Infinite Stratos, Volume 7, page 14
“You sure are, Ichika! What have you been—”
Houki needed to let her frustration out. She stood up, turning to scold him—and the world froze around her.
“Yo.” Ichika, clad in a tuxedo, was head to toe in black. He looked fashionable. Suave, even.
He looks amazing... The words she’d chosen to lash out with fell from her mind. Instead, she simply stared as he handed her the bouquet.
“Here. For you.”
“R-Roses? Red roses...?”
As she took her first-ever, oh-so-romantic, red flowers from a man, Houki wasn’t sure if she was awake or dreaming. I-Ichika was late, and I was mad and couldn’t calm down, but then he suddenly shows up and gives me roses... She couldn’t understand what was going on. She stood, lost in confusion, until a gentlemanly older waiter helped her to her seat.
“Welcome to our dinner table.” He bowed, and Houki and Ichika each returned a nod half a beat later. “Tonight, we’ll be serving a prix fixe menu. As you’re underage, we will not be serving drinks. Instead, you’ll be having bottled mineral water.”
Nervously, not really understanding what was going on, the two nodded. The waiter continued his explanation, and finally, when it was over, they sighed in relief.
“This... This definitely isn’t our kind of place.”
“Yeah. It’s like we’re not really supposed to be here.”
The surrounding clientele were all adults. Adults, and obviously from the upper crust.
Still... Houki looked at the bouquet resting on the table, and then to Ichika in his tuxedo. He looked so much more mature than usual. He looked... If she had to pick a word for it, ‘fabulous.’ It’s not fair. Why does he look so good in formal clothing? He did as a butler during the school festival, too. Somehow, he was just really good at that look. He must look totally out of my league. Houki glanced down at her own gown. It looked as out-of-place on her as it felt compared to a kimono. She slumped slightly at the thought.
“Houki.” Anxiously, she looked up. “About your dress—”
“......!”
She cringed, sure he was about to say it looked weird on her. That it didn’t suit her at all. Her heart pounded as she imagined what he was about to say.
“I like it. It looks good on you.”
“Ah......”
Ba-dum. Her heart leapt.
“O-Oh. That’s good.” She cleared her throat, trying to act nonchalant. But she could feel her pulse pound, her chest ache, and her face turn red.
I’m lucky the lighting’s so dim... She couldn’t even taste the food which began arriving, course after course. Just looking at Ichika made her heart pound so hard that it was a wonder she could swallow.
“Wow, I knew this place was ritzy, but it lives up to the hype. Everything’s all so good.”
“Y-Yes, you’re right.”
I can’t even taste it! It’s your fault, Ichika! Houki glared.
“Mm?”
Seeing his worry, Houki blushed beet-red. He was so wonderful, so amazing, she couldn’t stand to look him in the face. Now... I’ve got to do it now... Got to tell him how I feel! She had the will, but not the courage. Nervously, she picked up her glass and downed it in a single gulp.
“I-I-Ichika!”
“What?”
“I-I...”
Blood rushed to her head in a burst of exhilaration and tension. Her heart raced like a malfunctioning engine, and no matter how hard she willed it to slow down it wouldn’t.
Say it! Say it! She clenched her fists hard enough to be painful, but she didn’t notice.
“Ichika, I—” Just as the words ‘like you’ were about to leave her mouth, the strength drained from her body. “...Hwuh?”
The world spun around her. She wondered why, how, what had happened. The world narrowed, faded around her like the screen of a tube TV that was suddenly unplugged.
“Uh, Houki?” Ichika called out, concerned, as she collapsed into her chair. Unable to put his worries to rest from across the table, he stood up and walked over to Houki. “Houki, you okay? Houki?”
“Bwuh... Isshikuh...”
“Whoa, what’s going on? I can smell liquor on your breath.”
“Whaa? Tha’ssh abshurd...” she slurred as she batted at Ichika. “I’ll, hic, I’ll show you...”
“Whoa, stop! Stop hitting me!”
“Nyahahahaha....”
Wondering what was happening, the waiter rushed over and immediately inquired, “What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m not really sure, either... She had a drink of water, and then she suddenly got like this.”
