Author's note

I know I am a bit late on the update but at least I just barely made it. That counts for something right? Joke aside, I will try to be more consistent on my update. Probably have to strap a time bomb on my chest for that but I will get to that when I reach there. Rights, on with the story!

Chapter 4

"Not that I hate showing you the place and all but given my disciplinary issue, maybe you would prefer someone else to show you around? I can have it arranged if that is what you prefered." I offered exhaustedly as I led the way with the second generation Nishizumi following behind me.

"From what I gathered it's a one time thing so it's fine with me." Maho said. "I saw some of your SurCom matches. Why didn't you tell me you are the Shinamura Keiji earlier?"

"Well, with what happened and the investigation...I thought it best not to say anything about it." I answered as I looked back. "Can we make a detour to a classroom first? I have some stuff to settle."

"Lead the way. I am in no hurry."

"Thanks. I have to tell my team the meeting's outcome. Shouldn't take long." I said as I opened a door and entered the now noisy room.

"Pipe down guys! He's back!" Someone yelled and everyone in the room turned their attention to me expectantly. "So how did it go?"

"We got the go ahead for five matches." I replied sensing something was up. "Soujiro, continue with the Senshado rules and regulations. After that, have a run through our SurCom tactics. We can use probably use it in Senshado since the fundamentals are the same. Team assignments and crew assignments can be discussed later. We can discuss the regular training dates via email."

"Hey Keiji. Is it a full male acceptance or just conditional?" Ryoji asked out of the blue.

"Conditional I guess? Since we are the only male who can participate at the moment and full acceptance only considered if we win three out of five matches."

"Fuck! God damn it!" Ryoji exclaimed at the top of his lungs while yanking at his hair. Almost instantly, several others showed equally disappointed look while others cheered excitedly.

"They place bets on the outcome of your meeting boss." Soujiro said as he approached me looking into a small pocketbook. "On a side note, are you going to introduce her?"

"Hm? Oh sorry. Guys attention!" I called out after looking behind me noticing that Maho had followed me. "Miss Nishizumi, these misfits are going to be the all male Senshado team. This one is Soujiro. Guys this is Nishizumi Maho, the commander of one of the top Senshado team in the country."

"Hi. Nice to meet all of you." Maho said with a respectful bow. It was returned by everyone in the room.

"Alright guys. Settle your gambling debt and follow through with what Soujiro has for you. I have some business to attend to so behave yourselves."

"You're ditching us to have fun with your lady friend aren't you!? You filthy traitor!" Eiji teased as he points his accusing finger at me. What comes next are a series of boos and jeers directed at me followed by suggestions of acts to be taken upon the so called traitor. Acts so heinous that the author of this story decided to leave it out of the story for the betterment of mankind.

"The old man asked me to show her around the school guys. Settle down!" I said in a light tone.

"Since when did you get a girlfriend!?" Someone yelled followed by a series of poorly synchronised wolf howls.

I hate those cheeky bastards so much.

"Sorry Miss Nishizumi. They are a lively bunch." I apologised with an awkward smile as I noticed her cheeks reddened slightly.

"It's fine. Unit cohesion is important and it seems that they have it." Maho said trying to brush it off.

"Alright guys! You had your fun! Settle down, we got work to do!" I called out in a more serious tone and everyone eventually calmed down. "Ahem...okay. Like I say before, I am showing this lady here our school and I will be back later. Soujiro will be in charge until I return and we will get to the training details later. Everything good?"

"Yes sir!" Everyone responded in unison and went back to their booklets that were likely handed out by Soujiro in my absence. Seeing that everyone is now focused, I nodded to Soujiro and he gave me a thumbs up to let me know that he can take over from here.

"Behave yourself Keiji! You're representing the school here!" Kyoji yelled as Maho and I were almost out of the room with a few guys chuckling at my expense.

"Go screw yourself!" I replied jokingly earning a few more chuckle from the others in the room. After walking some distance, I let out a tired groan as I hunched my back for a minute before straightening out my posture. "Again, I apologise for their behaviour Miss Nishizumi. They didn't mean anything malicious. They're just poking fun at me if anything."

"It's really fine. It's refreshing to see something different from Kuromorimine." Maho said. "So where are we going?"

"You mentioned that you watched some of my SurCom matches. I figured we can go to the SurCom training area and have a look see there." I suggested. "Plus that is one of the few places that actually still welcomes me. So...lucky I guess."

"Still welcome?"

"It's a long story. I can arrange a tour of that place, fire off a few simunitions if that is what you want before moving on to somewhere else." I replied checking a text from the SurCom team captain, Suzaku. "SurCom captain agreed to let us have a look see at the team's training and for you to fire off a gun at the firing range."

"You just arranged that? You work quite fast." Maho commented.

"Thanks Miss Nishizumi. It's a completely different experience from firing the machine gun on a tank. It should be fun."

