Infinite Stratos, Volume 2, page 8
“So they’re able to open up a gap, and then attack...”
“Yeah.”
Ah. So it was like that, huh? That must have been why Houki, who was also a melee specialist, sometimes ended up in such one-sided fights against Rin and Cecilia. I understood everything now.
“Why do you think I tried so many times to drill it into your head?”
“You didn’t even understand that? What an idiot!”
“I’d thought you at least understand that much before you came up with what passes as your plan of attack.”
—Oh, what’s this?
Words of shock and disgust reached my ears. Yeah. Communication was vital. We should have spoken more, in order to understand each other. With perspectives starting so far apart, scattered conversations just confused us...
“Anyway, keep going. Finish off that magazine.”
“Oh, thanks.”
Having relaxed a bit, I fired off short bursts of two or three shots. As I felt the recoil travel up my arm, I thought about how I’d avoid each one while closing in.
“Oh, by the way, Charles—your IS is a Revive, right?”
“Yeah. Ah, your arms are drifting out. Be sure to bring them back together after every burst.”
“Okay. Like this?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Oh, and you should bring the gun up so it’s pointing along your line of sight. If you have to turn your head to fire, you can’t react as quickly.”
While I listened to his explanation, I brought up a question I’d been curious about.
“By the way... Your IS is pretty different from Ms. Yamada’s. Are you sure they’re the same model?”
Ms. Yamada’s Rafale Revive, Revive for short, was navy blue and mounted four multi-thrusters, giving it a unique silhouette. Meanwhile, Charles’s was different in more than just color.
A single thruster extended from the center of its back, splitting into two wings and imparting greater acceleration and maneuverability. Its armor was also more streamlined than Ms. Yamada’s, and its multi-weapon rack formed a rear skirt. It also had smaller thrusters, presumably for attitude control. But the biggest difference was its shoulder armor, with all four shields removed. Instead, the left armguard mounted a shield directly, while the right arm had nothing but form-fitting armor in order to not interfere with firing.
“It’s a customized one for me, so they tweaked a lot. Actually, it’s officially called the ‘Rafale Revive Custom.’ It also removes a number of presets, doubling the expansion capacity.”
“Double?! Wow, that’s incredible. I wish you could share some with me.”
“Ahahah. I would if I could. But yeah, this thing is so customized that I’ve got around twenty weapons installed.”
“Wow, it’s like a walking arsenal.”
They were likely all IS weaponry, too, so it was definitely not the kind of firepower you’d want to mess with. No exaggeration, it was enough to rival dozens... No, hundreds of main battle tanks.
On the other hand, though. Cecilia and Rin had five, maybe eight at most, weapons. The reason being, they couldn’t use any more at once, and more importantly, the delay involved in calling them up made them useless, even if they were installed. Knowing that, maybe this customization implied that Charles also had some kind of special ability.
“Hey, isn’t that—”
“No way! It’s the German third-gen IS!”
“I’d heard it was still in testing in Germany.”
The arena suddenly fell silent, and I shifted my gaze to a new target as I finished off the last of the magazine’s sixteen shots.
“.........”
There stood a single transfer student: Germany’s National Cadet, Laura Bodewig.
Since the day she arrived, that lonely girl hadn’t grouped up with any of the other girls—hadn’t even made conversation. I hadn’t spoken with her, either. After all, she slapped me out of nowhere. How was I supposed to approach her?
—Hmm, maybe try to laugh it off?
“You.”
A voice came over the open channel. The same as our first meeting. One I couldn’t forget. It was Laura’s voice.
“What?”
This couldn’t be good, but I wasn’t able to ignore her. After I replied, Laura spoke while rising lightly into the air.
“So you have your own IS, too. It’s simple, then. Fight me.”
What was she going on about? Did she just love to fight?
“Nah. No reason to.”
“You may not have one, but I do.”
Oh, right. There was only one thing that came to mind when I thought of Germany and Chifuyu. The championship match of the second Mondo Grosso tournament. It wasn’t a memory I enjoyed recalling, but that was exactly why I would never be able to forget it. To be completely honest, the day of the championship match, I was kidnapped by a shadowy organization.
—Ugh, that sounds really lame, like something from a TV show. But they were definitely shadowy, and definitely an organization, so I’m going to have to go with it.
I still wasn’t sure what exactly they wanted, but they had me tied up in a dark room. It was dark, so I couldn’t tell exactly how long I was there, but suddenly the entire building shook. Light entered the room through a collapsing wall, forming a halo around Chifuyu in her IS. When she’d heard, she had flown directly from the tournament ring. I could never forget how she looked then. Her cool dignity... her strength... and her beauty... Of course, this meant she forfeited the championship match, and wasn’t able to grasp the laurels twice in a row. Everyone had expected Chifuyu to win, so her lack of participation caused quite a shock.
No demands were made following my kidnapping, but a person connected to the Bundeswehr had managed to put together a picture of where I was being held from their own private sources. To pay back that debt, Chifuyu spent a year there after the tournament as a military IS trainer. After this, I had lost track of her for a while as she left that position and then came to IS Academy as an instructor.
