Infinite Stratos, Volume 2, page 6
“Wow, I didn’t realize they’d be so heavy...”
The trainer IS were moved around on carts, but we weren’t so fortunate as to have them be motorized. These were man-powered. Literally, as I was doing the heavy lifting in my group. The girls must have been expecting a man to do the heavy labor. Even if they weren’t, men were on the bottom of the totem pole these days. Times sure have changed.
It’d be really weird for me to make girls do it, so I guess it was fine. Meanwhile, in Charles’s group, a team of athletic girls had insisted “We can’t let you do that!” and took over moving the trainer IS themselves. Wait. How come they treated him completely different...
“Oh well. Charles, let’s get changed. Remember, we have to go all the way to the arena locker rooms.”
“Oh, I have to make a few tweaks to my IS. You can go on ahead, this may take a while.”
“You sure? I don’t mind waiting. I’m pretty used to—”
“Just go ahead! I do mind! Okay? Just meet me in the classroom.”
“Uh, okay. got it.”
He seemed insistent, so I just nodded. Why did he care so much, anyway? Whatever, I wasn’t going to argue with him, so I gave up and headed to the locker room.
IS suits were almost perfectly sweat-absorbent. It was rather amazing. No matter how hard you worked out, you were left almost perfectly dry. I guess it was because they were originally developed for use in space? That made sense to me, at least.
Quickly, I finished changing. IS suits were three times easier to take off than put on. I left the locker room as I dried my head with a towel.
◇
“Why on earth...”
“Hm?”
For lunch, we had gone to the roof. Normal high schools tried their hardest to keep students from the roof, but IS Academy was different. Seasonal flowers bloomed from beautifully-arranged beds, placed on the sort of calming cobblestone floor reminiscent of a European chateau. Scattered about were round tables with chairs, enlivened by the chatter of the girls on sunny days. Today, everyone had gone to the cafeteria hoping to find Charles, so only we were up here. Yay, privacy. Privacy, yay.
“The weather’s good, so it’s nice to eat on the roof, right?”
“That’s not what I meant...”
Houki cast a quick gaze to the side. There sat Cecilia, Rin, and Charles.
“It’s more fun to eat in a group anyway. Plus, Charles just transferred here, so he doesn’t know his way around yet.”
“I guess...”
Houki raised a clenched hand, as if she was about to object. From it, though, dangled a home-cooked lunch.
Since everyone at IS Academy lived in the dorms, the kitchens were made available in the mornings to students who’d like to prep their own lunch. I’d poked my head in once out of curiosity, and could still remember my befuddlement at the commercial equipment inside. Schools directly run by the national government really had loads of money to burn.
And so it seemed that Houki had made her own lunch today. With enough to share with me, even. Childhood friends were great.
“Here, Ichika. There’s enough for you.”
Rin slung a container at me. Don’t throw food like that, Rin!
“Oh! Sweet-and-sour pork!”
“Yeah. I made some this morning. You said you wanted to try it, right?”
Childhood friends truly were God’s gift to mankind. But who would ever think to have sweet-and-sour pork without rice? Rin had brought rice, but only enough for herself. She tended to take things a little too literally at times.
“Ahem. Ichika... By some twist of fate, I happened to awaken early this morning, and decided to prepare these. If you’d like one, feel free.”
Cecilia opened a basket. Inside were a neat line of sandwiches. But...
“Uh, sure. Thanks.”
My response was a beat delayed. Rin looked on with an almost shocked expression. Dammit, Rin, at least you didn’t have to actually eat it.
“Hm? Is something wrong?”
“O-Oh! It’s nothing!”
To be honest... The British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott, was absolutely terrible at cooking. Everything she made was beautiful, but it came out tasting awful. I’d sometimes contemplated seriously asking her why she tried to cook things she had no idea how to make, but I had no inclination to do so just then. I didn’t think it would end well. But really, why did she?
