Hello everyone, One Half here! I know, I know – it's been a long while, and I'm as annoyed about that as you are. That damn chapter, I can't even remember how many times it was rewritten to make something more or less sane. But finally, I'm done with it.

I'm sorry to say that, but there will be no 'author's reply' section, it may take a bit of time, considering the time that passed since my last publication, and I don't want to delay chapter any longer. If there's a question - PM me.

This chapter concludes the non-canonic 'Kyoto disturbances' arc, so next one will be the beginning of 'World Purge Hen'

Again, thank you everyone for waiting, please enjoy and don't forget to write a review!

Chapter XXVI – Evisceration

…

November 3rd, Friday, 7:08 P.M.

"Let's go," Ichika ordered as he got a visual on the enemy. The I.S. Battle Goddess appeared above the roof of a nearby building, and Ichika immediately aimed both of his weapons at Nosferatu. Despite now all the weapons are sharing the same name – The Ten Commandments – one still can call the weapon for the right hand as 'primary' and the weapon for the left hand as 'secondary', though it's mostly for the convenience.

By the way, saying that Astarte was the one who created this new frame, Battle Goddess, one probably is giving her too much credits. In fact, she didn't create anything – the 'creation' is a much more deep concept than just building something according to the blueprints. Astarte just built both frame and armaments, strictly following the instructions that she received when Ichika sent her to the higher layer of his own consciousness. As such, this frame now holds quite a bit of mysteries for both Ichika and A.I. Astarte.

As soon as Ichika got a visual on his enemy, he noticed something strange. Madoka knew that he's coming, and that there will be a wide-open space between them, yet, unlike Ichika, she didn't prepare weapon suited for ranged combat – she was holding her swords – Death and Decay. Still, Madoka ain't a fool, then may that mean that she has some sort of a plan? Though, Ichika didn't take it too seriously – in the end – he has his eyes, so no matter what she's going to do – he'll see it well beforehand. And then…

Nosferatu elicited a bright flash of purple light, accompanied by a loud, sharp sound, and rushed at Battle Goddess with astounding speed. She was moving immensely fast, leaving a trail of afterimages, glowing with purple. Within a fracture of a second Madoka closed the distance with Ichika and attacked him with a flurry of swords' strikes.

Ichika's eyes didn't fail him – even though Madoka's I.S. was moving abnormally fast – Eyes of Kamael foresaw all of her moves. However, despite that his eyes could easily keep up with the enemy, it didn't really help Ichika – because his body, or, to be more precise, his physical reactions weren't fast enough. Within that short period of time, while Ichika recognized Madoka's intentions, decided to change his weapons' shapes, and while his weapons were actually changing shape, Nosferatu managed to land about fifteen blows on Battle Goddes. And after that, Madoka quickly increased the distance between herself and her elder twin brother, and hid between city's buildings. All that action took about five seconds…

Ichika didn't chase for the enemy, he remained just where he was. 'Report,' He requested.

'I have detected a time-space anomaly right before enemy's attack,' Astarte replied, 'It happened right after very powerful energy outburst, enemy's I.S. was the source.'

'Seems like it was her One-Off Ability that she acquired after Second Shift,' Ichika replied. It was just a guess, of course, but a good one. 'Looks like her I.S. can distort a temporal continuum, accelerating herself, or her own time, to be more precise… well, I could expect that much from Tabane's creation – time is one of her 'domains' of sort.' Actually, Ichika was wondering for a while why Tabane didn't outfit Houki's Akatsubaki with a One-Off Ability of such kind… Maybe she assumed that such an ability simply won't fit Houki's character? Seems reasonable enough. 'By the way, it seems that, despite being a 4th generation I.S., Nosferatu (or Black Knight) had not been outfitted with One-Off Ability when it was built, but actually developed it during Second Shift. I wonder why it was like that?...' Ichika thought about Shinonono Tabane reasons.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:09 P.M.

About 1500 feet away from Ichika, hiding between densely placed city buildings, Madoka was assessing the results of her attack. 'Wasn't it exciting?!' High-pitch voice sounded in Madoka's head. 'That was so cool, right?! Haha, you liked it, are you?!' Leptirica's voice sounded as if she's very excited. Just as Ichika guessed, Nosferatu used her One-Off Ability, which allows her to accelerate her own time – Banshee's Wail.

'How much damage did we do?' Madoka asked in reply, unlike her I.S. avatar, she remained cool-headed and focused.

'About 350 points,' A.I. replied, 'However, I was unable to use that damage to replenish our own shield.'

'Why?' Madoka asked, 'It worked with those annoying flies…'

'I'm not sure,' Leptirica said, 'But it feels like Astarte onee-sama's defense system didn't block our attacks, it consumed… or, more likely, redirected all the harmful energy.'

Indeed, Nosferatu's swords didn't hit neither Battle Goddess' I.S. shield nor her armor, instead those swords were blocked with some sort of a force field, made of glowing hexagons. And that field wasn't an energy field – more like a layer of a warped space.

"How many of those tricks he still has?..." Madoka hissed with cold hatred in her voice.

'Careful!' Suddenly, Leptirica's voice resounded. At the last moment, thanks to her newfound A.I. 'friend', Madoka executed an emergency maneuver and somehow avoided some sort of a homing projectile, that was maneuvering between buildings and aiming straight at Nosferatu.

As Madoka avoided that missile or whatever, it hit the building that was right behind her… But no, there was no explosion. Instead, an energy sphere about 120 feet in diameter, made of glowing hexagons, appeared at the point of impact. The sphere was filled with the enormous amount of bright, wild particles, it actually was painful to look at it with naked eyes. And when the sphere and particles inside of it disappeared – everything else that was inside of the sphere also was gone. Not just part of the building, even the air disappeared. Of course, as building lost its middle part – the top immediately fell on the bottom and everything ended up as an unrecognizable mound of rubbles.

But girl had no time to look at it, as Ichika appeared inside the space between two buildings on her right. Madoka immediately activated her One-Off Ability, Banshee's Wail.

However, this time Ichika was well prepared. As soon as Nosferatu elicited a flash of purple light, the space around her became distorted by a gravity vortex that was deployed at her position. Ichika activated his newly acquired, second One-Off Ability, Aethereus Chorus [Heavenly Chorus]. Banshee's Wail accelerates time π times (~3.14), while Aethereus Chorus slows time down e times (~2.72). As such, Nosferatu's increased speed and maneuverability should be almost completely mitigated by Battle Goddess' gravity well (those 11% can be safely ignored)… Or that is how it is supposed to be.

But in fact, gravity well dissipated within less than one second after its appearance, and the same happened with Nosferatu's self-time acceleration… for some reason – two abilities simply cancelled each other out. Looks like Ichika's and Madoka's newly acquired One-Off Abilities are perfect counters to one another…

Ichika had no idea what is going on and how something like that could happen, but he can commit a detailed analysis later. Right now, that unexpected situation means one thing – as long as Nosferatu's within range of his Aethereus Chorus, it cannot use its Banshee's Wail to escape.

And Madoka also understand that. "Curse him…" She hissed as she noticed that effect of her ability had been cancelled. Her speed returned to normal, but Banshee's Wail charge was spent. Its recharging takes 30 seconds, but if Ichika's Aethereus Chorus recharges at the same rate or faster – she really is in trouble now…

'Get ready!' Leptirica warned her pilot as she detected that Ichika already aimed his weapons at her.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:11 P.M.

