Unyielding Resolve - Cecilia Alcott x OC

Chapter 4 - Training

Bold: Time/Location
Italic: Character Thoughts/Internal Monologue
Underline: Author's Note(s)

Classroom 1-1 - No POV

It was the day of the duel. All of the students were in their seats in the class as Maya and Chifuyu stood at the front of the class, the latter addressing Ichika. Clearing her throat and stepping forward, she spoke. "Orimura, I'm afraid it'll be a while before your IS is ready for you." Looking up at her in slight alarm, he asked "What? I thought I didn't need one yet?" "You do now. Even though Riker decided to take your place, I am going to make you fight with him. He was a gentleman enough to volunteer to fight for you, the least I can do is give him some help." Cecilia rose from her seat and yelled "Hey! That was not the condition of the duel-" "You think you can't take both of us?" Riker interjected. Cecilia stopped cold in her tracks, and the rest of the class looked at her awaiting her response. "I-I...I don't need any help to destroy both of you, I accept this new arrangement!" "On the plus side, due to certain issues, the school will provide you with a personal IS." the black haired woman stated, causing the students to chat amongst each other about this. Cecilia simply glared at Ichika, doing her best to use her eyes to burn through the back of his skull. "A personal IS when he's only a freshman?" one said. "In other words, that means the government is supporting this?" another added. "That's so awesome, I wanna get my own IS too!" A final student asked a question aloud "Wait a second, what about Riker?" "I have my own IS already." He said, eliciting gasps from among his peers. "H-how? You're a boy! How could you already have your own personal IS?!" Cecilia inquired. "That's classified." responded the American now wearing an academy uniform, slightly modified with the S.T.R.I.K.E. logo applied to the shoulders.

Ichika looked confused, and asked a very dumb question which was arguably not his fault. "Is having your IS really that major of a deal?" As if on cue, Cecilia jumped in front of his desk startling him and began to boast. "I'm actually rather relieved to hear that. After all, in a class representative selection match between you two and I, the outcome is already obvious. But it's simply not fair for you to use a training module whilst I pilot my own personal unit." Ichika sighed and continued the rather annoying conversation "Hold on, you have your own IS as well?" "Oh, don't you know? Very well then. As you are a commoner, I shall have to explain. I, Cecilia Alcott, am the glorious representative contender for Great Britain." Firmly placing her hands on her hips, she continued her rant. "In other words, I currently own my own personal IS. There are only 467 IS units worldwide, so obviously those who have their own personal units are the elites of the elites amongst the planet's population of seven billion!" "Only 467? That's all?" Ichika asked, sweating from the heat of her rant.

A random student came up next to him and answered. "That's because the central component of all IS technology, the core, has never been released. As a result, there are only 467 machines in the entire world. And Dr. Tabane Shinonono has personally produced every one of those cores." Ichika caught note of that name, and looked over to his childhood friend Houki, who was staring off into the distance through the window. "Wait...isn't that Houki's sister?"  he thought. "Supposedly the IS core is like a self-contained black box. This is because no one other than Dr. Shinonono can create one." another student continued. "How little these people know..." James said to himself as he listened to the praise Tabane received. "But the thing is, so far she's refused to manufacture more than a certain number of cores. Therefore countries, corporations, and organizations are forced to conduct their research, development, and training using the limited number of IS units." When the student was finished, Chifuyu decided to add on. "To complete our little history lesson, those with personal IS units were originally only intended for those sponsored by governments and corporations. However, your case is exceptional. Therefore, they will provide you with a personal IS for data collection purposes. Is that all clear?" "Uh, I guess so." responded the brown-eyed boy.