Chapter 14 – We're screwed
The next morning, the first day of October, Toshiro started slowly waking up to the poking of his dear fiancé.
"Toooshiiiroooo… Wakey waaaakeeeey…"
"Hrrrrrmmmmgggrrrrbbbrrrrhhhhrmmmm…" Toshiro grunted back unintelligibly.
"Oh come on… Wake up, you're sleeping in too much for your own standards."
"Time?"
"It's half an hour till seven, help me with breakfast!"
"I didn't even know I was so mentally tired with yesterday…"
"You have to fork some of your responsibility on Minna, Toshiro," Yoshika said with a stern face.
"I suppose I should, but I feel that I shouldn't…"
"Oh come on, she's not participating in patrols, she's not training..."
"Yeah, yeah, I understand… But she looked awfully sour when I hired her as my assistant yesterday."
"Assistant?"
"I wanted her to remind me of two things, that's all. In the end, I remembered them myself."
"Weird… Ah, Toshirooooo! We're dawdling! And it's our turn to patrol with Lynne!"
"Okay, okay…" Toshiro mumbled and started dressing himself.
He looked at Yoshika, who was dressing herself in her new uniform.
"Yoshika, are you dressing yourself for just to feel better? Because we sure as hell won't be visiting anyone today… Well, maybe I could take you to the Yamato after dinner, but that's a load of time ahead."
"No, dummy, I'm dressing for you. You might as well look at me in this fancy uniform for six hours than that old, plain school uniform, right?"
"Point taken, Yoshika. I forgot you love me so much that you're considering all ways to make me happy, heheh…"
"That soul convergence of ours sure was a nice event… Now I know EVERY way to please you, heehee… You should use your knowledge gained about me to do the same…" Yoshika saw with a sensual voice while wiggling her eyebrows.
"Let's seeeeeee… You like foot rubs, huh? You little podophile you…"
"Heh… Guilty as charged… I was a bit embarrassed to tell you I have rather sensitive feet… And by sensitive I don't mind marching and stuff…"
"Then you're in for something after we return from our patrol… But now YOU are dawdling!" Toshiro shouted.
Livy appeared out of nowhere, dressed in her usual pink kimono.
"Good morning Master, and good morning Mistress," she said politely, bowing towards both of them.
"Hiya," Yoshika smiled.
"Mornin', Livy," Toshiro said. "As you can see now, we don't exactly have time for you."
"Oh, that's not a problem, Master. I just came by to greet you into a new day."
"Heheh, how nice," Yoshika chuckled.
Toshiro disappeared suddenly, and Yoshika shouted, "Hey, unfair! Sorry, Livy, gotta go!" as she ran after him.
But Toshiro didn't simply run away, he just waited outside. When Yoshika literally ran into him, he just grabbed her, and gave her a deep kiss.
"My… Toshiro… Trying to spice up our love life are you?"
"Falling into routine was the death of many, many relationships… Come on now." Toshiro said and yanked Yoshika onto his back.
"Yay, piggyback!"
"Sssshh, not so loud…"
"Whoopsh… Showwy…" Yoshika said while pressing her hand against her lips. "But the rooms should be almost soundproof to be honest… The doors are three inches thick, and the walls..."
"You're right… But we should get an inquiry about that from… Hanna and Shizuka."
"Why them in particular?"
"Because they are our neighbors… Do I need to explain further?"
"Neighbors… Oh… Right… I do seem to let myself loose a bit during the night…" Yoshika said as her cheeks started reddening a bit.
"A bit she says…"
"Oh shut up… And what did you do when…"
"Shhhh, don't pull up that episode of my life as if you'd be talking about weather!"
"Heheh… Yeah, that was a bit… traumatic…"
"It was almost rape… Almost… Heh…"
They went to the dining hall, which was emptier than an ancient tomb after a grave robber got wind of it. Toshiro turned on the lights and they proceeded with preparing breakfast. Lynne joined them after a few minutes.