In the meantime, Tatenashi and Houki were still buried alive beneath the mounds of rubbles. They both could feel the ground shaking (as well as mound of debris above their heads) due to a devastating battle that was raging nearby. And while Houki was just gritting her teeth, silently cursing her own helplessness, Tatenashi's situation was more dire. Cowered in cold sweat, and breathing frequently, she had to summon all of her willpower to resist panic, which was slowly enveloping her due to her fear of closed spaces. 'Ichika, please, hurry…' She begged silently.

Few miles away from there, Chifuyu had her own dilemma – there's a broken-down train full of I.S. Academy students. That train's definitely ain't going anywhere in the nearest future, so there's the question – should she evacuate everyone (on foot – all of municipal transport is still busy evacuating civilians) or should she, Maya and academy students stay inside the train and wait until this situation is resolved? On one hand – the flock of more than hundred students is pretty difficult to handle even in normal conditions, let alone the current chaos – no one knows what may happen since no one knows what's going on inside of those girls' heads. On the other hand – broken train that had stuck in the middle of the bridge over a river isn't the best shelter at all…

'So what is the right solution?...' Chifuyu thought, biting her lower lip.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:14 P.M.

BOOOOM! Due to an earthshaking explosion, a huge, concrete building has been thrown into the air almost whole and then thorn to pieces. The explosion was caused by a shot from Ichika's heavy blaster Excalibur, the fifth shape of his new primary weapon, the one which replaced old primary weapon Sitra Ahra's fifth shape – beam plasma cannon Ira (for which Ichika actually found little use in previous engagements).

Again, The Ten Commandments now has ten shapes, and excluding two auxiliary types, there are five primary shapes and three secondary shapes. Of course, it is not possible to summon two primary or two secondary shapes at the same time – only one at a time for both. But still, even with this limitation, Battle Goddess possesses quite an enviable tactical flexibility.

Madoca barely avoided this attack. Being against Ikusa Megami's immense firepower and Ichika's Eyes of Kamael prediction capability, if she'll lose her focus even for a moment – she's done for. So, executing an evasive maneuver, at the same time she pointed both of her jousting-spear-like beam photon cannons Netherspire, and fired. Two cannons shot two bright purple beams, both of which seemed like a lightnings with two streams of sakura-like, glowing petals wrapped around them.

Netherspire's distinctive feature was that its charge's travel path wasn't linear, but looked like a polygonal line, just like the real lightning. As such, even though Ichika's Eyes of Kamael could help him to calculate the targeting point, the photon charge's travel path was still unpredictable, thus it was nearly impossible to countershoot it. He still has a Vision of Metatron of course, but using it would've put too much strain on his already tattered body and, especially, his mind, he survived a nuclear bomb today, after all. Henceforth, he only could execute an emergency maneuver to avoid those lightning-like beams.

CRAASH! One of those photon beams literally evaporated a bus stop and burned a deep hole into the ground. The second beam wrecked a multi-level road junction.

But Ichika didn't care about collateral damage, he again aimed his heavy blaster Excalibur at Nosferatu and pulled the trigger. The blaster emitted a bright, violet charge.

Despite it looked pretty similar to those thermal plasma charges that Ichika's weapon used before, in fact it was something much, much more hot, volatile and dangerous. That was a quark-gluon plasma. Of course, the amount of matter compressed to that state was very, very tiny, thousands of times smaller than a nail head. But still, considering that usually the quark-gluon plasma can be found inside of quark stars, one can try to imagine what will happen even if a tiniest amount of matter from inside of a hypothetic star will appear on Earth. Today, however, no one need to imagine anything – just watch closely.

All five of Ichika primary weapons (as well as two auxiliary types) are using the quark gluon plasma as a damaging element. To control it, sword and ranged weapons use the graviton-focusing lenses (GFL). One to compress the matter and one to shoot that charge as a long-range projectile (or to keep it between two layers of Fold-Out Armor of the sword).

BOOM! The tip of a skyscraper had been demolished in an instant, but that wasn't all – all of Battle Goddess' wings elicited a bright flash of golden light and Excalibur shot another charge. And this one looked even more volatile and unstable, emitting even brighter violet light. This time Ichika used his first One-Off Ability, an energy-nullifying attack – Symphonia de Interitus [Symphony of Destruction], the one previously called the Paradise of Darkness.

Using the quark-gluon plasma as a weapon is insane enough thing by itself, but that's not yet a limit of insanity. When Symphonia de Interitus is activated, the weapon uses a third graviton-focusing lens to give the charge an additional angular momentum, and thus, compressing it even further. Such a horrifying pressure causes an effect that is called electroweak burning, when quarks are dissipating, emitting energy and leptons. In short, if you want something to describe a "cosmic flame" – then this is probably it. And now that electroweak 'cosmic flame' is being used to devastate one of the most beautiful cities on the Earth.

Somehow, that overcompressed, spinning ball of cosmic judgement didn't collide with any modern building around the place where Ichika and Madoka were fighting, and instead flew into historical part of Kyoto. SMAAASH! With bright flash, a mound had been literally evaporated, together with two pagodas and a shrine, which peacefully stood on that mound for several hundreds of years. Normal citizen of Japan would've got a heart attack if he'd seen that… but Ichika, seemingly, couldn't care less.

'Wow!' Leptirica exclaimed as she saw that big mound erased from this world, as if it was never there, Madoka herself just barely avoided that shot. 'Alright, I'm officially scared now!' She admitted, 'Do what you want, but I really don't want to be hit with that!' She said to her pilot.

"I know!" Madoka hissed, that little perverted captain obvious was the last thing she needed right now. Madoka long ago had threw away all thoughts about getting revenge on her elder siblings today. She was mad at them both, but she wasn't insane – she can't defeat her elder twin brother as she is now, and with him around she can forget about Chifuyu either. Henceforth, since the very beginning of this fight, Madoka was waiting for an opportunity to make a run for it. Her Wraith-class, 4th generation I.S. was very fast – she just wasn't sure that it is faster than Battle Goddess – so Madoka was just waiting for an opportunity. If she can hold on until Ichika gets distracted at least for two or three seconds – she'll be gone…

Ichika, on the other hand, couldn't let that damn girl escape no matter the cost. Letting her escape, it's just like letting a tiger to return to the mountains. Not that he believed that Madoka may pose a threat for him personally in the future – her mind is too shallow. With her way of thinking Madoka can never catch up to him, let alone surpass him – of that Ichika was completely certain. But he was concerned about his elder sister. Chifuyu's I.S. is inoperable. Nosferatu Leptirica, on the other hand, is a powerful war machine. If Madoka is to ambush Chifuyu, even with elder sister's personal strength, without her I.S., it may cause a lot of trouble. Besides, there are a few more sensitive questions. As such, no matter how tired Ichika is right now, and how much of collateral damage already been done…

*CREEIIN!* With hi-tone, ear-tearing sound, a weapon in Ichika's left arm shot a teal-blue-colored beam. The remaining three shapes of The Ten Commandments were weapons for left hand, and that long-barreled heavy rifle was one of them – the tachyon spear Gáe Bulg. Tachyons – the hypothetic particles that, hypothetically, have a negative rest mass – they aren't participating in general types of interaction. But this rifle somehow made them to participate, forcing them to gather into bright, and very harmful energy beam. And to his shame – Ichika didn't have even the slightest idea about how that thing actually doing it. Honestly, Ichika was worried about that even for him it may take months, or even years to thoroughly understand, research and optimize those new, exceedingly sophisticated systems of his new I.S.

