Infinite Stratos, Volume 1, page 10
She looked very happy and nodded to herself.
“All right! Time to sleep!”
Being excited to sleep was pretty weird to me. Houki snuck into her own sheets and turned off the lights. The room was silent.
—Hmph... Now I’m not sleepy anymore.
Drowsiness came in waves and missing a wave forced you to wait for the next. Maybe that was just me, though.
“Ichika...”
“Yeah?”
“A-About earlier... Um... I’m sorry.”
What was she talking about? I had no idea.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
“I-I see... That’s good. Good night, then.”
“Sure. Good night.”
I was feeling a little drowsy again and decided I wasn’t going to let this wave slip away. I dreamt of the past that night, for whatever reason.
◇
“Good morning, Orimura! Did you hear? We’re getting a transfer student.”
It was morning. As soon as I sat down, classmates crowded around me. I viewed it as a huge step forward that in the weeks since school began, I’d become able to talk somewhat normally with the girls. Being all alone in class was really boring, after all.
“A transfer student? This time of the year?”
It was still April. Why hadn’t she enrolled normally? Besides, the IS Academy had very strict rules regarding transfer students: they had to pass the entrance exams, of course, but they also needed the backing of their country. Which meant that the new student was...
“Yeah, she’s the National Cadet from China.”
“I see.”
Speaking of National Cadets.
“Oh, perhaps she was in fear of my presence here?”
There we had the British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott. She had her hands on her hips again, striking a great pose. Maybe all British people had a gene that made them look good with their hands on their hips?
“She’s not going to be in our class, right? What’s the big deal?”
Houki was suddenly at my side even though I’d seen her go to her seat by the window. Perhaps this meant that Houki had a girly streak after all and craved the latest gossip.
“I wonder what she’s like?”
Given that she was a National Cadet, her skills were probably very good, and she was also probably like Cecilia. I was a bit tired of girls with a lot of pride, frankly. Then again, another class would have to deal with that.
“Hm... Are you curious?” Houki asked me.
“Me? A little, I guess.”
“Hmph...”
She frowned at my response. I answered honestly, but somehow this put Houki into a bad mood. Her moods were swinging so wildly lately; I was amazed it didn’t wear her out. Maybe she was emotionally unstable? It happened a lot with teenage girls.
“Do you really have the time to think about girls? You’ve got the class league match coming up next month.”
“Yes! That’s right, Ichika. We need to do more combat practice to prepare you for the class league match. I, Cecilia Alcott, shall be generous and act as your sparring partner. I am, after all, the only one with a personal unit in this class besides you.”
She emphasized the word “only.” Not that she was wrong. The others would have to wait a day to get approval for a training unit and equipment, so training with Cecilia was way more convenient. The class league matches were carried out between the class representatives; apparently, they wanted to get a sense of our skill level before practice started. Additionally, it was thought to promote class cohesion and inter-class relations. To get people motivated, the best class was given a trophy and half a year of free desserts. Girls loved dessert.
“Well, I’ll do what I can.”
“That is unacceptable, Ichika! You must win!”
“Yeah! Are you a man or some invertebrate?”
“We’ll all be happy if you win, Orimura.”
Cecilia, Houki, and the other classmates all egged me on. Sadly my IS piloting skills hadn’t improved all that much over the previous days, so I wasn’t brimming with confidence. When I piloted it the first time, it felt really intuitive... But that feeling of being one with the unit, of being reborn, was gone. Still, I had gotten more used to piloting because Byakushiki was adapting to my personality... Apparently.
A few more girls had come up to me, and now I was surrounded by them. This was a regular occurrence by now, so I was used to it. It never stopped surprising me how much girls loved gossip. I couldn’t keep up with it.
“Good luck, Orimura.”
“We want the free dessert!”
“You’ve got a fair shot because only the class reps of A and D have personal units.”
I grunted. That was the most I was able to say without ruining the girls’ optimism.
“That intel is outdated!”
There was chatter at the class entrance. I knew damn well whose voice that was.
“Class B also has a rep with their personal unit now. You won’t have such an easy time winning.”
A girl was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.
“Rin? Is that you?”
“Yep. I’m China’s National Cadet, Huang Lingyin. I’ve come here today to declare war!”
She smiled thinly, and her trademark pigtails shook slightly.
“Trying to look cool, huh? Doesn’t suit you.”
“Wh... Are you trying to wind me up or something?!”
Finally, she was talking normally. What was up with that pompous speech earlier? Couldn’t say I was a fan of it.
“Hey.”
“What?!”
Wham!
Rin was hit square on the head with the attendance record for her impudence. Our demonic teacher had arrived.
“Short homeroom has started. Go back to your class.”
“C-Chifuyu...”
“Call me Orimura here. Now go back and don’t stand in the doorway. You’re blocking it.”
“I-I’m sorry...”
Rin moved out of the doorway. You could tell she was more than a little scared of Chifuyu. She’d never been good at handling her.
“I’ll be back! Don’t run away, Ichika!”
—Why would I have run away?
