FMP Fanfiction

Hitosawagase

by Esoteria

Chapter 11

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Mao and Tessa were gathering up the British squads.

"Alright, you dogs, listen up!" Mao was leaning on her rifle, its stock on the ground. "If you follow my orders and don't do anything stupid, we'll have this war in th—HEY!"

A male and a female student were chatting, totally unaware of Melissa's presence.

"You look great in that…!"

"Really? Aww, you're so sweet!"

Cracckk! Everyone in the clearing turned around when they heard the gunshot echo off of the trees in all directions. Mao had shot the boy who was ignoring her in the back of his leg.

"OW! Ugh…," he coughed a few times while catching his breath and gripping his leg.

Mao handed the pistol she had taken back to Tessa. "Be glad that wasn't a rifle or MG round. Now quit fawning over each other and listen up."

Tessa whined, "Melissa-san! Don't shoot my soldiers!"

"I'll shoot whoever I damn well please. What were you thinking, putting the two of them in the same squad?"

"I thought it would keep morale up to have them together…!" Tessa was shouting back at Melissa.

"Like it'll raise morale having them make out in the trenches!" She yelled back.

The two students were entirely embarrassed as everyone watched.

"You!" Mao pointed at the male student.

"…Um… yeah?"

"Since you two seem to be glued together, take this." Melissa tossed the large machinegun at him.

He was totally unprepared, and was knocked back a meter and flattened by it on the ground.

"Hiro-kun!" The girl rushed over to him. "Are you okay?"

The boy slowly reached one hand to her while he was still squashed by the MG. "I'm… I'm not gonna make it… you… go on without me…."

"Hiro-kun!" Water started collecting in her eyes.

"Ohh shut up!" Mao kicked the machinegun off of him. "I'm gonna give you two some special training."

"Melissa-san, those are my soldiers…." Tessa pouted behind her.

"Yeah, yeah… alright. I've gotta whip these two into shape anyway," she said, pointing with her thumb behind her back, where stood Hayashimizu and Mikihara, both stunned by the spectacle. "How'd we get stuck with all these pansies anyway?" Mao grunted in annoyance.

"Sir, yes sir!" The sounds of several affirmatives came from the other side of the clearing, where Sousuke was pacing back and forth in front of his subordinates, who were at attention.

"You will not cower! You will not back down!" Sagara shouted. "You are battle-worn professionals! Never forget that our leader was assassinated! We, the Austrians, started this war, and we will end it!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

A short distance away, Kurz and Kaname stood, watching Sousuke.

"Looks like he's taking this seriously," said she.

"What did you expect?" Kurz inspected his rifle again, equipped with a scope.

"So… what do we do with these guys?" Kaname pointed at their two squads. Kyouko and five other students looked nervously at each other. "We didn't train at all last night." Chidori didn't sound particularly sorry for the fact.

"I trained some on my own," Tokiwa said.

"Really?" Kurz and Kaname looked surprised.

"Yeah, but I'm not very good yet." Kyouko was putting on her helmet.

"Hey, let me see that rifle," Kurz walked over to her and took it. "Hmm… yup. This is the one."

"The one?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Kaname.

"This rifle," Kurz said, admiring it, "has exceptional accuracy. We made two scopes for these. One went on my rifle, the other was meant for this Italian one. Tokiwa will be the second sniper."

"Eh?" Kyouko got nervous. "But I don't know how to use a sniper rifle! I can't even shoot without my glasses!"

"Don't worry about it. We made all these eye guards for each student. Yours has the exact vision correction you need, and you can fire normally with them."

"But…!"

"No 'buts!' I'm not your squad leader, so I'm not allowed to train you personally. But just remember: Take a deep breath before firing—never shoot while inhaling or exhaling. Aim just above the target at long range." He handed her the scope. "Alright, my squad, get over here. We're gonna show Sousuke's squad what real men—and women, sorry—are made of!"

"Yeah!" They all jogged off with him.

"Kana-chan, I can't do this…," Kyouko said, looking at the scope.

"Don't worry, Kyouko. Sousuke and Kurz will probably shoot the entire class before five minutes are up anyway. All we have to do is not get 'killed.'"

"Kaede-san, isn't it?" Kurz's squad met up with hers.

"You must be Weber-san. Nice to meet you." Kaede bowed.

"Hey, no bowing! We're Germans!"

"Oh, right… sorry."

"Alright, offensively speaking we're on top. We've got the best rifles and an MG on our side. Who's gonna operate it, by the way?"

"I thought these two would be good…" Kaede pointed at two particularly buff students, who were showing off their strength by lifting the machinegun like a free weight.

"Yeah, probably right. Big, brawny, and dumb."

"Hey!" they both exclaimed. Kaede giggled at them.

"You guys know how to use that thing?" Kurz looked at them suspiciously.

"You kidding?" said one.

"Yeah, we unloaded four thousand rounds on this sucker last night!" said the other gruffly.

