Disclaimer: Infinite Stratos franchise belongs to Izuru Yumizuri.

Hello, everyone. Here I am with my own view on Infinite Stratos. This is sorta commissioned story, 'requested' by one of my readers, and I found that idea interesting.

Story rated 'M', as here will be quite a lot of different kinds of content that require such a rating.

I'll try to keep other characters inside their characters as much as possible and I'm not going to include any OC in main staff as long as I'm following canon material.

Side note: the picture I'm using as a cover was given me by one of my readers, and sadly nor she neither I know it's author, so if you by any chance are an author, please tell me so I could give you some credits.

That's it for introduction, so let us begin.

Bold – names; 'italic' – thoughts; [square brackets] – author's note.

Chapter I – The Miracle

…

"There it is!" Chifuyu told to herself. According to Bundeswehr officer, Ichika was held as hostage here, inside that old abandoned factory building. She was in the middle of 2nd Mondo Grosso when she learned that her younger brother was kidnapped. "Please brother… just be alive!" Orimura Chifuyu was hardened warrior, and she knew that she has to keep her cool no matter what, but… With their parents out of the picture, Ichika was her only family, she couldn't even think about losing him.

As she reached factory, Chifuyu plunged her I.S. metallic arms into building's wall, and tore it open. I.S. sensors immediately scanned the indoor, and, despite Chifuyu's inhuman reaction, even she required few seconds to fully comprehend what exactly she's seeing. The building's interior was filled with dust, smoke and burned, twisted metal. On the floor were seven bodies, still warm but with no life signs, they were corpses, simple as that. Near the opposite side, a young boy was standing. It was her brother, Ichika. In his left hand he was clenching a combat knife with bloodied blade, in his right he was clenching a grenade, seemingly both weapons were trophies he picked up from his capturers. And he himself was cowered with blood from tip to toes. Chifuyu's I.S. didn't found anymore life signs.

"Onee-chan?" Barely twelve years-old boy asked, shielding his eyes from light that was coming through the hole Chifuyu just made, "Onee-chan, is that you?" Chifuyu dashed to him. As she embraced him with her right arm, she used her left to gently unclench his right palm and take away a grenade. "I am so sorry, onee-chan…" It was hard for him to talk, he was bleeding and his strength was at its limit. "I let them to attack me from behind… I'm so sorry…"

"Silence!" Elder sister ordered, she was worried for brother's life as, according to her I.S. sensors, his biorhythms were unstable. "I'm taking you to hospital, hold on!"

"Onee-chan… I promise… I will never ever again… let anyone… to attack me from behind…" He whispered.

…

"Hah!?" Chifuyu woke up. It was first day of a new school year in I.S. Academy. She came quite early today, and slightly dozed off. She looked around and quickly came back to her senses. "Dammit!" She swore silently, "How long these memories are going to haunt me? It's all a distant past now…"

April 10th, 8:34 AM

"Everyone's here, right? Then let's start the student homeroom meeting…" The assistant homeroom teacher, Maya Yamada, introduced herself as she stood in front of the blackboard, smiling earnestly at everyone. Quite petite young woman, she could be easily mistaken as a high school student herself. Not too good impression for the teacher, but who knows, maybe she's actually quite good at what she's doing? "Alright, everyone, let's all get along with each other over this coming year…" Lack of reaction from students definitely didn't give her some additional self-confidence. "So let's do self-introductions. Umm… we'll go by your last names…"

Well, seemingly it's not that easy to teach in military-like educational institution… By the way, audience was quite remarkable as well, since here, in this class, were twenty-nine girls and only one boy. And not only that, in this entire facility were about 450 females (staff included, most of which were about or below thirty years old), yet still only one male, that one – the boy which was sitting on first place of middle row of the class. It's probably quite weird, but not that weird as fact that he, Ichika Orimura, was one and only man, among 3 500 000 000+ men of the earth, who could operate an Infinite Stratos.

Of course, sights of all 29 girls were glued to him, boring into Ichika's back. However, for some reason he didn't seem bothered by it, as he didn't seem bothered at all, just bored. With his eyes half-closed, he slightly adjusted his blue necktie. By the way, all his classmates also were wearing blue neckties, bows or ribbons on their necks, as blue-colored neck accessories were symbolizing that they all are first-grade students.

Speaking of which, despite I.S. Academy was a military-like institution, requirements for uniform were relatively loose. Most girls were dressed quite equally, which is pretty normal for high school students, wearing white one-piece dresses with blazer-like tops, with crimson seams and cuffs, black collars and buttons. However, few girls were looking not like the rest, as one of them was wearing dress which was much longer than others, another one was wearing two-piece suit, which was consisting of blazer and same colored short skirt. In other words, it seemed like that if it has a proper color scheme it's allowed, as long as it's not vulgar. Footwear could be of any type as far as it's white, crimson or black in any combination.

Boys' uniform was a different story, as up until now here were no boys to wear it. As such, the only boy was allowed to wear anything as much as it'll fit the standard color scheme. He was wearing white long trench coat with crimson seams and cuff, black collar and buttons, snow-white shirt with blue necktie, white army pants and black knee-high army boots. On his left arm he wore white leather glove, which actually was his I.S. unit in stand-by mode.

Big black Boston bag was lying near his table, seemingly that was his possession. Preparations for his enrollment took longer than expected, so he had no time to settle in dormitory before HRS [Home-Room Session]. Strange looking sword was lying on his bag, with its 2.5 feet long blade, it was much more suitable for some fantasy RPG than a real life, however, sharp blade seemed pretty dangerous for some reason. Hilt, decorated with angelic patterns and sword guard, shaped as angelic wings, were shining with silver, though, sword wasn't made of silver but of much more durable modern alloy.

Seemingly, that sword caught several girls' attention, especially girl's that was sitting on first place of near-windows row. Her name was Houki Shinonono, and she was Ichika's old acquaintance. Boy noticed Houki's gaze and winked to her, however, girl quickly turned away and pretended to look out the window, which made Ichika to roll his eyes. Speaking of which, his eyes were as remarkable as Ichika himself, as his irises were of different color. His left eye was bright orange as his right was dark red.

"Ichika Orimura-san?" The boy heard his name spoken.

"Yes?" Ichika asked, despite he knew perfectly what's she wants from him.

"Well, we're doing self-introductions here... we started from 'A', and now we're at 'O' for Orimura-san. So, pl-please, could you introduce yourself? Please?" Maya Yamada-sensei asked, bowing politely, causing Ichika to raise an eyebrow as he couldn't understand why's she begging him, does he looks like a bad guy…? Well, not that bad, for sure.

"Very well," He replied, standing up.

"Re-really? Really? Well, okay, go right ahead then!" Yamada-sensei grabbed his hand and held it really tightly... and of course entire class was staring at that pretty weird scene, though Ichika stoically endured sensei's quite wierd behavior until she let go of his hand.

World's only male I.S. pilot turned around to face the class. "Well, my name's Ichika Orimura. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He looked around the class, unsurprisingly girls were staring at him like a pack of hungry she-wolves. "I guess you wanna know about me a bit more… well, it'll probably be easier if you just ask me and I'll try to answer the best I can," he suggested.

"Good idea, Orimura-san!" Yamada-sensei exclaimed, surprising the class with unexplainable burst of joy.

2nd row, 3rd seat, cute girl with quite fit body raised her hand, "Can I?" Ichika nodded to Yamada-sensei and she nodded to girl. "My name's Kiyoka Aikawa," Girl introduced herself (again, as being Aikawa she already did so), "Ichika-san, is that true that you were in a football team in your Junior High School [middle school], and that your school's team won three national championships in a row, and that you were a team's captain?" That wasn't one but three questions, but Ichika wasn't taken aback.

"Almost," he replied. "I was team's vice-captain when we won first championship, after which previous captain graduated. After that I became team's captain, and we won two more tournaments."

