Hello, and welcome to the start of the next arc for Strike Heroes 3: Global Revengeance!
Now, at the time of writing this author's notes, I have finally broken through writer's block (and some procrastinating) to bring this story hopefully back on track (in other news, I'm got way too many hours on a particular game and am saving up for a particular game on Steam at the moment). Sadly, though, I feel like this arc may not be the best one...but I'll let you, the readers, decide.
Anyways, since we're all here (I think), let's get to the arc!
Hold on, gotta do reviews first...
Oh right...well, then, let's go to the reviews!
Gamerman22: Somehow you make it sound like it's a bad thing...but I don't think it is. But I do apologize regardless: of course, university work caught up, and I wasn't going to risk working on this and letting myself go academically. Apart from that, thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy both parts.
Empty Promise: Yeah, master of cliché, right?
Hey! It's not that bad!
*cough* Anyways, yeah. I figured that Ursula would work out for this arc. I mean, she works on weapons and Striker Units, so it seemed like a match made in heaven. Course, I plan on keeping Ursula around for a bit due to her not really having left yet...spoilers? Plus...I might be following the usual theme for the seventh episode arc (well, approximations for this series), so...
Ursula in a swimsuit?
...Somehow, that sounded better in someone's head...anyways, thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy this arc.
redcollector: You'd be surprised. If you read my other story that takes place after an alternate end to this series (or something to that effect) I'm planning for, then I've got one more pairing to go with here. And that one is not our focus this arc.
kh2996: Thanks for the review.
Toppittaja (Guest): Um...I mean no offense when I say this...but are the big gaps pertinent to the review? Sorry, but "Holy me 3 days..." and things like that make it a bit hard to understand the full meaning of the review. But I do see what you're talking about. I think; I can kinda take a guess based on if AutoCorrect was being a pain for you, so apologies if I'm getting the wrong message. As for the idea, I will be keeping that in mind; though Roland did have to witness Minna getting hurt, he didn't see it happen and even then it was only a nightmare, so there's that.
And you're welcome for the lost hours.
Hey! Lio!
What? It's dedication. Besides, how many people have read this whole series so far in that amount of time?
One...maybe two others? Let me check really fast...
Anyways, thanks for the review, and we hope you keep enjoying the series as we move onwards.
NCWriting: ...I've got nothing apart from a lot of things...but hey, I finally got this chapter up. Hopefully it's worth the wait (or at least, gives me some useful feedback for future updates). OTher than that, thanks for the review, and hopefully you didn't end up having to read the whole a third time (more because it took too long for a new chapter rather than...well, because you're bored or ready to nitpick or something. Which again, I welcome. At least, I hope I do. Pretty sure...I'm keeping that bit in only because it helps with orienting my mindset at the making of that bit)
ARSLOTHES: Thank you for the review, and I hope you enjoy this arc.
And that's it for the reviews. The author went to go handle something really fast, so he's going to be gone for a bit.
On to the chapter?
Oh right, before we forget: due to a reaction that was noted by a beta reader of his, the author will make a note at the end of the chapter in case the same thing gets evoked in some of you.
Now we go to the chapter!
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Chapter 9: Ice and Snow (Part 1)
Draco's POV
I stretched my arms over my head as I stepped inside the room Shirley, Lucchini, and I shared for sleeping in.
If I remember correctly, it's been a while since I had lost my memory (and later on, got them back). In fact, it was more like not even a day since then.
"Welp," I told myself as I stood there, still stretching my arms over my head. "I've certainly had a busy day." I had been acting a bit…normal the whole day. Not sure why: I mean, I'm pretty sure that I should have been a lot more cheerful about the fact that Shirley was my "girlfriend" (I use that term like that because, while we were together, it was more of a…trial thing? I'm not sure; then again, might as well enjoy it. After all, I've waited this long, why hold back any longer?).
I definitely know that Shirley's been acting way more cheerful. And she, thankfully, treated Ursula rather well. I guess she figured that, while it was the prototype's fault for getting me knocked out and turned into an amnesiac, it was something that couldn't be controlled or known by anyone when it happened at the time.
