Chapter 10: Tension before the Interclass Tournament
The next morning was pretty normal considering the bombshell dropped last night, although I don't know what I was expecting. The morning lessons were discussing teamwork due to the upcoming interclass tournament and Yamada-Sensei seemed to be presenting them with more confidence, likely due to her victory against Cecilia and Rin.
Lunch hours were also pretty standard. No one else seemed to be suspicious of Charlotte and we were able to not draw suspicion although I did almost slip in calling Charles Charlotte.
Once classes ended me and Charlotte stayed in the library going over battle theory and coming up with strategies for the upcoming tournament.
"Since my IS doesn't have any immediate power weapons our ace will probably be your Reiraku Byakuya," Charlotte explained. Being the more knowledgeable one, she was doing most of the talking while I tried to keep up.
"The best way would be to coordinate my shooting with your ignition boost. If I can push one opponent into your direction and you charge them with your Ignition Boost, we can take them out and then it will be a 2v1 which should guarantee our win. Of course, if we keep relying on it our opponents will be more careful and keep their distance. In that case it will be more difficult since you lack longe range weaponry and-"
"Slow down Charlotte!" I exclaimed. By now Charlotte was speaking rapidly and my mind couldn't listen as quickly as she talked.
"Oh, sorry," Charlotte said, seeming a little down about my statement.
"It's ok, just say what you said a bit slower," I reassured her. "My brain can barely keep up with Yamada-Sensei's talking," I added.
"Ok then," Charlotte said, her mood shifting back to a more positive one as she explained again.
Meanwhile, in the academy's battle arena stood a blue IS unit piloted by a blonde girl.
Cecilia Alcott stared at the ground, seemingly lost in thought. She was then interrupted by the loud sound of a moving IS. Lifting her head up she was met by a familiar pink IS flying towards her.
The unit stopped just a few meters in front of her, its pilot, Rin Guan, looking at her with a look of curiosity.
"Hey, what brings you here Alcott?" Rin asked.
"I was hoping to get some practice. Afterall, the Interclass tournament is soon approaching," replied Cecilia.
"I see," replied Rin, a smirk forming on her face. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the match that we lost against Yamada-Sensei and Hamilton-sensei, right?"
At this question, Cecilia's eyes tensed up.
"Not at all," replied Cecilia. "I was fighting against two pilots who were way more experienced than me with a teammate who I had never battled with before. It shouldn't be too surprising that I lost,"
"If you say so," replied Rin, still smirking.
"What about you Guan?" asked Cecilia
"Well I was also hoping to get some practice that's also not related to our loss," stated Rin, warranting a small frown from Cecilia.
"Since we are both here, how about a battle?" asked Cecilia.
"Sure, I'm down," replied Rin. "I want to see how we compare to each other,"
"If so then-"
But Cecilia's sentence was interrupted by the familiar sound of a moving IS. The two pilots turned around to see a black IS coming their way.
As the IS came closer, the two students were able to make out the pilot's silver hair and eye patch which told them it was their newest transfer student, Laura Bodewig.
Upon this realization, the two students frowned. To say they weren't fond of Bodewig would be an understatement.
The black IS continued its charge until stopping just a few meters away from the two National Representative Candidates. Bodewig stared at them with a stoic face as if she was playing poker.
"What brings you here Bodewig?" Cecilia asked with a hint of aggression in her voice.
"I was hoping to get some practice but I see that you two are already here to play," said Bodewig, causing the other two pilots to frown harder.
"Hey we are also here to train one eye!" Rin spat. Bodewig still held her stoic face.
"We are National Representative Candidates. We're the elite of the academy so you better show some respect," Cecilia demanded.
In response Bodewig just chuckled warranting looks of confusion from Rin and Cecilia.
"What's so funny?" Rin asked angrily.
"So this is what the title of National Representative Candidate has come to? You two make me embarrassed to call myself one,"
Rin stared at her angrily while Cecilia had a sudden realization.
"Wait, you're a National Representative Candidate?"
