Big ass AN at the end, be sure to read it!
Chapter 28 – Odds and ends!
A week has passed since Toshiro's visit in the Vatican. Shirley was being awfully shy of Toshiro, and sitting in her room for all day long. Some mysterious deliveries came to her, but she shooed him away when he tried to look at the contents. One day, when Toshiro was busy with paperwork, he heard Shirley's voice through the PA system.
"There's a Neuroi heading for our base! Azimuth 340, distance 8000, speed 1000, altitude 10000!"
"For fucks sake! Motherfucking Neuroi interrupting my job!" Toshiro cursed aloud because he made a mistake in a report and walked up to the PA panel. "I'll destroy that fucker alone!"
"Okay…" Shirley responded a bit frightened.
"You sure are in a fighting mood today, Toshiro…" Minna said.
"I have a stack of papers to fill out the size of Mount Everest, and some fucking Neuroi is interrupting me! I'll give him hell!" He shouted and ran out.
In ten seconds he was in his Striker without any weaponry. The engines of his Striker started heating up, and he bolted out of the hangar into the clear sky.
"Rackin' frackin'…" Toshiro muttered as he was flying Mach 2 at the direction of the Neuroi.
Suddenly a beam almost hit him, but he pulled up a shield a split second before.
"A sneak attack?! Now you've done it!"
Toshiro added a few layers of shields and charged at the Neuroi. It started shooting the beams at a high rate, but given Toshiro's speed, it only chipped off one shield before Toshiro ripped it apart with a Quick Draw Reppuzan.
"Nobody interrupts my work! Only Yoshika!"
After that, Toshiro returned to his paperwork, calm as if sedated with a horse load of drugs.
Yoshika heeded her promise, and they both didn't go past snuggling for the whole week, but Mio would shout her lungs out every time Yoshika would stay out late.
On the 13th, Vincenzo told Toshiro that the bath will be ready tomorrow by noon. He kept this knowledge to himself.
And so came the 14th April.
Toshiro woke up as usual and went on his morning rounds, this time on the runway. He saw Sanya landing, and simply lying down in the middle of the runway. He ran up to her and asked, "Sanya, everything okay?"
"Ummmh… Toshiro… I forgot to make coffee… Sleepy…"
"Heheh… I'll get you to your room, don't worry…"
"Thanks…"
Toshiro picked up Sanya and her Fliegerhammer and placed her Striker and the former in its proper place. Not rushing anything, he went up the stairs outside. Sanya already tucked herself into Toshiro's arms as he was approaching the dorm.
Dawwww... What a cutie she is… Kind of wants you to have a daughter of your own…
As Toshiro approached the room of the two, Sanya woke up a bit and said, "I can manage…"
"Okay sweetie…" Toshiro gave her a bright smile, getting the same in return.
She opened the door and went inside of the room. Toshiro closed the door silently, and went back jogging.
While at it, he saw Francesca doing something on a tree.
"Hey, Franny!" He shouted.
She looked back at him and said, "Ssssh! You'll scare away my bugziez!"
Toshiro saw that she had a small jar in her right hand.
"Collecting bugs I see?"
"Yes."
"Good that you have a hobby. Any nice finds?"
"I got a shiny big red one, but I can't show it to you now or I'll scare the other ones away…"
"Kay, no pressure."
"Toshiro, I have this weird feeling…"
"About what?"
"I sense an evil presence around… Akin to a Neuroi, but not quite like one…"
"Can you pinpoint it?"
'No… It's 'somewhere' around…"
"Give me a nudge when you find something."
"Sure."
Toshiro went on jogging.
The attendance at supper was a bit wonky, since Erica, Trude and Shirley were absent out of unknown reasons, and Sanya wasn't present for obvious reasons. After everyone ate, Toshiro said, "Everyone, come with me to the common room, I have something to announce."
"Can't you do it here?" Mio asked.
"The common room has more comfortable seating, heheh…"
"Whatever blows your whistle… Come on, everyone, you heard the man!"
They all went to the common room, and the girls sat wherever they found it suitable, or just stood up, like Mio and Minna.
"So, what's the news?" Eila asked.
