The Exeter Project

by Shadow0Fire

After the untimely destruction of America's rampaging I.S, the Gospel, the nation lost all privileges to own Infinite Stratos tech. It's new project, Exeter, carries the dream of a new breed of aerial ingenuity, and with it, the mission to become ruler of the skies for the USA. Only two things stand in the way of this dream; the I.S. Academy, and the heart of Exeter's own pilot.

19. Beach Battles

You know, originally Cerberus was not supposed to be such a likable character. He was going to be interesting yes, but not the favorite of so many. Crazy how things evolve, huh?

So, just for kicks, what is everyone's favorite I.S.? Personally, I can't decide between the Schwarzer Regen or the Gospel, though I really like Shen Long as well.

---

Sleep was a wonderful thing. Church liked sleep, so much that it was at least in the top three of his favorite pastimes. Unfortunately, he was quite the heavy sleeper, and that came with one serious drawback: until he was awake, he had no idea what was going on around him.

This meant that if he were to somehow find himself in an awkward situation while asleep, he would not be aware of it until it was far too late. That was this morning's situation, one that was objectively quite desirable from a certain point of view, but at the same time, it posed a great risk. As his body's natural processes roused him to wakefulness, Church felt like something was off. He had yet to open his eyes, being groggy and all, but he felt a bit more weighed down than he should have from a simple blanket over his person.

Eyes still closed, Church went through the usual wake-up process, obviously starting with stretching. Unfortunately, he couldn't do this, because he soon realized that he was unable to move. Or rather, it wasn't that he couldn't move, it was that he was encountering an unusual amount of resistance as he tried to do so.

It was as this point that Church decided to finally crack his eyes open, despite the heavy weight of sleep holding him back. He quickly realized that the position he and his sleeping companions had slept in last night was no longer in play. Both Laura and Rin had turned on their sides to face him sometime during the night, and were now cuddling up to him, albeit unintentionally, in quite questionable positions.

Rin had chosen to completely envelop Church's arm on her side, using her whole body to encompass the limb as she curled around him. Church was afraid to move this arm at all: with his hand captured in-between Rin's shapely thighs, he was afraid the motion would wake her. And if she was awoken by him moving around in such a sensitive area, the fiery brunette was sure to misconstrue the situation.

Besides, he wasn't eager to replace the peaceful look of her sleeping face with an angry scowl. Rin was much cuter in sleep than in anger, especially as she unconsciously nuzzled her nose into Church's shoulder.

Laura, on the other hand, had a looser grip on the only man in the bed, though her hands had found their way onto much more questionable parts of Church's body than Rin's. While one of her arms was wrapped around his, Laura's other hand had found its way a little too far south, coming to rest on his waistband. Any lower and the two of them were going to make it way past first base.

This situation aside, Church couldn't help but notice that Laura was quite cute in sleep as well. Her lips were slightly parted, allowing him to feel her light breath on his neck, and the usual stern countenance she brought to bear during the day was completely absent. Church had heard it said that the face of those in blissful sleep was the most peaceful expression that could be made, but this was the first time he had seen it firsthand. This saying certainly applied to girls, he couldn't disagree with that.

But still, he was now faced with a dilemma. He was in a compromising position with two lovely yet clueless ladies whose reactions to said situation when they awoke were impossible to predict. However, there was nothing Church could do to negate this situation, because the chances of him successfully extricating himself from Rin and Laura's entangled embrace without waking them was very slim, and that obviously led to the problem of them waking up and finding themselves awkwardly cuddling the man between them.

And of course, if Church just sat here and waited for them to wake up, his chances were just as slim. Neither girl would be likely to move in her sleep again before waking up in the next hour or so. If he simply waited for them to wake up, the young man would be in the exact same situation.

What should I do? In these close quarters, I won't be able to evade both of them before getting punched in the face… I can't move enough to get out of here, and I can't just wait and hope for the best…

Cerberus' voice suddenly emerged from within Church's head. He had been silent for the duration of the night, and Church was not eager to hear him now, if only because he had little faith in the machine when it came to these situations.

Might I make a suggestion, Operator?

Is this a serious suggestion or a joke? I'm really not in the mood for the latter.

Surprisingly, Cerberus was not aiming to jest.

I assure you that I am actually making a serious suggestion, Operator. Though this in no way raises your chances of escaping injury in this situation.

Meaning?

Well, humans often jump or flinch when awakened by loud noises, yes? If we scare them awake, it is possible that your female companions will disentangle themselves of their own accord, without realizing what state they were in before waking.

Church had to admit that it was a decent idea, if a little risky. Wouldn't blasting an air horn or some such anger the girls as well? And what about the other guests in the hotel?

Well I'm glad you tried, Cerb, but ultimately, I don't think that's a very good idea. One way or another, I think scaring the girls awake will result in exactly what we're trying to avoid.

In that case, why not just pretend to sleep until they wake up? If you appear to be sleeping and unaware of the situation, they can hardly blame you for their own movements during the night.

Deciding that this idea sounded much better than the first one, Church agreed to it. Still, as he closed his eyes so that he could pretend to sleep, he couldn't help but think that Rin would still find a way to blame him for her own unconscious actions. Not to say that she was hopelessly violent, but she did seem the type to react poorly when flustered.

There was nothing to be done about it either way though, so Church simply sighed quietly and tried to actually fall asleep once more. He didn't know what time it was exactly, but judging by the sunlight peeking through the window's curtains, he assumed it was getting close to ten or so. Laura definitely would have been up by now on a normal day, but apparently even she was susceptible to the powerful force of jet lag. At this rate, the group would not get to Cecilia's place until the afternoon, but if everyone needed the sleep, what was the harm?

With that in mind, Church gradually slipped into a state of semi-consciousness. He was somewhat aware of his surroundings, but was not exactly paying attention to them. He didn't know how long he was like this, but when he heard the slight hitch in one of the girls' even breathing, he was suddenly paying acute attention.

Cracking one eye open just enough to see, but not enough to make it obvious that he was awake, Church noticed that it was Rin who was coming around, and he immediately felt a little worried. If anyone was going to sucker punch him for something that wasn't his fault, it would probably be her.

After an undeniably adorable yawn, Rin rubbed some of the sleep from her eyes, slowly opening them to check on her surroundings. The moment the world welcomed her emerald gaze, a crimson blush spread across her cheeks, along with a surprised expression. Rin looked stunned for a moment, clearly running a little short in the mental department in the wake of this unexpected situation she found herself in.

Still, she quickly came to, urgently but silently craning her neck to check and see if either Church or Laura was awake. Church apparently faked his sleep pretty well, because Rin dismissed him after a moment of observation.

Feeling assured, Rin seemed a little hesitant about her next move, going so far as to glance around as though there was anyone else that could judge her. But after doing that, she actually smiled to herself, right before snuggling back into bed and against Church's body once again, though not in as complete of a manner as she had initially. She didn't wrap any limbs around him this time, but she did press up against his arm, and she looked quite content in doing so. Needless to say, Church was surprised by the development.

Well, well, looks like she's not as against being close to me as I thought! As long as she thinks I don't know about it, I suppose. Still, too bad she didn't return to the pose she started in...

Having barely been awake in the first place, Rin quickly fell asleep once again. Her breathing soon settled into a gentle, rhythmic pattern, and Church could feel her heartbeat do the same. Apparently, as long as Rin woke up before he did, he wasn't going to get the short end of this deal.

A little too pleased to fall asleep completely, Church tried to settle into the bed a little more comfortably, while also trying to work the static out of his entangled limbs. Unfortunately, even though Rin wasn't really holding onto him any longer, he didn't have a lot of wiggle room available. Ultimately, he wasn't met with much success.

A short time later, Laura rolled off the bed and to her feet, proving that she was awake without Church even realizing it. Apparently nothing about her had changed at whatever point she had woken up. Her breathing had stayed rhythmic and soft for the last hour, and she had not moved an inch in that same window of time. Whether she had been awake for thirty minutes or five was a mystery.

Still, as she stretched a kink out of her shoulders and headed for the bathroom, it seemed that Laura had no idea that Church was awake as well. Or if she did know, she wasn't making it obvious.

Church took this opportunity to get some blood flowing in that arm now that it was free, but was quick to return to his earlier position when he heard the door to the bathroom opening again.

When Laura returned to the bedside, she paused for a moment to look down at her companions, specifically at Church. It was at this point, with his eyes open just enough to see her, that Church noticed that Laura had both eyes open, allowing him to see her dual-colored gaze for the first time. The alluring mix of crimson and gold was spectacular to behold, and it took all of Church's will and might to keep the blush from his face and giving himself away.

Laura smiled gently, mostly to herself, before slipping back into the bed and doing the same thing Rin had done earlier, but without reserve. She apparently had no qualms about wrapping her arm around Church's again, though she did not return her hand to its earlier place at his waist.

Before Church could congratulate himself for having another girl eager to cuddle with him, Laura leaned in close to his ear and whispered to him.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Church?"

The unexpected question caused the distracted man to flinch away from Laura, unfortunately pushing Rin off the bed and nearly falling on her besides. Needless to say, the rest of the morning didn't go as well as the beginning of it had.

---

"You really are a cruel person Laura, you know?"

The silver-haired girl smirked at the posed rhetorical, eyeing Church from her side of the vehicle that the full complement of teens was now riding in. After the shenanigans that morning were all said and done (Rin had been so annoyed over being shoved out of bed that she had forgotten all about the embarrassing position she had been in with Church), everyone had met down in the hotel lobby for breakfast. By the time they were done, Cecilia's butler, an old man with gray hair named Dudley, had come to pick them all up in a lavish black limousine. Apparently the girl had summoned him from her mansion before coming down for breakfast.

There was plenty of room for everyone to spread out in the spacious cabin, so Church and Laura sat opposite of each other, with the others situated however they pleased. This allowed Church to view the German's amused expression without trouble.

"Come now, Church, weren't you the one trying to take advantage of the situation by pretending that you were asleep?"

"Last time I checked, I wasn't the one who put myself in that situation."

"Perhaps, but you certainly didn't appear to be in any rush to put a stop to it."

Church folded his arms. "I'm so sorry for letting you rest without interruption."

Houki, seated next to Ichika, leaned forward to peer past him and at the conversationalists. "What are you two talking about?"

Church elected to say nothing, though Laura apparently did not share his same inhibitions. "Church woke up before either me or Rin this morning, but instead of getting up and waking us, he chose to pretend to sleep for a no doubt nefarious purpose."

Crossing his arms, Church frowned at the girl, now forced to defend himself. "Hey, you two were the ones who had your hands all over me, not the other way around. I just didn't want to wake you guys up if you were still tired."

Rin, arms folded and sulking in the corner of the limo's cabin, glared at him. She was a little miffed at having been knocked off the bed that morning, and while she had initially been distracted from it, the idea that Church had been awake when she had snuggled with him a second time was not lost on her.

"Oh sure, that's a likely story…"

"Seriously Rin, Laura was the one who had her hand-"

The girl in question cut him off before he could finish. "Church, I have a personal question for you: how much do you value your life?"

While he didn't necessarily feel any actual danger about Laura's words, Church wasn't one to risk his life, so he merely smiled. "Much more than I value what I was about to say, trust me."

Cecilia, who sat alone on the side opposite of the driver's cabin, cocked an eyebrow at the two of them. "You know, when you leave things so ambiguous, it's easy for the rest of us to misconstrue the situation."

Laura offered a bemused glance in response to the implication. "Nothing of that nature occurred, I assure you. For someone who claims to be a lady, your mind certainly resides in the gutter on many occasions…"

"What?! How dare you imply that I am anything less than a woman of the highest caliber! I will have you know that anyone would have taken that exchange the wrong way! If anything is to blame, it was your poor word usage! I mean honestly-"

Cecilia's tirade was cut short as Dudley rolled down the window between his area and theirs. "Milady, we've arrived."

The blonde was instantly in a chipper mood, but Rin was quick to douse it. "Wow, I knew you were spoiled, but not enough to be called 'milady…'"

"Shut up, Rin. This is my mansion you're staying at, remember?"

With truer words never spoken, everyone decided that ribbing Cecilia could wait until after their free-of-charge stay at her home.

---

"Why on earth would anyone need this much money?"

The first thing everyone did when they came into the mansion's foyer, Cecilia excluded of course, was comment in one way or another on the sheer luxury on display. There was certainly no shortage of wealth to be seen, with marble flooring and pillars, diamond chandeliers, and furniture made of some undoubtedly expensive and lavish wood.

Charlotte, who had come from quite a well-off family herself, estranged father notwithstanding, was the least fazed by the place, while the others were noticeably more flabbergasted. Rin held a pretty important position in China, so she was no stranger to wealth either, but she had always been forced to be more frugal with her funds. Laura was quite stunned herself, but she had long since learned to keep such emotions from showing on her face too potently.

That left Church, Ichika, and Houki. Ichika had never lived anywhere so extravagant before, so he was simply gawking in slack-jawed wonder. Church was pretty amazed as well, but was content to just be glad that he was staying at such a nice place for so long. Houki, being from the most humble origins, was actually a little dismayed by it all.

"Is any of this really necessary? Why would such a frivolous use of money be needed? This is far more than any decent home requires…"

Cecilia placed her hands on her hips as she glanced back at the kendo practitioner. "Oh? And what is your definition of a decent home, Houki?"

"Four walls, a roof, a door, and a bed. Anything else is just wasted space."

Rin cocked an eyebrow at her. "What about a kitchen? Or at least a refrigerator?"

Feeling the need to chime in, Charlotte spoke up as well. "Besides, isn't four walls a bit of a stereotype, Houki? I've seen a few buildings that only have three..."

Having been quickly ganged up on by her fellow girls, Houki shook a fist at them. "T-that wasn't the point! I was merely saying that the money used for something this extravagant could be donated to better causes! Besides, who wants to live in a triangular house?"