"Goood mooooooorning…" She yawned heavily.
"Morning, Lynnie. Sleep well? We have a patrol after all," Toshiro said.
"Yes, yes…"
"I was thinking about something recently and maybe you can answer me now… Do you like Perrine as your roommate?"
"Um… Well… She sure changed a lot since we first met… Now she's a real good friend towards me, so I don't mind… And… And if you're bothered if I miss Yoshika sleeping in the same room with me, I can only say… no…"
"Awwww, Lynne… You don't miss me?" Yoshika asked with a puzzled face.
"Well… Err… I do a bit… But I guess I can't put my personal fancies over your relationship, right?"
"Heehee… Thanks, Lynne…" Yoshika said warmly. "I really appreciate it…"
"I still remember your nervous running around the deck of the Amagi when Toshiro rushed after Miss Sakamoto during the battle with the Super Hive… Oh, and Perrine has a cuddly side, heheheh…"
"She does? Really?!" Toshiro asked surprised.
"Yes, but it was supposed to be a secret… Ah, crud…"
"A secret around me is safer than gold in a Helvetian bank, don't worry. Now come on, let's make a good breakfast!"
"Yes, let's!" Lynne cheered.
The first ones to appear were, of course, the highest ranked, being Adolfine, Minna and Mio.
"Toshiro, have some dignity. Let the girls do the breakfast," Mio said.
"And what happened to good morning, huh?" He rebuked immediately.
"Morning…" Mio mumbled, rubbing her right eyelid.
"I like helping Yoshika, since I don't have anything to do in the morning anyway. But if you're volunteering, you can help Yoshika with breakfast starting tomorrow."
"No thanks, I prefer to train," she answered.
"Okay, then maybe Adolfine?"
"I could, but since you like to do it, I won't be a spoilsport. And you can't order me to do shit anyway, heheh…"
"True that… Minna?"
"The part about being a spoilsport…"
"So status quo upheld, back to doing breakfast… You all should really know by this time that I do what I like."
The five girls around him nodded.
/-/
Next, the original pair of the 501st came in.
"Morning…" Eila said in a dreamy voice.
"And what happened to you?" Mio asked her.
"Heheheh… I slept well… Heh…"
"Oh really now…"
Sanya approached Toshiro in the kitchen, and lo and behold, she jumped up and gave him a quick peck in the cheek.
"Now, Sanya, we may be friends, but I'm not sharing Toshiro just like that…" Yoshika mumbled.
"Oh Yoshika, don't be mad. I'm just thanking him adequately," Sanya said with a cutesy smile.
"Huh? What did I do?" Toshiro asked.
"Eila told me you gave her some guidance so to speak. Thank you, Toshiro."
"Dawww…" Toshiro patted Sanya on the head. "I'll be sure to give that awkward dink every advice I can give her, okay?"
"Thanks in advance, heehee…" Sanya giggled and went away.
"What was that about?" Yoshika asked.
"Ah, I'll tell you later. No need to tell everyone everything, right?"
"Whatever…"
"Toshiro, who will be the second shift?" Minna asked
"I guess the girls that won't have duty tonight. Wait a second… Georgina… Heidi… And Eila."
"Oh, you've recalled it from your memory, nice. Well, that certainly is a very experimental team setup…"
"Awww… I won't be able to be with Sanya in the evening…" Eila mumbled.
"So use the morning to the full extent…" Adolfine shrugged.
"Oh, good idea… Heh…"
Not that full, you crypto-pervert…
The rest of the girls slowly started arriving, and breakfast was had.
"Okay, Yoshika, I bet you're ready. Lynne?" Toshiro asked.
"I can go right now, I believe…"
"Let's go then."
"Georgina, Heidi, on me." Adolfine commanded.
"Shizuka, Perrine, come on." Mio did the same.
The three destined for the patrol went to the hangar.
