Infinite Stratos, Volume 1, page 15
“Come in.”
The door opened, having heard this command, and Ms. Yamada strode in.
“The analysis report on the unit is in.”
“Good. What does it say?”
“It... It was an unmanned unit.”
The technology to make a unit unmanned did not exist anywhere in the world, be it remote control or stand-alone. One of these, or perhaps both of these, had been used with that unit. There was going to have to be a gag order because of this.
“It’s unclear how it was made to move. Orimura’s final attacked destroyed core elements of the system. We probably can’t reconstruct its functions.”
“What about the core?”
“The core is unregistered.”
“I see.”
She was expecting that. Ms. Yamada noticed that Chifuyu was feeling validated about something.
“Do you have an idea?”
“No, none. Not yet, anyway...”
Chifuyu looked back at the screens. Not as a teacher, but as a warrior. As a legendary pilot, once the best in the world. The focus in her eyes hearkened back to those days as she stared at the combat unfolding on screen.
◇
“You’re late!”
That was the first thing I heard when I came back to my room. My childhood friend was a demon.
“What were you doing? I’m hungry. I kept waiting for you.”
“Waiting? What, you haven’t eaten anything yet?”
“I told you that I was waiting for you.”
—You could’ve just eaten without me...
But I didn’t say that. That would probably have made her angry. I was learning!
“Let’s go eat, then. Off to the cafeteria! We can still make it.”
“W-Wait!”
Houki stopped me as I was about to leave. What now? We had little time before the cafeteria closed at eight. I wasn’t going to dine on dried sardines or something.
“T-Today, uh... I... Um...”
“Is that... the smell of food?”
Freshly cooked food, at that. My stomach growled at the prospect of sustenance.
“There’s something on the table. Wow! Fried rice! What’s going on?”
The enticing smell I had caught was that of sesame oil. I was immediately hungry enough to eat.
“I-I, uh... M-Made this!”
“Really?”
“Why are you so surprised?!”
—Well, anybody would be.
I was mostly surprised that it wasn’t traditional Japanese food. It was a strange turn of events. Was she trying to get something out of me? I had no money, so no problem.
“Well?! A-Are you going to eat, or what?”
“Oh, I’m gonna eat it. Why are you angry?”
“I-I’m not angry!”
She seemed angry when she answered me as well, but apparently that wasn’t the case. If she said she wasn’t angry, then she wasn’t. The basis of human society was trusting one another, after all.
“So, can I eat?”
“Wash your hands first. And brush your teeth.”
Everything had to be according to the rules for Houki. Perhaps doing this was normal at one point, but in our day and age, these customs were being abandoned by people of all age and sex. Still, I would have done it anyway. I didn’t have to be told. I finished that up quickly. When I came back, Houki gestured impatiently for me to sit down. She was already waiting. I sat down and thanked her for the food.
“Thank you for the food.”
“Hmm. Eat now.”
I ate.
“.........”
“How is it? Good, right?”
Houki looked at me proudly. I wasn’t able to agree immediately.
“It has no taste...”
“Wh-What?! Let me try!”
Houki grabbed my spoon and ate some of the rice.
“It really has no taste...”
“Right?”
It looked just like Chinese fried rice was supposed to look, but it tasted like nothing. How was that possible? She probably hadn’t used enough flavoring... or any at all. It was extremely strange that the food had the right texture, then. It looked just about perfect. Was this magic?
“I-I must have forgotten! You can forget these things!”
“Forget the seasoning? I dunno, that sounds unlikely...”
“Shut up! I’ll just eat it all, then!”
“I didn’t say that. Come on, give me the spoon back.”
I took the spoon from an irritated Houki and ate more rice. It had no taste, but I still made sure to savor it, for whatever that was worth. I was glad just to have something to eat, and a real man showed his gratitude by eating it up.
“Thank you.”
I finished my plate and put down the spoon. I also folded my hands.
