The Story of the White Knight from Another World.

(a Infinite Stratos x Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari crossover)

[Chapter Four - not quite like home]

The next morning came early to Ichika. Normally he was a slow riser, but all the walking he did the other day had made him gone to bed early. And although the luxuriously rich dinner that Maya and Angela servants prepared wasn't his usual fare, the activity level had compensated for it. Still he was considering an increase in his intake along with extra training.

He changed into his IS suit, it was made for physical activities, and a plain shirt (because the suit alone was embarrassing) before he walked out of his room with his sword at hand. He exited Lashara's villa, a rather large three story mansion that almost seemed extravagant for a student, if the student weren't a noble, much less a queen, and took in the fresh morning air.

It was one of the things he appreciated in this world. It was still so lush, green, and unpolluted. It almost made him want to reveal his secret and fly freely through the sky. But that'll have wait for later.

He started his exercise with jogging before he broke into a run when he felt more awake. He stopped running and switched to swinging his sword. The last time he had practiced his swing, he had the use of a heavy, hard-wood bokken and swing to three thousand (Houki was feeling competitive that day). But since he had a real sword, and he had already given in to the temptation swinging it yesterday, he felt that there was no harm in using it until he could arrange for a bokken.

He drew the blade and set the scabbard down a nearby tree. He appraised his surroundings for a moment to chose where to swing avoid injury upon himself or anyone that might come around. He had nearly reached a count of one hundred before he heard a door open. He stopped and saw Chiaia come out of the villa.

Ichika had wondered what to do for a moment. She seemed to dislike him and was suspicious of him, so he wanted to be careful with her. Yet, at the same time, he didn't want to seem too careful; that it make himself look like he was up to something.

"Good Morning, Chiaia-san." he politely greeted her.

"Good Morning..." She muttered sluggishly.

He resumed his training, not minding as Chaia moved towards a locker and took out her own training tool. He tried not to look surprised when Chiaia lifted a large claymore. Ichika approximated that it was probably three quarters the size of Rin's Souten Gagetsu and probably half its weight. Rin had lifted the huge swords with an IS, but Chiaia lifted and swung her sword without one. He couldn't help but be impressed at her arm strength.

A little lost in thought, he almost didn't notice that Chiaia had stopped swinging her sword and was now glaring at him. "What are you looking at?"

"Eh? Ah... sorry, I was just amazed. My sister is the only person I can think off who could do what you're doing right now."

Chiaia tried not to blush, and although she was being compared to someone, she couldn't help but see his words as anything other than a complement. She was going to thank him, but, when she saw the sword he was swinging for practice, her pride suddenly changed the words that came out of her mouth. "It's no surprise if that's all your people swinging. I'm probably stronger than your sister."

Ichika laughed weakly at the insult. It was true that no one normally swung a sword that big and heavy for practice. Even if he had to be careful around Chiaia, he couldn't let her get away after slighting his sister. But he tried to be nice about it. "In terms of pure strength... maybe."

Chiaia frowned. She realized that she was the one that started it, but she couldn't stop it either. "Hmph! In that case I must be stronger than you."

She didn't see his response coming.

"I'm pretty sure you are." Ichika said without much of thought.

Chiaia, however, took it as a veiled insult or patronizing complement.

She glared at him for a moment. Ichika didn't realize that she wanted him to either take what he said back or to swear he wasn't just saying it. Then she sheathed the oversized weight training sword and headed back the villa for a moment.

Ichika resumed his training, thinking that he had screwed up somehow. And was surprised when Chiaia came out of the villa minutes later with two kinds of swords in hand, a large wooden claymore and bokken.

She came over to his side and offered the wooden blade.

"Spar with me!"

Ichika quickly realized that there was no way out of this and accepted the weapon. He returned his katana to is sheath and put it safely out of the way.

"Are you ready?" Chiaia asked as she got into stance, her sword already high above her shoulders.

