u/DomWeasel

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14100358/38/Flower-of-Oarai
https://archiveofourown.org/works/50830339/chapters/240227456
https://www.wattpad.com/1650298091-flower-of-oarai-38-banzai

“Itsumi-dono!” The world’s fluffiest Jack-in-the-Box popped up beside her and while outside Erika showed no reaction; on the inside her heart did a complete work out as it bounced around her body in shock.

“Inside voice, Fluffy.”

“But we’re outside…” Yukari frowned and Erika shook her head before she realised that she was being teased.

“Where’s Inkspots?”

“Being sick.” Yukari announced cheerfully.

“She really has Loose Bolts that bad?”

“She said she never even wanted to join the Sensha-do team, and now the fate of the school’s on her shoulders.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“No!” Yukari grinned and then shrugged. “Been there. Done that.”

“True.” Erika nodded grimly. “It’s only been a few weeks since we last did this.” To think, she had thought the sight of the Maus had been a hopeless struggle.

“How long until we do it again?”

“You think we can win this.”

“Sure!” Yukari beamed and Erika realised she was genuine. She sighed and climbed up onto the turret and naturally Yukari joined her.

“I feel like one of us should keep Taiga company.” Erika said.

“No, she said she wanted to be alone.” Yukari pursed her lips and nodded grimly. “It’s understandable.”

“Miho wanted to be alone. Or she just wanted to look at tomorrow’s battlefield. She doesn’t have it in her to brood like her sister, or her mother.”

“Should she be alone?” Yukari asked.

“She won’t be. I saw Anzu creeping after her. Probably going to apologise to her to for making her command in another hopeless battle.”

“They weren’t hopeless though.” Yukari said. “We won.”

“They were hopeless at the time. Except Anzio. But that was close in the end. So many schools had something to prove this year. …Except Saunders; it was just business as usual for them.”

“They still had someone cheating though.”

“And we used it to win.” Erika remembered Akebi pinning her to the ground. “When I think about the tournament, this montage plays in my head and it’s just me screaming in rage in different weather.” She said and Yukari giggled. “Sun, rain, snow; just me going ‘AHHHHHHHH!’” She shook her head while Yukari giggled some more. “You got angry in the end.”

“We were being chased by a Panther! It was bulldozing builders to get at us! You have to get mad in that situation.”

“We’ll have to be insane tomorrow then. I was thinking we just hide somewhere they can’t find us and then we just wait them out. Wait for them to run out of fuel and then pick them off one by one under cover of darkness. …It might take several days though.”

“There are no time limits.” Yukari mused.

“Yeah… But I don’t think our friend here would operate for that long.” Erika patted the turret.

“Maybe if you yell at him.”

“It’s worked before.” Erika said and then giggled. “I still can’t believe I defeated a Nishizumi in this thing, and that it caught fire on me in the process.” A thought struck her. “Oarai’s first match in decades and it ended with all tanks knocked out. Fitting really.”

“You really think we can’t win this one?” Yukari’s hair drooped.

“We only beat Kuroromorimine because it was a flag match. If it had been Annihilation, Maho would still be cleaning us off her boots. And Koume would be sad about it.”

“We could have just outrun their heavies until they ran out of fuel. You know they would have kept chasing us. It’s their way.”

“They would still have gotten us in the end. And this team… Thirty tanks… They’ve got such a huge advantage they can leave half their force in reserve to deal with any tricks we pull. That’s what it comes down to. Miho can come up with some amazing strategy to put us in an advantageous situation but they have so many tanks that even if all we take out one each in a couple of minutes; they’ve still got more than twenty left to mop us up when we’re exposed. Think about it. We lay an ambush and spring it and take out a dozen of them; well then while we’re eliminating them, the other eighteen just envelop us. They’ve got the speed to do it. Kuromorimine was tied to their heavy tank destroyers but all we’re facing is Pershings.”

“Pershings are slow off-road.”

“They’re fast enough for this.” Erika said and then conceded. “We could lead them on a chase to burn their fuel, but then they’d just shadow us with their scouts when they figure out that’s what we’re doing.”

“You really do think it’s hopeless?”

“I think I intend to go out the way I came into this world; kicking and screaming.” Erika declared and Yukari grinned. “If Miho needs someone to kamikaze the enemy commander; I’m volunteering us.”

