Ultimately, most of Church's time with Chifuyu that morning was spent sitting at that desk with her, trying to find things to talk about that didn't annoy her. As the older woman had predicted, gathering a full technical readout of on paper stats for the Exeter suit had taken a great deal of time, and more than she had been expecting. That being the case, it was pretty much time for her to prepare for classes by the time that was finished, and any further testing was moot considering the short timetable.
When that was made obvious, Chifuyu had excused Kanzashi and recommended that Church consider the cafeteria for breakfast, though she did mention that he'd be better off waiting for another thirty minutes since classes hadn't quite started yet. The natural implication was that there would be far more girls in the cafeteria since they didn't have anywhere else to be yet.
Church had considered that issue, but ultimately, his hunger won out over reason. Besides, he had thus far gotten the impression that the girls in this school didn't find him as approachable as Ichika. Maybe it was his own personality, or maybe it was the fact that Tatenashi had scared off some of them and word had gotten around. Either way, Church didn't feel as though he would be in too much trouble going to eat now. He'd even passed a few students on his way to the cafeteria, and while they had all stared at him, none had attempted to actually speak to him.
Thus, he made it to the cafeteria with little incident. Upon entering the large room, he took stock of the type of presence he would have to deal with. It was a little less than half full, with the girls Church assumed were the procrastinators, or just wanted as much rest as possible before classes started. They definitely weren't the early riser types, to still be here. Unless they were socializing, that was.
Scanning the rest of the room, he spotted a few other people of interest. Dunois and her possible boyfriend Ichika were here as well, though the latter seemed like he wanted to be in bed still. Not necessarily wanting to attract their attention, Church swiftly took in the rest of the room with mildly heavy eyes, ignoring the many flirtatious or interested looks he was getting from different students, until he spotted the most dangerous living thing within a hundred miles of his current position.
Laura Bodewig, someone he hadn't expected to see since he would have pegged her as an early riser that would have eaten breakfast by now, sat at a table on the opposite side of the room. She was currently leveling a very pointed glare at Church that could have probably incinerated his soul if it remained on him for too long. Why she was sitting by herself instead of with Ichika was beyond his concern at the moment, but if he took the time to analyze the situation, Church probably would have noticed that she seemed irritable about the situation between said boy and Charlotte.
Ignorant of any of that, Church quickly looked around the rest of the room for any means of salvation from a painful and grisly death that was certainly not an imaginary exaggeration in his head, but there weren't too many options. Any empty tables would require more than a dozen steps to reach, and the ex-soldier could totally intercept him in that time. With few options to begin with, he noticed the top of a brown-haired girl's head in one of the booths to his left. Not caring what the stranger might think of it, Church sidled over to the table and sat down across from her, hoping that Bodewig would be less likely to murder him if he had someone else to witness the crime.
Before he even identified the girl he now shared this table with, Church glanced over at Bodewig to see if his plan had worked. Luckily, she didn't seem to be making any moves towards him, though she was still glaring and frowning pretty strongly.
Operator, I doubt she intends to actually harm you based off of your one previous encounter with her.
Well you know what Cerb, if there's one person I don't want to take even the slightest risk with, it's probably her. And Chifuyu. But definitely her next.
If Cerberus had any comment to make to that, it didn't get the chance to do it, since a different voice demanded Church's attention. Of course, it stood to reason that it was the girl at the table he had joined.
"Y'know, when you said you'd see me around, I didn't think you meant this soon."
Recognizing the voice of someone he had actually held a decent conversation with thus far, Church turned his attention to his new breakfast companion. Of course, he was also shocked to see her at all.
"Rinin? Should you be out of the infirmary? You can't possibly be fully recovered this soon."
The girl across from him, both her arms and her head wrapped in bandages (or in a sling, in the case of her more severely injured right arm), and covered in healing cuts and bruises, cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really? Did you figure that out all by yourself?"
