„A snowflake?" Miho asked herself looking at the small white object falling from the sky. Then came another and another. Snow. It's not really usual in Honshu but it was now falling. That winter came with surprisingly big cold to Japan. "Holy God. For how long are we doing this?"
The full scale war has started in mid-September and now here they are, in the first weeks of December, still sitting on the empty and cold countryside.
After Landsknecht has burned up its own training field facilities and blown up the bridge they couldn't push the enemy further, Niigata and Nagaoka stayed confederate cities.
The war was supposed to be end by now. Many girls started to become depressed. They didn't see their homes for nearly three months, they were tired and disinterested in this whole crap. They've just wanted to hug their family again and live their normal lives.
But the students of the federal schools were sitting on fields and in forests near campfires and they were fighting the boy's schools for a reason that became meaningless for them. The war was now a deadlock. None of the sides could deliver a deadly strike on the other.
Moral was much better on the boys' side. After all they could defend their sovereignty and most of their territories. However they were exhausted too even if they were still dedicated to their cause.
In fact the primary enemy was the weather for both the federal and the confederate army. In the south there were heavy rains daily and the fields and defensive anti-tank trenches turned into a sea of mud. In the north where Miho and her friends were snow started to fall and the cold stormy wind almost froze them sometimes.
As time went on the boys and girls who were fighting instead of sitting in comfortable, warm rooms started to feel respect for each other for the others' endurance. They all wanted a fair warfare. Not everywhere but around December little, unofficial armistices happened every day. The armies ate lunch at the same time, which became a daily ceasefire. As they became accustomed to the stress of fight they've learned that looking the other way now and then could bring a small amount of peace to their lives. Patrols frequently ignored each other. The tank commanders were standing in their turrets and just staring at the other then they went on their ways.
As the days went on many of the soldiers had to face another sad fact: they wouldn't be home at Christmas. In Japan they didn't really experience the religious part of it some of them didn't even celebrate, but most of them have known that it is the feast of love and piece. And these two things were now missing from their lives.
As a Christian, it was more painful for Kiyoshi that he wouldn't be with his family on Holy Night. He couldn't help but think about his mother, father and grandparents. He could understand what the soldiers in Europe felt on Christmas Eve 1914. The Christmas Truce. It was such a beautiful thing in the horrors of trench warfare.
Knowing that this could be hard for many, the Sensha-Do commanders tried to bring a little holiday to their comrades. Two days earlier Kiyoshi visited Niigata and got some packs of candles so they can make a bit warmer atmosphere with them.
Miho's POV
Miho was walking alongside a long heap of earth which was made by them for cover. The tanks were lined up behind it. Most of the crews were repairing their tanks or just sitting covered with military blankets.
That day the nature brought a gift for both sides. The temperature fell down and the mud caused by the sleet froze. Snow dusted the countryside and the grey clouds flew away revealing the sparkling blue of the sky. There weren't big fightings in the last few days and also that morning only a few firefights occurred. Than in the afternoon the gunfire dwindled and in some sectors it stopped entirely. The weather just seemed too nice for it.
"Are you alright Nishizumi-san?" Yuzu asked.
"More or less Koyama-san." Miho replied with a faint smile. "Can you tell me, what the date is?"
"It's 24th December."
"I see." Miho nodded.
"Do you celebrate it commander?"
"The first time I really celebrated Christmas was last year in Oarai with you guys."
"Oarai." Yuzu lowered her head. "I wonder how our home is doing."
"I'm sure everything is alright there."
Suddenly Yuzu looked around.
"Did you hear this commander?"
"What?"
"I think I've heard someone shouting from the distance."
"Hey girls! Hey!" They've heard from a few hundred meters.
"Was that… was that the enemy?" Yuzu asked confused.
"Girls! Are you there?" It was definitely a male voice.
Miho and Yuzu put their head out a little bit so they could see over the heap.
"Do you hear me?" the voice asked again. Now more girls started to gather there.
"What do you want?" Miho shouted back.
"Listen! If you don't shoot tonight and tomorrow we won't shoot either, we promise!"
"Should we believe them?" Yuzu whispered to Miho. The commander was visibly thinking.
"To be honest I'd really like to Koyama-san."
"Why?"
"They offered a little piece. I want to believe that they trust us. So I want to trust them too."
"I hope you know what you're doing commander."
"I hope too. Go and tell the other commanders that we cease fire for the next two days."
After this Miho ordered the troops to take a rest. She left a few watches out in case the boys change their mind and attack. But nothing happened, the guns remained silent.
Later tracks arrived, one to each front. The instructors of the JSF offered the families of the girls that if they want to send Christmas gifts to their daughters they'll take it to them. On the other side of the lines the secretaries of the student councils took the same role.
Needless to say, this cheered up the girls very much. Mostly they've got sweets, cakes and warm clothing. Even Miho could be happy. Much to her surprise her mother sent her some bars of chocolate with a card saying: Merry Christmas and good luck. Mother.
Even though she was no longer a member of the JSF Ami Chonou visited the girls near Niigata too. She made just a quick visit; she only wanted to see if everyone is alright. It was painful for her to see what happened with the sport she dedicated herself to.
The girls sat down and started to chat and have a little fun together.
Kiyoshi's POV
Kiyoshi sat in the anti-tank trench like most of his comrades, his breath visible in the air. He held a box received from home. He opened it and he smiled when he found a beautiful fruit cake in it. The letter on it said: "To dear Kiyoshi with love, wishing Merry Christmas and for your early return! Your Mother."