She was the rich young scion of a noble family, so surely she had more than one personal chef, had never picked up a cleaver, and rarely even chose her own meal from a menu. When asked about it, she simply said “Well, I made them like in the book.”
—Uh, Cecilia, I think you mean more “like the picture,” not “like the book.”
The taste probably would be a lot better if she actually went by the book, instead.
“Are you gonna drag it out rather than being honest? Idiot.”
Don’t talk to me like that, Rin. I had done the same for her when she cooked me near-poison. The words “Tell me it’s delicious or I’ll kill you” were written all over your face. But even then, it was obviously something that she’d worked hard on making herself. I wanted to avoid saying it was bad if I could. I was grateful just for the thought. Extremely grateful. Up until coming to IS Academy, I’d always done the cooking. I wish Chifuyu was this grateful to me. Then again, if I kept lying nothing would ever change... Sigh.
“Are you sure it was okay for me to sit with you?” Charles said from beside me.
Again, he was being so incredibly polite that he was almost causing more trouble. To be honest, girls had gathered in droves at the doors of Class 1-A to do battle over a second boy, yet the young blond gentleman had managed to disperse them with both courtesy and respect. Perhaps they only left because pressing him any further would have become embarrassing; and so, they drifted away with an expression of frustrated joy on their faces.
His words to send them off were: “It is not the place of one such as I to pluck such beautiful flowers. Even their sweet scent is nearly enough to intoxicate me.” It was incredible. Amazing, even. He seemed completely unsarcastic, too. His earnestness, and more than anything, his profundity and lyricism, only made his words sound more bright. His gentleness, even more so. The third year whose hand he grasped actually fainted.
Anyway, since he’d managed to clear away the entourage, I invited him. Then Rin and Cecilia ended up tagging along, too. I had no reason to turn them down, and it seemed like we’d all get along better with more people there. Since we’re all National Cadets, I was sure we’d have plenty to talk about. Though, strictly speaking, it seemed like I wasn’t officially a National Cadet. As a male, whether I was subject to the Alaska Treaty or not appeared to be a matter of much international debate. I wasn’t particularly concerned either way, but I was certainly glad to have my own IS. I’d once helped Houki to request a trainer, and the amount of paperwork to fill out left me speechless. Ten sheets or so of composition paper? What could possibly take that much writing?
“Plus, we guys need to get along. It’s not always the most convenient, but let’s help each other out. If there’s anything you need to know, just ask me. Well... Except about IS.”
“You need to study harder.”
“I am studying hard, there’s just too much to remember. You guys only know everything since you started before you even enrolled here.”
“Well, yeah. It depends on when you take the aptitude test, but the latest you’d be starting special classes is in junior high.”
That certainly seemed to be the case. As for Rin herself, she’d been studying as a National Cadet with her own IS since her third year of middle school, so I couldn’t even imagine how much hard work she’d put in. Currently, in terms of mock battle win rate, our ranks were Rin first, Cecilia second, Houki third, and myself fourth. Not very flattering results, admittedly.
“Thanks. You’re so nice,” said Charles.
Da-dum.
That guileless smile and those words were enough to set me off, though he was a guy.
“Well, I mean, we’re probably going to be roommates soon enough, so...” I replied.
“Oh, Ichika, has my room been assigned yet?”
“Not technically, but it’s gotta be mine. After all, you’re a guy, too.”
“Oh. Right, that makes sense.”
The conversation continued as we ate. Rin and I had our sweet-and-sour pork, while Charles had a roll he’d bought. Cecilia had brought food as well, with the sandwiches I’d been offered “one” of earlier pushed off entirely on me.
“.........”
The whole time, beside me, Houki sat silently, chopsticks unmoving—having not even opened her lunch box.
“What’s wrong? Do you have a stomachache?
“No...”
“Oh. By the way, Houki, if you could be so kind as to pass me my share...”
“.........”
