Infinite Stratos, Volume 2, page 5
“What are you staring at? Let’s get on with training.”
“H-Houki...”
“What?”
Ugh, she seemed really mad. That wasn’t good.
—Wait, she’s in my group? Then I need to use this chance to try to patch things up between us.
With everything that had been going on, we hadn’t really spoken in a week, and it seemed like it was just going to keep getting more awkward.
—All right, just have to be friendly and...
“Orimura, show me how to pilot an IS!”
“Wow, this IS is heavy! And to think I’ve never had to lift anything heavier than a pair of chopsticks.”
“Most combat training is done in pairs, right? Team up with me, Orimura!”
“Is it as nice as it seems to have your own IS? I’m jealous!”
I wanted to talk with Houki, but before I could I was surrounded by the other girls. And since I was the group leader, I couldn’t just put them off until later, either.
“Well, uh...”
“Group leaders, help your groups get set up in the trainers. Everyone’s going to be piloting today, so fitting and personalization are disabled. Let’s try to have everyone at least started up before lunch.”
Ms. Yamada’s voice came over the open channel. I’d managed to get at least a bit of a grasp on things as a result of my studies, so it wasn’t just because I was the leader that I needed to help out.
“Anyway, let’s set you up and get you walking, going in alphabetical order. First is—”
“Me! It’s me!”
I received an extremely energetic response. You know, I knew it was you, you didn’t need to wave your hand and hop up and down.
“Starting with A! Aikawa Kiyoka! I’m in the Handball club! My hobbies are watching sports and jogging!”
“Uh, okay. Why are you introducing your—”
“I hope we’ll get along together!”
She bent her waist in a deep bow, while extending her right hand. Huh? Did she want to shake hands?
“No fair!”
“I want to, too!”
“First impressions are so important!”
For some reason, the other girls had formed a line, bowing and with their hands out too.
“Um? I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but...”
“Let’s do our best!”
And soon after, I heard the same from behind me. As I turned to see what was happening, I saw Charles confronted with the same bow-and-shake routine.
“U-Um...”
It seemed he was confused by the situation. What a coincidence, so was I.
Wha-bam!
“Owwwww!”
The cries echoed in perfect harmony. It seemed that a line made it easy to discipline all at once. The girls of Charles’ group tilted their faces up, only now realizing the danger which lurked nearby.
“Good, good, nice to see everyone so enthusiastic. I think I’ll take over the training myself. Who’s first?”
“Well, uh, er...”
“Oh, we’re perfectly fine with Dunois.”
“We wouldn’t dream of wasting your time like that.”
“Oh, no, no, I insist. If you’ve got big hopes for the future, you need suitable training. Very well... Let’s go in alphabetical order.”
I heard a tiny gasp. I clasped my hands. See you on the other side.
The girls of my own group, having seen the carnage unfold before their eyes, had flowingly broken their line, and now Aikawa had opened the IS’ external console and was checking its status. Oh, speaking of which, we had ended up with an Uchigane.
“Okay, let’s get started. Aikawa, how many times have you piloted an IS?”
“Well, uh... Just in class.”
“Should be good enough. Let’s get you strapped in and start it up. If we run out of time, we’ll be stuck here after school.”
“Ugh, that sounds terrible. I’ll take it seriously.”
—So you weren’t taking things seriously before? Oh well, I’ll overlook that. Hate the sin, but love the sinner. Let sleeping dogs lie...
Wait, where did those come from? Anyway, the first classmate’s setup, startup, and walking went without a hitch... Or so I had thought, but there was a bit of difficulty when the second went to strap in.
“I, um, I can’t reach the cockpit...”
“Er, uhh...”
Dammit. I’d completely forgotten about this, because I had my own IS, but when using trainers you absolutely had to crouch the IS before removing it. If you remove it while it was standing up, it stayed standing up.
“What’s wrong?”
There was Ms. Yamada. She’d already removed her IS, but was still wearing her bustline-revealing IS suit. Meaning, of course, that I had nowhere really to look but away.
“We, uh, forgot to crouch the IS...”
“Oh, the cockpit’s stuck up high? You’re going to have to lift her up, then.”
“Eh?”
“W-What?!”
“I’m so lucky!”
In order, that was me, Houki, and the second girl—whose name I’d unfortunately forgotten.
“It shouldn’t be difficult at all. Orimura, could you bring out Byakushiki?”
“Okay...”
As ordered, I materialized Byakushiki and mounted up. The month-plus of practice I’d done had paid off, and I was easily able to materialize Byakushiki at a moment’s notice.
“Now, pick up Kishizato.”
“What? Are you sure about—”
“W-Why does he have to do that?!”
Oh, Houki was lashing out. Perfect. Do your best. I was a healthy young boy. I didn’t want to be body-to-body with a girl I barely knew. Things would get real complicated real fast doing that.
“IS can fly, so they’re perfect for carrying someone up to the cockpit,” Ms. Yamada replied.
“Can’t she just stand on someone’s back?!”
See, Houki understood my predicament.
—Wait, standing on someone’s back?
“Stand on what now? And who’s going to do that?”