"Aaaaahhh…" "Really!?" "So cool…" Honestly, girls don't need much to admire someone…

"Um… well… anyone else?" Yamada-sensei asked as sighs and whispering finally stopped. Yamada's voice sounded worriedly as Ichika's self-introduction already took quite amount of time, more accurately, girls' chattering took quite long. And of course there were more…

4th row, 4th seat, cute blue-haired girl raised her hand, "Shizune Takatsuki," She introduced herself, "Ichika-san, do you really have a military rank?"

"Yes, Ministry of defense insisted, I guess they want to raise their ratings," He replied, "I'm a Santōkaisa [literally: 'Sea colonel third class', equal to lieutenant-commander] of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, so if you like, you can call me Lt. commander Orimura," He bowed slightly.

"Oooohhh…" "That's nice!" etc… another few minutes of chattering.

"Well, if that's all then we should conti…" Yamada-sensei tried to say, but another girl (1st row, 5th seat) asked, without even introducing herself (or she already did?), "Wait, Orimura-san, is that true that you have a personal I.S. unit?"

"What, a personal IS?" "For a first-year?!" "Even without being a Representative Candidate?!" "I'm so envious…" "I wish I'd have one…" This time chattering started even before Ichika could reply, though it settled down quickly as he raised his left arm, showing his only glove to class.

Despite it seemed like Yamada-sensei was about to cry, Ichika started to reply, "Yes, I have. This is my personal I.S., Sukūyomo. [The Messiah]" In fact, its original name was Byakushiki [lit: white expression], however, after Ichika did 'few' modifications (actually, modifications level exceeded 50%), he renamed his I.S. and now it's called the Messiah. "When government learned about my ability to control the I.S. they…" Ichika's tale was interrupted.

"That's enough, Orimura," Sharp and deep voice interrupted his story. "Spare the miraculous tale about your life for the afterclass." It was said in a manner to leave no place for objections, at all.

'Seriously… Among all the teachers here, *she* is going to be my teacher? Seems like Ministry of defense has some sense of humor after all…' Ichika thought as he didn't need to look behind to recognize the owner of that voice.

"Ministry of defense cannot affect academy directorship's decisions directly," She said as if she could read his mind, "Sit back to your place." Black tight fitting skirt, tall, slim, the body line of someone who doesn't look muscular even after lots of training, hands folded in front of her chest, sharp, slim hawk eyes… No doubts, that was Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's elder sister, who appeared to be a teacher in I.S. Academy (though, Ichika already knew that, unofficially…)

"As you wish, Onee-san," Ichika said, as he quickly sat down, avoiding Chifuyu's attempt to hit him with attendance book, despite her inhuman reflexes.

"Stop that buffoonery, can't you even get a simple introduction right?" She cut him off, "And you'll call me Orimura-sensei at school, got that?"

"As you say, Orimura-sensei," Ichika replied obediently, hiding that ironic smirk on his face.

"Ah, Orimura-sensei, is the meeting over?" Yamada asked gingerly (does she afraid of Chifuyu?)

"Yamada-sensei, I'm sorry you had to start my class without me," Chifuyu said with unexpectedly gentle tone.

"No, it's nothing. As the assistant homeroom teacher, if I can't even do such a thing..." It sounded as if Yamada was trying to justify herself…

"Everyone, my name is Chifuyu Orimura, and my duty for the next year is to train you in the operation and controls of an I.S. Everything I teach, you have to remember and understand. To those who don't understand, I'll teach them till they can. My job is to thoroughly train you during your first year in the academy, until you turn 16. You don't have to like me, but you DO have to respect and obey me! Understood?" It sounded less like introduction more like a declaration of war. No doubts, that was Chifuyu's unique way to introduce herself. However, despite her harsh tone of voice, no one seemed scared. Instead, the room erupted in shrieks of elation (and one boy was facepalming).

"EEEEEK! It's Chifuyu-sama!"

"It's Chifuyu-sama herself in real life!"

"I've always been your fan!"

"I'm so happy Chifuyu-sama is my teacher!"

"I'll gladly die for you, Chifuyu onee-sama!"

Chifuyu was looking at the chattering girls, and her face showed discouraged impression. "I'm amazed how many nut-jobs come to this school every year. Do they put all the loonies in my class on purpose?" And she wasn't pretending, she was disappointed.

'No, onee-san, no one's doing it on purpose – they are all like that…' Ichika thought, there was no need to say it aloud. Seemingly, that was one of those rare occasions when Orimura siblings thought the same.

By the way, Chifuyu's scolding only worsened the situation as several girls praised her more, showing some masochistic aspirations.

"Yeeek! Onee-sama! Scold us more!"

"Really teach us how to behave!"

"But be gentle to us from time to time!"

"And be extremely elegant afterwards!"

'I'm wondering, are there some lesbians among them, or they just stupid?' Ichika thought, though not that it was really interesting. [When not used by real siblings, term 'Onee-sama' commonly used in manga and anime, specifically in shoujo-ai series (love between young girls)]

"Wait a second!" Seemingly, several girls have realized something at the same time. "Does that mean that Orimura-sama is Orimura-sama's younger brother?" Said a girl, which was sitting on 1st row, 2nd seat.

"Have you understood yourself what you just said?!" Houki snarled, she was sitting right ahead of the aforementioned girl. However, she was ignored completely.

"Maybe that's why he's the only guy in the world that can operate an I.S.!?" "Oh, drat. I really thought he was cute, too." Ichika's facepalm seemingly became permanent. However, that was necessary evil. Honestly, he could avoid getting into I.S. Academy if he'd waned, but if he had his own personal reasons to come to here, besides, government promised to back him up in exchange for experimental data he could provide as an only male I.S. pilot in the world.

While Chifuyu was explaining her teaching plans, the bell rang, announcing the end of the student homeroom meeting. Well, honestly, nothing that she just said was interesting as most of it was for novices training.

During break before first I.S. theory class, at least fifty girls gathered near class's doors, but probably there were much more of them, Ichika simply wasn't interested in counting. Of course, he knew it perfectly – the reason they all have gathered here was him. Well, entire world now knows about the only male able to pilot an I.S., not to mention this facility, and of course each one of those 350+ girls here wanted to at least take a look at him. However… Ichika wasn't interested in returning that look, as it was said, he had his own reasons in coming here, and all those girls have nothing to do with it.

All of those girls were a separate story. Most of them were intending to become I.S. pilots, which means they were learning basics about being an I.S. pilot since Junior High Schools at least, and all such schools, for understandable reasons, are for girls only. In turn, that means that last time they were interacting with opposite gender (who weren't their relatives or neighbors) on daily basis was in Primary School. No doubts, they all were wanting Ichika to take the initiative, but all their hopes were futile, as Ichika was very good with withstanding social pressure. He developed that skill thanks to her…

In fact, Ichika himself never dreamed about becoming the I.S. pilot. Not because it was impossible for males but because he wasn't really interested in it. To achieve his real goals – there's actually no need for him to pilot an I.S. directly by himself…

However, he needed pretty deep knowledge about I.S. units – one of the reasons to be friends with I.S. creator Shinonono Tabane, but of course not the only one. Brilliant-minded and always very energetic, Tabane was Chifuyu's childhood friend and Ichika always liked her. Humans are boring, all together. However, with Tabane around, it was never boring. Ichika's friendship with aforementioned genius was irritating for both his and Tabane's sister. Chifuyu didn't like it because she thought that Tabane's carelessness and childishness would affect Ichika badly, and Houki… maybe she was jealous, maybe it was something else, Houki never was too talkative person.

Anyway, even after Tabane 'disappeared', Ichika was talking to her from time to time. When he told her about accident when he learned about own ability to control I.S, she sounded excited, though Ichika got a suspicion that she wasn't surprised at all… Nevertheless, she offered some advices about customizing his new exoskeleton. By now, only blind spot in Ichika's knowledge about I.S. was unit's core – Tabane was especially protective about this secret, even when she was with Ichika and Chifuyu…

The first I.S. theory class is finally finished, and now it's break. Ichika was fighting with sleepiness during the entire period, of course he already knew everything that Yamada-sensei was talking about, so his only task during that lesson was not to give his sister a reason to use her attendance book as a wake-up tool.