Church frowned at the vitriolic retort, though he supposed it was somewhat justified. "Hey, I'm just worried. Besides, I have a right to be confused, don't I? You are out of the infirmary, after all, and ridiculously soon at that."
Seeing that she was hardly in the right here, Rin sighed in defeat. "OK, that's fair... ugh, I just don't feel great. Sorry for taking it out on you."
Nodding knowingly, Church recalled what Cerberus had said yesterday about that medical substance Tabane had accidentally created. The AI had claimed that it accelerated the healing process, but was it really to this extent? Rin's injuries had been fairly serious: at least serious enough that no one would expect her to be walking around on her own in mere day.
"No hard feelings. But seriously, did you run away from the infirmary or something? There's no way the nurses let you out voluntarily with how many cracked and broken bones you have."
The Chinese girl leveled a displeased glare at him. "No, I didn't run away! I'm out with permission, thank you very much. Not that it was really my choice... the nurse said I was healthy enough to make a visit to the cafeteria on less painkillers than yesterday. You know, kind of like a test to see how well I'm recovering, I guess. She said my broken arm was really the only serious thing left as far as injuries are concerned. Still feel like crap though..."
Church looked at his table companion incredulously, mostly not believing that she could be so well off so soon. Even the most minor bone breaks often required at least four to six weeks to heal. The acceleration factor of Tabane's mysterious substance was downright astronomical. Well, he supposed he also had to take into consideration that one could actually move relatively normally before cracked bones healed completely, so maybe the healing acceleration factor was slightly less.
"Well, I suppose rapid acceleration of your body's natural healing means rapid acceleration of its energy consumption as well, right? It's no wonder you don't feel great..."
Rin wasted no time in agreeing with the assessment.
"Probably explains the unfortunate coincidence of Chifuyu coming across me while sitting upright in bed and complaining about how hungry I was. But hey, I was starving! I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my life!"
For the first time, Church noted the extremely full plate of food in front of Rin, though he also noticed that she hadn't actually touched it yet.
"I can see that. Did I catch you before you could get down to business?"
Coincidentally, a faint rumbling noise erupted from Rin's side of the table before she could answer him, prompting her to both blush and grimace. Following that, she glanced at her one free arm.
"To tell you the truth, even though I'm still on some painkillers, moving my arm around hurts enough to make it unpleasant. And with this much food, the amount of times I'd have to move my arm to and from the plate... ugh, I really want to eat, but I don't even know if I'll be able to really enjoy it..."
Feeling bad for her conundrum, Church looked around the cafeteria to see if anyone around could help Rin with it. Sure, she was supposedly out here to see how well she was doing, but even then, shouldn't a nurse have been around to supervise her? What if she wasn't doing well at all, and collapsed or something? What if there was some medical complication and she needed attention immediately?
Maybe the infirmary was close enough that a medical professional could get here quickly, but Church felt it was an unnecessary risk nevertheless. Regardless, he supposed it was best to just focus on the situation at hand instead of worrying about why it was at hand at all.
With that in mind, he turned back to face Rin, who was staring longingly at her food, but was unwilling to make the necessary motions to put any of it into her mouth. While he wouldn't say it out loud, the girl truly looked pathetic at the moment. Perhaps due to that, Church pushed past the sense of awkwardness that his intentions emanated and went all in with them. He had never expected to say something like this to another person, but this was a unique situation.
"Rinin, if it would really be too unpleasant for you to eat by yourself, I uh... don't mind feeding you."
Flustered by the suggestion for obvious reasons, Rin gave him a peculiar look that clearly expressed her surprise at the offer.
"That's... kinda weird, you know?"
Feeling a new surge of awkward energy thanks to Rin's reaction, Church wondered if he should just cut his losses and try to save face. But on the other hand, why did he have to do that? His intent was entirely pure and rooted in altruism. Rin wanted to eat, but also wanted to avoid needless pain and discomfort. Church was present, and had the capability to help her do that. He had no reason to apologize.
