FMP Fanfiction
Hitosawagase
by Esoteria
Chapter 10
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"So, Principal, that is the current state of affairs."
"Hmm…" the principal rotated in her chair and sat facing the window as she spoke. "I must say, Sagara-sensei, you have exceeded our expectations in every way. One of the administrators went so far as to suggest you allowed your students to cheat on your quiz, considering the very high average."
"Principal, I can assu—"
She put her hand up to stop him. "There is no need to defend yourself, Sagara-sensei. We have the utmost confidence in your academic integrity."
"Thank you, Principal."
She turned back around and placed her elbows on the desk, leaning forward, and hiding her mouth behind her entwined fingers. "This will not be the first time I've said it, but I understand that the amount of work necessary for this assignment is very high. Not only are you responsible for your own class's performance, but also your own performance in your other classes. Your success thus far is an incredible accomplishment for which you should be proud. Even knowing this, I did not try to stop you from adding this field trip to your schedule as I should have," she said regretfully.
"I feel the trip will be highly beneficial to the students, ma'am." Sousuke stood rigidly as always.
"I have no doubt, Sagara-sensei. I am glad your… colleagues, as you call them, have aided you in the preparation for today."
"They have been a great help, Principal. I appreciate your cooperation with them."
The principal took a deep breath before continuing. The devious grin she'd had the day before tried to rise to her mouth, but she fought it back down. "So…," she leaned back in her chair, "it was a shock and a disappointment to me to receive the news I did earlier this morning."
"News?"
"From Kagurazaka-sensei. Apparently the doctor she has seen this week has her on a strictly regimented recovery schedule."
"I wasn't aware her illness was so severe… that is quite unfortunate."
"Indeed. Unfortunate for us as well, in that the doctor has instructed her to stay at home on Monday."
"You require me to instruct the class on Monday as well?"
"We do not require it, Sagara-sensei. Your work has been more than sufficient. We do, however, humbly ask for your services for one more day…."
"Principal, the student council and the administration here at Jindai have been nothing if not accommodating to my—and my colleagues'—needs. As such, I would be pleased to teach the class on Monday."
"I am very happy to hear that, Sagara-sensei."
"Was there a particular subject? My only concern lies in that I will be unable to perform on the level of Kagurazaka-sensei on the vast majority of topics."
"Hmm… Kagurazaka-sensei has informed us that she believes she will be able to cover the week's material in the remaining four days. As you already know, she is unaware of the situation involving you teaching the class, and will remain so until she returns, lest this be cause for concern on her part."
"So the subject material…?"
"…Is up to your discretion."
"I see. Thank you, Principal."
"No, thank you, Sagara-sensei." The principal stood and bowed deeply, to which Sousuke could only respond with a deeper bow. "Good luck with your event today," she said.
"Ma'am!" Sousuke saluted, then turned on his heel and left the room.
----
"Field tri—p!" Kaede shouted while running down the halls, instilling jealousy in all the students who were not in Eri Kagurazaka's class. "Sagara-sensei? Sagara-sensei!" She stuck her head in the door.
"Kaede. You've arrived early." Sousuke was collecting the boxes from the room.
"Yup! I checked in the office but you weren't there."
"It was a logical course of action to come here, then. Is there something you need?" Sousuke set down the box he was carrying on the front desk.
"Well, yeah, actually…" Kaede walked up to him. "It's about the squad leader position."
"Hmm, are you uncomfortable leading these students with whom you are not familiar?"
"Yeah…"
"I would not be concerned. The students will not expect you to be perfect. Hopefully they will be caught up in the spirit of competition or the tumult of battle."
"But I don't know anything about leading a squad…"
"Neither do Chidori or Takahashi or Kazama."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Just lead your troops as you see fit. There is no right or wrong way. Since you're representing Germany, an entirely defensive strategy might not be fitting, though."
"I want to win!"
"Excellent. I will give you two pieces of advice: First, your squad's morale is paramount. If they are weary from battle or have sustained heavy losses, you must lead by example."
