In this chapter, Daniel will have to face a bit of a dilemma as he tries to straddle the line between a good soldier and a teacher dedicated to the well-being of his student. Is there really a conflict of interest here? Read on to find out!
After Sasha had fully recovered from her injuries, Daniel asked her to come with him into the city for a little while. Although she agreed to do so, she was a bit confused as to why, and even more so when he also had Nipa join them. Once in the city, he led them to the same square with the church in Sasha's grandmother's neighborhood. He then pulled out his iPhone and explained that he wanted to get a nice digital photo of him and Sasha together with the gold-domed church in the background.
After showing Nipa how to use the iPhone's camera function, he then got into position with Sasha with his arms wrapped around her just above the waist. When they posed for the camera, the two each had a look on their face that seemed as though they were looking both at the camera and at each other at the same time. After Nipa took the picture, they all took a look at the result and liked what they saw, with Nipa commenting at how cute it was. Sasha also liked it, but was also amazed at the color and details the iPhone's camera showed. When they returned to base and showed the picture to everyone else, they all had similar reactions as Nipa and Sasha. As for Daniel, he made it into his laptop's main background
One morning, Daniel was going through the latest letter he had received from Yoshika when he came across a very interesting bit of information. "Hey, Hikari," he said to the witch currently on the other side of the hangar, "your older sister is a sub-lieutenant named Takumi, right?" Hikari nodded enthusiastically to the question. "Yeah, she's the best! Why do you ask?" Daniel then replied, "Well, my friend Yoshika send me a letter, and in it, she mentioned that she had been called upon to use her healing magic to treat a witch by that name."
Hikari's eyes lit up immediately at the news. "Really? How is my sister doing?" Daniel looked at the letter again and replied, "It sounds like things are progressing with the treatment, though it's hard to know what her condition is exactly, since this letter is dated about six weeks ago." Hikari then got a slightly worried look on her face, to which Daniel said, "Don't worry, Hikari. If it's Yoshika who's treating Takumi, then there's nothing you need to worry about." Hikari looked at Daniel inquisitively and asked, "Really? Is your friend THAT good?" Daniel just smiled and nodded in assurance.
Not long after, the team was out fighting another Neuroi that had come into range of the base – Hikari continued to make use of her Contact Eye skill while Kanno delivered the final blow with her overwhelming right fist – and were really all getting in sync with each other when they saw a military plane heading towards the base. This plane was obviously carrying someone important, as Commander Rall called everyone back for a briefing.
When they arrived, the important passenger was revealed to be Karlsland Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, the commander of the Allies' northern forces. He had come personally to brief the 502nd on their role in the upcoming offensive to take out the Grigori nest, which would involve the 502nd clearing the way for a pair of super rail guns that would fire special shells from the ground.
Marshal von Manstein also mentioned that a witch would be used to identify the core's location, which everyone assumed meant that they wanted Hikari to use her ability during the fight – something that was of great concern to everyone else there, as they were unsure that she was ready for this type of mission. Not only that, the operation would take place in a week's time, as opposed to the promised one month's lead time they were initially promised for the operation.
As it turned out, the reason for the quick turnaround was that Grigori had started to move, slowly but steadily, towards St. Petersburg. He then revealed that another witch was being brought in for that particular role, at which point a working striker unit could be heard coming closer to the base. As the witches looked out the window to get a look, Hikari got a look of recognition on her face and ran out excitedly.
It was finally revealed that Hikari's older sister, Sub-Lieutenant Takumi Karibuchi, had fully recovered from her injuries and had now arrived in St. Petersburg to take her place in the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing. At first, it seemed like it was cause for celebration as the rest of the unit gushed over Takumi, commenting in awe at her flying skills and her cooking that night, but Daniel noticed that Hikari seemed very down. This was quite surprising, as Hikari had always talked about the day when she and her sister would be able to fly in battle together.
That evening, Daniel walked into Commander Rall's office to discuss his concerns, and found both her and Meister Rossman looking out the window, watching Hikari use her magic to climb the obelisk in the courtyard. "The younger Karibuchi seems restless," Rall commented. When Daniel brought up his concerns about said witch, Rall sighed and explained that in addition to Takumi joining the 502nd, there were also orders transferring Hikari to a unit in Suomus.
"What?! Why?!" exclaimed Daniel, "There's no reason to send Hikari away. She's earned her spot here just as much as anyone else!" Rall sighed again and said, "Personally, I agree with you. But unfortunately, orders are orders, and there isn't much I can do about them." Daniel then stormed off in frustration, mumbling about military brass not knowing what they were doing.
Later that evening, Daniel came up to Hikari as she was coming inside, looking as miserable as he had ever seen her. He then got in front of her path, knelt down and said, "Hey, Hikari. I know what's going on, and I want to let you know that I understand your frustration." Hikari then gave a sad smile and replied, "Thanks, Sensei. But I don't know what I'm going to do about it." She was about to keep on going to her quarters when Daniel gently grabbed her shoulders. "Now hold on a minute! You can't just give up on this!"
Hikari looked at him with a slightly confused look before he gave a small smile. "Now tell me, Hikari…how badly to you want to be here?" Hikari then got a determined look on her face and replied confidently, "More than I've wanted anything else in my life." Daniel's smile then widened as he replied, "Then let's see if we can figure out a way to make it happen!" Hikari returned the smiled as they went off to think of a plan.
