Infinite Stratos - Volume 5, page 4
"Hey."
*DOKI!!*
"Wha-What is it?"
Suddenly being called, Laura tried to cover her own actions as she turned around with killing intent.
--And the person standing behind her was Chifuyu.
"What hideous things are you doing? Pull yourself together."
"In-Instructor..."
*PAM!* The rare attendance book attack appeared.
"Call me Orimura-sensei."
"Ye-Yes...Orimura-sensei..."
Even Laura couldn't look up at Chifuyu easily. No, more accurately, she couldn't beat Chifuyu's overwhelming presence.
"Are you okay? I just saw Orimura in front of the sick bay."
"Huh--? Wh-Which sick bay!!?"
"Don't be anxious. How irritating. He's at the sick bay on the first level of the club building."
"The sick bay at the first level of the club building..."
Seemingly repeating herself, Laura bowed to Chifuyu and intended to run.
...But Chifuyu stopped her before she moved.
"Bodewig, I must remind you first that as a personal IS pilot, it's against the rules to activate an IS outside the designated areas, and also against international treaty."
"I-I understand!"
Laura answered as a matter of fact, but her tone sounded really unstable, probably because her guilty conscience was working against her.
"The-Then, I'll be leaving first."
"Okay."
Walking 5 meters away from Chifuyu, Laura controlled herself, trying not to hasten herself, but once she passed that area, she started running.
Seeing her student like that, Chifuyu murmured to herself,
"Good grief."
◆
*GYA GYA*, *GYA GYA*.
The trees that were swaying with the wind let out that sound.
I felt the heat that belonged to the beginning of summer as I continued to run to somewhere.
(I need to hurry up.)
For some reason, I knew that.
My running legs were affected by the heat and gradually slowed down.
"Ah..."
There's a person in front of a well.
That's a beautiful woman with glamorous black hair tied high, wearing a red and white miko outfit.
For some reason, I felt that my heart was about to stop, and naturally stopped.
She gradually walked over, yet I couldn't see her face.
I know that she's beautiful, but I don't know who that face belongs to.
But my heart was fulfilled. Soon after—
◆
"~♪~♪~♪..."
I heard a gentle humming in my ears and gradually regained consciousness.
(Uu...?)
At that moment, the sharp sunlight caused me to frown.
On noticing my reaction, the person who realized that I was awake brought her face to me as she looked like she wanted to block the sunlight.
"Are you awake?"
"Sem...pai...?"
Tatenashi-san's face is right beside me....speaking of which, Tatenashi isn't a girl's name, right?
"Hm? That's a name exclusive to the Sarashikis. I'm the 17th generation of the Sarashikis."
"I see..."
Still not fully awake, I answered blankly.
...Hm? Hold on, that's strange. Did I just say something...?
"No wait!"
Suddenly realizing the problem of the position, I was completely awake.
I thought the inexplicably soft and nice-smelling object was a pillow!
"Wh-Wha-What are you doing?"
"Using my thighs as your pillow."
Gua...
Tatenashi-san was right. But even so, why must she give me the 'Don't ask any weird things' look?
Speaking of which, sempai changed already? The thigh pillow that's separated by the stockings actually feels so comfortable.
(DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! I'M GETTING A FEELING THAT I'M DEAD IF THIS KEEPS UP!)
Just when I wanted to get away from sempai's thighs, she quickly used her hands to press my shoulders down.
"WAH!"
Losing my balance, I again fell back to the soft thigh pillow. No, THIS CAN'T DO!
"ICHIKA!"
Opening the door forcefully and shouting was Laura.
After seeing sempai and me like that, she suddenly looked expressionless.
...Ahh, it's over. My teenage years are so short. I don't even have strength to see the boat lights.
"Eliminating the target."
Deploying her IS from the fingertips, Laura activated [AIC] and came slashing over—UWAAHH!!
"Fufu..."
Tatenashi-san smiled and quickly drew her fan and threw it at Laura's forehead.
The part that was nearly deployed completely made Laura want to back away.
Not letting go of this opening, sempai immediately rushed in. After grabbing the fan in the air, she opened it and quickly used the paper fan to press onto Laura's carotid artery.
"What...!?"
On seeing the precise ability and smooth execution of the methods, Laura and I were unable to hide our intrigue.
Though Laura has the [Absolute Defense] barrier, if sempai, who was a lot faster than Laura, really wanted to kill her from the beginning, she would have done so already. Realizing that she lost, Laura gritted her teeth and dispelled the IS.
"Mn, it's good that you can be obedient."
After saying that, Tatenashi-san patted Laura's head twice and then turned to me,
"Then, since things are done, let's go."
"Huh? Where...?"
"The third arena."
It seems like neither Laura nor I can beat this smiling sempai.
◆
"That's strange? Ichika."
"I-Ichika-san? I heard that you were training in the fourth arena!"
Unexpectedly, Charl and Cecilia are both at the third arena. Maybe they're here to train? They're still in their IS suits even though their ISes are removed.
On seeing me, Laura and Tatenashi-san, an intriguing look appeared on their faces,
"...Who's that?"