"It's only as weird as one makes it. If it would make you feel better, it can be an exchange of favors. I do this for you, but then you do something for me, so it's just fair trade for your benefit and mine."
Rin leaned back in her seat a bit as she cocked an eyebrow at his offer.
"And just what would you want in return from an infirm girl, huh?"
Glad to see that Rin's demeanor had gone from weirded out to honestly considering the offer, Church elaborated on that offer with confidence.
"I'd love to learn more about you and your culture, if you're alright with it. That'd be enough of a return favor in my books."
For some reason, the frank desire to learn more about both her and her culture made Rin a little happy, which prompted a small blush as she pretended to deliberate further. Truthfully, she had already inwardly accepted the idea Church had presented, but she was going to put on airs regardless.
"Well, I guess I can accept that... although, does a guy like you even know how to use chopsticks?"
Smiling at his success, Church gathered up the mentioned wooden utensils in his hands.
"Hey now, we do have Chinese food in America. I frequented Panda Express enough to develop some chopstick skills."
Hardly able to keep a straight face with a comment like that, Rin made some noise that was between a snicker and a snort.
"I'm going to pretend like that wasn't an insult to my whole country. I bet if you tried my sweet and sour pork, you'd never go back to that crap quality trash again."
Seeing an opportunity to dig his feet into this budding acquaintance level relationship, Church smiled at the girl across from him as charmingly as he could manage.
"I don't suppose that's an invitation...?"
While she was caught off guard by the question at first, Rin eventually smiled back. Was this how it felt to have a pleasant, lightly flirtatious conversation with a guy? Ichika was the only man she'd talked to in so long, she'd almost considered something like this as unattainable. Of course, she would have preferred for Ichika to pick up on this level of conversational skill, rather than getting it from a relative stranger. Maybe she could convince Church to give the target of her affections some pointers?
Still, at this exact moment, she wasn't having this conversation with Ichika. She couldn't ignore the present for some fantasizing about the future. Besides, while it may not have been coming from the man she loved, Rin was happy that anyone was taking an interest in her cooking and her culture, both of which were very important to her. That being the case, she certainly wasn't going to reject Church entirely just because he wasn't Ichika.
"Well... I guess I can take it into consideration. I'm not against the idea, but I have to finish vetting you first. I won't just cook for anyone, you know?"
Considering that he hadn't been able to talk at length with a girl around his age in some time considering his recent past, Church was immensely glad that the militant training with Umbra Stratum hadn't dulled his social skills. Sure, it technically wasn't relevant to the mission, but he was glad that he could get a cute girl to talk happily with him, never mind consider cooking for him. Of course, that second part may have been primarily due to the girl in question actually being a cook.
Wielding the chopsticks with some admittedly decent proficiency, Church grabbed some sort of sticky lump of what he believed was rice lying on green leaves. Unsure of what exact it was, he figured he may as well cash in on his favor now. It would be weird if they didn't talk while he was doing this anyway. He asked his first question as he reached across the table to offer the food to his companion.
"I'll do my best to impress. That aside, uh... what exactly is this thing I'm feeding you?"
As hungry as she was, Rin waited until she had taken her first bite before actually answering. On Church's side of things, he found himself rather struck with the way this girl's lips wrapped around the food he was offering her. He felt a little ashamed for being so easily flustered, but he had been unable to interact with too many women throughout the last few years, so perhaps his resilience would need time to develop back to a normal level. Most of the people at the Nevada Umbra Stratum base had been men, and the few women had been types like Strelka, who, while beautiful, had also been intimidating in one way or another.
Either way, Rin swallowed her food so she could answer the question Church had posed without being entirely rude.
"It's called Zongzi: people in the West sometimes call them rice dumplings. It's sticky rice with different fillings, cooked by steaming or boiling. That one was pork, it's a super popular choice in Jiaxing."