"Excuse me for a moment," Girl's voice pushed Ichika out of his slumber. Could it be that, among those 350 girls, appeared someone brave enough to actually approach and talk to Ichika? Ah, no, seemingly it's not the case now as standing before him was none other than the childhood friend he hasn't saw for about six years, Tabane's younger sister – Shinonono Houki. Not that they actually were good friends… As it was said, Ichika always was on good terms with Tabane, and Houki never was on good terms with her elder sister, even before the latter has invented Infinite Stratos. Shinonono sisters were just too different…

As such, Houki never allowed Ichika to become too close with herself, though the latter never actually tried, besides, Houki wasn't sure about her feelings towards Chifuyu's younger brother, she was sorta… afraid of him a bit. Maybe that's why Ichika haven't talked to Houki during last six years, despite he was communicating with her elder sister pretty often (Tabane had no habit of listening to authorities)… Still, right now Houki and Ichika have met again, after six years have passed, and they probably could exchange a few words.

"Is it OK if we talk in the corridor?" She asked.

Ichika looked around. "No," He replied, "There's too big audience out there, besides, I'm too tired to stand up from my stool…"

"You're intolerable as ever," Houki snorted with scowl, though she was always telling that she has born with that scowl.

"Not at all," Ichika replied. "This is simply a mathematics, look by yourself," He waved around the class.

Indeed, as soon as Houki approached Orimura and talked to him the entire classroom went silent, as well as crowd in the corridor. No doubts that everyone was eavesdropping.

"By the way..." Ichika decided to initiate the conversation as Houki was silently staring at him, not saying anything. "I've heard that you won the national kendo championship last year, right? Congratulations, good work."

"How do you know that?" She wondered.

"She told me," Ichika replied as if it was quite obvious.

After Houki heard that, she suddenly jolted and her cheeks turned a bit red. "Nee-san?!" She exclaimed with mixed expression of surprise and anger, "How did she know?!" Houki asked, clearly louder than needed, as if Tabane knowing that was a major crime.

"She was present among spectators," Ichika shrugged, "I can't believe that you didn't notice her, she's quite remarkable person, you know? Besides, how did this happen that you didn't invite her yourself?" He wondered, though Ichika knew that a certain thing happened between sisters and… well, they're not on best terms right now, to say the least.

"She was there?!" Houki really seemed surprised. "Wait?!" Suddenly she seemed to realize something, "How do you know all that?! You're still communicating with each other!?"

"And why is this so surprising?" Ichika wondered. "I only wish you would talk to her at least us much as I do…" He was interrupted as bell that announced second period rang, thus saving Houki from necessity to answer.

"...thus, any basic I.S. maneuvers have to be authorized by the sponsoring country. If an I.S. is operated without permission, we're required to pursue criminal penalties..."

Yamada-sensei continued with the lesson ever so eloquently, while Ichika continued to fight with his drowsiness. To distract himself from boring lesson, he was thinking about his own being here, in I.S. Academy. 'Government (though I think it actually was nee-san's idea) insisted that I should live in I.S. Academy, like every other student…' They even promised to make certain adjustments to the infrastructure to make his life comfortable (and maybe they actually have hope to find few other men who can pilot an I.S…) As such, even though all rooms in dormitory are double rooms, they promised an individual room for Ichika. 'If so, I guess no one's gonna blame me if I'll refit my room as I see fit (sorry for tautology)…' Academy promised to deliver all stuff that he might need right into dormitory. 'No doubts they'll ask Onee-san for help, so I'd better write a list for her. As glorious, fierce and elegant she's on battlefield, she's a real sad sack in social life…'

"Orimura," Sharp voice interrupted his social planning. "If you're not interested in lesson, go to the teacher's room and bring methodical instructions books for everyone in this class."

'Damn…' Ichika swore silently, as he couldn't argue here, he's been caught red-handed. 'Seems that Onee-san has some sort of radar in her head, she knows every time I'm thinking about her…' Since teacher's room was quite afar, Ichika barely made it back to class until the end of second period.

During the break after second period, most of Ichika's classmates gathered near classroom's windows and was talking among themselves… probably about him. Houki and few other girls were at their places.

"Excuse me, may I have a moment?" Someone who's voice Ichika didn't know talked to him. A girl who was clearly of Western, white-skinned descent was staring at him out of blue eyes framed by blonde locks. She didn't look happy. Her hair was slightly curled up, giving off a sense of nobility, and she radiated a superior demeanor that was becoming more and more common among women these days.

"Yes, is there something you want?" Ichika raised his head and looked at the girl.

The girl didn't seem satisfied with his reaction and deliberately increased her volume, as if Ichika was dull-witted. "What are you saying? You should feel honored just having the privilege of talking with me! Let's see you improve that attitude, hmm?"

Ichika turned away from her, "I'm no longer interested in talking to you, go away."

Blonde jolted as if she got her face slapped, "How dare you to speak to me in such a manner?!" Now she really seemed angry. "You don't recognize Cecilia Alcott?! You've never heard of the representative contender from England, and the top scorer on the school's entrance exam?!"

Ichika slowly stood up and looked at Cecilia. That was the first time when she could closely look into his eyes, and she instinctively made a small step back, because his eyes were thousand times colder than ice. "A bit slow, are we?" He said as if Cecilia was weak-minded. "I'll give you one warning then. Only those subservient to me are allowed to look into my eyes…" Saying that, he placed his right, ungloved arm on Cecilia's shoulder and pushed his hand down, slightly pressing on girl's shoulder. However, despite he applied quite small force, Cecilia lost her balance and fell on her ass, on the stone floor. As she was sitting on the floor and looking at Ichika with widened eyes, he said, "…I don't allow anyone to look down on me. Lower your head."

That was a dumb scene as most of spectators didn't even understand what exactly happened, everyone was just looking at Ichika and Cecilia in shock, but of course Cecilia was the most shocked here. 'What happened?!' She thought in disarray, 'It wasn't brute force, he just slightly pressed my shoulder, yet I fell on the floor?! What did he just do?!'

"Orimura-kun?!" Yamada-sensei's voice sliced through silence, seemingly she and Chifuyu just arrived as third period should start very soon, "What's going on here?!"

Chifuyu walked into class right after Yamada, only to see the same dumb scene, with shocked Cecilia sitting on the floor and Ichika standing above her. "Everyone, on your sits," She ordered immediately, homeroom teacher decided to take control over situation, "Alcott, you too, go on your seat. Orimura, on a few words," She nodded towards corridor.

Cecilia, still in shock, slowly stood up and headed towards her seat. I.S. pilot or not, mentally she still was a typical hothouse aristocrat, a genuine ojō-sama, if you like, and something like that happened with her for the first time in her life. Ichika humiliated her in front of at least hundred other girls… Lowly male of lower class humiliated her – aristocratic woman and representative contender?! "HOW DARED YOU?!" She yelled when she finally come back to her senses, however, at this moment Ichika and Chifuyu already left the classroom, closing the door behind. She was so deeply shocked that she didn't even noticed that. In response for her yell, she only got worried sights from her classmates and Yamada-sensei.

The bell for third period rang. Yamada coughed twice, trying to get class' attention, however, her efforts were futile as everyone in the class (and not only in this class) was listening to quite loud conversation in corridor.

"Ichika, it's your first day here and you already started to make enemies to yourself?" Since Chifuyu called him by name seemingly she was scolding him not as a teacher, but as elder sister.

"Enemies? Don't be ridiculous, onee-san. I wish one of them would be brave enough to become my enemy, you can't but evolve without one, you know? But that won't happen, that you also know just as good as I am," Was Ichika's reply.

"You're moron. What happened between you two? Or humiliating women became your new hobby?" Chifuyu asked.

"Onee-san, don't say that, such a thing is against warrior's code," Ichika replied with tragic voice. *PANG* Seemingly, despite his abilities to dodge, Chifuyu managed to hit her brother with attendance book (or he didn't try to dodge…) "Hey, easy there! I'm telling you I didn't try to humiliate anyone, I just pointed to that arrogant girl where her place is."

