Hi there! I'm back, as of starting to type this story, I have already uploaded chapter 12 to the story, this is a side project I'm working on as I still have to do GCSEs this year. Yes, I am british and I'm a minor, like I said in the previous chapter.

Just to note, I've actually put off typing up this chapter for a bit, after seeing a different story by one Nate Eaton, titled, "Fixed Friendships". I liked the premise of the story, so I'm attempting to revitalise the story. Furthermore, I read the reviews made on the previous chapter and I'm gonna say 2 things:

1) The genre's hurt and comfort because I want to add some fluff with multiple characters, but I won't digress. (You can probably tell who if you have read other fanfics without main OCs or the actual novel)

2) The story is gonna have romance in it, just not now, probably in later chapters but I will sprinkle in some parts of romance into the current chapters, with some characters you would probably least expect.

One more thing, I would have put adventure as a genre but I can only put 2 and Sci-Fi and Hurt/Comfort are more integral to the story in my opinion.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- ISReaderandWriter

TEXT GUIDE:

ITALICS - Either Text Messages, Signs, Flashbacks or AI

BOLD - Machine Names or Important Text

'Single Speech Marks' - Thoughts

"Double Speech Marks" - Characters Speaking

(Brackets) - Details

[Square Brackets] - IS Talking or Displaying Information

I do not own any resources used. They belong to the creator of Infinite Stratos - Izuru Yumizuru

[France, Four Seasons Hotel George IV]

After having the life almost forced out of him through the constant lectures and mock battles provided by Byakushiki and Setsura, Ichika wearily opens his eyes and looks around. Only to see a frantic Charlotte running around, seemingly looking for something.

"Hey Charl"

"Morning Ichika, by any chance have you seen my hairband?"

"You mean the purple one?"

"Yes! That's the one!"

"I think it's on your hand right now..."

Looking down, there was indeed the missing hairband. Realizing her ditziness, Charlotte blushes profusely.

"Don't you say anything about this Ichika!"

"Hai, hai, I won't"

"Promise?"

"Promise"

Realising he hasn't even checked the time, Ichika glances over to his bracelet, displaying the time.

[9:25:39]

"OH CRAP!"

"Huh?! What is it?"

"We have a flight for us at 9:50. We are heading back to the Academy!"

"Uwawawawawauawuawa? It's in 24 minutes!"

"We better hurry!"

Not wasting a few seconds to reply, Charlotte sprints to the bathroom and locks the door, signalling that she would use it.

"Well then, better hurry up and get changed, I can brush my teeth later. Are the bags prepped already? Oh yeah, Charl did them yesterday, but why did she?"

While muttering to himself, a knock on the door is heard, and before Ichika could open the door handle, a voice speaks out.

"Mr. Orimura, there seems to be someone calling the front desk saying that they request your presence. Their names seem to be Laura Bodewig, Huang Lingyin and Cecilia Alcott"

"Could you please tell them to go on without us? Me and Charlotte still need to finish packing up and we will meet them up later?"

With that, footsteps can be heard walking away from the door. Ichika returns to changing into his outfit, before noticing that he had a few messages from Tabane.

Hi Hi! This is the super famous and mad genius Tabane Shinonono! Ii-kun~ How've you been? I heard about the Phantom Task attack and mama here is worried about papa. Also, I have a few new upgrades and weapons for Se-chan and Bya-chan when you come back to the Academy. Before I leave, Ku-chan has been worried sick about papa, she might visit you in a few days in the Academy!

'Hm, What does Tabane mean by that? Anyway, Setsu? Do you want to see these new upgrades and weapons?'

[Only if they are melee weapons, ranged ones make me sick! Wait, did you say upgrades???] Ichika could clearly see Setsura with a tail wagging at the prospect of possible advancements.

'Setsu, why do you hate ranged weapons? and before you say they disgust me, explain exactly how they do? They do prove useful in situations where melee and shields are not enough.'

[The idea of being able to kill someone effortlessly is not something that should be used! Onii-san, you should know this more than others]

'Yeah yeah, could you please be able to stand them at least and allow them into your equalizer slots?'

[No]

'Well then, I guess you won't need a way to make a physical body anytime soon.'

[WAIT! Please, there has to be another way!]

