Infinite Stratos, Volume 1, page 7
“I have to try...!”
I couldn’t afford to pull back. The battle had begun.
“27 minutes. I’m amazed you held on. That’s impressive in and of itself.”
“Th... Thanks...”
My shield was down to 67, and the frame had taken considerable of damage. I could still fight and use my sword, but just barely.
“You’re the first one who’s managed to hold on for such a long time in their initial encounter with my ‘Blue Tears.’”
Cecilia patted the four autonomous weapons floating around her, like someone would pat a dog bringing back a Frisbee. The four fins on her back could separate and fire a short range BT laser, and were also apparently the source of the name “Blue Tears.”
More precisely, the floating guns were called “Blue Tears,” and so the IS frame carrying them into battle had assumed that name as well. Cecilia had talked a lot about it during the previous 27 minutes, even when nobody was listening (thanks for the lecture!).
“Well, let the curtain rise on the finale!” Cecilia jeered, thrusting out her right arm.
The “Blue Tears,” or “bits” as I called them, immediately spread out and surrounded me, having received their order.
“Ngh...!”
The bits above and below me started to glow and fired their lasers. At the same time, Cecilia fired her rifle at me, and I dodged or blocked the shots, just barely. That was the way it’d been going for a while now.
“I will shoot your left leg off!”
—No! I’d already lost my armor there, one more shot would trigger the Absolute Defense system.
The energy usage would have consumed all my shield charge, which meant that I would lose. All right, it was time for desperate measures.
“HAAAAAAAAAH!”
With a loud roar and a sharp flash, I took the IS unit to the limit and slammed into Cecilia head on. The impact threw off her aim and caused the final shot to miss.
“Wha— Nice moves, but you’re struggling in vain!”
Cecilia pulled back and thrust out her left hand. The bits floating around immediately began to fly at me.
—I see, so that’s how they work.
I flew through the barrage of lasers and swung at one of them. My sword cut through the heavy metal; a feeling of resistance transmitted to my hand. Blue lightning arched over the cut, and after a moment, the bit exploded: One down.
“What?!”
I swung my sword downwards at a shocked Cecilia.
“Tch...!”
Cecilia dodged backwards away from my blow, and thrust out her arm again. Bits No. 2 and No. 3 came flying at me.
“These weapons of yours don’t move unless you issue orders every single time! And what’s more...”
I predicted the movements of the bits and hacked the thruster off of bit No. 2.
“While you’re giving orders, you can’t attack! It requires all your focus to control them, isn’t that right?!”
“......!”
Cecilia’s eyes trembled. Bullseye!
Two bits were left. I could predict their movements. They always positioned themselves in such a way that my reactions would be delayed. The IS and its wide-area visual feed were flawless. However, I was still a human, and I couldn’t process things outside of my physical field of view as intuitively. It took me a few milliseconds more to understand the information the IS fed directly into my brain. Cecilia was banking on that.
On the other hand, that meant I could force them into specific locations. The logic was simple: abuse the fact that they would move according to my own movements. With that in mind I would be a step ahead, instead of behind.
—I can do this. I just gotta focus.
I clenched my right hand around the hilt of my sword; my time spent practicing with Houki was rushing back into me. Focus was both the art and the basis of sword fighting. My ability as a fighter may have dulled, but wasn’t gone just yet. I felt like the movements of my IS were becoming lighter, faster. I would have expected my unit to lose maneuverability due to frame damage, but the responsiveness was actually much better than it had been earlier.
—I just need to find a way to close the distance, and it’s all over.
Cecilia’s unit was, as she’d self-described, a mid-range one. Her large rifle wasn’t going to be very useful in close-combat, and at a glance, it didn’t seem like she had any more suitable equipment at her disposal. Perhaps all her close-combat equipment was on standby, but she’d still have to spend time getting it out. The path to victory was laid bare.
◇
“Wow... Orimura is really good...” Yamada Maya sighed, as she looked at monitors down in the pit.
Ichika was far better than one would expect of someone who was only using an IS for the second time. In contrast, Chifuyu was looking at the monitors with a foul mood.
“That moron. He’s getting cocky.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s been clenching his left fist. He always does that right before he makes a dumb mistake.”
“Hehehe... Siblings know each other so well. You pick up even on the little things.”
Maya was saying this as much to herself as to Chifuyu, but it took her aback.
“W-Well, uh... He’s kind of my brother...”
“Oh, are you turning pink? You’re turning pink!”
“.........”
Krrrkk. Chifuyu took her into a stranglehold.
“Ouuuchh...”
“I hate being made fun of.”
“O-Okay! Okay! I got it! Please let g— Ahhh!”
Houki paid Maya no heed and simply watched the monitors. Her expression was very stern.
“.........”
She didn’t put her hands together and pray or anything like that. She wasn’t that kind of person. That, in a way, was the reason why her expression was so complex.
“Ichika...”
Houki bit her lip just as the battle was at a turning point.
◇
—I got her now!
