Satoru came very early to the main lecture of hall of the university. As it seems he is one of the first ones to be there. The only other people he saw were the members of the student council who were preparing for the upcoming opening ceremony. Not thinking of anything he went to one of the back rows and sat down.
"Katsumi, can you give me the information of the 10 first year representatives of the Military Universities?"
"I got them. Should I filter them?"
"No need, they are only 10 anyways."
Satoru puts his glasses on and immediately the information cards of 10 students came up. He skimmed them really fast, but he couldn't find what he was looking for.
"You need more information about a person?"
"No. Return to standby mode."
"Person in close proximity, 270. Emotion: Agitation."
Having been in deep thought for a while, Satoru didn't notice the environment around him. This sudden warning startled him a bit, however he just looked calmly in the direction Katsumi directed him to. The reason for the agitation came apparent.
"May I get through?"
"Of course."
Satoru didn't question why this person wanted to be in the last row even though pretty much every other row was empty.
"Thank you."
The person proceeded to pass infront him. Being so close to each other Satoru's training kicked in and he analyzed the physique of the person in case of a surprise attack. One of the first things he noticed is how exceptionally tall the other person was. His shoulders are very wide too and even with the uniform covering the upper body one could tell that it was in a very good shape. Another important aspect were the hands which were hardened indicating the person is using a melee weapon. This got confirmed after seeing a pin with a katana and a knife on the school uniform.
"Warning! Agitation increased."
This rise of agitation could only mean Satoru's analysis of this person's body got noticed. It also meant that the Battle AI of the other person was active, because the rapid eye movement can't be noticed if you are not looking directly into the face.
"Hey! Nice pin you have."
From all the different reactions the other may make, Satoru expected this one the least.
"Thank you. Sorry for looking at you funny."
"Ah don't worry. I would have done the same if someone would get so close to me, but seriously, you need to tell me which family has a spaceship on their pin."
Satoru hasn't seen many pins yet, however he could see a common trend. As it seems most pins have some kind of weapon displayed on them.
"The Nakayama family."
"You mean the Nakayama family who went to Mars two decades ago?"
"Yes, I do."
"My family were on very good terms with them, until they left Earth. I am Hokama Mitsuyo by the way."
Mitsuyo extended his right hand which Satoru shook.
"I am Ikeda Satoru. Just curious, are you related to our first year representative?"
As he scrolled through the list he paid special attention to the first year representative of the Tokyo Branch. Not only was he their representative, his surname "Hokama" also aroused his interest since one of the Ishikawa's branch families had the same name.
"Uhm, somewhat yes. I don't know how to put, we are some sort of branch family of theirs."
Given Mistuyo's reaction, him wanting to sit in the back row, arriving so early a suspicion arouse in Satoru's head.
"You can't be possibly be trying to avoid him right?"
There was no response. Mitsuyo simply looked to the ground. In this case however no response was an answer to his question. After a few seconds Satoru decided to speak up again.
"If you don't want to speak about this matter, so be it. Let us sit down first."
Since the moment Satoru stood up, both of them were kind of standing there awkwardly. Mitsuyo took the invitation and sat down with Satoru doing the same.
"It is just something in our family."
"The problem is that you can't avoid him forever, especially when you two are in the same class."
A long pause ensued, indicating that Satoru was right again.
"How do you know that we are in the same class?"
"Around two minutes ago the class lists were published on the internal message board."
"Wait let me check."
Mitsuyo looked like if he were concentrating for a bit. Then after around 10 seconds he looked back at Satoru.
"You are in 1-S? How come you are in the lowest class when you are clearly better at using the Sixth Sense than I am?"
"What do you mean with I can use it better?"
"I for example need to concentrate and am not able to do anything else. You on the other hand could use your Sixth Sense while talking, with me not noticing it at all."
The Sixth Sense is the name for an AI which is integrated inside a human body. Since the AI is directly connected to the brain with a data cable it can send signals directly into someone head. It is therefore regarded as a sense even though it is an artificial one.
"Maybe you are just better in using your AI in combat."
"Or could it be that your Battle AI is inferior to mine."
"If you think that the Nakayama family doesn't have good Battle AIs, just because they aren't technically in the Ishikawa family, then you are mistaken. Whatever the reasons are there isn't anything I can do now about the class I am placed in."
"I would never question the abilities of the Nakayama family and seriously, even though everyone, I mean literally everyone wants to be part of the Ishikawas, being actually one doesn't mean shit. On the contrary, all the fightings inside of the family are pretty annoying.
For Satoru all this was news to him. Naoji did mention something of power struggles in the family, but he has never seen one himself. On Mars there weren't any real fights between family members. They are on another planet with many threats. There is simply no luxury of fighting each other.
"Sorry if this sounds dumb, but why does everyone wants to be an Ishikawa?"
Mitsuyo made a very surprised face pretty much indicating how stupid this question was in his eyes. However he needed a bit of time to think how to answer.
"They are the only japanese family which takes part in colonizing Mars. However the one incident which gained them the most respect was when the Ryker Group got completely annihilated."
"I would rather say they became feared after that incident."
"Doesn't respect mean having a little fear?"
No response came. Mitsuyo looked at Satoru and saw a him petrified. This was definitely not the timing to crack a joke, but that didn't stop Mitsuyo.
"Of course if you become their enemy you should be scared out of your wits."
"I guess so."
"What happened?"
"Nothing important. Maybe try to look at the stage."
Satoru pointed to the front in the direction of a person. Mitsuyo knew this person way to well. After another 15 minutes the opening ceremony began.