“Ichika, of course!”
Since when was that a given?
“Hey, wait. If I’m going to have to be stood on, I’d rather just carry her up. It’s safer.”
“That’s right. It’s safer.”
“I— Oh, do whatever!”
Well, I made her mad again, it seemed. Houki turned her back and stalked off.
“All right, Orimura. Pick her up and carry her.”
“Of course.”
I wasn’t very enthusiastic, but I had no choice. It was only once, so it should be fine.
“By the way, Orimura, you need to look at me when you talk to me. I’m not saying you need to stare into everyone’s eyes, but avoiding eye contact is considered rude. Try not to do it too often.”
“Oh, uh...”
“See, you’re doing it again! Look at me!”
Maybe because of her boosted self-confidence from before, Ms. Yamada grasped my hand and pulled me around far more forcefully than I could ever have imagined her normally doing. And, since she did it with both hands, those massive breasts were squeezed between her arms more and more.
“Er, Ms. Yamada...”
Oh, no. I felt my face heat up. But it seemed like not even a third of my innocent emotions were getting through to her, as Ms. Yamada pulled me even closer.
“Look. At. Me! Orimura!”
The more force she put in, the more her arms pushed her breasts upward and toward me. For a healthy 15-year-old, there was no sweeter—and no more noxious—sight.
“Take it easy on him.”
“Yeah! It’s no fair pushing up your breasts like that.”
“My... My breasts?!”
Finally realizing what she was doing, Ms. Yamada looked back and forth between her breasts and my face. With a wordless shout, she leapt backward, wrapping her arms around her body as if to cover herself.
“U-Umm...”
I wanted to break the ice, somehow, but I had no idea what to say. “Nice rack,” maybe... No, I wasn’t that dumb. I’d be sued for sexual harassment.
“Orimura?”
Ms. Yamada turned her head to look back at me and opened her mouth. Her voice was trembling, and she was blushing.
“Were... Were you looking?”
“I, uh... Yes.”
I’d tried to avoid looking as much as possible, but I did for a little bit. I wanted to not tell a lie, but when she heard my words, even her ears turned bright red.
“Well, er, I understand that as a boy of your age it’s only natural, but you really shouldn’t do that because of our age difference and roles, but, er, I’m glad you noticed, but really—”
“What are you doing, Ms. Yamada?”
Chifuyu held a palm to her brow, and spoke in an exhausted voice. Did she have a migraine? How painful.
“Ms. Orimura?! This was just, uh, I mean, em...”
“Just... You can explain later. Anyway, Bodewig’s group is running behind. Could you give them a hand?”
“Of course!”
Ms. Yamada rose and jogged off toward Laura’s group. Partway, just once, she turned back to look at us, and as our eyes met, I noticed she was still blushing.
“Anyway, uh...”
“Back to it, you idiots. Your group’s the next-slowest,” Chifuyu bellowed.
The demon was angered. Was it even my fault? Yeah, it probably was.
“All right, let’s hurry this up.”
“Hya—”
No sooner had I picked up Kishizato as I was told that she let out a yelp.
—Wait, wait. I wasn’t even touching anywhere funny.
“You’re so rough, Orimura.”
We were in a hurry here, weren’t we?
Girls really were light, though. Why were they so light? It felt great carrying them. Nothing like when I had to drag Gotanda around when he got knocked out. He was so heavy that I was almost tempted to just leave him. But I didn’t, I brought him all the way to the nurse’s office. Well, whatever.
“Hold on tight, or you’ll fall.”
“O-Okay...”
After making sure Kishizato, who reluctantly gripped my arms, was ready, I slowly rose. Not that it was a very big deal, it couldn’t have been much more than a meter. The thing with the IS was, though, that to strap yourself into a deployed one you had to lower yourself into it from the back, so even that height was somewhat dangerous. I carried Kishizato up to the cockpit of the Uchigane, making sure that she didn’t fall.
“Now lower yourself in. It’s easier if you hold on to the armor there. Got it?”
“I’m okay now.”
Since I was still holding her, it was a very close conversation. Her eyes were darting around nervously. Was it because she was uncomfortable being touched by a boy?
“Can I let go now?”
“Eh? Um...”
“Huh? Is something wrong?”
“It’s not so much wrong as very right...”
“What?”
As we spoke, the voices of the rest of the group arose from around us.
“What are they doing?!”
“No fair! I want a turn too!”
“Why?! Why am I twelth in alphabetical order! Curse the descendants of the ancestors who gave me this name!”
You should respect your ancestors, though. And won’t your children be their descendants, too? Be careful who you pointed that at.
“I think I’ll be fine, for now. You can go. Otherwise, I don’t know what’s going to happen...”
“Okay, got it.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but something was. Oh, that must have been it. That urban legend only girls knew. I wasn’t entirely sure, but that may have been it.
“Yeah, now start it up.”
I lead her through the startup sequence. The armor plating folded and locked around her, and with a faint sound the Uchigane rose.
“All right, next!”
◇
—I can’t stand this! What the hell is he doing? There’s no reason to get close like that! All he needed to do was be a step!
