Chapter 8: Candid Conversations

Ultimately, Church found nothing particularly beneficial that he could do the day he had eaten breakfast with Rin. After going back to his room to sleep for a few hours, he'd woken up in the evening and faced the same problem as before: there was nothing much he could do to further the mission. As before, he could hardly approach Houki without seeming suspiciously interested in her for no reason, and trying to simply break into her room while she was sleeping was still too risky to consider. Church would have had to infiltrate the dorms for that, which were already heavily populated. He also had no idea how light of a sleeper Houki was or what she did with Akatsubaki's standby form while she rested. And all of this was to say nothing about her roommate.

For now, Church was still settled on the long con: use the footing he already had with one of Houki's friends to give himself an excuse to be near her more often, thus creating opportunities to get what he needed. A perfectly viable, if not particularly speedy plan of action. The Commander had told him he had as much time as was needed to complete the objective, but he had also specified a desire for it to be done swiftly. That said, Church would wait until the man actually expressed a desire to expedite the process before taking any unnecessary risks.

Of course, that left him with little to do in the evening, at least in regards to his actual mission. He didn't have enough of a relationship with any of Houki's friends to approach them for no reason, not including Rin. But naturally, she was still in the infirmary and likely resting herself. Bothering her again so early would probably have just been suspicious.

With all of that being the case, Church had used the evening hours to accomplish some other important things: namely, going into the city that surrounded the Academy, exchanging some American currency for yen, and buying at least a few pairs of clothes. Ironically, Umbra Stratum hadn't actually prepared him for any of these small logistics details. Perhaps they had expected him to complete the mission in a mere day.

His inability to speak Japanese didn't pose much of a problem during the foray into the unknown. Aside from the fact that many people in Japan spoke decent English, Cerberus was also able to translate for him when needed, and you didn't actually need to communicate that much when buying stuff anyway. Take what you wanted to the counter, give the clerk the required sum of money, and walk out with a bag. That was the universal shopping experience for most of the world.

So at least one problem had been solved that day, and it was the last one before he simply went back to sleep, considering that he had nothing better to do. He still had a logistics problem in regards to the ability to shower, but that was an issue he saved for the next morning, when he once again found himself with Chifuyu and Kanzashi in the R and D room from the day before.

Today's exercise was a little different than the day before, in that the most basic of basic tests was out of the way. Now came some slightly more detailed tests focused on the specific capabilities of the suit. That said, Church's situation wasn't much different from the day before, because he was once again not required to be within the suit itself. He imagined that would change when more practical tests that involved flying and shooting were in question, but for now, the suit was undergoing more technical things that didn't require the pilot.

Exeter was once again hooked up to the apparatus that it had been before, and once again, Church and Chifuyu were at a desk while Kanzashi ran things in the booth. Apparently, the computational power and processing speed of the suit's computer system were being tested right now, and that just meant running all sorts of simulations, equations, and other tech mumbo jumbo through the suit's computer bits. Church had no idea how Cerberus could mask any of that information without raising suspicions, but at this point he had decided to trust the AI on that front.

All of this culminated in the fact that the room's occupants had time to talk, just like they had the day before. Only difference was that Chifuyu was preoccupied with some other matter entirely this morning. Her focus had been on a digital pad separate from the R and D computer. Other than directing Church on what they were going to do this time around, she hadn't said much to him.

Frankly, this left the young man with a bit of trepidation in speaking. There were certain types of people that you just didn't want to interrupt when they were busy. Chifuyu had that stern, professional appearance and demeanor, and she had already revealed how busy she was on a day to day basis. That made her one of those people.

Still, he did kind of have an important question to ask. He supposed he could ask Tatenashi instead since she kind of functioned as a guide around here, but she was prone to show up whenever she felt like, and Church didn't know when that would happen again. Asking Chifuyu was really his best option, even if it was kind of awkward. Still, he felt pretty tentative about it.