“I said go back,” barked Chifuyu.
“O-Okay.”
She ran away towards Class B. Yep, that was Rin for you.
—Why is she here, though? To show off? Or maybe she wants to reinvent herself for high school? Pretty typical of her, I would say.
“Wow, I didn’t know she was an IS pilot. First time I heard about that,” I blurted out.
That was a mistake.
“Ichika, who was that? Someone you know? You looked like you knew each other.”
“I-Ichika! How do you know that girl?”
The other girls in the class fired away with all their guns as well.
—Great. Just great.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
“Sit down, you idiots!”
Chifuyu’s attendance record silenced the gunfire. Was it my fault? It was my fault.
—Hm... But why is another of my old friends here? Life is so strange.
Another day of studying the IS had begun.
◇
—Who was that girl... She and Ichika looked close.
It was no use. I couldn’t focus on class after what had happened this morning.
—And it looked like Ichika and her are...
Argh. For whatever reason I couldn’t let the thought of them two go.
—I’m his childhood friend!
I turned to Ichika, who was diligently taking notes. How was he still so calm after all that had happened today already?
—Grr, because of him I can’t focus on class!
“.........”
I should count my blessings. Whoever that girl may be to Ichika, I was the one who was actually living with him. If I wanted to be alone with him, there were plenty of opportunities.
—He’s hopeless without me. I guess I’ll teach him more about the IS.
Yeah. That was all I had to do. It was only natural that I would be the one closest to Ichika.
—We’ll train together after school again.
No one could get between the bond I shared with Ichika, that much was certain.
“Shinonono, what’s the answer?”
“Wh-What?!”
—Oh crap. What were we learning about again...?
I had gotten so lost in thought that I forgot we were still in class. And our teacher wasn’t Ms. Yamada, it was Ms. Orimura.
“What’s the answer?”
“I-I wasn’t listening...”
Bam!
The attendance record struck again.
◇
“.........”
In the back of the classroom, Cecilia’s pencil was running across the pages. However, the lines on the page would have made no sense to anyone. They weren’t even real letters.
—Who was that earlier?!
She’d hated how friendly the girl had been with Ichika. It frustrated her so much! She was already engaged in a bitter battle with Houki. She didn’t want another combatant. And out of all of them, the girl earlier had seemed the closest to Ichika. She felt like a marathon runner who was overtaken at the halfway point by a completely fresh runner.
—This isn’t right! Fight me fair and square!
She didn’t know what fair and square would have meant between people, but that was her opinion, anyway. She was confident that she could easily win in any fair competition, but she’d never competed for a man before, so things weren’t going as she wanted. Cecilia was waking up to painful reality.
—And she’s a National Cadet...
There were 20 or so National Cadets enrolled at IS Academy. However, as far as she knew, of those 20, only four were first year students. And, barring Ichika, only two in the grade had personal units. In this case, the situation looked very good for her, but...
—She said she has a personal unit, too...
It wasn’t going well. In fact, it was going badly. Her trump card wasn’t worth much anymore because the new girl had smuggled her own cards into the game.
—S-She’s cheating!
It was too late for her to complain. She had to regain the initiative. Perhaps by doing something so daring it would give her a decisive lead over Houki and Rin?
—Mock IS battles with him won’t be enough. I need something bigger.
“Alcott.”
“I could ask for a date. No, it needs to be even more effective...”
“.........”
Wham! Her fluffy blond hair was flattened by the attendance record.
◇
“IT’S YOUR FAULT!”
During lunch break, Houki and Cecilia aired their complaints to me.
“But why...?” I pleaded.
In the morning, they had been told off five times by Ms. Yamada, and whacked on the head three times by Chifuyu. Apparently they weren’t learning from it. Spacing out in front of Chifuyu was like rubbing barbecue sauce on your body and dancing in front of a hungry tiger: you were basically asking for it.
“All right, I’ll hear you girls out, but I want to hit up the cafeteria. We can do this over some food.”
“Hmm... F-Fine. If that’s what you want,” said Houki.
“A-Alright. I suppose I shall accompany you if I must,” replied Cecilia.
—Yes, yes. Thank you very much.
A few others from our class followed us to the cafeteria. I bought a ticket for the daily special from the machine. It was a cheap way to eat something different every day. What greater blessing was there in the world? Houki took udon with fried tofu, and Cecilia picked the Western lunch option. As always, I wanted to tell them to try some new things, but then again, I wasn’t really one to talk.
“I was waiting for you, Ichika!”
Huang Lingyin popped out in front of us and blocked our path. Personally, I shortened her name to Ling, or rather, Rin. She was still how I remembered her. Her hair had always been in those long pigtails. I guess it wasn’t just Houki who I recognized instantly because of her hairstyle. I was weirdly proud of myself for having connected this common feature between my childhood friends.
“Well, just move out of the way for now. We want to hand in the meal tickets, and you’re blocking traffic.”
“S-Shut up! I know!”
She was carrying a tray with a bowl of ramen.
“The noodles are getting cold.”
