Chapter III: The Transfer Student Is a Second Childhood Friend

“Well, then. Orimura, Alcott, do some flying. Show me some basic IS flight maneuvers.”

We were in the last week of April by now. The last cherry blossoms had fallen. My sister Chifuyu was still a demon in class, but I was doing my best.

“Hurry up. A trained IS pilot only needs a second to generate their unit.”

I focused my mind as she egged me on. Once the IS was fitted to the pilot, they carried it around as an accessory. In Cecilia’s case, it was her left earring. In my case, it was a gauntlet for my right hand. Normally it was supposed to be some kind of simple item, so I had no idea why mine was an armored gauntlet, of all things.

“Focus.”

My impending doom— another hit from Chifuyu— was imminent. I stuck out my right arm and gripped the gauntlet with my left. I had played around with a bunch of different methods, and this was the one that let me focus my mind the best. The vision of my IS expanding filled my thoughts.

—Come to me, Byakushiki!

Immediately, I could feel a film spreading out over me from my right wrist. It took 0.7 seconds to encompass me. Bright particles of light flooded across my body, then seemed to harden out around me into the IS unit.

My body grew light. The IS sensors linked up to my consciousness, and my perception of the world became much sharper. Byakushiki had materialized in the blink of an eye, and now we were floating off the ground some 10 centimeters up. Cecilia and Blue Tears were also levitating. The bits I had destroyed in our battle had regrown.

“Okay. Now, fly.”

Cecilia acted immediately. She spun away into the sky and stopped, almost out of sight, above us. I followed, but my rate of climb was significantly slower than hers.

“What are you doing? Byakushiki should be much faster based on the specs.”

I was being remonstrated over the com-link. We’d learned about high-velocity rising and falling the day before. “Imagine a triangle pointing upwards” was what they had told us, but it was hard for me to put into practice.

“Ichika, having a good, solid mental image goes a long way. It might be more constructive to think of a better one that works for you.”

“Maybe... But I’m nowhere near used to flying yet. How does it manage to levitate, anyway?”

Byakushiki had two wing-shaped extrusions on the back, but no matter how I looked at them, they didn’t seem capable of making the suit fly. Besides, it didn’t matter where they were pointed; the unit could fly about regardless, so the whole thing was pretty mysterious.

“I don’t mind explaining it to you, but it’s not a short explanation. It uses anti-gravity wings and flow-wave interference.”

“Flow... What? Fine, just don’t explain it.”

I turned her down immediately. I wasn’t going to understand it anyway.

“I see. Too bad. Hehe.”

Cecilia was smiling gleefully. It was an honest, simple smile, not an ironic or derisive one.

After our battle, Cecilia had been teaching me and giving tips whenever she could. I was really grateful for that, of course, and Cecilia was really good— as you’d expect of a National Cadet. But I did have to wonder: what had brought on this change of heart? I couldn’t believe how different she’d been at first.

“Ichika, I will teach you again after school if you would like. Then we can be alone and—”

“Ichika! How long are you going to stay up there?! Come down!” came a yell via the com.

I looked over and saw that Houki had taken the radio from a shocked Ms. Yamada. The IS hypersensors incorporated long-distance telescopic sights and other vision enhancements; I could make out Houki’s eyelashes from about 200 meters away.

—It’d definitely be possible to use this for all sorts of evil purposes...

“I should add that the sights are, technically, limited to a certain range. But the IS was designed for use in outer space, where it’s necessary to determine your position based on stars hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, so distances this short are trivial.”

Thanks, model student. She really knew a lot. In contrast to that, Houki’s explanations went like:

“It goes, uhh... It goes dadum, and then bazoom!”

Not very helpful. I wasn’t even sure if Houki could actually pilot an IS. We hadn’t had any practical training yet as a group, so I had no idea how well Houki could fly. Cecilia always barged in during Houki’s weird explanations, and the two of them ended up arguing a lot. Just as Cecilia had become friendlier with me, she’d become less friendly with Houki. It was kind of strange how that was.

“Orimura, Alcott, show me a rapid descent, then deactivate your units. Target altitude is ten centimeters.”

“Roger. See you in a moment, Ichika.”

Cecilia dropped from the sky like a stone. I looked after her disappearing unit and was mildly impressed.

“She’s good...”

She’d already deactivated her unit without any problems.

—All right, time to follow her.

I focused my mind and pictured a roaring flame being ejected by the wing-shaped objects on my back, followed by the fire blasting me towards the ground.

Vrrooom!

I arrived at the ground— or rather, crashed into it. The unit protected me from the G-forces and initial impact, but the laughter from my classmates still hurt my soul.

—Why didn’t the IS protect my soul as well?!

“Moron. Did I tell you to bury yourself in the ground? Are you trying to dig a foxhole?”

“I’m sorry.”

I used the altitude control system to levitate off the ground. Due to the IS shield barrier, there wasn’t a speck of dust on Byakushiki.

“Pathetic, Ichika. Didn’t I teach you this the other day?” Houki said, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

—Taught it to me? If you could call all those weird sound effects teaching, then sure.

Houki was able to make jokes now. How times have changed.

“You’re thinking something rude right now, aren’t you?”

—Are my thoughts leaking out again somehow?

“Besides, Ichika. You’re the kind of guy who always—”

Houki was starting to rail on about my failings, but she was interrupted.

“Are you all right, Ichika? Are you hurt?”

“N-Nah... I’m fine.”

“Good. That’s very good.” Cecilia smiled.

Which poet was it who’d said the whims of girls were like the autumn sky? I wanted to smack him. To me, girls were way harder to predict than the weather.

“There’s no way he’d get hurt when he’s using the IS,” protested Houki.

“Oh, Shinonono. Worrying about each other is the most natural thing. That goes for IS pilots as well. This is called ‘common decency.’”

“Says you? You’re trying really hard to look nice and innocent.”

“Better than trying to look like a monster.”

BzZzzZz.

I could see the sparks flying between them. I mean, there weren’t physical sparks. But it had kinda looked like it... Maybe the IS hypersensors were capable of seeing this as well? That was kind of amazing, but also useless. Anyway, those two girls were becoming more and more hostile by the day.

“Hey, morons. You’re in the way. Do this in a corner somewhere.”

Chifuyu came up to me, pushing Houki and Cecilia away in the process.

“Orimura, bring out your weapon. You can do that yourself, right?”

“Y-Yeah...”

“The right answer to that is ‘yes.’”

“Y-Yes.”

“Good. Do it.”

I turned sideways. I had to make sure nobody was standing in front of me, then I held out my right hand again and gripped it with my left.

I pictured a blade. A sharp, hard blade. A strong weapon...

—Come!

My left hand gripped my right wrist even tighter. When my concentration had reached its peak, light gathered in my palm, congealed, and then took shape. When the light had hardened out, my hand was holding the Yukihira Nigata.

—Good. I can bring it out whenever I want now.

