Infinite Stratos - Volume 1 Read online

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  CHOCO

  Chapter 1: All my Classmates are Female

  "Everyone's here, right? Then let's start the SHR (student homeroom meeting)--"

  The vice homeroom teacher, Yamada Maya-sensei, who introduced herself before, stood in front of the blackboard as she earnestly smiled at everyone.

  She has a petite figure, and doesn't look any different than a student. However, wearing clothes that didn't quite match her body made her look even more petite. And it looked ever more out of place with her large olive green eyes, behind her hazy glasses.

  How should I say it? Instead of saying that it was a disproportionate sense of 'a kid wearing adult clothes'...it was more like a kid being forced into adult clothes and it seemed that I wasn't the only one thinking like this.

  "Then everyone, let's get along with each other over the next year~"

  "......"

  However, the classroom was filled with an awkward mood, nobody reacted.

  "Now, let's move on to self-introductions. Mm, we'll go by seating arrangements."

  Even though I thought that the vice homeroom teacher was a little cute when she panicked, that didn't stir me with a 'I feel that I've got to do something' kind of state of mind, because unfortunately, I had no time for that.

  If you want to know why,

  The reason is simple: excluding me, everyone in the class is a girl.

  Today is the high school entrance ceremony, and for the first day, a new world opened up. That itself was good, something worth being happy about.

  However, the primary problem is that I'm the only boy.

  (This... is a lot more serious than I thought...)

  It wasn't just me over-thinking it, but in fact, I really could feel the gazes of all the girls in my class.

  Besides, my seat isn't preferable. Why was I placed right in the front middle row of the class? My extremely unmistakeable upper body continued to be noticed even though I didn't want it to.

  My eyes turned toward the windows.

  "..."

  Though I sent a pleading look, the sad thing is that my childhood friend, Shinonono Houki turned her head away irritably, pretending to look outside. Such a cold reaction. Is this the attitude that a childhood friend should show after being separated for 6 years? No... Does she completely hate me now?

  "...san, Orimura Ichika-San."

  "Ye-yes!?"

  Suddenly having my name called out, I subconsciously responded. As expected, there were snickers, and it was difficult to stay calm.

  Even though it's not like I'm bad at handling girls, there's always a limit. It's similar to liking ramen and letting it be the main course, I'd get sick of it in less than 3 days. Sigh, I don't know. Besides, I never liked ramen to that extent...eh, I shouldn't be thinking about that now.

  Anyway, I'm the only boy in the class, there are 29 other female students in this class, and the assistant homeroom teacher is a female as well. As for the homeroom teacher...I don't know, but he or she is likely to be a female as well. It seems that she hasn't arrived yet. What is she doing now?

  "W-well, I'm sorry for calling you out so loudly. Did I startle you? Sorry-sorry! But, the self-introductions... we started from 'あ' (a) , and now we're at 'お (o)' for Orimura-san now. So, pl-please, could you introduce yourself? Co-could you?"

  The vice homeroom teacher, Yamada Maya-sensei, bowed politely. However, the bowing caused her spectacles to slide forward. And her air of 'anything goes' really worried me. Speaking of which, is she really older than me? If it was said that she's as old as me, I could believe that.

  "No, there's no need to apologize... besides, it's just a self-introduction, so please calm down, sensei."

  "Re-really? Really? Really? Yo-You said it, so you better do it properly, okay?!"

  Yamada-sensei suddenly looked up and grabbed my hand, and held it really tightly... well, it seems I just attracted quite a bit of attention again.

  However, since I said it, as a man, I can't get out of it. And the most important thing is that once I form a crack here, I have to face this awkward environment again (TN: Most likely, human interaction).

  I stood up and turned to face the class.

  Uu...

  At first, I just thought that I sensed them staring at my back, but now I could definitely feel their gazes piercing through me from the front. Anyway, even Houki, who had abandoned me, glanced over. As expected, even I, who is self-admittedly rather capable of handling girls, am fearful. Even if I like curry—no, I must stay focused.

  "Hm-... Well, I'm Orimura Ichika. I'll be in your care."

  After I bowed courteously—wait a second? The expressions on my classmates' faces seemed to generate a weird feeling, almost as if they were thinking, 'say something more' and 'it can't be just this, right?'.

  It's impossible for me to rattle on about myself. It's not that I'm uninteresting, but I don't want everyone to hear it. Besides, isn't it more troublesome to talk about ones' interests right from the beginning? I'll scare them if I suddenly talk about 'planting and grafting cacti!', right? On a side note, I'm not actually interested in planting and grafting cacti. I just thought I'd mention it as a word of caution.

  "..."

  I could feel the sweat trickling down my back. What should I do? What should I say?

  Speaking of which, why am I here?

  --

  "Uu—so cold..."

  In the middle of February, I, as a third-year, was heading towards the examination center.

  "If I only want to get into the high school nearest my house, why must I go to a place that's four stops away from it...and today is so cold..."

