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Legendary Witches Zero: Before the Liberation
Chapter 7: Classified 1934 Part 2
-Kye-
December 5th, 1952
Yoshika started to open her mouth, but I cut her off quickly. "Nope! No interruptions!"
"But I wanna hear more about the 1934 thing!" she quickly said.
Erica supported her. "Yeah, tell us more about that."
"You only mentioned it briefly," Minna added.
"Hmm, alright then. I left off right after I told Ichiro about the mission from Hiroyasu. The rest of that day was just saying bye to people, packing, and traveling. It wasn't until the next morning that I actually met with the Emperor, and you'll never guess else was there."
"Who?" Yoshika asked.
"My dear sister and cousins. The immortal ones."
"You mean your Light Kingdom relatives?"
I nodded. "The three were there as mortals, of course."
June 11th, 1934
I was in awe at the Emperor's Palace. I'd never seen it before. I couldn't help but look around as much as I could while being led through.
When we finally arrived to the throne room, I immediately took notice of three witches with magic power similar to my own. Two were white haired, one was black haired, and all three wore a type of kimono with both the arm and leg portions shortened to above the elbows and knees respectively.
I took a mental note of them, but kept my attention on the Emperor as he started to speak.
"Captain Kye Miyafuji?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"You have been summoned for a mission of utmost importance."
"Of course, Your Majesty. I will use my power in any way you require."
He stood up from his throne and stepped toward me. "You are aware of the existence of the Kaii? Or rather the Neuroi as they are called in this era."
"Yes. My mother has trained me in ways to combat the Neuroi for such a time if they return."
"Good. Your training will be put to use."
"Your Majesty, you cannot mean that..."
"I'm afraid so." He gestured at the three girls wearing the unique type of kimono. "These three have come forth with information about the Neuroi. It has been since confirmed that the Neuroi have returned."
"Your Majesty, if I may..." one of the white haired girls said.
"Of course, but do introduce yourselves first."
The one that interrupted the Emperor walked toward me. "I am Liliana Venturi. The other white haired girl with me is Yami Akari and the black haired one is Aliana Venturi, please call her "Shadow"."
"Pleased to meet you. I am Kye Miyafuji."
"Three days ago, a Neuroi hive appeared far southeast of the southern islands of Fuso. It cannot be seen from any shorelines, and all sea traffic has been suspended since then. We engaged and destroyed a single Neuroi not far from the shore. We brought news of this threat to the Emperor and discussed a plan of action. He has tasked us with the mission of destroying the hive."
"Destroy it? Don't you think we need more than just us for that?"
"Judging by the power we sensed from the hive upon closer inspection, yes, we do need more. However, that is not a problem. There are four more of us ready."
"That makes eight of us then?"
"Yes."
"So we just go in, destroy it, and leave?"
"And keep it a secret. This mission must be kept a secret from the people," the Emperor added. "If they were to find out, it would cause an uproar. They must not know of this."
"I see the need for this to be classified."
"Indeed. You will travel to Okinawa with Miss Venturi and the others. There you will launch an offensive from aboard a carrier."
"I will fight will all my power, Your Majesty."
"And what great power that is. I know about your Energy Projection auras, Young Witch. While your power itself is classified, your teammates are aware and have similar power themselves. Hold nothing back while fighting these monsters."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Go now. Protect our people."
Lead by Liliana, Yami, Shadow, and I left the palace and made our way the transport aircraft that would deliver us to Okinawa.
While on the plane, I couldn't help but think about something the Emperor had said.
"Miss Venturi?" I asked.
Liliana looked toward me. "Lily, please."
"The Emperor mentioned that you lot have similar power to my own."
"Six of us do. Yami, Shadow, and I have training in Energy Projection. We are capable of the white aura as well. Three of our teammates, Rei Akari, Yuko Akari, and Hiro Akari all have the same training. The other one has a bit different training, but he is just as powerful as the rest of us. His name is Doran Maya."
"I see. Might I request a sparring match between each of you so that I may better understand your fighting styles?"
"Sure," Lily said.
"Anytime," Yami agreed.
Shadow nodded.
"I'm sure the rest won't mind either."
"Great. I look forward to it."
We landed on the aircraft carrier about an hour later. It was anchored off the shore of Okinawa. The ship's Captain told us we would be raise anchor in two hours. He also said that we could go ashore if we wanted so long as we returned at least fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to leave.
I'd never been to Okinawa, so I took the opportunity to explore. I explored the island as much as I could in the hour and forty five minutes, but it felt much shorter since I was enjoying myself.
One of the white haired girls in my team came to get me when it was time to return to the ship. Soon after, the Captain gave the order to raise anchor and off we went.
The navigator estimated that it would take us five days to reach our destination assuming we would have no interruptions. He said we would be able to see the top of the Neuroi Hive tomorrow morning, though.
When I asked why we couldn't simply fly out there, they said we would spend too much magic energy and would no longer be able to fight effectively, so the carrier was set to get us close enough to mount a proper offensive.
The Captain told all of us to be ready to take off at a moment's notice, since it was very likely we could run into a Neuroi. Since there were eight of us, we were given two twelve hour shifts, the first starting at zero three hundred hours and ending at fifteen hundred, and the second encompassing the remaining twelve hours. I was picked for the second shift, which started immediately since it was past fifteen hundred hours.
