuyu, it'll be up to her discretion to share it with anyone else. Sorry..."

Rin looked supremely disgruntled with that explanation, as did the other girls, but Ichika seemed to accept it for what it was. "Well, whatever the reason, I just wish I could have helped you somehow... to think I was hiding in the shelter while you almost died out there..."

Church would have, but Charlotte sought to allay Ichika's concerns first. "Ichika, there's nothing we could have done. Rin and Laura were just in the right place at the right time. I'm sure Church knows we all would have helped if we had the chance, oui?"

Naturally, Church agreed with this sentiment. He did actually believe it, after all. "Of course. You're all good people, I know you wouldn't just sit back and watch."

This earned smiles from everyone, though Rin puffed out her chest proudly. "Yeah, well, regardless of what anyone would have done, I'm the one who did it, so, y'know..."

Houki, expression deadpan, refuted her statement. "Laura was there too."

"Yeah, but I did most of the work! The lion's share, really. I mean, if it weren't for me..."

"My, it's even more amazing than I had expected."

Hand on her chin, the mechanically rabbit-eared Tabane really couldn't help but marvel at the mangled silver suit that was laid out on a workbench before her. She was in one of the many engineering rooms in the Academy that were usually reserved for repairs or for teaching the students the inner workings of their machines. However, there was none of that going on these past couple of days for obvious reasons, so Tabane had commandeered the room and all of its equipment to serve her needs in regards to the Exeter suit.

Of course, it was not like she had been coming at the thing with a blank slate: Tabane had known about the existence of this suit ever since she had swept through DARPA's mainframe some time ago. Granted, it had completely disappeared after the project had been moved to some other organization, but Tabane had nevertheless been the first to know when Exeter had finally been deployed. She had known even before Chifuyu knew the suit was coming to the school. That was just the kind of tabs the elder Shinonono kept on things that piqued her interest, which was easy to do with her access to information networks that were supposed to be strictly confidential. Being a prodigious hacker had its benefits.

Exeter had to literally be pried off of Church's body when he was recovered, as it turned out that there was some sort of fail-safe to prevent the suit from deactivating when its pilot was unconscious. Then again, even if that fail-safe had been inactive, the suit had been so badly damaged that it was unlikely that it would have been able to deactivate properly. It was bent and torn in so many places that any storage collapse of the armor probably would have jammed.

And on top of that, almost all of the electronic equipment within had been fried. The intense heat from the Crucible explosion had melted or scorched most of the sensitive wiring within Exeter, especially in spots where the outer protective coating of the suit had been destroyed completely. But even in the poor state that it was in, Tabane was enthralled with the thing.

It was so different from Infinite Stratos in some ways, yet very similar in others. It was smaller, more agile, and it flew through different means than I.S. There were no wing like protrusions, and it didn't use a core to power its systems either. A different means of energy generation that could match what she had done for Infinite Stratos... how exciting.

Of course, Tabane had already watched all of the arena recordings from Church's sparring matches with other pilots since his arrival, and she had seen Exeter utilize many weapons that had seemingly built themselves from scratch. It was practically identical to the Hyperspace Arsenal I.S. used. Heck, maybe it was actually the same system. So it clearly borrowed some technology from I.S: the weaponry, shielding, and thrust generation, as well as inertial dampeners, were much the same. But even though someone had ripped off so much of Tabane's genius, they'd still done a pretty admirable job of adding their own tech. The purple haired mad scientist would applaud them for that. They had met her expectations, at least in this regard.

So far, she was focused on fixing the thing, since Chifuyu had tasked her with it. She had already done some precursory diagnostics: the machine's link to whatever Hyperspace Arsenal it used had been severed, which meant no nanobots, and no extra material for nanobots to repair the suit with anyway. She supposed she could just fix the things that needed to be fixed in order to solve that issue, but that would be immensely boring. She much preferred the idea of conducting the repairs manually. Then she could really tinker with this thing...

Excited to do just that, Tabane started yanking some wires out of a fractured piece of the suit, but she didn't get very far with that, since someone called her out.

"Tabane, I thought I told you to fix that thing, not dismantle it. Church probably wouldn't be very happy about what you're doing here..."

The bizarre engineer stuck a tongue out at the new arrival as she turned towards the recently opened door to the room. "Chi-chan, you've already got a little brother, you don't need another one. Or maybe you want someone to coddle since you were always a little rough with Ikkun?"

Chifuyu was too composed to get flustered at such a remark from Tabane of all people, but she scowled all the same. "I can assure you that my feelings for Church do not extend beyond gratitude and platonic friendship. Besides, he's far too capable to need an adopted big sister in the first place."