The question of triangle-shaped homes went unanswered as Cecilia crossed her arms. "I'll have you know that I donate a very large sum of my money to various charity organizations every year. I may be somewhat spoiled, but I am not selfish and spoiled."

Caught on the wrong end of the line, Houki was quick to apologize. "O-oh… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you were that kind of person, Cecilia… I was just ranting…"

Before she could graciously accept Houki's apology, Cecilia found herself interrupted by a legion of maids emerging from various corners within the mansion. They were climbing out of the woodwork, and much to Church's pleasure, they were all pretty and outfitted in the stereotypical fashion of a French maid (in England of all places).

Cecilia quickly found herself swarmed by the ladies.

"Milady, it's so good to see you again!"

"We've missed you so much!"

"Please don't leave us again, Milady, we can't take such a long absence from you!"

Practically drowning in the horde of hugging women, Cecilia threw an arm up in a desperate attempt to have one of her friends save her. Unfortunately, the wall of flesh between her and her would-be saviors was simply too great, and there was nothing to be done except wait out the affectionate assault.

When Cecilia was finally released from the onslaught of hugs ten minutes later, she begged the legion of house-cleaners to return to their duties, stating that she was likewise glad to see them.

When they all finally dispersed, the blonde's hair was completely tussled and frazzled, and her clothes were likewise disheveled. From this event alone, Cecilia looked exhausted, and Rin couldn't help but snicker as Houki commented on the situation.

"I know I was wrong to jump to conclusions earlier, but I feel that was far more maids than would be necessary to maintain this place…"

Cecilia sighed, though she smiled regardless. "Well, there used to be more work around the place when more people lived here. After mother and father passed, I just didn't have the heart to send any of them away. Many of them have been here since I was very young, so they feel like family."

The somber thought of Cecilia's deceased parents was fortunately mitigated by the sweet nature of her following words, which everyone decided as the better thing to focus on. Not even Ichika was dense enough to say something stupid about her parents.

"Even so, Cecilia, there were like, twenty of them. Do you really remember all of their names?"

"Of course I do! What kind of lady would I be to not remember the names of my own loyal servants?! Tabitha is the oldest, followed by Isabella, and then Penny is the youngest, and of course there's Alice and Mary and Lili-"

Laura cut the girl off before she could rattle off the names of every maid in the mansion, which she was certain was actually well over twenty. "That's quite alright, Cecilia, we believe you. That aside, I assume you are going to show us which rooms to deposit our belongings in?"

"Right, right, I forgot about that. Well, I'll have Dudley show everyone to their rooms, and if you are all in agreement, I have quite a large pool that we could all enjoy…"

There was a unanimous nodding of heads or shrugging of shoulders that showed that everyone was more or less fine with this course of action, and so the group followed Cecilia's butler up a winding staircase without dissent. It was during this time that Cerberus decided to speak up within his Operator's mind once again.

What a fine chance this will be, Operator! With my ability to take pictures from your retinal view, we can amass quite the collection out there.

We are not going to do that, Cerb. It's wrong on more levels than I care to list. That's basically voyeurism, and taking photos of people without their consent or knowledge is illegal… I think. It's definitely not a good thing to do, at any rate.

Come now Operator, the pool is hardly the place to have morals, especially when you have several attractive girls in swimsuits.

Church couldn't exactly argue with that, but he was still above taking Cerberus' suggestion. He did have some honor left.

Look, Cerb, let's just enjoy the situation without necessarily abusing it.

What if I take pictures without your knowledge?

Is there anything I can do to stop you?

No.

Then why ask? Seriously, I wonder if you're really back at 100% after getting blown up...

Fortunately, Cecilia's mansion was plenty large enough to afford everyone their own room, so there was no need to repeat the same argument there had been last night at the hotel. On the other hand, this meant no necessity cuddling with any of the girls, so that was a bummer for Church.

Still, it was hard for him to be unhappy as he was ushered into a large, well-furnished suite with a queen-sized bed. The room even sported a balcony that looked out over the beach below. The shores of Britain were certainly quite beautiful, at least in this area. Having a separate master bathroom was a nice plus too.

But as much as he would have liked to simply lie down in his borrowed comfy bed, Church much preferred being outside with all of the girls, so rather than tossing himself on the bed, he threw his duffel bag on it instead. He was certainly glad that he had the foresight to buy and pack swimming trunks before the flight over here…

With plenty of incentive to get back downstairs as quickly as possible, Church was quick to change into his blue and black swimming trunks, though he left a t-shirt on as well, for modesty and sunburn protection if nothing else. Just because he was going to enjoy seeing the girls in skimpier outfits didn't mean he had to let them do the same. Besides, a little mystery never hurt anyone and if Rin's assessment of him a few weeks ago had been any indication, he could impress with just a short-sleeve shirt anyway.

Finding his way downstairs at about the same time Ichika did, Church ended up standing around with only his company. Apparently all of the girls were taking a little longer to get ready. Not that this was any surprise, but now that he was here, Church acknowledged that he hadn't actually been alone with Ichika for quite some time. Other than the first time they met in the hallway, they had never actually shared another private conversation.

Now that he was thinking about it, Church felt a little awkward, but apparently Ichika had no such qualms with the situation. "Aren't you kinda worried that a black shirt will attract more sunlight or something out there?"

Church glanced down at his clothes, not noticing prior to now that he had donned a black shirt. Ichika probably had a point. "I figure it'll be fine if I'm in the water. Besides, it was pretty cloudy on the way here, so the sun shouldn't really be a problem."

Ichika shrugged to that, though this line of inquiry prompted Church to examine his choice of attire as well. However, Ichika was wearing only simple white trunks, completely exposing his torso. Honestly, Church was surprised to find that Ichika's physique was pretty average overall: not that he was out of shape, but he wasn't particularly muscular and Church could say, in all humility, that he was almost certain that he could beat the young man in an arm wrestling match nine times out of ten.

But then again, that kind of made sense. Operating an I.S. unit didn't require much physical prowess, since the machine did almost everything for you. Exeter naturally had mechanical automation as well, but since it was limited to his body and he was required to be able to move in it even if the automation systems failed, Church had been forced to work out a lot more to be qualified for its use by Umbra Stratum. He wasn't brawny by any means, but he could probably convince most people that he lifted weights fairly regularly, even though he actually didn't. It was a nice extra bonus to being Exeter's pilot, was all.

Ichika acknowledged Church's earlier comment about the sun and how cloudy it was today. "You should tell the girls that: I'm pretty sure the reason they're taking so long is because they're dousing themselves in sunscreen."

"Well they say it's better to protect yourself whether the sun is out or not… besides, Cecilia, Charlotte, and Laura are pretty pale compared to the rest of us. It's better safe than sorry for them. And I highly doubt Rin is eager to experience anything even remotely close to a burn after what happened to her. Houki might just be paranoid though."

The Japanese boy nodded, clearly finding no need to defend that slight against Houki. After all, Church was probably right. Houki often over-reacted to small things. Unfortunately, his lack of a response meant the two of them were left in silence again, and Church wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't exactly one of those comfortable silences, though it wasn't horribly tense either. Church just didn't quite know what to talk about with Ichika if it was left to him to initiate the conversation.

But after a minute of this silence, Ichika spoke up again, though not about anything Church had been expecting. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Glancing over at his fellow man curiously, Church was a little surprised to see an unusually serious look on his face. "Uh, sure?"

Given permission, Ichika just got straight to the point. He wasn't the type to beat around the bush. "Do you think Cecilia likes you?"

Completely caught off-guard by something so sudden being asked of him, Church didn't quite know how to answer. "Well, uh... how do you mean, exactly?"

Ichika looked up at the tall, domed ceiling, perhaps pondering his next words. "Well, it's just that she went out of her way to get you and her alone on the plane ride over here. There hasn't been a time since we became friends that she was fine with leaving all the other girls around me and not getting involved herself. So it's pretty unusual for her to actually do that intentionally. I figure there has to be a reason for that."

Assuming that this wasn't necessarily a good thing in Ichika's eyes, Church apologized for the situation. "Sorry. I mean, I didn't ask her to do that, specifically..."

Seeing the confused look on Church's face, Ichika waved off his concerns with a chuckle. "Don't apologize. I'm not mad about it. Actually, I'm pretty glad if I'm right about this."

Honestly, this statement gave Church great pause. Maybe Ichika wasn't quite the type of guy he had thought previously. "Why? You don't like Cecilia?"

His partner in conversation frowned. "It's not that, it's just... she's a good friend, y'know? It's just not the same type of 'like' as she has for me."

Church's eyes widened in surprise.

Holy shit, he's self-aware! He does know what's up!

Cerberus commented on this thought.

To be fair, Operator, one would have to be unbelievably, almost impossibly dense to be completely unaware of such a situation. You would almost have to be completely removed from normal human interaction and communication to miss the signs.

Alright, fair, but he did a damn good job of pretending he was exactly that prior to now!

Well, while this kind of came as a shock to Church, especially out of the blue, he was actually kind of glad to learn that Ichika wasn't actually a fully oblivious moron. That made it a lot easier to have a conversation with him.

"Oh, I get where this is going. One of those 'a friend likes me, but I don't want to hurt them by openly friend-zoning them,' things, right? I guess that makes sense from a certain point of view."

Ichika didn't look like he completely and totally agreed with that assessment, which was odd since it was true of him. "Yeah, I guess... but is it really the right thing to do? I mean, it's not exactly leading someone on, but to know how they feel, know that you don't feel the same, and let them continue hoping for something anyway? It's... kind of cruel, isn't it?"

Frankly, Church hadn't been prepared for a conversation this deep with Ichika today, or any day, really. Was he looking to Church for some sort of relationship advice here? If so, why? Just because he was the only other guy around to ask?

"Well, maybe. I guess it depends on the alternative. I mean, I get where you're coming from: it's kind of difficult to choose between honestly crushing a friend's dreams and giving them false hope. They're both kind of cruel in their own way. But then again, a friendship without honesty isn't much to be proud of, right?"

That's a little ironic coming from you, Operator.

Shut up, Cerberus. I fucking know that.

While Church had that mental exchange, Ichika seemed to ponder his words. "Yeah, I guess so. That means going the opposite way would be even worse, right? If you actually did lead someone on just to avoid hurting them, I mean."

"I mean, I guess so? That kind of takes things from sin of omission to active lying, so I guess that is worse. Hey, exactly how many of the girls do you feel this way about, anyway?"

Church was incredibly interested in the answer to this question, but unfortunately, he didn't get it. That was because the duo was approached by someone else before Ichika could respond, namely the white-haired Dudley, Cecilia's maid. Where the old man had come from, Church had no idea. Maybe he had been doing something else, and had noticed the two of them standing around over here.

"If you two gentleman would like, I can direct you to the pool while you wait for Lady Cecilia and her companions."

Honestly, it was a little odd to have such a heavy conversation interrupted, but it would be just as awkward to send Dudley away with that reasoning. That said, Church had no idea when he'd get a chance to talk to Ichika again about all of this, though he wasn't quite sure what he would do with the information he had requested even if he had it. Still, he'd definitely been treated to a new side of Ichika today, which he hadn't been expecting. The young man was clearly not as oblivious as he let on around the girls, and he also seemed well aware of their feelings for him. His struggle was apparently regarding what to do about it, and what he was doing about it already.

Ultimately though, there was nothing Church could do about it right now, and he wasn't sure if it was his place to do anything about it anyway, so he simply agreed to let Dudley lead them out to the pool, and Ichika followed suit without dissent. The conversation was over for now, and all it had done was raise some very interesting questions for Church.

---

"Well, isn't this an awfully conspicuous little hole?"

Tabane, alone in the room she had commandeered some time ago to dissect and repair the Exeter suit, peered into an empty compartment on the machine's back. With the notion of storage compartments being relatively moot with the ability to summon things nearly out of thin air these days, Tabane, as one of the world's most prolific engineers, was more than capable of determining that this compartment she was looking at was supposed to house something of great value, and that something simply wasn't present.

Well, this wasn't really a surprise to her. Surely, there were some things the Americans wouldn't want her to know about. But when had Church had time to remove something this important so she wouldn't discover it? He had been unconscious since the explosion, and had not possessed access to his machine at any point in time between then and Tabane getting her hands on it.

Pondering the past few days, Tabane couldn't help but recall the only time anyone else besides her had access to the suit in this room: the time Houki had been with her. The thought caused her to frown heavily. Did that boy really have that kind of sway over her own sister? Or had Houki just felt obligated to do him a favor after he had saved her life? Either way, she didn't like the idea. Young girls were so gullible... bothering with romance sure seemed tiresome.

Either way, Tabane shelved the issue in her mind. It didn't really matter that something was being hidden from her: she knew very well how this game was played, and she had yet to be stopped from ever learning something that she wanted. Besides, she had more cards than that boy knew. His efforts to obscure the truth had been an ironic waste.

That said, she was a little miffed to miss the actual subterfuge that had taken place under her nose. She was a genius, so being outperformed by a brat in even a small thing like this was vexing. Now a little annoyed at the prospect of fixing the Exeter suit further, the elder Shinonono decided she would do what she always did when she needed to let off some steam: go and bother Chifuyu.

Well, Tabane wouldn't have called it that, but she knew Chifuyu would.

With that in mind, Tabane turned to leave the room, the automatic steel door to the outside world sliding open as she approached it. Unfortunately, she stepped right into the path of one of the few people who was still in the Academy; fortunately, it happened to be the exact person she had been interested in finding.

Usually, Chifuyu's quick reflexes would save her from something as plebeian as colliding with someone in the hallway, but this was the morning after she had worked all day, and part of that work had included staying up into said morning. She had a few hours of sleep at most, and was clearly not up to her usual snuff.

That being the case, Chifuyu bumped into Tabane before she could react. The orchid-haired tech geek noticed that the elder Orimura had a cup of coffee in her hand as well, so her nimble fingers clutched onto that before anything else, saving it from spilling even a drop. When Chifuyu was exhausted, you did not spill her coffee. Even Tabane knew better than to awaken that dragon.