"Yes," replied Bodewig. "But if you're the standard for a National Representative Candidate than I am much more than that,"
Bodewig's expression then turned into a mean frown.
"I've seen replays of your battles and I was severely disappointed by the performance of two National Representative Candidates, just like the rest of this school,"
"I was told that the IS academy was the best place to learn about IS piloting but all I found were lessons too simple and basic to be worth my time and a bunch of teenagers who think of the IS as a fashion statement!"
The two National Representative Candidates listened to the German's speech, getting angrier the more they heard.
"That's a lot of talking you are doing," said Cecilia.
"Yeah!" agreed Rin. "Complaining is easy. If you are really such a great pilot then you should be able to back up your words!"
In response Bodewig just grinned.
"If you so wish, I'll take both of you on," said Bodewig confidently.
"So I guess you aren't just talk afterall," said Rin while smirking.
"Now Guan, which one of us shall have the pleasure of beating her first?" asked Cecilia.
"I'll take both of you on at once," proclaimed Bodewig.
The two pilots looked at Bodewig in shock waiting for an indication that she was joking, but she kept her serious demeanor.
"You're kidding right?" Rin asked in shock.
"No, I am serious!" exclaimed Bodewig.
"Don't tell me you are so pathetic as to back down from a two vs one pilot battle," this seemed to have broken Rin and Cecilia out of their shock as they now held motivated looks.
"Fine, if you wish to humiliate yourself, be our guest," said Cecilia.
"We'll show you what happens when your head gets too big," Rin added and the three pilots launched into the air assuming battle positions.
Rin and Cecilia hovered on either side of Bodewig. The three of them stood still for a while, staring at each other waiting for the other to make their move.
Eventually Bodewig got impatient and in an instant, materialized a long black railgun in her right arm. It looked to be about 3 meters in length and looked very heavy.
The other pilots started materializing their own weapons but while they were focused on that, Bodewig instantly raised her railgun at Cecilia and fired, sending a cloud of projectiles her way.
Cecilia was caught by surprise and so was also caught by the cloud of projectiles which blasted Cecilia back.
Rin turned for a split second to check on Cecilia but that proved to be a mistake as Bodewig turned her railgun towards Rin. Rin's attention quickly returned to Bodewig and although she was able to move she still got hit.
Bodewig only scoffed at the lack of focus of the two pilots.
Angered by the attack, Cecilia unleashed her drones while Rin fired at Bodewig with her shock wave canons.
Bodewig easily swerved out of the way of the blasts and fired back with her railgun. Rin was able to swerve out of the way and before Bodewig could continue fire she was interrupted by Cecilia's drones who sent a barrage of lasers at Bodewig.
The German maneuvered around the lasers and charged towards Cecilia. Her charge was interrupted by Rin who fired another blast from her shock wave cannon in front of Bodewig who stopped just before getting hit.
Rin then charged at her, her two scimitars in hand while Cecilia continued firing. Bodewig swerved around the lasers like a snake while charging towards Rin.
The two pilots were eventually in close proximity to each other. Rin tried swinging her scimitars at Bodewig but she swerved to Rin's left side putting the Chinese Representative Candidate between her and Cecilia.
Undeterred, Rin swerved around and raised both of her scimitars ready to strike Bodewig but that was a mistake as the floating devices around Bodewig suddenly both emitted a stream of blurry transparent energy which joined together to form the shape of a shield.
Upon contact with the energy, Rin's momentum slowed into a stop much to Rin's surprise.
Cecilia tried taking advantage of this moment by positioning one of her drones to Bodewig's right, creating a line of fire for it.
Rin then tried backing pulling away but before she could the shield of energy disappeared and Bodewig suddenly charged towards Rin and roundhouse kicked her to the right, putting her between Bodewig and the drone causing Rin to be hit.
Bodewig didn't stop there as she then fired a blast of projectiles from her railgun into Rin, blasting her away and adding to the pilot's damage.
