Hello, and welcome to the third chapter here.
Like the second one here, I'm just gonna let you guys get to it. Still got to get one more chapter put into this one.
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Story 3: Training, Flowers, and Jon Bull's Spirit
Overall, it was a rather normal day…
Well, if you counted "Mio off to Fuso for an errand related to the PR movie a group from said country wanted to make" as part of a normal day.
Also, you'd have to throw in Perrine, Yoshika, Lynette, and Roland running across the runway as part of training that the Gallian Witch had insisted they do.
"One, two, one, two…" Yoshika said as they ran, slowly starting to lose her energy. "Onne…twwo...onnnne…twwwwo…"
"Onnnne, twwwwo, onnnne, twwwwo…" Lynette continued as she too was losing energy.
"Keep your neck straight and upright, Lynne," Perrine said as they continued to run. "Raise your knees higher, Miyafuji."
"I'm trying…" Lynette fixed her posture but was soon back in a tired stance.
"Perrine," Yoshika started, "do we still need to run?"
"Twenty laps on the runway," the Gallian Witch replied. "We've got half of the laps left…" She then started panting.
"Yoshika," Lynette said as she looked like she was starting to sway from side to side, "I think I started fainting."
Roland, who had passed them by a lap (consisting of running to the edge and coming back), slowed down as he reached their rear and grabbed the Britannian Witch's shoulders as he jogged at their pace next to her left side.
"Don't worry," he told her. "I've got you. Just don't faint yet."
"How come Roland-kun's not breathing as much as we are?" Yoshika asked, confused.
It was true: the girls were panting heavily, yet Roland was barely breaking into what they deemed was panting reserved for a hot day. "I've gotten used to it, Yoshika."
"Twenty laps are too harsh," Yoshika complained. "Even Sakamoto would ask us to run only for fifteen…eighteen…around nineteen laps!"
"Is there any big difference?" Perrine said as she sighed. "While Major Sakamoto is on her trip, her role was left to me."
"Why couldn't Roland-kun handle it?"
"Seniority," Roland simply told her. "I asked the major that question myself. Perrine's been here longer than you and I have despite having us having the same rank."
"If I remember it right," Lynette said as she started getting some of her strength back, "the trip is for the movie getting shot in Fuso, in which Yoshika plays the main role."
Yoshika let a few pants escape her mouth and stated, "And she said she went to scout any Witches who were good at aerial photography."
Perrine gave off a sigh as she added, "What's good about this tiny raccoon dog? Major Sakamoto is much more suitable for the main role."
"You know I'm right here, right?" Roland said sternly[1].
"Yes, I am aware of you being around." Perrine then sighed. "Anyways…for today, I would like you to treat me like you would Major Sakamoto."
Roland wanted to say that she wasn't going the right path to being treated like Mio, but something told him not to bother.
"Oh, why?" Yoshika asked as they continued running.
"I think you're overdoing it a bit…" Lynette tried.
This didn't really seem to be a statement that Perrine wanted to hear as the Gallian Witch replied with, "What did you say?" Ironically, like Mio, Perrine had a melee weapon with her, an unsheathed rapier in her right hand. As a result, she was waving it around like a child throwing a tantrum. Which, considering the fact that the four of them were running laps, was not exactly a good idea.
"Uh, I'm sorry!"
"Perrine!" Yoshika said quickly in slight fear. "Please stop swinging the terrible thing in your hand. It's dangerous!" She and Lynette picked up speed a bit to avoid being on the receiving end of the Gallian Witch's weapon.
"It's a rapier, Yoshika," Roland deadpanned, more concerned with the little Fuso Witch's ignorance concerning her types of bladed weapons.
"At least someone knows what it is," Perrine noted.
"I like swords as melee weapons. Not an expert at their characteristics, but I do enjoy holding a bladed weapon in my hands."
"So why aren't you holding yours right now?" The sword Roland owned was patting his back as they ran, inside its sheath.
"Please don't!" Yoshika added in fear. "We already have one sword-swinging person!"
"Let's not have two, please!" Lynette added.
"…That would be why," Roland said with a sigh.
Perrine sighed as well as she said, "Don't worry, you two. This rapier is just like a part of my body. I won't prick you on accident."
"But Sakamoto said, 'Being proud is one's own enemy'…" Yoshika countered.
Like Lynette's comment earlier, Perrine wasn't happy with the little Fuso Witch's. "Are you saying that I'm proud? How rude! This is my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother's…" Perrine then started coughing as she slowed down and stopped. The other three with her stopped as well as they approached her.
Yoshika sighed this time. "That's all because you shouted when you were running."
"Are you alright?" Lynette asked.
