-Authorization: 22V-1a-12L-18R-1a-22V-14n

Platform Status: Partially Inactive...Recovering

Cause of Error: High Speed Impact

Combat Efficiency: 36%

Initiating System Diagnostic...

-HUD: Offline... repairing

-Target Acquisition: Offline

-Primary Weapons: Offline

-Secondary Weapons: Offline

-Tertiary Weapons: Online

-Life Support: Online

-Energy Shield: Offline...Regenerating

-Thrusters: Offline...

With no alternative available, Church scanned the neon green diagnostic text scrolling down his now dark field of vision, the fracture in his disabled visor all too noticeable. He really hoped nobody here felt like fighting now that he had smashed a fairly sizable ragged hole in one of their buildings. With only tertiary firepower available and no shields, not to mention the lack of flight capabilities, he probably wouldn't even survive against one of those low-level Uchigane training I.S., never mind a specialized unit.

Of course, hopefully it wouldn't be all that hard to explain that he was friendly and that he had permission to be there, but you never knew when some hothead would jump the gun.

Luckily for him, Exeter was installed with its own cache of self-repair nanobots. They were already repairing the extensive damage to the suit, starting with the most important thing: his vision. You can't dodge what you can't see, especially when it came to lasers and large caliber rounds. The funny thing was that the aforementioned nanobots also constructed more nanobots, so he never ran out of the little mechanical wonders that repaired his armor. When Church had asked where these nanobots got more material to construct new things, Marcus had simply told him it was the same deal as his conventional ammunition.

'Something something Hyperspace Arsenal.' Same science that I.S. used for their conventional ammunition.

Church dispelled his wandering thoughts as his HUD reactivated, allowing him to see the destruction he had wrought on the unfortunate Academy building, which he now realized was a recreational gym. The damage was both better and worse than he had expected; on one hand, none of the gym's support beams had collapsed, and the whole ceiling was still where it should be. But on the other, he had completely shattered the wall and floor he had impacted, and debris, both large and small, was scattered around the large interior.

The recovering pilot shifted his gaze to the rest of the gym, looking for anything else important he should notice. He couldn't see any dead people, which was good. In fact, the whole gym was almost completely deserted, minus two girls that had been playing on a tennis court, which was thankfully at the far end of the room. The two of them were gawking at him quite peculiarly, although that was to be expected, considering that he just flew through a wall at a few hundred miles an hour with a metal suit of high-tech armor no one had ever seen before.

He also noticed one of the things that made this Academy so famous: diversity. The two girls on the court were certainly not Japanese. One he could easily recognize as Hispanic, while the other was obviously Caucasian, although he couldn't discern exactly which ethnicity she was. It actually kind of worried the Umbra Stratum operative. While Cerberus was probably right in that Japan would be unlikely to formally accuse the U.S. of subterfuge since it would also bring their violation of the Alaska Treaty to light, the fact remained that they could. And if that happened, it was possible that many, many countries that still had I.S. would be angry with the United States, which didn't have any. It wasn't a particularly enticing thought.

He turned his gaze from the girls at the tennis court and back to the hole he had made in the concrete and steel wall behind him, which was about three meters across. Could have been worse, he supposed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a now familiar mechanical voice in his head, though it was unusually cheery.

Operator A2? Oh, I am so glad that you are not discontinued! Such a tragedy would have been horrible, wouldn't you say?

Church replied with generally less enthusiasm. "I do prefer to think that my death would be tragic, yes."

The unseen AI responded in a neutral shift that was kind of jarring after the initial enthusiasm. At least there was no reminder about mental communication this time.

Indeed. Regardless, I suggest you check on that organism you rescued. She seems to be bleeding severely, and has acquired quite a few bone fractures. Your field-medical gel and insulation foam should stabilize her condition until proper medical care is provided, if you act quickly.

At the mention of it, Church berated himself for not immediately checking on the safety of the girl he had rescued, which should have been top priority. He rose from the rubble around him as swiftly as possible, which was a little slower than usual considering how sore he was, and walked towards the hole he had made to appraise the situation outside. Thankfully, spotting the tree he had deposited the falling girl into was not hard to do.

He spotted a little bundle of white clothes and brown hair at the foot of the tree, prompting the American operative to run towards the location as fast as possible. Cerberus did say 'if you act quickly', after all.

As he reached the small girl, Church was truly grateful for the very well-rounded military training he had endured during his tenure with Umbra Stratum, which included some degree of field medicine. Seemingly useless for an aerial combat unit, but Exeter had initially been an infantry power suit, and you never knew when you yourself would be injured on the field. If you did get injured and the suit's automatic treatment suite couldn't tend to you, being able to do it yourself was a crucial skill.

Analyzing the girl he was here to treat, who was on her back in a crumpled position, Church briefly noted that she was quite cute, mostly on reflex. But the errant thought was quickly superseded by a serious treatment plan that started with the activation of X-ray in his visor, which was thankfully functional at this point in the repairs. Moving the girl would be bad if he didn't know the extent of her injuries. As best as he could tell, there were three cracked ribs and four broken, and he had no doubt there were plenty of bruises to speak of. Her arms were in bad shape too: the left had come out with only some minor hairline fractures, but the right was sporting a more serious break in the forearm.

