Ichika Orimura

Ichika Orimura (織斑 一夏) is the main protagonist of the Infinite Stratos series. He is the only male in the entire series who has been able to pilot an IS since its introduction. Ichika currently is a 1st year student at the IS Academy in Class One, Class Representative of Class One and Vice-President of the Student Council in the IS Academy.

Appearance
Ichika is a young man of average height, he has short black hair which is parted in the middle, and has dark brown eyes. He commonly wears his IS Academy uniform. For IS practice, he wears a black tank top revealing his stomach and tight-fitting bermuda shorts. On his right wrist is Byakushiki's Closed Form, a white gauntlet in the light novel and manga, a very big white metal bracelet in the anime. He has a slim but trained body.

Personality
He has a habit of personally assessing the situation with interior monologue as well as being easily guessed on what he is thinking, making him the brunt of certain jokes where he wonders how do they know what he is thinking. He has a tendency of clenching his left hand when he gets overconfident, which his older sister points out, means he would start to make a mistake very soon.

He is somewhat dense in knowing about the feelings the girls have for him, as more often than not, he is more worried of the fact that being the only male who can pilot an IS, he does not know the requirements of controlling it, and the fact he has to live among a very large group of girls (he even told Charlotte - or Charles as he first knew her - that he was very glad another male transferred in). He is however sensitive to the change of mood in certain situations, but always manages to rationalize the change in mood to something completely unromantic. In his mind, he believes that there is absolutely no chance for him to get a girlfriend, as he replied to Chifuyu's question in Volume 3-4, that he would not be able to match any of the girls perfect sides (not knowing that he is the type of guy all the girls want).

He is the type who learns through the body rather than his head, as more often than not, he tends to surprise his fellow classmates with questions on matters they take for granted (like when he first met Cecilia, his first question was "What is a Representative Candidate?", causing everyone to do a comical collapse). After sometime, he is able to understand basic fundamentals of IS to help him get by (he knew that his IS has no available bus-slots for Equalizer).

Having been raised (suggested to be spartan-trained) by Chifuyu, Ichika learns to be polite to all the girls and respectful to those older than him. Although a gentleman at times, he will not take any insults to his family or his country, as shown when he first met Cecilia, she was commenting on how a commoner from Japan could handle the class representative, he remarked that her country isn't anything special (he even ask when was the last time her country won the award for worst cooking). Also, in the manga (and some parts of the light novel) Ichika tends to be rude when he is pissed off (he named Lingyin "ironing board" and idiot during their fight of the "Sour pork" promise. When Laura slapped him, he reacted angrily by shouting at her why she did that, and when she used the VT System to copy Chifuyu's data and Yukihira, he wanted to punch Laura, without her IS, as much as he could).

He believes, when questioned by Laura, that his strength is his freedom to choose and helping those around him. This is shown when he chose to protect a ship of fishermen who were illegally poaching during the mission against the Silver Gospel.

Due to his new-found popularity, he is often surrounded by girls who often use various methods to gain his attention, much of it being a major embarrassment for him (the Tennis Club once asked him to wipe everybody's back while they are changing, when they saw him wiping the sweat off Cecilia's face). He once commented that whoever thought of sending him to a lab to be examined had to be a complete nutcase. Furthermore, due to his behavior, remarks and gossips of the girls, he is often mistakened by his friends to have weird tendencies (such as being yaoi towards "Charles" or has a liking for older woman).

Relationships
Main Article: Ichika's Relationships

Ichika has encountered many different individuals, ranging from family, friends and allies, to enemies. His interactions with these people have led to some strong bonds and rivalries being formed. Some of these friendships have been ongoing since childhood, while others have only developed since joining the IS Academy.

Infinite Stratos & Abilities
Currently he is the only male in the entire world in 10 years who is able to operate an IS. Why is that the case, nobody knows. Even Tabane, the genius who created IS, is also pleasantly surprised as to why he can activate the Byakushiki, since by right a male should have zero relation to IS. Due to this, the government is willing to give him his own personal IS, so as to gather data on him.