“Water? Excuse me for a moment.” The waiter lifted her empty glass and sniffed. “Who served this table alcohol?!”
“Alcohol?!”
“Booze...”
“It was me, sir!”
“You again! How many times do I have to tell you to make sure you have the right table!” The waiter raged, the débarrasseur bowed his head apologetically. Houki wavered drunkenly, and Ichika sighed.
◇
A dream. Alone, I waited in a field of flowers. For something. What, I was unsure, but something important. No, I knew what... My prince.
“—————”
I heard my name, and responded.
“Get on.” The prince held out his arm, and pulled me up, onto his horse. As I wrapped my arms around him, my heart raced. “Let’s go.”
To where? I didn’t ask. Anywhere was fine. Anywhere in the world. As long as it was you. I held tight. His warmth, the feel of his pulse, filled me with joy.
“Houki...”
The wind rushed by us.
◇
“Mmmmm....”
I could feel something tighten around me.
“Guh! Stop squeezing my neck, Houki!”
Houki was drunk, and I was carrying her home to IS Academy on my back. I’d managed to convince the restaurant to let me return the dress tomorrow, but it was still a looooong walk home. I’m in a tux, and she’s in an evening gown... It looked almost like we were coming back from a ball. And the smiles that welled up onto her face from time to time were drawing stares from passersby.
“Phew... I’m exhausted. Today was just too much.”
Not really in a bad way, though. She was beautiful in that dress. I thought about her, as she snored away on my back. Put her in a different outfit, and my childhood friend shined. Even if I was a bit biased.
“Ichika...”
“Hmm? You awake now?”
“Yesh.”
Ugh. She was still drunk. She probably wasn’t even really aware of what was going on.
“C’maawwn.”
“I can’t even tell what you’re saying.”
“Mmm...”
“Should I get you some water?
“Lie... Queue...”
Huh? Was she dreaming about waiting in line or something?
“Houki?”
“Zzzzzz...”
Welp, she was back asleep again. Jeez.
“All right, Takatsuki. The rest is up to you.”
I’d finally made it back to the first year dorms at IS Academy, and handed Houki over to her roommate. I was sure there’d be rumors flying tomorrow morning about me carrying her home— I’d tried not to be spotted, but a few girls had seen us anyway.
I need a shower. As I walked back to my room to take one, I ran into Chifuyu.
“What on earth is that outfit, Orimura?”
“Ah, I simply enjoyed a night at the opera.”
Smack. A karate chop bounced off my head.
“That hurt.”
“You deserve it for lying.”
How could she tell? Wait, there was something I needed to ask her. Luckily, the hall was empty. I stepped closer, and with a serious look on my face, initiated, “Chifuyu.”
“Call me Ms. Orimura.”
“It... It’s about our family.” It was hard to bring myself to say. Since our parents had abandoned us, family was a taboo subject... But I still had to ask. “Do... Do we have any other family?”
Her expression changed. My question was met with a silent scowl as tenseness washed over her.
“Like maybe, another sister...”
“No.”
“But...”
There was someone who looked just like her.
“You’re the only family I have.”
“Chifu—”
Seeing that I wasn’t going to back off, she spun and strode away. As if her back was telling me the conversation was over. Confused, I stood rooted to the spot until she disappeared from my sight.
Epilogue: On a Beautiful Moonlit Night
A single display shone like a torch inside a room swallowed up by darkness. Under its flickering glow, machinery of unknown use gleamed. It was a scene almost like a witch’s coven.
“Hmm... All right, it’s finally coming online.” The room’s owner idly spoke to herself out loud. Her face, floating in the darkness, was that of Shinonono Tabane.
“I wasn’t expecting all the Golem IIIs to be destroyed,” she hummed to herself as she manipulated an IS core. An unregistered core—that is, one she’d built herself. She was the only one who could.
“I guess it makes sense. Even a piloted IS can’t reach its full potential at first, so a drone must be even beneath that.”
The manufacture of unmanned IS. This, too, was a technology that Tabane—and only Tabane—had mastered. If it was revealed, it would cause a worldwide panic. What would happen after that was anyone’s guess.
“You’ve gotten stronger, Houki. Almost like what happened then.”
