"I knew I'd find you hiding here…"
Maho didn't look up. She didn't need to. She'd recognize Chiyomi's voice anywhere. Just the same as she'd recognize the anger in it, with every word cutting at her heart. Instead she just remained in place, sat in the shadows behind one of the now-abandoned stands.
"You just couldn't stay away, could you? You just had to show back up again, and ruin everything. This was supposed to be the year Anzio made it to the finals-no, the year we were gonna win the whole thing! And then you just had to show up again and ruin everything!" Maho could feel Chiyomi's furious glare looking down at her, even though she couldn't see it. "Well?! Are you going to say anything?! Are you even going to try and explain yourself?! Or have you suddenly gone mute?!"
She tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. She was guilty of everything Chiyomi accused her of, and she had no defense to give. "I'm sorry…" she finally said quietly, without looking up. "I'm really sorry…"
"Then look at me when you say it!"
Maho lifted her gaze from the ground, feeling as if she was pushing against the weight of an entire school carrier as she lifted her head, and looked up at Chiyomi.
"I'm sorry, Chi-... Anzai…" She sighed, and looked down again. "I'm really really sorry, and I don't blame you for hating me…"
"Hate you? I'm absolutely furious with you! You lose the biggest match of your life to save people, and then you disappear for a year! You never called me, you never answered any of my texts or emails, you never let me know what was going on! I thought you were dead, that you'd killed yourself! And then you just show up again out of nowhere, doing Sensha-Do again as if nothing happened? And even then you didn't call! How do you think I'm supposed to interpret that?"
"Anzai, I-"
"Let me finish!" Chiyomi snapped. "I could understand you not wanting your family to know about us. I didn't like it, but I understood. But you not letting me know how you were doing after something like that, not letting me know where you were going, or what you were doing, or even if you were alive? That's not OK! And then you have the stomach to show up here, calling me Chiyomi and acting like nothing happened. It's like I never even mattered to you!"
"You do!" Maho protested. "There's no one in the world I care more about! You know that!"
"Do I?"
"It's just… I… I just needed to get away… I couldn't let anyone know… I couldn't let mother know where I was going… I couldn't let her find me…"
"And you think I would have ratted you out? You honestly think I couldn't have understood? Why didn't you just come up to Aichi? My mom adores you! She'd have taken you in in a heartbeat! Where else did you even disappear to?"
"I… I…" the words caught in her throat, and she struggled to even form them into a sentence. "I went to my dad…"
"What do you mean you 'went to your dad'?" Chiyomi asked, anger and exasperation mixing violently in her voice. "I thought he disappeared years ago?"
"He… he did… I hadn't seen him for a decade… But I found him again… somehow..."
"So you went to a lousy absentee deadbeat of a dad you hadn't met for years instead of me?"
"N-no… I… I just…" she could feel herself choke up, every word trying to strangle her from within as the memories flashed in her head and tears began to well up in her eyes. "He… he took me in… he was kind to me… He had no reason to… but he cared… he did everything and more… But… but then..." She paused, and brushed her sleeve across her eyes to dry them off. "We had a fight… H-he… he had a heart attack… and… he didn't make it…"
By this point the weight was too much, and her head collapsed completely, only staring into the ground through teary eyes and sobbing quietly to herself, awaiting Chiyomi's next verbal barrage.
But it didn't come. There was no yelling, no accusations, no further reasons why Maho had been very firmly in the wrong. There was nothing but silence, and the faint sound of Anzio's feast in the distance.
Instead, all that followed was a deflated sigh, followed a few moments later by a low hiss against the wall beside her and a light thud on the ground, as Chiyomi took her hand in her own, and held it tightly. Maho sniffled a few times, and tried to steady herself as she glanced up, seeing Chiyomi looking away to the horizon.
"W-why-"
"Just shut up…" she muttered. It was clear from her tone that the accusations were on hold, and so instead Maho simply sat there, gripping Chiyomi's hand tightly and just letting it all out as she sobbed.
"Are you done?" Chiyomi asked after a while, and Maho answered with a light nod and a sniffle.