It was hard to do this reliably at first. It wasn’t like they taught you how to materialize a sword in your hand in school.

“Too slow. You have to do this in 500 milliseconds.”

Argh. She found fault with everything! I never got any praise. I’d worked at this for a week straight and I was pretty proud of it.

“Cecilia, bring out your weapon.”

“Roger.”

She raised her hand to shoulder level and held it to the side. There was a burst of light, much faster than the swirl I had produced. And with that, she was holding her rifle in her hand: the Starlight Mk. III. I was nowhere near as fast as her. What’s more, there was already a magazine in the gun, which Cecilia could disengage the safety of just by glancing at it. It took her perhaps a second to bring out the gun and make it ready to fire.

“Good work, National Cadet, but stop using that pose; the gun is aimed sideways when you bring it out. You could hit someone. Learn to bring it out in front.”

“B-But for my image, I need—”

“Change it. Got it?”

“Yes...”

Cecilia looked like she wanted to talk back, but Chifuyu glared at her and the discussion was over. She would make a good soldier in the future.

“Cecilia, bring out your close-combat weapon.”

“Uh... Oh, r-roger!”

Cecilia had probably been grumbling in her mind, and it had startled her that the conversation had continued. Her weapon dissolved into light again, and instead, she brought out her close-combat weapon. Or rather, she was supposed to. The light swirled around a little, then stagnated in the air.

“Ngh...”

“How much longer?”

“S-Soon. Goodness gracious! ‘Interceptor!’” she yelled out the name in frustration.

Finally, the light took shape as a weapon. However, we were supposed to bring out our weapons without using this beginner method. Having failed at this was humiliating for Cecilia, the National Cadet.

“That took several seconds. Is your enemy in battle going to wait that long?”

“I-I wouldn’t let them get close in a real battle! It won’t be a problem!”

“Really? Even Orimura managed to get close to you, and he’s a total beginner.”

“Th-That’s because...”

Cecilia had nothing more to add. She was clearly flustered. I looked at all this without any ill will when suddenly she stared at me. Suddenly I heard her over an encrypted, private channel.

“This is your fault!”

—Why? What did I do?

“Y-You flew into my close-combat range!”

—Yeah, well, I have a close-combat IS.

“Y-You will have to take responsibility for this!”

—What kind of responsibility...?

I never actually responded. It was a purely one-way communication. I didn’t really understand how to produce the right mental image for the private channel, anyway. They’d told us to imagine talking with the back right-hand side of our brain, which made no sense to me.

“Time’s up. That’s the end of the lesson for today. Orimura, clean up the grounds.”

She probably wanted me to fill the hole. Where did they keep the dirt again?

I looked over at Houki. She looked away from me and pouted; she wasn’t going to help me. And Cecilia was... already gone.

—Fine. I didn’t want any help anyway.

Besides, this was the kind of stuff that men had to do. Making the girls do physical work would have been pretty disgraceful for me. Plus, the hole was my fault to begin with. Mastering the IS was clearly going to take a while longer.

◇

“Hmph. Looks like this is the place.”

It was night. A girl of slender frame was standing in front of the gate to the IS Academy, carrying an almost comically large travel bag. Her hair was tied into two ponytails, left and right, that fluttered in the mild April breeze. The ponytails were a brilliant black and tied with good-looking golden clasps, and fell around her shoulders.

“So where’s the reception again?”

She took a piece of paper from her pocket. The paper was completely crumpled; it perfectly encapsulated her seemingly haphazard, happy-go-lucky personality.

“School Building, First Floor, General Reception... So where the hell is it?”

The scrap of paper didn’t answer her complaints. The girl grimaced and buried the paper in her jacket again. It made an audible crunch as it was crumpled inside.

“Fine, I’ll look for it myself. Can’t rely on anyone, apparently!”

Grumbling, she walked away; it was better to act than to think. She was that kind of girl. A well-meaning observer would have called her practical. A derisive observer would have called her unthinking.

—Really? Not even a single person to say hello? I can’t believe they would just toss me out here with nothing else to go off of!

The girl looked somewhat Japanese, but on closer inspection, she clearly wasn’t. Her eyes were just as angled as theirs, but somehow looked more elegant and regal. The girl was obviously Chinese. Japan was like a second home to her. She had lived in the country for a long time, and had many friends there. As they say: History is about the people, not the places.

—There’s really nobody here, huh? No students, no teachers, or anyone to guide me around...

She wandered around the buildings, looking for any semblance of a person. It was a little past eight, and all the lecture and administration buildings were dark. All of the students were in their dorms.

—Oh my God, this pisses me off... Maybe I should fly up and around to take a look?

“On second thought... Maybe that’s not such a good idea... The last thing I need is a bunch of people in suits getting mad at me again. The people back home thought as much too, the pathetic fools.”

—Hmph. Well, I’m just too important, aren’t I? I’ve gotta be careful.

She liked it when people several times her age came to implore her to do something. She’d always hated old people who thought they deserved respect just because they were older. As far as she saw it, the world was in great shape.

“Male brawns are irrelevant! A girl’s IS is justice!”

She was feeling great. When she’d been a little girl, she’d hated boys who thought they had the right to decide just because they were boys. There was just one guy who’d been different; she remembered him pretty well. Her memories of that boy were the main reason she’d wanted to return to Japan.

—I wonder how he’s doing now... Probably well enough, aha.

“That’s wh... said...” came a mysterious voice.

She looked around. The voice seemed to be coming from an IS training building. IS-related buildings in all countries look similar, so she recognized it immediately.

—Perfect, I can ask them where the heck I’m supposed to go!

She ran towards the arena entrance.

“Like I said, I don’t know how to picture that,” said a male voice.

The male voice took her by surprise and she stopped in her tracks, startled.

—Is that who I— No, it can’t be. Is it really him? What’s he doing here?!

The girl’s eyes widened with curiosity and anticipation.

—What if he doesn’t recognize me?! N-No, wait. I’m sure he will. He has to! I-If he doesn’t, it’s only because I’ve grown so beautiful!

After a brief pause the girl continued to walk towards the building.

“Ichi—” she whispered.

—Oh, no! What’s up with my voice? Come on, just say it normally!

“Ichika, when are you going to get a handle on your mental image? We’ve been stuck on the same problem for a week,” said the female voice.

“Look, your explanations are just really confusing. What the hell is ‘djoom?’”

“It’s... Djoom.”

“I don’t even know what that means! Wait, where are you going, Houki?!”

The man ran after the unknown girl, who then quickened her step.

—Who the hell is that? And why do they seem so buddy-buddy?!

Her excitement had disappeared, blown away by the wind. She felt a stinging anger blowing over her soul like a snowstorm.

Soon after, she found the general reception. The school building was just behind the arena. Some of the lights were still on, as well.

“I think that should be all of the paperwork. Welcome to the IS Academy, Huang Lingyin.”

The clerk was friendly, but her words hardly reached the girl. The girl— Lingyin, that is— was in a visibly bad mood when she talked.