"How many more grandmother's grandmothers does that rapier have in its history?" Roland tried. Earning a glance of annoyance from the Britannian Witch and Yoshika, the male Witch added in rather hastily. "Nevermind, finish when you're not wheezing all over the place."
"When I said no need to worry," Perrine started as she was breathing deeply in an attempt to recover from her coughing fit, "there's no need to worry." The Gallian Witch then stood up quickly as she placed her rapier back in its sheath, which was on the left side of her hips. "Anyways, Major Sakamoto is serious in training at any time too."
"You don't need to overwork because of it," Yoshika explained.
"Yoshika's right," Roland added. "You can afford to relax every now and then."
"No way," Perrine snapped. "I am not a person who gets discouraged by this level of difficulty." She then sighed. "Come on, you three, we're starting now."
"Starting with what?" Yoshika asked quickly, a little baffled.
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The next part of Perrine's training was push-ups, something that Roland had no difficulty in performing[2].
For Yoshika and Lynette, however, this was a totally different story…
"Ninetyyyy-one…" the little Fuso Witch strained to say as they were doing push-ups. "Ninetyyyy-two…" She then fell onto her chest, tired. "Ah, I can't do it."
"Nor can I…" Lynette agreed as she had given up about eight push-ups before Yoshika. "You suddenly asked us to perform three hundred push-ups. It's impossible."
Perrine, who was still going with a red face of exhaustion, gave off a sigh as she herself was straining to keep going. "Soon you became weak…nety-three…With this quality, how…ninety-four…dare you fight with Neuroi…Niiiinety-five…besides, Lieutenant Sage is fine with it…"
"That's different from this, isn't it?" Yoshika asked.
Lynette looked at Roland, who had reached Number 145, and said, "Roland's been conditioned to do that many and with someone on his back."
"No one said it was easy…" Roland commented. "One forty-five…"
Lynette then looked at Perrine and noticed her red face. "Perrine, your face is fully red…"
"I can…" Perrine said as she strained to finish her next one. "Continue…nety-siiiiix—" Her arms then gave out, and the Gallian Witch hit the ground hard, her forehead hitting the runway with a thud.
"Did she knock her forehead?" Roland asked as he was too busy pushing past Number 150.
"Perrine?" Lynette asked as she and Yoshika crawled over to the injured Gallian Witch, who was rubbing her forehead with her right hand as she had her glasses in her left.
"Are you o—" Yoshika tried to ask, but Perrine cut her off.
"No need to worry," the Gallian Witch told them as she used both hands to place her glasses back on her face.
Yoshika looked concerned. "Really? Your forehead's fully red…"
"Your glasses also slipped off," Lynette added.
"I'm alright," Perrine said as she got on her feet. "It's not a big deal compared to daily training…" She then sighed. "I'm ending the training now…"
As the Gallian Witch started walking off, Yoshika and Lynette looked at her, the little Fuso Witch confused.
"Perrine?" the Britannian Witch tried asking.
"You two better go see if she's feeling fine," Roland said, still doing push-ups. "I'll just be here finishing the set."
"Uh, right!" Lynette and Yoshika got onto their feet and walked after Perrine.
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"Really…" Perrine said as she was busy tending to a flower bed filled with marigolds that gave her a view of the Neuroi-controlled Gallia. "Maybe I'm not able to fill Major Sakamoto's role. With my current skill level, liberating Gallia can only be a dream…"
"Ah, Perrine's here!" Yoshika's voice said loudly. Perrine turned her head to see that the little Fuso Witch and Lynette were coming towards her.
"Really?" Lynette asked. "She's here, like I thought."
"You two…" Perrine began as she was trying to decide between berating them for bugging her and letting them stay for a while. "How do you know about this place? Also, where's Lieutenant Sage?"
"That's because…" Yoshika began before she tried thinking of a good answer for Perrine's questions. "Well…ya…besides, Roland-kun told us to talk to you."
"He's finishing the push-up set you gave us," Lynette added as they stepped a little closer, standing about three feet from Perrine. She then noticed the marigolds. "Ah, the marigold flowers are blooming beautifully."
"That's because it's the flower bed that Perrine's proud of." Yoshika gave off a smile.
Perrine stood up, turned to face them, and raised an eyebrow.
"What are you two doing?" she asked. "You're flattering me, so what is it you want?"
"You said something like that again!" Yoshika said.
Lynette used her right hand to cover the little Fuso Witch's mouth tightly as she added, "Yoshika! Aren't we here for reconciliation?"