“I don’t think Taiga would like that.”

“She’ll have a story to tell for the rest of her life.”

“So…” Yukari said carefully. “You don’t mean literal kamikaze?”

“We’ll see how I feel in the morning.” Erika glared at the brilliant starry sky. It was too cheerful for what they were enduring. “Is it against the rules to strap a bunch of shells to the front of the tank and ram someone?”

“It is, actually.”

“How about sneaking up on them and dragging the crew screaming from their hatches?”

“That’s still not in there.” Yukari shook her head in remembrance of the Saunders match.

“Couldn’t do it anyway. They’re almost grown women and all I have for support is you and Inkspots.” Erika shook her head. “No partisan warfare for us.” She looked up and smiled. “That’s sweet.”

“Whuh?” Yukari looked around in every direction but the right one, so Erika took her by the chin and pointed her the right way. Hana, Mako and Saori were evidently going to find their commander and Saori had snacks.

“Having a picnic under the stars.” Erika shook her head.

“I have my kit.” Yukari said mischievously.

It was quite illegal to have a lit fire right next to their tank but if any official did notice; they did not appear. Erika found that oddly disappointing; she would have liked to vent on some hapless referee. Instead, she had to settle for aggressively biting sausage off a skewer.

“Is your only love still the sea?” Erika asked.

Yukari frowned, baffled by the bizarre question, and then she remembered their expedition into Oarai’s hills and woods and giggled. “I’m afraid so.” She said gravely.

“Pity. My sister thinks I should take you to her wedding.”

“She’s getting married?!” Yukari’s eyes shone.

“Sooner or later.” Erika shrugged and then enjoyed the moment when Yukari realised the significance of what she had said.

“Me?!” She squeaked.

“She called you my ‘future wife’.” There had been a time when Erika would have been awkward and embarrassed by Yukari’s response of being flattered and honoured in equal measure. Now she just enjoyed it, and the way Yukari then squirmed at the implications.

“Why doesn’t that stuff bother you?” She asked. “Remember when you answered your door in your underwear? And Saori had to be embarrassed for you?!”

“I am beyond caring about little things like that.”

“Little things?” Yukari’s eyebrows did an odd little wiggle.

“They are little to me. Leona had to enter the adult world before she thought about boys.” Erika could not help but roll her eyes. “At school though, for us, it’s all just fun and games.”

“You don’t seem to have a lot of fun.”

“I’m having fun now. My face just doesn’t like to admit it.” Erika pointed at her scar. “Until this fades, I’m always going to look angry.”

“It looks better than it did.”

“Don’t lie to me, Fluffy.”

“It does! It used to look furious, but now it only looks peeved.” Yukari declared solemnly, and then grinned.

“You know I can’t hurt you tonight because I need you tomorrow.”

“Yes, I do.” Yukari kept grinning.

“But after tomorrow…”

“I will miss you threatening to kill me on a daily basis.”

“Because you’re insane.”

“Because I know what you really mean.” Yukari said, helping herself to another skewer and Erika felt herself flush.

A welcome distraction materialised in the form of a dishevelled Taiga. “You’re having a barbecue?”

“Yukari likes building campfires.” Erika explained. “Have a sausage.”

“I don’t know…” Taiga put a hand on her stomach.

“Have something to eat, or I’ll eat you.”

“That means she’s worried about you and wants you to keep up your strength.” Yukari explained to the startled girl.

“Quiet, you!” Erika retorted.

“If only we could harness the power of Itsumi-dono’s fury and infuse it into our shells.” Yukari wondered. “We’d be invincible!”

“If only we could bottle your relentless enthusiasm; we’d put every motivational speaker in the world out of business.”

“You two have spent far too much time together.” Taiga proclaimed and then decided she wanted to try a sausage on a stick. After a tentative bite which scorched her tongue, she found it was in fact delicious. “This doesn’t feel civilised.”

“Sitting in the dirt eating meat off sticks?” Erika asked. “Feels just right when you’re going to fight for your life in the morning.”

“It’s a sport, not a battle at the end of the world!”

“You’re the writer. You can make it as dramatic as your imagination likes. The poor band of little schoolgirls, facing destruction at the hands of merciless adults.”

“Are they adults?” Taiga inquired.

