Last Time: The match commences, with Zora emerging victorious

This Time: The Class Rep is decided; Whilst Zora and Ichika have a surprising reunion with an old friend

(Opening Theme: Back - On)

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zora flew into the hanger at a high speed and stops abruptly in front of Ichika and Houki and then dematerializes his I.S, dropping to the floor, landing perfectly on his feet.

"VICTORY IS MINE!" Zora hooted, throwing his fists in the air.

"Yeah, nice shot!" Ichika retorts.

"But I gotta ask, how the hell did you get disqualified?!" Zora asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. I was about to go ask Chifuyu that." Ichika answers.

"Huh. Well, speaking of Warrior Goddess! Here she comes." Zora acknowledges, pointing behind Ichika.

Ichika turns around and sees Chifuyu, Arthias and Miss Yamada approaching them.

"Chifuyu!" Ichika says as he approaches his sister. "SMACK!" She hits him behind his head.

"It's Miss Orimura around here!" Chifuyu corrects frustratedly as Ichika rubs his head to sooth the pain over, whilst Zora quickly backs up, not wanting to be smacked on the head for whatever reason it is.

"Miss Orimura, how did I lose?" Ichika questions, slightly annoyed that he must call his sister by their last name instead. Wanting to know the reason why he was disqualified all of a sudden in the middle of the match, he waits for her answer.

"You were disqualified because you ran out of shield energy." Chifuyu responds, raising an eyebrow at her brother.

"What?! Bu-But how?!" Ichika asks, much more confused.

Chifuyu sighs, rubbing her temples before responding.

"You used the barrier disabling attack without taking into account how that will affect everything else." Chifuyu explains.

"Barrier disabling attack?" Ichika mumbles to himself.

"Observe." Arthias said as the screen played the scene where Ichika was using his sword with pure enery as he delivered a strike to Cecilia. "That attack where Yukihira turned into an energy sword was Reiraku Byakuya, a barrier disabling attack that channels power to create a devastating attack."

"Yukihira Nigata? Barrier disabling attack... Wait a minute? OHHH! THAT'S WHY HE LOST!" Zora blurts, abruptly catching everybody's attention.

"What?" Ichika asked

"Ich, the reason why you lost is because the barrier disabling attack uses your shield energy. That's why you lost." Zora explained.

"Right. That ability punctures your opponent's barrier and passes the impact to the opponent's body. That is something that Yukihira can do and I have to admit the reason why I won the first Mondo Grosso was because of that one ability." Chifuyu continues to explain.

"I see. That's why the Byakushiki's remaining shield energy dropped all the way to zero." Ichika says putting two and two together..

"When a competitor loses all remaining shield energy, that player loses the I.S battle automatically. The Barrier Disabling Attack does damage to your opponent but in exchange it would cost you your shield. It's really a classic double edged sword." Miss Yamada explains.

"Right. Which means your I.S. is defective." Chifuyu says.

"Defective how?!" Ichika asks.

"Ok. Maybe that was a bad way to phase it. An I.S. isn't complete to begin with though. It can't be defective for say, but yours is much more offense oriented than others. It can't be handled the same way." Chifuyu explains, causing Ichika to sigh and hang his head low disappointed.

Zora chuckles remembering basic training and comparing it with Ichika.

'He wouldn't last a whole day!' Zora says thoughtfully, imagining Ichika struggling to do a push up and running up and down an airstrip in the middle of the desert.

Miss Yamada approaches Ichika with a big book, handing it to him.

"Your I.S. is in standby mode right now. All you have to do is call it and it will deploy right away. However, there are a lot of regulations, so read this thoroughly."

Ichika takes the book from Miss Yamada, feeling sick as he looks at it. 

XXXXXXXXXXX

Later...

After Ichika and Zora changed out of their I.S pilot uniform, both bays made their way out of the locker room and out of the hangar area and into the open,

"ORIMURA! UKASHI! WAIT WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS!" A feminine voice calls from behind them.

They turn around and discover that the newspaper club is running towards them with cameras, voice recorders, mini notepads and pen in their hands.

"Orimura! Orimura, why were you suddenly disqualified and how were you able to fight Cecilia Alcott in a default setting?!" A girl asks, shoving her recorder in Ichika's face.

"Uhh.. well, I lost because I used the Barrier disabling attack which uses my own shield energy to destroy my opponents shield." Ichika answered.