I was paired with Yami, Yuko, and Doran. I had already met Yami and talked to her on the way out here on the plane, and I explored Okinawa with Yuko for a short while, but I hadn't got to meet Doran outside of the formal introduction.
His informal introduction was much better than his formal. His formal introduction went something like, "Captain Doran Maya. Pleased to meet you." His informal introduction was more like, "Hey, I'm Doran. I hope you don't mind skipping to first names. Where I come from, first names are the way to go."
I responded with, "Oh, sure. I'm Kye." For some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off his. They were a kind of deep blue that I'd never seen before, and I was a sucker for red hair, which he had plenty of. "So what did you have to do to convince the military to let you keep your hair long?"
"It wasn't easy. They're a stickler about men having short hair, but I gave them a good argument about women getting to keep their long hair. I also gave Lieutenant Colonel Patton a little kick in the ass when I met him. He got a little overzealous about testing me to make sure I was able to use magic."
"You didn't hurt him, did you?"
"Eh, only a little. The old fart enjoyed it more than anything. He said to give him a call if anyone ever gave me shit about my hair. He's an amusing guy, to say the least."
"I've never met anyone from a foreign military before. I suppose you're the first. Judging by your uniform, you're from the Liberion Army, right?"
"That's right. You know any poker games?"
"I know two. Five card stud and five card draw."
"Two of the best. What do you say to a game of strip poker?"
"My, my. Captain Maya, are you trying to get in my pants?" I asked with a wry smile.
"Not at all," He answered honestly.
"Oh, so I'm not good enough?"
He laughed. "I am not going for that gag. I can't win for losing going that route. No, I'm not interested in getting your clothes off... Well... Saying I'm not interested isn't the right phrase..."
"So you are interested in getting my clothes off?"
"I'm a guy. Of course I'm interested in that, but I won't go there."
"Oh? Then why do you want to play strip poker?"
"To make you take those contact lenses out. I've read your file, so I know you don't need corrective lenses. I'd like to see your eyes as they are naturally."
I was genuinely surprised. "How could you tell?"
"I first noticed it when we first met. I briefly saw an unnatural glare in your eyes. It wasn't obvious by any means, but I did notice it."
"My contacts were specially made to hide something," I explained. "I was born with an unnatural eye color, and that gave me trouble when I was a young girl. The other kids at school called me names and such, so my mother had a specialist make these contacts for me to hide my eye color and make my eyes look plain."
"So if brown isn't your real eye color, then what is?"
I popped my contacts out and let him see my eyes.
"Silver? I've heard of some people having similar color eyes, but yours are definitely unnatural. I think they are beautiful."
I gasped and blushed at the same time, and I turned away when I realized that.
"Haha, I wasn't expecting that reaction."
"Wait, you were lying?" I shot him a glare.
"Definitely not. I was being honest, but your reaction surprised me," he said. "I like the contrast between the golden blonde hair and the silver eyes."
Is he for real?
I felt a tear come to my eye. "You are the first person aside my mother to compliment my eyes."
"I'm weird like that. I like what most other people don't."
I put my contacts back in and gazed out at the moonlit sea. "If it wasn't for the fact that we are on a mission, this could be mistaken for a cruise."
"Hey, I only go on cruises with a date."
"Are you asking me out?"
"Eh, I dunno yet. Ask me later."
"Trying to decide if I'm good enough?"
"Now that would be telling!"
"Smooth way to avoid that trap."
We shared a laugh and silently watched over the sea for a while. The only sound we heard was the waves crashing against the hull of the ship.
"This is nice," Doran said after about an hour.
"Yeah," I said, almost in a whisper.
"Some of my friends call me "Red"."
"I kind of like "Doran" better."
"Do you remember an hour when you asked if I was asking you out?"
"You decide yet?"
"I decided an hour ago. I just needed a little time to muster up the courage!"
"I somehow doubt that."
"Okay, okay, I wanted to make it suspenseful. I thought that maybe if..."
I cut him off with a kiss, one that felt as if it lasted forever.
After we finally pulled apart, Doran gave me a look of genuine surprise. "You Fusojin girls sure know how to kiss."
I gave him a wry smile and spoke with a seductive voice. "I know how to do more than that."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't you think that's a little fast? Shouldn't we get married first?"
"Are you proposing?"
"There you go trying to trap me again."
I giggled. "You didn't really think I was suggesting sex that quick did you?"
"Nah. I just figured I'd be the one that tries to stay moral in the fake flirting."
"Who says it was fake, hmm?"
"You, Miss Kye, are something else."
"Something good or something bad."
"Good. Definitely good."
December 5th, 1952
"Well that didn't take long," Yoshika said. "You two wasted no time getting to know each other."
"You have no idea," I said with a hint of nostalgia. "In my teen years in the Light Kingdom, Doran didn't bother courting me. We kissed pretty much right away. It was unheard of for two people from different realms to get together, much less so fast. Even though I had no idea that I was a rebirth at the time in 1934, I fell for Doran almost instantly. He knew who I was, of course, but he couldn't hold himself back."
"True love is so sweet," Yoshika said. Her eyes trailed off as her expression changed from excitement to sadness.
"I'm sorry, Yoshika."
"No, no, please continue the story."
Edit (19-May-2015): Chapter revised to match the upcoming overhaul of Worldwide Liberation.
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