“They’re probably all Third and Fourth Year university students.” Erika replied. “Just to make sure they have years more experience than us.”

“Why’s it so unfair?”

“We don’t know why he hates Oarai so much.” Erika said, meaning herself and Anzu. “It doesn’t really matter this point. Not unless we actually do kill him…”

“Itsumi-dono wants to go out in a blaze of glory tomorrow.” Yukari explained cheerfully to Taiga.

“And take us with her?”

“You’re my loyal crew.” Erika smiled wickedly. “And if we can’t win the match, why not turn our tank on the spectator stands and take out a government official?”

“Is she serious?” Taiga pleaded of Yukari. “I can’t tell if she’s serious!”

“She’s serious that she’s thought about it. She’s not seriously planning to do it.” Yukari answered.

“Don’t bet on it, Fluffy.”

“You wouldn’t get us in trouble.” Yukari shrugged, and beamed.

Erika glared at her. “Spoilsport.” She sighed. “I’ll just have to assassinate him on my own time.”

“Terminate.” Yukari put in.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a joke the other girls have. They call you ‘The Itsuminator’.” Yukari explained and Taiga stared in disbelief at her and then at Erika.

“The respect my comrades have for me is awesome.” Erika deadpanned.

“That is respect! They love you and they fear you!”

“Machiavelli would be so proud.” Erika sighed. “I need a vacation…” She declared to give the people what they wanted, except while Yukari giggled in delight; Taiga was simply confused.

(FFN says I only have 32 chapters published. You have to go chapter 32 and press on from there, or follow the link)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14100358/35/Flower-of-Oarai
https://archiveofourown.org/works/50830339/chapters/237925876
https://www.wattpad.com/1647394597-flower-of-oarai-35-st-crispin%27s-day

(The below is only a third of the chapter)

“This is a T-50.” Leona ran her hands over the glacis. “It’s a very pretty tank. Some of them are ugly brutes but this one… But it has a skinny cannon.”

“It is.” Erika confirmed, one hand on Yukari’s face to stop her indignant protest of the insult toward her beloved tank. “When we fought Pravda and got chased by that T-34/85… Well, you don’t need a better demonstration of how tanks evolved during the war.”

“First Year at Kuromorimine, I found myself looking down a Panther’s cannon from a Panzer III.” Leona shook her head. “Before that moment, I was worried about having no tits while my commander was a fertility goddess. After that, I knew what inadequacy and size envy was really all about.” She patted the glacis once more and then looked beyond it. “Hello, gutaussehend!”

Erika took her hand off Yukari’s face while Leona cooed over the Tanuki. It was the only Oarai tank without a crew and looked lonely for it. Leona meanwhile greeted it like an old friend and as a 38(t); to a former Kuromorimine girl it was.

“You look confused.” Erika remarked to Taiga.

“I was wondering what it would take for me to love tanks like that.”

“More than a week in them.”

“How long?”

“Well, Fluffy was in love with tanks before she ever rode one. Leona and I were driving tanks when we were children. Everyone else here…” Erika looked around at the other teams reunited with their machines. “Everyone falls in love differently.” She looked at her sister who was climbing up onto the Tanuki’s turret. “And you always come back to this love.”

“Little Flower!” Leona sang out from the Tanuki. “Feel like a drive?”

For Erika, it had been a matter of days since she had driven the T-50. For Leona; it had been years since she had been at the controls of a 38(t). Not that anyone would have known as the Tanuki leapt forward and raced out of the compound, closely followed by the Okami.

From the turret hatch of the Tanuki, Yukari raised her arms in the air and whooped. “YAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!” It echoed across the countryside, clashing with the sound of Taiga in the cupola of the Okami who was simply screaming. It was the stuff of dreams for Yukari; she was riding in a 38(t) that was being driven by a Kuromorimine legend. The Lion herself. Meanwhile, Taiga was screaming because she was being driven by a maniac with no regard for the laws of the roads or the laws of physics.

The T-50 was heavier but more powerful while Leona brushed off the cobwebs from her skills to keep pace. They were old machines but well-loved and their young drivers were enjoying themselves to the full. There were precious few opportunities in life to joyride in tanks.

Hours later, they returned and Taiga threw herself into the dirt of the compound.

“LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNND!” She cried, kissing the earth.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Inkspots.” Erika said from the driver’s seat. “You can put your arms down, Fluffy!” She called over to the 38(t) where Yukari was locked in a ‘I’m the King of the World!’ pose. She did not break out of it though, not until she suddenly disappeared down the hatch with a shriek. Erika rolled her eyes as Leona climbed out and then Yukari appeared looking sheepish. Erika thought it was fitting that Yukari had now been manhandled by two Itsumis; she knew it was not just her thing.

“That was bracing.” Leona declared, taking a moment to stretch after enduring the tank’s seat after so long without practice. “I wonder if Tadashi would consider a 38(t) a smart investment.”

“I bet you could convince him.”

“I’m sure I could.” Leona smirked. “It might upset the neighbours though.”

“You sound so old.”

“I’ll happen to you!” Leona jabbed a finger at her. “Enjoy the years you can create mayhem and people say ‘She’s just a kid’ while you can.”

The Panzer IV rumbled in at this moment, Mako’s head barely visible at the controls, while Hana, Miho and Saori were in their respective hatches. Hana, Mako and Saori all looked unsettled while Miho looked the happiest that Erika could remember seeing her. She found that to be quite unsettling.

“Someone had a good day.” She remarked as the Anglerfish disembarked.

“I’ve fallen through the cracks of reality.” Mako declared, walking by and clearly bound for bed.

“That sounds nice.” Leona called after her. “What does that mean?” She asked Erika.

“We found Miho’s happy place.” Saori explained. “A Boko Museum.”

“That sounds…” Erika could not think of a polite way to end the sentence.

“It was an interesting experience.” Hana had the grace to be politic.

“You smile any harder, I’ll slap you.” Erika warned Miho, who promptly did. “Big Sis!”

“I’m not hurting her; she’s adorable.” Leona shrugged while Miho blushed. “May I?” She asked Miho who did not understand the question and nodded politely. Leona exploded forward like a greyhound out of the gate and leapt up on the Panzer IV.

“We should have charged her admission.” Erika said to Miho who giggled. “It’s like we’re running a Sensha-do theme park.” She looked around, and rolled her eyes. “I said stop being dramatic, Inkspots.” She pulled Taiga to her feet.

“They’re insane!” Taiga protested to the Captain who simply beamed as the younger Itsumi stood in front of her looking innocent while the elder clambered all over the Panzer IV.

Erika offered to find Leona a proper bed, no matter who she might have to kick out of it, but Leona was more interested in roughing it outside in the tents. She watched Taiga listening to Yukari ask Leona about three thousand questions to which Leona responded by describing her entire Sensha-do career from the beginning. The very beginning. And Yukari listened shiny-eyed. Erika found herself relieved that she no longer stared at her with that kind of awe.

Leona left out nothing and Taiga’s notebook came out when she recalled her two tournaments as Captain. Leona spared no details and even though Erika had seen it happening; it was different to hear about it. Especially with Leona being completely blasé about her physical degradation from stress. It was all stuff that Yukari knew but hearing it from the lion’s mouth was a dream come true. Erika could not imagine anyone else being awed to hear a young woman describe her hair falling out and having the stomach lining of a fifty-year-old Tokyo air traffic controller. All for a school sports tournament…

Taiga stopped taking notes and just listened as Leona described her breaking point. “I called her an evil, controlling bitch who constantly criticised because she got a perverse pleasure out of putting people down; especially if they were members of her own family. …Except I wasn’t that polite.” Leona nodded a few times. “I remember it differently every time I think about it. …Did I really whip her with my headscarf?” She asked Erika.

“No. But you threw one of father’s shoes at her.”

“How did I get his shoe?”

“He tried to calm you down…”

“Oh…” Leona tutted. “…Why do I have one of mother’s shoes?”

“When you were literally spitting blood, she tried to get away and that’s when you threw father’s shoe. And then she lost one of hers. People were talking for weeks about how undignified she looked hobbling away and hiding in the car wearing just one heel.”

“And that was the end of my Sensha-do career.” Leona informed Taiga and Yukari. “A fittingly violent end to a martial art. And my trophy was one of my mother’s shoes.”

“But, you did win both tournaments.” Yukari said.

