Chapter 15 – Talking is free

Toshiro woke up a bit earlier than usual, because he had a bone to pick with a certain silver haired individual. Also, the fact that his engine still had some "cool off" time left made him a bit nervous.

"Toshiroooo…"

"What is it, Yuki dearest?"

"You know… You've saved Kuji and Yoshika and yesterday, and I didn't even thank you…"

"You don't have to…"

"Oh, but I want… Just I see no way to reward you…"

"Your presence is already a reward for me, Yuki."

"Heehee… You know what? I have an idea, but I'll keep you in the dark for now, okay?"

"Okay."

Toshiro went down to the hangar, and climbed into his new Striker in the dark hangar.

"The Wotan… Wotan? Isn't that some god?"

"Yup. A god of old, in which people of Karlsland believed before they turned all Protestant. Well, actually it's Odin."

"Odin you say… But… If I fly in a Striker with the name of Odin, won't Amaterasu be pissed off at me?"

"Nothing to worry about, Toshiro. Amaterasu ain't jealous of that old one-eyed coot."

"Oh… Well, if that's the case…"

He started the engine, and put it into idle.

"It's really silent to be honest… The Akuma would roar like a lion even on idle, and this is almost silent… Maybe I should do night missions now?"

"The two carpet munchers can do it on their own."

"Yuki… Don't speak so harsh about them… Using such terms is bad. And we can't exactly be sure that they are doing anything to each other, right?"

"Oh okay… Sorry…"

"Good girl…"

After strapping on the FFG, he slowly ascended into the sky. After a quick look around, he found what he was looking for, meaning two green and two red lights pulsating slowly on a rather high altitude. He climbed at a steady speed of 800 km/h, not to overwork the turbines. As expected, Eila turned around about five seconds before he got into a distance feasible for conversation. She had a rather surprised face seeing him at this time and place. Sanya also turned around, and waved her small hand at him with a bright smile on her face. Toshiro waved his hand back with equal enthusiasm.

"Hello, Toshiro." Sanya said as Toshiro flew in close.

"Hi, Sanya. Peaceful night?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad to hear it. Maybe I should cancel night missions? You all could get some normal sleeping schedules..."

"Please, no… If you haven't noticed, I'm weak to the sun..."

"Oh? It is something serious like porphyria?"

"No, no… It's not that severe, but…"

"Stop bugging Sanya, Toshiro!" Eila said firmly.

"I'm trying to find out something new about my friend and subordinate, shush, Eila. And I still have a bone to pick with you."

"With me?"

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me that you got added to the night patrol by Minna? If I hadn't noticed your absence at a meal yesterday, I wouldn't know it…"

"Oh well… It was out of habit you know… I still have trouble seeing you as my superior, heheh…."

"Well, damn… I'm not exactly jumping around the base and ordering everyone to do slave labor? I'm lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike when the greater good needs my intervention."

"You sound like some cheesy comic book character…"

"Maybe… But please, if you want anything, just holler. Now I have way more power to use than back in Britannia, heh…"

"Sure, I will… If I'll ever need anything, I'm going straight to you. So prepare yourself!"

"What have I gotten into?! Woe is me!" Toshiro shouted out with an overdramatic voice.

Sanya giggled at Toshiro's display of crappy acting skills.

"But anyway, why don't we finish the patrol together? Unless I've interrupted you something…" Toshiro said with a smug face.

"What are you thinking about you pervert?!" Eila shouted offended.

"Oh well... I'm just having random thoughts…"

"Random perverted thoughts… Yes, you can finish the patrol with us, as if we could disallow it… And is that your new Striker? Sanya and I didn't see it… It's at least a bit more silent that the previous one…"

"It's on low revs now, so it's really silent, but when you crank it up… ho ho…"

"Hmm… I don't want to go in the tech details… Come on, we have half an hour left." Toshiro said, but a question sprung into his mind, "Sanya, did you find your parents?"

"No…" She answered silently. "We've reached Petersburg, but it was a warzone, and Eila said we should fall back…"

"Sad to hear… But keep your spirits high, one day you'll reunite with your parents."

"Thanks, Toshiro…"

Toshiro got to know the patrol path of the girls this way. He was impressed, because Eila told him they flew a circle 200 kilometers in diameter, with the center point being the base, on an altitude both below and over the clouds.

