Chapter 4: The New Transfer Student:

It was Tuesday, the day after the duel. I woke up more tired than usual but that was to be expected, yesterday I had the Class Representative Selection Match. I was still bummed out by the loss but at least I was close.

Upon reaching the cafeteria I took my food and sat down next to Houki. We didn't speak much other than just a "good morning" as I was tired and Houki was well, Houki. Looking around the cafeteria I spotted Cecilia. She was sitting alone eating a typical British breakfast with eggs and sausages, that was not surprising. What was surprising was that she seemed troubled. She looked as if there was something on her mind that was bothering her which was very unusual for her. She always carried herself with such pride.

But before I could ponder more about her situation Chifuyu-nee walked into the room, dressed in a white tracksuit.

"Listen up students!" she yelled as she clapped to attract attention.

"This morning we are doing practical so finish your food quickly and meet me at the battle arena. Anyone late will have to run 10 laps around the arena!" and with that everyone sped up their eating pace.

Soon enough, the whole class was gathered at the arena in their IS battle uniform. Chifuyu-nee and Yamada-sensei were both there, Chifuyu-nee in her white tracksuit and Yamada-sensei in a turquoise tracksuit.

"We will now have a practical session on basic IS flight maneuvers," Chifuyu-nee explained.

"Orimura. Alcott" I jumped slightly at the mention of my name. "Give a demonstration flight!"

"Certainly!" Cecilia perked up confidently.

Though her manner gave off a sense of determination rather than pride. Ichika noticed a blue, tear-shaped earring on her left ear. It glowed a bright blue light and soon enough, Cecilia was engulfed in a blue light. Once the blue light dissipated, Cecilia was standing there in her Blue Tears IS.

"All right" I muttered out loud as I focused on calling my IS.

However, despite my best efforts, it was not coming out.

"Uhm, what?" I muttered out loud.

"Get a move on. A veteran pilot takes less than a second to call their IS!" Chifuyu-nee exclaimed.

"Ok concentrate" I reassured myself.

I focused for a bit, holding the bracelet that contained Byakushiki.

"Come on out! Byakushiki!" I shouted and this time it worked.

I was engulfed in a white light and once it dissipated I was standing in my Byakushiki.

"I did it!" I exclaimed.

"Now fly," Chifuyu-nee ordered.

"Yes!" Cecilia responded as she took off, launching into the air.

"Okay" I responded as I took off.

Although not as flawlessly as Cecilia as I had some difficulties maintaining balance, but soon enough I was launching into the air, following Cecilia. Cecilia was flying forwards ahead while I was trying my best to keep up from behind.

"You're slow. Strictly spec-wise, the Byakushiki is faster than Blue Tears" Chifuyu-nee explained.

I knew that but I still wasn't used to flying at such high speeds.

"What was it I was supposed to do?" I muttered out loud. "Imagine a pyramid in front of me?"

I remembered one of the methods of flying explained in one of the giant textbooks I had to read through on my first week. I still hadn't recovered the lost sleep hours. "I don't really get it"

"Imagining is nothing more than imagining in any case" Cecilia explained from in front of me.

Her voice was not arrogant or prideful but still distant, like she was a teacher explaining this to a student.

"That is just a reference to help you. It would be more constructive to find a method that works best for you".

"Ah, ok, thank you" I responded a little off put by her change in attitude.

"No problem!" Cecilia exclaimed, her pridefulness returning in her tone.

"Orimura! Alcott!" Chifuyu-nee spoke.

"Do a dive followed by a rapid shot!".

"Roger!" Cecilia responded.

"I'll be going ahead," she said as she turned to me.

Cecilia launched towards the ground like a falling meteor but right before crashing, her IS glided down like a slope until she was in a standing position and her intense speed had faded upon which she gently lowered her unit to the ground.

"Wow, she's good!" I remarked upon seeing how elegantly and gracefully she performed that maneuver.

"Ok, here goes nothing" and with that I charged towards the ground. Let me tell you, flying at such a high speed towards the ground is a very scary experience which really reflected in my performance as I was pulled to glide too late and before I knew it, I crashed straight into the ground.

The whole class gasped with everyone but Chifuyu-nee looked worried.

"Ichika!" Houki exclaimed as she rushed towards where I crashed.