As stated by his sister in the novel & episode 2, his IS seems to be more offensive in tactics than most, given that he could use the Barrier Void attack that helped his sister win the first Mondo Grosso. But because of this, he is forced to limit his power during class tournaments and practice, due to the amount of damage that could be inflicted on his opponent (He can potentially injure/kill the opponent).

In terms of IS knowledge and piloting, his skills are at best slightly above average. He is often overwhelmed by pilots more skilled with units that have more arsenal at their disposal. He makes up for it with his intellect for spotting out attack patterns and weaknesses of the units, due to his childhood training in kendo. He also understands in time that his unit has no available slots for equalizers due to the Fold-Out Armor utilizing all of them.

Ichika is able to perform a partial deployment (summoning a part of the IS), first seen with his fight against Laura's mutated IS in episode 8 when Charles offered him enough energy to manifest his sword and arm, allowing him to cut through the mech and save Laura.

At the seaside school's inn, Ichika is good at massaging like he can give great massages to Chifuyu, Cecilia and the girls. Chifuyu mentions Houki, Cecilia, Lingyin, Charlotte and Laura that Ichika is good at housework and cleaning in episode 10.

He learned how to disarm a bomb as shown when he was participating in a school fesival event that had students disarm "Dummy Bombs". In the end, he failed when it came down to cutting a red wire and blue wire, seeing he could not decide, he asked his friend Dan who he invited on black and blonde haired. Using Houki and Cecilia's hair color and connecting them to the color of their IS's.

Childhood
About 10 years before the story, when Ichika was a young boy, he used to train with Houki in the art of kendo. At that time, he promised her to be her boyfriend if she can win the Kendo Tournament. Unfortunately, before she got to fight in the finals, the world was shocked by the existence of the IS. Due to her relation to Tabane, her older sister and creator of the IS, she was forced into the protection program, thus forfeiting the tournament.

Around the time she transferred out, Lingyin Huang (or Rin, her pet name) transferred into the same grade school as them. Ichika regularly went to the restaurant her family owns, to play, eat and have a sleep-over, until about a year before the story. During this time, he made the promise that if Rin could be a good cook, he would eat her sweet and sour pork everyday (although he mistook it for her simply cooking for him, when actually she meant for them to be in a relationship).

Although he has a faint recollection of his past, during the second Mondo Grosso, he was kidnapped by an organization who did not want his sister, Chifuyu, from winning the tournament. That effectively cause her to forfeit the match, but the end result was her flying (literally in her IS) all the way to their camp, guns blazing.

Middleschool period
How Ichika came into contact with IS is depicted differently in the light novel and the anime:

Light Novel version
In the light novel, he went to the wrong examination hall that was meant for IS trainees and the female teacher in charge was too hassled to notice a guy had entered and told him to go and suit up. He went on to operate the machine and defeated the instructor (though technically he just dodged to one side, letting her crash into the wall). Later Chifuyu speculates that Tabane purposely changed the location for his high school examination and deliberately placed the IS unit so that it would activate when in contact with him. But, the second part is doubtful as Tabane says that if she would have done so, then Ichika shouldn't be able to use the other IS (eg. Byakushiki) & Chifuyu concedes that it does seem too bothersome a thing for someone like Tabane.

Anime version
In the anime, he was trying to get to the school hall for his entrance exam, but he got lost and stumbled into a restricted room where there was a training IS inside. Being curious, he touched it to his surprise and the surprise of the 3 female staffs who found him inside, the IS responded to his touch.

When the government found out about it, they immediately forced him into entering the IS Academy.

Episode 1: "My Classmates are All Girls"
Ichika Orimura is sitting, nervous, in Class One of the IS Academy. The scene shows that he is the only male in the class, and the only male in school. He glanced nervously at his childhood friend Houki but the latter looked away, making Ichika feel awkward, asking how she's treating him after meeting him for the first time after 6 years. When Maya, his assistant homeroom teacher, calls his name. Ichika popped out of his bubble: the class was doing self-introduction and it's his turn. He introduced his name but felt like he had more to say since everybody in the whole school knew he was the only male. He decided to say "that is all", making everybody falls for his idiocy. Suddenly, Ichika is punched on the head by Chifuyu, his older sister and is punched a second time because she insists that he calls her "Orimura-sensei" "Professor Orimura" at school and not "Chifuyu-nee" (Sister Chifuyu). Ichika tells to the audience about Chifuyu's past: She's a Mondo Grosso champion but one day she retired, and that now she's become a teacher. Ichika never saw her home and he feels stupid for having worried about her.

