Chapter 12

"GOOD KILL!"

"Congrats Monty! Keep flying like that and you might just overtake me!" My brother had the most kills on the island.

"Who knew the P-40 could keep up with a Spitfire?"

"IT'S AMERICAN MADE, BABY!" Chester was always the loud one, with a love for american technology.

Everyone was ecstatic. I had just scored my first kill, bringing down the last plane and winning the match, and were on the trip home. The scene really was quite picturesque. The sunset made the sky a light hue of red, and my brother's BF-109, Chester's F4U Corsair, and My P-40 were all sailing in perfect formation in the light red sea of the sky. The Commandant, (Back then named Hermann) was on the ground, shot down. He must have been pouting.

The dark cold air licked at my cheek. I got up and shook myself awake from my daydream. Those times were gone now. Chester and my brother were both dead. I looked back on my predicament. The P-40 was shot up, the girls were trapped in this building, If we lose the whole school gets shut down... Life just seems to get better and better.

The P-40 was towed back to the building by Turtle team.

"Thanks Anzu!"

"No problem."

"NOW FIX YOUR PLANE! FAST!"

"Momo, calm down.. he'll fix it fast enough."

"DON'T CALL ME MOMO!"

I walked up to my plane and got to work. I recruited Hana and Saori to help me, as they weren't doing anything productive. Hana was surprisingly good at replacing the spark plugs in the engine. Her hands were a lot steadier than mine. Saori went around patching any holes on the wings, and I worked on patching up the right aileron, which was blown off from flak.

"Say, Monty, When are you going to get a move on?"

"What do you mean?"

Saori gestured toward Miho.

Hana poked her head over the engine cowling: "Who are we talking about?"

Great. Last thing I need is more people knowing about me and Miho...

"Oh... Nothing..." Thank goodness Saori was trying to keep this secret.

"C'mon! There surely must be something."

Saori glanced at me, her eyes begging for permission to tell. I just blushed and took a glance at Miho. She was sitting in a corner pondering something. I looked back at Saori:

"Not yet."

"How are you going to get her if you don't tell anyone?"

"Is it Yukari?" Hana was getting exited. It's a good thing they were whispering, or others might be able to hear.

"Hey! If you don't tell her now, you might not get the chance later!"

"But I just find that I can't."

"Then I'll do it for you!"

"Don'-"

"HEY! EVERYONE LISTEN! MONTY HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" I immediately regret telling Saori.

All eyes turned on me. The room quieted. I blushed. "FALSE ALARM GUYS... SORRY... SAORI LIED."

The room slowly went back to doing their own thing, and I noticed Miho sitting back down and going back to her depressed state. I felt compelled to move. I slid down the wing, and went over to my bailout kit, which contained a bar of chocolate. I took it out and unzipped my leather jacket. I looked back at Saori. She waved her hand around in a circle as if to tell me to "go on." I walked right behind Miho and put my leather jacket on her back. She turned around in surprise. I offered her the chocolate.

"Chocolate?" She took it cautiously.

"Thanks."

She turned back and let out a sigh. My face caught on fire, and I was sweating buckets. I looked back up to Saori. She gave me a thumbs up.

"Miho?"

"Yes?"

"There's something I wanted to tell you." She started blushing as well. Was it possible that...

"I... I... erm... I..." The words refused to come out. Why is this so hard?

"I... err... love you..." She then shot up and threw her arms around me. I stumbled a bit. I wasn't prepared for this. I shot a look at Saori that just screamed "HELP!" , but Saori just giggled. I just did what my body told me to do. I slowly hugged her back. Miho started crying on my shoulder. It felt a bit like what happened on the beach, but in reverse. I started patting her back and stroking her hair. Anything that might calm her down.

"It's okay... It's okay..."

"I'm sorry mother!"

"It's fine... you'll be alright."

"Oh sister, please don't hate me."

"No one hates you..."

"I fight against Pravada one more time, and I fail yet again."

"You're doing fine..."

"What was I supposed to do? Let them drown?"

"You did the right thing... calm down."

Were Monty and Miho each other's pillows? Saori was confused. Every time Miho and Monty are together, it seems like one of them would have to cry or something. First at the beach, (She knew she probably shouldn't have watched, but she couldn't resist.) then here. She knew that the both of them loved each other, but they didn't know it. Right after the Saunders match, Monty came in to ask her for girl advice. A few moments later Miho shows up at her door asking for boy advice. She enjoyed being a sort of love guru, but love isn't supposed to involve crying on each other's shoulders... or was it?

Erich smiled. This was getting interesting. Sitting in the audience, and aimlessly looking in the Leopold screed giving details on the battle. As there was an intermission, the screen switched from displaying locations of the various teams to what they were doing to pass the time. Katyusha was sleeping, and the rest of Pravada were dancing and eating borscht. The screen switched to display what was happening at Ooarai. Some of the girls were scouting out locations of tanks, while others were busy with repairs. What was happening in the background? Was that Monty hugging his daughter? When he warned Monty of getting together with a Sensha-do girl, he never expected that he would be referring to his own daughter... Well, Monty's a good kid he figured, and he wouldn't mind having him as his son-in-law... WOAH! He pulled back that thought. A bit too early for that.

"Maho, promise me you'll never be like your sister." Shiho and Maho both looked at the screen with the same blank expression.

"Mother? Why do you still care? I mean, Miho was removed from the family name, right?"

"I can remove her from the family name, but in the end she still is my daughter."

That warmed Maho's heart a little bit. At least her mother still cared, albeit very little.

Darjeeling took another sip of her tea.

"Say, what was the pilot's name again?"

"Monty, I think."

"Strange... that's a British name."

"Maybe his parents were British."

"Perhaps."

"He does seem to know quite a bit of English."

Darjeeling laughed. Monty was a Japanese boy with a British name flying an American airplane for a school with predominantly German tanks.

Miho released her grip. I slowly released mine.

"Don't tell anyone about this?"

"Agreed."

"HEY! YOU TWO SHOULD KISS!" The whole of Ooarai laughed. Too late.