Infinite Stratos, Volume 2, page 17
“No, no, no. If someone leaves, it should be me. I’ve already had my turn, and you—”
“W-Wait!” Her sudden shout shocked me into silence. “Plus, I wanted to talk. There’s something important I wanted to ask you.”
“Okay.”
If it was important, I had to listen. I settled my hips back below the water, but I couldn’t look at Charles. I turned right in the bath, tilting an ear toward her.
“It’s about what we talked about before.”
“What we talked about before... You mean, about you staying here?”
“Yes, that. I think I will stay here. I don’t have anywhere else to go, and besides...”
“And besides?”
“.........”
I was answered with silence. Our conversation stopped, and a stillness fell over the bath.
Plop.
“Eek!”
“W-What’s wrong?!”
Her sudden, though cute, scream led me to respond in surprise as well.
“A drop of water landed on me. It scared me.”
“O-Oh?”
“.........”
“.........”
The silence continued. For some reason, the drops of water from the ceiling seemed more intense than usual.
Splash...
“Huh? Charles?”
Hearing the splash, I reflexively turned to see where it came from.
“D-Don’t look! Turn around!”
“Sorry!”
Even with the steam obscuring things, she was less than a meter away. It seemed like Charles was approaching me.
—What is she doing? Ugh, the rush of blood to my head is keeping me from thinking straight.
Yet in the next moment, all the consciousness that had flowed out of me leapt back into my head. Charles’ hand clapped on my back.
“Charl—?!”
Her arms worked their way around me in an embrace. The feeling of her slender body against mine sent my heart leaping into my mouth.
“It’s because you said I should stay here. If you’re here with me, I want to be here.”
“I see...”
I didn’t really understand why it was a big deal, but if it helped her, I was happy. Other people around me had done the same for me, so I wanted to do it for someone else. Because I was protected so kindly, I wanted to be kind to others and protect them, even just a little bit. That was how I felt.
“And... There’s one other thing I’ve decided.”
“One other thing?”
“Yes. How to be myself. You’re the one who showed me how.”
“Did I?”
“Yeah, you did. Hehe, sometimes you’re so dense. It’s annoying.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I forgive you. But can you call me Charlotte from now on? At least, when we’re alone?”
“Is that your real...”
“Yes. My real name. The name my mother gave me.”
“Okay... Charlotte...”
“Mm...” Charles—no, Charlotte—replied happily. I imagined her almost childishly innocent smile.
“Anyway, uh. If you keep holding onto me like that, bad things are going to happen...”
I had finally noticed the feeling of those mounds not just resting on my back, but pressing into it. They may not have been exceptionally large, but they were more than supple enou— No, just ignore it!
“Ahh, oh, right! I’ll go wash my hair now!”
It seemed Charlotte had also realized what was happening, as I heard her splash away before getting out of the bath.
“No peeking, okay?”
“Of course I wouldn’t.”
“You were supposed to peek...”
It sounded almost like she replied to me, but I couldn’t quite hear it over the splashing. After that, Charlotte and I each took a second turn in the bath, leaving after 30 minutes or so of relaxation. Of course, we changed separately. I waited until after she got out to dress. Men could dress in a second flat. I’d be done in no time at all. And... I was gone.
“Let’s head back to our room.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte nodded.
She was blushing. I guess because she’d just gotten out of the bath? She was wearing her corset and passing as a boy again, but for some reason, her damp hair made my heart pound. After returning to our room, we passed the time with silly chatter until we fell asleep. I didn’t really remember it clearly, but we were tired, so that had to be what happened. Probably. Let’s just assume that.
◇
The next day, Charlotte wasn’t in homeroom in the morning. She’d told me to go on ahead in the cafeteria, but something must have happened. Casting a look around the classroom, I noticed Laura wasn’t there as well. She must have still been recovering from the day before. Plus, the teachers probably wanted to debrief her further.
“Good morning, everyone...”
Ms. Yamada entered the classroom, noticeably unsteady. Something was really bugging her, for how early in the morning it was. Maybe she was worked up over her egg not being runny?