She was followed by Yamada-sensei who was also running and Chifuyu-nee who was walking casually. They stopped at the giant crater which my falling unit had created which was covered in smoke. Once the smoke dissipated, they saw the Byakushki laying at the center of the crater facing down. It soon deactivated leaving me on the floor of the crater. With some effort I pulled my head out of a hole in the crater.

"That hurt, I thought I was going to die," I remarked as Houki and Yamada-sensei sighed in relief.

"You idiot, what are you doing making a hole in the ground?" Chifuyu-nee reprimanded me.

"Sorry, I got the timing wrong," I replied.

"It takes a long time to get used to high speeds and to remember the timings," Cecilia said, her tone still lacking her usual pride.

"It will come with experience. I was able to do it easily because I am a National Representative Candidate with a lot more experience" her pride returned in that last statement.

"Uh, thanks" I replied, unsure what to make of her new attitude.

It seemed like she was trying to prevent herself from sounding too prideful but couldn't always help herself. I was conflicted on what to think of it. On one hand, it was weird. On the other hand, it was better than her talking down to me and calling me a monkey. And why the sudden change in attitude? I thought her trashy attitude would have been reinforced by her beating me in the Class Representative Selection Match. I don't know if I'll ever understand her motivations.

Later, after classes ended, I went to the cafeteria for dinner. Upon getting there I was greeted by the girl with pink hair that I was wearing pajamas when I met her which I later found out was named "Honne".

"Cmon Ori-kun. Class 1-A is having a celebration!" she exclaimed.

"What? What is-," but before I could interrogate further I was being dragged away.

We soon reached a table where I was told to sit. I decided to go along as I wasn't sure what was happening. The whole class was gathered around. Once I sat down the girls all exclaimed, "Orimura-kun, congratulations on getting elected class rep,!" and several girls pulled confetti cannons. I was sitting there stunned and confused.

"How am I class rep? I lost the match" I said trying to understand what was happening.

"It's because I declined the position," from the crowd, Cecilia perked up.

"While I did win the match, it was to be expected. I am afterall a National Representative Candidate. But, you still did well for a beginner and I think being class representative could prove to be a valuable learning experience"

If Ichika thought he could never understand Cecilia's motives before, now he was sure. How did she go from "Having a male as our class representative would be embarrassing" to "It could prove to be a valuable learning experience"

"But don't misunderstand," Cecilia said, her voice more firm.

"Just because I gave you the position of class representative that doesn't mean I acknowledge you as being better than me"
Well I guess she didn't lose all her arrogance.

"Ok," I replied, not wanting to start another conflict with her.

"Now that the explanations are over, lets celebrate!" Honne exclaimed, prompting loud cheers from the rest of the class.

"Aren't you mister popular," said Houki was next to me.

"Tell me about it"

The next day before classes, the students were discussing the upcoming class representative tournament.

"Did you hear about the sudden switch in class representative in class 1-B?"

"Yeah I heard a new transfer student took the position,"

"There going to be Orimura-kun's next opponent,"

"A transfer student at this time?" I asked, confused with such a development.

"Yeah, I heard she's from China," another girl said.

"Maybe they thought I was the class representative so they brought reinforcements," Cecilia said in a tone that I couldn't figure out if it was joking or serious.

"I wonder if she's strong," I said.

"From what I heard only class 1-A and class 1-D have students with personal IS units so I'm sure she's nothing special" another girl said.

"That information is out-of-date." a voice interrupted. "The class 1-B rep has a personal unit,"

In the door of the class, a short petite girl stood there. She had green eyes, long straight brown hair tied into two twin tails by yellow ribbons and her academy uniform had her sleeves detached from her shoulder.

"The match won't be easy for you," All the students looked with wonder at her while I recognized her.

"Rin," I exclaimed. "Is that you?".

"That's right," she replied confidently. "I am the National Representative of China, Guan Rin!"

"Chinese National Representative?" I said in confusion. "When did you do that?"

"Some time after moving away," she replied, smiling proudly.

"You know her?" Houki asked.

"Yes, everyone, this is Rin Guan, my childhood friend," I explained.

"I thought I was your childhood friend," I heard Houki mutter.

"Anyways," Rin spoke again.

"Now that introductions are over, let's get down to business. I am here to wage war on class 1-A!"

"War?" I said, confused.

"You are my opponent for the first match of the class representative cup" she exclaimed loudly.

