Chapter 5 – Questions, questions…

"So, Minna, what grave matter of great importance would you want to discuss about?" Toshiro asked with a mocking tone.

"Get dressed first… I somehow feel uneasy seeing your muscular body…" Minna responded.

"Hahah, okay… But you two could look the other way…"

"Nope!" Both of them shouted.

"I sometimes wonder if all of you are just open minded or simply perverted…" Toshiro muttered.

He changed into his Luftwaffe uniform quickly.

"Knowing you are a Karlslander serving in the Wehrmacht makes me ever so proud looking at you, Toshiro…" Minna said shyly.

"And I'm proud of it myself, Minna. So, what will we be discussing in great secret?"

"I would like you to fill me and Mio on the details you've shirked from the girls."

"Then give me some guidance, because there's a fuckton and three assloads of that…"

"Well, for example, how did you get to know you are the nephew of the Kaiser?"

"He revealed the info himself to Adolfine and me on my father's grave."

"So you know it from back then? That was that super secret you couldn't give away?"

"Yup. How would you react to it back then?"

"I don't know to be honest, but now I'm simply god damn proud of you, Toshiro. And happy, you at least found some family…"

"Yeaaaah… Uncle is the only family I've got, although he said my grandmother is still alive in Neue Karsland…"

"Okay, now that I know that… What exactly happened back then when you destroyed the Warlock? We couldn't exactly get the details…"

"I've descended from a hundred kilometers with the speed of thirty thousand kilometers per hour and used my body as a magical bomb. That's all."

"Wait a minute… You used yourself as a magical bomb? Then how are you here with us right now?"

"Didn't I tell you I'm a Chosen? Probably not, only Mio knew… Anyway, the goddess Amaterasu resurrected me, but for a price, I had to agree to blindly. Later I found out that my mother gave away her life so I could live on…"

"Toshiro…" Minna gasped and raised her hand to her mouth.

"No, Minna, I'm more or less at peace with my mother's decision, but I'll explain it further a bit later. Okay, next question?"

"Your disappearance. Where the fuck, pardon, did you go?! Nobody could find you!"

"No wonder… Only the shaman queen Himiko or somebody of similar capabilities could even localize me… I was in the realm of Amaterasu, undergoing a murderous training. To put it simply, I was off the grid."

Minna was carefully analyzing what Toshiro just said, and she turned to Mio. She answered her with a nod.

"Ehhh…" Minna sighed. "As a cold blooded realist, I have trouble believing this, but if you convinced Mio… But why didn't you give a warning or something?"

"I couldn't, part of the deal…"

"You are really acting messy sometimes… But I assume that training was worth it?"

"Definitely, Minna. Anything else you want to know?"

"So after you returned, what did you do?"

"I visited Mio first, and almost got my head cut off. She explained what happened during my absence, so I went to Yoshika's house, and lived there for a few days. In the meanwhile, Lynne and Perrine visited us, and just as they left, Adolfine came and almost under gunpoint, she snatched me to Africa, so I could supervise the 31st as a part of my military training. It ended with me destroying a two hundred meter big Ziggurat-type Neuroi, getting unconscious for nine days, and being promoted and so on."

"You destroyed what?!" Mio asked surprised.

"A pyramid turned into a Neuroi on four legs. The Shin Reppuzan was not enough to best it, so I had to go a step further…"

"And use that unnamed technique you were talking about?"

"Yes, but now it has a name. It is called 'Tenkai Reppuzan'. And don't even think of trying to master it, Mio, you'll shit rainbows sooner than you do that."

"Pfffft…" Mio puffed her cheeks, but then she started slamming Toshiro on the back. "At least you can do it! Hahaha!"

"Every half a year…"

"Huh?"

"The usage of this technique is connected to another one which provides me the necessary energy to perform it. I can use it only twice a year and it shortens my lifespan for about 14 months."

"And you said I was reckless for fighting, although my shield is dead… But I guess it was an emergency…"

"Okay, Toshiro… I think that is everything I wanted to know from you… We should join the girls in a tour around the base."