“I did. And maybe one day I’ll be proud of that instead of thinking about my mother.” Leona scowled and both girls flinched from the anger it contained and from its familiarity. They knew Erika’s bad moods well-enough and the difference between her general moodiness and her actual rage and for a moment; they saw nothing but a tightly bound fury straining to break free. “It was nice to drive again though.” Leona declared.

[][][][][][]

Erika had not caught up on the news the previous day and Yukari filled her in happily enough. “The Public Morals Committee have lost all their morals, the Chess Club fought the Anime Club for possession of the breakroom and the second corridor, and Kawashima got into a fight with some local kids.”

“Momo? Fighting?”

“Well, Sodoko started it.” Yukari said cheerfully.

“How long was I away?”

“I think it’s land sickness.”

Erika nodded, unsure if Yukari was serious or not. It would however explain a great deal. “I have one question. Where is my sister this morning?”

Yukari grinned. “She took the cat for a run.”

It took Erika a moment, and then she groaned. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

Yukari patted her reassuringly. “Help me make breakfast.”

When the Porsche Tiger returned in a physics-defying power slide, it was with a cheering Leopon team on top and a very happy-looking Leona at the controls. Taiga was beside her, her hair ruffled and glasses askew. Erika had assumed she had returned to the Writers Club but it seemed her older sister had abducted her that morning.

“Are you having a mid-life crisis?” Erika asked her.

“They gave me an opportunity; I took it.”

“And as a responsible adult, you couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a sixty-ton tank for a rampage.”

“When you’ve worked a normal job for a few years, you’ll understand, Little Flower.” Leona patted her on the head and Erika glared at Anglerfish team for grinning at the sight.

As there was nothing else to do, it was another day of joyriding in tanks. Leona was determined to enjoy all of them in some way, even if she did not have Mako’s instinctive ability to master the disparate controls of the multi-national machines. The other teams all happily indulged her through a combination of deference to her being an adult, her being Erika’s sister and because showing off their tanks was just about the only thing left that they could enjoy.

“I never thought that Strawberry Shortcake herself would be making me dinner.” Leona mused of Saori dominating their field kitchen.

“They do love their aprons.” Erika felt like the only girl who did not wear an apron while cooking. Yukari had her camo, Saori was in pink and Miho had traditional white. Erika just did her best to avoid making a mess.

“I’m trying to imagine what Tadashi is doing right now with the place to himself for the weekend, and all I’m seeing is him jumping on the bed.”

“You run a tight ship.”

“He loves it.” Leona declared, faintly pink. “Like you’ll be any different when you’re in a relationship.”

“I often wonder.”

“I don’t have to. I just look at how you treat your friends and underlings.” She looked over at Yukari whose ‘help’ was bothering the diva chef and then at Miho who appeared to be checking Mako’s pulse as she lay face down in the grass. “Somehow, you bully them and they love you despite it.”

“I don’t bully people!”

“Of course.” Leona nodded. “That’s why everyone I’ve spoken to here has described you with the words ‘She scares me, but-‘. They adore you, but they fear you.”

“Miho’s Captain. She needs a second-in-command that people fear.”

“True. That one couldn’t intimidate a child.” Leona frowned as Miho seemed to briefly panic at being unable to find a pulse on Mako, before the prone girl raised a hand and swiped at her with her fingers. “Are we sure that one wasn’t raised by cats?”

“Her grandmother’s an old tiger. Definitely not toothless.” Erika smiled. “You should know; Lion.”

“’The Lion of Kuromorimine’.” Leona shook her head. “We really were locked into our fates. I was raised a warrior and you were supposed to be the lady the boys would be wrestling for. Now you look like a scarred veteran and I’m the one who’ll have kids before they’re thirty.”

“Really?” Erika found herself oddly fascinated by that.

“You handled that better than him.” Leona mused. “When I told him I wanted children, he looked like a man who realised he had jumped from a plane with a backpack of camping gear instead of a parachute.”

“Why would you want to be a mother though?”

“To do it right.” Leona said bluntly. “And to have them young so that when they’re at a difficult age, I’m not so old and tired and out of touch.”

“You’ll always be out of touch. That’s the point.” Erika pointed out. “Do you feel in touch with all of this lot?”

“Nope. Definitely not.” Leona shook her head vigorously. “You’re all children.”

