Last Time: Zora, Ichika and Rin work together to take down the mysterious IS

This Time: The class gets an unexpected male surprise 

(Opening Theme: Back - On)

https://youtu.be/4FwfrXDAFyA

XXXXXXXXXXX

A week had passed since the 'rogue IS' incident at the IS Academy's inter-class tournament and now that everything was finally going back to normal. Even though many of the students were still a bit disturbed by the crisis happening that day, the fact that the Academy was quick in their action to resolve it did somewhat put them to some peace.

Zora, Ichika and Rin were also given praises and received admirations from many thanks to their action of holding back the rouge IS to buy time for the trapped students, though, Ichika got quite a bit of scolding on his part by his sister and first childhood friend. As for Zora...well....he got a week of toilet cleaning duty for disobeying Chifuyu.

As of now, Zora had woken up on Saturday morning, dressed up, took the monorail to the mainland and was currently walking through town, listening to music. He was about to cross the street when the ringtone on his phone sounded (Start A Riot: Spiderverse). He put on his headphones and pressed the call button to answer the call.

"Hello?" said Zora.

"Hey Zor, it's me Ichika," a familiar voice responded.

"Yo Ich, what's up?"

"I checked out your room hoping to find you but you weren't around," said Ichika.

"Meh, I'm in town right now. But I'm free,"

"That's great, I'm heading over to Dan's place to visit and I wanted to see if you wanted to come along,"

"Sure, I'm down."

"Okay bye," then the connection was cut off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Soon enough Zora arrived at the destined location, there he sat on the seat and was playing a game on his phone to while away the time.

"I wonder what's taking him so long, he said that he would be here soon," Zora muttered to himself.

"Hey Zora!"

The orangette looked up to see Ichika approaching him while dressed in a casual clothing of a blue and white T-shirt with brown trousers.

"Geez, took ya so long?" Zora said as he stood up.

"Sorry about that, I was checking on things at home," said Ichika sheepishly.

"No prob, so ready to go?" asked Zora.

"Sure," said Ichika before walking away with Zora right behind him. They walked for a bit before stopping before what appears to be a restaurant with a large banner on the front written 'Gotanda Eatery'.

"Let's go inside," Ichika and Zora went in and saw a kitchen that is in full view of the guest tables but is separated by a counter. That is when someone appeared from behind the counter and was greeting them.

"Hello and welcome to...Ichika? Zora? Hey guys, long time no see!" said the person, he was a male with long scarlet hair that is tied with a grey bandanna, he also wore a grey t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Hey Dan, it's been a while," said Ichika with a smile.

"Yo" Zora greeted with a wave.

"How, it's good to see you two. How about you come up to my room since there are any customers here at the moment?"

"Sure thing," said Ichika.

"Sounds good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three boys went up to the first level and entered Dan's room, there they chatted about all sorts of random things. At the moment, the trio are playing Super Smash Bros Brawl on Dan's Nintendo Wii.

"I gotta admit that I'm jealous of you two attending the academy where there are only girls, you guys must be having a good time," said Dan with a smirk.

"No I'm not," said Ichika.

"Lies, all lies. Reading all those emails that you guys send makes me imagine paradise,"

"I gotta admit, it's definitely a new experience from normal school" Zora told him grinned. "But it's not all bad. Girls take a look at me and suddenly, I'm the whole package."

"Well, seems like one of  you don't mind it the attention," Dan said to Zora, before looking over at Ichika. "Can't say the same for both."

"I really felt uncomfortable being surrounded by girls, which was why I felt relieved Zora enrolled with me and Rin showed up," said Ichika.

"Oh so Rin came to the academy huh?" said Dan, Zora noticed that he smiled as if he knew what was going on and smirked as well.

Suddenly the door was kicked opened, startling the guys and almost triggering Zora to throw the controller. They turned to see that it was a girl with long scarlet hair tied in a bandanna just like Dan, though she happened to be wearing a pink loose top and deep violet shorts that aren't fully zipped.