"I'll give you one personally. Now we have to do some formalities."

"Oh ho ho, I see you are getting into it seriously." Minna said surprised.

Toshiro opened his chest and pulled out a file.

"This is what Adolfine gave me to prove my function et cetera…" He pulled out another piece of paper. "This is to prove my qualifications as a judicial officer…"

"You now have judicial officer qualifications?" Minna asked. "Then I'll hope you will punish the girls accordingly, when the time arises."

"I sure will." He said and pulled out two paper slips. "We have a bank account in Pescara. This is the permission to do transactions on that account."

"How did you come up with that?"

"I was in the town, eating pizza with Shirley and Francesca, when I got information that it's better to have the local currency here, so I went into the bank and swapped some of my money. There the bank manager asked me about if we have an account, I phoned Adolfine, she and the manager had a talk, and bam, we have an account there."

"Well, you certainly saved me some paperwork… Thanks, Toshiro."

"No problem, Minna. Now something I want to ask you, Mio… What's Yoshika's status now?"

"She's officially back in the IFN. When she was asleep one day during our flight I radioed in HQ and re-drafted her so to speak."

"Thanks, Mio. Come on, let's give you two that tour."

A good while later, they were walking down the castle corridor in the direction of the hangar, hoping for some dinner.

"You've really put your back into assigning the building and rooms for their specific roles. I wouldn't change anything, Toshiro."

"Heh, thanks Minna."

"But why did you give Mio a separate cottage, away from the others?"

"Given her character, and what she has to endure now that she doesn't have a shield, I thought that it would be good if she'd had a place to cool down by herself, and a buffer zone from the rest of us."

"Well, thanks for the summary…" Mio mumbled. "But yeah, nice choice, Toshiro."

"Good that you like it. So… Will you show me that sword of yours?"

"It won't hurt anybody..." She said and took the sword of her back.

"Thanks." Toshiro said and grabbed it.

As he unsheathed it wholly, a blinding blue light came from the sword and his hand started to get hot, so he threw it to the side in a twitch reflex. The sword stopped glowing, and was seen half-buried in the wall.

"W-what was that?" Minna asked.

"I forgot to tell you… Reppumaru likes to take a lot of magic, so if you won't be careful, it will siphon it out like nobody's business… But damn, Toshiro that was something I've never seen before…"

"My magic reserves are much bigger than yours, Mio…"

"Could be… Well, whatever, no more Reppumaru for you it seems…" She said while trying to pull out the sword out of the wall. "Crap… It's stuck…"

"I can pull it out…"

"And got more magic sucked out of you?"

"I remembered something, stand aside."

"Whatever…"

"Toshiro approached the sword, and enabled the Sacred Flame. He grabbed the sword, and immediately it started glowing.

"Yield!" Toshiro shouted, and the glow stopped at once.

He pulled it out of the solid stone wall, and gave it to Mio.

"What was that, Toshiro?" She asked stumped.

"The goddess told me that every magic sword has to have a soul attached to it, in order to use it effectively. You had to perform a summoning ritual while it was smitten, right?"

"I did both by myself." Mio answered.

"Nice. So you see, that one soul, or just over thirty as in my sword, have some consciousness left. Yoshika's familiar, Kuji, managed to preserve his whole consciousness while imprisoned in a sword, but it seems that the soul in your sword only exists on a basic level. By using the power of the Sacred Flame, I can command a soul in a sword to do my bidding. That's that."

"So why didn't you use it the first time?" Minna asked.

"It took me by surprise, and my body reacted on its own…"

"Oh…"

"You look a bit woozy, Toshiro. Are you all right?" Mio asked.

"Well, yeah, I'm a bit tired, but I'm not falling on my knees…" He paused and looked at the palm of his right hand. The hilt pattern of Reppumaru was slightly visible on his skin. He showed his hand to Mio and Minna.

"Oh my, you should get that healed, Toshiro." Minna said with concern.