"So you're saying it's just like the Yukihira Niigata?" The reporter girl asks.

"It is the Yukihira Nagata." Ichika corrects.

The newspaper club gasps for a very short moment until the girl with the recorder spoke again.

"I see! That explains it. May I ask, how were you able to fight Cecilia Alcott, An I.S. representative of England?"

"I....I don't know actually, I guess I got lucky." Ichika responds, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm, lucky you say? Alright then. That's all I have for you about that. So Ukashi, what were you feeling when you shot Cecilia with your lightsaber, claiming victory over her and becoming Class representative of classroom 1-A?" The same girl asks.

"Class representative?!...Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! He he he!" Zora said, putting up a fake smile and laughing nervously.

"So, when I slashed her and ended the match, I felt uumm....accomplished and relieved that I won." Zora replies, pausing, picking his words wisely.

"Hmm... I see. One more question: what will you do now that you're the class representative?" The Newspaper girl asks.

"I...I...actually what is a class representative again?" Zora stumbles over.

"A class representative represents your homeroom class and you are the moderator at all your meetings. Also, you are in charge of making roll calls and planning the class events. Importantly, you have to listen in on the student council meetings. You can not be daydreaming or falling asleep." One of the girls from the Newspaper club explains.

"Wow... That's a lot of responsibility." Zora says less enthusiastically.

"It is! You should feel proud of yourself for this position!" The girl with the recorder ushers, trying to lighten his mood a bit.

"Well, I guess I'll do my best to fulfill everybody's expectations as a class representative then." Zora replies, not sure of himself if he is capable of doing what he said.

"Alrighty! Then I hope you keep your promise! Thank you very much for this interview, Orimura and Ukashi! Have a good rest of your day!" The girl with the recorder says bowing goodbye followed suit by the rest of the newspaper cub. Zora, Houki and Ichika bow goodbye and the both groups go their separate ways.

"Class representative... Damn, I completely forgot about that." Zora says to Ichika and Houki.

"Did you not want that position?" Houki questions.

"No! It's just that I don't know if I could handle all the responsibilities that come with the position, that's all." Zora explains, spacing out. "Meh, I'm gonna back to my dorm room. See you guys later." With that, he started walking away.

"Yeah, we'll see you later." Ichika assures him.

XXXXXXXXXX

IS Academy – Practice Field No.2

The next day, they moved on to the field training exercise for the second and third periods.

On the open training field of the school, the girls and the two boys were standing in lines, and standing before them were Arthias, Chifuyu and Maya in their PE suits. The girls were all wearing a standard pilot suit like the one that was similar to Cecilia's that Zora had seen, which resembled a one-piece swimsuit with the addition of a pair of stockings.

Ichika and Zora were clearly standing out with their pilot suit. The former wore a dark blue tank top and shorts, and the latter wore his  orange piloting suit, the same ones that they wore during the duel.

The former himself couldn't bear looking at the girls at the moment. Even though he had already seen Cecilia wore a similar outfit before, but that was when she was in her IS armor. Now that he saw other girls without their armor, it was another different story.

'How the hell could they wear them without feeling anything? We are not at a swimming pool right?' he pondered.

'They do look good in them' Zora thought before blinking. 'Wait, checking them out doesn't make me a pervert, right?'

As they boys questioned the girls' training uniforms, they also had the same reaction. Locking onto Zora, many of them stared fixated at his pilot suit. Both in awe and wonder, since this was the first time they saw someone wearing such a suit, it kind of reminded them of those fighter jet pilot's uniform they saw in movies and on the internet. Uncomfortable as it may look, they still thought it to be cool-looking in some ways.

"Wouldn't it be really hot to wear it right now without the IS air-conditioning?"

"Woah, I haven't seen it yesterday since he was in his IS full armor."

"I mean, he does look good in it."

The girls murmured to themselves.

Chifuyu then stepped forward to address the class "Now then, let us begin practicing with the basic IS maneuvers. Orimura, Alcott and Ukashi, try flying your IS,"

"Understood," Cecilia closed her eyes in concentration as her earrings glowed brightly before it faded away to reveal her in her IS Blue Tears.

"Okay," Ichika raised his right hand to reveal a white bulky bracelet which is the Closed Form of his new personal IS which he had received a few days after the IS match between Zora and Cecilia. He tried to call on it but there was no response much to his confusion "Huh? Why isn't it working?"