“Orimura, I can’t tell exactly what you’re thinking, but I can tell you’re thinking of me like a little kid. It makes me angry. Sigh...”
Angry, but still not angry enough to be forceful about it. Ah well. Sorry, Teach.
“Today, we have a new transfer student to introduce. Well, it’s a transfer student, but they’ve already been introduced. Umm...”
I wasn’t quite sure what Ms. Yamada meant, but... Huh? A transfer student? The rest of the class had the same reaction and set to murmuring back and forth. It was late enough in the year for transfer students and we’d already gotten two, so another? What in the world?
“Come in.”
“Pardon me.”
Eh? That voice sounded like—
“Charlotte Dunois. Pleased to meet you again.”
Charlotte, in a skirt, gave a precise curtsy. Everyone in the class, including me, was so shocked that we could only return a polite nod.
“You see, Mr. Dunois is now Ms. Dunois. Aww, now I have to reassign dorm rooms...”
That must be what Ms. Yamada was so upset about. Wait a sec... As I tried to process the situation, the room exploded with a sea of questions.
“Eh? Dunois is a girl?”
“I thought something was wrong! So he’s not a hunk, she’s a babe?”
“Wait, Orimura, you shared a room! How could you miss that?”
“Hold it! Didn’t they bathe together yesterday?!”
The tension in the classroom was palpable. It simmered for a few moments before boiling over.
Oh. This was bad. This definitely couldn’t end well.
Smash! The classroom door flew open as if it were kicked down.
“ICHIKA!”
Huang Lingyin made her appearance, Her face flame-red with rage. It was as if a dragon was behind her. So this was what they meant when they talked about China’s 4,000 years of history!
“DIE!”
At the same time as her IS took form, the impact cannons on each shoulder fired at full power.
Well, goodbye world. I’d be on the front page of tomorrow’s papers: “Unfortunate high school boy killed by classmate. Corpse left unrecognizable. Classmates grieve.” ‘Mincemeat,’ ‘ketchup,’ ‘like fallen persimmons under a tree,’ ‘or maybe figs,’ ‘like an exploded can of soda,’ ‘probably Pepsi.’
—Hey, wait, that last one’s going to—
Washoom!
“Hah, hah, hah...!”
Rin was so angry that her chest heaved with every breath. She was like a cat with its hair on end.
—Wait, huh? I’m... Alive? I’m still alive?
“.........”
I didn’t know how she managed that hair’s-breadth save, but somehow, sandwiched between myself and Rin... Was Laura, in her jet-black IS Schwarzer Regen. Its AIC had completely absorbed the impact cannon’s blast. Actually, now that I looked, she didn’t even have her rail cannon.
“Thanks, you saved me. Wait... Your IS is already fixed? That’s amazing.”
“The core barely made it through unscratched. I assembled the rest from spare parts.”
“Wow, reall— Wah!”
Suddenly. Out of nowhere. Laura grabbed me by the collar, pulled me in—and stole a kiss.
“......Ngh?!?!”
I was absolutely blindsided. I wished someone would explain to me what was going on. Rin, and the rest of the class, were agape. Everyone was. Even me.
“I will make you my bride! Es ist entscheiden! No objections!”
“B-Bride? Not ‘groom,’ maybe?”
I was so confused that I couldn’t do anything but answer calmly. Maybe I really was important— Nah, too much self-flattery.
“I’d heard Japan has a custom of—when taken with a fancy for someone—declaring you’d make them your bride. So I will make you my bride.”
Who told her something like that? C’mon, come clean.
“A-A-Ah...“
Rin’s mouth flapped, and wordless noises emanated. She was gulping like a goldfish. Yet somehow, I couldn’t shake my feeling of danger. I’d be screwed if she evolved right now.
“You—”
Clang! The impact cannons opened again.
“W-Wait! It’s not my fault! I’m the victim here!”
“Of course it’s your fault! All of it! Every single part! It’s your fault!”