[...]

[See? Even Onee-san wants to!]

'Then get over your distate of guns and allow me to implement them!'

[I can't guarantee it, but maybe after 5 days I'll get used to them]

'Finally, see how easy that was?'

[Hmph! In return, I'll make your Emperor's Cloak training even harder!]

'It's a worthwhile trade-off'

Still bickering in his thoughts. Ichika hears the bathroom door open, revealing a blonde bombshell wrapped in a thin towel. Blushing, Ichika turns away, before running into the bathroom with his outfit and locking the door behind him.

Dumbfounded, Charlotte wondered what made Ichika so uncomfortable in the first place.

'Why did he suddenly rush into the bathroom like that?' She speculated what made Ichika so nervous, before realising that she only had a towel on and swiftly ran to her outfit, which consisted of a white sundress, a straw sun hat, black stockings and white beach sandals.

Once she finished changing, Ichika stepped out of the bathroom, revealing a stature of pure confidence and strong-will, donning a pair of black Rayban Aviator Classics, a navy blue short-sleeve shirt buttoned up to the 2nd top button, revealing a black tank top. Complimenting it were a pair of onyx trousers and clear white sneakers. He had slicked his hair back to provide ample room to place his sunglasses on when he was not using them.

"You look good, Ichika" Charlotte voiced her opinion in a clear laudable tone.

"Same could go to you Charl" He retorted in a polite fashion, earning an earnest smile from Charlotte.

"Anyways, I need to go to the lobby to ask for the concierge to arrange a transport for the airport"

"Ah, right, I'll see you back here soon Ichika?"

"Right back at ya!"

He walks out the room, allowing Charlotte to succumb to her anxiety and reflect on the previous night where she had some liquor and became drunk.

'What do I do? What do I do? I told Ichika that I loved him yesterday! Do we start dating now or do I try again and again before he asks me to be his girlfriend?' She frantically searches her brain, trying to understand the current situation that she had put herself in.

'Mother, what should I do?'

[France, Charles De Gaulle Airport]

"Where have you been, Ichika?" Rin interrogatively asks. Exuding an air of hatred and fury.

"Didn't the hotel tell you? Me and Charl were still packing when you came to pick us up" He replied in a slight frightened manner.

"I'm talking about what Charl is doing holding onto your hand?"

"Wait, am I?"

True enough, he was indeed holding Charl's hand and intertwining his fingers. How he didn't notice is something even he didn't know.

"Um, Charl?"

"Ichika?"

"Could you let go of my hand please?"

"Ah! S-sure..." Charl removed her hand from his, while dropping her expression to a melancholic gloom.

"Rin, Where is Laura? I thought she would be with you?"

"L-L-Laura's gone to arrange a transport for Cecilia, we believe she can be treated faster at the infirmary rather than here"

"Ah, that's makes sense. Let's go! It's already 9:45"

Finishing his sentence, Ichika grabs his suitcase and heads for the private sector of the airport, bringing Rin and Charlotte's bags with him on his back. The current formation that they were in were as followed: Ichika in the front holding his boston bag, Charlotte's suitcase and Rin's duffel bag, Charlotte in the back right, Rin in the back left.

'Ichika would make a great husband...' Charlotte seemed to go off thinking about a future with her and Ichika.

'This idiot... Always doing too much. Though this isn't that bad' Rin thought, slightly blushing while putting on a quizical face.

Upon reaching the gate, they expect to see a small private jet. However, what was supposed to be a Gulfstream G50 private jet, they instead see a military Airbus A400 transport craft. Even more surprising, all their ISes detected another IS in the vicinity, but nothing was there...

"Hm? Who's IS are we seeing?" Rin asks, starting to prepare for a battle right there in the airport.

"And why is there a military transport here?" Charl comes with next big question out of the three.

'An IS that's not visible to the human eye and a slightly modified A400 built to upgrade ISes. Isn't this my Optical Cloak that the IS is using and by my guess, this is the German air-force? I know that France wouldn't use an A400 for IS upgrading' Ichika thought, using his exspansive knowledge to evaluate the certain circumstances.

"Behold! The new defensive system of the Schwarzer Hase!" A confident voice huffs out, exuding a cool and calm nature.

