STRIKE GIRLS

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story.


Chapter 1: I'm a Miko..?

We managed to depart the makeshift triage center with barely 5 minutes of advance before another artillery strike annihilated the place. I shivered at the close call and continued to hold whatever I had in my stomach against the jolts of the road.

It was a good thing that we were on an island: no problem of traffic as it lacked the panicked and fleeing civilians... Although most of the Japanese movies showed orderly evacuations even if it was Godzilla visiting them...

It was relatively a short travel, but to me and others, it was an eternity as we looked at the sky apprehending the sudden appearance of enemy fighter planes. I managed to prevent another slaughter by forcing the trucks to stop still within the cover of the forests around the Nanpo bunker. Such a number of vehicles would have been a too tempting target.

I didn't know why they were still listening to someone who couldn't remember personal memories but JASDF captain Mio Sakamoto seemed to support me and her orders were followed.

It was approximately a hundred people being directed towards the small museum building built on the entrance of the Nanpo bunker and its 11 miles network of tunnels. Half of them were wounded in various ways and too many weren't capable to walk unassisted. And there were too many women and children.

During all this, I listened to any rumors and facts I could get from the people around me. It was a relief to know that most of the civilian population had been evacuated by planes and boats before the enemy destroyed the small mixed fleet of US and JD ships trying to protect Iwo Jima.

The nature of the enemy left me uneasy. Descriptions of humanoid monsters with weird female shapes, able to walk on the sea surface, unaffected by modern equipment and weapons and having the firepower of a ship... My headache worsened. I knew those things... but from where..? And who or what I was to know such things..?

"Oy! Sakamoto. Still alive and kicking, I see." It was a tall and well-endowed redheaded woman walking to Mio Sakamoto.

The black-haired JASDF officer stopped talking in her walkie-talkie and smiled in obvious relief at the newcomer. "Shirley-san! That's a pleasant surprise. And gods, do we need all the good news we can have."

Once again I could recognize the person in front of me: Charlotte Elwyn "Shirley" Yeager, older than her counterpart in the Strike Witches anime but still easily recognizable with her blue eyes and long red hair. She was clad in a slightly torn-up USAF pilot suit with flight lieutenant rank. "Yeah, those cowards have probably heard of me since they destroyed my F-35 on the ground before I could climb in it."

I stayed near them while they conversed.

"So how are we, so far?"

Mio sighed. "Saying we could be worse isn't cutting it. We were slaughtered like lambs. Still are. At least now I can order them to hide and no longer throw down their lives."

"What about the old gang?"

"Still alive at last report from the evac convoy. But we're completely cut off from the mainland. Only short-range coms are still up and not even sats are available." She shook her head. "We can't even target them and yet they are jamming us without difficulty. And you?"

Shirley winced and closed her eyes. "A few boys from the nuclear facility. Good thing we no longer use it for stocking nukes. Some survivors from the John Paul Jones and Myōkō, but the Sampson sunk with all hands aboard." Her eyes opened and hardened. "But we're still alive and we are damn well going to protect those people before help comes... even if it's when hell freezes over."

Moral was perhaps low but still holding. I continued to help the people inside the Nanpo bunker. The firemen with us were having some difficulty with the lights but we were finally pulling all we could in a relatively safe place.

I returned outside to see the military pulling up as much material they could inside the shelter. Radio traffic was intense on their encrypted channels... 'Wait a minute... Radio traffic..? Encrypted channels..? You don't need to know the encryption...' "Just to know where it's emitting from..." I ran to them. "CUT THE RADIOS! CUT ALL EMISSIONS! THEY CAN TRIANGULATE! THEY CAN TARGET US!"

For a moment the soldiers looked at me and then at their com equipment in dismay before we all heard a whistling sound.

No. 'No!' "NO..!" I looked up and it was as if time was dilated as I could see the shells arcing towards us from a crossfire. "NO!"

I was probably praying for a miracle because it happened. A giant shield made of white pinkish energy rose from my extended hands and covered the whole zone in front of the entrance of the museum. With a clang sound that reminded me of a giant gong or bell being stroke, the shells were stopped neatly on the plane shield as if their entire kinetic energy was suddenly nullified. 'What the..!? An AT field..? Round Shield..? Barrier..? Rho Aias..?'

The military would have stayed gaping at the spectacle if not for Mio and Shirley to kick and slap them towards the bunker. I let go of whatever I was holding and I noticed the heavy drain of what I did as I staggered to my feet.

Shirley and Mio both took me under the arms and ran towards safety as other shells continued raining on our position. We barely reached it in time as the bombardment obliterated the few vehicles outside. We descended towards the underground bunker and found the refugees screaming in fright at the deadly sound of the explosions and the still non-functional lights weren't helping.

Still in a daze, I recognized the need to do something before the panic became uncontrollable. A soft white-pink light emanated from my whole body and quickly stopped any hysteria as people preferred gaping at my self-illuminating trick than panicked.

Lieutenant Hayato scratched his head. "Well... this isn't something you see every day..."

In the back of the main entrance room, Fireman Ryu grunted as he continued to work on an old diesel generator. "Perhaps... but at least I can see what I'm doing now... There!"

The generator kicked in and artificial light flooded the premises. Already people were closing the armored doors of the shelter and the sound of death disappeared at their locking even if the ceiling was trembling a little at times and some dust fell. I also let go off my light trick and finally take the time to really look at my hands. A white-pink light aura was dimming around them but I also noted that they were... slimmer and delicate than I thought they should be. Almost... feminine...

I continued on my slender-looking arms clad in a white long-sleeved blouse with a red neckerchief around a green sailor collar. I had long and nice legs with white socks and brown penny loafers. A green plated skirt completed the traditional look of a high-school Japanese female student.

I saw a big mirror on a wall and turned to it. For the first time since I awoke on Iwo Jima, I could see myself in... her entirety.

"Kagome... Higurashi..?" No wonder I didn't recognize my voice. In front of me, my reflection was one of a gaping beautiful Japanese girl of fifteen years old with long wavy black hair and deep blue eyes widened in astonishment. 'The manga version..? And I still can't remember who the hell I was before... Except that I was male and older...' The last weird detail was that I was... pristine... I no longer had bandages around my head and the dirt and sometimes blood that everybody was covered in were absent on my healed flesh and my intact clothes.

"Higurashi? That's your name?" I jerked back at the voice of Mio Sakamoto. Shirley was also looking me from head to feet.

"Perhaps... I'm not sure..." I frightfully touched my reflection with a finger. Nope, that was really me there.

"Sakamoto-san?" Another feminine voice interrupted our examination of myself and the three of us turned to a woman clad in a bloodstained medical coat. Oh, gods... Another one that I could recognize. 'Yoshika Miyafuji... Of course, why should she absent when all the Fuso and Liberion members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing "Strike Witches" are there.'