“In which class is Orimura Ichika?”

“Oh, the boy they’re all talking about? Class A. You’re in Class B, Huang, but your rooms are right next to each other. Hey, I heard they even made him the class representative. I suppose he takes after his sister.”

All women loved gossip. Lingyin coldly regarded the clerk, who was living proof of said gossip, and continued.

“Does Class B have a rep yet?”

“Yes, they do.”

“What’s her name?”

“Uh... Um... Why do you need that?”

Perhaps the clerk had felt that something with Lingyin’s behavior was off, and she hesitated to answer.

“I wanted to ask them nicely to give it to me.”

Lingyin smiled in the most threatening way possible.

◇

“So! Congratulations to Orimura for becoming the class representative!”

“Congratulations!”

Clap, clap, clap.

Someone had fired off hand-held fireworks, and the bright paper threads fell on my head. Their weight was light on my head, but heavy on my soul. By the way, it was after school. We had the time off. Everyone in Class A was gathered in the dorm cafeteria. All of us were drinking something. It was quite a spectacle.

“.........”

—Man, screw this. Why are we even having a party?

I looked over at the wall. There was a gigantic wall scroll inscribed with “Orimura Ichika Class Rep Inauguration Party.”

—An inauguration party? Really?

“This will make the class league battles really awesome,” said one of the attendees.

“Totally.”

“We’re so lucky that we ended up in the same class as him!”

“Yeah, same.”

I could have sworn that the girl giving noncommittal answers was from Class B. Besides, there were clearly more than 30 girls around. It was a class meeting, and yet there were more girls than our class even had.

“You’re popular, Ichika,” Houki snorted.

“You really think so?”

“Hmph.”

Houki went back to consuming her tea. Why was she in such a bad mood?

“Hello, hello! We’re from the newspaper club! We’ve come to get a special interview with the new student everyone is talking about, Orimura Ichika!”

There were impressed murmurs. The girls acted like impressionable chickens.

—Chicks. Teehee.

“Oh, hello, my name is Mayuzumi Kaoruko, second year. I’m the vice president of the newspaper club. Here’s my business card.”

I took the card and looked at the name; the characters used to write her name were freakishly complex. I couldn’t imagine she liked writing it out by hand.

“Well then, well then, Orimura! How does it feel to be class representative?”

She stuck a microphone under my nose to record my answer and looked at me with puppy eyes.

“Um...”

I was really, really not feeling like I wanted to answer that, but I also didn’t want to let them down. That’s what you get for being Japanese, I guess.

“Well, you know, I’m gonna do my best.”

“Aw... Do you have anything more to add to that? Like, ‘touch me and you’ll get burned,’ or something?”

—What the heck does that mean? Do people even say that sort of thing anymore?

“The team deserves all the credit.”

“Whoa, that’s so old-fashioned!”

Was she trying to insult Japan’s famous athletes who talked like that?

“Okay, it’s fine. I’ll just edit the audio to something better.”

That really wasn’t fine. This was how the modern mass media forced their biased views on us. Truly horrible.

“Oh, Cecilia. Please offer a comment as well.”

“Ordinarily I dislike giving comments to the press, but all right,” responded Cecilia.

She didn’t look at all like she disliked it. In fact, she’d been hanging around near me and the newspaper girls for a while. I could swear that her hair looked even more elaborate than usual. Maybe she was expecting her picture to be taken?

“Ahem. Well then, let me begin by elaborating on my withdrawal from running for class representative and—”

“Oh, that sounds way too long. We’ll just take your picture,” Mayuzumi interjected.

“L-Listen to all of it!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just make up something cool. Okay, let’s write that you fell in love with Orimura.”

“Wh-Wh-Wha—”

Cecilia turned very red. She must have been very angry. I decided to provide fire support from the trenches.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“E-Exactly! Are you trying to make fun of me?!”

—What? Why is Cecilia angry at me now? I just want this to be over.

“B-Besides, you—”

“Okay, okay. Stand side by side now. I’ll take a picture,” said Mayuzumi, cutting Cecilia off again.

“Wh...”

Cecilia sounded surprised. However, when I listened carefully, she also sounded a little happy and excited.

“You two have those famous personal units. I need a photo of you two together. Oh! You should shake hands, I think.”

“R-Really...? Okay...”

Cecilia became fidgety and glanced over at me. She looked like someone who thought their big chance had come, but who didn’t want to look easy.

“Um, we may have copies of the photos you take, right?” asked Cecilia.

“Well, of course.”

“Then I would like to change into—”

“No way. That takes too long. Stand side by side now.”

Mayuzumi took my hand and Cecilia’s and made us shake hands. She was a pretty pushy girl.

“.........”

“Something wrong?”

“N-No. Nothing is wrong.”

Cecilia had been staring at me very intently. I wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to talk to me about something? Apparently not. It was so hard to understand her signals.

“.........”

“What is it, Houki?”

“Nothing.”

She too had been staring at me very intently. It was hard to understand her signs— You know how it goes.

“Taking the picture now! What’s 35 times 51, divided by 24?”

“Uh... Um... two?”

“Nope, it’s 74.375!”

—What the hell?

I heard the snapping sound of a digital camera’s shutter. And... Wait.

“Why are you all in the photo?”

With frightful alacrity, the entirety of Class A had managed to squeeze into the picture around me and Cecilia. Even Houki was there. What the hell were they trying to do?

“Y-You girls!” Cecilia cried.

“Come on.”

“We can’t let you steal a march on us, Cecilia!”

“This is going to be a nice memento.”

“Right?”

All of them were trying to placate Cecilia. I didn’t understand.

“Ugh...”

Cecilia was looking around bitterly, while her classmates beamed back. I couldn’t understand: what was going on?

Anyway, the entire “Orimura Ichika Class Rep Inauguration Party” went well past 10PM. I’d honestly underestimated the girls’ energy. By the time I realized how late it was, night had come, and I went to my room feeling very exhausted. I promptly collapsed on my bed.

“It must have been fun for you today. How nice.”

—What’s with that sarcastic tone, Houki? Are you trying to pick a fight or something?

“Wha... I’m just super tired. How is that fun? Would you like this if you were me?”

“Hm... I guess... Yeah, maybe.”

She and I both knew that wasn’t true, but Houki would rather detonate a rhetorical suicide vest than admit that she was even slightly wrong. I figured it was best to just end the discussion there. Debating it would just make it worse.

“M’kay. I’m gonna sleep.”

“Wh-What? It’s only half past ten.”

“I’m tired. When you’re tired, you sleep.”

I was worming my way into the sheets when a pillow hit me.

“Ngh... What the hell are you doing?!”

“Th-That’s my line! I’m going to change into my nightwear now, so face the other way!”

We’d been living together for a week and she always changed into her nightwear when I was around. She could just do it when I was brushing my teeth, but no. That’s what I did myself, though.