Offering her another such dumpling from the plate, Church waited until she swallowed again before asking for more elaboration on that front.
"Can I assume Jiaxing is your hometown? Or did you just spend a lot of time there?"
While a normal person may have hesitated to answer such a question for a variety of reasons, Rin didn't in the slightest. Perhaps that was because such questions were pretty normal to ask in a school with as much ethnic diversity as this one.
"Yeah, it's my hometown. Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. It's on the eastern coast."
Eager to keep the conversation going lest it come to an awkward standstill, Church wracked his brain for something relevant to the tangent they were on. Fortunately, he did actually know a little tidbit, though he couldn't recall where he had learned it.
"I've heard of the Zhejiang Province somewhere before. The provincial capital is Hangzhou, right?"
Cocking a surprised eyebrow at him, Rin actually seemed impressed by this piece of knowledge.
"I'm surprised you actually know about provincial capitals at all. That's not common knowledge for most westerners."
Since it was a roundabout form of praise, Church tried to shrug it off modestly. Truth be told, he'd done a lot of learning about foreign cultures throughout childhood and adolescence as a form of escapism from the hardships of his life. Being unhappy with the places and situations he'd lived in, learning about other amazing places around the world had often given him some small comfort.
"It's not too impressive. I've just done a lot of internet tourism, that's all."
Church was somewhat worried that Rin would look deeper into that statement, which would inevitably lead to uncomfortable topics the young man didn't actually want to talk about, but it didn't seem like his brunette companion picked up on any subtle meanings. Instead of even asking for any sort of elaboration, she simply asked an unrelated question of her own.
"Say, I didn't think about it before, but what are you even doing here right now? You could have avoided students altogether if you'd waited just a little longer."
Honestly, Church probably would have still been asleep if circumstances hadn't demanded his presence in the waking world, but he figured there was no need to tell Rin about the nitty gritty details of doing tech work with Chifuyu and Kanzashi.
"Well, I don't want to spend my whole time here not talking to anyone at all. This seemed like a good time to avoid a crowd, but still find a charming lady friend like yourself to talk to."
Rin shook her head at the compliment, wondering if it was serious or just talk.
"So you picked the short girl with the broken arm and mummy cosplay out of everyone in the cafeteria? You've got weird taste."
Church was about to muster some sort of defensive response to that, but ultimately, he didn't get the chance to. Someone else did it on his behalf.
"Hmph. I'll say."
Church immediately recognized the posh voice of a certain blonde that he had spoken to yesterday. A quick glance to his side further confirmed his suspicions, since there was hardly anyone else whose uniform consisted of a full length dress. He didn't get to address her sudden appearance, since Rin beat him to the punch, though she sighed first.
"What do you want, Cecilia?"
Cecilia's hands went to her hips immediately, almost like some sort of reflex.
"Do I need to want anything? I can stand wherever I please!"
Under normal circumstances, Rin would have been up to a little verbal brawling with Cecilia, but for a number of reasons, she wasn't really feeling it right now. For one, she was exhausted, which was hardly a surprise considering what she had been through recently and the fact that she was healing. Secondly, she was actually enjoying her breakfast and the conversation that was going with it, so she wasn't particularly happy to have Cecilia interrupting either of those things.
"Well could you kindly stand anywhere but there? Your presence is increasing my suffering. Exponentially."
"Why, I'd never-! I'll have you know, I was simply concerned about you. If you're not at your best by the time of our next match, thrashing you will just make me look cruel. Well, more than usual since you're usually no match for me anyway."
While she was tired, this obvious affront to Rin's piloting abilities did stir a bit of her usual fire in her. She and Cecilia had this type of relationship: they were technically friends, but a heated rivalry was a major part of it.
"Big talk coming from the girl I throttled in our last sparring match. You know damn good and well that your Blue Tears is too damn slow to take on Shen Long in a one on one fight."
Cecilia recoiled as if she had been struck, taking a step back in dismay as Rin crippled her offensive. Still, she was quick to try and save face.