She silently passed the lunch box, and I racked my mind for something to say. It seemed like being in the same group hadn’t actually improved things between us any. Was she mad about something?
“Then, if I may... Oh, wow!”
Opening the box, I found a well-balanced menu of salt-grilled salmon, fried chicken, konnyaku and burdock stir-fried with hot peppers, and spinach salad with sesame dressing.
“This looks amazing! You must have worked so hard on each of them.”
“I-It’s no big deal. I just happen to have had some left over.”
“I’m still grateful. Thanks, Houki.”
“H-Hmph.”
Even as she tried to downplay it, Houki couldn’t hide her smile as she opened her own lunch box. Of course, her menu was the same as mi— Wait, what?
“Why don’t you have any fried chicken, Houki?”
“Well... Umm...”
For some reason, she avoided eye contact. Why was she doing this now? Should I not have asked her that?
“They came out good, but I just couldn’t.”
“Huh?”
“I’m on a diet! So I made one less thing for myself. Is that a problem?”
“No. But you don’t look fat or anything.”
I didn’t realize at the time how dangerous that statement could be. Rin and Cecilia’s eyes began to glow red, and they jumped to the attack.
“Why do men always assume that someone is fat just because they’re on a diet?!”
“I simply cannot believe that you’d be so indelicate.”
“No, really, she looks like she doesn’t need a diet at—”
I looked to my side, at Houki. I swear, I didn’t do anything else, yet she still pushed my face back aside.
“Where were you just looking?!”
“Uh? Your body?”
Obviously I wasn’t looking at her face— Ow!
“What are you doing staring at her breasts?!”
Rin stomped her heel down on my foot with full force. She then proceeded to grind it four more times. That really hurts. Please stop. How nimble she was, to be able to do that around a table...
“It seems there are many ways in which Ichika fails to be a gentleman,” Cecilia chimed in.
Of course, her face was smiling even as the veins on her forehead throbbed.
—Cecilia has all the patience of a saint, provided you mean a warrior saint like Joan of Arc. Though... that’s a strange choice, given that she’s English.
“ICHIKA!”
Angry childhood friends echoed in stereo. How could they tell that I was thinking of a joke? Why would that even make them mad? I really didn’t understand the female persuasion at all.
“Huh?”
Charles didn’t quite understand what was going on, and watched with a slightly confused look. Maybe Cecilia got swapped with Charles?
“What’s wrong, Ichika? You’re making such a strange face,” commented Charles.
“Strange? How so?”
“There’s something about your mouth... You look like an old man watching his married grandchildren get together.”
“Not like a wise-aged academic who loves history almost as much as he loves coffee?”
“Ahahah. That’s so silly, Ichika. I love it.”
Shot down with a smile. This was the first time I experienced that angelic cruelty.
“Ahem. That’s enough nonsense. Let’s have lunch. Our break isn’t long enough to chatter up here all day.”
Houki spoke the harsh truth. Hey, wait. What did she mean by “nonsense?”
“Anyway, let’s eat.”
I immediately stuffed my mouth with chicken.
“Wow, this is good!”
The time spent waiting in a lunch box had left it cold, but even so, Houki’s fried chicken was excellent. The breading was still crisp, not soggy at all. The juices, which filled my mouth as I bit down, were thick and rich, as if she expected it to be served cold. Yet somehow, it was refreshingly clean and without an aftertaste, and as soon as I swallowed I was ready for another bite.
“This must have taken you a while to make. Hmm, what’s in it? Ginger and soy.... What else? I know I’ve had something like it before.”
“Grated garlic. That, and a little bit of black pepper at the beginning. And as my secret touch, a pinch of grated daikon.”
“Wow! That sounds good. I’ll have to give it a try myself, sometime.”
I was surprised at how tasty it was. I couldn’t believe this was the same person who had made utterly flavorless fried rice the month before. Then again. You know. Women took to cooking and cleaning like nothing else. Meanwhile, it took forever for a guy to learn. It was like women were specced out differently from the factory. I was a bit jealous, and a bit resentful. When I first started cooking, I was terrible at it. Then again, Chifuyu finished every bite even if she grumbled, and that kind of ended up being my motivation to get to the point where I am now.
