See the Reich in flames
Try to save Berlin in vain
It's a road through death and pain
On the other shore, there's the end of the war!
Long days have passed. The days became weeks. By now the battle was now raging for an entire month in Tokyo.
The blocks, the streets, the districts were falling one after another, but there's no need to say that it wasn't going fast for the boys' teams, they had to face ambushes and surprise attacks on every corner.
Situation was however much worse for the remaining girls' team. They were firing their last shells, their tanks were standing on the streets abandoned, disabled, run out of fuel or broken down.
In the south the fight has reached Setagaya and Shibuya and with that the Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine, one of Japan's most important sacral buildings. In the north the JSF army was desperately trying to protect Sōka and Misato, and in the east the confederate schools were besieging the docks in the mouth of the Edo River.
The stifling ring of iron was closing tighter and tighter in every hour.
Miho's POV
"A snowflake?" Miho asked herself as she was sitting on a bench in one of the parks of Oarai's school ship, wearing her blue coat. The flake was followed by another than another. "Huh. Last time I thought this I was on the battlefield near Niigata. An entire year…" She was so grateful to Heaven that she was out of that insanity. Many of her friends were not so lucky however. They are trapped in Tokyo in the cold, surrounded and hopeless.
A Panzer IV rolled down the nearby road, snapping Miho out of her thoughts. She looked as the tank went further then disappeared at the corner. She didn't really mind it. Dutch IMAF tanks and tankers became an everyday sight in Oarai ever since the team surrendered to them, as they kept Oarai occupied and their tanks under lockdown.
But Miho didn't carry hate for them, neither did her teammates. In fact they became friends with many of the Europeans. Miho used to have friendly talks with their commander, Isabella. They were sitting on benches or in the café and exchanged stories with each other.
Interesting. How good friends former enemies can be.
"Darjeeling-san. Kay-san. Anchovy-san. Nishi-san. Katyusha-san. Everyone. How are you? Are you alright? I pray for you and a speedy end."
Tokyo, Darjeeling's POV
A few more days passed. Setagaya and Shibuya were lost. St. Gloriana was now defending in Shinjuku. The JSF army didn't pay much attention to most of the federal facilities across the city center, the most important was the defense of the long island between the Sumida and Arakawa Rivers where Koto City and the headquarter of the Japan Sensha-Do Federation was located.
Darjeeling felt lost in this vast labyrinth of streets. She knew that Tokyo's mere size was the only reason that they haven't got fully crushed yet, even if it was only a matter of time. Standing near her Churchill she looked into the close show-window of a shop. It was hard to recognize herself. She looked sick. She looked weak. Her skin was pale, her braided hair was messy, and she had lines under her sparkles eyes. "Hello stranger." she whispered.
She looked around. The usually busy avenue was empty and silent, the trees were bald, the sky was grey and cloudy, the once shine tanks were dirty and weary, and the girls were like living dead. On the top of that it started snowing. White snow dusted the streets, giving them an even more depressing sight.
Darjeeling already knew that these December days will be the saddest ones of her life.
"Darjeeling-sama!" Pekoe yelled out of the Churchill.
"What's the matter?"
"Landsknecht broke through Gregor High School at the Toda and Shimura Bridges! They might outmaneuver us and separate us from Koto! We've been ordered to go there immediately and stop them!" reported the orange haired loader.
"Let's get moving! Alert the team!"
"But uhm…"
"What is it Pekoe-san?" asked Darjeeling.
"As the enemy is getting dangerously close to Koto City the directorate ordered the army to blow up the bridges that are leading to the island. We have to cross them before they do so. Otherwise we are doomed."
"What? When?" frowned Darjeeling.
"Within two hours."
"Then we have no time to waste. Let's go!" ordered Darjeeling and the remaining few tanks of St. Gloriana headed to the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers.
It was near the Akita Shinkansen and the Shibusawa Memorial Museum where they encountered the vanguard of Landsknecht. The St. Gloriana girls managed to stop them but when the main force of the german styled boys' school arrived the tables have clearly turned.