"Ye-yeah…" she said softly and let go of Chiyomi's hand, folding her arms around her knees instead. "T-thanks, Anzai… But… but why?"
"You were crying. What was I supposed to do?" she muttered in answer, before sighing and looking over to Maho. "Look… I'm sorry about your dad… and I'm sorry I called him lousy and a deadbeat. You clearly cared for him, and he took care of you when you were down… so obviously he was a great guy…" Her voice hardened slightly, and her tone grew more serious as she continued. "But that doesn't mean what you did was OK."
"I know…" Maho answered solemnly. "I'm sorry…"
"You should have told me. You should have talked to me. You should have let me know how you were doing. You should have told me what you were gonna do and where you were going." Chiyomi sighed, and drew her own knees up much like Maho's. "And if you can't do that… If I'm not important enough to let know what's going on in there… then…" she sighed again, and looked away, "I don't know… it just tells me that you don't think of me the way I do of you…"
"Anzai, you know that isn't true," Maho said and looked up. "Please, I lo-"
"Don't." She didn't look back at Maho as she interrupted. She just cut her off, and continued to stare into the distance. "Please… Don't say it. Not when I don't know if I can say it back…" The tone of her voice had changed. It was much calmer, more sad and solemn than angry and annoyed.
"Sorry… I… I shouldn't have said anything… I should have just kept quiet." Maho bowed her head once more, as the words that had, until now, been catching in her throat began to struggle in their impromptu race to get out. "I let you down, and made you feel horrible, and you probably hate me, and I just screwed up, just like I screw everything up. I yelled at dad before he died, and I didn't save Emi in time, and I made Koume hate me, and I led Miho all the way into mother's hands, and I-"
She was cut off by a sudden light knock on the top of her head.
"Cut that out," Chiyomi muttered, and shook her open hand a few times. "Or I'm going to have to spend the evening knocking some sense back into your thick skull." A hint of annoyance once again entered Chiyomi's voice, and for the first time since sitting down beside her, she looked Maho right in the eye. "It wasn't your fault that the tank went in the river. It wasn't your fault that she's in a coma. It wasn't your fault that your dad died. OK? You need to stop thinking literally everything is in your control, cause it isn't. Sometimes things go wrong, and that just sucks. So accept that those things weren't your fault, and instead try and focus on what you actually can control. Alright?"
Maho wiped her tears, and nodded.
"Life isn't war. How many times do I need to tell you?"
"Sorry…" She mumbled, and leaned back against the wall behind them. "I guess I just like the way you say it," she said with a light smile. "But yeah… you're right… I was awful. I should have told you. I should have talked to you. I shouldn't have avoided you. I was awful, and you have every right to be angry with me over it, and I'm Sorry…"
At first, Chiyomi didn't say anything, just staring off towards the horizon. "Thank you…"
"You changed your hair…" Maho noted after a while, when the silence became too much to bear.
"So what?"
"Nothing… I really liked your braid, but the drills fit you as well. But… why did you get rid of the glasses?"
"Because," Chiyomi snapped. "I'm the duce of Anzio. I can't be going around looking like some dweeb."
"That's too bad… They looked really cute on you…"
Chiyomi didn't answer, but when Maho glanced over, she could just make out a hint of red on her cheeks as she looked away.
"I… I like the jacket…" she said after a while. "It… It looks good on you. The darker ones you had at Kuromorimine were never your style..."
"Thanks… My... my crew made it for me…"
They didn't say anything else for a while, until Chiyomi rose from the ground and stepped out of the shadow of the stands. "Come on," she said and turned around, reaching out a hand towards Maho. "We should get back to the dinner. If you still want a shot at some of my tortelloni, that is," she added with a smile.
At first, Maho didn't stir, instead just looking up at Chiyomi and the light of the sunset behind her. And for a fleeting moment, she felt all warm inside, unable to think.
"You coming, or what?"
Maho smiled, and took Chiyomi's hand. "Yeah… I'm coming."
