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.

21. Love and Xiaolongbao

This was actually the chapter where I first decided to do a revision for this story. At the time, I thought it would be the only revision, but that turned out to be untrue. But that first revision did greatly improve the story at the time, so at least it was still worthwhile.

---

Under normal circumstances, Church hated waking up early in the morning. He just wasn't the early morning type. But even though he was currently rolling out of bed at seven-thirty, he was relatively eager to start the day. Everyone had been too tired to go into the city yesterday, but today was a different day, and they'd all agreed to head into the nearby city. Or at least, Cecilia had said that she would get everyone's agreement on the matter before going to bed last night. Church had simply taken her word for it, as he had been much too busy enjoying his time in the Spitfire cockpit to really care whether or not they had plans the next day.

Admittedly, that had probably not been a great idea on his part. He and Cecilia had stayed in the underground hangar for quite some time discussing all sorts of things related to the Spitfire she owned and other things related to it. She was surprisingly knowledgeable about Supermarine's history and their aviation accomplishments. Which made sense since she owned the company, but at the same time, Church knew that plenty of people owned companies and didn't actually know much about them. Admittedly, it was quite attractive that Cecilia knew a lot about aviation history; or at least, the UK's aviation history. Either way, time had flown by, and Church had ended up going to bed pretty late. Suffice to say, he was waking up without eight hours of sleep. But he wasn't too miffed about it, as talking about old planes with Cecilia was time well spent.

And even so, he was able to combat his grogginess with excitement. After all, assuming that Cecilia had gotten agreement from everyone sometime last night, he was going to spend today out on the town with a bunch of girls, and on top of that he wasn't going to have to pay for much, if anything. She may have been a little selfish about a lot of things, but Cecilia wasn't stingy about providing for her friends, at the very least. Of course, maybe that was because she had more money than she could reasonably need for herself, or maybe she just felt good about herself when she was generous. Either way, Church was glad for it.

In hindsight, it probably would have helped if Cecilia had told him prior to going to bed if she had gotten a consensus from the group. She had given him a rough estimate of when she would like to leave the mansion so they would have enough time in the city, but if she hadn't gotten everyone to agree to that course of action, then Church was waking up at this time of day for no reason. Then again, if it turned out that they weren't going after all, he could just go back to bed.

He wasn't sure who wouldn't want to go out today anyway. Everyone had sounded at least partial to the idea yesterday. Sure, maybe Ichika would be a little troubled to wake up so early (Rin probably would be too), but he didn't seem like the type of person that was hard to convince. Church wasn't sure why anyone would need convincing in the first place on this front: who wouldn't want to go out on the town with a whole group of pretty girls?

Operator, it would seem reasonable that Ichika Orimura would frown on such an outing since he already has a girlfriend.

Digging through the clothes he owned so he could find something simple to wear, Church disagreed with that sentiment.

We never actually confirmed if those two were dating, remember? In fact, based on what he said a few days ago, I have to wonder what his relationship with her or any of the girls is really like... regardless, Ichika seemed plenty willing to go out on the town with all of the girls back when we first arrived at the Academy, so I don't see why right now would be any different.

I suppose that is fair, Operator. Still, is it really even worth the mental expenditure to dwell on this? Orimura's relationships or lack thereof are of no import to us.

Settling on fairly plain clothes that amounted to little more than jeans and a comfortable shirt, Church let Cerberus know how he felt about that.

I wouldn't say it's of no import at all, Cerberus. Ichika is the cornerstone of this entire group of people, the whole reason they ended up coming together in the first place. I don't think the group would fall apart without him at this point, but even so, how he factors into everyone's relationships affects our mission. Especially since he's the main thing keeping Houki around for us to get close to in the first place.

Cerberus was quiet as it contemplated this answer. Church accepted that boon gratefully, but unfortunately the peace and quiet was quickly broken by a loud bang on the other side of the wall, followed by an agonized voice he recognized as Rin's.

"Dammit, why didn't I think of this before coming here?!"

Church simply stared at the wall where the noise had originated.

Well, guess we know which room is hers.

---

But a few minutes earlier, the sole occupant of the room in question was tossing all manner of clothing around as she tried to pick something to wear. Cecilia had texted everyone late at night asking if they'd be willing to go out into town early this morning. Despite a bit of grumbling from several members of the group about the late planning, everyone had agreed to it. Initially, Rin had been fairly excited about the prospect. But then the conversation she had shared with Laura that night commanded her attention again, and that had changed.

Rin still wasn't sure if Laura was right about what she had claimed. Was Rin really losing romantic feeling for Ichika, and whether or not she was, was she gaining similar feelings for Church? Rin had admitted to herself that she knew very well how Ichika felt about her last night. She'd had no choice but to do so while taking self-inventory. But knowing that he didn't love her didn't mean she didn't love him, and it didn't mean that couldn't change in the future. It wasn't like she had to jump ship just because things weren't going her way right now.

But then again, maybe Laura had a point. Maybe, even though she didn't have to jump ship, part of Rin really wanted to. Pursuing someone you knew didn't love you back was tough. You were constantly putting in effort that went mostly unrewarded. Your efforts to get their undivided attention often met with failure. You rarely managed to get special recognition from them. At no point did you feel that they looked at you the way you looked at them. It was draining, outright debilitating, and maybe Rin had just been ignoring how much that was true out of sheer stubbornness.

She was sick of having to fight so hard just to get Ichika's attention for more than a few minutes. She was tired of knowing that his affection for her didn't grow much at all with each passing day. She just hated how much she put in only to get nothing back that satisfied.

But did that really mean she didn't love him anymore, or that her feelings were fading? Maybe it was just a rough spot: even people who deeply loved each other had those from time to time. Maybe she just needed to take a little break and rejuvenate, then she could get back to it and make some sort of breakthrough? Though she considered this, Rin couldn't deny that something about looking at a relationship in such a light seemed inherently wrong. True love wasn't supposed to include burnout, right?

At the same time, Rin couldn't help but wonder if said burnout was the driving force behind what she may have felt for Church. Yeah, he was pretty handsome. He was kind, and witty, and charming. But did she really like him, or had he just appeared in her life at the exact moment she was feeling unfulfilled and exhausted by her lack of progress with Ichika? Because if it was the latter, that made him no more than a rebound to make herself feel better, a way to reignite the spark to ardently pursue Ichika once again, only to discard said rebound afterward. More than anything, Rin didn't want to treat Church like that. Of course, feeling that way about him might have already answered her question about the genuine nature of her feelings...

Dammit, why was romance so difficult? Was she really such an idiot that interpreting her own thoughts and feelings was hard to do? How pathetic...

Trying to figure all of this out at this point was too difficult, so Rin decided to not do so at all. At this juncture, she could play both sides and come out on top regardless of how she felt. If she really didn't know who her heart was set on at this point in time, there was no reason not to just use this opportunity to try and impress both boys. Although, impressing them was the root of her current misgivings...

Rin often put on confident airs, but in the quiet of her own mind, she was able to admit her insecurities. She felt that all of the other girls were more attractive than her. Houki had ungodly tits that overshadowed girls who weren't stuck in Rin's cup size to start with. Cecilia wasn't far behind her, and Charlotte was so pretty she could pass as both an attractive man and woman. All three of them had more traditionally feminine figures than Rin, and they were taller than her too. Laura didn't quite fit the bill on those fronts, but she had other exotic features, like her silver hair and crimson eyes. Rin felt totally ordinary next to her, and she just felt like a poor contender for a man's attention at all compared to the others.

Worst still was the ratio of two men to five girls. Being unremarkable was bad enough already, but when you were one unremarkable girl among four babes, there was no way the boys were going to pay attention to you, right? This predicament had led Rin to tear through her suitcase for anything that could improve her odds against those bastards she called friends.

Not that it would be easy. No amount of squeezing her modest bust together was going to let her compete with the others, and padding was out of the question too, since both Church and Ichika would notice that right away if it was too extreme. Sure, she could accentuate them, but it was like putting a spoiler on a hatchback when a sports car was right next to it.

At least she was ahead of Laura in the bust department, but even ignoring the more exotic qualities Laura had, Rin still felt inferior to her somehow. She just couldn't quite place why.

Maybe it was the hips? Or her willingness to get kind of flirty and bold after whatever incident had built her confidence? Rin didn't really know, but she couldn't shake the feeling that, compared to all of the others, she would be the one considered to look childish or immature. She had to dispel that notion somehow.

But unfortunately for her, Rin wasn't sure how to do it. Mostly because she wasn't quite sure what she was lacking outside of the physical aspect of things. Was it her choice of clothing? Or was it perhaps her hairstyle?

With that in mind Rin stepped in front of the full-length mirror her room had, still clad in her pajamas because she hadn't decided on what to change into. She had yet to do her hair up in its normal style, so she simply used her hands to imitate the usual twin-tails and judged them critically. While she was personally biased towards favoring this hairstyle, Rin had to admit that she looked younger this way, which wasn't exactly her goal at the moment. Maybe if she had a body to match her age wearing her hair like this would be fine, but since that wasn't the case...