“We’re the children… Right… Not you, the grown woman treating this place like a summer camp.”

Leona grinned. “You treated my home like a student pad.”

“I guess we all need an escape.” Erika said, and watched Saori attempting to shoo Yukari out of her ‘kitchen’ with a long wooden spoon. “Reality is leaking around here.” She declared as Yukari pulled her ‘potato masher’ from her bag and an impromptu duel between spoon and stick-grenade began.

1. Stats no longer working for half a year
2. Submitting new chapters is a matter of luck/clicking several hundred times.
3. Reviews no longer updating.
4. BOTS!

Every time I try to upload a new chapter, I'm hit with an error message telling me that it's incompatible; despite the fact I'm trying to upload a Copy and Paste text rather than a document. If I make enough attempts, it eventually accepts the upload, but it's taking more and more attempts to be accepted.

Anyone else have this problem?

There really is nothing to commend this site anymore.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14100358/33/Flower-of-Oarai
https://archiveofourown.org/works/50830339/chapters/224043656
https://www.wattpad.com/1628868026-flower-of-oarai-33-tiger-cubs

Erika had slipped away without ceremony and no one was sure if she was coming back. Miho however fully intended to return. She did not want to go though. That reluctance betrayed itself in her mode of transport. Not a high-speed train but via the sea. She told herself that she took a ship because she had missed the smell of the sea air but really; she was dragging her heels. She knew it, but it did not stop her continuing. Once back on land, she walked rather than take a bus. That killed some time, but not nearly enough.

That brought her to the door.

The door was only made of wood, and flimsy wood at that. Had she been inclined, she could have pulled it apart with her bare hands. But it might as well have been the reinforced concrete and steel door that sealed a bunker for what it represented to her. And that was without taking into consideration what lay beyond the door. She did not even dare form metaphors in her head because Miho had never been able to shake the belief that her mother could read minds. Some said the Nishizumi had ‘Panzer Sense’ but Miho thought that it went much, much further than that with her mother.

Although, if she did have that power, she was not using it because she did not appear. That left Miho staring helplessly at the door. Such a harmless weak door. She had not drunk anything that day in preparation for this situation; the last thing she had wanted was to worry herself into needing to pee. If she saw her mother, the first thing she said to her could not be ‘I need to use the bathroom’.

Although, she thought her mother would be quite pleased to think she had frightened her into almost wetting herself. She had that effect on government officials after all.

“Miho.”

Her own name being spoken should not have made her jump, but even more startling was seeing her sister dressed casually. Dressed casually. Coming back from walking the dog. It made her look so different. Less intimidating. More… Human. “Onee-chan.” Miho remembered her manners, and then felt a whole lot of things from trepidation to elation as Maho smiled.

“Welcome home.” Maho beamed, and so it seemed did the family Akita. “You finally came.”

It was not intended as a remonstration but Miho still felt it was a rebuke. “I didn’t have a choice.” She said and wished she had not. “Oarai…” She began to reach instinctively for the papers in her bag to explain, but she stopped. She knew Maho already knew about Oarai’s situation, and that she had come with transfer papers that needed signing. The same papers their mother had signed before.

Maho smiled. “I meant that I thought you might prefer to come sooner rather than later. Avoid the dread building up.” She knew her so well.

Maho reassured her in every way, but the perfectly tended grounds of their home were a reminder that the rundown campus of Oarai Girls was gone. Home lacked a homely touch when it was immaculate. And the unseen presence hung over everything. She wondered if father was home; that would have been water to pour on the fire. But she could feel that he was not around.

“How is father?” She inquired politely, knowing Maho would note the choice.

“Hiding.” Maho answered dryly.

Miho raised her hands to her chest. “What did he do?”

“Nothing.” Maho sighed. “I believe mother is just fishing for another grand romantic gesture.”

Miho nodded. Some people said they did not have a father; they had budded off their mother. Like plants. But he existed, and Miho could say that she was glad to have gone to sea for her education to get away from her parents displays of affection which as she had grown into a teenager; had become excruciatingly embarrassing. Few at Kuromorimine would have guessed that their mother had that side to her. All they saw was the scowling panzer commander. Miho was not comforted thinking about that scowl.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” She asked, meaning to even be here. She realised she was walking far behind Maho; like a supplicant.