Well, he hadn't exactly expected her to come out of the situation too well off. That said, this was actually pretty good considering the severity of the situation she'd been in.

Church deactivated the X-ray and examined the girl's skin instead. Multiple minor and a few major lacerations covered what skin he could see. He readied two different injections, one a bio-foam that would immobilize the patient's fractured bones, and the other a relatively new medical gel that would effectively staunch the bleeding of all of her flesh wounds. Of course, Church had to make sure he attended to all of her injuries, so he knew he had no choice but to invade the girl's privacy and remove her now blood-stained clothes. Taking the current situation into account, the American pilot did so without hesitation, although under normal circumstances he would have been quite flustered.

He couldn't help but examine her even as he began administering the two medical substances to any necessary location. Of course, with her body in such a terrible state, this analysis was almost entirely devoid of anything unprofessional. It was hard to think anything out of line when the girl you were looking at was covered in both bruises and bloody gashes. The last thing on his mind was her sex appeal in this situation. He just wanted to do his best to stabilize her condition until something better could be done.

This mostly involved turning the X-ray back on again, and sticking needles in the right places to inject the substances that needed to be injected. Preventing her bone fractures from getting any worse was crucial. Medical science had come a long way over the past few years, but that didn't mean it could cure all ills: Church had to minimize the damage as much as possible at this point.

Church's concentration on his work was broken by a somewhat concerned alert from Cerberus.

Two threats detected approaching at high speeds, Operator A2. ETA nine seconds.

With little desire to be caught in this situation, Church quickly finished his medical work and redressed the girl as fast as he could manage: he didn't want these people to get the absolute worst idea they possibly could. Finishing that, he turned one-eighty and faced two I.S. taking positions above him. He tried to identify the exact danger, but he only recognized one machine above him. One was the Blue Tears, a machine he had run several simulations against before. The other was an I.S. that was mostly legs with wings that appeared to be water. He hadn't seen that one before. Cerberus was quick to search for relevant data.

Identified: Generation Three I.S. Mysterious Lady, originally designated Moscow's Deep Mist. Current pilot, Russian I.S. Representative, Tatenashi Sarashiki.

I take it she's dangerous.

Considerably.

All things considered, Church didn't know how itchy the trigger fingers were on his potential foes, so he positioned his body in the best position he could to shield the girl behind him if people started shooting. That wasn't happening so far, but the pilots above him were pointing weapons at him.

The American operative rechecked his suit diagnostic, hoping that the self-repair nanobots had made some progress on his weapons, or the thrusters at the least. Unfortunately, his display only read 43% full capacity. A few secondary weapons were now restored, among them projectile rifles and machine guns, but there was nothing available that he could use to simultaneously battle two I.S., especially since he still couldn't fly.

Church addressed Cerberus anxiously as he eyed what could potentially be two different enemies as the tension of the situation made him revert to speaking aloud once again.

"All things considered, what are our options here, Cerberus?"

Perhaps it would be best to identify yourself, Operator A2? We are all allies here.

Having come to the same conclusion himself, Church tried and failed to determine exactly how much he was supposed to say in regards to 'identifying' himself to the people he was supposed to be deceiving.

----------------------------------------

Still inside the Academy, Chifuyu eyed the humanoid machine on the ground via the visuals provided by Tatenashi and Cecilia, who had been closest to the disturbance at the time it had occurred. Considering that he was wearing what was almost certainly the Exeter suit she had been informed of, this person was no doubt the American that had been sent here as a sign of friendship, though he had seemingly attacked the Academy upon arrival. And considering the hole in the gymnasium's wall, there wasn't really any evidence to suggest otherwise.

Having initially feared the worst, Chifuyu had been quick to send whoever was readily available to investigate the disturbance that was a tremendously loud crash on the campus. Unfortunately, most everyone had been out at lunch at the time, so the only people near Chifuyu at the moment had been Tatenashi, who she had been discussing something with, and Cecilia, who had been a few rooms away doing who knows what.

However, the person below them did not seem to be a real threat at the moment. His arms were raised in an inoffensive manner, and he didn't seem to be aggressive in any way. Not to mention that he was obviously shielding Rin from the firing lines of the I.S. above him as best he could. Naturally, Chifuyu had no idea how the Chinese girl had ended up in this situation at all.

Everything was actually pretty unclear at the moment, and Chifuyu didn't want anyone acting rashly without an understanding of what was going on. She knew she didn't have to worry about that with Tatenashi, who was the best student pilot in the school. But with Cecilia, she was still a bit of a loose cannon, especially when one of her friends had been potentially attacked. Still, Chifuyu was sure she at least had enough trigger discipline to avoid doing anything foolish. Admittedly, out of her group of peers, Cecilia was one of the most restrained in these situations.