The German then turned her attention to Cecilia and started charging towards her once more. The English pilot tried to fire at her with her drones, bringing them closer to herself but like she had been doing all throughout the battle, Bodewig easily swerved out of the laser's way and returned fire.
Once by one, each drone was hit by the railgun's blasts and blew up into dust. Cecilia, who was now starting to worry, fired away at the German with her long rifle but that was as much use against her as her drones which is to say, none as Bodewig just dodged.
Cecilia's hips then opened and her missiles launched towards Bodewig but she showed no fear or even any acknowledgement towards them as she continued charging. Right before the missiles impacted the German suddenly stopped and the devices around her once again produced the blurry energy shield.
Upon touching the shield the missiles lost all momentum and then plunged towards the arena's ground, impacting it with an explosion. By now, Bodewig was only a dozen meters away from Cecilia so after deactivating the shield Bodewig charged towards Cecilia and raised her railgun. The English pilot tried putting distance between them but it was too late as the railgun fired into her IS burning away at her shield energy.
Eventually, Bodewig's firing was interrupted as a yellow blast of energy struck her in the side, pushing her away. She didn't have time to rest as a barrage of energy blasts was sent her way causing the German to activate her strange shield once more.
Through her blurry shield she could make out the pink IS of the Chinese Representative Candidate. Rin herself was firing her shockwave canon like her life depended on it.
Eventually, Bodewig deactivated her energy shield and swerved out of the way of the energy blasts. Rin continued firing and was soon joined by Cecilia who also fired away at Bodewig with her long rifle.
"I think it's time to finish this," Bodewig proclaimed while swerving around the projectiles fired at her. Suddenly, from the black unit's right wing, a wire emerged. It was glowing a dark purple and had a golden dagger on its tip.
The wire soared through the sky right at Shenlong. Rin, who was too focused on firing her shockwave cannons, didn't notice until it was too late and the wire had wrapped itself around the unit's leg.
It then dragged Shenlong and a dazed Rin behind Bodewig. The German then charged towards Cecilia who tried flying away but the wire that was dragging Rin whipped over Bodewig and before Cecilia knew it, Blue Tears was hit by Shenlong like a mace.
The wire then deattached from Rin before charging towards Cecilia and wrapping itself around Blue Tears' leg. Holding her in place, Bodewig unloaded her railgun into the helpless Cecilia.
Once her railgun ceased firing, she used her wire to throw the English pilot to the ground where she crashed next to Rin. She then descended towards the ground in front of the two National Representative Candidates who were laying down on the ground, their units looking like they had gone through the world's strongest grinder.
Bodewig stared down at the two pilots with a look of disappointment mixed with disgust.
In a last ditch effort, Rin charged her shockwave cannon, ready to shoot at Bodewig but the German simply fired her railgun at it causing it to explode knocking Rin and Cecilia back until crashing into the ground where they lay in defeat.
"Such disgrace!" Bodewig spat, looking disgusted at the two defeated pilots who looked exhausted and barely conscious.
"You call yourselves National Representative Candidates? Elite pilots?" Bodewig's eye was twitching under her straight eyebrow.
"I'll show you,"
Suddenly, from the wings of Bodewig's IS, a dozen wires shot out and charged towards the defeated pilots who were helpless to stop them. Two wires wrapped themselves around their throats, strangling them while the others wrapped themselves around their units, the daggers digging into the IS.
Rin and Cecilia desperately tried to pull on the wires around their necks but each had wires wrapped around their unit's arms, resisting their frantic attempts at pulling.
Me and Charlotte were walking towards the IS battle arena, hoping to get some practice. We were walking through the corridors when we heard enthusiastic whispers which sparked my curiosity.
I then noticed Houki in the corridors and went up to her.
"Hey Houki do you know what everyone is whispering about?" I asked, tapping her shoulder.
"Apparently there is an IS battle between Rin, Cecilia and Bodewig," she replied.
"What!" I exclaimed.
I had a bad feeling about this. During my last encounter with Bodewig, she tried attacking me outside of IS form. She clearly wasn't concerned with heavily injuring someone. Not to mention, Chifuyu-nee trained her, so she's probably more than a match for Rin and Cecilia.