Madoka made a summersault, and that beam passed just two or three feet underneath her and hit the building behind her. But the teal-blue-colored beam didn't cause an explosion, it made a hole (about ten feet in diameter) in that concrete building, pricing it through. After that, the tachyon beam has pierced a building behind the first one… and the one behind that… and several more. Taken together, this teal-blue-colored tachyon beam pierced thirteen concrete skyscrapers before dissipating. Seemingly, secondary weapons attacks have an immense shield and armor piercing capability. Too bad secondary, tachyon-based weapons can't benefit from the Symphonia de Interitus ability, but even without that – it is still a horrible weapon.

'Alright, I don't want to be hit with that either!' Leptirica announced as she saw the teal-blue-colored beam piercing almost an entire city block.

"Shut up!" Madoka growled in annoyance.

Ichika, on the other hand, also began to feel himself annoyed, "What a shifty bitch, just like a conger…" He swore as he saw that Madoka once again avoided his attack. Even with his Eyes of Kamael he was still unable to land a direct hit.

'Adonai, look!' Suddenly, Astarte's voice alerted him.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:15 P.M.

"Ugh…" Kanzashi simply couldn't look at that. She was worried about Ichika, of course, but also, she was a scion of an ancient Japanese clan, and every time when Japanese's ancient capital, Kyoto, shudders with another cosmic blast, she feels a strong heartache.

"Stay strong, Kanzashi-chan," Charlotte tried to console her somehow. "Though I'm not a Japanese, but even for me it's painful to look at that… But I'm afraid that there's really nothing we can do about that…"

Right now, five girls with their I.S.-es deployed were monitoring the situation around that accursed train. Of course, Cecilia and Charlotte were wounded, but as she gave it some thoughts, Chifuyu decided that it will be safer for the two of them to have I.S. automatic medical system's support, so she allowed them to stay with their frames deployed.

As such, five girls formed a circle (it wasn't good enough to be called a defense perimeter) above the train, endlessly mumbling and cursing the unjust fate (and Ichika) that doesn't allow them to participate in battle against Nosferatu.

Thus, the sudden voice that came over the comm channel took them all by surprise. "Hey, you five out there, are you done with whining and complaining? If so, maybe it's time to look on the radar?" For some reason Ichika's voice sounded as if he's very annoyed.

And as soon as startled girls focused their attention on their hypersensor's screens, they found out the reason for Ichika's annoyance – something that looks like an I.S. is lurking few miles away from the train, on the southwest.

No doubts – this is Squall and her I.S. Golden Dawn, and she's definitely up to no good. Honestly, even Ichika didn't notice her (he's focused his full attention on battle against his twin sister), Astarte noticed Squall and warned him about the enemy. Squall wasn't trying to approach the train, she was just lurking nearby, but no way she can be ignored.

"But she's not trying to approach…" Cecilia mumbled to herself, she actually didn't mean anything with that phrase. But Rin seemingly couldn't allow the possibility to snap to slip by…

"We cannot leave our current position; our priority is to protect the train!" Chinse girl announced, and her voice sounded quite provoking.

Usually, Ichika wouldn't even noticed such an attempt, but by now he definitely was very tired, so he, unexpectedly, succumbed to provocation… "Ah, your priority… so you idiots are really thinking that the only thing she can do is to attack head-on? I have no authority to give an order, but I'm warning you – protect that train with your lives, if so much as one hair on my sister's head got harmed then yours will be the best decoration of the I.S. Academy's gates!" Ichika announced it through I.S. public channel, so every friendly I.S. pilot in Kyoto's vicinity could hear him, and due to explicit intent mixed into those words no one thought that he's joking.

"Ichika!" Chifuyu growled into communicator, though she was well aware that she's going to be ignored. By the way, Maya also heard Ichika's angry voice, and she yelped due to shock, so now students that stood nearby were looking at her curiously (since they didn't hear Ichika), so no one noticed Chifuyu's flushed cheeks.

Few moments earlier. Squall was looking for a way to approach the train. She knew that there are five I.S.-es guarding it. Of course, she also knew that those five pilots are still newbies, but still it's five against one, and, unlike Madoka, she has no technical advantage over them. Escaping would be an easy task but if she'd wanted to escape, she'd done it long ago. Squall was looking for a way to mess with the train somehow.

Today was probably the second worst day in her life.

Thanks to the mole inside the I.S. Academy, Squall learned about that school trip several days beforehand. She also learned that two individuals with the highest threat rank – Orimura Chifuyu and Orimura Ichika – with high probability are going to participate. That was an opportunity that Phantom Task couldn't allow to slip by.

Phantom Task's executives were suggesting moderate tactics, like sending some snipers or planting a bomb on the station, or sending a drugged suicide bomber… But Squall could only laugh at those suggestions. They don't know… they don't know anything about Orimura Ichika. But Squall knows it all too well. She learned that when Ichika literally carved his signature on her forehead, when he carved that fear into her heart. Squall suggested a plan of attack with full force. Many people were against that – to put it mildly – the nuclear bomb is a bit too flashy thing for an underground organization. Yet, somehow, Squall managed to convince enough executives to get permission. Everything has been prepared thoroughly and planned very carefully. Yet, the plan ended up in catastrophic failure.

Plan was very simple. Use one of Monochrome Avatar squad's I.S.-es (Autumn eagerly volunteered) to lure Orimura Ichika away from the heavily populated areas (Phantom Task has no need for civilian losses) and kill him with the compact low-yield nuclear bomb. Then commence an attack on the train and finish off a grieving elder sister. Simple. By the way, the bomb inside the train was just for insurance to begin with (that's why timer was set for half an hour delay). Initially, Madoka's order was to enter the train and eliminate only teachers (i.e. Maya also was a subject for elimination, together with Chifuyu). After that she had to capture students with personal I.S.-es, leaving the common students out of it as much as possible (Phantom Task won't get anything good from killing simple girls). After that bomb would've been deactivated. Clean and fast operation – threat eliminated and Phantom Task would've got *six* I.S. units!

But everything went awry since the very beginning.

First of all – the unexpected appearance of Tatenashi Sarashiki. By itself it was just a small setback, but that definitely looked like a bad sign.

Second – reinforcement from the academy appeared much faster than it was expected. Madoka defeated them all but still she wasted a lot of precious time for that, so Squall had no choice but to allow her to use her long-range weapon to eliminate Chifuyu.

But worst happened right after it – Orimura Ichika appeared to be alive. Squall had no idea what happened and no clue about how he survived. She never thought about Third Shift, since it was against all modern knowledge about I.S.-es, instead she thought that he had a spare I.S. frame (any I.S. operator/researcher with common sense would think something like that). But details ain't matter at that point. All that happened after that, including Autumn's loss against two academy's girls, can be described only as an absurd tragicomedy, from Squall's POV, at least.

