“It’s cold!” Ichika wrapped his arms around himself as he stepped out of the airport.
“Again? You should realize, the further north you go, the colder it’ll get.” Charlotte took off her own cap and smiled in satisfaction as she placed it on Ichika’s head.
Seeing her expression, Ichika couldn’t help but laugh himself. Leaving the airport, they were greeted beside the roundabout by the squad who had come from Germany.
“I-Ichika?! Aren’t you rather close to Charlotte?” Their happy, contented air was anything but calming to Cecilia. She couldn’t help but imagine what had happened in France that had brought them closer together. “D-Did something happen in France?”
“We just—”
As Ichika began to explain, a mad dog who’d slipped her collar began to howl. “You little shits! Let me the hell go! Gahhh— You’re gonna break my fucking neck, shit-for-brains!”
The source of the commotion was Autumn. Chifuyu, already well-practiced at this, had put her in an arm lock. “...Well, a lot happened,” Charlotte sighed.
Noticing the bandages on Ichika’s face, Cecilia was alarmed. “Ichika, are you all right?! Charlotte! What happened to him?!”
Ichika calmed her with a quick headpat and said, “I’m fine.”
“Ah... Yes...” Cecilia blushed and stared down, a child’s embarrassed blush.
Houki and Ling were less than pleased. The reunion wasn’t a cause for joy. Just a return to how things should have been to begin with, in their minds.
“Anyway! I saw your IS on TV, Charlotte! That was amazing!” Ling shoved a French newspaper at them.
“What’s it say? ‘The second coming of La Pucelle de France?! Charlotte Dunois and the world’s first dual-core IS, Rein Carnation’... It’s already in the papers?!” Albert must have been pulling strings. Once he set his mind on something, there was no stopping him.
“That guy...”
He may have gotten over his anger, and he may have just thrown up his hands in frustration and moved on. Taken charitably, it may have been an attempt to protect Charlotte. But from anyone else’s viewpoint, it was the actions of an embarrassingly proud dad. On the front page was a photo of Charlotte’s face, she hadn’t even realized there was a photographer there.
“Ah, wait... Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!” Flustered, Charlotte grabbed the newspaper from Ichika and tore it up. “Y-You didn’t even see this! Right, Ichika?”
“Uh, sure.”
Charlotte blushingly curled up into herself, embarrassed at her family.
“Ahem! In any case, welcome, Ichika! Welcome, everyone! Welcome to Great Britain!” Cecilia gave a prim curtsy, the very picture of a proper lady. Behind her, her maids lined up. Twenty-four of them, flanking her on either side. She looked like Moses parting the seas.
But what was unusual was that the Alcotts’ chief maid Chelsea was not present. Ichika couldn’t help but notice the dark undertone to Cecilia’s smile.
“Hey, Cecilia—”
“CHICHAN!” Rushing up trailing a cloud of dust came none other but the inventor of the IS (and current Interpol Red Notice subject) Shinonono Tabane. “I’ve missed you sooooo much! Oh! And Houki’s here too! And even Icky! The All-Stars are all here, ehehe.”
Tabane wiped a vein of drool from her face as Chifuyu held her off with a single hand. They were always like this. But Ichika couldn’t help but have his doubts. She was a Phantom Task higher-up, trouble on two feet—a lit stick of dynamite.
“Chifuyu, what on earth...”
“Let me explain.” Chifuyu rasped out a sigh, and began to speak sternly. “The upcoming mission is a joint operation between European Union high command, IS Academy officials... And Phantom Task.”
“Wh—?!”
Chifuyu stepped forward as their jaws dropped. “Quiet down! We move out at sixteen hundred hours, four hours from now. The operation is called...”
[Sword Breaker!]
✦ ✦ ✦
Elsewhere, at a Royal Air Force base. Dozens of technical staff were milling around.
“I don’t understand what’s going on...” Ichika cradled his head in his arms as his fellow pilots put their IS through their checklists. His own Byakushiki had been changed to ‘Unlimited’ combat mode, equipped with reactive armor, a shield, and a top-secret package, all being attended to by the mechanics passing by him. “What are they even doing? All my expansion slots are already full. I hope that black box package even does something...”
An engineer, overhearing his murmuring, slapped him on the butt.
“Whoa!”
“Hey there, cutie. Long time no see.” A school swimsuit-style IS suit on her body, a lab coat, swim goggles on her head, and a harpoon in her hand. It was half a world away from where they’d met, but Ichika still recognized her instantly.
“Kagaribi Hikaruno?!”
“Haaaaaaaai! The lady of your dreams, Kagaribi Hikaruno! Back by popular demand!” She snapped her swim goggles off. He could see she was still dripping wet. She’d probably just been diving again, but there was no way to really tell. “I’ve got something super-special for you today! An attachment to finally let Byakushiki take expansions! Of course, Professor Shinonono took the lead in development—”
As if summoned, Tabane popped her head up. “Icky, you should take a walk somewhere while I take a look at Byakushiki.”
“Really? That’s kind of out of nowhere.”
“You’re in England! Take in the sights! There’s no reason you have to be cooped up in here just because everyone else is.”
Ignoring Hikaruno, Tabane looked straight at Cecilia; who, remembering their previous encounter, gulped.
“Hey, Cecilia! Why don’t you take Icky somewhere?”
“Huh?” Ichika, Cecilia, and even Chifuyu gasped in surprise.
Tabane had always been one to straight-up ignore the people around her. As they wondered just what had made her change, Tabane pushed Ichika forward.
“Go for it!” she said. Nervously, Ichika approached Cecilia. “C’mon, you’d better get going!”
Tabane pushed Cecilia toward Ichika before returning to her work. That, at least, was the Tabane they all knew.
“Er, um...”
“Shall we?”
Two others crept up on them as they nervously wavered. Ling and Houki.
“Hold it, Ceci—hrmph!”
“Hey, Ichi—hlmph!”
As if driven by a sixth sense, Chifuyu caught them and clamped a hand over each of their mouths.
“Don’t you two have some checklists to run down? This mission’s going to take everything your IS have.” Her eyes gleamed. There was no arguing with that.
“Understood...”
Tabane flashed Chifuyu a thumbs-up. All she could respond with was a sigh.