Chapter 6: Testing New Things

Church's first night at the IS Academy wasn't too bad: sure, he ended up sleeping in a repurposed storage room, but oddly enough, the accommodations besides that were actually quite nice. The bed and the pillows were extremely soft and comfortable, so they had at least provided him with beds that were the same standard as the ones the students got to sleep on. Like Tatenashi had told him, trips to the bathroom this high up in the tower didn't involve any run-ins with girls, so that was nice.

Frankly, Church couldn't help but wonder how much money actually went into the Academy. He was sure that no expense was spared, especially since Japan wasn't hurting for funding anyway. Technically, the Japanese government was solely responsible for funding this highly advanced institution, but in reality, they received all sorts of money from international sponsors. After all, this was the only legal place in the world to train Infinite Stratos pilots, with the exception of military pilots. Every country with IS of their own wanted the Academy to be the best it could be.

Thankfully, sleeping hadn't been too much of a problem: Church had been worried about sleeping with a sentient AI in his head, but Cerberus stayed quiet while he rested, apparently well aware that humans needed sleep to operate at peak efficiency. That said, anxiety over the mission had kept Church up for a little while, but ultimately, he had fallen asleep at a good time.

That all led to this moment right now, in which he was sleeping soundly on his new bed at some early hour of the morning. Unfortunately, that moment didn't get to last very long, as an insistent knocking made itself known on his door.

While he wasn't a light sleeper, the knocking was loud and consistent enough to awaken the American agent. Bleary eyed, he rose from his bed and glanced around, only realizing after he was met with complete darkness that he couldn't possibly glean what time it was by doing so. He didn't have a window or an alarm clock, after all.

Ugh... Cerberus, time?

If Church's long absence from the waking world had bothered the AI in any way, it didn't show. Church didn't really want to know what Cerberus did while he was sleeping.

Approximately 0657 hours, Operator.

Church scowled as he acknowledged this information and fumbled towards the door in the darkness. Honestly, he was perfectly used to waking up at this time since Umbra Stratum was a military outfit of sorts, but he was kind of hoping this wouldn't be necessary here at the IS Academy.

Wiping the scowl off of his face before opening his door so whoever was on the other side wouldn't get the wrong idea, Church was forced to blink several times as the light of the hallway brutally slaughtered his night vision. When he finally cleared that up, the person he found across from him was none other than Tatenashi, that usual easygoing smile on her face.

"Gooood morning~! Sleep well, esteemed guest?"

Church ignored the somewhat mocking tone. Tatenashi was clearly aware that he would have rather been sleeping longer. Still, he knew how to keep up that friendly pretense just as well.

"Pretty well, considering that it's a storage room. Softest bed I've ever slept on. But no offense, why are you here so early?"

Tatenashi didn't seem at all bothered by his question or the early hour of the morning.

"Well, you've got official business here, don't you? No point in waiting around."

"Still, at seven in the morning?"

"Ms. Orimura is very busy most days, and these early morning hours are some of the only time she has available. So, this is when you have to report in."

With that, Tatenashi wagged a finger to indicate that Church should follow her, prompting him to do so. He'd slept in his clothes from the day before, so there was no need to change. In hindsight, that was going to be a problem soon: he hadn't actually brought any other clothes for this trip, in the rush to leave the Umbra Stratum base in Nevada. Heck, now that the thought of changing clothes was brought up, it also occurred to him that showering was a problem in his future.

He was housed in a storage room, after all. And while there were bathrooms on this floor he could access, they didn't have showers. So what was he going to do about that? Maybe that was something he would have to mention, embarrassing though it may have been. For now though, he decided to stay focused on the situation at hand.

"I thought Ms. Orimura was a teacher. Why is her schedule relevant to technical data exchange or anything else about my visit? Not that I'm complaining."

Tatenashi cocked an eyebrow at him as she led him to an elevator, perhaps questioning the latter half of his statement. Ultimately, she didn't comment on that.

