The sauna is a sacred place.

But, you shouldn't question anything that happens there.

Right outside the window Arthur is so infatuated with, and behind the Japanese garden, is a trail that leads to an open space not filled with tall trees. It was lit by trail-side Japanese-style lamps and had a spot to park some kind of large vehicle (Arthur was confused as to what such a big thing could be parked here since they were most definitely not truck drivers), but the main thing that was there was a cylindrical building made of wood with a cone-shaped roof.

Inside the building, there was a small hallway that had two extremely cramped but serviceable bathrooms that could be opened via traditional sliding doors. There was a glass door in between those bathrooms, which led to the main room of the building: the fully wooden sauna. Square-shaped and pretty compact, there were light fixtures in each of the corners and a small window to let some excess smoke out. There was a large stove, a kiuas, right in the middle that was surrounded by the seating, of which there were two tiers. Hung right beside the doors were the traditional Finnish vihta (silver birch bunches) and a couple of extra hats that Mika is so known for.

The sauna is an acquired experience, but ultimately a relaxing one for those who are willing to endure it. And for Arthur, it was... not as relaxing as he hoped for.

"Mika, this is too warm," Arthur groaned as his sweat began to build up, but the girl seemingly didn't care.

"The heat is not up to your standard?" She asked. "Why don't we raise the temperature a bit more?"

"That's not what I-" Before Arthur could finish speaking, the commander poured a bit more water on top of the kiuaskivet that sat on top of the stove, causing more steam to emit.

Arthur became a bit more uncomfortable when the sudden heat reached him. "AH!"

"Each sauna has their own distinct löyly, their own distinct steam," Mika said. "I believe unlocking the secret of the distinct steams can create a better self."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that this sauna has the distinct steam of utter death," Arthur mumbled to himself.

However, Mika caught his statements. "You don't need to like it, but don't be negative. As some would say, you sound like a... what do you call them, a 'brat?'."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "...Alright, you win."

Mika smirked with pride and then played a bit more on her stringed instrument, the kantele; for some reason, she brought a wooden instrument to a hot place like a sauna, which didn't seem to add up.

Although, he did admit in his head that the music was somewhat soothing, unlike the girl herself, the steam, and one pretty major factor: They were both technically nude.

Sure, they were only covered by towels wrapped around them, so they weren't really nude. But to a male teenager with gross immature teenage hormones, this was sounding like the start of a "great" manga series.

Mika and Arthur sat across from each other, but even then, he would still feel quite uncomfortable considering a girl that is around the same age as he is sitting over there, basically one strip away from being naked.

Arthur began looking around the room, subtle though, to not lay an eye on Mika.

But seemingly, that plan seemed to fail.

"I can tell that you don't want to face me, do you?" asked Mika.

Arthur immediately began to look around frantically, stammering, "Uh! No! Nah! I'm not looking at you!"

As he was completely distracted, he didn't even notice that Mika had moved until he heard a rustling sound right beside him.

"AH!" He exclaimed when he realized the girl's new spot in the sauna.

"What? Are you scared that a half-naked girl is right beside you?" Mika asked with a smug expression on her face.

"No, it's not tha-that!" Arthur replied hesitantly, trying to not look at Mika.

The girl laughed. "Then what is it, hm? Perhaps it's about earlier?"

"What do you mean earlier? Didn't we already resolve that?"

Mika suddenly looked away from Arthur, and just like him earlier, began observing the surroundings. She even added a bit of whistling for effect. But that's when the stranger realized something.

"...You were eavesdropping on us, right?" He asked, to which he got silence, almost confirming his suspicions.

"Although it wasn't my intention," Mika spoke up to defend her intentions, "I was just curious. You are, after all, a stowaway I found in the area. Not going to say much, as it's not right to say I know the whole thing, but I know the basics."

Arthur sighed heavily. "Is it gonna be a problem?"

