Ladies and gentlemen, the sixth chapter! o
I don't want to say much about this chapter, but please R&r…I accept any critiques, as long as they are polite and constructive…
Disclaimer: I don't own Sakura Taisen, but I do own my characters. Benji Himura belongs to my friend, Benji Himura. I've got his permission to use his character.
Endless Wings
Chapter Six : Decision and Action
Tokyo Harbor, April 10, 1950
Although it seemed impossible, whether they wanted or not, people must believe that "Hokkaido Star", a passenger ship that was scheduled to arrive seven days later, had just arrived. They gathered next to the quay, watching how the unconscious passengers and also all the luggage were being evacuated.
Two men in Navy uniforms came out from the ship. Each of them carried a rather small body, covered with a piece of white cloth that seemed to be a bed sheet from the cabin.
"Teens," a woman whispered to the man beside him, "they seem dead."
Daitekoku Gekijou, April 10, 1950
Oogami's Office
"Do you think this is surely what you meant?" Kikyou asked, pointing at the padlocked filing cabinet in front of her.
Meigui nodded. "It certainly is," she answered, "the others don't have padlocks. This is the only one which has a padlock."
Kikyou looked around. "I don't think they left the key here," she whispered.
Meigui threw a naughty smile. "We can use those small black things on your hair," she whispered back.
Tokyo Harbor-Daitekoku Gekijou Way, April 10, 1950
Slowly opening her eyes, Delphine startled.
"Calm down, Miss Hoshikane," a woman greeted her, "we're on the way to Daitekoku Gekijou."
Raised her body up and sat up, Delphine didn't say anything. She just nodded, clinging at the woman.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you. Your cousin is also on the way to Daitekoku Gekijou. You two will meet there."
Delphine nodded again. Looking at her surroundings, she noticed, she was in an ambulance.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, " the woman apologized, "we must carry you by this. We have no other choice, since we must keep you and your cousin out of people's sight."
Delphine didn't answer. She was terrified, so terrified. And, nobody could understand her. Nobody, at least on her mind.
Hanayashiki Headquarter, April 10, 1950
Emergency Bedroom
"WHAT!"
"Calm down, Ichirou! Calm down!"
Not waiting even a single second, Oogami jumped from his bed and stood on the floor. "Sakura," he said, looking at the black-haired lady, "please bring me my clothes. Now."
Sakura looked at her husband in worry. "This is almost midnight," she reminded, "and…"
"Sakura, I told you, bring them now," Oogami cut her.
"Alright," Sakura answered, turning to the cupboard and took Oogami's manager suit out. "The shirt is quite dirty and ripped," she said, giving the shirt to Oogami, "and the pants are rather dirty. The coat is alright."
"That's OK," Oogami said. He looked at his wounded hands and arms. "I think you should help me now, Sakura," he whispered, his face turned a bit red, "I must admit, I can't do that on my own for now."
Meeting Room
"Not bad, after all," Satsuki said, swallowing her food.
"You're sick now," Maria reminded her youngest daughter, "you can't take heavy food."
Satsuki looked at the plain porridge on her tray. "I guess I must stay with this for at least two days," she guessed.
"Three," Maria corrected, watching the teen scoped another spoonful of porridge with her unwounded left hand.
"By the way, where Dad is now?" Satsuki suddenly asked.
"Out for another mission," Maria answered, "there was a big mess at the harbor."
Satsuki widened her eyes and stared at her mother. "Tell me about that, Mom," she requested.
Maria stared back at her daughter. "No need for it now. You'll soon know. Finish your meal and prepare yourself to go back home."
Daitekoku Gekijou, April 11, 1950
Oogami's Office
Meigui carefully climbed the filing cabinet. "I think these are the most important," she said, pointing at the white folders on the highest shelf. "Maybe this belongs to the Manager."
"Maybe," Kikyou shrugged, putting a dark-blue folder aside and took another dark-blue folder. "I think this one contained important statistics of weapons," she informed, "and this is signed by the vice Manager. But, here's written vice Commander."
"This is not a theater, I've told you," Meigui said, taking some of the white folders and put them on the lower shelf. "You must help me remembering the order of these files," she told Kikyou,"we must put them back in order after this."
"Alright," Kikyou answered, scanning another folder, the last of the dark-blue ones. She stood up, stretching her waist for a while, and took the white folders Meigui had put on the lower shelf.
The clock struck once, and both girls jumped. "This is one AM!" Kikyou whispered, "I think someone will soon find us here!"
"Don't get paranoid," Meigui casually replied, "just finish this, and we'll soon slip out."