  Due to a cheating case last year, the government would only divulge the location of each school's entrance exams 2 days before the actual examination took place. Though I felt that it was completely excessive, as you can imagine. I was only a third-year at the time. Besides, what could I say? Basically, I could only think about my bitterness as I grudgingly headed towards the examination center.

  My ideal school was the Aoetsu Private School that was situated near my house, a school that was an average standard in education, and also had a school festival.

  If there's any special advantage that's worth mentioning, it is that the private school's fees are extremely inexpensive. Exceptionally inexpensive.

  Why? That's simple. This is because 90% of all the graduates of this school are employed in jobs related to this school's corporation.

  Even if it wasn't like the employment freeze, it's something worth being happy about when you can be taken care of right after your graduation.

  And there are so many wonderful jobs out there, and besides, they're all localized. There's no need to worry about flying to a different rural place every other day. Really quite wonderful.

  "And in the end, I still want to get away from Chifuyu-nee's care..."

  As for my house, a few things happened. My parents are no longer around, and though my older sister, who's a lot older than me, has taken care of me for quite a while, I've always felt inferior to others for having no parents.

  Tough, even though we are not destitute since Chifuyu-nee's earnings are good, I'd still feel bad if I continue to be a burden to her.

  At first, I thought of working immediately after graduating from middle school, but due to my big sister's overwhelming strength -—- or we could say gentle persuasion --— I couldn't overcome th
em, so until then, I was still an examinee.

  However, getting into Aoetsu Private School was like finding a job. At the same time, I could reduce the burden I've placed on Chifuyu-nee. But, it wasn't really about reducing the burden I placed on her,... it's just that I wanted to do it.

  "...Let's just say that I accept what happened before."

  Thanks to a year of cramming, I was designated a grade A student. As usual, I went about taking exams, and as usual, I was accepted as per normal, so I wasn't nervous when I walked into the examinations area. Though I knew the name of the examination facility, I didn't exactly know the location, and such a common public facility has many functions. Though it is rare for a private firm to borrow from the public sector, those are all regional enterprises, and many obey it exclusively.

  "Hm... Weird, now how do I get to the second floor?"

  Not good, I'm lost. Speaking of which, why must this facility be constructed in such a confusing manner? Seems like it was constructed by some designer with a rather good background. Also, that person should be born from some localized industry.

  "But what's with this 'I'm too fancy to design this with some semblance of order', feeling about the place ... and, where are the stairs?... " Seriously, to call this place a maze would be an understatement. It's difficult to understand why there aren't any maps on the walls. Glass tiles on the walls in the corridor lowers air conditioning efficiency, right? And wouldn't it be dangerous to set up tiles on those walls if there's an earthquake and thus render them pointless? Wouldn't those lights that are positioned beside one another use quite a lot of electricity? Besides, wouldn't changing them be extremely difficult? Why is the roof so pointlessly high? Hm...

  "..."

  A third year already and yet I was lost—no, this is just too embarrassing.

  "Never mind, I'll open the next door I see. It'll probably be the right one."

  Ah, it's so nice to have a door over here. Shall I open it?

  "Ah—you are an examinee, correct? Alright, head over to the opposite side and change. We're in a rush here. We can only borrow it up till 4 o'clock, and we can't have any extensions. Really, I don't know what the government is thinking here..."

  The moment I walked in, a 30-something, psychotic looking female teacher started to rattle on. However, she really looked busy, or maybe because she was busy or because she lacked judgment —or both—, she gave me step-by-step instructions without even looking at me before she walked away.

  (Change clothes? Hm, do we have to change clothes during an exam nowadays? Ahh, the things they think up to handle cheating, no matter which school it is.)

  Once I pulled aside the curtain, I found something mysterious behind it.

  How should I put it? It was something like a 'medieval armor placed inside a castle'. Also, it was kneeling down on one leg, as if it was swearing loyalty to its master.

  In stark contrast to medieval armor, only minor parts were well protected, and probably no one would find such protection acceptable. Anyway, putting that thing over there would make anyone wonder 'what the heck is going on'.

  It has the shape of a human, almost as if it were silently waiting for its user to arrive.

  —I know what this is, it's an 'IS'.

  The actual name is 'Infinite Stratos'. It was originally created as a multipurpose power suit for space operations.

  However, its development did not go as the creator had originally intended, but ended up being modified by the other mechanic specialists involved, into a 'war machine'. However, all the other countries designated it as a 'Sport' —a so called high performance— flying device.

  The fatal flaw of the 'IS' is that this machine will only react to females.

  Thus, right now, the thing in front of me was like a dummy in a windowed cupboard. It didn't do anything, nor will it do anything. It's just an object.

  —Thinking about this, I touched it.

  "Hm!?"

  Ting! A sound of metal echoed in my mind.

  Next, all sorts of information appeared in my consciousness. In just a few seconds, all the things that one wants to know yet is unable to know appeared in front of me. The basic movements of the 'IS', operation method, capabilities, characteristics, existing equipment, active time limit, movement range, sensitivity, radar search, armor residue, output gauge, and so on...

