Szene M: My Kuromorimine

I, Asaka Haida, was there again, Kuromorimine Sensha-Do team locker room. I was not there for changing to or from my uniform like I used to do hundreds of times before, even though I'd argue that something was really changing.

I looked at my face in the mirror hung inside my locker door. Lost was the face of the cheerful long-haired girl that would jump in excitement more often than not. Now, I only saw a stranger with ever-tired face and messy self-cut short hair. I averted my eyes from the mirror, to the top compartment of the locker. Therein, my field grey cap and goggles awaited, a gift from my tank commander, Koume-chan. As I took them, something slid off and fell to the floor. It was my Nishizumi Cross, 1st Class, a medal decorated to me during middle school. I finally decided not to put it back in the locker and left it with the Sensha-Do uniform and a pile of harassing notes from the students that wanted me to leave.

Oh, they're getting their wish. Don't worry.

"You're disappointing the one who gifted that." I heard a voice behind me.

I wheeled back. A girl was there, resting her back against one of the lockers. Her hair was platinum blonde, and her eyes light blue. Her expression glowed a certain anger that I knew well.

I put the cap, the goggles and the cross to my backpack. "Which one, Miss Itsumi? The woman who gave me the tin cross, or the girls who put the nasty papers in my locker everyday even since day one?" I asked.

"Don't jest, you know which one!" She glared.

"If you couldn't stop the other three from leaving, what makes you think you can stop me?"

"Desperation. You're an asset to us."

I laughed ironically. "Asset? So, the other wasn't worth it? That's it, I'm going." I said as I started walking away. I waved my hand, without looking back. "Auf Wiedersehen, Erika."

"So that's it?!" She yelled loud enough. "When the team is at the lowest, you're leaving us?"

I stopped walking. "Oh, excuse me, where were you guys when I and my crew were at our lowest? The only one who cared is about to leave too. Very fortunate for you, Vice-commander Itsumi." I ranted almost without any thought and consideration.

"Not all Kuromorimine is against you, Asaka." Itsumi said with a trembling voice.

"Yet I am alone." I said my Parthian shot as I opened the exit door.

...

"Why don't you observe for yourself, Asaka." That voice echoed again.

…

CHAPTER EIGHT – The Ashen Chapter

Szene 14: A Shark in a Fish Tank

Softly, Asaka woke up.

The familiar ceiling greeted Asaka again. The dream, that voice. she knew she should not have taken a nap earlier.

She sat up, squinting her surroundings. The sun was already creeping westward, shining the light to Asaka's empty apartment through the tall window that led to the balcony. Her apartment was as empty as a politician's promise. The "bedroom" was just a little cube with only a wardrobe, a book case, and a futon on its center. She didn't even bother to buy a desk or table. She'd use her a used box placed on the floor for her needs. Also, on the floor, many things were scattered, her bag, laptop, school books, tank books, pizza box, her uniform, her field cap and the bedside clock on the floor.

Out of sentiment, she put the field cap on.

"What are Koume-chan and Miss Itsumi doing these days?" Asaka asked herself. "They lost at the finals again, against Miho-chan of all people. I wonder if the situation on the school got worse."

She shook her head. She couldn't afford to think about them. "And now I'm talking to myself." She chuckled.

Asaka glanced at the bedside clock, 2:42 P.M., and the date...

Damn it, the match against Pravda is tonight. She groaned.

"Three 75mm T-34s, Four 85mm T-34s, one KV-2, an IS-2, one T-44-100." She reminded herself. "Or so Verena's intelligence said."

Verena. Asaka had not seen the Baroness since the briefing party three days ago, not her first choice.

Slender and beautiful, with long elegant white hair and brilliant scarlet eyes, Verena had worn a simple light-grey dress embroidered with images of Edelweiss during the party. Seeing her in simple non-militaristic clothing was almost surreal to Asaka. Meanwhile, Asaka had worn a black leather jacket, grey turtleneck shirt, jeans and sneakers. Asaka had felt so alone and out of place that night. That had been, until Verena asked her for a dance.

"V, everyone is watching." Asaka had told her.

"Don't mind them. It's just you and me."

Back in her room, Asaka shook her head furiously, trying to not remember her awkward night. Instead, she redirected her mind to what mattered. The match.

She recalled a specification from her mind.

A T-44/100, huh? 10 cm cannon, 12 cm frontal armor to pierce through, while being faster than a T-34 and a Panther. Perhaps challenging them is a bad idea after all.

Asaka had never seen a T-44 before, let alone the version with 10 cm gun, the T-44/100. All she knew that there was only one unit of T-44/100 in the entire world, and it was only used as a trial vehicle in 1945. The frontal armour was impervious to 8.8 cm cannon of the Ferdinand, and the gun could destroy any German panzer, or so the myth said. Fortunately for its enemy, it only can carry 36 shells and slow to reload. But it was the commander inside the hatch that concerned Asaka.

"Neither Nonna nor Katyusha will participate." Verena's soft voice had whispered to her during the briefing party. "Red herself will command the team."

Red. Yuki Akagi, The Red Winter, Krasnaya Zima, Svetlana.

Tell me, how did it feel, to be trapped inside a sinking tank...and got thrown overboard again only because you barely survived? She heard the question again, droning low above her mind.

Asaka lay down and pulled her blanket over her head again, not caring that she was still wearing the field cap or the match in a few hours.

Will *they* throw me overboard if I fail again? Damn it, I'm not sure about anything anymore.

Chapter VIII – The Ashen Chapter– END