Public service announcement: to the anonymous reviewer from Monday - sorry brah, i can't afford to update every two days like before...
Chapter 4 – A visit from afar
Toshiro entered the school building of the Yokosuka 4th Girls-only Middle School with his face covered, being looked at with curiosity. He decided to sit in the corridor, leaning back against the classrooms wall. Toshiro used Yuki's power to eavesdrop on the lecture. It took long, but finally it happened.
"Miyafuji, do you have your homework for today?" A bored voice of a female teacher was heard.
"Y-yes professor!"
The class murmured as a whole.
"Oh, that's a new thing… Please, present it to the class."
Toshiro heard a chair being moved, and steps going in the direction where he knew the blackboard was.
Yoshika cleared her throat, and started reciting the poem.
"The sky was dark, the wind blowing strong
Every moment felt so wrong
Then came a guest, dressed in white
He entered the living room with all his might
He took of his hood, and to everyone's surprise
It was someone, who was thought that met his demise
My heart raced, many tears felt
When the guest before me knelt
With his white hair and crimson red eyes
Toshiro, my boyfriend, did from the grave arise
And suddenly everything was right
I can continue, fighting the good fight"
Not a single voice was heard during her exposition.
After she finished, the dead silence was still present, until the teacher started talking.
"Well, Ms. Miyafuji… A nice poem overall, but…"
"Professor, before you say anything else, please, let me do something."
"Okay, Miyafuji, but keep it short."
"You can come in!" Yoshika shouted so loud that Toshiro's ears were ringing.
He stood up from the floor and entered the classroom.
"Excuse me for the intrusion." He said.
He might as well could enter the classroom naked; he would probably garnered equal attention.
"And who are you?" The teacher asked.
"I'm the person in question."
"You? Impossible! Toshiro Akayama is dead; I saw it in the newspapers!"
Toshiro undid the hood of his snowsuit and took off the goggles and scarf of his face. Gasps could be heard from some of the students.
"Well, Ms…"
"Tamagami, Asuka…"
"Well, Ms. Tamagami, my body was never found, because it couldn't be found. I won't get into details, but I was… unavailable for the world. But as you can see, now I'm standing here before you and your students." He turned to Yoshika. "Hey, Yoshika, is this your last class?"
"Yup."
"Ms. Tamagami, if you could excuse Yoshika for now? We have to do some shopping…"
"No problem… Actually, class dismissed!"
"YAAAY!" The shout coming from over a dozen of teenage girls throats sounded across the classroom.
All the girls darted besides Toshiro and out of the classroom, except for one. A shy girl with dark long hair approached Yoshika and Toshiro.
"G-good morning, I'm Michiko Yamakawa, pleased to meet you." She said humbly and bowed.
"Michiko… Michiko… Oh! You are Yoshika's cousin?"
"Yes, Mr. Akayama."
"Oh pfff, please, call me Toshiro. And it's Edelweiss now anyway."
"Okay, T-Toshiro… Can I join you on your shopping trip? I wanted to buy some pork for dinner."
"What a coincidence! Yoshika's mother also sent me out to buy pork!"
"Really? Mother told you to go shopping?" Yoshika asked surprised.
"Yeah. Is it so surprising, or odd?"
"No, no… Just… I have trouble imagining you running errands around the town, heehee…"
"Ha… Ha… Okay, let us go then, all three of us. Goodbye Ms. Tamagami."
"Goodbye…" She answered totally spaced out.
Toshiro went with Yoshika and Michiko to the locker room, so the girls could get clothed and change their shoes. He didn't notice it earlier, but Yoshika had some sturdy snow shoes, probably a similar quality to Toshiro's.
Except for the fact that mine were made by a goddess, not some bald shoemaker from Whoknowswhere.
When outside, Toshiro asked. "Hey, Michiko, know a good butcher around here? Things could change while I was… gone…"
"Well… Old Mayamoto has closed his shop, but there's a new one near where it was open."
"Mayamoto… I remember that mother always praised meat from that guy…"
"The new store has grade A meat, Toshiro. You can trust me on that!" Michiko said confidently.
"Then lead the way, Micchan." Toshiro said with a smile, causing Michiko to blush.
"Oh… Toshiro…. Please don't call me by my pet name… I'm embarrassed…" She said flustered.
"Heh…"
They arrived at the butcher, and after picking out good pieces of pork, it came down to paying the man. Toshiro pulled out the wallet, but instead of pulling out money, he asked, "What's the current correlation between yen and pound?"