“.........”
“Wh-What?”
Houki was looking quietly at me with an expression that was extremely difficult to explain. I could see elements of anger, happiness, joy... But it was none of them.
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea!”
“Hm?”
“Today I... Had some very bad luck! Against all odds! Normally this always works!”
—Okay. Didn’t know that, but sure.
I’d never seen Houki’s food before, anyway. I guess the last time I’d seen her was in grade school, so it was no wonder, really.
“Why did you make Chinese food, though? Don’t you like Japanese food a lot more?”
“F-Food is international. I wanted to prove that.”
—And you failed, so what was the point, really?
Her food was so international it could have been anything.
“B-But... You know... If you insist, I will cook for you again.”
“Hm? Oh, it’s fine. It’d just be a bother for you. We can hit up the cafeteria.”
“Y-You don’t want to eat my food?!”
“That’s not what I’m saying... Look, what’s wrong? You haven’t been yourself.”
“I-I’m saying I’ll cook for you every day if you want,” she mumbled.
Her voice was now very quiet. Too quiet. I couldn’t make out what she’d said.
“Th-This is your fault! How are you going to take responsibility for that promise?!”
“Promise? The one with Rin? We cleared that up.”
“Wh-What?”
“Yeah, we cleared it up. I apologized and she forgave me.”
“.........”
She gave me a dubious look, one of distrust.
“Like that would be enough!”
“No, that’s what happened.”
She was being so stubborn. I didn’t understand.
“And besides, you’re throwing away something that could—”
Knock, knock.
I was still being held down by the machine gun fire of Houki’s rhetorics when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Um... Shinonono, Orimura... Are you there?”
That timid voice no doubt belonged to Ms. Yamada. I opened the door, and she came in. And yeah, it was her.
“What is it, Ms. Yamada?”
“Um, yes... You’re moving.”
“What?”
Moving? Who was moving? Both of us?
“Ms. Yamada, please tell us who is moving where.”
“Y-Yes... I’m sorry.”
Houki glared at her, and Ms. Yamada twitched like a small animal.
—Don’t bully her, Houki.
She was still our teacher... Sort of.
“Um, you’re moving, Shinonono. We have arranged a new room for you, so you won’t have to live with him anymore.”
—Live with him... Heh, that could be taken as a pun. Nice one, Ms. Yamada.
“Ichika.”
“Y-Yeah.”
She knew. Damn it. How?
“Um... I will help you gather your belongings. Let’s get this done!”
“W-W-Wait. Does it have to be so soon?”
I didn’t expect Houki to say that, nor had Ms. Yamada, apparently. She blinked a few times.
“Well... Yes, it does. We don’t want a boy and girl your age to be living together, and I’m sure you can’t relax, Shinonono.”
“I-I’m...”
Houki didn’t finish her sentence and stared at me.
—Oh, okay. I get what’s going on.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll get up in the morning, and I’ll even brush my teeth.”
“......!”
Tching!
Weird. I could have sworn I heard something snap. Someone was angry with me.
“Ms. Yamada, I’m moving right now.”
“O-Okay! Let’s get started!”
Houki’s sudden change of mood startled Ms. Yamada, and she twitched again.
“Should I help?”
“NO!”
Wow, she was so angry that if I had touched her, I would have cut myself. She was like a katana. It was best to just stay quiet.
“You’re just horrible. Think about what I was trying to do...” Houki mumbled again, now filled with rage.
Anyway, Houki being Houki, everything was finished after barely an hour.
“Hm...”
I felt like the room had become twice as big with my roommate gone. That said, it felt a little lonely without her.
“Guess I’m gonna sleep. No use thinking about this.”
I wanted to take a bath, but there was still no gender-separated timetable for the big bath. They’d told me it wasn’t going to take much longer.
—It’s pretty weird, though. Ever since I came here due to the IS, I met Houki and Rin again, and I even met Cecilia.