Either way, the long-haired blond seemed stable enough for now, so Chifuyu instead activated an open comm channel that their mysterious visitor should have been able to hear. "Attention unidentified intruder: move away from the student and power down your equipment or we will be forced to engage."

Chifuyu watched as the figure stepped away from Rin and the armor he wore began collapsing from multiple points. The metal folded in upon itself, retreating towards some spot on his back, at which point it disappeared entirely. It wasn't entirely dissimilar to an I.S. deactivation. As the helm of the suit collapsed, the student pilots outside activated the magnification of their machines in order to get a better look at its operator. Revealed was an older boy, though he certainly seemed to be around the age of most of Chifuyu's students. Chocolate brown bangs framed eyes of oceanic blue, the latter filled with a guarded emotion Chifuyu couldn't guess at.

The elder Orimura could admit that he was attractive by conventional standards, but that really had no bearing on her analysis of the situation. It was just something in the back of her mind that she knew would cause an uproar with the girls in the school.

Since the situation still needed resolving, Chifuyu addressed their visitor once again, utilizing the open comm channel once more.

"You will be apprehended and brought inside the Academy for questioning. Comply peacefully and you will not be harmed. Is this understood?"

Assuming that he could be heard, the scheduled visitor answered pretty calmly for his situation.

"I understand."

"Good. Sarashiki, bring him to me. Alcott, take Huang to the infirmary immediately."

Both pilots gave affirmative answers in unison, taking to their tasks immediately. As for Chifuyu, she sighed as she reached for cup of coffee that she'd been enjoying before all of this had gone down. She'd been hoping that the new arrival would be a tame, unproblematic person. Thus far, such hopes had been utterly dashed.

----------------------------------------

With little desire to cause any further trouble, Church had offered no resistance when the pilot of the Mysterious Lady had come down to the ground and requested him to come along quietly. On one hand, he felt mildly indignant in being treated this way since he had just saved one of their own, but on the other, he understood their wariness. From their perspective, it wasn't clear that he had done anything for them. Hopefully that could be explained away when he had the chance to do that.

As it stood right now, his initial experience here at the I.S. Academy was not at all what he had been expecting. Being escorted through its halls by the Russian I.S. Representative made for a different experience than if he had been alone. Sure, he still had tons of students gawking at him as he was led through the institution, but they were forced to keep their distance. Whether this was because they knew he had caused trouble or because this Tatenashi girl gave off an air of 'don't get in the way,' Church was unsure.

It was hard to see said girl as threatening: she had only spoken a few words to Church thus far, but even in the aftermath of his problematic entrance, she'd sounded awfully upbeat, and she was also quite... smiley. At any rate, she had this easygoing smile on her face at all times. Considering those traits, she hardly seemed like someone dangerous.

But of course, she was Russia's I.S. Representative. Not a candidate for representative: she had already secured the position. That was a difficult position to acquire for any country, but Russia in particular had always been very picky about their pilots. Docile appearance aside, Church had no doubt that his cyan-haired escort was a force to be reckoned with. Thankfully, he had no intention of fighting her. At least, not at this exact moment.

Either way, she didn't say much to him as she led him through the halls, perhaps understanding the need to appear professional. After all, even if the rest of the student body only had a vague idea that Church had done something bad, it would seem weird for their student council president to be getting all friendly with him.

That was why the trip had gone by mostly in silence, excluding the many whispers and hushed gossip of the many students they passed by. Ultimately, said trip ended when they arrived at a classroom marked 1-1. Church had been confused on why he would be escorted to a classroom following such an incident, but the reason had been made obvious soon enough: there was someone important in there.

This person was Chifuyu Orimura, someone Church did know about simply by how important her existence was to this school and Infinite Stratos in general. Of course he had received information on her during the flight over, but even Church, removed from the world of I.S. as he was, knew of her simply through reputation. She'd easily won the first ever official international I.S. tournament, the Mondo Grosso. She'd very nearly won the second as well, but she'd forfeited for unknown reasons. That had been all over the news a few years back. Even Church hadn't been able to miss it, and he hadn't cared about Infinite Stratos at all at the time.

As far as the dossier on her current situation was concerned, she apparently taught students here at the Academy and had some sort of position on its administrative board. According to any public knowledge, she wasn't an I.S. pilot anymore, but that didn't mean she was someone to be trifled with. Reputation aside, she had a frightening stare.

The severe woman was leaning against a podium near the front of the classroom, watching him like a hawk. She didn't say anything to either him or Tatenashi, the latter closing the door to the classroom so there would be only privacy between the three of them. Why she, a student, was allowed to be present for this, Church had no idea.

Being a person who didn't like wasting time when there were things to do, Chifuyu didn't stay silent for long, though her arms remained crossed.

"Care to explain why there's a big hole in the wall of the gymnasium?"

Honestly, Church hadn't expected that to be the first question asked of him. He would have assumed identification was first, though maybe there was no questioning who he was. He had unique identifying factors, that being a robotic exoskeleton no one else in the world possessed.