She pushed herself up while Chiyomi helped act as a counterbalance. She got back to her feet, and was just about to let go of her hand, when Chiyomi gave her arm a firm tug, pulling her into the light of the setting sun and her tight embrace.
"You fought really well today, Maho," she said softly, her lips only centimeters from Maho's ear. "I really thought this was going to be Anzio's year. But, well... if I had to lose to anyone… I'm glad it was you. You deserve the win."
"Thank you, Anzai…" Maho replied, and now that her momentary shock at the hug had died down, closed her eyes and answered the embrace as well.
"Chiyomi… My name's Chiyomi, remember?" Maho didn't need to see the smile on her lips. It was obvious from her voice.
"Right… Chiyomi…" Maho whispered. "Thank you, Chiyomi. And I'm sorry. I should have been better. You deserve better."
"Maybe… Still… I'm happy to still have you around..." She tightened the hug into a squeeze, before stepping back and taking Maho's hand. "I'll be cheering you on, all the way to the finals. If anyone can do this, it's you."
"Uhhhh…" The two of them quickly let go of one another's hand, and as maho turned around to follow Chiyomi's blank stare, she saw Caesar standing a few paces away. Caesar, and beside her, holding the loader's hand and sharing her long red scarf, the blonde girl who had visited the camp before the match. "H-hello… Commander…" Caesar said with an awkward expression.
"Carpaccio…" Chiyomi said shortly, taking a step away from Maho. "I… I thought you were at the dinner…"
"I… uhh… Well… I was…" Carpaccio answered, her tone adding to the already awkward atmosphere. "But… well… uhm… Pepperoni seemed to have everything under control… so… well… I just… I just thought…"
"We were just talking!" Caesar interjected, her lie not having been more obvious if she had announced it beforehand. "We… uhh… just wanted to catch up… talk about the old days…"
"I… I see…" Chiyomi noted. By this point both her and Maho had spotted a few of the red marks on both the girls' necks not covered by the scarf.
"B-but… well… I… I guess I'll get back then…" Carpaccio said, and hastily unwrapped Caesar's scarf from her neck, folding the collar of her jacket up to cover the numerous marks now left revealed. "Uhm… B-bye, Taka… I… I'll see you later…"
"Uh… y-yeah…" Caesar stammered while she adjusted her scarf. "S-see you later, Hina…"
The air grew silent as Carpaccio nodded to Chiyomi and sprinted away in the direction of the celebrations, with Caesar following her with her eyes.
"So…" Chiyomi said after a few moments, "I guess I should head back too." She walked a few steps away, before turning and giving a light bow to Maho. "It was good to talk with you, Commander Nishizumi. Again, congratulations on a match well fought."
"Yeah…" Maho answered, still slightly shocked by Caesar and Carpaccio's stumbling upon them. "The… the same to you, Commander Anchovy…"
"Co-commander…" Caesar stuttered, and turned back to Maho. "I… I didn't mean to… I mean… we… we were-"
"It's too bad there's so many mosquitoes in the summer…"
"-we were just… Commander? What… what do you-"
"Lots of bugbites, no?" Maho reiterated, giving a pointed glance to Caesar's neck. "You should get some salve on that when we get back to the Zuikaku." She started walking, passing Caesar by without another word. But after another few paces, she stopped, and without turning added "And correct your jacket. Just because the match is over there's no excuse for you not being able to button a tank jacket properly."
"O-oh, y-yes, Commander!"
"Maho!" Saori exclaimed as she approached the table where the rest of Phoenix team were seated. "You made it!"
She scooched over a bit on the bench, with Hana doing the same to leave room enough for Maho to sit down between them. Maho paused for a moment, hesitantly looking for any other opening around the table, but ultimately she gave in and took the seat offered to her.
"Yeah…" she said in a low voice as she sat down. "The medic just had to run some more tests, but I'm fine it seems."
"Commander Nishizumi," a girl in an Anzio uniform said, and leaned in between Maho and Saori. "Our illustrious duce asked that we make sure you got something to eat." She put a plate down in front of Maho, a reddish brown ragu taking center stage with a familiar salad placed neatly beside it, and a small pile of Chiyomi's homemade tortelloni mirroring the salad's position.