Yoshika gave off a muffled "I'm suffocating…" before the Britannian Witch uncovered her mouth. Coughing afterwards, she added, "Oh, I forgot…"
Lynette noticed the view the flower bed was showing. "Er, Perrine? Is that Gallia on the horizon?"
"Huh?" Perrine asked as she looked at her homeland. "Of course it is. On a comfortable sunny day like today, Gallia can be seen even from here, so I built a flower bed here and let the marigolds taken from my home country bloom." The Gallian Witch then sighed. "Well, you must be thinking that the story's too sentimental, that it's not even my story."
"Sure!" Yoshika tried. "I think it's really different from your image—" This comment was interrupted by Lynette covering the little Fuso Witch's mouth once more.
"There's no such thing," the Britannian Witch said as she uncovered Yoshika's mouth again. "It's so like Perrine's story."
"If you say it that way…" Perrine said as she started blushing slightly. "Eh…you embarrassed me."
"Oh!" Yoshika said again. "Perrine's feeling shy!" Cue Lynette's hand once more.
"Yoshika!" the Britannian Witch admonished once more. "Anyways, let's go and grab Roland so that we can run some more."
This earned a few looks of confusion from her teammates, like they were trying to figure out the change in attitude.
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It took them only a few minutes to head back to the runway, where they found Roland laying on the ground out of boredom. When Lynette told him that they were going to run some more, Roland staggered onto his feet and nodded as they started.
They were only doing ten laps to catch up to the point where Perrine had started coughing.
"Lynne, why are we running again?" Yoshika asked in exhaustion as the four of them ran, Lynette and Roland ahead of her and Perrine by a good ten feet.
"Why are we?" Perrine added as she too was exhausted. "To be honest, I'm already exhausted…" She then started panting.
"Because we just quit the training," Lynette explained. She was panting, but she was still pushing onwards as she kept up with Roland. "One more lap to go, you two."
"Why did she suddenly become so enthusiastic?" Perrine let out a breath as she thought of something. "I got it! Perhaps that's the rumored 'Spirit of John Bull'."
"What's that?" Yoshika asked in confusion[3].
"That's the Britannian characteristic of being obstinate or something along those lines, such as bringing a tea-set even to the battlefield."
"Oh. Britannians really love their tea."
"Love? That's stubborn."
"Yoshika!" Lynette called out as she and Roland (having reached the halfway point of their current lap) ran past the two girls. "Perrine! Let's have tea together after training."
"You're right!" Yoshika said cheerfully. "That's the Spirit of John Bull!"
Perrine gave off a laugh as she said, "I can foresee such things."
"Fight on!" Lynette chanted. "Fight on!"
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About an hour later, the four of them had gathered at the table as Lynette was holding a tea pot, inside the base.
"Tea's ready," the Britannian Witch said as she started pouring everyone a drink.
"Wow!" Yoshika said as she received her cup of tea. "I love the tea Lynne prepares!"
"Well, I agree with you," Perrine said as she got hers.
Roland received his cup and sniffed the tea.
"Huh," he said after a while. "The tea smells different than the last time I had it."
"Yes, it does smell different…" Perrine agreed as, once Lynette served herself, everyone drank some. "Oh! It is…"
Lynette smiled as she said, "How is it? I just tried adding marigold to the tea today."
"Ooh!" Yoshika said cheerfully. "Marigold certainly tastes good like this."
"Certainly," Perrine added. "Last time I made tea and only used marigold, I failed[4]…I should make it like this."
"Well, perhaps liver oil tastes delicious prepared this way too."
"Could you please stop?" Perrine looked like she was about to hurl once she heard that. "You're making me recall that time…"
"Yoshika, I don't think that's possible," Lynette said.
"Why?" Yoshika asked as she blinked. "Is it really not possible?"
"It's oil, Yoshika," Roland explained. "Last I checked oil floats on top of water."
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"Speaking of liver oil…" Perrine started a few minutes later. "I didn't see you at that time, Lynne. Where were you?"
Lynette looked at the Gallian Witch before the question registered with her brain, and she was immediately surprised.
"Ah!" she said quickly as she thought of something to tell them. "At the time…"
"You're right, Perrine," Yoshika said quickly. "When we all drank the liver oil Sakamoto brought for us, only Lynne was absent, huh?"
"You're right," Perrine replied. "Even I drank it[5]…"
"She was absent at the time?" Roland asked out of confusion. He didn't really get to see who was actually around, but then again…he didn't think he saw Lynette there either.
Why, though?
"Well, actually…" Lynette began. "In my childhood, when I was sick, I was told that it was the medicine from the Far East and was made to drink it for a time. Since then, I can't stand it anymore."
"Oh, I see," Yoshika said with some pity in her voice.