Mika inched closer beside the boy. "I quite like the circumstances my group got ourselves into. It makes the mundaneness a lot less... mundane. I would ask you a lot more questions about the future, but as you said to those girls, how can I be sure that you're right when it hasn't happened yet?"

For once, Arthur thought, Mika was actually being logical. Compared to Mikko and Aki at breakfast, who were bombarding him with questions, the commander was willing to reserve judgment, even though she was eavesdropping and realized that it would be a bad idea to ask. Nonetheless, Mika didn't bombard with questions and that's all that mattered.

"I guess it's my turn to be bombarded with questions," Mika informed him. "Now, what do you want to know?"

Arthur initially didn't think that the tables would turn, but now that he had the opportunity to actually get to know where the hell he is (and not just a location), it was time to ask some lingering questions. And for the next 15-ish minutes, that's what happened.

"Why's the ships here themed?" and "What's the biggest ship here?" and "Do you guys have a McDonald's?" were some of the highlights, but there was one question that caused the most discussion.

Arthur continued asking. "What do you guys do for fun?"

"Well," she spoke up, "we enjoy fishing, playing video games, maybe skiing, going on food runs, riding our tanks-"

"Wait, hold up? Tanks? As in, the giant boom-boom cars?"

"That's one way to put it."

"Wait, but tanks?! Like, you just drive all willy-nilly in them and no one bats an eye?"

Mika shook her head. "Nope... Well, sometimes, but we mainly use them to take part in sporting events. Tanks are a major part of the sporting culture here in Japan."

Arthur was completely confused about the whole tank sports aspect. He initially thought they actually used tanks in sports that everyone knows.

"So like, tank football?" Arthur asked, but Mika began laughing hard.

When the laughing died, she wiped a tear away and immediately turned stern, only telling him, "Absolutely not."

"Then, what sports do you partake in?"

"...We call it, Sensha-dō."

Arthur suddenly became intrigued by the concept, and Mika explained further, "Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction, but also the spirit of friendship and comradery. Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for women who want to achieve the best lives they want. Sensha-dō is what keeps the peace, and makes peace. Without it, we'd be savage animals, and those who don't want to do it face the consequences of Hell."

It was completely quiet for a while. At first, Mika thought that the answer was a bit too stupid for Arthur; even she thought her answer seemed a bit stupid. But then, emanating from Arthur's hands was the sound of applause.

"Wow," he exclaimed. "That was surprisingly beautifully put! Almost makes me wanna join!" However, the clapping died down when he processed what Mika had told him. "Wait, is it only for women?"

"Well," Mika replied, "to my knowledge, yes it is. It may be different in other parts, but here, it's uncommon for boys to even participate, let alone even join a school like ours."

"Wait, that can happen? I think Aki told me that you guys go to an all-girls high school when she gave me a tour of the house, so there can be male exchange students?"

"No, I've only seen it in fanfictions Jouko reads, which are, how do I say it in Western slang, 'Absolute dogshit'?"

"Wow, I never expected to hear those words from you, even though I've only known you for about 12 hours."

Mika chuckled at Arthur's response. "Are you implying that I'm not vulgar at all?"

Arthur began whistling and he started to drift his eyes away from the girl and towards the one window in the entire room.

"You know, Arthur," Mika added, "you didn't realize that you weren't flustered when we were talking like earlier."

The stranger stopped whistling and turned back to Mika.

"Don't mention it or else I'm gonna get distracted again," He said, but he suddenly stopped when he felt something on his thigh.

When he looked down, Mika's hand was on it.

"Ah, Arthur is being flustered," Mika said, almost mother-like in her voice. "How are you? You need help?"

"Aha, funny joke, Mika. Please stop," Arthur quivered as his breathing became heavy. It would soon become heavier by the minute when more from Mika's offensive came.

Her hand slowly went up his leg and to his chest, where she placed her hand on his heart. She leaned in and placed her head against the left part of his chest. "Ah, so you're still flustered," she said softly.

"Please stop," Arthur stammered quickly, his face turning red.