Looking over Houki’s biometrics during the Golem III fight, Tabane grinned. Yes. It was all for this. The drone attack was just to get that data, and to draw out Akatsubaki’s power. All the damage the attack had caused was just for that.
“I’m surprised, though.”
She’d expected that committing so many drones would draw out Chifuyu. The first Brynhildr, in Japan’s first-generation IS Kurezakura. Officially, it was listed as missing, but Tabane was sure Chifuyu still had it.
“Hmm...” Tabane tilted her head, her chin in her palm, her eyes as deep as oceans with thought. “Wait, could—”
She suddenly realized. It had seemed like nothing, but the more she thought about it, the more it all added up.
“I see. It must be there, then. Hmm.”
An impish grin, like that of a child thinking up a new prank, spread across her face. Just as her eyes gleamed, a girl entered the room. She was short, delicate. Seemingly around 12 years of age. What caught the eye the most was her flowing platinum blonde hair, hanging down to her hips in a thick braid.
Why was it braided? Because Tabane had braided it. Tabane meant the whole world to the girl. Even phrases like ‘she owed Tabane her life’ or ‘Tabane had saved her’ didn’t begin to describe it. The day they met, she had swore in her heart to be by Tabane’s side forever.
“Tabane.”
“Hey, Kuu. What’s up?”
“I baked bread.” The girl timidly held out a tray. More than half of it was burned to a crisp, but Tabane’s eyes still glimmered.
“Mmm-mmm~ It looks great.”
“You’re lying. It’s terrible.”
Honestly, she didn’t want to serve Tabane her failures at cooking. But Tabane had said ‘girls need to learn to cook something,’ and thus the girl tried her hardest every day, even if all she could produce were ash and goo. And Tabane ate it all, without a hint of a frown. Even as she said it was delicious, the girl felt guilt rather than happiness.
“Hey, Kuu.”
She looked up. Her eyes had been closed since she entered the room. But she had no need for vision, with her own unique ability.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“What is it?”
“You’re always so formal. Too formal. Can’t you call me ‘mommy’ or something?”
Tabane had only one sister. So, from the day she took the girl in, she had thought of her as a daughter.
“Anyway, what is the favor?”
“Well. I need you to make a delivery for me.”
“Of course. Where is it going?”
Tabane smiled as she answered, “The secret complex underneath IS Academy.”
Afterword: Your Own Originality
Hi, it’s Yumizuru again. This time, I want to talk about originality. Originality really isn’t that tough. You just need to be yourself. And how do you be yourself? By being different from other people. That’s your own personality.
Here’s an example of what I mean by ‘different from other people.’ Let’s assume there’s a really popular book. And you want to write something like it. Like, for IS for example, you’d include aspects like ‘high-tech weaponry only women can use,’ ‘only one guy,’ ‘school setting,’ and ‘international cast.’ If you just write based on those concepts, you’d think you’d end up with basically IS again, but somehow it doesn’t turn out that way. Even if the concepts are the same, the result will be different. That’s your own personality shining through.
So if you’re looking to win one of the talent searches but you don’t know what to write or what other people want to read, the first thing you should do is take a look at what else is on the market. Do what everyone else is doing, do it well, and put your own personality into it. That’s enough to catch people’s eyes while still standing out from the crowd.
Now, you still need the determination to write a second story if the first doesn’t work, a tenth story if the second doesn’t work, a hundredth story if the tenth doesn’t work.
Personality and determination. Why not put them to use, and enter one of the competitions? I’m waiting for new rivals. Let’s do our best.
— Izuru Yumizuru
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Chapter I: Sisters
Chapter II: Girls’ Rhythm
Chapter III: Open Your Heart
Chapter IV: What It Takes to Be a Hero
Epilogue: On a Beautiful Moonlit Night
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
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Copyright
Infinite Stratos: Volume 7
by Izuru Yumizuru
Translated by Mike Langwiser
Edited by Meiru
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 Izuru Yumizuru
Illustrations by CHOCO
Cover illustration by CHOCO
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2013 by OVERLAP, Inc.
This English edition is published by arrangement with OVERLAP, Inc., Tokyo
English translation © 2019 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: April 2019
Izuru Yumizuru, Infinite Stratos, Volume 7
