Sweat ran down Miho's face as she gripped her aircraft's control stick with all the force that she could muster, Forcing her into a dive. Her ADFX Morgan soared towards the mountains below. A cloud of vapour martialized over the wings as she yanked the control stick up just before she collided with a mountain.
The world lost colour, but it didn't deter her. She needed to escape after what she saw after what they did.
The radio buzzed to life. "Please, Miho, come back."
"After what I saw, you do!" She shouted back.
"... I'm sorry."
"Missile. Missile."
The missile alert system blared to life. The hunter was still behind her. She banked hard behind a mountain and deployed flares, ending the incessant warning.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the attacking plane, the ADF 01 Falken. The plane that belonged to her sister. Just its mere sight sent chills down her spine.
"Pull up. Pull up."
Pulled back to reality, she faced forward just in time to react to the mountain that she was about crash into.
Yanking the control stick back, she shot up into the air. Rolling over, she pulled back into the mountains, dodging a flurry of gunfire. Levelling out, she took a deep breath. "Focus, Miho. Not much farther. Come on!" The endless mountain line soon ended, revealing a flat desert plain. Strategic area B7R, the land that had made her mother an ace in the last war.
It was an area she knew, an area that she had flown countless times in matches. Beyond it lay Osea. And freedom.
"Missile. Missile."
The warning blared again, deploying flares she banked once more away from dan-
A piercing blue light illuminated the night. It was a trap that she had fallen into.
Before she could react, the laser had sliced one of her wings off. Throwing her plane into a death spin. She caught glimpses of the earth racing towards her shutting her eyes. She braced for an impact that never came.
xXXXx
It took a moment for Miho's brain to process what she was looking at. No longer was she on the B7R about to crash. No, she was in the zero-star roadside motel on the outskirts of Directus that she had crawled into late last night.
And by zero stars, she did mean zero stars. Mould was abound, in the bathroom and on the trimming of the room, a foul stench that she couldn't quite place lingered in the air, and the bedsheets, well what she found last night was better off not describing.
Sitting up, she reached for a stuffed animal that wasn't there. Right, she didn't really have time to pack before she left how she missed that dumb injured bear. "Maybe I can find one in Sapin," she told herself. Rolling her head in an attempt to dispel the stiff neck she had woken up with, cons of sleeping on a couch that was probably older than her.
Walking into the bathroom she turned on the sink and splashed water into her face. Today was the day that she would leave Ustio.
She quickly put her flight suit on and made sure she had her wallet and keys. As soon as she reached civilization, she withdrew all the money she could and converted it to Osean Zollers. But she only had so much. Opening her wallet, she took out the ticket to her freedom. A single train ride to the Sapin capital that was slated to leave in a few hours. Perhaps then she could start looking for a job.
As she opened the door, she noticed her shoulder-length light brown hair in the mirror. "I'll need to change that." She'd rather not be caught at the border.
A quick stop by a hairdresser shouldn't take too long.
The ringing of the Directus bells snapped her back to reality. With the hotel key in hand, she gently closed the door. Today was the final day she would have to live looking over her shoulder.
She left the hotel room, quickly locking the door. But as she turned away, she heard the roar of distant jets. The girls breathing grew heavy and backed up into the door. Had they found her already?
Her worries disappeared after the jets came into view, reminding her of where she was. An E/A 6 Prowler was following a SAAB Draken, and leading the pack was a MiG 27. All the jets bore the Ustian air force emblems, and she had never seen a squadron use such an odd-looking anglerfish emblem.
Heading down to the front office, she found the same large unique smelling clerk that was there when she checked in late light, still watching the old CRT tv hanging on a high shelf and still oblivious to the goings ons around him. Dropping the keys on the counter, the man finally acknowledged her if only with just a glance.
Miho stood there unmoving as she worked up the confidence to ask a simple question. "Um. Would you know where I can find a hairstylist."
An eyebrow rose on the man's face. "Do I look like I go to a hair salon?"
"Uh... a barber is fine too." She sputtered out.
The man huffed. "There's one on the far side of town, its cheap and run by a relatively nice family. You're goin-"
"Could you write it down?" She asked, clasping her hands together.
The man looked to her unblinking and then groaned.
Hopefully, it wasn't too far away.
xXXXx
Directus was a small city, at around half a million people. But it was still a maze; every alleyway seemed to lead to a new part of the city, streets looped back on each other. It didn't help that nearly everyone eyed her with a confused look. She chalked it up to her flight suit that was devoid of patches.