"Alright, alright. Just remember your ammo is limited once we start for real." Kurz turned to his own squad. "Who's gonna take the 'nades?"

Kazama's team was squatting down on the grass while he drew out the battlefield invisibly. "So that's when we'll attack. This is trench warfare, so expect to take a bullet or two once we make the rush, but if we can get there, it'll all be worth it."

"Kazama-san," one girl said hesitantly. "I don't want to get shot…."

"I understand, but the longer we stay in the trench the less useful we are. We've got a few good marksmen from other squads to provide cover fire. Hopefully that'll be enough." Shinji had donned the air of a true leader since the day before. He looked and sounded like serious business. "I'll go over this plan with the others once the leaders meet."

Everyone nodded.

"Alright. We're one of the first groups to check out our trench. Keep low and keep quiet. Let's move out!"

Kazama's team jogged off towards the battlefield.

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Takahashi's squad looked fierce. "I've selected you all for one reason and one reason alone. Do you know what that reason is?"

"To destroy Sagara and his squad, sir!"

"Precisely. We're the French, we're supposed to fight defensively. We'll have the best trench position of them all… but the moment any of us lays eyes on Sagara's squad…"

"Sir! Kill, maim, and destroy, sir!"

"Good. We check our trench in exactly five minutes. Be ready to move."

----

It was about a half hour later that the teams started switching places. No one was calling out times, so the squad leaders had to double check the field before leading their squads into the trenches.

In Tessa's squad, the two lovers were firing the loud machinegun with the precision of a professional.

"Keep it up, honey, we've only got a few dozen more rounds!" shouted the girl, who was feeding the ammunition.

Passing by, Kurz's eye twitched involuntarily. "If… if I ever hear a sentence like that again…."

"Captain Kurz, what's wrong?" one of his soldiers was carrying his rifle for him.

"Putting the words 'honey' and 'rounds' in the same sentence… there's something really nauseating about that."

"Weber-san!" Tessa said accusingly from only several steps away. "Are you harassing my troops? And what is this 'Captain Kurz?'"

"You're not a Captain, Captain Kurz?"

"No, he's not!" The real Captain put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"Hey, Tessa… c'mon…" he tried to quiet her down.

Crack! Crack! Sounds of gunshots again echoed off the trees even louder this time. Kurz's eyes went wide and he fell to his knees, and then collapsed. Tessa's head snapped back as fell onto her back and writhed on the ground, covering her face.

On one end of the clearing, twenty or thirty meters off, Sousuke lowered his rifle. "Conspiring with the enemy… Kurz, I would never have thought."

On the other side, at roughly the same distance, Mao shouldered her own rifle. "Tessa… I'm sorry it had to end this way. But you said it yourself. Treason is punishable by death."

Everyone looked as dark red spots appeared in the center of Kurz's back and Tessa's forehead.

Takahashi whistled in amazement while walking to the shooting range. "Good thing she was wearing those glasses." As soon as he had finished saying this, a dozen students all around fumbled for their protective eyewear.

Sousuke reloaded his weapon while he walked to the scene. "Normally the squad would share the fate of their leader."

Mao shook her head slowly. "But Tessa, you were the leader of a British squad, and so am I. I'll take them as my own."

"Similarly," Sousuke looked down at him, "Kurz will forfeit his leadership to Kaede for the Germans. However there should be a penalty time, since a squad without a leader will be disorganized and demoralized—unable to move quickly."

"Why don't they just start in their own trenches then?" Kaede didn't seem particularly sorrowful for Kurz's demise.

"No complaints here," Mao said. "The squads will have to decide for themselves what to do. They can't be allowed into the leaders' meetings."

"Agreed," said Sousuke.

"Alright then, further discussion between opposing forces will be met with the same punishment." Mao motioned to her squad to follow as she walked towards the field.

Once everyone had taken a look, they continued whatever they had been doing before, leaving Kurz and Tessa lying on the ground.

"Owww…" the Captain sat up.

"Well that was brilliant," muttered Kurz, whose face was in the grass.

"Dead people don't talk," said Takahashi in passing.

Kazama hung and shook his head as he walked away. "They were such good leaders too…."

The student who had been holding Kurz's sniper rifle simply walked off with it to the shooting range and began practicing.

There was considerable disorder among the leaderless squads. One of the displaced students ended up in the wrong trench, and was surprised to discover a different country arriving at the scheduled time.

A half hour later, the squads began moving positions again in silence. Tessa and Kurz sat sulking, on the boxes they had stood on earlier, with "Dead" signs around their necks. Tessa herself really didn't look very much alive. "Blood" had run down her forehead onto the bridge of her nose and stained the skin. Kurz rubbed his back every once in a while, and watched his own squad scattered about.

Kaede's squad was on the firing range.

"Kaede-san, did you get Hiro-kun and Sasa-chan together?" One of her female students asked suddenly.