"Come on Ichika, concentrate on calling upon your IS like this," Zora raised his left hand to reveal the bronze wristband "Soar high, Akatsuki!" it glowed brightly until it faded to reveal him in his IS Akatsuki, the helmet unfolded itself to reveal his face "Like that, give it a shot,"

"Okay," Ichika placed a hand on his bracelet and closed his eyes "Concentrate...come Byakushiki!" the bracelet glowed brightly before fading away to reveal him in a white IS which is his new personal IS "I did it!"

"Okay, fly!" said Chifuyu.

"Yes," said Cecilia, then she immediately ascended to the air above them.

"Let's go!" Zora exclaimed excitedly as the helmet folded back over his face. "CHEWY BOY!"

 The boosters on Akatsuki's back and feet activated as he took to the air as well and was catching up with Cecilia in the sky. 

Then they heard Chifuyu's voice on the comm system "You're too slow Orimura, Byakushiki's power output is higher than Blue Tears and close to Odin when comparing specs,"

Zora and Cecilia looked behind to see Ichika flying behind them but wasn't in a stable flight.

"But even if you say that...reading from a book and putting it into practical is difficult to understand," said Ichika as he slowly got used to the flight.

Zora slowed down a bit till he was by Ichika "I hear you man, even I don't exactly get it myself. Heck even Arthias had to simplify already simple things for me to understand back then whenever we trained,"

"Flying is by instinct. You have to find out what works best for you then practice it until you're able to do it automatically. Trust yourself and your IS, it will take care of you," Arthias' voice spoke

"Well said. You've spoken like a true pilot, Mr. Yamato." Cecilia complimented, as the boy finally reached the prescribed height.

Then Chifuyu's voice spoke up again for them to hear "Ukashi, Alcott and Orimura, try performing a sudden dive and coming to a complete halt,"

"Well, ladies first. See you boys down at the bottom," Cecilia then performed a nosedive as descended towards the ground before quickly pulling upwards and skillfully landed on her feet.

"Whoa, she's pretty good," said Ichika in wonder.

"I'll say, well it's my turn so see you at the bottom," said Zora then he too performed a nosedive towards the ground just as quickly as Cecilia.

"And up!" Zora  immediately pulled up and released an extra burst from his boosters before landing on his feet. Zora turned to look up to the sky and saw that Ichika was coming down as well, but his eyes widened upon noticing that something was wrong "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ichika slow down, you're coming in too hot! Too hot!"

However his warning came in too late as Ichika crashed into the ground which resulted in a large crater. Zora reverted Akatsuki back to its closed form as he and everyone else gathered at the edge of the crater to see Ichika at the center with his head stuck in the ground as he tried to pull himself out.

"Never thought that I would see something like this in reality aside from Sonia-chan's favorite cartoon shows," Zora muttered before he called out to him "Hey Ichika, are you good?"

"Yeah, I thought I was going to die," said Ichika as he got from the crater.

"You idiot, what do you think you're doing opening a hole in the ground?" said Chifuyu sternly.

"Sorry," said Ichika.

"You really have to be more careful Ichika, have you forgotten what I taught you?" said Houki though one could sense a trace of worry in her voice.

"Well since you made that crater Orimura, you'll be the one to fill it up. Now get a move on before the next lesson," said Chifuyu.

Ichika looked flabbergasted while Zora placed a hand on his shoulder with a look of sympathy. Afterwards everyone returned to the classroom to continue the remainder of the lessons until class was finally over, then the girls invited him over to the cafeteria for something special to which he complied although curious about it.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Ukashi, congratulations on becoming the class representative," said one of the girls.

"Congratulations!" said the rest as some of them pulled strings of their party poppers to shoot thin colored paper streamers into the air.

Turns out the girls of his class had planned a congratulatory party for him for the being the class representative.

"Gee... thanks for this. I'll do everything I can to live up to your expectations," said Zora as he rubbed the back of his head while looking sheepish. 'Who shoots confetti on food?'

"Also, Orimura gets to be the vice class representative." added another girl.

That Ichika admitted that he didn't see it coming.

"What? Me?" He asked pointing himself.

"Yes. We thought that it's unfair for one of you two boys to become the representative so we created the position." said one of the classmates starching her cheek while blushing.

Ichika was surprised that the girls were very considerate. "I see..."

"Well, aren't you Mister Popularity," Houki said taking a sip from her juice box.

"Huh? You think so?"