With a defeated sigh, the troubled girl decided to leave it down today. Whether or not it would make a noticeable difference, it couldn't hurt to try.

But she still had to decide what to wear, and most of her clothes weren't incredibly flattering on her figure. Most of the casual clothing Rin owned was tomboyish in nature, revolving mostly around t-shirts and jean shorts and whatnot. In fact, her uniform might have been the only skirt she owned...

And of course, she felt the need to wear one today. Guys liked skirts because it gave them a chance to catch glimpses of forbidden places, right? Surely she'd be more noticeable in that than if she were wearing something else.

Of course, as she tore through everything she had packed in her suitcase, Rin was unable to find anything of that nature. This frustrated her enough to lift the entire thing in a burst of strength and toss it at the far wall of her room.

"Dammit! Why didn't I think about this before coming here?!"

She may have laughed if she could have seen the reaction of the boy on the other side of that wall, but as it was Rin could only glower at the now scattered pile of clothing strewn across her floor. Thankfully, her scowl quickly transformed to a victorious grin as she spotted exactly what she had been looking for lying on the room's floor.

"Oh, so I did have one! Geez, where the hell was it earlier...?"

Leaving that rhetorical question in the air, Rin quickly changed into the forest green skirt she had miraculously discovered, before coming to her next dilemma. Angling her rear end towards the mirror, she couldn't help but notice that the thing was a little shorter than it had first appeared.

"Crap... even standing straight up I can almost see my underwear. If I bent over even a little, I'd be pretty exposed..."

The thought of it almost made her ditch the idea entirely in favor of shorts or jeans, but after a few moments of thought Rin decided to stay on course. Well... I know that Church is probably a pervert, so he'd like this, right...? And Ichika may be denser than a black hole, but even he should like it a little...

Thinking about the latter's reaction, Rin soon grimaced in dismay. Actually, he'd probably just say something stupid like, 'aren't you cold like that? You should put some pants on.' God, what an oblivious moron...

Finding it kind of worrisome that she actually preferred a pervert's reaction, Rin wondered if she should just take it all the way and go all out. She wasn't all that comfortable being this bold, but she really felt that anything less would just see her overshadowed by the others. Unlike them, she had to pull out all the stops to compete.

With that in mind the brunette started rummaging through the clothing strewn around, in search of one thing in particular. To be honest she wasn't sure why she had brought it along, considering that she hadn't brought its complement as well. It had probably been the result of a stupid daydream where she had the confidence to be sexy. Although, that was what she was going for now, wasn't it?

If there was one thing Rin actually knew she looked great in, it was the traditional qipao Chinese dress. It was the one outfit that made her feel undeniably feminine and beautiful. Of course, the short model dress that Rin preferred had slits on the sides that exposed her legs all the way up to her hips. That being the case, when wearing that outfit she also had to wear higher-riding panties that weren't visible at her waist. It was probably the most scandalous pair she owned, even though that wasn't why it was worn in cooperation with the dress.

The thought of wearing this with her already dangerously short skirt was nearly enough to have the girl pass out in embarrassment. But this was her best chance of blowing the other girls out of the water. She couldn't compete in the bust department, but Rin knew she at least had a nice ass. Well, maybe. She wasn't an expert on what boys thought was nice. Either way, it was the one sexual asset she could probably rely on to get a man's attention even with Houki's mammoth melons around, whether that man was Ichika or Church.

Right... it's embarrassing, but... confidence is sexy, right? Just wear it confidently, and it'll pay off...

Somewhat doubting that, Rin nevertheless hunted down a pair of black thigh-highs to wear, along with a long-sleeve gray shirt with dark green sleeves that exposed a little bit of midriff, and by extension, the straps of her black underwear.

This was far more risque than the brunette usually went for, but she once again reminded herself that confidence was the name of the game. Look good, feel good, be good. If you acted sexy, you looked sexy. At any rate, she had read some similar mantras in various magazines. Looking in the mirror at herself, Rin acknowledged that she was showing a lot of skin, and that a dominant blush was impossible to miss on her face. But she felt that she looked good. No, she definitely looked good. That was what she told herself. The boys would be stupid to disagree.

Although, they could still disagree... what if they thought she was just being desperate? What if they thought she looked ridiculous, trying to dress in a way that didn't suit her? Despite all of her talk of confidence, doubts crept back into her mind immediately. In fact, the thought of making a fool of herself got Rin within an inch of changing her entire outfit to something more modest. But before she could, a knock on the door derailed her train of thought.

Caught off guard while flustered, Rin fumbled for a response. "Uh, ah, what? Who is it?"

Worried that someone was going to open the door unannounced, Rin was relieved to hear Houki's familiar blunt voice on the other side. "We're going to be leaving soon. Hurry up and get downstairs!"

Certainly not wanting to be the last one ready, Rin glanced back at the bra she had neglected to put on in her haste to put an outfit together. Almost immediately, a defeatist part of herself thought there was next to no point in even bothering, all things considered. Frankly, it was hardly like she even needed one unless it was particularly nippy outside. It wasn't like she was buxom enough to actually need support for her back. Of course, she could have used a push-up bra or something to give her any extra edge at all, but she had neglected to pack one for the trip. The current conundrum hadn't occurred to her with the short notice they had available to pack.

So really, what was even the point...? And besides, maybe it would actually grab even more attention, assuming one of the men had the perception to even notice...

Though she was still a little nervous about being this scandalous, Rin managed to talk herself into the whole ordeal. She was sick and tired of being overlooked for girls with bigger boobs or a few extra inches of height. She wanted someone to look at her and think 'damn, what a babe'. If this didn't work and she ended up embarrassing herself, she'd just throw herself off a bridge later. It couldn't get any simpler than that.

Perhaps using some very concerning logic to convince herself, Rin left her room without the undergarment and headed for the lower level of the mansion. When she arrived, she found that everyone except Cecilia was already there for some reason. Though everyone was present, Rin locked on to Church primarily, who was standing beside Laura and smiling as the two of them talked about something she couldn't overhear. The German girl had put her silver hair in twintails similar to the style she had worn at the beach last year.

Almost immediately, Rin felt a flare of jealousy at the sight of it, but she reined it in and didn't do anything impulsive or brash. Surely, being so immature as to butt into a conversation just to derail it wouldn't score her any points as far as attractiveness was concerned. She had to be above such petty things. The last thing she needed was for someone to think she both looked and acted like a child. Besides, it wasn't like Church was the only one she wanted to notice her.

With all of this in mind, Rin simply sidled over to the side of the group, where her presence was mostly unacknowledged until Ichika caught sight of her during a scan for their last missing member. His eyes did widen in surprise for a moment, which gave Rin a brief moment of hope that he would take kindly to her appearance today, but his following words dispelled that hope almost immediately.

"Oh, hey, Rin. Trying a new look? Kinda extreme, isn't it?"

Needless to say, this was not the kind of acknowledgment Rin had been hoping to get from the boy. If anything, it just reinforced the idea that she looked silly and desperate. She felt humiliated.

Noticing Rin's immediately crestfallen expression, Charlotte tried her best to soften the blow. She knew very well how disheartening it was to put a lot of effort into looking good, only to be ignored or, even worse, considered unattractive. "I think a bit of boldness is a nice change of pace now and then. I wish I had the confidence to pull that off..."

Their brief exchange drew the attention of Church and Laura, who had been too engrossed to notice Rin's arrival earlier. They both turned their gazes towards her, with Laura cocking an amused eyebrow and Church instantly sporting a crimson blush. He only barely managed to keep a slack jawed expression at bay.

"Whoa, Rin... you, uh, you look good! I mean, not just good, but you know, like..."

The young man averted his gaze at that point, seemingly a little embarrassed to find himself at a loss of words and sounding like a fool. Even so, he barely managed to keep his eyes away for more than a moment before they were glued to her again, clearly appraising her from head to toe with an appreciative glint.

Despite the absolutely crushing nature of Ichika's reaction to her today, Church's own wiped it all away entirely. Sure, knowing he was probably focusing very intently on her body in a sexual way was pretty embarrassing, but Rin still felt elated. Honestly, she hadn't believed that she really had the capability to leave a boy flustered and speechless like this, no matter what she wore. Damn, she actually felt sexy for once. Even surrounded by other girls with stunning silver hair or boobs that could be mistaken for basketballs, there was someone whose eyes were fully on her and her alone. Maybe she would have felt mortified to have someone undoubtedly undressing her in their mind under normal circumstances, but honestly, she was just happy to know for absolute certain that someone even thought of her that way at all at this point. She had never actually gotten the impression that Ichika thought she was an attractive girl, in any capacity. This was the best change of pace she could have asked for after all of these years.