“If it wasn’t for you, she’d likely have become a two-time champion. Therefore, I can’t accept you—can’t accept your existence.”
Right, right. She wasn’t just one of Chifuyu’s students, but probably quite fascinated with her as well. So she must hate me for leaving that black mark on Chifuyu’s record. Honestly, I kind of understood it. I still couldn’t forgive myself for how powerless I was that day. But that was one thing. This was something else. I had no reason to fight Laura. No inclination to, either.
“Maybe later.”
“Hmph. If you won’t fight, I’ll have to make you fight!”
As she spoke, Laura shifted her pitch-black IS into combat mode. In an instant, the muzzle of the cannon on her left shoulder belched fire.
“......!”
Clang!
“Starting a fight in the middle of a crowd like this... You Germans sure are hot-headed. Didn’t you learn your lesson the last couple times?”
“Damn you...” bellowed Laura.
Charles had moved in from my flank, blocking the shot with his shield while he took his .61-caliber ‘Garm’ assault cannon in his right hand and trained it on Laura.
“Oh, a French antique! How quaint.”
“Still, probably more useful than another German vanity prototype.”
The two gave each other chill glares. Charles’s quick reaction had amazed me, but what was even more incredible was how quickly he readied his weapons. What normally took a second or two, he did in an instant, at the same time as he aimed.
Oh, I see. It was because he could do that that the Revive had so many expansion slots. This way, he could adjust to different combat situations without having to pre-select a loadout. He could also reload quickly. In other words, it was a significant advantage in drawn-out battles. It was also advantageous to be able to choose a weapon after you saw your enemy’s. I understood both why Charles was a National Cadet and why he used a customized mass-production IS.
“You there! What are you doing?! Give me your year, class, and seat number!”
A voice rang out over the arena PA. The teacher on duty must have noticed the commotion.
“Hmph... That’s enough for today.”
Maybe two interruptions were enough to take the wind out of Laura’s sails, as she disengaged combat mode and left toward the arena gates. The teacher was likely in a rage, but from what I could tell of Laura’s personality, she’d simply ignore her.
“Ichika, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah. Thanks, you saved me.”
The sharp look in his eyes only a few seconds before when he was staring down Laura was gone. A Normal, kind, gentle Charles peered at my face.
“Let’s call it quits for today. It’s past four, so it’s closing time, anyway.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Thanks for the gun, by the way. It helped me figure out a lot.”
“That’s good.”
He gave another slight grin. His vulnerability always awoke something strange deep within me, but that wasn’t what I was worried about right now.
“Hmm... Anyway, why don’t you go ahead and change?”
This again. Charles never wanted to change with me after practice. Never mind not wanting to, he hadn’t actually done it even once. Even before practice, other than that first day, he’d always either already had his suit on or managed to change before me. And what I really couldn’t understand was why Charles, who was always so measured and cool-headed while giving instructions during practice, got so awkward when we went back to our room.
Now that I remembered—
“Whew, that was refreshing. Shower’s open!”
“Ichika! Why are you naked?!”
“Huh? I’ve got clothes on. Pants, at least.”
“Put a shirt on, too! And you need to do something about your hair!”
“You don’t need to tell me to do that.”
“Yes I do! You need to take better care of yourself!”
“C’mon, we’re just guys here. What’s up with you always coming out of there all dressed up? You ain’t gotta worry about it.”
“Ichika, you do need to worry about it! Ugh, I give up!”
—was not an unusual conversation.
I didn’t know why, but Charles had a lot of things to say when we were alone together. And it seemed like he wasn’t nitpicking, he actually cared. I guess he was the mothering type? I didn’t know my own parents, but from what I could imagine based on what I’d heard from the Gotandas, I guess that’s how you’d put it. Anyway, though. Finally having a roommate, especially another guy, I felt like it was important to become closer friends. Okay, time to turn on the charm.
“So, why don’t we change together sometime?”
“I don’t want to.”
“C’mon, don’t be so cold.”
“I’m not being cold, just... Why do you want to change with me?”
“Why? More like, how come you don’t want to change with me?”
Answering a question with a question was a bit rude, but I’d learned over the past few days that it was best to be a bit forceful with Charles, so it was for the best.
“Well... I’m embarrassed to...”
That’s a funny answer. Charles may have been slender, but he looked pretty toned. What was there to be embarrassed about?
“It’ll be fine once you get used to it. Let’s do it right now.”
“Wait, um, er...”
His gaze wandered toward the ceiling as he searched for a good excuse.
—All right, one more push!
“Hey, Char—”
Gulp.
“Sure, sure, whatever. Now get going. If you don’t know when to back down, no one’s going to want to be friends with you.”
I felt a pinch on the back of my neck. Ugh, that hurt. Stop it, Rin. Rin, stop it.
“Ahem! It seems like you’d very much like to change with someone. While I can’t say I’m enthusiastic about the prospect, I suppose I simply have no choice. Very well, I’ll change with—”
“We have to change, too. Hurry it up, Cecilia.”
