l only girls have...ugh, no! Got to remain calm.

"Ah. Cha-Charl?"

"Wha-What is it?"

"Huh..."

Though I really want to ask how it ended up like this, I'm hesitating on whether I should say it, so it's became a situation in which I don't know what to say.

"Mm..."

*Pasari*. I hear something light land on the clothing or something. Don't tell me that's--no, doesn't matter whether I can hear it. Was that the sound of underwear being taken off?

WAAHH!! Instead of being troubled wondering what I should do, maybe I should ask Charl what's she's doing, right?

◇

(Uu, I did this out of impulse, but what should I do next...)

Speaking of which, the reason why it ended up like this was because Charlotte noticed three people trailing her.

The IS Core Network is a unique network that links together. IS was developed for space exploration, so even if they are a galaxy apart, they can accurately detect each others position, so the network had the specialty of identifying each others location.

Of course, to accurately detect each others location, they have to get authorization. But even without it, one can tell roughly where they are.

However, if one wants to avoid being detected by the Core Network, they can use what's called a stealth mode.

'All three are using stealth mode, impossible to detect where they are'. In other words, they're 'at a place where they don't want to let other people know where they are'. Thus, Charlotte could tell that they were 'following her from behind'. As Laura, who was in the Army before, was amongst them, they wouldn't commit such a stupid mistake as being spotted. However, Charlotte had an amazing perception, and so this deduction was just easy.

(Hn~ can't the three of them go back...?)

Either way, it's now here time to go out with Ichika alone. In other words, it's a date.?Right now, let's not bother about what Ichika thinks.?Charlotte just thought of this.

The movements of youthful girls couldn't be underestimated. Even if it was just in her mind, such a pressure was still active.

(Bu-But, changing clothes in the same room is definitely too much...)

She blushed as she looked back at Ichika. It seemed that he didn't know how to deal with this as well as he's been looking up at the ceiling for no good reason.

(Uu...does he find think I-I'm a very weird girl?)

Besides, she was changing in a room that didn't have anybody of the opposite gender, and there would be a moment when she would be completely naked, so it's impossible not to be embarrassed.

She grabbed the jewellery in front of her chest, the Cross-shaped jewellery that was the Revive's standby mode, tightly in her chest.

(But, but then, Ichika's basically a Dreadnought level blockhead! If I don't do this...ahh, forget about it. Let's just do it!)

After blushing, Charlotte decided on it and removed her underwear down the legs. After putting them on her clothes, she puts on the swimsuit on her naked body.

Oh yes, as for the English battleship 'Dreadnought' that was built in 1906, the official records never mentioned that it was a blockhead. In truth, it was not a human to begin with, so please bear with this.

"I-I'm done..."

"O-Okay..."

She brought him here to see herself in a swimsuit, so it was treated as something to be expected. But the moment her body sensed Ichika's stare, Charlotte started to feel uneasy. In order to hide this emotion, she rubbed her fingers together, anxiously waiting for Ichika's thoughts.

"..."

Up till now, Ichika, who's the crux to all these, is hit with the triple attack of 'being alone with a girl', 'a girl is changing clothes' and 'a bikini look' in this enclosed space, which bothered him, or rather, made him embarrassed.

(Wh-Why isn't Ichika saying anything? Is-Is the swimsuit weird? We-Well, looking at it closely, this is a really bold bikini...)

That was a swimsuit that had been designed as a mix between a two-piece and a one piece. The two pieces at the top and bottom were linked through a cross at the back. It was that kind of a design. As for the color, it was bright yellow, which made one think of the summer. The front design seemed to be emphasizing on the busty breasts.

"The-Then, there's another piece, actually--"

"No, no need for that! Isn't this suitable? Mn, that's good, Charl!"

Ichika was starting to get wary about her changing again, and accidentally said such words in reflex.

Those words weren't something that would make the opposite gender happy, but on hearing Ichika stammer frantically, Charlotte felt like she got praised.

"I-I'll be choosing this then!"

"O-Okay. I'm going out then."

This time, before Charlotte could stop him, Ichika opened the door and got ready to leave the changing room.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"HUUUH?"

Standing at the door was actually the vice-homeroom teacher of class 1, Yamada Maya-sensei. Then, behind her, Chifuyu noticed that there was something going on and pressed her head.

"Idiot, what are you..."

