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After the sun was setting and the threat of Daulton had taken care of itself the Ooarai girls said goodbye to all their friends.
"Bye everyone," Miho waved.
"We'll see you in your next match with Pravda," Darjeeling shouted as the Ooarai girls drove off.
"Bye," Saori waved.
"See you all next week," Anzu said.
After all the residences of the carrier boarded back on the ship pulled anchor and depart from port.
\One Hour Later/
After dropping off their tanks at the hanger the girls went to relax at the hot springs, relaxing in the steamy waters the Ooarai girls felt their aching joints feel at ease.
"Aaahh... this is bliss," Yukari said sinking deeper beneath the water.
"We so deserve this," Momoga noted.
"I'm just glad that that Daulton guy won't be bothering us again," Oryou said and all agreed.
"I'm still wondering why he just gave up like that, it seems too easy," Miho brought up.
"Oh, don't dwell on it, I'm sure he's given up on that grudge of his..." Saori said otherwise, "You think he's single?"
"Are you serious?" Hana questioned.
"I'm just saying with that attitude he's never gonna get a girl like that," Saori added and all the other girls agreed.
\Night/
It was closing time for the hot springs, so the girls dried themselves off, and set off towards home.
"Goodnight everybody," Miho waved goodbye as she and her friends went separate ways.
The light post lit up the streets as the sun disappeared under the horizon, it was a quiet walk home as only her footsteps echoed through the air, but as she walked down the streets Miho glanced off to the side seeing someone sitting on the steps to a small hill that connected two streets. As Miho got closer she recognized it to be Daulton sitting in the middle of the stairs and she could've swore she heard him breathing though his nose. Looking over his shoulders Miho saw that Daulton was looking down to a photo he held in his hand.
On the picture Miho saw that edges were blacked and burnt, but much was intact, and on the photo Miho saw a younger, Daulton, with a smile that could reach ear-to-ear, and to his side he had his arm wrapped around an older boy's shoulder. Both looked quite happy together, but then Daulton just realized Miho standing over him at the top of the steps. He stands up folding the photo up and stuffing it back into his jacket.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-,"
"No, no I was just resting," Daulton said.
"... In the photo..." Miho spoke up letting her curiosity get the best of her, "... Was that your brother?" she asked.
"... Yeah... he's dead," Daulton told her.
"Oh... I'm sorry," Miho apologized feeling completely rude when asking.
"Don't be," Daulton said, "We're not friends," he told her before walking down the steps leaving her alone in the night.
Miho continued look on at the shrinking sight of Daulton as he was consumed by the night, wondering what she could've done differently, but she can hear Daulton humming softly to himself.
\The Next Morning/
When the sun rose up the Ooarai tankery club went to the hanger, it was a calm and pleasant morning when the girls meet up for practice, but all the girls saw that Automotive Club were the first to arrive however they were all standing in the middle of the doorway.
"Uh... is everything alright girls?" Miho asked.
"The hanger's clean," Tsuchiya replied looking over the whole area.
Miho looked to the inside of the hanger seeing the giant room spotless, the tool boxes kept neatly straight, the oil puddles were scrubbed from the floor, and the engines were repaired.
"Wow, you girls did a great job," Yukari complemented.
"No, that's just it, we didn't have time to clean this up," Hoshino said.
"Yeah, this was a complete mess when we locked up last night," Satoko explained.
This confused Miho as the Automotive Club told her that they had nothing to do with this, while Leopon Team tried to ponder what had happen here in the hanger last night, Miho heard a noise that sounded way out of place around the field. A loud banging sound was heard in the background which caught the others' attention.
"Where's that coming from?" Hana noted.
"It's coming from over here," Yuzu pointed behind the school.
Everyone followed the banging sound, and when coming to the back of the school where the basketball court was the girls were surprised to see Daulton taking free shots at the hoop.
"Oh, hey," Daulton greeted bluntly seeing the girls off to the side.
"What are you doing here?" Anzu question confusingly.
"What does look like I'm doing, this is the only court on this whole carrier," Daulton told them, making a shot through the hoop.
"Did you clean up the hanger last night?" Miho asked.
"Maybe I did maybe I didn't," Daulton responded making another shot clean through the net.
"What made you apologize yesterday?" Miho asked wanting to know his reasoning.
Daulton bounces the ball two times before glancing back to her, he didn't say a word instead he looks back to the hoop, and took another shoot ignoring her question. Seeing that Daulton was avoiding the question Miho looks over to Anzu, and Anzu glances to the Volleyball Team giving them a quick nod, the team nodded back, and so when Daulton made his next shot, Akebi, leaps up to intercept the ball from making it through the hoop. The Volleyball Team circled around Daulton making sure he woundn't go anywhere.
