Author's Note: Happy Valentines Day y'all!

Here's my Valentine's gift to every lonely heart this day. Hope this update will help fill the void inside your heart. Apologies if it's been a while, my house has been demolished and we had to rebuild it from scratch. Thank you all for your patience.

(I always wanted to drop one of those absurd AO3 author notes and let me tell you that today is my proudest moment xD)

Anyways, as always, I'll be seeing y'all at the end of this chapter~ Cheerio!

Chapter XV
Gloriana Calling

Shamrock Training Field
25th of April
6:02 PM

The silence of the crowd grew unbearable by the minute and Assam, letting her curiosity get the better of her, turned around in her seat, forcing her to abandon her already comfortable position on her throne of a chair. The mute stare of disbelief of the masses greeted her as everyone still processed what they just witnessed. She was about to turn to her fellow schoolmates to bring up this bizarre scenario when she heard the war cry of what could only be described as an angry leprechaun.

Tracing its source, Assam found the host of the night charging up the stage, fast approaching the trio of new commanders that stood there perplexed. Without any warning, the twin-tailed carrot top snatched the black shillelagh from Finn's hand, almost causing the injured dancer to collapse. Now armed with what amounted to a wooden club, the overall commander of the Shamrock Senshadou Team approached the tanks as if she was stepping behind the crease.

"Fore!" Shannon shouted as she held the club out like a cricket bat and swung as hard as she could at the nuisance of a bottle.

The bottle of brew exploded into a million pieces, showering the tanks with shards of glass and bits of beer. It took a good few seconds before all souls present to register what just happened but soon a wild cheer from the rest of the team made itself known.

"Shannon-Senchou everyone!" the mistress of ceremonies announced, clapping alongside the others as she turned what was an embarrassing situation into one that showed greatness.

Assam clapped along, all the while checking on the reactions of the trio beside her. Rosehip was revelling in on the fun, keenly watching the spectacle in front of them. Roselle, on the other hand, had her gaze far away, sitting crossed-leg on the armchair. The girl's booted right leg was firmly planted on her lap, in a manner that would have been so scandalous that it would give alumni Tea Garden members a stroke. Meanwhile, Rosemallow was seated with the grace and elegance expended of a Gloriana student, but was busy recording the entire event, undoubtedly for their friend lying on a hospital bed.

The rest of the event went as smoothly as Shamrock events went and before the blonde knew it, everything was over with. And she, along with the rest of the Rosebush, was escorted to one of the warehouses, where even from outside, they could already hear the sound of music banging out from the walls of the premises

As she walked, Assam had trouble keeping her clover crown on her head, as she not only marched but also scanned the environment around her to take into account any potential dangers that may arise. A pair of girls in green opened the door for them, reminding her all too much of the Gloriana Guards back home. Walking through the door, she saw that the lounge room had been transformed greatly from the last moment they were present, with green streamers now hanging from the brick walls and balloons scattered across the floor.

The furniture from before had been pushed against the side, to make room for everyone. One exception to the rule was a single long table that stood in the middle of the room where platters of dishes were displayed for all to see. From cute little bowls of mashed potatoes to trayfuls of individually baked potatoes to a cauldron Assam could only assume held bubbly potato leek soup, it was a feast consisting of potato dishes.

A Potato Party

The centrepiece of it all, however, was a crudely shaped tank cake that could only be made from potato. Out of nowhere, a number of girls dressed in aprons and maid caps, all toting trays of drinks that hopefully weren't bearing potato juice. Accompanying them was a rhythmic melody that came from the back of the room, where a string of musicians, unlike the ones from last night, were located.

A short fit of coughing much louder than the music caught Assam's attention, which she freely gave as she turned her head towards its root, not at all surprised to find it was the short stack seamstress that was once again the origin of the outcry. The little green clover fairy had quickly scaled atop of a table, a glass of amber liquid in hand.

"Ladies and well, ladies I would like to give a toast!"

The music died down a bit as a sign of respect while barmaids made their rounds around the room, making sure everyone present had a glass to toast with. Unfortunately, this included her as a tumbler of what she found out to be strong-smelling whisky found its way into her hand. Beside her, the trio of friends were also handed their drinks and it didn't take long for the torrent of insults to start raining on her kouhai.

"Watch your drink now, Miss Rum," Roselle snickered, swinging her arm around the back of one greatly embarrassed Rosehip.

"I'll be taking that after the toast," their loader stated, as a matter of fact, her gaze turning the already abashed redhead further into a gelatinous goop.

A single "yes" was all Rosehip could muster, looking down at the ground as if inviting the earth to swallow her whole.

Poor girl will never live that down

Assam thought as she moved to give words of reassurance to her kouhai, but none came to her lips; her vast repertoire failing her now of all times. In lieu of words, she knew action was the next best thing and so taking a step forward, she placed a hand on the pink-haired deviant's shoulder.