Speaking of Shirley…
"Evening, Leo," Shirley greeted as she stepped inside the room, wearing her usual uniform. Her hair seemed to be wetter than usual. "How was your day?"
"Kinda fine," I told her. "As usual. What about you?"
"Oh, I managed to look at the prototype with Lieutenant Ursula and worked out some of the kinks. Apparently, you're lucky that the worst you got when your magic overloaded it was amnesia. But that's in the past; right now, I've got us to look forward to." She then smirked a bit. "And Merlin and your Striker Unit."
"Of course you'd add them as well…"
Shirley raised her hands defensively. "What? They're almost practically like children to me. I mean, Merlin's been through a lot, but I do consider yours to be part of the family."
"Yeah, but…last I checked, people usually considered pet cats or dogs to be part of the family. Not Striker Units. Nothing wrong with it, at least; we don't have to feed it."
"Yeah, well, we do have to take care of them." She then thought of something. "Since we're alone together…did you want to, you know…"
"…I don't follow right now."
"I wanted to lay with you for a while. If you don't mind."
"I guess…but we still need to eat dinner, don't we?"
"It'll only be for a while, you know? Besides…" She then gave me a pair of cute eyes. "You wouldn't want a poor widdle bunny like me to die of loneliness, would you?"
I found myself trying to outlast her eyes, but I was losing. "Y-you know that you're not a bunny, right?"
"Yeah, but…my familiar has feelings too…" Those eyes persisted.
Must…not…give in…just yet… "B-besides, I think it's just a-a myth. I'm p-pretty sure that they don't just drop d-dead from being lonely."
Her eyes were then accompanied by a slight quivering of her lips. "But…do you weally wanna see if it's twue?
"Oh dear God no…" I am now officially losing this game. Someone please help me out here…
"Shirleys die from loneliness? I'll save you!"
We then watched as a Lucchini-shaped blur zipped me, jumped onto Shirley with a hug as she nudged herself into her bosom.
"I'm here now, Shirley~!" the Romagnan Witch said, sounding satisfied.
"…Is she playing along or something?" I asked Shirley.
"Lucchini!" the buxom girl called out. "Don't jump out like that!"
"Why?" Lucchini asked as she lifted her head up. "I just wanted to!"
"That's not the point!"
"Besides, you and Drakey can have alone time later! I wanna play!"
"Wait, 'alone time'?" She then widened her eyes in realization. "You didn't…!"
"What? No way! I mean…I did tell Roland-kun, but he didn't really say much about it apart from the congratulations. And Sanya, but…" She then pondered over the name. "…I think she was really sleepy at the time, so I'm not sure if she remembers it or not…"
"Anyways," I chose to say. "I want us to let the others know when we're ready." To Shirley, I added, "Do you think tomorrow is a good time?"
"I guess so," Shirley added. "I would suggest we do it during breakfast. That way, everyone hears it. Well, most people hear it."
"Alright. Until we head to sleep, what do you think we should do?"
"Well, we already bathed, so…" Shirley looked down at Lucchini. "Maybe we can head to the rec room and see about some games there?"
"Hey, we have a rec room?"
"Yeah. What, you think the other men on the base go around participating in drinking contests or something?"
"No, just…we have one of those on the base?"
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Roland's POV
…Okay, we're pretty sure that a normal human being, being around during the fall…we're pretty sure that said human isn't supposed to get woken up in the middle of the night about an hour after finally getting to sleep and have their left eye feeling like they never fell asleep and their right eye being in a closed position.
Such were Lionelis' words as I laid on my right side, trying to fall back asleep. For some reason, like he said, I fell asleep and ended up waking myself up about an hour later to have this issue with my eyes at the moment.
Shut up and help me figure out why, I told the core. The less sleep I get, the more energy I have to borrow from you to stay awake when I need to be.
We have no idea. We've never been able to document another human having this problem personally.
