Part II: Reunion

"ROSELLE!"

Before Roselle could recognize the pink blur approaching her, she was glomped down to the floor as Rosehip hugged her into a tight embrace.

"Bloody muppet! Unha-" The former crusader driver tried to break free from her twin sister from another mother, but Rosehip just wouldn't budge. Instead, she continued to rub her cheeks with hers like a cat greeting another cat.

"I missed you, Elle!" Rosehip squealed. "I missed you so much!"

For a full minute, the pink-haired F1 mechanic continued to hug her former driver until Roselle finally stopped resisting.

"Alright, alright!" Roselle patted her on the back, her lips forming into a wide grin. "I miss you too, Hip."

For a minute more, the two best friends hugged each other on the floor. They have not seen each other since the start of the pandemic.

In fact, the last time they met was on Christmas eve of 2019. Roselle invited Rosehip to her apartment for dinner as a farewell send-off before the F1 mechanic departed for Australia the next day. Both thought they would just see each other back, along with Rosemallow and Rosemary, for their grand reunion. Rosehip promised to return to Japan sometime after March at the end of the Australian F1 Grand Prix.

They never thought it would take two years before they could ever see each other again.

"Alright, alright, that's enough," Rosemallow intervened. She helped Rosehip back to her feet while Rosemary did the same for Roselle. She then dusted off the dirt from her former commander's shirt as her team-mom instincts kicked in. "Any more than that, and people here might think we're hosting a mini-UFC fight."

"If we are, can I be the one to take everybody's bet?" Rosemary asked nonchalantly.

"Hey, don't you joke around with that, Ari," Rosemalow warned. "I don't want you to end up like Rukuriri-san back in the day."

Rosemary's brows furrowed in confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You don't know the Gloriana Bobbies called out your old crush for hosting an illegal gambling racket?"

The former crusader gunner didn't respond but continued to stare at Rosemallow as if she had grown another head.

"Huh." Rosemallow placed her palm on her face. "So you really didn't know?"

Rosemary shook her head.

"This is real news to me."

"Well, you still remember how Ruki was always our go-to girl when it comes to betting, yeah?" Roselle interjected as she returned to her seat. "Like, remember when Jasmine-senpai tried to challenge Orange Pekoe-san to a fight for the position of Overall Commander after Darjeeling-sama graduated?"

"Oh, I remember that match," Rosehip chimed in. "Pekoe-chan could be merciless and sadistic sometimes."

"Yeah, I remember that," Rosemary answered. "It was not a pretty sight."

"Well, with Ruki being Ruki, she started taking bets on the side from the huge spectators that had gathered for the tank duel," Rosemallow explained. "But the greedy sod got carried away, and she also took bets from non-students who had come to watch."

"And guess who was in the stands to watch the duel?" Rosehip asked.

"Who?" Rose replied.

"Jasmine-senpai's mom, who happens to be an actual police officer from the Ark Royal police department." Roselle laughed. "Jasmine-senpai's mom took her into the police station, where they questioned her for the night."

"What?!" Rosemary gasped. "Okay, this is definitely news to me. How come I'm only hearing this now?"

"Because you were so head over heels for Ruki," Rosemallow chuckled. "Seriously, you even styled your hair to match hers."

"I…" the former gunner's cheek started to blush furiously. "That's old news. I'm over it now."

"We know," Rosemallow agreed. "But back then, you just wanted to see the elegant side of Rukuriri-san and not the fact that she was much of a delinquent as we were."

"Alright, fine!" Rosemary sighed. "You're right. I was too blinded back then, but what does that have to do with me making a betting joke? Why make so much a fuzz out of it?"

"Because she was still a minor back then, you git," Rosemallow replied. "We were all still minors back then. Do that crap now, and you might not just end up in a Bobby's cell for a night."

"Yeah, we did a lot of bad stuff back then," Rosehip chimed in, switching the topic slightly. "Let's see, gambling, illegal racing, cutting classes, underage drinking… It's still a wonder to me how we never got expelled."

"Don't forget we even did unsanctioned mods on our tank, and we still didn't get the boot," Roselle laughed. "And not only that, we still graduated as full-fledged Glorianians!"