"Uh, Ms. Orimura...?"

Despite her focus on the tablet she was holding, Chifuyu responded to him immediately, though she didn't take her eyes off what she was doing. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you while you're doing something important, but there's something I need to ask."

With a sigh that seemed directed at her task more than him, Chifuyu placed her tablet on the desk so she could focus on Church. "It's nothing that important. Just trying to determine the match-ups for the individual division tournament today."

Despite the fact that he already had something to talk about, Church couldn't help but be intrigued by this, especially since the tournament was something he was going to be attending.

"How do you go about doing that? Is it just based off of previous tournaments? Or do you have to consider the specifics of the competitors?"

Apparently, Chifuyu forgot that he had opened this conversation with a completely different question as well, because she ignored it to answer what he had asked now.

"A bit of both, really. It's not that everyone is ranked per se: there are different pilot ratings that denote how skilled or capable a pilot is supposed to be. Normally that would determine who faces who, but strictly following those ratings ignores a number of important factors that would lead to meaningful matches. Ratings aren't everything to begin with."

"That makes sense. Any particular examples?"

Chifuyu folded her arms as she directed her gaze at some corner of the ceiling. She seemed to do that a lot. "Ms. Shinonono is a prime example. As of right this moment, she is classified as a S-rank pilot: the best of the best. That couldn't be further from the truth. She has that rank due almost entirely to Akatsubaki, which is arguably the best Infinite Stratos unit in existence right now. Shinonono herself was only a Class C pilot prior to receiving Akatsubaki from her sister. That's not the lowest class in the rankings, but it virtually is: anything lower than that would never be realistically considered by organizations as a potential pilot."

Unlike Chifuyu, Church kept his focus on her, since she wasn't looking at him anyway. If he had a free opening to inwardly gawk at her beauty without suspicion, he wasn't going to let it pass him by. Not that it distracted him from the topic at hand.

"Sorry, could you break down these ranks for me? What exactly does it mean to be a C-Class pilot versus an S-Class one? I understand that S-Class is better, but how do they judge that?"

His older conversation partner didn't seem to mind his inquiry. Maybe she thought it reasonable that he didn't know about this somewhat niche aspect of the I.S. world. It didn't make much of a difference to outsiders, after all.

"These ranks are just an easy way to designate the skill brackets pilots fall into by percentile. A pilot's ability is judged by many things; performance in real battle, previous ranks in other tournaments, the level of practical and theoretical knowledge they have, as well as the actual capabilities of their machines. E-Class is the bottom of the barrel, being within the 25th percentile at maximum. D-Class goes up to the 50th. Neither of these ranks is high enough for any serious organization to even consider signing on that pilot. I.S. are just too valuable to be distributed to the lower half of pilot aptitude."

While that made sense to him, Church found it incredible that such a huge margin was considered hopeless in the world of Infinite Stratos. To think that being anywhere in the bottom 50% meant you were entirely screwed. It was pretty cutthroat, this business. Since he didn't say anything, Chifuyu continued her condensed explanation.

"C-Class is the lowest class any organization would even consider taking seriously, and it goes up to the 70th percentile. It's pretty simple from there on out: B-Class is between the 70th and 80th percentile, A the 80th and 90th, and S anywhere above that. Naturally, pilots with a higher class are much more valuable to the various organizations around the world recruiting pilots."

Since he was pretty focused on the conversation, it didn't take Church long to pinpoint a seeming problem with this whole setup. "Hold on, I get Class ratings based on pilot skill and all, but you said even the capability of a pilot's machine factored into that rating. How is that fair? Doesn't that obscure the reality of how good a pilot really is?"

Chifuyu nodded as she finally directed her gaze back down to her conversational partner. "Exactly. Like I said, Shinonono was moved to S-rank based solely on the capabilities of Akatsubaki. Her entire rating is dependent on what it can do, not what she can do. Without it, she's an entirely average pilot. And yet, Bodewig, who has been thoroughly trained in the use of cutting edge I.S. by the military for several years, is only a Class-A pilot. Incorporating the capabilities of the I.S. completely skews an objective understanding of a pilot's capabilities."