The next moment, Yamada-sensei sank into a light frenzy, and her shrill scream echoed throughout the room.

◇

"Oh, so you're here to buy swimsuits. But two people entering a changing room together is totally unacceptable! It's not alright even on the educational aspect!"

"So-Sorry..."

Charl lowered her head and apologized. Well, I seem to find that's she's been getting scolded a lot nowadays, and all because of me. Uu, sorry.

"Oh yeah, Yamada-sensei, Chifu--ahem, Orimura-sensei, why are you here?"

I tried to divert the topic and explain the doubts. Man, I'm good.

"We're here to buy swimsuits. Al-Also, we're not on duty now, so there's no need to force yourself to call us senseis."

Well, even if she says that...naa, it's alright for Yamada-sensei, but even though Chifuyu-nee's wearing somewhat casual clothes, she's wearing a summer suit. Especially in this situation with other people around, I would likely get scolded if I just call her 'Chifuyu-nee'.

At this moment--

"You people should come out now, right?"

I seemed to hear a 'gulp'. No, maybe I'm just thinking too much.

"We-We were intending to come out."

"Tha-That's right! We were waiting for the right time!"

And thus, two people appeared from behind the pillar. They're Rin and Cecilia.

"And why are both of you being so sneaky? I wonder?"

"Girls don't want guys to know their shopping plans!"

"Tha-That's right! Really, Ichika really has got so much nerve that it's mindboggling."

Wa--for some reason, I got blamed badly. I shouldn't have asked.

"Make your purchase and go back."

Chifuyu-nee's seems to be holding onto a swimsuit. It seems like she's like Yamada-sensei, making her final preparations.

"Ah, ah--I got something I forgot to buy! I'll go buy it! Umm, I don't know where it is. Rin-san, Alcott-san, please follow me! Dunois-san too!"

Y-Yeah? What's with Yamada-sensei all of a sudden? As I sensed a flash in her eyes, she dragged the three girls away without allowing any protests.

With that, only Chifuyu-nee and I are here. The mysterious silence remains around us for several seconds.

"...Really, Yamada-sensei's way too sensitive."

"What?"

"Sigh...anyway, it's meaningless to say such words now. Ichika."

"Wha-What is it? Orimura-sensei?"

As I hadn't heard her call my name for a long time, I accidentally made a stiff response. Chifuyu-nee just gave a stiff smile, probably seeing that my expression's weird.

"We're not having lessons now, so you can call me by my name. We're just normal siblings here."

"I-I got it."

Seems like this means to be together as sister and brother--or something like that? I really don't understand Yamada-sensei's concern.

"Then, Ichika, which swimsuit do you think is nicer?"

Saying that, Chifuyu-nee showed me two swimsuits that were hung on the clothes hangers.

One is a black sporty type with web-parts that's showing a sexy look.

On the other side, in contrast, it's a white one that cuts a lot of the look and focuses on the functions.

Both of them are bikinis, and they both reveal quite a lot.

(Well...the black one, I guess.)

Considering this, I suddenly noticed something.

If she puts on this black swimsuit, maybe she might attract a lot of weird guys, no, that's a certainty. The white swimsuit may be comparable, but that forbidden allure would definitely cause any guy to be unable to say something.

"--The white one"

I did try to say it as naturally as possible, but after hearing that, Chifuyu-nee's response has a bit of wryness to it,

"The black one, right?"

"No, the white--"

"Liar. You looked at the black one first! Ever since before, you would always look closely at the one you like, so I knew immediately."

Uu...I got seen through really easily.

"Really, there's no need to worry as a younger brother. Do I look like a woman who would succumb to those frivolous men?"

"No, not at all...but Chifuyu-nee, aren't you going to get a boyfriend? I never heard you mention it before..."

"Say that once my brother can be independent."

Uu, now that she said this, I have nothing to say. I tried working in middle school, but in the end, most of the living expenses--well, 90% came from Chifuyu-nee. Though I tried spending before, but...

"Just use that money to get a gift for the girl you like."

--But I got shot back like that. I don't have anyone I like!

"Then what about you?"

"Ah? Me? Why?"

"What why? Aren't you dating? Luckily, there's an abundance of girls in the school, so you can just choose as you like, right?"

What do you mean by 'choose as you like'? Speaking of which, I used to think that 'choose as you like' was a type of color. Green (もぢり, midori), yellow green (きもぢり, kimidori) and 'choose as you like(よりどりみどり, yoridorimidori)'.