Her reaction time may have been a little slow, but Chifuyu was nevertheless quick to glare daggers at her friend, making the dark circles under her eyes all too prominent. Even Tabane, someone who regularly pushed Chifuyu's buttons just for fun, felt a little anxious about being on the receiving end of this ire. She knew she was a match for Chifuyu in most areas, but she had never actually been up against an enraged version of her. While she hated to admit it, even Tabane felt a little cowed.

"Oh, hey, Chi-chan… heh, you look terrible…"

Chifuyu's glare intensified, letting Tabane know that her choice of words had not been the wisest. Her own words came out with bitter emphasis. "That's what four hours of sleep does to you, Tabane."

"So you say, but I stayed up all night and feel fine."

"That's because you're neurotic. Look, I have a long day ahead of me and I'd like to get it out of the way as swiftly as possible. Do you need something?"

While she had initially intended to pester Chifuyu a bit, even Tabane had the wherewithal about her to choose otherwise right now."Oh, nah… I just… needed a bathroom break! Yeah, that's all. So you just continue what you were doing, I'll get out of your way…"

Chifuyu grunted some sort of affirmation at Tabane as the latter scooted out of her path, allowing the elder Orimura to continue her zombie-like trek towards whatever destination she had in mind.

As for Tabane, she merely followed her old friend's back with her gaze, wondering what drove someone to do things they hated for so much of their day. She, on the other hand, was going to find some other way to entertain herself for now. She'd get back to fixing the Exeter suit later. Eventually. When she felt like really doing it, she supposed.

---

Even though she managed to avoid whatever debacle Tabane had in mind, Chifuyu only made it about halfway to her office before encountering more resistance in the form of Yamada's stumbling body. Sometimes Chifuyu wondered if the woman's over-sized breasts threw off her balance. It was odd to know that Yamada was an excellent pilot that could move a mech with grace, but she seemingly had trouble controlling her actual body sometimes.

Luckily, the bespectacled woman managed to stop herself from barreling over her superior, coming to an unsteady stop in front of her. Unlike Tabane, who had merely accidentally crossed paths with Chifuyu, it seemed that Yamada had actually been looking for her.

"Orimura-Sensei, please don't drink that coffee!"

The aura of hostility in the hallway immediately kicked up a few notches. Ordinarily, Chifuyu would never level this kind of animosity at one of her most reliable aides, but she didn't quite like the implication of the woman's words.

"Maya… you'd best consider your next words carefully...

Determined to not be cowed even in the face of serious danger, made all the more obvious by Chifuyu's use of her first name, Yamada steeled herself for what she was about to say.

"N-no, Sensei, it's just that if you drink caffeine now, you won't be able to sleep…"

"I just woke up, Yamada. I won't be going back to sleep for a long, long time..."

The green-haired teacher was clearly aware of the outright exhaustion written all over Chifuyu's face. "But you need to! Look, I'll handle your work today, so please, go and rest! You really look tired!"

Chifuyu cocked a skeptical eyebrow at her bespectacled assistant. "Do you have any idea how much work I have to do today?"

Yamada began counting things off on her fingers. "A background check of all Academy staff and personnel, as well as every student attending, a complete overhaul of the security system, a reassessment of emergency protocol, a request for more funding to possibly implement an anti-missile defense system, and the brokering of an arrangement with the Self-Defense Force for military support in the event of a large-scale attack. Did I miss anything?"

Chifuyu was honestly impressed that Yamada knew the ins and outs of her schedule that day. Then again, Chifuyu had laid out a schedule of things to do with Kotetsu, and Yamada had likely just asked the AI about it. Nevertheless, she was still skeptical of the woman's desire to take all of this work on herself.

"And you want to deal with all of that?"

"Well, I don't think anyone would want to deal with so many stressful matters in one day, but if it could help you out in any way… then of course I'm willing to do all of it! Besides, it's mostly work involving records and technical details. Even I can do that. So give me that coffee, I'm going to need it more than you!"

Tired as she was, Chifuyu could not hold back a slight smile. Normally, she was not the type to shirk her duties, mostly because she had trouble with trusting other people to do them properly. But as Yamada had stated, most of today's schedule was filled with tedious work that nearly anyone with the right knowledge could do. It wasn't like Chifuyu was the only person capable of all of this, it was just expected of her to take care of it. That said, delegating the tasks to someone capable was another means of getting it done, was it not?

"Thank you, Yamada… really, I appreciate this. Still, I won't let you handle all of this alone. Make sure to put Kotetsu to good use wherever you can. I'll rest for just a few more hours and come back to take care of the remaining work."

Yamada had no intention of letting Chifuyu take on any of the burden that day, but for the sake of putting the woman's mind to rest, she simply nodded and agreed as the dark haired woman handed her coffee to her before turning and heading back towards her personal quarters, which she had left only a few minutes ago.

A quick sip of that coffee revealed that it was actually quite sweet: despite knowing her for some time, Yamada had fully expected Chifuyu to be more of a black coffee kind of person. Well, personality didn't really guarantee one's likes or dislikes when it came to food.

Her day looking at least a little brighter, Chifuyu quickly made it to the elevator and a few floors up to her own quarters. Most of the staff lived in the city, with many of them having their lodgings paid for by the Academy, but Chifuyu had opted for a single room on the upper floors of the main tower. She was fine with that mostly because she barely ever got to spend any time in the room anyway, since she was usually so busy.

In fact, even though her important position at the Academy meant she could have made all sorts of demands, she had barely even furnished the place: she only had a double-sized bed in there, along with some basic furniture like a bedside table and a couch. Not only was she the spartan type, but she had little need for most of anything in here anyway. She was so tired that she nearly collapsed on the bed in her current attire, but ultimately, Chifuyu decided that her nap might as well be taken in comfort.

She shed her jacket quickly enough, and then disposed of her tie, heels, and skirt as well, leaving her in only her blouse, thigh-highs, and purple panties: as long as no one was around to see her, she did not mind sleeping in such a state. It was comfortable, and allowed more of the cool and soft sheets to embrace her skin, which was rejuvenating in itself.

Undoing her ponytail and releasing her long hair, Chifuyu ungraciously plopped into her bed. What need was there to keep up appearances when no one was around to see it? In the solitude of her own room, she could actually afford to not care about appearances or anyone's impression. Figuring that she might as well pull out all of the stops for this rare respite, Chifuyu took out her phone and put on some music that she felt she could sleep to. Really, she'd have to thank Church again for giving her such a nifty way to relax.

---

"Man, I can't believe you left this place for the Academy, Cecilia."

With the exception of Rin, everyone had made it out to the massive pool behind Cecilia's mansion. Why Rin was the only one still absent was unknown to Church, but he was a little too preoccupied with the four ladies that were present to think about it too much.

Ichika was surprised to find the four girls in the same swimsuits they had worn to the beach some time ago, though Laura had chosen to wear her hair down instead of in pigtails this time. Church, seeing them all in these bikinis for the first time, was just immensely glad to be alive. He was actually reconsidering Cerberus' offer to take pictures.

Especially in Laura's case; while being the most poorly endowed girl in the group, at least in the breasts department, she seemed quite comfortable and confident in her looks. Church had honestly expected her to be more bashful, which of course would have been cute, but admittedly, this kind of 'I'm beautiful and I know it' demeanor was very sexy. He even got a few of those 'like what you see?' glances from the German girl since she had come out to the pool. Church wasn't actually sure when she had grown that bold or confident, but he certainly liked it a lot.

Had he been psychic, he would have known that Laura's reason for her boldness revolved around things he had said to her several times since their meeting. She had more confidence in her looks at the moment because Church had quite earnestly expressed his opinion on her appearance, and it had all been good. He'd made it quite obvious he thought she was attractive, and knowing that, Laura didn't feel nearly as nervous as she had back on her last summer vacation. Sure, she was still a little embarrassed, but knowing that she was being appreciated, even next to a bunch of girls that would generally be considered more conventionally attractive than her, really did wonders.

It was definitely something she liked a great deal about Church; you didn't have to wonder what he was thinking very often, and it wasn't hard to learn what he was thinking if he didn't make it obvious himself. She liked being able to know how he felt instead of wondering all the time. Ichika was the honest type, but somehow, he had always managed to avoid saying anything that gave the impression that he actually liked one of the girls, at least directly to them. Or at the very least, he had never said something like that for Laura. While he had praised her many times, it had always been as person, a friend, or a pilot. Never as a girl. While those other things were nice, there was certainly a difference.

All of that said, it wasn't like Church's attention was solely on her. Quite frankly, it would be impossible for any red-blooded man to ignore the other girls in this situation. Cecilia was a cup behind Houki in the breasts department, yet she was also far more brazen, with the most amount of cleavage on display. Her top was the lowest cut, leaving little to the imagination, which, visually at least, put her on an even playing field with the bustiest girl in their group.

That, of course, was Houki. It still shocked Church that a Japanese girl was swinging such torpedoes around, but he figured there were people like that from every country. Her white bikini lent a feeling of innocence, or at least more innocence than the other girls, and that in itself was attractive in its own way. Her constant blushing as she nervously checked to see if Ichika was looking at her was cute too. That said, Church noticed that she never spared such looks for him. Oh well, there was nothing wrong with a girl who well and truly had her sights on one man.

Charlotte was definitely the most colorful, with her orange and black-striped outfit. It was easy to imagine a tiger motif, and with it, a sort of risqué aura, though Church got the feeling that was not intentional on her part. He liked the swimsuit, but wished it didn't have that skirt type extension on the bottom. It was cute, but it obscured any pleasant view of her butt, which was a terrible crime. The French blonde seemed quite comfortable in this environment, not looking particularly bothered to be dressed the way she was with two men around her age. Whether that was simple confidence or a lack of sexual thoughts at all was unclear.

But still, despite these lovely ladies, Church still favored Laura's the most. It was black, as expected, but also had cute dark blue frills, and it tightly accentuated the lithe and slender form of its wearer. Laura could conceivably be considered to have a lackluster physique compared to the other girls, but only if one was supremely uncultured. First of all, boobs were boobs, and all sizes were awesome. Secondly, she had fantastic thighs and hips, so while the allure wasn't quite as traditional as the other girls, it was sexy all the same.

"Rin! It's about time you got out here. What kept you?"

Cecilia's voice drew Church's eyes away from Laura and towards her, and he subsequently followed her cerulean gaze to the mansion's rear porch, which Rin had appeared on. Upon doing that, his focus was captivated immediately.

Shit, maybe I do have thing for this type...

Ichika peeked around Church's shoulders as well, though he didn't appear anywhere near as stunned as his American compatriot. "Oh, new swimsuit, huh?"

Rin had no idea why Ichika even had to ask a question with such an obvious answer, since her current outfit was dark pink, and obviously not the one she had worn last summer, which had been orange. Putting her on the spot was not what she wanted: well, she did want the boys to notice her, but she was still embarrassed.

"Y-yeah… I figured I should wear a different one for this trip..."

In an effort to not look like a total creep, Church tried to keep blatant appreciation from showing on his face, but it was hard to do so. Unbeknownst to him, this new dark pink swimsuit was less childish than the orange one Rin had worn before; the top was much skimpier, with thinner straps and a lower cut, hugging her modest chest in a way that accentuated her curves. Instead of shorts, Rin sported a tight-fitting bottom that hung low enough on her hips to reveal the slightest of the lovely curves of her lower body, much to Church's personal joy.

Operator, is that what they call "the V?" Why is that considered attractive?

Because our eyes follow lines and those lines go somewhere sexy. Humans are weird, OK?

But clothes weren't the only thing that the brunette has switched up for this outing. She had styled her hair in quite a different way as well. Rin's twintails often created the illusion that she didn't have as much hair as she really did. When she let her hair down, it went down to her waist in a sheer curtain, and that much hair opened up a lot of options for other styles, including the current one.

Her brunette strands were done up in dual buns on the top, though her hair was also tied into low double ponytails in the back, long enough to reach her waist even still. Her bangs swooped a little further over her eyes than usual. While he was an avid supporter of twintails, Church couldn't deny that this look was also incredibly flattering on her.

Cerberus, I've reconsidered. You can take some pictures, I don't mind.

I knew you would cave, Operator. That is why I have already taken several, but I will work even harder now that your express permission is granted.

Unaware of this conversation between Church and Cerberus, Rin bashfully posed a question to the two boys in the pool. "So, uh... h-how does it look?"

Busy pondering how much he should really say about his thoughts, Church didn't manage to answer before Ichika did. "It's nice. I think your orange one suits you better, though."

Before today, Church would have assumed that Ichika was just an oblivious moron that couldn't identify someone who was obviously fishing for compliments. But after the conversation they had shared earlier, he found himself wondering if this density was completely intentional. If so, it was actually kind of impressive. Ichika was really good at saying things that were exceptionally vague; he'd still complimented Rin, but not in any way that would give the impression that he was wowed by her. It was a middle ground of not building her up or outright shooting her down.

Still, intentional or not, the immediate look of disappointment on Rin's face made Church feel bad. She'd clearly put a lot of effort into looking good today, and he imagined that it was difficult for someone with her physique to do that with confidence considering the other girls around. So, while he was kind of embarrassed to so blunt, Church felt that Rin deserved a more earnest compliment for the hard work she had put into looking good. Besides, it wasn't like he was just trying to placate her; she really did look amazing.

"All that time you spent getting ready was time well spent, Rin. You, uh, you l-look great, really."

"Y-you think so...?"

Rin tried to hide a furious blush behind her slightly longer bangs, but quickly decided that it wasn't really working. So instead, she jumped into the pool, hoping that the cold water would cool her jets. She stayed under for awhile, but when she did come back up, Church noted with interest that her buns had stayed together. He didn't think they would be totally ruined, since that would have made it a huge waste of time for Rin to bother with it, but he had expected some sort of impact. They had held together remarkably well.

