[DarkJak2050]

Crossover spotted.

The Monster You Made RE Test

Originally Posted by StratoSpear

Self-doubting, what could it possibly lead to?

Spoiler for Gospel arc Epilogue:

Standing atop a hill that overlooks the rural portion of the city as well as the Katami Dojo, Tsurugi looks to the stars scattered across the clear night sky. The cooling winds of the north brushes over the hilltop and calms her senses. The past month has been a roller-coaster of events; Inami’s return, the Minerva, the ever-hostile Jabber drones, everything has been chaotic as of late and yet her emotions remain composed at the sight of the stars glittering the sky.

“Yo.”

Tsurugi turns to the voice, seeing Inami making his way up the hill and reaching his hand out to her. Beaming a smile, she takes his hand and pulls him up to her side. His presence soothes her heart as she looks back to the rural town.

“Such a beauty, isn’t it?”

Inami nods as he looks around the town. Tsurugi had previously asked him to meet her at the hilltop after dismounting the Minerva’s armor, saying that she has something important to tell him. No matter the case, he would’ve obliged to accompany her even if she did not have anything to say or discuss. Their kinship is bound so firm to each other that one may call it clinginess.

“Ina-kun, about what I said earlier… about an important matter…”

Tsurugi’s words shattered the silence between them and Inami turns his head to her as a short gust of cold breeze sweeps the hilltop.

“I’m going to enroll into the Infinite Stratos Academy.”

‘What?’ echoes inside Inami’s mind; never mind that the IS Academy nearly fell victim to drone threats on multiple occasions. Tsurugi’s tone when she makes the decision comes with seriousness despite the smile on her face. As with all decisions, a significant reason accompanies it and it makes Inami curious of her motivations.

“Why is that?”

Tsurugi has many reasons; most of them being related to the seemingly illustrious impression the Academy has made to her. However, those reasons are petty, trivial as it would for anyone else. Having Inami by her side isn’t just for the sake of company but also the fact that he is one of the motivations that brought her to the decision.

“I want to understand more about the IS… and what about it that you’ve been working so hard to protect.”

An answer that even Inami doesn’t know. Ever since he came into Praxidike he has always sworn to deter terrorist attacks that are directed towards the Infinite Stratos, especially the prominent IS Academy institution, on the grounds of simply saving lives… nothing more. Once, he even questioned his eligibility as Minerva’s pilot, asking Gerald as to why could it not have been anyone else aside from him whereby the Praxidike’s head simply answered:

‘You are chosen by her.’

“I was… chosen.”

The thoughts escaped his mouth without his notice. Such words would imply that someone handpicked him to be Minerva’s pilot, someone neutral, unbiased and most probably isn’t affiliated with Praxidike… Or so that’s what Tsurugi thought when her ears caught his words.

“Chosen…? By who?”

Inami snaps back to reality upon Tsurugi’s prompt, realizing that he has spoken out of conscious. Nevertheless, he isn’t clear as to who chose him and why, all he got from Gerald that would have given any clue as to who chose him is “her”.

“Her…”

“Pardon…?”

“That’s what I was told when I asked who chose me as the Minerva’s pilot.”

“I see.”

“There’s a lot more that I need to find out. If I was chosen by someone so ambiguous that their name could not be mentioned, there must be more to the Minerva than just deterring terrorists.”

Inami’s doubts began to show while Tsurugi remains contented with her decision. While it is clear that he was conscripted into Praxidike, he has never shown signs of quitting the organization. Rather, he only wants to know more; the reason he was entrusted with power, why should he protect the IS despite them being more technologically-advanced than the rest of the world, why him and not someone else who could have been more capable of piloting the Minerva.

As mentioned before, I'm altering the reasons why Inami was chosen as Minerva's pilot. The reason though, I'll surface it later... maybe.

Everytime I read a bit you post on here makes me even more curious as what you've done in the re-write. Did you see that last bit I posted 2 pages back?