It was as if her touch was electric as she watched Rosehip recoil in shock, jumping up with the speed of a cat so that some of the girl's drink was split on the floor. With her job done, Assam returned her attention back to the lass up high, who was simply waiting for everyone inside the room to have a glass in hand, before Shannon finally got on with her toast:

"There are good tanks

and bad tanks,

tanks that rule the battlefield,

but for these tanks,

we give you our thanks!"

which we will ever be grateful for!"

As she finished speaking, Shannon looked over towards her, giving her a sly wink before downing the glass of whisky in one go. Assam, as well as most of the room, followed suit, with her doing the best she could to not splurt out the burning hot liquid. Looking around the room, most of the rest enjoyed their drinks but she noted a few that didn't touch their glasses after the toast.

True to her word, Rosemallow took Rosehip's drink out of her hand, followed shortly thereafter with Roselle feebly attempting to reach out for the glass, which the twin-tailed-girl slapped away easily, before returning the undrunken toast to a tray of a passing barmaid.

With the formalities out of the way, the starving populace couldn't hold back as the rich aroma of dozens of dishes filled everyone's nostrils. All of those wearing green, plus Rosehip and Roselle, charged the banquet table, with Shannon barely getting down in time with the help of Clare before they too partook in the feast.

Assam allowed the fuzz to die down a bit before taking her turn. Everyone loaded their plate with the various offerings and settled down to eat, sitting around their own collectives as the sound of instruments spread throughout the room while they all filled their stomachs. She and the other three were given a special table to sit at, complete with a candelabra to settle the mood, which in a way helped counteract the sight of her kouhai gobbling up her food like a cat.

It didn't take long for everyone, even her, to have their fill, with the potato tank cake being all but obliterated, a single white flag being the only mark it was there in the first place. With the help of a large number of people in the room, the long table was lifted up from its place, opening up the space for what she soon found out was a dance floor.

The band quickly changed their tune, going from a calm melodic song perfect to eat to to one of rapid beats, its rhythm beckoning all to dance. Assam was determined to sit this one out when one member of her company stood up and approached her chair with an outstretched arm.

"May I have your hand for tonight?" her would-be dance partner requested.

She looked up expecting none other than Rosehip so it came as a mild shock that it was her kouhai's "sister", Roselle.

A rather interesting development…

The girl had a wide grin, as if this move had an ulterior motive of sorts. Even so, her curiosity got all the better of her and so Assam played along to see where this would end up.

"Oh… Absolutely!" Assam replied, hoping disappointment wasn't too evident on her face.

Standing up, the two of them were joined in by a dozen or so other pairs, including the team's commander and vice-commander, with Clare being physically dragged along by Shannon who was literally half her size. Placing each other's hands behind their back and holding out their free hands, Assam and Roselle started to spin around, slowly at first and then faster and faster, somehow avoiding colliding with others on the dancefloor.

"I must say, I haven't had the chance to congratulate you for winning that duel!" the dirty blonde-haired gal shouted over the music.

"Don't be shy, you had a part to play in that too," Assam quickly replied, knowing fully well that the tank wouldn't have moved without someone driving it.

"Still, it was my fault for prolonging the battle longer than it should have gone on," Roselle replied, looking sheepishly.

"Well, all's well, that ends well," she responded, placating the driver a bit before she delivered the leg sweep, "Just don't forget to return the shells, alright?" she finished with a wry smile.

Roselle's cheeky expression disappeared altogether, replaced by a somewhat embarrassed look as if her hand was caught up in someone's skirt. The two continued to dance albeit in silence, weaving through other pairs of dancers.

Eventually, Assam figured out that the girl had enough time with her thoughts of shame and so broke the ever-growing silence between them.

"How are you finding Shamrock so far?" she cordially asked.

"Place is amazing!" Roselle blurted out without much hesitation. "Lots of good food, good drinks, the fact you don't need to hide the fact that you're drinking and the people…." she blushed, furiously turning as red as the jacket she was wearing.

"I see you are quite smitten with Clare-san…"

"She's an absolute smoke show!" the driver quickly replied, obviously feeling the pangs of love. This soon turned to uneasiness, as Roselle stared at their feet as they continued to glide across the dance floor. "Any advice you can give me?"

Ah, so that's why she wanted to dance…

"What makes you think I have any to give? Assam answered diplomatically.

Roselle seemed taken aback by this response, probably expecting a straightforward answer. "Well… Rosehip cares a lot about you and I'm sure in your own way, you care about her too."

"Let's seee…." she pensively thought as she swayed to the tune.

"Look beyond their imperfections... and learn to accept their faults, only then will you truly love someone."

As she said it, Assam thought about her current predicament, she knew that she couldn't rule Rosehip with a word, much less a single look, nor should she. It would take a lot to bring this impetuous lass to bear, but it shouldn't go to the point she'd strangle the budding rose that is her kouhai.