Still, despite feeling really happy about all of that, Rin was still flustered as all hell, and her attempts to appreciate Church's compliment mostly came in the form of unintelligible mutterings as she bashfully scratched the side of her nose. This kind of situation would definitely take some getting used to before she could handle it with anything even remotely resembling grace.

The air was growing a bit awkward with the two of them just silent and blushing, but thankfully the last missing member of the crew did away with the quiet with her boisterous voice. Cecilia had arrived, and she was coming down the stairs.

"Deepest apologies, everyone! I know it's unbecoming to be the last one present as the hostess, but I digress: after being kept up so late last night by Church, this outcome was inevitable..."

The blonde petered off as she took stock of everyone else present in the lobby, all of which were giving her quizzical looks. Most particularly, she couldn't help but note that Rin was dressed very boldly, in a way that was most certainly intended to draw the male gaze. As much as she hated to admit it, Cecilia couldn't deny that she looked quite good. Which was troublesome, since she didn't want to be overshadowed even if they were just going on a casual outing. Still, it wasn't like she could run back upstairs and change now. She would just have to hope her beauty was accentuated by her more subtle attire: a navy blue cardigan over a knee-length dress. There was a certain draw to modesty, right?

Either way, Cecilia didn't get a chance to make any further comment, as Laura was folding her arms and questioning her choice of words, though she actually directed her gaze towards Church with a raised eyebrow. "Kept her up late last night, did you?"

Suddenly, Church found the eyes of most everyone on him, though the emotions levied against him ranged from mere curiosity to clearly suspicious concern. Thankfully, he didn't have to be too nervous, since it wasn't like he didn't have a valid explanation to offer for Cecilia's vague wording.

"We stayed up talking about an old aircraft she has downstairs. Don't get any funny ideas."

Cecilia pouted a bit at his answer. "You don't have to refute that idea so swiftly..."

Perhaps finding his explanation to be way too specific, Laura continued to question Church further. "Oh? What type of aircraft?"

Knowing full well that Laura was a little dubious of him, Church placed his hands on his hips as he defended himself from baseless accusations. "A Supermarine Spitfire Mark One A, thank you very much. It's green and tan and has eight guns and a Rolls-Royce engine. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

To this, Laura shrugged, though she mostly just seemed bemused. "Honestly, you could have made that up on the spot, but I do believe you. That's quite an impressive piece of property you own, Cecilia. I would have liked to see it."

There was a thinly veiled implication there, likely along the lines of 'I know what you're trying to do, you're not as sneaky as you think'. Cecilia must have picked up on this implication.

"Oh? I do apologize, I just thought you might have been a little displeased having to stare at the arch-nemesis of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain."

Laura seemed to find this amusing. "What am I, the personification of my country...? And not even the most recent form of it?"

Sensing a lull in the conversation, Charlotte pushed into it to ask a question. "Are we going to eat breakfast before we go? I'm feeling a little peckish, if I'm being honest."

Cecilia decided against continuing her conversation with Laura in favor of answering this query. "I thought we could eat breakfast in town. After all, patronizing the local eateries is a major appeal when it comes to sightseeing and tourism, is it not?"

"I suppose you have a point there. Very well, I'm sure I can survive well enough until we arrive in town."

With no one offering any dissent to this line of reasoning, Cecilia was free to guide everyone to the entrance, since the limo they would be traveling in was waiting outside. Being the gracious hostess that she was, she allowed the others to pass through after opening the door, mostly with a smile. At least, until Rin passed her at the end of the procession. Then she had a mildly annoyed glare to offer, which didn't go unnoticed by Rin.

"What?"

Her cerulean eyes narrowing, Cecilia jabbed a finger at her rival. "Don't think that I don't know what you're up to, Rin. I'll admit that you've likely outdone me in apparel today, but I won't let you hog all the attention for yourself!"

While she was secretly pleased to hear Cecilia admit defeat in some sense, Rin nevertheless grimaced. "Seriously? Considering that you want all of the attention all the time, you can't let me have one day?"

Cecilia folded her arms in defiance. "Of course not! With you dressed like such a harlot, one hour of attention is too risky, never mind a whole day!"

"Hold on, you just said that I had outdone you! How can you call me a harlot if I dressed better than you did?!"

Perhaps understanding the hypocrisy of her own words, Cecilia faltered for a moment. "Yes, well... er, if it were me, I would have managed to dress more seductively and with more class."

Now feeling quite full of herself for crushing Cecilia in this regard, Rin simply smirked at her. Sure, being acknowledged by one of the boys had built her confidence, but admittedly, knowing that she was the one making one of the other girls feel insecure did wonders as well. Maybe that was kind of petty, but Rin couldn't help but enjoy the sensation.

"Well you didn't, now did you? Cry about it while I revel in the appreciation of... well, just Church, I guess..."

Surprisingly, the notion didn't bother her all that much. Maybe Laura really had been onto something the other night... either way, Rin unwittingly negated her currently mature image by sticking her tongue out at the blonde as she exited the mansion, leaving the conversation in favor of getting to their ride in time to maybe sit where she wanted. As for Cecilia, she was left behind to merely grumble about her loss today. Still, it wasn't over yet. She had all day, and the better part of a month besides to do... whatever it was she really wanted to do. Steal someone's heart, most likely.

But for now, Cecilia could do nothing other than follow her rival to the car so Dudley could drive them all to the town. Honestly, driving seemed terribly slow and mundane to I.S. pilots, but they couldn't very well fly around in deadly war machines without permission from their respective governments, not to mention the government of the country they currently occupied. Sure, I.S. were only officially used for sport, but no one was ignorant to the danger they could pose if used improperly. One powerful I.S. could decimate entire armies. That being the case, unauthorized usage of I.S. anywhere could cause widespread panic and even a hostile military response.

Of course, Cecilia herself, as England's Representative Candidate, actually could pilot Blue Tears in her home country without fear of reprisal. She and her machine were registered for flight authorization anywhere in the UK's airspace, just like the other Representatives were for their own nations.

So technically Cecilia could have been in town in mere minutes, but since she would much rather spend an hour in the car with two boys she was heavily infatuated with (albeit to different extents), she rejected the idea without much effort. Besides, it would be very unbecoming to dash ahead to their destination and leave everyone else behind, as the hostess and all.

Unfortunately for the blonde, anywhere that she might have wanted to sit was taken. The limo had two long booth seats that faced each other from the front and back. Church had elected to sit in the front, while Ichika had sat in the back. And since everyone else had gotten there before Cecilia did, both boys were already flanked on both sides. Naturally, Charlotte was right next to Ichika (the two seemed nearly inseparable these days, much to Cecilia's chagrin), but she was surprised to see Rin on the other side of him.

Cecilia was not as dense as some made her out to be. She could tell that Rin had grown increasingly interested in Church since his arrival at the Academy. In fact, in her opinion, Rin seemed more disposed to the American than Ichika lately. So, she would have expected the brunette to take a place next to him. That said, she had arrived second to last, which was probably the issue. Church was already flanked by both Laura and Houki.

Why the latter was next to him instead of Ichika, Cecilia had no idea. As far as she knew Houki really didn't have much of an interest in Church other than mutual politeness. Then again, based on the disgruntled look on her face as she glared at Ichika, maybe Houki was just upset with him at the moment for some reason.

Either way, Cecilia grumbled in disappointment as she was forced to take a seat next to one of the girls instead. In the end she chose to sit next to Charlotte. She wasn't that far away from Ichika, and she could easily be seen and talked to by Church who was opposite of her. It was still a fairly good spot, even if it wasn't the best.

With everyone now ready to depart, the elderly Dudley stepped into the driver's seat and began the hour long drive towards their destination for the day.

As for Church, this was the perfect opportunity to exploit. With Houki right beside him, Cerberus was free to scan Akatsubaki's standby mode once again. While they had acquired a decent amount of data the day before, there was plenty more to discover.

Cerberus, since we have such a golden opportunity here, gather as much data as you can on Houki's I.S. And if you can manage it, go ahead and scan Laura's as well. Provided that I can actually trust Umbra Stratum in the long run, I'm sure they'd like to have that as well.

Cerberus seemed mildly offended at 'if you can manage it,' but nevertheless began its appointed task without dissent. This left Church to focus on far more pleasant matters, namely conversing with the many pretty girls within five feet of him, not to mention the luxury of a limo. This was definitely not the kind of thing he had envisioned himself doing just a few years ago.

Being one of the most talkative of the bunch, Cecilia jumped on the opportunity to start a conversation with him, faster than anyone else who may have wanted to. Of course, even though Rin was one of the latter, she was too embarrassed to speak to him at the moment anyway. She'd felt uplifted and confident for a moment, but it wasn't like she had completely overcome all sense of embarrassment. She still wasn't used to being this bold, and being right across from Church, she felt exposed to his gaze even though he wasn't looking at her. That being the case, she didn't want to call his attention to herself just yet. She needed to psych up first. Needless to say, she was inwardly regretting going bra-less today, as it did nothing to help calm her nerves. What if he noticed? What if he thought she was a slut? Maybe she'd gone a little too far...