"I never knew you two did so much work… I'm proud to have such a patrol team out in the night." Toshiro said with a soft voice.

Both Eila and Sanya blushed slightly after hearing such praise.

"Commander Minna really knew what she was doing by putting me on this post…" Sanya said silently. "I really like the night sky… Especially since Eila started doing patrols with me…"

"Hey, Sanya, you don't have to go into detail…" Eila mumbled.

"No, Eila, Toshiro already knows too well that we like each other but… He doesn't know how much exactly, right?"

"Yes. I would like to know how much exactly…"

"We won't tell. But we don't do anything coarse or perverse with each other, Toshiro."

"Well… Thank you for the full disclosure, Sanya. I see that you wear the pants in this relationship, heheh…"

"Somebody has to cool down Eila, heehee… But if I may inquire… How is it with Yoshika and you?"

"Fine. But we are still even away from second base… Let's say we have dug in on first for now…"

"Don't rush it, Toshiro. You remember what rushing it did with me and Sanya?" Eila interrupted.

"Yeah… I had to mend your relationship by meddling a bit… Don't worry, Yoshika is too self-conscious for her own good, and I'm not exactly seeking a quick shag no matter the cost."

"With your looks, and that junk, you could actually have anyone in our base, you know?" Eila said. "Hell, you would straighten me out in a moment if you tried hard enough, hahaha!"

"His… junk?" Sanya asked with red cheeks.

Both Toshiro and Eila were too embarrassed to answer, so the rest of the patrol was conducted in total silence.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…" Sanya gave out a long yawn while covering her mouth. "I'm so sleepy…"

"While were at the topic… Where's your vacuum flask, Sanya?" Toshiro asked.

"Oh, it's… There…" Sanya pointed out to a silver glint on the table.

"Oh right… You forgot it… Just don't get an idea of drinking it now, or you can kiss sleep goodbye."

"Heehee, I know… I still feel the shakes from the coffee Eila made me in Britannia…"

"I told you I'm sorry a zillion times…" Eila pouted.

"Okay you two, shush. Go to sleep like two good girls. It's a Sunday, so you should rest even harder, if it's even possible."

"We will…" Sanya said with a warm smile, despite being beat. "Good day, Toshiro."

"And a good… night to you, heheh…"

The two girls went their way, and Toshiro looked into the rising sun, basking in its radiant glory. Suddenly he felt a presence by his side.

"You like sunrises too, Mio?"

"Yes. There's something majestic and powerful in a sunrise…"

"True… But I prefer sunsets. I gain some inner peace by watching how the world slowly silences out… And the lighting is different than on a sunrise, more… inspiring…"

"Hah… Also true… Let's take a jog, shall we?"

"We might as well can."

Around the end of their route, Mio asked, "So, what was that what you did to Miyafuji yesterday?"

Toshiro stopped in place, and Mio did the same.

"So you saw it, huh?"

"Well, you were standing pretty much right in front of my hut, you know? I wanted to go to the beach myself, and gaze at the moon to calm my nerves a bit before sleeping, but when I was about to exit, I saw you two. And only by sheer willpower didn't I jump and cut your head off…"

"Yeah… It must have looked horrifying from a bystander's perspective…"

"Well, thankfully I calmed down after I realized that you could be doing something... not meant to be explained for mere mortals so to speak…"

"You nailed it… But I'll gladly explain. You see…"

Toshiro explained what happened to Yoshika while he was out training with Amaterasu. Her stern face sparked with compassion for a brief moment.

"Poor Miyafuji… I never thought she would repress so much negative emotions… But she's okay now?"

"She should be."

"By the way… Who's panties were those?"

"I refuse to answer."

"Huff… But you sure got kinky with them…"

"I didn't whiff them for real. But only a faint smell of washing powder attacked my nose by chance…"

"Well, whatever… Let's finish, and I'll let you loose."

"You talk as if I was still a Master Sergeant…"

"You'll always be my subordinate in my mind… My… You powered through ranks like an out of control train… I had to spend half my damn life in Navy to get to the rank of Major…"

"I'm actually satisfied now with my rank. High enough to have power over all of you and to make my own decisions about the unit, and low enough not to get sent behind a desk."

"Divine payback, huh?"