She was taken out of her reverie by a great shout from the centre of the dance floor, which was soon followed by a disarray and Assam felt Roselle ripped from her grips and before she knew it, she was face to face with the commander of Shamrock yet again.

"Here we are again," Assam remarked, a cordial smile on her face as she did her best not to look down on Shannon.

The host of the night seemed to not notice and looked at her cheerfully as ever, "How are you tonight?"

"It's no ball but I'm having fun," she replied, as the little lass spun her around like a top, obviously having more experience than her on the dance floor.

From the corner of her eye, Assam glanced at her former other half, now dancing closely with the girl of her dreams; an intimate face-off akin to a mating ritual.

"Did you ever personally crewed the Covies you are now transferring over to us?" Shannon asked, coming out of the blue so that it almost took her off guard, almost.

"Me personally? Not really, infantry tanks have always been my thing. In fact, my first time in a tank was as a loader in a Matilda," she replied, reminiscing about her older days.

"Are you sad to see them go?" Shannon asked, oblivious to the fact that her vice commander was wrapped tightly around another girl behind her.

"Not particularly, at least here they'll have a second life and I'm sure you'll make better use of them than having them rot in a stowage garage deep below underground."

A slight crash happened right beside them and the pair had just enough time to get step aside as a pair of dancers, one of whom had glasses and the other a multicolour jacket, tumbled down dazzled from all the spinning.

"So, if I may ask, what are your plans for the future?" she asked her new dance partner after they had gotten away, doing what she did best: gathering intel.

"I don't plan that far ahead, I'm afraid," Shannon replied, "All I know is with these three new tanks in our arsenal, our chances of beating Kuromorimine have increased tenfold!"

Talk about aiming for the stars

"Before you challenge any other school to a match…" she started, gaining the immediate attention of the orange-haired girl in front of her, "Would it be fine if we could train your team first on how to make use of the tanks and how to maintain them?"

"You would be willing to do that?" Shannon asked, with Assam swearing she saw sparkles in her eyes for a second.

"Oh absolutely, this is a partnership after all. How does tomorrow morning sound?"

"That would be lovely, I'll personally see to it that everyone will be there!"

Woe be to the poor lasses who will be nursing hangovers after tonight

Silence soon reigned over the two of them with Shannon still none the wiser about her vice commander slithering like a snake around another girl.

Not wanting to be the one to break the news to her, Assam steered the two of them further away, talking with the carrot top to keep her occupied.

"What made you want to start practising Senshadou?" she asked; a common, if not a generic question to throw at anyone partaking in the sport. She found out that one could learn a lot about a person's character based on how they responded to this question, be it for fame, for feminine values or according to a fellow blonde living in Saunders, fun.

"Do you know Miho Nishizumi?" Shannon asked, being flustered all of a sudden now.

"Met her a few times before, while I accompanied Darjeeling for trips. Extremely shy gal, why'd you ask?" Assam replied, candidly. She had exchanged a few words with the legendary lady in the past, but most were done out of courtesy as she had trouble penetrating through the notably thick armoured shell the prodigy built around herself.

She knew it was too good to be a cover and she had seen firsthand the care and attention Miho gave to her own teammates, treating them as friends rather than pawns as any commander of her fame would. Aside from that, the younger Nishizumi had an obsession with wounded stuffed bears that was so well known, one didn't need to be an intelligence officer like her to be aware of it.

"You've met, the Nishizumi?! Miho "The Saviour of Senshadou" Nishizumi?!" Shannon stated, her eyes definitely shining like the brightest of emeralds.

"Yep, the one and only. So what about her?" Assam asked, her interest now piqued.

"Well…" the lass paused for a second as if gathering her thoughts, "When a nobody like her could come in and sweep up a school nobody has heard of before to the top, then what's stopping me from doing the same?"

Someone seemed to have forgotten that Miho wasn't a nobody, with the girl in question coming from the elite-most Senshadou family in the country.

"How about you?" Shannon inquired.

Before Assam had the chance to answer, she felt herself get yanked away from Shannon's arms and back to Roselle's. The girl had a brazen smile etched upon her face as if she'd been to Shangri-La and back; no sign of any shame whatsoever at the act she just committed.

"Say, you didn't hear this from me…." the brunette lowered her voice, coming in close as she felt her ragged breaths near her ear. "But did you know, Rosehip only has a single tickle spot?"

"Oh? Do tell." Then and there, Assam knew why Roselle had wanted to dance with her. It wasn't to ask for advice, it was just a means to an end. She and Clare had played their respective pairs like a damn fiddle.

Roselle picked her because she was the only one who wouldn't hold this information against her. Clare was the one who suggested to Shannon for the partner switch, all for a few minutes of alone time.

"It's the back of her neck," Rosehip's driver relayed, accompanied by the dramatic pulling of the violin strings. The music swelled to a climax and before Assam knew it, it was all over, punctuated by the clapping of the crowd around the dance floor.