Ichika held his sword in the ready. He had calculated that with her strength she would be able to swing that wooden claymore down at him like a normal sword. But the size might still impact the speed. He chose and strategy and nodded.

"HYAAAA!" Chiaia swung the sword down expecting Ichika to block.

But her surprise, Ichika used the back of his bokken to deflect her sword's trajectory. Then before she even knew what was happening, his wooden blade was just inches from hitting her eyes.

Neither of them moved. The air was tense, until Ichika withdrew his blade and stepped back.

Annoyed, Chiaia did what any annoyed swordswoman would do in a situation like this.

"Again!" demanded as she readied her sword, this time for a horizontal slash.

Ichika sighed, a little depressed that he was making her even angrier at him, but got his sword ready to counter.

Chiaia assumed that his stance meant that he was going to use his full weight to counter her move.

She did not yell out as she attacked this time, it might lessen the energy of the attack a little, but it was a small price to reduce his reaction time. She swung five seconds after Ichika had gotten into his stance. And as she anticipated, Ichika used his full weight on his swing to counter.

But the result was different from what she expected. He had used his sword do deflect her sword again. Almost like a stick lifting a rope in one's way. She then realize that he had used more momentum to not only deflect her attack but to step out it it's way and swing his sword at her neck in one move.

Like the first match, Ichika stopped short of hitting her and stepped way. And like the first time, Chiaia asked for a rematch.

[- - -]

Wahanly had risen early to give her time to make the trip to Lashara villa. Lashara had invited her for breakfast and to prepare for the ceremony with Chiaia.

It was very quiet this early in the morning. But as Wahanly neared her destination, the familiar sound of wood hitting wood became more and more obvious. She wasn't surprised to see that Chiaia already up, however, seeing Ichika swing a weapon one tenth the size of Chiaia's and win did.

She stopped and watched them from a distance. Chiaia would get into stance, then Ichika, a moment later, Chiaia would attack, Ichika would counter with moves she's never seen before, and go for Chiaia's vital point and stop before contact. Then they would repeat that... or rather they're not repeating it on purpose, but each outcome was the same.

Wahanly was impressed. Chiaia was probably one of the strongest students in the academy. A result of growing up with Mexiah-sensei, no doubt. But to see her lose, time after time, was surprise.

"Good Morning, Wahanly-sama."

She turned and saw that Lashara's senior maid had exited the building to greet her.

"Good Morning, Maya-san."

Maya bowed to her and gestured to the entrance. "Lashara-sama is waiting for you at the second floor."

"Okay." Wahanly had wanted to watch some more, but it would not be good to keep her employer waiting.

To Wahanly's surprise, Lashara was by the window of the waiting room watching the sparring match.

"Good Morning, Lashara-sama."

"Wan, Good Morning." Lashara greeted back, but her eyes never left the two outside.

"How long have they been at it?" Wahanly asked as she walked over to Lashara side.

"Maya had told me that they've been at it for a while."

They watched as Ichika deflect another one of Chiaia's attacks, but this time, moved away instead of taking victory. They quickly realized that, Ichika had foreseen Chiaia's second move and had made the move to avoid it before taking victory.

"Ichika is quite a swordsman."

Lashara nodded. "I had expected him to be good, but to keep up straight wins against Chiaia..."

"It's a good thing he isn't a Seikishi."

"Hmmm?" Lashara shot her a inquisitive look. "Wahanly. What are you getting at?"

Wahanly just smiled. It didn't need to be said that the young man was fair game.

[- - -]

Chiaia had almost thrown her sword at the guy in front of her, who had the gall to claim that he was not stronger than her, in frustration. Fortunately for Ichika, she fought the urge and settled with her aggravation by thrusting the wooden claymore into the ground as hard as she could, then let herself collapse to the ground and catch her breath.

"Ha- for someone- who's weaker- ha- than- ha- me. You sure are- ha- hard to beat."

Ichika, who wasn't at all drained by the match, gave her a guilty smile. But then dropped his sword and walked over to her claymore. He pulled it out with some effort, lifted it up, and swung it a few times.