"Th-... thanks…" Maho mumbled, and glanced up from the plate. Looking across the many tables, she could see Chiyomi standing by a stove handling some sort of sauce. After a moment, she looked up and met Maho's eyes, shrugging with an innocent smile.
"Now you're just trying to make me feel guilty…" Maho mumbled under her breath, and smiled as she took a bite of the food.
"What? Did you say something?" Saori asked.
"No, it's… it's nothing…" Maho answered. "I'm just… just happy to get some food…"
"Did the commander of Anzio ever find you?" Hana asked after a few seconds.
Maho almost choked on the food in her mouth, and at first could only give wheezing coughs in reply.
"Y-yeah… cough… she… she did… we uhh… we just talked a bit on the way here…" She hit herself in the chest a few times to clear her throat. "W-why… why do you ask?"
"Well, it kinda sounded like it was important when she came by and asked for you, so, you know, we were just curious," Saori said. "But like, what is the deal with you two?"
"It's nothing," Maho said shortly. "We just knew each other a long time ago. Nothing else."
"Yeah, you said that, but I mean, in what way though? Are we talking childhood friends, old classmates, is there some sort of family rivalry going on, oh, or are you two dating?! Yeah, maybe that's it, like, did you have butterflies in your stomach the first time you met, and after years together something happened to drive you two apart, and now you meet again like enemies, and-"
"Saori," Maho interjected sharply, and put a closed fist down on the table. "It. Was. Nothing. OK?"
"Oh…" Saori said in a low voice and looked around, only now realizing that the reach of her voice was not exclusive to only the rest of the people around the table, and that there were in fact a number of girls from both teams, even a judge or two, looking with intrigue and excitement towards her and the rest of their table. "Y-yeah… right… It was nothing… got it…" she said meekly, and shrunk down with her cheeks turning crimson. "Sorry…"
"Alright, everything's secured."
The call was repeated several times, as the various officials responsible for making sure all the tanks were properly secured on the train confirmed the status of their work.
"And everyone is either on the train, or right here and accounted for…" Yuzu said as she double checked the list on her clipboard. "Wait…" she said cautiously and looked around. "Where's Captain Chono?"
"I don't see her…" Yukari said, the conclusion being confirmed by the collective hum of Phoenix and Turtle teams.
"I think I know where she is," Maho said after a moment, and sighed. "I'll… I'll go fetch her."
"Alright, but don't take too long," Yuzu noted. "The train leaves in ten minutes. Whether you're on it or not."
"Got it," Maho answered shortly, and sprinted off along the platform.
"It's probably best if the rest of you board in the meantime," Yuzu said to the rest of Phoenix team, and checked each of them off on her list as they walked past her and onto the train. Anzu had already boarded in the confusion, leaving herself and Momo alone on the platform. "Momo? You coming?"
"Yeah…" Momo mumbled, staring down at her phone. "You go ahead," she said as she typed away at something. "I'll be right there."
Yuzu looked at her for a moment, before shrugging and getting on the train herself.
Momo hit send on the email she had been typing out, and a few moments later, her phone buzzed with a reply.
We have a deal. -
Seeing the four lone words on her screen, she smirked to herself. It had taken over a month, but finally, she could see light at the end of the tunnel. All her hard work would finally pay off.
Maho drew a few deep breaths, and steeled herself, before rounding the corner.
"Oh, Miss Nishizumi!" Colonel Romi Anzai greeted with a smile, and waved her over. Sitting on a bench nearby was Chiyomi, and talking with the Colonel was Ami. just like Maho had assumed-
"Ah… Colonel…" Maho said, and walked over, bowing to the woman, and nodding to Ami and Chiyomi both. "How good to see you."
"The same to you. It's good to see you are well. Especially after last year. I do hope things didn't go as badly as the rumours say?"