"She does teach the first-years, but she's actually in charge, you know. She's the Academy's administrator: has to make sure the whole school runs efficiently. Unfortunately, that also means she has to directly oversee abnormal operations like this. She takes on a lot of the workload around here."

Honestly, Church found this notion kind of surprising.

"That seems odd. With how much money goes into this school, you'd think there would be too much staff, not too little."

"Well, the problem with that is how new Infinite Stratos is. The whole field of study and science is barely a decade old. That being the case, there aren't actually that many experts and experienced people to hire for things like this, especially since companies and organizations all over the world are competing for people in the field. You'd be surprised how much each staff member really has to do around here."

As the duo made it down several floors in record speed, Church nodded to himself.

"Guess I never considered it like that before. As far as technology goes Infinite Stratos is extremely young, so it makes sense that there hasn't even been enough time to train and teach a lot of experts yet. Too much demand, not enough supply."

The elevator door opened as the two of them reached the fifth floor, and Tatenashi led him away from it and down the halls.

"That's one way to put it. Truth is, Ms. Orimura is a highly sought-after individual. Every I.S. company and organization in the world wants her. I heard she even served with the German military for a time. I wonder if she's working in Japan now for some sense of national pride, or if they're just paying her exorbitant amounts of money...?"

"If they were paying her so much, wouldn't she be able to quit and live pretty comfortably relatively soon?"

His cyan-haired guide looked thoughtfully up to the ceiling, honestly considering Church's point.

"Hm, guess you're right about that. Honestly, she probably just wants to be close to her brother. She'll never admit it, but she probably missed him during her time in Germany, not to mention that whole 'sacrificing a victory at the world's most prestigious tournament for her brother' thing. She gives me tsundere sister vibes, if you catch my drift. Seriously, don't you dare tell her I said any of that."

Church kept quiet as he considered that assessment from someone who surely knew more about Chifuyu Orimura than he did, to some extent at least. He supposed he could envision it: the woman obviously gave off some very tough vibes, but maybe it was just her keeping up a strong front. While Church was decently far removed from the female centric world of Infinite Stratos, even he knew that Chifuyu Orimura was a figure of great respect and adoration. Being a hero to girls everywhere and a prestigious figure for any I.S. related organization in the world, she probably had a difficult image to maintain.

Well, maybe that was just conjecture. He wasn't going to presume anything about the woman until he had more to go on.

Church continued to follow his guide down the hall, the two of them going silent as the topic of their conversation came to a halt. They didn't really get a chance to pick something different to talk about though, because after they turned the next corner in their path, the duo encountered a handful of other people that were up this early.

Two girls were talking to each other in the hall. One was kind of nondescript, but the other had sleeves half a foot too long for her arms and some oddly Pikachu-looking hairpins. That girl noticed both him and Tatenashi in the middle of her conversation about an afternoon nap or something.

"Oh, heey~! Prez, what's this? Are you hitting on the new boy already? No fair!"

Tatenashi smiled at the girl, though from Church's point of view, it looked like the kind that was intended to hide a grimace.

"Hardly, Honne. No offense to our friend here, but he's not my type."

Church wasn't particularly upset about that, but he felt the need to comment on it anyway.

"Tell me how you really feel, why don't you?"

The girl named Honne focused her gaze on him for a moment, while her previous conversation partner eyed the whole encounter from further back in the hall.

"Shame. It's already hard enough to get near Orimu without you around, Prez! Are you sure he's not your type? New guy, do you have a girlfriend? Prez would probably make a pretty good girlfriend!"

Perhaps growing a little irritated with the line of questioning, Tatenashi moved to shut it down and get back to her business.

"Honne, quit playing matchmaker for our guest, he's not like Ichika: he has to conduct himself in a professional manner as an agent of his own country, so he can't do anything scandalous while he's here. Don't make me tell Utsuho that you've been misbehaving."