"My sensors detected someone falling from a great height near the central tower. She wasn't reacting to the situation and there was no one around to catch her, other than me. Unfortunately, I was roughly a mile away at the time, so I had no choice but to accelerate to great speeds to catch her. There just wasn't enough distance left to slow down after saving her."

Chiufuyu sighed as she picked up a tablet next to her and analyzed the pieced together recordings of several exterior security cameras that had caught the incident in question on camera. It was a series of odd angles and only bits and pieces of the full debacle, but Chifuyu did see their visitor catching Rin very close to the ground, as well as his attempt to safely deposit her away from his impending crash. Having once been one of the best I.S. pilots in the world, it was very clear to her that smashing the wall of the gymnasium had truly been unavoidable. At the speed he'd been going, a full stop within a distance of a few hundred feet just wasn't possible. Even an inertial canceller wouldn't have had time to nullify all of that energy in that brief span of time.

"I knew Huang was one of the more troublesome of the bunch, but how on Earth did she manage to nearly fall to her death?"

From a position near the door, Tatenashi gave a response as she fanned herself with one of those little hand fans.

"She did seem to be in pretty bad shape these past few days. Maybe she passed out? Near an open window, I guess..."

It was clear even to Church that the dark-haired woman before him needed a drink. The expression on her face was telling enough.

"Of all the pathetic ways to nearly die as an I.S. pilot..."

Rubbing her forehead for a moment, Chifuyu ultimately set her hazel gaze back on Church.

"As for you, well... I suppose you deserve thanks for saving one of our own. You have mine, at the least."

Honestly Church hadn't expected that either. This woman's countenance was so sharp and severe, he'd half expected her to berate him for smashing a hole in one of the Academy's buildings while ignoring the fact that he had saved someone. He hadn't expected such earnest gratitude from her right off the bat. Maybe she was more reasonable than her intimidating presence suggested.

"Don't mention it. Any decent person in my position would have done the same thing."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Perhaps, but whether or not something should be morally expected of someone doesn't invalidate its worth. This time, it was you who did it, therefore you deserve the thanks. So, thank you for your efforts."

Before Church could attempt to graciously accept these most unexpected words, Chifuyu swiftly moved the conversation to the next important topic.

"Now, as far as identification goes... I can't imagine that you aren't who you say you are, seeing as how you must be the only person in the world that possesses an exosuit like yours, and you arrived roughly at the time you were scheduled to. On top of that, you look exactly like the person that I was informed would be coming. But even so, I'd be remiss not to ask a few questions for confirmation."

"I suppose that's fair."

Glancing at that pad again, Chifuyu picked out some information that could be used to confirm someone's identity, both serious and minor. Had to mix things up to keep people on their toes.

"Age?"

"17 and some change."

"Place of birth?"

"Bethesda, Maryland."

"How tall are you?"

Church paused for a second, wondering how that question helped with identifying him. Technically the things he was answering right now had answers any liar attempting to impersonate him would have known.

"Uh... 5'11?"

Chifuyu almost smirked, amused by something only she knew.

"5'10 and a half, actually. How much do you weigh?

"I don't really know. Like, 140 maybe?"

"152."

Church did a double take, surprised to learn that info.

Cerberus, is that accurate?

The AI did some near instant calculations, looking at data it had gathered from its first flight with the suit.

Add three ounces, and yes, it is.

"Wow, can't believe I put on that weight without noticing..."

Chifuyu did smirk this time, though it was at his expense. "Well, I think at this point we can just take your word for it as far as your identity is concerned."

"Really? I answered two of those questions wrong."

Still standing near the door to the room and keeping herself cool with that little blue fan, Tatenashi chimed in.

"Actually, it would have been weirder if you had answered those questions exactly. Most people don't know how much they weigh or how tall they are specifically. Most people generalize when answering those types of things. Besides, we have plenty of more critical evidence to support your identity."

Church leveled a confused expression at the girl with the cyan hair. "Right... uh, who are you again? You're a student, right? No offense, but why do you get to be in here?"

Instead of having that question answered by Tatenashi or Chifuyu, the latter focused on a different thing entirely.

"She is the one who is going to be showing you around today. Suffice to say she has more duties than your average student at this Academy, which is all you need to know."

Tatenashi smiled and waved, leaving Church with a cocked eyebrow in her direction. Apparently, the title of student council president carried even more weight than he thought around here. Then again, maybe she was the connector of sorts between students and faculty, which required her to be filled in more thoroughly than your average student. He could really only guess.

"Fair enough. So, what do we do now?"

Chifuyu glanced at a digital clock on the wall, grimacing as she acknowledged how close her next class was.

"Well, unless you have some objection, I feel that your first day would be best spent familiarizing yourself with the grounds and the room you'll be staying in while you're here, which Sarashiki will be helping you with. Or is your purpose so urgent that you must get down to business right away?"

Church briefly considered whether or not his purpose was that urgent, but he swiftly decided that it wasn't. After all, while the Commander had specified that he wanted him to work as quickly as possible, he had also specified that the operation had a flexible timetable that could take as long as it needed to achieve the objective. So there was no harm in following this course of action. Besides, it would be supremely suspicious if he tried to track down Houki Shinonono within an hour of arriving. As far as his unwitting hosts were concerned, he had no reason to be concerned with her.