She 'hmphed' and turned away from him.

"And why are you in such a bad mood, anyway?"

Seeing this, Zora merely sighed and shook his head.

One of the girls walked up to the boys and brought out her notebook, asking for their autographs. "Umm... Orimura, Ukashi... cou-could I ask for your autograph?" As the other girls heard that, they suddenly started rushing to Ichika's side.

"Eh! Not fair, I want to ask them too!"

"Me too! Orimura's fight yesterday was so cool."

"Eh? But I think Ukashi's IS and his last attack is cooler!"

"What are you guys talking about? Both of them are amazing in my opinion. They're the 'Knights of Gold and Silver'."

"Wait, everyone..."

Then, the lunchroom door suddenly slid open, revealing a blonde girl standing outside, and caught the attention of the two boys when she walked in.

"Alcott..." when the girls saw Cecilia walked towards their direction, they backed away, fearing that another fight would happen again with her and the boys.

Ichika, sitting in his seat, just stared at her passively and was prepared to stand up for himself if the blonde standing in front of him decide to lash out.

While many unpleasant eyes were fixated on her, Cecilia herself didn't pay it any mind. She only had her eyes locked onto the two guys that facing her, one of which was keeping his guard while the other looked at her with a stoic and calm face.

As many were viewing her in a negative aspect, she damn right knew that most wouldn't even want to talk to her right now, Cecilia bit her lips tightly and hold her hands close to her body. She took a glance at Zora, prompting the boy to look into her eyes.

"Ukashi, Orimura... I ... I want to..."

Hearing the hesitation in Cecilia's words, Zora knew exactly what she was about to say, so he stood up and got closer to her, startling her a bit. "So, you have finally made up your mind then?"

His question caused her to lower her head, fidgeting her hands as she felt ashamed of herself. Without any resentment, she nodded in silence.

Zora closed his eyes and left out a sigh as his hand reached out to pat her shoulder.

"You don't have to feel like that. Everyone can make a mistake, but as long as they can realize and fix it, it's okay."

For a moment, she holds her breath and clenched her hands tighter, until she eventually opened up her lips to apologize for her wrong-doings. "I'm sorry, I'm very sorry. I was wrong to be like that, please forgive me. I shouldn't have blamed you, cursed at you and looked down on you like that."

There were tears falling from her azure eyes, but she didn't seem to notice it, she just lowered her head further and turned to everyone, asking for forgiveness. And it made everyone felt heavy inside their hearts; she may have gone too far with her words, but in the end, she had apologized, and if you put her past into consideration, it was very understandable.

Zora turned to Ichika and nodded at him, giving him the hint to help to ease out the situation. Ichika without any second thought went to give Cecilia another pat on her other shoulder. She looked up to him and cried even harder, which made him feel a tad bit awkward, so he brought her closer and gave her a hug while patting her hair.

"Zora's right, you don't have to feel too much about it. It's okay, we never hated you nor hold anything against you. We have always forgiven you about it."

Everyone was taken aback by it, especially Houki, though with some jealousy mixing in. The orange-eyed boy just let out a small smile and shook his head, but he felt that what Ichika did was right.

The blonde herself was lost in thought, her heart was pounding hard and her cheek was heating up with the sudden hug.

Warm and sweet, saddening yet delightful.

She had never felt something like that before, other than when she was younger, being hugged by her mother. However, she didn't hate that feeling, she felt warmed and happy instead. After so many years, there were now people who cared about her. 'What's these feelings-?' she thought to herself as the emotions overwhelmed her.

"Thank you, Orimura, Ukashi. And again, I'm so sorry for what I have said about everyone. I hope you can all forgive me and we can befriend together." she turned to everyone and apologized again.

This time, the girls just laughed it off and walked to Cecilia, giving her some encouragement and lighten up the mood inside the room.

"Come on, it's okay. We forgive you."

"Yeah, Alcott, don't be sad about it. We are still a friend."

"Umu, you are so lucky Alcott. You got a hug from Orimura."

With everything backed to normal, Zora let out a mild chuckle. "Good grief," he muttered.

With the small amount of courage she had, she glanced over to Zora who nodded back to her with reassurance and a small smile as if he was saying 'I knew you would be able to make the right choice.'

Zora then stood up and grinned brightly. "Well, since we're here, and we've got a party on, you all know what to do." The crowd gazed upon the grinning orangette. "Let's forget our worries tonight! Let us eat, drink and be merry! LET'S PARTY! Cheers to class 1-1!" He raised a glass and toasted.