Whoever this Utsuho was, the threat of her being informed of things seemed to work on Honne.

"Aw, that's so mean! Sis doesn't need to know anything about this, I'll behave!"

"Good, then the two of you need to shoo! We've got important places to be and things to do. Miss Orimura will also be very upset if she finds out you stopped us from getting to work."

Mention of the elder Orimura sibling put a note of fear into both girls' faces. Even the one hanging in the back found it in her to speak up.

"Y-y'know, maybe we should get going, Honne. How about breakfast? We're already up early anyway!"

Honne made a pouting face, but ultimately relented in her quest to apparently push Church onto Tatenashi, or vice versa. With a wave, she jogged back to her friend, and the two of them walked away down the hall to escape Tatenashi's ire. Church cocked an eyebrow as he watched them leave, wondering why anyone would be up this early if they didn't have to be. He supposed some people were just early risers.

"Man, competition over Ichika is even more fierce than I expected."

Motioning for him to follow her, Tatenashi shared how she felt about that statement.

"Well yeah: if you're a straight girl, there's not really anyone else to like around here, so it goes without saying that a lot of hormone driven teenagers are fighting for his attention behind the scenes. Not to say he isn't a great person too, of course. Even if he was the only boy around, if he were a jerk to everyone he'd be hated. Besides, there's really not that many girls seriously pursuing him. For most of the student body, it's kind of just... obligatory? Woman's pride, or something like that."

"And are you one of the few seriously pursuing him?"

That question actually put a look of consternation on the girl's face as she continued walking.

"That's... complicated. I wanna say yes, but... well, for now I just like making him blush. He's so naive and pure, it's a hoot!"

Church got the feeling that was obvious evasion, but didn't press her. After all, it wasn't really much of his business, even if he was curious just how convoluted the romantic conflict surrounding Ichika Orimura was. Honestly, the more he learned about the boy's situation, the less enviable it really seemed to be.

The duo didn't get a chance to pick up much more of a conversation, mostly due to the fact that their journey didn't have much longer to go. Within another minute of walking or so, they reached a door that was labelled 'Research and Development 2-13.' Tatenashi wasted no time in opening it, which revealed a large chamber with all sorts of mechanical equipment within: large arms that were obviously meant to move heavy gear, benches with tools scattered about, harnesses that probably held I.S. during maintenance... these types of rooms must have been the main place I.S. arsenal development took place, though the name of the room made that obvious.

Tatenashi led him inside, allowing Church to see that it really was a very large room once he was past the door frame. Probably a thousand square feet, at the least. Stepping into the room also revealed that it wasn't just him and Tatenashi there, though he had been expecting one of the occupants. Chifuyu Orimura, professional looking as ever, was sitting at a desk near some equipment, her focus on a computer that rested atop it. The other person present, however, was more of a surprise.

At a different bench was a girl tinkering on some sort of small robotic part that looked remarkably similar to Tatenashi: the same shade of cyan hair, the same crimson eyes. Other than the glasses and the attire, Church almost would have called her a twin.

Speaking of Tatenashi, she wasted no time in announcing their presence.

"Good morning, fellow early birds! I've brought our prey!"

The girl that looked like Tatenashi took her attention off of what she was doing, but Chifuyu kept her focus right where it had been, seemingly unperturbed by the loud entrance. She scarcely missed a beat.

"But not your prey, Sarashiki. Need I remind you that your only job here was to guide our guest? You can return to your normal duties now."

For Church's part, he couldn't ignore the fact that the elder Orimura had gone along with defining him as prey. Tatenashi didn't seem to mind the attempt to shut her down.

"Aw, Sensei! I scarcely ever get to spend time with my little sister, and there are other people on the student council, you know? Let them take care of things!"

The revelation that the other girl with the glasses was Tatenashi's sister did not come as any surprise. Church had honestly pegged her as some sort of relative right away. Kind of hard not to. Ironically, that sister didn't seem too pleased with the whole situation, pointedly turning her attention back to what she was doing before.