"I knew it..." Ichika mutters under his breath, luckily the other two didn't hear his voice of disappointment.

"Laura! Could you get down here?"

"Sure thing, my wife. Oh, Cecilia's already in the transport plane, we used some reconstruction gel to repair the broken bones in her limbs, she should be fine by the end of the trip."

"Commander Bodewig! It's best to leave now before the wind headings make the journey longer!" A blue-haired woman stepped out of the rear of the plane, wearing a military beret ranking lieutenant and a obsidian set of office clothes. This woman fascinated Ichika as he noticed she had the same eyepatch over her left eye as Laura. Was she part of the experiment that made Laura?

"Alright! Everyone, get in the transport, we have an ETA of 13 hours and 15 minutes! Better not make it any longer!" Laura continued, assuming the same disposition as her rank in the German military.

[Greenland, In the air]

"So wait, Laura, why exactly did you bring the whole Schwarzer Hase with you? We are just returning back to the Academy, not going on a mission." Ichika didn't know why Laura brought her squad with her, he thought it was unecessary.

"They wanted to experience Japanese culture for themselves, so I allowed them to come with me, of course, with permission from the German armed forces command" She replied in a smooth manner, complimenting her posture while in the temporary benches of the transport.

In the middle was seemingly a new IS unit, which looked nothing similar to the Schwarzer Regen other than the overall Black paint-scheme but with white trimmings accompanying the sleek and seemingly powerful IS unit. Judging by Ichika's guesses, it was designed as a recon unit, capable of using the Noise Engines normally used in AA missiles to mask it's presence in radar and sonar, with a full pilot armor system probably for outer space and underwater use instead of being traditional armor.

'This looks very similar to a design I've seen, but where?'

"Do you want to know what that is?" Asked a petite girl wearing the same outfit as Clarissa but with a less militaristic appearance, she had soft, pink hair that fell down to just halfway down her back in a high-ponytail and red-framed glasses, similar to Maya Yamada.

"I'm probably guessing this is a potential IS model for your lieutentant Harfouch?"

"Correct! Ehehe~ It's our latest project IS, Schwarze Nebel. Our data suggests it can reach Mach 1.6 while maintaining stealth with the Noise Engines and Optical Cloak that you've seen with the upgraded Schwarze Regen of Commander Bodewig!" She hopped around in joy, reminding Ichika of a certain yellow-eyed girl with similar pink hair always wearing a long-sleeved IS uniform.

"I assume that there is a multitude of program errors? I can see from here that the IS core isn't even affecting the suit itself"

"We tried getting the IS to accept the new weapon choices, but it seems that it enjoys the use of ranged weaponry! It's better to use short ranged melee weapons for the missions it would go on!" She looked down in a pensive matter, obviously affected by the painstaking amount of hours spent on the suit.

"I'll work on it ok?"

"Sure!"

Opening the wiring hatch, Ichika summoned his trio of holo-keyboards and started manifesting solutions to the IS and managed to convince the core to at least accept the melee weapons.

[Onii-, you really need to stop working with other girls when you have us!]

'Sorry Setsu, but you know how much I love working on ISes'

[Hmph! Then be ready to eat more of those choco-cream buns when we get back yeah~?] Ichika shivered at that sentence, he could barely finish two last time.

"Are you alright Orimura-kun?" The pink-haired girl asked with definite worry in her voice at the sweating Ichika.

"Yeah, I was just talking to my IS. Anyway I've finished with the programming aspect, she should accept some melee weapons but give her a plasma rifle just to make her happy. Okay?"

"Yup! I'll give her a prototype rifle that should have a built in silencer for the plasma!"

'That would probably overheat the rifle and break it, but mistakes help them learn. Oh well' He thought in his mind due to the last sentence.

"I'm gonna go to Laura, ok? Can you just monitor the IS programs and notify me if there is any code missing?"

"Ok! My name is Marie, if you need me anytime soon"

With that, Ichika walked away from the IS and soon joined the group of four: Tatenashi, Laura, Rin and Charlotte. (Cecilia is in a stasis bed under the effects of the reconstruction gel while Clarissa is with the other members of the Schwarze Hase in the cockpit)

"Hey Ichika~! I've heard that you're the apprentice of Doctor Shinonono. Do you mind looking into my Mysterious Lady? The nanomachines that I use have been getting sluggish lately. I'll throw in a treat for my lovely kouhai~" Tatenashi revealed a cheshire grin, purring like a cat and inching closer to Ichika, who sems to be out of focus and trying to remember a previous memory.