That is why she decided to stay in Kyoto. The Phantom Task superiors won't just forgive her for such a failure. Yes, she still has one trump card, but that may be not enough to keep her current position, she needs another one and that is Madoka and her I.S. that just underwent a Second Shift. Even Autumn, her lover, is less important right now. Squall knew that Autumn's still alive and her approximate location, but she can't help her right now. Her exact status is unknown, but in worst case, if Autumn's been captured, Squall can rescue her from the jail later. As for Autumn's I.S. – Arachne – losing it is very unfortunate but still tolerable, it's just a normal 2nd generation I.S. after all. But there's no way Squall can afford losing Madoka and Nosferatu, the 4th generation I.S., built by Shinonono Tabane herself, and already in Second Shift phase.

As such, right now Squall was lurking near the border between Higashiyama and Fushimi Wards, looking for a way to mess with the train somehow. If she'll manage to distract Ichika at least for a few seconds, Madoka will be able to break free from her battle and fly away. However, while Squall was carefully thinking about her options, observing the train's vicinity, five I.S.-es that are guarding it began to move, making a defensive formation. "Damn, I've been spotted!" Squall swore, her plan to make a long-range surprise attack failed. She already began to think about an alternative, but then…

A moment earlier.

When you're participating in an ultra-high-speed battle, you cannot afford being distracted even for a moment. Ichika knows that better than anyone else. However, despite all of his implants and mystic abilities, basically Ichika's still a human, thus there's a limit for how long a human can keep being focused on something, especially if he survived a nuclear blast earlier this day. For a moment, just for a single moment, Ichika got distracted, when he looked at his hyperwave scanner's screen, demanding from Rin and the others to defend the train at all costs.

His new, second One-Off Ability, Aethereus Chorus, is extremely powerful ability. Every 30 seconds, for 5 seconds, it can both increase gravity and slow down the time flow inside of a certain area. Its area of effect is a 3D-cylinder, 450 feet in diameter and 600 feet in height. Its targeting is also very simple – Ichika only need to specify the coordinates of cylinder's central point. That is an ultimate ability, but still it has one flaw – relatively low range.

If Madoka falls into borders of that cylinder – her Banshee's Wail will be canceled immediately, so to get a chance of escaping she need to use her One-Off Ability outside of Ichika One-Off Ability's range.

Fighting against her brother, Madoka of course could not analyze that ability – all her attention was focused on Ichika's armament and movements. But she's no longer alone, just like Ichika she now also has an A.I. assistant. And Leptirica already assumed that maximum range of the Aethereus Chorus (i.e. maximum range between cylinder's central point and Battle Goddess herself) is 3000 feet. And now she noticed that distance between Ichika's I.S. and herself right now is more than 3300 feet.

'Darling, now!' Leptirica immediately informed her pilot.

Madoka had no need to ask what her A.I. means – she was waiting for that opportunity since the beginning of this battle. Nosferatu elicited a bright flash of purple light, using her One-Off Ability – Banshee's Wail – at the same time engaging all of her thrusters at maximum output and using her Fold-Out Armor for an additional thrust. In a blink of an eye she left Kyoto and appeared over lake Biwa heading towards Moriyama and then further to the east.

"Curse you…" Ichika hissed as he tried pursue the enemy, but he discontinued pursuit after about ten seconds. At normal conditions, the top speed and acceleration of Battle Goddes and Nosferatu are almost equal. But Nosferatu used Banshee's Wail, accelerating the time flow for itself by π (~3.14) times, as such, for five seconds, its top speed and acceleration rate were increased more than three times. Thus, within those five seconds, the distance between Ichika and Madoka increased to almost nine miles. Soon, the Banshee's Wail will be ready for use once more, and that will be it. Of course, Ichika still can track Nosferatu using his hyperscanner, but… Madoka's definitely flying towards Nagoya and her destination is city center. The capital of Aichi Prefecture has not been alerted – people there are living their daily lives normally. As soon as her I.S. will be undeployed – she'll disappear from hyperscanner and mix into the crowd of a huge city during rush hour.

Ichika's eyes flashed brightly as he stopped in midair, expressing his hatred that just flooded him over.

'Adonai…' Astarte called uncertainly, even she was a bit scared as she felt Ichika's fury.

"No, nothing, I'm sorry," Ichika apologized for his inability to control his killing intent. 'It seems that I'm still lacking in many aspects…' He thought. Half a minute ago he yelled at Rin and other girls without reason (by now he realized that), and this time he scared his own I.S. with barely controlled anger. Not cool at all…

Ichika again glanced at his hyperwave scanner – as expected – Golden Dawn was already approaching Osaka, the commercial center of the Honshu island… Squall also managed to escape – probably she noticed Madoka's successful retreat and immediately rushed towards the opposite direction.

"They're as slippery as roundworms…" Ichika hissed as all his enemies once again managed to escape his grasp. Right now, he really wanted to find someone he could vent his anger at… and, unexpectedly, he actually found one… no, even two, actually…

November 3rd, Friday, 7:16 P.M.

Sitting atop of the Kinkaku-ji Shariden, right next to the phoenix made of gold, were a silver-haired girl and a young woman with purple hair and quite weird clothes. As girl was just sitting calmly with her eyes closed, the woman beside her was holding a laptop, looking into its screen with child-like, excited expression.

"Ahh…" Shinonono Tabane sighed as she closed the laptop and looked into the sky with satisfied face expression. "I wonder if Chi-chan enjoyed my gift…?" She asked lightheartedly.

"Good question," Chloe Chronicle replied with calm smile, though her eyes were still closed. "Certainly it was much better than the unmanned I.S.-es."

"Ahahaha…" Tabane giggled happily, "Either way, things will get way, way more exciting very soon!" She looked to northeast, towards the way where Madoka flew off, "Chi-chan's Imōto, huh? The world sure is full of mysteries…"

"Certainly," Chloe agreed.

"Hey…" High iron voice suddenly sounded as a holographic window popped up in front of Tabane. That was a voice-only call, which, by the way, somehow accepted itself, "Enjoying yourself?"

"Ah!?" Chloe Chronicle yelped due to unexpectedness, but Tabane didn't seem surprised at all. She hasn't said anything, but Ichika seemingly never expected any reply to begin with as he continued to talk.

"I've noticed that during this entire commotion you and that doll of yours were sitting your butts off, Tabane-san. Don't you know, sitting constantly is bad for young women's health, you have to go in for sports from time to time. I think you should do a run, right now!" Ichika announced and holographic window disappeared, but Tabane was already not there to hear it, anyway.

Even before Ichika finished his speech, Tabane jumped on her feet, grabbed Chloe and run, she already noticed three supersonic missiles approaching from the southwest and aiming straight at her. Still holding Chloe, Tabane leaped over the water and landed on the island in the middle of the small lake. She didn't stop even for a moment – Tabane leaped over water again and appeared on the western shore, on the opposite side from the Kinkaku-ji Shariden. At the same moment, the first missile hit the island, on which Tabane was just a moment ago. The 120 feet in diameter energy sphere "bloomed" from the point of impact and that island had been wiped from the existence. If Tabane would've decided to hide behind the golden temple, it would've been erased from existence just like that island, but seemingly Ichika couldn't care less about World Heritage Site…

Tabane continued to run, now she was on the small street near the Ritsumeikan University Saionji Memorial Hall. *FLASH* Second missile obliterated the hair salon and the bus stop opposite to it. *FLASH* Third missile destroyed some long building near the small athletic park.