The next morning, the entire 502nd minus Hikari was in the briefing room discussing a powerful Neuroi that was threatening their upcoming operation. They would have to take care of that first before they took on Grigori. Upon seeing pictures of the Neuroi, Krupinski yelped in surprise, as it was the Neuroi she had sworn she had destroyed back in Murmansk. This piqued Rall's interest, as she then announced that she would be joining them, with Takumi testing her special skills to identify the core's location.
Hikari then burst through the doors of the briefing room, demanding that she be given an opportunity to prove her worth in battle to the 502nd, saying that she was volunteering for the mission no matter what anyone else said. Takumi protested vigorously, but Rall decided to overrule her and make it a contest. If Hikari could identify the core's location first, Rall would do everything in her power to get Hikari to stay. However, that would mean that Takumi would go to Suomus in Hikari's place – no matter the outcome, Hikari wouldn't get to fight alongside her sister.
Rall then asked if Hikari still wanted to go through with the challenge. After thinking about it for a moment, she agreed to the terms, saying that THIS is where she belonged. After the meeting, Daniel went up to Rall, not happy about the terms of the challenge – this was NOT what he and Hikari had in mind from the previous night. "Why do either of them have to leave? We can use all the witches we can get, right?" he asked Rall.
Rall then replied with a slightly sad tone, "You're right, of course. But Allied Command is demanding that SOMEONE go to Suomus. I'm sorry Daniel, but this isn't going to have the ending you want." Daniel gave a long frustrated sigh before slowly nodding in reluctant acceptance.
Once the 502nd was airborne, the approached the sphere-shaped Neuroi with confidence, but also with caution, as it had seemingly come back from the dead. Once they were in range and began their attack, the Neuroi split itself in two and released dozens of missiles that it was carrying in its center. A few minutes later, Takumi was able to use her Precision Eye skill to locate the core, allowing everyone to aim and fire their weapons at a concentrated point. Seemingly assured of a direct hit, Daniel took the opportunity to use one of his torpedoes, and assure a quick victory for the witches.
However, as the Neuroi shards were dissipating, they suddenly began to re-form into the Neuroi's sphere shape – despite the fact that their fire had hit exactly where Takumi had indicated. Just when they were starting to panic about how they would destroy this thing, Takumi saw that there was, in fact, a second, smaller core moving inside the bigger core. They would have to destroy THIS core to destroy the Neuroi.
As Takumi was having a hard time nailing down the inner core's exact position, this gave Hikari the chance she needed to use her Contact Eye skill and identify the core's location first. Initially, she was having a hard time maneuvering through the barrage of Neuroi missiles, but after a quick reminder of the basics from Daniel and Meister Rossman, she was deftly moving forward once again.
As Hikari got closer to the Neuroi, Takumi was getting closer to nailing down the inner core's exact position. Then, just as Hikari made contact with the Neuroi, Takumi gave the inner core's spatial coordinates while Hikari almost simultaneously used her gun to identify the spot on the Neuroi where they should direct their fire.
Those in range fired at the indicated point, and the Neuroi was destroyed for real this time. However, one missile was shot off before its destruction, and Hikari was hit almost full on, causing her to go flying out of her unit. Luckily, Takumi was able to catch her before she fell very far, and Daniel saw the elder sister whisper something to her younger sibling, though he couldn't tell what. He COULD tell, however, that the feelings she expressed were warm.
When they arrived back on base, Rall announced the results of the challenge. While both siblings had accurately identified the core's location, Takumi had done it just slightly faster than Hikari. Therefore, Hikari would be sent to Suomus as ordered. Daniel sighed internally in disappointment – he really hated having to give up his student.
Later, as the sun was setting, Daniel was watching outside when he saw Hikari at the edge of the runway alone, crying her eyes out at having lost the challenge. Daniel hated seeing her like this – he knew it really wasn't fair, especially after she had done so much to improve her skills in only a few months.
He decided to try to comfort her as he came up from behind her, tapped her on the shoulder, and offered a big hug, which she accepted immediately. He then said to her, "Hikari, you did really well out there. I've seen how hard you've worked, and how far you've come, and I am very proud to have you as a student." This seemed to work a little bit as her tears slowed down considerably. She then asked, "Do you mean it?" Daniel immediately replied, "Absolutely – you may not be one, but you have a Jedi's spirit within you. Now, keep working and keep going, and you'll be back here before you know it."
Daniel then took out a tissue from his pocket, and wiped Hikari's eyes before she thanked him and headed inside to prepare for her departure the next day. As he was coming back inside through the hangar, he suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind. When he looked back he saw Sasha hugging him and looking up at him. "I saw what happened with Hikari," she said as she tightened her hug, "that was a very kind thing you did." Daniel simply replied, "Well, I am her teacher – I have to keep her motivated after all." After a quick peck on each other's lips, they each wrapped their arms around the other's shoulders and made their way inside.
Unfortunately, Daniel's plan doesn't work, and the risk Hikari takes doesn't quite pay off. Now Daniel is about to lose his best (and only) student! He's got to figure out how to make allied command see things his way despite their orders. Also, just to note, for the purposes of consistency later on in the story, I decided to use the names of the male military and political leaders as they were in our history. Until next time...