"Ichika?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought for a second there... What did you say?"

"I said: can you help me fix my IS, my nanomachines have been getting quite sluggish lately"

"S-sure" He answered reluctantly, but not as much as to be seen, but obvious if you looked deep into it.

The other girls on the other hand, showed signs of worry, they've known Ichika for quite a while, so they could easily detect when he was worried about something.

'Something seems off about Ichika, he doesn't normally act like this' Laura examined Ichika's appearance, taking note of every shift in his posture and facial expressions.

'The only time he's been like this was when he baked that cake in middle school' Rin remembered that incident, which caused a major scar in Ichika's memory.

'Ichika...' Charlotte was the only one who did notice his demeanor, but didn't understand why.

"Yes! Alright Ichika~, let's go to the maintenance bay and have some fun shall we?" Tatenashi replied joyously, bringing the trio out of their stupor.

"You will do no such thing wife!"

"I-c-h-i-k-a"

"You really do know how to piss a girl off!"

"WAIT! PLEASE!" Not even a finished sentence came out of his mouth before a Vent assasult rifle came into his face.

A few screams could be heard in the cockpit, though no one paid any attention to them. Even Marie didn't seem to notice echoes of punches and blanks as she continued monitoring the Schwarze Nebel.

[Somewhere, Tabane's Lab]

As the ingenuine scientist mechanically typed away at the keyboard, she kept on wondering how her favourite little apprentice was doing handling swarms of hungry teenage girls, knowing his denseness.

'Hmmmm, Ii-kun really needs to step up his game... Those girls keep on messing around with him too much and I fear he might get hurt sooner or later' Her robotic bunny ears flopped around, then drooped down as to show signs of remorse and worry.

"? Am I getting worried for him?" She believed she thought of Ichika as a simple friend, someone who only existed as the brother to her dearest friend and the target of love from her little sister.

'Am I falling in love with Ii-kun?' Tabane didn't know what love felt like (A/N: She's still a virgin in this story, the table and straps scene she referenced with Chifuyu was probably just a DNA extraction to find out about the genetic enhancements, and I believe she's a virgin in canon too) but she did want to experience it.

"Mama? Is everything okay?" Chloe asked, showing a slight amount of concern even with her eyes closed.

"Everything's fine Ku-chan, mama's got everything under control" She comforted her adopted daughter, while forming a faint blush on her cheeks at the thought of having her, Ichika and Chloe as one true happy family.

'I reaaaaaaaally do hope Ii-kun's okay...'

[14 hours later...] [Japan, Near Tokyo International Airport]

"It's been soooooooo long~" Tatenashi got up with a small stretch and groan. She really didn't want to wake up.

"Hm? What's holding my legs down?" She reached down at the temporary blanket she used from her IS space and pulled it apart, seeing a distinct shape of a masculine leg pinning her own legs down. Realising what it was, she slowly turned around, managing to slowly reveal a sleeping Ichika, drooling out of the side of his mouth and onto the metal flooring of the hangar.

Starting to grin, Tatenashi pumps her fist up in the air. Signalling she has won against the others in their bout to sleep by Ichika's side, who was already passed out cold from their attempts to put reason back into his brain.

'We should be near the airport, I probably should get ready for when we land-' As Tatenashi was about to finish her thought, a voice can be heard over the intercom.

"ATTENTION! ALL PERSONEL AVAILABLE, PREPARE FOR A LOW ALTITUDE DIVE. UNABLE TO LAND AT THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. WE WILL LAND THE PLANE ELSEWHERE AND MEET UP AT THE PREDESTINED RENDEVOUS POINT: IS ACADEMY TRAIN STATION"

"Great... I guess we'll have to jump."

Jolting awake, Ichika scrambles to sit up, wondering what that announcement was.

"Oh? Ichika-kun~ it seems we're jumping out of the plane, we can't land at the airport. Do you want to skydive with me?"