"Um… okay…"
Sousuke's eyebrows were turned in. He was starting to get quite animated as he spoke. "Second, you will be fighting primarily untrained soldiers. This means you can look for your own squad's mistakes, stop them, and then exploit that information for the purpose of destroying the enemy." Sagara had clenched his fist in front of him when he said "destroying."
"…" Kaede looked pretty confused.
"…Or… just have fun with it?" Sousuke scratched his head.
"Okay! See you out there!" Kaede started dashing out of the room, but stopped at the door. "Sagara-sensei, do you think these clothes look good on me?" She looked down at her camouflage, which fit her body perfectly, and, when Sousuke looked, seemed to accent her female features.
"Uhh…" He swallowed, and then cleared his throat. "Combat equipment is meant to be tactically advantageous. Its appearance is unimportant except for the purpose of remaining unseen."
"Aww… you're no fun. I saw some boys outside staring, though."
"Hmm…," Sousuke thought for a moment. "Somehow these designs seem to have 'Kurz' written all over them. Are the male uniforms rather… loose?"
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"…Definitely Kurz."
"Well anyway, I better get my stuff and go outside." Her voice dropped in volume suddenly. "I bet Chidori-san will look real good, huh?"
Sagara turned entirely red. Kaede laughed and darted out of the classroom.
Hmm... I hadn't thought of it, but... Chidori in combat gear…why does that...? Never mind. Sousuke shook his head and picked up the box.
----
Several people had arrived in the courtyard and were preparing in various ways. Some had come with only the pants and boots on, wearing an undershirt until it was time to put on the jacket. Hayashimizu and Mikihara were standing in casual clothes with Kurz, who was giving them their equipment and explaining it in detail.
"Yeah, we didn't have long to get yours ready. The rifles might be a little less accurate than the others." Kurz thrust one rifle towards Atsunobu, who skillfully checked the sights and chambered a bullet immediately.
"Senpai… you're fast." Ren looked at him admirably.
"Yeah, you look like you know what you're doing, man." Kurz was impressed as well.
"Yes, well, I have some interest in the finer antiques. The Lee-Enfield is a well constructed instrument."
Ren carefully took her rifle from Kurz. Nearby, Mao zipped up her jacket and slung her large machinegun over one shoulder before coming over to them.
"So these are the greens I've gotta deal with?" She sneered.
"Nee-san!" Kurz looked surprised.
"What? I'm supposed to be British now, right? I look down my nose at everybody." She made a quiet "hmph!" and walked off.
"Umm… Weber-san…" Ren was looking very nervously at Mao, whose large bust seemed to commandeer the attention of all the male students she passed.
Kurz laughed. "Well, as much as I'd like to have seen it, yours isn't quite like that, Mikihara." He grabbed the folded pants, jacket, and helmet and held them out to her. "We didn't have time to get your measurements so we had to oversize a bit."
Ren breathed a sigh of relief, as did Hayashimizu. After Kurz handed Atsunobu his equipment he picked something else up from out of the box.
"When Sousuke said he wanted you both on the same team, we were a little thrown off. After all, he didn't say who would be where at all, which is why we have to put these armbands on everyone's uniform and the ribbon around their helmets. Otherwise we'd have no idea who was on what side. But anyway, a couple of the guys thought it'd be funny to make you both some dog tags. Don't go showing 'em off though, we didn't make 'em for everybody." He handed them the red accessories which labelled them as British, and then the two pairs of dog tags.
Mikihara inspected hers and blushed, looking up at Hayashimizu.
"You put both our names on them," he observed.
"Yeah, man. Might wanna get cracking on some target practice after you get dressed." He slapped Atsunobu on the shoulder as he walked by.
On the other side of the courtyard, Sousuke had arrived and was unpacking the remaining weapons—mostly grenades and ammunition. Takahashi walked over to him.
"Ready to go down, Sagara? My squad trained till 'bout midnight last night. Doesn't matter how good you are, you're just one guy."