"Will we be doing the same as on the previous patrol, Toshiro?" Lynne asked.
"Unfortunately yes. Boring flying around and looking if the Neuroi want to do bad things. Well, Neuroi appearing would actually be beneficial, since we would have some actual work to do…"
"Just don't say that in a bad hour…" Yoshika mumbled.
"But you can handle Neuroi just perfectly, Sweetie."
"Heh… If you say so… It's been a few days since we battled after all!"
"Then maybe today will be your lucky day, who knows…"
"Aw, but I don't want to fight…" Lynne said silently.
"I'll protect you, Lynne, don't worry," Yoshika said with determination, making a big smile pop-up on Lynne's face.
"Now, let's go y'all, duty calls."
After a quick check of their equipment, they mounted their Strikers and started off.
Their patrol was probably the most boring thing they've done in a while, but Toshiro had an idea on how to kill the boredom.
"Yoshika, Lynne, I'll be going down to the builders now, maybe I'll find the supervisor."
"Oh, will you be making some inquiries?" Yoshika asked.
"I hope to do so."
"Okay, go. I'll be flying around with Lynne."
"Keep your eyes peeled."
Toshiro approached to land on the almost finished landing strip and taxied on to a bunch of workers, gathered around a man in a suit. As he taxied in, the workers looked around back to him and waved him in, cheering wildly.
The rabble split apart and the man in the suit approached Toshiro.
"So the man himself appears personally?"
"I was here once, but we didn't meet."
"Very possible, I'm a busy man. Horst Drachenzahn, I'm the boss off all these guys."
"And who I am I believe I don't have to explain, heheh…"
"Totally unnecessary, Generalmajor. So, what do you want?"
"I made a break from protecting your asses, that's all. Well, but if I could get some info about the progress…"
"Everything's progressing nicely. The runway will be finished in a bit, and the buildings are also almost finished. I guess a careful estimate would be that in two weeks, my crew can leave the construction site with pockets full of money and smiles on their faces."
"Good, good… Well, I won't be bothering you guys, back to work for all of us!" Toshiro shouted and found himself in the air in a second.
When he returned to the girls, Yoshika immediately asked, "So, what did you find out?"
"Roughly in two weeks we're gonna move in."
"Oh, that's nice to know…" Yoshika answered. "Oh well, let's move on with our patrol…"
As their time of relief came closer and closer, Yoshika proposed something.
"Toshiro, maybe I could test the Shinden with my new magic capabilities and with my new training results, hmmm?"
"Well okay, but I'll fly alongside you. Lynne, just follow us at your own speed, we'll let you catch up."
"Okay," Lynne responded.
Yoshika started accelerating immediately, and Toshiro followed her. Her acceleration rate was as fast as Toshiro's old Akuma, but when she struck four digits on the speedometer, the engines started sputtering. Toshiro grabbed her and yelled, "Slow down!"
They both slowed down to about five hundred km/h.
"I wonder what happened…" Yoshika wondered. "Oh my… Could it be… Noooooooooo…" Yoshika moaned with a sorrowful face.
"I'm afraid it's a possibility, Yoshika…" Toshiro sighed. "Let's let Lynne catch up to us, and we'll perform diagnostics on the Shinden first thing we return."
"Okay…"
"Don't make such a sour face, Yoshika. You can still fly, remember the last time this happened?"
"Yes, yes… But you can't call in for a resupply right now, right?"
"Yeah… Its late evening in Fuso already… But I'll call them first thing in the morning."
They saw their relief flying in, and after quick greetings, Toshiro and company went back home. The first thing that Toshiro did was opening the service hatch of the Shinden while Yoshika was mounting it in the Launch Unit, and attaching the telemetry device.
"Okay, Sweetie, rev it up."
The revs of the engine slowly increased. Toshiro was looking at the limiter as the three vacuum lamps were filling. The telemetry device finally showed a speed in the four-digit range, and at the same time, the limiter clackered and the engine started sputtering.