"Don't get too cocky! As soon as Supermarine finishes the new thruster modification for my IS, that issue will be a thing of the past!"
Rin cocked an eyebrow, apparently confused by something Cecilia had said.
"The hell is a super marine?"
Since the two of them were doing little more than fighting and Church felt a little awkward just sitting there listening to it, he chose this moment to chime in. Besides, this was a part he could actually comment on with some degree of knowledge.
"Supermarine is an aviation manufacturing company. They made the Spitfires in World War Two."
This time, Rin gave him a look not dissimilar from the one she had offered Cecilia a second ago. This prompted Church to elaborate further, a little surprised that it was required of him.
"Oh come on: Spitfires? Battle of Britain? They're only like, one of the most legendary fighter aircraft lines of all time. Supermarine is a legacy name in aviation manufacturing, and Alcott here owns it, last time I checked."
With an air of superiority and pride about her, Cecilia raised a haughty finger.
"Quite correct. I'm glad to see someone around here understands just how meaningful it is to own such a prestigious company. Supermarine is in charge of all engine designs for Infinite Stratos in the UK, you know. Being in charge of such a company is a great honor!"
Rin didn't look particularly impressed by any of this, which wasn't surprising considering that none of it had initially meant anything to her anyway. Church, on the other hand, was a little more knowledgeable, and was thus able to carry the conversation a little further. Besides, he was curious to what extent Cecilia actually cared about the company in question. Lots of rich people owned things they didn't really care about, but still boasted about owning it.
"She's right, you know. Like I said, the Spitfire is legendary. Though I have to wonder which particular model our esteemed friend considers the most iconic."
Seeing his question for the subtle challenge that it was, Cecilia outright scoffed at him.
"Oh please. There's no contest: a Merlin engine is what makes a Spitfire a Spitfire! Not to say the Griffon engine models weren't excellent, but the unparalleled maneuverability of the Merlin models is what set them apart from all of their contemporaries."
Honestly a little excited to talk nerdy with a girl about old airplanes, Church couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, I'll admit, you've earned some points in my eyes. Merlin Spitfires are indeed the objectively superior variants."
Cecilia initially seemed happy to hear that, even blushing a little bit, but she tried to deflect it in the end.
"As if I need any favor in your eyes..."
Glancing between the two of them, Rin felt mildly irritable to be left out of the exchange, especially considering that Cecilia had stepped into her conversation in the first place.
"Alright, alright, whatever! Do you mind Cecilia? I was enjoying myself before you showed up!"
Cecilia folded her arms as she smirked at the brunette sitting at the table.
"Oh? Finally accepted the futility of your efforts and moved on, Rin?"
Glaring back up at the blonde's blue eyes, Rin tried to alter her statement.
"My breakfast. I was enjoying my breakfast!"
Once again ousted from the overall conversation, Church felt a little insulted simply due to the turn it had taken. No one was saying anything outright, but it wasn't all that subtle. It pretty much amounted to 'oh, are you moving on from Ichika' and 'yeah right, as if I would.' Not that Church felt entitled to Rin's affections as a stranger, but she didn't have to make it sound like the mere idea of him and her was laughable. He took some small solace in the fact that it was probably less about him, and more about her dedication to Ichika.
It was unclear how long the two girls would have sniped at each other, and no one would ever know, since the conversation was once again interrupted by a new arrival. This time, it was a dark haired girl with a white ribbon pausing as she walked past the table. One Houki Shinonono had apparently overheard them while going about her own business.
"Why are you antagonizing her, Cecilia? Shouldn't you just be glad one of your 'rivals' is getting out of the way?"
That was all the Japanese girl said before resuming her walk, apparently content to say her piece and go on her way. Cecilia seemed to take her words to heart, merely shrugging as she offered a dismissive wave to the table's occupants and turning away herself.