Just the thought of it was driving me insane. Ugh! Couldn’t he have even a shred of tact? Was that so much to ask?
—He’s spent all day staring at Ms. Yamada, too. What a sleaze.
All this time, he was just ogling other girls. Yet, even when we lived together, he barely even acknowledged me! Maybe there was a reason why he was always quiet... Still, at the very least he could have said something...
“All right, now take off the IS,” Ichika told the second girl. “Oh, wait, remember to kneel it. Otherwise—”
Before Ichika could even finished speaking, the second girl had removed the IS with it still standing. Meaning, of course, that the cockpit was stuck out of reach yet again.
“Wait! What are you—” he exclaimed.
“Wait, whoops, everyone was staring at me so hard that I just...”
“You just what?!”
“S-See?” she coughed.
The other girls, at least in our group, were glaring, as if she owed them something. Meanwhile, the girls of the other groups were staring, their mouths half-agape in envy. Like baby birds craning their necks to be fed. Sadly for them, though, there was no morsel from mother—only scolding from our teacher.
“Well, well. Plenty of time to stand and gawk while you’re in an IS, I see. That means you’ve got plenty of time to do twenty laps. We sure are having fun today, huh?” grunted Chifuyu.
“Thank you, ma’am...”
—So many people are being so careless today. Don’t let your guard down just because we’re outside with everyone else.
“Jeez, I have to pick someone up again? Err, who was next?”
Ichika glanced around with a troubled look on his face. Now was my chance.
“Ahem. It’s me.”
“Oh, right.”
With a look of surprise across Ichika’s face, I stepped forward towards him.
“Well, uh...”
“What’s the delay? Hurry and carry me up. It’s not like I want this or anything, but it’s the safest way. We really don’t have any choice,” I insisted.
“Then why don’t you step on—”
“We already established that this is the safest way!”
“Okay, fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll carry you up.”
—So this is the legendary “bridal carry.” It’s... It’s amazing... No! A man and a woman shouldn’t be this close! But it’s for safety’s sake. We don’t really have a choice in the matter.
I choked back at my own thoughts.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Houki? Are you coming down with a cold?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
—Easy does it. Just breathe and think calmly. We have no other choice. This is what we have to do...
“All right, here we go.”
Ichika stretched his arms forward and embraced me around the waist.
“And... Up.”
“Eek— Ahem! Ahem!”
—You idiot! Don’t just grab me like that! I wasn’t ready... And besides, you seem way too used to it...
I couldn’t help but stare at his face. Suddenly he turned to face me, and our eyes locked.
“Is something wrong?”
“N-No! It’s fine! Don’t mind me.”
I immediately looked away. I never noticed it before from afar, but Ichika really was strong. And now we were so close that I could feel heat radiating from him...
—Wait! Does that mean he can feel the same with me—
“Houki.”
“Now what?!”
“What do you mean, now what? Just hang on tight. Otherwise you’ll fall.”
“Umm... Oh, all right. Indeed, I don’t want to fall, so I guess I just have to hang on,” I said. “We have no choice.”
I slowly reached out and wrapped my arms around him.
—It’s like we’re skin-to-skin... Wait, what am I thinking?!
I shook my head to clear my mind, and as I did that, Ichika rose up into the air towards Uchigane’s cockpit.
“Houki.”
“What now?!”
“What do you mean, what now? I have to bring you up to the IS so we can get back to practice. Do you need me to bring you closer?”
“N-No! If you do, I think I’ll lose my—”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing! Anyway, this is fine.”
I hastily let go and started to make my way into the cockpit.
“Looks like you’ve got it. Anyway, after you start it up, just take a few steps and—”
“Ichika.”
“Huh? What?”
“Well, um. Did you have plans for lunch today?”
—Why am I so nervous? I’m just asking him to lunch. It’s no big deal. We’ve had lunch plenty of times before...
“Not really.”
“Oh?” I replied.
—Focus! You can do this!
“T-Then... Why don’t we have lunch together for once? Sounds like a good idea.”
“Huh? Sure, I guess.”
After his response, I began to walk with Uchigane. Slowly, but steadily.
—He actually agreed! But, we’re just having lunch. Lunch between two old friends. Nothing special here!
“No problems at all, huh. I knew you’d be good at this. Now, if you could kneel it and get—”
“.........”
—It’s been so long since I’ve had a normal conversation with Ichika... I need to make sure I don’t mess up this opportunity.
“Hey, wait! Why did you leave the IS while it was standing! Ugh, not this again...”
Ah. I didn’t mean to do that. Oh well, surely the next person would be content with that, still.
—I won’t make the same mistake as last time!
◇
“That’s enough for this morning. This afternoon, we’ll be covering maintenance of the IS you used, so each group should assemble in the appropriate hangar. If you have your own, make sure that you also observe its maintenance. Dismissed!”
Having barely completed their startup tests, the combined class of A and B brought their IS to the hangars, then returned to the field. Time was tight, so we all were in a rush. Any slower, and who knows what the demon teacher’s response would be? As we stood gasping for breath, Chifuyu relayed her instructions, then left along with Ms. Yamada.