"And to think you got bloody hammered on that Irish-themed school we visited. You should have been expelled on the spot!" Rosemallow smirked. "What was the name of that school again?"

"Shamstone? Shamson? Shampoo?" Rosehip asked, looking at her former crewmates for answers. "I forgot."

"Hey, don't look at me," Rosemary shrugged. "I wasn't with you lots when you went to that Sham-whatever school."

"Shamrock," Roselle corrected. "That school made me fear anything that's small, green, and moves."

"Well, they were just as wild as we were," Rosehip nodded sagely. "The problem for us, however, is that our school is an incredibly prestigious school for elegant maidens in training, and we're anything but elegant!"

"And now we are all law-abiding citizens," Rosemallow grinned. "Saint Gloriana is definitely proud of us! Well, except for Ari here. She's involved in some online crypto scam and is now broke."

"Hey! Bokocoin is not a scam!" Rosemary protested. "We've been over this. It's just that it's in a multi-year bear cycle and-"

"Yeah, yeah, hold that thought," Rosemallow took out her phone, raising it up in the air as she opened her camera app. "Aight, everyone, it's selfie time!"

The three other members of the Rosebushes leaned closer to the former loader as they all looked toward the camera.

Rosemallow made a quick brush of her orange-colored hair, which she still styled into twin tails, albeit a shorter and more mature version of the one she had in high school.

Roselle also tidied up her chestnut-brown hair, which she no longer bothered to tie into her once signature ponytail.

On the other hand, Rosehip had grown her pink hair way past her shoulders, and she hurriedly tied it into a ponytail, as it was something her Sempai had suggested would look good on her.

The last of the Rosebushes, Rosemary, gave the former loader a dirty look before looking up at the camera. She didn't bother tidying up her reddish-brown hair, as she had already tied it tightly into an elegant chignon.

"So, three, two, one, say cheese!"

All except Rosemary said cheese, and all except her smiled.

"Aww! Even after all these years, you are still a big tsundere, Ari," Rosemallow smirked as she inspected their selfie before uploading it to Instagram.

"Bite me, Mom," Rosemary countered before raising her hand to signal a waiter. "Another round of Holy Ale, please."

A momentary lull of silence descended on their table as everyone started to check on their phones.

After posting their picture on Instagram, Rosemallow then posted it on other social media platforms for her followers to see.

Roselle immediately liked the former loader's Instagram post and was about to type a comment on their picture when she got distracted by other posts on her feed.

Rosemary also started checking on her crypto trading app, and her expression instantly winced at what she saw.

Lastly, Rosehip opened her email app, but saw no new emails from Sempai. She swiped to refresh the app but realized she had not connected to the Black Prince's Wifi router. She could ask her friends for the password but decided it could wait for later.

"So, how are you all doing?" Rosehip asked, trying to start their conversation back. "I mean, it's been so long since we all saw each other."

"Unnecessarily too long if you ask me," Rosemallow grumbled. "And we had to wait two bloody years before this meetup could happen."

"Yeah, the pandemic really messed us all up," Rosemary added.

"So, uh, Elle, how's your dad?" Rosehip turned her attention towards her former driver, her voice softening to convey her concern. "Is he…"

"Oh, Papa's now fine," Roselle smiled while dismissing her concerns with a wave of her hand. "He and Mama are now retired. I made them retire so they could spend more time with themselves."

"So sorry, Roselle, but I'm kind of out of the loop here," Rosemary interjected. She glanced at the former driver before looking down at the floor. "A-As you know, I… I completely shut myself off from everyone for the last two years and… And if it's okay with you, may I ask what happened to your father?"

For what seemed like an incredibly long time, the former driver didn't respond. None of the other two responded, which only made Rosemary shift uncomfortably in her seat.

Then, Roselle laughed.

"Ari, why are you apologizing?" She leaned forward to give the former gunner a mild flick to the forehead. "We've been over this. It's fine. You can ask me anything."

"It's just that…." Rosemary quickly glanced at the other two Rosebushes before looking straight at Roselle. "It's just that I shut myself off to everyone and… and then I just went back online as if nothing happened."

As shared by the former gunner to her former crewmates while waiting for their former commander, the lockdowns, isolation, and constant news of rising deaths and infections all took a toll on her mental well-being.