Mika continued and she put her hand on his right shoulder before she climbed over him and kneeled on the sauna bench, putting her legs outside Arthur's legs; she wasn't touching his groin, but she was kneeling right above it. She placed her other hand on his left shoulder and looked below her to see Arthur's bewildered face.

"You still look flustered," she smiled as Arthur began feeling very conflicted about the ordeal.

"Stop saying that word," he exclaimed. "Also, what are you doing-" Before he could finish, he was interrupted when Mika suddenly removed her hands from Arthur's shoulder.

She grabbed Arthur's own hands and forcefully put them on her waist, which only made things worse.

He couldn't look in front of him, as Mika's... were at eye level, so all he could do was look up at Mika's smug yet relaxed look, which he found completely annoying.

"Please get off me," he whispered.

"Then why aren't you removing yourself from me, hm?" Mika fired back.

Arthur narrowed his eyes toward the girl. "Okay, fine? Do you want me to remove myself from you? Here, I'll prove it-"

Suddenly, before he could remove himself, Mika swiftly swooped into Arthur's right ear, causing him to stand upright.

She sat completely still as her breathing collided with his ear, which tickled but not in a "funny haha lol" way.

"Don't resist," she whispered in his ear. She moved back and grabbed her towel. Almost immediately, Arthur knew what was coming and he took his hands off her waist to shield his eyes.

"No, don't!" He yelled as he embraced the worst.

But then, as if God was sensing his pleas, a saving angel would arrive at the sauna, but in the form of Aki, the silver-blonde short stack.

"Sauna time, yeah!" She exclaimed, but then she sensed that something felt extremely... wrong. And without even giving it a second thought, she turned over to the getting-extremely-close-to-each-other duo of Mika and Arthur.

Almost immediately, the short stack's face went from being excited to that of utter disappointment.

["Mika"] she said, ["stop teasing Arthur, please."]

["I'm not teasing him, Aki. Don't get so worked up!"] Mika replied, still straddling Arthur.

["Mika, this isn't gonna help you or Arthur's feelings. And I'm being serious.]

Although she had the option to retort, Mika decided that it wasn't worth it. She shrugged her shoulders and got off of Arthur. She grabbed her kantele from across the room and bid farewell to the two, not before giving one last laugh as she exited the room.

After the door slid shut, Aki looked at Arthur and began apologizing to him.

"Sorry about that," she said. "She can be a real nuisance from time to time." However, she was met with silence and she soon realized what was going on. "Please don't tell me you actually fell for it, did you?"

Arthur was feeling jittery. His leg jumped up and down like a rabbit and he couldn't keep still.

"I... am... so... confused, man..." Arthur said, shivering now and then.

Aki shook her head and went up to Arthur, placing her hand on his shoulder. It made him yelp, but after getting taught some breathing lessons, he calmed down and let Aki explain some things.

"Listen, Arthur," she said, "I don't mean this harshly, but she is not interested in you. She's not interested in anyone. And that whole thing... It was just more of her teasing to get a kick out of you."

"But it felt too real," Arthur replied, still shaken. "There must be a smidge of truth in her, right?"

"Please don't get worked up about it. Or even think about it."

"How can I not think about that?!"

Aki placed her hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Just, please. Trust me on this one. What happened wasn't real."

"But like, the thing felt too real. It just had to be somewhat truthful yknow? I mean, I'm not a hopeless romantic but like the way she acted was just so confusing and-"

Just like before, his response was abruptly cut short when Aki slapped him in the face. Although it hurt, it did manage to stop him from being all jittery and jumpy.

"Sorry about that," Aki continued. "As I said, Mika was doing that to confuse you. Look, she isn't interested in you, or anyone for that matter. All that matters to her is that a reaction gets out of you and it's funny. And although I haven't seen her with other guys, I guarantee she'll do the same thing to them: get physical and tease them until they... Well, let's just leave that for your imagination."