Chiaia noticed that his arms were shaking slightly from the weight of the wooden claymore. It was too heavy for him.

"Strength wise, You win. If you haven't noticed, I kept making your attacks miss and avoided moves that would force me into a contest of strength and stamina."

Chiaia's mouth dropped. She had not noticed. Or rather she had, but she was so focused on getting an attack in, that she failed to realize she would not win if she didn't change strategies.

"If I had to fight you with the same weapon as you, I wouldn't have lasted a round. And I'm sure that if you broke through my defense I would have really gotten hurt even if you stopped in time."

Chiaia was starting to feel better. She had come to realize that he was honest about her being stronger. Him hiding his own skill peeved her a little at the start, but she has now recognized that as his humility.

Ichika thrust the sword to the ground. Chiaia had almost laughed when it didn't go anywhere near as deep compared to when she did it.

Ichika offered her a hand up.

"Thank you." Chiaia said has she took his hand and let him pull her off the ground.

"You're welcome."

He went over and picked up the bokken he dropped.

"May I continue borrowing this?"

"Sure." Chiaia said, although, it was technically property of Shitoreiyu, in other words, Lashara's, it wasn't something that would be terribly missed even if they broke it.

Ichika swung the bokken a few times until Chiaia's voice interrupted him.

"You're still not done?"

"I haven't trained nearly enough... considering the weight difference."

"Ah! That's right... you're still rather weak, you can't even swing this wooden claymore ten times." Chiaia said sarcastically.

"Hey! I won didn't I?" Ichika tried to sound offended.

They stared at each other for a moment before breaking into laughter.

"Chiaia-sama. Ichika-sama."

The turned and saw Maya with a tray that held two glasses of iced tea.

"Both of you should freshen up before breakfast. Especially Chiaia-sama. Wahanly-sama and Lashara-sama are waiting for you."

Chiaia blushed, slightly embarrassed. Normally she would have stopped her morning training and prepare for the day without the need of any form of alarm. But in the heat of her spar she completely forgot about the time.

She quickly gulped her drink, fighting off the mild brain freeze, before dashing into the villa. But she stopped short of opening the door.

She turned her head towards Ichika. Then made a face he wasn't sure how to translate. But then nodded to herself and called out to him. "Ichika!"

"Yes?"

"W-would spar with me again?"

"Sure?"

"Then same time tomorrow!"

Chiaia dashed inside without waiting for a response.

Ichika sighed in relief. They had a rocky start, but he was glad that a certain cliché about people who have crossed swords applied in this world too.

[- - -]

After washing of traces of this morning's exercise and getting some food in his stomach, Ichika attended the ceremony with Lashara. His task was mostly to be her bodyguard, but he's eventually come to realize that he was also like a fashion accessory.

Lashara had ordered Maya and the others to get a special uniform prepared for him. Maya had told him that normally this military uniform was of a dark red and brown color. But since he served Lashara, and not the country, he was wearing Lashara's colors. A bright red uniform half covered by a long white cloak. He was not allowed to carry his katana, but Lashara had assured him that his presence was mostly a statement rather than a need. However, she was confident he could protect her if the need arose, he had a weapon from another world after all. Or at least that was how he took things.

So far things have been good. Their trek to ceremony's venue had been quite peaceful. Lashara had to stop and talk to some teachers and other nobles they passed. But so far, nothing that merited story telling happen. Although, it's seems that everywhere he looked, there was someone staring at them. Sometimes they would blush and turn away when he looked. Or they would giggle and squeal when his eyes met theirs.

'That was weird, the girls in IS Academy would do that too.' He thought.

He had accompanied Lashara to the Arena behind the Academy's main building. It was a huge stone stadium. Or at least the visible parts of it was. Inside was a sophisticated building that could match many of his world's most high-tech facilities. Although it seemed as if their technology had different roots, even though it seemed like they copied his world's technology. Are those coincidences too or have people from other worlds been their main contributor in technological development?