At first, she was the one who vigorously shared updates about the pandemic in their group chat. She posted which type of masks to use, what hand-sanitizing products to buy, and which medicines were effective or not, but later on, something inside her snapped.

At some point, she could no longer take it.

Sometime after the Japanese government declared a nationwide lockdown, she left their little chat group and then deactivated all her social media accounts.

She had cut all connections except for her immediate family. Yet, simultaneously, she barricaded herself inside her one-bedroom apartment, never even stepping outside like some modern hermit.

It would take two more years before she would reemerge to make amends to the friends she left behind.

"The past two years have been hard for most of us," Roselle's lips formed into a sad smile. "Papa and Mama got hit by the Upsilon variant. Both were hospitalized, but Papa had it worse. Two weeks in the ICU and another two weeks in a hospital bed. It was pretty hard, I can tell you that."

Rosemary grabbed the former driver's hands.

"I should have been there for you," the former gunner lamented, her eyes conveying her feelings of remorse. "I'm really so-"

Roselle pressed her two fingers on the former gunner's lips, sealing whatever sentence she was about to say.

"Ari, this is the second time today that you apologized, and this will be my second time telling you it's fine," she then turned to Rosehip with an irritated look. "And yes, Rosehip, if you were not such a muppet to be so late in joining us, you would have been here to help us console our dear Ari."

"We can't just go on drinking all our sorrows without you in attendance now, eh?" Rosemallow chimed in, showing the pink-haired F1 mechanic a wide grin.

"Yeah, I totally screwed up," Rosehip admitted before turning to face her former gunner. "But Ari, Elle is right. You don't have to be too hard on yourself. I only knew about Kishida-san's hospitalization because Senpai told me. You know, I suck at gadgets and social media apps."

"Alright, alright, I got it," Rosemary squeezed Roselle's hand before letting it go. "Thanks, Elle, but your dad is now well, right?"

"Yep," Roselle leaned back on her seat, suddenly donning a smug expression. "I forced him to retire, and now I have full control over our little shoe factory."

Just then, a petite girl wearing a maid uniform appeared, carrying a tray of extra-large tankards brimming with frothing alcohol.

"Pardon me, madams, here are your Holy Ales."

"Thanks, lass," Rosemallow nodded before giving Roselle and Rosehip a dirty look.

She could hear the two snicker silently while their server, who was definitely a high school part-timer, served all the drinks on her tray.

The server then gave a polite bow before returning to the bar.

"I can hear you two snickering, you little brats," Rosemallow raised an eyebrow but then also started to laugh.

"She called us madams," Roselle giggled while trying to lower her voice so their high school server couldn't hear them. "Love, we're only twenty-six!"

"Twenty-six and still young at heart!" Rosemary joined in. "This stupid pandemic already stole two years from me. I'm not going to lose another two years of absolutely doing nothing!"

"It's not only two years that the pandemic stole from you, aight?" Rosemallow grinned.

"Hush you." The former gunner glowered. "Just you wait until I become a crypto millionaire."

"So uh," Rosehip thought of another topic of conversation. "How's everybody's love li-"

Roselle slammed her hand on the table so hard that it made the pink-haired F1 mechanic jump out of her seat.

The former driver scowled at Rosehip with eyes like daggers before her expression softened to form a smile.

"Now, why would we busy madams want to discuss such a topic with you? You good for nothing, lovebird?"

"Oh, uh, I-" Rosehip gulped as she let out a nervous laugh. She mentally cursed herself for inadvertently stepping on a landmine. "I mean…"

"Yeah, why don't you just stick a knife right into our hearts while you're at it, you wanker?" Rosemallow added, feigning anger. "Better yet, why not tell Senpai you had a blast eating three expired Christmas cakes for snacks?"

"Agreed," Rosemary nodded. Now that the topic had turned toward their commander, she immediately went on the offensive. "Must be nice to gloat at those who have not been in a relationship for the last twenty-six years."

"Hey! I had a boyfriend," Rosemallow clarified as she turned to look at the former gunner with a For-Your-Information look. "And for your information, I am not an NBSB."

"NBSB? What's that?" the former gunner asked.

"No Boyfriend Since Birth," Roselle answered dryly. "And neither am I."