I sprinted through the corridors, rushing to reach the battle arena. I was followed by Charlotte and Houki, who were both trying to keep up with me. Charlotte looked concerned while Houki just looked confused.
I soon reached the stands around the battle arena and saw that my suspicions were proven true. Rin and Cecilia were on the floor, their IS in an awful state while Bodewig was standing in front of them and strangling them with wires from her IS.
I could see Cecilia and Rin desperately trying to free themselves from their stranglehold but their efforts were getting weaker by the second.
Thinking quickly, I saw the announcer box and rushed towards it.
"Bodewig stop! You are strangling them!" I yelled through the arena's speakers.
Bodewig turned in surprise towards the stands where she spotted me, looking at her with a pleading look. A sinister smile then appeared on her face as she continued strangling the two pilots.
"Laura please!"
"If you want me to stop so bad, come and stop me!" she said as she turned her attention back to the pilots who were at her mercy.
I gripped my fist in irritation. She clearly wasn't going to listen so I had to take a more direct approach.
"Charles!" I exclaimed, surprising Charlotte who was focused on the scene before her.
"I am going to break through the arena's barrier and go after Laura. Go and help Rin and Cecilia,"
"Ichika what are you-" Houki started but before she could finish I had summoned my IS, activated Reiraku Byakuya and slashed straight through the arena's barrier.
The barrier turned red for a second as Yukihara touched it before dissipating with a loud swoosh. Bodewig, who had heard the loud sound of the barrier's destruction, had her attention turn towards me again.
I activated my Ignition boost and charged right at her. Bodewig released her daggers and before I could come in contact with her, my IS suddenly stopped. It was like I had suddenly lost all of my momentum.
Bodewig then raised her railgun, ready to shoot at me but before getting hit I sidestepped out of the way. I then went to swing at her but Bodewig jumped backwards and I missed my strike.
Fortunately, I created an opening for Charlotte to rush in and grab Cecilia and Rin. Unfortunately, I now had to face Laura Bodewig.
"So now you decide to fight me?" Laura remarked.
"I'm not going to let you hurt helpless people!" I exclaimed.
"You don't understand, it is you who is helpless!" she exclaimed and then charged towards me.
I could see the hatred in her eye and my only instinct was to also charge towards her. We both stared at each other, disdain for the other clear in our eyes.
But before we could reach each other, a long blade whirled between us. It struck Bodewig first and whipped her back. It then moved towards me and before I could react, it slammed into my IS, knocking me back into the ground.
Dazed from the hit, I looked towards the source of the attack and couldn't believe my eyes. Standing between me and Bodewig was Chifuyu-nee. She was holding a giant sword that looked like it would take several grown men to carry but she was holding it like any old blade.
"Taking care of kids is such a hassle," she remarked.
She was dressed in her usual teacher outfit and had a look of irritation.
"Chifuyu-n-,"
"Instructor!" Bodewig yelled. Chifuyu-nee turned to face her.
"This is between me and that vermin," she yelled.
"Is that why you strangled two other students after they had already been defeated," Chifuyu-nee asked plainly.
"It was to teach them a les-" Bodewig tried pleading but Chifuyu-nee cut her off.
"Bodewig, you are suspended from using the battle arena until after the interclass tournament," Bodewig had an expression that seemed to be a mix of intense anger and deep painful sadness.
"And you," she said, turning towards me.
"Try not to destroy the battle arena's barrier, it costs a fortune to repair,"
"Yes Orimura-sensei," I replied but my attention was focused on Bodewig.
After exiting the battle arena I went to visit Rin and Cecilia who were admitted to the hospital. Upon reaching their room I first saw Houki, Charlotte and Yamada-Sensei, who all had looks of worry. Then, I saw Rin and Cecilia on their beds, still in their battle uniform. They each had a scar around their necks where they were strangled and both looked depressed.
"Hey are you guys ok?" I asked.