But those things seem to mean little to him really. It made him curious, yes. And he wanted to keep his IS from their hands just in case. But it has served this world well enough it seems. So he should just try and ignore all these "coincidences", lay low and adapt to this world as Lashara had advised him.

Which was easier said than done...

When they had arrived into the Arena and taken a box seat for themselves. He couldn't decide whether to blush or to laugh when the new upper class students, which included Chiaia and Wahanly, arrived in the Arena wearing a bunny suit (without the headband ears), a royal style burgundy cloak, a cat bell on their neck and carried a long golden staff with a cat paw and tail carved at opposite ends. Thankfully, he didn't burst out into laugher nor did Lashara turn looked at him when he was having trouble keeping his face straight.

According to Lashara those were ceremonial outfits from another world. She looked like she admired how nice they looked in it and maybe wishes to someday wear it herself. So he couldn't possibly tell her how that costume is usually perceived in his world. Definitely not.

The ceremony took almost all morning. To his horror, when each new upper class student walked up to the stage she was given an earmuff with the shape of a cat's paw and cats ears on the top. It was so ridiculous that he felt embarrassed for these young ladies. But unfortunately it will have to be his secret that he wasn't actually feeling hot from being dress too warmly and standing in the sun during the ceremony.

[- - -]

They returned to the villa for lunch and for Ichika to change out of the military uniform. He had changed into one of the casual clothes that Mexiah-nee had purchased yesterday. Although to him the outfit still felt quite formal... why was he wearing a black Gakuran of all things. Well it certainly felt more natural for him to wear compared to most of the choices in the tailor's shop.

He then accompanied Lashara to her class in place of Chiaia.

He had initially thought that it was that everyone had just return from a vacation, since he met Lashara on her way to the Holy Land. It turns out that she was returning to school after a leave of absence for her coronation. Maria had also attended, which explained why she seemed to have just arrived before them. So Lashara understood his confusion. When he asked about Chiaia and Wahanly who didn't join them for lunch, she told him that they were out meeting their new seniors in the upper classes.

It surprised him that their educational system was quite similar. The Holy Land Academy, at least held 6 years of education. Three years in under class and three years in upper class. Probably comparable to Japan's Junior High and High School levels. He wasn't sure about their elementary and college level educations, but it was clear that this academy focused on educating the rich, the powerful and their future soldiers.

It was almost a literal class difference, Lashara had mentioned that normal under class students had to render services to the upper class students and nobility, but the main distinguishing difference was that the upper class students, at least the female students, were officially Seikishi. The under classes seemed like a preparatory level for those wishing to become Seikishi. He wasn't sure if Lashara was aspiring to be one. While she was a brave young ruler, she didn't give off the feeling that she could fight... except unless it was an argument with Maria. But he understood that this was the best academy around this continent and was where all Seikishi and Nobles come to study.

Lashara had him sit in class with her the rest of the day. Being there was technically Ichika's job as her bodyguard, but she argued that sitting in during lessons could help him understand this world better. He thought that her suggestion had merit. That was until he wished to leave the room after the first ten minutes because Lashara's classmates would not stop staring at him.

[- - -]

Chiaia was feeling happier than she had expected since the ceremony. She was a little upset that she couldn't win against Ichika at all this morning. But somehow the elation of wearing the special ceremonial suit and receiving her cat-ear band had made it go away. It didn't even bother her that half the time, her seniors were asking questions about Lashara-sama or her new knight. She was in such a good mood, that she had not minded to tell them all about him (at least the things she actually knew).

Dagmyer Mest was a those recently promoted into the upper class. He was being bounced around from girl to girl, greeting, flirting, chatting, like all male Seikishi was expected to. But his ears caught Chiaia's conversation with their seniors.

And he couldn't quite believe it. A man, who wasn't stronger nor a Seikishi, had defeated the one person he couldn't. Statistically, Chiaia wasn't the strongest, but she was the only one who was willing to spar a male Seikishi seriously. And to Dagmyer, that a victory over her was the only one that would have merit to his progress.