"I'm afraid I have to let go of you for tonight, mademoiselle," Roselle said, letting go of her hand. "I sense the presence of a storm nearby and the last thing I want to do is to be caught in it." the girl discreetly gestured with her head over her shoulder, which Assam immediately followed.

Behind Roselle, staring daggers at the two of them, was none other than her kouhai, Rosehip herself, whose amber eyes were burning with fury a thousand times hotter than the sands of the Sahara.

Rosehip thought she knew what anger was before, but right now, she felt a sensation like never before. She followed every movement of the pair with her eyes, every single heartbeat pounding hard against her chest. Inside her burned a rage she didn't know she even possessed and right now wanted nothing more than to put her hands around her friend's neck.

That absolute troglodyte. That bloody prick.

The entire room seemed to have spun out of focus as she only saw Assam and the treacherous fiend. She felt boiling lead bubbling away in her stomach, slowly making its way up her system, forming a lump in her throat. It was fortunate she wasn't holding onto a glass because she knew she would have snapped it clean off the stem.

She breathed a momentary sigh of relief as Roselle relinquished her senpai's hand and the two parted ways but it was not to last as she saw Assam looking at her with an icy stare. Her anger earlier turned to fear as she sunk into her chair, not sure what harsh words would her senpai throw her way.

Was it wrong for her to get jealous in the first place?!

Was Assam-senpai about to put her in her place?

Oh, you royally fucked up this time around Rosehip…

The blonde crossed the length of the dance floor, eyes still on her, each step only causing Rosehip to grip the edge of her seat tighter and tighter. By the time her senpai reached her earshot, she could feel herself shaking like an earthquake in her own nervousness.

"Aren't you going to ask me out on a dance?" Assam-senpai asked, dropping a 75mm high explosive bombshell on her.

"I-uhm…"

She realised she had fallen for Roselle's trap, putting her in a precarious situation to embarrass her in front of her crush. She looked around for that sneaky overreaching rat but her driver was nowhere to be found. Her eyes run wild in search but alas, they had nowhere to lock onto but the pair of perfect purple eyes of her senpai, who was patiently waiting for her response.

Within deep inside her, Rosehip felt a sudden rush of energy, the same kind she had flowing through her veins as the Crusader flew over that canal back when they fought Selection and so, instead of answering, she took her senpai's hand and surged forward to the battlefield.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" her senpai called out, barely audible over the music that now filled her ears.

Assam-senpai gripped her hand hard as if her life depended on it, which did a whole lot to settle her own nerves, as Rosehip felt the uncontrollable shaking she had subsided. Turning around, she saw her senpai, her eyes more vibrant than ever on the darkened dance floor, looking lovely with that clover crown on top of her head.

"So… Are we going to stand here all night, or are we going to dance?" the blonde girl called out, snapping her out of her trance as Rosehip realised she had stood frozen in the middle of it all, awestruck at the sight before her,

Her senpai breathed a sigh, an often familiar noise she had grown accustomed to in the time they had spent together. "Consider this today's lesson."

These words caused Rosehip to stop dead in her tracks. She had missed these moments between the two of them, with the last lesson being so far in the past. And sure, she might have forgotten what it was exactly her senpai tried to teach her but every moment with her was something she treasured.

Her upperclasswoman put on the air of an experienced educator reserved only for when it was time to teach or to chastise, with the latter mostly coming before the former. "First, you need to come closer," she began, gently pulling her closer until she could hear her steady breathing.

Rosehip felt her cheeks warming up as she never had her senpai this close to her, not before and possibly never again and so wanted to make the most out of it.

"Now put your left hand on my back, like this," her senpai continued, doing a demonstration of what she said, sending a jolt up her spine, she was putty in her hands.

Rosehip did as she was instructed, gingerly placing her hand on her senpai's back, and looking at her mentor for further instructions, hoping she didn't notice her trembling.

"Then, finally, we move..." Assam-senpai, guided her to step to the side, as the two of them began to drift around the other dancers present.

What luck that a coffee-smelling gremlin like her would be dancing with such a lovely muse!

"I've never been trained to dance before," Rosehip said, always glancing downward to avoid stepping on her senpai's feet.

"Neither have I, but I'm sure we'll manage," the blonde reached out to raise her head, once again locking their eyes together, causing her to gain some confidence.

"Speaking of training…" Assam-senpai breathed into her ear, "It would be of great help if you and your friends helped me in training the students of this school in using their new tanks."

Rosehip took a deep, sharp breath, such a task was one of great responsibility, "Are you sure I'm worthy enough for the task, senpai?"

"Oh, absolutely" Assam replied, without as much as skipping a beat. "How does seven in the morning tomorrow, sound?"