“I-I know! I was waiting for you! Why didn’t you come sooner?!”
—Why would I? It’s not like I’m psychic...
I recalled that she’d always been a bit annoying, as I handed in my food ticket.
“It’s been a while, huh? Almost a year to be exact. You been doing well?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah. Why aren’t you sick or hurt more often either?”
“Are you really hoping for that from me?”
All the girls around me were crazy. Was I some kind of magnet for weird and aggressive girls? Perhaps my own flaws brought it on; nobody’s perfect.
“Ahem! Ahem!”
“Yes, yes, yes! Ichika! Your meal is ready.”
The discussion was interrupted by Houki coughing in a comically loud fashion and Cecilia talking to me. Ah, the daily special was grilled mackerel. Just the sight of it made me more hungry.
“The table over there is empty. Let’s go,” I said to everyone present.
Just herding a group of 10 girls around was time consuming. The fact that we were able to find a table with as many people as we had was a blessing.
“Rin, when did you come back to Japan? Is your mother doing well? When did you become a National Cadet?”
“So many questions! I’ve got some too. How come you can use an IS? I saw it on the news.”
We hadn’t seen each other in a year, so I asked a lot more questions than I normally would’ve. When catching up with an old childhood friend, you wanted to know what they were doing in the meantime. It was the same with Houki.
“Ichika, I’d really like some explanation how you know this girl.”
“Yes! Ichika, she’s not your girlfriend, is she?!”
Perhaps Houki and Cecilia were feeling left out? They had started to heckle me. The other girls that had tagged along also nodded with curiosity.
“I-I-I’m not his gi—”
“Yeah. What are you talking about? She’s just a childhood friend,” I commented.
“.........”
“Why’re you staring at me?”
“Forget it!”
Rin was angry for some reason. What a weird girl.
“Childhood friend?” asked Houki, with a puzzled look.
“Um... Yeah... Remember how your family moved away in fourth grade? Rin moved here at the beginning of fifth grade. Then in eighth grade she moved back to China, so I haven’t seen her for a year.”
I remembered that Houki and Rin hadn’t actually met before. They’d barely missed each other.
“Here, Rin, this is Houki. Didn’t I tell you about her before? I went to school with her in grade school. She practiced kendo with me.”
“Uh-hum. Okay.”
Rin stared at Houki. Houki, being Houki, stared back just as intently.
“Nice to meet you. I hope we can get along.”
“Yeah. Same.”
They exchanged greetings in a friendly enough fashion, but it looked like sparks were flying between them. I had to get more rest. Perhaps the exhaustion was playing tricks on my mind. I remembered seeing a French CEO on TV once who’d said the greatest fault of the Japanese was not knowing how to relax. Guess I proved that right. Maybe I was just flat-out going to die if I kept that mentality going into the workforce.
“Hey! Don’t forget me! You’re the Chinese National Cadet, Huang Lingyin?” Cecilia butted in.
“Who’re you?”
“Wh—?! I-I’m the British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott! You’ve never heard of me?!”
“Nope. I don’t care about other countries.”
“Wh-Wh-Wh...”
Cecilia was stunned into silence, but began to turn red with anger. She looked like a lobster. If I’d told her that, she would have been angry at me too, so I didn’t.
“J-J-Just so you know! I would never lose to someone like you!”
“Okay. But if we fight, I’ll win. I’m really good,” giggled Rin.
Yep, she hadn’t changed. She was so full of confidence, and when she talked about it, it wasn’t even malicious. She was just being honest. That was just what she believed. Whether or not it was malicious on her part didn’t always matter, of course. Some people get upset anyway.
“.........”
“Y-You’re talking big, aren’t you?”
Houki had stopped eating. Cecilia was trembling with anger, and her fists were clenched. Rin, on the other hand, was calmly eating her ramen. Acting like she wouldn’t hurt a fly...
—Though, more than that was hurt just now. Aha.
“Ichika.”
Whoops. Had she read my thoughts? Then again I felt it was unfair that people got angry at me just for having some idle thoughts. I was pretty sure it wasn’t fair. Maybe.
“You’re the class rep?”
“Oh, yeah. It just kinda turned out that way.”
“Is that so...”
Rin raised the bowl to her lips and drank the broth. She never used the Chinese spoon she was given for that. She said it was too girly for her, despite being a girl herself.
“U-Um, I wouldn’t mind looking at your piloting.”
Her face was turned away from me; only her eyes were aimed in my direction, and the way she talked was unusually inarticulate.
“That sounds g—”
Bam! Two people slammed their hands on the table.
Both Houki and Cecilia had risen to their feet.
“It’s my job to teach Ichika. He asked me to do it,” protested Houki.
“You’re in Class B, right? We don’t want alms from the enemy!” exclaimed Cecilia.
Both of them looked really angry. The class league match must have been serious business to them. I decided that they might be right.
“I’m talking to Ichika right now. You girls have nothing to do with this, so stay out.”
“Th-This is our business, too. Ichika personally asked me to teach him. He wanted me!”
