Infinite Stratos, Volume 1, page 1
Chapter I: All My Classmates Are Girls
“Everyone is present, I see. Well, then. Time to start the short homeroom period...”
Yamada Maya, our vice homeroom teacher, smiled in front of the blackboard. She was fairly small, about as tall as a student. Perhaps her clothes were too big for her, but they fit too loosely, which made her look even smaller. Additionally, her black glasses were pretty big and looked out of place. It seemed unnatural, like a child putting on an adult’s clothes... I had a feeling she was trying to make herself as tall as possible, but it might have been my imagination.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s get along during the next year.”
“.........”
There was an awkward nervousness in the classroom, and not a response was uttered.
“O-Okay. Please introduce yourselves. Um... The same sequence as the class roster, please.”
I felt sorry for our flustered vice homeroom teacher, and figured I had to respond somehow, but alas, that would have been foolish. You see, the reason was simple: All my classmates were girls.
It was the day of the opening ceremony. The beginning of a new life. That was great. Honestly, it was. The problem was, really, that I was the only man in the classroom.
—This... is going to be harder than I thought it would be...
I wasn’t imagining it; everyone was looking at me. The seat I’d been assigned was part of the problem. It sat in the front-middle of the room. Whether you wanted to or not, you drew attention like hell there.
I looked over towards the window.
“.........”
I had hoped to be rescued by what I would see there, but my heartless childhood friend, Shinonono Houki, was gazing out the window instead. The cruel girl. Was that how anybody treated their childhood friend after seeing them again after six years?
—Hm... Maybe she hated me now?
“...ra.”
“Orimura Ichika.”
“Y-Yes?!”
I was startled to hear my name spoken so loudly. Predictably, the others giggled. It became harder and harder to calm down. I wasn’t particularly uncomfortable around girls. There were just... limits to it. Even if you love ramen, if you ate it three times a day you’d soon get sick of it. Not that I had tried. I didn’t even like ramen all that much... Anyway, that wasn’t the point.
The point was, I was the only man in the class. All other 29 students were girls. The vice homeroom teacher was a woman. And the homeroom teacher was... probably a woman. I hadn’t seen her yet. That just raised the question of what was she up to?
“Um... I’m sorry if I startled you... A-Are you upset? Are you... I’m sorry. Really sorry. But... We started the introductions at A and now we’re at O... Like Orimura... So... I’m sorry, all right? Can you introduce yourself? Or... N-Not?”
Yamada Maya, my vice homeroom teacher, was apologizing profusely to me. Her strangely large glasses were moving back and forth, and I was afraid they would fall down; that was all I could bring myself to pay attention to. Was she really older than I was? I wouldn’t have doubted someone who told me she was my own age.
“Oh, uh, it’s all right. Don’t apologize... I’ll introduce myself. Please calm down, Ms. Yamada.”
“R-Really? Really, really? P-Promise me. Promise me!”
I could see the enthusiasm in her eyes as she looked up and took my hand. I was the center of everyone’s attention again. Well, that wasn’t going to scare off a real man, was it? I had to introduce myself. Besides, if I made a bad impression right off the bat, things would escalate in the wrong direction. I didn’t want that.
I stood up and turned around. All those gazes I had felt upon my back were now aimed squarely in front of me. Even Houki, that heartless girl, was now looking directly at me, instead of away. With everyone looking at me, I couldn’t help but be on edge despite not having a problem with girls. Even if you really like curry, you see— No, I already talked about that.
“U-Um... I’m Orimura Ichika. I hope we can get along,” I said, bowing politely.
The gazes continued. They were clearly asking for more. I could see it written on their faces that they craved more info. Well, there wasn’t much to say. I had some hobbies, of course, but I wasn’t particularly motivated to tell the world about them, and it seemed weird to me to tell people about it in an introduction. If, during the introduction, a girl said that she enjoyed growing cacti, I’d find that pretty off-putting (incidentally, my hobbies weren’t growing cacti, just so we’re clear.)
“.........”
I felt the sweat running down my back. I wasn’t sure what to do or say. Why was I in that situation to begin with?
“It’s... kinda cold...”
It had been the middle of February. I’d been in middle school, third year, studying hard for the entrance exams.
“Why do I have to travel four stations to take the entrance exam of my nearest high school? And it’s even extra cold today...”
There’d been cheating the year before, so all the schools announced the exam venue only two days ahead. It was pretty ridiculous, but there was nothing I could do about that as a simple student. All that was left to me was to grumble on the way to the exam.
The school I was trying to get into was Aietsu Academy, a school close to home; average in the rankings, and which had a festival every year. It was a private school, but the tuition was very low. Exceptionally low. Why, you ask? Well, 90% of the students who graduated were hired away by affiliated companies. We weren’t in a deep recession or anything, but I was glad they were willing to plan it out for me. Besides, the companies were pretty reputable and based in the local area, so I wasn’t going to be assigned to the sticks out of the blue. It was a great deal.
“I can’t have Chifuyu take care of me forever...”