At that moment, everyone looked at Cecilia, whose cheeks were pink from rage.

"You're not the one to talk about arrogance," Elder sister snarled.

"Neither is you. Besides, it has nothing to do with arrogance, it's a simple fact – heavens belong to gods and their bellowed, mere mortals should crawl on the ground," Brother replied.

*SIGH* Deepness of Chifuyu's sight could be heard even outside the I.S. Academy. "Enough of your nonsense, go back to class, and I don't want such a thing to happen ever again. Are we clear, Orimura?"

"Crystal clear, Orimura-sensei," Saying that, Ichika opened classroom's door and stepped in, being followed by his sister.

"Sorry for making you wait," Chifuyu said as she replaced Yamada at the front of the classroom.

"Ah… well… it's nothing, really," Yamada replied with uncertain smile, as she gave her place to Chifuyu.

"For the remaining class time, we'll be reviewing the types of equipment that can be used in actual combat and their characteristics," Apparently this was a particularly important lesson, as even Yamada took out a notebook. "But before that, we have to decide on the class representative who'll take part in the inter-class tournament."

Entire class perked up, seemingly it was quite important event. While Chifuyu-sensei was explaining details about class representative, Ichika continued to think about list of stuff he needs to be transported from his house.

"Sensei, I recommend Ichika Orimura-sama!" One of Ichika's classmates nominated him.

"I completely agree!" Another one exclaimed.

Here it is, vaunted women's solidarity. Despite that scene with Cecilia, overall opinion about him seemingly didn't change. Not only that, now they were even using honorific '-sama'… Messing with Cecilia actually made Ichika even more interesting? Looks like Ichika wasn't the only one who didn't like her demeanor. Okay, maybe that blonde really had it coming, but still… Or maybe, pretty and mysterious boy is just that valuable?

Ichika remained silent. Actually, he didn't want to become a representative, here, in I.S. Academy he wanted to focus on his piloting skills and I.S. theory. However, according to academy's rules, if someone nominated him he couldn't refuse. Well, as they say: if you cannot win – join. "Thank you all for your support," He said, standing up. "In my Junior High School, I was a student council president…"

"Really?!" "Oh, so nice!" "He's going to be one nice representative!"

"…Honestly, I didn't want to take a public position in High School, however, since it's only one class, I think I can do that… with your support of course," He added, bowing politely.

"Then Ichika Orimura will be the first candidate... is there anyone else? You can nominate yourself or another person. Either way is fine," Chifuyu said. "Are there any more nominations? If not, Orimura will be elected without a vote."

"It's decided then!" Exclaimed girl, which nominated Ichika first.

"He has a personal I.S. unit, which means he will be an excellent representative!" Few more girls shouted in support.

"Well, then I guess we should congratulate you, Orimura-kun…" Yamada-sensei tried to say but she was interrupted by an agitated voice.

"Hold on a minute! I refuse to accept this!" Cecilia shouted as she slammed her hands against the desk and stood up. "This outcome is totally unacceptable! The class representative should be chosen on skill, and having a male as our class representative is disgraceful! Do you expect me, Cecilia Alcott, to endure this embarrassment for a whole year?"

"You ain't learning, are you?" Ichika slowly turned towards her and Cecilia could swear that his eyes flashed when he looked at her. Blonde gulped slightly, but she didn't back down, she definitely couldn't be called a coward.

"In terms of ability, it's obvious that I should be the class representative. I won't tolerate some far-east monkey being chosen just because he's a rare breed! I came to this island country to polish up my I.S. skills; I have no interest in joining a circus!" Blonde couldn't settle down. "…isn't that right!? Only the most talented should be the class representative, so I'm the most suitable one!"

Several girls looked at Ichika, probably they thought that he's going to run towards Cecilia and hit her. Besides, since about 60% of girls in this class were from Japan, some of them actually wanted Ichika to hit that sassy blonde. Ichika, however, just smiled, though it more likely was grin of a tiger who was challenged by an antelope. "Why are you so wound up?" He asked calmly. "Bumping your ass on the floor turned you on so much and now you want more? If that's the case, just come here and I'll spank you, no need to insult foreign nation. I've heard there are many girls in your country with… unusual sexual interests…"

Most girls in classroom were giggling (and blushing slightly), looking at Cecilia. Blonde herself looked like she's going to explode.

"You… you… you…!" She was sputtering due to boiling fury, "ARE YOU INSULTING MY COUNTRY?!"

"No, I'm insulting you," Ichika replied calmly. Point of no return has already been passed, so he continued to talk. "By the way, your government still need a permission from Washington to make any major political decision?"

*SMASH!* Cecilia slammed her hands on the desk. That was it, Ichika definitely offended both her woman's pride and her national pride. "This calls for a duel!"

"Duel?" Ichika looked at her with interest, "You mean I.S. battle, not some weird British stuff? If so, I'm agree."

"Stop insulting my country!" Cecilia's anger hasn't waned a bit.

However, Ichika completely ignored her words. "Tell me," he indifferently asked, "Is that true that you possess a personal I.S. unit, specifically the one named 'Blue Tears'? Long-range, sniper unit?"

"Exactly! Now you understand with who you're dealing with?!" Cecilia exclaimed with satisfaction, seemingly she mistook Ichika's words as worry.

"Excellent, that's exactly what I needed," Ichika said as he seemed satisfied for some reason, "A sniper unit…"

Cecilia seemed discouraged. Just when she thought that she managed to scare that boy, he suddenly seemed satisfied somehow, and she had absolutely no idea why… 'Does he has some trick in his sleeve? Besides, what's the meaning of that "Just what I needed"? No, it doesn't matter! I, Cecilia Alcott, will crush him!'

Chifuyu-sensei clapped her hands to end this conversation.

"Then we have an agreement. The battle will take place next Monday in the 3rd arena. Orimura and Alcott, make sure you are well prepared. Now, let's get back to the lesson." Chifuyu was wearing quite strange face expression, and it definitely wasn't satisfaction.

After school, Ichika was still in his classroom. Stuttering, blushing and apologizing, Yamada Maya asked him to wait for her for a few minutes, until she would finish 'some preparations'. Situation hasn't changed one bit. Students from different years and other classes were still hanging around the classroom where Ichika was, but no one tried to approach him. Instead, they'd glance his direction and whisper things amongst themselves, punctuated by occasional fits of giggling. Any normal teenager would be driven mad by such an environment, but that boy seemed just fine. He was sitting as if there was no one around, polishing his fantasy-like sword's blade.

"Ah, Orimura-kun, you're still in the classroom? That's good," Yamada-sensei returned to classroom.

"I've just talked with minister of defense," Ichika informed her, continuing to polish his sword, "He assured me that everything should be prepared for me today. How's it going?"

"Ah… well… It's good to have government's support…" She again was stuttering, despite Ichika's voice was as polite as possible. "Your dorm's ready…" Yamada-sensei showed a key and a slip of paper with the dorm number. "However… you know… there's a favor we'd like to ask for…"

"Which one?" Orimura asked as he finally looked at his teacher.

"Despite you're going to live alone… we'd like to keep a second bed in your room… just in case…" Yamada replied.

"…in case there soon appear another male, capable of piloting I.S.?" Ichika guessed. "Government sure is optimistic… But I'm alright with that, spare bed shouldn't hinder me. What about my stuff?"

"I've already arranged everything. Be sure that you are grateful for this," Orimura Chifuyu intervened into conversation.

"I'm grateful to you," Ichika bowed slightly. Seriously, he was extremely grateful to his elder sister, with completely different reason, though.

"It's just some daily necessities. Some changes of clothing and a mobile phone charger should be enough to get by for now," Chifuyu noted.

"And that's the list of necessities from Orimura Chifuyu-sensei for you," Ichika sighed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chifuyu asked sharply.

"Nothing, I'm just saying that my list of necessities a bit bigger, though I'm not intending to burden anyone from academy with my stuff. I've already asked military transportation service to deliver things I need," Boy explained.