"Bro, lunch is ready so you should hurry up an-," the girl was talking when her eyes set upon Ichika and then Zora who was still looking away "Z-Zora!? Ichika?"

"Hey Red, it's been a while!" Zora greeted with a grin.

 "Yeahm sorry for our intrusion," said Ichika with a smile.

The girl named just stood there stunned before she blinked and looked down to see her unkempt dressing before hiding behind the door with a blush of her cheeks. After dressing much more properly, she poked her head from behind the door.

"Y-you were here?" Ran asked, shyly.

"Yeah, we had a short break and decided to come over," Zora replied.

"Oh, I see."

"You could have knocked on the door, you'll be considered a shameless woman-," Dan stopped in midsentence upon seeing Ran giving an extremely angry look.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" she whispered angrily.

"O-Oh...I didn't tell you? Sorry about that, my bad," Dan chuckled weakly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Zora give him a look of pity and understanding, having seen and experienced the very same thing from Chifuyu and his own sister.

"You poor bastard."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Later on, the group went back downstairs to the restaurant for lunch although it appears that Ran had changed into a loose white dress.

"Please make yourselves at home, sorry about my appearance before," said Ran with a pink tinge on her cheeks.

"Oh I see you changed, are you going somewhere?" asked Ichika.

"Um well...you see..."

"Well, it's a really good look," Zora complinted, causing the girl to go as red as her hair.

"O-Oh! T-Th-Thanks, Zora."

"Are you going on a date?" Zora fought the urge to facepalm upon hearing Ichika's dumb question.

"Definitely not!" Ran responded instantly.

"You must act like that at school too," said Dan.

"He definitely does," Zora spoke in agreement. "The human definiton of 'dumbass'."

"What do you guys mean?" asked Ichika confusedly.

"Nothing at all, I feel bad for Rin though," said Dan.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The next day...

"Hey, have you all heard the latest rumor?"

"What, you mean about the IS from the other day?"

"Supposedly a machine that was still in testing went on a rampage."

"No! Whoever wins the tournament this month gets to go on a date with Ukashi or Orimura!"

Off to one side of the bustling classroom, Houki and Cecilia were talking about various cool new IS odds and ends. Both were a bit annoyed by the strange attitudes of their classmates.

Not that giddy was out of the ordinary, but they seemed more hyped up than usual.

"So, do you know what it is that all these girls are so excited about?" Cecilia asked.

"I have absolutely no idea whatsoever," Houki replied, sorting through her notes.

At the back of the class, Lucy and Fox Girl were standing with another friend. They all looked a bit nervous.

"The story's distorted and spreading like crazy...," Lucy muttered.

"You must have said something to someone," the third girl said, "That has to be it."

"Oh, no way! I don't really think that could've been what happened at all!" said Fox Girl, smiling lazily.

At which point, Zora and Ichika walked in. "Yo!"

They immediately noticed almost everyone in the class freeze nervously. Zora took the fact that they'd yet to be swooned over today as a good thing, but it was odd. Not that he was complaining, but still. Odd. 

"What's with all the excitement?" Ichika arrived at last, late as always. Elliot made a note to remind the boy not to arrive so close to class commencing, God knows he'll get in trouble with Chifuyu again.

"Oh, it's nothing." The girls chorused, throwing off the bluenette. Zora narrowed his eyes, knowing something was up but not exactly what. Just then Chifuyu and Arthias arrived, the former bumping the clueless boy aside.

"Class is starting, get back into your seat." The three teachers entered the room, and Maya stepped on to the podium. All the students sat down as class began.

"Guess what class, we're about to meet another transfer student." The assistant teacher looked towards the door; the news sent the girls into a chatter as every pair of eyes latched on to the door.

"A transfer student, at this time?" most of the students were surprised and curious about who this new student is to be joining them.

Then the sliding door opened the new student stepped inside and everyone including Zora and Ichika were stunned upon the appearance of the person. The new student had blonde hair that was long enough to be tied into a ponytail, as well as purple eyes. What caught everyone's attention was the fact that the student is wearing a white blazer with long trousers just like what Ichika and Zora are wearing right now...which could only mean one thing.