…You've only been in me! And you still are!
No need to shout. Your brain has echoing properties, you know.
What, are you saying I'm braindead or something?
No. But you are arguing with a core only a select few can listen in on. Sanya and Heidemarie being two of said people.
I groaned as I closed my left eye, trying to fall asleep once more.
"Are you alright, Roland?" I heard Minna ask me, laying on her side behind me.
"I dunno…" I told her as my left eye easily opened back up, turning myself to look at her. "My eyes are being annoying right now…"
"Oh. Hmm…" She sounded a bit sleepy still. "Well, it does feel a bit warm under the sheets, so…"
"Might help, but I have no idea."
"Wouldn't hurt to try, at least."
"You're right. You don't mind though, right?"
"I don't." Minna then snuggled into my back a bit. "You're plenty warm enough."
"I…have no clue how to answer that, dear…" I pulled the sheets off of us and sighed before I tried getting comfortable. "Now, hopefully, I don't stay up the rest of the night…"
"Don't worry…" Minna then yawned. "…I'll be right beside you all night…in case you get a nightmare…"
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The next morning, I found myself waking up as usual. Thankfully, I was feeling a bit sleepy, but it was the kind you get from just waking up.
I stretched my arms in the air as I sat up, bending my back to stimulate it a bit.
"It feels good to wake up right now…" I said to myself as I then relaxed before I felt a bit stiff. I felt my back and realized that I think I overstretched or something. Thinking rather quickly, I bent myself forward a bit to right it. I then worked on my toes unconsciously before I felt a bit of strain on my right foot. I recognized the pain instantly, though it had been a while since I had it: it was something that happened where my small toes'…tendon or something didn't automatically reset after the stretch, like I had forced it into the position.
Doing my usual fix (which simply meant I reached over and fixed the issue by hand), I brushed by a pair of legs, as usual.
What I found odd was the person I found lying right beside me.
"Why's Sanya laying in the bed?" I asked. Usually, I'd accept the fact that Sanya had slipped in trying to find a place to crash, but…
"Oh, Sanya?" Minna asked. I looked over to my right and found Minna getting dressed, barely buttoning up her undershirt. She managed to get her main uniform over her shoulders, but this was unbuttoned at the moment. Due to the fact that she seemed to be doing her buttoning from the bottom up (not sure why myself), I was able to catch a glimpse of her black bra. "I don't really know. I woke up because she kinda just crashed onto the bed." She then looked a bit curious. "Maybe she was trying to find Eila's room?" She then shook her head as she finished buttoning her undershirt, removing the sight I had. "I doubt that. Those two went up for night patrol, so I'm sure that Eila would have led Sanya there herself."
"That's real helpful, Minna…"
"I don't know, but…I think Sanya was crying a bit."
I raised an eyebrow. "Crying?" The last time I saw her actually cry was…was there a moment after Eila's comment about wishing they had never met back in Romagna?
I reached over gently and lifted Sanya's head a bit. Like Minna said, she seemed to have remnants of dried tears on her face. Taking the bottom of my shirt, I wiped some of it off gently before I put her head back down and sighed.
"Maybe someone would know about it more…" I told Minna.
"I'll see if I can ask Eila after she wakes up," Minna replied. "Maybe…" She then sighed. "That's if I don't have paperwork piling up again…"
"Don't jinx yourself…"
"I know…still, I trust you can look into it? You look like you're going to regardless of whether I ask you to or not."
"Yeah, I can do that. I should start by asking the breakfast crew for today; they should have been up to start in on cooking." I then slipped out of bed carefully, minding Sanya's position, before I grabbed my clothes as well as a spare pair of underwear. "Well, after I take a shower."
"How about you take one later tonight? I was thinking we could…"
"…Erm…are you going to be able to control any urges? I think I can, but given Lio and my emotions, I can't say I feel safe with both of us being stark naked.
"True, but…we did take a bath together in the nude. So what's the difference?"
"We weren't a couple at the time?"