He didn't know the exact specifics, but presumably, getting the full schematics of Akatsubaki that he needed meant he would have to scan her I.S. through a direct connection between the machine and his own. Long range scanning was probably out of the question.

This meant Church likely had to find a way to separate Shinonono from her I.S. or find a way to make that connection even while it was linked to her. Needless to say, this meant he would almost certainly have to get close to her in one way or another.

He couldn't just walk right up to her and be suspicious about his intentions, so he needed a little bit of time to figure out how he was going to go about all this. That being the case, he didn't have to hop to it on the very first day, so he had no problem agreeing with the course of action being offered to him.

"No, we don't have to do anything important right away. A tour of the grounds is perfectly fine."

Chifuyu seemed relieved that she didn't have to deal with anything more troublesome from him that day. After all, the incident with Rin meant she had extra work now: an order for repairs had to be made, and she had to file a report with her government sponsors.

"Very well. We'll address the tasks warranted by your official role here tomorrow. He's all yours, Sarashiki."

With that, the raven haired woman turned her attention back to her own papers and tablets, no doubt preparing for a class that was about to start soon.

Tatenashi motioned for him to approach the door next to her. "You'd best prepare yourself."

Church cocked an eyebrow at her, unsure of her implication. "For what?"

Instead of answering, his current guide simply opened the door to the classroom, which revealed a horde of girls crowded around the other side of it, all clearly trying to listen in on what was happening within the room. Most of them recoiled or flinched when Tatenashi's smiling face greeted them.

As for Church, his thoughts on the matter were a little different. Things had only just started, but he could see why this kind of attention would be a problem.

So it begins...

Tatenashi, smile never falling from her face, addressed the variety of young ladies before her.

"Ladies, you know the classrooms are soundproofed. And besides, if you did hear anything, we'd have to kill you. Please step aside."

While it was clear that she was joking, Tatenashi's words did seem to put off her schoolmates, and they did start clearing a path, not at all dissimilar to the parting of the Red Sea.

As he followed Tatenashi through the parted crowd, Church could hear plenty of comments from the girls around him.

"You know, I was expecting an American boy to be blonde."

"Hm, I think Orimura's more my speed."

"Really? I think he's pretty handsome!"

Do these girls really think I can't hear them from a foot away?

Cerberus felt that this was not a rhetorical question.

It's more likely that they don't care. Right this moment, you're a piece of meat, Operator A2.

Comforting.

Glancing around the crowd as he passed through it, Church noted a few faces that weren't gossiping with the others. A certain silver haired girl with an eyepatch was watching him warily, next to the representative from England who had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Church had no idea what he had done to tick her off already.

Either way, he didn't get much of a chance to continue his counter observation, thanks to a shout from within Chifuyu's classroom.

"If you're not in this class, get to your own! And if you are in this class, stop gawking like idiots and get in here!"

The gaggle of girls scattered like the wind at Chifuyu's command, either bolting for their own classrooms or rushing into that one, leaving Church looking back at a near empty hallway in five seconds flat.

"I honestly can't tell if Ms. Orimura is a reasonable person or a frightening demon."

Chuckling to herself, Tatenashi began leading him down the hall, now devoid of human obstacles.

"She's both. Depends on if you deserve to be yelled at or respected. So far, you haven't done anything to make her think of you as a moron. Don't get excited about that though, she has really high standards."

"Are you saying I can't meet them?"

"Well, you've certainly made a good first impression, what with saving a student and all. I'm just saying, I don't think anyone goes very long without getting yelled at by her at least once."

Church pocketed his hands as they continued walking. "I'll take that as a challenge: go through my whole time here without getting yelled at by Chifuyu Orimura."

"I'd be impressed if you could manage it. But enough about that, tell me about you! A handsome young man, flying around in a super suit of some sort? There has to be a good story behind that."

The American in question cocked an eyebrow at his current companion.

"Surely you know I can't tell you most of that story. Most of the information being shared is strictly on a need-to-know basis."

Tatenashi made a playful pout to respond to this, clearly not put off much by Church's answer to her pointed questions.

"Come on, it can't all be top secret if so much of the important stuff is being revealed to Japan as a whole. At the very least, it's kind of odd for someone your age to be in control of that thing, isn't it?"

"This coming from the teenage girl who pilots an aerial death machine? I think I'm older than you, actually."

The girl dismissed his valid point with a wave of her fan. She really seemed to like that thing.

"We both know that's not a fair comparison. With the political role of I.S. in today's world, it makes sense to train and secure pilots as early as possible. But America could have gotten anyone to pilot your machine, right? Why you?"

Frankly, Church had asked himself that question many times in the past. To the best of his knowledge, Umbra Stratum was some sort of black ops group within the scope of the United States military. It had always seemed odd to him that they would select someone of his age and background to operate their current most valuable asset. He hadn't complained of course, since he needed the money, but the notion still baffled him.