He excused himself from the current group of girls and walked towards Chiaia, who had just broken off from some seniors to get some refereshments.

"Chiaia."

"Dagmyer." Chiaia said his name happily as she turned towards him.

"Congratulations." He said with such a sincere smile that he had almost convinced himself he meant it.

"T-thank you. C-congratulations to you as well."

"Thank you."

He watched as Chiaia become like a shy little girl. Her feelings had been so transparent, that he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He had been trying to keep their a certain balance with their relationship, not friendly but not distant, thinking it might come in handy someday. Like for this situation; to get some information.

Chiaia couldn't help but feel even more elated now that man she had feelings for was talking to her. Even though they were childhood friends, the chances to be alone enough for a private conversation was very minimal since they entered the Academy. It had especially hard to talk to him since that Emera had been assigned as his servant and personal guard. But even when they did get a chance to talk, she never could quite muster her voice to come out properly nor could she express the find anything to talk about. It had always been like this since she realized her feelings. He'd approach her and say something with a dashing smile, she'll try to respond, he'll say something in return, and the soon fall into silence. But still she was happy.

But then...

"I happened to overhear-" Chiaia gave her full attention to Dagmyer. "-you talking to the seniors earlier. Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Chiaia had said a lot of things to the seniors; most of them had been true. But she had to complement them sometimes and most of the time she had to lie.

"That you lost to Lashara-sama's new knight?"

Chiaia tried not to let Dagmyer see how sad she suddenly felt when he asked her that. "Y-yeah. He's quite skilled."

"Is he a Seikishi?"

"No, according to him he's an exile from Kouchi."

Dagmyer quickly noticed, Chiaia's mood and decided to end his inquiry. He got what he wanted and switched his objective to damage control and salvage some of her mood. "But didn't you say you were stronger?"

"I did. But he still defeated me time after time."

"Don't feel so bad. It's probably experience level. I'm sure that your own training will show it merit someday."

"You think so?"

"I haven't beaten you."

"Sometimes I don't think you're actually trying."

"Perish the thought!" Dagmyer dodged the friendly accusation. But it was true. He had not actually tried hard enough to defeat her in a spar. He would quit at some point, knowing that she would eventually over power him. So rather than experience that, he chose to give up gracefully with the timing of a nobleman. Chiaia probably might have noticed, but, since male Seikishi were forbidden to exert themselves too much and hurt themselves, she would have had no choice other than to let it go anyway.

Chiaia laughed, although not quite as lively as when she was talking to the seniors before, and Dagmyer thought that it was enough to leave her and not feel guilty about what he had done.

"Well, I should go greet the others. I'll be seeing you, Chiaia."

"Alright, Dagmyer." Chiaia tried to hold the smile on her face as Dagmyer left and sighed once he was out of sight.

'Ichika, you better be ready. I won't go easy on you tomorrow.' Was the bone chilling thought that passed through Chiaia's mind.

Wahanly on the other hand was still having a great time. Since her Dueling Debut the seniors have easily come to accept her as one of them. Although, she was quite sure that half of said acceptance was because they wanted even a tiny scrap of gossip she could give them about Lashara-sama's new guard.

She was willing to shared it. She loved gossip. But there was something special about being the source of it. She told them all that she knew. Where he was from, how he got his job and even hinted that Mexiah-sensei might be attracted to him.

Wahanly had also told them about what Mexiah-sensei had informed her after the battle; that Ichika had predicted her victory. Of course the other girls were impressed. The popular quartet especially squealed excitedly at her story. The young man might not be a Seikishi, but a great lot of them would choose a cool strong type over a male Seikishi (if given the choice).

She was going to save the story about his sword skills for another time, but it seemed like they had already heard it from Chiaia and asked her for confirmation. And she did confirm it all true... which only increased the young man's popularity rating. But she did keep the time he was practicing his other-world technique. She had to time that right for maximum impact.