"Well, I suppose she's right about that. Enjoy your breakfast, Rin."
With her departure, this left only Church to listen to Rin angrily shouting after Houki.
"Hey, what the heck did you mean with that emphasis on 'rival?!' Don't think that just because you're tall and well-endowed and all doesn't mean I'm not a threat! Dammit..."
Losing steam as the weight of her own words settled on her shoulders, Rin sunk down into her seat as proverbial storm clouds accumulated over her small frame in droves.
Glancing between her and the retreating Houki, Church couldn't help but wonder just how serious their so called rivalry over Ichika really was. Were they friends nevertheless? Bitter enemies? Some weird in-between thing where they were technically on friendly terms, while still seriously competing over something that fostered some animosity?
Frankly, Church would have bet on the latter. It seemed to him that the girls were friendly enough with one another, which should have been a given considering the life or death experience they all shared with the Silver Gospel. But they clearly also had some degree of enmity between them, though it was hard to tell how serious it was.
Either way, Church now had to deal with the aftermath of Houki's passing as well, since it had kind of ruined the nice thing he'd had going between himself and Rin. Thing was, he wasn't sure how he could go about comforting her, without saying something that was incredibly awkward. Well, maybe it was better to just go for it. It was up to Rin to take whatever he said as the compliment he intended it to be.
"This... will probably sound a little weird, but I think you're a very tough competitor for a guy's attention, Rinin."
Rin didn't seem particularly uplifted by his words. She didn't even lift her face from the table, now that she had planted it there.
"Right, right... I'm very tough competition for the tall, stacked girl with the strongest I.S. in the world. Sister of the inventor of the world's strongest weapons, to boot. Good joke."
Church cocked an eyebrow at the crestfallen girl, having not pegged her as one with an inferiority complex. Well, maybe she was fine normally, and just felt a little out of it due to being hurt. Recovery could take a toll on a person's emotions. Then again, maybe there was more permanence to these feelings than Church really thought. After all, Rin kind of had a point: as far as conventional 'desirable' female traits were concerned, Houki's larger bust and greater height had her beat.
But conventional aesthetics were stupid anyway. Those were the same aesthetics that expected women to be thinner than the hopes and dreams of the Libertarian Party in American politics: while still having basketball sized breasts, at that.
"You know, there is such a thing as taste, Rinin. Personally, I don't think Shinonono is any more attractive than you are. It's different types of attractiveness, but your caliber seems equal to hers if you ask me."
Rin lifted her head to level a clouded expression at her table partner. The look was difficult to interpret, which made Church nervous. Was she upset? He was just trying to say she was pretty, what was there to be mad about?
Ultimately though, the brunette across from him snorted in amusement, before shaking her head and offering some semblance of a smile.
"I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about girls with the word 'caliber' before. Nerd."
Glad to see that the situation had gone better than expected, Church grinned back at her.
"Yeah, alright, but it made you smile, didn't it?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Rin's face briefly, but it disappeared fairly quickly as the brunette returned to her general state of being before Cecilia had showed up.
"...yeah. Yeah I guess it did. Hey, did you forget that you're supposed to be helping me with breakfast here?"
Happy that his partner had returned to some state of contentedness, Church grabbed the chopsticks he had been given before Cecilia intervened on their conversation. For the first time since getting here, the troubling details of his mission didn't intrude on his thoughts at all.
"With how much is still on this plate, I couldn't possibly forget. What do you want next?"
---
Since Rin wasn't obligated to be in the classroom in her current physical state, she was in no rush to finish her meal like everyone else in the cafeteria. Thus, she and Church ended up sitting around for the better part of half an hour, which included the lone male eating some breakfast himself. With Rin in a better mood despite Cecilia and Houki's intrusion earlier, most of that time was spent talking about lighthearted things. Mostly, Church got the opportunity to ask her more questions about China, or more specifically, its food. Rin got especially animated whenever he asked about food, which he supposed was no surprise considering that she was the daughter of a chef or something. At the least, her public dossier mentioned such a profession for her father.