“Hey, Houki. I asked you before, but why don’t you change when I’m not—”

Blam!

“Fine. I’ll face the other way.”

Girls were just a mystery. Anyway, I rolled over and faced the other way.

“.........”

“.........”

I hated this sort of awkward silence. Time seemed to stretch forever, and even the tiniest noises were weirdly prominent. I was a healthy 15-year-old boy. It made me restless. I heard her take off her shirt. I was suddenly reminded of how she’d looked when she’d come out of the shower. It made me even more restless. After a while of clothes rustling suggestively, I was wide awake and no longer felt like sleeping.

“Y-You can turn.”

I rolled back over. I didn’t really have to turn back around, but when I’d brought that up before it had made Houki angry.

“Oh... Do you have a new sash?”

Houki wore a yukata at night: so Japanese. I liked that. Anyway, the sash she was wearing was different. I pointed this out to her.

“Y-You noticed...”

Uh-huh... Her thorny attitude had completely disappeared. In fact, she looked kind of happy? It was so weird.

“Well, it’s got a different color and a different pattern, so of course I’d notice. I look at you every day, Houki.”

“R-Right... You look at me every day... Right...”

She looked very happy and nodded to herself.

“All right! Time to sleep!”

Being excited to sleep was pretty weird to me. Houki snuck into her own sheets and turned off the lights. The room was silent.

—Hmph... Now I’m not sleepy anymore.

Drowsiness came in waves and missing a wave forced you to wait for the next. Maybe that was just me, though.

“Ichika...”

“Yeah?”

“A-About earlier... Um... I’m sorry.”

What was she talking about? I had no idea.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“I-I see... That’s good. Good night, then.”

“Sure. Good night.”

I was feeling a little drowsy again and decided I wasn’t going to let this wave slip away. I dreamt of the past that night, for whatever reason.

◇

“Good morning, Orimura! Did you hear? We’re getting a transfer student.”

It was morning. As soon as I sat down, classmates crowded around me. I viewed it as a huge step forward that in the weeks since school began, I’d become able to talk somewhat normally with the girls. Being all alone in class was really boring, after all.

“A transfer student? This time of the year?”

It was still April. Why hadn’t she enrolled normally? Besides, the IS Academy had very strict rules regarding transfer students: they had to pass the entrance exams, of course, but they also needed the backing of their country. Which meant that the new student was...

“Yeah, she’s the National Cadet from China.”

“I see.”

Speaking of National Cadets.

“Oh, perhaps she was in fear of my presence here?”

There we had the British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott. She had her hands on her hips again, striking a great pose. Maybe all British people had a gene that made them look good with their hands on their hips?

“She’s not going to be in our class, right? What’s the big deal?”

Houki was suddenly at my side even though I’d seen her go to her seat by the window. Perhaps this meant that Houki had a girly streak after all and craved the latest gossip.

“I wonder what she’s like?”

Given that she was a National Cadet, her skills were probably very good, and she was also probably like Cecilia. I was a bit tired of girls with a lot of pride, frankly. Then again, another class would have to deal with that.

“Hm... Are you curious?” Houki asked me.

“Me? A little, I guess.”

“Hmph...”

She frowned at my response. I answered honestly, but somehow this put Houki into a bad mood. Her moods were swinging so wildly lately; I was amazed it didn’t wear her out. Maybe she was emotionally unstable? It happened a lot with teenage girls.

“Do you really have the time to think about girls? You’ve got the class league match coming up next month.”

“Yes! That’s right, Ichika. We need to do more combat practice to prepare you for the class league match. I, Cecilia Alcott, shall be generous and act as your sparring partner. I am, after all, the only one with a personal unit in this class besides you.”

She emphasized the word “only.” Not that she was wrong. The others would have to wait a day to get approval for a training unit and equipment, so training with Cecilia was way more convenient. The class league matches were carried out between the class representatives; apparently, they wanted to get a sense of our skill level before practice started. Additionally, it was thought to promote class cohesion and inter-class relations. To get people motivated, the best class was given a trophy and half a year of free desserts. Girls loved dessert.

“Well, I’ll do what I can.”

“That is unacceptable, Ichika! You must win!”

“Yeah! Are you a man or some invertebrate?”

“We’ll all be happy if you win, Orimura.”

Cecilia, Houki, and the other classmates all egged me on. Sadly my IS piloting skills hadn’t improved all that much over the previous days, so I wasn’t brimming with confidence. When I piloted it the first time, it felt really intuitive... But that feeling of being one with the unit, of being reborn, was gone. Still, I had gotten more used to piloting because Byakushiki was adapting to my personality... Apparently.

A few more girls had come up to me, and now I was surrounded by them. This was a regular occurrence by now, so I was used to it. It never stopped surprising me how much girls loved gossip. I couldn’t keep up with it.

“Good luck, Orimura.”

“We want the free dessert!”

“You’ve got a fair shot because only the class reps of A and D have personal units.”

I grunted. That was the most I was able to say without ruining the girls’ optimism.

“That intel is outdated!”

There was chatter at the class entrance. I knew damn well whose voice that was.

“Class B also has a rep with their personal unit now. You won’t have such an easy time winning.”

A girl was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

“Rin? Is that you?”

“Yep. I’m China’s National Cadet, Huang Lingyin. I’ve come here today to declare war!”

She smiled thinly, and her trademark pigtails shook slightly.

“Trying to look cool, huh? Doesn’t suit you.”

“Wh... Are you trying to wind me up or something?!”

Finally, she was talking normally. What was up with that pompous speech earlier? Couldn’t say I was a fan of it.

“Hey.”

“What?!”

Wham!

Rin was hit square on the head with the attendance record for her impudence. Our demonic teacher had arrived.

“Short homeroom has started. Go back to your class.”

“C-Chifuyu...”

“Call me Orimura here. Now go back and don’t stand in the doorway. You’re blocking it.”

“I-I’m sorry...”

Rin moved out of the doorway. You could tell she was more than a little scared of Chifuyu. She’d never been good at handling her.

“I’ll be back! Don’t run away, Ichika!”

—Why would I have run away?

“I said go back,” barked Chifuyu.

“O-Okay.”

She ran away towards Class B. Yep, that was Rin for you.

—Why is she here, though? To show off? Or maybe she wants to reinvent herself for high school? Pretty typical of her, I would say.

“Wow, I didn’t know she was an IS pilot. First time I heard about that,” I blurted out.

That was a mistake.

“Ichika, who was that? Someone you know? You looked like you knew each other.”

“I-Ichika! How do you know that girl?”

The other girls in the class fired away with all their guns as well.

—Great. Just great.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

“Sit down, you idiots!”

Chifuyu’s attendance record silenced the gunfire. Was it my fault? It was my fault.

—Hm... But why is another of my old friends here? Life is so strange.

Another day of studying the IS had begun.

◇

—Who was that girl... She and Ichika looked close.

It was no use. I couldn’t focus on class after what had happened this morning.