"Alright, fine! Sheesh. Message received," Rosemary threw her hands up in the air before pointing a finger at their former commander. "But we're supposed to be bloody up in arms with this in-a-relationship muppet and not fight between us!"

"Aye, you're right!" Rosemallow smirked before raising her tankard into the air. "How about we toast to Rosehip and Senpai's health?"

Roselle and Rosemary immediately followed suit. They raised their overflowing tankards as they all stared at their former commander with various degrees of menace.

As for Rosehip, she wanted nothing but to crawl under a rock for letting her mouth run off to such a dangerous topic. With no choice on the matter and with her face furiously blushing with embarrassment, she finally raised her tankard.

"To Senpai and this muppet," Rosemallow began. "May both of you have good health, a prestigious career, wealth, and a life dedicated to loving each other until death does you part."

Rosehip blinked. For a moment, she made a double take on what she had just heard. She stared at her former loader and saw no mischievous grin or smirk on her lips. When her brain finally confirmed she correctly heard Rosemallow, her expression softened.

"Aww, thanks, Mal-"

"At the same time," Roselle interjected, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "May Rosehip get explosive diarrhea starting tomorrow."

"Hey!"

Her former crewmates laughed before she too joined in as well.

"Alright, cheers!" Rosehip exclaimed.

"Cheers!"

Their tankards cling and clung while their frothy drinks sloshed and spilled on the table as they toasted. The four then proceeded to drink their Holy Ales as if it was water in an oasis in the middle of a desert.

"Ahh! That hit the spot!" Roselle exclaimed, belching out a long burp.

"Aye, nothing beats drinking alcohol in the middle of the afternoon," Rosemallow chimed.

"I'm totally planning to get drunk before we are out of this pub," Rosemary added before she resumed drinking her tankard.

Just then, the LCD TV plastered on the wall next to them began showing reels of the Queen's funeral procession last month. The TV was tuned in on the BBC, and a news anchor gave a recap of the events, on the who's who that showed up at the funeral, and the final crowd size estimate, as well as the number of viewers who watched the whole event in their homes.

"Wait! Was that… Was that Darjeeling-san?!" Roselle jumped up from her seat so fast that she almost flipped over her drink. The camera panned to show a blonde girl wearing a black dress standing in front of the crowd. "Wait, it is! It is her!"

"And is that…" Rosemallow gasped, mouth wide agape. She then turned to her former commander. "Rosehip, did you see that?!"

"Yeah, Senpai accompanied Darjeeling-san to the funeral procession," Rosehip revealed, her eyes glued to the TV screen. "They were already in London due to their work when the Queen died. Senpai actually showed me this same clip a while back. She said it was only by chance that she and Darjeeling-san were on the front row when the BBC cameraman made their wide-angle shot."

"They really do look like they're British," Rosemary added. "Even though they're both Japanese."

The BBC anchor then showed a montage of the Queen's life from when she was still a princess to her last ever taken picture before she passed away.

The montage first showed archival footage of the Queen during the war. The reporter mentioned that she begged her father, the King, for a chance to serve. So she was assigned to the Women's Auxiliary Tankery Service, where she would be trained as a tank mechanic. Additional reels were then shown of her removing a Crusader's tracks and one where she installed a new wheel to the same tank.

The montage then showed other parts of her life, such as her wedding ceremony, coronation ceremony, a picture of her holding her firstborn child, her royal visit to Australia, and many more. The BBC report then showed an endearing clip of her having tea with Boco the bear, which was first aired on her Platinum Jubilee to much fanfare from Boco fans worldwide.

Finally, the montage ended with the last ever taken photo of the frail white-haired Queen smiling and standing for the camera with a cane in her hand.

"I really thought she would be the Queen forever," Rosemallow remarked. "I mean, she had been the Queen ever since any of us were born."

"She's the only one we know," Rosemary agreed before adding. "Of course, we have our Empress, but it's not the same. The Imperial family is incredibly low-key."

"I always wanted to go to London, see Big Ben, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the Queen," Roselle listed. "And now I will never be able to see her."

"I knew it. By St. Gloriana, I knew it."

Everyone turned their attention toward the pink-haired F1 mechanic, who suddenly turned pale as a ghost. Her eyes were fixed on the TV screen, her mouth wide agape with horror.