"Sensei probably thinks you're just too loud, Tatenashi. We have actual work to do this morning."

The elder sister of this duo donned a feigned expression of hurt.

"Kanzashi, always so cold and distant! Is Ichika the only one you're willing to show your dere side to? I'm your sister, but all I ever get is tsun!"

This all got Kanzashi to pay attention again, though it involved a lot more blushing than before.

"T-this has nothing to do with Ichika! It's just that you're annoying, Tatenashi!"

The girl accused of being annoying simply laughed it off, though the brief exchange did give Church some more insight into something Tatenashi had said earlier, that her romantic feelings for Ichika were 'complicated.' If her sister also loved the same guy, Church could see how that was a conflict of interests. Must have been tough, to have to restrain yourself in such a way for a loved one.

Operator, must we dwell on such frivolous things?

Contrary to how things must work for a computer, real life is full of inefficiencies, Cerberus.

Tragically...

With no one else privy to that conversation, Chifuyu was soon trying to get things back on track. She apparently had a pretty busy schedule, according to her role here at the school.

"Tatenashi, go back to your regular business. Don't think you can defy me just because you're the student council president."

This statement was punctuated by a glare that left no room for disagreement, even from someone like Tatenashi. That said, the girl still kept up her usual demeanor as she prepared to make an exit.

"Alright, alright! See you later, little sis. Let me know if you learn anything cool!"

The younger sister merely sighed as her elder sibling left the room, closing the door behind her. Church had to wonder if they were actually close, or if it was a weird one-sided thing. More importantly though, mention of Kanzashi learning anything of import raised a point that he had to address.

"Um, I don't mean to offend anyone, but any detailed information about my suit is..."

Picking up on his meaning without any trouble, Chifuyu allayed his fears immediately.

"Don't worry. Kanzashi is only here to help with some of the technical parts as part of some extra credit she's doing. She won't be privy to any detailed information that is gathered from these tests."

From her bench, the girl in question commented on this as well.

"T-trust me, I'm a little too busy tweaking my own I.S. to worry about an entirely different machine. Though I'll admit I am intrigued..."

From within his mind, Cerberus also felt the need to comment on this situation.

It's irrelevant anyway, Operator. I will falsify all viable data that is acquired through these tests. Nothing of actual value will be given to our hosts.

Frankly, Church found it hard to believe that it would be as easy as all that.

The Commander didn't say anything about falsifying that kind of information, though I guess it makes sense... but will other people really be fooled by falsified data? What if they catch on?

Cerberus didn't seem worried about this at all.

Leave that to me, Operator. Nothing of import will be compromised.

Rather than get into a lengthy mental discussion about that since he was in the presence of other people, Church decided to just accept that for what it was. Who was he to question the artificial intelligence?

"Well, good enough for me. How are we going to go about these tests?"

Since Chifuyu was the one in charge, she was the one who answered that question.

"For today, we'll probably just focus on the most basic details. While I'd like to just get everything out of the way in one day, I don't have the free time on any day of the week to dedicate that much time, so we'll have to do this in increments when the opportunities arise. I hope that's not a problem for you?"

While he had to admit that he found Chifuyu Orimura a little intimidating, Church couldn't deny that the idea of spending a few hours every morning with a woman as obscenely beautiful as her sat pretty well with him. At the very least, he didn't have any problem with it.

"Well, I won't complain with you in charge."

Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at him, though it wasn't clear if that was because she was confused or surprised. Ultimately, she turned her attention to Kanzashi again. Now that her older sister was gone, the teacher was sure to address her by last name.

"Sarashiki, you can head to the booth now. We'll begin right away."

Church watched as the girl in question nodded and began moving towards an enclosed booth of some sort in the far corner of the large room. He could only assume that some important things would be done from that booth, though it would have to be done by radio or something, considering the distance and the fact that walls would be between them.