"FUCK!" Toshiro yelled in disdain.
"Shit…" Yoshika mumbled with a grumpy face as she was turning off the engines.
She jumped out of her Striker and onto Toshiro immediately, hugging him tightly.
"Toshiroooo… I feel like dead weight already…"
"Don't worry… You'll just limit your magic output, and it will be okay… You have a patrol with me and Lynne in two days, something is bound to happen."
"Okay…"
"Yoshika, is that happening again?" Lynne asked.
"Yes… Yet again, my magic is too strong for my Striker Unit…" Yoshika sighed deeply. "I hope there's an upgrade ready for me, waiting behind the allegorical corner… Just like last time…"
"Come on, Yoshika, dinner's ready. Cheer up!" Lynne tried her best at turning the frown on Yoshika's face upside down.
"Oh, right… I should glue a smile to my face not to spoil the meal for everyone…" She said and jumped on the floor.
They went to the dining room, greeted by Adolfine.
"Hey, move it, we're all waiting for you! My schnitzel won't run away, but they sure will get cold!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Toshiro muttered.
As most of the people ate, Toshiro said, "I have somewhat good, and somewhat bad news. Which should I present first?"
"Good news," Adolfine said.
"And who made you the vox populi, huh?" Mio asked, beating Toshiro to it.
"Shush, Little Mio, I'm second to god here!" Adolfine said in a mocking high-and-mighty tone.
"But I can still smack you!" Mio yelled.
"I guess that makes me God here, so shut the fuck up you two, and let me speak."
Mio and Adolfine stopped their quarrel with pouty faces.
"Thank you. Now, the somewhat good news is, that there's a chance we, the 501st, will change our address in about two weeks. I saw the building that's being made, and we will probably have enough space for our fourteen. Also, in a few minutes I'll be leaving for the Yamato to get your pay, so we'll be stinking rich, thanks to the promotions, heheh…"
"Woohooo, money for sweets!" Erica cheered.
"And parts!" Shirley and Georgina shouted in unison.
"And stuff!" Karla and Siegfriede joined in.
"Yeah, but now the somewhat bad news. Who remembers what problem did the Shinden fix for Yoshika when she was in Romagna?"
The girls from the NJG just tilted their heads, but Trude simply answered, "Her flying problems, since the Zero wasn't good enough for her ever-increasing magic potential."
"Thank you for the recap, dear cousin Trudy."
"Geeheehee…" Trude swooned with red cheeks. "Wait a second, so you mean…"
"The same is happening again…" Yoshika sighed deeply. "I'm sorry…"
"Miyafuji…" Mio said amazed. "You've outgrown your Striker again? Hahaha! My training is working as expected! Hahaha!" She laughed maniacally.
"Don't worry, Yoshika, I bet we'll work out something," Sanya said.
"I can fly; I just can't go at top speed…"
"Toshiro, you're going to the Yamato, right?" Minna asked.
"Yeah, and?"
"Maybe you can ask your old friend to contact the IFN on your behalf, huh?"
"Why didn't I come up with that… Of course I will, thanks!"
"Heheh, no problem. Okay, go where you must go, and leave Yoshika in our care."
"Sure, I will. Ah, but I'll need some kind of sack..."
"Oh, I can clear out my duffle bag and borrow it for a bit," Shirley said.
"I will be grateful."
"Then come on to my room."
"Kay."
"Just make sure it doesn't have any holes!" Trude said.
"Can it, Barkhorn…" Shirley mumbled.
As they arrived in Shirley's and Francesca's room, the former grabbed a duffle bag lying in the corner and emptied it on the bed. It was all clothing, beachwear included.
"I won't be needing these anytime soon…" she sighed. "Toshiro, why the hell did you pick a base which doesn't have a lake nearby?"
"Tough luck, Shirley. Prefer Tobruk? Or maybe we should join the 502nd…"
"No thanks…"
"Heh, thought so. By the way, how is our favorite Romagnan going? Everything okay?"