Operator A2, you were selected because your compatibility with the system was the highest out of all the tested candidates. An impressive 91%, in fact. That made you the perfect choice to use this weapon in the merciless destruction of our many enemies.

Church honestly wasn't even sure what 'compatibility' meant in this regard. He had gone through a wide variety of tests to be selected for the role he had now, but even today he had no idea what they had judged about him. The woman who had subjected him to those tests had not been the forthcoming type.

He was sure it all would have been too complicated for him anyway, and he didn't have enough time to get a lengthy explanation from Cerberus, seeing as how Tatenashi had asked him a question. As for that question, he merely shrugged.

"I'm very agreeable and don't ask for all that much, relatively speaking. Other than that, who can say?"

There was a look on Tatenashi's face that made it clear she didn't particularly buy that statement, but ultimately, it was replaced with that easygoing smile. Church was surprised that expression had ever fallen at all. It seemed to be her default, which actually made him trust her less, as opposed to more. It reminded him of Sasha, the Umbra Stratum officer that had recruited him. She had always smiled too, but it had been the unsettling kind that hid nefarious thoughts.

"I guess that's fair. Why do governments pick anyone for anything, am I right?"

Church said nothing to that, though it didn't stop Tatenashi from continuing to make small talk as they walked. She did stop asking questions she knew would go unanswered, at the least. Instead, she mostly talked about the school or people in it. Most of it was information Church didn't really need to know: gossip on the teachers, complaints about maintenance room 14, something about a near death experience with someone's cooking... it was clear that she was putting on the airs one would consider 'friendly.'

Her male partner played ball, as was expected of any polite person in this kind of situation. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have minded talking about a bunch of menial things with a girl this attractive, but something about her put him off. Her exterior attitude was friendly and easygoing, but something about it didn't feel entirely genuine. Maybe Church was just paranoid.

Either way, it wasn't long before the newly acquainted duo arrived at the cafeteria. With all the students in class, the place was empty, save for some older women prepping for dinner at their workstations. It was spacious and clean, with dozens of tables capable of supporting six to eight people apiece. Church didn't know exactly how large the student body was, but he could certainly imagine this space supporting a great deal of them. While he took in the sight of the place, Tatenashi spoke to him.

"This here is our cafeteria. There's designated eating times of course, but there's staff here around the clock, so you can come here for a meal whenever you want. In fact, it would probably be best if you ate at irregular times. Show up here when all the students are eating and I doubt you'll have much peace."

"I take it that has something to do with being half of the male population now?"

"Wouldn't you know it. Even so long after his first day, my dear Ichika is still swarmed by droves of desperate girls. And that's on top of his cheer squad. I have to put in so much effort to get him alone these days! Hey, you know... maybe you should eat at the regular times: you can take some extra heat off of Ichika for me!"

Church inwardly grimaced at the thought of it. Before arriving, he'd had no qualms with the idea of being one of two men compared to a thousand women. But even in his very brief time here, he'd already realized that such a situation wasn't enviable so much as exhausting. Just being gawked at and gossiped about by all those girls a few minutes ago was enough of an indicator of what it was like being an exotic species.

"As much as I pity my fellow man, I think I'm perfectly content letting him keep the spotlight around here. I'll be happy just finding a pretty girl or two to be friends with, no need for the attention of the entire student body."

Tatenashi put a hand on her hip, actually frowning at him for a moment. "Are you implying you haven't found a pretty girl already?"

"You just tried to persuade me to throw myself to the dogs for Orimura's sake. Sounds pretty unfriendly to me."

The student council president shrugged at that, her usual smile returning to her face.

"I'm just trying to thin the herd a bit for my beau. He'll be less exhausted everyday, and I'll get him to myself more often. The best of both worlds."

Tatenashi led him back out of the cafeteria, prompting Church to follow as he posed a question regarding her seemingly obvious affections.

"Are you two actually dating?"

For a moment, his guide actually appeared a bit sheepish. "Well, not quite... but mark my words, I could snag him anytime I wanted."

"Sure, sure..."

Since his disbelief in that statement was quite obvious, Tatenashi took offense to it.

"I'm serious, you know: I just like taking it slow because he's so naive and fun to tease. Heh, most of his fan club is too. I'm content just having fun by messing with them for now. The real romance will come later."

Church said nothing to that, not particularly interested in Tatenashi's plans for her romantic future. He was aware that Ichika Orimura was the target of affections for many girls here: he couldn't help but wonder how many of them realized he was just one guy. Being his lover was as unlikely as becoming a pro athlete, or hell, becoming an I.S. pilot. Very, very low odds.

But then again, when there was only one person for a straight girl to pine after within her everyday life, he supposed she couldn't be blamed for ignoring those odds. Still, it was dangerous to be so laser focused on the affections of one person. Who knew what would happen when Orimura actually got a girlfriend one of these days? The Academy would probably suffer some unspeakable cataclysm.

Surprisingly, Cerberus raised its robotic voice to comment on this.