As soon as the sphere created by the third missile dissipated, leaving behind just a pure emptiness, Tabane exhaled a sigh of relief – there were no more missiles aiming at her. She put Chloe on the ground (they now were in the middle of an athletic park) and turned around. "Ik-kun, you're meanie! That was so dangerous!" She cried, looking at some point into the southwestern skies. However, her voice sounded as lighthearted as before. She knew that it wasn't an attempt to kill or hurt her, Ichika just wanted to force her to participate in today's commotion, even if just for a moment. Well, she probably deserved this, so Tabane just smiled calmly.

Chloe Chronicle, on the other hand, had completely different thoughts. Just five seconds ago she was atop of the Kinkaku-ji Shariden, and now she witnessed some large building being corroded into nothingness. Such a scene left her completely covered with cold sweat…

November 3rd, Friday, 7:17 P.M.

"Ichika, what is going on?" Chifuyu asked via private channel. Right now, she was inside of a train driver's cabin, alone. Actually, train was fully automated, there was no need for a driver, but cabin was still present, in case if some unusual manual maneuvers would've been required. Chifuyu was looking into driver's window. It seemed as if things started to calm down, but suddenly, three consecutive flashes lit up the skies once again, close enough for Chifuyu to notice them.

"No, it's nothing, just a little house cleaning," Ichika replied. He deactivated his Eyes of Kamael, so his voice just now sounded normally. "I'm sorry, onee-chan, but the enemy have managed to escape. But I'm sure that it is over, at least for now. I'm going to make one more sweep around the city, just in case, but its vicinity should be safe by now. I've just contacted those two hetare girls – Houki's mostly fine but it seems that Tatenashi's reaching her limit, may you please ask Laura and other girls to dig them out? I don't think they want to talk to me right now…" Ichika went silent for a moment. "Anyway, I'll join you and the others within next 20-25 minutes."

"Understood," Chifuyu replied simply. There were a lot of things she wanted to say to Ichika, but that can wait until they are face to face. "Ichika, after you're done, go straight to the hotel, buses are already arriving, we should be there soon as well."

"Copy that," Ichika replied, "See you soon then".

"Hah…" Chifuyu sighed as soon as Ichika terminated the link. Chifuyu's legs refused to hold her any longer and she fell into train driver's chair. Her precious brother was nuked, the train with more than 120 students was hijacked and there was even a bomb, and then the Black Knight's attack. Yet, it seems like they all somehow made it out of that desperate situation with minimum losses. "Ichika no baka…" Elder sister sighed heavily, "I wonder how many years of my life I've lost during last hour…" She really wanted to cry out, but it was still the wrong time for that. Chifuyu summoned a communication window to give Laura and others an order to rescue Houki and Tatenashi.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:25 P.M.

Ichika was about half a mile above the city of Kyoto, slowly flying above its outskirts and observing city's surroundings. However, his real goal was something completely different.

'Adonai, it's done,' Astarte reported.

"Well done," Ichika complemented his A.I. assistant. "Now I just have to come up with the proper story…"

In fact, Ichika just needed some time to cover up his trails. For instance, he ordered Astarte to find and wipe out all surveillance systems' logs and footages (civilian, police and military, without exceptions, over entire city). Skies were cloudy, so satellites couldn't see anything interesting, and with ground-based surveillance systems' footages gone no one will be able to prove that Ichika's story actually was fabricated.

First of all, Ichika didn't want to disclose the fact that he managed to survive the direct hit from the nuclear bomb, even if it was a very small one. With this, even his most loyal supporters may become wary of his power. It is not time yet to scare people from the government. So Ichika decided to tell everyone that he was about 250 feet away from the epicenter of an explosion. Seems like a small difference, but in fact it will change his status from 'invincible' to 'just lucky to be far enough'. Of course, there were some eye witnesses, but no one of them was close enough, besides, one can't use someone's memory to make an exact measurement.

Second – Ichika didn't want humanity to learn about the Third Shift. According to a modern theory, the Second Shift is the pinnacle of an I.S. evolution, and Ichika wanted this to remain as such. Being the only male I.S. pilot in the world, and a brilliant-minded engineer, he's already drawing too much of an unhealthy attention towards himself as he is now. Having an I.S. that, for the first time in history, managed to underwent the Third Shift, the feat that was theoretically impossible to begin with, that will make things a lot worse than they already are. Not to mention that it will emphasize Ichika's abnormality even more.

Ichika decided to tell that his original frame, Demon Queen, has suffered too much damage to continue operate, so Ichika was forced to use his spare frame, that he prepared for an experiment, which idea was to test the possibility of preserving optimizations when evolved (Second Shift) core is transferred between frames (but with the same pilot). That is an interesting and useful data not just for Ichika, but for all I.S. operators around the world, so no one's going to ask stupid questions. Spare frame sounds much more plausibly than ephemeral Third Shift, no wonder that this is what Squall actually thought when Ichika reappeared. Of course, with that Ichika will require some false data from the non-existing experiment, but that's not much of an issue.

Ichika already thought all that story through, but suddenly Astarte's voice returned him to reality. 'Adonai, I'm detecting an active I.S. core at that direction,' She informed, marking an area on the hyperscanner's screen.

'Huh, who can it be?' Ichika thought for a moment. Five personal I.S. pilots right now are helping Houki and Tatenashi, so all seven of them should be near Nishiki Market, few hundred feet to the east from it.

Fifteen academy's I.S.-es were shot down, trying to protect the train, and all of them are still inoperable. Extremely poor performance, no matter how you'd look at it, but right now this is not important. The important thing is that all those Uchiganes were downed over Shimogyo Ward, to the northwest from the train, but Astarte marked the area over Ujigawa Park, it's five miles to the south from the train's position, as such – it is not one of academy I.S.-es.

Is it Squall again? No, definitely not. Ichika simply couldn't imagine any situation in which she may dare to return to Kyoto today.

So, what, or who, it is? No point in guessing, so Ichika immediately headed towards the marked area to investigate.

November 3rd, Friday, 7:29 P.M.

Ujigawa Park. Hiding underneath the trees, Autumn was walking along the Uji River towards east, her aim was the Mukaijima Zenamicho. There's a small apartment owned by a Phantom Task which serves as an emergency hideout. The fact that she has to use a hideout, in such a place, was bad enough by itself, but that wasn't the main reason why Autumn's mood was below the plinth. Nor it was because of the leg injury she got, trying to get out from her destroyed frame. She's walking on foot now, which is pretty difficult and painful due to leg injury (one already was replaced with a prosthesis, and now another one got injured), besides, she's carrying an I.S. core now, which is pretty heavy (she lost access to her quantum storage space due to loss of her I.S. frame)…

But the worst thing is that she was dumped. Dumped. Abandoned. Forgotten. Denied. At least – this is how she feels right now. Both Squall and that little bitch, M – they've ran away and left her behind – no one even contacted her over this time. "Squall… you say you love me… but why then I'm here all alone?..." Autumn couldn't stop whining. Of course, if she'd looked at the whole picture, if she'd thought about this situation rationally, she'd understand. But she couldn't think rationally. She didn't want to. Right now she feels herself very miserable, so she just couldn't stop pitying herself.