"Yeah," muttered Rin. "Are injuries aren't too bad,"
"That was humiliating," said Cecilia, her voice stuttering with anger.
"Tell me about it," Rin added. "I only got one hit on her,"
"Are you ok Ichika?" Houki asked. "What happened between you and Bodewig after we left?"
"Well Chifuyu-nee came in and broke up our fight," I replied.
"Really?" remarked Charlotte.
"Yeah you should have seen her! She swung a 7 foot sword like it was nothing!" I exclaimed.
"How's our IS units Yamada-Sensei?" Rin asked.
"They're in terrible conditions," Yamada-Sensei remarked. "I'm afraid you won't be able to compete in the Inter-class tournament,"
"WHAT!" Rin and Cecilia both exclaimed.
"But we are National Representative Candidates, we must compete!" Cecilia exclaimed, her anger having further intensified.
"I'm afraid your units are too damaged," said Yamada-Sensei. "It will take too long for them to be repaired,"
At this news Cecilia looked away, her eyes twitching with anger.
"Ichika, Charles," Me and Charlotte turned to face Rin.
"If you face Bodewig in the tournament, make sure to kick her but!" Rin exclaimed.
"Don't worry we will, right Charles!"
"Oui!" she replied. "But to be able to beat Bodewig, we have a lot training to do,"
"Yeah well we better start now," I said and with that we both headed out of the hospital towards the library.
After about two hours of discussing battle tactics and training plans, we were finished for the day. Charlotte went back up to our room while I went out for a walk, hoping to clear my mind from the craze that was today.
I was late so there wasn't really anyone outside which was good for me as it meant a nice quiet walk, God knows I needed it.
I was walking back to the dorms when I heard what sounded like a cry. Turning towards the source I see two figures, one tall the other short talking though my vision was obstructed by bushes. My curiosity got the better of me so I quietly snuck towards them and hid behind a bush.
"I already told you, I'm not going back!" Through the bushes I could see Chifuyu-nee arguing with a distressed Bodewig.
"Please Instructor, Germany needs you!" Bodewig cried. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. I almost felt bad for her.
"These girls here are a waste of your time! They see the IS as some sort of fashion statement, they don't truly appreciate your wisdom and experience. Please come back to Germany! There is so much more you can teach us!"
Chifuyu-nee was getting more and more irritated.
"You can think whatever you want about the academy and the people here, it won't change a thing,"
"Why won't you come back!" By now, tears were starting to fall from Bodewig's eye.
"I told you, I have to stay at the academy,"
"Don't tell me it's because of him," Chifuyu-nee tensed her gaze at Bodewig's last statement.
"Can't you see instructor? He is holding you back!" Bodewig yelled.
"You don't understand," Chifuyu-nee said coldly.
"Ichika isn't my weakness, he is my strength,"
"He is the reason you lost the second Mondo Grosso," by now, Bodewig looked like she was hyperventilating.
"He is not the reason I lost, he was the reason why I am the Brunhilde in the first place," Chifuyu-nee replied with a chilling calm.
Bodewig seemed to be at a loss for words. Tears were still falling from her eye. She tightened her fist and then made a loud sound resembling a growl.
"I'll show you instructor," she said coldly and then stormed off. Chifuyu-nee and I watched her quickly stomp away, her heavy and quick breaths still being audible.
"You know, you shouldn't eavesdrop on people," Chifuyu-nee remarked, startling me.
"Sorry," I replied, walking towards her.
"Chifuyu-nee, you have a history with Bodewig don't you?" I asked.
"It's Orimura-sensei," Chifuyu-nee corrected. "And yes, I owed Germany a favor so I taught their military for a few years. She was one of my students. She never quite accepted that I was leaving,"
"The favor you owed, was it due to my kidnapping?" I asked, looking towards the ground.
"Yes, it did," she answered, which only further soured my mood. Chifuyu-nee then turned towards me.
"Look, don't blame yourself for that, you were 12, there was nothing you could have done," Chifuyu-nee reassured me but I still wasn't convinced.