"Let me think...how's Laura? She's a really problematic kid, but she's an empathetic one. She looks good as well."

"No, that..."

"Besides, didn't you two kiss?"

UGH! DO YOU HAVE TO MENTION IT!? DAMN IT, IT SEEMS THAT I'LL SELF-DESTRUCT NO MATTER HOW I ANSWER.

Perhaps seeing that it's interesting to see me this embarrassed, Chifuyu-nee, who was giving a wry smile up till now, now unknowingly shows a slight smile.

"It's nothing bad, you know."

"No, how should I say it? I don't really understand that..."

"Oh, I see. Is she your type or not?"

"Well, I...uun. Well, I guess, she's pretty cute."

"Oh--"

"Laura's pretty cute--NO WAIT, WHAT DID YOU MAKE ME SAY!?"

"You just said it out, didn't you?"

UGH! That was the case. It feels like I was baited, but it's my fault for being baited in the first place.

"Never mind. Either way, before worrying about me, deal with your own problems first. I'm not so old that I need my younger brother to take care of me."

"Okay. I got it. I won't be worried about anything weird. Is that alright?"

"Mn, that can do."

After showing a smirk, Chifuyu-nee walks towards the cashier. I don't know whether I should follow her or wait here for Yamada-sensei and the rest to come back, so I just waited her for a while.

◇

Rewinding time back to 10 minutes ago.

As compared to Charlotte's reaction, Ichika was simply too normal, so Rin, Cecilia and Laura, the trio of stalkers all noticed something,

"...Ahh, as usual, the blockheads of blockheads, Orimura Ichika."

With that, Laura feels that they're about to be discovered at this rate, and didn't want to continue.

Thinking this way, she left Rin and Cecilia and headed towards the swimsuit area. As the large number of swimsuits form a wall, she doesn't need to worry about being noticed.

(Fum. Speaking of which, I don't have a swimsuit myself.)

But it doesn't matter anyway. I can just wear the normal school swimsuit.?Laura thought.

On a side note, the IS Academy designated swimsuit are of the endangered species, the sporty navy blue piece of art, the school one-piece swimsuit. On a side note, there's even a nametag on it.

(Doesn't matter anyway. If I can swim, I just need to wear something right? That swimsuit's functionality's rather good, so there's no need to find a replacement.)

Thinking about this, Laura stared at the swimsuits lined together with icy cold eyes, but at the next moment, her white skin immediately became red.

"Laura's pretty cute."

Because of Ichika's voice, of what he said, she suddenly turned around.

Laura knows that he and Chifuyu were talking to each other, but she disliked eavesdropping on others, so she didn't mind them and got hit hard.

"..."

The sudden words caused her face to be flushed red, her heart started beating like it was in 4th gear. *DOKI DOKITO, BAKU BAKUTO!!* The beating in her heart couldn't stop at all.

You should praise me more.?Laura did say that to Ichika, but in fact, he never praised her before, so of course he never told her 'you're cute'.

But after hearing such sudden words, it's no wonder that the calm Laura who was called the German Ice would panic.

(Cu-Cut-Cute...? I'm, cute...cute...)

Ignoring the surroundings, Laura pressed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes. She gathered concentration that would normally be unrequired, and after mis-dialling a few times, she opened the IS private channel.

◇

At the same time, in a German training facility, the IS special group 'Schwarzer Hase'--normally called 'Black Hares' were training.

There were ten IS in Germany, and this unit had three, which proved that they were the strongest squad.

The unit's seal was the 'Hare with an eyepatch'. With Laura as the leader, all the members had nanomachines inserted into their eye to improve IS computation. Though Laura's eyepatch was a function control, right now, all the members wore eyepatches to protect their eyes and for the pride of the unit.

"What are you doing!? You're late by 37 seconds!! Hurry up!!"

Growling angrily was the assistant commander, Clarissa Harfouch, 22 years old, the oldest in the squad. With so many members who were in their teenage years, she was a 'reliable big sis' who was strict and yet could involve everyone appropriately.

Her IS suit [Schwarzer Zweig] received a private channel signal from what amounted to a distress call.

"--Roger that. This is Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch."

"It-It's me..."

Normally speaking, one has to report the name and rank, but as the other person's voice was wavering ridiculously, Clarissa inadvertently let out a stunned look.