Actually, Autumn couldn't understand why she's still alive, to begin with. She was defeated and helpless – those two could easily capture her or finish her off. So why didn't they? Have those two thought that she, Autumn, is so pathetic that she simply cannot be considered as a threat? 'They were in a hurry, so those two just decided that I'm doesn't worth their time? No, probably it's not like this – those were just two 15-16 years old girls, they probably are just to pure and naïve… but wait, that's even worse! That means that those two little girls just took pity of me!' At least that's how Autumn thought about it.

"All… all of you… you'll pay for this!" Autumn hissed. "I won't forgive this… Orimura Ichika… little girls… and that bitch, M… You all will suffer for this!" Autumn proclaimed.

"Huh?!" Suddenly, she felt something, as if here was someone else, "Who's there?!" Autumn worriedly looked around. If there's really someone else's here, then it's a big trouble – she doesn't have anything to protect herself, not even a sidearm. Of course, if it's just some locals – vagrant or ruffian – she can handle it even unarmed, but if it's police or JSDF – a lone woman with an I.S. core – things may quickly get nasty.

However, no one replied. The streets were completely silent – civilians were evacuated, those who decided to stay are probably hiding inside their houses' basements. Autumn looked around one more time but then shook her head, regaining her thoughts. She's almost at the hideout. She's going to lay low here for the next 37-40 hours, and then she'll try to contact Squall. As she made her decision, Autumn turned into a backstreet between houses… and everything disappeared. Sounds, the world around her, even her own thoughts – all of that disappeared in an instant. The last thing she felt – something touched her head. It felt like a hand, but still it didn't carry a human hand's warmth…

November 3rd, Friday, 7:32 P.M.

"Hey, careful with this thing!" Ichika demanded, "This one is thousand-fold more valuable than you…" As he used his realizer, Autumn's arms went limp and she almost dropped the core on the ground. Of course, the I.S. core cannot be damaged with something like this, but Ichika still was displeased.

He looked at the core, which he managed to grab right before it would fall on the ground. "Still, such an unexpected bonus…" He said as the I.S. core disappeared into his quantum space. "Excellent job finding this one," Ichika complemented his A.I., Astarte.

'Adonai, what are you saying? It's my privilege to serve you as best as I can!' She proclaimed in reply, but her voice sounded happily nonetheless, 'But what are you planning to do with this subject?'

"Interesting question" Ichika replied. "It is unlikely that she knows anything important, but realizer has already been used, so let's use the opportunity to interrogate her. After that, however… I cannot give her to the authorities, because in such a case I'll have to surrender the Arachne's core as well… that's not an option. Then I guess there's only one option left…" Ichika said as a Colt 1911, the one that Laura presented to him, appeared in Ichika's left arm. "This world won't miss her," He added as his eyes flashed with crimson light.

November 3rd, Friday, 9:00 P.M.

By now, the commotion finally ended. However, no doubts, this 'Kyoto incident' will have far-reaching consequences. Tomorrow, the Chiefs of Staff Committee will gather for an emergency meeting, at which Ichika, of course, required to present. For him, it's definitely a good thing – no matter how you'd look at it – without him today's incident wouldn't ended up without human casualties. Of course – there will be some people, which will try to blame him that he couldn't prevent the collateral damage or that he let the terrorists escape, but those scumbags will be shut up quickly – Ichika have pretty strong support within JSDF. A lot of questions will be discussed, including the matter of the nuclear bomb and 'spare I.S. frame', but Ichika already prepared all that he might need to turn this discussion to his favor. In worst case he'll get a medal and a cash bonus, in best case – another promotion and corresponding salary increase.

But everything is different for Ichika's elder sister, Chifuyu. Tomorrow's schedule for the school trip had been cancelled, she is to bring all students back to the academy tomorrow, until noon. The academy's board of trustees, and a lot of foreign observers and curators will gather at Monday to discuss today's circumstances, and nothing good will come out of it, that's a given…

November 3rd, Friday, 9:41 P.M.

But all aforementioned events are gonna happen tomorrow or after tomorrow. For today, everyone – Ichika, students and even teachers were allowed to take some rest and relax. And since the Enryakuji Kaikan Ryokan Shiga is a hot spring hotel, it's just foolish to not put those hot springs into good use.

The women's section of a hot spring is about to be filled with girls' chattering.

"I'm excited for the huge open-air bath!" Cecilia's high-pitch voice announced as several slim silhouettes could be seen through the sliding door.

"It'll be wonderful to take a under the night sky!" Charlotte agreed as she opened the sliding door and girls began to come outside.

"Bath! Bath!" Cecilia, for some reason, was especially enthusiastic about that hot spring stuff.

"It's absolutely beautiful!" Rin exclaimed as she ran skipping towards the onsen.

"Ah, Rin-san, please wait!" Cecilia jumped aside to avoid collision with Rin.

Using the liquid soap and wooden buckets, girls washed themselves before they began to step into the onsen itself.

"Ahhh…" Cecilia let out a blissful sigh as she submerged into hot spring's water.

"Guys, over here!" Rin waved her arm, calling for Houki and others, who were still washing themselves.

"The temperature is just right," Cecilia nodded as she leaned on the rock in the middle of the onsen.

"Huh? What is this smell?" Laura wondered, looking around.

"Oh, this is the scent of hinoki wood," Houki replied as she turned around and looked at Laura.

Charlotte and Kanzashi also got into the onsen, now they were sitting next to each other, enjoying the wonderful water. "It's so warm and feels great!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Kanzashi nodded, showing that she completely agrees.

"It's freezing…" Tatenashi shivered. Allowing the first years to go first, she seemingly exposed her naked self to November's night for a bit longer than needed, so now she was shivering all over. Though, as soon as she submerged into the onsen's water, she quickly warmed up. "Ah, I'm in heaven!" She exhaled blissfully.

However, it seems that no matter where she is, Tatenashi's desire to mess with other people is ineradicable. Besides, as she spent more than an hour underneath several hundred tons of concrete debris and her claustrophobia kicked in heavily, she was even noisier than usual – that is probably her way to relive stress.

An ice-blue-haired girl looked around, and quickly found a victim. "Hey, Houki-chan, is it just me or did your breasts get even bigger?" She asked with somehow cunning smile.

Huuki didn't expect such a surprise attack, so her cheeks immediately flushed as she looked down on her own chest, trying to cover (unsuccessfully) her ripe boobs, "Do… do you think so?"

"Let me check it out!" Tatenashi asked, showing a predatory attitude.

"No!" Houki protested, covering her chest tighter.

"What?" Tatenashi tried to portray disappointment, but obviously she was expecting such an answer. "C'mon, Houki-chan, don't be a downer!" She exclaimed, but as Tatenashi was about to pounce on Houki, suddenly…

"Shhhh!" Laura shushed at two of them. All girls looked at her in surprise, but silver-haired girl just pressed the index finger on her right hand to her lips, using index finger on left hand to point at the wooden wall on her right.