"But, Meigui," Kikyou whispered, looking at her cousin in terror, "I can hear some footsteps heading towards this room."
Meigui sharpened her sense of hearing. "You're right!" she said, grabbing the white folders in rush and arranged them quickly. "Give me that!" she said, pulling the last white folder out from Kikyou's hands. She put it at the left corner of the highest shelf, jumped down, closed the door, and put the padlock back.
"This way!" she whispered, pulling Kikyou to the space between the filing cabinet and the wall.
Fourth Floor, Left Corridor
"So?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"I think we should run everything faster," Maria said, "do you agree, Taichou?"
"I agree with Maria," Oogami answered, looking at both women walking behind him, "we must prepare everything soon."
Sakura took a bundle of keys from her blazer's pocket and handed it to Oogami. "These are your keys," she said.
"Thanks," Oogami replied, taking the keys. He picked one of them and was ready to open the door, when, the in-rush Rin ran towards him.
"Manager! Ma'am-s! There's an emergency meeting at International Kagekidan!" the secretarial staff's leader cried.
Oogami sighed and looked at his vice and his secretary. "Alright," he said, "please tell Micheru to get ready, Rin. She will go with us."
"Alright, Sir!" Rin answered, saluting the Commander and ran downstairs, to the secretarial office. The careless girl nearly hit the giant vase near the stairs, and she uttered a surprise shriek.
Oogami shook his head. "I think she should be calmer next time," he whispered.
"I think we'd better move now," Maria said, "the sooner we get there, the better it will be."
International Kagekidan, April 11, 1950
"So, that's your new girls, Admiral?" a rather old manasked in a sarcastic tone.
Oogami stood and bowed. "We apologize for the mess Miss Hoshikane Delphine and Miss Hoshikane Cattleya have caused," he said.
"And what about the Hanayashiki incident?" another man asked.
Still bowing, Oogami answered, "We also apologize for that."
"It seems that you couldn't take control," another man said sharply, "you even hurt your own hands and arms."
Micheru was about to stand, but Maria gave her a signal not to do that. The half-Russian seemed to be calm and cold.
"Why not?" Micheru asked in disappointment.
Sakura looked at the young lady. "I understand your desire to defend our Manager," she whispered, "but you'd better keep quiet now."
"Any questions, you two there?" the leader of the meeting clung at Micheru and Sakura.
"Yes," Micheru stricked, "what should we do now?"
Sakura and Maria stared at their junior, knowing that she had asked a provoking question.
"Well, First Lieutenant Anjou, you can ask your Commander," the old man answered, looking at Micheru.
"Thanks," Micheru answered in a dry voice. 'I wish I can slaughter these ridiculous old men now,' she cursed, 'they are total snobs.'
"I hear two of those girls use guns," a young man with sly eyes blabbed, "and they are civilians. Can you explain this, Admiral? Or Colonel Tachibana and Colonel Shinguji can explain?"
"They both own legal guns," Oogami said, still standing, "they have the certificates with them."
"But they used yours and First Lieutenant Himura's," the young man replied.
This time, Maria stood up and looked at the young man. "Junior Count," she told him, "they were in a difficult situation. Please don't magnify this out of proportion."
The young man looked back at Maria. "Sorry, Colonel Tachibana," he said, sneering, "I think this is serious."
"Junior Count, please be polite," Micheru suddenly said, "this is not a silly talk."
"Oh, and you, First Lieutenant Anjou," the Junior Count replied, not even looking at Micheru, "you're just a lady-in-waiting there in Daitekoku Gekijou. You don't deserve to say that to me."
"Stop that!" the leader of the meeting shouted in anger, "First Lieutenant Anjou Micheru and also Junior Count Tanuma Keisuke. The next time that happened, I'll send both of you out."
Gnashing her teeth, Micheru turned her glance down to the paper in front of her. The Junior Count just smirked and looked back at the monitor on the wall.
The meeting's leader leaned against his chair and looked at Oogami. "What's your plan, Admiral?" he asked.
"We'll run everything faster," Oogami answered, "and don't worry about the fund. We'll use the earnings of the shows and movies to finance them."
Daitekoku Gekijou, April 11, 1950
Kikyou's Room
Sitting on her bed, Kikyou looked at Meigui. "You're right," she said, "this is not a theater. More exactly, this is not just an ordinary theater."
"Yeah," Meigui said, "this is a theater, but also a squad."
Kikyou stood up and walked towards the window. "I don't like this place," she whispered, "I want to go back to Osaka!"
Meigui looked at Kikyou. "Ki," she whispered, "we'll put Grandpa and Grandma into trouble if we run away. This is just a beginning, I guess."
