Blood Is Thicker Than Water

I walked home from tankery club the day after our match with West Kureouji Grona Academy, along with my old friend Yuzumoto Hitomi, and my new friend, Shiratori Nagisa. We had little time to celebrate our victory, as the prize for it was the right to participate the Commemorative Cup, where we would face many strong schools, including those who had won the national championship.

The three of us talked, and we discussed how the competing schools would meet in the port of Oarai. While in the process of arranging our participation, w also saw a list of those who were coming. Not many of the names were familiar to me, but two stood out. One was Oarai Academy, the school that my old friend, Nishizumi Miho, led to victory in the tournament. The other was St. Gloriana Women's College, a somewhat famous British-themed school that West Kureouji had hoped to face in the Commemorative Cup.

Of course, as I mentioned St. Gloriana, I remembered that we had a more personal tie to their self-proclaimed rival. Kilimanjaro, West Kureouji's commander, was not only an avid fan of Darjeeling, but also was Nagisa's older sister.

"Kiri-nee-sama contacted me," Nagisa said, not long after St. Gloriana's name came up in our conversation. "She wants me to see if I can find Darjeeling-sama once we get to Oarai."

I let out a loud chuckle, finding it ridiculous that Kilimanjaro had the temerity to make such a request of her sister instead of apologizing for mistreating her.

"After everything she put you through?" I said. "I never imagined that your sister had a sense of humor, Nagisa."

Nagisa looked like she was about to cry yet again, while Hitomi's expression was surprisingly stern.

"Nagisa-chan's serious, Emi-chan," Hitomi said. "In spite of everything, she still cares for her sister."

I stammered for a few moments. Since my first impression of Hitomi had been that she seemed like an airheaded and ditzy flake, I was always a bit surprised when she put me in my place, even after she matured and grew more determined over the years. Perhaps Hitomi had not witnessed the encounter between Nagisa and Kilimanjaro that I saw, but that did not invalidate her point, even if I found it difficult to believe that Nagisa felt the way she did about her sister after what she had done to her.

"Sorry, Nagisa," I said. "In all seriousness, though, are you really planning to do this favor for her? Your sister made you spy for her, and kept you in line with verbal and physical abuse. I don't think she could really complain if you told her to take a long walk off a short pier, or, failing that, to find Darjeeling herself."

Nagisa stopped walking and froze up, prompting Hitomi to look at me disapprovingly as we also stopped in our tracks. This was one of those times when I bring up a harsh truth that nobody likes but nobody can argue with. Such times often result in people getting mad at me, but I'd rather have that than have them avoid those truths.

"My sister was desperate, Emi-san," Nagisa said. "She's wanted to emulate Darjeeling-sama for so long, which is why she hoped to face her in combat. Of course, this was also her last chance, so she was willing to do anything to win against you, and only needed me inasmuch as I could help her do that."

"Ah yes, I think you mentioned this before," I said. "Something about inheriting the family business?"

"That's right," Nagisa said. "Not only is she the eldest daughter, but since I'm... the way I am, my parents don't think I'm a good person to inherit it."

"Why am I not surprised?" I thought, but I decided not to say that out loud. Nagisa's lack of confidence in herself caused her to choke up at critical moments, and that flaw (among others) was not a desirable quality in a business owner. At the same time, though, I had to wonder what her parents and sister said that would cause her self-esteem to erode this much, and whether the Shiratori family was as screwed up as I thought it was. I did what i could to help her- by making it clear that while I had no tolerance for her whining, I also believed in her- but I suspected that the root causes would take a long time and a lot of effort to fix.

Of course, that was a weighty responsibility, and I suppose that Kilimanjaro's having that thrust upon her due to being born first was enough reason for Nagisa to feel sorry for her sister. Perhaps Nagisa even blamed herself for not being a good enough substitute, or maybe her sister blamed her. In any case, neither sister seemed to want to inherit their parents' business, and at least one of them was completely unsuited to doing so, but were they the only possible choices for the job?

"Hmm..." I said, as I tried to think of a good response. "I may not know anything about running a..."

"Coffee company," Nagisa said, answering my implicit question.

"...running a coffee company," I said. "But does that necessarily have to be your lot in life, whether you're in charge or working under your sister?"