If there was one thing that was clear to her, though, it would have been the difference between this place and her home city of Hoffnung. Being centred around endless miles of farmland meant, there were countless tractors towing delicious looking fruit and vegetables around the city, most likely heading to market.
Maybe she would be lucky enough to come across it as she searched for this barber.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, it took a while, but she had finally found it. The Akiyama barbershop.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. A small bell alerted the two people inside to her arrival. Both the man sweeping up the hair left over by a previous customer and the woman who stood behind a counter at the back of the room smiled at her. The woman greeted her with a simple "Hello." and "Do you have an appointment?"
Miho shifted in her boots and looked towards the floor in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but I'm new to the city."
The woman's smile softened. "That's fine. Our next appointment isn't for another thirty minutes. Did you wash it before coming here?"
Miho pursed her lips and softly shook her head.
"Then, let's start with that."
The woman led her over to a wet station and gestured her to sit down. Miho did what she was told. The chair was swung around and was leaned backward until her head was in the bason. The curly-haired woman quickly got to work.
She was gentile, never tugging, it was nice. As if she was massaging away the fatigue. Unfortunately, it was soon finished, and she was sat in a barber's chair, a towel was draped around her. The woman leaned in, placing her head next to her, looking at her through the mirror. "Do you have anything mind?" She asked.
Miho thought for a moment and replied. "I have nothing really in mind. I just want it cut short."
The woman hummed. And backed away to observe what she had to work with. "I think I have an idea." She grabbed her scissors and began cutting. Going from end to end, she worked and worked until her hair only descended to the back of her neck. She then moved to the front and began balancing out the haircut.
"If I may." She started continuing to cut. "But do you go to one of the flight schools?"
Miho was taken thrown off balance by the question but was able to get out an answer. "No. I'm just passing through."
"I see."
Soon enough, she was done. Her hair now didn't extend much the start of her neck, it wasn't a large change, but hopefully, it would make it slightly more difficult for her to be picked out of a crowd. Miho stood up after being cleaned off and gave a slight bow to the woman. "Thank you. Um, how much do I owe you?"
The woman smiled. "It's no hassle, and since I didn't do that much work. We'll put it at twenty Ustian marks."
Miho shot up. She hadn't converted her Zollers to Marks yet. "Uh." Her face grew red from embarrassment. "Do you take Zollers?"
The woman looked to the man in concern before shaking her head. "It's free."
Miho was absolutely stunned. "F-free?"
"Well, not free. I want you to take some advice. Know that sometimes it's best to face what we're running from."
Miho internally laughed. She doubted that was the best idea.
"Anyways. I'm sure you have places to go wish you the best and safe travels."
With another slight bow, she thanked them both for their help and turned to leave. But as she reached for the door, it was swung open, smacking her in the face and sending her to the ground. Rubbing her nose, she looked up to the person who had opened a door.
There stood a fluffy-haired girl dressed in a flight suit just like her. Only she had patches. An anglerfish like she had seen on those jets and the Ustio flag. Her gaze was fixed, Miho, her mouth was hung opened. It was as if she had seen a ghost. Then she spoke. "Miho, Nishiszumi?"
Miho's heart jumped; she had been found.
"Otherwise known as Tigris 2 of black forest academy? I'm a huge fan. You're the one who got me into flying." The girl smiled from ear to ear. But that smile instantly vanished when she realized what she had done. "I'm sorry." She sputtered out, reaching down and picking her up. "Are you okay?"
Miho, yet to catch up, was only to get out a "Yes."
"That's good. Are you staying is Black forest competing somewhere around here?" She beamed. "Do you need a place to stay?"
"That's not appropriate Yuka-"
"I'm sorry!" Miho shouted. "I need to get going. I have a train to catch." without so much as another word, she rushed out of the door and headed ran down the street hoping to quickly find the train station before word of her being here the rumours began to spread.
Yukari exited the barbershop, a look of concern on her face. "What was that about." Her friend and EWO, Saori asked, from the passenger seat of the truck they had used to get here.
"Who cares? Did you get the food?" Mako asked from the driver's seat. "I'm hungry."
"Mako." Saori scolded.
Yukari pursed her lips. "Give me a moment." as Yukari headed back inside to the kitchen that held her squadrons lunch, she couldn't help but worry.
xXXXx
The door to the head office of the south Directus aerodrome slammed open. "God damn it!" The head of the school shouted, throwing her flight jacket onto a nearby couch.