Kikyou started sobbing. "I don't feel homely here!" she claimed, throwing her body to the bed and burying her face against her pillow.
Meigui hug her cousin. "Don't cry," she said, "in every place, there'll be happiness, even just a small one."
Dining Room
"Is everyone here?" Rin said, counting the people around her.
"Satsuki is resting on her room," Haruna informed, "and Micheru hasn't come back yet. Bill, Tanpopo, and Sayaka are on a mission. All seniors were out for meetings. Oh, yeah. Shohan and Shiruku are out too."
"Here should be ten of us," Rin mumbled. "One…you. Two…Edelweiss. Three…Suiren. Four…Himawari. Five…Momoko. Six…Meigui. Seven…Kikyou. Eight…Delphine. Nine…Cattleya."
She stopped for a while. "Minus one person!" she claimed then, "who is this? I'll seek for her…"
"No need, Rin!" Haruna cut, "the tenth are you."
Everyone, except Delphine, laughed for a while at the ridiculous act of the secretarial staffs' leader. Rin just giggled, and her face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
"Well, before we eat, I guess we should introduce ourselves first," Rin said.
The other girls nodded.
"I'm Asakawa Rin," Rin began, "the leader of Teigeki's secretarial staff. I'm also a junior actress here. I'm an Army Captain, and I'm twenty years old. I've been here since I was fifteen, I think."
Looking at her leader, and knowing that she had finished, Haruna continued. "Ryouzoku Haruna," she said, "seventeen years old. I'm a secretarial staff, junior actress, and also a Second Lieutenant from the Army. I've been here for five years."
Silence filled the room for a while. "I think we can start from the Sendai girls first, then the Yokohama ones, the ones from Osaka, and the Hakodate girls," Rin finally said, "I guess Edelweiss can start first."
Edelweiss stood up and bowed. "I'm Himura Edelweiss," she said, "I'm twenty years old, and I'm from Sendai."
Suiren followed. "I'm Shinguji Suiren," she said, smiling, "I'm seventeen years old, and I'm from Sendai."
Himawari and Momoko looked at each other, before Momoko stood up and started. "I'm Kanzaki Momoko from Yokohama," she said, "I'm seventeen by this year."
"Kirishima Himawari, also from Yokohama!" Himawari stated cheerfully, "Nineteen going on twenty!"
"Hey!" Meigui continued, "I'm Soletta Ri Meigui, from Osaka. Sixteen this year."
"Hokusei Kikyou, fifteen going on sixteen. I'm from Osaka," Kikyou continued.
"Err…Hoshikane Cattleya Chateaubriand from Hakodate," Cattleya continued shyly, "now going on twelve."
Silence filled the room again.
"Hey, Delphine?" Rin asked.
Delphine didn't answer. She just looked at the empty plate in front of her.
"She's my cousin, Hoshikane Delphine Milchstrasse," Cattleya quickly said, clinging at Delphine, "we lived together at Hakodate. She's a half year older than me, and she's twelve now."
"You don't need to be so shy, Miss," Rin said, smiling, "we're your friends."
Delphine just nodded, and looked at the other girls. Her lips kept locked.
Haruna couldn't help to ask. "Is she…?"
"No, don't get me wrong, I can speak," Delphine cut quickly.
All other girls stared at the silver-haired teen. "Well," Rin finally said, "why don't we just start our breakfast? Haruna, please help me carrying the food."
They started eating, and were about to finish, when Shiruku suddenly appeared on the door.
"Hey! Come in!" Rin cried happily, as she saw her other comrade.
"No, thanks," Shiruku refused politely, "have you finished?"
"Almost," Rin answered, looking at the other girls. Edelweiss, Suiren, Kikyou, and Meigui had stopped eating, but Himawari was having a third plate, and due to their slow eating manner, Momoko, Delphine, and Cattleya hadn't even finished their first plates.
"Sorry for disturbing," Shiruku said, "I just want to tell Cattleya, Delphine, Meigui, and Kikyou that their mothers apologized for not being home. Ma'am Kouran, Ma'am Orihime, Ma'am Reni, and Ma'am Iris are all at Hanayashiki."
Secretarial Office
Micheru slammed the door and walked to her desk. Throwing herself into her chair, she muttered a few curses.
"What's up with you?" Rin asked, walking towards Micheru's desk.
"That yucky Tanuma," Micheru answered in a low tone, "he burned me up again."
Haruna, Shohan, and Shiruku joined their leader and vice leader. "What did he done, Micheru?" Haruna asked.
"WHY DON'T HE KEEP HIS TONGUE IN ITS PLACE!"