This hotel's onsen has been separated onto three areas – for women, for men and mixed. And mixed section was between two others, and the wall, at which Laura just pointed, is separating women's and mixed sections…

*Shuun* Just as all girls quieted down, intrigued by Laura's actions, the sliding door on the other side of the wall opened, meaning that someone's entered the mixed bath section. The steps of two people could be heard on that side – first person's steps were light and soft, as if it's a cat; second one's steps were much heavier and somewhat irregular, as if that person have an issue with one of his legs. And also, some unfamiliar man's voice could be heard, someone who actually sounded like a news host… seemingly, those two who came on the other side actually was listening to the news right now, supposedly via holoterminal or something like that.

The reporter's voice could be heard for about half a minute and then vent silent, and instead, a familiar woman's voice spoke out, "As expected, all channel's headlines are filled with reports about terrorist's attack and warfare on Kyoto's streets, but nothing about the hijacked train or nuclear bomb…" That voice belongs to the one once known as the 'world's strongest' – Chifuyu Orimura.

"Well, no one inside the train was at least injured… it seems that there's not enough of drama in that story about the train, not for a headline," Another familiar, but man's voice, gave a reply. It belongs to the someone who, seemingly, cannot be killed even with the nuclear bomb – Orimura Ichika. "And about the nuke… no doubts, that AGM-62 glide bomb with W72 warhead has definitely been stolen from USA. If people to learn about that the US nuclear bomb *again* exploded in Japan, and due to negligence, no less – this will be a scandal of an interplanetary scale. I bet the Americans won't spare efforts to hush up that case… or, more likely to present it as anything but nuke."

The discussion at the other side of the wall was quite shocking enough by itself, but, more importantly… right now, Orimura siblings, brother and sister, are together in the mixed onsen bath. As all seven girls, which came earlier, realized that, they all froze as if paralyzed, with their faces flushing uncontrollably.

Of course, Ichika and Chifuyu both were well-aware about the girls behind that wall. But still, they seemingly decided that it is acceptable if they hear their discussion, in the end – those seven won't talk too much, besides, the subjects of siblings' talking actually aren't big secrets. And about Ichika and Chifuyu being together in the same onsen… no, they weren't afraid that those seven will get it wrong, because it is simply impossible to get more wrong thoughts… in fact, this situation actually may cause an opposite effect. Though, Ichika actually wanted to tease the girls with suggesting to help Chifuyu wash her back, but in the end he discarded this idea.

"How's your leg, by the way?" Chifuyu asked, washing away the foam from herself.

"No need to replace it with an artificial one, if that's what you're asking," Ichika smiled in reply, "But I'll have to use crutches for the next several days. With modern medical nanites it is quite easy to fix muscles and tissues, but bones are completely different story…"

"Humph," Chifuyu snorted, "I bet that if you'll walk on the crutches during Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting tomorrow, you'll only get more points in your favor…"

"I won't deny that," Ichika readily agreed, "I think I have a good chance to bargain for a promotion tomorrow. But I'm afraid that, for you, similar method won't work, even if to bring you on a stretcher at Monday…"

"That's a way to rub salt in the wounds, I give you that, my dear brother," Chifuyu rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry," Ichika apologized as he turned around and walked to the onsen, elder sister already put her legs into the hot spring's water.

"Ummmm…" Chifuyu let out quite a lustful moan as she submerged the rest of her body into the spring.

Ichika really wanted to comment on that, but managed to hold back. Instead, he continued their previous conversation. "Tomorrow, I'll try to put as little blame on the academy as possible, but my options are limited – as government's I.S. branch and JSDF are struggling against one another – all of my victories are considered to be I.S. Academy's defeats…

"Hey, who do you think I am?" Chifuyu asked, narrowing her eyes. Actually, she was touched due to Ichika's care about her well-being, but still she couldn't take it easily, "I don't need you to cover for me."

"I know," Ichika nodded. "But still, you do know that the leaked information about the trip, that allowed the enemy to set multiple traps, is not the main issue that will be 'discussed' after tomorrow, right? Worst thing today was that battle of academy's I.S.-es against Black Knight. Fifteen against one, and complete annihilation of academy forces as a result – you can't wright off all of that just on technical disadvantage. Main reason – very poor pilots training, especially the group interaction part. And no one will care that they all graduated years before you became an academy's teacher…"

"Well thank you, captain obvious!" Chifuyu snapped. Of course she was well aware of that. After tomorrow, all of the academy's staff members' butts gonna burn. Most likely, even general school subjects teachers won't get away without some rebuke. Let alone Chifuyu, 'I.S. pilots training affairs head teacher'. After Kutsuwagi Juuzou and his wife (the academy's principal), she will be the third in line for castigation. Who cares that she only began working at the academy two and half years ago? None of those who were learning from her since admission have ever graduated yet…

"Well, it's not about justice to begin with, they just need scapegoats…" Ichika concluded.

"By the way, about justice," Chifuyu changed subject, "Don't you think that you went overboard earlier today?" No doubts she meant the case when Ichika yelled at Rin and other girls.

Ichika rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry about that, okay. I know it was not cool. But even I have my limits – not every day you'll get hit by a nuke and then have to chase two dangerous terrorists across entire city… But still, it's my fault. I'll apologize to them tomorrow…"

As girls on the other side, who all now were attentively eavesdropping, heard that, they looked at one another. Excluding Houki and Tatenashi, the other five really took umbrage when Ichika yelled at them. He was in the wrong, but, as they thought of it now, they probably also overreacted, ignoring him this entire evening. The five of them relaxed a bit as they heard Ichika's apologize… but only for a moment, until they heard the next part.

"…well, I'd like to say that, but actually they already heard me just now, so I don't think that I need to repeat myself, right?" He asked, looking at the wall that separates women's and mixed onsen sections. For three seconds, there was a complete silence, and then.

"KYAAAAA!"

*Boom!* *Tugh!* *Baam!*

"Augh!" "Ugh!" "Ouch!" "Guah!"

As seven girls understood that Ichika and Chifuyu are well aware that they're eavesdropping on their conversation, standing or sitting near the wooden wall, all seven of them screamed and tried to get away from there, simultaneously, so of course they collided into one another and most of them fell on the floor.

"Oh, Lord…" Chifuyu facepalmed. "What the hell you idiots are doing there?! Wanna get a pneumonia?" While eavesdropping on siblings' conversation, all seven girls were out of the onsen, sitting or standing near the wooden wall that separates sections, thus exposing her wet and naked bodies to November night's cold air.

Seven silent splashes followed Chifuyu's scolding, meaning that girls listened to her and all of them have returned to the onsen. Though, one doesn't need to imagine how red are their faces now due to shame and embarrassment.

In any case, maybe because they already discussed everything they wanted to, or due to some other reason, Orimura siblings were no longer talking. That was a good thing, because another group of girls, led by Maya Yamada, entered the women's section of the hot spring. If they are to learn about Ichika and Chifuyu's presence on the other side of the wall – this evening would've turned into complete chaos.

Within twenty minutes, siblings' presence dissipated, meaning that they have already left the onsen, without letting anyone hear it.

November 3rd, Friday, 10:50 P.M.