"Yes, thank God yes… It appears that she wasn't scarred by her impending doom…"
"Impending indeed… Two seconds later and I doubt we'd even have bodies to bury…"
"I really don't know if I could live on if Francesca died…"
"Don't beat yourself unnecessarily," Toshiro said softly. "Chin up, chest forward, and at the Neuroi with full speed!"
"Heheh, yeah! Let's show those fuckers what's what!"
"Now that's the attitude! Okay, I'm slowly going my way."
"Good luck, Toshiro. Maybe you'll get a Jet for Yoshika…"
"Who knows…"
Toshiro went to the hangar unbothered by anyone, but in the hangar itself, he found Mio.
"Oh look who's here. Sup?"
"I suppose I have to tell you something beforehand…"
"And that would be?"
"On the same day I traveled out of Fuso, I learned that the IFN had started dabbling in etherjet technology…"
"And why did you keep that knowledge from me for all this time?"
"Top secret, Toshiro… I only got to know it "for old times' sake" so to speak."
"So you kept a secret from me just because I'm in another army now? I'm impressed and disappointed at the same time…"
"Yeah… I hope you're not mad at me?"
"Actually… No, I'm not… A bit sour, yes, but not outright mad… Want something from the Yamato? Maybe I should give you a lift, so you can do some stuff onboard?"
"No, I don't need to go the Yamato. But thanks for the offer; maybe I'll take up upon it one day."
Toshiro slowly flew to the Yamato, and as he was approaching, he fired up his transponder and said, "Yamato, this is von Edelweiss."
After a few seconds, a familiar voice responded, "So you're here, Toshiro. You're clear for landing."
"Thanks, Jinzaburo."
Toshiro landed on the aft on the Yamato, surrounded by crewmen.
"Handle my baby with care, or else…"
"Yes sir!" A whole choir responded.
He made his way to the bridge, where he was greeted by Sugita.
"Welcome, Toshiro. Shall we go straight to business?"
"Well, if you want, Jinzaburo…"
"Keiki, give me the package please."
"Yes sir," A moustache wearing Vice Captain said and gave Sugita a cylindrical package with a plethora of seals pasted on it."
"Here, Toshiro, the pay for the last two weeks for both the 501st JFW and the NJG 1 4th Division. All the seals are intact, so you can be sure that the money is still there."
"Meh…"
"I figured you could be distrustful of me after the incident in Romagna…"
"You only did what you were ordered to. And you really believed it would help the people of Romagna and Venezia. But hey, it was Neuroi tech, so it was bound to go south."
"I'm glad we are still on good terms, Toshiro."
"Heh… By the way… I would have a favor to ask…"
"Ask away, I'll see what can be done."
"Yoshika has outgrown her Striker again and I don't want to bother Fuso Command right now…"
Sugita made a mysterious smile and said, "And what if I told you that you don't have to call them?"
"Oh?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Tell me more…"
"I can't, its top secret. But I can tell you that a plane is inbound for your base in two days…"
"I see… So I really don't have to call the IFN, right?"
"There's no need, I believe."
"You have me intrigued, Jinzaburo… Okay, I'll be going now. Thank for the money!"
"I'm only a middleman. Good bye, Toshiro."
Toshiro put the package into the duffle bag and he went back to his Striker. Much to his amusement, two armed guards were standing beside a Launch Unit with his Striker Unit mounted inside.
"Okay guys, you're relieved," Toshiro said with a smile as he was approaching them.
"Yes sir!" They shouted as they saluted, but they only lowered their weapons.
"I'd rather you two moved a bit back… The pressure wave I make during a vertical start may be a bit too much for you…"
The two made surprised faces, but they moved back from the Launch Unit by about five meters each.
Toshiro jumped inside his Striker, strapped on the FFG, and started the engines. He waited for them to warm up, and he started vertically leaving a cloud of dust, despite the deck looking perfectly clean.