Once Kanzashi made it to her destination and got herself situated in it, she started messing around with some of the controls available to her in the booth. Soon enough, she leaned towards a microphone, and her voice came over some speakers.

"Cameras are green, Sensei. Ready to visually record the testing. Preemptive diagnostics on other equipment appears green as well, but that can't be confirmed until we've actually begun."

Chifuyu donned some sort of headset that had been sitting at her desk already, though it only covered one ear.

"Thank you, Sarashiki. So, Church: are you ready to begin?"

"Just tell me what you'd like me to do."

"Well, we should probably start with actually manifesting your suit for testing."

Since she had a fair point there, Church wasted no time in doing as he was asked. In a moment, he was covered in pale blue light, something that always forced him to close his eyes. Another moment after that, and he was opening his eyes to the altered and technologically advanced view of a HUD, thanks to the fact that his suit had finished manifesting over him. Chifuyu commented on the process as soon as it was finished.

"That process appeared to be remarkably similar to an Infinite Stratos activation."

"It's my understanding that the process is either very similar or exactly identical."

His older observer typed some things on the computer she was using as she inquired further.

"The data is stored in cyberspace somewhere, then manifested via Instant Corporeal Transmission, right?"

While Church heard what was said, it didn't make any sense to him at all.

"Uh..."

Yes Operator, that is the way the Exeter suit, and indeed all materials produced from a Hyperspace Arsenal, work. You should really know these things.

You know, pilots of aircraft don't exactly learn all the nuts and bolts of the things they fly. It's my job to fly the thing, not fix it!

Ultimately, he decided to save face and simply agree with what Chifuyu had said.

"Yeah, it's Instant Corporeal Transmission. Guess there's no need to fix what isn't broken, right?"

Apparently, Chifuyu agreed. Or at the least, she didn't seem to care too terribly much, since she shrugged.

"It's not like Infinite Stratos technology is licensed on a general scale. You can't license the concept of ICT anymore than a combustion engine. On that note, I don't see any weapons: I assume those are also manifested via ICT on command?"

Since Cerberus didn't say that he couldn't, Church went ahead and answered that.

"The suit does have a few built-in weapons that can't be removed, but yes: there's a lot of other weapons that I can summon on command via ICT."

"I see. Any other similarities with I.S. that I can go ahead and write off as identical? Makes reports a lot less tedious."

"Well, there's vague similarities: you know, energy shields, electric-rocket hybrid engines, stuff like that. But I don't know if those things are identical to Infinite Stratos."

Chifuyu typed out some more things on the computer she was using. She wouldn't admit it, but she was actually quite curious about a lot of the technical aspects of this unique air vehicle. She wasn't an engineer or anything, but she had professional interest at the least.

"I have to ask, seeing how different your suit is to a powered mech like Infinite Stratos: can it operate independently? Do you have to be inside of it?"

Instead of immediately answering that question, Church simply decided to demonstrate as he allowed the front of the suit to open up so he could step out of it. The back wasn't feasible, what with the engines and whatnot back there.

"No, I actually don't."

Before he could comment any further, Cerberus spoke up inside of Church's head.

Operator, do not say anything about my existence or imply that the suit can operate at full capacity without you. Say that its autonomous operation is limited.

Instead of answering Cerberus, Church simply kept that in mind as he continued.

"It can't fight effectively or operate without me like it would with me, but the suit can autonomously follow simple commands."

Chifuyu didn't seem to find any of this too surprising. Of course, she'd dealt with a number of autonomous machines lately, so that probably made a fair deal of sense.

"Well then, you may as well take a seat: you don't need to be inside of the suit for any of our tests today. Unless you really want to, for whatever reason."

Church didn't see any reason to get back within the suit, so instead, he glanced around the room to try and find somewhere to sit. Thing was, there was only one option, that being another chair that was near the desk Chifuyu Orimura was sitting at. The idea of taking that seat intimidated him for a moment, but then again, she had insisted that he take a seat, and that was the only one available, right?