"What's with you trying to act all cool?" I asked, confused at her shift in personality. She was a lot more quiet during middle school. Sure, she could be stubborn and passionate but she rarely spoke up in class so to see her cause this scene was surprising.

"It's not like you,"

"Hey! I'll have you kno-, OW!" she began but was interrupted by someone hitting her with a clipboard.

"Hey what give-," she stopped her sentence upon seeing Chifuyu-nee behind her.

"It's time for homeroom," Chifuyu-nee explained.

"Chi-Chifuyu-san," Rin said in surprise.

"Call me Orimura sensei. Now get back to your class, you are in the way,"

"I-Im sorry" Rin stuttered as Chifuyu-nee walked past her.

She stood stunned for a bit before regaining her composure and turning towards me.

"We'll settle this later!" she said pointing at me before hastily walking away.

'So she's the National Representative Candidate of China huh' I thought reflecting on our encounter. At least this encounter with a National Representative Candidate went better than the last.

Later, at lunch, I was waiting in line talking with Rin with Houki and Cecilia behind us.

"You totally surprised me," I said, picking up a tray.

"I never would have guessed you would be the class 1-B transfer. You could have given me a call,"

"That would have ruined the dramatic reunion," she explained.

"Yeah, although I guess you still have trouble with Chifuyu-nee," I said with a laugh.

"Well she's..."

"Scary"

Rin sighed as she nodded at my statement.

"So, how have you been this last year," I asked.

"You know, the usual," she said as she took a bowl of ramen from the lady working at the cafeteria.

"I see you still like your ramen,"

"You can't go wrong with ramen," Rin replied.

"True," I said, grabbing a plate of fish.

"So how's your family's business going?" I said.

"Oh it's going great" she explained as we walked together.

"You surprised me when you said you became the National Representative Candidate of China,"

I said as we sat at an empty table, talking while eating

"You surprised me when you were on the news!" Rin exclaimed.

"Yeah, that was a hassle," I said, remembering the drag that was dealing with the media.

"How did you become the National Representative Candidate of China?" I asked.

"Well you see-," but Rin was interrupted by Houki who slammed her hand on the table causing it to shake.

"Explain Ichika!" she demanded.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"What is your relationship with this girl? Is she your girlfriend?"

"What, n-" but before I could properly respond Rin started laughing out loud, surprising Houki.

"Why do you want to know? Are you interested in the position?" she teased.

Houki's face appeared to turn red for a second and she seemed stunned. But she quickly regained her composure.

"I just want to know of any relationships that my training partner has that may interfere with our training, that's all,"

Ah so that was it. I was confused with why Houki was asking about it but I guess it makes sense for her. Still don't know why she got so worked up though. Rin just smirked at her answer.

"Well if you must know, I'm not his girlfriend, just a friend from his childhood".

"Yeah she transferred right after you left". Houki seemed pleased with this response.

"Rin, this is Shinonono Houki. I've told you about her, she was my first childhood friend," Houki seemed to take pride in that last statement.

"I see," said Rin, still smirking at Houki. "Well nice to meet you,"

"Likewise," replied Houki.

"So," I said, trying to bring the conversation back on track "how did you become a National Representative Candidate?"
Rin Though for a moment.

"Well after moving away I took up an interest in the IS and I was pretty good at it. Then my teachers told me I might make it as a National Representative Candidate so I decided that I would become the Chinese National Representative Candidate and after a lot of training and battling, I made it!" Rin explained.

"I see," I responded. "Is the training difficult?"

"Of course!" This time Cecilia responded, joining the conversation.

"Becoming a National Representative Candidate requires rigorous training and high proficiency in the IS, not to mention, high grades. Only the best like myself are elected for that position,"

"Yeah, something like that," said Rin. "And you are?"

At this, Cecilia puffed her chest and returned to her look of pride.

"I am Cecilia Alcott. You may know of me,"

"Sorry, I don't," Rin replied, shocking Cecilia to her core.

"I am the English National Representative Candidate. Surely you must have heard of me!" Cecilia pleaded.

"Sorry, I don't really keep up with the news," Rin said, disappointing Cecilia.

"Anyways," Rin said, getting up from the table. It's time for me to go, so see you around,"

"See you around," I replied.

Rin walked away from the table before stopping and turning back.