Completely unaware of Rin's frazzled nerves, Cecilia started a conversation in the car. "Church, I know you and I touched on this subject last night, but in hindsight, it wasn't a very informative exchange. It behooves me to acknowledge that, even after all this time, I, or we, rather, don't really know that much about you, other than your name and your job. It seems quite rude for anyone who would consider themselves your friend to know so little, don't you think?"

Church fought down a grimace as he watched practically everyone, even Ichika and Houki, glance at him curiously. Now that Cecilia had mentioned it, everyone realized that they really didn't know much about their American visitor at all. Even Church himself now found himself shocked to acknowledge that no one had truly questioned him in depth prior to now. Then again, he supposed he had been asked about the things most relevant to his presence at the Academy, and then shit had hit the fan with the Crucible incident and everyone had more important things to worry about.

At any rate, Cerberus picked up on his internal concern.

Worry not, Operator, it is unlikely they want to know anything other than some personal information.

While Cerberus was likely correct, Church couldn't help but feel anxious now. Conversations had a way of evolving as they progressed. There was no guarantee that a dangerous question wouldn't crop up somewhere.

Even so, he couldn't just tell them no. That would have raised far too many suspicions. "I guess that's fair. Though honestly, I don't know too much about any of you either, outside of publicly available information. If you think about it, we really haven't know each other for all that long, and things were pretty hectic in the time we did know each other..."

Church was hoping he could either distract everyone from the conversation or get the girls to talk about themselves instead, but unfortunately things didn't work out in his favor. Charlotte seemed to acknowledge his good points, but took it in a direction he hadn't hoped for.

"Oui, that is true. Why don't we take turns? We can ask you something, then you can ask us something, and so on. I think that would be fun, non?"

Hiding a grimace, Church wondered if he could still find some way to turn this around. It seemed like the girls were pretty set on learning some new things about him. He didn't have many options to avoid that. The best he could hope for was to ask a question first, and maybe get someone else to talk for the duration of the drive, or maybe open up a conversation that would do the same for the group as a whole.

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea... well, let me start first then..."

Unfortunately, Church's subtle attempt to gain an edge met with failure, courtesy of Cecilia. "Now hold on, seeing as how this was out idea, I think it only fair that we get to ask the first question, no?"

Knowing that outright resistance to that notion would just be suspicious, Church knew there was nothing he could do to improve his situation at this point. Clearly, he would just have to lie as needed depending on what came up.

"Guess I can't argue that..."

Seeing that he had conceded, Cecilia wasted no time in asking her first question. Apparently, she had this one loaded up for some time, as she didn't need to ponder what to ask at all. "I'll admit, I've wondered this since we first met. Church is... well, an interesting name, to say the least. It sounds more akin to a last name than a first, in my opinion. Regardless of which one it is, it occurs to me that none of us know your full name, which seems a little odd between people who would consider one another friends."

Frankly, Church was more upset with this line of reasoning than he would have been with anything that was actually related to his mission. This was definitely one of the worst things that could have come up.

Rin perked up as Cecilia began this tangent. Her curiosity on this matter was enough to quell her lingering embarrassment. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I don't think you've told any of us your first name. Seems kind of suspicious to me..."

Church tried to think of some excuse to get him out of answering this particular question, but couldn't think of any. Unfortunately, Cerberus' attempts to help did the exact opposite.

Operator, surely you haven't forgotten your own name. It's P-

I know what my name is, you idiot!

With his unwillingness to answer apparent to everyone, Cecilia couldn't hold back a small grin. "Aw, if it's something embarrassing you don't have to worry. I swear we won't laugh. Well, I won't, at least."

Church narrowed his gaze in the blonde's direction. "Wouldn't the better thing to do be not pressuring someone to share something embarrassing?"

Church thought his argument was pretty solid, but apparently Cecilia did not. Maybe her curiosity was just a bit too strong. "Come now, it can't really be that bad! Though I suppose you are American, so it could be something... unique., so to speak."

Church was certain that he could feel a vein bulging on his forehead, though he supposed Cecilia had a point. He had seen a lot of stupid names in his home country. Still, it wasn't like that argument alone was going to change his mind.

"If it's really not such a big deal, then why don't one of you share something embarrassing first? That's only fair, right?"

This put a grimace on the face of almost every girl in the vehicle. Despite what they were asking of him, it was true that no girl wanted to reveal anything too embarrassing to a man...

"During the time Chifuyu was in charge of my company in Germany, I accidentally called her mother twice. One of these times occurred while standing at attention alongside the rest of the platoon."

The entire car fell silent as they turned their incredulous gazes to Laura, whose expectant expression was on Church alone. "Well? I have met your expectations. Now you must do the same."

Church's eyebrow twitched as he glared down at the completely nonchalant German girl beside him. Frankly, it seemed unfair for her to count the story she had shared as an embarrassing one, as she didn't actually seem all that bothered by it. Was that really a fair exchange, then?

What the fuck?! Why on earth was she so damn eager to share just so she could get this out of me?!

Glad that she had not been the one forced to reveal anything, Rin leaned forward to eye the man across from her. Her curiosity had completely drowned out her general embarrassment from earlier. "Well, a deal's a deal. C'mon Church, you are a man of your word, right?"

Gritting his teeth, Church inwardly contemplated how he would get Laura back for this. He was too fond of her to do anything truly horrible, but still, he couldn't let this crime go without vengeance. Either way, he did say that he would tell them under these circumstances... with a sigh, Church resigned himself to the no doubt inevitable howling laughter that would follow his revelation.

"Fine, fine! Just know that if you laugh, I will hold it against you."

Rin didn't seem to care about this threat. "Quit stalling already, come on!"

Reluctantly accepting his fate, Church decided to just get it over with quickly, like ripping off a bandage. "...it's Pe-"

As if by divine intervention itself, the utterance of Church's first name was cut off by a painfully loud squeal from the limousine's brakes as it came to a complete stop in mere seconds. Needless to say, the sudden, drastic shift in momentum also threw everyone in the back seat towards those in the front. Despite the training they all had, everything happened much too fast for anyone to think about conscious reaction. Church himself simply threw his hands up in reflex as Rin came flying at him. In hindsight, they probably should have all been wearing seat belts.

Her impact was surprisingly soft, or perhaps she had just been going much slower than she had looked, but either way, Church suffered no injury as he now cradled the girl he had caught on reflex. And while his azure gaze was locked with her own shocked emerald stare, Church managed to mentally note many pleasant things about this situation through his other senses.

The first thing he noticed was that his hands had managed to latch themselves onto Rin's upper thighs when she came at him. By extension, the first thing he noticed was that she was pleasantly soft and warm. There was nothing perverted to this notion, unlike all of the other things Church noticed afterwards, such as the position Rin's body was in relation to his own.

She had practically fallen on top of his right leg, which was now firmly nestled in between her thighs. The mere thought of it was almost enough to allow Church to ignore everything else, but he couldn't help but feel her chest pressed against his own, and the fact that she was missing a particular item of clothing under that long-sleeve shirt of hers.

While those things primarily dominated Church's attention, some small part of him also noted that she smelled rather nice -a little like orchids, maybe- and that their lips had been brought incredibly close together by this sudden situation.

For a moment, Church was worried that Rin would simply panic and punch him in the face, but it didn't seem like she was going to. Maybe it was just because she was still in shock at having been put into a compromising situation so suddenly.

You know, Cerberus, not that you care, but Rin has really sexy eyes...

You're right, Operator, I really don't.

Before either one of them could think to break their sudden intimate embrace, the moment was disrupted by the people who had also been thrown into one another on the left and right, though in somewhat less scandalous ways.

Ichika had managed to bury his face directly into Houki's lap, while Cecilia had landed on top of a rather irritated Laura. The former was quick to shove Ichika off of her despite a prominent blush on her face, while the latter was helpless under the crushing weight of Cecilia's body. Laura's muffled voice came from somewhere under the blonde's ample bosom.

"Is this lack of air what it felt like to endure a gas attack...?"

With such a comment effectively ruining the strange mood between the only embracing duo in the car, Rin immediately came to her senses as she bolted off of the man below her, blushing furiously all the while as she retreated. Charlotte, who had miraculously avoided being thrown into anybody, did not miss any of this as she looked up from her now prone position on the floor.

As for Cecilia, she shoved herself off of Laura's small body, irritably shoving open the door the limo to lean out and shout at the driver. "Dudley, what on earth-! What... a sheep crossing?! Are you pulling my leg?!"

While he was still suffering from a major distraction in what had just happened between himself and Rin, Church realized that the girl probably needed a quick breather, specifically one where he acted like nothing weird had happened and didn't look in her direction.

That being the case, he decided to look outside of the limo alongside Cecilia, where he spotted a decent-sized herd of sheep blocking the road they were on. They weren't really moving so much as just standing around.