At the break, while everyone's talking about Ichika, Houki asked for a moment with Ichika at the school's rooftop. Houki is shy, blushing and giving short answers to Ichika's questions. He congratulates her for winning the National Kendo Tournament last year, much to her surprise. Ichika then tells her that he's glad to see her again and that he still recognize her even though it's been 6 years. He compliments on how her hair is the same too, making Houki blush even more and start playing with her hair.

Later, in a lesson, Ichika seemed to be struggling with the course so Maya cheerfully suggest him to ask any question since she's her teacher. Ichika replied that he didn't understand anything, surprising Maya so she asked the class if there is anybody else who don't get anything, which nobody responds. Chifuyu asks if Ichika has read the reference book before attending the IS Academy, which he says he accidentally threw it away. Chifuyu hit him on the head with a book and forces him to memorize another copy of the reference book in 1 week.

At the recess while Ichika's daydreaming, a British girl named Cecilia Alcott comes to talk to him. Much to her surprise and irritation, Ichika doesn't know anything about her. Cecilia then starts explaining about an IS Representative Cadet and boasting about how elite she is. Upon hearing that Ichika has also defeated an instructor at the entrance exam, Cecilia starts to get wild but the bell rang announcing the end of the recess.

In the afternoon, Ichika walks toward his dormitory and searched for his assigned room 1025. While he is stunned about the room's luxury design, he hears somebody finishing her shower. A female voice starts introducing herself and Ichika gets nervous, When the woman got out of the bathroom wearing a towel, Ichika sees it was Houki. Shocked, Houki tells Ichika to look away. Ichika starts by explaining that he is assigned to this room and they might be roommates. Surprised, Houki takes her shinai out and starts attacking Ichika but he saved himself by getting out of the room and close the door. Houki pierce multiple times through the door and Ichika trips. As he protests against Houki, other girls wearing revealing pajamas got out of their rooms and start gathering around him. Freaked out, Ichika begs Houki to be let into the room.

Later, Houki asks why are they roommates, which Ichika don't know. She starts blushing and asked if it's because Ichika asked the school staff for him to be assigned to the same room as her. When Ichika says Houki isn't serious, she starts attacking him again but when the other girls opened the door to peek into the room, Houki stops and closes it. She starts talking about room rules, mostly about bathroom hours. When Ichika says he'll use the public bathroom and starts thinking about the fact that only female attend the IS Academy, Houki calls him a pervert. As she's preparing herself to punish him with her shinai, Ichika grabs another one and start swinging it but a bra was stuck at its edge, making him asking "What is this?", shocked, Houki snatches it. When Ichika says that she's at "that age" now and she hits him on the head with her shinai and knocks him unconscious.

The next morning at the cafeteria, Houki is in a cranky mood and tells Ichika to call her "Shinonono-san" not Houki. When 3 other students (Honne Nohotoke and her friends) came to sit down besides Ichika and start talking to him, Houki leaves. They asked about Ichika's relationship with Houki, which he tells them that she's a childhood friend and that they went to the same Kendo Dojo when they were in 1st grade. Chifuyu claps her hand and tells everybody to eat quickly. She reveals that she's the 1st Year Dorm Supervisor and that she'll make anybody run 10 laps around the training ground if they're late.

In the classroom, Chifuyu tells everybody to vote for a Class Representative for the Inter-Class Tournament in two weeks. Two girls nominate Ichika, much to his surprise. Suddenly, Cecilia protests and says it's humiliating to have a man as a Class Rep. She then challenges Ichika to a duel. When he asks about how much of a handicap he should give her, the whole class laughs and says that men were only stronger than women before the IS and that if men fought against women, the war wouldn't even last 3 days. Chifuyu finally approves the duel and books it for next Monday in Arena 3.