What was that supposed to mean? How did she decide on that?! Anyway, my life was in danger. My only hope was to escape through the classroom’s door.
Fshiiing! A laser flashed in front of my nose. In terror, I turned towards its source.
“Going somewhere, Ichika? But there’s something I ab-so-lutely must discuss with you. I know it’s sudden, but this is deathly important. Ohohoho...”
Gulp. One, two, three, four... A total of five veins pulsing in anger, Cecilia blocked my path. In her hands was the Starlight Mk.III. The bits mounted on her back were already glowing. Only after did her armor phase in.
No way, no way, no way! Giving up on the stairs, I turned toward the window. This was only the second floor, I could survive the fall. If worse came to worst, I could deploy Byakushiki and—
Slam!
Something or other was there. I would have preferred something else, but I got other than what I wanted. A katana suddenly thrust in front of me.
—Eh? Is this the Sengoku period? A new spinoff, Sengoku IS Academy? I guess that’d work. Chacha’s IS would probably be way overpowered, though. I dunno.
“Explain yourself... Ichika.”
“Wait, wait, wait! I’m the one who wants an explana— Whoa!”
A sharp blade slashed in my direction, as if to say “I’m not listening.”
—You idiot! Are you trying to kill me?! Knock it off!
Enough already! I’d end up dead at this rate! I dove to the floor, and began an aimless struggle for escape. My mind was moving so fast that I had no sense of what was truly happening anymore.
Ker-chunk.
“Huh?”
I had bumped into something—someone. Half-reflexively, I looked up.
“.........”
It was Charlotte, with a grin across her face. It was that angelic smile. Like Buddha smiling, even in Hell. It was infectious. I smiled back. With quite a bit of self-confidence, I might add.
“You’d kiss someone in front of other girls? I’m surprised.”
“Er, Charlotte? I didn’t kiss someone, I was kissed, and why do you have your IS out?”
“Hmmm, I wonder.”
Rapid Switch wasn’t even necessary... Charlotte called no weapon into her hand. Her strongest weapon was already there, with her armor. She needed no other.
Bang!
The sound of gunpowder exploding filled the room as she purged the armor from her shield. Within was the .69-caliber Gray Scale Pile Bunker—also known as Shield Pierce.
“Ah, haha. Ahahaha...”
When people were pushed beyond their limits, all they could do was laugh. Wasn’t there a song about that? I guess that was what it meant.
Wrrrraaaaanng!
Homeroom that day was rocked with the roar of explosions.
Epilogue: From a Deep-Red Doze
“Hmm...”
A strange room, packed with machinery in every corner, with cables rising up like an electric forest. Among their steel roots, a mechanical squirrel skittered, grasping fallen bolts like acorns. A rattle, like that of an old mechanical hard drive, echoed. Nowhere else in the world could a squirrel be found who could identify unnecessary parts, grasp their function, and rebuild them into a new form. Yes, this was Shinonono Tabane’s secret laboratory.
“Oh? Oh.”
Clatter...
Rattle, rattle.
“Oh...”
Shinonono Tabane struck an uncanny figure. She wore a one-piece dress as blue as the sky, like Alice in Alice in Wonderland. The large ribbon which held her apron drew the eye. Her face was unmistakably that of Houki’s older sister. But with their time apart, while Houki had acquired the stern gaze of a kendo master, Tabane’s sleeplessness had given hers an unhealthy squint. The bags under her eyes had endured for years.
This was the meaning of the saying “geniuses are slaves to their thoughts.” Her contemplation continued even in her sleep, robbing her of any chance for a quiet rest. At some point in her life, she may have had a good night’s sleep, but if she had, it was too long ago to remember. Unlike her sister, she had avoided kendo, or indeed any other sport, but her body was still lithe and curvy. And most noticeable were her plump breasts.
Perhaps her shirt was too small, as her buttons strained, letting seductive peeks of her skin through gaps in its placket. And on her head... Well, if we were looking for problematic things, that was probably the one. For whatever reason, her headband had white bunny ears attached. She was like a walking, condensed Alice in Wonderland. Alice and the White Rabbit in one mismatched outfit.