I don't know if she's mindful of Tatenashi-san, but Cecilia asked that with an unhappy look.
...Why?
"Ce-Cecilia, that's the Student Council President."
"Ohh. Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing that face before."
Charl's feeling anxious about Cecilia, who's rude due to her bad mood, as she tries to round this off, but that kindness was wrecked cleanly. Charl really has it tough...
"Mn, don't be so mean. Ah, I'm now Ichika-kun's personal trainer, so we will have chances to talk to each other in the future."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"Ichika-san!"
"Ichika you bastard...!"
"WAHH! HOL-HOLD ON! THIS-THIS IS, JUST THE OUTCOME OF OUR BATTLE! UU!"
Seeing the three girls close in, I said something that sounded like an excuse.
"We promised that the loser will have to listen to the winner, right?"
Sempai smiled as she said that...ahh, don't make things so complicated.
"Ichika!"
"Ichika-san!"
"Ichika!"
As expected, everyone wanted to fight with me. It's really hard to convince them.
Speaking of which, why did I come here in the first place...?
"Then let's begin. We'll follow the people with experience. Charlotte-chan and Cecilia-chan, please use the [Shooter Flow] to spin around in a [Circle Rondo] for him to see."
Shoot...what? Also, did she just say London?
"Huh? But these are shooting-type fighting maneuvers."
"I can do it, but...this is for helping out Ichika-kun, right?'
It seems like both of them realized it, and I'm the only one here who got left aside.
"Is that because his [Second Shift] has a long-ranged—shooting attack?"
Laura said that unhappily. It seems that she's still wary of sempai.
"Mn, you're rather sharp. But that's not all."
*Tonk tonk*. Tatenashi-san patted her palm with her fan and continued,
"In a shooting contest, the most important thing is the control. But if I have to classify a particle cannon that can't be fired consecutively, it's more like a sniper rifle. In other words, it has penetrating power that can kill in one hit. But everyone knows that Ichika-kun's shooting ability isn't suited for long-ranged combat."
Gua, I got hit on my wound while being ignored.
"So he would deliberatedly—"
"Defeat his opponent at close range."
"That's right. You're really sharp, Laura-chan."
Tatenashi-san opened her fan and praised Laura. Looking closely, there's the pretty words 'wonderful' (Migoto) on it— when-when did she change those words...
"...Laura-chan..."
Hm? What's with Laura? She looked stunned.
"Hey, what's with you? Are you alright?"
"No, nothing! Don't look at me!"
Laura turned her body and evaded my hand that was ready to be put on her shoulders before locking my hand and turning it backwards---OOWWWWWWOWOWOWOWOW!!!
"Okay okay, lovey-dovey couple, Charlotte-chan and Cecilia-chan seem to be ready, so just watch."
Tatenashi-san clapped twice to call us.
Having been finally released from Laura's grasp, I rubbed my hurting arm and looked above the arena.
"Then, let's begin."
"Ichika-san, please watch this."
The [Revive Custom II] and [Blue Tears] spun at each other.
But the two units didn't move close to each other as they moved to the right. Both of them continued to fly around the cannon-hole shaped arena with their backs against the wall.
"I'm going over then, Cecilia."
"Bring it on."
The two gradually accelerating units soon started firing.
Both of them continued to spin about as they started evading while accelerating infrequently, returning fire in the meantime as they continued to move around quickly without slowly down.
"As expected of Cecilia, your skills are good...oh my."
"You too, Charlotte-san. I can't imagine that to be a second generation frame with that mobility."
As they continued to talk, both of them increased their firepower.
"This is..."
"Mn, Ichika-kun, you understand the great thing about this? They have to move at high speeds and shoot. They need to focus on dodging and shooting at the same time, so it's hard to do it like them if you can't be one with your machine."
The [PIC] controlling the machine was originally set to automatic, but it's hard to maintain such delicate motions in that situation. But if I set it to manual, I have to pilot the machine as well. To be honest, that's really difficult for me.
I have to stay calm. Don't think about anything else and just focus on those two things...not good, my head's hurting.
"Experience is important, but you need to have such high-level of control. Do, you, understand~"
*Fuu*. I got blown at the ear...wahh, when did she move behind me?
"I-ICHIKA?"
"WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Noticing me, the two shooters raised their volumes.
"Ah."
And then, both of them gave a 'It's over' sound as they got hit by the torrent of gunfire.
Perhaps they lost control as the tremendous impact caused them to lose balance and knock into the wall.
"Are-Are you alright?"
"How could we be..."
"Of course not!"
Both of them got up and immediately rushed towards me.
"We were practising so seriously!"
"What were you fooling around with?"
"No, no, I wasn't fooling around..."
""YOU WERE FOOLING AROUND!!!""
"...Yes."
Remaining in the arena were me, who's being closed in, the enraged Charl and Cecilia, the chuckling Tatenashi-san and the sighing Laura.
Chapter 2: The Student Council President is a Felis Woman
Two days after that incident, I continued to work hard at the fierce training Tatenashi-san gave me.
Today, I again came to the third arena after school to practice my control training.
"Ichika likes older girls, huh."