Minna contemplated my words. "…Fair point."
I then sighed. "Alright, well…I can hold off on a shower for right now. I am still getting dressed outside the room, though; don't want to accidentally scar Sanya if she opened her eyes, even if they're done sleepily."
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Upon getting dressed, I marched on over to the dining hall, looking to figure out what was going on with Sanya.
Stepping inside, I found Shizuka stepping out of the kitchen, and I instinctively froze a bit.
She's wearing a pink apron. Again.
"What's wrong, Captain—I mean, Roland?" the Fuso sergeant (maybe I can use "youngest Fuso Witch" now that Yoshika's not in that category now? I mean, I do refer to Yoshika as "little Fuso Witch" as she did seem small compared to Mio, but…I also think she's the shortest of the main eleven).
It's our job to break the fourth wall, nimrod, Lionelis told me.
"…Did Lio say something to make you stop?"
"Eh?" I asked as I shook my head to focus. "No, I just…" I then thought about my next set of words carefully. "How do I say it? Well…you're…cooking?"
Shizuka frowned as she lowered her eyebrows. "What's with you saying it like that, sir?"
"You don't exactly make good miso soup…"
"That was one time! And you gave me a Sea Minus!"
"…You actually remembered that grade?"
"Yeah!" She huffed. "I recall the regulations for Fuso military, know a lot about Fuso ships, and I come from a line of Witches. Why are you surprised?"
"…Because I don't even remember it myself without using Lio?"
Smooth, Lionelis commented.
"Quiet from the peanut gallery, please…I still have to ask about Sanya…"
"Hmm?" Shizuka asked, looking at me with a curious expression. "What about Sanya?"
"She was sleeping in the bed with me and Minna—" I then stopped and gasped. "Since when did you call superior officers by their first names?!" Shizuka Hattori, in the little time I've known her, usually never referred to anyone higher in rank than her by just their first name. The only exceptions seem to be me (she didn't realize that "the Neuroi Witch" and "Roland Sage" were the same person until I told her back in Gallia), Yoshika (she used to call her by last name and rank, but since the ambush she's been calling her by simply her last name) and Lynette (that has been a recent addition for her, and she went by her nickname).
Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Roland…Miyafuji asked me to try my best to be more informal when talking to some of the others on the base. In particular, those around my age. Which seem to be maybe most of them, I think." She then raised her hands to count off some of our members. "There's Miyafuji, Sanya, Lucchini, Lynne, Clostermann—sorry, Perrine, and Eila."
"…At least you're able to pronounce the el in those names…"
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm surprised you don't know, but that's a trait shared by Japanese people. I think. I don't really have any way to look it up."
"That sounds a bit…racist…"
"Hey, why I said that it's a good thing. I'm not exactly the best at understanding accents in the English language myself."
Shizuka frowned but seemed to choose to leave it for now. "Anyways, what did you want to ask about concerning Sanya?"
"Oh, right. That thing. I woke up this morning and found her lying next to me."
She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what Sanya used to do back in Romagna and maybe Britannia?"
"This was different. I looked at her face once Minna mentioned it, and she seemed to have tear marks on her face. Like she cried herself to sleep or something."
"Oh."
"Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you had any clues about what happened between her and Eila?"
"Don't you think it could be someone else she cried from? She and Eila are practically inseparable."
Oh, you have no idea, sergeant… "Let's just say I've dealt with them on one of those 'separable' days…"
"Anyways, I have no idea myself. I was busy making sure I was ready for the day when Miyafuji came into the room and asked for my help."
"Ah. Is she available right now?"
"I'd have to check. Be right back." She turned to head into the kitchen.
"Hey, hold on."
"What is it, Roland?" She stopped and turned her head to look at me.
"…Is Yosh teaching you how to cook?"
"Well…" At this, she gained a sudden blush. "Yeah…she is, actually. Then again…" She then shook her head. "So's Lynne."
"Ah. You'll learn a lot from those two, I'm sure. They make really good meals when they're on duty. Course, most of the others aren't pushovers themselves."