"The driver is still in a coma, last I heard…" Maho said in a low voice, and looked down. "Everyone else on the crew got away with only scratches, however…"
"Oh dear…" Colonel Anzai said, her face growing darker from the news, before placing a hand on Maho's shoulder. "And what about you? I must admit, I was surprised to see you in command of such a… different… team than Kuromorimine, but you fought well. A splendid match if ever I saw one, and you and your team are most deserved of the win."
"I'm… I'm fine…" Maho answered. "Things have been… complicated since last year… But thank you for asking." She turned to look at Ami. "Captain, the train is leaving soon, and we should really be onboard when it does."
Ami looked down at her watch, and nodded. "You're right, Maho," she said in a light panic, and saluted the colonel. "Ma'am."
"Captain," Colonel Anzai saluted back, before reaching out a hand, which Ami shook with a smile. She then offered it to Maho, who shook it as well.
"Best of luck to you, Maho. Chiyomi and I will be cheering you and Ooarai on for as long as you stay in the tournament."
"Thank you, Colonel," Maho answered, and bowed to her. "It was good to see you again. She glanced over at Chiyomi, who nodded and gave a quick wave, before turning to sprint back to the platform with Ami.
"Ohmygod you guys! We're going to the semifinals!" Saori said with glee as the train made its way along the coast. "That's when the audience really starts to pick up, isn't it?"
"Well, I mean… kinda?" Yukari answered. "People like me tend to watch the entire season, or at the very least follow their favorite team. But the finals is really the only match that tends to draw any really big audiences." Seeing Saori slump dejectedly back into her seat, she quickly added "B-but there's usually a number of people who start to watch already at the semis."
"Awesome!" Saori replied, her cheerful vigor restored. "The bigger the audience, the more boys that are watching. The more boys that watch, the more fans we'll get. The more fans we have, the more fan mail I'll receive, and the more fan mail I get, the better my odds for finding a boyfriend!"
Yukari looked like she was about to protest Saori's logic, but Maho just gave her a quick look and shake of her head to silence her. Letting Saori run wild with her delusions seemed the less painful option for now.
"Hey, wait a minute…" Saemonza said on the other side of the aisle, and gave Caesar an inquisitive look. "Well, well, well…" she added with a smirk as she tugged at her friend's scarf. "What have we here?"
"It's nothing," Caesar snapped, and brushed Saemonza's hand away.
"Oh that is not nothing," Saemonza teased.
"What's the matter?" Erwin asked, looking up from the small game of cards her and Oryou were playing on the table between them.
"I think our little Caesar's growing up," Saemonza answered with a delighted grin.
"Just shut up," Caesar mumbled, and turned away from the StuG's gunner with a hmph.
"I knew you and that Anzio girl were close, but this… this is something else entirely…" Saemonza tugged at the undefended end of Caesar's scarf, unraveling it and revealing the numerous hickeys spread around her neck. "Did you and Cleopatra have some quality time together, eh?" She playfully jabbed her elbow in Caesar's side, and her delighted grin somehow grew even wider.
"Wait, you did what?!"
By this point, the commotion had reached further than the History club's little section, and Aya's head popped curiously up from the next row of chairs.
"I-it's... I… I mean… just… just leave me alone!" Caesar stammered back in meek reply, and grabbed for her scarf back from Saemonza. "G-give me that back! It's none of your business! Also, Cleopatra was Greek, not Italian!"
"Caesar and Hina, sitting in a tree," Saemonza started to sing, making sure to keep the red scarf out of Caesar's reach. "K-I-S-S-I-N-"
"Just cut it out," Saori interrupted, and in a swift series of movements snatched the scarf from Saemonza, gave her a quick knock over the head, returned the scarf to Caesar, and sat down opposite her. "This is a team. You're on the same crew, and you shouldn't bully one another! If she wants to keep it to herself, then let her."
Maho would have been lying if she said she wasn't impressed by Saori's swift handling of the situation, but as she so often did, Saori's next words proved her a hypocrite.
"So, like, what's the story between you two? And when did all of this happen?" she asked with inquisitive glee shining brightly in her eyes."