I remembered Houki glaring at me.
Even though I tried to explain that it wasn't like that, nobody would believe me, whether it was Houki, Rin, Cecilia, Charl or Laura...damn it, that wasn't the case.
"Ichika-kun, you're slowing down. You need to concentrate."
"I-I got it."
I concentrated on the controls and aimed at the balloon in the middle of the arena.
The [Setsura] particle cannon on my left arm is on standby, and there's still 20 seconds left before it recharges.
Right now, I'm controlling my [PIC] manually, so I have to negate the shot's recoil on my own.
(But this is harder than I thought...)
Once I fail to control the recoil, I'll end up flying back at the wall with my head slamming hard into it.
(It's already hard enough to control this [Shooter Flow]...)
I remember what Charl told me and cautiously move the legs that are one with [Byakushiki].
"Did you ice-skate before? You must let your toes slide on the icy surface, and glide out while making them stick to the floor."
"I don't understand..."
"You must use centrifugal force to control it, understand?"
"I don't understand, sensei."
"Such an inept student."
"Sorry..."
"Mn, I don't hate students who need to be taken care of. We-Well, I...do, like, them."
"I see. Thank you."
"...Ichika, you need to be a little sharper."
"Huh? Why are you so unhappy out of a sudden—"
"Well then, I have data to collect for my new equipment. Got to go."
...Why was Charl suddenly so unhappy? I don't understand even till now.
"Ichika-kun, concentrate~"
"Ye-Yes!"
"You're thinking about girls, right? Ichika-kun no ecchi!"
"No, that's not it!"
"So you're thinking of guys? That's really weird..."
"THAT'S NOT RIGHT!"
How-How tiring...
Anyway, what I could understand during these past days was that Tatenashi-san was really hard to understand.
Sempai's personality is so mature yet so childish at the same time. I really don't understand her.
She's like a cat that looks like she's inviting me, and then runs away from me.
(Yeah. It's not that I can't understand her, but that she doesn't let me understand her.)
Not revealing herself.
Not revealing her true self.
(That makes her really hard to deal with...)
Anyway, I need to focus on the controls. I again imagine myself to be skating on ice as I focus my weight on my toes and use the centrifugal force to adjust my movements.
(But since this is a shooting motion, would it be useful to me...?)
"Hey, over there. Don't think too much and concentrate."
"So-Sorry."
In fact, Tatenashi-san's guiding me really well. She even managed to easily explain the parts that the good coaches Charl and Laura don't know, and that really allowed me to understand easily.
Speaking of which, I seemed to have read it in a certain book before. The smartest person is the one who can explain in a way anyone can understand. Sempai really feels like that.
"Okay, you sped up. Try using [Ignition Boost] then."
"Huh?"
"[Ignition Boost]. From your circular motion, change it to a straight motion, break through the opponent's fire at one go and shoot the particle cannon at zero distance."
"Hold-Hold on! Asking me to do that..."
"Hurry up."
"I-I got it."
After I got told off by sempai, I focused on the [Ignition Boost]. Mn? AHHH!
*BAM—!*
"It hurts..."
As the [Shooter Flow] suddenly ended, I lost control and slammed hard into the wall.
"Hey hey. You can't stop the [Shooter Flow] end when you're doing [Ignition Boost]."
"It-It's tough."
"No can do. You must learn. Everyone other than Houki-chan can do it."
Now that she said this, I had nothing to say.
"Alright, get up and try again."
She explained things much more easily than any instructor, but she's even more strict than every single one of them. With that, Sarashiki Tatenashi-san's training continued.
◆
"Oh my."
"Ah, erm, good afternoon, Nohotoke-sempai."
After the end of this special training, I met Nohohon-san's older sister Nohotoke-sempai as I was walking on the corridor. As I thought about how I should respond, sempai said to me.
"Just call me Utsuho. Since there's two Nohotokes, it'll be unclear who you're calling if you use that family name, right."
"Ah, okay, I'll call you Utsuho-san then."
"Mn."
Sempai nodded her face. Other than the face, she's different from Nohohon-san in other areas. But she does give an inexplicable feeling.
(This person should be similar to Takatsuki-san...)
I secretly nodded deep inside as I remembered the most reliable Takatsuki Shizune-san in class.
I tried to ask her what I was mindful of recently.
"Sorry, but can I ask a question."
"If I can answer it, sure?"
"Well, how's Tatenashi-san as a person?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Huh-, it's more like, well, what was she thinking when she trained me?"
"Well, since it's her goodwill, just accept it."
"No, uu. You're right, but how should I put it..."
Seeing that I'm speechless, sempai seemed to find that intriguing as she smiled.
"Just joking."
This person in front of me would actually joke. Now that's a surprise.
"Tatenashi ojou-sama has all sorts of concerns, and I really don't know everyone of them."
"I see..."
Even though they've known each other for a long time, the situation may be as what she said.
Even so, the Nohotoke sisters should know about the other side of Tatenashi-san that me, and every student in IS Academy doesn't know of. Thinking about that, I really find it intriguing.
(Mn, since Tatenashi-san is really helping me now, I should just follow what she says.)