The way people met was strange. Reality was weirder than a novel. And light novels were more picture book than book, so the last one wasn’t necessary. It was a bit insulting, even.
“Time for sleep.”
I’d taken a shower and brushed my teeth. I had even changed, too. Granted, when I sat around the room I just wore shorts and a t-shirt, anyway.
—M’kay. Dream Town here I come.
Knock, knock. Someone was knocking on the door.
I was already in bed, but...
Wham, wham! Someone was knocking with their fist.
I ran to the door.
“Hello, who is th—”
“.........”
Outside was Houki, frowning, after she had switched rooms just earlier.
“What, forget something?”
“.........”
Houki didn’t answer. She looked frustrated and unhappy, like a time bomb down to five minutes until detonation. Not that I’d ever seen a time bomb.
“What’s wrong? Well, come in.”
“No, this is fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“.........”
“.........”
—Hello? Earth to Houki?
“Houki, if you’ve got nothing to say, then I’m going to bed.”
“I-I have something to say!”
Her sudden yelling startled me.
—No yelling in the hallway. The dorm mother will get mad at you.
“Th-There is a grade-separated tournament next month...”
Near the end of June, there was going to be a tournament where everyone could take part, unlike the class league match. It was separated by grade, and nothing more. The ones with a personal unit still had a huge advantage, though.
“I-If I win...”
Her cheeks turned pink, but Houki continued. She was embarrassed and looking down at the ground.
“I-If I win, I want you to go out with me!”
She pointed her finger at me.
“What?”
I was totally confounded. It almost seemed like a declaration of war. Not that I knew who was declaring war on whom, exactly.
End of Volume One.
Afterword: Volume One, a retrospective.
Hello. My name is Yumizuru. Hizu, hizu! (That’s how I greet people.)
So, that was the first volume. Hm. Yes... Where to start? When I was 22, I quit my previous job because I got very sick. It was getting worse, and I had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. Afterward, I worked freelance, but that didn’t work out very well due to illnesses still. This went on, and my health got worse for some time. It got so bad I had to get anesthetic injected straight into the epidural space of my spine, and this caused an infection, and I just barely avoided being paralyzed below the waist. One time I was sleeping with a 40-degree fever, and my last clients dissolved their contracts with me. That was when I kind of wanted to die or just disappear, but I lived on.
That was when I figured I might write a light novel, and I pitched what would become IS. Writing made me feel better, like I was actually doing something... I guess. Also, and I’m still their patient, but praise the Tokyo U hospital. By the way, something about my name, Yumizuru Izuru. I took the Yumizuru from my father, a shamisen player, and Izuru from my mother, who teaches ikebana. My brother is the reason I decided to be a novelist. I don’t think he remembers, but when he was in university, we were talking in a Saizeriya restaurant in Kanazawa. I told him I wanted to be a novelist, but that I probably couldn’t do it. He said I just had to try and it would work out. I really appreciated that. I’m grateful to my family.
While we’re on the topic of thanking people, I’m grateful to my wife. That sounds a bit distant, doesn’t it? But she always supported me, even when it was tough, and I couldn’t thank her enough. I will love her forever.
Oh. Originally I meant to cover Cecilia a lot more in the first volume, but everyone got really mad and said I couldn’t do that, so I dragged Rin here from the second volume. Originally Rin would have been in Class A and stuff. Anyway, there’ll be surprises, so don’t worry.
Bye! Byzu, byzu! (Following my style.)
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Chapter I: All My Classmates Are Girls
Chapter II: The Battle for Class Rep!
Chapter III: The Transfer Student Is a Second Childhood Friend
Chapter IV: Showdown! The Class League Match
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
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Copyright
Infinite Stratos: Volume 1
by Izuru Yumizuru
Translated by Holm Hinners
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 © 2018 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 2018
Izuru Yumizuru, Infinite Stratos, Volume 1