Just like during previous trip (at summer), Ichika and Chifuyu were sharing the hotel room to prevent any Yobai attempts [夜這い]. As an additional measure, Chifuyu has sworn that if she's to catch someone outside of their room and hanging around the hotel in the middle of the night, that someone will have to run from Kyoto back to the academy (Tokyo) on foot.

"By the way, Ichika," Chifuyu asked as she just came out from the bathroom after brushing her teeth, "I actually wanted to ask about it before dinner, but still… what the hell is this?" She pointed at two futons on the floor. Two futons were prepared for them for sleep, obviously, the problem was – two futons were lying right next to each other, without any space between them.

"Ah, this…" Ichika smiled ironically, he was sitting on chair, fixing bandages on his left hip, "I've already checked it out – it seems that in this hotel we were registered as husband and wife."

"What?!" Chifuyu's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"I don't believe it was someone's prank or ill intentions though," He continued, "It's just a good example of what happens when deep learning systems and lack of skills to use them meet each other."

Elder sister tilted her head, requesting an elaboration.

"You see, if you're reserving a room in this hotel via online form, if roommates last names are the same, an additional checkbox will pop-up. If 'unchecked', the residents will be treated as siblings, and as spouses if 'checked'. The default state is 'checked'. I think that the one responsible for rooms reservation was in hurry, so he or she simply didn't notice that checkbox…" Ichika expounded his theory.

"Maya…" Chifuyu facepalmed, disclosing the name of the one responsible for rooms reservation.

"Anyway," Ichika also looked at futons, "Will this cause inconvenience?"

"Don't speak nonsense," Elder sister snorted as she sat on one of those futons, preparing to sleep. Ichika just shrugged, he didn't understand why she started this conversation to begin with, if situation doesn't cause any issues.

November 3rd, Friday, 11:09 P.M.

Fifteen minutes have passed since Chifuyu and Ichika have wished 'Good night' to one another and lights were turned off. But by now, both obviously were still not sleeping.

"Onee-chan, you're still awake?" Ichika asked.

"Yeah…" Chifuyu mumble. "I don't get it – how can you sleep in all this…" Trying to maintain at least some propriety, she's wearing a hotel-issued sleeping gown. But it seems it's really difficult to sleep for her if she's not naked. Ichika, on the over hand, felt quite comfortable wearing his flannelette pajamas. "And you… why you aren't sleeping yet?" She wondered, honestly, she thought that, after today's events, he'll fall asleep instantly.

"I'm finking about real property," He replied casually.

"Umm, I see…" She replied… "Wait, what?" As meaning of his words reached her consciousness, she turned on her side and looked at her brother in surprise.

"I'm thinking about buying an apartment in Edogava City," Ichika replied, "Around Meikai University seems fine…"

"Why?" Chifuyu's confusion continued to grow.

"Well, for us to live in, of course," Ichika replied as if it was completely obvious. "Why you're looking at me like this? You don't like Edogava?"

"What are you talking about?" Chifuyu couldn't get on train of his thoughts, "What's wrong with our house?" Their house was big enough and quite comfortable, besides, she and Ichika both grew up there. And their neighbors, Shinonono family in particular, were all nice people.

Ichika replied, "Nothing wrong with it, but Sakura Ward is just too far away from the Tokyo Bay and that artificial island on which I.S. Academy is located. Almost 25 miles, even for me it may take about one minute to get there if the enemy is to ambush you, in case you'll decide to spend the night there while I'm staying at the academy…"

When Chifuyu heard that, she powerlessly fell on her pillow. She'd asked him to stop joking, but she knew for sure that he's actually dead serious. But worst of all – he's not done yet…

"…of course, it would've been best if you would stay in the academy and wouldn't leave it without real necessity… but I can't ask you to do that – that would've put too harsh limitations on your social life… So new apartment is kind of a compromise – If it's in Edogava, then I can get there within 10 seconds. But still… maybe I should get three apartments in different places so you can live there alternately? With this, seizing an opportunity to ambush you will be even more difficu… chu... ngu… chaf…" Ichika finally stopped talking, not because he said everything he wanted to, but because of another tongue that invaded his mouth.

Wet and lewd kiss lasted for about half a minute. As Chifuyu finally released him, Ichika blinked twice, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't take it any longer," Chifuyu smiled, looking into brother eyes, "And I decided that it is my best option to stop that flow of nonsense." She was deeply touched with Ichika's care about her, but she really couldn't take it anymore.

Ichika looked at his elder sister reproachingly, "Actually, I was completely serious…"

"Oh, me neither, believe me," She smiled in reply.

"Okay, listen, that black I.S. is fast and very dangerous, and since your I.S. is… munch… slik… um…" Again, another tongue invaded his mouth, not allowing him to continue speaking.

That lewd and lustful kiss was even longer than the previous one. "I love you…" Chifuyu smiled as she finally broke their kiss, and with that she completely ruined Ichika's momentum. For about a minute after this, the two of them stayed in complete silence, looking into each other's eyes. But then Chifuyu again fell on her pillow and complained, "Damn, because of you I'm so horny now…"

"Lie!" Ichika replied immediately, looking at his lover with one eye closed, "You was horny since the moment we've entered the onsen."

"Humph," Chifuyu snorted, not even trying to deny her brother's words.

"So…" Ichika asked ah he took ten seconds long pause, "You want to do that, right?"

"Of course I want it!" She replied as she sat up and her sleeping gown has been thrown away, "And, just so you'd know, asking such a thing is mean! You always must take responsibility for your actions!" She added as her agile fingers already unbuttoned Ichika's flannelette pajamas. Five seconds later both his shirt and his pants were thrown away.

"As you wish," Ichika agreed, letting her do whatever she wants. This is a traditional-looking hotel, but actually walls here a thick and doors are lockable, so there shouldn't be any issues with making love right here and now.

"Aaaahhhhaaa…" Chifuyu let out a satisfied and lustful moan as she put Ichika's cock into her womb. She was already very wet so there was no need for any foreplay.

"But I'm afraid I don't have any of your favorite toys with me today…" Ichika whispered into her ear, gently caressing her back.

"No need," She whispered in reply, wrapping her legs around his back. "Today I want classics. Please, be gentle…"

November 4th, Friday, 3:03 A.M.

With that amount of sexual energy that she possesses, there's no way Chifuyu's lust can be satisfied quickly. Today it took almost three hours… but really, only a complete imbecile would be complaining about something like that.

Right now she was sleeping, tightly cuddling her brother's right arm. This was the one of those rare occasions when Ichika was really regretful that his right arm is artificial and he's unable to feel human's warmth with it.

Chifuyu's breathing was calm and deep, and her face was so happy and worriless that Ichika just couldn't take his eyes off of her. He was gently caressing her luxurious hair with his left arm.

"I'm sorry, you were right, of course," He said quietly to his sleeping sister. "Sacrificing our lifestyle because of a couple of imbeciles isn't an option. I am strong enough to protect both of us and our everyday life. But still…" He went quiet for a moment. 'For that I still need one more core… Where can I get it?' He thought. But then, he quickly aimed his sight to the east, 'Oh, right, what if…?' He was looking somewhere towards Pacific Ocean, as merciless smile beamed on his face. 'AGM-62, huh? Americans, I think you owe me quite a lot already… I guess it's time to repay your debts…' His eyes flashed with bright light.

And this is it for now! Leave a review! Hope to see you soon people!