Gears in her head started malfunctioning one by one, short-circuiting as the compliment fried her brain to bits. She was already planning the colour of the beach cottage the two of them would share when in a bliss, she spun around with her dancing partner, immediately seeing that Roselle had reappeared, flashing her with a double thumbs up and one of her signature smiles. Pulled down from the clouds, Rosehip felt her eyes twitch as she remembered the wrongdoings committed by her friend, thinking of ways she could get back at that twat.

"Is there something wrong? You tensed up all of a sudden," Assam-senpai asked, concern now on her face. She must have reacted in a way unnoticed by her own than would have otherwise tipped off the blonde.

"N-no, everything's fine! Seven sounds fine!" she replied instantly, not wanting her senpai to worry unnecessarily, especially tonight of all nights.

Assam-senpai gave her a piercing look, analyzing her to see if she was telling the truth. She did her best to not betray her inner thoughts and so, not really sure if she had won or was found out, the two of them danced in silence.

"Why didn't we just didn't send the tanks over?" Rosehip thought out loud, genuinely because she was curious and more importantly at the present, she wanted to break the growing quietness between them.

"At that rate, we should just send them all the parts and have them build it up from scratch," Assam joked. "Of course, we have to train them how to use them and maintain the tanks."

"Wouldn't they become over-dependent on us by then?" she replied.

"As the saying goes, Give a man fire and he'll be warm for a day. But set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

"You start to sound more and more like Darjeeling by the day," Rosehip retorted, giggling at the perfect parody of their commander.

"Well, sticking close to her all the time does make you go cuckoo," Assam smiled, twirling them around a group of dancers who had formed a quartet.

At some unknown point, Rosehip found herself to have grown over her initial nervousness and decided to experiment. Cautiously, she attempted to steer the two of them in the other direction and to her surprise, her senpai relented. Having a bit of breeze in her sails, she became just a little bit bolder and wanted to try something radical.

"I believe I've yet to apologise," Assam started as soon as she finished her manoeuvres, feeling her senpai's dotting eyes upon her.

"Apologise for what?" she asked, wondering what wrong could her beloved mentor ever do.

"For shooting at you and your friends so hard that you had a journey to the hospital."

"Ah, that wasn't your fault," she reassured her, "It was the contraption that we made that caused that accident, right?"

At the mere mention of this, Assam-senpai had a bashful look on her face, a look that Rosehip felt didn't belong to such a lovely face.

"Was it Rukuriri who told you that?" her senpai inquired.

"Yea, why do you ask?" she responded.

"I see... Anyways… What will be the first thing you do when we get back to Gloriana?" her dance partner asked.

Ruku's birthday is near…. But I can't tell her my plans for that or I'll risk blowing open the lid!

"Hmmmm... Nothing comes to mind, sadly," she lied, a white lie, nothing too serious. "How about you?" she asked in return.

"Got to tie up some loose ends before I depart for England with Darjeeling."

The smile she had all night ran away from her face and Rosehip found herself sobering up, despite having no trace of alcohol in her veins whatsoever.

"Are you really leaving?" she asked, her voice reduced to a mere whisper, barely audible over the music that now pounded at her eardrums.

"I have to, I'm afraid," Assam replied, her sweet voice would have put her mind at ease if not for the message it bore.

No, no, no! It had seemed like the two of them would be forever, it couldn't be over so soon. It had been just over a year since she came into her life, she couldn't lose her, not just yet. Everything now was hanging by a thread…. It's now or never

"Senpai… I-"

A noise unlike the melodic tune of musical instruments reached her ears, her senpai paused and she saw her reach into her jacket, pulling out a sleek flip-phone, which was buzzing and emitting a run-of-the-mill ring tone.

"Frightfully sorry, but I have to get this call, could be important," Assam-senpai said, looking around the room, possibly for a private place where could take the call.

"Thank you for the dance, I did quite enjoy it!" she shouted, slipping into the crowd and disappearing just as quickly as she came.

The feelings she had earlier reemerged as her world caved in, now with their fangs resharpened and extra pointy claws. Rosehip tried to wrap her head around who the mysterious caller was and what sort of business they would have with her upperclasswomen.

Well, that didn't last long either… Foiled by fate once again….

Who on earth could be calling her at such an inopportune time?!

Rushing out of the room, Assam found herself in a secluded area by the supporting pillars of the watchtower where she wouldn't be overheard by any prying ears and the music of the ongoing party was just muffled enough for her to make out whatever this caller was going to have to say.

"Assam here, who is this?" she spoke into the cell phone.

"What cannot be eschewed must be embraced."

"William Shakespeare," she instinctively replied, being intimately familiar with the work of the Bard of Avon and she only knew the one other person who did so as well, "Ah, Darjeeling."

"The one and only!" her friend replied, beaming with joy to have another one of her quotes be correctly attributed. "So, how was your first day onboard the Emerald Isle?"

"Eventful," Assam replied, thinking back to the events of not just that day but the previous night as well.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting you?" Darjeeling asked, her voice being carried well by the prewar Brittany Neophone that sat on her desk back home.