"My name is Charles Dunois and I come from France, nice to meet you all," said the blond student.

"A-A man?" asked one of the girls shakily.

"Qui, I heard that there were two others in the same situation as me here. So I transferred from my country to..."

"KYAAAA!"

"A male student and he's coming to our class!"

"He's so handsome, the type that you'll want to protect!"

The girls squealed out in joy much to Charles confusion.

"Now all of you settle down and be quiet!" said Chifuyu and immediately the class was silent "We'll be doing IS practice with Class 2 so everyone should change quickly and gather up at school ground 2."

Arthias then stepped "Also Ukashi and Orimura,"

Both boys looked at him attentively.

"I want you to look after Dunois, since you're both males too. Now move out!"

Charles approached Zorq and Ichika as they got up from their seats.

"Are you Ukashi and Orimura? Nice to meet you, I'm..." Charles began.

"As much as we would like to get to know each other, we'll need to save it for another time as we need to hurry out of here, come on," said Zora, then he held onto Charles' hand much to his surprise as they ran out of the class with Ichika following them.

"We change in the changing room at the Arena, we always go first to change before the girls in every practice session, so you'll have to get used to it," said Ichika.

"Why's that?" asked Charles.

"Mostly because there are no changing rooms for males and since we the guys change clothes very quickly, we're allowed to go first," said Zora.

"O-okay," said Charles with a pink tinge on his cheeks much to both boys' confusion.

"Is something the matter?" asked Ichika curiously.

"I-It's nothing at all!" said Charles.

'He's kinda weird,' thought Zora.

Suddenly a girl popped out from a corridor much to their surprise.

"I find the rumored male student and he's with Ukashi and Orimura!"

No sooner she said that than a large crowd of girls gathered around Zora and the others.

"And look, he's holding hands with Ukashi!"

"Mondieux," Charles muttered.

"Orimura with black hair is nice, but a blonde and orangette are way better!"

"To hell with this! Book it now!" Zora exclaimed.

"Right!" said Ichika.

The trio turned around a corner and down a hallway to escape the girls before they got surrounded.

"Why is everyone making such a fuss?" asked Charles nervously.

"Because we're the only guys known so far to be able to pilot an IS, they're very curious about us," said Zora.

"I guess you're right,"

"We're almost at the changing room," said Ichika.

Sure enough, they had arrived at their destination and stopped to catch a breath except for Zora who didn't even break a sweat.

"Sorry that I gave the both of you so much trouble," said Charles.

"It's no problem, seeing that we have some time before the practice session, we can properly introduce ourselves. Name's Zora Ukashi, but you just call me Zora," The orangette told him.

"And I'm Ichika Orimura, you can also me Ichika. It's nice to meet you," said Ichika.

"Okay then, you can call me Charles,"

"Hey guys, we need to get changed since it's almost time for practice and we don't want Warrior Goddess on our case," said Zora.

Both boys began to change from their school uniforms into their pilot suits, Zora had just taken off his shirt to expose his chest when they heard a yelp, they turned to see Charles looking away from them with his hands covering his eyes.

"What's the matter Charles? You need to change quickly," said Ichika.

"Okay, but j-just don't look this way s'lil vous plais?" Charles stammered.

"Sure, though I have no intent to look at you while you change,"

'I guess he's a shy type,' thought Zora before turning away along with Ichika.

They turned around again only to be surprised at Charles already wearing his pilot suit which happens to be a tank top and burmudas with orange edges and he wears an orange pendant around his neck.

"Is there something the matter?" asked Charles.

"Wow, I know we guys dress quickly, but just wow," said Zora with a quirked eyebrow.

"I'm just used to dressing quickly at home," said Charles nervously.

"It looks like your suit is much easier to wear than mine," said Ichika. "Still, I guess that Zora has it worse huh? Seriously man, how could you even wea-?" Before he could finish asking, it turned out that Zora had already managed to fully dress up.