"The news is that our open-air bath will be ready today at noon." Toshiro responded with a roguish smile.
"Woah, seriously?!" Eila shouted.
"Yup. If you weren't hiding under a rock for the last month, which you weren't, you probably saw the workers doing their job aside of the building by the bridge."
"So it will overlook the sea?" Mio asked.
"Yup."
"An open-air bath at the sea side… Very nice… Reminds me of the one the Isle of Wight Detachment had."
"I didn't have an occasion to take a dip…" Toshiro sighed.
"Wooohooo! A bath! I wanna be first!" Francesca cheered and jumped forward.
Mio and Toshiro grabbed her by the collar at the same time.
"Do you have corn in your ears, Lucchini?" Mio said. "Let me spell it out to you – N-O-O-N."
"Awww…"
"Heheheh… Sanya will surely be pleased… Heheheh…" Eila laughed creepily.
"I can't wait till I get a dip!" Yoshika cheered.
"You know what that calls for, Miyafuji?" Mio asked.
"What?"
"Training! Nothing like a bath after intense training! And you will have something to do until noon!"
"But Ms. Sakamoto!"
"All five of you, go! I don't want to see you stop until at least eleven!"
Lynne, Yoshika, Francesca, Eila and Perrine darted out of the room with blinding speed.
"Did you have to do that, Mio?" Toshiro asked.
"Boredom dulls the wits, Toshiro. And as I said already – what's the point of bathing if you aren't dirty?"
"Point taken, Mio… Hey, Minna, I saw you a bit sore yesterday… Care for a dip in the new bath? I'll give you a backrub…"
"Ah, no… Not now, Toshiro… Maybe later… But it's true, I'm awfully sore from the paperwork lately… You look as if you're blooming while writing stuff…"
"I guess I'm suited for this kind of work… Maybe that General rank wasn't such a bad idea after all…"
"Shut up, Toshiro, it would be a horrific waste for you to push papers over in Neue Karlsland." Mio said
"I second that." Minna said.
"Well okay, seems I'm outnumbered if it came to a vote… I'll notify the rest about the bath being finished."
Toshiro went to Shirley's and Francesca's room on the first floor, expecting to kiss the door handle, but the door opened, much to his surprise. Another surprise awaited inside the room. Because he didn't visit Shirley in her room since at least a month, it was shocking how the dirty and plain room changed. There was a winch on the beam under the ceiling, a great and sturdy table in the middle of the room, something big under tarpaulin in the corner, and Shirley tampering with some engine.
"I've heard about sleeping in your workplace, but this takes the cake." Toshiro said.
Shirley jumped up and turned around terrified, but she sighed and said, "Oh well, the surprise just went into the gutter…"
"Huh? What were you planning, Shirley?"
She stood up, approached a cupboard, pulled out a piece of paper, and gave it to Toshiro.
"Gran Premio di Pescara Edizione Speziale… Open entry… 25.05… Big prizes… And?"
"I wanted to take place in that rally…"
"And you are doing what? Building a car?"
"Yup! Wanna see?"
"Sure…"
Shirley ran up to the covered shape, and pulled down the tarpaulin with one swift movement.
"Hoohooo… A Bentley 4 ½ Liter… No wheels, no paintjob, no engine…"
"Minor details… I have the engine already as you see - a Bugatti 5.4L straight-eight!"
"And why did you want to make it a surprise?"
"Because… um… you would want to help me!"
"Awfully selfish of you… tinkering with such a project all alone…" Toshiro puffed his cheeks.
"Okay, okay… I wanted to present it to you in its full glory, and give you a proposition of being my c-co-driver…"
"Now, much better! But there are only eleven days left, you think you'll manage?"
"I think I will have to ask you for help anyway… I burned through all my money to buy all this stuff you see around here, and I don't have money for fuel, paint, wheels…"
'Okay, okay, you can stop enumerating." Toshiro interrupted her. "I'll be your manager, sponsor, mechanic and pilot!"
"Really?!"