Sousuke stood up and took a breath. "Takahashi. Today, you are neither my student nor my classmate. You are my enemy. Prepare yourself for a humiliating defeat."
"Eheh…" Takahashi laughed nervously before turning around and walking the other way slowly.
"What are you getting so riled up about?" Kaname's voice came from behind Sagara.
"Just some friendly competit—" Sousuke had to forcibly look towards the sky when he turned around. Chidori had come up to within a meter. Her uniform was almost too perfect.
"Yeah…," she said after rolling her eyes. I guess it shouldn't really surprise me that he notices this, but not my bathing suit that time on the beach. "Actually it… kinda feels weird… like leather."
"Exactly what we were going for!" Kurz walked over while affixing a scope on his Mauser Gewehr.
"I should've known you had something to do with this," said Kaname while glaring at him.
"Heeey, don't look at me like that. It's about maneuverability… efficiency… protection!"
"Yeah, and what about that?" She pointed to Sagara's uniform, which was outright baggy.
Kurz laughed. "I guess we got his measurements mixed up."
"Hmm." Sousuke analyzed his and Kurz's clothing. "It appears yours were not mistaken, though." Kurz's uniform was also skin tight at the top, showing off his chest.
"Yeah, well…"
"It is not a problem. I have brought my own equipment, and can use it instead." Sousuke immediately unzipped his jacket and took it off, followed by his undershirt.
"Kyaa!" Several of the female students blushed while looking away—or possibly only pretending not to look. Sagara appeared not to notice, and began taking off his belt.
"SOUSUKE!" Smack! The fan came down. "You're not taking your pants off here!"
"Ow. What? Taking my pants off? I was just putting on some extra ammunition." Sousuke slid a small article with bullets attached to it onto his belt and tightened it again.
"…Oh." Kaname had acquired the glares of several people around her. Sousuke put another undershirt on and a slightly different colored camouflage jacket.
"Aww!" Kaede said loudly from a dozen meters away, "You missed your chance to tell him how good he looks without a shirt, Chidori-san!"
Sagara stopped. Kurz froze. Mao's mouth dropped. All the students stood baffled. Kaname turned several shades of red.
There were a good fifteen seconds of extremely uncomfortable silence.
"Ehhh—?" Tessa was across the courtyard, having apparently just heard some news. "Sagara-san had his shirt off? What?"
Kurz, Mao, Kaname, and several students fell to the ground instantaneously. Sousuke looked up in confusion at Kaede, who had covered her mouth with her hand. Takahashi had his hand on his forehead and was looking up at the sky.
Kurz shouted, "Alright, alright! We're moving out shortly! Everybody get together, we're gonna go over the whole schedule!"
The commotion died down slowly.
All the students gathered together around Kurz and Mao, who both were standing on one of the boxes.
"First of all!" Kurz silenced all remaining communication with his loud voice. "Any contact with students not involved in this battle is now forbidden! They are no longer your classmates. They are civilians. Non-comm.'s. They are of no concern to you."
A few students looked at each other in surprise.
"Second! There will be absolutely no communication between opposing forces as of right now! The full rules for communication are as follows: Squad leaders on each side will meet for 10 minutes after target practice and field familiarization. Anyone who is not a squad leader is not allowed to speak to anyone not in their own squad! You're separate countries, not a single entity! The world wars are fought blind! You only know what your superiors tell you!"
Everyone started looking around for their squad.
"Those of you who were not selected by a student squad leader should know by now who you are with." Kurz stepped down, and Mao took over.
"We're moving out! Communication rules apply immediately, including while we march to the battle area!"
Many students whined loudly after hearing this. "We have to walk all the way there? It's a really long way!"
"Quiet!" Mao snapped angrily. "Do you think soldiers in the war got to ride in busses wherever they went? They were exhausted from carrying all their equipment with them for days on end!"
The students grumbled.
"Now collect your gear and let's move out!"