"Or let it heal itself, like a true man would do, hahahaha!" Mio laughed.

"I'll pick option one, Yoshika probably wants more contact with me."

They went down to the hangar, and saw that only Lynne and Yoshika were present.

"Miyafuji, making dinner I hope?" Mio asked.

"Yes, Miss Sakamoto, but we just got here a few seconds ago."

"Then continue."

"Toshiroooo, could you help me with this… contraption?" Yoshika asked pointing out at the field kitchen.

"Sure, my dearest."

Toshiro observed the reaction of the girls to those words, and both Lynne and Yoshika blushed slightly, Minna gave a slight smile and Mio rolled her eyes.

He approached the girls standing by the field kitchen, and asked "What seems to be the problem?"

"I can't decide how to start this… thing…"

"Well, first we have to decide on which fuel to use… But wait a second…"

Toshiro took the methanol canister and shook it a bit.

"Welp, we can scratch using methanol… We can use gasoline though."

"Ummm… We would like to use something less… volatile, Toshiro…" Lynne said silently.

"Then firewood. I'll show you a foolproof method of starting a fire in such a kitchen."

Toshiro approached the large stack of firewood, looked through it carefully and pulled out a single piece of wood.

"Look at this piece of wood. It's from a pine tree, and full of resin. Take a whiff at it."

Lynne and Yoshika carefully approached Toshiro, and did what he asked.

"It smells like a forest!" Yoshika cheered.

"Heh… Okay, Yoshika, pull that lever on the chimney."

She ran to the kitchen and pulled the lever.

"Is this good?"

"Perfect, sunshine."

Toshiro approached the kitchen, opened one of the doors and explained.

"You put the piece of wood inside, so it forms a triangle with two walls of the interior. Then you just put some firewood on it carefully and ignite the piece of wood."

"Oh, let me try!" Yoshika asked.

"Go."

She picked a few lighter pieces of wood, and placed them how Toshiro told her.

"Now we need some matches…" Yoshika said. "Toshiro?"

"Don't look at me; I used other methods since methanol is so damn flamable."

"At home we usually had matches in the oven…" Lynne said.

Toshiro opened the oven part of the kitchen, and saw few packs of matches.

I should go and die now…

He pulled out all of them, and gave one pack to Yoshika. She pulled out a single white phosphorous match, stroke it against the kitchen, and put the flame to the resin-rich piece of wood. Is started to sizzle, and soon caught fire.

"Ooooh! It caught fire almost immediately!" Yoshika shouted surprised.

"This way we'll use less matches and wood. We're on a budget, and the supplies are tight you know…"

"Heehee, thanks for teaching me this, Toshiro. And about supplies… We brought some daily necessaries for all of us, since I flew out on a whim…"

"Like most of us, Yoshika. Nobody besides Toshiro, Shirley and Lucchini have any baggage. We all have to wait for it to ship in." Lynne explained.

"Eheheh, so I see I'm not the only one who just jumped into whatever vehicle they found and arrived here…" Yoshika laughed dryly.

"Adolfine provided everyone with a bag containing some items used for daily hygiene, don't hesitate to take one from the storeroom. And please pass the news on."

"Okay." Both the girls responded.

"Now, whatcha gonna be cookin'?" Toshiro asked with a rustic accent.

"Miso soup!"

"Oh! I haven't had a good miso soup since… Buh, don't remember, but I think I had one in the beginning of my mission in Africa…"

"Toshiro, tell me about it!" Yoshika asked with sparkling eyes.

"I'll do it at dinner, so the girls get know my tales of blood, sweat and sand, heheh."

"Okay!"

"Oh and… Be sure to check in at my room, Yoshika, I have something for you."

She blushed slightly, but nodded.

Toshiro returned to the table at which Mio and Minna sat.

"You are too good to Yoshika… She'll get too soft because of you…" Mio mumbled.

"At least I have somebody I can be good to…" Toshiro sent a jab, which hit the target critically, because Mio puffed her cheeks, and turned her back to him.

