Infinite Stratos, Volume 3, page 3
“I mean, if you don’t mind.” Charlotte energetically nodded. “Y-Yeah. It’s fine. Sounds like a good idea.”
Her anticipation and excitement brought her voice up a half-octave. Even as she struggled to hide her reaction, a flower garden bloomed in her heart. Oh my God, what do I do? What’s with him? I don’t know if I’m ready for this... But, he likes me, he really likes me. Right? Right?! The storm brewing in her heart began to leak into her voice. She cleared her throat to hide it while waiting intently for his answer.
“Makes sense to me. What about Charl? It rolls off the tongue well, and it’s nice and intimate.”
“Charl...? Yeah! That’s good. No, it’s great!”
“Oh? I’m glad you like it so much.”
“Y-Yeah, kinda. Charl. Charl, huh.” Charlotte giggled. Picture a team of four SD Charlottes dancing in the flower garden in her heart. With ‘Please Stand By’ text over the top, if possible.
“Anyway, Charl— can you do me a favor?”
“Huh? What?”
While Charlotte was still enveloped in bliss, Ichika thrust out his hand toward her. An almost visible question mark popped up over her head as he approached with a serious face and asked the fateful question.
“Will you go out with me?”
“Ehh...?!” Charlotte heard a sound like the heavens tearing apart.
◇
“Great weather today, huh?”
The weekend. Sunday. The weather was beautifully clear. I was out on the town with a girl, getting ready for the class trip next week. Specifically, I was out with...
“.........” For some reason, Charlotte—Charl—had a sullen look. She’d been like this all morning. I didn’t get what she meant by “I heard a sound which shattered my dreams.” She may have been in a mood, she may have just been drained, but either way there were storm clouds gathering in her expression.
Oh, and today, she was wearing a short-sleeved white blouse perfect for the weather. Under it was a light gray tank top, the same color as her skirt. The skirt was tiered, and cut short to show off the beautiful lines of her legs 120%— yeah, it was cute. It was stunning, in complete contrast to her expression, and fashionable as well.
“What’s wrong, Charl? Not feeling well today?” I turned toward her with a worried look, only to have my face pushed back away.
“.........” Silently, too. Yet her expression was shouting condemnation.
“Charl, uh...”
“Ichika.”
“Huh?”
“Men who play with girls’ emotions should be kicked to death by a horse.”
Wow, that was pretty harsh all of a sudden. But I couldn’t disagree. Not just girls. You shouldn’t do that to anyone. It was just cruel. Only a real stinker would do that.
“Yeah, they should all be dead.”
“Look in a mirror sometime.”
Huh, did I have bed head? I didn’t want to look like a loser.
“So... You just wanted to go out shopping, huh. Now that I think of it, you did the same thing last month, didn’t you, Ichika. Siiiigh...”
Again, that sudden 20,000-league sigh. What was she so mad about? Was going out shopping with me really such a drag?
“Listen, I’m sorry. But you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, okay? I don’t mind if you go back and just take the day off. It’s important to take care of yourself.”
“.........”
Her silence was overpowering. Ugh, it was like being strangled with a silk thread. Incredibly awkward. Because it was so awkward, I hunted for whatever blame I could take.
“Um... Why don’t I get you a parfait at the place by the station to thank you for coming along?”
“Just a parfait?”
“How about some cake, too? And something to drink.”
“Mmm. Oh, and—” She suddenly held out her hand. Hm? Did she want to shake hands? Nah, couldn’t be. For a moment, it seemed like she was glaring at me. Umm... Think. Think. “You can hold my hand.”
“Oh, just that? Sure.”
Now that I thought of it, she was a foreigner in a strange city. She’d have a tough time if we got separated. Almost everyone has Sunday off, so the area near the station was pretty crowded. Holding hands so we didn’t get separated was the kind of clever idea I was used to from her. I should try to learn from her example.