His father sent him a warm, red scarf.
"Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad." thought Kiyoshi.
The sun started to disappear on the western horizon. Kiyoshi stood up took a candle and lighted it.
"Let me help you Kommandant." said Aoto, Landsknecht's vice-commander. One by one more and more boys took a candle lighted it and they placed them on the trench parapet.
Miho's POV
"Commander! There is something strange on the other side!" Isobe said to Miho when she noticed the lines of lights along the enemy trench. Miho run there and took a binocular. She could see the small, vibrating lights between the trees.
"I don't like this Nishizumi-san." said Isobe. "I suspect an attack.
But as she said this they've heard an ethereal sound drifting across no man's land. It was singing brought by the wind.
Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh.
The girls of Oarai, Pravda, Maple and Viking changed looks. They were listening to their enemy singing the well-known Austrian Christmas carol. When the song ended they've heard the boys applauding each other.
The confederates continued with other carols like the Herbei oh ihr Gläubigen, the Lass es schneien or the Oh Tannenbaum.
Suddenly a few girls started to sing too. Over there the boys started to listen to them as they continued singing as well. The sides went back and forth but then the competition merged into a harmony. Time after time both the boys and the girls applauded each other's performance.
When the sides went silent a Landsknecht student shouted over to the federals.
"Good evening girls! Frohe Weinachten to all of you!"
"You too!" a girls from Viking shouted back.
They didn't know but the same thing was happening up and down the entire front, also between Stromboli, Bonple and Jatkosota.
The combatants shouted Christmas greetings or praises to each other like: "Have a nice evening!" or "You know how to fight!" or "When this shit is over gather together for another Christmas!".
And this wasn't happening between the I. Honshu Battalion and the federal army group of northern Honshu.
The II. Honshu Battalion, Szent István and Sherlock Holmes shared greetings with Chi-Ha-Tan, Anzio and St. Gloriana too between Shizuoka and Nagoya.
Uluru and Koala did the same.
The only exception was Kyushu. Saunders but mostly Kuromorimine wasn't very inclined for these things. Yet they agreed to cease fire for a short period of time but there wasn't too much fraternization.
Kiyoshi felt sorry for the boys of Mannerheim up in Hokkaido. They were totally alone like the guys of Conquistador in Shikoku.
That night the Sensha-Do troops all over Japan slept in sublime quiet.
Next morning
Christmas Day dawned, cold and bright.
To their shock Miho and her friends saw boys in Landsknecht's black uniform emerging from the woods. They stopped on the other side of the snowy glade. At first they were watching the girls who were putting out their heads from behind the heap. Then they started to wave.
"Don't shoot!" they shouted.
"Come over here!"
The girls didn't know what should they react.
"Come over YOU here!" a Pravda girls shouted back.
This went on for one or two minutes, they were calling each other. Then, one by one both of them started to approach the other. It was strange for both the girls and the boys to see the enemy who was fighting them from a distance face to face now.
When they reached the middle they stopped and observed each other for a long time without saying a word.
Then finally Kiyoshi stepped forward before Miho and he saluted her. She returned the gesture. Then the Confederacy's commanding general offered his hand. Miho took it and they shook hands with respect.
"Nishizumi Miho if I'm not wrong." said Kiyoshi.
"Yes. And you are Hasegawa Kiyoshi." Miho replied.
"Correct."
Kiyoshi had to admit that this was a real Christmas miracle. The federal and confederate uniforms were now mixed on a snowy glade and the enemy soldiers were chatting with each other. They had to realize something: they didn't hate the other. It turned out that both of them respected the other side for their magnificent battle performances.
Kiyoshi and Miho were sitting together on a fallen tree a bit separated from the others.
"What would you do now if you were home Hasegawa-san?" Miho asked.
"Well." started Kiyoshi. "In the afternoon of 24th we decorate the Christmas tree. About evening my grandparents come over and we sit down to eat the celebration dinner. My mom always cooks great fish soup and roasts beef. My grandmother brings self-baked cakes, Vanilienkipfel, donuts or beiglis. And after dinner we lit the candles on the tree and share gifts. Then in the morning we go to the Christmas mass."
"Mass?" Miho asked.
"Yes, I'm a catholic."
"Really? And what it's like?"
"Not stranger than being a Shintoist. I'm sure my parents are in the church in this minute."
"All of this sounds nicely." Miho commented. "I've never had a Christmas like this." she said in a more sad voice.
"I see." Kiyoshi nodded. He guessed what she was talking about. "And I've never had a Christmas like this."
"Neither I." said Miho.
"But I have to admit: this is one of the most beautiful ones I've ever had. I just wish I could be with my family."
After a few seconds he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Miho, looking at him kindly.
"I wish it too Kiyoshi-san. I wish it too."
"Thank you." he smiled at her.
Niigata
Takako, Kiyoshi's mother was kneeling before the altar in a kimono with Maria on its back. She was praying quietly.
"Please Father! Give peace to everyone and let my son return to me so I can hug him again! He is the most important thing in my life!"
She looked up at the crucifix. On it there was Jesus. A beam of sunlight lit his head. He looked like if he was saying: "Alright, I understand everything. I will intervene."
After this Takako could do nothing more than grab the hand of Kiyoshi's father and go home hoping that they'll hear her prayers in heaven.