"My, my, you certainly know how to hit a soft spot, Toshiro." Minna giggled. "Oh, the rest of the girls are starting to gather."

Toshiro turned around and saw Erica and Trude coming in. Once the former saw that Toshiro saw her, she ran up and sat beside him.

"Bro! Did you miss your ersatz sister?" She asked with a smile.

"When I heard that the 501st was reformed, my heart almost ripped out of my chest, because of the sudden joy I experienced, knowing that I'll meet my dear sister Erica again!"

"Gheheheh, oh stop it… Hey, how was Africa?"

"Nice and peaceful. I met an acquaintance of the two of you." Toshiro looked at Trude and Erica.

"Ugh, don't tell me you've met her…" Trude sighed.

"If by her you mean Tina, then yes, I met her. She was a bit fussy at the beginning, but I got onto her soft side quickly."

"As expected from my bro, heheh… Anything else to tell us?"

"Later, when everyone is here. I don't want to tell the same story for the umpteenth time…"

In an hour, Yoshika and Lynne made the miso soup, and the rest of the girls gathered at the table. While they were eating, Yoshika asked, "Toshiro, you said you'd tell me about Africa…"

"Oh, right… Well, one story at a time… There's this girl from Fuso, Mami Inagaki, a Warrant Officer in the 31st. A really lively girl with a big heart, but tragically small body, heh… So one day, we are chatting, and the fact that Mami is a descendant of Mori Ranmaru comes out to light. Immediately, Yuki burnt a fuse and wanted to whack her, but I managed to stop her… You have to know, that Mori was the woman for which Oda Nobunaga dumped my ancestor, Rinko Miyafune, who was pregnant at the time. She was assassinated, and took refuge in a mountain shrine, and she bore a daughter, Keiko, but unfortunately Rinko died in labor. Skipping forward a good time, Keiko, also pregnant, but you could say that the cast has just been filled, wanted to take control of the Sacred Flame. She couldn't control it, went berserk, killed all the inhabitants of the temple, was forsaken by the goddess Amaterasu, yada yada, and now I have the Sacred Flame in me. In short, Mami is my cousin."

The girls looked at him with mixed feelings, but the first to speak was Yoshika.

"Oh, Toshiro, that's splendid news! When can I meet her?"

"I told her to visit me here, so who knows…"

"I hope she doesn't bring anyone else…" Trude mumbled.

"Oh come on… You managed to forgive Laura, why not try the same with Tina?"

"Do you want a fight, Toshiro?" Trude asked with a cold voice.

"Pffft, whatever. Don't want to forgive her, fine. But if she by chance comes here, I don't want no fussing, is that clear, Barkhorn?"

"Yes sir…"

"Let's resume eating; miso is a bad cold soup…" Toshiro said.

After the meal, Mio said stood up.

"Okay now, I have a few announcements. I'll be taking Miyafuji and Toshiro, if he agrees, to drive with the supplies to the base of the 504th."

"Nothing against it, Mio." Toshiro said. "When will we go forth?"

"2000, but please get here earlier, so you can help with loading the supplies on the truck. And get a nap now, since it will be a long drive."

"Sure."

"Next thing: Sanya, are you fit to do a night patrol today?"

"No… I barely had any sleep yesterday…" She answered silently.

"Okay, but get ready for the next day."

"Sure, Major… But I can serve as a radar until supper."

"Good idea, Sanya. That would be all, actually… Dismissed, I won't bug any of you with training today; I'm in high spirits after defeating that Neuroi, hahaha!"

I would crack you in half if you said anything else…

Toshiro went to his room, but he felt a presence behind him all the time. He went inside, and sat on his bed.

"Come in, I know you're there…"

The door opened, and Yoshika's head popped in.

"Heheheh, you got me…"

She closed the door, ran up to him and jumped on the bed besides him.

'So, what do you have for me?"

"Eager, huh? Well, I'll start with small stuff…" Toshiro pulled out his wallet, and picked out a piece of paper. "I got an autograph for you, from Charlie Chaplin himself."