"Maybe if I had been stronger I could of-"
"Now you're starting to sound like Bodewig," Chifuyu-nee interrupted me.
"Always focusing on what you could have done, what you should have been. Coming up with hundreds of reasons to blame yourself rather than accept the truth that you were just a kid in a world bigger and more complicated than you could even imagine,"
My eyes started to light up as I looked up at Chifuyu-nee's face.
"So stop beating yourself up for God's sake. You hate the fact that you were weak? Go train and worry about what you can do next time rather than what happened last time,"
I felt a rush of motivation come over me as Chifuyu-nee spoke. By the time she finished, I felt more motivated than I had ever been to learn the IS.
"Ok then, I'll do my best to win the interclass tournament!" I exclaimed, causing Chifuyu-nee to smile.
"Now you're getting it," she remarked and then turned to walk away.
"Wait, Chifuyu-nee," she stopped and turned around.
"That part about me being the reason you were the Brunhilde in the first place, was that true? I asked.
"Of course, that's why I said it," she replied.
"Now come on, it's late already," and with that we both walked towards the main building.
In the depths of the IS academy's engineering room, Chifuyu Orimura and Maya Yamada were standing in the dim red light. Chifuyu had a stern expression while Maya had a look of worry.
"What should we do?" asked Maya.
Chifuyu just stared at the floor, recalling the conversation they had had with the headmistress.
"Good evening, Orimura, Yamada, take a seat," Chifuyu and Maya were greeted by a tall dark blonde woman sitting behind a table.
She had a very professional look, with straight long hair cut neatly that reached until her shoulder. She was wearing a white button shirt that was tucked in behind light brown jeans with a pair of black high heels.
"Good evening Ms Shira," Chifuyu said while pulling out one of the chairs from the table.
"G-good evening Maam!" a nervous Yamada stuttered while sitting down.
"First off, I would like to apologize," Shira said, her cognac eyes behind her black cat-eye glasses maintaining eye contact with the two teachers.
"I had business elsewhere so I had to leave the school for a while. I understand that during my departure, the school was attacked by a rogue IS with seemingly no pilot?"
"That is correct," Chifuyu responded bluntly.
"Oh my how troubling, it must have been difficult handling the IS,"
"Not quite," replied Chifuyu.
"Orimura-san defeated the IS with the help of Guan and Yukihara,"
"Really," said the principal, sounding intrigued.
"It seems like he's following in your footsteps,"
"He still has a lot to learn," responded Chifuyu, warranting a smirk from Shira.
"Anyways, we need to discuss what to do about the IS and its core," said Chifuyu.
"Yamada looked through it and discovered that it was missing its identification number,"
"That's strange," stated Shira, looking down while scratching her chin.
"Do you think that means that it is a new core that was created?" asked Shira.
"We don't know, Yamada may be able to decrypt its data but she'll need time," said Chifuyu.
"Shouldn't we just give it to the government," Yamada who had been quiet until now spoke up.
"They'll have more skilled hackers that should have a better chance at decrypting it,"
At this Shira paused for a moment before saying:
"I don't think so," this warranted a shocked expression from Chifuyu and especially Yamada.
"What do you mean!" exclaimed Yamada.
"It is true that the government would have a better chance of decrypting the data on the core," Shira spoke.
"But," though subtle, her mood did shift to a more serious one.
"I think it would be a mistake to give it to the government,"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Chifuyu.
"Even though the world seems peaceful under the Alaska Treaty, peace between nations is on thin ice," explained Shira.
"Countries are still trying to one up each other in information and developments on the IS,"
"Despite claiming to be open, they are making hidden developments, doing secret experiments, I have seen several of them with my own eyes,"
Chifuyu held a look of intrigue and concern while Yamada had a look of worry as the headmistress spoke.