"Yeah, really. But why do you need a co-driver anyway? The circuit on the leaflet doesn't look that big…"
"It is big. The whole lap is 25.579 meters, and the length of it is ten laps. If I get a flat, run out of gas, or whatever mechanical fault will befall the car, two will be faster than one, right?"
"Your reasoning is impeccable, Shirley. So, want to tinker with the engine together?"
"Sure! I need to finish reassembling it, but you can take a look with your expert eye."
"Expert… Don't overestimate me…"
"Don't underestimate yourself, Toshiro. You upgraded the Merlin engine using a fork and toothpaste by comparison to what others would use, I somehow expect the same here…"
"But you know what I will have to do…"
"Nooooo… I already had it half assembled…"
"Yes."
"Oh okay… By the way, how's our duty roster for today?"
"Free. The bath will be available from noon."
"Oh? Cool, but I don't have time now… You can commence with the demolishing…"
"We will disassemble it properly, Shirley."
"Oh okay…"
It took them two hours, but they did a preliminary tune-up using whatever parts they could find.
"This should work…" Toshiro said. "But as you saw, I was noting stuff."
"Yup."
"It's a list of parts I want you to scavenge in Pescara. Damn, you can even mail order them! If you are serious about this, you should go all out."
"But…" Shirley rubbed her index finger and thumb together.
"Don't worry about monies, Shirley, I told you already that I got you… covered…"
"Throwing around innuendos in the morning… Seems Yoshika stopped visiting you…"
"She did, but today we will try to make something about that."
"Good for you… So you say I can go all out… Can I get the truck and drive to Pescara now?"
"Sure. Just get in before dinner."
"Okay boss!" She said and grabbed the list from Toshiro. "Hmm… I'll see what I can do…"
Suddenly, the lights went out in the room.
"Huh? What's going on?" Shirley asked.
"Maybe the workers messed up something…"
"Toshiro, I had this feeling again… It was really strong this time…"
"Any more details?"
"No… But it happened at the same time as the blackout."
"Hmmm… Let's wait until we can formulate some hard evidence, I don't want to scare the girls…"
"Good idea…"
"Okay then, I'm going to the town. Where's the squirt?"
"Running."
"Good. I won't have to take her with me, heheh…"
"I'll go notify Trudy and Sis about the bath…"
Toshiro went to 'The Pig Sty' as he always liked to call it in his mind, and after opening the door he witnessed a scene he should be accustomed too. Erica was lying down on the floor, with her lower body on the matrass, and the upper body covered with a blanket.
"Toshiro! Help me, or I'll explode!" Trude yelled. "She crossed the Siegfried Line!"
"The what?"
"The wall of filth that separates our lebensraum!' Trude shouted raising Erica's uniform from the pile of crap lying on the floor and threw it over on Erica. "Wake up, Hartmann! It's past ten already!"
"Muuuuh… Just give me forty more minutes…" Erica mumbled from under her double cover.
"Forty minutes again?! What does that even mean?! Toshiro, please…"'
"Okay, okay…" Toshiro sighed and cracked his fingers.
He carefully trod around amongst all the filth, and walked up to Erica. He crouched beside her and started poking her.
"Hey…"
"Muuuhhh…"
"Hey…"
"Muuu-uuuuh…"
"No sweets till June."
Erica immediately pulled off the uniform and blanket covering her face and said, "You wouldn't dare!"
"Of course I would. It would pain me to do this to my precious ersatz sister, but I have to motivate you somehow… By the way, where's your alarm clock?"
"It had an… accident…"
"Involving her shoe…" Trude mumbled.
"Eheheh…" Erica gave dry laugh while scratching her head.
The lights in the room suddenly switched off in sequence.
"Huh?" Erica wondered.
"Toshiro…."
"Again?"
"Yuh…"
"Crap…"
"The workers are probably doing some finishing touches with the electrics in the new bath, maybe the breakers are tripping…"
"Oh, there's a bath now?!" Erica livened up.
"Available from noon today." Toshiro answered.
"Then I'll rest…" Erica said and dozed off.
"Hartmann!"
"Let her be, Trude… We have a day off today…"
"But!"