"It's fine, Tatenashi-san, I already know how to skydive from the multitude of weird lessons from Setsu" With that, Tatenashi put on a playful pout.

"Awwww~ Ichika-kun doesn't want to spend time with Tatenashi onee-chan!"

"I would like to... but now's not the time. I've got to wake up the others if they haven't just yet."

Before Tatenashi could even break out of her stupor from the quick decline that would have normally worked, Ichika was already on his way to wake up the others.

"ATTENTION, NOW OVER IS ACADEMY, TAKE A PARACHUTE AND PREPARE FOR JUMP"

Alarms started blaring, flashing red, which had a side effect of waking up everyone else still knocked out. Even then, Ichika still had to shake Rin awake (she's a heavy sleeper). Strapping on the parachute bag, Ichika noticed another woman across the room with a lime green pair of twin-tails, just like Rin, helping one Clarissa Harfouch in fastening the IS to her. Walking up to her, he managed to keep a cool manner and asked her a question.

"Lieutenant Commander Harfouch, what are you doing with the IS?"

"Didn't I tell you Orimura-san? I'm bringing Cecilia down to the Academy."

"WHAT?! Shouldn't she be put down more safely?"

"Don't worry, this IS is built with a soft but rapid experience in mind anyway, it should be easy to bring her down." Clarissa looked away as if she was a child hiding a secret from their parents.

"That isn't the only reason why you're coming with us, isn't it?"

"Nope, that isn't. I'm going to the IS Academy so I can accompany Commander Bodewig in her struggle against the other girls for her love..."

"So it's been you that's been teaching Laura about Japanese shojou manga and me being the wife..."

"..."

"Don't try to be innocent!"

"I'm sorry"

"You don't have to be. I can teach you about Japanese culture personally if you want to"

"I would be delighted to!" Clarissa's elevated smile radiated as she finally could experience weeb culture first-hand.

It came with a side effect though, giving Ichika the chills as if there were three sets of daggers pointed to his back.

"ATTENTION! OPENING CARGO HOLD DOORS. STAND BY FOR DROP"

Hydraulics hiss, pulling the cargo doors open. Strong winds blow into the hold, allowing Ichika's dark blue shirt to flutter freely in the wind, only being held in place by his arms. Not even noticing it, he already had a band of girls viewing the muscular male, drooling at the sight of his black hair and dark-blue shirt flying around.

Starting with Clarissa, using her IS to hold Cecilia in an AIC. She leans out of the hold and allows the IS to drag her off the platform, activating the stealth abilities while doing so.

After Clarissa, it was Ichika. Feeling in the mood, he walked back from the platform. Unsure of what he was doing, Laura pipes up.

"My wife, what are you doing?"

"Laura, I'm really gonna need to teach you about romance. About what I'm doing, you'll just have to watch me"

Finishing his walk back, Ichika dashes forward to the edge of the platform. Reaching the end, he sommersaults out of the plane. This earns the reaction of many gasps of shock while he shouts in joy and pure adrenaline.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO"

"""ICHIKA!"""

Looking out the plane, they see Ichika speed down towards the academy, before opening the parachute roughly 1,000 feet above. Slowly falling down, the rest of the girls picked up their bags and followed suit, assuming a standard military skydive procedure.

No one on the ground saw the fiasco, especially his sister. Except for one sly bunny and close-eyed child.

"It seems that papa's back, mama"

"That's right Ku-chan, are you ready for the IS Academy festival in a few days?"

"Yes! I get to see papa again!"

[Next Morning] [IS Academy, Room 1027]

It's only been 2 hours since their landing at the Academy. Having kept Clarissa in their room, Laura and Charlotte decided to go to the public bathrooms to relax, leaving Clarissa two options. Come with them in the bathouse, or stay in the room. Choosing to stay in the room, Clarissa twiddles her fingers, allowing her mind to wander into the endless abyss of her artificially manifested brain.

'It's actually really boring here, I can't do anything outside of the room before she sees me' She was terrified at the prospect of meeting her mentor once again.

'I guess I can see what my Commander does here daily...' Ruffling through the cupboard, she stumbles upon a certain pair of kitten onsies, one in a light black and white stomach with another being a steel grey colour.