Wahanly was surprised when the crowd noise suddenly died down. She turned and saw that the most remarkable senior was on her way towards her. The Dark Elves' Princess' Aura Shurifon. She wasn't surprised that the princess was walking towards her. She knew that she would come to talk to her eventually; as she had done the same to other new upper class students.

"Congratulations on your official ascension, Wahanly Shume."

"Thank you, Aura-sama. I am honored." Wahanly tried to sound solemn and formal.

"That was an impressive reversal yesterday." Wahanly immediately knew that she was talking about the duel yesterday. But she was surprised when the slightly older dark elf leaned in and whispered, "Especially when your unit was sabotaged."

"Whatever do you mean?" She tried to make it look like she didn't know.

Aura's, however, just smiled. "We're not off to pursue the incident. It's just I'm wondering why you weren't. After all you could have bolstered your own reputation."

Wahanly tried to laugh. Why wasn't she pursuing the incident? It could increase her salary and even get another sponsor for her research. She was taken back from her thoughts when Aura giggled at her serious expression.

"You're much more interesting than I thought, Wahanly-san."

Aura left her alone with that and had moved on to the next junior on her list to greet. Wahanly just watched her leave, her thoughts still wondering why she didn't report that incident. Her only excuse to herself for now was- the ceremony.

[- - -]

In one of the Seikijin maintenance hangar. A crew of several women had been working since the early morning; trying to understand what exactly happened to the shell of this now deformed unit. And just an hour before noon, they had some semblance of results. Which was why the old headmistress had personally come here instead of socializing with the upper class students in their party.

"Headmistess! I could have come to you later." The specialist from the church was surprised to see the old woman at such a time.

"It's alright. This is quite important, isn't it? Besides, they'll be able to relax better without this old woman lurking about."

The specialist laughed, knowing that the headmistress' later statement to be true. "I'd like to report that this Seikijin is now completely inoperable."

"It can't be repaired?"

"I'm not sure of that at this time. From our analysis, the supreme command program has been corrupted somehow."

"Corrupted?"

"Yes. There are signs that something had interfaced with the unit that tried to rewrite the system."

"By something, did you mean the testee?"

"Testee?"

"Yes, this unit was used for an impromptu ability exam."

"I wasn't told about that."

"Well, it seems that Mexiah-sensei had brought a young man to this Seikjin and it resulted to this when he touched it." The headmistress gave her the briefest summary of the event. "Do you think he could be the cause?"

"I doubt that's the case, but it might be worth looking into." The specialist was a little worried that contact with person could render a Seikijin inoperable, regardless of how unlikely it could be.

"Shall I arrange for him to meet you?"

"Uh... No, not for now at least. We'll try to figure this out from this end." The specialist thought that they should be careful and handle this without alarming anyone. She didn't believe a human could possibly have such an effect in such a small amount of time.

"Alright... Continue."

"The attempted rewrite of the system had failed. We do not know why or to what purpose was the system being rewritten. Roughly sixty percent of the Shell however is salvageable. The skeletal frame however, needs a complete over haul. In the time that the shell was infected, it had attempted to dislodge the Ahou reactors, partially loosen joints and ligaments, almost disassembled cockpit, completely wiped the infected shell's supreme command program and rendered the memory irretrievable."

The headmistress was surprised at how much damage had been wrought to the Seikijin because of a brief touch. She was suspicious of the young man now that this had happened.

'People from Koichi are said to think that the world covered with Ena an evil place. But he was the visitor here, so it would not be wise of him to make an enemy of them on purpose. Perhaps, he did not want to pilot, but had the ability. To save himself, from being made to pilot, he risked alienating himself by disabling the unit. Yes that makes more sense... but did they even have means to know if they had the ability?' Thought the headmistress.

"Is that all?"

"It would be easier to just recycle this unit than repair it." the specialist jokingly added. "But for now, I'll arrange for a replacement, while we study this unit."