"True. Apparently, Miyafuji told me that, if I ever found myself cooking and need an assistant, I should try avoiding Lieutenant Hartmann or Major Sakamoto. No offense to them."
"No problem for me there." Erica's not quite good at it, one instance being those sweets back in Britannia, and Mio…I'm suddenly feeling the taste from that day coming back on my tongue.
"Anyways, be back." She entered the kitchen.
I then took a seat and contemplated what to do before I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, choosing to doodle. For now, I chose to focus on making a graph of what I'm figuring out with this "investigation". "Alright, so…Sanya had tear marks on her face. Why?" I drew a circle, wrote down "Issue", and made one with "Sanya" in it, connecting the two with a line. "Shizuka has no clue, but she suggests something not to do with Eila." A circle each for "Shizuka", "Eila", and "Unsure", connecting "Shizuka" to "Unsure", "Eila" to "Sanya", and then "Eila" to "Issue". "Maybe Yoshika might shed some light on what's going on." A circle for "Yoshika", and connect that to "Shizuka".
"Roland-kun?" Yoshika's voice called out. I looked up and saw her wearing a pink apron as well. "You wanted to speak with me?"
"Huh?" Do you think she looks good in pink? Wait, what the hell am I thinking?! "S-sorry!" I shook my head. "Dangerous thoughts forming or something…anyways, yeah. I figured you might have an idea about what happened with Sanya."
"Oh, Sanya?" Yoshika looked like she was thinking about it before saying, "Well…I do know that Eila was a bit angry…or something…Beyond that, I'm not sure. Why?"
"Just wanted to see. Thanks for the information."
"Hey, um…I was thinking: why don't you ask them yourself?"
I blinked. "Um…why do you ask?"
"Because you might at least see if you can figure out what happened?"
"…Fair point." I then scribbled down "Roland', connected it to "Yoshika", "Eila", and "Sanya", and drew a second circle with nothing in it. "I'll have to see if Eila's up and, if not, wait until she is."
"Right."
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"Sorry, I haven't seen Eila today," Gertrud told me once I asked her if she knew where Eila was, if she was up and moving. "To be fair, I don't really get up early enough to actually catch the Night Witches. Though…" She then furrowed her eyebrows. "I do know that I heard some soft sniffling earlier. Why do you ask?"
"It's…just something I'm trying to figure out," I replied. "Thanks for the information, at least."
"Oh, no problem. Are you going to be able to handle training the others later today?"
"I should be able to, but just in case I don't…could you take over? I'll help them a little later, alright?"
"Right. I'll note that."
I watched as Gertrud walked off before I thought about something. "Hey, how's Chris doing right now?"
"Huh?" Gertrud stopped and looked at me, a blush forming on her face. "Oh, she's doing…fine."
"Really?" I smiled. "That's good to hear. Just still remember you saying that I should go with you to meet her someday, you know?"
"Yeah. I still have to find some time again. I mean, right now we still need to bunker down on a good idea of attack frequency from the enemy, so it'd be a while."
"Oh."
"Yep." Gertrud turned back around and walked away, and I noticed her lightly slapping her face a bit.
Thinking about it before I forgot, I grabbed the paper and made some adjustments to it: a circle with "Gertrud" in it, connecting a line between hers and "Sanya", and a question mark accompanying said line. "Alright, so that's a bit more…but I still have no idea why…maybe I should get to one of the sources soon."
Speaking of sources, I watched as Eila walked across my vision, looking a bit like she was lost in thought.
"Hey, Eila!" I called out.
"What?" Eila asked before she looked at me. "Oh, Roland." She then raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"
"I was just doing some investigating."
"Investigating what?"
"Apparently, a little bird told me that something happened last night or something."
At this, Eila frowned as she looked a bit angry. "What happened last night is none of your business, sir."
"Oh, it is when it involves Sanya being in mine and Minna's bed. What happened?"
"I just said it's none of your business."