You absolutely sure did!

"No, no, not at all, not at all," she lied, sitting on a fallen log, making herself as comfortable as possible, now knowing how long this phone call would last.

"I do hope you appreciated my gift of rest last night," Darjeeling spoke out, probably already twirling her finger around the telephone's connection line by now, a quirk Assam was all too familiar with.

"I very much did," she replied as she looked over her shoulders, catching sight of fireflies, whose bioluminescent joined the stars and the moon in illuminating the landscape.

"Got seasick?" her fellow blonde asked, a touch of concern in her voice.

"Definitely," Assam replied, frightfully remembering the vomit-inducing journey all too well.

"Well, I just concluded a deal with quite the character that would help you with that; you may meet her soon enough," the tea-obsessed madwoman simply stated.

"Oh? May I ask who this person is?"

"You'll see," her friend cryptically responded, in typical Darjeeling fashion. "Anyhow… How was the welcome?"

Assam stopped to think for a moment, with only the gentle blowing of the sea breeze over the carrier and the muted music from the still ongoing party being the only sounds in the night.

"It was no Tea Garden but they made up for the lack of splendour with a bucketload of jolly," she concluded, careful to mince her words lest her fellow blonde suspect something was awry.

"Speaking of jollies, how are your stowaways?" Darjeeling humorously asked.

"Rowdy lollygagging bunch, what else did ya expect?" Assam answered, finding a slight smile on her lips.

"How are the locals?" her braided friend further inquired.

"Cheery lot, all of them" she responded, holding back the plot she and Rosemallow overheard in the gardens.

"Have you stumbled over any little green faeries?" the cheery tea-drinker cheekily asked.

"There are plenty of people in green, but no fairies."

"What did they think of our gifts?" Darjeeling raised, wanting to know if this mission of hers had been a success or not.

"The tanks, they have just been handed over and they absolutely love them," she replied, glancing at some of the revellers who had stepped out for some fresh air gawking and were rubbing their hands against the armoured vehicles.

"How about the eels?" the obsessive Anglophile asked, barely able to hold in the excitement in her voice.

"Oh, they said they were delicious!" Assam lied through her teeth, pouring some cream onto the proverbial teacup, making its content more palatable.

"I should make more then. How about the other gifts? Did you use it to persuade them to sign the thing?" Darjeeling queried, putting emphasis on that last word.

"Needn't have bothered; our Anzu-lookalike was so eager to sign the piece of paper, I doubt she even read it," she reported, tapping the front of her jacket where the original copy of the treaty was safe and sound.

"So they signed it?" her friend asked again in confirmation.

"Aye."

Assam couldn't see it but she knew Darjeeling was pumping her fists on the other end of the line before responding

"So, what comes next?" she asked, noticing the rustling of the bushes, dismissing it as a few partygoers too drunk to see where they were going.

"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me."

"Shakespeare, yes, yes," she responded, casually batting away another one of her friend's esoteric quotes.

"You must train them as well, you hear?" Darjeeling replied, something Assam had already thought of ahead of time.

"Who do you think I am? General Percival?" she humoured. "I've already asked Rosehip to help me out tomorrow, we start at 0700 hours."

"Oh? Is that why you brought her and her friends along?" the quote-spouting English Rose started, with her knowing where this would be going. "Thought you just wanted to-"

"This is rich coming from the girl who took her own kouhai to an onsen with just the two of them," she replied sarcastically as both of them roared with laughter.

"But back on the topic at hand, did you use that big brain of yours to analyse how skilled they are?" her fellow blonde queried.

"I very much did," Assam replied. "In fact, I did more than that and have duelled one of their tanks"

"Good, that's- Wait, you did what?!" Darjeeling asked, doing a double take.

"I was in a tank too of course, silly. But yeah, the match lasted some 20-odd minutes; did quite a number on it."

"Oh? Do tell," her friend back in Gloriana replied, clearly eager to know.

Assam spent a good few minutes regaling her friend with the tales of their trip so far, in all its green-painted glory.

"There's never a dull moment here," she finished.

"So… You're saying the Valentine had its armament destroyed?" Darjeeling inquired of her.

"Yep, I managed to shoot through it and the fool inside tried using it, resulting in it being blown clean off," Assam clarified.

"Well, we have a plethora of 2-pounders here, courtesy of the Matildas, it would be easy to have that one replaced…." her friend trailed off, back to her scheming self.

"I'll make sure to convey that to Iona-san, I'm sure she'll be quite pleased," she replied, already seeing the saucer-wide eyes of the carrot top.

"How are things over there?" she asked, moving the conversation forward.

"Oh, the usual, I had Pekoe lead the team today and she performed wonderfully. I believe she's on her way to overall command in no time," her fellow blonde answered, her voice brimming with pride as she went.