"And Ikkun isn't?"

Chifuyu had no qualms about pointing out Ichika's flaws; the defining trait of a loving sibling. "He may be capable now, but he definitely wasn't before attending the Academy. And as far as women go... no, he's definitely still incompetent as far as that goes."

Tabane grinned wryly at the dark-haired woman. "So by inverse, this American boy isn't incompetent with women, is that what you're saying?"

Glaring fiercely at the cheerful ball of energy, Chifuyu decided that she didn't deserve an answer. "Enough. It's time: the nurse said Church is in good enough condition now for us to talk to him at length. Unless you don't want to be there?"

The prodigious inventor of Infinite Stratos kept her trademark smile, but her bubbly attitude lost a little bit of intensity. It wasn't a big change in the eyes of most, but Chifuyu knew that a slightly less exuberant smile from Tabane was about the same as a frown.

"No, no, I want to come. I'd love to hear his excuse for all of this."

Honestly, Chifuyu didn't quite like the implication or the way Tabane said that, but she decided against making a point of it. Instead, the two women headed for the infirmary, where Church had been under intensive care since the incident. Aside from Tabane's own 'miracle juice,' as she called it, a world-class installation like the Academy was equipped with professional doctors and physicians and whatnot, so there had been no need to move the teenager to an actual hospital, although he wouldn't be sticking around the Academy for much longer anyway; everyone except for a few teachers would be leaving the grounds soon, until they were deemed safe again.

Most of the student body believed this forced vacation was just so the Academy could review safety measures that had failed to prevent a freak accident. A few of the sharper or more informed ones knew this was a lie, but they also knew better than to pry, for the most part.

Either way, the two of them came across a lot of students making some final preparations for their journey home, as well as some that had already completed preparations, but just had nothing to do since the forced vacation hadn't actually started yet. The latter group was mostly just hanging out as usual, gossiping and whatnot, wondering how long they would be gone, completely ignorant of their very recent brush with instant death. Chifuyu supposed that was for the best.

That said, the elder Orimura sometimes wondered if she had been that naive when she was that age, but she did not remember ever taking things so lightly all the time. Perhaps the caretaker role forced upon her early in her life had been the cause of that: when it was just you and your little brother against the world, one had to mature quickly.

Honestly, Chifuyu didn't believe Tabane had been so carefree when she was that age either. The genius had been so serious about her work ten years ago that she hardly ever did anything else besides sleep and work on Infinite Stratos. Perhaps the bubbly, perky attitude she sported now was compensation for the dull seriousness she used to abide by.

Speaking of that perky girl with an annoyingly high-pitched tone, her voice broke Chifuyu out of her sullen thoughts. "Oh, hey, you! Long time no see, how have you been?"

The eldest Orimura turned to face Tabane, who had been walking slightly behind her, to see that she had grabbed a hold of Laura somewhere, probably against her will. This was strange for two reasons: one, Tabane really didn't care anything for anyone besides Chifuyu, Ichika, and Houki. She tended to ignore everyone else, to the point where she couldn't even recognize them or just didn't care to remember their faces and names. So if Tabane was grabbing a hold of someone like Laura, it was probably only to glean some sort of information out of her. That was probably also why she didn't even remember Laura's name, having settled for a 'hey you.' At least she recognized Laura as someone related to Ichika's friend group, if nothing else.

But speaking of that was the second reason: Chifuyu had given the girls permission to check on Church while she was busy fetching Tabane, and she had fully expected Laura to be there. What was she doing out in the halls, nowhere near the infirmary?

"I'd be better if you weren't so cavalier about grabbing me, Miss Shinonono."

Tabane released the light grip she had placed on Laura's shoulder, her airy smile never dropping. "Getting ready for the trip home? Everyone seems to be doing it."

Laura crossed her arms while casting her gaze to a corner of the wall. "I... haven't made any preparations yet. Besides, I can't leave while certain idiots are still here..."

Chifuyu was glad to see that Laura was concerned about her friends, even if she was a bit coarse about it. Tabane didn't seem to realize which two people the German elite was talking about, but she faked a frown nevertheless.

"Aw, calling them idiots is a bit harsh, dont'cha think?"

"One of them fell out of a window and the other nearly blew himself to kingdom come holding onto a missile. They're both idiots. Even bigger idiots than Ichika: and believe me, that is quite the accomplishment."

