Chapter 35: Tragedy.
7:39 pm
After the parade and a hearty dinner the moment of departure finally came.
"I hope you enjoyed your visit." Hilda said, shaking hands with her guests.
"Yes, very interesting." Darjeeling replied.
"Your school is truly an example of efficiency, strength and industriousness!" Miho said.
"I agree, your reputation as a model school is deserved." Her sister added.
"I really enjoyed it!" It was Marie's answer.
Similar compliments came from Katyusha and the other members of the party, except from Anchovy, Nishi and their companions, slightly annoyed at having been disparaged on several occasions by both the German students and their local colleagues.
"Your compliments flatter me, and not a little. In this regard, since we made you visit our school, why don't you let us visit yours in return?"
"Visit ... ours?" Anzu asked.
"I'd be curious to visit them in person."
"No!" Klara exclaimed, getting a kick in right leg by Katyusha.
"Comrade Klara! I decide who can visit the school and who can't!" She scolded her nervously.
"Sorry, Comrade Katyusha ..." She replied, giving her a dirty look.
"Well, for our part we would be more than happy to welcome a delegation from the Black Sun to Ooarai." Hana said.
"Also applies to us!" Kay added, hugging Hilda under the surprised gaze of the others.
Faced with that gesture, Hilda's eyes widened and her face became scarlet.
"Why are you so embarrassed?" Amaretto asked, noting the redness of her face.
"I-I'm not used to certain effusions ... My parents don't hug me anymore." She explained.
Kay then released her embrace and winked at her.
"Shy girl!" She teased her good-naturedly.
"Yeah…"
"I would be curious to visit Anzio!" Salò said cheerfully.
"We would be delighted to welcome you. Of course, compared to your Anzio it's a poor school, but it's still a nice place, where joy reigns!" Carpaccio replied.
"I'm sure."
"Now sorry, but my collaborators and I have to go. We were happy to have you as guests. " Hilda said.
But if you didn't invite us ...
Anchovy thought.
Said by one who despises us….
Kinuyo thought.
"Do you have any last requests?"
"I'd like to speak to Mako, if it's possible!" Miho said.
"Me too!" Saori added.
"Well, if she agree ..."
She reached out to her smartphone, wrote a message on FB and waited for a minute. Then she shook her head.
"Disagrees."
The two girls were sorry for the news.
I should have expected it ...
The coppery-haired girl thought, sad.
The girls got out of the floating school and reached the bus and boarded. As the vehicle drove off they started talking to each other.
"Allow them to visit Anzio? After they treated us that way? If they think I will get them on board, they are very wrong!" Anchovy exclaimed angrily.
"You have to, to refuse would be an act of discourtesy." Carpaccio replied.
"And it would put us in a bad light in front of public opinion." Pepperoni added.
"Ok... We will show them that Anzio is at their same level, even better!"
"I doubt we'll be able to impress them as they impressed us ... Anzio has far fewer tanks, and only one is a heavy tank." It reminded her of Amaretto.
"When they see your tanks they will burst out laughing like crazy." Sheska intervened, sitting nearby.
At those words Anchovy's anger increased dramatically.
"Nobody questioned you, bitch!" She scolded her, threatening.
"I don't need your permission to express my opinion!" The kuro replied, haughty.
"Now stop it, you two!" Erika intervened, trying to end the discussion in the bud.
"Your partner has too long a tongue!"
"It's not her fault that your tanks are shit!"
Increasingly nervous, Anchovy started to reply, but Pepperoni put a hand on her shoulder, making her turn towards her.
"It's not worth it." Said the dark-haired girl, shaking her head.
"They were very kind." Marie said in a good mood.
"Yeah ... Too bad they stole us students." Darjeeling said, snorting.
"And I'm afraid they won't be the last ... Others might decide to change the flag, enticed by Hilda's generous promises."
"Are you sure, Kat?"
"Don't call me, Kat, Darjeeling! However the answer is yes ... If they proposed to me to join such a rich and strong school the temptation to accept it I would have."
Having said that Katyusha glanced anxiously at Nonna, who was looking out the window.
What if she's next to join the Black Sun?
Nervous, she shook her head.
No ... She and I are inseparable friends, she will never betray me!
She said to herself.
"What's the matter, Kinuyo? I see you nervous." Mika asked.
"And you ask me? We only went there to find out we weren't invited, and they openly offended us!" The Chi-ha-tan commander replied irritably.
"It got worse for us ... They branded us like thieves."
"And meanwhile they steal the students from our schools ... Those hypocrites!"
"Recruit, not stolen ... they convinced them to join them." Haru pointed out.
"Yeah ... Strange that they haven't recruited any of ours."
"Schwarze Sonne does not recruit students from schools that she considers unworthy." Maho intervened.
"So we would be unworthy for them?"
"Exactly, Nishi."
"And you? Aren't you afraid for your students?"
"My students are reliable."
"Why aren't ours?" Assam asked.
"Judging by the speed with which Rosehip changed school I'd say no."
"I'll try to send her a message on Facebook, hoping she'll answer me." That said, Orange reached out to her smartphone.
"At the very least, she'll say that the Black Sun made her an offer she couldn't refuse." Hypothesized the kuro commander.
"Damn ... I knew Mako was furious about her grandmother, but that she even abandoned the Ooarai for the black sun ..." Miho said sadly.
"She wouldn't have done it if you and your friend had been honest!" Hana scolded her.
"I know ... Because of our reprehensible behavior we have lost a precious friend and companion." She admitted, with shining eyes.
"Two. As I said before, I no longer intend to deal with you."
"Hana, forgive us! At least you stay by our side! " Saori begged her as tears began to streak into her eyes.
"No." She replied coldly.
That simple refusal was enough to induce Saori to burst into tears.
"Don't cry, hypocrite! It was you who caused this disaster! You and Miho have betrayed Mako, you have betrayed me, you have betrayed all of us! You make me sick!" The student council president exclaimed.
"And to make matters worse ... Yukari has disappeared." She added.
"And Arisa too." Kay intruded.
"Where do you think they ended up?" Miho asked.
"They were not among the Japanese students, ergo they were not enrolled; maybe they were imprisoned, but if so why neither Hilda nor others mentioned the thing?"
"Maybe they ignore their provenance ..."
"In any case, in a few days they will be released and will come back to us."
"But it's already been 6 days..." Naomi said.
"Maybe next week they'll be freed, they can't keep them forever. If necessary we will ask for their release."
With that said, Kay put her hand on her cell phone and turned it on. The first thing that caught her eye was that she had numerous missed calls, and as many FB messages, sent by Helmet-chan. As soon as she read the latter her eyes widened, like her mouth, in an expression of pure shock, while she whitened her face. She raised a hand to her lips, as if to hold back a scream, while around her her friends looked at them perplexed.
"Kay, you're as pale as a corpse... What's going on?" Naomi asked.
"Sluts... SLUTS!" The blonde screamed as her face was streaked with tears.
"Kay, you scares us! Did something happen? " Anzu asked.
"Arisa and Yukari ..."
"What happened to them?"
"Theyare at the Yokohama hospital ... In a coma ..."
That news was like a bolt of lightning to all present.
"What? But why?" Saori asked.
"They ... They tortured them, massacred them!"
"They who? The Schwarze Sonne students?"
"And who else?"
Those words were followed by a long grave silence, where neither Kay nor the others managed to speak because of too much dismay.
"We have to ... We have to go to the hospital right away!" The redhead said, also turning fatally pale.