"Leave her… Do a nap yourself…"
"But…"
"Do it… I'll be the consciousness of the unit for today…"
"Oh okay… I'll read a book…"
"Good choice, Trude."
Trude picked up a book and lied down on her matrass.
I have to investigate that damn occurrence… And the power outages…
Toshiro went to the construction site, and saw that the workers were slowly packing their tools.
"Ah, Colonnello!" Vincenzo said. "So, our end of the deal is done…"
"Nice… By the way, did you trip the breakers right now?"
"No, Colonnello. We made the electrics two days ago…"
"Weird… Well, whatever, I suppose you need the rest of your pay and the bonus, right?"
"Si, Colonnello, I wouldn't oppose if you paid us."
"Then take everyone before the building, I'll be right back."
Toshiro slowly walked back to the office, where he bumped into Minna.
"Vincenzo and his men have finished their job."
"Good." Minna said and pulled out a fat envelope from the desk. "Here." She threw it to Toshiro.
"Thanks, Minna. Should we tell the girls that the bath is already functional?"
"No need… You said noon, not shall it be."
"Ordnung muss sein…"
Toshiro went back to Vincenzo, and saw that every one of his underlings and him included were standing before the building with the changing room. He gave Vincenzo, and he proceeded to count the money.
"I have to tell you something, Colonnello. You are one lucky man… The place where we dug up the bath has a natural hot spring flowing under it."
"So basically we now have free and natural hot water?"
"Precisely, Colonnello…"
"Very good news."
"And I finished counting… Everything is in order, to the single centesimo." He extended his free hand to him. "May we meet again."
Toshiro grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Maybe… But this time, I want a rebate!"
"We will think about it… Men, andiamo!" He yelled to his workers, and they went off.
Hmmm… It's almost eleven… I think I'll be a dirty cheater and use the bath first… Oh wait, I fucking paid for it! I have the RIGHT of prima lavat!
Toshiro went on to the castle, but midway he saw Shirley wandering in the direction of the dorm with a big box.
"Oiiii! Toshiroooo!"
"Sup? Not too fast are we?"
"I got so many parts on such a short notice! And… heheh…" She pointed at the top of the crate where a piece of paper was tacked down.
Toshiro took it and read it. It was a receipt for five thousand lire from an auto mechanic shop.
"Shirley…"
"Sorry! I will repay you!"
"I hope… I may be Mr. Moneybags, but this is getting silly… Need help with the box?"
"Nah, go your way."
"Sure…"
Toshiro went to his room and fetched his bath stuffs. Afterwards, he went into the changing room of the bath through a traditional Fuso bath entrance. The room wasn't very spacious. It only had a few baskets for clothes and three showers on the opposite wall.
You get what you pay for…
He undressed himself and took a quick shower. Then, he exited outside. The broad and flat stone stair led him to a rather shallow yet very spacious, Greek style hot bath. Toshiro immersed himself in the water with a beatific face expression.
AAAaaaaahhhHHHhh… So goooood… At least I can stretch my legs out.
Toshiro swam to the other side of the bath, to have the entrance in view. A gentle sea breeze was tickling him in the back.
"I guess I can doze off… Yuki, time?"
"Forty minutes till noon."
"Wake me up at high noon."
Toshiro dozed off in the geothermal waters of the bath.
Well everyone, today, (10.04.2014), is the first anniversary of The Chosen One saga.
Exactly a year ago, I have written the first two chapters of The Beginning and sent them to Doran Maya for review. After some positive feedback, it started. I milled FIVE more chapters in TWO days. Fast forward a year, I have written 176 chapters for the whole saga, not including shorts and… the secret stories, heheh… All that was possible just because of Doran Maya. His Worldwide Liberation was the first ever fanfic I have read, and it stunned me. And it inspired me. Thus, Toshiro was born. The details are murky, but in fact, I wanted TCO to be some kind of unofficial material connected to Doran's universe, but I said, "Nah, fuck it, I can do my own shit.". And now we're here, on the 28th chapter of the third installment of the series. The series has taken a rather unexpected turn of events behind the curtains, which all of you will witness sometime at the beginning of Fall.
Thanks, Justin, you're a bro!
And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]
