{Meanwhile, at the other end of the school}
|Tatenashi|
Tatenashi was cheerfully walking her way through the school while humming a tune, she was making her way towards an unassuming corner of the school, where she opened an unassuming door.
"Ms. Student Council president, good evening." Inside the room sat a middle aged man behind a desk.
"Mr. Principal." Tatenashi bowed before entering.
"Your just in time, I have received some nice matcha from home just recently." The man said in a joyful tone.
"Well thank you." Tatenashi walked towards the desk and picked up a fresh hot mug.
"I see that you are both here, Student Council President, Principal." A voice came out of nowhere.
""Superintendent Orimura."" Although they were the two running the school, there was no question to who was actually in charge.
"Your report."
"Ichika's training is on schedule, however, we seem to have hit a bit of a snag." Tatenashi said with a frown.
"Explain."
"The training itself is fine, however, after re-watching all of his previous fights, its pretty obvious that there are significant differences in his thought patterns between when he is training and when he is actually fighting for his life."
"Tatenashi, are you honestly suggesting that I send actual assassins after my brother?" Ms. Orimura replied with a serious tone.
"WHAT!? NO! Its just that.... eh.... There is no guarantee that the training will actually prove useful if he's ever in danger."
*Sigh* "We will keep that issue aside for now. Keep training Ichika as you are, he will learn it eventually." Ms. Orimura said curtly.
"And what about Houki Ma'am, shouldn't we be protecting her as well?" Tatenashi asked.
"You don't need to worry about it. I know how these guys think." Ms. Orimura replied flatly.
She was referring to how the world powers might target Houki for her status as both owning an independent IS and being the little sister of the one who invented the IS. However, Ms. Orimura was certain that they would forget Houki and focus everything on Ichika.
As much as the world powers hate to admit it, talent in IS piloting was almost entirely inborn. And as such, all the nations on earth have to move heaven and earth in order to get their hands on the few truly talented pilots. While abducting Houki might give them some leverage in dealing with Tabane and get their hands on a few more IS, capturing Ichika and figuring out how a male could pilot an IS would allow them to essentially double their talent pool, which would in turn double the quality of their average pilot. So every nation that would have the capability to target Houki would rather take their chance with Ichika.
"And Mr. Principal, what of you?"
"Ms. Orimura, you are asking to much of me." He replied in a tired tone.
"Am I?" Ms. Orimura asked sarcastically.
"Ms. Orimura, you are very much aware that all the people that will be visiting are all high ranking dignitaries and business leaders. Even we won't be able to arrest any of them without a good reason."
"Then we will simply need to watch all of them at once."
"Ms. Orimura, we don't have the resources for that!" The principal stood up to defend his point.
"Excuse me?"
*Sigh* The principal immediately sat back down.
"All I'm saying is that we don't know who the culprit will be until after they voluntarily reveal themselves. You know very well who we are dealing with, they are likely to prepare a legitimate identity for the event so any simple check won't be able to detect them. And we can't simply cancel the event either."
*Sigh* The thorough retortion on the principal's part forces Ms. Orimura to sigh and deep into contemplation.
"Ehhhh.... Ms. Orimura." Tatenashi asked, while being unusually unsure of herself.
"Yes?"
"I might have an idea on how to solve all of our problems at once."
{Two weeks later, the day of the school festival}
|Ichika|
"Ugh, this thing is a nightmare." It was the day of the school festival and everyone in class 1-1 was dressed up for the occasion, including Ichika, who was wearing a butler uniform.
"Ichika, what are you complaining about, you look great in that." One of the girls replied.
"Sure, but this entire suit is a stiff as a pencil, I can't move at all!"
"Ichika, are you really complaining to us about wearing uncomfortable outfits?" Another girl replied, wearing a frilly maid uniform.
".....Sorry......"
"Fufufufufufufu, it's fine, after all, we'll get a charming butler to serve all of us." The girl replied.
"Ugh..... anyway, girl's, is everybody ready?" Ichika asked the class.
"""We're ready!""" All but two of the girls in class replied in unison.
The first was Laura, who do her excessive knowledge on the subject and her ability to direct underlings, had managed to get her the title of head maid, which in turn forced Ms. Orimura to personally come to confirm what she was hearing. Only for her to almost fall over from laughter after seeing Laura of all people in a frilly outfit. Of which the emotional damage caused Laura to immediately huddle up in the corner. And the second of which was Charlotte.
"Uhhhh, Ichika....." She came up to Ichika. "Are you sure I look good in this?" She cautiously asked Ichika while holding on to the ends of her maid outfit.