"Mm… Military transportation service?" Yamada asked uncertainly.

"No need to be surprised, as I've already told today, I'm a naval officer. Though I have no subordinates yet, I still have all the privileges that normal officer gets" Lt. commander shrugged.

"And what are those necessities I've overlooked?" Elder sister wondered with explicit sarcasm.

"My new Harman/Kardon 8.2 audio system and 16K HyperHD holographic display," Ichika replied.

"Can I ask how exactly you've paid for all that?" Chifuyu suddenly switched from 'teacher' to 'elder sister' mode. Without saying anything, Ichika showed her his brand-new personal credit card. "So they even paying you a salary? Does it mean that you're going to pay for all your expenses all by yourself?"

"But of course," Young man confirmed.

"Good to hear it," Elder sister replied. Though she hid it, Ichika knew that her mood raised up a little bit. "Then head to the dormitory and get settled in. Dinner is served in the first-year dorm cafeteria from 6 to 7pm. Each room has a shower, and there's a large public bath. The time to use it varies by school year... about which you still don't care, right?"

Ichika nodded to confirm elder sister's guess, "Besides, I can hardly imagine that academy would allow me to take baths with all those girls… I can imagine myself taking a bath filled with blood from their noses…"

"Orimurs-san?!" Maya literally jumped due to embarrassment and disgust as she heard Ichika's remark.

"You're nuts…" Chifuyu sighed heavily. "Anyway, let's call it settled. I have a meeting to attend to. Orimura, head straight to your dorm room, and don't wander about." Chifuyu switched back to 'teacher' mode, spun on her heel and marched out of the room.

"Um… good night, Orimura-kun…" Yamada-sensei handed over a key and a slip of paper with the dorm number and walked out of the classroom after Chifuyu. On her way out she shook her head, seemingly still trying to threw Ichika's saying out of her had.

April 11th, 7:52 AM

"Why didn't you join a kendo club in Junior High School?" Houki asked. She and Ichika was taking breakfast together, Houki's appeared to live in the room next to Ichika's – room 1026, and she also was living alone, at least for now.

"There wasn't a kendo club in my Junior High school, and I was unwilling to start one," Ichika replied. "Besides, I was interested in trying something that requires team play." As before, Ichika's table was attracting a lot of attention. Yesterday at dinner, at least fifty girls came to introduce themselves, more than half of them were third-years. Though, it doesn't seem to bother Ichika.

Though he and Houki didn't see each other for almost six years, it appeared that they didn't have too much to talk about. Right now, their conversation seemed quite awkward, or, more likely, Houki was feeling herself quite awkward. As it was said, she herself wasn't sure yet about her feelings towards Ichika. Yes, they knew each other from the very childhood, but there was always barely penetrable wall between Houki and Ichika – Tabane, Houki's own elder sister.

Chifuyu and Ichika's parents abandoned them when latter was three years old and former hit twelve few months ago. At that moment, Shinonono's parents kinda took them in. Being good friends with Chifuyu, Tabane tried her best to help her friend to raise her younger brother, of course, in her unique way. At Ichika's 4th birthday, approximately 1 year prior to invention of I.S., Tabane presented Ichika a toy, which appeared to be quite functional laser pistol. As Chifuyu and Tabane's parents snapped out of their shock, they were scolding her for several hours, but they only got Tabane's cunning smile in return. Hapless pistol has never been found.

The reason for Tabane's smile was disclosed when Ichika was in third grade, when it appeared that not only pistol was in boy's possession all this time, he also managed to reverse-engineer it, and made a long-barreled laser hunting rifle. He presented it to his elder sister at her 17th birthday ("go hunt for a boyfriend, Onee-chan!", young boy told her).

In the matter of pure fact, Ichika was a genius of the same caliber as Tabane herself, he just never was an 'inventor' type. Tabane's brilliant mind always was swarming with new ideas, but she never could work on the same idea for long, quickly becoming bored. Ichika, on the other hand, couldn't settle down until something hasn't been brought to perfection.

Returning to current events, Houki simply didn't know about what she could talk with Ichika. Seriously, she can't talk with him about weather, right? "So, what was you doing after I transferred from our old school?" She finally asked.

"Hmm? You mean my club activity?" Ichika wondered. Not that it was what Houki meant, it was what Ichika's been willing to tell. "Well, honestly, I quit kendo club almost right after you left. Instead I decided to practice with sword at home."

"Why?" That decision surprised Houki a bit.

"I felt that techniques used in modern kendo aren't for me. I know, your family is using them and even one-san is using them, but for me… I had a feeling that I'm missing something. I switched to Hokushin Ittō-ryū kenjutsu, sword style founded in early 19th century. Adapting those old-school techniques for use with pretty non-allogeneic sword was quite interesting. Even playing football in middle school, I always could find time to hone my sword skills. Though, football was fun as well…"

"O-Orimura-sama, can we sit here, please?" Ichika's tale was interrupted as three girls approached his and Houki's table. All three were holding their breakfast trays as they anxiously waited for boy's reply.

"Orimura-sama?" Houki asked with scowl. For some reason that honorific was irritating her.

"Sure, have a seat," Ichika had no reason to refuse as he and Houki was occupying a six-seat table.

The girl who spoke heaved a sigh of relief. Behind her, two friends that were offering moral support looked delighted. Nearby, quite a commotion erupted. "Awww, I should have tried to talk to him earlier..." "It-it's just the second day. Nothing to panic over!" Etc. etc…

Girls filled up the three seats on the other side, opposite to Ichika. According to their neck accessories, girl on the right was second-year and other two were third-years. Girl on the right and third-year in the middle were looking quite alike, most likely they were sisters.

"Wow, Orimura-sama, you sure do eat a lot in the morning."

"Such a typical guy."

Ichika looked at them without enthusiasm. "Did you really come here to talk about food?" He wondered.

"Ahh… we…" "Well…" "You see…" Ichika's question made girls feel themselves awkward.

"You wanted to talk about my upcoming match against Ms. Alcott?" Ichika asked, intentionally using English honorific.

"Uh… yeah…" "We would like…"

"We'd like to offer you our help in I.S. training…" Third-year girl on the left finally said it.

"Hey, wait a minute…!" Houki's tried to protest, but Ichika raised his arm, prompting her to be silent.

"I thank you for your proposition, but I'm not going to do any special preparation for that match," Ichika replied.

"Ohh…" All three girls let oud sigh of disappointment.

"Don't you think that you're underestimating Cecilia?" Houki snapped.

"That's true, Ichika-sama," girl on the right agreed. "Cecilia-chan is an class A pilot, I've heard she even managed to defeat instructor during entrance test!"

"So did I," Ichika replied lazily.

"Really?!" Several girls from aside shouted at the same time. No doubt that entire canteen was eavesdropping to that conversation.

"But I've heard that only one student managed to defeat instructor!" Someone exclaimed.

"Maybe they meant only I.S. vs I.S. battles?" Ichika wondered, confusing everyone. "And, to clarify my statement, I'm telling you that I fought against I.S. with me being on foot, without I.S., and I emerged victorious," He added.

Another dumb scene with Ichika being the center of attention. Ichika knew perfectly how unbelievable his story was. Even though academy's entrance exam wasn't a full-scale combat simulation but a mere test, saying that you've defeated an I.S. without your own is just like saying that you withstood a direct hit from nuclear missile.

"I know that it's hard to believe, as record of my entrance test was classified for some idiotic reason, but I'm not going to convince you. Come at Monday to third arena, you'll see everything by yourself. Though I'm only interested in observing Ms. Alcott's I.S. unit in action, I'll still defeat her in the end," As he said that, Ichika stood up, preparing to head to the class as first period should begin shortly. "Don't worry about me, I am an S-rank, supercommando-level combatant. Aside from two people in this world, only I can defeat myself." With almost 100 girls watching at him in silent shock, he left the canteen.