Cecilia seemed immensely irritated with this situation. "Where on earth is the shepherd?! Who lets their livestock roam around in such a reckless manner?!"

Church glanced around, noting that the sheep did seem to be unattended. "So, uh... are they going to move on their own, or...?"

The blonde next to him sighed in frustration. "Unlikely. We'll probably have to persuade them to move."

Since he felt that Rin would benefit from a few minutes to collect herself (honestly, he could probably use it too), Church climbed out of the vehicle. "I have no experience in herding sheep, but I guess I'll see what I can do."

"Oh? How very kind of you."

Back in the limo, Church could hear Houki yelling at Ichika, telling him to get outside and help with the sheep, but he ignored that in favor of kneeling in front of the first animal he reached. The dumb creature locked eyes with the boy next to it, at which point Church jokingly spoke to the thing, thanking it for the role it had played in putting a cute girl in his arms.

"I owe you one, Lamb Chop. High-five?"

The sheep blinked once before bleating at him and walking away, with a fair number of its herd following suit.

"I'll take that as a 'you're welcome.'"

---

An hour later, the group of young teens had finally reached their destination. Shooing away the sheep from earlier had only taken about ten minutes, so they weren't too far behind schedule. Fortunately everyone had apparently forgotten about Church divulging his name after the incident, but unfortunately, Church had noticed that Rin had been incredibly uncomfortable the entire ride, having barely spoken a word to anyone, especially him. Apparently, a few minutes of separation hadn't been enough to calm her nerves after all.

Which kind of sucked, since Rin was undoubtedly the girl he was closest to, and he would have liked to spend time with her enjoying the town. This seemed to be an unlikely prospect now, because even as the group stepped out of Cecilia's limo, Rin purposefully put several of her friends between her and Church, much to his dismay.

Damn, is she really that bothered by it? It's not like it was my fault...

As always, Cerberus was not willing to stay quiet.

Perhaps not, but neither did you apologize for essentially molesting her, Operator.

What was I supposed to do, let her plow face first into me? It was either catching her or a potential hospital visit!

However you choose to spin it, Operator, we both know that she has little interest in being physically touched in such a way by you. She probably feels violated.

Church glanced over at the girl, who was pointedly looking at some building off to her left. Could that really be true? Sure, she hadn't explicitly stated that she had any interest in him, but she'd also given off a few interesting signals. At any rate, she seemed very pleased when he acknowledged how attractive she was. For that to be the case, surely she didn't have no interest in him whatsoever, right?

While it had been in a joking mood until now, Cerberus was quick to speak seriously on the matter.

Do not be so troubled, Operator. It's for the best if your involvement with these people remains strictly platonic at best. Do not forget that they are a means to an end, and they could potentially become enemies depending on how the mission proceeds.

Though he supposed Cerberus said this all as some form of reassurance, it only made Church scowl. He found it more and more difficult these days to remember the nature of his presence here. Heck, sometimes he legitimately forgot he even had an ulterior motive for all of this. Being together with all of these people, having fun, becoming friends... it was easy to forget that he had nefarious goals to achieve. Or maybe it was just willful ignorance: the more he ingratiated himself with these girls, the dirtier he felt when thinking of the mission and using them to his own ends. He told himself that their friendship was still genuine, that it wasn't soiled just because there was an ulterior motive to go along with it, but it was hard to believe his own attempts to dispel any doubts.

"Church, what's wrong? You're scowling."

Glancing down and to the side, Church spotted a quizzical Laura, who was appraising his expression. Well, he probably shouldn't have been surprised that she noticed. Even though the notion of immediately putting on a

mask bothered him, Church quickly donned a smile to allay the girl's concerns.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. The sun was just in my eyes."

Apparently, his explanation was believable enough. It probably helped that the the sun was fairly bright today. At any rate, Laura exchanged her expression for a smile as she scooted just a little closer to his side. "Well that's a relief. I was worried you weren't looking forward to spending the day with me."

Church normally would have been warmed by such words and such a smile, but due to his recent thoughts, it was impossible to feel that way. Right now, he just felt undeserving of them. Still, he kept the misgivings from his face: Laura was too perceptive, and she would not only notice, but likely put no small amount of effort in investigating.

From the rest of the group, Church heard Ichika speak up. "You know, I don't think anyone mentioned it before... what town are we actually visiting?"

With mostly unneeded flair in the form of a wide sweeping gesture, Cecilia introduced the town that was going to be their playground for the day. "Why, this is Bath. Famous for its natural hot springs and, as you can see, beautiful Georgian architecture. It's quite amazing isn't it?"

To Cecilia's chagrin, everyone just looked confused, though Charlotte voiced it first. "Well, it is pretty, but why is it named Bath? Isn't that a little too literal?"

Their blonde hostess folded her arms defiantly. "It was named that long before it could be taken literally!"

Leaning past Church's body to look at Charlotte, Laura decided to side against her for the sake of amusement. "I don't know if France is in any position to question the town names of other countries. I seem to recall a French town named "Orgy". And that's one of the more tame examples I can think of..."

Charlotte winced at the mention of it, but managed to find some examples to return fire with. "Yes, well, Germany has silly names for things too! Such as Fickmühlen or Titisee!"

To her credit, Laura merely laughed a little. "I suppose I can't deny that. I suppose every country has some places with silly names."

Apparently a little fed-up with the current conversation and its lack of practical use, Houki plowed it over. "Can we please get back on task and do something other than discuss silly names? I would very much like to eat breakfast at some point."

Deciding that was indeed a better course of action than the current discussion, Cecilia wasted no time in rounding up her friends and leading them off into Bath in search of a somewhat classy establishment to eat breakfast. Being a popular tourist location, the town itself was quite crowded, but even so Cecilia somehow managed to part groups of people with ease. Maybe they were able to recognize their own wealthy countrymen? Regardless, the group as a whole had to walk pretty close together, not that Church found this problematic at all. Laura was even taking advantage of it to walk even closer to him.

Unfortunately, Rin was not, but that still wasn't enough to completely dampen Church's mood, though Cerberus was quick to try and rectify that.

Operator, has it not occurred to you that Bodewig has been incredibly friendly with you lately? It's a massive turnaround from your initial meeting.

I don't see any big mystery. She likes me, to some extent or another.

Operator, did we not just discuss why it was a bad idea to get so deeply ingrained with these people?

Church made sure to keep any negative expression from his face, even though the conversation in his head had turned unpleasant.

Which is why I haven't pulled her off to the side and said 'hey, I like you too, want to go make out?' Look, I know it's not a good idea to entertain relationships any deeper than friends, no matter how the mission plays out. I don't need you breathing down my neck about it.

I simply want you to keep reality in mind at all times, Operator. I know that humans are incapable of acting purely out of logic. I also know that even the most disciplined person has limits to their restraint.

With nothing in particular to say back to the machine at that moment, Church stayed quiet. Not that he could turn his mind away from the topic entirely. Laura was close at his side, practically a hair's breadth from touching him. Though she paid attention to her surroundings, she often stole glances at him as they walked, and always smiled upon doing so.

Admittedly, Church was a little unsure as to when Laura started to have some sort of feelings for him. It seemed that not the long ago, she was just making efforts to be casually friendly. When had she made the jump from one to the other? Or had she at all? Maybe Church was just looking too far into things. It was possible that he was just misinterpreting signals. Then again, he could say with certainty that Laura hadn't made many efforts to get as close to Ichika lately. She definitely seemed to put more energy towards interacting with Church, and he didn't know how else to interpret that.

It was one thing to tell himself not to do anything that could lead to a relationship, but what was he supposed to do if one of the girls initiated that, rather than him? Would he just have to evade them all the time? Outright reject them? Would he even be able to do that...? He was probably disciplined enough to avoid reckless moves of his own making, but he didn't know if he could maintain that discipline if it meant having to treat one of the girls that way.

Doing his best to ignore these convoluted thoughts for now, Church made every effort to maintain a semblance of satisfaction and happiness as he followed Cecilia throughout Bath with the others. Unfortunately this attitude was only skin-deep, because he couldn't dispel the guilt and confusion brought about by his earlier questions. Thankfully, as Cecilia led them into a well-established traditional cafe, it was easier to ignore the things on his mind. After all, as the group was led to a table large enough for all of them (the wait time was suspiciously short, but Cecilia said nothing about it), Church was occupied with thoughts of what he'd want to eat.

But before he could even do that, he was struck with the odd nature in which the girls were situating themselves: mostly because Charlotte seemed to be directing it for some reason. The French blonde was organizing the seating arrangement with an innocent smile on her face, but with too much force to be easily ignored. For some reason she seemed intently focused on seating Rin in a particular spot, as she was holding the brunette back with some mindless talk about what she should try for breakfast.

This was made even more obvious as Cecilia tried to sit on one side of Church (Laura had taken the other side already), only for Charlotte to 'accidentally' bump their hostess into the next seat over before forcing Rin to take her place, despite the brunette's protests. Needless to say, it was painfully obvious that Charlotte was trying to orchestrate something, much to both Rin and Cecilia's chagrin.