"Nah… I don't hold any grudge against you or Minna for whatever things that happened in Britannia. If I did, then… well, I can't even imagine the atrocities I would commit…"

"You're joking, right?"

"Of course I am, Mio…" Toshiro said calmly. "A hair won't fall from nobodies head while I'm on the watch."

"Thanks for the… reassurance…"

"Come on, Mio, I'll make you some tea."

They finished their jogging, and went into the hangar. Toshiro made some tea, and both he and Mio sat down at the table.

"A shame we don't have green tea and all the accessories to make a tea ceremony…" Mio said sighed.

"What, you would want to make a tea ceremony?"

"Gods forbid! But I know that Miyafuji knows the works."

"Oh, I didn't know about that… Maybe we can import some, I doubt it will be impossible for a man of my standing, heheh…"

"Don't overrate yourself, Toshiro. But you are right, with a little grease here and there, if you know what I mean, you could get anything anywhere." Mio said and sipped her tea.

Minna came in a bit sleepy into the hangar, and was a bit surprised to see them.

"Oh? What are you two doing here in the morning?"

"Exactly what you see." Toshiro responded. "The water is still hot, fancy a tea?" Toshiro said and started to stand up.

"Don't bother yourself, Toshiro; I'll make some on my own… Uwaah…" Minna yawned and made tea for herself.

After a few minutes, the three were drinking tea in unison.

"My my… A Major, A Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel drinking a tea together…" Minna giggled. "Fate spoils us…"

"For over a year only the two of us would do it…" Mio said silently. "Now we are a trio…"

"True… Anyway, Toshiro, have you thought about renovating some parts of the base? The dormitory at least?" Minna asked. "Today should be payday, so the three of us could throw some money at those decrepit walls…"

"But it's a Sunday, I think it could be a bit difficult to do anything today…"

"Well, Romagnans, at least to my knowledge, are religious, but also practical when time comes. We should try afternoon, after the morning Mass." Minna explained.

"I think I will do fine just alone… But if you want to tag along…"

"I just want to make sure you won't blow our money on vino, heheh…"

"Fine by me… You want to come too, Mio?"

"No… I've already saw my share of Romagna a few good years ago. So thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

"Suit yourself… Okay, I'll go read something… Still have the manuals to go through…"

"Have a nice read. Drop by if you need some fiction to read."

"Will do, Minna."

Toshiro went to his room, and read the manuals to the end. He found nothing of particular interest, but his understanding of the new equipment improved a bit.

A knock on the door sounded as he was cleaning up the papers, and the happy Yoshika peeked into the room.

"Morning, Toshiro."

"Good morning, Yoshika. How are you doing?"

"Well… I feel a bit… lighter… As if I dropped a stone off my back…"

"I'm glad that you feel better… It sort of soothes my guilty conscious about ripping Kuji out of your chest so brutally…"

"Oh, by the way… Kuji also says thanks. He is back to his old panty-loving self…" Yoshika said with slight disgust. "Now I have a voice in my head to talk to, heehee…"

"If you'd spend over a year with Yuki, you would cry uncle and beg me to rip her out of you… So, breakfast is ready I think?"

"Yup. Come on!"

"Did Trude help?"

"Yes! Barkhorn is a really good cook, and very diligent. She even listens to me, heehee…"

"No way!"

"Way! But I'll also start learning new recipes from her, so her punishment won't go to waste. Admit it, you gave her kitchen duty so everyone would benefit, right?"

"Guilty as charged. Confining her to solitary for a week would be anti-social and counter-productive."

"My, my… I have such a wise and considerate boyfriend… Come on, breakfast will get cold!"

They ran down into the hangar, and Toshiro saw that Trude had on an apron.

"Hey, Trude, you are putting your heart into your punishment." Toshiro said.

"Oh, you mean the apron? An appropriate uniform for an appropriate task. Miyafuji found it for me."

"So, what did you make today?"

"Potato cakes and potato casserole."

"Ain't there anything without potatoes?"

"No. We got a trainload of them, so we have to use them. Besides, potatoes are cheap and efficient food, easy to process."

"And it will make your ass fat…" Shirley mumbled.

"It would match your rack, Elwyn…" Trude responded with a devilish smile.

"You liked it yesterday…" Shirley responded with an even slyer smile.

"I was tired!" Trude huffed and turned around.