But that was her thing, that was what she wanted to wear. Last month was Hansel and Gretel. It shouldn’t need to be mentioned that no one could figure that out. This Tabane, then, leaned back in her strange chair. If one could call it that—but for lack of anything better to call it, that’s what we’ve chosen. Glints of silver light reflected from it. Its twisted lines wrapped around Tabane like a cage. Almost as if it were the skeleton of a dinosaur. And as Tabane’s fingers began to dance, the threads leading from them sparked a marionette to motion.
Clatter...
Rattle, rattle.
With the slightest of motion, the parts of the chair moved like a living thing, picking up a tiny tool. With it, they began working on a small part held in a pair of pincers. It was a smaller chair, holding yet smaller parts. Dozens of repetitions later, the chain reached its end. A plastic IS model on nano-scale. An absolute, unparalleled waste. An absolutely foolish, unforgivable timekiller.
“Ahh, finally done.”
It was finished. Absolutely perfect, down to the paint and finish. She sighed in boredom as she rose from her chair. Tabane pressed a point on the seemingly-solid chair, and it collapsed into a pile of rubble.
“So, so bored.”
Da-dum-da-da-dadum-da-da-da-da-dadah~♪ The sound of the theme to The Godfather filled the room. Even in the 21st century, there was no better theme for a delinquent. Yet surely, not even its composer could imagine it being so loved in the far, far east. Somehow, she wanted to know whether he’d be elated or disgusted.
“Wait, this ringtone—!”
She leapt to her feet and dove for her phone. Her toolkit clattered into her painting mug, but Tabane didn’t care. She pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hewwo? Hewwo yewwow?”
“.........”
Click.
The person on the other end of the line obviously had hangups about that. At least, they’d hung up.
“Wait, wait!”
As if a god was answering Tabane’s prayers, the phone rang again. Da-dum-da-da-dadum-da-da-da-da-dadah~♪
“It’s everyone’s idol, Shinonono Tabane— Wait, wait, wait! Chichan!”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay, Chichan!”
“Sigh. Whatever. I have a question for you.”
“What is it?”
“Were you involved in this?”
“This... this what?”
Tabane shook her head. It was no evasion. She actually didn’t know.
“The VT System.”
“Oh. Really? Tee-hee. Do you really think I’d turn out a clunker like that? I’m the absolutely perfect Shinonono Tabane. Meaning, everything I make is absolutely perfect, too.”
“.........”
“And, now that you remind me, around two hours ago I made sure that the lab which did come up with it was wiped from the face of the earth. No casualties, of course. It was easier than taking candy from a baby. Chichan—have you ever tried actually taking candy from a baby? It’s pretty tough. You haven’t? Huh.” With a laugh, Tabane carefully cut herself off.
“That’s good. Sorry to bother you.”
“Oh, no problem! I wasn’t busy at all! I’m open for you 24 hours, like a convenience store but better! Just dial 1-800-STABANE!”
“Talk to you later...”
The connection dropped with a loud click. This time, there would be no second try. For a moment, Tabane stared at her phone in regret, but a bare two seconds later she tossed it away.
“I’m glad to hear from you after so long! You’re always so badass. Don’t go chasing the setting sun away from me~” Tabane crossed her arms with a chuckle.
Orimura Chifuyu and Shinonono Tabane. They had first met in elementary school. After that, they had always been in the same class at the same school. Tabane had pulled every string she could to make it happen, and Chifuyu knew, but that wasn’t their only connection.
When Chifuyu was in high school, the IS was revealed to the world, and for several years after she acted as its test pilot. Meaning, Chifuyu was leaps ahead of other pilots in terms of knowledge, and her understanding was on an entirely different level. She’d developed her own practice regimen and unique tactics. It was no surprise that she shone as the champion of the first Mondo Grosso tournament. If anything, it was only natural. Or so Tabane thought.