Episode 2: "Class Representative Runoff!"
Ichika is told by Chifuyu that he will be provided with his own personal IS for his match against Cecilia, a rarity since there are only 467 IS Cores that were created by Tabane Shinonono before she disappeared. Relieved, Cecilia says it wouldn't be fair if she fought with her personal unit and that Ichika were stuck with a training one. A classmate then asks Chifuyu if Dr. Shinonono is related to Houki, which the teacher answers they are sisters. As the whole class is shocked and starts bombing Houki with questions, the latter snapped back by saying that Tabane has nothing to with her and that she has nothing to tell the class about her sister. Maya then start teaching, telling the class to try to think of the IS as a partner instead of a machine. A student then asked Maya if by partner, did Maya mean like a boyfriend; prompting Maya to blush and act nervously, stating that she doesn't really know since she doesn't have experience with that, making the class comment on her cuteness.

During the lunch break, Ichika proposes Houki to go grab some lunch but she doesn't feel like it. He even invited Honne and her 2 friends to come along. When Ichika grabbed Houki's arm, the latter pushed him and he trips on the floor, much to her surprise on how weak Ichika is. Scared, the 3 friends fades out saying that they'll pass. Ichika stands up and decides to pull Houki by her hand anyway to go grab lunch. Houki blushes looking at their hands.

In the cafeteria, Ichika explains that he tries to be considerate because it's Houki: her family took care of him in the past, they've been friends since they were kids and even went to the same dojo. He wants Houki to let him at least do this much for her. As they eat, Ichika asks if Houki can help him about the IS and that he's going to lose horribly against Cecilia like that. She replies (in a denying manner) that's because he let Cecilia provoke him. A 3rd year student comes and proposes to help Ichika for the IS training but Houki replies that she'll train him instead, much to Ichika's surprise. The senior student says Houki's just a first year and that she, a 3rd year would be more suited to teach him. Houki snaps back that she's Tabane Shinonono's younger sister, shocking the senior student as she leaves.

In the IS Academy's dojo, Houki easily defeats Ichika. She asks angrily why did Ichika become so weak after 6 years. Houki decides to train him 3 hours every day after school to fix it before he can pilot an IS. In the locker room, Houki isn't sure if she was too harsh on Ichika, but is sure that he hasn't touched a sword in at least a year. Upon thinking that she'll be alone with Ichika after school, she blushes but shakes her head and tells herself she wasn't thinking of "that".

One week later, in the battle arena's waiting room, while Ichika and Houki were arguing about the past week's Kendo training, Maya announced to them that Ichika's IS has arrived, the Byakushiki. She then explains the IS's Absolute Barrier system which puts the IS pilot's safety at first priority. Upon touching the Byakushiki, Ichika gets the same feeling of "understanding the machine without studying it" as back in the time at the IS entrance exam. He then flies out to the arena.

Cecilia is waiting for him in the air with her Blue Tears, saying that if he apologizes now, she might consider forgiving him, but he refuses. As Ichika's shield is being destroyed by Cecilia's sniper, he takes off a blade and makes his way towards his opponent all while dodging her snipers. While they're fighting, Maya commented on how amazing Ichika can operate an IS even if it's his first time. Upon Chifuyu's saying about Ichika's habit to clench his left hand meaning he'll make simple mistakes, Maya comments on Chifuyu's observation as an older sister.

When Cecilia tricks Ichika that she has more than 4 weapon and fires 2 bombs, he couldn't dodge and got hit. Everyone gets worried but Chifuyu says that he got saved by his unit. Everyone gets shocked to see Ichika's IS in another form, the 1st Shift. While Cecilia is surprised that he's been fighting with the default settings the whole time, Ichika discovers his weapon, the Yukihira Type 2, the same sword his sister Chifuyu used. Praising his sister, Ichika decides that it's time to stop being the one who gets protected and that from now one, he'll be the one protecting his family. As he easily dodge and cuts down Cecilia's bombs and was on the verge to strikes her, the match announcer declared Cecilia winner, much to everybody's surprise.

Later when Ichika incomprehensibly lost against Cecilia, Maya explains that Ichika lost because his shield energy is depleted and that a barrier-neutralizing attack deals damage at the cost of his shield. She then says that Ichika's IS is currently on standby, but he can deploy it any time he summons it, giving him an IS practice book.