Although Aki's explanation helped ease the chaos that was still present, Arthur was still extremely confused about the whole ordeal. How would he react if he saw Mika again?

As he stared out the only window in the sauna while thinking about the short stack's response, all he could think of was one thing:

"What is going on with that girl?"

/

["Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction, but also the spirit of friendship and comradery. Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for women who want to achieve the best lives they want. Sensha-dō is what keeps the peace, and makes peace. Without it, we'd be savage animals, and those who don't want to do it face the consequences of Hell... God, what a stupid answer..."]

Even though what she explained to Arthur was right, Mika couldn't even fathom why she even said that when she could've just put a simpler way to explain the sport of tank battles.

As she was taking a shower at one of the washrooms in the hallway, she kept repeating the saying to herself. ["Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction, but also the spirit of friendship and comradery. Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for women who want to achieve the best lives they want. Sensha-dō is what keeps the peace, and makes peace. Without it, we'd be savage animals, and those who don't want to do it face the consequences of... of..."]

The words coming out of her mouth began to disappear like snowflakes dissolving into the ground.

["Of... of..."]

["Hell."]

A voice from behind her seemingly finished the response. Mika turned her head around to see where the voice came from, but there was no one there; the only thing there was just the sink. She shook her head and continued to shower.

When she finished, she got changed and headed back home, still repeating that damn saying.

["Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction, but also the spirit of friendship and comradery. Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for... Nah, wait," Mika began getting hesitant again, but she cleared her throat and started over. ["Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction, but also the spirit of friendship and comradery. Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for women who want to achieve... "]

Mika stopped again, this time it seemed she took a detour right in front of the house's quiet Japanese garden. Her eyes were affixed to the frozen pond she dubbed "The Devil's Mirror" mostly because she never enjoyed looking at it. It was grimy because she never bothered to ask Aki to clean it, nor did she even bother to clean it herself, and much like its namesake (or it could be just herself doing this), she never looked happy when she looked at it. She always had the same tired look on her face.

But, tonight, she had a new visitor.

Slowly entering "The Devil's Mirror", another feminine figure approached from behind Mika, but it wasn't another Continuation student or any of her friends. In some regards, this figure bore a striking resemblance to Mika herself. The figure wore a red blazer with black outlines, a frilly white dress shirt, and a black ribbon around the collar. She had hair that reached to her hips and a pale complexion comparable to Emma Stone, but she looked a tad bit older, and the colour of her hair matched her eyes. To top it off, she also wore a designer black beret.

Those light brown eyes from the Lady in Red were looking at the reflection, but also indirectly staring at Mika. She had the same tired look on her face, but with an added smidge of disgust, and for whatever reason, that look of disappointment on the figure's face made Mika physically sick to the core. She began to retch dryly, but she held it back, giving an almost hiccuping motion as she, for whatever reason, continued to stare at the lady in red. She began swallowing air as she felt like she was going to vomit all over.

Finally, the Lady in Red spoke up, but her voice seemed to echo.

["Sensha-dō may as well be the true meaning of life. It encompasses the feeling of victory and satisfaction..."]

It began to speak the saying Mika had repeated, which did not help the gagging. Mika tried her best to tune out the noise, but the voice grew louder.

[Through battles and trials, it helps us break open from our cocoons. It's for women who want to achieve the best lives they want...]

And the voice grew louder.

["Sensha-dō is what keeps the peace, and makes peace. Without it, we'd be savage animals..."]

And the voice grew louder.

[and those who don't want to do it...]

And the voice grew the loudest it's been.

["...FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF HE-"]

Before the sentence could even finish, Mika finally gained control over gagging by gulping a huge amount of mountain air. She let out a loud cry and kicked a fresh pile of snow onto the pond and over the reflection of the Lady in Red.

The lady's voice died out and it all went quiet again. Mika was now the only reflection on the giant mirror of ice, still looking at it with a tired stare. She smacked her lips together and looked towards the night sky.

As she looked up, she asked herself, ["I'm going to Hell, aren't I, mother?"]