"Commander Bodewig, have you encountered any difficulties?"

"Ah, ahh...there's-there's a major problem now..."

Listening to the tone of the speaker from the other side, Clarissa felt that things weren't that simple, and immediately used hand gestures to order 'end of training, emergency gathering'.

"--Do I need to bring the squad over?"

"No, no need, there's no need for the squad. It's, it's not military, anyway..."

"What is that?"

"Clarissa, well. Do-Do-Do I, look, cute...or not?"

...

"What?"

Clarissa's voice, which was rhythmically flat, just raised by half an octave. Facing the unknown sudden situation, the originally intense tone became what seemed to be dumbfounding words to them.

"I-Ichi-Ichika, he-he seemed to have said that, so..."

Hearing this, Clarissa immediately remembered.

"Ohh, so it's Instructor Orimura's younger brother. Commander seems to have feelings for that guy."

"Uu, well...wha-what should I do, Clarissa? What should I do in this situation?"

"Well...let's understand the situation. Did he say that to you directly?"

"No, that's not it, I think he wouldn't expect me to be here..."

"--That's great."

"Is-Is that so?"

"Yes, praising someone when she's not around, that's definitely not a lie."

"I-I see...!"

Laura's voice, which was wavering up till now, seemed to bloom like a flower after hearing Clarissa's words.

On a side note, Clarissa had been chatting with her using the private channel and using a pen to pass the message to the other members at the same time.

There's hope for the Commander and her crush.

"OOOHHHHH~!!!!" More than 10 girls cried out.

--On a side note, Laura had a lot of interpersonal relationship problems with this squad, but after the VT incident last month, she started discussing with Clarissa that 'I have someone I like', and all walls vanished.

If there's a need to describe the situation--

"WHAAAT!! THAT-THAT COMMANDER, LIKES, A...A GUY!!!?"

"I THOUGHT SHE REALLY LIKED INSTRUCTOR ORIMURA...!"

"Yeah, yeah, I thought so as well. But, well, that commander, I'm talking about her now. She actually asked 'What should I do to a-attract a-a guy...?'!"

"""KYAAAHHHH!!!"""

"So I seriously taught her! I told her that there's a culture of 'taking the person you like as your bride' in Japan!"

"AS EXPECTED OF THE VICE-COMMANDER! SHE'S REALLY FAMILIAR WITH JAPAN!"

"Of course, I didn't just read Japanese Shoujo manga just to put a front or because of curiosity!"

"SO-SO COOL...!"

"I LOVE THIS COOL VICE-COMMANDER!"

"BUT I LIKE THE CUTE COMMANDER EVEN MORE!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! ME TOO!! AHH, WHY COULDN'T WE LINK WITH HER WHEN SHE WAS IN THE COUNTRY!?"

"I REMEMBER THAT THEY COOK RED RICE IN JAPAN AT THIS TIME!"[3A 11]

"I guess so? It probably means that the blood is thicker than what, or something like that."

"AS EXPECTED OF JAPAN, IT'S REALLY EXCITING!!"

"IT'S WORTHY OF ADMIRATION!!"

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, THAT'S IT FOR TRAINING TODAY! LET'S HEAD TO THE ARMY CANTEEN AND COOK RED RICE TOGETHER!"

"""YES! VICE-COMMANDER!!!"""

--It was that sort of feeling. As expected of girls in their teenager years (a small group of them are 20+). Everyone would argue because of trivial matters, and would patch up because of trivial matters.

"An-And then, I-I'm at, that-that place where they're selling, swimsuits now..."

"Oh, swimsuits! Oh yeah, you have a seaside school next week. What will you be wearing then, commander?"

"U, un? The school issued swimsuit--"

"ARE YOU STUPID!!"

"!"

"I remember that the IS Academy has the old-fashioned sports swimsuit, so it isn't bad, or not...guys more or less would be aroused by it. But...that's--"

"That-That's...?"

Laura forcefully swallows her saliva.

"THAT'S NOT GOING TO BREAK THROUGH THE LINE OF EROTISM!!"

"Wha...?"

"It's true that commander can't use voluptous curves to trap men, but if you give up on this opportunity, you can't progress with 'that guy you have feelings for'!"

"The-Then...what should I do?"

"Fuu, I have a secret weapon."

As even her words were burning with passion, Clarissa let out a glint in her eye.