“Houki! Stop pinching my ne— Okay! I’ll be right there! Of course! Definitely the girls’ locker room!” she cried.
Houki had applied a neck pinch, cutting off Cecilia’s protests. What? Was neck-pinching a class skill for childhood friends? And when did they end up on a first-name basis? At first they’d seemed quite antagonistic, but I guess time had changed things. Now they were close enough to call each other by name. Did they face off before the setting sun, trading blows—well, sniping, back and forth—until night? You know, that “Not bad!”, “You’re not so shabby either.” thing. Though, that probably would end up with fisticuffs either way.
—That’s no good. Violence solves nothing.
“Rin.”
“What?”
“Violence solves nothing.”
Bam!
“And that was violence.”
Ouch! She hit me on the head! And I had just told her it would solve nothing, too.
“Don’t tell me not to do something I haven’t done, idiot.”
Anyway, there was no reason to stand around getting beat on, and the arena was about to close. It was time to go change.
“Fine, I’ll go ahead.”
“Sure.”
After a quick word to Charles, I headed toward the gate. Lately, I’d gotten used to sudden acceleration and stops, so I more or less had a handle on IS control.
“This place sure is luxurious.”
The locker room stretched out before me. There were fifty or so lockers, and more than enough room for fifty people to use them. Returning Byakushiki to its gauntlet standby form, I slouched down on a bench as I pulled off my IS suit.
“Ugh, I’d kill for a bath...”
Even if the suit absorbed it, I had still sweated a lot. So I really wanted to soak both my body and my soul. Rumor was that Ms. Yamada was looking into changing the bath schedule now that there were two boys. I was grateful.
“All right, done changing.”
Men’s clothing was so convenient. I was finished before I was even done thinking.
“Orimura, Dunois, are you there?”
“Yes? It’s just me, Orimura.”
Someone was calling for me from outside the door. It seemed like it was Ms. Yamada. Speak of the devil.
“Can I come in? You’re not still changing, are you?”
For some reason, when people called out from afar their sentences were inflected. It was funny. Not that I was any different.
“Nah, I’m fine. I already changed.”
“Oh, good. Then, if you’ll pardon me...”
The door slid open, and Ms. Yamada entered. I still thought the noise of the pressure-operated mechanism sounded really cool.
“Isn’t Dunois here too? I’d heard that you were training with him earlier.”
“I think he’s still in the arena. Check the pits maybe? Anyway, what’s up? If it’s a big deal, I can track him down.”
“Oh, it’s nothing that big. You can tell him later. Um... Beginning later this month, you’ll be able to use the baths. Setting shifts seemed like it would cause a lot of problems, so instead, you boys will have them for two days a week.”
“Really?!”
This was big news. Extremely big news. I would finally be able to take a bath. I was so overcome with gratitude that I grasped Ms. Yamada’s hand as I replied.
“I’m overjoyed. That’s wonderful. Thank you so much, Ms. Yamada!”
“I-It’s, um, just my job...”
That might well be true, but I was still filled with thanks. I was overcome with the drive to thank her more enthusiastically.
“No, really, it’s all thanks to you. Thank you so much!”
“R-Really? Teehee. You’re making me blush.”
It was then that I realized. I was alone with a woman teacher in a locker room, grasping her hand passionately. This couldn’t end well. Something terrible was bound to happen.
“Ichika...? What are you doing?”
My heart pounded. No, wait. It was just Charles. Phew.
“You’re still in the locker room? What are you doing holding a teacher’s hand?”
“Oh, uh. It’s nothing.”
I released my grasp on her hand. Ms. Yamada, likewise, was embarrassed by Charles’s comment, and spun around as I let go.
“Ichika, I thought you said you’d be heading back first.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
For some reason, it seemed like there were barbs in Charles’s speech. But his expression was no different from normal. I must have been overthinking it.
“Rejoice, Charles. Beginning later this month, we’ll be able to use the baths!”
“Oh.”
Charles glared at me sideways as he removed his IS and began to towel his head off. He really did seem to be in a bad mood. That was too bad, you’d think the good news would have have him excited, too.
“Oh, actually, there’s something else I wanted to talk with you about, Orimura. There’s some paperwork I need you to fill out, so could you come to the faculty room? It has to do with Byakushiki’s registration, so there’s a fair amount there.”
“Got it. You should shower first today, Charles. This’ll probably take a while.”
“Sure. Okay.”
“All right. Let’s go, Ms. Yamada.”
◇
“Sigh...”
Closing the door, Charles, alone in the dorm, leaked out a sigh. Maybe holding it in for so long was what made it so surprisingly long and deep.
“What am I so mad about, anyway?”
The awkwardness in the locker room was still embarrassing. Realizing that Ichika, too, was shocked by it made things even worse.
“Maybe... I’ll take a shower and calm myself down.”
Charles pulled a change of clothes from the closet and left for the shower.
◇
“Phew, finally done.”
There had definitely been plenty of paperwork, but most of it didn’t need much more than a signature, so it went quicker than I had expected. It seemed like I was now officially the pilot of Byakushiki, though that was a paperwork distinction that probably wouldn’t change much.