"Hummm…" The man pondered. "Still something about one to twenty I believe."
"Oh, okay then." Toshiro said and pulled out the necessary amount of money. "Keep the change, I'm feeling generous today."
"Much appreciated, kind sir…"
Toshiro looked around to Michiko, and saw her searching through the pockets of her jacket fervently, ending it with her hand coming through a hole in one of them. Her eyes became wet in an instant as she realized that she lost the money she had been given to buy the meat.
Toshiro turned around, pulled out another few coins and gave it to the man.
"Here, I'm paying for the young lady."
"Thank you for your patronage."
Toshiro took Micchan's meat from the counter and gave it to here saying, "Here, I paid for you. You don't have to worry about giving me the money back."
While Michiko had calmed down a bit before, now she started crying with full force.
"Thank… you…" She said while sobbing.
"Is she always like that?" Toshiro asked Yoshika.
"Sometimes… Michiko is mostly a quiet girl…"
After she calmed herself down, they went out of the store. They split up a few meters further, and Toshiro could walk with Yoshika alone, if not counting some seldom-appearing pedestrians.
"So, how was it at school today?" Toshiro asked.
"Better than usual… Maybe because you returned heehee…"
So she was depressed to such a degree… I feel so bad about it I want to puke…
"Did my tutoring help you at least a weeeee little?"
"I aced the math pop quiz today!" Yoshika shouted with pride.
"Impossible! My girlfriend can't be this smart! Who are you? Give me back my Yoshika!"
"Oh stop goofing off, stupid, people are looking weird at us…"
"Meh, don't care… If they have a beef with me, they can try themselves with me…" Toshiro said while cracking his knuckles.
"Now, now, stop, or you will have one of those outburst of yours…"
"Hah, not possible anymore. The source of my rage has been tamed since five months already, so no way I'm going to flip out that easily."
"Oh? Do tell me more!"
"Well… I told you about the Sacred Flame, right?"
"Well, briefly… What about it?"
"It was an ancient power, which in its impure form hooked itself to the negative emotion, taking over control of the host. But during the battle with the Warlock, after I told all of you off, using rather harsh words for which I'm now ashamed, I managed to subdue the power of the Sacred Flame."
"Ooooooh, how did you do that?" Yoshika asked amazed.
Toshiro put on a subtle smile and raked in Yoshika closer to him. Looking down on the surprised Yoshika from above, with a soft voice, he said, "My feelings towards you were the key, Yoshika. If it weren't for you, I would be engulfed in flames of unquenched rage, and I would do who knows what…"
"R-Really?" Yoshika asked with rosy cheeks.
Toshiro patted Yoshika on her head.
"Yeah, really. Come on, let's pick up the pace."
"Okay!"
They jogged to the Miyafuji clinic, which resulted in Yoshika being out of breath and panting heavily at the doorstep.
"Yoshika, you are so terribly out of shape that it hurts me to watch you…"
"I… couldn't… train… bad…weather…"
"Oh well, it can't be helped…"
They entered the clinic, and they were immediately greeted by Sayaka.
"Hello, Toshiro! Oh, Yoshika? Class ended early?"
"Heehee… Yes mom, thanks to Toshiro."
"Oh?"
"I made such an appearance that the teacher almost fainted, so she dismissed class a tad earlier."
"Well, to see somebody that has been officially buried appear just like that… Anyway, did you buy the pork?"
"Of course." Toshiro said, and passed on the package with the meat to Sayaka.
She unwrapped it, looked at the meat with pietism and said, "My, my… You bought some good meat… Time to put it to use. Will you two help me?"
"Of course!" Toshiro and Yoshika shouted in unison.
Toshiro burped heftily after eating the pork ramen.
"Pardon…" He apologized.
"I deduce that it was good?" Sayaka asked with a sly smile.
"Of course! Our joint effort ensued the creation of a dish that could be awarded an award!"
A knock on the door was heard.
"Hey sonny, why don't you open it?" Grandma asked.
"Sure."
Toshiro stood up and went to the door. He opened it, and saw two unexpected guests from Gallia and Britannia, shaking violently from the cold. They had big suitcases with them, one for each of them.
"Oh, hi you two!"
Both Perrine and Lynne made big eyes and fainted.
Damn…
"Who is it?" Yoshika shouted from inside.
"Come and see for yourself." Toshiro replied.