"E-ehhh… w-well… uhm… I-I mean…" Caesar stammered more from shock than defensiveness, about as taken back by Saori's immediate change of tone and sentiment as any sensible person would be.
"Was this when you said you had to go back to the StuG and get your phone?" Erwin asked calmly, trying her best to lower the tension of the cart and to put her friend at ease. "Your friend left the dinner around the same time didn't she?"
"And then she came back just before you did!" Aya piped in, her excitement at the prospect of the talk of romance far overtaking any sense of security Erwin could provide.
"Yeah, was…" Saori started out, taking full lead in the inquisition that had formed around Caesar, before letting her voice die down and turning to Maho. "Hang on… Didn't you and Anzio's commander show up at about the same time?"
Maho froze for a moment, and felt a chill run down her spine. A million explanations flashed in her mind, but she couldn't think of a single one that would satiate the appetites of the interrogation squad on the opposite end of the aisle.
"H-huh? No… I… I mean…"
"The commanders were discussing the battle," Caesar cut in, and met Maho's eye. "They just wanted to analyze some of the maneuvers used in the match before parting. Me and Hina we… we just kinda… we just kinda ran into them when we were going back…"
Maho had never experienced invisibility. Nor had she ever considered what it would be like to vanish from the world in a moment. But she felt pretty certain that this was what it would feel like if it ever happened to her. From the moment Caesar opened her mouth and interrupted her, Maho seemed to vanish from not only the consciousness of her teammates, but the world itself, turning invisible and forgotten as every set of eyes in the commotion turned once more to face Caesar, and drown her in an overpowering bombardment of questions.
"Alright, that's all of them," Maho said and nodded to Nakajima. "How long until their back in action?" She had made her own small inspection after the battle, and while none of the tanks seemed to have any massive damage, there was always the possibility that something unseen had broken and would render the tank useless for weeks and weeks. A delay Ooarai had no possibility of working around.
"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything overly wrong anywhere, no roadwheels blown off or snapped tracks, no bent barrels or burnt-out engines, so we should probably have them up and running again in a few days, friday at the latest, but probably sooner, say, congratulations on the victory by the way, Commander," Nakajima answered at her usual speed. Maho still didn't have quite a good enough grasp on the mechanic's motormouth rambling to catch everything, but knowing that the tanks would be back in action before the next weekend was good enough.
"Thanks," she answered shortly, and gave a short nod. Nakajima returned the gesture, and banged on the roof of the truck her and her companions used to get the five tanks back to the garage. The truck's engine spluttered to life, and the tanks slowly began to roll away towards the school and the tank garage.
"Alright," Maho said as she turned to the rest of the team, catching the occasional yawn among them, which was understandable. They had disembarked for the battle at seven this morning, and by now the moon was already high in the sky above them. Some of the team had managed to get some sleep on the train back, but not all had been so lucky.
"Well done today, everyone," she continued. "I know it's been a long day for everyone, so make sure to go home and get some sleep. We'll be having apost-match evaluation in the garage at 10 tomorrow morning, so make sure you're not late. Again, thank you all, well done, and I'll see you all tomorrow."
"Thank you, Commander," came the collective exhausted reply, as the score of girls slowly and lazily started to walk back towards their dorms and apartments.
"Caesar," Maho called out, and sprinted a few steps to catch Hippo team before they left. "Could I borrow you for a minute?"
"Huh? Uhh.. y-yeah… sure…" She answered after a quick confused look towards Maho and then her teammates. "You go ahead. I won't be long."
Her three friends said goodbye to Caesar and nodded to Maho, before turning and walking away towards their house.
"Is… is something the matter, Commander?" Caesar asked with a hint of nervousness. "Have… have I done something wrong?"
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I… I'm sorry?"
"On the train," Maho clarified. "They were all out for blood, and didn't care whose it was. If you had just left me hanging, or worse, told them what you saw, they would have forgotten about you and your friend just as quickly as they forgot about me and Chiyomi. So again; Why didn't you say anything?"
"Oh…" Caesar said, her nervousness replaced by understanding. "I… well… I mean… I didn't see the point."