"Very well. Keep me appraised on your progress."

"Of course."

The headmistress soon left, probably to make an appearance to the senior's party. Unknown to the headmistress, the specialist was having similar thoughts. But in her case, she thought that it would be best to kept this a secret for now. Panic could spread to their Seikishi should the knowledge of a person capable of rendering their greatest weapon into a pile of junk. She also did not want to alert the culprit, if it was intentional. It might provoke more incidents and trigger to her first scenario.

[- - -]

"How was your first day, Ichika?" Lashara asked as she playfully spun around and walked backwards to talk to her bodyguard.

"Well... the feeling in class was oddly familiar."

"How so?"

"On my first day in IS Academy the girls wouldn't stop watching me either." He sighed at the memory of the days where the girls from other classes would come by their classroom door to gawk at him between classes. If only a class of forty girls staring at you wasn't enough to unnerve him.

"I bet that it wasn't just on your first day."

"How did you know?" Ichika looked at her in surprise.

Lashara just flashed him a knowing. She was silent for a moment before suddenly calling out to him again.

"Ichika."

"Yes?"

"Do you have a girlfriend or fiancé back home?"

"No. Why?"

"Oh nothing... nothing at all." Lashara answered as she hid the smile that graced her lips by spinning around and walking properly again. She was happy that he wasn't attached. But even if he did, he would have no choice other than to give up. She herself wasn't sure if she wanted to pursue a relationship with the young man. Selling him to a rich (or important) Seikishi or noble woman seemed more likely, but it wouldn't hurt to build a friendship now.

"What is your favorite food?"

"Grilled Salmon."

"Salmon?"

"Err... a fish from my world?"

"Favorite activity?"

"Hmm... cooking and playing video games..."

"Video Games?"

"It's rather hard to explain, but I believe my sister had threw in one in my things. I'll show you later."

"Okay. So you can cook?"

"My sister raised me on her own. So I wanted to take care of her."

Lashara continued asking him random questions until they reached without giving him time to ask any himself.

Ichika didn't mind it too much. He had thought it was cute of the young girl to be curious about him. His friend's sister, Ran, was the same after she got used to having him around. Now that he thought about it, Rin had interrogated him like this before. Maybe it was a just girl thing.

[- - -]

The next day, Ichika was slightly regretting to agreeing to spar with Chiaia again. The girl was even more aggressive than yesterday and would not give him too much of a break despite being the one who exerted more energy in her attacks. Her stamina had once again impressed him though. She was fighting slightly better than yesterday, but Ichika easily sensed that she was still fighting with her gut than her mind.

"Chiaia-san, I said I was going to spar with you today too. But why do I feel like you want to kill me today."

"It's just your imagination!" She said as she swung her sword.

Ichika ducked and took the victory with a straight trust towards her throat.

"Really?" Ichika didn't believe her. They reset their positions to start over.

"Really!" Chiaia didn't believe herself either. She swung with all her strength, intending to complete a full revolution to make a second attack.

But Ichika stepped in closer threatening to tackle her, which made her stop and fumbled to improvise her second move only to noticed that he had already won with an almost slash towards her abdomen.

"Again."

Ichika stepped away, but didn't assume a stance.

"Again!"

Chiaia demanded.

But Ichika's stance stayed neutral. "Anymore and you might be too sore for classes."

"I don't need your concern."

"But-"

"He's right Chiaia."

The two turned and saw Mexiah exiting the villa via the main door. Ichika had saw her arrived earlier, but he was focused on the spar that he almost forgot her.

"And even if he wasn't, you'll be late for classes if you don't start getting ready."

Chiaia clicked her tongue in slight annoyance, but decided to stop here. She still didn't achieve a single victory, but after moving her body so much she felt a little better. She put her sword away and left without a word.

Ichika sighed. He was a little relieved that it was over. And a little sad that his relationship with Chiaia was rather tense again just when he thought they were almost friendly.