Church couldn't help but wonder if he was the only one in this school that actually had Chifuyu talk to them this much. Not including the students getting lectures, of course. She seemed to be a rather taciturn person, but she did have a lot to say if someone asked the right questions. She continued having something to say about this topic.

"This is especially vital to consider since many pilots will not always fly the I.S. they were initially rated in. No one would throw away the Akatsubaki considering how amazing it is, but theoretically, a country that took on Shinonono as their Representative could have her fly a different I.S. entirely, and then what happens? She goes back to being a much more average pilot."

Shaking her head, the older woman glanced back down at the tablet she had placed on the desk.

"All of this, in total, makes it somewhat difficult to determine who should face who in the tournament. Ranks don't really determine who would be a fair opponent for each other, and that's to say nothing about the actual machine match-ups. I could place Alcott against Shinonono, but that wouldn't really be a fair representation of skill for either of them. A long range specialist I.S. in a confined space against the fastest I.S. in the world, with heavy melee specialization and unknown shield regeneration abilities? It's not even a contest."

While he certainly didn't know everything about Akatsubaki (that was why he was here, after all), based on what little Church did know, it was understandable that its existence threw a big wrench into proceedings like this, which probably frustrated people like Chifuyu immensely. In a controlled one on one environment, Akatsubaki had every single advantage. Church couldn't imagine that it was a fair competition for anyone to face it.

Of course, real combat wasn't fair, and one shouldn't expect it to be. However, an organized tournament wasn't real combat. It was supposed to give all contestants a fair shake at representation. Kind of hard to do when one of those contestants had an I.S. that far outstripped all of the others in every conceivable way.

"Sounds like a hassle. I don't suppose you can just leave Shinonono out of the tournament?"

"That would deprive her of opportunities to gain experience. It's not exactly her fault that the Akatsubaki is so powerful, and she doesn't deserve to be punished for it. It just makes this much more of a headache for me, especially since Huang went and got herself hurt. I considered her the best option for facing Shinonono today, until that happened."

For Church's part, he was honestly surprised by this. Not that he assumed Rin to be a bad pilot or anything, since she was clearly very skilled to be a Representative Candidate and all, but Chifuyu had been considering her as the closest fair match to the unparalleled Akatsubaki? He had to know the logic behind that one.

"Not to speak ill of her, but I have to say, that surprises me. She was the best option?"

Chifuyu shrugged as she tapped a few digital buttons on her tablet. "Huang is certainly the second best in melee combat after Shinonono, so it stands to reason she would fare the best against her. Lots of people would probably assume Ichika was her second, but even though he's shaken off a lot of rust with his swordsmanship since attending the Academy, Huang's been training with her Shen Long and its melee capabilities for years. And that's to say nothing about the likelihood of Ichika wasting all of his energy in an all or nothing attack against a foe that can feasibly regenerate from that blow."

Figuring that Chifuyu probably had a better understanding of her students and their capabilities than he did, Church accepted that answer for what it was. Maybe Rin would be happy to hear that she was considered second best in this regard: or maybe she'd be insulted by the notion. He had no idea. While he was pondering that, Chifuyu apparently remembered that Church had initially had another question.

"By the way, didn't you have something to ask?"

Reminded of the somewhat awkward question he had to ask before the rest of this conversation had come up, Church figured it was best to just bite the bullet. Chifuyu seemed like a very practical woman. He highly doubted she was going to make anything weird of such a question. Honestly, Church felt kind of presumptuous for even assuming she would be flustered in any way by it.

"Yeah, um... about the amenities situation, I don't mean to complain, but... showers?"