"Hip? What's wrong?" Roselle's brows furrowed with confusion. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Everything okay?" Rosemallow chimed in, sounding concerned.

"Stomachache?" Rosemary asked.

"Much, much worse," Rosehip finally admitted. Instinctively, she covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to calm herself down.

"Alright, seriously, what's wrong?" Roselle clasped her best friend's hands. "Just tell me."

Rosehip finally averted her eyes from the TV screen to face her former driver.

"Elle, I need you to confirm something for me," the pink-haired F1 mechanic stared straight into Roselle's eyes. "I'm serious."

"With you talking like that, how could I not be serious?"

"Then answer me this," Rosehip gently squeezed her former driver's hands. "Did the Queen ever visit St. Gloriana during our first year in school?"

A pause.

Roselle didn't immediately answer. Instead, she continued to stare at her best friend, who suddenly seemed distraught for some reason. She then opened her mouth as if to say something before deciding to keep quiet instead.

"Now that you mentioned it," she replied after what seemed like a minute. "I vaguely remember that she did."

"You know what? You're right," Rosemallow started rubbing her chin. "I do seem to recall the Queen giving a speech in the auditorium."

Another pause. Silence descended upon the group as they tried to recall the event in question.

"The Queen did visit St. Gloriana back when we were still first-year students," Rosemary confirmed. "However, it lacked all the fanfare we might expect from such a prominent visitor."

She then showed her former crew mates a Facebook post from the official St. Gloriana account dated ten years ago of a photo of a Queen standing next to the school's headmaster.

"Well, I'll be damn," Roselle smacked her forehead with her hand. "She really did visit us. How could we forget such a thing?"

"Because she gave a speech in doctorate-level English, and we could barely understand her?" Rosemallow suggested. "Also, I think we were told to be on our utmost behavior, so we were not even given a chance to interact with the Queen."

"Even so, St. Gloriana is a British-themed school," Roselle countered. "You would think this would have been all over the news."

"According to this ten-year-old post, this was posted three days from the Queen's visit, which means even this school's administration was not even trying to make the event into such a big deal."

"What was the purpose of the Queen's visit anyway?" Rosemallow asked. "State visit?"

"It had to be," the former driver shrugged. "I can't see the Queen traveling around the world just for a vacation."

"Ari, was there any mention in the newspapers of the Queen's visit at that time?" Rosemallow queried.

"From Mr. Google, I can see some articles mentioning that visit," Rosemary replied. "It was indeed a state visit, but mostly a private one. Of course, she had a closed audience with His Majesty, but I couldn't find anything else about the purpose of said meeting."

"Huh. So her visiting St. Gloriana was just a minor detour to her itinerary?"

The three Rosebushes then continued to discuss the matter at hand. The mood had slightly turned serious as they gave their own theories for such an unremarkable visit by a remarkable Queen.

Rosehip, on the other hand, remained silent. She stared blankly into the TV screen, but her mind was somewhere else. For some reason, she looked drained and melancholic. After all these years, how could she not have known?

"Hip. Hey Hip!"

Rosehip blinked as her attention went back to the present. She stared at her best friend, who still looked visibly confused by her sudden mood change.

"Huh? Oh, uh, what?"

"You are really spacing out," Roselle observed. "Just tell us why the sudden interest in whether the Queen visited our school ten years ago and why would that somehow make you turn into Sadako?"

"Yes, um, about that," Rosehip started. She glanced at each of her former crews, noting their confused expressions. "You… You will not believe what I'm about to tell you."

"Tell us what?"

Rosehip closed her eyes and inhaled deeply to calm her nerves before emptying her lungs with a long sigh.

"I think…" She began. "I think I met the Queen ten years ago."

She paused before adding.

"And she also drove our Crusader around the training course."


A/N:

I always consider the GuP universe as an alternate universe that somewhat resembles our own but with some remarkable differences (aka humungous school ships and tanks as a girls' sports). As such, just bear in mind that what's happening in the real world is not necessarily the same as what's happening in the story. This would mean that the Rosebushes might be talking about a pandemic, but it is somewhat different from the pandemic we experienced.

Just keep that in mind. XD

Until next time everyone!


Revision History:

- Originally published on October 16, 2022