"You'd have been left alone," Maho noted. "Sell me out to get away scot-free yourself. Isn't that reason enough?"
"No… no, it isn't. They already figured out what was up between me and Hina, so what's the point of ruining whatever you and Anzio's commander had? Besides, even if I had told the truth, what could I have said? That I saw you two hug? Congratulating each other on the battle? That's not really something worth mentioning, is it? And besides," she added, and straightened her posture a bit. "It would have been a shitty thing to do, Commander. It would have been a shitty thing to do to anyone, and even shittier if I did it to a teammate."
"Huh…" Maho simply looked in disbelief at Caesar for a moment. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it…" She was confused. In the moment, she had been convinced that Caesar held some ulterior motive to her lie, only she couldn't tell what. Why else would she cover for Maho the way she did? But looking at the girl now, she couldn't make out any hint of deception, no signs of treachery or ulterior motive.
This, if anything, only confused Maho further. She had slowly begun to accept that such innocence and devotion to others existed in Koume, Emi, Chiyomi, and her fellow crew of the Panzer IV, but a part of her was still convinced that they were the exception rather than the rule.
"Was… was there anything else, Commander?" Caesar asked.
"No… I… I guess there wasn't…" Maho answered, and glanced up at the stars above.
"Well… good… goodnight then," Caesar said, and prepared to leave. "Well done in the battle today, Prometheus," she said, bowed, and turned.
"Prometheus?" Maho asked, now letting all pretense fall away, and letting her confusion shine through.
"Oh," Caesar said, and turned back to face Maho. "I… I mean… I just thought that… It's a soulname. Me, Erwin, Oryou, Saemonza, and Guderian all have them, so I just…"
"Guderian?"
"Right… I mean… Yukari," Caesar explained. "I guess she didn't like hers at first either… How… how about Janus then?"
"Janus, huh?" Maho noted, raised her eyebrow, and thought about it for a moment. "Yeah… That's fair enough, I suppose," she said with a light chuckle.
Next time on Dein Weg ist Mein Weg: A new crew and tank are found, Maho has another heart-to-heart, and two meetings with implications for the semis take place
Author's Notes:
A slightly shorter chapter this week, but it has a lot of content in my opinion. Yes, as many of you had guessed, Maho and Chiyomi were in a relationship before her disappearance, and Chiyomi was the fabled "her". Writing their conversation for this chapter was probably one of the biggest challenges yet, since I wanted them to actually be able to resolve their issues, while also making sure that Maho wasn't simply forgiven for her actions, and that they didn't just magically get back together again. A balance I at least hope I managed to get across properly.
Other than that, there wasn't too much that happened this chapter, apart from Caesar and Carpaccio's "friendship" becoming less of a secret and more common knowledge. Originally I actually planned for the rest of the team to be left in the dark about their escapade, and for Saori to just ask Caesar if she saw anything happen between Maho and Chiyomi, but I figured that making sure that Caesar had nothing to lose by revealing what she saw made it more impactful that she decides not to.
Having Maho gain a soulname from the history buffs have also been something I've been planning for a long time, and while I was bouncing back and forth between Prometheus and Janus, thinking that Caesar might have a bit of interest in ancient Greece as well, I ultimately went with Janus, but in a nod to how Yukari rejects the name Montgomery, got to use Prometheus as well. Which was all very fun.
Other than that, there wasn't much happening in this chapter, with just some small stuff at Anzio's dinner, a small appearance from Anchovy's mother, and some more development of Momo's mischievous machinations. In fact, I deliberately decided to make this chapter a rather simple one, since there has been quite a few large cliffhangers in the past few ones, so I wanted to make sure that this one ended on pretty simple and stable ground.
Thanks for all your reviews and comments as always, and if you have the time and energy, please leave one for this chapter as well, as it always lights up my day and reinvigorates me to write more.
I doubt there's gonna be another chapter out before the end of the month, and if I had to guess, I'd say the next one will probably be out some time around D-day. But of course, no hard promises.
Thank you all for your support, and I will see you guys next time!
Until then, thank you all and much love,
/Rihno