"And don't forget about our match," she exclaimed, pointing at me while grinning.

"I won't!" I replied.

"Good cause I can't wait to destroy you!" and with that she walked away leaving me surprised. When did Rin become so confident?

Later that day, after classes were over, me and Houki were in the preparation room preparing for some IS combat training. I was waiting for Houki to enter her IS as she had permission to use one of the school's training units, an Uchigane. It was a Japanese mass produced unit which the academy had many of. The design wasn't all that impressive, being a mixture of grey, black and dark green and it didn't have any weapons other than a simple combat blade and a pistol.

"You sure you're going to be able to fight in that thing?" I asked.

"Of course, the pilot is the most important factor in determining who wins," Houki replied confidently.

"That's right, and that's why I'm going to win!" a voice proclaimed.

Me and Houki turned towards the source of the voice. In the entrance of the preparation room, Rin stood observing us.

"What are you doing here Rin?" I asked.

"Well I was going to offer to help train you," Rin replied while moving her eyes towards Houki who was scowling at her.

"I will be training him," Houki proclaimed.

"Are you sure?" Rin said, eyeing down the Uchigane.

"Wouldn't it be better for me to train him. Afterall I am a National Representative Candidate not to mention I have a personal unit,"
Houki was not deterred by Rin's statement.

"You are his opponent so I doubt you would adequately prepare him for the match,"

"I guess," Rin replied, then turned towards me.

"Well we'll see each other when we fight and I beat you," she said confidently.

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that," I replied, feeding into her challenge.

"You know what, let's make this match more interesting," Rin moved closer.

"Winner gets a demand from the loser!"

"Deal," I replied, causing Houki to look in shock.

"Well then good luck to you," and with that Rin left the preparation room.

I stood there for a moment contemplating what had just transpired.

"Ichika. Do you realize what you just agreed to?" Houki questioned.

I didn't reply as I was still thinking about my conversation with Rin, more specifically the bet I had agreed to.

"Ichika?"

I still didn't answer. I was as still as a statue, dread filling my face. Why did I always have to pick fights with National Representative Candidates?

Author Note: So this is chapter 4 of my Infinite Stratos rewrite, I hope you have enjoyed it. Here I have stuck pretty closely to the original except for Rin's character which is a big change.

The reason for it as that I felt like Rin lacked much of an identity in the original series as she didn't have many unique qualities. Confident? Cecilia and Laura. Aggressive with Ichika? Basically all the girls in his harem. Childhood friend? Houki got that before. There wasn't really much setting her apart from everyone else so I hoped that by removing her as a love interest and instead make her as a friend of his would make her more unique. Not to mention, Ichika has no shortage of love interests and could use someone who he is strictly friends with at the academy.

I also want to thank everyone who left a review and is following the story, it's nice to see that people are interested in it. I'll take this moment to respond to the main reviews.

TyrantBlaze1997: First off, thanks for reading through the whole story and thanks for letting me know about the structure of the paragraph. I'll make sure to edit the previous chapters to improve on it. As for the direction I want to take Ichika in, I do want to have him become stronger overtime and not just stop improving like he did in the OG series. In the beginning he won't be as strong cause he is a beginner however he will develop to be stronger.

As for if I read the LN, I have read certain parts of it. Mainly the last few volumes (starting from when Tatenashi started catching feelings for Ichika) and some parts at the beginning which I based a lot of the first few chapters off. Going forwards, I'll try not to mimic the LN too much, just kinda follow the same story until I depart from it which I plan to do so around the season 2 mark. I have also watched both seasons of the anime which I have mainly been using for the details in the story. I know the story may not seem too different from the canon but I'm trying to lay the groundwork and build up from here.

HR: Thank you for your review and apologies if I have misunderstood anything (I'm work of google translate here). Looking back, I should have probably toned down Cecilia's rudeness and I may do that in the future. I do still think she would be obnoxious mostly because she is a spoiled young teenager in a position of power. As for her insulting Ichika, this is a world where women dominate so it's not unreasonable that she would look down on males. Plus, I could see Chifuyu letting it slide due to it being a good learning opportunity for Ichika. But yeah, I stuck to the original too much and she probably should have had enough self control to not insult the country of the class openly. But thanks for your input.

Thank you everyone again for reading, following and leaving reviews and hope you'll keep enjoying the story