“.........” Huh? Why was she so quiet all of a sudden? Her face was redder than before, and she didn’t want to make eye contact. Did she have a cold?
“Are you okay?”
“Wha— What do you mean?!”
“C’mon, Charl. Are you sure you don’t need to just go rest?”
“N-No! I’m fine! Absolutely fine! Let’s go!” She suddenly started walking, pulling me toward the station. Holding her hand, I couldn’t help but think about how delicate it was. Its warmth made my heart beat faster.
◆
As Ichika and Charlotte walked toward the station, two unseen figures watched from the shadows. When the crossing sign turned green, and Ichika and Charlotte disappeared into the crowd, the two emerged into sight. One was an energetic girl with two braids, and the other was an elegant blonde. In other words, they were Ling and Cecilia.
“Hold it...”
“What is it?”
“Were they... holding hands?”
“They certainly were...” As they recounted the obvious, Cecilia, still grinning, gripped her drink bottle. With a sploosh, the cap popped off.
“I knew it. I wasn’t seeing things. I wasn’t daydreaming. I knew it— I’m going to kill him.” Ling’s clenched fist, already enveloped in IS armor, was ready for combat. Her impact cannon was two seconds away from firing. Such is the terrifying passion of a teenage girl.
“It seems as though they’re having fun. I suppose I should join in.”
“......?!”
A sudden voice from behind shocked the two. Standing there was a figure they’d never forget after their defeat last month—Laura.
“When did you get here?!”
“Don’t be so standoffish. I have no intention of harming you.”
“Why should I believe you?! If you want a rematch, we’re ready!” Memories of their two-on-one defeat only strengthened Ling and Cecilia’s doubts. Laura, though, continued calmly.
“If you could kindly forgive me for that.” Laura’s nonchalance robbed the duo of words for a moment. Soon enough, though, they found them.
“Seriously, you want us to forgive that?”
“The nerve, to even ask such a thing!”
“Oh well. I’ll just go after Ichika, then. See you.” As Laura paced off, Ling and Cecilia momentarily stopped in their tracks.
“Ho-Hold up!”
“Indeed! Whatever are you going to do when you catch up to him?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Ask to join in. That’s all.” The casual answer made them recoil. They weren’t sure whether to hate or envy such a straightforward response.
“Wait. Just wait. The most important thing to do when faced with an unknown force is to gather intelligence, right?”
“You have a point. What’s your plan, then?”
“First we trail them, to find out exactly what’s going on between them.”
“Makes sense. I’m in.”
And thus, for absurd reasons, the stalker trio was formed.
◇
“This should be the place with the swimsuits.” We were on the second floor of the shopping mall by the station. Everything came together here: trains, the subway, buses, and taxis. You could get to here from anywhere in the city, and you could get to anywhere in the city from here.
The mall, called Resonance, linked the station itself with the surrounding below-street-level retailers. In the resulting complex, you could eat your fill of western, Chinese, and Japanese food while browsing everything from no-frills casual wear to the most famous global brands. There was entertainment for everyone from children to the elderly, too. In other words, if you couldn’t find it there, you couldn’t find it anywhere in the city. It was kinda—no, it was really amazing. Oh, and it seemed kind of weird to call it ‘by the station’ when it wrapped completely around the station. But it started out that way, so I guess there was no changing it now. In middle school, Dan and Rin and I spent plenty of afternoons here. Coming back was kind of nostalgic.
“Were you going to get a swimsuit too, Charl?”
“Well... Ichika, did you want to see me in a swimsuit?”
Hm? That was a weird question. Shouldn’t she be more worried about whether she was going to swim? Sometimes I didn’t get why she said things.
“I guess. You should take advantage of the chance to go swimming. It’s been a long time since I have, so I’m looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I won’t have the chance that often, so I guess I’ll get a new one.” Charl nodded repeatedly as her grip tightened. She must have been as excited as I was at the chance to swim in the sea. You really need the sea and watermelons and fireworks to make it summer. Yeah.