"O.k... o.k, maybe I acted shitty to all of you for the past few weeks, so I broke into your guys' hanger, and cleaned up the place for you," Daulton admitted, "Serious you guys do a shitty job of keeping it clean."
"Hey, it was late," Hoshino tried to defend her and her club.
"A real mechanic would've slept in their garage, and can fix an engine while being drunk off their asses," Daulton argued.
"You've worked on engines?" Suzuki asked.
"Yes, we have to do everything ourselves," Daulton explained.
"Wait, we?" Erwin repeated.
"... I shouldn't have said that," Daulton realised before pushing himself passed the volleyball girls.
"Wait! what were you talking about?" Miho called to him as he walked away.
"None of your freak'n business!" Daulton yelled back walking off the school grounds.
"That guy really changed his tune," Mako commented finding the boy's change in behavior odd.
"Yeah, and if he won't tell us I know someone who will," Miho spoke up.
\Else Where/
Sitting in the Student Councils' office Miho and the rest of the Ooarai team sat in the room with Ami sitting on the couch taking a drink of water, and when she sets the glass down on the table Miho asked her a question.
"Miss. Chono, what do you know about Mr. Daulton?" she asked.
"..." Ami was silent for a moment, but does give her the answer, "Peter 'Gale' Daulton, was a pilot from the States, and one of the best pilots this world has ever seen," and with her response hearing the full name of, Daulton, made Yukari perk up.
"Wait, Peter 'Gale' Daulton?" she repeated, "I head that name before, but where?" she paced back and forth in the room and instead of giving her the answer Ami decided to let Yukari figure it out herself. And she did, it was like a light bulb had just appeared over her head, "I REMEMBER!" she cried out.
"Really?" Saori asked.
"Then tell us," Hana asked.
"I'll do you one better, I'll show you, Miss. Kadotani, can I use your projector?" she asked.
"Go right on ahead," Anzu granted.
With that Yukari pulled out a laptop, hooking it up to the projector, and pointing it off to a clear wall for all to see, with that she typed in the thing she wanted to show everyone. Soon the whole team saw numerous pictures of a small team of six U.S pilots, young boys standing in front of their respected P-51 Mustang, and a title of the word "Overlord" in bold letters imprinted on the photo. Miho and the rest studied the picture and found Daulton standing proud and tall, and next to him Miho spotted his brother on the far right.
At that moment Miho noticed something, each plane had a name tagged to its tail, Whiskey, Tango, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Foxtrot, but Miho saw that it wasn't Daulton standing with the plane named, Foxtrot, he was standing with the plane named, Delta. Someone else was standing with, Foxtrot, and rose a question for Miho.
"Much like, Sensha-Do, there's a sport where boys compete with one another in pre World War One to post World War Two planes," Yukari started to explain, "But in this sport, it's international, boys all over the globe try out, but Team Overlord was the best there is."
"Really? I didn't know such a thing existed," Momo noticed.
"Yeah and-," Saori was about to ask Yukari a question, but she was gone, "Where did, Yukari, go?"
"She ran out the door while you girls weren't looking," Ami told them.
\Daulton/
Leaning back on the chair at the burger place Daulton was relaxing with his feet up on the table and his hand behind his head, with his eyes closed he almost felt like he can take a nap, but when he cracked them open he noticed a little blob. Opening them wide he found Yukari right up in his face.
"You were apart of Team Overlord!" Yukari shouted excitedly into his face.
"HOLY- !" Daulton cried out, being startled by Yukari's sudden presences and the rest of Ooarai team showing up behind her.
"You're, Gale. The Wind of Cold Mountain," Yukari added.
"The Wind?" the other girls said rising a brow.
"Haven't gone by that name in a long time," Daulton said in surprise.
"You're an ace fighter pilot of the United States, one the best. Team Overlord, the team that ruled the skies, what are you doing way over here?" Yukari went on asking.
"... Hate to break it to you, but the band broke up ages ago," Daulton told them with his arms crossed.
"Broke up?" Miho repeated.
"Like a boy or a girl breaking up with their significant other for no good reason?" Saori tried to comprehend.
"What... ?" Daulton said confusingly, "No, I just didn't feel like competing in the sport anymore, I'm tired of things blowing up in my face!"
"You really hate war games, do you?" Caesar commented remembering the second time they met him.
"Yeah, but why?" Yukari asked.
"It's... NONE OF YOUR GOD DAMN BUSINESS!" Daulton snapped, "Look I got my reasons just leave me alone."
The girls were deeply confused by Daulton's nature as he refused to open up to them, but they assume they can't push themselves onto him to know why.
"C'mon, everyone, we have a match to train for," Miho reminded guiding everyone back to school.