"Come on girls, behave." Minna said.

The two twitched and started eating immediately.

Toshiro waited a few second and with a neutral voice he said, "We have to talk about something after the meal, Minna."

"What is it?" Minna asked surprised.

Toshiro, instead of answering, just started eating, making Minna raise her eyebrow for a moment.

Toshiro made sure to finish before Minna, and he slowly went up to the office. Minna entered a minute after him, knocking beforehand.

"Enter." Toshiro said.

"You got me interested, Toshiro. What is it you want me to discuss with you?"

"I would like to know how you gained such authority amongst the girls. I mean you silenced the two without swearing, yelling, even without raising your voice."

"Hmmm… I guess I should teach you this and that… You see, to gain authority like that, you have balance out the use of the carrot and the stick, yes?"

"I know what you are talking about, but maybe if you'd gave some details…"

"Let me give Lucchini as an example. Everyone loves her for her cheerful attitude, and energetic behavior, but absolutely hates her for her… affection to breasts. So when she groped me, I didn't turn in to some furious monster. I just calmly said that she will have one week of bath cleaning duty. And from now on, she knows that my boobs are forbidden territory for her."

"That's just a case, not an explanation…"

"Ugh… Well… Authority may come with rank. I'm a Lieutenant Colonel, so it's natural that people will feel at least a bit of respect. But true authority comes from your deeds, and frankly, I have a feeling that if you would tighten up a bit, you could command the girls without even saying a word…"

"Really?"

"Yes. You have earned the respect of all the girls in a fell swoop, you are a Colonel, you are the nephew of the Kaiser, you are the Hero of Karlsland, and a rising star of both the media and the Wehrmacht. Imagine what would happen if a unit given to your disposal was sitting drunk in a tavern. What would you do?"

Toshiro thought for a while and answered.

"Judging by what you've said, assuming I would be their new commander and still haven't broke the ice… Well… I would procure an MP headwear, armband and a nightstick, and just casually walk into said tavern. If that alone wouldn't be enough, I would just calmly say, "Whoever is here after the count of five, they'll be scrubbing the latrines until Kingdom Come."

"Oh you… I imagine that after their alcohol-fogged brains would process the information, they would run so fast that they would leave their soles on the floor, heehee… I would have done the same, maybe without the accessories, but exactly the same way. You would be a really good commander, Toshiro. But thanks for leaving my duties to me…" Minna said with a small smile. "I wouldn't know what to do with my time if I didn't have some paperwork or other things to do…"

"To be honest, I'm just gathering knowledge; I'm not gung ho about becoming a commander of my own unit… But you know, the future holds many surprises… So, what are we going to do until the afternoon?"

"It's a Sunday, so we can slack of a bit… We'll do the most important reports, and leave the rest for Monday, okay."

"Now that's why you are such a good commander, haha! By the way, why did you knock on the door?"

"Oh… Heehee… Let's say that my Karlslandiness took over… And besides, you used one of the most effective techniques in a commander's arsenal…"

"Which is?"

"The silent treatment. You'd have to be a saint not to react to it someway. Some people shit their pants and some are intrigued... But don't overdo it, or it will lose its novelty."

"Judging by your reaction, you were intrigued, right?"

"Yes. I wondered what you could talk about with me."

"Well, who could have known… Okay, let's do the paperwork."

"Actually, Toshiro… You should be sitting at the radar right now…"

"Ah crap… Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do… Read a book or something, Minna. I can't let you scribble on you own, can I?"

"Don't worry, go. I'll leave everything for you to sign."

"Thanks, Minna."

Toshiro went to the radio room, and started his tiresome shift at the radar and radio. Around 1100, he heard a voice on the radio.

"501st, come in."

Toshiro scratched his head, trying to picture the owner of the voice.

"Colonel Edelweiss here."

"Oh, hello Toshiro."

"Junko? What's up?"

"Oh you see, we wanted to give you a surprise visit, but I decided to announce myself, so you wouldn't be jumpy."

As she said it, three blips popped on the radar.

"Oh, yeah, I just picked you up on the radar. Let me guess, you have the twins with you?"

"Hah, yes. Command said today should be peaceful. Seems that the Neuroi also have a free day on Sunday, haha!"

"Hah, good one! I'll be waiting for you three."

"See you in a few minutes, Toshiro."

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