“The men’s and women’s are in different departments, should we split up?”
“Ah...” Charles sighed regretfully as she let go of my hand. Even after, she kept looking at me with the expression of a child who wanted something but didn’t know how to ask for it.
“Um, what’s up?”
“Ah, er. Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Oh? Then, let’s meet back up here in thirty minutes.”
“Got it.” With a deep nod, she headed towards the women’s department. A rainbow of different colors were on display, and just looking at them made me feel like I was in the tropics.
“Can’t get distracted. I need to pick out something for myself.”
Luckily, I’d managed to work up a decent war chest doing part-time jobs in middle school. And since I lived at the IS Academy dorms, meals and utilities were covered. Ah, IS Academy, run directly by the Japanese government. Such a wonderful place.
Anyway, though, it’d been a long time since I’d picked out a swimsuit. There were a lot of things in some truly outrageous colors, but I went for something in a basic navy blue. This’ll do the trick. I still have around ten minutes left, but I guess I’ll head back to the meeting place, anyway. I set off for where Charl and I had split up. When I arrived, though, I was surprised to find her there waiting for me.
“Huh? That was quick. Are you done already?”
“Ah, um. I wanted you to help me pick.”
“Oh? Well, let’s go look then.” With that in my mind, I set foot in the women’s swimsuit department. But... Honestly, there were so many more colors and styles here. I was a bit hesitant, not even knowing where to start.
Um... Well, I guess Charl wanted me to, so I should just deal with it. It being Sunday, there were women all around. They, likewise, seemed to immediately notice a man entering the department.
“You, there.”
“Hm?” I glanced around, but didn’t see anyone else she could mean but Charl and myself.
“You, the boy. Can you put this swimsuit back on the rack for me?” She didn’t even know my name, yet she was ordering me around. In the 10 years since the introduction of IS, misandry had spread throughout the world. Every country was run by women. A man couldn’t even walk down the street without having someone he didn’t know ordering him around. But I—
“Why me? Do it yourself. Get in the habit of just ordering people around, and sooner or later your brain’s gonna leak out your ears.”
I absolutely hated that. I didn’t mind if it was someone I knew, but if I’d never met you? Not even listening. And if I did listen, of course I wasn’t gonna do it.
“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to be? You need to learn your place.” With that, she called for security. See, misandry. All she had to do was accuse me of getting violent, and no jury in the country would acquit me. What a world.
“Isn’t that enough? He’s here with me.” Charl spoke up just in time. At least, since they were both women, things wouldn’t get any further out of hand.
“Oh, is he your man? You need to train him better.”
Oh, I see how it is. Men are just dogs. Really, though, only a few women were this arrogant. Most still thought men had a place in society. Though, all too often, that place was doing work for women.
“Ugh, this is why I can’t stand men.” Grumbling to herself, the woman stalked off. I guess something else had just set her off. A stress-ridden society wasn’t good for anyone.
“Sorry, Ichika. I didn’t mean to drag you into that.”
“Mm? Oh, don’t worry about it. Thanks for covering for me, you really saved my skin.”
“Of course I would. Anyway, let me show you what I’m thinking of.”
“Sure.” As soon as I answered, Charl pulled me along. In my confusion, I didn’t notice that she had pulled me straight into the changing room. Wait... What?
“Well, you won’t really be able to tell without seeing me in it, right?”
Er, um, I mean, that was true, but still. Now that I thought of it, I remembered the big sign by the seasonal display saying that women could try on swimsuits. It seemed like that was in demand. Apparently, after they were tried on an employee took them to be cleaned. How luxurious. The tentacles of the matriarchy had spread even to here.
“Hold on a second, I’ll get changed.”
“Okay, I’ll step out for a second and—”
“No!”
She could tell me ‘no,’ but...
“It’s okay. I won’t take long.” As she spoke, Charl suddenly pulled off her top.