Church didn't mind having the conversation be mostly about Chinese food, because he'd been more than content to listen to her speak about it so passionately. It was a wonder she'd become an I.S. pilot at all, when she loved cooking so much. Naturally Cerberus had complained about the waste of time, but Church had resolutely ignored the AI.
But when all was said and done and there was nothing left to eat, there was no reason for the two of them to just sit around in the cafeteria, and Rin had implied that she was expected to go back to the infirmary once she was done eating. While she had struck him as well enough during their conversation, Church had offered to walk back with her, and while she hadn't jumped at the proposal, Rin had ultimately agreed to it, so he must have been making a good impression of some sort.
The walk back to the infirmary hadn't been a particularly long one, but when the duo did arrive, they found that the place was devoid of its medical professional, prompting Church to question what the woman was doing all the time.
"She sure does leave the actual infirmary a lot."
Rin, clearly a little more winded than a healthy person should have been, nevertheless managed to share her thoughts on that.
"Can't say I blame her. Few students actually get hurt badly enough to require a visit, thanks to I.S. and all that. Must get boring when only one idiot falls out a window a year."
Church watched the girl's back as she slowly walked over to her bed, wondering how long it would be before she stopped beating herself up over that. He supposed it was a somewhat embarrassing thing, but accidents happened to the best people. Besides, considering that she had lost consciousness, it wasn't like she had been entirely at fault.
But he didn't say any of that. Friendly though they had been today, they were still acquaintances at best. He didn't think Rin would care to have him telling her to think better of herself. Instead, he leaned on the door frame of the infirmary as Rin sat tiredly down on her cot.
"For all the energy you had earlier, you look like you could use some sleep."
With only a mildly irritable frown, Rin sniped back at him.
"Look who's talking..."
"Yeah, OK. I could probably use some sleep too. Anything you need before I make an exit?"
Yawning, Rin laid back on the bed, clearly not terribly bothered by doing so in front of a relative stranger.
"I don't really need anything, but thanks."
Having expected a little more, Church wondered if this was his cue to leave. Maybe she really was pretty exhausted? Because he was considering whether or not he was expected to go away now, Church missed a somewhat curious glance Rin gave him from her position on the bed.
"Say... you going to watch the matches tomorrow?"
Caught off guard since he had been weighing his next move, Church didn't respond very eloquently.
"Matches?"
"Yeah, there's an individual division tournament tomorrow. I was going to participate of course, but now... well, best I can do is watch. Just curious if watching matches like that is something you have to do for your job or whatever."
While Church wasn't actually sure how much meaningful information could be gleaned simply from watching I.S. combat, he figured there was no harm in it. After all, he had only ever fought against simulations of I.S. before, and it was possible that he would end up sparring with some of these pilots as well. That being the case, it wouldn't hurt to get some sort of leg up. And besides, on a completely unprofessional note...
"It's not mandatory for me, but I'd certainly like to watch those matches."
With a sheepish glance towards the ceiling, Rin extrapolated on both his statement and her own question.
"Well, if you ask nicely, I guess I could consider sitting with you in the stands. I need someone to listen to me complain about how I'd sweep the whole thing, if only I could participate. But all my friends will actually be in the tournament, so..."
Church folded his arms, gracing the girl with a mockingly offended expression.
"So the chopped liver is your only option, huh?"
"It's not as bad as all that: we've only just met, but do you really think I'd let someone I hated feed me breakfast? You're pretty cool, so I deem you worthy of hanging out for simple stuff like this."
Frankly, Church still found it a little odd how Rin divided him from people she considered friends, but he supposed it was pretty understandable, since they had indeed just met, and had only spoken to each other for a very brief time. They both liked each other well enough based on first impressions, but it wasn't like that could just jump straight to friendship. Church supposed this was actually pretty solid advancement as far as a new relationship was concerned.