I closed the distance to Cecilia and destroyed bit No. 3. Then, with the anti-gravity system of the IS, I made a roundhouse kick for bit No. 4. Cecilia wasn’t going to be able to aim her gun at me in time. I was sure I could get a hit in on her.
“Got you,” Cecilia smiled.
—Shit!
All my instincts were screaming. Immediately I tried to get some distance between us, but it was too late.
Whirrr!
The skirt-shaped armor plates retracted from Cecilia’s waist, and two objects moved from underneath.
“I’m sorry, but there are six ‘Blue Tears!’”
I wasn’t going to be able to dodge them. They weren’t like the bits that fired lasers. These were missiles.
KA-BOOM! I was enveloped in the red and white flames of the explosion.
◇
“Ichika!” Houki yelled, at the monitor.
Chifuyu and Maya had also forgotten their fight and were looking at the fire and smoke on the monitors.
“Hmph.”
When the smoke cleared, Chifuyu snorted. Still, she looked relieved.
“Guess the unit saved that idiot.”
The last clouds of smoke drifting across the screen were cleared away. And at the center of the screen stood the unit in pure white— its true form revealed.
◇
[FORMATTING AND FITTING COMPLETE. PLEASE PRESS TO CONFIRM.]
—Wh-What?
Data streamed into my consciousness. A window appeared in front of my eyes; at the center of it was a button that simply said “Confirm.” I pressed it, not really understanding what it would do, and another flood of data went into my brain. Or, more strictly speaking, rearranged it for me. I understood it intuitively, and the changes were immediate.
Shiiiiiing.
There was a noise of metallic high-frequency. It sounded gentle, almost soothing. In the space of an instant, the IS that enveloped me— no, the IS that was me— dissolved into particles of light and reformed itself.
“This is...”
When it had taken shape again, the armor plates glimmered faintly. All the damage I had sustained was gone. And more so, the IS now looked a lot more advanced and refined.
“N-No way! Was that the First Shift? D-Did you really fight me on default settings?!”
The window earlier had told me that formatting and fitting were complete. So, that was what that meant. With that, the unit was finally, truly, mine. I looked at the IS again. All the rough industrial finish had disappeared, replaced by clean surfaces and sharp lines that reminded me of medieval armor.
What had changed the most was my weapon.
My close-combat blade now had a name: Yukihira Nigata.
Its shape reminded me of a katana, but it was more strongly curved, and had a thicker blade. There was a shallow fuller in the back through which light pulsated like a human breath; it looked strikingly mechanical, in a way. Any onlooker would know exactly that it was custom-made for an IS.
—Yukihira...
That had been the name of my sister’s sword for her own IS, and now I wielded that name as my own. Yukihira Nigata.
—Is this an upgraded version of my sister’s weapon? Oh, man. Everything keeps reminding me of her.
“I have the best sister in the world!”
That had been the case 3 years before that, 6 years before that, and probably all 15 as well. My sister was the best. Still, I didn’t want her to support me forever. It was time I took a stand.
“I’m going to take care of my family now.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“And to start with, I’m going to make sure Chifuyu’s name is well-remembered!”
I was the brother of the former national representative. If I messed up, it was going to reflect poorly on her. She’d always looked amazing at whatever she’d done. I had to make sure that survived. My resolve was set.
“It’s kinda funny, isn’t it?”
“What on Earth have you been talking about? Argh, let’s just end this now!”
Cecilia sent the missile pods she’d revealed towards me. They spread out to surround me again. Their speed was much faster than the laser bits, but not fast enough.
—I can see them!
I clenched my right fist. I could feel the weight of Yukihira, and hear the sound of its mechanisms. I knew how to use it. I’d seen my sister use it countless times, even though she hadn’t wanted me to. Her movements were seared into my memory.
Bzzzm!
A horizontal slash. The bit was split clean in two, swept aside by my IS, and exploded behind me. Before the blast wave reached me, I was already speeding away towards Cecilia. The unit’s acceleration and sensor resolution was orders of magnitude better than before. It was far easier to control as well.
“RAAAAHH!”
I could feel that the energy density in my hand had increased. Glowing particles coated Yukihira like a sheath, its power now measures higher than before.
—I can do this!
I swung the sword upwards in a decisive slash, aimed directly at Cecilia’s abdomen.
But before the sword connected, a buzzer rang out.
“Battle over. Winner: Cecilia Alcott.”
—Huh?
“What...?”
I wasn’t sure what had happened. Cecilia was directly in front of me, her mouth was open. She was just as confused as I.
The same went for the audience in the third arena, for Houki, and for Ms. Yamada in the control room. The only one who wasn’t surprised was Chifuyu.
The battle ended. And I had lost.
◇
“Nice speech earlier. All that talk, and you still end up like this? You’re an enormous idiot.”
The battle was over. My sister upgraded me from idiot to enormous idiot, not a promotion I was happy about. Not like my sister would ever have demoted me on the idiocy scale.
“That happened because you used your weapon without knowing what it does. Now you know how that turns out. Starting tomorrow, you need to train properly. Pilot your IS when you have time. Got it?”
“Okay...”
