Chapter 3: The Transfer Student is the Second Childhood Friend
"Well then, let's start practicing some basic IS maneuvers. Orimura, Alcott, try flying with your ISs."
It was near the end of April, the time when the late-blooming Sakura petals were falling. Today, I'm seriously learning from the instructor from hell called Chifuyu-nee.
"Hurry up! A properly trained pilot doesn't need more than a second to deploy the IS."
After being prompted, I started to concentrate.
Once the IS is optimized, it will remain with the pilot in the form of a decoration. Cecilia's is an earring on her left ear, and mine is an arm guard...no wait, they're mostly decorations, but mine's a defense tool, right? Why is it?
"You better concentrate!"
Damn it, I'll get beaten up next time.
I stretched my right arm out, and used my left hand to grab it. After many tries, I found out that this pose allows me to concentrate best—or rather, it allows me to imagine deploying my IS best.
(Come out! [Byakushiki]!)
I muttered in my heart. At that moment, I felt a thin layer extend from my right wrist over my entire body. The time it took to deploy was about 0.7 seconds. The balls of light scattered out from my body before seemingly combining together to form the IS.
My body instantly became lighter, and all sorts of sensors started being linked to my consciousness, which raised my line of sight. In the blink of an eye, my body was equipped with the IS [Byakushiki] and was floating about 10cm above the ground.
Cecilia was also equipped with her own IS [Blue Tears] as she floated. The BITs that were destroyed by me during our battle were already completely repaired.
"Okay, fly."
After Chifuyu-nee said that, Cecilia immediately got into action. She quickly rose up and stopped high above the ground.
Though I managed to do it as well, my speed of ascent was much slower than Cecilia's.
"What are you doing? In terms of specs, [Byakushiki] has a higher power output!"
A lecture could be heard from the communication line. On a side note, I've only just learned how to do an emergency ascent and descent, and that the method of piloting is to 'push in the direction I imagine'. However, I just can't grasp that feeling.
"Ichika-san, imagination is just imagination. You should find a more suitable image for yourself!"
"Even if you say that, I can't really understand it. Basically, this feeling of flying through the air is still strange to me. How can this thing even fly?"
Though the [Byakushiki] does have two pairs of wings, if I think of it like this, it can't possibly fly like a plane does. Basically, since the theory of flying is unrelated to the direction the wings spread, it can fly in any directions, which makes me wonder what is going on.
"I wouldn't mind explaining it, but there's a lot to it. This includes the anti-gravity wings and the theory of flow interference."
"I know, you don't need to explain it to me."
I immediately refused. My brain definitely can't process all of that.
"Is that so? What a pity. Hoho."
Cecilia revealed a delighted smile, and it was neither a ridiculing, nor a courteous one. It was just a normal, happy smile.
Ever since that match, she seems to always have a reason to train me, which I'm really grateful for. Also, as expected of a representative candidate, she's really outstanding.