----
The march to the battlefield took over an hour. The students had walked mostly in silence, probably afraid of breaking one of the communication rules and being disqualified—or worse—as a result. Most of the female students appeared to have gotten used to their clothing during the hike. It was a rather cool day, so no one seemed to mind the thick material. Angry glares from Sousuke, Kaname, and Tessa diverted the prying eyes of passers by whose gazes were understandably appropriated by either the female students' attire or the class in general, walking with large guns and wearing camouflage.
All the ammunition and other leftover equipment had been transported to the new, mostly forested area. The students were collected in a glen. On one side was a large, professional-looking target practice area. To the other side was the battlefield, a lightly forested area some ways off, marked with signs warning the students not to enter unless authorized. "Trespassers will be shot." The word "repeatedly" was pretty much implied.
Mao stood atop the newly moved boxes and continued her briefing. "Training procedures! All squads will have one hour of target practice and weapons training. You will also have only half an hour to familiarize yourself with your area of the battlefield. You will not be able to go anywhere you want on the field. This is a fictional battleground; no one has the home turf! You'll only be able to get used to your own trench. Times for the field training and target practice will be staggered so that no more than three squads are on the field at once. It would be a very good idea not to show yourselves while inspecting your trench! Giving away your position before the battle starts is not very tactical."
Tessa walked up from behind and stepped up onto the box. She had her helmet on.
"Captain?" Kurz whispered.
"Ohhh!" Several male students looked at Tessa intently.
"Hey, isn't that the same girl that was in our class for awhile?"
"I think you're right! And she had that weird swim suit…."
"Shinji-kun, are you alright? Hey! Your nose is bleeding!"
Kazama lay on the ground. "I can't believe it… that uniform… Tessa… she's the best…."
Tessa cleared her throat roughly and spoke with an authoritative tone. "Your presumptions are incorrect. We have not met before. Now, regarding the rules Weber-san has already mentioned. If you are seen conversing with a member of the opposing forces, you will be shot immediately! Treason is punishable by death!"
Everyone seemed to have been silenced by this statement, partly because it was a strong thing to say, and partly because it had come from the normally reserved, high-pitched voice of Tessa.
She continued. "Snipers, riflemen, grenadiers, machinegun operators and loaders, and officers all have separate areas in which to practice for the weapons-intensive section. Consult this list," Tessa held a paper above her head, "for when your squad's scheduled weapons training, squad training, and field training is. You have five minutes to finish equipping and report to your squad leader! Dismissed!"
The students broke up and assembled with their squad. Some of them who were on opposite sides gave each other dirty looks. Kaede was waving her pistol in the air to signal her squad when Kaname passed.
"Hey, Chido—" She stopped talking when she saw Kaname and Shinji nod to each other once. They continued walking normally. Kaede blinked. What the…?
"Yeah, what is it, Kaede-san?" Kaname shoved an elbow into the face of one of her squad members who was gawking at her chest.
"Um… nothing, I'll ask you when the squad leaders meet."
Kaname left and Kaede continued waving. Her squad arrived and, she only now remembered, it consisted of three males. Two of them tried to hide it, but the other was looking the small girl over repeatedly.
"HEY!" Kaede yelled suddenly. "Drooling over a girl's figure is not cute! You're supposed to get to know them intellectually first!" Her tone dropped in volume. "Then you can, one day, tell her she's beautiful, and then on another day, walk her home and…" Kaede was looking up at the sky with her hands clasped together at her chest.
From halfway across the courtyard, Kurz was walking past Takahashi, who looked in Kaede's direction.
"Hey, what's she doing? Praying?" Takahashi pointed.
"Dunno."
Kaede's indefinitely-running-on sentence continued. "…and then after you've gone out a few times and told her you love her, then she'll ask you to come inside and meet her parents, and then that night when no one's looking, you can," she squealed with a high pitched voice, "ki—ki—"
Her squad members had sobered up quickly.
"Dude…"
"…yeah. What the crap."
"Seriously."
(to be continued…)