My parents weren’t around for me anymore. My older sister was kind enough to take care of me, but I’d been developing an inferiority complex about it for a while. Thankfully, Chifuyu earned a fair amount of dough, so we weren’t poor, but I still wasn’t comfortable with it. Originally, I wanted to start working straight away after middle school, but my sister overpowered me... physically... and I had to take the exams. Anyway, if I managed to get into Aietsu Academy, then my career was as good as assured, and I figured Chifuyu would have an easier time, too. Well, it’s not like she was saying she wanted an easier time— I wanted to do that.
“I can think about the rest when I’ve passed.”
I’d studied hard for a year and gotten an A in the mock tests, so I wasn’t particularly worried. Unless something crazy happened, I was sure to pass. The real exam was to be held at some multipurpose hall, built with taxpayer money. I only knew it by name. I found it was kind of odd that a private school had access to a public facility, but I figured they had connections. You know, backroom deals and stuff.
“Um... So how do I get to the second floor?”
I’d gotten lost. It was a damn complicated building, in all honesty. Apparently the designer was sourced locally, as were the builders. Overall, a municipal affair.
“What the hell is with this stupid artsy layout? Where the hell is the goddamn staircase?!”
If someone had told me that I had wandered into a maze, I would have believed them. I couldn’t understand why the floor plan was so hard to understand. There was a huge glass corridor that would be impossible to air condition, a wall covered in tiles that would fall on people’s heads in an earthquake, and weird lights embedded into the ceiling that would run up a huge electricity bill. How did they even swap them out? None of it made any sense.
“.........”
In my last year of middle school and I got lost. How pathetic am I...
“Right. I’m gonna open the next door I see. That usually works out just fine.”
—Excellent, a door. Coming in...
“Oh, hello. You must be here to take the test. You can change over there. We’re short on time, so please make it quick. We only have the building until four. I have no idea what management was thinking making such a tight schedule...”
A nervous, 30-something-year-old teacher talked to me the instant I entered the room. Maybe she was busy, or maybe her attention was dulled... Possibly both... But she never actually looked at me. Did I really have to change for the test? I figured it must have been a cheating countermeasure. The schools were having a rough time, it seemed.
I drew the curtain aside and found something truly magical. If I had to describe it, it looked like a medieval suit of armor, stored in a castle somewhere. It knelt in front of me like a knight swearing fealty. Strictly speaking, it didn’t look exactly like a suit of armor, and other people probably had a different view of it. My point was more that it looked kind of like it. It was roughly humanoid, and waiting to be used by its wearer.
I knew what it was: It was an IS.
That abbreviation stood for “Infinite Stratos,” a sort of transforming exoskeleton that had been developed with outer space in mind. The designers didn’t get their wish, and instead this high-performance piece of engineering was used as a weapon, and eventually, in sports. It was a flying, powered exoskeleton. Sadly, the IS technology had a critical flaw, which meant that I had no interest in it.
“Men can’t use it, huh...”
Yes. Only women could use it. The suits didn’t respond to anyone except girls. The armor in front of me was all but useless to me. I couldn’t do anything with it. Nothing at all.
I t
“......?!”
Immediately, a metallic sound rang through my mind.
The next moment, a wave of information flooded directly into my mind. Basic IS movement instructions I hadn’t even heard of: guides, specs, abilities, current loadout, remaining power supply, action radius, sensor accuracy, radar response, remaining armor, power output... Suddenly I understood everything, as if I had trained with it for years and years. Its sensors were linked to my visual cortex, transmitting the information into my eye and representing the world around me with numbers and values.
“Wh-What the...”
It moved. The IS damn well moved. It felt like moving my own hands and legs.
I felt something spread over me like my own skin... The skin barrier had opened.
A sense of weightlessness in my body... The thrusters were operational.
I felt a weight in my right hand. The close-combat blade materialized in a blaze of light.
My perception was heightened, clear... The hypersensors had optimized.
I understood all of this information. I’d never learned any of it, but I understood. And the world as the IS relayed it to me looked like...
“.........”
—Um... Where was I, again?
It was the day of the entrance ceremony, and I was now in high school, first year. I was in the middle of my introduction. In front of me were 29 girls. Behind me was Ms. Yamada, probably on the verge of tears. By the way, her name, “Ya-ma-da-Ma-ya,” could be read front to back or back to front in Japanese. It was a good name. Easy to remember. I digress.
I still hadn’t finished my introduction, it seemed. All the girls were looking at me with eyes that demanded more information. Wasn’t Houki going to help me on account of being childhood friends? No, she looked away again. The cold broad. Was this our beautiful reunion? I guess it really wasn’t.
—No, no. If I don’t talk now, they’ll brand me a gloomy dude.
I took a deep breath. And another. And then I opened my mouth.
“That is all.”
Ta-da! The girls were disappointed. What were they expecting? Crazy girls...
“U-Um...” spoke someone behind me; her voice was twice as teary now.
—Huh? What? That hadn’t been enough?
Bam! Someone hit me on the head.
“Ouch...”