Yoshika ran up to him quickly, and saw the two lying in the snow.
"OH! Perrine! Lynne! But what are they doing in the snow?"
"Methinks they are busy being unconscious. Furthermore, I think that I am to blame. Come on, take Lynne, and I'll take Perrine."
"Okay."
They dragged in both girls in the hallway, and Toshiro quickly fetched their luggage and brought it inside.
"Yoshika, let's bring 'em to the living room."
"Okay."
Lynne and Perrine were dragged to the living room, much to the surprise of Sayaka and Grandma.
"Oh my, where did you find these two?"
"Outside." Yoshika answered.
"The things people throw out these days…" Grandma said, trying to crack a joke.
"Oh grandma, don't be so harsh." Yoshika protested. "Those are my friends, back from the 501st. But I wonder what they are doing here…"
"Let's ask them once they wake up." Toshiro said.
Therefore, they waited a few long minutes, until Lynne started showing signs of consciousness. Proactively, Toshiro went out of the room and listened from the corridor. Sayaka and Grandma went out to the kitchen.
"Yoshika… I had this weird dream… I thought I saw the ghost of Toshiro answering the door for us…"
"That's not far off from the truth, heehee…"
"W-what do you mean, Yoshika?"
"You see… Oh, Perrine, you are also waking up?"
"Mmmmhmmhhhh… What happened?"
"You fainted outside and we dragged you two inside."
"We?"
"Ah yes, I was about to explain it to Lynne. You see, Toshiro returned…"
The silence that fell upon the room could only be compared with a grave.
"Yoshika… So the ghost I saw…" Lynne started slowly.
Toshiro stood up and went to the room, behind Lynne.
"It was me, Lynne."
She jumped up due to his sudden appearance, but quickly turned back.
"T-Toshiro? Is this really you?"
"Really me, Lynne. A bit changed, but it's still me."
"But you had a funeral and all the entourage!" Perrine shouted.
"Believe me, Perrine, not the first and not the last funeral without a body to bury or cremate…"
"And what happened to your hair? It looks nice being so long… And creepy at the same time being so white… And those red eyes…"
"The eyes are a result of my absence that I can tell. On a side note, the snake eyes now won't appear when I'm using magic. As for the hair… You'd better have some tissues handy."
"Huh? Why is that, Toshiro?" Lynne asked confused.
"Well…" Toshiro's voice changed to a neutral, cold voice. "It's a story about my personal tragedy. When I got back to Fuso, I was called to the base commander's office. The good thing is that I was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and got to meet the Navy Chief himself. But then I got this…" Toshiro pulled a piece of paper out of his wallet and presented it to the girls.
They curiously studied it, and Perrine said, "Sorry Toshiro, we can't read it."
Toshiro took back the paper and put it back into his wallet.
"This is my mother's death certificate." Toshiro stopped for a few seconds, watching the pure shock on the girls faces. "The stress is suffered when it came to me what I just read cause my hair to be devoid of color… My mother died only a day before I arrived… After the funeral, I was so depressed that I tried to commit suicide while being drunk like a pig… I was only saved by Yuki preventing the gun from going off…"
As per Toshiro's silent predictions, the two were crying silently, with tears dripping down their beautiful faces.
"I told you, get tissues…" Toshiro said with a shy smile. "Calm down and you can tell me and Yoshika why you have come here, and why the hell are you in summer clothes, okay?"
The two nodded at him. As expected from girls with good upkeep, both had tissues with them. After wiping off their tears and blowing their noses, Perrine started talking.
"Um well… After we learned about your death, we wanted to go immediately to check if Miyafuji…"
"Please, Perrine, call Yoshika by her first name. Her mother is in the kitchen and she might misinterpret something…" Toshiro interrupted.
"Oh, fine… So, Yoshika, Toshiro… We came here to check Yoshika was, and to visit Toshiro's grave… But now that seeing that Toshiro is fine, plus hearing what we've heard, and I think Lynne will agree, I think the both of us should visit the grave of Toshiro's mother…"
"Thanks, Perrine. But now, I would like to know why the hell are you in your normal clothes? It's like minus twenty Celsius outside!"
"That would be my fault…" Lynne said while raising her arm. "I miscalculated how the weather will look here when we arrive… That's why we don't have winter clothing…"
"I can take care of that, I'm on a spending spree. So, Yoshika, what should we do now with our guests?"