As I put aside imagining what kind of a crappy boss Kilimanjaro would be, my mind went back to Miho, and I realized that I'd been overly harsh on her in the days before I returned to Germany. There had always been a part of her that rejected her family's way of tankery, knowing that she did it for reasons other than a ruthless desire to win without fail, but it was not so easy to think of her own reasons to do it, even with her sister's encouragement. Despite inheriting the family school of tankery, Maho hoped Miho would do tankery her own way, for her own reasons.

Having fallen out of touch with Miho and the others for years, I didn't know what exactly happened to cause Miho to leave Black Forest behind, although I was all but certain that Miho saving the tank that fell into the river, and Black Forest's defeat (I hesitate to believe that those two events are related in the way most say they are), was in some way the cause of that. All indications seemed to point to this being Miho's autonomous decision, though.

Perhaps it was ultimately for the best that Miho had parted ways with her sister. The two clearly deeply cared for each other, but Maho hoped that Miho would be able to find her own path, and Miho had succeeded at Oarai. Nagisa seemed hesitant to leave her sister behind and fight against her, but Bellwall was a place where she could develop on her own, rather than worry about whether she was of use to her sister.

"Maybe," Nagisa said. "When I Joined the tankery team under my sister, she expected me to keep up with the others, and said that she'd have no use for me if I couldn't do that. When I failed to meet those standards, she was quite disappointed, to say the least, but offered me one last chance to help out."

I paused, as I had to tacitly concede Nagisa's point. My sister had essentially the same expectations of those under her command, and I was no exception. as such, when Nagisa put it that way, I could hardly call Kilimanjaro unreasonable for having the same expectations of her as everyone else, expectations not unlike the ones I had of Nagisa. Of course, Kilimanjaro's methods of enforcing her standards and making sure people carried out her orders left much to be desired, at least as far as her sister was concerned.

"Yeah, I suppose," I said. "But I don't think she'd have tapped you for the spying mission if she didn't know you well enough to be able to take advantage of your desire to prove yourself and know your weaknesses well enough to manipulate you. It seems as though she needed someone to serve as a spy, one she knew well enough to ensure that her spy would never betray her. If she knew you this well, and didn't think much of your tankery skills, then you seemed like the right person for the job, an ideal pawn to further her selfish ambitions. That's really no way to treat your sister."

It was quite harsh, and a part of me regretted saying it, but I believed it was true. Kilimanjaro supposedly was kind to Nagisa in the past, and seemingly had a change of heart after the battle, but neither of them excused or disproved her using her own sister as a tool. Perhaps Nagisa was more sympathetic to her sister's goals than I was, but even she couldn't defend the means by which Kilimanjaro sought to achieve them.

"Yes, but..." Nagisa began. "Kiri-nee-sama's's still my..."

Nagisa once again went silent; she clearly loved her sister, but couldn't argue with what I was saying. A momentary silence descended on our threesome, until Hitomi broke it by taking the conversation in an unexpected direction.

"You know, Emi-chan," Hitomi said. "didn't you also really hate Miho-chan's sister at first?"

This time, it was my turn to wrestle with a point that was not easy to accept or to counter. I had to admit that for a long time, I had despised Maho for how she had achieved her victory over my sister's team by shooting a tank that went to save one of hers. Keeping up that perception had proved more difficult when I faced several factors, such as how happy Maho and Miho were to see each other again, and the later realization that Maho had not realized what the flag tank was doing; perhaps her mother would have expected her to take the shot, but Maho would not have done so willingly.

A part of me found it difficult to compare Maho and Kilimanjaro. Maho was, at worst, slightly cold toward Miho in her mother's presence, while Kilimanjaro had slapped, insulted and attempted to blackmail her sister for a pursuit that her parents not only did not mandate, but hoped she would soon give up. Clearly, that approach would not get me anywhere in understanding Nagisa's perspective.

I then asked myself a question; why had I been so angry with Maho in the first place? The simple answer was my belief that she had wronged my sister. A similar mindset had caused the usually mild-mannered Miho to lose her temper and tell me she hated me after I told her that I hated Maho without explaining why. Miho found someone hating her sister for no apparent reason to be something she could not forgive, and even after I spoke about my grievance with Maho, she found it hard to believe. With that in mind, Nagisa seemed unusually tolerant of my speaking ill of her sister.