As the Sun began to set the girls in red uniforms were about to be encircled. Not to mention that they were running out of time.
Darjeeling and her crew were also in a distressed situation. Five Panzer IVs attacked their Churchill at the same time, but thanks to Darjeeling's exceptional Sensha-Do skills they managed to destroy all of them without being white flagged. The commander looked at her watch. "Damn it all…"
"All tanks! Turn tails and cross the river! I gain time for you!"
"You gain time for us? What do you mean Darjeeling-sama?" asked Earl Grey confused.
"Don't worry I'll follow you soon! Just go! Lead the girls out of here!"
"But…"
"I said GO!" yelled Darjeeling. Her teammates got very surprised even in this situation. They've never really seen their commander like that.
"Y-Yes! Yes ma'am!" said Earl Grey and though reluctantly but she took the lead and led the other to the road which was leading to the Sumida River.
In mean time Darjeeling and her crew took position behind the corner of a tall building at the beginning of the named road. Almost immediately the enemy concentrated its fire on them and shells began exploding everywhere. Luckily they were only Panzer IVs, Hetzers and other smaller tanks, so the Churchill's armor withstood the attack. It lasted for a few stressful minutes until-
"Darjeeling-sama! The Tigers have arrived!" reported Assam when she saw two Tiger Is and a Königstiger appearing in the crosshairs.
"Back, back!" Darjeeling gave the order just in time. A Tiger I fired and the 88 millimeter shell slipped off the side of the Churchill's turret.
"Shouldn't we go after the others already? With those big cats around we can't really do more." asked Assam.
"They need more time." replied Darjeeling. "Keep firing! Driver, retreat slowly!"
"But what if we will be left behind?" asked the driver girl, named Mary.
"Don't worry Mary, they'll not forget about us." Darjeeling tried to calm her down. They were inching backwards in the thin snow, firing on. When Darjeeling thought that the rest of the team was on the island now she ordered Mary to turn around and increase speed. In the next moment however the sound of a big explosion then breaking metal filled the air.
"I have a bad feeling about this." murmured Assam.
They hurried to the Sumida… Only to find the bridge lying broken in the stream of the river.
A minute earlier, Earl Grey's POV
"Come on Darjeeling-sama! Where are you?" thought Earl Grey nervously on the western riverbank.
"Headquarter to St. Gloriana! Status report!" sounded Tsuji's voice from the radio.
"Most of us are ready. But the commander is not here yet."
"Never mind! Cross the river and destroy the bridge behind you!"
"I can't…"
"Blow. It. Up." the JSF director sounded so scary, Earl Grey didn't dare to oppose.
"H-Hai! Attention team! Cross the bridge right now!"
"But what about Darjeeling-sama and her crew?" asked a Matilda commander.
"… I'm sorry everyone… I wish I could do something about it. But I can't. They will be alright. At least it will be finished for them. Now go before it's too late!"
With sad hearts the St. Gloriana tankers accepted the painful inevitable and rolled to the other side. Merely half a minute later the charges exploded and the bridge collapsed.
"Darjeeling-sama, forgive us…"
Present, Darjeeling's POV
In their shock the five girls opened their hatches and pocked their upper bodies out. They looked silently at the destruction. They looked to their right. They looked to their left. But they saw no bridge that was left intact.
Mary climbed out of the tank and jumped down on the concrete of the road. She was watching what was left then turned back, looking up at Darjeeling with desperate eyes. "They left us here. THEY LEFT US HERE!" she cried out. "They lied to us. They betrayed us!"
"It's not the fault of our team Mary-san." said Darjeeling trying to remain calm.
"I know that… It's that goddamn director and his gang who abandoned us!"
"Please Mary-san. Come. We have to…"
"What?" spread Mary her arms, letting out a small, sorrowful laugh. "Show dignity? Strength? Bravery? Nobility? Our virtues?" She then walked back to the Churchill and placed her hands on the mudguard. "It's over Darjeeling-sama. Look around you. Everything we believed. Everything we did. Everything they told us. Everything was wrong. Everything was in vain."