“This is your home.” Maho spoke decisively, and Miho thought with just a hint of annoyance. “You don’t need to be so restrained here.”

Miho decided that Maho’s annoyance was with the source of her fears, not her actual fears. For a moment her confidence was buoyed and she began to close the gap between them. Then of course…

“Maho?” The two syllables of her own name had made her jump, but two syllables of her sister’s made her raise her arms protectively over her chest, and hunch.

And they had an effect on Maho too. “…Hai?” No one else would have heard her trepidation, but Miho did.

“Is there a guest?” The voice was soft.

“It’s a friend from school.” Maho answered. Miho was shocked that she would tell such a blatant lie.

And then she was even more shocked by the response. “Is that so?”

It was all theatre, Miho realised. Their mother knew she was here. Maho knew that she knew. Miho knew. But they all had to pretend that did not know. What Miho did not know was the motivation behind this fiction, and she was too shy to ask in case she got an answer that devastated her.

Unexpectedly, she was given it. They went to her room and it might have been yesterday that she had left it.

“What’s wrong?” Maho was alarmed by her stillness.

“It hasn’t changed.” Miho said. Her Kuromorimine uniform still hung where she had left it.

“What did you expect?”

“I had visions of black sacks.” She confessed. “And I had a dream about mother in a bulldozer…”

Maho gave her a long appraising look. “Show me the documents.” She said, meaning she believed now was definitely not the time for Miho to see their mother again. Not if she was dreaming of bulldozers. She gave the papers another appraising look. “Wait here.” The command was brusque, in her commander rather than sister’s voice.

“Um… Okay.” Miho found it strange to be given permission to stay in her own room, and then realised this was as awkward for Maho as it was for her.

Looking at her room, Miho imagined that Yukari would have loved it. She had nothing like her collection but she would still have been at home here; gushing over the model panzerfaust. Saori would have been cooing over the bow that she had tied to it. How would Erika react to the Kuromorimine uniform hanging up in its plastic wrap, ready to be worn again? Did Erika still have her uniform? …What did her bedroom look like?

A picture caught her eye. In all the photos of them when they were kids, she was always smiling and Maho always seemed to have been caught unawares because she looked surprised. Always surprised. From their pictures, someone might have thought their father was always leaping from bushes with a camera to shock Maho, and to make Miho laugh. There were very few pictures of their father because he was always the one with the camera. There were few pictures of their mother because she hated having her photo taken; something that had not helped with the rumours that she was a vampire.

Things had been simpler when they were kids. She had been aware of far less. …That was the problem with growing up; you became aware of so much more and especially yourself. Being a little nervous meeting people was no big deal when you were young but when you were a teen; you knew why you were nervous and you knew every little part of yourself feeling that anxiety. And there were no responsibilities either. No one had been expecting them to uphold the dignity of the family when they were kids. But then they had passed some invisible line, at different ages for the both of them, and they had been expected to be… To be. It had just happened.

You never appreciated childhood when you were a child.

“Miho.”

Miho had become so lost in her reverie that Maho’s voice startled her again, but not nearly as much as the transfer papers in her hand; signed and sealed. “But-“

“Shh.” Maho chided her with a raised finger. She had the seal clasped between her ring finger and thumb.

Miho had another fright as her phone squawked suddenly. She smiled apologetically and answered it.

Maho was treated to an interesting spectacle as Miho took the call, and tried to be casual about it. But what slipped through was fascinating. She knew of Oarai’s present circumstances but something had slipped through her intelligence network. She had had no idea that Erika had returned to Kyushu. If anyone at Kuromorimine had known, it would have been the one and only topic of gossip.

Miho tried to look casual. “I have to go to Kitakyushu.”

“For Erika?” Maho smiled.

“She said she was going to visit her family.”

Maho took a moment. “Her sister.”

“Well…” Miho did not need to say that Erika meeting her mother would have been dramatic. “We need her back.”

“To give a proper goodbye.” Maho spoke coldly. “I’ll warm up the engine.”

“…Onee-chan?”

A Panzer II might have been an odd choice of vehicle for a hundred-mile road trip, but no stranger than neither of them finding nothing odd about seeing a Kawasaki OH-1 scout helicopter landing as they left. That was just a normal day on the Nishizumi estate.