"Bro... How could you always dress up so fast?"

"Hmm? Ah, I guess that if you get used to it then it's fairly easy. Plus, it's really comfortable."

"Heh, so this Zora's IS outfit huh?" Charles, who appeared to be curious about Zora's full-body outfit, decided to voice his question. He was observing it quite extensively.

"Ah, well, you could say that."

"It looks so cool with the coloring, and you look like a real pilot too. Unlike ours though... It's a bit revealing..."

"Trust me, I perfer this over those anyday," Zora said as he pointed at Ichika's outfit. "They are a pain in the ass to put on. Since ya can't wear any underwear under them, my things are always getting caught last time I tried it on."

"Your things get caught?" asked a blushing Charles.

"And how," his face lit up like a Christmas tree and Zora laughed. "But whether or not I can get my genitals into a suit aside, your suit looks pretty easy to put on."

"That's because it's a special model from the Dunois Company,"

"Dunois, it's a family name too right?" Ichika asked.

"Yeah. Arthias told me of them, they're supposed to be the largest company in France when it concern the IS industry," said Zora, having been told about the info from his cousin.

"You're right Zora, and my father happens to be the president of the company," said Charles.

"No wonder, cause you seem to have this aura like you're from a high class family," said Ichika.

However Charles looked a bit down after what Ichika said much to his confusion while Zora was looking at him with a small frown. Later the trio rejoined their class along with Class 2 as they all gathered at the training field for the IS practical.

"We will begin practice starting today," said Chifuyu.

"Yes ma'am!" both classes responded in chorus.

"First, we will be watching a practice combat. Huang, Alcott," said girls responded to their names that Chifuyu called "Since you have personal machines, you should be able to begin immediately."

"So much trouble, why do I have to?" Rin mumbled.

"I don't feel too encouraged to do this since it feels like I'm in some exhibition," said Cecelia walking forward alongside Rin.

Chifuyu passed by and whispered for them to hear "You two need some enthusiasm, especially this is your chance to show off with him watching,"

Hearing this made tinges of pink appear on the cheeks of both girls as they immediately perked up.

"This is the stage for me, Cecelia Alcott the representative student candidate for England," said Cecelia.

"It's a great chance to you our difference in skills as personal IS holders," said Rin with a smirk with both classes sweatdropping.

"Well, they're suddenly fired up," Zora muttered.

"What did sensei just tell them?" whispered Charles.

"How would I know?" said Ichika.

"So who shall be my opponent? I wouldn't mind if it's against Ling," said Cecelia "I'll show you who's most suited to be with Ichika and as Zora's bestest female friend,"

"That would be my line, I'll slaughter you," said Rin "And scare you away from my best buddy,"

"No need to rush, idiots. Your opponent is..."

Before she could finish, a deafening screech accompanied by an eerie whistling noise that echoed through the field.

Something reminiscent of a missile.

A figure that pierced down from the sky, shattering the ground below it with a booming explosion, causing a massive shockwave to burst out.

It was an overwhelming force that hammered down the field.

A minute of trembling for everyone seemed almost like an eternity. The vibrations themselves traveled up Ichika's legs and shook his bodies to the core. At that moment, all they could do was to stare at something that they couldn't tear their eyes from.

 Its imposing intimidation in stature would forever be burned into their memories.

It was a mech IS, one that greatly resembled Zora's Solar Askatsuki. Though, this one were mostly white with red, blue, and black accents. A powerful knight straight from the Heavens.

To say everyone was shocked, would a HUGE understatement. It was one thing for a legendary pilot to be teaching at their school, it was another to see his powerful IS up close.

"N-No way..."

 "That IS...."

 "Is that the White Gale!?"

"That's the first Mecha IS! It's said to rival any of the IS in existence."

 "It looks like Ukashi's!" 

That what was going around the entire class as they gaped in shock.

 "Wait, then that means..." Zora gained a dreaded look. "Ah crap!"