With that in mind, he did exactly that, though he was sure to keep a decent gap between himself and the woman in the room with him. He didn't want to come across as too presumptuous or comfortable. Apparently, he did a decent enough job of accomplishing that, because Chifuyu didn't seem that bothered by his actions. She just kept on going with the testing.

"Could you have your suit move towards that diagnostic setup on the wall?"

Church simply motioned towards the location Chifuyu had indicated, and Exeter stalked over to it in a distinctly robotic manner that was nowhere near as fluid as when he was in control. Chifuyu questioned his lack of verbal direction.

"Mental commands?"

"There's uh, a neural link. Infinite Stratos has that too, right? Sorry, didn't occur to me when you asked for similarities."

Chifuyu didn't seem bothered by the oversight. She was swiftly addressing Kanzashi over the comms once Exeter was positioned within a metal frame and some mechanical arms that had all sorts of gadgets and tools.

"It's fine. Sarashiki, please attach the sensor nodes on arms two and four."

The girl in the tech booth answered back in a moment, her focus on whatever she had to do in order to achieve that.

"Of course, Sensei. It'll just be a moment or two."

Church watched as the mechanical arms around his suit began to move, with two of them attaching some sort of nodes to the shoulders of the suit. He assumed this would provide his Academy companions with readings of some sort, but what those readings may have been, he had no idea. He did notice Chifuyu doing a bit more clacking on her computer for a moment, though that didn't tell him much. If he had to hazard a guess, the gathered information would be the basics.

That said, he couldn't help but wonder what could be falsified about things like that. Moreover, would lying about basic data matter anyway? Church supposed he was better off just leaving it to Cerberus.

His thoughts didn't remain undisturbed for long, thanks to a comment from the older woman at his side.

"The shield strength for such a small machine is remarkably high."

Figuring she wouldn't have spoken aloud unless she wanted some sort of response about it, Church offered one up.

"Well, a smaller machine means less surface area for a shield to cover, so I'm sure that helps. It also doesn't require the same degree of engine power that an I.S. does, so there's less power draw there as well. Not to mention that there's no non-vital sections, since it's a suit and not a mech. Protection is pretty important."

Chifuyu didn't glance his way during any of this, keeping her focus on whatever she was recording.

"And yet, the armor rating is quite low. Though I suppose that's unavoidable: there's only so much mass you can attach to a flying machine of this size."

Saying that, Chifuyu finished typing and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms as she did so.

"Well, at this point there's little to do but wait. A full technical readout will take some time to compile. I suppose it depends on how much data there actually is, but I'd say an hour at least. Seeing as how you don't have to be in your suit for this, I suppose there's no reason you have to stay here in that time frame."

Ordinarily Church would have been happy to hear that, but considering the circumstances, that wasn't quite the case right this second. For one, he didn't want to leave the Exeter suit just lying around, regardless of whether or not he trusted these people. It was just bad practice. Secondly, he didn't really have anything to do as an alternative, as he assumed everyone that he could have interacted with to further his objectives were sleeping.

That being said, on a purely superficial level he certainly had no qualms with staying here with someone like Chifuyu. She was decidedly out of his league, but that didn't mean he couldn't take what he could get. There were probably thousands of men and women alike that would kill to be in his position.

"I don't mind waiting around. There's companionship in mutual suffering, right?"

At this, Chifuyu actually gave him a curious glance, but nothing more than that. Perhaps she hadn't expected him to take her up on waiting around here.

"I suppose so. Though I'm used to being up this early, so I believe the suffering is mostly yours. This is technically work, but at least it's a break from the banshees I call students."

Church himself was a little surprised that the woman would be so frank with him, but maybe she felt that it didn't matter, seeing as how he wasn't a student himself. Then again, maybe she would say these kinds of things to her students as well.