Perhaps Nagisa knows better than anyone what cruelty her sister is capable of, as I doubt that the day of our match was the first such incident. But at the same time, Nagisa has fond memories of Kilimanjaro, as well as a love for her sister that other people can only truly understand by comparing it to their own love for their siblings. At the very least, that was true for me, and I couldn't argue with what Hitomi was implying.

As the real Darjeeling might say, "Blood is thicker than water," and Miho, Nagisa and I saw our siblings in a different light than others did simply because they were our sisters. We admired them for their virtues while downplaying their flaws. We praised their achievements and kind deeds while making excuses for their mistakes and misdeeds. If our sisters perpetrated some offense, we would be hesitant to believe it, but if they were the victim, we would become quite angry with those responsible. All this seemed quite irrational if not hypocritical, but at the same time, the cause of it was quite simple- it was because we loved our sisters, regardless of whether or not other people believed we had good reason to do so.

"Maybe so," I said, "but that was before I learned more about the kind of person she is and why Miho loves her so much, similar to how I feel about my sister." I then turned to Nagisa, and let off a sigh as I realized that, at least on some level, I had to concede her point. "Come to think of it, Nagisa, while very little of what I know about your sister is pleasant, I also don't know her apart from what you told me."

"I could say the same thing, Emi-san," Nagisa said. "I didn't even know you had an older sister."

I realized that I hadn't talked all that much about my life before coming to Bellwall. My decision to transfer had been one that I had made myself, to run away from my old team, where most people respected my tankery skill, but hardly anyone liked me, so I was ashamed enough that I only confided in Hitomi. Of course, I was not ashamed of my sister, and while she did not play a role in my decision to leave my old school, nor was she around to guide me at my new one, she was an influence on me in many other ways.

"Well, she's a couple years ahead of me," I said, "meaning that she's in university right now. She's also an inspiration to me as a tanker, though, and I also love her in large part simply because she's my sister." I then let off a sigh. "When I think about it that way, it's easy to understand why you feel the way you do about your sister, in spite of, well, everything."

"That's true," Nagisa said. "You may not think Kiri-nee-sama deserves this, but it's the least I can do for her, if I'm no longer able to fight by her side."

I nodded in understanding.

"I'll keep my eyes peeled for Darjeeling when we're in Oarai," I said, "not for the sake of a girl who treats her sister like a tool, but out of respect for someone who loves her older sister. Just be ready to do what you need to do."

"I will!" Nagisa said.

Her voice carried her enthusiasm, which comes out on rare occasions, including when her sister offered to train her in tankery once the Commemorative Cup was finished. Regardless of whether that feeling was reciprocated or had a good basis, it was one that she felt dearly. Maybe I didn't fully understand her feelings, but I knew what it was like to have them, so I simply gave her a knowing smile, knowing nothing else needed to be said. Kilimanjaro was Nagisa's sister, after all, and that was all the reason she needed to help her.

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading this fic.

It's another fic based off of Little Army 2, contrasting the Shiratori sisters with the Nishizumi sisters (and to a lesser extent, the Nakasuga sisters- you don't see much of or hear very much about Emi's sister, which could imply that she's already graduated from high school), something I think could have been played up more. It's also meant to explore how Nagisa feels about her sister, and why she still loves her in spite of their troubled relationship, and the fact that Nagisa is aware of how Kilimanjaro has mistreated her.

Nagisa makes an interesting foil to Miho in a few ways. Unlike Miho, she seems to openly feel guilty for parting ways with her sister, in spite of Kilimanjaro's abusive behavior. By contrast, Miho most likely misses Maho, but doesn't feel guilty about leaving her the same way Nagisa does, even in spite of Erika's angry tirade at her in the manga.

I'm personally curious as to why more people don't write fanfics about the Little Army cast, considering that they're some of the best-developed characters in the entire franchise; Nagisa arguably gets more character development in the course of the match against West Kureouji than most characters get in the entire anime.

I edited a few minor errors, and would like to thank roguespirit for pointing them out.