—And it looked like Ichika and her are...

Argh. For whatever reason I couldn’t let the thought of them two go.

—I’m his childhood friend!

I turned to Ichika, who was diligently taking notes. How was he still so calm after all that had happened today already?

—Grr, because of him I can’t focus on class!

“.........”

I should count my blessings. Whoever that girl may be to Ichika, I was the one who was actually living with him. If I wanted to be alone with him, there were plenty of opportunities.

—He’s hopeless without me. I guess I’ll teach him more about the IS.

Yeah. That was all I had to do. It was only natural that I would be the one closest to Ichika.

—We’ll train together after school again.

No one could get between the bond I shared with Ichika, that much was certain.

“Shinonono, what’s the answer?”

“Wh-What?!”

—Oh crap. What were we learning about again...?

I had gotten so lost in thought that I forgot we were still in class. And our teacher wasn’t Ms. Yamada, it was Ms. Orimura.

“What’s the answer?”

“I-I wasn’t listening...”

Bam!

The attendance record struck again.

◇

“.........”

In the back of the classroom, Cecilia’s pencil was running across the pages. However, the lines on the page would have made no sense to anyone. They weren’t even real letters.

—Who was that earlier?!

She’d hated how friendly the girl had been with Ichika. It frustrated her so much! She was already engaged in a bitter battle with Houki. She didn’t want another combatant. And out of all of them, the girl earlier had seemed the closest to Ichika. She felt like a marathon runner who was overtaken at the halfway point by a completely fresh runner.

—This isn’t right! Fight me fair and square!

She didn’t know what fair and square would have meant between people, but that was her opinion, anyway. She was confident that she could easily win in any fair competition, but she’d never competed for a man before, so things weren’t going as she wanted. Cecilia was waking up to painful reality.

—And she’s a National Cadet...

There were 20 or so National Cadets enrolled at IS Academy. However, as far as she knew, of those 20, only four were first year students. And, barring Ichika, only two in the grade had personal units. In this case, the situation looked very good for her, but...

—She said she has a personal unit, too...

It wasn’t going well. In fact, it was going badly. Her trump card wasn’t worth much anymore because the new girl had smuggled her own cards into the game.

—S-She’s cheating!

It was too late for her to complain. She had to regain the initiative. Perhaps by doing something so daring it would give her a decisive lead over Houki and Rin?

—Mock IS battles with him won’t be enough. I need something bigger.

“Alcott.”

“I could ask for a date. No, it needs to be even more effective...”

“.........”

Wham! Her fluffy blond hair was flattened by the attendance record.

◇

“IT’S YOUR FAULT!”

During lunch break, Houki and Cecilia aired their complaints to me.

“But why...?” I pleaded.

In the morning, they had been told off five times by Ms. Yamada, and whacked on the head three times by Chifuyu. Apparently they weren’t learning from it. Spacing out in front of Chifuyu was like rubbing barbecue sauce on your body and dancing in front of a hungry tiger: you were basically asking for it.

“All right, I’ll hear you girls out, but I want to hit up the cafeteria. We can do this over some food.”

“Hmm... F-Fine. If that’s what you want,” said Houki.

“A-Alright. I suppose I shall accompany you if I must,” replied Cecilia.

—Yes, yes. Thank you very much.

A few others from our class followed us to the cafeteria. I bought a ticket for the daily special from the machine. It was a cheap way to eat something different every day. What greater blessing was there in the world? Houki took udon with fried tofu, and Cecilia picked the Western lunch option. As always, I wanted to tell them to try some new things, but then again, I wasn’t really one to talk.

“I was waiting for you, Ichika!”

Huang Lingyin popped out in front of us and blocked our path. Personally, I shortened her name to Ling, or rather, Rin. She was still how I remembered her. Her hair had always been in those long pigtails. I guess it wasn’t just Houki who I recognized instantly because of her hairstyle. I was weirdly proud of myself for having connected this common feature between my childhood friends.

“Well, just move out of the way for now. We want to hand in the meal tickets, and you’re blocking traffic.”

“S-Shut up! I know!”

She was carrying a tray with a bowl of ramen.

“The noodles are getting cold.”

“I-I know! I was waiting for you! Why didn’t you come sooner?!”

—Why would I? It’s not like I’m psychic...

I recalled that she’d always been a bit annoying, as I handed in my food ticket.

“It’s been a while, huh? Almost a year to be exact. You been doing well?” I asked.

“Y-Yeah. Why aren’t you sick or hurt more often either?”

“Are you really hoping for that from me?”

All the girls around me were crazy. Was I some kind of magnet for weird and aggressive girls? Perhaps my own flaws brought it on; nobody’s perfect.

“Ahem! Ahem!”

“Yes, yes, yes! Ichika! Your meal is ready.”

The discussion was interrupted by Houki coughing in a comically loud fashion and Cecilia talking to me. Ah, the daily special was grilled mackerel. Just the sight of it made me more hungry.

“The table over there is empty. Let’s go,” I said to everyone present.

Just herding a group of 10 girls around was time consuming. The fact that we were able to find a table with as many people as we had was a blessing.

“Rin, when did you come back to Japan? Is your mother doing well? When did you become a National Cadet?”

“So many questions! I’ve got some too. How come you can use an IS? I saw it on the news.”

We hadn’t seen each other in a year, so I asked a lot more questions than I normally would’ve. When catching up with an old childhood friend, you wanted to know what they were doing in the meantime. It was the same with Houki.

“Ichika, I’d really like some explanation how you know this girl.”

“Yes! Ichika, she’s not your girlfriend, is she?!”

Perhaps Houki and Cecilia were feeling left out? They had started to heckle me. The other girls that had tagged along also nodded with curiosity.

“I-I-I’m not his gi—”

“Yeah. What are you talking about? She’s just a childhood friend,” I commented.

“.........”

“Why’re you staring at me?”

“Forget it!”

Rin was angry for some reason. What a weird girl.

“Childhood friend?” asked Houki, with a puzzled look.

“Um... Yeah... Remember how your family moved away in fourth grade? Rin moved here at the beginning of fifth grade. Then in eighth grade she moved back to China, so I haven’t seen her for a year.”

I remembered that Houki and Rin hadn’t actually met before. They’d barely missed each other.

“Here, Rin, this is Houki. Didn’t I tell you about her before? I went to school with her in grade school. She practiced kendo with me.”

“Uh-hum. Okay.”

Rin stared at Houki. Houki, being Houki, stared back just as intently.

“Nice to meet you. I hope we can get along.”

“Yeah. Same.”

They exchanged greetings in a friendly enough fashion, but it looked like sparks were flying between them. I had to get more rest. Perhaps the exhaustion was playing tricks on my mind. I remembered seeing a French CEO on TV once who’d said the greatest fault of the Japanese was not knowing how to relax. Guess I proved that right. Maybe I was just flat-out going to die if I kept that mentality going into the workforce.