"Do you always have to be up this early? Tatenashi implied that it isn't unusual, at the very least. According to her, you have to do a lot of work around here for a single person."

Mention of work and her schedule put a frown on Chifuyu's face, though it was obvious that it wasn't for him as much as it was for the topic.

"Unfortunately. Yamada tries her best to carry some of the load, but the truth is, there's too many roles and not nearly enough people to fulfill them. Everyone in this institution does more than would be expected of them anywhere else. I just happen to have the most experience with I.S., so I get saddled with most of the hassle."

"Yeah, Tatenashi mentioned that too. Guess that's what happens when you're the first expert on an infant technology. That said, I don't think the situation is helped by gender locking the field. Seems to me like restricting who can be taught and hired for all of these jobs to females is making things arbitrarily more difficult than it needs to be."

The look on Chifuyu's face made it obvious that she was intrigued by his statement, maybe because she hadn't expected him to speak on something like this, considering his age, gender and occupation. Their acquaintance was very fresh, but this was a good indicator of the type of person he was, at least as far as his thought processes went. The theorist: a type of person who didn't mind discussing any sort of hypothetical, even if it had little or no relevance to themselves or their lives.

Admittedly, Chifuyu kind of liked that. She spent most of her time surrounded by teenage girls, most of which didn't think about much other than proving how great a pilot they were or how to get Ichika to notice them. Not that they were all like that, but 'deep thinker' wasn't how she would describe most of her students. It was nice to have someone who might have been a bit more of an intellectual to talk to, even if they were a teenager as well.

"Ordinary men can't pilot an I.S., so I don't think they'd be qualified in any way to teach others how to fly them, do you?"

"Well no, but there's plenty of jobs that could be done by a man. Teaching theory, maintenance, any of the non-I.S. related subjects that are taught here, considering that this institution still has to adhere to academic standards... heck, what you're doing here right now could be done by a man, then maybe you could get an extra hour or two of rest."

Frankly, Chifuyu couldn't deny that. He wasn't wrong, after all.

"I suppose that's fair. Although, being an all girls school, I can imagine that many students are more comfortable with female staff. That said, I won't say you're wrong: it's mostly arrogance and bigotry standing in the way of co-ed expertise in the field."

Church knew what she was talking about to a degree. The introduction of a superweapon that could only be used by women had done some serious damage to the overall balance of power between genders in the world. Not that it had been terribly fair in the first place.

"It hasn't affected me much all things considered, but I get what you mean: there's been a lot of elitism going around the world ever since Infinite Stratos debuted. Always felt unwarranted to me, but I'm kind of surprised you feel that way. Not to speak for you, but you're like, one of the first pilots to demonstrate how powerful an I.S. really is. And it's my understanding that you're one of the best pilots to date, so if you were equipped with an I.S., you could feasibly take on whole countries, albeit smaller ones. Doesn't that make you inherently superior to people who can't do that?"

Once again, Chifuyu was impressed with the level of thought put into this conversation. This really was a nice change of pace, and no one had really asked her this question before. She'd expected this whole encounter to be awkward and tense, but instead they were having a stimulating and meaningful conversation. She had to give Church kudos for managing that, especially since most people were intimidated by her whether she meant to do that to them or not. She'd been less than enthused with having to spend her early morning hours doing this before, but honestly, this wasn't so bad.

"Possessing a tool that someone else lacks does not make me inherently superior to them. It simply means I have a tool. In the case of a weapon like an I.S., that tool makes it easier for me to defeat other people, but the tool is doing the work, not me. If I have a sword and someone else doesn't, I could kill them, but it doesn't make me better than them. It just means I have a sword, and they do not."

For a moment, the look on Chifuyu's face grew notably displeased. Maybe this was something she had actually thought about more than once.

"The problem with many women today is that they feel superior to men not because they have swords, but simply because other women have them. Women who will never pilot an I.S., women who will never even see an I.S., consider themselves objectively superior to men just because they have the theoretical potential to pilot one, while men do not. It is truly asinine."

