“♪ J’aime l’oignon frit à l’huile, j’aime l’oignon, j’aime l’oignon. Un seul oignon frit à l’huile, un seul oignon nous change en Lion ♪”
Charlotte half-hummed the famous French marching song Chanson de l’Oignon to herself as she worked on her IS.
“Um... Charl?”
“Eeek!” It wasn’t a song she would have chosen if she had expected company. Especially not when that company was Ichika. “Were... Were you listening?”
“Yeah, I came in around the part about onions.”
“That was the whole thing!”
Charlotte’s face turned redder and redder. Ichika tried to calm her down with a headpat as he turned his eyes to the Rein Carnation. “Well, that’s pretty different.”
“So is Byakushiki now.”
“Honestly, I think yours changed even more, Charl. I mean, the internals are Revive’s, but it looks more like Cosmos from the outside.”
“I guess. I think I should be able to split it, but then I’d have to control them both, and I’m not sure I’d be able to keep up.” Her smile made it clear that she also wasn’t sure she wouldn’t be able to keep up.
“Really?! Two IS, one pilot?”
“Yeah. I’d probably have to have Cosmos mostly on autopilot, though.”
“Wow, that’s really impressive.”
Charlotte leapt up into the cockpit. “Let me show you!”
“Sure.”
A shimmer of light enveloped the Rein Carnation, and afterward, Charlotte stood in her old Revive, controlling the Cosmos like a puppet on strings.
“I’m still working on it, but I think it’ll be a really effective tactic.”
“Agreed. I mean, it’s doubling your firepower. Actually, though, y’know. I was thinking of doing a mock battle so we can see exactly what our new IS are capable of. Do you have time right now?”
Charlotte’s eyes gleamed as she called back Cosmos. “Yeah! That sounds great!”
She hopped down from her cockpit and took Ichika’s hand. Her enthusiasm for the idea was beginning to make him a little embarrassed. “Oh, uh. Is that a new IS suit?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty much the same as the last one, just a different size.”
“A different size?”
“Yeah, the old one was getting a little too tight up here...” Ichika’s eyes followed to exactly where ‘here’ meant. “Jeez! Ichika, you pervert!”
Charlotte folded her arms over her chest, only succeeding in accentuating its pulchritudinosity.
✦ ✦ ✦
“No, wait, I was just, uhh... Sorry.” To the girls’ relief, Ichika had at least learned to apologize when he did something like that. Though the loss of his previous naïve honesty presented its own problem. “Anyway! About that mock battle!”
“Yeah!”
And so, two newly-reborn IS were about to clash.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Your shotgun’s just as effective as ever!” Ichika regretted the loss of his shield as he extended his new energy wing into a barrier. The wing, much like the Revive’s old Garden Curtain package, was useful both offensively and defensively.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that wing. Maybe like this?” Charlotte ducked back, casting aside her shotgun—which was out of ammo anyway—and readying her Vertu II hybrid rifle.
“Gwuh?!” Ichika was already committed to closing in, and wasn’t expecting a direct attack.
“Got you, Ichika!” Energy swirled around the bullets as they launched toward Ichika at close range.
“Not so fast!” Tossing Yukihira Nigata into his left hand, he grabbed the rifle’s barrel and pointed it away.
“Wha?! Are you crazy?!”
Crazy or no, the maneuver was effective, and her shots flew harmlessly by as he extended his energy wing to wrap around her.
“This is my new trick!” A flurry of feathers launched out at Charlotte, just like the Silverio Gospel’s energy shots. “You’re not the only one with a new power-up!”
Rather than attempting to escape, she gathered her own multi-wing thrusters, forming an energy shield.
“Let’s see who gives up first, Charl!”
“It’s gonna be you, Ichika!”
A close-range hail of fire rained down and the sound of slashes filled the air. The moment seemed to last an eternity before both IS, drained of energy, sank to the ground.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ichika!”
“Yeah?”
As Ichika relaxed in the locker room, still in his IS suit, Charlotte entered with two drinks. She was still in her IS suit too—probably hadn’t showered.
“You were amazing! That really caught me off guard.” His new initiative under fire had surprised— and intrigued—Charlotte. “You know, Ichika? We should do this more often. I think we can learn a lot from each other.”
“Sure! Let’s try not to make Laura too jealous, though.”
“Ahahah. Good luck with that. Anyway, though. Promise me?” Charlotte sat down next to Ichika as she handed him a drink. “Oh, and I wanted to thank you. I’m really grateful for everything you did for me in France.”
“Mm? Nah, don’t worry about it. I think any guy would’ve done the same.” Ichika casually shrugged it off as he took a sip. The cool, refreshing flow in his throat felt great after a workout like that. “Mmm. I needed that.”
As Charlotte looked over at him, she gulped nervously. “Um, hey, Ichika.”
“Hm?”
“Well, um... Do you really think I’m any good at being a girl?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course you are.”
“Well, yeah, but... Ugh, I don’t even know how to say it.” She leaned in toward him, raw emotion welling up her eyes. “I guess... I guess I mean, at being the kind of girl you like...” Her hand came to rest on top of Ichika’s. “I mean... I’m a girl. I have needs, too.”
“I, I get it...”
Those wide eyes swallowed up the entire world around Ichika, before closing as she brought her face up to his. He froze up, not sure how to react—until he was ‘saved’ by a combat knife flying between them.
“Yikes!”
“I made sure to miss. This time.” Laura stood, her hands on her hips, dark clouds of rage swirling around her as she slid another knife from its sheath. Whatever mercy had bought him that respite was completely gone.
“Charlotte!”
“Y-Yes?!”
Laura turned toward her friend.
“Explain yourself.” Her eyes were feral. There was no trace of humanity left.
“I, I just, I mean, you know? One thing leads to another? Well, one thing led to another!”
“Oh, don’t give me that!” Laura shot back. “The only ‘leading’ going on was you leading my bride straight back to your bedroom! Or do you have some other excuse too?”
“Listen! He doesn’t just belong to you!” Charlotte found her footing and went on the attack as sparks flew between her and Laura.
As Ichika tried to sneak off, his escape route was blocked by gunfire.
“And where are you going?”
“Resistance is futile!”
Caught between Scylla and Charybdis, Ichika had only made it worse for himself by drawing the attention of them both.
“Wait, don’t I get to have an opinion about this?!”