"Mary…"
"It's over. Face it commander. It's over."
After long seconds of silence they suddenly felt the ground shaking. Then they heard the roar of tank engines and the clinking of tracks. The enemy was closing.
Darjeeling looked behind them, then at the river then behind them again, and then… "Assam."
"Yes Darjeeling-sama?"
"Lower the gun." said Darjeeling silently.
Assam stared for a moment then nodded and obeyed the order. The proud cannon of the Churchill was now looking at the ground. Darjeeling climbed out of the turret, opened the smaller hatch and took out the white flag.
Two minutes later the first tanks of Landsknecht appeared on the corner. Darjeeling raised her hands and waved the flag, so did her crew. The enemy tanks did nothing, they were just standing there.
Then a Königstiger arrived, stopped near the Churchill and to Darjeeling's surprise, it was Hasegawa Kiyoshi, the overall commander of the confederate army who exited it. He went to the Mk VI and Darjeeling climbed down to meet him.
"Hasegawa-kun." saluted Darjeeling.
"Darjeeling-san." said Kiyoshi, returning the gesture.
"I guess you already know what I'm going to say."
"I'm pretty sure but I would appreciate if you confirmed my supposition."
"We surrender. Unluckily I can't speak for the rest of my team."
"I'm glad to hear that. May I ask what happened? How did you get separated from them?" asked Kiyoshi.
"Long story short: we were late to arrive here because we wanted to make sure that the others reach the other side."
"Oh. Was it you alone who slowed us down?"
"Yes." nodded Darjeeling.
"Wow... Impressive. If I may say so. I always knew that you are talented but this is really amazing." expressed Kiyoshi his admiration.
"Thank you." bowed Darjeeling her head. "And now? What will happen?"
"The city is locked down so unluckily I can't let you out of here even if I'd like to. But you may go and you are free to do anything you want in Tokyo. The curtain has fallen for you."
"We have to leave our tank here, right?"
"Yes Darjeeling-san. I'm sorry. Of course you'll get it back when everything is settled."
"Fair enough. What about you Hasegawa-san? What are you and your comrades going to do now?"
"We have to solve the bridge problem first before we can continue the attack so we'll stay here for a while."
"I see. If only I knew what WE are going to do now." sighed Darjeeling.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" asked Kiyoshi helpfully.
Darjeeling weakly chuckled. "It would be nice if you had a little tea. We've completely run out of it. It would help a lot on my nerves. But I guess you don't have."
"We don't have tea indeed. But I can offer coffee."
"Coffee…?"
"If you like it."
"Haha… I accept it. At least it will warm me up in this cold weather." said Darjeeling with a faint smile.
Five minutes later the two enemy commanders were sitting next to each other on the side of Kiyoshi's Königstiger with mess tins of ink in their hands.
"Say Darjeeling-san?" said Kiyoshi after a long silence.
"What is it Hasegawa-kun?"
"I know it's an unpleasant question but… Do you hate me and my friends?"
"…"
"…"
"Unpleasant question indeed." said Darjeeling. "What could I say? I have a guess that I felt what YOU felt about US. But I don't know exactly how you felt about us."
"I… have to admit. At first I really disliked you and the other girls' teams."
"Ah…"
"But slowly I realized it wasn't you who repressed us but your leaders."
"It took me a time too to realize that we weren't treating you too… nicely." said Darjeeling.
"So my answer is: my anger towards you lasted until these minutes but now only my camaraderie and respect left." said Kiyoshi.
"Respect?"
"Yes. In the past years, though I've always been mad at you I've never failed to admit how great fighters you are."
"You overrate us Hasegawa-san."
"I don't think so. It's not a coincidence that you are the only team commander in Japan who's never been defeated by Nishizumi Miho, who is also one of the bests, and that you reached the semifinal of multiple tournaments. No Darjeeling-san, your teammates are great tankers and you are a great commander."