“Hey! Don’t forget me! You’re the Chinese National Cadet, Huang Lingyin?” Cecilia butted in.

“Who’re you?”

“Wh—?! I-I’m the British National Cadet, Cecilia Alcott! You’ve never heard of me?!”

“Nope. I don’t care about other countries.”

“Wh-Wh-Wh...”

Cecilia was stunned into silence, but began to turn red with anger. She looked like a lobster. If I’d told her that, she would have been angry at me too, so I didn’t.

“J-J-Just so you know! I would never lose to someone like you!”

“Okay. But if we fight, I’ll win. I’m really good,” giggled Rin.

Yep, she hadn’t changed. She was so full of confidence, and when she talked about it, it wasn’t even malicious. She was just being honest. That was just what she believed. Whether or not it was malicious on her part didn’t always matter, of course. Some people get upset anyway.

“.........”

“Y-You’re talking big, aren’t you?”

Houki had stopped eating. Cecilia was trembling with anger, and her fists were clenched. Rin, on the other hand, was calmly eating her ramen. Acting like she wouldn’t hurt a fly...

—Though, more than that was hurt just now. Aha.

“Ichika.”

Whoops. Had she read my thoughts? Then again I felt it was unfair that people got angry at me just for having some idle thoughts. I was pretty sure it wasn’t fair. Maybe.

“You’re the class rep?”

“Oh, yeah. It just kinda turned out that way.”

“Is that so...”

Rin raised the bowl to her lips and drank the broth. She never used the Chinese spoon she was given for that. She said it was too girly for her, despite being a girl herself.

“U-Um, I wouldn’t mind looking at your piloting.”

Her face was turned away from me; only her eyes were aimed in my direction, and the way she talked was unusually inarticulate.

“That sounds g—”

Bam! Two people slammed their hands on the table.

Both Houki and Cecilia had risen to their feet.

“It’s my job to teach Ichika. He asked me to do it,” protested Houki.

“You’re in Class B, right? We don’t want alms from the enemy!” exclaimed Cecilia.

Both of them looked really angry. The class league match must have been serious business to them. I decided that they might be right.

“I’m talking to Ichika right now. You girls have nothing to do with this, so stay out.”

“Th-This is our business, too. Ichika personally asked me to teach him. He wanted me!”

Houki was emphasizing the word “me” again. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but we had gone over that already. It was all too important to her, for some reason.

“He’s the representative of Class A, and so someone from Class A will teach him. Besides, how dare you crawl out of the woodwork to display your shameless persona—”

“I’m not crawling out of the woodwork. I’ve known him for longer than you,” Rin interjected.

“Th-Then I’ve known him the longest! And Ichika ate with our family many times. That has to count for something!” cried Houki.

“He ate with my family too. Big deal.”

This was true. Rin’s family had a Chinese restaurant. Whenever Chifuyu had been home, I’d cooked for us, but back then she’d already become an IS pilot, so she returned home infrequently. It wasn’t really worth it to cook for myself. Usually, I just prepared some instant food when I was alone. But, you know, instant food tastes like ash and isn’t good for your health. At some point I decided to go to a restaurant nearby that offered daily specials, and it just so happened that Rin’s family restaurant was the cheapest. The food was really good, so I found myself going there four or five times a week. I ended up hanging out with Rin quite a lot back then. At first we didn’t really get along because of how her personality is, but it got a lot better as time went on.

—It was the same with Houki, wasn’t it? I never get along with them at first, huh? No doubt this was also my fault somehow. And Cecilia too, actually!

“I-Ichika! What’s going on?! You never told me about that!”

“Yes! You didn’t tell me either! Ichika, I request an adequate explanation!”

“An explanation, huh? We were friends and I went to her family’s restaurant to eat,” I said.

That was just the truth, but for some reason Rin now frowned. Houki and Cecilia, on the other hand, looked relieved.

“Wh-What? A restaurant?”

“Oh, I see. Well, eating at a restaurant is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”

All the other girls around us were going through the same phases of tension and relief. It was almost as if Chifuyu had passed by and put everyone on edge for a minute.

“Is your Pops doing well, Rin? The viruses are probably more scared of him than the other way around.”

“Oh... Yeah, he’s doing well... I think.”

Rin looked distant for a moment, and I could feel that something was wrong.

“A-Anyway, do you have time after school today? Surely you do. Let’s hang out. Remember that restaurant by the station?”

“Oh, they went under last year,” I replied.

“I-I see... W-We can grab something to eat in the cafeteria if you want. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

—Do we? There’s not much, really.

I’d been studying a lot the previous year, so there wasn’t really anything to tell her.

“Sorry, but Ichika has to do IS training with me. He’s got no time after school,” Houki butted in.

—You don’t get to decide that, Houki.

Couldn’t I plan my own free time? They were just making fun of me now.

“Yes. We have the class league match coming up and he needs to train more. Did I mention I have a personal unit? You could say that I’m indispensable for the success of his training.”

Houki and Cecilia had mounted a desperate counterattack over my after-school training, and it looked like it was working out. Thrown under the bus, at the expense of my free time. I was grateful for the help, but, you know, people want certain procedures to be observed. I wanted them to at least ask me before deciding these things. Life was a sequence of polite rituals, after all.

“Okay, I’ll be there when that’s over. Make sure you got time. Bye, Ichika!”

Rin drained the last bit of ramen broth and disappeared without waiting for an answer from me. She didn’t come back, either. I saw her leave the cafeteria.

—Now I’ll have to wait for her, huh? She didn’t even let me reply...

“Ichika, your training takes priority.”

“Ichika, don’t forget that you will be taking up our highly valuable time as well.”

I couldn’t turn down either of those two either. I was eternally suffering.

—Sigh...

◇

“Huh?”

We were in the third arena, after school. I was supposed to spar with Cecilia there, but an unexpected newcomer surprised me.

“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that? Is this weird?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s weird, but...”

“Shinonono?! Wh-Why are you here?”

Yes. Houki was standing in front of me and Cecilia. What’s more, she was deployed in the IS unit, Uchigane. Uchigane was a well-regarded, domestically mass-produced second-generation IS unit. It had a balanced performance ratio, which made it well-suited to new pilots. A lot of companies and countries used the model, and it was the most common training unit at the IS Academy, or so the textbook said.

“Ichika asked me to train him, right?”

—Uh, sure... I guess...

“Besides, he’s not getting enough close-combat experience. It’s my turn to spar.”

Uchigane’s design looked much like a samurai in armor, and its baseline weapons were katana-shaped close-combat blades. It really fit Houki, and reminded me of movies like The Last Samurai.

“Hrmm.”

Whoops. I was being glared at.

“Tch... Who would have thought the school would hand out training unit permits so easily...”

Cecilia looked weirdly upset. It made no sense to me.

“Ichika. Let’s start. Draw your sword.”

“O-Okay...”