Still, it would have been rude to cause a scene in the mostly quiet cafe, so Cecilia didn't make any move to take her place back, even as Charlotte retreated to a seat next to Ichika, who already had his face buried in a menu.

As for Church, he was painfully aware that Rin did not want to be this close to him at this exact moment in time. She looked like she would have much rather been on the opposite end of the table, or even outside of the cafe itself. Needless to say, this made Church kind of miserable, since this was the first time Rin had ever acted like she wanted nothing to do with him. It was tough having your first real friend since coming here treat you like that.

Attempting to bury his sorrows by reading the menu that was placed before him, Church more or less ignored the conversation that engulfed the rest of the group. Unfortunately he was not entirely keen on what would have been a good choice for breakfast around here. Culturally he knew nothing about England's food. That being the case, he decided to question the only native at the table.

"Uh, Cecilia? Any suggestions for breakfast?"

"But of course! The most popular choice is the full English breakfast, but you could also go for bagels and salmon, or maybe porridge. Oh! Or how about a bacon sandwich?"

Unable to discern what a full English breakfast even consisted of and unwilling to try salmon for breakfast (or porridge for that matter), Church decided on that last option. After all, a bacon sandwich sounded like something any American would be comfortable with, and it sounded like it couldn't possibly go wrong. It was bacon and bread, presumably.

So in the end he went with that, while everyone else selected options that may have been closer to their own tastes. Cecilia had naturally selected the full breakfast, while Charlotte went with croissants and coffee. The Japanese members of the table both went with bagels and salmon, and Laura went with a Danish pastry, which made a fair bit of sense. As for Rin, she had gone with something called eggs Benedict; if Church had to guess why, it was because she wanted the hollandaise sauce, which probably offered a less bland alternative to the other breakfast options.

While Ichika and Houki both quietly muttered 'itadakimasu' before they began eating, the rest of the group didn't bother. After all, they weren't in Japan, and by extension there was no need to apply their cultural norms, even though the entire group (Church excluded) had gotten used to it during their stay at the Academy.

That being the case they all dug into their food, but nearly everyone except Cecilia was forced to hold back varying expressions of distaste. Having selected foods somewhat close to their own favored cuisine, Charlotte and Laura looked the least displeased (actually Laura looked entirely indifferent), but their Asian counterparts all seemed put off by their food. Even Houki felt the need to voice her thoughts.

"Why... why is it so bland...?"

Nodding to himself even as he ate, Ichika replied as quietly as possible to avoid Cecilia overhearing him. "I guess they'll be winning that award again this year..."

Too polite to actually say anything rude about her meal, Charlotte merely glanced over at Laura. "H-how is yours, Laura?"

The German girl cocked an eyebrow at the question. "I don't understand the question. As a soldier I do not question the quality of food: I am simply thankful to have any."

Church couldn't help but think that this was likely a notion drilled into the girl's head by Chifuyu, but he didn't say anything to refute her words. Instead, he merely looked over at Rin, who was judging her own food with the critical eye of a chef. He could hear her mumbling to herself about it.

"The flavors are used all wrong, geez... without the sauce the rest of this would just be bland and boring..."

Glancing over at Cecilia, Church noticed that she seemed too enraptured with her own meal to even hear any of the others. Maybe she was just happy to eat something familiar again?

Either way, since he had yet to bite into his own sandwich, Church decided to give the English cuisine the benefit of the doubt. After all, maybe everyone else was biased because they were used to way different foods? Being American Church felt that his country's cuisine should have been somewhat similar. Furthermore, he was just eating bread and bacon: how could that possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, it could. It definitely could. As he bit into his own choice of breakfast, Church was not bombarded with the savory flavor of the bacon he was used to. For some reason the flavor was just entirely basic.

How... how could anyone mess up bacon of all things? I didn't think that was physically possible...

Filled with nigh delusional disappointment, Church turned to Rin, for a moment forgetting that she was more or less trying to ignore his existence. "Rin..."

Having not expected him to speak to her at all, Rin's immediate reaction was to stare wide-eyed at the man next to her. "H-huh...?"

Still too crushed by his tasteless sandwich to take note of Rin's reaction, Church continued his thought. "When we get back to the mansion tonight, could you maybe cook something for me? If we're going to have to eat stuff like this all day, I think I'll need something that's actually good at the end of it to maintain my sanity..."

While making eye contact with the man who had held her in his arms earlier made Rin too flustered and embarrassed to even think straight, she couldn't help but note that he was viewing her food (though he had only tried it once) as some sort of wonderful salvation from horrible cuisine. That meant he really liked her cooking, right? Enough to ask her to cook for him again, clearly...

While that made her superbly happy, Rin still couldn't formulate some sort of response. Because even as she felt a surge of joy at someone asking her specifically to cook for them, she couldn't help but remember that Church had been half an inch away from fondling her butt earlier that morning, and that she had pressed her practically naked chest against him, and that their lips had been right next to each other, and that she had locked eyes with him for such a long time...

With the flustering experience coming back to her in explicit detail, Rin couldn't manage any response at all, so she simply got up from the table in an attempt to escape. She really needed to get away from him for a minute if she was going to think straight again. Being this close to him made it impossible to put thoughts of the accident this morning from her mind.

Naturally her friends were confused, but Cecilia was the first to call out to her. "Rin, where are you going? Is something wrong?"

"I-I-I-I'm just going outside for a second!"

"Uh, for what?"

Wanting to get away as quickly as possible, Rin threw aside politeness in favor of speeding up her escape. "I feel kinda sick so I'm going outside for a second!"

Considering that there was no way she could have missed the implication, Cecilia folded her arms indignantly as her friend quickly stepped out of the cafe. "How unbelievably rude! Who could possibly insult such fine food?"

There were several shared looks of amusement between everyone else at the table, as well as some suspicious coughing from Houki. Even so, Cecilia was oblivious to all of it.

As for Church, he felt like he had just suffered a mortal blow. A girl had literally just run away from him. That was just too painful.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually regret what happened earlier at this point...

Since it was obvious that she wanted to be alone for a moment, no one made any move to go after Rin, instead choosing to continue their meal. Unfortunately it was a little awkward now, though as always Laura seemed indifferent to the atmosphere. That being said, she seemed to realize something as she was eating, at which point she leaned over to whisper to Church.

"You know, I had forgotten until now, but you never did tell us your name."

Church considered choking on his food and dying, since he had hoped no one would remember this today. At the moment it was a very viable option.

"So, you are going to tell us now, right? You gave your word earlier."

Seeing as how none of the other girls were aware of the conversation they were having, Church did his best to minimize his losses. "L-Laura... if I just tell you, that will be enough, right...?"

The girl thought on it for a moment, possibly just trying to make Church squirm, but in the end she agreed with his plea. "Alright. That is acceptable."

"And you won't share it with everyone else the moment I tell you?"

"You have my word."

Church had half a mind to make her promise she wouldn't laugh as well, but he knew that was likely pointless. So with palpable reluctance he leaned closer to the girl at his side to make doubly sure that no one else heard him utter his hated first name.

To her credit, Laura managed to keep a straight face for a few moments, but she quickly found herself suppressing a giggle, resulting in a furious glare from the man beside her.

Dammit, I thought her of all people would be the least likely to laugh!

Seeing that Church was not at all happy about her reaction, Laura tried to console him, though she was still smiling. "Don't worry, it's a very noble name. I believe a very famous knight once had it."

If that was supposed to make him feel better, it didn't. Especially since Laura was still fighting down a fit of laughter. Supremely irritated by this, and admittedly more than a little worried about Rin's disappearance, Church rose from the table with a barely contained huff.

"I'm going to make sure Rin isn't actually sick or anything. She's been out there for a while, after all."

While most of the others simply nodded, for some reason Charlotte gave him a discreet thumbs-up. She was really acting kind of weird today.

Wasting no time in escaping, Church inwardly lamented this turn of events. Now he had something bad going on with two girls. With his luck Laura would never be able to hold another conversation with him with a straight face, and Rin just wouldn't want to hold a conversation with him at all.

I can't believe this... of all the secrets I didn't want to reveal, that was number one.

Even more than our mission, Operator?

Way more than the stupid mission!

But it was out of the bag now, so Church simply sighed and actually looked around the streets of Bath for Rin. She had been gone for nearly ten minutes, after all. Oddly enough, he didn't actually see her around immediately. He hadn't expected her to actually walk off anywhere, being in an unfamiliar town and all. Then again, as he recognized her voice coming from just off to the side of the cafe, Church realized she hadn't gone very far at all.

"I told you, I'm not interested. Are you hard of hearing or what?"

The voice that responded was definitely male, and carried the tone of a certified fuck boy: just with a more British spin. "I heard you. I just think you should reconsider. A foreigner like you is going to get lost out here for sure."