"I didn't realize your buns were weaved that intricately... so, you're pretty good at hair styling too, huh?"

Blushing all over again, Rin quickly turned her back to Church to hide it, though this only served to give him a pleasant view of her smooth and slender shoulders.

"W-well, I-it's really just a hobby, and I mean, every girl is pretty good with her own h-hair..."

"If you say so. Still, this is really complex-"

Apparently growing a little irked about all the praise being thrown Rin's way and not hers, Cecilia cut into the conversation. "Excuse me! Church, one would think you would know better than to compliment only one woman in the presence of four others!"

Laura cocked an eyebrow at the blonde. "Somehow I get the feeling that you would not be complaining if all of the praise was coming your way, Cecilia."

Unable to really refute that, Cecilia fell silent almost immediately, though she crossed her arms in irritation nevertheless.

Church was honestly surprised that Laura didn't seem bothered by the situation at all, but maybe she was content knowing that he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of her most of the time prior to now. That was kind of curious in and of itself. She did seem pretty happy with his attention. Was that just a result of not being used to that kind of attention, or was it specific to him?

Charlotte, always the first to be the mediator if a situation ever got a little awkward, spoke up from the deep end of the pool. This time, she opted for simply trying to guide the topic of conversation elsewhere.

"Cecilia, have you ever trained with your I.S. out here? Is that allowed?"

"Of course it is; I own the beach as private property. There's a few miles out there that are open for us to train in, if you want. Of course, all of you would need permission from your own governments to use your I.S. out here, but... well, let's just say that enough money can turn a satellite away from your house, so no one will know."

Having regained some amount of her composure, Rin sunk down a little lower into the water, enjoying its refreshing sensation on her skin. "Is that really necessary? I mean, we are on vacation. We can train when we get back to the Academy, can't we?"

For a moment, it looked like the other girls were going to agree, but Church had reasons of his own for voting in favor of training. This trip, removed from the confines and security of the Academy, was his best shot at getting Houki's I.S. data. While he still had some concerns regarding Umbra Stratum and his potential conspiracies, it was still better to acquire what he had been sent here for, just in case he really was being paranoid.

"Well a little training never hurt anybody, right? Besides, even though I sparred with you a few times and have seen some old footage, I'd love to see all of you ladies in action again. You're all such impressive pilots, after all..."

Honestly, Church felt a little bad about the barely subtle manipulation, but he knew it was his best bet in getting everyone on board with the idea. Whether it was for him or for Ichika, or even each other, he imagined that all of the girls had someone they wanted to impress.

Based on the change in expressions, his words immediately turned Cecilia and Laura in favor of some training: perhaps they really did see a chance to impress. Rin looked like she was considering it, though she still seemed to be on the fence.

"Church, your suit is out of commission. It's not like you would be able to practice with us."

"True, but I don't mind just watching. I don't think I could ever really get bored of mecha fights, and I'm actually kind of curious to see which of you is the strongest..."

With even more subtle goading, Church identified the lighting of fire in the eyes of several of the girls, though that might not have had anything to do with impressing boys. They were all top-tier pilots; they probably had a lot of pride in their skills and were often competing with each other to prove them.

But if that somehow wasn't enough, much to Church's surprise, Ichika lent a hand in convincing the girls, and most importantly, Houki. "Yeah, it would be great to get some practice out here without Chifuyu breathing down our necks. Besides, I want to train some more with you, Houki."

That was enough to win Houki over on this idea, and being the only girl yet to agree, Charlotte decided to go along with it as well. "Well, I would like to relax today at least. How about we do this tomorrow?"

With unanimous agreement from everyone, the matter was settled. Much to Church's good fortune, things had suddenly turned in his favor. He now had a perfect opportunity to get what he needed, and without looking suspicious. Now a little more relaxed about how things were going to go, Church decided to sit back and enjoy the view: after all, it was by far one of the best he had ever witnessed.

---

Not long after Chifuyu had managed drift off to a well-earned rest, she found herself no longer alone in her room; not that she was aware of it, being unconscious and all. All things considered, Tabane was not actually the stealthiest of individuals. She had purple hair and mechanical bunny ears, and tended to make a loud and obnoxious entrance. But with Chifuyu in deep slumber, that wasn't much of an issue. Plus, there was some calming music playing, so it was even less likely that Chifuyu would hear her.

As to how she was in Chifuyu's room, well, that was light work. Of course Tabane knew where it was, and opening a locked electronic door was child's play for her. As to why she was in Chifuyu's room, well... she was bored. Frankly, there wasn't that much around the I.S. Academy to entertain her since most of the involved tech in the area was derived from her own invention. Honestly, the only thing she really considered 'fun' around here was bothering Chifuyu, considering that Houki and Ichika were absent.

She'd come up here fully expecting to annoy the woman who was no doubt incapable of taking a nap when there was so much work to do, but Tabane had honestly underestimated how tired she must have been. She supposed even allegedly 'genetically superior' humans had their limits. Maybe that subsequent attempt, Madoka, had rectified this issue? She hadn't really kept up with that whole thing after the project got cancelled.

More importantly, Tabane still had nothing to do to solve her crisis of boredom, since Chifuyu was sleeping. Sure, she could try to awaken her, but considering the situation, even she wasn't going to risk her life like that. But she was nothing if not resourceful, so Tabane was certain she could still find something fun to do with her time here.

With that in mind, she wasted no time in whipping out her phone, a device she had heavily modified to do whatever she pleased, and began remotely hacking into Chifuyu's own device, which was obviously on since it was busy playing music. Chifuyu was a bit more thorough than most people when it came to phone security, having passwords and fingerprint recognition in place, but for someone like Tabane, the existence of these things really meant nothing at all. They may as well have not existed.

She had full access to the device in under minute, giving Tabane free reign to snoop as much as she wanted. The concept of privacy didn't really mean anything to her either. Violating that was a small price to pay for her amusement. Besides, it wasn't like she was really going to do anything that bad. She was just kind of curious...

Going straight for the text messages, Tabane wasted no time in perusing the information available to her. Unsurprisingly, Chifuyu's personal contact list was pretty barren, and she hardly had anything of note going on here. There was an ongoing conversation between her and Tabane herself, but it was mostly Tabane talking to herself and Chifuyu answering once every week or two. There was the occasional exchange between Chifuyu and Ichika, and one or two messages with Yamada that were mostly business.

None of that was really surprising. However, the most recent conversation certainly was. Quite frankly, Tabane had not been expecting this level of amicability between Chifuyu and the American. Sure, it was mostly innocuous: most of the conversation was music files and recommendations from Church, and some slight discussion about where said music had come from and Chifuyu's opinion on some of it. But even so, that was a level of casual friendliness that required you to at least sort of like someone, and for someone like Chifuyu in particular, it spoke volumes.

This was a woman who scarcely had time to bother with anything that wasn't work, and she rarely, if ever, went out of her way to be friendly with someone unless it was required of her for some reason. So for her to actually engage in this kind of relationship, casual and platonic though it may be, that was really unexpected.

Tabane couldn't help but frown as she scrolled through the messages. Of all the people to fall prey to the charm of a teenager, Chifuyu was the last person she would have expected. Honestly, Tabane had expected better of her. What was there to gain by carrying on with this boy? And what did he bring to the table that was so enticing, even Chifuyu was blind to the obvious? Or, was the elder Orimura just pointedly ignoring the warning signs she suspected? Tabane wasn't sure which option was actually worse.

"A waste of good genes..."

Tabane felt comfortable muttering that to herself, since Chifuyu was out cold and there was music playing to hide her voice. Glancing over at the elder Orimura, Tabane noted that she was in a pretty questionable state, at least if one took witnesses into account. Such a state of undress was probably of no concern if one was alone, which Chifuyu had been before ending up like this.

With a smirk, Tabane pointed her own phone at the woman and snapped a picture once she found a good angle. This was the type of thing one often did if they had blackmail in mind, though Tabane had other plans. At best, this was a powerful tool to derail a budding relationship that was getting in the way of Chifuyu's time and talents, whether the woman in question thought so or not. At worst, it would be incredibly amusing, and honestly, that was enough of a reason for the orchid haired engineer to do almost anything.

She was about to pat herself on the back, but a grunt from Chifuyu as she shifted in bed startled Houki's sister, forcing her to rethink her strategy and beat a hasty retreat out of the room. She was a risk-taker, but she wasn't suicidal, so she had no intention of being caught in this room. Chifuyu would probably find out what she had done in the long run, but by then she'd be prepared to defend herself. Either way, Tabane was a little amused by the knowledge that she would actually be doing that boy a favor in one sense. Well, even she could be benevolent sometimes, even if it was an unintended side effect of her schemes.

---

Having arrived at Cecilia's home not too late into the noon, the group of teens who were currently residing there had most of the day ahead of them to make use of the pool and beach. That said, they spent several hours in the pool, just relaxing after the stressful few weeks they had endured. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that someone finally suggested a different activity. Apparently, Rin had gotten bored of just sitting around.

"Hey, Cecilia, do you have a volleyball net?"

Half-submerged in the cool water of her pool, Cecilia angled her gaze at the Chinese girl. "Of course, but that's so... cliche. Everyone plays beach volleyball when they go to the beach. We even did so last time we stayed at a beach."

Rin cocked an eyebrow back at the blonde. "Well maybe the reason it's so cliche and everyone does it is because it's fun."

Cecilia had to admit that Rin did have a point. Things that weren't fun generally weren't popular. Besides, it wasn't like she actually disliked beach volleyball.

"Well at least Ms. Orimura won't be present to completely smash us into the sand this time..."

Overhearing their brief exchange from his side of the pool, Church was struck with intense disappointment.

Damn, so I really did miss seeing Chifuyu in a bikini. Would it be too suspicious if I asked whether or not someone had pictures from their vacation...?

Lamentations aside, he would support this notion of beach volleyball; it required more movement, which meant more enjoyment in watching the ladies. In retrospect, that made him sound like a pervert, but Church preferred to think of it as having a healthy teen sex drive.

Somehow I do not think the girls would view your motives in that same light, Operator.

That's why I'm going to pretend to agree only because it would be fun, Cerb.

Oh, I see. Very cunning. Not at all despicable.

Ignoring the thinly veiled jab of his A.I. companion, Church called out to Cecilia. "Actually, I wouldn't mind playing volleyball either. I mean, I've never played myself, but we've been sitting around in the pool for awhile, so we should get up and have some fun."

His agreement apparently carried more weight than Church realized, because any resistance Cecilia still entertained crumbled completely under his words. "W-well, in that case, I'll have Dudley fetch the equipment!"

Houki glared at Cecilia's back as the blue-clad blonde climbed out of the pool to summon her butler. "She didn't even ask if we wanted to play..."

Floating on her back in the water, Charlotte answered without turning to look at Houki, lest she get water in her ears. "C'mon, Houki, it's fine isn't it? There's no harm in having a little fun."

"But we're wet! We'll get sand all over us!"

From her reclined position on the edge of the deep end, Laura decided to refute this one. "The ocean is right there. It won't be so hard to wash that off. Besides, surely you plan on showering when we go back inside later?"

"O-of course I do! What kind of barbaric woman are you taking me for?!"

Laura shrugged, making a show of avoiding eye contact with Houki. "Well, you do seem heavily opposed to anyone enjoying themselves, so you cannot blame me for assuming your rigid mindset extends to some other areas as well..."

Houki crossed her arms in indignation. "If you're saying I don't know how to have fun, you're wrong! I know how to enjoy myself! Right, Ichika?"

The Japanese swordswoman looked in Ichika's direction, seeking support, only to find that the young man was dozing in his corner of the pool, eliciting a growl from Houki. "Grr... Ichika, you idiot! How could you fall asleep at a time like this?!"

For different reasons, Church couldn't help but agree. How could one fall asleep at a time like this? Here they were surrounded by beautiful girls in bikinis and Ichika chose to sleep?

Before, Church would have just assumed his fellow male was crazy, but after that brief conversation they had shared in private earlier... well, maybe there was more to it. His Japanese counterpart had only mentioned Cecilia specifically earlier, but who was to say that his feelings didn't extend to more of the girls? Or maybe it extended to all of them? Really, it was none of Church's business, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Regardless, if Ichika chose to sleep, it was of no concern to Church. It just meant that he had a monopoly on appreciating the current situation, and he certainly wasn't going to complain about that.

Dudley was quick to obey his master's orders upon receiving them, so soon enough, everyone was moving towards the beach with a net and ball in hand. Granted, Houki had been forced to kick Ichika awake, but nevertheless, he came along. Unfortunately, a problem was encountered fairly early in the endeavor; when it was time to choose teams, it became obvious that someone would have to sit out.

This occurred to everyone when Charlotte took a headcount. "Uh oh... there are seven of us, so someone will have to sit out or be a rotation player..."

Cecilia placed her hands on her hips, misplaced satisfaction and confidence oozing into her next sentence. "Nonsense! I can have Dudley play, then it will be four on four! No one has to sit out at all."

Literally everyone cocked an eyebrow at the girl, but Ichika was the first to say anything. "Cecilia, please, that poor guy is basically a senior citizen. Don't make him break a hip or something. Look, I'll sit out for the first game..."

This seemingly generous offer only earned a glare out of Houki. "You lazy bum! You just don't want to put the effort into playing, right?!"

Ichika could only shrug sheepishly. After all, Houki wasn't wrong, and he'd been napping just a few minutes ago. Still, someone had to sit out, and none of the girls wanted to, so there was no reason to stop Ichika from doing so. Besides, he could rotate in with someone else after a game or two. With that decided, another problem soon made itself known; the girls had to decide what the teams were going to be.

Strangely enough, Church noticed that Houki and Cecilia quickly sided with each other, while Rin and Laura did the same. He hated to assume this was because of some sort of camaraderie regarding bust size, but it certainly seemed that way at first glance...