"Ummm… Tea would be okay, Lynne and Perrine are probably still cold…"
"Did anyone say tea?" Sayaka said, suddenly entering the room.
She was carrying a platter with four mugs and a kettle.
"Oh mom, you are always the best!" Yoshika cheered with a wide smile on her face.
Perrine immediately stood up and introduced herself.
"Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann, but most people call me Perrine; I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Miyafuji!"
"Oh my, what a well brought up girl, heehee." Sayaka said while putting down the platter on the table. "And who is that young lady behind?"
Lynne positioned herself properly, and gave a traditional bow.
"Lynette Bishop, Lynne for short… Pleased to meet you…"
"You have such nice friends, Yoshika, be sure to take care of them. I'll be in the kitchen if you want anything."
While blushing slightly, Yoshika answered, "Thanks mom…"
They were sipping tea, and of course, Toshiro couldn't help to resist making fun of Perrine.
SLURP
Perrine's brow twitched frantically.
"Please, Toshiro, for the love of God don't start that again…" She said disgruntled.
"Heheheh… Okay, okay. So anyway, how are the two of you doing? Before I went for Fuso with Mio and Yoshika, you said something about restoring Gallia?"
"Ah yes, of course! Lynne and me are roaming around the country and supervising and/or funding the reconstruction efforts… But I'm in a pinch with cash lately…" Perrine said with a gloom face.
Toshiro looked at Yoshika, and received a nod in exchange. He pulled out his wallet, and pulled out a large sum.
"Here, Perrine, one hundred pounds for the reconstruction effort of Gallia."
Perrine's eyes were now the size of saucers.
"I… I can't take so much money, Toshiro. Even if it's for such a noble cause, I can't simply…"
Toshiro shoved the money behind Perrine's collar forcibly.
"Shut up and take my money. My uncle will probably send more anyway."
"Your uncle?"
"Oh right… You were probably on the ship while my funeral was held or you were too busy to hear the news… Or something… Well, prepare for a zinger: my uncle is the Emperor of Karlsland."
Perrine's jaw dropped right down to its physical limits. Lynne was also rather impressed by that statement.
"Uh…Uh…Uh… But…But… But that means that you're some kind of… Graf or… or a baron or something! Oh my!"
"Perrine, calm down, sheesh. First, I'm not exactly comfortable with being a nephew to the Kaiser, and secondly, I don't have any official title. I don't think that I'm officially recognized as a pretender to the throne. But you got me intrigued… Graf von Edelweiss… Sounds good…"
"Edelweiss? Isn't your last name Akayama?" Lynne asked.
"Oh, yes… Since I'm officially dead, arrangements had to be made, and I'm now, listen carefully, Major Toshiro Edelweiss, Karlslandian Wehrmacht, a mostly proud citizen of Karlsland."
"Oh okay, I'll take your money then… On a side note, we have time until Monday morning, which is the day after tomorrow. How should we fill that time?"
"Finish your tea and we will go get you some winter clothes in the city, and my mother's grave. As for tomorrow, we will see."
Everyone drank up their tea, and they went before the door. Yoshika and Toshiro got clad in their warm winter clothes, earning jealous and frightened looks from Lynne and Perrine.
"Umm… Toshiro, how are we going out dressed like this? We will freeze…"
"I got that covered, Lynne. Both of you hop on my back." Toshiro said and kneeled.
"Huh? What?" Perrine asked surprised.
"Just do it, Perrine, I believe I know what Toshiro is up to." Yoshika explained calmly.
"Well, fine…"
The two of them scaled Toshiro's back, and grabbed him by his neck.
"Okay now…" Toshiro mumbled.
A slight orange aura enveloped both the girls on his back.
"Whew… Is it me, or did it get hot right now?" Perrine asked.
"Then let's go outside, shall we?" Toshiro said and ran outside, with the girls protesting.
After a few seconds, Lynne asked, "Toshiro, are you using magic to heat us up now?"
"Yes. I actually had a similar power back in Britannia, but it worked more like a heater. This one on the other hand envelops me or any desired target I'm touching in something akin to a blanket of heat."
"So convenient…" Lynne said amazed. "But why aren't you using it on yourself?"
"And put such a nice snowsuit to waste? Nah… Speaking of which, let's go buy you some warm clothes."
When they arrived at the tailor, Toshiro asked him, "Is there anything warm for these two ladies behind me?"
The tailor looked curiously at the two behind Toshiro, measuring them by eye.