"You really are quite fond of her?" Assam asked and without much thought, she reached out for a fallen twig by her feet and absentmindedly started drawing on the sand

"Well, she's the best thing to have come into my life," her friend simply stated.

"Now, where have I heard that before…" she sarcastically replied.

"Shut up! She's so much better than your kouhai" Darjeeling jested.

"Ha! Speak for yourself, Rosehip gave me a ring earlier today, try beating that!" Assam fired back, a smug look on her face.

"What?!" her fellow blonde asked in surprise.

"Yea! Caught me off guard as well," she replied, holding the ring in her hand, its gemstone glittering in the night.

"Oh, you must show me when you come back!" Darjeeling enthusiastically replied.

"Say…" her braided friend started, her voice noticeably taking a more serious tone, "Have you told Rosehip about it yet?"

"Yea….." Assam lamented, remembering her kouhai's gut-wrenching reaction. "She looked so devastated, the poor rabbit."

"I've yet to find an opening to tell Pekoe," her sister in all but name mournfully sobbed. "I'm sure she already knows, she's a smart cookie."

"Still, it's better that you tell her soon," Assam replied, knowing how tearful the younger of the three of them would react. "The earlier you tell them, the more time they'll have to adjust.

"We've come so far…." Darjeeling lamented, both breathing a heavy sigh.

Assam looked high up at the night sky, getting a clear view of the stars shining down on her. It was hard not to reminisce back to when she was Rosehip's age. It was long before she had accepted the mantle of being a mentor, before she found out she had a knack for gathering intelligence. Hell, it was even before she had set foot inside a tank. She had always wanted to join the astronomy club, obsessed with peering at the sky and learning its secrets, but a certain braided blonde had to drag her all the way to the recruiting station.

"Well, it's rather late," Darjeeling said, snapping her out of her trip down memory. "I can hear Pekoe messing about in the kitchen, better help her out."

Probably best if you don't

"Alright, I'll call you again tomorrow once we're done training," she replied, could not wait to stretch out her now-numb legs.

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow"

"Shakespeare again? You're on a roll tonight," Assam responded, quite impressed at the consistency of the quote-spouting machine gun.

"You know what they say… Zeal does not rest! Goodbye Computer Brain!" Darjeeling said, firing a parting tongue-in-cheek insult.

"Farewell, Quote Book!" she shot back, smiling wide at this exchange of pleasantries.

Ending the call, Assam looked down at her creation and to her surprise, between the random scribbles, she managed to write the name of her kouhai in the most beautiful script.

Of all the flowers, me thinks a rose is best…..

Damnit! Maybe Rosehip is right about her being more and more like Darjeeling

She thought as she kicked sand over what she had made, lest she summoned the person in question. Standing up from where she had been sitting, Assam dusted the back of her skirt, before walking back to the party.

Annalee was tired, like a worn-out recording and wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in the soft warm embrace of her blanket. Fortunately, Shannon had broken up the party early tonight, lest another incident like that of last night happened again. With this being her second consecutive party in two nights, her so-called "party meter" was at a dangerously low level.

Leaving behind the cleanup crew responsible for the mess they created, she joined the streams of people leaving the party place. Despite her eyelids drooping as she could barely walk straight, she kept her eyes sharp on the lookout for her sister, who she hadn't seen for a while now.

Maybe it was because of this or another thing altogether but she couldn't find herself relaxing; she was so tense that she was less of a violin string and more of a taut one in a bow and arrow. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was forgetting something….

"Ah!" she said out loud to herself, much to the surprise of those around her, especially with the accompanying snap of her finger.

She had forgotten about her violin case! She had grown so used to holding her fiddle and bow that it didn't occur to her that she was missing its protective container. Her sister is gonna be SO pissed at her…

Now, where on this green galleon did she leave that case behind?

Hmmmmm, perhaps it was still inside?

Annalee dismissed this thought outright, if it was, then she would haven't allowed it to leave her sight in the first place. Maybe it was in the alleyway where she changed into her costume? The one she was still wearing at the moment, which she had grown quite fond of already; being showered with compliments all throughout the night.

Fiddlesticks! It was still inside the Rolls!

She had left it behind in the entry procession when they came here earlier, as she serenaded their guests. Now all she needed to do was to find the car!

As she stepped away from the rowdy procession making its way to the last train out of 'Senshadou Park', she spotted the best person she could hope to bump into: Callan, who was busy applying some antiseptic cream onto the bruised knees of Dalua, who probably tripped over a log.

"Hey, Calli, have you seen where the car is?," she asked, approaching the two, seeing the girl being treated wincing in pain.

"It's parked round the corner," the team's medical orderly replied, barely glancing up at her before returning to the injury she was addressing.

"Thanks a million!" she answered back, breaking into a dash, making sure not to step on the laid-out medical supplies of the blonde.

On her way to where the car was supposed to be, Annalee saw Fane heading the same way. Always playing second fiddle to Finn, she started following her, knowing very well that not only would she lead her to the car but also to Finn and by extension, her sister.