Perhaps that is why Ichika Orimura does not affirm any feelings for one person, Operator A2? Perhaps he understands the true weight of his power and intentionally restrains it? The notion is quite romantic, wouldn't you say?

Rather than thinking it was romantic, Church simply thought it was crazy.

If he can keep himself chaste with so many attractive girls vying for his love for a reason like that, he's capable of far more restraint than I am. I'd honestly be impressed.

Cerberus said nothing to that, and since Church had never responded to Tatenashi's musings about her impending love life or lack thereof, the cyan haired student led him to one of the large windows in the hallways. The view from here overlooked many of the other buildings on the campus.

Pointing a slender finger at a large, domed building not too far off, Tatenashi identified it for him, though it was already easy to guess what it was.

"That's the arena, where all official I.S. combat, practice and testing takes place. Considering the nature of your presence here, I'm sure you'll be visiting it a lot. Well, maybe not in the next few days: there's an individual division tournament coming up soon."

Church turned his attention away from the view for a moment to question Tatenashi's explanation.

"Would I not be allowed to watch that tournament?"

"Hm? Well, I suppose you could. I meant more that you won't be doing any mock battles or testing of your own until the tournament is over. It's closed off days in advance of a tournament: crews have to make sure everything is spic-and-span for official battles like that."

"I suppose that makes sense."

With that question behind them, Church's guide swept her hand to the left, motioning towards another building that looked a lot more ordinary. It was just a rectangular building that was several stories tall.

"That over there is the dorms. Naturally, an upstanding man like yourself will never have any reason to go there whatsoever, right? The Academy learned its lesson after they allowed Ichika to have a room in an all girls dorm. Not that I'm complaining..."

Certainly, Church could understand what she meant by that. Having one boy in an all girls school was one thing, but having a room in a dorm completely dominated by women? Sounded like a recipe for disaster. Still, this did raise an important question...

"I kind of assumed that I wouldn't be getting a room in the dorms while I was staying here, but uh... where will I actually be sleeping, in that case?"

For a moment, Tatenashi actually looked apologetic.

"Well, about that... truth be told, the Academy didn't get too much warning that you were coming. Like, a week, tops. So there wasn't a whole lot of time to prepare a room for you. On such short notice, best we could do was repurpose an old storage room here in the main tower. I can take you there now, if you want."

While Church admitted that this explanation didn't sound particularly reassuring, he figured he would wait to see before passing too much condemnation.

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Well then, right this way."

This time, the tour took Church towards the elevators. Made sense that he couldn't have everything on the same floor. That said, he was curious as to how much of this tower was really serving any practical purpose in the first place. He knew only a few floors were dedicated to classrooms, so what was the rest of it? Equipment rooms? Storage? Something else?

These were questions he had, but not questions he thought were important enough to ask Tatenashi as she took him to a higher floor within the tower and down a hall or two. Ultimately, they came to a door similar to all of the others they had passed thus far: a simple metal sliding door, with a sign near it that was marked 'Misc. Storage V7.'

Instead of standing in front of the door, Tatenashi wasted no time in opening it. As it slid away to reveal the room within, Church suppressed a mild frown.

It's wasn't that the room was bad. It was a bit on the smaller side, but that was to be expected since it was a repurposed storage room. Hell, Church's room in Nevada had been a little smaller. It was just that he'd been expecting a little more when he had come here. This was one of the most prestigious institutions in the modern world, after all.

There was a twin bed in a corner, some fluorescent lights in the ceiling, a basic nightstand near the bed and a desk fan on top of it. No windows, no rugs, not even a poster or something. It was just... really barren. But at the least, it wasn't dusty or dirty. Just bland.

He must not have hidden his expression very well, because Tatenashi was chuckling apologetically at his expense.

"I know it's not much to look at, but it's the best we could do on short notice. But if you're going to stick around long enough for it to matter, feel free to make some requests. We can probably liven this place up a bit if you care to."

Sighing, Church figured he would just accept that for what it was. Maybe he could get a rug and a mini-fridge or something. After all, the covert nature of his mission here meant he would at least be around for a week or two at the minimum, and that was a generous estimate. Since this was more of a deep cover infiltration type of thing, it would probably take significantly longer than that.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

Clapping her hands together, Tatenashi took his response as some sort of indicator that her job was done.

"Well, I think that just about concludes our time together today. Unless you have any questions?"

Church contemplated what potential questions he had to ask. "Bathrooms?"

"You can find one on every even numbered floor. Word of warning, they're all technically women's restrooms, but if you stick to the ones above the 20th floor, the chances of you running into anyone are practically nil."

The American agent nodded, glad to have asked that question for the very helpful answer he had gotten. Now that quality of life questions were out of the way, he had a moment to think about something far more vital: he couldn't very well let his guide leave without gaining some sort of practical knowledge from her. He was on a mission here, after all.