"On the day you guys are talking about, I saw tanks filled with liver oil lined up in the kitchen before anyone else. When I saw it, the memories I had of it came back, and I hid in my room for a long time." Lynette lowered her head, looking a bit ashamed. "I'm so sorry, Yoshika."
"I see."
"Helpless," Perrine said with a sigh.
"If that was the case," Roland explained, "we wouldn't have forced you to drink it. Hell, I probably would have tried convincing Major Sakamoto to let me have your portion."
"You're right," Lynette said as she looked up at the male Witch, who was smiling. "I was being silly."
"Besides, I know what it was like. I didn't really like cauliflowers when I was younger."
"You didn't like cauliflowers?"
"Yeah. I don't remember why, but it tasted weird to me at the time. Nowadays, I generally just eat and drink what I get, even if I don't like it."
"But that's a piece of vegetable, not medicine," Perrine pointed out.
"Same concept. There are a few other food I don't really like, but I think telling you about the cauliflowers is enough for now."
"Gochisousama!" Yoshika shouted cheerfully as she finished her tea. "The tea was delicious!"
"You're welcome," Lynette told the little Fuso Witch.
Yoshika then sighed as she leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "At times like this, I forget all about the battles going on around here."
Perrine sighed as she replied with, "Only you would behave lazily like that! I must report this to Major Sakamoto when she returns."
"Relax, Perrine," Roland told her. "Yoshika's got a point. Before I joined you girls, life in Liberion usually felt like this."
"Why?" Yoshika asked concerning Perrine's complaint. "Sakamoto would probably say something like…" She then cleared her throat as she attempted to impersonate Mio's voice. "'Hahaha! If you only talk about little things, you won't be big, Perrine. Too small, too small. Hahaha!'"
"Yoshika…" Lynette said slowly, a blush appearing on her face.
"You said I'm small?" Perrine snapped. "What are you talking about?"
"It's best if you never find out," Roland said with a blush that rivaled that of the Britannian Witch's[6].
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"It's the first time the four of us are preparing dinner, isn't it?" Lynette asked at about four in the afternoon, about an hour or so before dinner would be served.
"You're right," Yoshika said as the girls were wearing white cooking aprons. Roland had settled for grabbing materials and doing things like picking up and maintaining a stir.
Perrine was too busy to reply as she was busy cutting up some vegetables.
"Perrine?" Lynette asked as she grabbed a knife and readied it for cutting. "Should I help you cut vegetables?"
"Oh!" Yoshika shouted as she noticed Perrine's cutting style. "It's dangerous to use a knife like that!"
Smiling, Perrine looked up and turned around to look at the girls as she said, "No such thing. It's an easy job. By the way, there was a strange smell for just a moment." She then noticed a lot of strange-looking straws in Yoshika's hands. "Miyafuji, what is that you're holding in your hands?"
"Oh, this is nattō," Yoshika explained calmly.
"What?" This alarmed the Gallian Witch. "Nattō!"
"I asked Lynne to order the straws for me. You know, there are Bacillus nattō in the straws."
"Such things are none of my interest."
Roland looked at Lynette, who looked like she was ready to apologize, and said, "Don't apologize, Lynne. It's not a big deal."
"By wrapping cooked soya beans with straws, and leaving them alone for a while, the power of Bacillus nattō will turn soya beans into nattō!" Yoshika exclaimed proudly. "It's so amazing that even Britannian straws can make nattō!"
"It's nothing but an annoyance!" Perrine snapped. To Roland, she added, "And you shut up over there!"
"Oh, I forgot to say this as well, but nattō has a very short best-before date, so please be careful."
"Aren't those beans rotten from start to finish?"
"I think I saw some in the storehouse," Roland commented. "We've got nattō for days."
"Please feel free to enjoy them," Yoshika concluded.
"Ah…" Perrine said as, putting down the knife she had been using, she started swaying from side to side. "I'm…fainting…" She then dropped onto the floor, unconscious.
"Perrine!" Lynette said quickly as she set her knife down as well and got onto her knees to help the Gallian Witch. "Hold on!"
Roland sighed as he said, "I am so glad that I've learned to eat what I'm given…"
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"Finished!" the girls said as Roland placed down the last of the plates with food on it.
"Preparing dinner for twelve people is a big job!" Perrine said.
"But all the fatigue would be worth it if we can do it well," Lynette added.
Yoshika looked at the small amount of nattō she had managed to make and asked, "Is it really okay that we didn't prepare enough nattō for everyone?"
"THAT'S OKAY!" Perrine snapped quickly.
"Okay…I get it…" Yoshika sighed. "Only Sakamoto, Roland-kun, and I will have nattō with dinner."