Chifuyu sighed as she wondered what her foolish little brother had done to irk Laura this time. Chances were he hadn't even done anything on purpose. "Well at least they're living idiots. Those two have come close to dying far more than any teenager should have so early in life. Although, I'm certain Church's survival is largely thanks to you, Laura... I must say, I'm surprised you're not at the infirmary right now, unless he wasn't awake?"

Though it wasn't quick enough for Chifuyu to miss, Laura quickly fought down an expression that was a far cry from pride or joy: it looked more like defeat.

"Hardly... Rin played the biggest part. I was... not as helpful, so... I haven't gone to see him yet."

Chifuyu couldn't help but try to read into this unexpected behavior from Laura, but she didn't know what to make of it right now. Tabane, on the other hand, had no qualms being as insensitive as possible.

"Oh, so if she hadn't been there, would you not have found him? That would have been unfortunate."

The German girl before them grit her teeth, an expression of anger dominating her features, though it was clear to Chifuyu that this was directed at herself. The elder Orimura had an idea as to why Laura may have felt this way, but now probably wasn't a good time to talk to her about it. She recognized this behavior from when she had trained the girl years ago in Germany: she was dissatisfied with herself. She felt that she had fallen short somehow.

Considering the situation at hand, that kind of sentiment was not one Chifuyu wanted to fester, but there was no way Laura would talk about it in front of Tabane. Still, she felt it was a good idea to try and urge the girl in the right direction...

"We're going to the infirmary now, Laura. You may come with us, if you wish."

The German representative contemplated the invitation for a few moments, but ultimately decided against it. She was well aware of why the two older women were going to the infirmary. It certainly wasn't for a mere visit. More importantly, she still didn't feel comfortable making a social call right now.

"Even if I came with you, you would want me out of the room when you go about your business with him. I'll... I'll check on him later."

With nothing else left to say, the silver-haired girl turned on her heel and resumed whatever she had been doing before Tabane had nabbed her right out of the crowded hall of students. Said woman leaned towards Chifuyu to whisper conspiratorially to her.

"You know, Chi-chan, it seems to me that some of the girls that like Ikkun are getting very invested in this new boy, don'tcha think? Wait... that was one of the girls that likes Ikkun right?"

Putting away her misgivings about Laura's behavior for now, Chifuyu shook her head at Tabane's inability to even remember someone as unique in appearance as Laura. Nevertheless, she agreed with the genius' assessment. Of course, the romantic life of her students and even her brother was really none of her business, but still, she always had an opinion on the matter at hand, and it was usually a damn good one too.

"Yes, it does seem that way. But it's probably for the best. I get the feeling that Laura's infatuation with Ichika really only began because she saw qualities in him she admired in me. It probably grew from there, but her feelings for him were in the wrong place to start with, so if you ask me, it's better like this. She likely glorified Ichika beyond who he really is, because there was no other man to compare him to... until now."

Tabane frowned at her friend, who seemed to be more than a bit harsh towards her brother today. "Geez, Chi-chan, you make it sound as though Ikkun doesn't have any good traits at all. You don't really think that everybody's feelings are just misplaced or wrong. do you?"

"That's not what I'm saying. Ichika has a lot of good traits; but those traits aren't really what attracted half of his swooning fan-club. I know you weren't here to see it all firsthand, but Cecilia hated him until he beat her. Likewise, Laura hated him until he beat her. And then Charlotte really only got close to him because her little cross-dressing stunt landed her with the only boy in the school. You know, if Charlotte had entered the Academy as a girl from the very beginning, I doubt she and Ichika would even know each other very well. It was really only circumstance that pushed them together. I think only Houki and Rin really have some sort of clear image of my brother, without all of the exaggerated aspects the other girls have added to his personality. After all, they knew him before any of this ever started."

Tabane gave the eldest Orimura a blank stare. For someone who looked as though she had no interest in romance, she sure knew a lot about what was going on around here.

"So what you're saying is that only his old childhood friends really like Ikkun straight up as he is, while the others have more of an infatuation with him? But they spend so much time together..."

Chifuyu continued to walk down the hallway, remembering that she was actually out and about with a task in mind. Still, she felt the need to state the obvious.

"Tabane, a few weeks ago Ichika was the only boy in this entire school. I'm not trying to demean his accomplishments, but he honestly wouldn't have to do all that much to capture the affections of nearly every straight girl here. You know how it goes; when resources are limited, they are exponentially more valuable. Most of the girls here have been studying or training as I.S. pilots for years, so they haven't experienced too much interaction with males at all. So when there's only one boy to like, how can you expect them to resist? Now that there's two, it's no surprise that some of the girls, even the ones who've claimed to love Ichika with such devotion, are feeling conflicted. There's actually another male to compare him to, and some of them may find that he's more their type."