As he was heading towards his classroom, he met some girl who was running towards cafeteria. Seemingly she overslept and now was running in hope to get at least something to eat. However, when she saw Ichika and understood who it is, she stumbled and began to fall. But, even before she stumbled, Ichika dashed forth and reached her just in time to prevent poor girl from falling on stone floor. His moves were so precise and elegant that it was like he just knew that she's going to stumble. "Ah?..." Girl yelped silently.

"Hey, do be careful," Ichika said, putting girl back on her feet, "Don't look around when running… though, you probably shouldn't be running in the first place…" As he said that he continued his way towards classroom, as if nothing happened.

"Oh, thanks, I… I'll be careful…" She thanked Ichika. "AH?!" Suddenly, she realized what exactly just happened. She was just 'saved' by that boy everyone's admiring, and he even touched her. Blushing, she touched her own shoulder, she could still feel warmth from Ichika's hand (no, of course she couldn't). She quickly turned around and ran towards cafeteria even faster than she was running before, not to eat but to tell her friends about what just happened.

After two boring lessons about I.S. theory, time finally came for a practice. Ichika never lacked confidence, and one of reasons for that was that he was never slacking on training.

He acquired his personal I.S. unit about one month ago and finished with its customization two weeks later. Since then, he used every opportunity to pilot his exoskeleton. Combining that with his pretty deep knowledge about I.S. he got from Tabane, we got pretty interesting contender. However, it definitely not enough to call himself a 'S-class pilot'. Does he possess some secret skill? At least, almost every girl from Ichika's class was thinking like that.

After Ichika showed several basic maneuvers to the class by Chifuyu's request, he retreated to far side of the arena to practice some advanced maneuvers. Cecilia got permission to do the same on the other side of the practice arena. From aside, Ichika's flying seemed quite good, but no one could say that it was too much better than Cecilia's. What's going to happen at duel?...

Inside the kendo dojo's changing room, Houki was changing out of her uniform. Despite she worked hard and was quite tired, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Today she asked Ichika for a sparring match with swords. And of course, she faced crashing defeat, despite her opponent wasn't even using his full power. His moves… they were so… elegant, so beautiful. It looked like he was flying, not mowing on foot.

In fact, she never managed to defeat Ichika, not even once, even when they were just kids. At first, Houki thought that it's just the difference between man and woman, but she never saw other boys defeating Ichika, either. In fact, they seemed even more desperate in front of him than Houki herself.

On the other hand, there's Orimura Chifuyu. Houki saw her many times training in the same dojo, which belonged to Houki's family, and she always though that Chifuyu's strength can rival that of a demon. So, probably, that's only natural that Ichika is as powerful as his elder sister. However, '…if Orimura siblings are equal in their abilities then… why I'm so inferior to my own elder sister!?' Houki simply couldn't stop thinking about that.

'Still…' Houki finally threw away her thoughts about Tabane. 'Ichika… You have gotten so much stronger in the last six years, and you're so much cooler than other boys… Erk! That is, I mean… I'm not thinking that. He's just nice looking, that's all. Of course, he's a lot more mature than 6 years ago. Those unrelenting eyes of his… And he recognized me immediately after we met. I definitely have changed a lot since those days, yet he remembered me that easily…' For some reason, these thoughts made Houki happy…

Houki only knew it was Ichika by his name. If his photo hadn't been in the news reports, she probably wouldn't have recognized him (at least no untild she'd took a closer look – his eyes are of pretty unique coloration). She certainly wouldn't have known that her childhood friend had become so manly. To be honest, she even admired his physique. The moment she'd heard his name on the news, she dropped the bowls she'd been carrying. "Well, at least I managed to be alone with Ichika a bit," She smiled to herself, remembering today's sparring match. Suddenly, she saw her face in the mirror and twitched in shock. "Ohhh…" She sighed, feeling rather embarrassed about that naive expression on her face.

April 17th, 3:25 PM

And finally, that day has come. Week 2, Monday. The day of the match against Cecilia.

"Orimura-kun still isn't here?!" Yamada-sensei was all the nerves. Less than five minutes left before scheduled match start, Houki, Chifuyu and Yamada were here… but Ichika still hasn't arrived.

"Sensei, calm down," Houki tried to cool Yamada down. "I'm sure nothing happened to Ichika, he never comes beforehand…" Even in junior school Ichika was always coming one-two minutes before class should start, no more, no less… he never been late, though.

"True," Chifuyu nodded. "That insolent brat thinks that he's too good for that…"

Three minutes left. "Oh, you all came to support me?" Ichika's voice sounded from side corridor.

"Hmpf," Chifuyu snorted. "I'm here only to ensure that you won't do anything nasty during match."

'Charming as ever, onee-san,' Ichika thought. Of course he knew that his elder sister's rooting for him.

"Orimura-kun!" Yamada-sensei exclaimed with accusing tone. "Where're you been?! Why didn't you come earlier?!"

Ichika made his I.S. to display a clock, "I haven't come late, there's a whole three minutes until match. Why I'd need to come earlier?" Of course he knew what exactly Yamada-sensei meant, but teasing her was just too fun.

"Um… well… you could…" As expected, Maya couldn't find a logical reason why Ichika should've to show up earlier.

"You have to respect your seniors, idiot," Chifuyu once again attempted to hit her insolent brother with attendance book, yet he somehow dodged it, as if he knew how and from where she'll try to hit him.

'You ain't changing, onee-san, you're resorting to violence much too often.' Ichika sighed, as if he was the one to think like that… 'This is why you still don't have a boyfriend, even though you're as beautiful as you are…'

"Hmph. If I didn't have to watch over this insolent little jackanapes, I could already have a boyfriend; no, I even could have already gotten married by now," Chifuyu replied as she again somehow managed to hear Ichika's thoughts.

"Ichika, there's less than two minutes!" Houki exclaimed. Unlike Orimura siblings, she seemed worried, not as much as Yamada-sensei though.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, don't pounce on me all together," Ichika said, outstretching his left arm. "Hear my call, Messiah!" Glove on his left hand began to shine, quickly engulfing Ichika's entire body with light. Second later light dissipated, revealing Ichika's I.S. unit, the Messiah.

Unit was mostly white with gold- and carbon-colored elements on its legs and upper body parts. Pilot's body was completely cowered with carbon-fiber armor, with white plate armor protecting outer sides of pilot's waist, shoulders and spine. Shoulderpads, common for most I.S. models, were missing, instead unit was equipped with six dragonfly-like wings, three per each side. Highest pair of wings also being the biggest, each wing was 2.5 meters long. Each wing in middle pair was 2 meters long and 1.5 meters for lower pair. Upper half of every wing was made of solid metal as lower half was made of glowing plasma, contained by some sort of energy field. Unit's legs did not have the foot stabilizers, common for other models. Pilot's head was hidden by carbon/gold-colored full helmet, which looked like eagle's head. White 'ankh' symbol was engraved on its forehead.

In his own mind, Ichika heard the voice of his I.S. unit: "Status: fully operational. Mode: standing by. Detecting a close by I.S. unit in standby mode. Registered pilot name: Cecilia Alcott. I.S. codename: 'Blue Tears'."

"Oh, I guess she's eager…" Ichika commented as obviously Cecilia was already on arena.

"Ichika!" Houki suddenly exclaimed, "Win this!"

"Don't worry," He replied calmly, "I am absolute. My defeat is simply impossible." As Ichika said that, hangar's door opened and Ichika flew out to the arena. Just as his I.S. detected, Cecilia was already waiting.

Cecilia's machine, "Blue Tears", was bright blue and had four unique rear fins on the back armor, making it look royal and knightly. Cecilia was wielding a large, 2 meters long gun – long range, big caliber laser sniper rifle called "Starlight Mark III". "Oh, so you didn't run away," Cecilia snorted derisively and placed her hand on her hip, radiating that 'hime-sama' [princess] vibes again. No doubts her I.S. detected Messiah as soon as Ichika called for it, she just wanted to say something haughty.

The bell indicating the start of the match had already rung, however, Cecilia didn't attack yet, she seemingly had something more to say. "I'll give you one last chance," Cecilia pointed at Ichika with the hand that was on her hip; her other hand casually held the muzzle of her rifle, which was still pointed downwards. "It's obvious that I'll defeat you overwhelmingly. So if you don't want to find yourself battered to a pulp and pathetically begging for mercy, I may forgive you if you apologize now."

