Infinite Stratos: The White Unicorn of Hope

CHAPTER 7

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Syncing with Unicorn was like floating on a cloud.

The sudden jolt of power surging through his veins...

The freedom to do whatever he wanted appeared the moment he was strapped in...

The hum of Unicorn's IS Core echoed in the cockpit at every move he made...

He took a slow, deep breath to calm his racing heart.

'System diagnostics.'

A flash of data slowly crept up at the back of his head before exploding outwards, showing endless streams of data in his vision through his HUD.

His head tilts to look at the diagnostics setup that the Engineering Club gracefully borrowed, watching the same data being transmitted to the setup in real-time via a cable that connected both the IS and the computer.

"This data..."

"Wow, what kind of monster did Shinonono create?"

"It's far more advanced than Orimura's Byakushiki."

Byakushiki was Ichika's personal IS that came a day after his fight with Cecilia. He was asked to tag along to see the reveal of his IS, and he wasn't disappointed by it.

It was a third-gen IS unit, with a clear specialization in speed and close-quarters combat. The performance of Byakushiki was already impressive in its default settings, but after half an hour of formatting and fitting, the performance seemingly tripled once it entered its First Shift.

… Admittedly, the Byakushiki, after transforming into its First Shift, had better top speed and acceleration compared to the Unicorn in its limited state.

He clicked his tongue and swore to change that soon. Which surprised him since he wasn’t the type to be jealous of such things.

Anyways, since he was stuck in the Unicorn until the Engineering Club was able to extract all of her information, Bakura decided to look around.

He whistled as soon as his eyes spotted something very expensive.

"Excuse me, but is that the latest material 3D printer made by the Dunois Industry?"

A tall third-year with a spanner in one hand and grease streaked across her cheek turned to him. She wiped sweat and oil from her face with a towel, flashing a proud grin.

"Oh, that? Yeah, we just got it last year. Nice eye, you interested in this kind of thing?"

He nodded, the motion slightly exaggerated due to the Unicorn’s helmet responding with him.

"Yes, I'm interested in upgrading Unicorn's weaponry, frankly."

Currently, Svalinn was the only Equalizer that Unicorn had in her arsenal, if you'd exclude the Vulcan Cannons, while the Beam Saber was a Preset from her default settings.

She needed more ranged options. And sure, he could simply obtain a typical standard-issue rifle or sidearm, but he'd at least like to try.

Especially since he was an aspiring IS-engineer in the past. He's curious about how it worked and was produced.

"Hmmm... If you're that interested, why not join the club? You first-year students should be required to join a club, after all."

At her suggestion, the girls who were tending to their work suddenly perked up.

"President, you genius!"

"As expected from the future IS-lead engineer of the country!"

"Banzai! Banzai!"

"We-We secured one of the world’s two males!!"

The cheers of excitement were immediately silenced as the upperclassman barked.

"You lot! If you’ve got that much energy to spare, then you can burn it off after dinner!"

A collective gulp echoed among the club members.

"We've still got three out of the five Uchiganes waiting for full diagnostics and frame calibration before tomorrow's first-year drills. Unless you want to explain to Ms. Orimura why they failed to work in front of her class?"

The girls instantly stiffened.

"""No, ma'am!"""

"Then hop to it!"

"""Yes, ma'am!"""

Like a well-oiled machine, the ten students of the club scrambled back to their workstations, returning back to their work.

The president of the club turned back to him, her earlier grin returning.

"Don’t mind them. All the clubs in IS Academy made a bet to see if any of you males would join theirs first. Winners get a 100% budget increase for the year from the Student Council, and they got carried away after winning."

Bakura blinked.

"You mean... How much are we talking about?"

"One whole crapload. United States craploads, mind you."

That's a lot of money. And nice reference; How I Met Your Mother was how he learned his English.

Then her eyebrows wiggled.

"How about it? We'll invest 10% of our total budget for the month in your training and first project if you join. Materials, parts, our experience, your pick."

Very generous as well. Not that she needed to sweeten the deal; he was already sold the moment he laid eyes on that top-tier 3D printer. But hey, this worked too.

"Deal."

They shook hands. Well, with a mechanical hiss, the Unicorn’s bulky armored gauntlet moved toward her.

Unfazed, the president simply slapped her much smaller hand against the metal fingers.

"Well then, welcome to the Engineering Club, rookie. Name's Momoi Reka; just call me Mo."

The girls let out another small cheer, though it was instantly snuffed by a single glare from Momoi.

=

=

=

"Well, then. Orimura, Alcott, and Uchiyama do some flying. Show me some basic IS flight maneuvers."

On the last weekday of April, four days after his fight against Cecilia and two weeks after the first day of the start of the semester, Bakura was starting to get used to the surprisingly gruesome schedule as an IS pilot.

Obeying Ms. Orimura's orders, he focused his mind on a particular object on his wrist.

Once an IS was fitted to a pilot, the whole unit itself could be condensed and carried around as an accessory, deeming said form as its Closed Form.

In the Unicorn's case, its Closed Form was a watch. The design was very simple; it was simply just a black-framed digital watch with a white band, while the Unicorn's iconic horn acted as its hour hand.

As for where the minute hand was, since the Unicorn only had one horn, the bottom half of the watch face displayed the current minutes and seconds in a two-letter digital format.

'Unicorn, come to me!'