Charlotte stayed off to the side, not because she was somewhere in the middle regarding her breasts (at least as far as Church could tell) but because she said she would simply take whichever team Church was not put on. Truly, she was a mediator in pretty much every situation that required one.

Either way, when it became obvious that Charlotte would not choose a side, thereby forcing Church to select (or be assigned, more likely) a team first, the girls who had already chosen sides had to debate over who would have his support. Personally, he would have chosen Rin and Laura's side, if only because he was somewhat closer with them, but there was no room for Church to say so, especially not over Cecilia's enthusiastic proclamation.

"It seems only fair to me that Church is on our team. He spent last night with you two, after all."

Houki cocked an eyebrow at her teammate, likely wondering why that supposedly mattered and why it was being used as a metric for decision-making. But it was Rin who offered a retort.

"Yeah, well, majority rules. You're the only one on your team who really cares if he's with you or not, so it's one to two in our favor."

Knowing full well that Houki did indeed care little or not at all about Church's team placement, Cecilia grit her teeth in frustration as she contemplated her response. However, she soon broke out into a confident smile.

"I suppose that is true. But consider this: my house, my beach, my rules. A host as gracious as myself should get the first pick in this scenario, should I not?"

Rin had no response to that, mostly because she could only admit that Cecilia had a point. She was putting them all up in a literal mansion at no charge, for what would potentially be several weeks. Rin didn't really have much room to make petty demands of her. Bah, what did she care anyway? Seriously, it wasn't that big of a deal, and yet... she still felt annoyed with this outcome.

Reluctantly agreeing with the sentiment Cecilia had put forward, Laura answered in Rin's place. "Fair enough. He should be on your team."

Charlotte tried to say something about how Church should be allowed to choose for himself, but she went unheard as Cecilia eagerly dragged the young man onto her side of the net. Church really had no complaints to offer anyway; fond of Rin and Laura or not, being on the well-endowed team did have its perks.

With that settled, Charlotte quickly joined the opposite team, and everyone was ready to play. After a quick volley to determine which team would go first, it was up to Houki to serve the ball. Eager to finish the first game so she could force Ichika to play, she attacked with gusto, almost scoring immediately, if only Laura had not been so quick on her feet. The German commando had incredible reflexes, no doubt thanks to her military training and genetic enhancement. Houki's serve was repelled with apparent ease, much to the Kendo practitioner's chagrin.

However, being a skilled sharpshooter, Cecilia's reflexes were also quite refined, and she managed to deflect the ball as well, her quick movements creating a lovely bounce and jiggle throughout her body that distracted Church to no small extent.

Soon enough a heated game was underway, and even though Church participated to the best of his abilities, he couldn't help but pay a fair deal of attention to the girls around him: with so much intense physical action going on, he caught more than a few accidental exposures, especially from the more 'gifted' girls on his side. Of course, unlike a lot of people, he was able to keep is composure even when graced with these heavenly slips, so no one caught onto what he was seeing. Church could say with certainty that Ichika had not been blessed like him, mostly because the other boy wasn't watching the game. Houki would probably be mad about it when she actually noticed, but Ichika had dozed off again.

Yeah, there was definitely something wrong with him. Or maybe he just swung for the other team. At this point, Church wouldn't consider that impossible, though he had no evidence to support it. Being uninterested in girls didn't automatically mean you were interested in the opposite. Maybe he wasn't interested in anyone. Or maybe he was super interested in just one person, to the extent that no one else demanded his attention. Who could say besides Ichika himself?

Either way, with all of the girls being I.S. pilots, and highly skilled ones at that, the first game went on for the better part of an hour. Everyone was in great physical condition, and had the energy and athleticism to play hard and well. Thanks to the rigorous nature of Exeter's usage, Church was no stranger to physical competence either, so he managed to keep up rather well.

Still, after such strenuous play for such a length of time, everyone was a little winded, and they were all just a little sloppier and less controlled as they moved. Naturally, they were also less attentive, so not only did Cecilia and Houki not realize they were jumping towards each other in an attempt to hit the same volley coming towards their side of the net, but they did not realize that Church was between them as well.

Said man was also not quick enough to react, mostly because he didn't see what was happening until it was too late. Honestly, even if he had noticed sooner, he probably would not have moved regardless.

Not seeing the impending impact until it was too late to do anything about it, both Cecilia and Houki could only cry out in surprise as they collided. Houki had put a little more force behind her jump than Cecilia, so in the end she bowled both her and Church over, knocking both of them to the ground.

Because of this, Church ended up sandwiched between the two girls, and more importantly, sandwiched between their breasts. With Cecilia's acting like a pillow below him and Houki's smothering him on top, Church had a very brief, but very welcome, glimpse of paradise. He preferred butts if he was being honest with himself, but he considered himself an enjoyer of nearly every aspect of the female form. This was certainly heavenly as well.

While it did take a moment for either girl to realize what was going on, they both reacted quite differently when they did. Houki bolted off of the boy below her like lightning, hands flying to her chest as if she had been violated. Cecilia simply blushed, seemingly more than happy to permit the situation. She almost seemed disappointed when Church figured he shouldn't overstay his welcome and got off of her.

But even though Cecilia managed to control herself, it didn't stop Rin from getting mad at her. "Hey! What exactly do you think you're doing! That kind of thing is... slander! Propaganda! A hate crime against people like us!"

Laura cast a sideways glance at her compatriot, muttering in confusion at the solidarity Rin was claiming to exist between them."People like us...?"

The German's words went unheeded as Cecilia made a retort to Rin's accusations. While it had not been said, it was obvious that Rin was referring to Cecilia's boobs, which naturally made the blonde rather indignant. "It's not as if I did that on purpose! You were watching us the whole time, it's not like I could have planned it!"

Rin folded her arms and glared daggers at the girl. Honestly, she knew Cecilia was right, but she had already gotten riled up. Plus, that earlier annoyance had skyrocketed, likely due to the fact that it had never really disappeared in the first place. Needless to say, her irritation won out over her better judgement now that she had an reasonable outlet for it.

"I wouldn't put it past you."

Cecilia smirked haughtily as she flipped the long locks of her golden hair. "Well regardless, I don't see Church complaining about it. Seems you are the only one with any qualms about it. How sad."

Unable to refute the truth in Cecilia's words, Rin turned her glare onto Church, as if she expected him to suddenly complain about being squished in between Cecilia and Houki just to prove her right.

Unfortunately for her, Church wasn't really in a position to do that. He didn't think anyone would believe that it wasn't a bald-faced lie. Heck, he had a huge crimson blush across his face, so it was a little too late to pretend that he hadn't enjoyed it.

When no words were forthcoming from him, Rin simply turned her glare back on Cecilia, who was grinning even more smugly than before. Of course, if there was one thing Rin hated more than anything, it was someone flaunting their 'advantages' over her. In a mere moment, Rin had summoned Shen Long's gauntlet to her right hand, jabbing it at Cecilia.

"Wipe that stupid smirk off your face you bimbo! Don't think you can look down on me just because you're better off in one area! And I do mean one area."

Not one to take such a situation calmly, Cecilia quickly manifested the arm of her own I.S. "Is that a challenge Rin? Surely you aren't implying that you're better than me in all other regards? Ignoring that falsehood as far as looks are concerned, you can't honestly think you're a better pilot than me, can you?"

"Of course I can! You're a good shot, but that doesn't mean anything against me!"

"Oh please, even if I weren't a better pilot than you, Blue Tears is far superior to that piece of junk you call an I.S.!"

Church quickly realized that this altercation was likely to evolve into a full-blown skirmish, but even as it occurred to him to somehow intervene, it was far too late to stop it. In moments, both Cecilia and Rin had armed their I.S. fully and taken off into the sky, fully prepared to duke it out.

Houki could only sigh as she watched the two of them, while Charlotte futilely tried to rationalize the situation into some form of understanding. "How... how did they get into a fight over...? I don't even..."

Laura offered a very brief smile of amusement, but quickly activated Scwharzer Regen as well, causing Houki to look at the German with an incredulous look of surprise. "Laura, what are you doing?! Don't join them!"

"I don't intend to. But if a stray blast comes our way, it would be best to have our own I.S. deployed, to shield us if nothing else."

Realizing the rationale in Laura's words, everyone, even Ichika, who had been awakened by the commotion, took a moment to activate their I.S., allowing the machines' shields and armor to protect them if necessary. Of course, Church did not have Exeter at the moment, so he was completely defenseless, though only for a moment.

Thinking that he ought to perhaps stand behind one of the girls, Church turned to face them, though he ended up looking to Laura mostly. During his little hospitalization at the Academy, he had spent a good deal of time watching available footage of her fights with Ichika, Charlotte, Rin, and Cecilia before she was actually friends with any of them. While he had been a little dismayed by her belligerent attitude during those battles, he had also found that Laura made a totally badass villain. It'd been kind of hot actually. Still, it was impressive that she had made such a 180 in that department...

Indeed, it was clear that she was nothing like she had been before, with the girl going so far as to get nervous as she realized Church's gaze was on her. "W-what is it?"

Caught staring, Church tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't be too strange. It was kind of hard since he was focusing on the way her skin-tight sync suit pressed accentuated her body, but he thought of an excuse that was so good it was even true as he looked up at her face. "Sorry, just, uh... thinking you look pretty badass. I dig the headgear."

While it certainly wasn't a compliment most girls would be normally happy about, for a super soldier it was pretty great. At any rate, Laura seemed pleased with it. "Oh, I uh... thank you... I was afraid the headgear looked a little silly..."

Honestly, the whole reason Church had looked to Laura in the first place was because he knew her I.S. was the most sturdy one present, and he needed protection. He was going to say something along those lines, but he was interrupted from a loud blast above them before he could do so, signalling that Rin and Cecilia had now started fighting in earnest.

And yet, it turned out that he didn't even need to make the request. With that very potential danger making itself known, Laura wasted no time in gently lifting Church into Schwarzer Regen's arms, holding him close to her torso so that he'd be within her I.S. energy shield. He had already nearly died once, and she sure wasn't going to let a stray shot do him in, especially since she was still quietly kicking herself over the first time.

Many men would have been humiliated to be gingerly lifted into the air by a girl of Laura's stature, never mind being gently held by her like some sort of defenseless child, but Church was not most men. For one, there was an obvious, logical reason this had to be done that had nothing to do with masculinity. Risking life and limb unnecessarily was not manly, it was just stupid. Second, this position allowed him to be pressed against Laura's torso rather snugly, and he was not going to complain about that. Poorly endowed though she was, there was still a bit of softness in the chest. More noticeably, her abs were a lot firmer than he had been expecting...

Actually, he was pretty sure she was holding him more tightly than was really needed... I.S. energy shields extended decently far beyond the body of the pilot, so he didn't need to be right up against her like this. Then again, judging by this morning, she didn't seem to mind being close to him. Church didn't want to jump to conclusions, but that was usually a sign, right?

He didn't have time to think about it right now, though. While holding him snugly, Laura still made sure to give Church a view of the battle above, for his own entertainment if nothing else. Cecilia and Rin were going at it ferociously, so much that it was hard to tell if they were just sparring or actually fighting. Church personally believed that it was the latter.

Soon enough he was completely focused on the battle. Being a pilot himself, he watched such engagements with an analytical eye. The first thing he noticed was that Rin had not been entirely wrong in her boasts earlier. Blue Tears had a means of defending itself in close quarters, but it was still primarily a long range I.S. Shen Long, on the other hand, specialized in close quarters combat, with its blades and short range shock cannons. If Cecilia could get some distance, defeating Rin would not be so hard, but the difference in speed for the two I.S. was not so great that Shen Long couldn't keep up with Blue Tears.

Long story short, Rin was staying near Cecilia, who was having trouble defending herself up close. Her BITs could offer some form of defense, but they too functioned better at long range, and their tracking abilities were not as proficient when the enemy was close.

On the other hand, Shen Long's shock cannons made it a dangerous foe to any I.S. Since they fired compressed air as a projectile, the shots themselves were invisible, and a pilot could not dodge them through sight alone. Only by using the pressure detecting instruments of their I.S. could they 'see' where the shock waves were, and even then, that was difficult. After all, there were several things that could cause pressure fluctuations in the air, and it was oftentimes difficult to distinguish what was the incoming shock wave and what was simply the displaced pressure from a moving I.S. Besides, if Cecilia focused too much attention on her instruments, Rin would blindside her with Shen Long's blades. While some likely didn't give her the credit she was due, Rin truly was a formidable pilot with an equally formidable machine.

This was made even more obvious as Rin utilized her shock cannons in battle. She did not use them only for attacks, but also for directing her enemy where she wanted them to be. A blast of compressed pressure, if fired next to the enemy instead of at them, could easily buffet an I.S. away from it. This was even more effective when the fact that the shots could not be seen was considered. An enemy pilot could rarely tell when Shen Long's Dragon Cannon was firing directly at them or beside them. Rin likely used this technique to prevent enemies from escaping her range, or to put them into a position where she could easily attack in melee.

Of course, Cecilia was no amateur pilot herself. Even when at a disadvantage, she managed to hold her own quite well. When she found herself pushed towards Shen Long by the shock cannons, she often times reversed her thrusters and maximized power output from her rifle: with a powerful force erupting from only one side of the machine, physics blasted Blue Tears away from the enemy, at least enough to avoid the edge of Rin's blades. She would have fired this powerful blast at Rin while she was at it, but the increased output lowered precision, and if she missed, Cecilia would be flying along a predictable trajectory that made her an easy target.

It was a good tactic, Church had to admit: but unlike Rin's attack pattern, Cecilia's method of evasion would only work so many times before her opponent found a way to counter it. Soon enough, Cecilia found herself being hit by a second string of shock waves when she tried to evade. Instead of rushing Blue Tears with her blades when she brought her closer, Rin simply aimed her shock cannons along the trajectory Cecilia took when evading, rapidly draining her shields.