"YEEAH! CHEERS!" The crowd cheered loudly. An array of glasses filled the air as the crowd toasted in reply.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning....

The students of 1-1 were in a jovial mood, an effect from last night's festivities. Currently both Ichika and Elliot were gathered at Ichika's seat along with a bunch of girls.

"Hey have you heard? The class representative of Class 1-2 has been replaced by a transfer student." Yuzu told the group.

"A transfer student this late in the semester?" Ichika squinted.

"Yeah, and apparently she's from China."

"Really?" Zora chimed in, leaning against Ichika's desk. "Well, I'm interested now. I bet she's pretty good!"

"Perhaps she's here just like me, to improve her skills as a Representative contender." Cecilia added her own opinion.

"Well, we wouldn't have to worry. The only classes that have Personal IS are classes 1 and 4, so we'll be fine."

"That information is outdated!" A loud, boisterous voice from the doorway attracted the attention of the group. "The representative of class 1-2 now has a Personal Unit!"

Ichika looked at the newcomer in shock, "No way! Is that you Rin?"

"That's right, I'm Huang Lingyin, the representative contender from China, and I've come to declare war on class 1-1!" The girl who identified herself as Fang proclaimed.

The students of 1-1 began to murmur, about the identity of the interloper.

Ichika began to snicker. "Good one, coming in here looking like a show-off, that's so unlike you Rin."

That comment shook Rin out of her act, "What!? Why would you say something like that about me huh!?"

"Well, look who the winds blew in. Long time no see, Wildcat." Zora leaned over, getting a good look at a familiar face.

"Simba, is that you!? What're you doing here!?" Rin exclaimed in shock upon seeing the orange-haired boy.

The girls looked on confusedly, wondering who's she referring to.

"Who's that girl, that she acted very familiar to Zora and Ichika?" Cecilia wondered to herself. Houki glanced at the newcomer with slight curiosity.

"Ahh, you know. Looking after this dumbass and looking good doing it" Zora gestured toward said male, getting a "Hey!" before heading back to his seat.

As he turned around, he heard the patter of familiar heels clacking on the floor in the corridor. He straightened up, a prank forming in his head.

"ATTENTION CLASS! GOOD MORNING, ORIMURA-SENSEI!" He bellowed out, the shout causing the students of class 1-1 to scatter as they scrambled to their seats, not wanting to incur the wrath of their legendary teacher.

"H-Huh?! W-What's goin-" Before Rin could finish, a fist came down on top of her head. The girl whined in pain and rounded furiously at the source. "Hey, what did you do that fo-! Uh!"

Consider that your homeroom bell being rung. Now get back to your class, you're in the way." Chifuyu stated, her intimidating presence scared the petite girl.

"Y-Yes ma'am. Don't you run away, you two. We'll settle this after class, you hear!?" Rin shouted before disappearing back to her class.

XXXXXXXXXX

During recess...

"Can't believe that Rin was the transfer student, or that she'll become the Representative candidate of China." Ichika shared his thoughts as both boys headed for the cafeteria.

"She's changed. Gone was the meek, shy girl of years past. Now she's quite lively and rather boisterous." Zora commented. 'And a lot more brash too.'

"I think it'll be alright. Doesn't this remind you of middle school Elliot? You, me, Rin and Dan? The Troublesome Four as we were called? This really brings back memories."

"Ahh, the good old days." Zora replied succinctly. His thoughts were currently occupied by Rin's behavior.

'I recall that she wasn't so brash and eager to show off. What happened during those years since we've parted ways?' The image of the meek girl clashed with the present-day image of Rin. 

When both boys stepped through the door, a spoon flew over and struck Ichika in the face. The boy recoiled back from the hit, nursing the spot he was hit. 'Nice shot!' Zora's gaze quickly tracked the trajectory towards a familiar twin tailed girl, her arm outstretched.

"There you are! What took you two so long!? My ramen's getting soggy waiting for you both!" Rin huffed.

"Sorry Rin, come on Zora, let's get our lunch and head over to Rin." Both boys hurried over the counter to get their meal.

"So, what's up Wildcat? It's been a long time since elementary school." Zora passed over a new spoon to Rin.

"I'm doing good, Simba. By the way, you've still haven't told me as to why you're here." Rin looked at the orangette.