  As if I had used it for years, as if it was a technique that I refined, I understood everything about it, and mastered it.

  The vision was also linked to the sensors, the numbers directly appearing in my mind. I could also feel the information of my surroundings through numbers.

  "What, what's going on...?"

  It moved. The 'IS'. Like my own hands and feet.

  I felt something expanding over my skin-mucosal armor extended... over.

  My body suddenly felt light, and I felt as if I were floating—jets operation normal... confirmed.

  While my right hand felt increasingly heavy, a weapon started to form out of light, a close-range combat knife... extend.

  I felt chilly about this sudden increase in knowledge of the world, ultra-aware components in the most comfortable way... complete.

  I understood everything about what it does. Despite not having known it, despite not having ever learned about it, I understood.

  And the world that I saw through the data of the 'IS' was like—

  --

  "..."

  —Hm~

  Let's confirm the situation again. Today's officially my first day in High School, and I'm currently doing a self-introduction. In front of me are 29 girls, and behind me, it seems like Yamada-sensei is about to cry...oh yeah, Yamada-sensei's name is easy to remember. From up to down, it can be read as 'Ya Ma Da Ma Ya' (ヤマダマヤ). Hm, nice name, it's easy to remember. Anyway, enough small talk.

  And yet, my self-introduction hasn't ended. The girls are giving me looks of 'tell us more about yourself!'.

  Hey, Houki, aren't you going to give me a hand as a childhood friend?—Ah, she's ignoring me again? So heartless. How about that touching reunion scene again? Even though it never happened.

  (Not good. This is bad. If I remain silent like this, I'll end up being branded a 'sinister individual'.)

  I held my breath before inhaling deeply, looking determined as I said,

  "That's all."

  DANG~! Several girls collapsed onto the floor. What were they expecting from me? Stop spouting nonsense.

  "That, that..."

  Behind me, I could hear a voice crying. Eh? This won't do?

  PANG! I got knocked on the back of my head.

  "OW—!?"

  It hurt, but compared to this, something even more important flashed through my head.

  This way of hitting — with suitable force, perfect angle, acceptable speed, someone — though it's extremely similar to someone else's method that I'm familiar with, but...

  "..."

  I gingerly turned around. Black tight fitting skirt, tall and slim, the body line of someone who doesn't look muscular even after lots of training. Her hands folded in front of her chest, her sharp slim phoenix eyes would remind anyone of wolves.

  "Eh, Guan Yu!?"

  PANG! There goes another hit. The impact was quite hard, well, look, all the girls are staring.

  "Who's a hero in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Idiot?"

  A deep voice. Though I have heard the sound effect of a gong, but, eh?

  —No, wait, hold on hold on hold on. Why is Chifuyu-nee here? That sister of mine whose job I don't even know about, my own sister who couldn't even make it back home once or twice per month.

  "Ah, Orimura-sensei, is the meeting over?"

  —This little argument would only end badly. In the end, our connection as siblings was revealed.

  "Ah, Yamada-sensei. It's been tough on you, forcing you to make them introduce themselves."

  Oh, I've never heard her use such a gentle tone before. Where did Guan Yun Chang go? Did he ride
the Red Hare Horse away and change into Liu Bei?

  "No, it's nothing. As the assistant homeroom teacher, if I can't even do that..."

  The crying disappeared, as vice homeroom teacher Yamada-sensei responded to Chifuyu-nee with such an energetic voice and an attentive look. Ah, she's actually embarrassed.

  "Everyone, my name is Orimura Chifuyu, and my duty is that for this one year, I'll be training you in the operations and controls of IS. Everything I teach, you have to remember, and understand. To those who can't understand, I'll teach them till they can. My job is to thoroughly train you during your first year, from the age of 15 to 16. You can dislike my attitude, but you still have to do what I say. Understood?"

  What's with this declaration of war? No mistake... this is my older sister, Orimura Chifuyu.

  But there weren't any awkward cries, but shrieks,

  "KYAAA—! It's Chifuyu-sama, it's the real Chifuyu-sama herself!"

  "I've always been your fan!"

  "I came to this school from North Kyuushuu because I admired you, onee-sama!"

  "I came all the way from southern Hokkaido!"

  "I'm so happy to be taught by Chifuyu-sama!"

  "I'll gladly die for Chifuyu-sama!"

  Chifuyu-nee stared at the chattering girls with a disheartened expression.

  "...it's really quite a sight to see so many idiots gather here every year. What a surprise? Or is there a special reason? Are these fools only here to attend my class?"

  It's not an act, Chifuyu-nee really is disappointed. Chifuyu-nee, popularity can't be bought you know? How about you be a bit gentler?

  I was too naive in thinking this, as sweet as the sweet wine of the Misaka Shrine (that's just sugar water), as sweet as the Gotanda Canteen's pumpkin. Maybe not Tianjin's sweet chestnuts—sweet but not to the extent that I can write something about it, or something like that.