“Really, though, this is good. Are you sure you don’t want any, Houki?”
“I... ate all the ones that didn’t come out right...”
“Hm?”
“Oh, uh, nothing! It’s just, umm... I’m glad they’re good,” she mumbled.
For some reason, Houki had been speaking in a low voice that I couldn’t always pick up. Maybe she didn’t want me to hear?
“Really, it’s good. You should try some. Here.”
As I spoke, I picked up a piece that would be bite-sized for a girl with my chopsticks. Of course, I cupped it with my left hand to make sure it wouldn’t fall.
“W-What?!”
“C’mon. Try a piece.”
“No, I-I, wait, uh...”
For some reason, Houki awkwardly stuttered. Was I imagining things, or were her cheeks bright red?
“.........”
Where did her usual razor sharpness go? Houki was just looking back and forth between her lunch box and my chopsticks, flustered.
“.........”
“.........”
I could feel stares coming from the other side of Houki. They were from Rin and Cecilia.
—Why are they glaring at me like that... Oh! They must have want some chicken too, huh?
“I’m just going to point out that you have the wrong idea.”
“How rude. A proper lady would never do such a thing.”
Or not. Whatever.
“C’mon. Have some, Houki.”
“No, I— Well... Umm...” Houki cleared her throat.
A strange expression flitted over her face before she knit her brow into a frown. What was going on in her head?
“Oh, is this the thing Japanese couples do where they say ‘ahhh’? I didn’t realize you two were that close.”
Charles grinned with obvious self-satisfaction as he spoke. The smile of a true golden boy. Yet, his words brought down the wrath of Rin and Cecilia as if they were a tiger sage and a valkyrie.
“Who do you think you are?! What even makes you believe that?”
“Indeed! I demand a retraction!”
They set on Charles as if to devour him. Yet even in such a situation, his smile never left his face. Was this the meaning of noblesse oblige? The French were truly fascinating.
“Hmm. How about this? Why don’t we each pass something around? It’s okay if everyone does it, right?” Charles inquired.
“Sure, sounds good,” I replied.
“If Ichika’s fine with that, then I don’t mind.”
“I would never have such appalling table manners at home, but I suppose this is Japan and isn’t a formal occasion, so... When in Rome?”
It seemed like everyone was on board.
“All right, me first!” Rin suddenly spoke, and snatched the fried chicken from my chopsticks.
“Hey, wait!”
“Wow! This isn’t half bad.”
“Of course. I made it the proper Japanese way,” Houki muttered.
For some reason, even after her chicken was stolen away, Houki’s face held an unconcerned look. Rin herself, on the other hand, looked self-congratulatory. I really didn’t understand how girls thought.
“Ah... Sorry, Houki. That was the last piece of chicken I hadn’t taken a bite of.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I’m sure you don’t want anything a guy’s bitten into, right? But I don’t have anything else to give you. Everything else we have is the same.”
“Honestly, I don’t mind...”
“Wha— You sure?”
“I-It’s fine. I don’t mind if you’ve taken a bite.”
“Oh? Open wide and say ‘ahh,’ then.”
We can ask people to say “ahh” without a second thought. Was this a privilege reserved for the Japanese?
“Ahh...”
Even if it was a bit awkward, Houki opened her mouth and took the bite of chicken. Looking at her red cheeks, I couldn’t tell if she was blushing. Maybe we were getting a little old for this?
“That was pretty good.”
“Wasn’t it? Your chicken came out great.”
“I didn’t mean the chicken, but... Yeah. It was great.”
I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but I was glad she was in a better mood.
“Ichika! Have some of the sweet-and-sour pork!”
“Ichika, would you care for a sandwich? Or more than one sandwich, actually!”