“Wha—” Flustered, I spun away from her. I was alone with Charl in the tiny changing cubicle. The sounds from just behind me of clothing being pulled off made my heart pound, whether I wanted it to or not. And in a space this tight, I couldn’t help but immediately notice that smell only girls had. Ugh, no! I need to stay calm!
“Er, Charl?”
“What?”
“Um...” I wanted to ask how this ended up happening, but not wanting to be so direct, I was at a loss for words.
“Mm...” I heard the swoosh of something light landing on fabric. Could that have been—could that have been anything but the sound of her panties sliding off? What do I do? What is she doing?!
◆
Ugh, they’re really out for blood... What am I going to do? Charlotte had realized that the trio were trailing her. All IS were equipped with a special data infrastructure called the ‘Core Network.’ Since IS were developed for use in space exploration, they could precisely locate each other even at interplanetary ranges. Of course, this required both IS’ operators to authorize the sharing of location data, but, even without doing so, their approximate location could be derived. However, a stealth mode was available in order to evade detection. All three of the trio had activated stealth mode on their IS, which was precisely how Charlotte knew they were there. Each had stealth mode active, meaning none of them wanted to be detected, which meant they were trailing her. Laura’s military training meant she was unlikely to slip up and be seen in the act, but Charlotte was more than perceptive enough to recognize that she was there, too.
Mmm... Too bad they’re probably not gonna give up and go home. Whatever else was going on, she had gone out together with Ichika—rather, they were on a date. Whether Ichika agreed with this interpretation was irrelevant; Charlotte certainly believed it from the bottom of her heart. This was the determination of a blooming maiden. In her heart and in her mind, she was giving this 120%. Pulling him into a changing room was probably going a bit too far... Her face burned as she sensed his form behind her. It seemed he wasn’t quite sure how to react, either, as he’d been staring at the ceiling for some time.
Ugh... He probably thinks I’m a weirdo now... They were together in a changing room without even a screen between them, and she’d stripped completely naked. It had to be embarrassing for him, too. She tightly gripped her pendant—the IS Revive’s standby form, a small cross. But he’s a Dreadnought-class blockhead anyway, and I had no other choice... Ugh, let’s just get this over with! Charlotte, her face red, stepped out of her panties. Tossing them on top of her other clothes, she slid the swimsuit over her naked body. It should be pointed out that there was no official record of the Royal Navy’s Dreadnought, commissioned in 1906, being a blockhead. It wasn’t even a person, in fact. So, pardon her.
“You can turn around now.”
“Okay...”
Even though she had pulled him into the changing room to show him the swimsuit, as Charlotte felt Ichika’s gaze on her, her heart pounded. Twining her fingers together to conceal her nervousness, she awaited Ichika’s opinion with bated breath.
Ichika himself, though, was triply flustered—by being pulled into a changing room, by being changed next to, and by seeing her in the swimsuit. All he could do was blush. He isn’t saying anything... Doesn’t he like the design? Now that I think of it, it’s a bit risqué... The swimsuit in question was not quite a one-piece and not quite a two-piece, with a strip of cloth running down her back between a bikini top and bottom. Its color was a summery bright yellow, and its front made every effort to show off her cleavage.
“If you don’t like it, there’s another one I was—”
“N-No! I think it looks good! It’ll be fine, Charl!” Ichika had been on edge since she’d begun to change, and the tension made him blurt it all out at once.
They may not have been particularly romantic words, but Charlotte, who was just as nervous as he was, took them as the sweetest praise.
“Okay, this one it is.”
“Sure. I’ll head out, then.” Ichika darted to open the door to the dressing room before Charl could pull him back.
“Eh?”
“Ehh?”
“Ehhhhhh?”
Somehow, of all the people in the world who could have been standing in front if it, there was none other than his class’s vice homeroom teacher, Ms. Maya Yamada. And, from behind her, Chifuyu poked her head around to see what the commotion was.
“What on earth are you doing?!”
A moment later, Ms. Yamada let out a panicked shriek.