"Anzu, calm down." Her secretary begged.
She turned to face her. "Calm down? We're on the verge of closing down because none of our pilots aren't worth shit. I have the chief of finance breathing down my neck, you've heard the calls! If we can't stop this losing streak, we'll be shut down, and our planes moved to the other aerodromes." When no rebuttal came, she continued to her desk, rounding it and sitting down. "I need to think." She muttered, tapping a finger on the desk.
Opening a drawer and withdrew a bag of dried sweet potatoes. She needed new pilots. The ones they had lacked discipline, how the hell did they get their licenses.
Anzu started pulling out and eyeing a potato. "You know what it is. I think it's those history nerds."
"Hippo team?"
Anzu took a bite of her potato and nodded. "Dose pilots." She swallowed. "are playing ace, they break formation and go out on their own, and because one pilot was able to take out an f22 in an f4 they try to do the same, and oops he just pulled a kulbit, and now you're dead. And don't get me started the first years. All in their f14's, acting like they're in that one film but scattering as soon as the simulated missiles start flying. They're going to cost us our careers." She let out a sigh and leaned back into her chair. "it's all so frustrating."
She needed a miracle.
All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. "Come in." She halfheartedly said. The door opened and in walked the leader of one of the only competent squadrons under her command. "Angler 1, what brings you here today."
The girl with pursed lips stepped forward and asked an odd question. "Is black forest facing off against anyone today?"
"I don't think so, there was only our battle scheduled, and I didn't see any other contacts on radar. Why do you ask?"
"Oh." The girl perked up. "I just saw a Tigris pilot down in Directus."
An eye perked up on the commander's face. "Which one?"
"Tigris 2, Miho Nishizumi."
"But didn-"
"Quiet Yuzu. Now, where did you see her?"
"She was at my family's barbershop, but she said she was heading to the train station."
A smile dawned on the reddish-haired girl. "Well, I'll call up the ministry of defence and ask if there are any battles between black forest and any Ustian aerodromes. But until then, keep it under wraps. We might not care about spies, but the other academies might not be."
"Thank you, Anzu." With a smile, the fluffy-haired girl turned around and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Yuzu was quick to react, looking to her as if she had seen a ghost. "Tigris 2 get shot down over the border, how is she in Directus?"
The commander now beaming leaned back into her chair. "They found her plane, but they didn't find her, it seems our little Belkan is a bit sturdier than most pilots... What's Momo doing?"
"She should be overseeing the punishment of the various squadrons." Yuzu replied.
"Tell her that they've been pardoned and to bring the car around."
Yuzu looked to her concerned. "What are you planning?"
"Directus is quite far from B7R, so why she here and not back at black forest?"
xXXXx
She had missed it. She had spent too long wondering, and she had missed the train. Not only that but there were no trains till tomorrow. That was what the clerk at the counter of the train station had told her.
That left her with a whole bunch of time on her hands, so not wanting to head back to that shithole motel, she began to wonder, she didn't know what she was looking for, but food would have been nice. Perhaps she would finally be able to find that market.
A squeal of breaks alerted her to the car that had just pulled up beside her. The door swung open, and a pair of tall girls exited before she could react, they were on her grabbing and pulling her into the car. She tried to scream, but a hand was shoved into her mouth, silencing her. Heart pounded in her chest; her eyes darted from left to right, looking for anyone who could help her, but the street was deserted.
'Please'
As soon as she was inside, the car pulled away, driving a few blocks before pulling into an alleyway. The hand brake was pulled, and the tiny driver looked over her shoulder. Nodding the other girls uncovered her mouth.
Sense soon returned as she realized what was missing. "You're not Black forest students. I don't recognize you. What what do you want?"
The girl smiled. "I want you to fly for us."
Miho looked to the other girls. Was this a joke, all this for a pilot. "I'd rather not,"
The smile on the reddish-haired girl faded. She let out a sigh. "I was afraid you would say that." Flipping open her phone, she began to dial, and once done, rose it to her ear. "Hello, am I speaking to commander Shiho Nishizumi of Black forest acad-"
Her heart jumped, and she shouted. "Okay! I get it." Miho. "But why? Why do you need me?"
Her eyebrows perked up. "That should be obvious." She said. "You are Tigris 2 of black forest. You are the second pest pilot of that school. And right now, Ustio is beginning to downsize its military, and that crunch is affecting us. So, we need your help to make sure that they see us as key for their air force."