Everyone jumped back. 'I've never heard her screaming like this,' Rin thought, 'that guy must have disturbed her a lot.'
Micheru buried her face in her hands. "Sorry," she apologized, her voice quivered, "I'm getting so emotional after that incident."
Shohan and Shiruku looked at each other and moved to Micheru's sides. They gave her their warm, calming hugs.
"I also dealt with a hard meeting," Shohan comforted, "and everyone there was a snob. Luckily Ma'am Sumire and Ma'am Kanna could shut them up."
"Me too," Shiruku added, "we got all the blames from those people. Some of them even said impolite words to Ma'am Kouran, Ma'am Orihime, Ma'am Reni, and Ma'am Iris."
"But, this is annoying!" Micheru claimed, raising her head. "That Tanuma is a lazy, useless young dude! How could he say that to our superiors?"
"Micheru," Haruna suddenly said, "I have a proverb that suits that."
"What?" Micheru asked, looking at her younger comrade.
"Empty drum sounds the most piercing," Haruna answered. "In this case, that Tanuma is the empty drum," she explained.
Micheru smiled. "Thanks," she said, "you've consoled me a lot."
Rin suddenly clicked her fingers. "Cheru!" she said, "you must hear this last news!"
"Really? What is that?" Micheru asked.
Rin moved closer to Micheru. "Listen carefully, cause I won't repeat," she said, "we'll have a day out on Saturday!"
Oogami's Office
"Good afternoon, girls," Oogami greeted, "I'm Oogami Ichirou, your Manager here. Maybe some of you have known me. For those who haven't, nice to meet you."
Meigui, Kikyou, Cattleya, and Delphine bowed.
"Maybe Edelweiss, Suiren, Momoko, and Himawari have known this," Oogami said, "but, I'll explain again for the others. Teikoku Kagekidan has two meanings : Imperial Opera Troupe and Imperial Defense Force. And, both of them are true."
"That means…this is a theater group and also a squad?" Cattleya asked in surprise.
"You're right, Cattleya," Oogami answered. "How about the others? Is this clear for you?"
"I think that's clear," Meigui answered.
"So do I," Kikyou added.
Delphine nodded.
Oogami looked at the girls one by one. "We must begin the trainings soon," he told them, "the battle training, and also stage training. I guess four of you have got the schedule." He took some papers from his drawer. "And this is for Meigui, Kikyou, Delphine, and Cattleya."
The four mentioned girls took their schedules and began to read.
"Before you begin the first training, you all must go to the Secretarial Office. You'll be measured there, for your official uniforms and also costumes. And, the first training will begin in an hour. I suggest all of you to wear your most comfortable clothes. Shorts and T-shirts will be the best."
Gym
"Welcome to Physical Training class! I'm your mentor here, Kirishima Kanna," Kanna greeted the girls.
All girls bowed.
Kanna took the small notebook from the training bench beside her and opened the first page. "Now," she told the girls, "you line up here, next to the training bench."
The girls did the command, even though they're wondering inside their hearts.
"You must do some back-and-neck stretching now," Kanna reminded them, "I don't want any of you to break some bones."
The girls nodded and did the stretching.
"I'll call your names, one by one. When I call your name, you must jump over that bench and roll on the mattress I've provided there. You understand?"
The girls nodded.
Kanna wrinkled her forehead and looked at the girls. "You're soldiers now!" she said, "you must say "understand!" if I ask that. Once again. You understand?"
"Understand…," some of the girls said doubtfully.
"You understand?" Kanna repeated louder and sharper.
"Understand!" almost all of the girls said in chorus.
"That's my students!" Kanna claimed cheerfully. "I'll begin now," she continued, "listen."
"Himura E…E…what's this…Edelweiss!"
Edelweiss jumped and rolled successfully.
"Good. Nine for you. Next, Hokusei Kikyou!"
Kikyou jumped successfully, but, her roll wasn't good.
"You can do better next time. Seven for you. Next, Hoshikane Ca…uh, Cattleya!"
Cattleya jumped and rolled beautifully, like flying.
"That's very good, little Miss! Nine point five for you. Next, Hoshikane err…Delphine!"
If Edelweiss was successful, and Cattleya did it beautifully, Delphine's movement could be said as perfect. She jumped quite far, but not too far, and rolled forward in a graceful and powerful movement.
For a while, Kanna even stared at her silver-haired student. "Miss," she said, "you did it perfectly. Ten for you! Next, Kanzaki Momoko!"
Momoko jumped successfully, but she did a quite bad roll.
"Bring your legs closer to your body while rolling, Miss," Kanna said, "eight for you! Next, Kirishima Himawari."