"Well, it's related to Ichika here." Zora pointed to his male friend. "I assume that you've seen the video on social media?"

"The one where two ISs were mashed together, one beating the other repeatedly? What about it?" Rin looked puzzled.

"Well, that was us." Ichika answered sheepishly.

"What!? That was you two!? How did you managed to pull that off!?" Rin's jaw went slack, her chopsticks dropped out of her hand.

"Well, this idiot here got both of us lost during the high school entrance exam at one of the schools. We happen to stumble upon a room with 2 Uchiganes, the next thing we know was that Ichika was compatible, the unit he was in malfunctioned and sent him wreaking havoc, I got into a unit and found out that way I was compatible too and went to stop him. Chifuyu found out and was really pissed that we totaled two ISs and a school." Zora quickly gave the shortened version of the events to the brunette.

"You've forgotten the earful we've both gotten, and the lumps on our head after Chifuyu found out. I still can't forget the amount of studying we had to do afterwards." Ichika shivered, remembering the time when he had to study for the ISA entrance exams.

"Hey! You didn't study, I did! All you had to do was listen as I explained everything in anime terms!" Zora looked offended.

"Ah, I remember Chi-Chan ranting over the phone about it." A voice behind them said.The trio turned around to see Arthias, with a mirthful smirk on his face.

"Arthias?" Ichika asked "What are you doing here?" 

 "Wait...Arthias!?" Rin exclaimed in shock, looking over at the man.

"No reason really. Just passing through." Arthias replied to Zora before turning to Rin."Heya Rin. You've grown since we last met." 

"Y-Yea. So what are you doing at this school?" She asked, curiously.

"Chi-C- Ahem, Chifuyu, asked me to come here to help her out with training the students here. As for you, I assume you're the rumoured transfer student who became a class representative, yes?" Arthias replied.

"Yeah, I am." Rin nodded. "So, you're a teacher?"

"Yep. For now I am mainly overseeing Zora's class as an IS Combat Instructor, but the day may come when I teach the other classes here. So be sure to prepare yourself if your class' turn comes, because I don't pull punches on anyone, not even students. Zora can attest to that." Arthias said.

"I don't need anymore PTSD" Zora grumbled to himself.

"Heh. Well, like I said, just passing through. See you lot in class" Arthias said before walking out of the cafeteria.

"I can't believe...The White Gale, your cousin, is a teacher here!" Rin shouted, turning to Zora.

"Yeah, it was shock to all of us. Trust me."

Suddenly, two pairs of irate hands slammed down on the other end of the table. Unsurprisingly, they belonged to Houki and Cecilia. Also unsurprisingly, they looked quite mad.

"Ichika, I think it's about time you gave me an explanation!" Houki snapped.

"That's right!" Cecilia agreed, "You had better explain this! Zora, don't tell me he's actually dating this transfer student now! And why is she calling you 'Simba'!?"

'Geez,  is wrong for a guy can't have female friends!' He thought with a sweatdrop.

"W-What? T-That's not, we're not dating!" Rin denied.

"Huang here, or Rin as we called her, was our elementary classmate. She can be considered our childhood friend." Zora elaborated. "She's like a sister to me."

"That's right, she's our childhood friend." Ichika confirmed. His answer made Rin looked at him angrily, a fact that Ichika noticed.

"What's gotten you so angry? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine!" Rin turned away in a huff. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by the Zora

'Wait, is Rin...' Zora stared blankly. Wow, Ichika really should dial in his charm, otherwise he's gonna end up with a harem of crazy girls for sure.

"Well, to answer your question," Zora spoke to Ceceilia. "Apparently, I got that nickname, because of how badass I am."

"That's true" Ichika agreed. "Usually he was the one who confronted the bullies and stood his ground against them."

Both the brunette and blonde regarded the boy differently, Cecilia looked at him with awe, while Houki looked conflicted. The brunette shook her head and gazed at Rin questioningly.

"Whatever. Back to the topic at hand, you've said she's a childhood friend?"

Zora turned to look at Houki, "I can answer that. Wildcat here transferred in after you moved away a while back."

 Ichika gestured towards Houki as he turned to face Rin. "That's Houki Shinonono, I've told you about her. She was our first childhood friend, and later you've become second."

'Bad phrasing of words there.' Zora regarded with slight uneasiness. Hell, even he didn't take his own sloppy seconds.