'Ooo, these sure look cute, I can see where Commander is going with this. I hope Commander and Miss Dunois won't get angry with me if I just borrow these clothes for a short bit...'

Taking off her own clothes and slipping into the grey onsie, Clarissa fills out the outfit perfectly, showing a curvy body whilst maintaining the cute aura that Laura eminates.

"Hmm, these really do feel nice. I wonder how Commander Bodewig would act in this with Ichika. Maybe she'd make some sort of cat sounds while seductively walking towards him, Like... meow~?"

Whilst keeping up with her imaginary scenario with Laura and Ichika, she doesn't notice the sound of the door knocking and slowly opening. Turning around, she looks towards the door and notices a blushing Ichika, mouth fully open being frozen in place.

"Um... m-e-o-w?" She replies nervously, turning red as a tomato herself.

"Hi... Clarissa." He answered in a sheepish tone, not understanding what to do in this type of situation. None of the girls were this forward when interacting him. Not even Laura, which was saying something.

"You alright Mr. Orimura?" She asked, seeing him slightly move backwards.

"Huh? Oh yes, I'm fine. But what are you doing?"

"I was just trying on some stuff I found lying around"

"I'm just gonna say it. You look really beautiful in that..." He stared at her, with a more entranced look. Giving Clarissa a well earned blush on the cheeks.

"I think you should leave before they get he-"

"And why is that~?" A seductive tone echoed from the doorway, causing both people in the room to freeze in their tracks.

It was obvious who it was, and it didn't need a genius to figure out who it was...

"Tatenashi-san?"

"Wrong~"

Wait, if it isn't Tatenashi, who was it...

Slowly turning around, Ichika could finally get a good look. Noticing the busty figure and the short-cut blonde hair, he knew at that precise moment who he was talking to.

"Calling-san?? What are you doing here?"

"Funny you ask. I applied here for a job as an IS instructor, and they accepted!"

"Isn't that a bit too fast? Even for someone as powerful as you would have surely been waiting for some time before they would accept you."

"My my, you really have a knack for complimenting older women. That's why me and Natale like you so much~" She gave a sultry smile as she winked at Ichika.

As he was worrying about the worsening situation between the three, two distinct feminine voices could be heard.

"Hey, Laura, why don't we go to the arcade in the city, just me, you and Clarissa?" Charlotte's voice echoed through the brightening halls.

"It would be pleasureable, but I need to worry about my wife's condition first as a husband before my own!"

"Come on, you're more likely to be the wife than the husband here!"

"Preposterous! I need to protect Ichika with all I ha-" She didn't even finish her last sentence when she saw a familiar cat onesie on a frozen officer.

"Laura? What are you looking at..." Charlotte turns to the room, noticing a Harfouch kitten standing in the middle of the room.

"Um... good morning Commander Bodewig, I-i must say, these onsies feel really good to be in." Clarissa nervously replied, continuing to raise a heavy blush.

'Goddammit! Even Clarissa is a potential enemy!' Laura formulated a rather outrageous thought in her head. While doing this, she and her blond ally fail to notice a black haired boy slip out of the room. Though this was rather sneaky oddball was caught quite soon by Iris, playfully teasing him at the potential life or death situation that played in their room.

"I'm really gonna have to change my luck, this is getting to close for my liking" Ichika facepalmed mentally at the countless scenarios where the quintuplet group misunderstood the situation. Continuing his non-chalant walk around the campus, he decides to walk towards the kendo building, where Houki should be. Noticing a white ribbon which he presumed was hers at one side of the changing room, Ichika shows content, and decides to start changing himself into his personal kendo attire.

Tightening the navy black with white embroidered obi, he held his bokken in a relaxed matter as he stepped out of the changing room and into the training area. With Houki not noticing him, he decides to play a light trick on her. Tip-toeing towards his unsuspecting victim, he grabs a hold of her in a tight embrace while slowly removing her bogu (the kendo armor that contestants usually wear). However, the girl Ichika suspected was Houki was not Houki at all. He reflexively moved back out of the embrace, allowing the mysterious girl's cream blonde hair to unravel down her back, forming a set of waves which mesmerised Ichika, reminding him of Cecilia's own hairstyle, but in a softer and more narrow shape down her back.