"Calling me Maho is fine. Have you operated a tank before? You sounded like you have."

"Yea. My mom teaches Senshado. She has no style like you and your mother. Rather she teaches the very basic like tank operations and basic tactics to her students. After that she would let them leave to develop their own styles. It's a small place so I would help out whenever I am able to. Maintenance and even training some of the new students."

"Training? You were allowed to train even though you are a man?" Maho asked with a hint of surprise.

"There were some objections by some of the new students and maybe even parents but after seeing how well I handle the new students they just let it be. My mother doesn't mind either. She says it was free labour so she was more than happy to have me help out."

"F-Free labour? That's an odd way to put it." Maho commented trying to hide her thoughts on the odd choice of words.

"It was free labour in a way so I digress." I brushed it off nonchalantly. "Almost broke her heart when I decided to drop it."

"I see." Maho replied and thought for a moment. "I have been meaning to ask, what is Senshado to you? In the meeting room it felt as if you have a passion for it and yet you drop it without so much as a second thought."

"Ah...I see where you are trying to go with this." I replied and gave Maho's question some thought. "Senshado...is something dear to me. I grew up with it and have the fondest memories with it. Through it I learned principles and values that made me who I am today. It is everything to me, and I do not want to see it fade away. Because of that, I want to share it with the other half of the population so that they may enjoy and learn from it as I have and to ensure the continuation of Senshado itself."

"If that is the case, why did you stop practicing it?"

"I had to go to highschool. Sparta High is a all boy school so there was no Senshado team. As much as I like to continue practicing, the situation doesn't allow it." I explained running my fingers through my hair. "So I joined up SurCom as a way to remind me of Senshado. That was when I found out the fundamentals of the two sports are quite similar and developed my tactical and strategic thinking while doing SurCom. I do hope to continue with Senshado after high school, so in a way I haven't stopped Senshado yet."

"I see. But since Senshado wasn't a male sports you knew you couldn't practice it openly."

"That and I want to share what I enjoy with the others as well. Since SurCom begin to accept both gender, I had some conversation with some of the girls who practice it. They said that they have always wanted to try SurCom and that they enjoy doing it. If we work on that logic, the same can happen for Senshado as well. Fast forwarding by months we are here now." I concluded.

"But why now?"

"The stars are aligned." I answered shrugging my shoulders. "They would be expelled if nothing was done and the school's spirit is a mess since majority of the students only focus on winning rather than the struggle itself."

"Sounds like you are trying to kill two birds with one stone." Maho said impressed at the depth of my thinking.

"Yeah, I do that a lot." I commented as we reached the entrance of the SurCom training grounds where a familiar face greeted us.

"Thanks for agreeing to this on short notice Suzaku. This is Nishizumi Maho. Maho, this is Miyamoto Suzaku. He's the captain of the SurCom team." I said greeting Suzaku.

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Nishizumi. Welcome to Sparta High's SurCom training grounds. We are in the middle of a meeting so I apologise for not being able to show you around the area. Keiji would be taking my place." Suzaku said while shaking Maho's hand.

"Thank you. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all since it was planned out by Keiji. So I will supervise the check out of a gun and some simunitions and leave the rest to you Keiji. Is that fine?" Suzaku replied.

"Lead the way then."

After aiding in checking out a M-16 with some simunitions, Suzaku went back to his meeting. Since we have time, I gave Maho a tour around the training grounds passing several groups of people there who happily greeted me. Ending the tour at the firing range, I briefed Maho on the basics of firing the gun and allowed her to take her first shot. Standing in a proper firing stance, she took her time lining up the gun at the centre of the target and pulled the trigger.

The black M-16 barked to life with a loud bang, sending a simunition down range to the target while kicking back against Maho's shoulder, dissipating some of the recoil energy while the remaining energy forced the gun forty five degree upwards to the sky. Surprised, she lowered the gun and gave me a puzzled look. Seeing her reaction, I chuckled a bit and gave her a detail explanation of recoil and how to better brace against it. After that, she fired a few more rounds and I gave her some tips on accuracy.

"Well, how is it so far?" I asked after she emptied a clip and I demonstrated reloading the gun.

"The kickback is harder than what I expected." Maho commented massaging her now aching shoulder.

"Yea, the recoil packs a punch. Want to continue?" I asked offering her the gun after loading in a new clip.

"Thank you. It's quite fun though. And it's surprising that the basic principle of shooting a gun and a cannon to be this similar." Maho said as she lined up another shot. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, a distant yelling caught her attention. Noticing the yelling got closer, the two of us looked in its general direction.

"What the hell is a piece of shit like you doing here!?" A angry guy yelled as he stomped towards us.

"Uzaki come on man! Just leave him alone!" His friend said trying to reach out to hold the angry fellow back.

"He know damn well what he has done and he still has the gall to show his face here!? Like hell I would leave him be!" the guy apparently called Uzaki retorted swatting his friend's hand aside and got up to my face. With spite in his voice, he spoke. "Well? What is a disgrace like you doing here? You have no right to be here after what you have done."