She looked motivated. Houki already had her sword out. It had a dull metal color, with a sharp glimmer across the blade. I wouldn’t say it freaked me out, but I was feeling a little nervous.

“Okay... En garde!” Houki yelled.

“Wait! I, Cecilia Alcott, am supposed to be fighting Ichika!”

Before we could duel, Cecilia went between me and Houki.

“Out of the way! I will cut you down!” exclaimed Houki.

“Don’t think a training unit can beat me!”

Houki made a diagonal cut downwards from the shoulder. Cecilia had brought out her shortsword, Interceptor, and blocked Houki’s strike. She used the force of the impact to gain distance and pulled the trigger of her Starlight Mk. III with one hand. They were really fighting.

—What about my practice...

“HAH!”

“Too easy!”

I decided to wait for a result. They both looked positively vicious, and I wasn’t going to get myself hit by trying to intervene.

“Ichika!”

“Why are you just watching this?!”

“Uh... It doesn’t matter who I side with, the other is going to be angry, right?”

“OF COURSE!” they said in unison.

Then what were they expecting me to do? And it was really weird how Houki and Cecilia had the same opinion sometimes. I really wanted to know what was going on. Apparently my prolonged silence wasn’t going down too well, either. A few minutes later I was deeply embroiled in a battle against two IS units. It was enough to give me PTSD. These two were out to get me.

◇

“Well then, let us end it here for the day.”

“S-Sure...”

I was totally out of breath, but Cecilia looked relaxed. National Cadets were just on another level. She had the advantage in experience.

“Hmph. You’re out of shape.”

Houki looked a little exhausted, but not nearly as worn out as I was. I mean, they’d ganged up on me, really. Goddamn fiends.

I looked at the thin layer of sweat on Houki’s skin. It was strangely appealing to see her like that, and my heart beat a little faster. Just a little, though. Like a really tiny bit faster.

“What are you doing? Go back into the pit.”

“O-Okay... Hey, Houki. Why are you following me?”

“I have to go back into the pit, too.”

“But Cecilia went over there to—”

“D-Does it matter which pit I take?”

I guess not. She could have just gone to Cecilia, though. I decided to ignore this weird exchange and headed into the building.

“Hm...”

We dissolved our IS units. I immediately felt much more exhausted because the IS was no longer supporting my body. Houki also dissolved her unit and readjusted her hair, which glistened with sweat.

“Too much of what you do is pointless. That’s what why you’re so exhausted. You have to use less complex movements.”

That was the first thing she said down in the pit. I almost cried at the kindness my childhood friend was showing me.

—At least hand me a towel or something, Houki. Come on.

Cecilia had gone into the opposite pit, so I was alone with Houki now. All I wanted to do was take a shower. The closest shower rooms were in the club building, but that was just opposite of the dorms, so there was no point in going there. And again, there were no shower rooms for boys, so I’d have to use the same one as the girls. I didn’t mind seeing their underwear, but seeing them being naked would have been a different matter. I really didn’t want to go there. It just seemed like it would give rise to all sorts of problems. And even if I tried to do it, I was pretty sure Chifuyu or Houki would execute me on the spot. I figured now I’d have to add Cecilia to my mental list of possible murderers; her name was glowing since it was a recent entry.

“Houki, can I ask you something...”

“What is it?”

“Can you let me use the shower first today? Erm, besides, what about the kendo club? If you practice with me every day the other girls will beat you eventually.”

“Y-You don’t have to worry about that. Girls are about to beat me at a lot of other things.”

“Uh... Like what?”

“F-Forget it!”

I was just trying to be polite, but apparently I had struck a nerve. I decided to ignore it.

“So, about the shower...”

“Ichika!”

Rin pulled the sliding door open and walked inside.

“Good job. Here’s a towel. You okay with a sports drink?”

Wow, bless the heavens. Childhood friends were kind beings after all. I was on the verge of tears.

“Thanks. Man, that hit the spot.”

I didn’t like the feeling of sweat on my face. Being able to wipe that off and rehydrate felt incredible. Normally those sports drinks had too much sugar for my tastes, but after exerting myself so much, it felt perfect. Sugar was high-energy, after all. The drink was room temperature, which was also how I liked it. After a workout, your body was still very warm, so having a cold liquid pour into you always felt like suicide to me. A lukewarm drink was the way to go. Cold drinks could be more refreshing sometimes, but I didn’t want to damage my body in the name of short-lived refreshment.

“You haven’t changed, Ichika. You worry about your body like you’re a senior citizen.”

“Hey, you gotta start being careful while you’re young. If the body can’t last, you’re done. You’re the one who suffers first if you wreck your body.”

“Yeah, you sure sound like an old man.”

“Shut up.”

Rin looked at me the way someone looks at something they understand perfectly. It unsettled me a little. I didn’t want someone to see straight into my soul.

—Hm, was she always this cute?

The last time I’d seen her had been in the winter of eighth grade. That was only a year ago, but somehow she’d picked up something that made her seem more feminine to me. It was that something you could only find in girls that stirred the man within you.

“Ichika, did you feel lonely without me?”

“Sure. It’s always sad if you lose someone to hang out with.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she said, smiling.

Rin was in a good mood and went on without pause. Looking at her now reminded me of the time she’d sold me tickets to some weird movie.

—Wait a sec. Is she trying to pawn something off on me again?

I had to be careful. Fool me once, shame on you, but now was the second time.

“Rin.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not buying it.”

Rin’s features dropped. Had I guessed wrong?

“Look... You’re reunited with your long-lost childhood friend! I’m sure there’s something you want to say.”

—Oh, okay... Uhh... Nope, not really.

“Like, for example...”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

Houki coughed so audibly it interrupted Rin, then she began to talk as though all that hadn’t mattered to her.

“Ichika, I’m going ahead. You can use the shower first if you want.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“See you later, Ichika.”

The way she said that had been a bit weird. My imagination was playing a lot of tricks on me lately, far too many times.

“Ichika, what did she mean?”

Houki had left the pit. Rin’s good mood had dissipated. She forced herself to make an awkward smile, but I knew she was in a bad mood. Her voice was also about two octaves lower.

“Hm? Oh, normally Houki gets the shower first, but I’m pretty sweaty today so I figured I’d ask her to swa—”

“Th-Th-The shower?! Normally?! I-Ichika, what are you two?!” Rin cried.

“Uh, I told you that before. Childhood friends.”

“Wh-Wh-What does that have to do with the turns you take showering?!”

Oh. Right. I’d never explained that.

“Houki and I got assigned the same room.”

“What...?”

“Uh, there were a lot of weird things going on when I enrolled. They couldn’t give me a different room, so now me and Houki have one.”

“Y-You’re sleeping in the same room as her?”

“Yeah, that’s how it happened. I’m happy it ended up being Houki. If they’d put me in a room with some random girl, that would’ve made me a lot more nervous.”

“.........”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is horrible...” Rin muttered.

“Huh?”