Unable to hold back a giggle, Tabane cocked an eyebrow at her companion. "Chi-chan... are you secretly super invested in all of this romance stuff? Do you head a secret betting group for shipping with other members of the faculty or something?"

Being someone who hated being teased, Chifuyu leveled a dangerous glare at Tabane. "Absolutely not. I just want my students and my little brother to be happy, alright?"

"Aw, that's so surprisingly sweet of you, Chi-chan... though, they seemed plenty happy without that American kid in the picture. Isn't it fine for things to stay the way they were before?"

Ignoring the first part of Tabane's statement, Chifuyu simply shrugged at the latter. "It was 'fine,' for the time being. But I can promise you right now that Ichika doesn't love all of those girls the same way they love him. That hasn't been brought up directly yet, but what will happen when Ichika tells them the truth? You think the girls who are rejected will be happy about that? They'll be crushed."

Tabane twisted a lock of her hair around her finger. "Well, he could just love 'em all, you know. Like a harem..."

Chifuyu scoffed at this notion. "Ichika may be... a man of action more than an intellectual, not to mention a little dense, but he's got this strange sense of a man's honor. He would never be able to love more than one person, and he almost certainly wouldn't lead anyone on with a lie about loving them. He hates lying, and has a mind for the traditional. That's just how it is."

"If that's the case and you want to theoretically assume one of these girls will love the American instead, won't three of them still end up hurt?"

With a somewhat amused look on her face, Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "Who said Church wouldn't be able to handle a harem of four?"

Being a genius, Tabane was not easily surprised, but she was honestly shocked to hear Chifuyu of all people saying this. "Ah, uh... and you'd support that, Chi-chan...? I mean, a harem, really...?"

The dark-haired woman shrugged. "As long as everyone involved was truly happy with the situation, why should I take issue with it? It's not like it's my business regardless."

"You know girls don't like to share, right, Chi-chan?"

"They might be more willing if the person they were sharing could make them all feel loved and special."

Tabane stayed silent for a moment, before chuckling to herself. "Heh, you really are a hopeless, idealistic romantic, Chi-chan. I never kne-ow!"

Not willing to be teased further, Chifuyu elbowed Tabane in the ribs, cutting her short. The victim of the attack rubbed the pain out of her side with a somewhat comical expression on her face, but soon after she grew surprisingly serious.

"Well, none of that will really matter once we find out that the American was responsible for all of this in the first place. Speaking of which, what are you gonna do when we find out he's guilty, Chi-chan? Seems to me that you're kind of fond of him, is that going to stop you from dishing out justice?"

Chifuyu sent a heated glare the prodigy's way, though this one was far beyond irritation. "First off, there is no 'when,' only 'if.' There's no guarantee that he was involved in this incident, at least not to that extent. Besides, the least you owe him is the benefit of the doubt: if it weren't for him, everyone you care about, including Houki, would be dead right now."

Whether or not Tabane agreed with that assessment, she made no further comment on the issue. Still, she noticed that Chifuyu had made no statement on whether or not she'd be able to deal with Church if he was indeed an enemy. What a surprise...

The two women walked the rest of the way to the infirmary in silence, their respective thoughts occupying their focus. When they reached their destination, they were met with the subdued sounds of conversation from behind the infirmary door. No surprise there: nearly everyone had wanted to go and check on Church after Chifuyu gave them permission to. Only Laura had chosen not to.

Chifuyu pressed the button to open the door, but didn't announce her presence, a bit of natural curiosity prompting her to listen in on the conversation between the room's occupants. None of them were paying attention to the doorway, so none of them noticed the arrival of new individuals. Currently, Rin was speaking.

"I'm just saying, I have gotten hurt way too much lately. One of you should take a turn."

Ichika answered her. "I'd prefer if no one else had to get hurt, honestly..."

From his position on the bed, Church reinforced that sentiment. "I have to agree there. No need to try and equalize the suffering, let's just try to stop getting hurt at all."

The brunette who had started this tangent offered a rebuttal. "Yeah, well, take your own advice. You're the freaking lunatic who holds onto missiles."

"You're welcome..."

Before the conversation between them could continue any further, Tabane leaned into Chifuyu to whisper to her. "Eavesdropping is very rude, Chi-chan... I didn't think you were the kind of person to enjoy it."

With no response beyond a frown, Chifuyu cleared her throat so everyone would know they had been joined by adults. No, she would never admit that she had been eavesdropping just now. She had just wanted to see if everyone was showing proper gratitude to the person who had saved them, that was all. After all, she would be annoyed if anyone had proved an irritant to Church after she had given them permission to come and see him.