Chifuyu leveled a somewhat blank look at Church for a moment, seemingly not grasping the meaning of his interrogative. However, that only lasted a moment as a slight but definitely noticeable expression of realization dawned on her features.

"Ah... my apologies. It seems I made a major oversight in preparing for your arrival."

"It's no big deal: you didn't have a lot of time to prepare, right? Plus I'm sure there's a lot of hassle in having a male outside of the student body encroach on what is virtually an all female campus."

"Well, I won't deny that last part. Still, it's shameful to have a representative from another country faced with a problem such as this at a world-class institution. Hmm..."

The older woman was clearly wracking her brain for an answer to his problem, made evident by her finger tapping on the desk. However, after more than a few moments of thought, it was clear that no solutions were immediately dawning on her. Considering that she had just revealed her conundrum revolving around the tournament that was only a few hours away, Church figured that some leniency on his part wasn't completely out of the question.

"If you need a little time, it's not like this is a particularly pressing issue. It doesn't have to be taken care of right this second."

Chifuyu actually frowned at this, perhaps displeased with the notion of leaving such an oversight unattended, but ultimately she figured there was no value in sitting here and pondering until she could find a solution. She'd likely be able to come up with something later, while going about the day's normal business.

"I won't say it doesn't displease me to leave a mistake like this uncorrected, but I suppose just sitting here and thinking about it isn't that helpful either. I promise to have a solution for you before the day ends."

"That's all I can ask for."

With that tangent seemingly drawn to a close, Church wondered what he should talk about next, or if he should speak at all since Chifuyu apparently had things to focus on. Then again, he didn't get much of a chance to think about it, because Kanzashi's voice came over the speakers.

"Sensei, there's only a few minutes left until the time we decided to conclude today's testing. I don't think there will be enough time to do much else once the next few computations are complete."

Church cocked an eyebrow as he turned his attention to a digital clock on a far wall, after which he focused on Chifuyu with the same confusion. "I thought this was something we were doing two hours a day? It's only been one."

Closing some windows on her tablet, Chifuyu offered him some clarity on this. "There's an exception today since Sarashiki there will be participating in the tournament as well. She needs some time to prepare for it just like everyone else, so we're cutting the session short today. I apologize for the extension to your purpose here that this delay creates."

While he had to admit that this didn't do much good for him since he wasn't supposed to meet up with Rin for several hours still, Church figured there was no point in complaining about it. Mostly because Chifuyu was a very difficult person to complain to. Aside from the capability to muster a truly harrowing glare, the elder Orimura also seemed like someone who almost always had to put up with more shit than you, which made complaining seem like bad taste.

"Well, I hate to cut our time short and all, but I guess I'll accept this gracefully."

A minor expression of confusion made it clear that Chifuyu found his words odd. "I didn't think you were the type to enjoy sitting around for tests."

"It's not really because of the tests..."

With Chifuyu focusing on the headset she wore to address Kanzashi right as Church said that, it seemed that she had missed his meaning overall, which was probably for the best. Maybe it was a tad presumptuous to imply that he was eager to spend time with her because she was beautiful. Not to mention kind of shallow. Either way, Chifuyu missed his words and focused on the ones she was saying to Kanzashi.

"Alright, Sarashiki, wrap up the last few computations and we'll call it a day. Be sure to send me the data before you go."

The addressed girl's voice came back over the intercom without delay. "Will do, Sensei."

Since it was obvious that they were all about to leave, Church went ahead and rose from his chair. "The tournament today is going to be held at the arena, right?"

Chifuyu didn't rise, but by the motions she was making on her tablet and the fact that she had removed her headset made it obvious that she was preparing to leave as well.

"That it is. Will you be watching?"

"I plan on it. Although, you didn't actually tell me about it until today, you know?"

The expression that crossed Chifuyu's face made it obvious that this information actually surprised her. "It must have slipped my mind. I apologize."