Cecilia caught on quickly though, so she only made that mistake once before finding new ways to defend herself. She began using half of her BITs to rush Shen Long, now firing more rapid bursts that weren't as strong as the precision blasts, but compensated for that with greater rate of fire. Rin couldn't just ignore them: concentrated fire from even the weakest weapons would quickly drain one's shields. And while dispatching these BITs would have been easy at any other time, Cecilia was using the remaining Tears, as well as her rifle, to attack Rin at the same time. The Chinese pilot could not take the time to aim at the rushing BITs if she wanted to avoid Cecilia's more powerful attacks, and soon she was on the defensive instead.

As Rin had managed to control Cecilia's movements with her shock cannons, Cecilia was quite capable of doing the same with her BITs. With them, she could attack from multiple directions with both lasers and seeker missiles, so it was easy to box in the enemy for concentrated shots with her rifle. Rin found herself on the receiving end of many of these, but she managed to block the majority of them with her blades, while using her shock cannons to fend off Cecilia's BITs, and especially her missiles. She could have fired at Blue Tears itself, but at a considerable distance the Dragon Cannon was not very effective.

Church was impressed with both of them, honestly. They managed to use their weapons in unorthodox ways to combat an ever changing battle situation. He couldn't help but ponder how he would fight such impressive foes if he were forced to. He would probably use Exeter's superior maneuverability to actually fight Shen Long up close. He would be able to dodge Rin's blades easily enough since he was an incredibly small target, and go for the shock cannons instead, those being Shen Long's most powerful asset. If he could destroy those, Rin would be easy to defeat.

As for Blue Tears, Church was pretty sure Exeter could outrun it, and he could therefore stay in close range with his energy sword. Destroying Cecilia's rifle would reduce her firepower by ridiculous levels: if there was one major flaw to most I.S., it was that many of them only had one powerful weapon. If it was destroyed the pilot would be hard-pressed to win.

But if Church had to fight both I.S. simultaneously, he would be the one in trouble. Against multiple specialized foes, he hardly stood a chance, at least not while Exeter was in its base form. Development of specialized modifications had been ongoing at the time of his departure from the States, but Church had no idea how much progress had been made since then. Needless to say, he had possessed more important things to ask Marcus when he had spoken to the man last.

Regardless, thinking of the girls above him as enemies made Church uncomfortable, so he quickly dismissed his thoughts of battle and strategy. He chose instead to return his attention to the match above, watching as Rin found a way to counter Cecilia's multi-layered assault.

Like Cecilia's rifle, Rin could change the output of her Dragon Cannons, but she could also shift the pressure cone that served as the cannon's barrel. Usually the pressure was condensed into a narrow cone, so that it would fire like a bullet along a precise path. But if the pressure cone was widened, the shock wave would spread more as well, creating a wider, more explosive blast. It would have short range, but if used correctly, could be used as a shield of sorts.

Of course, having mastered her own weapons long ago, Rin had no trouble employing this technique. When the next wave of Cecilia's assault came her way, Shen Long's Dragon Cannons blasted a powerful shock wave from each side, deflecting missiles and disrupting incoming laser blasts. As long as she had the energy to keep firing, Rin had essentially nullified all of Cecilia's attacks. Only a max power blast from the blonde's rifle would be strong enough to ignore this improvised shield, but as both Cecilia and Rin knew, maximum power from Cecilia's rifle decreased it's accuracy significantly.

In fact, with Rin's new tactic in play, Cecilia found herself in quite the bind. With one cannon, Rin could defend herself against anything Cecilia threw at her, and with the other, she could continue to attack. Never mind the fact that Rin could use her blades to defend herself against anything that got past her pressure shield.

Still, there was no way Cecilia was going to give up yet. Both Church and Ichika were watching her fight right now, and more importantly, her pride was on the line. She wasn't going to be shown up by Rin of all people.

Watching Rin bat away all attacks with her Dragon Cannons made it obvious that Cecilia was going to have to catch her off guard. As long as Rin saw the attack coming, she'd be able to deflect it. With that in mind, the blonde unleashed another barrage of attacks from her rifle and her laser BITs, to distract her opponent while she stealthily moved two of her laser BITs into some nearby cloud cover.

When Rin finished defending against the last of Cecilia's laser blasts, the fact that two of her Tears had not been a part of the barrage was not lost on her. While she definitely had the upper hand, the brunette was not going to make the mistake of getting cocky. She had lost matches before because of that, and it was not going to happen here. With renewed vigor, she rushed towards Cecilia's I.S. After all, she had to get close to win this.

On the beach, Charlotte watched the scene with a worried frown. "Aren't they taking this a little too far for a sparring session...?"

Laura could only sigh as she answered. "I believe this fight escalated beyond sparring before it even started..."

While everyone else in the group seemed exhausted by the notion, Houki seemed strangely fired up. "Well, whatever their reason, it's got me itching to train too! Ichika, we're going to spar when they're done!"

The fact that this was not a request, but an order, was not lost on Ichika or anyone else. He had no choice but to agree. Or at least, no other choice that was reasonable, if he wanted to avoid unnecessary hardship. "Alright, Houki, no need to be so excited about it..."

While Ichika didn't seem particularly enthused, Church acknowledged that this was a good situation for him. Naturally, it would be beneficial for him to see Houki and her Akatsubaki in action. Gathering intelligence on her powerful machine was kind of the whole reason he was here, after all. He wasn't actually sure how useful footage alone would be for his superiors, but anything was better than nothing. After all, he had already been on mission for some time, and he hadn't actually made any progress on his primary objective.

Thankfully, the Crucible incident and the clandestine nature of the mission both gave him a lot of leeway. Considering that an unforeseen obstacle as big as a cold fusion explosion had cropped up, headquarters didn't really have any room to give him grief for the delays, especially since the aircraft and weapon involved had been stolen from right under their noses, allegedly. While Church had his doubts about that, if it really was the case, Umbra Stratum would need some serious balls to get onto him for being delayed by their own gross negligence. Not that he would actually put it past them...

Either way, right this moment Church had nothing to do other than focus his attention on the battle above. Considering that Rin and Cecilia were pushing each other to the limit of their abilities and skills, he got the feeling that the fight would reach a climax soon. Currently, Rin had closed the distance between herself and her opponent, and Cecilia was having a hard time defending herself against a combined CQC assault of shock blasts and sword swings. Her plan to surprise her foe with her BITs had not worked, as Rin had been ready for them before even closing in. One of her Dragon Cannons was pointed behind Shen Long, ready to deflect any incoming attacks as she fought.

Blue Tears was not fast enough to escape from Rin's melee onslaught, causing its shield to deplete rapidly as it took more and more hits. Running out of options but still determined to win somehow, Cecilia decided that the best thing she could do at this point was go for broke, and so she cranked her rifle output to maximum. At this range there was no way she'd miss. Sure, the recoil from a max power shot would be immense, but that didn't affect the accuracy of the first shot. As for how she would follow up the attack when it landed, well... Cecilia wasn't quite sure. If she was lucky, the full power blast would just defeat Rin outright...

Naturally, the buildup of energy at the tip of Cecilia's barrel was a bit difficult to miss. However, by the time Rin noticed it, it was too late to actually disengage and get some distance. She knew evasion would be impossible at this short range, so the only thing she could do was attempt to block. Unfortunately, she didn't have any dedicated defensive tools, so the only option she really had was to fire back and hope for the best. With that in mind, she maximized the output of both of her Dragon Cannons as well. Were they as powerful as Cecilia's rifle at max power? Was it even a good idea to go all out against someone in training like this?

These thoughts occurred to her briefly, but it wasn't like she had enough time to ask Cecilia to tone it back. She had a split second to choose between defending herself and getting blasted at point-blank range, and Rin wasn't going to choose the latter.

Rin wasn't the only one who doubted this course of action as a good idea, made obvious by Charlotte, who had time to anxiously comment on the rapidly escalating situation. "That's way too much power to be pointing at each other at that range! What are they thinking?!"

Seeing that the others, who had far more experience with I.S. than he did, get worried, Church panicked as well. Shit, were those two about to seriously hurt each other in the heat of a moment? Wasn't there anything they could do about it?

Perhaps it was just that only one of them could do something about it. Out of the corner of his eye, Church noticed Houki's Akatsubaki bend its knees, as if it was about to leap into the sky. Laura caught this motion out of the corner of her eye as well, just in time to mentally adjust a particular setting of her shields.

Church noted for a second that the world around him had been almost entirely muted: he couldn't hear the waves against the shore, the other girls talking, or the wind: only the breathing and heartbeats of himself and Laura. He didn't have time to question that, because in the next moment, Houki blasted into the sky, kicking up a shower of sand that temporarily blinded Church from the proceedings. Oddly enough, he didn't hear what should have been a no doubt ear-splitting roar from Houki's sudden acceleration.

He did notice, however, a faint rippling shimmer in the air just in front of him, accompanied by the sizzling of sand particles bouncing off of the same invisible surface. After the sand finished falling away, Church tried to get his bearings again from within Laura's sturdy grasp. Shockingly, Akatsubaki was already directly between Shen Long and Blue Tears, both of which were far above the ground.

No way... is it really that fast?! That was a literal blink of an eye!

While Church's thoughts hadn't actually been a question, Cerberus responded to him anyway. That's an overstatement, Operator. Albeit a slight one. Unfortunately, without telemetry data provided by Exeter's sensor suite, I cannot calculate the exact speed of Akatsubaki's movement. Suffice to say, it was impressive. I doubt Exeter could have reacted to an attack at that speed.

Church may have investigated this line of questioning further, but he was distracted from doing so when noises from the outside world met his ears. Suddenly, he could hear everything around him once more. Connecting a few dots, he glanced back at Laura.

"I didn't know I.S. shields could even block sound."

The silver-haired girl glanced down at him from her slightly higher elevation. "Soundwaves are just a form of force. They can be blocked with physical objects. It would be very difficult to pilot supersonic airframes without some form of protection. That said, the shielding usually only maintains that property around the pilot's head."

Laura cast a sharp glare in Houki's direction. "Tch... Houki's too reckless."

Laura's implication was pretty obvious. If she hadn't adjusted Schwarzer Regen's overall shielding in time, Houki's supersonic takeoff could have seriously hurt Church. A sonic boom at this range would have probably blown his eardrums out at best, and it could have done worse. Church silently thanked his lucky stars that such an outcome had been avoided, now that he was thinking about it. He did like hearing things, after all.

Of course, he knew Houki had probably just not thought about that risk. She was used to being able to ignore such things, what with all of her friends usually being in I.S. themselves. She probably wasn't used to having to mind ordinary people in close proximity to her machine. That being the case, he wasn't going to crucify her for it. Better to just focus his efforts on thanking Laura.

"Well, it's a good thing you're so amazing. Really, I'm surprised you even thought of that danger in the split second you had to do it. Thanks."

He couldn't quite see the blush that crept onto Laura's face, but her sheepish acknowledgment of his praise gave him a rough idea of her reaction anyway. "It was nothing..."

Houki's voice broke the moment between the two, though naturally, Church couldn't actually hear her from her position far in the sky above him. Instead, it came from somewhere near Laura's headgear. Apparently, she knew Church wouldn't be able to hear what was being said, so she had turned off the direct audio feed so it could be transmitted speaker style. Man, she really did think of everything.

"Are you two out of your mind?! That was not the kind of firepower you should point at your friends! Even with I.S. protection, that's ridiculously risky! Why would you do something so stupid?!"

With Akatsubaki having come between them just in time, neither Rin nor Cecilia had gotten the chance to pull the triggers on their charged weapons. By now, the respective energies had already been dissipated. However, Rin didn't seem very happy to be called out, so she wasted no time in defending herself. Church was able to hear all of this through Laura's audio.

"Hey, blame Cecilia, not me! She's the one who cranked it up to eleven at point blank range! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Anything would have been better than responding in kind!"

Rin merely grumbled at that, while Cecilia said nothing at all, perhaps realizing that Rin had a point. She had kind of forced the brunette's hand. That said, she didn't seem interested in admitting to a mistake. With a huff, the blonde started her descent to the ground, with Rin following shortly after. Soon enough they were both on the ground, and both looked irate over the whole situation. Whether it was because their duel had been interrupted or because they had been caught being needlessly reckless, Church had no idea. Either way, he felt that it would be a good idea to try and diffuse the tension between them, at the very least.

"Well, outcome aside, that was an amazing fight from both of you. Really incredible flying and tactics. I'm impressed!"

Neither Rin nor Cecilia initially responded to his words, though Church noticed that they both looked a little less irritated after them. At the very least, they both stopped pointedly staring away from each other. Rin was the first to say something back.

"Thanks. Hmph, I would have had it in the bag if Houki hadn't gotten in the way."

Naturally, Cecilia didn't agree with this assessment. "Hogwash. She was your guardian angel this time. Next time we spar, I'll show you who's really the best between us."

While these words sounded combative, neither girl seemed particularly aggressive over them. Maybe they had finally simmered down back into friendly rivalry. Or maybe they just didn't have the energy to get into another fight right after their first one.

Either way, with their fight finally over, Houki called down to Ichika. "Hey! I told you we were going next, so hurry and get up here!"

Even though he knew it was futile, Ichika foolishly chose to resist anyway. "But Houki, didn't we all agree to train tomorrow?"

"We've already started, haven't we? We might as well do it now!"

Taking that to mean that he had no choice, Ichika launched Byakushiki into the air, and Church turned to Rin, who was standing a short distance away from him with her arms folded. He was a little worried about her, since she had only just recently healed from her old wounds in the first place.

"Rin, are you feeling alright? Nothing's hurting is it?"

Rin was initially offended that he asked, but realized quickly enough that it was stupid to get mad over Church's concern. If she were honest with herself, she was glad he had at least said something. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

While he wasn't concerned for Cecilia's health the same way he was Rin's due to the reasons he had just thought of, Church turned to face her as well, since he didn't want her to think it was just him playing favorites. "Cecilia? Are you alright? Not hurt in any way?"