 The face of Sky Freedom then slid up, revealing Arthias' face with a smirk. "I am here. To fight."

Rin and Ceceilia turn pale white as the realization hit them hard. "W-We're up against Arthias/ Mr. Yamato!?" 

"You're gonna have to work together, girls. If you want to win."

The two girls turned visibly pensive upon hearing that they'll be fighting not just an instructor, but arguably the strongest pilot that could even compete with Chifuyu herself. The resulting proclamation also caused the other students to start gossiping with each other.

Arthias looked upon Chifuyu with some measure of consternation. As much as he enjoyed a good spar, he really didn't want to stand out again, seeing as he hadn't been doing much to lay low in the academy and he's been quite the unwanted attention.

"Do I really need to do this? I think Yamada could do this."

Chifuyu smirked. "Consider this a freebie. You seemed to like piloting that machine of yours, so here's your chance to have fun. Don't use anything too powerful in your arsenal. I want to demonstrate, not showing them a beatdown."

"Alright then. That being said, clearly the idea of fighting me has given them cold feet." Arthias said, gesturing to the nervous expressions of the students.

"So why not give them a handicap?"

"That could work....But I think I have something more interesting in mind." Arthias replied with a smirk before looking over at the class. "Well then, looks like you guys are in need of incentive! So what say we play a little game?" He said. 

 "A game?" A female student asked. 

 'Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden?' Zora and Ichika thought in unison as they suddenly felt a chill down their backs. 

 Then, with a shit-eating grin on his face, Arthias issued his challenge."The first person to land a hit on me gets to have Zora and Ichika to themselves for a week! In addition, whoever manages to shoot me down gets my blessing to date either of them!"

...

...

...

"EEEEEEHHHHH!!!?" The class exclaimed at what they just heard.

"WHAT!?" Zora, Ichika, Rin, Ceceilia and even Houki shouted in shock.

"Oh mon." Charles said.

"Zora and Ichika to ourselves..."

"Zora and Ichika dating rights..."

Zora and Ichika then noticed that all the girls had whipped their heads around to look at them. Making the boys freeze from the looks. The female population stared at them with intense looks that could only be described as having determination and lust in them.

"... We're boned," Zora mumbled with a drop of sweat rolling down his temple.

Chifuyu gave Arthias a deadpan gaze. "Really, as if they weren't idiotic enough."

"You gave me a chance to use my IS. Might as well make the most of it." Arthias replied with a shrug.

"Very well, then" Ceceilia said, determination in her voice. "I shall accept your offer!"Rin stepped up with narrowed eyes. "Same here. You may be a big shot, Arthias. But I'm not gonna go down without a fight."

"Then by all means....Thrill me." Arthias replied, making a "come at me" gesture at the end.

"Rest assured, you will lose easily," said Chifuyu, making them frown a bit. "Now then, begin!"

Cecelia activated Blue Tears with Ling doing the same with Shenlong before ascending into the air along with Arthias in his Sky Freedom as everyone watched from the ground in anticipation for the upcoming practice battle.

"Zora, do you think Rin and Ceceilia have a chance?" asked Ichika.

"Why don't you ask me?" asked Houki fuming.

"Well... because Zora had a clearer idea on how Arthias fights than anyone is class." said Ichika.

"I have no idea." said Zora narrowing his eyes. "Considering the fact that I haven't seen those two fight together before."

"I won't be holding back," said Cecelia.

"Same could be said for me," Rin said.

"Show me," Arthias responded with absolute focus.

Cecelia swung into action as she deployed her bits which flew towards Arthias while firing along the way, Arthias skillfully darted from left to right to evade the oncoming shots but made no move to attack as he took a glance at Rin who was aiming her Impact Cannons and fired as well before using the shield attachment to partially defend against the incoming shots.

Meanwhile the others on the ground watched the ongoing battle attentively while everyone except Chifuyu and Zora, were still surprised to see Maya fight so expertly.