"Eh, forget about it. With how much you apparently have to do every day, I'm not really surprised that some things slip the mind from time to time."

"What a polite way of calling me forgetful."

Since there was a lack of ire or displeasure in her voice or her expression, Church swiftly deduced that she wasn't actually offended. "My point was really more about not holding you to ridiculous standards."

For a moment, there was the briefest of smiles on the woman's face. "That'd be a nice change of pace..."

Intrigued by what she meant by that, Church waited for some sort of elaboration, but ultimately she didn't provide any, moving on from the thought entirely as she got up from her chair too.

"Well, Sarashiki has sent me the data from today's tests. Feel free to take your suit back. Do you know how to get into the arena when the tournament starts?"

While disappointed to not get more detail about what she had said, Church figured he was better off not pushing his luck. "Rinin offered to watch with me. I'm assuming she knows everything I'd need to know."

Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at him. "You managed to get on Huang's good side surprisingly quickly."

Church didn't know if she was actually questioning his motives in befriending Rin, but he highly doubted it, for a variety of reasons. That being the case, he simply shrugged.

"I credit it to my irresistible charm."

He was a little worried that a straight laced woman like Chifuyu would find his humor appalling, but she did grin, slight as it was. "Or maybe she's just desperate for attention."

With that, the older woman made for the door, leaving Church to feign injury as he held a hand up to his chest.

Oh, are we truly already at the stage where we can exchange playful insults? What a surprise.

Picking up on his satisfaction with this notion, Cerberus spoke up for the first time since the testing session started. Sometimes Church wondered if the task at hand was actually a draw on its processing power.

Operator, please do not be so satisfied by the notion of camaraderie with our targets. They are means to an end, nothing more.

I like to think of myself as someone capable of multi tasking. Leave my satisfaction out of your calculations for the mission, would you?

Church noticed Kanzashi leaving her booth and heading for the door as well, with hardly a glance in his direction. As far as getting to know anyone was concerned, she didn't really seem to care to get familiar with him. Church wasn't too bummed about that: not that he disliked her, but she wasn't really his type. Despite his partially divided attention, he didn't miss Cerberus' response to what he had said a moment ago.

I cannot exclude my knowledge of your personal feelings from my predictions of mission success, Operator.

Frowning, Church walked towards the Exeter suit, which was no longer hooked up to any machines, but still standing in the construction frame that it had made use of the day before. He didn't recall it immediately, merely gazing at its peerless black visor. It offered no reflection.

I'm almost worried about the answer to this, but what exactly do you do if you don't agree with my course of action, Cerberus?

I inform you that I do not condone it, as you have seen, Operator.

Mentally issuing the command for Exeter to dematerialize, Church kept up his mental conversation even as the suit was bathed in a whitish blue light.

That's it? Is there no point at which you would attempt to intervene? Report me to HQ, or something?

If you were to intentionally deviate from your mission, I would of course take action to return your focus to the objective, or report you to Umbra Stratum command for their instruction. However, your misguided pleasure with fraternization is not a deviation from the mission. It is merely a potential problem that has yet to manifest. Until such a time that it poses a meaningful hindrance to our cause, my efforts are better spent assisting you than being at odds, Operator.

Making for the doorway of the R and D room, Church admitted how that made him feel.

Honestly, that's somewhat comforting. You're oddly tolerant and accommodating for a machine, Cerberus.

Tolerance and accommodation are notable human traits that improve my cooperative efficiency with them. Nothing more, Operator.

Immediately regretting the fact that he had given the AI any credit, Church stepped out into the hall, which was empty save for Kanzashi disappearing around a corner. In what was becoming an oddly common situation around here, he had a problem: there were still several hours between now and when he was supposed to meet up with Rin, and he didn't have anything particularly noteworthy to fill that time with. Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), Cerberus intruded on his thoughts once again to offer a solution.

Operator, might I suggest we do something conducive to our mission?

Alright, fine. What do you have in mind?