Needless to say, Church hadn't expected this kind of sentiment from the woman he was talking to. After all, she was a major face in the world of Infinite Stratos. Then again, she was speaking ill of people, not the machines themselves.

"That's a good point: kind of like feeling superior to others because someone in your demographic is a pro athlete, even though you'll never be one. I guess it's actually even more ridiculous with I.S. though. Aren't there only like, four hundred IS cores in the world or something?"

"Four hundred and sixty-seven, actually. In truth, there is almost no profession as narrow and elite as that of Infinite Stratos pilot: four hundred and sixty seven cores, to be distributed among nearly four billion women, and that does not even take into consideration that roughly a hundred cores belong to the Academy for training units. Then, you have to consider that no one is going to take on an older pilot that only has a few years of performance left in them, and that potential pilots already need to be in the upper echelon of intelligence and aptitude. They can't be physically deficient or ill either. Finally, there's the fact not all nations even have I.S., and thus have very poor representation in the field."

For a moment, Chifuyu glanced at the booth where Kanzashi was working. The girl seemingly had no means of hearing anything outside unless Chifuyu used her headset.

"Ultimately, the chances of any one girl becoming an I.S. pilot is infinitesimal. Even the majority of the students here at the Academy will never become professional pilots and will never touch an I.S. again after they leave here. That being said, it's utterly ridiculous for any woman to harbor a superiority complex over men because of Infinite Stratos: just like those men, most of them will never be I.S. pilots."

Church was silent for a moment as he took all of that in. Most of this was something he technically already knew: basic math dictated that the odds of piloting an I.S. were very slim when the odds were four hundred and sixty seven to four billion, but he had never really taken the time to think about it. Like Chifuyu had just said, the profession of I.S. pilot was truly one of the most inaccessible in the whole world, even for women. It was no wonder it had also become one of the most prestigious and funded fields of profession of all time, even though it had existed in the world very briefly in the grand scheme of things.

This of course reminded him that he was sitting next to, and even chatting with, the absolute most elite and legendary member of that already extremely limited and prohibitive club. Speaking of odds, that was pretty amazing, wasn't it?

"Well, taking all of that into consideration, I guess I'm extremely lucky to be talking to you, aren't I? You're the absolute best of the best of this already super tiny group, after all."

Oddly enough, Chifuyu's expression soured rather than lifted. Church had pegged her for the type that didn't necessarily care for praise, but he hadn't expected an outright negative reaction. Still, she didn't seem to direct the ire at him, even if it seeped into her words nevertheless.

"Don't start with all of that, what I've enjoyed about this conversation thus far is that it doesn't remind me of my students in any way."

For the life of him, Church felt that there had to be a deeper-seated reason to feel that way than mere standoffish personality, but he wasn't going to pry in his first meaningful conversation with Chifuyu. No need to ruin the good thing he had going, which was why he took the last topic and used it to springboard into something else Tatenashi had brought up earlier.

"I'll take that as a compliment. But you know, considering that pilots are already rare and you're one of the most experienced alive today, do you even have to work here? Governments should have been paying you loads of money for your services, right? With the narrowness of the supply and the excessive demand, I'd imagine you could demand almost any salary."

Seemingly pleased by Church's intuition in turning the conversation elsewhere, Chifuyu scoffed.

"You're naive if you think the government won't find other ways to squeeze service out of citizens they deem useful. Not that they pay me poorly, but I'll hardly be retiring as a billionaire anytime soon. Besides, I don't do this job for money."

"Then why do you?"

For the briefest moment, there was an expression on the woman's face that indicated the answer was not something she wanted to share. But her response made that obvious enough anyway.

"Reasons."

Figuring that he was in no position to push his luck so soon with this woman, Church simply left it at that. He'd have to find other, less intrusive things to talk about for the remainder of their morning together. Thankfully, he was pretty good at that.