Himawari jumped and rolled successfully, but Kanna could see, there was something wrong in her movement.
"What are you doubting, Miss?" she asked in a cheerful tone, "come on, don't doubt anything! You could get nine point five if you were not in doubt! Now, nine for you. Next, Shinguji Suiren!"
Suiren jumped and rolled successfully on the mattress, but she failed to stand up.
"Use the impact from the roll to stand up, Miss!" Kanna said, "eight point five for you! Last one, Soletta Meigui!"
Praying inside her heart, Meigui jumped and tried to roll. But, one of her legs stuck on the bench. The Italian-Chinese screamed, and, instead of rolling, she fell on her stomach on the mattress.
The other girls closed their eyes. Kanna ran towards Meigui and helped the purple-haired girl to stand up. "Are you alright, Miss?" the tall redhead asked.
Meigui nodded and smiled. "I'm alright," she said, "just quite surprised."
"You've got difficulties in that, but, I think, we can fix it later. Six for you! And, now, we can move further to strength exercises. Please move to the scale so I can measure your weight."
Oogami's Office
Looking at the report Maria had just opened for him, Oogami sighed.
"This is their first one," Maria said, "maybe they'll do better when they get used to that."
"I hope so," Oogami replied, looking at the white ceiling of his office.
Suddenly, he remembered something. "Maria," he called his vice.
"Yes, Manager?" Maria answered.
"I think we should write some confidential notes for Kouran, Orihime, Iris, and Reni. We'll deliver those notes to Hanayashiki," Oogami said.
"Alright. I'll call Sakura then," Maria replied, standing up.
"Don't forget to tell Shiruku to prepare," Oogami reminded, "she'll be our carrier pigeon this time."
Akakuro Café, April 11, 1950
"So, what did you do for our plan B?"
"I wrote twenty, but I gave a hundred. Is it nice?"
"You were so brilliant, I must admit. It must be very dreadful."
"Man, I felt a bit guilty after that. Some of them even got very red and the others got pale. Only one of them could stand that."
"This is for their sake. The faster they leave, the better it will be, I think. Let's contact Bill to tell him what has happened."
Both women stood up from their chairs, leaving some money to pay for their drinks, and walked out of the café, heading for the nearest public phone.
Just as they reached the street, screams were heard and people ran everywhere to save themselves.
One of them looked at the sky. "Another dinner for us," she said to her friend, "and you're without any weapons now. I'll face them. You, run and contact our headquarter. Quick!"
To be continued…
Who are these two mysterious women? What will happen next? Well, find the answers on the next chapter…Please R&r…
Special thanks to SilverBlue Dragon and Kanna's Man for their reviews, and a very special thank to Benji Himura for his review, permission, and help. Friends, you've helped me a lot...:-)
Should you have any questions related to this story, feel free to ask me via review or via email. I don't mean that I don't want to get any critiques, but, rude and impolite critiques won't be considered and listened to. Special thanks for all my readers, and, sorry if I'm quite strict in this...:-)
HaruNatsu
#Bonus Story : Diary of Secretarial Staffs#
Tokyo, March 16, 1950
Aaah…Sisters…Sorry for being late to write…Actually, I'm planning to write yesterday, but, yesterday's mess made all plan ruined…Forgive me, Sisters…
Right now, I'm sitting at Tokyo Hospital's cafeteria, drinking some cappuccino and eating biscuits…Who's dieting, Rin, Micheru? I've given up last week, hahaha…These jobs really drive me crazy, and they spend lots of my energy.
Micheru, I can understand what you feel. I also feel angry for our beloved Ma'am-s. As we know, most of those men can do nothing but complain. They don't know the fact, huh. And, right now, when our superiors are hospitalized, what they do? They eat in luxurious restaurants, going out with their ladies, and, even, I saw one of them entering a casino when I drove to the hospital last night. They don't even care with our superiors.
Yesterday morning, I sent secret gifts from Ma'am Sumire and Ma'am Kanna for their daughters in Yokohama. Actually, I feel very, very sad. They even can't give those gifts by themselves. I cried when I drove back from the post office. Ah, if I were one of them…I can't imagine what would happen.
Well, I'm afraid I must leave the cafeteria now. I've been sitting here too long. Rin, ganbatte! You'll be a temporary leader until our superiors are fully recovered. Micheru, Haruna, take care of Bill, Satsuki, Sayaka, and Tanpopo well. Don't forget to give the boosters. Oh, and, Shiruku, our name, and this is your turn! I know you're busy with the hospital administration now, but, don't forget it!
Kisses and Hugs,
Ryouzoku Shohan
Tbc...