All I could muster was a nod. It was pretty sad to lose after such a dramatic speech.
“Now then, the IS unit is on standby, but we can give it to you anytime you request it. Still, rules are rules, so you will have to read this. Here.”
Slam!
It seemed to generate its own gravitational field. The book’s cover said “IS Rulebook,” but it would have put a telephone directory to shame. It was incredibly fat, and the pages were flimsy and thin.
“That is all for today. Go home and rest.”
There was no softness in her command. I really hoped she’d learn that the stick is meaningless without a carrot. Besides, was there any reason for me to try and take care of her?
“Let’s go.”
Oh, there she was. The second victim of clinical love deficiency. Her name was Houki, my childhood friend.
We walked in the direction of the dorms; the fatigue had started to set in.
“.........”
“Wh-What?”
We were walking side by side and Houki had been looking at me for a while, like I was some kind of rare monster.
“Loser.”
—Ugh. Give me a break, Houki.
She was like some priest resurrecting adventurers with 1 HP at the cost of a fortune, and sending them into the dungeon without equipment. Don’t they say that humans are the real demons? Well, you could say I knew a demon myself.
You know that thing they do in chapters where shit hits the fan: Your old enemy comes back as your ally, your old ally turns out to be the evil mastermind, and the fate of the world rests on your shoulders.
—No... F-F...
“FIND SOMEONE ELSE!”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I said it out loud because it was so important, but if I’d known that Houki would glare at me, I wouldn’t have. All the really important things in life can’t be seen— some dead writer said that.
“Today, April 9th, Houki has glared at me, so let this day henceforth be known as ‘Houki Day.’”
“Are you ridiculing me right now?”
“Nooope.”
“That sounded sarcastic.”
“Nooope. See, sounds normal. They always say it like that in South America.”
“Hmph...”
Houki drew her bamboo sword. What, practicing out on campus grounds? How diligent. Rest is also important if you want to train, Houki. Just jumping around all the time doesn’t do much good.
Bam!
“Hey! What was that for?!”
“There was a moron who needed to be smacked.”
She said that like someone would say “It was raining, so I used an umbrella.” Violence was creeping into our daily life. Where was the government when you needed it?
“Are you, like, the slasher in town? Our next tyrant?”
“Want another strike?”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ll shut up.”
Houki nodded and put away her bamboo sword. She was scarier than Mount Doom. Then again, I guess Mount Doom itself wasn’t very scary.
“.........”
“.........”
Houki and I walked in silence for a while. It wasn’t like we had nothing to talk about, but I was still angry at myself for having lost and couldn’t bring myself to talk to her.
In times like these, I just wanted to take a bath. At some point I’d told Gotanda that lying in a bathtub is super chill and lets you forget everything, but he told me that was something only old men do. The guy had no goddamn taste for the finer things in life.
—Ah, but the girl next to me is basically the embodiment of the finer things in life...
Houki would probably understand what I meant. If you told foreigners that she was a time-traveler from the Edo period, 6 out of 10 would believe it. —Source: Personal Investigations
“Ichika.”
“Hm? Yeah?”
Whoa, she struck up a conversation first. Was this the fabled telepathy? It was coming in handy. Much better than a cell phone for sure, and there was no monthly charge. Truly amazing.
“Um, are you... upset you lost?”
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be upset?”
“O-Okay... All right...”
What was she talking about? That it was all right that I lost? Wow, she was a cruel girl.
“S-Starting tomorrow... Yeah. We’ll have to practice with the IS.”
Houki continued, and looked strangely distant. Maybe not distant, but fidgety.
“So, are you going to teach me how to pilot it? Properly?”
“I-I’m not going to force you. Maybe you should ask your sister instead.”
“No, I don’t want Chifuyu to teach me. Besides, that’d look like favoritism, wouldn’t it?”
“Y-You could also ask one of the third year girls to teach you. Experience is important.”
For someone who’d been dodging this exact topic earlier, Houki was sure debating it a lot now. And why was she glancing over at me all the time, like she was expecting something of me?
“Okay, if you don’t want to do it then I can ask someo—”
“I-I’m not saying I don’t want to!” Houki exclaimed.
Apparently she realized how aggressive she was being, and changed her posture.
“I-I, um... Ahem. Do you want me to teach you, Ichika?”
“Yeah, I do.”
It would definitely be better than some other girl teaching me. I also figured she knew a lot about the IS since she was Tabane’s sister.
“O-Okay... I see. I see. All right. Hehe. Fine, then.”
Houki looked quite happy suddenly.
—Was it something I said...?
She was so happy, she was running her fingers through her long ponytail.
“All right. Then I will teach you. As an exception.”
She emphasized that last part. Well, I was thankful of it regardless. If I lost to a girl again, that would have killed my pride as man, though it was already half dead from the previous battle anyway. I’d be a zombie in no time.
“Okay. Make sure you have time after school tomorrow. Got it?”
“Right.”
I wasn’t going to join a club anyway because there were no guys in them, so that was fine with me. I’d embarrassed my sister Chifuyu: that made me more upset than anything. I had to become stronger.