I glared at her. "You didn't tell her anything like what you said back in Romagna, did you?"
"Roland, now is not the time—"
"Did you or did you not?" I nearly growled when I said that.
Eila sighed. "No. It was…a discussion. Plain and simple."
"Eila, 'plain and simple' doesn't result in Sanya crying. I'll ask this again: what happened?"
Eila sighed in irritation. "Fine, you want to know? Sanya and I were discussing about our individual futures! Happy?!"
"Actually, for once I'm not. That still doesn't explain what triggered Sanya's tears."
"You think I actually wanted to make her cry? Why would I wanna do that?"
"I don't know."
Eila then gritted her teeth. "Again, it's none of your business what Sanya and I talked about. You think everything can be sorted out with dialogue? Well, guess what? It's not always true."
Not always…? "You won't know unless you actually try!"
"Just…leave me alone!" Eila started to leave.
"Not yet!" I shouted as I grabbed her left wrist.
"Let go!"
"Not until you tell me everything!" I started giving off a red aura.
Roland, that's enough! Lionelis told me. Your emotions are getting the better of you. You want a repeat of what happened with Marseille and Minna?!
I stopped myself as I looked at Eila carefully. She still looked angry, but…for some reason I swore I saw something in her eyes. Was it…fear?
I need to get away from her right now…
Groaning before I gave off a roar, I let go of Eila's wrist and turned around.
"Fine!" I shouted. "You want to act all closed off or whatever, your fucking problem!" I then stormed off, looking for somewhere to head for a break.
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Yoshika's POV
"Hey, Lynne?" I asked my friend as we, along with Perrine, Shizuka, and Draco were busy eating some lunch. Apparently, Roland never came around for our training regimen with him, and Barkhorn ended up taking over. She was at least able to have us do some of the things Roland had us do, but she didn't do as much as he would have. I don't know, maybe she got distracted by something?
"What is it, Yosh?" Lynne asked me.
"I was wondering…do you think something happened to Roland-kun?"
"Roland?" Lynne thought it over. "I don't think so…"
"Oh. I was just asking."
"Yeah, you'd think he'd at least see how we fared…" Perrine added. "My word, this is a bit unlike him."
"Maybe he had an emergency meeting to attend with Commander Minna?" Draco offered. "He is up there with Major Heidemarie and Major Sakamoto."
"I don't know about that," Shizuka replied. "I think I have an idea about something, though…"
"What is it, Shizuka?" I asked her.
"I was heading to our usual meeting spot when I started hearing some loud voices. One of them sounded like it was Roland's…"
"What?" Roland was yelling?
"Are you sure?" Lynne asked next.
"Yeah," the youngest member of the group told us. "I didn't really hear him yelling a whole lot overall, but I'm pretty sure that was his voice. He sounded angry over something."
We all looked at each other before I had something in mind.
"You think it had something to do with Eila?" I asked this time.
"Might," Perrine replied. "It does make sense based on what you told us about him earlier this morning. But…why?"
"Could be he didn't want what happened in Romagna between them to happen again."
"He's got a funny way of showing it…" Shizuka noted.
"I think it's Lio-kun unconsciously swaying him. Do you know how angry he sounded, Shizuka?"
"I wouldn't be able to tell you, sorry, Miyafuji."
"Oh. Well…that's too bad…"
"We should get to something better to hear…" Draco tried saying to get us back on track.
"Oh, yes," Perrine replied. "Draco, I've been noticing that Shirley's been looking a bit more…happy lately."
"…What do you mean, ma'am?"
"I know she's usually cheerful, but since what happened with your testing she's been more…energetic. I don't know, it's almost like she's…ecstatic about something."
"Maybe she got a renewed sense of vigor? She's been working with Lieutenant Ursula, you know."
"Yeah. Speaking of, do you know how much longer she's going to be on the base? Not that I want her gone, but I'd have thought she'd have left for Neue Karlsland by now…"
"I…actually don't know…"
"Now that I think about it," Lynne added, "Lucchini was telling me that she had been noticing Shirley tinkering with Draco's Striker Unit a rather lot lately. I think she's been maintaining it a lot just to be safe…"
"I see," I said. "You think Lucchini knows?"