Just as Callan had said, the Wraithy was located by the side of the warehouse, shining like a brand-new flute illuminated by the moonlight. To her surprise, there was a full-blown argument going on with the passengers of the vehicle.

"Don't harp about it!" her sister burst out, a thunderous fury in her voice that caused Annalee to panic and hide behind the brick wall. This was unlike the soft and gentle Erina that would tuck her into bed and kiss her goodnight and it scared her to think what would make her dear sister this worked up.

"I placed the entire budget of my club on that shenanigan of yours just as you told me and I lost it all in a pile of smokes! I have every right to harp about it" her sister's friend, Finn roared back, with the same intensity.

Peeking from her corner, she glanced at the group of people in and around the Rolls Royce, with the black-haired leader of the school's Dance Club sitting on the hood of the car, a nearly empty bottle of whisky beside her. Her sister, on the other hand, was behind the wheel, taking a long drawn-out gulp from the flask she always carried.

"The library lasses are certainly a happy bunch though, heard they put all of their savings on the red coats and made quite a killing. Ah! Here comes Fane, hopefully with some good news," the tap dancer slurred, waving about the bottle at the newcomer.

For a few moments, silence reigned over their part of the training field and it was only then that Annalee noticed the girl's uniform was covered head to toe with leaves, with a stray twig even stuck in her hair.

"Training at 7 in the morning tomorrow?" Finn asked in confirmation, her drunken stupor now replaced by a sharp and cunning gaze, "Well, that gives us a window of opportunity to engage, what do you think Erina?"

"Well… I think it would be too public to execute the plan in front of the team, but I'll bring the rifle just in case. Tell your girls to ready the explosives as well. We'll make them pay…" her sister replied, a thunderous look on her face.

"We'll make them pay alright…" Finn agreed, clinking her bottle with her friend's flask before they drank their toast.

Annalee hid back behind the corner, covering her mouth with her hand to muffle out her cries of shock. Nothing made sense anymore and she could feel her already weary mind spun out of control at the weight of information she had just overheard.

Execute? Rifle?! Explosives?! Erina… What on earth have you gotten yourself into?

She must have made an audible whimper for the next words she heard made her blood run cold, causing her to jump out of her skin.w

"Who goes there?"

Knowing she overstayed her welcome, Annalee made preparations to leave, but maybe it was because of her nature as a fiddler but something within her told her to have one last peek at the trio. And so, braving the danger she was in, she left the safety of cover and had a look.

All three were now out and about, on the lookout for whoever made that noise, with her sister holding something metallic in her hand, something she had only seen in movies before. A gun.

Why would her sister of all people have a gun?!

Now definitely knowing she had overstayed her welcome, Annalee attempted to bolt, only to get grabbed from behind by a pair of strong arms, one of which was laid over her mouth preventing her from letting out a cry for help.

Her vision became a blur as she felt herself being half-dragged, half-carried, dropping her fiddle as the person holding her hostage, who was taller than her and of a much thicker build, screamed out loud.

"Fumino-san! Fumino-san! I got a hold of her! I got her!"

"Release her at once ya thick-headed tool!" she heard Finn order, with the brute letting her, allowing Annalee to catch her breath.

Taking in her new surroundings, it would seem that Finn's lackey had moved her closer to the trio, who all had sheepish looks on their faces as they tried to hide their wrongdoing, with her own sister hurriedly shoving the gun back inside her jacket.

"Akina!" Erina said out loud, running up to her and wrapping her in a tight embrace, "How long have you been there?"

Her mind was in a haze, she failed to form even a single coherent sentence and what came to her lips were fragments of thoughts as her cognitive functions were still processing what occurred. "My violin case… I left it in the car..."

"Oh! Akina!" her sister looked at her, before hugging her again." Don't try to sneak up on me like that! Now let's go home," she said as she guided Annalee into the passenger seat of the Wraithy, whereby at her feet, was the violin case that kickstarted this all.

She must have looked quite worse for wear, for as Erina pulled the seatbelt across her body, she heard her say. "Hey, look at me, is there something wrong?'

"My fiddle… I dropped it," Annalee managed to mumble out.

Finn, who was sitting crossed-leg, despite her injured one, on the back seat, looked at one of her plus twos and barked, "Well, don't just stand there, get it for her!"

Author's Notes: By the time you're reading this, I would have just finished with an examination earlier today and by no means did I ever review for it, so good luck to my grades lol

The start of 2023 had been a rough one for me, but I think I managed to get my head above the water now. This chapter took some time to write as I had to deal with other matters first. The next one hopefully wouldn't take as long as this one, but I don't want to make any promises.

Special thanks as always to Sharky for his proofreading aid as well as for helping me out in some sections where I got stuck and to a friend, who I did wrong to.

Till we meet again next time, cheerio!