"I'm first..." Houki muttered quietly, a faint blush on her face.

'Ooooo, she's thirsty! And they say us guys are perverted.' Zora thought internally.

"It's so good, to finally meet one of Ichika and Zora's old childhood friends." Rin said neutrally, her eyes boring into the swordswoman.

"Yeah, me too." Houki replied. The air became filled with an uneasy tension, which went unnoticed by Ichika.

But not Zora, "Ohhhh, seems like a catfight's about to start!" He was eating his food as he could see sparks clashin betweem their eyes.

"Ahem!" that was Cecilia, "Since you seem to have forgotten about me, allow me to introduce myself! I am Cecilia Alcott, the United Kingdom's Representative Contender! You could say I'm well acquanited with Ichika and Zora! As a matter of fact, We had a fierce battle over the title of-"

"So I heard you guys were recently chosen to be Class 1-1's representative and Vice Rep." Rin said. Cecilia of course, being Cecilia, kept talking, too focused on herself to even notice that Rin wasn't listening.

"Yeah, we were." Zora replied. "Ichika here was chosen as the Vice Rep."

"Are you still kicking his ass?"

"For the most part, yeah."

Rin brightened up a bit. "You know Ichika, if you want, I could help you with your IS practice drills. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yeah, for sure! God knows I need all the help I can get."

Finally, Cecilia seemed to notice that no one cared, and scowled. "Look here! Are you listening to me?!" she shouted angrily.

Rin smirked. "Sorry! I'm just not interested!" she said, her voice thick with mock kindness.

Cecilia's face froze. "I can't believe you said that..."

Houki slammed her fists down on the table again. "And in any case, it's my job to teach Ichika!" she shouted.

"You're from Class 1-2, aren't you? I'm not looking for any assistance from the enemy!" Cecilia spat.

Rin looked at them both levelly, not losing her cool at all. 'Respect...' Zora nodded to himself.

"Look, I'm having a nice chat with my favorite boys right now. We weren't talking to you, so you need to back off!" Rin said.

The other two girls growled angrily at the girl's words.

"Well, you certainly have a lot of nerve! You're the one who entered the picture after we did!" said Cecilia. "Besides, Zora is close friend of mine as well!"

"Actually," Rin corrected, "It wasn't after you. I mean, not only I've known them longer than you have, I know more about Zora to be his most closer female friend."

Couldn't argue with her there.

He zoned out for a bit as he started drumming his fingers on the table.

If you are that special lover (woo)
And love keeps you tied to another
That's the way it goes on love's train
You don't need no, you don't need no ticket to ride
Sometimes, heartstrings can be broken
But you just have to keep on goin'
That's the way it goes on love's train-

"Zora!"

"Huh?" The orangette snapped out of his stupor when he saw Houki and Ceceilia looking at him. "What?"

"Did you know about this!? If so, how come you never mentioned any of this?!" Houki shouted from about three inches away.

"You never mentioned it to me, either!" Cecilia put in. "I thought we were friends!"

"I'm lost, never mentioned what?" Zora asked, tilting his head.

"That Ichika consorted with this girl at her own home! What kind of indecencies did you commit?!" Cecilia cried, pinching the bridge of her nose as a vein popped on her forehead.

Zora leaned back in his seat a bit more, trying to put some distance between himself and them. "I mean,  I used to go eat at a Chinese restaurant her family owned too and vice versa. There a problem with that?"

"Oh, a restaurant," Houki said, relieved, "At least that makes sense..."

"Well, if her family owned a restaurant, I suppose it's only natural a boy would have eaten there."

Rin looked away a bit.

"So Rin! How's your dad doing?" Ichika asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

He failed miserably, by the way.

"I, uh... I think he's okay." she said, sounding unsure.

That confused Zora. Rin had always been close with her father when I knew her. For her not to know how he was, something bad must have happened.

The bell rang.

"Alright, I'll see you after school! I'll come by around the time you're finished practicing with them, so make sure you're available, okay?" she said before looking at Zora. "You too, Simba. I wanna see how strong you are with an IS."

Zora sent her a smirk and a thumbs up. "Count on it!"

With a nod, Rin picked up her tray and walked off as Zora and Ichika watched her go.

Today was just full of surprise, wasn't it?

(Ending Theme - Fly Away)

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Another chapter finished. Hope you guys enjoyed this one and are looking forward to the next chapter. Leave a comment by review or PM!

See ya!!!