Instantly, a thin film spread out over him from the watch in his left hand. In just a split second, the entire film encompassed his body before hardening out around him in a bright light, forming into the entire IS unit.

Power flooded into his veins. His five senses went into hyperdrive. His mind synced and connected with the Unicorn.

Unicorn materialized in 1.2 seconds after initializing the transformation from its Closed Form to its Active Form, rather slow in his eyes; the average for second-year students was half of what he needed.

Seeing that both Blue Tears and Byakushiki were already airborne, he followed suit. The thrusters hidden in his IS' frame fired up with a low hiss, kicking up dust and gravel as his feet lifted from the ground.

As he reached the same altitude as the two IS units, a map that coursed out the flight path for the basic exercise flashed onto his HUD display.

"Okay. Now, fly."

The larger thrusters mounted on the back of his Unicorn roared as he launched forward, streaking through the air with Cecilia and Ichika in tow, though the latter had a slower rate of climb compared to the both of them.

"What are you doing? Byakushiki should be much faster based on the specs."

From the public communication link line, Ms. Orimura remonstrated at Ichika.

"I know, but imagining a triangle pointing upwards just doesn't seem to work!"

Looking down from his position, Bakura gave his opinion.

"I personally imagine myself in Unicorn moving upwards at the same time instead of following the triangle method."

Cecilia backs him up.

"Bakura is right; it might be more constructive to think of a better one that works for you."

"Maybe... But I’m nowhere near used to flying yet. How does it manage to levitate, anyway?"

Speaking of her, she's been getting real close since her defeat against him. And she's using his first name! That's a bit rude; she didn't even ask for permission... Though he's doing the same thing, calling her "Cecilia" instead of "Alcott" when he refers to her in his thoughts.

"Long story short, the IS uses antigravity wings to reverse the gravity pull; that starts the flight process. Then, Passive Inertia Control automatically adjusts the IS' flight characteristics to maintain or change its velocity. After that—"

"W... What? Fine, just don’t explain it."

Ichika stops him as he was getting to the good part. Oh well, his loss then. The IS' flight system is a marvel, to be honest.

Ah, but the tips and tricks that she was teaching both him and Ichika were honestly great. It helped improve his understanding of the IS as a whole, and it clearly made his late-night studies easier.

As expected from a National Cadet.

"Ichika, maybe later Bakura and I will teach you again after school if you would like. Then the two of us can be alone, sitting together side-by-side as we teach you—"

He only managed to hear the first part of Cecilia's sentence since she started mumbling afterwards, but she eventually got interrupted as Shinonono yelled into the com-link.

"Ichika! How long are you going to stay up there?! Come down!"

Even at 200 meters in the air, Bakura mentally sighed at the deadly glare that was sent their way.

"Orimura, Alcott, and Uchiyama, show me a rapid descent, then deactivate your units. Target altitude is ten centimeters."

"Roger. See you two in a moment."

With a finger wave, Cecilia actively cut off her IS' flight stabilizers and fell from the sky.

He disengaged his flight support, allowing gravity to take him for a brief moment before launching downwards with his thrusters at medium output.

With his current speed, he passed Blue Tears in 0.4 seconds and reached the altitude of 5 meters from the ground in the next 0.3 seconds.

With a single thought that flickered in his head, the PIC system of his IS was activated instantly as the Unicorn controlled and arrested his inertia, his body that was moving at high speeds instantly halting just a meter from the ground.

Blue Tears landed next to him gracefully.

"Looks like I'm faster."

"That's only because you used your thrusters."

(BOOOOOOM!)

And Ichika crashes face-first into the ground. Thankfully, Absolute Defense was a thing; it protected him from the G-forces and impact, but it looks like the laughter from their classmates still hurts since they're psychological attacks.

After getting berated by Ms. Orimura and Shinonono, the lesson continued.

"Orimura, bring out your weapon. You can do that yourself, right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"The right answer to that is 'yes.'"

"Y-Yes."

"Good. Do it."

In about 900 milliseconds, light gathered in Ichika's palm before it congealed, taking shape into a large sword the same size as him.

"Too slow. You have to do this in 500 milliseconds. Alcott, bring out your weapon."

"Roger."

Raising her hand to shoulder level, she held it to the side before a burst of light was produced from her hand. In less than 500 milliseconds, she was holding onto Blue Tears' energy rifle, the MK-III Starlight.

"Good work, National Cadet, but stop using that pose; the gun is aimed sideways when you bring it out. You could hit someone. Learn to bring it out in front."

"B-But for my image, I need—"

"Change it. Got it?"

"Yes..."

"Uchiyama, your shield."

Nodding, Bakura got to work, picturing Svalinn in his mind before willing it into his hand.

In about 700 milliseconds, the large shield manifested after a bright light flickered, attaching into place along his left arm.

"It's slow; improve your speed."

"Yes, Miss."

The exercise continued, with all three of them repeatedly dismissing and resummoning their weaponry, until the end of the lesson for today's classes.

And then Ichika was made to clean up the grounds and to fill the hole that he created while everyone left.

Cecilia was already gone as well, so he himself was about to move when a white clawed hand grabbed Unicorn by the shoulder.

"Bakura, help me with this, please!"

"Is that a request or an order as the class representative?"

"Uh... An order?"

Well, his class rep has spoken.

"Alright then. I'll have you reported for abuse of power once we're done, though."

"What? Please don't; Sister will kill me!"