Despite not having eyes on the situation, Church could already envision a taller dude placing his hand on the wall above Rin's head as he obnoxiously leaned in towards her. For some reason, the image got his blood boiling. That said, he was quick to take the few steps necessary to reach the corner of the cafe, which allowed Church to peer around the corner and appraise the situation. To the stranger's credit, he wasn't actually in the obnoxious pose Church had imagined. However, he was still getting uncomfortably close to Rin, who did have her back against the wall. Moreover, there was a second slightly shorter buddy that also had no concept of personal space. Just watching them encroach on her space so blatantly made Church feel a little sick.

Being a woman had a lot of perks in the modern age, but it still bore the same disadvantages as always: there were always sleazy asshat men that saw a trophy or a challenge that didn't have to be treated with basic respect or human dignity.

You've got to be kidding me... isn't this scene straight out of a romantic anime or something?

Maybe not, because Rin wasn't pulling the 'damsel in distress' vibe so much as she was the 'get the fuck out of my face' vibe. "So you're not deaf, you're just stupid. Piss off stick to your league."

The second asshole, a boy of slightly darker hue and curlier hair than his comrade, didn't seem to take this comment too kindly. This time, he did plant a hand against the wall: perhaps trying to remind Rin that both boys were bigger than her.

"I think you're overestimating the league you're in. Someone as small as you shouldn't be saying such big words to guys like us. Really, foreigners can easily get 'lost' around here."

Despite the alarming nature of his words, Rin didn't take any physical action to defend herself. Church could easily guess why: she was a representative of a sovereign nation. She couldn't be reckless with her I.S. in public. Even just punching one of these guys in the face could result in some sort of serious repercussions for her position. That didn't stop her from threatening the guy that had first threatened her though.

"Keep it up and my foot is going to get lost up your ass. Quit wasting your time: I've got someone that's ten thousand times the man you are in mind."

Church couldn't help but wonder just who Rin was talking about. He knew that it was most likely Ichika, but he couldn't help but wish it was him. Kind of deluded, probably. But he couldn't help it. Any sane guy would want to be the target of such earnest praise from a girl: especially one like Rin. Either way, as the two men harassing Rin clearly got more agitated, Church decided now was probably a good time to intervene. One of them had already made a very concerning threat, and regardless of how much of a bluff it probably was, Church wasn't happy about that.

With intervention in mind, Church quietly turned the corner and stalked towards the scene, with none of the three individuals present noticing his approach. That gave him a moment to think about how he wanted to handle this. A big part of him wanted to slug the assholes in the face and be done with it, but he knew that wasn't the best course of action. Even though he didn't have to worry about any political backlash like the girls did, starting a brawl in the streets of Bath was just going to cause problems, and could possibly ruin the entire outing that everyone had been looking forward to. It would be better to solve the situation with words, though he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

Fortunately, the voice of one of Rin's nuisances gave him an idea. "Oh, ten thousand times, huh? Your boyfriend sounds imaginary to me. What, are you in love with some hero from a cartoon? There's no knight coming to slay these dragons, baby."

Church almost came to a complete stop, utterly flabbergasted that anyone could say something like that with a straight face, and unironically think it was cool. Some people well and truly had no self-awareness at all. Hell, aside from Rin's absolutely disgusted expression, which would have crushed the soul of any normal man, even the jerk's buddy gave him an incredulous side eye.

Either way, no one got to say anything else before Church arrived, speaking out from directly behind the two boys. He knew what he was about to say would probably bother Rin in some way or another, but he couldn't think of a better alternative to rectify this situation as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"Is there a reason you two are harassing my girlfriend?"

Upon identifying who was there and what they had just said, Rin's face quickly donned a crimson blush. As for the boys, they swiftly turned around to appraise the new arrival, none too pleased looks on either of their faces. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed particularly put off by his presence, as evidenced by the one with the curly hair.

"Piss off, mate. We saw her first, and no one is going to fall for that trick. The hero act is bloody obvious."

Bah, of course it's someone with more testosterone than brains.

Knowing that he had to sell the charade a bit more convincingly, Church brushed past the two of them and stepped up to Rin and placed an arm around her shoulder. Maybe a bit too recklessly, because his arm came to rest pretty much right on top of her breasts, and modest though they were, there was no ignoring the squish of their softness against him. He hadn't intended to do this, but it kind of made sense: she was a fair deal shorter than him, and body ergonomics couldn't be denied. This was just the most natural place for his arm to rest.

If she had worn a bra today, it probably wouldn't have really mattered that much. But since she hadn't... well, Church was finding it difficult to ignore the one spot of hardness in the center of that mound, and Rin was practically on fire as far as her face was concerned. Even so, Church knew he had to at least handle the scenario at hand before getting worked up about any of that.

"Rin, can you believe these guys? Apparently you need paperwork to prove who you're in a relationship with these days."

Knowing full well that Church was trying to throw her a lifeline, Rin managed to force down her extreme embarrassment just long enough to put on an act. Not altogether convincingly, but she at least made some effort to appear comfortable with Church in front of these strangers, going so far as to gingerly put an arm around his waist. Thankfully, an amount of serious ire towards these young men might have made it easier to focus on the act.

"F-forget them, they're just pathetic losers trying to score on any random girl they can find. Let's go."

Church was honestly impressed by the certainty of her vitriol, but then again, most women had exceedingly low opinions of men that acted as these two had. At any rate, Rin and Church began walking back towards the street, apparently with enough acting ability to convince the two boys in question to cut their losses. Church could hear some scoffing and grumbling from behind them, and he noticed the two nuisances walking off in the opposite direction when he glanced over his shoulder. As soon as they turned a corner, he let Rin know.

"A-alright, they're gone."

Much to his dismay, Rin wasted absolutely no time in extricating herself from Church's embrace after he said that, and she even took a full step away from him afterwards. Damn, was she really so mortified? Was the burgundy coloration of her face a result of humiliation and anger more than anything else? The thought of it upset Church greatly, because if that was the case, it meant he was absolutely off of Rin's radar entirely as far as that light was concerned. Yeah, he knew that he should have been fine with that, since it was better for the mission and all, but acknowledging it still hurt.

He was about to apologize for accidentally touching her somewhat inappropriately, but Church didn't get the chance to as Rin managed to say something, though it was just a mutter.

"You..."

Rin's was looking at the ground, so it was difficult to tell what kind of expression she was making, but her voice definitely sounded accusatory. That notion was confirmed when she exploded in an odd mix of emotions that Church couldn't differentiate between embarrassment and anger.

"Y-y-you pervert! Bastard! What's your problem today, huh?! You've turned into a serial groper!"

Admittedly, Church was not happy to have these accusations thrown against him right after coming to Rin's rescue. Who knew how that situation may have developed without his intervention? That being the case, he didn't really take the time to consider his response.

"Both the time in the limo and just now were accidents! And it's not like I could apologize since you barely spoke to me afterward! You're the only one making a big deal out of it!"

Surprisingly, this response quelled Rin's anger substantially. Although the emotion it was replaced with seemed more like depression or pain than anything else. Why did Church get the feeling that she was jumping to some wild conclusions? The brunette did raise her voice again, but it sounded a lot less like disbelief and a lot more like pained lashing out.

"Well I'm so damn sorry that it wasn't a big deal to you! I'm sorry touching me is nothing special to you, apparently!"

Not even sure how Rin had jumped to this conclusion, Church tried to defuse the situation, though he was now confused. At first he assumed that she was mortified to have been touched by him, but now it seemed like she was upset that he supposedly didn't think anything of it?

"H-hey, I didn't say any of that! Aren't you assuming a little too much?!"

"Hardly! If you had gotten all handsy with Houki or Cecilia you'd be over the moon, wouldn't you?! You obviously don't even think of me as a girl!"

Annoyed by the weight of this accusation, especially considering how ass-backwards it was, Church spoke before thinking. "It's impossible to not think of you as a girl right now thanks to your shirt!"

Not sure what he was getting at, Rin glanced down at her shirt, only to notice that there were two quite obvious peaks pressing against the fabric that were impossible for anyone standing two feet away to miss. Needless to say, she swiftly covered them with her arms, now feeling more mortified than ever. Her silence gave Church a moment to actually think on what he needed to say, and the best way to word it. Although, the things he felt needed to be said were kind of embarrassing...

"Look, Rin, I... definitely think of you as a girl. Y-you're very attractive, just as much as any of the others! I think you're, uh... or, I mean... l-look, only an idiot could look at you and not see a girl, is what I'm saying."

Well, now the two of them were both just standing around blushing, with Church averting his gaze and Rin blankly staring at him in surprise. Shit, this was awkward. Church had sounded a hell of a lot smoother in his head.

Trust me, Operator. You didn't sound any smoother in here.

Too agitated to even respond to that, Church wondered if he had done irreparable damage to his relationship with Rin just now. Would it be impossible for the two of them to even talk comfortably to each other after this...?