I didn’t quite catch what Rin had said, so I tried to listen closely, but she’d turned away. I couldn’t see her face, either.

“And that’s why you’re okay with it?! Because she’s your childhood friend?!”

“Whoa!”

She’d suddenly swung her head around and almost hit it against mine. It was really close.

“Fine. All right. Yes, yes, I get it now!”

Rin nodded a few times. I had no idea what she’d just come to accept. So many mysteries.

“Ichika!”

“Yes, hello?”

“You have two childhood friends! Don’t forget that!”

“I know that, but thanks...”

“See you later, then!”

Rin spun around and disappeared. Maybe “see you later” should be named sentence of the year, and we were only in April. Wait, didn’t Rin want to talk about the past or something?

—You know, Rin. Not doing something when you say you will hurts the trust others have in you.

“Hmm....”

I couldn’t get a hang of girls, much less my childhood friends.

◇

“There you have it! Change rooms with me!”

“G-Get lost! Why would I do that?!”

It was some time past eight in the dorms. After dinner, I was in my room making tea and trying to relax, when Rin came barging in. Those two were getting off to a really bad start.

“Hey, I’m sure you don’t wanna live together with a boy, Shinonono. You have to be mindful of him all the time. You just can’t relax! But I don’t mind all that, so I just thought we’d switch.”

“I-I didn’t say I don’t want to live with him. Besides, this is between me and Ichika! This is none of your business!”

“Hey, don’t worry. I’m a childhood friend, too.”

“Why does that matter?!”

They fought like that for a while. Neither was really listening to the other. Rin was just being herself, and only focused on what she was trying to do, and Houki was being herself, and was very stubborn. There was no way the discussion was going to have a happy ending. Even in the 21st century, humans were the same as always. How philosophical. Either way, unless my eyes were starting to go bad, it looked like Rin had already brought all her luggage over, but surely that wasn’t the case.

“Rin.”

“Yeah?”

“Is that all your luggage?”

“Yeah. I just need a big travel bag and I’m good to go.”

She’d always been pretty ascetic about things like this. Houki didn’t need a lot of luggage either, for a girl at least, but Rin just didn’t need much of anything at all. Back in the day, I joked once that she was always ready to run away from home, but that didn’t go over too well with her.

By the way, Cecilia invited me to her room once, and it looked like some high-end hotel. The bed, the mirror, the chairs, the table; everything was custom-made for her. She’d even brought in new tapestry and lights. That freaked me out, to be honest. It’d been the first time I’d seen a canopy bed, too. I felt really sorry for the girl who had to share the room with her. It looked like Cecilia had basically annexed the entire room. Let’s live a bit more modestly, Ms. British National Cadet.

“Anyway, I’m gonna live here too, starting tomorrow.”

“L-Like hell you will! Get out! This is my room!”

“It’s also Ichika’s room, right? What’s the problem?”

Rin looked at me, hoping for a yes. Houki also looked at me— more like stared— hoping for support in kicking Rin back out.

“Don’t make this about me.”

My head hurt. I needed medicine, with kindness as the ingredient.

“Anyway! We’re not swapping rooms! So get out, and go back to yours!”

“By the way, Ichika. Do you remember our promise?” Rin chimed in.

“D-Don’t ignore me! Fine, I’ll just have to use force.”

Houki was getting angry, and went over to her bed to retrieve her bamboo sword.

“Hey, don’t d—”

I didn’t have time to stop her. Houki had lost her cool, and swung her bamboo sword at the unarmed Rin.

Tching!

There was a loud noise.

“Rin, are you okay?” I blurted out.

“Of course I’m okay. I’m a National Cadet, remember?”

I thought the bamboo sword had hit her on the head, but she had partially brought out her IS, and blocked the attack with her right arm.

“......?!”

Houki was the most surprised of all of us. While bringing out an IS was common enough, to do it quickly relied heavily on the person piloting it. IS formation was limited by our human reflexes, after all... And Rin had shown hers to be incredible. Houki’s attack couldn’t have been blocked at the last second by a mere novice. This little display demonstrated that Rin was a very competent fighter.

“Don’t you think the one really in danger here is the person without an IS?”

“Uhh...”

Perhaps this exchange had been so much of a shock that Houki regained her composure, and she looked away uncomfortably.

“I don’t mind.”

Rin really didn’t care much about what Houki had done, and removed the parts of the IS she had brought out. The armor plate across her right arm glowed and disappeared.

“U-Um...”

It was awkward. Houki was embarrassed, and said nothing. Rin grinned at me, waiting for me to say something.

—Oh, right. She mentioned something about a promise.

“Our promise, Rin?”

“Y-Yeah. You remember... Right?”

She lowered her head and gazed at me from the corner of her eyes. She looked embarrassed... But maybe that was just my imagination playing tricks on me again.

“Um... That thing about... When your cooking gets better you’ll—”

“Y-Yeah! That!” Rin said, excitedly.

“—Treat me to sweet-and-sour pork...”

Yeah, she’d promised that in grade school. I was super proud of myself. My memory was simply amazing. My brain cells were outdoing themselves. Eternal praise to the neurons in my skull.

“What?”

“You promised you’d treat me to food once your cooking got better.”

—Food! Free food! What an amazing deal.

“Man, you gotta say my memory is incredible, ri—”

Wham!

“Huh...?”

I was slapped in the face. It was so sudden that I couldn’t really process it. I blinked. Houki’s eyes and mine met. She also looked surprised and confused.

“U-Uh...”

As I turned my head back, Rin edged into view again. She looked just about the worst I’d ever seen her.

“.........”

Her shoulders were trembling, and her glare was full of anger. And what’s more, there were tears in her eyes, and her lips were pressed together.

“U-Um... Rin...”

“You’re horrible! How can you not remember your promise to a girl?! You’re a disgrace to all men! I hope the dogs bite you to death!”

In one swift motion, she quickly picked up her bag from the floor, and ran out the open door.

Bam! The door was slammed shut behind her.

“Shit. I made her angry.”

It was clearly my fault... Probably. Maybe. It had really hurt my pride when she’d said I was a disgrace to all men. I couldn’t remember a promise so important that it would have justified such an insult.

—But... She was crying, so... Yeah.

“Ichika.”

“Y-Yeah, Houki?”

“I hope a horse kicks you to death.”

And now Houki was angry too, for whatever reason. My cheek was beginning to hurt. It was probably still going to be red the next day. If it was still visible, the other girls in the class were going to ask me endless questions. I was never going to get used to that. How do girls manage to jump around in conversation so much, anyway?

“Hah...”

I decided to just go to bed. It was only about nine, but still, staying awake would have done nothing beneficial. Even Houki was angry. I just had to go to sleep. Maybe a new day was going to fix everything. Probably not. Girls stay happy and angry three times as long as men, and that went doubly for all the girls around me.

The next morning, I found a letter in front of my door. The title said “Class League Match Schedule.” The first match was against Class B, Rin.