During the walk back at their dormitories, Houki asks Ichika if it's okay that she trains him. He replies that it's easier than having another girl teach him, and since Houki is Tabane's sister, she knows more about anybody else. Houki blushes and tells Ichika to clear his schedule starting from tomorrow onward, all while giggling by herself which Ichika doesn't understand.

Episode 3: "The Transfer Student is my Second Childhood Friend"
Ichika and Cecilia were asked by Chifuyu to demonstrate basic maneuvers using their IS.

Episode 5: "Boy Meets Boy"
Ichika was as surprised as everyone else to meet a fellow "guy", "Charles" Dunois, who recently transferred to his class. Being the only other male in the class, he was asked to help him through the school related areas.

Episode 8: "Find Out My Mind"
The fight has started and Ichika immediately went on to strike first at Laura, but is stopped by her AIC. As Laura prepared to shoot Ichika while he's paralyzed, Charles appeared behind Ichika counter-attacked Laura with her Rapid Switch but Houki interfers stating that she won't have them forget about her. Laura felt that Houki was in her way so she used her tentacles to remove her out of her business against the boys. While Ichika and Laura fought, Charles defeated Houki first and resumed his battle against Laura.

During the fight, they discover the AIC's weakness: Laura can only focus on stopping one enemy per time. They then use different "sacrifice-and-attack" combos to slowly defeat her. Ichika got his energy shield exhausted and Laura took advantage to pin him down to the ground but Charles keep protecting him with her Ignition Boost, stating that it's the first time he's using it. Charles then used her Shield Pierce weapon to brutally punch Laura's shield multiple time and exhausting her armor. Laura, fainting, is suddenly consumed by her IS and transforms into a large dark mech that matches Chifuyu's fighting style. Angry about this, Ichika decides to fight against it but Houki holds him back telling him that he doesn't have to do anything and the matter will be resolved by the instructors troop. Ichika still refuses and Charles offers him enough energy to manifest his sword, making him promise that if he loses, he'll have to wear a female uniform to school starting the next day, embarrassing Ichika and Houki. After Ichika got enough energy, he went to cut through the mech and save Laura.

Later in the subspace (Laura's unconsciousness), Laura asks Ichika why is he strong, and why did he choose to be strong. Ichika responds by saying he wants to protect people important to him and that he'll protect Laura.

While Charles and Ichika were discussing about the match in the evening at the cafeteria, they saw Houki observing them with a worried face. Ichika then went to her and said he'll go on a date, making Houki all excited but stated that shopping was nothing, angering Houki to punch him in the face, kick him in the stomach and leave. Charles commented that Ichika is sometimes doing stupid things on purpose. Maya appears and congratulated them on their hard work and they must had a hard day. She tells them that to compensate their hard work, a place has been revived from that day on: the Boys' Grand Public Bath.

A moment later in the Boys' Grand Public Bath when Ichika was relaxing, Charles joined the water making Ichika extremely nervous. The latter proposes that he'll get out but Charles insists that Ichika stays, stating that she's got something to tell him. Talking back to back, Charles started to confess that she wants to stay at IS Academy if Ichika's there. She also confessed on how she should be and started hugging Ichika from behind, having skin contact, making Ichika even more nervous. Charles then requested that Ichika calls her "Charlotte" from now on, saying that it's her real name, the name her mother gave her, Ichika agreed.

The next day, Charles introduced herself to the class under the name of "Charlotte" Dunois, shocking the whole class. As everyone knew Ichika and Charlotte used the Boys' Bath the night before, Lingyin charged into the class with her IS to jealously attack Ichika, probably jealous that he bathed with another girl than her, but is stopped by Laura's AIC. Ichika thanks her but is suddenly pulled over by Laura as she French kissed him in front of the whole class, shocking Cecilia, Lingyin, Houki and all the girls. Laura states that Ichika will be her "Wife", it is final and that she won't hear any objections. Ichika and the girls are once again shocked.