"You should get ready too, Ichika-kun."

"Right." Ichika nodded. He gathered his sword from a makeshift stand and proceeded inside to head for his room.

It didn't not take him long to notice that Mexiah was following him.

"Mexiah-nee?"

"Yes?" she said sweetly.

"Why are you following me?"

"To wash your back of course!"

"I'm fine."

But she just smiled at him fully intent on doing as she pleased. Ichika had to race her to one of the bathrooms and lock the door to safety. Fortunately he succeeded, or rather, he later realized that Mexiah had been teasing him and there was no lock on the door.

[- - -]

On the way to school, Chiaia was briefing Ichika on how to perform their other duties as Lashara's personal servants. Other than to protect her when the need arose, they would also act as maid or butler, one of their daily tasks was fetching Lashara's portion of Lunch. Usually under class students were to serve the upper class students before getting their own portions. But Lashara was a noble and was entitled the right to be served despite it being her first year in the academy. So it was their job to get her lunch and theirs.

"So, after we've escorted Lashara-sama to class, we'll drop by the galley and I'll introduce you to the head cook. So that we can give him time to add one more portion."

"Alright." Ichika nodded.

"I'll leave you to return to her classroom on your own. I have my own class to get to."

"No problem."

"Mexiah-sensei, please let go of Orimura. We're almost at the public walkways".

"It's not "Sensei" yet, call me Onee-chan." Mexiah playfully said as she kept her arm linked with Ichika's.

Lashara tried to rid her face of the pout that had locked itself after seeing Mexiah monopolize Ichika. None of them could see it, since she was walking in front of them, which she was thankful.

When they did arrive at the publlic walkways. Mexiah had slipped off Ichika's arm, but still walked beside him. Lashara just listened to them chat.

"Mexiah-nee, do you usually come over Lashara-sama's villa in the morning?"

"Usually not without an invitation."

Ichika looked at Lahara's back and was surprised when she suddenly said. "I'm sure you're wondering, so I'll save you the trouble. I didn't invite her today."

"O-okay." he muttered as he wondered if she really wasn't a mind reader.

"No."

"How are you doing that?!"

Lashara laughed, a little happy she had somehow managed to enter the conversation.

"I came to see if the rumors were true." Mexiah said.

"Rumors?" Ichika asked a little curious. His circle right now was limited to Mexiah, Lashara and her three maids.

"How Lashara-chan's White Knight was a skilled swordsman, able to wield a katana and fought power with speed and technique. Or how said Knight might be a Seieishi, after completely recovering from his injuries in just a night. Or how he might be an avatar of a god of victory after giving his blessings to Wahanly when she was about to lose her duel."

Chiaia, who walked closer to Lashara's side, looked at the young queen apologetically. At least one of the rumors were surely an overblown version of what she had told the seniors. Although, to her surprise, Lashara looked amused and quite pleased. She wasn't sure what the girl had in mind for the young foreigner.

Ichika was surprised, confused and befuddled. While there were tiny bits of truth in the rumors, he wondered how could the story gotten so warped and exaggerated without proof. Adding the fact that he had only been here for a few days, he couldn't help but feel worried.

[...to be continued.]

Author's Note: To be honest, this chapter was late because of a mental drought (mental block seemed insufficient). I was also a little unsure about how it turned out. I left it alone for a while, which made proof reading a little easier, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. But I've delayed it too much already and decided to just release this chapter anyway.

Many thanks to Seto-fan1 and Belariard for a substantial reviews.

Terminology notes:

Shell - The gel like shell of a Seikijin in its inactive form. This gel read the user's biometrics and transforms into the flesh, armor and tail of the Seikijin in accordance to the user's power and elemental affinity.

Supreme Command Program - In the series, the shell of the Seikijin "seemed to be" as called "Soushiki" which was translated into "Supreme Command". It felt confusing to use either term. So Instead the Shell, which will be treated as an advanced form of metamorphic material, is embedded with the Supreme Command Program.