"No way!"

"Way, Yoshika. Here." He gave it to her.

"Wooooow! And he even wrote my name on it! And I thought that meeting Lizie Taylor was the best that happened to me in LA!"

"Heheheh, you sure do like autographs of famous people. Now, I have another autograph, although you might not know her." He pulled out the signed photo of Marseille and gave it to her.

"Hanna-Justina… Who's that?"

"The Star of Africa, a famous witch, and my comrade for over a month."

"Hmmm… If you say she's famous, then I'll treasure it!"

"Atta girl… I have another gift, the last one…" He went to his chest, opened it, pulled something out and hid it in his pocket.

"Okay, Yoshika, close your eyes."

"I don't like this one bit…"

"Oh come on…"

"Oh okay…"

She closed her eyes, and Toshiro sat beside her. He pulled out the item from his and put it around her neck.

"Okay, turn your head to the right, there's a mirror there. Okay, now open your eyes."

She opened her eyes, and her mouth opened by itself a second later.

"Toshiro… It's… It's… So beautiful…"

The silver-nephrite necklace looked like made especially for Yoshika.

"Everything for my little Yoshika…" He said with a soft voice.

Yoshika scuttled near him and she embraced him tenderly.

"Thank you…" She said with nearly wet eyes.

He started stroking her head gently.

"We are now together, Yoshika… And no signs in the sky or on the earth point towards the fact that it will be otherwise…"

"Hmmmm… Oh, I should leave you now, Sakamoto said you had to rest or something…"

"Well, yeah… Be sure to brag about the necklace to Lynne and Perrine, heheh…"

"Oh I will, heehee… See you later, Toshiro."

"Later, Yoshika."

He lied down on the bed and let the fatigue overcome his consciousness.

"Heeeey… Toshirooo… Wake uuuup…"

Yoshika's voice pierced through the veil of sleep, and Toshiro woke up.

"Huh? Whassup?"

"Only half an hour left until the mission, Toshiro. Miss Sakamoto told me to fetch you."

"Good, good… Lead the way…"

They got down to the hangar, where Trude was loading the truck.

"Hey, Toshiro, give me a hand."

"Kay, moment…"

He ran up to her, and helped her load the truck. When they finished, Trude went her way.

"Good. Toshiro, fetch yourself a sandwich, since we still have some time."

"Sure, Mio."

He sat at the table, and started eating. Yoshika joined him after the first sandwich.

"I did it, Toshiro…" She whispered.

"And?"

"Heehee, Perrine almost dropped dead!"

"Hah, good!"

Toshiro finished his meal, and went to Mio with Yoshika.

"I'll be driving, Toshiro. You will be the navigator."

"I hope you found a map or something."

"As a matter of fact yes." She said and threw him a folded map. "In a tool box inside the truck."

"Okay, let me study the route a bit beforehand… Where are we going?"

Toshiro opened the map in the air, and Mio showed him a spot on the map, which was marked Base 504 JFW. It was near the sea on the west of the country, in the Livorno province of the Tuscany region.

"Hmm, okay…" Toshiro muttered. "Give me a minute…"

He looked at a possible route, and after a few minutes of tracing the map with his finger, he said, "Well, it'll take at least ten hours at a speed of fifty km/h. You sure you can drive in the dark?"

"We have light you know… And you have good night vision from what I heard."

"True… Oh, we can take the goggles with us."

"Too much hassle."

"As you wish… Although I could order it…" Toshiro said stroking his chin slowly.

She looked at him as if he committed blasphemy.

"Don't look like at me like that, Mio…"

"Then don't spout bullshit. You maybe my superior right now, but I won't go easy on you."

"I didn't expect in in a million years, Mio. So, are we flapping are gums or are we going?"

"Let's go!"

Mio climbed inside to the driver's seat, Toshiro sat beside her and Yoshika on his side. He opened the map, and said, "Okay, we can go."

Mio started the engine, and they went off.

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