"Umm… I think they really got themselves together… I just helped a little. But aren't we supposed to be practicing?"

"Yeah, sorry… I was…" she got quiet as she spoke. "I was just wondering if you could… help me too." She toyed with the bolt on her unloaded Mauser while she whispered.

"Oh, you don't need my help," Kaede responded immediately. "You just need to confess to him. Why do you think I picked you both for my squad?"

The girl, after looking at Kaede in surprise, looked over at the boy she was referring to. "You mean… now?"

"Why not? It's best to do it when both of you aren't nervous." Kaede lobbed a grenade towards the target. It bounced once and tapped the white box—complete with a torso silhouette—before it detonated, splattering "blood" everywhere. The girl soldier cringed when she watched what must've looked like a human heart exploding.

She swallowed once. "Well… I guess I should… if you got those two together…" She got up and nervously walked over to the boy while unconsciously examining some ammunition.

"Um… hi, Kazuo-san…." She barely made the words out while watching him take aim.

"Hi," he said dully.

"Um… I wa—" she stopped momentarily and swallowed again. "I wanted to tell you that… that… I… um… like you…." Her volume had decreased considerably by the end of the sentence.

"Huh?" The boy grunted, apparently having not heard her.

Crack! He fired the rifle and reached up, bringing back the bolt. The girl recoiled slightly when he fired, and held a hand over her chest. She looked nervously back at Kaede, who was lobbing another grenade and did not look back.

"I…" she swallowed once more, and then finally committed. "I like you… Kazuo-kun…." She stood stiffly and waited for his answer.

"Oh. Yeah, I like you too." He slid the bolt forward again. "You want to go out?" Crack! He fired immediately.

The girl's eyes moistened. She nodded several times. "Yes, I'd love to…."

The boy lowered his rifle, looked at her and smiled slightly. "Here, let me show you how to keep from shaking when you aim." He walked behind her and guided her arms and the rifle up to eye level, pushing the stock gently into her shoulder. She looked down the sights, but she may as well have been aiming at a gnat three kilometers off, because she wasn't paying a bit of attention to the target.

Kaede couldn't help the large grin on her face as she tossed another stick grenade towards her target.

----

Tessa and Kurz stood atop the boxes and called for everyone to gather around.

"Since we're dead…," Kurz said.

"…we'll be explaining the combat rules." Tessa finished his sentence. "There will be no official start time. The squad leaders will meet after this explanation, and then you may move into position."

"Needless to say," Kurz continued, "the longer your squad leaders take in meeting, the less time you'll have to prepare your defenses. Efficiency is really important in war. Strategy can only go so far."

"Everyone is allowed the following items. If you do not have them already, get them from the supply crates. Combat gear: Helmet, eye protection, reinforced combat suit, boots."

"Armaments: As much as you can carry. Your trench will be entirely unsupplied when you get there. You should bring as much weapons and ammunition as possible."

"Miscellaneous: One first aid bandage, two rations, one water canteen."

Kurz cleared his throat. "Now, regarding kills and incapacitations: If you're shot, you can't continue fighting until a fellow soldier has treated your wound. If someone is found still fighting while a blood spot remains on their body, their entire squad will be disqualified. You're not allowed to treat your own wounds. If you get shot in the upper chest, stomach, head, or neck, you are dead and can't be saved. The helmet exists for impact protection. It will not stop most real projectiles. So you are not alive even if your helmet is hit."

Tessa picked up. "If you are hit by a machinegun or grenade you will probably be covered with blood. The same rules apply in these circumstances: If blood is visible, you are incapacitated and cannot fight."

"Just as there is no official start time for this war, there's no official end time." Kurz looked at his watch.

Sousuke said something from the back of the group. "If you'll excuse my comment, the principal has given us permission to use the campus as long as necessary to maintain a realistic battle environment."

"Right," Tessa concluded. "Finally, there are no political boundaries. Your squad leader does not have to conform to the actual history of his or her country. Your weapons and defensive positions already take each country's early-war status into account."

"One final thing that we were not originally going to mention," Kurz said sullenly. "We don't recommend you begin fighting before you reach your trench, but there are no rules in war. That's all I can say on the matter. Dismissed."

There was a serious air about the group as they broke into their separate teams. Tessa's and Kurz's executions were still clear in everyone's mind, as was the pain on their faces when they were hit. Each squad sat or stood near each other with hawks' eyes looking for anyone who might start firing. Most of the students were carefully selecting weapons, ammunition, rations, and other equipment. Those who hadn't put on their country's armbands and helmet ribbon did so.

The three remaining squad leaders from each side gathered on opposite parts of the courtyard. Kaede and Kaname looked to Sousuke for the battle plan. Likewise, Takahashi and Kazama waited for Mao to map out their course of action.

A layer of clouds moved in front of the midday sun overhead. The entire area darkened while each student ignited their own killer instinct. And Kurz and Tessa pouted on the large boxes.

(to be continued…)