"I see. Well then, do you want to watch the matches together tomorrow, Rinin?"
With a cheeky smile, the brunette gave her answer.
"I suppose I can oblige you, since you'd be lonely otherwise. Come meet me here at noon and we'll go together."
Shaking his head, Church figured now was a good enough time to leave.
"Alright, it's a date then."
Rin's smile became turned a little less cheerful and a little more wry.
"Yeah, on the calendar. Don't get any funny ideas just because I said you're alright."
Church raised his hands in defense, using wit to skip by any awkward air.
"Just wishful thinking, don't mind me."
With that, he turned his back to leave, missing a mild blush from his newest acquaintance, as well as a contemplative expression.
"Hold on a second."
Surprised that she still had anything to say, Church glanced over his shoulder at her, which prompted Rin to continue as she averted her gaze elsewhere. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why this made her so nervous: she had told this to plenty of people throughout her life, but maybe it was because it was a boy. She'd only said this to a boy once.
"You can, uh, just call me Rin now. I guess we're far enough past total strangers to make that alright."
Considering this to be some sort of milestone in their very young and budding relationship, Church smiled.
"Well, Rin it is. You can still call me Church: that's as friendly as it gets, even for people that I really like."
Rin smirked at him as he made that statement.
"Alright, what terrible first name do you have?"
"If I told you that, it would defeat the purpose of protecting myself by having you call me by last name."
"Tch, fine... see you tomorrow."
Sure that their conversation was finally over by now, Church offered a wave that Rin tiredly reciprocated before making his exit from the infirmary, feeling unusually giddy about everything that had just occurred.
A pretty girl had bestowed the right to call her a personal name upon him. She'd admitted to thinking he was pretty cool, and openly expressed a desire to hang out with him again, even if she had vehemently assured him that it was by no means a date. Maybe it was a little pathetic to get happy about all of those things, but considering his lack of free time to hang out with girls in recent years, Church was glad that this relationship was starting off so well, even if it was only going to be friendship.
As he began to walk down the halls and towards the elevator, he was interrupted by Cerberus in his thoughts. Well, it wasn't like the AI could be quiet all day.
Operator, I feel obligated to label all of this as a grievous misuse of our time.
His mood instantly soured by thoughts of the mission, Church provided a rebuttal.
And I feel obligated to remind you that I'm in charge here, and that I have full discretion to carry out the mission as I see fit. Besides, we talked about this already: getting close to those close to Shinonono moves us closer to her, and in a much less suspicious manner.
I am in your thoughts, Operator. You are clearly interested in getting close to the Chinese girl for reasons outside of our mission.
By now, Church was actively frowning. Considering that it hadn't been clear how they would go about the mission prior to arrival, some serious questions were now being asked. Namely, questions about his personal feelings and strategic objectives intersecting. Strategically, he needed to use Rin as means of reaching his goal, and nothing else. Personally, he was interested in it being an actual relationship somewhere along the way. He could see why a computer would find a problem with that.
So what? I can enjoy spending time with a girl and still use her to achieve my goals. They're not mutually exclusive.
Cerberus didn't seem to buy his reasoning.
They will be when you start caring more about one than the other.
I'm not going to compromise the mission for a girl, Cerberus. Need I remind you, I have very valuable benefits resting on my service to Umbra Stratum. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy some meaningless sense of normalcy along the way.
Cerberus was quiet for a moment, likely considering the weight of these words and whether or not they could be trusted. Ultimately, the way it responded was something else entirely. Church wasn't sure what that implied about the decision that it had reached.
What are we going to do for the rest of the day, Operator?
Smirking to himself as he stepped into an empty elevator and pressed one of the buttons, Church answered with no shame at all.
Today? I'm going back to sleep right now, and then we'll see.
The young agent was certain that Cerberus sighed at him in his head.
And like that, my heightened confidence in you has been brought back to its normal levels, Operator.