"Why yes, something should their size should lying around here… Pardon me for a moment."
The tailor started rummaging a pile of jackets, pulled out a nice violet one and handed it over to Perrine.
"Here you go little miss, try it on."
"Oh yes, thanks you…"
Perrine put on the jacket, and wiggled a bit in it.
"It fits surprisingly well, Mr. Tailor. And the color and style also fits me."
"I'm glad you like it. As for your friend…" The tailor's eyes wandered to Lynne. "I will have to find something a bit… wider…"
As the tailor turned around, Lynne grabbed her breasts with a wild blush.
"Still a little on the shy side it seems…"
"Not everyone is such an exhibitionist pervert like you…"
"Is it me, or is Yoshika just gawking covertly on her breasts?"
"It seems so… I believe she has something for huge bosoms…"
"Oh right… That time she slipped her tongue when she got a tour of the bath… And I believe she was dreaming about Shirley's rack the other day…"
"See? What did I tell you?"
"Maybe she's bi-curious?"
"I wouldn't jump to such a conclusion… She pretty much loves you and only you… Although… If you two wouldn't come together… You never know… I'm almost sure half of the Witches in the military are crypto-lesbians…"
"Now you are the one jumping to conclusions…"
The tailor returned with a green jacket and passed it on to Lynne. She put it on, barely buttoning it up.
"It seems to be a good fit…" She said shyly.
"Do you have hats or caps handy?" Toshiro asked the tailor.
"Yes, over there, please, help yourselves."
"You heard the man, go pick something."
The two girls nodded and went over to pick something for themselves. After a minute of viewing, comparing and giggling, they returned with some headwear.
Lynne picked up a gray wooly cap, and Perrine took a lilac head warmer, also made from hand knitted wool.
"Wow, you two look beautiful!" Yoshika shouted.
"I concur." Toshiro said. "No let's go to business…"
Toshiro paid the man, and they went out, and to the small cemetery near the temple.
He looked for a bit, but finally found it. The sleek traditional tombstone with the name of his mother was standing beside another one – his own.
"This is it you guys… The left one is my mother's and the right one… heh… as weird as it may sound it's mine."
Lynne and Perrine went forward, kneeled and started a 'Hail Mary'. Toshiro and Yoshika put their hands together and started praying.
I hope you are really well in the afterlife, mother. See how many friends I have? They all came to honor you, because they are my friends…
When the girls ended, Toshiro asked them, "I didn't know that the two of you are religious."
"Actually, we all in the 501st were somewhat religious; at least we were raised in such beliefs… We just didn't have time to go to mass and such." Perrine answered calmly. "I remember that before the two of you came, we had a talk about it. Lynne, Lucchini, and I are Catholics. The three from Karlsland and Eila are Protestants. Shirley is a Baptist or something like that, and Sanya is an Orthodox. The Major said she is a Shinto practitioner. What about you two?"
"We both are Shinto, right, Yoshika?"
"Uhum."
"I guess it's good to believe in some higher force in time of need…" Lynne said timidly.
Believing in them is good, but depending on them is a waste of time, Amaterasu explained it to me thoroughly, and it layman's terms it looks like this – the gods actually give a fuck, but can't do shit.
The world was created in equilibrium, but gods being unnatural beings threaten that balance with their very existence. For example, my resurrection would probably put a strain on the laws of cause and effect with such force, that an earthquake would have to occur and kill about a thousand of people to restore balance, but thanks to mother sacrificing her own life in exchange; it only gave a slight nudge to those laws. If for every divine intervention an appropriate price is paid, then everything will be all right.
There are many gods governing this world, of small and big significance, but one might ask: why the fuck didn't they eradicate the Neuroi already? The answer is simple: an event horizon would occur that would plunge Earth into a gravitational singularity, which would rip it and the surrounding galaxy apart like a thousand year old parchment. Of course, there is a possibility for the gods to do so, but Amaterasu already told me the price: 98% of humanity would have to die to achieve such a wonder. Every living human over one year of age would have to perish for the Neuroi to be eradicated… And since toddlers can't take care of themselves… In about a week, the human race would cease to exist… Such is the significance of the Neuroi…
"But remember that when the gods fail you, you have to stand up on your own." Toshiro said with a bitter smile. "Okay, now that we've paid our respects, we can go home. It's starting to get dark already."
Thus, they went in the direction of the Miyafuji clinic.
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