In response, Ichika outstretched his left arm. With flash of light, straight, Zweihänder-like 2 meters long sword appeared in his left hand. Sword's blade "opened", thus revealing its true form – a 'blade' made of white, glowing plasma (so-called 'plasma torch').

"So that's your plan? To challenge my long-range I.S. with a hand-to-hand weapon? What a joke!" Cecilia laughed, slowly raising her weapon. However, before she could understand what's going on, sword in Ichika's hand started to reconstruct itself. Within 0.715 seconds (according to I.S. timer) sword turned into three-barreled plasma shotgun. It wasn't reequipping, it was the same weapon that drastically changed its shape. Without saying anything Ichika pointed his gun at Cecilia and pulled the trigger. With whistling sound, Ichika's gun shot three bits of glowing white plasma, which merged into one larger bit. At the last moment Cecilia snapped out of her shock and dodged the attack, thus avoiding a direct hit. However, plasma charge exploded very close to her, damaging Blue Tears' shield and giving Cecilia herself a good shakeup.

"Defensive armor pierced. Damage: 31. Shield damage: 98. Shield Energy remaining: 552. Actual damage assessment: Low." Cecilia heard her I.S. report. "Estimating enemy's weapon. Codename: Ragnarök. Type: shape-shifting weapon. Additional data: unavailable."

"Shape-shifting weapon?! What is that?!" Cecilia never heard about anything like that. Though, she had no chance to think about that, as she heard her I.S. unit again.

"Warning. Enemy I.S. entering firing posture. Firing mechanism triggering confirmed. Energy shot incoming!" Another whistling sound, and another plasma charge was shot towards Cecilia. This time, however, she was ready and flew away far enough to avoid damage almost completely, second plasma blast barely scratched her shield, reducing it by 7, thus 545 points remaining. Seemingly, despite it was no longer a sword, Ichika's Ragnarök was still a close-combat weapon, because plasma charges' velocity was relatively low (about 330 meters per second).

Cecilia was enraged (she has quite a fiery temper). "How dare you to interrupt woman when she talks?!" She shouldered her rifle and shot. She appeared to be quite a good markswoman, Ichika could tell it just by observing that single shot. Her moves were quick and shot was precise, it was directed right into his face. Energy charge's velocity was very high as well, about 875 meters per second (about the same as of heavy sniper rifle that uses .50 BMG-type ammunition), and, unlike of normal gun, energy charge's velocity was the same during entire charge's existance. However, despite all that, Ichika dodged her attack completely as he leaned back.

"Too slow," He said, aiming his shotgun at Cecilia and making another shot.

"That's not all! Let's dance! Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing!" Shot after shot after shot. Cecilia's attacks started to rain down on Ichika, and they were all fast and precise.

'Everything's going as planned,' Ichika thought, dodging one attack after another, and shooting back from time to time.

"No way! It was just like when he fought against me at entrance exam!" Maya Yamada was watching the live broadcast of Cecilia and Ichika's fight on the screen in the control room. "He's avoiding all Cecilia-chan's attacks… His reaction's incredibly fast!" 23 minutes of battle have passed, yet Ichika was barely scratched.

"…It's not because he's fast," Chifuyu said, as she also was watching the screen. "It's just that he sees it."

"Sees?" Both Houki a Maya asked.

"Yes," Chifuyu confirmed. "His eyes can detect even the slightest movements. Breathing, heartbeat, sweat, muscle contractions, everything. When it comes to I.S. he can see stabilizers direction, thrusters charging, servos moving… even pilot eyesight's direction. Eyes that surpass I.S. hypersensors, miraculous eyes that can read any movement beforehand, they nullify both offence and defense, rendering evasive maneuvers and offensive tactics useless. He's not predicting Alcott's maneuvers, he's foreseeing them. Orimura Ichika can see future of his opponent's moves, simple as that." Did that sound proudly? Probably not, as Chifuyu was quite good at hiding her emotions, but still…

After Chifuyu's explanation, Houki and Maya's jaws were lying on the floor. "So… so… so this is why I never could even touch him when we were practicing kendo?!" Houki exclaimed. It was quite a revelation.

Chifuyu nodded, "Partially, but that's not all. Even if you can see future, it's of no use if you're not fast enough. You need appropriate physical abilities to keep up with the opponent, and Ichika have it." She even called him by first name, she's definitely proud. Yamada-sensei was still in shock, she seemingly couldn't comprehend how's that even possible.

Houki stared at Chifuyu. 'She and Ichika are siblings. Does that mean that she also possess the same eyes? The way she was talking about that, it seems unlikely, or she would probably have used herself as an example. But seeing her in dojo back than… She seemed invincible anyway. Is that possible that she's hiding some other unique ability?' She again looked at Chifuyu… no, she doesn't have a courage to ask teacher about her skills directly.

"What I don't understand… is what he's up to," Chifuyu said, probably to herself. 'If he wanted, he could defeat her within first five minutes. He's not the one who enjoys cat-and-mouse game. Why're you prolonging this match, Ichika?"

'Dammit… He's much better than I thought!' Cecilia thought as battle definitely wasn't going in her favor. After 25 minutes, she already lost more than half of her shield (only 297 points remained, out of 650), and she already felt herself exhausted. Not that she was lacking stamina, that was the effect of moral pressure she was feeling. Her I.S. primary weapon – independent small-sized mobile weapon platforms, so called 'BITs' – proved to be completely ineffective. With his foreseeing eyes, Ichika always knew when and where they're going to shoot (though Cecilia doesn't know about his eyes). Missiles were too slow and their movements were predictable even without use of his eyes' special ability, it was easy to shoot them down with shotgun or even sword. The only weapon, which proved to be partially useful was her sniper rifle as she managed to scratch her opponent a few times; it has quite powerful charge that could cause damage even with glancing hit.

Still, Ichika's shield was 467 out of total 600 points, which looked quite grim as even if no one's shield will reach zero, officially it will be the draw, but unofficially the looser will be the one with lower shield percentage, and currently that is Cecilia. "This cannot be!" She exclaimed. "I am, Cecilia Alcott, the representative contender for England not going to lose to someone like you! Take that!" She again raised her rifle and shot twice, however, she definitely was losing concentration as her shots were less accurate than at the beginning of the match and Ichika easily dodged them.

Suddenly, everyone could hear Ichika's voice in open channel. "Alright, I guess I've learned everything I needed. Seems it's time for me to fulfill my promise," He added.

"What do you mean?!" Cecilia asked with frustrated voice.

"Hmm? Didn't I tell you? Oh, I guess I really didn't…" Ichika replied with false regret. "The only reason why I agreed for this match is that you have "Starlight Mark III", advanced energy sniper rifle. I wanted to learn about it, nothing more."

"Hmpf," In control room, Chifuyu snorted. "I knew that it was about something like that."

"What is it, Orimura-sensei?" Maya Yamada asked cautiously, as she wasn't ready for another shocking revelation just yet.

"As I told you, his eyes are capable of grasping everything with immense precision," Chifuyu replied. "This ability can be used not only to foresee future; he also can learn about things just by looking at them. He wanted to learn about Cecilia's sniper rifle… I had a feeling that he was somehow encouraging her to use rifle against him."

"Why he needs to know about Cecilia's weapon?" Houki asked in confusion.

"I don't like speculations," Chifuyu said, "But my guess – he wants to use that data to construct his own sniper rifle and add it as fourth shape of his I.S. weapon – Ragnarök."

"Orimura-sensei, your brother really is amazing!" Maya exclaimed sincerely. "To think that he could do all that on his own… wait!" She suddenly understood something.

Houki seemingly got the same idea, "Did you just said 'fourth shape'?! Does that mean that there's already third?!" Until now they only saw sword and shotgun.

In the meantime, on the arena, Cecilia was infuriated (again). "Don't say it like you could win any moment you'd like!" She shouted angrily.