That said, how was he going to go about that mission? Gathering the full data and specs for Akatsubaki would be a long-winded process: it wasn't like he could scan the I.S. in standby at range, and the process was more complicated than merely brushing up against Houki Shinonono for a split second. He would have to be around her for a significant amount of time to get everything he needed. The problem with that was the fact that he had no valid reason to get close to Shinonono, at least as far as she was concerned. They were complete strangers: if he took an odd interest in her immediately, it would be extremely suspicious.

Operator A2, I would like to postulate that we can attempt to gather our data while our target sleeps.

That's all well and good, but it's also a very risky option. Nothing will incriminate me faster than getting caught in that scenario. That would result in a mission failure without any second chances. Taking a slower, more insidious approach is the better option. It gives us multiple chances to achieve our objective.

Cerberus almost seemed pleased by this notion.

Operator A2, I had no idea you were the type to consider the 'insidious.' I like it.

Church hadn't actually specified the nature of his thoughts, but for an AI that more or less resided in his mind, perhaps he didn't need to. Fact of the matter was, the best way to get close enough to his target for the length of time he needed was to ingratiate himself in Shinonono's social circle. Ordinarily, he'd have no justifiable reason to do that.

However, he had one particular ticket in, thanks to the immense stroke of luck that had happened earlier today. It felt sick to call someone's near demise a stroke of luck, but it was what it was. To the best of the knowledge Church had acquired from the many dossiers and reports he had read while flying over to Japan, the Chinese Representative Candidate he had rescued today was close to Shinonono in a manner of speaking. Friends, he wasn't sure, but they regularly interacted.

Since Church did have a valid reason to approach the girl he had saved, and since that girl often spent time with Shinonono, the American agent could by extension interact with his target more frequently and more thoroughly, not to mention more believably. At this exact moment in time, it was his best option.

Admittedly, the notion of using a relationship with someone to further some nefarious end stirred a great deal of distaste and guilt in the young man. He certainly didn't like the idea of abusing someone's trust in such a manner. But that was why he was here. And the reasons he worked for the people that had sent him here in the first place were more important than a few misgivings.

"Sarashiki, can you tell me where the infirmary is?"

His female compatriot cocked an eyebrow at him as she waved that little hand fan again.

"First of all, you can just call me Tatenashi. Last names are confusing when you have siblings. Secondly, if you're thinking of checking on that girl you saved, it's very unlikely that she's awake right now. Medical science has come a long way over the past few years, but with her injuries she's blacked out on painkillers right now at the least."

While his motives were partially underhanded, Church was also well aware that a big part of him was just worried about the girl he had rescued. After all, he had rescued her, and while injuries were a preferable alternative to death, he had technically been the one to cause her wounds, not to mention the one who treated them. A big part of him wanted to make sure he had done a good enough job to help her.

Operator A2, please do not get personally invested in mere tools we can use for our own gain.

One thing you'll learn about me real quick, Cerberus: I'm willing to do some morally objectionable things to achieve my ends, but I'm still just human. And a pretty nice one at that. My humanity's not going anywhere, even with a mission like this.

In his mind, Church could have sworn he heard Cerberus sigh.

I hope that humanity does not compromise our mission, Operator A2.

Church didn't respond to that, instead choosing to respond to Tatenashi. Couldn't leave her hanging too long: he was going to have to get used to holding multiple conversations simultaneously.

"That might be true, but I don't have to speak to her: I just want to find out if she's alright."

His current companion seemed somewhat doubtful of his explanation, though the reason for that wasn't anything too dangerous.

"Purely out of the goodness of your heart, is it? Or maybe Miss Huang is just your type? I guess saving a girl's life is a decent enough excuse to start a conversation."

"I was a little too busy making sure she lived to determine whether or not she was my type. She was cute though."

"Uh-huh. Well, I suppose every girl is some guy's type. Very fortunate for Huang."

Tatenashi glanced down at her chest while saying this, seemingly contemplating something. The implication she was making wasn't terribly hard to figure out, especially when Church pictured the girl he had saved earlier that day.

Admittedly, Church liked boobs as much as the next guy, and Tatenashi had a pretty nice pair, but as far as purely carnal desires went, his tastes focused more on the downstairs department. As a wise man once said, a girl with no boobs could still be hot, but a girl with no ass would never be a ten.

Operator A2, I am very curious which 'wise man' said such a thing.

Stop reading my mind, jackass.

With Church not offering any sort of retort to Tatenashi's comment, the student council president simply decided to give him what he wanted.

"Well, the infirmary's not hard to find, if you're really determined. It's on the same floor as the classroom you spoke to Ms. Chifuyu in. Signs can show you the way: don't worry, they're in English and Japanese."

"Much appreciated. Thanks for the tour, Tatenashi."

The target of his appreciation took a few steps down the hall, waving at him as she began to make her exit.

"No problem. Don't worry about missing me: I'll be keeping an eye on you the whole time you're here."

Church said nothing to that, watching Tatenashi as she merrily waltzed away from him, her attention seemingly off of him entirely. The American agent pocketed his hands as he watched the attractive, yet disconcerting acquaintance leave.

There's no way that girl is just the student council president.

Almost certainly, Operator A2. Almost certainly.