Episode 9: "Ocean's Eleven!"
Ichika wakes up and feels another pair of legs. Shocked, he pulls off the blanket and discovers Laura sleeping naked. As Ichika screams, Laura wakes up and exposed the rest of her body, prompting Ichika to tell her to hide "those". Laura says that spouses shouldn't hide anything from each other and she thought in Japan you'd call someone you like as "My wife" (ore no yome) or "My wife" (jibun no). Realizing that Laura misunderstands the Japanese culture, he points at her and asks who's the idiot feeding her false information, prompting Laura to grab his arm and pins him down. She then changes topic saying that she should train Ichika in pinning techniques and that it's not like she won't help him. Ichika, struggling, asks why Laura's blushing. Meanwhile, Houki knocks at the door telling Ichika it's time for morning practice and that it's not because it's Sunday that he can slack off. As she walks in and see Ichika and the naked Laura on the bed, she froze in a shocked/speechless manner, dropping her shinai. Seeing Houki, Laura comments how rude she is for invading the bedroom of a married couple. Pissed and shocked, Houki takes her shinai and punish Ichika with her "Heaven Punishment" move.

Later in a train with Charlotte, she asks why is she the only one with Ichika. He replies that it's seaside school soon and since both of them don't have swimsuit, he brought her along. Upon Ichika accidentally call her Charles, she got a bit angry and asks him to call her Charlotte again. After getting off the train, Charlotte tells Ichika that she'll forgive him if they hold hands, which he agreed. She is a bit deceived that Ichika doesn't understand that she's trying to flirt him. Meanwhile, Lingyin and Cecilia stalks them along with Laura. Ichika stops walking and tells Charlotte that since everyone knows Charlotte's a girl, calling her "Charlotte" isn't anything special anymore and that they should think of another name for her, one for the two of them. He suggests "Char", easy and very intimate. Charlotte gets excited and agrees to the new name she's got, saying to herself that she feels like a bit more special. They walk a little bit more and Ichika tells Char to go on ahead without him because he has a different stuff to buy, looking at the jewelry store.

A moment later, Ichika runs into Dan and Ran shopping too. When Dan tells him that the tons of bags he's holding were Ran's swimsuits and that she planned to showing them to Ichika, Ran kicked him away, surprising Ichika. She then tells him that next year she'll join the IS Academy and become his underclassman. Ichika wishes her good luck and tells her to study for her exams. While Ran looks for Dan, Charlotte appears and pulls Ichika away to a swimsuit store and they get into the changing room.

Ichika, surprised, asks her why are they hiding. Charlotte replies that she wants to know what Ichika thinks about the swimsuit she picked. She then takes a peek outside just to see Cecilia, Lingyin, and Laura still stalking them. Charlotte says to herself they if they find her, they'll interfere with her plan to flirt Ichika. She then start undressing, shocking Ichika as he turns around. After a moment of hesitation, Charlotte keeps undressing and Ichika starts recitating the number pi to distract himself from imagining Char's naked body. After she's done, he turns around and see she's in a beautiful orange swimsuit. Charlotte, blushing, asks him if it's weird and he screams "Not at all! I think it looks great!", which the shop owner heard from outside. Coincidentally, Chifuyu and Maya were in the boutique and heard Ichika and Charlotte's voice in the changing room. They open the curtain and Maya was shocked to see both of her students in the changing room. Ichika and Charlotte then gets a moral lesson from Maya in the middle of the boutique about drawing a line even as classmates.

At the beach, Maya tells everybody to enjoy themselves and to return to the inn in time for dinner. When Honne asked Ichika to play volleyball with her, Lingyin jumps on Ichika's neck to play walking watchtower, which Ichika hates. Cecilia arrives and asked Ichika if he had forget about the promise he made to her in the bus, which is to rub sun oil on her back; he agreed desperately. Hands full of lotion, he touched Cecilia's naked back (without her bikini top attached) and she screamed, saying that he must warm up his hands before he rubs. Ichika then warms up his hands and rub her back while Cecilia enjoys the sensual massage. When Ichika's done, she asks Ichika to rub everything where her hands don't reach, including legs and ass. Ichika freaks out and Lingyin takes the oil and replaces Ichika. She rubs it in a tickling manner that makes Cecilia giggles the whole time. When Lingyin rubbed her ass, Cecilia gets up to scold Lingyin but her top took off as she didn't attach them, exposing her breasts. Ichika freaks out as he gets punched in the face by Cecilia's partial deployment IS.