Cecilia tried to suppress her obvious happiness in his concern, but she failed completely, made obvious by the gleeful smile. "Oh, I'm fine, couldn't be better, especially knowing that you were worried for me."

Rin rolled her eyes at this blatant brown-nosing. "You really never quit, do you?"

Cecilia cocked an eyebrow in return. "And you do?"

"At least I don't make it obvious."

"You're just jealous that he was more concerned for me than you."

"Oh please, he asked me first!"

Charlotte stepped in here, eager to keep her friends from fighting. "You guys, you just finished a match, right? There's no need to start another one..."

Seeing the truth in her words but refusing to admit it, Rin and Cecilia simply crossed their arms and looked away from one another, which brought a light smile to Church's face. After all, that was their normal modus operandi.

With that settled, Church turned his attention back to Houki and Ichika above him. After all, watching them spar was his best chance of getting some information on Houki's Gen 4 I.S. And if he did discern that there wasn't a huge problem with giving it to Umbra Stratum, that data would be necessary to keep his superiors off his back.

In any case, Houki wasted no time in starting her combat with Ichika, but everyone on the ground felt a little safer this time. The danger of stray projectiles was greatly reduced when those two were fighting, primarily because they almost always fought solely in melee. Byakushiki, for one, didn't have anything else without a Second Shift, and while Houki's Akatsubaki did have long-range armaments, she rarely used them. Houki preferred to use her swords, especially against Ichika; it reminded her of the old days, when she and him had practiced Kendo together as kids.

That being the case, neither Rin nor Cecilia bothered to activate their I.S. again, and Laura decided to place Church back on the ground for now, for which he was a little disappointed. But for the moment, he was more focused on the info that could be gleaned here. Regardless of what went down with Umbra Stratum, learning more about Akatsubaki was crucial. It never hurt to know what many people wanted to know.

Cerberus, be sure to record everything. We need any and all data we can get.

Affirmative, Operator. Just be sure to keep your eyes on the battle.

Being connected to his nervous system, Cerberus could see everything Church could, so it was up to the pilot to focus on the battle above. Then again, if the fighters started moving too fast for him to follow with the naked eye, Cerberus could take over and steer Church's vision for him. Personally though, Church would prefer if that wasn't necessary. Since he was connected to his nervous system, Cerberus could feasibly take control of Church's body at any time; a notion the young man found altogether unsettling.

As Houki and Ichika rushed each other with their blades, Church was once again astounded by Akatsubaki's speed. It was by far one of the fastest machines he had ever seen in the air, and not just by top speed alone. Its ability to accelerate from a neutral position to hundreds of miles an hour in mere moments was incredible, and more importantly, very deadly.

Church had no delusions about Exeter's current capabilities; when it came to speed, Akatsubaki far outmatched him. As for weaponry, that remained to be seen.

To his credit, Ichika traded blows with Houki for several minutes without getting hit, but personally Church thought his opponent was going easy on him. After all, Houki had two swords compared to Byakushiki's single blade, and that alone should have made it impossible for Ichika to defend himself. After all, Akatsubaki was faster, and armed with two blades; it would be easy to get around Byakushiki's defense.

Then again, perhaps the same could be said about Ichika? He probably wasn't giving one hundred percent either. Unlike Cecilia and Rin, these two didn't jump into full on battle mode just like that.

Still, as it became obvious that neither of them was making any progress against one another, both pilots upped the ante a bit. Houki made better use of her dual blades, while Ichika made better efforts to counter-attack. To be honest though, Church found the fight rather dull. After all, the two of them had barely even moved from their initial clash point, being locked in melee as they were.

I suppose I would appreciate their skill a bit more if I knew a thing or two about swordsmanship.

That is probably true, Operator. But either way, it is still unfortunate that they are not employing other weapons. We will not learn much about the Gen 4 I.S. if Shinonono does not utilize some other abilities.

Church silently agreed with this, and, deciding that he could take his eyes off of the battle for just a moment, looked around at the other girls.

Charlotte was completely absorbed in the melee above, but Church did not find that surprising. He was still extremely suspicious of those two and a potential relationship that they may have had, so it only made sense that Charlotte would worry about Ichika even while he was just sparring. Rin also looked occupied with Houki and Ichika's fight, but likely for different reasons. If Church had to venture a guess, he would say that it was because Rin was a melee fighter as well. She probably took more interest in a close-range battle than the others would.

Speaking of which, neither Cecilia nor Laura seemed very interested. Cecilia honestly looked like she was busy fuming over her unfinished battle with Rin, though it was mostly because she didn't like to lose, and she counted a draw as a loss. To her credit though, Cecilia was not simply fuming, but also trying to think of ways she could counter Rin's techniques the next time they fought: not that Church could tell.

Laura, on the other hand, was watching the fight above, but did not seem even slightly interested in it. Then again, her usual expression was one of neutrality, so maybe she was entirely engaged in the spar, and Church just couldn't tell. Of all the girls, Laura was by far the hardest to read, except for when she was embarrassed.

It was at this point that Cerberus called Church's attention back to the battle at hand.

Operator, I cannot gather info on something I cannot see.

Right, sorry.

Focusing on the duel above once more, Church saw that both combatants were starting to use new attacks, though he was utterly surprised to see Akatsubaki use a sword from its foot.

It even has one down there? That's... unusual...

But also effective. How many opponents would expect a foot blade?

That's true...

Still, Ichika managed to dodge the surprise attack, and for the first time in their fight, he and Houki actually backed away from each other. Apparently tired with their pointless exchange of attacks, Ichika activated his One-Off Ability. Church watched in fascination as Byakushiki's fold-out armor expanded, and its blade was converted to an energy type weapon.

Strange; I recognize that as a One-Off Ability, but Byakushiki doesn't seem to have undergone a Second Shift.

Byakushiki was specifically designed to be able to use a One-Off Ability without undergoing Second Shift. As far as the records go, it was an experimental I.S. created to gather data for the creation of Generation 4 types. I suppose we could consider it a Gen 3.5.

Church would have cocked an eyebrow, had that not been a strange thing to do considering that he was talking inside his head.

So all this time he's been using an experimental research model to fight? I have to admit, but that is rather impressive. It's my understanding that Byakushiki's single armament is the price to pay for this One-Off Ability... must be difficult to fight when you only have one real option.

The mention of options brought another point to Cerberus' mind.

Actually, Operator, what little footage was salvaged from the Gospel incident showed Byakushiki using an energy shield, and in a much different form than we have seen elsewhere. I can only conclude that if Byakushiki undergoes a Second Shift, it gains new weaponry.

I'll keep that in mind, but I what I really want to see is Houki's I.S...

But unfortunately, Houki was not forthcoming with any new technique, choosing to speak to Ichika instead. "Are you really going to go with that so soon, Ichika? I wanted to spar a little longer..."

Ichika cracked a smile at her. "Oh? I'm glad to see that you have confidence in my ability to end this quickly."

"No, you idiot! Akatsubaki is way faster than you, I can just outrun you until you deplete all of your energy!"

"Well if I go into Second Shift..."

Houki glared at the boy across from her. "Didn't we just tell Rin and Cecilia that we shouldn't go full power against our friends?"

"But if we don't give it everything we have, how will we get any better? Besides, I want to see if Akatsubaki can handle this attack."

Able to hear this over Laura's radio, since her I.S. was active and she was standing right next to him, Church turned to face her. "What does he mean by that?"

"I can only assume, but I suppose he is talking about comparing their One-Off Abilities. Byakushiki can circumvent energy fields with its blade in that form, allowing it to bypass shields and force an opponent's I.S. to convert all energy to pilot defense, which usually consumes all of its energy and forces a shutdown. However, Akatsubaki can continuously replenish its energy, so I suppose Ichika wants to see what happens if the two abilities clash."

Church furrowed his brow in dismay as he heard Laura's explanation.

Akatsubaki can continuously replenish its energy? That's ridiculous...

Cerberus chose to chime in as well.

That also means that Akatsubaki has what is essentially an unlimited shield. No matter how much damage is done, it can replenish all energy, making it nearly invincible unless damage output exceeded its regeneration. Operator, this must be investigated further. That kind of data would prove vital should we or other allied forces have to combat this I.S.

Church felt uneasy thinking of the future that could involve him fighting people he considered his friends, so he instead commented on the first part of Cerberus' statements.

It's not possible for anything to be powered indefinitely. Whatever energy source charges Akatsubaki has a limit.

Operator, the energy from Exeter's own cold fusion hyper vibration cells is effectively limitless in supply, so it is not so far-fetched that a genius like Shinonono Tabane could think of another way to do achieve the same results. The difference is Akatsubaki's alleged ability to recharge its energy at a significant pace. Normally it would take time to regenerate as the energy source has a capacity that gets drained and must replenish, but it sounds as though Akatsubaki could replenish its energy stores as fast as they are drained or faster. Thus far, no other I.S. has been capable of anything so frightening.

Church said nothing in response to this, since there wasn't much reason to. If what Cerberus said was true, this was a serious problem. No wonder Umbra Stratum wanted information on this thing so much. Up above, Houki was speaking to her crush.

"Fine, fine, if you want to test it, just say so. I'm kind of curious too, so I won't even bother dodging."

"But Houki, if it works, you'll lose..."

"I said it was fine! We aren't sparring at this point, so we might as well call this an experiment and get on with it."

Her answer satisfying him, Ichika merely shrugged. "Alright. If you're sure, then here I come!"

With that, Ichika rushed Akatsubaki with his blade. As she had promised, Houki made no move to dodge, instead activating Akatsubaki's One-Off Ability, to see if Byakushiki could deplete her energy faster than she could replenish it.

Ichika made his attack quickly enough, and soon he had slashed Akatsubaki with his blade and continued by it, leaving everyone below to wonder what the results of the experiment were.

If his sigh was anything to go by, things had not worked out the way Ichika had planned. "My energy is down to effective zero, Houki. How about yours?"

"I'm currently at thirty-seven percent, and rapidly rising. Your attack dropped my energy very quickly, but Akatsubaki began recovering immediately. It didn't work."

Church heard Laura speak next to him. "A frightening piece of technology indeed... how does one defeat such an opponent?"

Church could honestly think of a few ways to get around Akatsubaki's One-Off Ability, but he was not about to share them, especially as Houki and Ichika returned to the ground, prompting Charlotte to turn towards the only German in their midst.

"So, I guess that means we're going to spar as well? It seems we may as well get it out of the way today, no? Everyone else has."

Frankly, Laura wasn't that interested in sparring, and especially not against Charlotte. Not that the girl didn't strike her as a worthy opponent, but the point of sparring was to improve one's skills, and Charlotte, or more accurately, her Rafale Revive, posed no new challenge for her in a one-on-one engagement. Charlotte only had projectile weapons, which could only pose a threat from a single, direct trajectory. Laura's Schwarzer Regen had AIC, which could nullify incoming attacks from any single direction. As long as Laura kept it between her and Charlotte, she was literally untouchable.

Sure, if Charlotte's Rafale had the speed to get around the AIC, she could pose a threat, but it wasn't that fast. All Laura had to do was turn in place a few degrees to react to even very large maneuvers from her opponent. In the current state, it wouldn't even be a sparring match: just Laura holding up an invincible shield until Charlotte ran out of ammo. The only alternative was intentionally avoiding the most effective strategy available, and what good did that do anyone? Besides, she felt a bit of a headache coming on, and she didn't really want to engage in something as demanding as an I.S. fight at this juncture.

"If you truly wish to, we can. But frankly, do you see a reason to spar with me? Do you have a feasible way to overcome my defenses in mind?"

Charlotte's typical smile fell just a little at this, but only because she knew Laura was right. Having fought the German before, Charlotte knew very well how hopeless a match against her in a one-on-one was. Unless Laura took it easy on her or outright pitied her, Charlotte had no chance of doing damage. It wasn't even a matter of skill, so much as equipment. The most elite pistol marksman in the world couldn't defeat a tank even with a novice crew manning it.

The blonde had been theorizing on new weapons and strategies to get around Laura's AIC, but she hadn't actually had the time or resources to put any of it into practice so far. Therefore, as things stood at the moment, there really was no point in fighting her silver-haired friend.

"No, no... you have a point, mon ami. Though it stings my pride a bit to admit that it's pointless to try..."

Admittedly feeling some relief that Charlotte wasn't going to be stubborn about this, Laura tried to assuage her wounded pride somewhat. "It's simply a matter of available equipment. I'm sure you'll devise a means of challenging Schwarzer Regen soon enough. But, seeing as how we won't be sparring: my head is starting to hurt. I'll be retiring to my room for the night."

Cecilia responded specifically to the mention of her ails. "Is that so? Shall I have someone fetch some medicine for you?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I just need to lie down. Don't spoil your evening on my account, I'll be fine."

With that, Laura deactivated her I.S. and turned away from everyone, walking silently back towards the mansion. When she was out of earshot, Church turned back to the others. "She seemed fine just a few minutes ago. Does this kind of thing happen often?"

It was Charlotte who answered. She seemed to be the person who paid the most attention to everyone else, so it was no surprise. "Not 'often' per se, but enough that it's probably not just random headaches like the rest of us. I feel like it's once a week or so, but she usually doesn't complain aloud to anyone about it, so I can't be sure. I hope she'll be alright..."

Rin tried to lighten the mood with her usual enthusiasm, while unwittingly praising her friend along the way. "C'mon, this is Laura we're talking about, she's tough. If it was really bad, she'd tell someone, right?"

Cecilia cocked an eyebrow at her. "Like you told someone when you had such a splitting headache that you proceeded to fall out of a window?"

Rin grumbled, clearly having no real defense against something like that. It wasn't like she could actually deny her foolishness on that front, seeing as how it had almost killed her. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything.