"A-Arigato." blushed Darjeeling slightly. "Thanks for the coffee by the way. It's very good."
"Bitte schön. Fanfact: did you know that black tea contains far more caffeine than coffee?"
"No, I've never heard that."
"It does. That's in fact one of the reasons I've always wondered how can you remain so calm all the time. With that much caffeine you ingest, I think almost every normal human being would become a jitterbug."
"Then maybe I'm not a normal human being."
"Maybe, hehe."
"Hehe…" Silence again. "You know a Canadian WW2 soldier once said: "There was only one good thing in Tigers. That there were not too many of them." I don't know exactly how many Tigers you have but surely more than the amount we can handle." said Darjeeling.
"Due to the fact that the war is not fully over yet it's still a secret so I can't tell you. Maybe after the last gun has also silenced." replied Kiyoshi.
"I'm curious, I'll make sure to find you." chuckled Darjeeling. "How are you Hasegawa-kun?"
"How I am?"
"Just tell me. How are you?"
"… Tired."
"Then we are similar in this respect. My strength has abandoned me."
"When was your first battle?" asked Kiyoshi.
"It was the first battle of Shizuoka." replied Darjeeling.
"Then you are doing this since the very beginning."
"Yes. It was a year and four months ago. We've been sent to occupy the city and disarm De Gaulle Boys' High School but as you know we failed at first. We could only capture the city in the second battle of Shizuoka. Then we battled De Gaulle and Habsburg for long month between Shizuoka and Nagoya, then we fought Bannockburn High School up in the mountains for months again, in mean time our allies lost what we conquered in the third battle of Shizuoka, then multirole fighter planes attacked us with machineguns and rockets, then we were happy that we can finally go home, but then Japanese, Russian and American Sentoki-Do bombers destroyed almost every Sensha-Do linked thing on our ship, then they called us back to the battlefield, we did our best to save our home city but it wasn't enough, and now… And now here I am."
"It must have been hard."
"It was." said Darjeeling, looking down. "There's no possible way to describe all the frustration, fear, anxiety and stress. We weren't even home for Christmas, I didn't see my family for such a long time and…" And here her voice failed her. She was visibly struggling.
"Don't hold it back. Let it out. It will be better." said Kiyoshi gently.
In the second he said that Darjeeling bursted into tears as all the stress and frustration and fear left her body. She was hugging herself with one of her hands over her mouth as tear was flowing down her cheeks. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned there and to her surprise in the next moment the enemy general pulled her into a hug. Darjeeling didn't know how to react at first. But she knew that it felt good. "I-I'm dirty." she silently said.
"So am I." replied Kiyoshi and kept hugging her. Darjeeling didn't resist, instead she snaked her arms around him and hugged him back, weeping into his shoulder. They remained like this for long before they released each other.
"Thank you Hasegawa-san. It's really better now." said Darjeeling and wiped away the remaining teardrops.
"That's good to hear."
"I… really appreciate that you're talking to me. And that you are treating us well after everything."
"I've had enough hostility Darjeeling-san. I'm happy if I can help."
"Huh. You are too good."
"I take that as a compliment." said Kiyoshi. "If you ever need to talk again feel free to come to me."
"I'll not forget it. Now… I think I take my crew and find a place somewhere for the next days. I think you'll finish this in no time."
"I hope you are right."
"See you later Hasegawa-kun."
"Just call me Kiyoshi."
"Kiyoshi-san. See you later." said Darjeeling and jumped down from the Königstiger. "And thank you again."
"With pleasure. And Darjeeling-san. Take care of yourself."
"I'll do my best." smiled Darjeeling then she left with the four other girls.
Kiyoshi looked at the island across the Sumida. Only that was left. They conquer it and their cause, the Confederacy of Independent High Schools and their freedom will prevail.
Here we go people! Hope you liked the chapter; it was also one of those I was looking forward to.
Have a nice day!