"Whoa, she's pretty good at piloting an IS," thought Naruto.

Chifuyu then spoke up "Ukashi, make a commentary on the IS Yamato is using,"

"Sure thing. The Sky Freedom is an Extremely High-Mobility Suit that emphasizes speed and maneuverability over its armor's defensive capabilities. As such, it has lighter Armour compared to other IS of its generation. My Solar Akatsuki was apparently based off of it, along with several others. On top of that, it's capable of reaching speeds of Mach 10 and beyond, thus requiring more than the average pilot to wield it. In other words, it's an unbelievably impressive complement of weaponry. An absolute death machine." Zora explained.

They looked up to see Arthias draw a pair of purple colored beam sabers called, "Super Lacerta" to deflect fire from Cecelia, he immediately turned to the side to block a slash from Ling who wielded her Souten Gagetsu in dual mode. After clashing with the girl for a few moments, Arthias suddenly knocked Rin back and quickly ascended right as a blue projectile struck Rin by mistake, turns out the shot came from Cecelia with her Blue Pierce laser rifle who looked surprised.

"Watch where you're shooting!" Ling shouted angrily.

"Well you should have kept her still for a few more seconds!" Cecelia retorted.

She would have said more had her systems not alerted her of incoming strikes from Arthias and took evasive maneuvers...however she ended up crashing into Ling who was moving into position for another attack. Arthias then flew above them while swapping the beam sabers...for a railgun was he took aim and fired a red beam of energy. The girls could only look up in shock before the blast slammed in to them and exploded before crashing into the ground.

"How could I have lost?" said Cecelia in disbelief.

"You were having your evasive movements predicted by her so easily!" said Rin.

"Same could be said for you too!"

Arthias was then seen slowly landed on the ground, before calling off the Sky Freedom. "KO." He chuckled.

"Yamato was an IS Representative for America in the past." said Chifuyu looking at the students. "This will teach you not to disrespect you your teachers." said Chifuyu before turning towards Zora. "Ukashi, tell me what the reason why Alcott and Huang lost despite using a much more advance IS."

Zora looked at the others who are looking at him before facing Chifuyu.

"Want me to keep it 200?" asked Zora.

"Go ahead." said Chifuyu. 'This could be interesting.'

"Fine. It's simple," The orangette said. "They lack coordination between themselves and they were using a very armature tactics to go against Art- uh, Yamato."

"Armature tactics?" asked Cecilia and Rin at the same time annoyed.

"You both charged in guns blazing." said Zora looking at Rin and Cecilia. "Useful in a target rich environment but useless against one highly-skilled foe."

"Correct. Now, for the first phase of your practical training, you'll form teams. Those who have Personal Units will be the team leaders. The five of you will be demonstrating and teaching basic combat maneuvers with melee or ranged weapons, depending on the provided IS. That's it, so get forming, already!" Chifuyu ordered. It was still beyond Zora how she managed to sound so irritated so often.

However, those thoughts fell by the wayside as approximately 2.7 gaggles of girls surrounded him, shouting out different yet ever-similar variations of the phrase 'pick me'.

Zora shrugged and sniffed as the IS units they'd be using were wheeled out onto the arena floor. Charles' and Cecilia's groups had Rafale Revives, while his, Rin's and Ichika' had the commonplace Uchigane. They each came with an attendance list for both classes.

"Okay," Zora said, walking over to the unit and detaching it from the cart, "Here's our IS. Just so I can get a look at this, how many of you have flown at least once since the entrance exam?"

About seven or eight of the seventeen girls raised their hands. "Okay, great" Zora said, "That's an amount we can work with."

He yanked down a lever and the harness that held the IS in transport mode fell away. He kicked it back to the cart as the boots and wings moved away from the torso unit and the skirt snapped into place.

"So, let's start with some basics just to get you guys warmed up. In order of your attendance numbers, I want you to put on the IS, activate it and walk forward a ways," Zora stood akimbo and smiled at them, "Got it?"

They gave their affirmatives.

