Unyielding Resolve - Cecilia Alcott x OC

Chapter 24 - Hidden Agendas

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

Academy Dorms - Ichika's POV

The comfy mattress of my dorm was something I had been profoundly missing the feeling of for the last few hours. After getting slapped, demeaned, yelled at by Chifuyu, and nearly watching one of my classmates die, I was just about ready to pass out from the stress of so much happening in such a short time. I closed the door to my room and saw that Charles wasn't in the room. "I'm back, are you here Charles?" I asked aloud as I walked forward toward the beds. The sound of running water caught my attention, so I turned my head to the source.

After a moment, I realized my roommate was taking a shower since they hadn't back at the locker room. It was very odd to me that Charles had such a fear of being seen changing, and if that wasn't true, then it must've been that me specifically changing clothes must have bugged him. Back in the locker room before I overheard Laura and Chifuyu's argument, I thanked Charles for saving me from the cannon round that Laura fired which almost nailed me. After that was when he told me that he'd be going back to our room to shower, so I tried getting to the bottom of it there, only for him to run off yelling in fear after I wrapped my shoulder around him with my shirt off.

No matter how many times I tried to ask him about it, he always found a way to avoid it and escape, and that was starting to agitate me. It was almost like he was hiding something, and I was also starting to get really sick of the amount of secrets that were being kept from me. First James' assignment, then Charles' fear of changing, and now whatever drama was happening between Laura and my sister. I had a pretty good feeling that whatever was going on between Laura and Chifuyu was somehow related to the second Mondo Grosso tournament, which Chifuyu had to forfeit to save me when I had been kidnapped. She had to teach for a year in Germany as payment for the German military's services in locating me, which would explain why Laura called Chifuyu her mentor.

The promise I had made myself about protecting myself without Chifuyu's help rung in my head as I placed my school folder on the desk. After placing it down, I walked over to my bed and dropped on it with my hands behind me. I sighed in relief when my behind hit the soft surface, it had felt like I had been standing for days. That sense of relief was interrupted when I remembered that the bathroom was out of body soap. "Ah, that's right..." I said quietly to myself. Charles didn't know that, so before it was too late, I rose to my feet and walked into the bathroom with a new bottle of soap.

After I opened the door, I walked in and told him "Hey Charles, I think we're out of body soap in there right? I brought you a new- eeeehhmm..." I stopped cold when Charles exited the shower. Just when I thought this day was done throwing surprises at me, it had turned out that he, was in fact a she. And she, was standing fully naked just five feet in front of me. Even though every alarm in my head was going off, I tried my best to play it cool. Charles however yelped in terror and covered sensitive areas as best as she could with her arms.

"Well, uh...I brought you the soap..." I said as I stepped just a bit closer to give her the bottle. It was taking every ounce of discipline in my body to keep my eyes on her face, and not...anywhere else. She just stood there in shock and returned my gaze before sheepishly replying "Oh yes...thank you..." and grasped the soap with one of her hands, trying to cover herself as much as she could. "Well, see ya later..." I awkwardly replied as I turned to exit the room. "Uh huh..." was all I could hear her say. As soon as I was out of the bathroom and closed the door, it was time to freak out. "HUUUUUUH!?"

The Fridge - No POV

It had been well past time that James was supposed to report back to S.T.R.I.K.E. to give his mission status, and the command staff began to worry. Thomas Black stood in his office, staring with intense skepticism at the electronic board on the wall ahead of him. On the board, various active operations and teams were displayed at many locations around the globe. The sun glared through the pair of large windows that served as walls, but not enough to blur the screen. Right now his eyes were fixated on the location in the Indian Ocean he deployed James to only three days ago, and a flashing red icon of the agency's eagle symbol was positioned over the region in the ocean.