"I'm very sorry! I'll take any form of punishment! Just don't beat the life out of me!" Ichika knelt down to a complete apologetic bow, earning a light giggle from the girl as she turned around.

"Oh my, it's not a problem, Ichika... I know your usual antics with the other girls of the first year" The enigmatic female reassured Ichika.

"Um... Who exactly are you? I've never seen you before..." He questioned the woman, earning a small smile on her face. She slowly moved her hands off from her bokken and placed one on his shoulder with the other on his face.

"Name's Daryl Casey... I'm part of the 2nd years as of late. It's obvious that you wouldn't know who I am."

"No no, I'm pretty sure you are the representative candidate for America, am I right?"

Tilting her head to the side gingerly, she nodded in an abnormally large manner compared to her previous actions. Ichika smiles lightly, giving her a red tinge on her cheeks as she slowly removed her hands off of his body.

"You're quite the charmer, you know that?"

"Wait really?"

"And there it is again, that infinite amount of denseness that everyone talks about"

"Hey! I'm not that dense!"

"We'll see... Ichika~" She leans towards Ichika and lightly pecks his left cheek, leaving a soft but noticeable kiss mark, before walking off into the changing rooms. While doing so, she turns back and sees Ichika standing completely still, not moving a single muscle. She winks at the boy, snapping out of his trance and shuts the door behind her.

On the other side of the door, Daryl slumped over a row of lockers, allowing her curvaceous body to fall down to the floor. She slowly places a finger on her blood red lips, starting to erupt a bloodstream of emotions on her cheeks, making her look even more seductive.

"What? Why did I do that?" She reflected on the previous events that transpired, she never did this to anyone, even to her lover, Forte Sapphire. Trying to regain her composure (key word: Trying), she stood back up to her feet and continued to walk over to her locker, changing as rapidly as possible. She wanted to forget what happened today.

She couldn't, and she definitely wouldn't.

[8:40AM] [IS Academy, Classroom 1-1]

Only a minutes early before the start of class, and coincidentally, only the group of 6, including Tatenashi, that partook in the ISED Convention were present in the room currently. Not even Chifuyu and Maya were here. Though that was planned. Today, they were going to talk about a very serious matter, specifically pertaining to the ever growing threat that is Phantom Task. The same people who kidnapped Ichika, caused the death of Cecilia's parents and the theft of multiple government ISes.

"So, anyone got anything relating to our friendly Phantom Task?" Ichika asks the other parties present.

"Sadly, no, PT's been off the grid for the past few days. The German government or the Schwarze Hase have nothing relating to them. They're literally and metaphorically ghosts" Laura looks back pensively at Ichika, who clearly was showing anger and regret.

"FOR THE GOOD LORD OF GOD, FUCK! I've worked so hard, did everything I can to stand on my own two feet and protect those I care about and I still cannot come close to them... I almost lost someone again." Ichika threw a desk across the classroom with an almost machine-like power behind it.

"Ichika-san..."

"What was that?" Charlotte asked, herself feeling a little scared from her love interest's sudden outburst of power.

"Hey, baka, when'd you get this powerful?" Rin teased Ichika, failing to lift the mood of the group.

"I... I don't know..." Ichika was at a loss for words. He never was this strong, neither was Chifuyu-nee. Did this have to do with the memory he had while talking to Cecilia?

As he was thinking, the door burst open, showing a furious and powerful powerhouse. Chifuyu Orimura. Though no one could see it, she was definitely worried, not for the safety of her brother, but rather what her brother had just done.

'Ichika just threw a desk towards the back with such tremendous force... Even I can't do that. Is this the effects of the project? But how? Mom and Dad always thought of him as the failure of the project. We all treated him like shit... Was that a lie?' She focused all of her attention on Ichika, noticing the small but sharp glint of black in his sclera, threatening to envelop his whole eye.

'Better keep an eye on him. He gets into the hands of Phantom Task, then shit hits the fan.'

Returning out of her thoughts, she spoke in an emotionless tone towards the group, but more specifically, Ichika.

"You 6, get ready for Homeroom. Orimura, meet me outside of my office during Lunch, we've got a little talk on our hands after the fiasco that you just displayed."

"Hai, Orimura-sensei."

"Good, now MOVE IT."