"So, who's first..."

He looked down at the attendance list but scarcely caught a glimpse of it before a Japanese girl screamed," Me! Me! I'm Kiyoka Aikawa, and I'm on the handball team! My hobbies include watching sports and jogging!" she bowed and held out a hand to shake, "Nice to meet you!"

Zora quirked an eyebrow. "We have a handball team?"

Oh, sure, Zora. That's what you take away from that.

Next thing he knew, the rest of them had there hands out too. He glanced over at Charles and saw he was in pretty much the same predicament as him and Ichika.

Zora chuckled. "Welcome to the man meat grinder, Charlie."

He tried to ignore them and, much to their irritation and Aikawa's joy, focus on her.

"I assume you know that normally there's a machine that helps you put an IS on, right?"

"Yes!"

"Well," Zora said, "We obviously don't have one here, so you'll need to assemble it manually. There should be a mental connection when you touch an unlinked IS."

She touched the Uchigane and her eyes visibly widened. "Wow..." she muttered, "This is so different from normal..."

"Yeah, it is. Anyway, imagine a latch unlocking and the unit should open."

The boots hissed as they split, and the torso unit slid sideways. On Zora's urging, Aikawa mounted.

"Okay, now lean back into the torso and extend your fingers."

A minute later, Aikawa was standing clad in the Uchigane, looking like she was about to fall over.

"You stable?" He asked, my gauntlets deployed so I could catch her.

"Yeah," she replied, standing up straight. "Phew, I was so nervous. Thanks for teaching me Ukashi."

"Sure thing, keep on practicing and you'll be doing it with your eyes closed," said Zora with a toothy grin, making the girls around him blush. He glanced to the side and saw Ichika in Byakushiki holding a blushing Houki in a bridal carry to the cockpit of the Uchigane, then looked over to see Rin and Ceceilia glaring with envy smirking.

"I bet a hundred bucks that he's doing it with no romantic intentions," He told himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Afterwards everyone returned to the academy and changed back into their uniforms while Zora  was walking to the cafeteria when he heard a call from behind.

"Zora!"

He turned to see Cecelia quickly walking up to them with her hands behind her back.

"Cecelia, what's up?" asked Zora curiously.

"Erm you see...I happened to wake up early this morning and prepared lunch but I ended up making too much. So I hoping to invite you to the roof to eat with me," said Cecelia holding out a picnic basket from behind.

"Really? Sure, sounds good," Zora said with a smile.

"That's wonderful, let us be on our way," Cecelia smiled back.

They made their way upstairs to the rooftop, but when they opened the door, Cecelia's smile turned into a frown with what they're seeing. Turns out that someone was already there and it happened to be Ichika, Charles, Houki and Rin, thought it was noted that Houki wasn't pleased either and it's didn't have anything to do with their arrival.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Zora asked.

"Houki had invited me to the roof for lunch, but then I thought it would be better if we all eat together and was about to call you and Cecelia over," said Ichika.

The orangette had a deadpanned look on their face at how dense the guy was as it was so obvious that Houki was inviting just him and not anyone else.

"Well since we're here, might as well join them yea?" said Zora.

"If you say so," said Cecelia with a pout.

They walked towards the group and settled on the grass next to them, with everyone with the exception of Zora, Ichika and Charles opening their lunches. Rin had Sweet and Sour Pork, Cecelia's was sandwiches of different fillings and Houki's was a bento.

"Why don't try one Zora? This will show you that there are delicious thing in England too," Cecelia held the basket out to Zora.

"Meh, why not?" Zora reached out and picked a sandwich before taking a bite. Suddenly his tongue was assaulted by a taste which was anything but pleasant "Oh God, wha-what's this?! The texture's normal but the taste...I can describe it!"

"So how's the taste, is it good?" asked Cecelia curiously.

Zora's complexion had turned purple and was currently sweating as he forcibly swallowed the bite before smiling nervously.

"Words fail me when I try to describe the taste," The orangette neither telling a lie nor the truth.