"Do you... really think that about me...?"

Glancing back in Rin's direction, Church was graced with a sight that was both adorable and arousing. A blush was still dominant on her face, a stark contrast to the shy green eyes peering at him hopefully from under her long lashes. She'd lowered her arms, exposing something scandalous once again, and her fingers were fidgeting nervously. This was an absolute one-eighty from just a minute ago, and especially from the girl who had been rigidly rejecting those boys in the alley. Shit, this was hot and cute. Church felt a couple of things rising: heat in his cheeks, the rate of his heartbeat, something else in particular...

"Y-yeah, of course I do. You are petite, but that has nothing to do with being attractive or not, y-y'know? It's just a different way of being hot! And you are. Are t-that, I mean..."

Damn, I always thought I would be pretty smooth with girls when it came to stuff like this, but I sound like an idiot right now! Shit!

Though he thought this about himself, Church noticed that Rin was smiling, even though her scarlet blush had intensified. So maybe he wasn't doing that bad after all? At any rate, her next words seemed to assert as much.

"Church... t-thank you for helping me with those guys. And, um... do you still want me to make you something when we get back to the mansion...?"

"Y-yeah, for sure."

Clearly pleased with this answer, Rin's smile widened even further. "OK then, I'll see if I can find some ingredients for Xiaolongbao while we're out today. I think you'll really like them."

Having said that, Rin seemed to think of something and subsequently grew more embarrassed, so she quickly ran past Church and back towards the cafe, maybe hoping to get a moment to collect herself before returning to her friends inside. As for Church, he was left dumbstruck by everything that had just occurred. What the heck had just happened? And what the heck was it going to do to their relationship from here on out? A big part of Church was happy that things had played out this way, and excited about future prospects.

After all, based on this exchange, it seemed that Rin actually did think of him in a very particular light. Church had believed he was an afterthought, just a friend behind her feelings for Ichika, but maybe he had seriously misjudged her feelings? Maybe he actually had a pretty good shot, and the thought of it pleased him greatly.

On the other hand, he knew that complications like that could seriously impact the mission, and that wasn't good at all. So really, he had no idea how to feel about this development. Then again, maybe he was pushing himself too hard trying to make sense of it right after it happened. For now, maybe the best thing to do was go back to the cafe and finish his no doubt cold bacon sandwich. Presumably, he would have plenty of time to dwell on what had just transpired, and what it would mean for the imminent future.

---

Tabane Shinonono had sequestered herself within the room she had been housing Exeter in during her repairs of the machine. While she generally had more fun bothering the handful of people she gave a shit about in this world, Tabane was also capable of secluding herself and cracking down on work, when it needed to be done. After all, she hadn't invented Infinite Stratos by dicking around.

Of course, there was some debate on whether or not Exeter "needed" to be fixed by her, but Tabane was willing to do it for now. After all, she was probably going to get on Chifuyu's bad side soon, and it would be better if she at least got this one request out of the way before doing that. Tabane didn't know when exactly she was going to pull her epic prank with that scandalous image she had taken of Chifuyu, but she was getting kind of restless sitting on such a hilarious idea. But Chifuyu would for sure be livid, so Tabane at least wanted to have some positive credit to her name before doing so. That was why she was making some of the final touches on Exeter's repair right now. All of the critical functions had been repaired, as had most of the secondary things. Tabane could probably finish tonight if she didn't get too distracted.

For the life of her, Tabane felt that Chifuyu should have been grateful to her. Chifuyu had subtly complained about a lack of relationship for years: practically every time she said she could have been married already if not for how busy she was. Of course, Tabane doubted Chifuyu was actually ready for anything that serious, but she could tell that her friend wouldn't have minded a relationship of some sort.

Tabane firmly believed that Chifuyu would need help in that regard. The eldest Orimura sibling had been isolated and unapproachable even when she was young. As the one who had to provide for both herself and her little brother, Chifuyu had always taken everything about life very seriously. She had always been too focused on her work to think about relationships or even relaxing more than once or twice a year, if that. At any rate, Chifuyu pretty much never did anything that got her a step closer to getting into a relationship with someone, so honestly, Tabane's little prank might help her out in that regard. It would at least remind her that she was a woman with certain charms to offer, if she was really invested in nabbing a guy.

After all, Chifuyu was too rigid and laser-focused on work to take that kind of initiative on her own. Though ironically, Tabane believed that was why the two of them had become friends in the first place. Though Tabane herself had been marginally more serious back then as well, she had still been more carefree than Chifuyu, who may have allowed Tabane to befriend her for the sake of enjoying her attitude because she couldn't employ it herself. A de facto enjoyment of the carefree, expressed through another person.

Either way, it was unlikely that Chifuyu would ever be able to land a serious romantic partner as she was currently. Though Ichika could to some extent take care of himself by now, Chifuyu had been playing a caretaker role for so long that her personality had been set in stone. Despite how beautiful she was, there were very few men who would be content to live with a woman of such a... brusque disposition.

Besides, Chifuyu's job meant she interacted with very few men in the first place, so Tabane would take it upon herself to rectify the situation. Granted, she didn't know much about human relations herself, but Tabane did know a lot about Chifuyu specifically, and she knew how to break her down.

The first step was to select a viable target for her affections. That had been easy, as there were only two males Chifuyu interacted with on a level beyond strangers: Ichika and Church. For reasons that were obvious even to a social ditz like Tabane, the first boy was not an option, so that only left her with the second. And despite the fact that she literally didn't care about the American at all, Tabane was able to separate that from her nefarious schemes. This was about Chifuyu. The identify of the man in question was irrelevant to Tabane.

Point being, it was convenient to start with. Chifuyu wasn't the type of woman to just hook up with any kind of man. She would only ever consider someone of a certain caliber. And thanks to his actions during the Crucible incident, Tabane knew that Chifuyu was already quite partial to the American boy. Of course there was the age thing to consider, especially since Chifuyu herself would probably find issue with it, but in the end Tabane was sure she could overcome that obstacle. Plus, it wasn't like he was that much younger, and he was definitely on the more mature side. Chifuyu could probably get over it.

The second step was to break down Chifuyu's very formidable emotional walls. It was more of an emotional fortress really, but Tabane knew she could chip away at it a little bit at a time, hence why she would pull the stunt that would likely infuriate Chifuyu in the first place. More than that though, Tabane knew it would embarrassed her, which was incredibly rare for the woman. Once Church returned to the Academy, Chifuyu wouldn't be able to even look at him without feeling embarrassed, and by extension, vulnerable. Making her feel exposed to certain emotions she was unused to was the most important part of Tabane's long-term plan. Sure, Chifuyu probably wouldn't appreciate it at first, but the eccentric genius was sure her dear Chi-Chan would thank her one day.

Lost in these musings, Tabane almost didn't notice that the Exeter suit she was working on had just moved on its own accord. It had been little more than a twitch, but the machine had definitely moved.

Taking a step back from the thing, Tabane simply smiled as she watched the metal exoskeleton sit up on its own. She didn't know if she had reactivated something herself or if it had simply been returned to a self-functioning state, but the machine seemed to be following a certain protocol now. As the thing planted its heavy feet on the floor, its head mechanically scanned the room before it, before going completely still for a few moments. It seemed to be processing something.

Continuing to merely watch in curiosity, Tabane stepped aside when the machine walked towards her, because it was actually just trying to walk to the door to the maintenance room. It stopped at the metal sliding door, at which point Tabane thought it might actually open it correctly. But a moment after that thought, the Exeter suit punched a hole through the steel before pushing it apart to an extent wide enough to get through. It then proceeded to walk down the hall, where Tabane lost sight of it from the room she was in.

A few moments later she heard another sound of destruction, along with that of engines being activated.

Huh. Chi-Chan is gonna be really pissed about another wall.

---

Somewhere in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near Japan, an unmarked submersible was scanning the ocean floor with a powerful searchlight, alongside numerous other instruments. This vehicle was operating in absolute secrecy. There was only one man on the entire Earth who knew it was there aside from the crew itself.

That was because its mission was too important to be compromised for any reason. This vehicle had been on the hunt for weeks, meticulously searching these waters for one very valuable piece of equipment. They had found bits and pieces of it lying around, but they were still missing the most critical component.

"Sir! I... I think I found it!"

The vessel's captain followed the searchlight beam that one of his crewman was pointing towards a cleft in the ocean floor. Illuminated by this light was mostly useless wreckage, covered in encroaching sea life. But within the center of the scrap metal was one very much intact Infinite Stratos core. With a sigh of relief at finally accomplishing his mission, the graying leader spoke out to the crew.

"Contact the Commander. The Silver Gospel's core has been recovered."

---

And there we go. I think this chapter is a good one, with a good mix of both plot and relationships. Anyone who has made it this far has probably realized that my stories are very dialogue heavy. Well, that's just how it is. Personally, I believe dialogue is the king of good writing, because it's the king of characterization.