Upon hearing the Devil Queen's orders, Tatenashi readily exits the classroom, waving at the group to meet at the balcony during break, with the rest of the group helping to fix the desk out of the wall and back into place. They had to use an IS for that job...

How strong is Ichika really ?

[9:00AM] [IS Academy, Classroom 1-1]

With everyone sat down in their respective places, Maya walked up to the blackboard, opening up a presentation that was obviously different from the usual Homeroom presentations.

IS Academy Festival. 21 October.

""""Yamada-sensei, what is this?"""" A group of girls asked the green-haired teacher, who looked back at the girls and gave a joyous grin at them.

"This here, students, is our annual IS Festival!"

"So what does that have to do with us?"

"Simple, you lot vote on what to do for the festival. Think of it as a normal school festival." Chifuyu replied in Maya's stead, seeing that with her answers, they were getting nowhere...

"Ahem, so does anyone have an idea for what we are gonna do today?" Maya asked the group, pulling up a polling chart on the board.

Seeing multiple hands shoot up into the air, Maya picks a student at random.

"Tanimoto-san, what do you suggest?" Landing on a certain red-head, she stands up and proposes a rather wild idea.

"I suggest a treat-yourself-to-Orimura!" She shouted happily, causing a sea of debate from the rest of the women, and a worried expression from said boy.

'Oh great, another reason for women to release all of their pent up hormones at me.' He gloomed at the last phrase, he knew he wasn't a toy, but he couldn't bring himself to someone who hadn't hurt anyone close to him, especially his close friends.

"No! I suggest an Orimura trial experience!" Another girl, Kiyoka Aikawa, suggested another outrageous event that exploited the free will of our protagonist.

"Alright ladies, that's enough, I assure you that I will not, I repeat, will not partake in any of these activities..." He spoke up, generating an aura of pure certainty and confidence in his answer.

"Alright alright, does anyone have a suitable idea for the festival?" Maya took back control of the situation, which backfired heavily.

"Ok Yama-pi!"

"Sure sure, Maya-chan."

"Don't call me that!" Maya anxiously shouts to calm the class down, which did little to nothing in stopping their debates.

"How about a maid cafe?" One Laura Bodewig suggests, instantly peaking the interest of Ichika, Chifuyu and Maya.

"I-i've heard about those in magazines that Charlotte reads."

"Hey! Laura!" Charlotte seethed at the statement, it was supposed to be a secret. On the other hand, both Ichika and Chifuyu glance over to each other before laughing lightly.

"That sounds like a great idea, thanks Laura." Ichika responds back at Laura, suggesting Maya the same idea, earning multiple nods of approval. This seemed like a perfect idea, but it wasn't going to go through without any of the trademark "girl's treatment".

"We will allow that. But. We must have Ichika join the maids as the lead butler"

"I don't see any problems with that, sure it may be a bit annoying. However, there is some sacrifices you must make" Ichika shrugged at the demand, he was used to this level of hormones from Tabane and his sister when she was this age.

A few girls shot their hands into the air, signalling their victory in the negotiation.

Now all they had to do was prepare for the big day and hope for the best.

Hey, ISReaderandWriter here,

It's been two days since I started writing this story and it's around 9PM when I'm writing this. To clear up some things:

I added Daryl Casey in this part of the story as it would make sense and I don't want to create a whole arc before she gets introduced with Forte Sapphire.

Additionally, I am going to break down their sexual relationship, as much as I am alright with homosexual relationships, I think Autumn and Squall's relationship is enough already.

The fluff in this story will be a story-building arc probably soon after the festival, though that is not a guarantee.

Now, onto some fun news, I can happily say that I can probably churn these stories out every 3-5 days due to the plan already being formulated in my head and written down on a note doc. So happy days!

I'm planning to add a separate story to this which contains all the data and information on IS pilots and their respective IS to prevent it from taking up word count on the chapters. I like to see how much I actually write per story.

Finishing my rant, I thank you for reading this story and I hope you stick around for newer chapters and the eventual release of Infinite Stratos: Fixed Friendships and Bonds (My other potential story as a continuation to Fixed Friendships by Nate Eaton, it's been roughly 5 years since it was last updated and stories should never end on a cliffhanger).

Anyways,

See you soon

- ISReaderandWriter