"Really, then perhaps you would care for another," Cecelia said.

"Maybe later..." Zora told her with a sweatdrop.

Meanwhile Houki had offered a bit of her bento to Ichika who willingly complied before helping himself to a piece of chicken and taking a bite.

"Wow, this taste delicious! This must have involved lots of work," said Ichika.

Houki smiled brightly at his praise "Its flavoring is ginger, soy sauce, grated garlic, and I mixed in some pepper before frying. And to add a little bit more flavor, I also added a hint of grated radish."

"That explains the great taste," said Ichika.

Rin frowned at the exchange and was about to butt in when she glanced to the side and noticed Naruto looking at the sandwich with discomfort and at how Cecelia was smiling and felt even more annoyed before approaching them.

"Hey Simba, wanna have a bite of my sweet and sour pork?" asked Rin.

"Really?" asked Zora while Cecelia frowned at her. "I

"Yeah you treated me to a meal before, so now it's my turn. So give it a try," Rin held out a pair of chopsticks to the orangette.

'Zora cooked for her? Since when? I can't fall behind!" thought Cecelia.

"Awesome," Zora took the chopsticks and used them took pick a piece before putting in his mouth and ate it "Whoa this taste pretty good, and thankfully overwrote the previous taste,"

"Thanks, I did tell you that I worked in my father's restaurant after all," Ling smiled smugly at a frowning Cecelia.

"It's nice to see that you're all getting along so well," said Charles.

"Well we're all friends here," said Ichika with a smile.

"That's pretty much it," said Zora in agreement.

After school, Chifuyu revealed that Charles will be Zora's roommate given that he has an extra bed and Ichika is still having Houki as a roommate with the rooms not being ready yet.

At the moment Zora wearing a t-shirt and shorts is treating Charles who is wearing a tracksuit to a cup of green tea.

"I've never this kind of tea before, but it's very soothing," said Charles.

"First time for everything, even new food," Zora said taking a sip of the green tea.

"I heard that you and Ichika do IS training after school," said Charles.

"That's right, and normally the girls would join in," Zora said.

"Then can I join in? I have a personal machine too, and I hope to learn a bit from you,"

"Sure you can, I don't mind and I'm sure the others won't either,"

"Merci, you can count on me."

XXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, everyone was in class when Maya arrived to say something quite surprising.

"Umm...I have a happy announcement again today, our class will be joined with a new friend," said Maya before gesturing to the student now standing before them.

She is a girl with long silver hair, a red right eye and a black eye patch on her right eye. She wears a modified version of the academy's uniform which is a pair of baggy pants and black jockey boots.

"This is Laura Bodewig, a transfer student from Germany,"

"What's going on?" murmured one of the girls.

"Transfer students, two days in a row?" whispered another.

"It's kinda strange no matter how you look at it,"

"Everyone please be quiet, we haven't finished introducing her yet," Arthias said.

"Say your greetings, Laura," said Chifuyu.

"Yes instructor!" said Laura.

This made Zora quirk an eyebrow in curiosity "Instructor? Could it be that they met before?"

"That might be so," said Kurami.

"My name is Laura Bodewig," said Laura

.

.

.

"Ummm...is that it?" asked Maya confusedly.

"That's all," Laura glanced at Ichika and immediately frowned upon seeing Ichika and approached him "So it's you,"

"Huh?" Ichika was confused for a moment, before Laura pulled her hand back and delievered a hard back hand to the boy...

...At least that's what would've happened.

Faster than what anyone could see, Zora shot up from his desk and grabbed a hold of the girl's arm in a vice grip. She turned to look at him, only to be met with a angry look.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

(Ending Theme - Fly Away)

https://youtu.be/l0W8aAoVjME

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annnnnd done! Looks like another male IS user has joined the academy and we have another transfer student who has it out for a confused Ichika, is Zora going to simply stand by and watch or is he going to butt in to help a friend? Stick around to find out.

Remember to leave a review or PM me your thoughts.

See ya!!!