"But that's exactly what I'm saying," Ichika replied indifferently. "Only two minutes left, there's no more time to play around, let's move to showdown. Come at me with everything you got."

"Shut up!" Cecilia shouted, commanding all four 'tears' to attack Ichika at the same time. However, he already learned everything about their movement patterns. Easily maneuvering between laser rays, he raised his shotgun. One… two… three… four… Four shots and all four 'blue tears' were destroyed. Ichika overturned in air and dashed towards Cecilia, accelerating. "Don't get close to me!" Cecilia seemingly panicked as she shot two remaining 'tears', which were homing missiles.

With remaining distance between him and missiles, Ichika probably would be unable to shot them both down with shotgun. At that moment, Cecilia thought that she's finally got him, however… Ragnarök once again began to reconstruct itself, splitting in half. Within 0.735 seconds, shotgun turned into twin plasma pistols, Ichika held one in each hand. Like a cowboy, he shot from both pistols at the same time, effectively shooting down both missiles simultaneously. Pistol charges were much smaller than that shot by shotgun, but faster (about 465 meters per second), it was mid-range combat weapon. "It… it can't be happening…" She mumbled. "No, I'm refuse to lose like that!" She raised her only remaining weapon, Starlight Mark III, but Ichika was too close for it to be effectively used.

Twin pistols quickly took shape of a sword and Ichika's I.S., Messiah, began to glow, activating One Off Ability, Paradise of Darkness. It was a replica of Byakushiki's One-Off Ability – Reiraku Byakuya, which can negate the energy-based abilities of other I.S. units. Originally, Reiraku Byakuya was developed by Chifuyu's personal I.S. Kurazakura [Twilight Sakura] when it underwent the second shift. Using Reiraku Byakuya, Kurazakura (as well as Byakushiki) could completely bypass any IS shield (which is the key defense in every I.S.) Since the attack would not be weakened, a single direct hit is often enough to force opposing I.S. to activate Absolute Barrier, effectively rendering the enemy energy-depleted. One of Chifuyu's trump cards, which made her a legend… Paradise of Darkness possesses the same capabilities to negate the energy-based abilities of other I.S. units, only difference is that it uses plasma-based weapons instead of energy-based ones.

Ichika sword's plasma blade began to shine much brighter than before. Due to very intense light, it seemed as if everything around darkened. From aside it looked as if sword was 'draining' light from its surroundings, probably that's why this ability got its name. "I'll teach you one thing, Cecilia," Ichika said, preparing for final attack. "Victory is everything in this world. Victor is acknowledged, and the vanquished is disavowed. Because I'm victorious over all, I'm always the just." Ichika executed the Ignition Boost, closed to Cecilia in a split second and performed kesagiri sword attack. As a last resort, blonde tried to parry that attack with her rifle, and succeeded. Her rifle was sliced in half, but she managed to prevent damage to her I.S., however, now she was weaponless.

That was the end. Ichika slipped beneath her, as his sword again turned into shotgun. Shotgun's barrel began to shine, as Ichika once again activated I.S. bankai… *cough* I mean, One Off Ability, Paradise of Darkness, attack which could pierce through enemy's I.S. shield. His weapon shot not three but nine bits of plasma, which didn't merge but flew forth like a shrapnel. Since shot was made almost point-blank, all nine hit the target. Overheated plasma bits pierced through Cecilia's shield, thus leaving her I.S. no choice but to activate Absolute Barrier, immediately reducing her shield to zero.

A buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match. "Match concluded. Winner: Ichika Orimura. Match duration: 28:49." Since Ichika used Barrier Void Attack twice, his energy shield also dropped by about 100 points, and now he had 374 out of 600, but that was far above zero, which means it was a clear victory.

The trick was that Ichika's weapon, Ragnarök, uses so called 'Fold Out armor', special energy field, used to contain and control plasma. Sword blade's outlet emitter and guns barrels are made of Fold Out Armor, which is stable during normal operation. However, with activation of One Off Ability, plasma becomes much hotter; as such, power drain of Fold Out armor also grows a lot, to the point when it is much more than an I.S. can continuously supply so in order to maintain the ability, additional energy has to be converted from Messiah's own shield.

Anyway, that was Ichika's victory. Many girls were waving to him from 3rd arena's grandstand, and Ichika waved them in return.

"You insolent brat! You've wasted half an hour of my life's time by such a selfish reason?" Chifuyu never was one to mince words. Right now she was scolding Ichika for toying with Cecilia instead of quick victory. *Sigh* "At least you won. That's it for today then, head back to your room and rest." Of course, Ichika had no intentions to follow his sister's order, he wanted to go to engineering department and begin to work on new sniper rifle as soon as possible.

Chifuyu left, leaving her brother with Houki and Yamada-sensei, and both were behaving strangely. Former was staring into Ichika's face without blinking, and latter was using her arms to cower as much of her body as she could. The reason for that was that when Maya asked Chifuyu "Ichika's eyes cannot see through clothes, can't they?" She got an indifferent reply "No idea." That was a mistake, but maybe Chifuyu really didn't care about that, most likely she thought that "Even if my brother always sees me naked – it's his own problem." She never lacked self-confidence. For Maya, however, it was a reason for full-scaled paranoia.

"Is something wrong?" Ichika wondered.

"Uh… well… I…" Yamada stuttered, not sure how to ask.

Houki was much more straight-forward. "Is that true? That you can see future?" She asked without preamble.

"Chifuyu…" Ichika sighed deeply. "One day I'll put a mousetrap on that long tongue of yours, I swear…" He looked at two women in front of him. "She sang you an ode about my eyes, did she?" Houki and Maya nodded. Ichika sighed again, "Yes, that's true. My eyes can see future, as such, for me it is but a simple matter of changing it." He looked at Yamada, "But no, I can't see through clothes, I can't." Seemingly he guessed what was bothering green-haired sensei.

Hot water was flowing from the shower head, landing on her skin and flowing down the curves of her body. Her figure was unusually well-proportioned, a fact Cecilia was really proud of. Her long legs were silky and beautiful, so much so that they could compete with a model's, if not beat them outright in a beauty contest. Cecilia let the water cascade down her breasts as she pondered, while she was wandering in her own sad thought.

'Today's match…' She couldn't understand how such a thing could happen. She faced crashing defeat in front of entire school. It doesn't matter that match lasted for almost half an hour, seemingly it lasted that long only because Ichika was pursuing his own goals. She had no idea what he wanted from her rifle, but she knew that if Ichika would wanted only to win, without side goals, he'd win within first few minutes of their match.

She went into the match so sure that she would win, and she fought her best. Yet… such a horrible defeat. She couldn't blame Ichika. Was he just toying with her or he really wanted something, that doesn't matter anymore. He was simply much stronger, and that's it. This is why he won. 'In fact, he was amazing… those moves of his… they were so fast and precise…'

Cecilia was reviewing her past. After her parents died in railroad catastrophe, Cecilia had a vast inheritance, and in order to protect the money from those who wanted to hoard, launder, or con her out of it, she threw herself into her studies. During an I.S. suitability test, which was part of her curriculum, she got top marks. Hoping to encourage loyalty to her country, the government made all sorts of generous concessions, and in order to protect her parents' inheritance, she agreed. Cecilia was chosen to be the first test pilot of the 3rd generation I.S. prototype, "Blue Tears". In order to get the best possible education and battle experience with the I.S., she came to the I.S. Academy in Japan, and then…

…then she met Ichika Orimura. Brother of first I.S. world champion, "Brunhilde", Chifuyu Orimura. Just as his sister, Ichika was beautiful, proud and powerful. She met the ideal man, with those dreaded eyes of his, which were like glowing with infernal light.

'Can I ever catch up with him? He was just training harder… or it's just the gap between levels of our inborn abilities?' Those thoughts were making her uneasy, she knew that people doesn't born equal. Her chest was overwhelmed with this… longing.

'Ichika Orimura… why are you so strong?...'

And this is it for chapter One, thank you all for reading, don't forget to write a review.