"Sorry, Yoshika," Lynette said apologetically. "I don't really like it…I mean, not really enjoy it."
"It's alright, Lynne. It's fine with me."
"I really feel sorry for that….because without Yoshika, we wouldn't be preparing food so well. Don't you agree, Perrine?"
"Well…" Perrine said absentmindedly. "Well…is what?"
"Huh?" Roland asked.
"Don't you agree that it was such an enjoyable time that the three of us could prepare dinner together with Roland getting supplies for us?"
"Well…" Perrine began as her face started receiving a blush. "That's it. It's not that bad, doing it occasionally." She then looked at the Britannian Witch. "What are you trying to get me to say, Lynne?"
"Wow, Perrine's face turned red again!" Yoshika pointed out.
"That's true!" Lynette agreed. "Even her ears turned red!" She then cracked a smile.
"Stop it!" Perrine snapped, the blush still on her face. "Would you please stop teasing me?"
"Even Perrine has her own lovely point every now and then," Yoshika added before she started laughing.
"That's true!" Lynette included before laughing along with the little Fuso Witch.
"E…every now and then?" Perrine asked, stupefied. "What do you mean, 'every now and then'?" She didn't get a response from either girl. "Hey! Answer me clearly!" Still no clear answer, just laughter. "Lieutenant Sage, what are they laughing about?" She then noticed that Roland was laughing along with them. "Not you too!"
"Sorry, too contagious…" Roland said as he stopped laughing. "Anyways, I have no clue either right now. You can figure it out later."
Perrine gave off a sigh as Yoshika and Lynette continued laughing.
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[1] At this point, Perrine didn't really like Yoshika or Roland, and Roland didn't really enjoy the Gallian Witch's reactions currently.
[2] He did a variation that used someone sitting on his back a lot when he trained with Gertrud, Mio, and Charlotte. Depending on the person, it was generally either Gertrud herself, Yoshika or Lynette (if one of them weren't doing push-ups themselves and Mio was training him), Mio herself, and Francesca (When Charlotte trained him; she usually fell asleep on his back, prolonging what should have lasted about twenty minutes by as long as he could hold out). Eila, Charlotte, Sanya, Perrine, and Minna didn't seem to get on his back too much (Eila was generally busy elsewhere, Charlotte figured that she could work on her Striker Unit while he did it because of the high likelihood of Francesca falling asleep on him, Sanya was usually asleep because of her time spent being up at night, Perrine simply didn't feel like it unless Mio had Yoshika and Lynette doing something else, and Minna was too busy with paperwork to help him train).
[3] Considering that she didn't know too much about Witches before joining, Yoshika was unaware of things like this.
[4] The first night Roland and Yoshika had been assigned to the night patrol with Sanya and Eila, Perrine had served tea with marigold herbal extract. This was also famous for them because this was when Roland made his remark about some of the old wives' tales being more like young wives' tales, which resulted in Perrine smacking the back of his head and sending his face into the table.
[5] The morning after the event above, Mio had brought liver oil to the base. Perrine had made the mistake of trying to ask Yoshika why she had brought the oil before Mio corrected her, making the Gallian Witch drink it to avoid her wrath. Out of everyone else, the only people who had more were Minna (she apparently liked it) and Roland (he ended up paying the consequences for getting more when they laid down to rest.
[6] Considering that he had seen some embarrassing things while serving with the Strike Witches, this wasn't too hard for Roland to do.
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And that's the third chapter done.
Topic for this one...I guess Roland himself? Bit of an odd topic given, well, why would I talk about one of my characters here when I've got quite a few stories to sort of show you what he's like at the moment to my best ability, but this one is particularly odd since...it's Roland's physique. Thinking on it a bit, I'd imagine that, if Roland was to do around 300 push-ups consistently (or even a high number like closer to 100), he'd be looking pretty ripped, but overall I imagine his physique to be closer to...I guess the best description overall is "not that". If I had to think about it, one possible reason is that Roland may not exactly maintain the diet needed to build those muscles (or possibly target any fat that would hide those muscles), though I'm not a complete expert on the matter (for reference, right now my main ways of exercise when I do them is walking around and sets of push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises I can do without weights and around the place I live). A much more likely reason is perhaps just that I don't imagine Roland to be that ripped in the first place. Not that I have an issue with it, but I think it would have probably removed a bit of relatability if he was somehow ripped, but then again there's already quite a few suspensions of disbelief with him, so I don't think "being ripped would make him less relatable" is quite a good enough reason...
Oh well, this are just tidbits I wanted to share thinking on these things.
Next is our last chapter for this story set, and it's...well...you'll see.