That said, Church doubted Laura would be the type of person to hide something that was a serious problem. To his knowledge of her, she was very practical and would probably not endanger herself for the sake of being stubborn. Still, he couldn't help but be a little worried about her. She was usually so stoic, it wasn't often that she actually revealed that she wasn't feeling well. For now though, he figured he'd be better off trying to remain optimistic.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Laura is definitely smart enough to know her own needs. She didn't even ask for medicine, so it can't be too bad."

Eager to carry on the optimism, Cecilia clapped her hands together. "Indeed. Someone can check on her in a few hours if need be. Until then, we might as well enjoy the beach, right? Despite our impromptu training session, we still have all afternoon."

Charlotte deactivated her I.S., apparently not terribly dissatisfied with being the only one who didn't practice. Then again, even if she was, she did not seem like the type of person to complain. "That does sound good to me. We haven't actually done any swimming in the ocean yet."

With no one having anything better to suggest, it was unanimously decided to simply let Laura rest while the rest of them kept doing what they were doing. It wasn't like there was any need to get too worried about something so simple.

---

Losing track of time was easy when one spent it with several pretty girls at the beach, so Church was surprised when he noticed the sun setting on the horizon a few hours later.

Wow... time sure does fly...

Likely because you were so busy ogling the girls around you, Operator.

I'd hardly call it ogling... I mean, that's such an ugly word.

Cerberus didn't seem to agree with this sentiment.

Ugly words for ugly actions.

Like you haven't become a very questionable pervert ever since the Crucible incident.

That is a fair point...

Once he defeated Cerberus in that verbal argument, Church turned his attention back to the people around him: with the sun setting and a day's worth of exhaustion behind them, everyone was either drying off or getting ready to. The group had accidentally skipped out on lunch due to the day's excitement, so they were no doubt hungry by now. Church certainly was.

Rin actually mentioned food during the process, after which Cecilia asserted that they would indeed be heading in for dinner. That said, it was going to take some time for the table to be set and the food to be ready, so as everyone made their way inside to wait for dinner, Church broke off from the pack, intent on checking on the only member that was absent from their group. Of course, he'd been forced to ask Dudley about the location of Laura's room before doing so, but that was an easy matter, since the aging butler was in charge of setting up the long dinner table in the dining hall.

Since everyone had a room on the same floor and Church already knew how to get to his own room, it wasn't terribly hard to find Laura's with the aid of some directions. It only took a few minutes to come up to the mahogany door that looked identical to his own. Naturally, his first instinct was to knock lightly, since he didn't want to bother the girl if she was sleeping. No answer was immediately forthcoming, at which point Church considered walking away. She probably was sleeping, after all.

And yet, that niggling feeling of paranoia crept up on him. Something bad could have happened. He'd read plenty of stories about people who felt fine or only a little bad at first, only for them to pass out and die later because of some complicated issue.

Operator, statistically speaking, it is very unlikely that Bodewig has suffered anything of the sort. It is not as though she endured some sort of head trauma today.

I know, but... dammit, now that I'm thinking about it, it bothers me. I'll just check real quick to see if she's OK.

Humans, so irrational.

Church realized that he'd have no means of dispelling his concern, irrational though it may be, if Laura's door was locked. But if that was the case, he'd just have to suck it up and stop being paranoid. Then again, it didn't matter anyway, as the handle to Laura's door turned just fine when he tried it.

Peeking into the dimly-lit room, Church saw that it wasn't much different from his own as far as aesthetic was concerned. The curtains were open a bit, so the evening sunlight provided enough illumination for him to see. Good thing it wasn't him being checked on, as even light that dim usually kept him awake.

Either way, it didn't take long for him to spot the person he was looking for, or rather, the top of her head poking out from under a blanket. She had her back to the door, so all he could see were silver strands.

Since she had obviously not collapsed in a heap on the floor and died, Church's paranoia was allayed without much question. Sure, he supposed she could have fallen asleep normally and then suffered some freak medical accident, but at some point he had to acknowledge that he was being silly. With that in mind, he made to close the door again, though he didn't get very far.

"Do you need something?"

Not expecting the girl he was checking on to speak to him or even notice he was there in the first place considering how quiet the door opening was, Church jumped a little, though he regained his composure quickly enough. "Oh, uh, nothing. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just wanted to check on you. Man, you are a really light sleeper..."

Laura cracked one eye open at this, turning her head to direct her crimson gaze at the man across from her. "I will take that as a compliment. Do not fret over bothering me: I appreciate your concern."

"Well, since I've woken you already... how are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

Laura closed her eyes again, contemplating the answers to those questions. "I'm alright. What time is it?"

"Around eight."

"Are you all going to eat dinner sometime soon?"

"Within the hour, actually."

At this, Laura nodded. "If it's not any trouble for you, could you bring me something light to eat when you're finished? Just bread and some water would be fine."

Church smiled, glad that her request was something so simple. Then again, it wasn't like he had expected her to ask for filet mignon or anything. "Sure. I'll finish quickly so you don't have to wait."

This earned a smile out of Laura, who still kept her eyes closed as Church began to retreat from her room. "Thank you... that's very thoughtful of you."

Church left it at that as he returned downstairs so he wouldn't be late for dinner. Said dinner ended up being fairly extravagant, at least by his own standards: a duck main course, sides such as mashed potatoes and roasted greens, and a few other things that seemed like a lot to get done since they had come back inside. Clearly, Dudley had either been alerted to their needs earlier than he thought, or he just had a really great sense of foresight.

Considering that everyone was starving and the food was delicious, there wasn't actually a whole lot of talking between everyone as they chowed down. This was perfect for Church, since it gave him an excuse to go to town as quickly as possible. It wasn't hard, being hungry and all, though it was a little sad that he didn't have the time to savor such a good meal. Then again, they would hopefully have more food like this to eat while they were here.

Either way, he finished as quickly as he could, then excused himself from the table. He had little doubt that this would dismay some of the other girls, but other than Rin asking him where he was going, no one made any move to stop him. A quick explanation that Laura had asked him for something allowed the young man to extricate himself from the after dinner socializing. It did put a frown on both Rin and Cecilia's face, but they knew better than to berate him for doing a favor for someone that felt unwell. That certainly would reflect poorly on them.

After making his escape, it was just a matter of locating the kithen, and in particular, asking Dudley for some bread and a cup of water. The elderly man surrendered the food to Church with only a stern glare through his spectacles, warning him against making a mess outside of the dining room.

Ultimately, Church found himself back in front of Laura's door in a little more than half an hour. This time his hands were full, so he didn't knock, though he did have to place the plate and cup on the ground for a moment before he could open the door. After doing that though, he found Laura sitting up in her bed. Apparently she hadn't gone back to sleep, something that Church wasted no time in commenting on.

"I thought you'd be sleeping again."

Laura was not caught off-guard by his sudden appearance in any way. "I figured it would be pointless to fall asleep only to wake up again in such a short time."

"Fair enough. Anyway, here's the food you asked for. Are you sure this is all you want?"

Church neglected to mention all of the nice things they had eaten. He knew Laura had asked for something simple, but he didn't want to potentially have her regretting that decision by hearing about all of that.

Laura gratefully accepted the bread and water Church offered her. "Back when she taught my unit, Chifuyu told us that it was best to stick to the basics when you were sick or feeling unwell. Fancier foods with certain seasonings, spices, or simply bolder flavors could make you feel worse. 'Best not to rock the boat when the waters are already stormy', I believe she said."

Church nodded at her words. "That sounds exactly like the kind of practical advice Chifuyu deals in. At the very least, nothing she tells you is ever useless."

"Indeed. In that regard, among others, Chifuyu is really an amazing woman."

With no reason to do otherwise, Church simply agreed. "That she is. Though she could stand to be a little less stoic from time to time."

Laura smiled at this, bemused by the assessment. "But then Chifuyu wouldn't be who she is, now would she?"

"I suppose you're right... I guess no one's perfect."

"Allegedly. But then, how would you even know if someone was perfect? Having never seen one before, would a perfect person even be recognized as such by normal people?"

While he hadn't been expecting such a philosophical question out of the blue, Church had no problem with entertaining it, though rather than select an actual answer, he simply responded with a joke. "You should know. You're pretty close to perfect, right?"

Though his accompanying grin did mark this as a jest, Church's answer nevertheless caught Laura off guard, nearly making her choke on the water she had been drinking, though she managed to swallow it without trouble after a moment. "W-what are you saying?! T-that's... I mean..."

Growing sullen quite quickly, Laura's voice dropped a little. "I have many deficiencies, both in physicality and personality. Am I not a far cry from the 'ideal woman?'"

Church scoffed before he could help himself. "The 'ideal woman' changes every ten years. It used to be pencil thin six foot tall ladies with basketballs on their chests, and it also used to be stockier, plump women in the past. Who cares what society thinks is ideal at any point in time?"

Laura gave him a sardonic but slight smile at this. "How rebellious of you. I suppose you have a point, but actual imperfections cannot be denied. My eyes come to mind... one is both fake and fails to even match its partner. You can't twist that away from being imperfect."

"I think you underestimate my power. I guess from a technical point of view, replacement body parts automatically invalidate one from being 'perfect', but I'll do you one better: perfection is overrated anyway. Considering that all humans are equally 'not perfect', judging anyone for that is stupid and hypocritical to the extreme. You're not a perfect human, but you are an incredible one, so take more pride in yourself, Laura. You're very beautiful, eyes included. 'Physical imperfections' are the last thing that comes to mind when I look at you."

Laura couldn't muster an actual response right away, as she had not expected such blunt and earnest praise out of the blue. Then again, maybe she should have, since something like this had happened before. He truly was the type to take offense to her bouts of self-deprecation. It reminded her a bit of Ichika, but her first crush wasn't quite as eloquent about it. The good intentions may have been the same, but the ability to put them into words like this really did make a big difference.

"Ah, well... t-that's one way of looking at things, I suppose. T-though you're really too kind..."

Noting a very prominent blush on the girl's face, Church patted himself on the back for a job well done. He was happy to be capable of this kind of thing, considering his rather middling experience with girls over the years. Turned out that honest praise really worked wonders, if the girl in question was worth anything to begin with.

"Just calling it like I see it. Anyway, I don't want to bother you for too long if your head still hurts..."

Frankly, Laura had actually forgotten that she was in mild pain thanks to the flustering nature of their conversation, at least in the heat of the moment. But her head was still throbbing. Admittedly though, she didn't really want Church to leave right away. She hadn't been alone with him in a while, and now that she was certain of the direction her feelings were taking, it was a good opportunity.

For a moment, Laura contemplated doing something rash; like how she had kissed Ichika the day she had decided to love him. Funny how that had worked out...but it might actually work out better this time. Having been introduced to matters of the heart by someone else, Laura was fairly certain that her current romantic interest was more genuine than the admittedly misguided feeilngs that had gripped her before. Not that she believed her feelings for Ichika hadn't been real, but if she thought back on the origin of those feelings... it didn't really feel like the right place to love someone from.

With Church, she felt more confident in the strength of her attraction. He shared most of the qualities she had liked about Ichika, but also possessed other things of great value. Things that, now that they were present in someone around her, she found quite desirable over someone who did not have them. For all of Ichika's many strengths, it was nice to have someone intuitive, mindful, and sharp, both in intellect and emotion. Church felt less like a model of textbook heroism and more like someone who was actually a pleasure to engage with, and somewhat surprisingly, the latter was far more desirable. The novelty of Ichika's nobility and heroic drive wore thin once you realized there would be many times they were not relevant to life: and many times when those qualities you had been enamored with could not hide the lacking nature of other desirable elements.

All of this way to say that Laura felt a kiss would be grounded in much more emotional maturity on her part this time, compared to the childish 'be mine' mentality of someone pursuing an achievement rather than a meaningful relationship. But at the same time, reaching this greater emotional maturity also meant Laura knew better than to do something so forward right now. It was too early to do that, even if Church did often say many things about her that made it seem as though he liked her. It wouldn't do to infringe on his pesonal space or feelings just because Laura was riding a high from all of his praise. It would not be fair to him.

Taking all of that into consideration, restraint won the day for Laura this time. Ironically, it didn't feel bad: she actually did feel quite happy that she had grown in these ways from her previous self. Ichika may not have been the object of her affections any longer, but she was grateful to him for the lessons he had taught her. At any rate, Church was certainly expecting a response as to whether or not he was bothering her.

"I'd struggle to say that you're bothering me, but I do feel I need more rest. Thank you for concerning yourself with me tonight. I truly appreciate it."

Laura had a half a mind to thank Church for the things he had said to her as well, but perhaps that would seem a little pathetic. She didn't want him to think she latched onto such praise so fervently, even if it did make her really happy. Besides, there was no need to make their parting an awkward one.

Since she didn't say anything else, Church prepared to make his exit. "It's no problem. Text me if you need something else, alright? Even if it's late, I won't mind."

"Thank you. You're far too considerate."

Simply nodding to that, Church offered a small wave before leaving the room, softly closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Laura did actually feel a little disappointed about it. Lonely, even. It was kind of remarkable how different this was from a year before: whenever Ichika had left her alone when she had been pursuing him, she'd mostly been annoyed that he wasn't paying attention to her, or irritated that she was losing out to one of the other girls. Being apart from him had been less about him and more about her, she supposed... maybe this somewhat lonely feeling she had now was the difference between blind infatuation and mature affection.

It did kind of suck... but at the same time, the knowledge that she'd see him again tomorrow brought a big smile to her face, so it wasn't all bad.

---

So I jokingly asked who the best girl was last time, but this time, let's just ask it seriously. Who is the best girl, bois?

On another note, I've noticed that the manga and anime art are quite different from one another. Everyone in the manga is more... angular in the face, shall we say. Everyone's eyes are a little sleeker as well. For some characters, I think it looks better than the anime version of themselves, Rin among them. She somehow just looks more mature and a bit sexier with that art style than the one the anime uses. For those of you who have read and watched both, what do you think? Which style do you prefer?