Pain, that spinal reflex, reminded me of something. That hit... The power, the angle, the swiftness... Everything reminded me painfully of someone I knew.
“.........”
Slowly I turned around and saw a fit, tall woman in a black suit and skirt. Her arms were crossed, and she had a glare very reminiscent of a wolf’s.
“Whoa! It’s Guan Yu!”
Bam! Another hit.
It really hurt, by the way. It was a loud and audible smack, and all the girls jumped back a little.
“There’s no hero from the three kingdoms here, you idiot.”
Her voice was low. There was an imaginary gong thundering in my mind.
—No, no. Wait, wait, wait.
What was Chifuyu doing there? She was away for work except for maybe one or two days each month.
“Oh, Ms. Orimura. Is the meeting already over?”
“Yes, Yamada. Sorry that you had to greet the class,” she replied, tenderly.
Wow, she never talked that kindly with me.
—Whatever happened to General Guan Yu? Had he ridden off on Red Hare to Liu Bei?
“D-Don’t worry, I’m the vice homeroom teacher. I can do this!”
Her teary voice had disappeared, and vice homeroom teacher Yamada Maya was looking at the homeroom teacher warmly. She was blushing.
“Everyone, my name is Orimura Chifuyu. It’s my job to turn you greenhorns into useful pilots in a year. Listen to what I say, and remember it. If you can’t do something, I’ll help you until you can. My job is training you from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Hate me all you want, but listen to what I say. Got it?”
Things had gotten a lot more complicated. Yes, it was undoubtedly my sister Orimura Chifuyu. I expected gasps of fear in the classroom, but instead I got shrill cries of happiness.
“Kyaa! Chifuyu! It’s really Chifuyu!”
“I’m a long-time fan of yours!”
“I enrolled here because of you! I came all the way from Kita-Kyuushuu!”
—Who cares even if you’re from southern Hokkaido?
“I’m so happy you’ll be giving me orders, Chifuyu!”
“I’ll die for you!”
“Every year we get all these fools. It’s impressive, really. Or are they assigning me all the fools?” said Chifuyu, while giving the ecstatic girls an annoyed look.
She wasn’t acting. She really was uncomfortable.
—Chifuyu, my sister... You can’t buy popularity. Be nicer to them...
But I was wrong. More wrong than the people who thought the Earth was flat ages ago— although they thought it was round in the Middle Ages. More wrong than the guys who wanted to fly on wings of feathers and wax— which was just stupid, honestly. More wrong than someone trying to cross the Atlantic in a raft... Actually, I guess someone did that. Anyway...
“Hahh! Chifuyu! Scold me! Abuse me!”
“But be nice sometimes!”
“Discipline me so I don’t get spoiled!”
I was glad that all my classmates were so energetic. Well, I was also confused that my sister Chifuyu was my homeroom teacher... Or I would have been, but all the constant screeching of the girls had calmed me down. There is something about seeing someone’s outrageously emotional reaction which lets us work more rationally than before; I realized the truth of that first-hand.
“So? Are you going to introduce yourself properly?”
The edge in her voice... Edge, as in the sense of strictness. That was how she spoke with me.
“But, Sister, I—”
Bam! The third strike of the day.
—Did you know, Chifuyu? About 5,000 brain cells die when you hit someone on the head.
“That’s Ms. Orimura to you.”
“Yes... Ms. Orimura.”
That exchange did not bode well. Now the class knew that I was her brother.
“Really? That guy is her brother?”
“Do you think that has something to do with him being the only man in the world who can pilot an IS?”
“Ahh, that must be nice... I wish I could be him...”
Let’s ignore the last girl. I need to get something out of the way. I was in the IS Academy, being the only man in the world who could use the IS.
The IS Academy... is to teach its students how to pilot the IS, with funding and management provided by the Japanese government. Due to all research being shared with all treaty nations, the Japanese government is to refrain from maintaining a veil of secrecy. Additionally, any and all related controversies are to be solved by the Japanese government to the satisfaction of the treaty nations. Furthermore, any and all prospective students from a treaty nation are to be allowed enrollment to the academy, unconditionally, and provided housing by the Japanese government. —IS Operations Treaty, Section: IS Pilot Educational Institution (Excerpt)
That was the kind of school it was. The long and short of it was basically: “The world’s gone crazy ’cause of the IS you stupid Japanese built, so you better make a school and train our people there. Oh, and hand over the tech. The bill is yours. Bye.” That country that starts with “A” is basically the mafia.
As for “why” I ended up at the IS Academy, well, I managed to control the test unit they were using to review prospective students... But the question of “how” I even ended up there in the first place... Well, Aietsu and IS sound pretty similar, right? Let’s leave it at that.
“.........”
I felt a cold glare from the chaotic classroom. I looked around; Houki had turned back from looking out the window and was staring at me.
—Why is she so angry now? What did I do?
I decided I’d ask her later.
The bell rang.
“Okay, the short homeroom is over. You’ll have to learn all the IS fundamentals in half a month. After that, training begins. Basic movements will take you another two weeks. Got that? Sound off if you do, and even if you don’t. I want to hear you.”