"If she does, she isn't telling."
I then noticed Draco pat his forehead on the table, muttering something to himself. "Hey, Drakey…sorry, Draco, is something wrong?"
"I just realized what I forgot this morning…" Draco groaned. "Shirley and I were supposed to say something about it during breakfast. We even somewhat agreed on it last night. I can't believe I forgot all about it…"
"Forget what?"
Draco sighed. "Shirley and I…are a…thing…"
This statement went through our heads before something clicked in my head. "W-wait, you and Shirley…a thing…?"
"Oh, are you and Captain Yeager going out, sergeant?" Shizuka asked, looking genuinely curious.
I nearly balked. "Wait, how the heck are you calm about this, Shizuka?!" When I first met her, she sounded disciplined. How can she say something like that so calmly now?
"I am still young, you know. Besides, just because I'm knowledgeable in regulations and Fuso ships doesn't mean that I can't know when people are using code words concerning relationships. Or have ended up in a relationship."
"She does have a point," Perrine chose to include. "You did kinda snap at Roland about him not coming back onto the scene despite having survived. I would have thought you'd be more shocked about this sort of sudden change."
Shizuka's face turned red. "W-what? I only berated him because he made a stupid choice in my opinion. B-besides, I didn't know who he was until we got to your place, Clo—Perrine!"
"To be fair, it's hard to dismiss those scars if you knew about his Second Stage…" Draco pointed out.
"I thought he got scratched by a bunch of cats!"
"And not to mention the dark red eye..." I added.
"H-he has a dark red eye?!" Shizuka then shook her head. "Of course he does. You guys told me that along with the scars. Why am I surprised?"
"You are?"
"Mmm..." Sanya's voice called out as we watched her stumble into the dining hall, still sleepy. "Yoshika...?"
"Huh?" I asked as I looked at the Orussian Witch. "Oh, Sanya! What are you doing up?"
"I was...looking for someone..."
"Roland?" Shizuka tried.
"Maybe...I just..." Sanya yawned cutely. "I wanted to talk with someone about something..."
"What happened between you and Eila?" Draco said.
At this, Sanya frowned. "Yeah..."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"It's fine. I wanted to ask anyways...have you seen Eila?"
"I don't know where she is," Shizuka replied. "But I think she and Roland got into an argument or something. I can't be certain, though."
"Oh...how bad was it?"
"It...sounded bad?"
Sanya nodded her head. "I'll go and...find him..."
"Do you want some help, Sanya?" I tried.
"I'm fine...thanks for asking, though, Yoshika..." We then watched as Sanya left the dining hall.
"...Anyone else thinking about following her?'
"Don't worry too much about Sanya, Yoshika," Perrine told me. "She is perfectly capable of handling herself around Roland. Besides, she's at least not getting to Eila first."
"True..." I sighed. "Still, Roland might hurt her..."
"You might be losing faith in him if you think he'd consider hurting her, Yoshika."
"...I'm not sure, though..."
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Roland's POV
Dammit, what the hell?
Seriously, I'm usually one of the calmest people around...I think...I may need to take another evaluation, but I can't believe that Eila and I got that heated...almost, maybe...if I hadn't had enough sense to stop, who knows what would have happened...
"Roland-kun?"
I blinked as I stared up from my position on the bed designated for me and Minna (my head had been looking at the floor as my hands were on the back of my head) and found Sanya staring at me, her head poking through the opening in the doorway she made.
"What is it, Sanya?" I asked her.
"I wanted to check on you," she told me. "May I come in?" I only grunted, a signal she took as "yes" as she ended up stepping into the room fully, still near the door. "I heard that you and Eila got into an argument."
"And?"
"...I know you want to help out, but...could you please not try to antagonize Eila?"