"Any serious development could shift the balance of power massively in the favor of one country and every government knows that. So if our government were to discover pilotless IS units, they would definitely want to keep that advantage to themselves,"
"This would be bad for the Alaska Treaty as having such an advantage could give them ideas. Not to mention, if news of the Japanese government hiding such an advantage were to surface, it would shake the Alaska Treaty hard and even threaten to destroy it,"
Yamada looked stunned at what Shira had explained while Chifuyu stared at her with a look of consideration.
"It is for this reason that I don't think we should reveal this information to the government," Shira finished then stayed in silence waiting for a response from the two teachers.
"So what will we give the government officials when they come for the IS?" Chifuyu asked, surprising Yamada.
"We'll replace the core with another and hand it over," Shira replied.
"Ms Shira, you can't be serious!" exclaimed Yamada.
"Such an act would go against the law. We as the IS academy are forced to reveal any information about significant IS developments to the government,"
"If the government were to discover that we lied to them, we would all be in a lot of legal trouble!"
Shira looked calmly at Maya as she spoke. Once she finished talking she leaned over the desk closer to Maya.
"You are correct, keeping such a secret hidden would put us and by extension, the IS academy in jeopardy," Shira spoke, looking earnestly at Maya.
"But, if the government were to gain access to the core and decrypt its data, I have no doubt that it would jeopardize more than just us and the academy,"
"It would jeopardize the political calmness that was forged through the Alaska Treaty, the safety of the students. It would jeopardize world peace," Maya's eyes widened at this statement.
"Such a development will shake the peace of the world, even if we somehow managed to spread the information in the core's data to the whole world which, I don't think will be possible,"
"I could be wrong but my mind is set. But if you wish to hand over the core I won't blame you or stop you,"
Once Shira finished, there was a brief moment of silence. Maya was left at a loss for words. Her mind seemed to be thinking long and hard about her course of action.
"We'll think it over," Chifuyu finally said.
"Very well," replied Shira.
"I think we should go with her plan," Chifuyu finally said, surprising Maya.
"Chifuyu, are you sure?" Maya exclaimed.
"It's risky," Chifuyu said, holding her chin in her fingers as she talked.
"But Ms Shira is right, if the government were to decrypt the data they would definitely keep it to themselves and it definitely wouldn't be good for maintaining peace,"
"But lying to the governmen-,"
"Crazy, I know," interrupted Chifuyu.
"But I don't want to live through a war with the most deadly weapons ever created and I especially don't want Ichika to grow up in such a world,"
Chifuyu's comment about Ichika made Maya think for a while, think about her students. The children she had dedicated her career to help navigate through the world. Would she really be willing to risk condemning them to a war with the most dangerous weapons ever?
"Fine, we'll do it!" Maya stated before turning to her computer and working away.
Despite her mind screaming at her that this was a terrible idea, her heart spoke louder.
Author's Note: Hello, and thank you very much for reading this chapter. This is the longest chapter this far! A lot happened in this chapter, the battle between Rin, Cecilia and Laura, Ichika's and Laura's confrontation, the argument between Chifuyu and Laura, Chifuyu and Ichika's conversation and of course, the Golem investigation plotline.
I hoped you enjoyed the battle between Rin, Cecilia and Laura as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm happy with how it turned out and thought it was a good battle to keep as it really shows Laura's character, perspective and her strength.
As for Laura's argument with Chifuyu, I think it is also a good scene to flush out Laura's character more and show a softer side of the soldier, one that longs for her mentor to return.
I also added the conversation between Chifuyu and Ichika (not sure if there was one like this in the original series) as I think it works to develop Ichika's motivation as well as makes Chifuyu appear more kind than in the original series.
As for the Golem investigation plotline, it has been one of my favorite parts to write. I'm excited to continue writing it and expanding more on it and what it will mean for the story as a whole. I also introduced a new character, the headmistress Ms Shira. Don't know exactly what I'll do with her character yet but I do plan to have her be important.
Anyways, thank you for waiting so long for these chapters. Not sure when I will release the next batch but it will probably be shorter than this one. If you want to give some feedback or criticism feel free to leave a review and as always this is The Grey Sirpent signing off.