Hiding those convoluted thoughts behind her usual professionalism, Chifuyu eyed the group of teens before her. Houki was clearly shocked to see her sister, but was pointedly ignoring her right now. Even after getting Akatsubaki from Tabane, the younger sister didn't seem to be terribly comfortable with her, especially not with such a sudden appearance. Somehow, Tabane had forgotten to actually let her sister know that she had been on the premises for the past couple of days.

Medically speaking, Rin wasn't too bad off: other than the peeling skin and the redness that was a bit more prominent than it should have been, she was fine, for the most part.

Church was a lot less well off, or he at least looked it. Most of his injuries had been external: burns, gashes, and deep bruises from the missile explosion and its impact. He was swathed in bandages, from his torso down to his feet. The only thing uncovered completely was his head, considering that the shallow gash on his scalp had looked far worse than it had first appeared and had already healed over with some help from the Academy's medical technology. Truly miraculous, that stuff...

Still, Chifuyu couldn't help but wonder if she had let everyone bother Church too soon. He'd healed a lot, but was definitely still hurting. Maybe she should have let him rest longer...

Tabane gave her a smug look that pissed Chifuyu off, because it seemed like she almost knew what the elder Orimura was thinking, and judging her for it. It wasn't like this was an unusual level of concern: Church had literally been in a nuclear missile blast, it wasn't like she was fretting over him unnecessarily. Either way, Chifuyu figured that she probably needed to say something.

"Good to see that you're feeling up to normal conversation, Church. I hope these hooligans didn't disturb your rest?"

The brown-haired young man shrugged. "Well, Rin kind of did..."

"Hey! Don't pretend you weren't lonely in here!"

"I'm entitled to ribbing you every once in a while, considering what I did."

Rin glared at the infirm boy. "You're going to be pulling that card out all the time now aren't you? 'Oh do you remember when I stopped that missile? Oh, but how about that time when I saved everyone?' Don't think that excuse will work forever!"

Church eyed the energetic girl tiredly. "It'll work for now though, right?"

The Chinese girl he was talking to clearly wanted to say 'no,' but Cecilia had this one covered. "Actually, I don't think one even needs justification to make fun of Rin..."

This earned a glare from Rin, who was definitely about to make some sort of retort, but since Chifuyu didn't have the patience for an argument of some sort, she cut it short before it even began.

"Alright, all of you. I have something important to discuss with Church. I need all of you to leave."

The young American cast his weary gaze in Chifuyu's direction, also taking notice of Tabane for the first time: she hadn't really said anything so far to draw attention to herself, and he'd been distracted by the back and forth with Rin. He clearly knew what it was time for.

Chifuyu expected Rin to be the one to voice dissent, but it was actually Cecilia who did this. "Must we be excluded from these proceedings? Our lives were placed in great peril because of these circumstances, do we not deserve to know what is afoot?"

While the blonde may have been the spokesperson in this instance, it was clear by the expression on everyone's face that they all felt the same way. Frankly, Chifuyu couldn't blame them for that. Cecilia made a pretty good point: no one wanted to die, or even come close to dying, for a reason they weren't privy to.

But even so, Chifuyu motioned for the girls and Ichika to step outside. Until she actually had more information herself, she couldn't determine what could or couldn't be shared with them.

"I understand how you feel, but the answer is still no. If I deem after learning the truth behind this situation that you all can hear it, I'll be sure to share. But until that time, I have to follow protocol."

There was a chorus of malcontent grumbling from the group, but ultimately they did start to file out of the infirmary, though not without some over the shoulder glances and a verbal farewell from Charlotte.

"We'll come back to check on you later, Church. Please get some rest when you are finished with your discussion!"

Ichika echoed her statement, but Chifuyu called out to the group as they left with something else entirely. "No eavesdropping."

There was no response from the girl, but Tabane took it upon herself to gently elbow the raven-haired woman. "Hypocrite."

"Shut up, Tabane."

With that, the infirmary door slid shut, leaving Church alone with two of the most important women in the world of Infinite Stratos. Needless to say, he wouldn't have minded having someone else in here to take some of the scrutiny off of him. Unfortunately, he knew that the conversation they were about to have was a tenuous one that required his full focus, and a very good grasp on how to best lie his way out of a huge shitstorm.

Thankfully, he considered himself pretty good at lying.

Is this the midway point of this story? Well 14 isn't half of 35, so no, I guess. Then again, I'm not sure you can know the halfway point if you don't know the end point yet...