Cute. I bet you would be fun at parties.

"I am taking a guest of the school on a tour and I have permission from your captain." I answered not wanting to escalate the heating up situation. "Whatever issue you have with me can you put it off to later? At this point you are giving the guest a bad impression of the school."

"That is funny coming from a filth that dragged the school's name through dirt. You betrayed your whole team and threw the match. Tell me did some school paid you off to throw the match? How much was it?" Uzaki said venomously. "For someone honorless like you I say it didn't cost much did it?

"Careful there. Even a saint's patience has limits." I warned trying to remain calm as he touched a nerve. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Maho getting worried by this sudden turn of event and was about to intervene.

Calm down Keiji. Ike most of the school, he doesn't knows about the circumstances then so it's not his fault acting like an ass at the moment. Although I think he would be an ass regardless but it's not his fault for directing it at you for the-

"What are you going to do? Pin me down and pummel me like how you pummel that contestant?" Uzaki said trying to goad me into hitting him. Unconsciously, my hands balled up into tight fists.

That's it! I don't care even if this asshole is a damn cripple! I will beat the shit out of him and tie him upside down on my room door to ward off any other potential-

Before I can finish my chain of thoughts, I saw a fist connects with Uzaki's face snapping me out from my sudden spike in rage. Looking to my left where the punch came from, and I saw Suzaku with a look of disgust on his face. Before anything else could happen, he had Uzaki's friend and another student to pick up Uzaki and restrain him.

"Sorry about that. The new intake doesn't know the whole story of that incident but that does not excuse that fact that he disturbed the two of you." Suzaku apologised bowing before me and Maho. "I will be sure to give him and the other new intakes a good scolding. Miss Nishizumi, please do not let this man's behaviour affect your view of the school and it's students."

"I was just taken aback. It's fine." Maho said uneasily.

"He sounds a tad too angry." I commented.

"He joined after you left. And from what I heard, the SurCom here meant a lot to him and that he saw you as a role model before that happened. Then he saw you nothing but a traitor and even joined up to erase your accomplishments." Suzaku explained before turning to Uzaki's friend. "Get him and all the new intake into the meeting room. Keiji is not to be touched, especially here and it's time I drill it into all your thick skull."

"Yes sir." The guy nodded and went with the other two.

"Again, my apologies to the both of you." Suzaku said again with another bow.

"It's fine really." Maho replied, now more relaxed than earlier.

"Yeah don't keep saying that. I thought you were in a meeting?" I said deciding to change the topic.

"We finished a while ago. Oh and I was going to return this back to you. The paperworks for it has been cleared." Suzaka answered as he reached for something he placed on the ground behind him earlier. Turning around, he produced a SurCom helmet painted with grey and white camouflage and handed it to me. But its most striking feature is the word 'god' all in capital letter and painted in red on the left side of it and the insignia of a wolf's bloodied face on the right. "Your helmet. I keep forgetting that it's in the storage."

"Thanks, almost forgotten about it myself." I said inspecting it for a while and placed it under my arm.

"So how do you find this place? I hope Keiji treats you with more respect than he treats me." Suzaku asked Maho jokingly.

"I am sure he treats you with just as much respect." Maho with a smile. "This place is very nice. I enjoy it here."

"Good to hear. Well I will leave the two of you now." Suzaku said and excused himself.

"He is quite a responsible commander." Maho commented.

"He is. He was the second choice to captain the SurCom team once the seniors have left."

"Who was the first?"

"Me. So do you want to continue ordo you have anywhere in mind?" I asked.

"I think I am fine for now. My arm is starting to ache a lot." Maho explained slightly embarrassed as she handed the gun back to me. "Do you get used to it?"

"Yeah that happens. After some training you would get used to it." I answered as I took the gun and adjusted the helmet in my arm.

"May I have a look?" Maho asked as the two of us walked towards the armoury.

"Sure."

"Why does it have 'god' written on the side?" Maho asked curiously as she studies my helmet. "I didn't take you for a person who would think of himself as a god." She added jokingly.

"It started off as a joke but eventually I got stuck with it." I explained with a chuckle. "There was a comment that it was difficult to spot me during a match and someone decided to write that on my helmet so that I would be more recognisable. It actually worked and that word has been there ever since."

I was planning to take Maho to one of the nearby cafe for tea but it was time for her to leave. So I escorted her to the principal's office where she met up with her mother and the others. Mr Kenshin and I then escorted the guests to the school's helipad.

"Sorry for the incident earlier. It was a personal issue and yet it affected your tour." I apologised as the old man wished his former students a safe trip back.

"It's nothing really. I had a fun time touring the place with you. Thank you for showing me around." Maho said. "Hope that we meet again."

With that, she wished me luck in what I plan to do and went off into the waiting helicopter.