I groaned. "And what was I supposed to do, let her keep treating you like this? I just want to know what happened to make you two separated from each other. I'm worried, and so are some of the others."
Sanya looked a bit saddened. "Oh...I see...Eila and I..." She shook her head. "It's nothing, Roland-kun."
"Please, Sanya...tell me, I need to know."
Sanya sighed. "Eila and I...we got into an argument and...well, we said some mean things to each other...I don't even know if I feel good about it, but...I just want to cool my head."
"Still...the last major incident like that was back in Romagna, and well...it wasn't nearly as bad as this..."
"I know..."
I sighed. "That's all you're willing to tell me?"
Sanya nodded. "Yeah..."
I sighed heavily. I really wanted more answers, but...I feel like if I pushed Sanya any further like I tried with Eila, it might end up like Romagna when I snapped at her badly. "Alright...but to be sure, you can tell us anything, alright? We're all willing to help both of you."
"I know...and thanks..."
As I watched Sanya leave the room, my mind drifted to the time in Romagna.
"Stop being so stupid!"
That was what Sanya said a few seconds before she had thrown the pillow at Eila (the one I caught).
Once she left my sight, I ended up simply sighing before I lowered my head and hunched over, trying to figure out how I could resolve this situation.
Ergh...what the hell am I supposed to do? On the one hand, I can't just force them to confront each other, and yet...on the other hand, this is going to seriously put a damper on future encounters.
How does one do this without screwing it up?
I then blinked before I thought of something.
You think Minna...?
XXXXXXXXXX
"...And that's your report?" Minna asked me as I stood inside her office.
"Yes?" I asked more than replied. "It's been...a little hard..." I mean, Sanya doesn't seem like she wants me to worry about it, and Eila is...well, Eila.
Minna gave a nod as she closed her eyes. "It's odd that the two are getting like this. Understandably, this is like that time in Romagna, but..."
"Sanya isn't in our room sleeping. Which I'm kinda glad of?"
"What to do..."
"...Well..."
"Commander Minna?" Yoshika's voice asked. I looked at the doorway to see the little Fuso Witch standing there.
"Miyafuji?" Minna asked her.
"I didn't really mean to overhear it, but...I think I have an idea for how to try getting Eila and Sanya to reconcile."
"Really?"
"What did you have in mind?" I asked her.
"Well...it's going to be a bit of a weird one, but...it's going to require two separate plans."
"Okay, want to work on it together?" Minna asked her.
XXXXXXXXXX
...And that's the end of the chapter.
As I said, it's a bit...hard. The main reason is that I feel it's going to be more difficult in this case given, well...let's just say that sometimes people's opinions on who gets paired up with who in a series is a point of contention.
The main point here is that I'm going to try my hardest to get this pairing done as believably as I can based on the idea I have for this arc. As such, I cannot guarantee that it's going to be good, so be mindful of that. Also, in case some of you felt like how the beta reader in question got when he reached that point of the story, the idea is that Eila and Sanya are arguing again, so sides can and possibly will be chosen on that front. Regardless, feel free to let me know what worked or didn't work for it so far and I'll try to use what I learn from your reactions for the final arc and have an idea on how to handle it better for any future pairings.
Also, if you're interested...I've said it before, and I understand if you don't really check it out given how it's been since I last updated this story in particular, but I am part of the FanFicCollective, and we have a Discord server up, so if you want to connect with us, check out my profile page for that. And if on the off chance it doesn't work, let me know via PM and I'll send you an invite. Just mind the...kinda slow pace in the general chat: it gets a bit...stale with the same group of people frequenting that channel, in my opinion. Though you do hear quite a few interesting tidbits and stories when people get a chance, so it's not completely dead.
Other than that, I'll see if I can get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I'm looking back at my notes and deciding if most, if not all, can still be used. Apart from that, if you guys enjoyed what you read, please leave a review letting me know what you think of it. I'll try a way to request this without the whole, "please, read and respond with your thoughts on this chapter" (or something similar) branch, though this is still somewhat similar if you note it.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next update.