Later in the water, Lingyin challenges Ichika to a swimming race to the buoy and that if he loses, he'll have to treat her to shaved ice. As she swims underwater, she fakes her drowning, forcing Ichika to save her and pull her to the shore. Cecilia then proposes to walk her to the inn as she got "hurt". With the help of Shizune Takatsuki, they drag Lingyin by force towards the inn as she resists.

Charlotte arrives and presents a girl with an eye patch wrapped in towel, which Ichika freaks out and calls her the Bath Towel Monster. Ichika discovers it's Laura by her voice. After Charlotte purposely teases her that she'll have fun with Ichika without her if she doesn't show her swimsuit, Laura removes the towel and exposes her black swimsuit, telling that they can laugh if they want. They then tells her that there's nothing funny about it and Ichika says that she's cute, making Laura blushes, saying that it's the first time anyone had said that to her.

Honne and her friends then asked Ichika to keep his long awaited promise: beach volleyball. As they play, Laura gets so obsessed by the fact that Ichika calls her cute that she gets hit in the face by the ball. As Ichika gets close to ask if she's alright, Laura blushes even more and runs away. Maya arrives and ask if she can play volleyball with them, bringing Chifuyu in an attractive swimsuit that makes everybody praise. Seeing that Ichika blushes at the sight of his sister, Charlotte asks if Orimura-sensei is Ichika's type. He replies "What are you saying?!" Charlotte then tells him that it's quite the different reaction from the time when she and the other girls showed him their swimsuits. She then sighs and says that's a lot of rivals and that Orimura-sensei joins the fray. Ichika tells her that Chifuyu is quite the strong enemy and they shouldn't be unprepared. Charlotte sighs again, saying that maybe Ichika didn't understand that by rivals, she meant love rivals, not volleyball enemies. They then have fun playing volleyball for the rest of the day.

Episode 10: "Thin Red Line"
Ichika is having dinner with everybody in the local seaside inn.

Quotes
- Ichika to Charlotte (Episode 6) Ichika: "I'm not strong. I'm really weak. If I were strong...I'd be strong because I want to become strong. Once I'm strong, there are things I'd like to do." Laura: "Things you'd like to do?" Ichika: "There's someone I'd like to protect. I'd like to fight for that someone with all I've got." Laura: "That's completely...like that person." Ichika: "Yes...that's why I'll protect you, Laura Bodewig."'' - Laura and Ichika after their inter-class tournament (Episode 8)
 * "Charles, you need to learn to depend on others. You'll suffer if you keep being so hesitant. How about you start by depending on me?"
 * ''Laura: "Why are you trying to be strong? What makes you strong?"

Trivia

 * Ichika's name in kanji means one (Ichi, 一) summer (ka, 夏).
 * Ichika's IS unit name "Byakushiki" meaning "White Expressions" or "White Type" seems to came from the variation of Gunpla's Hyakushiki. And the wings that spread after recognization during episode 2, has the same concept as the ZGMF-X10A Freedom/ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, or ZGMF-X42S Destiny.
 * While most of the harem girls are foreigners (except for Houki which holds the role of the Japanese bishoujo), he is designed as an average Japanese male. Despite this fact, he is considered as an attractive harem lead by many female fans.
 * Ichika's seiyu has dubbed Banagher Links from Gundam Unicorn. Ichika's beam saber pose action is similar to the Unicorn's beam saber pose while it's in NT-D mode.
 * As the only male that is able to operate an IS, as of episode 12, he is the only character to have actually been killed and resurrected.
 * The Byakushiki 2nd shift is very similiar to the ZGMF-X42S Destiny in that its main weapons are similar: a high-energy beam sword, hand energy weapon which resembles the Palm Cannon, an energy sheild and a high particle beam cannon.
 * Although he is a personal IS user, he is not a IS Representative Candidate, because of him being the only male, thus creating debate at the UN as to whether he is allowed to take part in certain operations and be given the status of a representative candidate.
 * Ichika is very similar to Ichigo Kurosaki from the hit anime series Bleach. Both Ichika and Ichigo always use direct attacks as their choice in battle. They also have several girls who are attractive or friendly towards Ichika and Ichigo but are still oblivious towards women's feelings.