"Toshiro, come in, we have found something weird," Eila said suddenly through the transponder.
"What is it, Eila?"
"There's a barrel shaped Neuroi with a blinking light… We've never seen one before. What should we do?"
Cold sweat dropped down Toshiro's back.
"Under no circumstances attack it when the light is red! No. Fucking. Way!"
"But it is red! And blinking!"
"Don't shoot it right now, or we'll be fucked up beyond all recognition. You have to feign inability to do combat. If the light doesn't go from red to yellow and then to green, you can destroy it when it's yellow."
"How do you know all of this, Toshiro…"
"You don't want to know… Did you understand?"
"Yes. Green or yellow at most, red is a no-go."
"Good. I'm awaiting a status report afterwards."
"Roger, Toshiro. Eila out."
Shit… FUCK! Why a Probe of all things?! Everything but that… Damn, I hope Eila and the rest manage…
"Don't worry so much, you busybody. I can hear you in the other universe…"
"Oh look, Mrs. Coolpants has arrived... You have it better, you know? And I have to bust my ass here, so that my girls and I live through to the end of the war in one piece… How I fucking envy you, Kye…"
"I know, I know…" Kye sighed. "You can always step down from your position, Minna will accept it."
"But there are many other factors keeping me from doing that, as you damn well know."
"Patience, Toshiro, patience… I won't tell you the exact time and date, but I promise that you and the girls will have a happily ever after of your own. But you will not believe what will happen…"
"There you go with your teasing… Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw…" Toshiro moaned.
"Heehee… I'll have a reward for you after you settle in the Frankfurt Airbase, but the details are, as usual, a secret."
"Yeah, yeah… Secret here, secret there, secrets fucking everywhere… Old McDonald had a secret… I wouldn't be fucking surprised if the Allgod contacted me personally and gave me the keys to the universe, but you of course don't want to tell me, right?"
"Yup."
"Cock… At least a riddle for the coming days?"
"Two shall return to fight yet again; one will rend asunder the enemies' henchmen. Fiery chariots from afar will come, for the fair maiden and warrior, whose inabilities will be undone."
Toshiro tilted his head with an expression similar to that what a peasant from XII century Gallia would make when somebody would start explaining to him the basics of rocket science.
Kye chuckled and said, "Oh you always make the funniest faces. Did you understand any of that?"
"You could as well tell that in ancient mandarin, and I wouldn't understand a thing… But I'll ponder upon it, even if just to keep my mind busy…"
"You do that. Oh and… Thanks for being so nice to Kaylie…"
"I'm always a nice guy to begin with. Bye, Kye."
"Bye, Toshiro. Have a nice day."
"Oh I hope…"
"Oh good grief..." Kye sighed suddenly
"What's up?"
"I'll give you one guess. It involves Kaylie, Layla, and a certain "crib."" She made air quotes with her fingers.
"Hahaha! The two little devils sure like pulling pranks on each other…"
"If they don't cool it for a while, I'm gonna turn them to mortals and put them under your supervision for a little while..."
Toshiro cracked his knuckles and asked, "And what would that supervision look like?"
"Use your imagination…" Kye said with a devilish grin. "Okay, time for me, or they'll either destroy Pluto, or the space-time continuum."
"Yeah, bye."
As Kye disappeared, Toshiro started deconstructing her prophecy. After some time, he came up with an answer.
I know that I know nothing… For fucks sake…
"Toshiro, we can't get that fucker down to a green light. We're destroying it now," Eila reported.
"Okay, do it," he said with a cold voice.
"Roger."
After a moment, Eila reported back.
"Target destroyed, Toshiro. You owe us an explanation…"
"After you return… I don't want half of the world to know…"
"Okay. Eila out."
Damn… I have to come clear with the girls… We have to prepare a defense, because the fuckers will probably attack the area near the construction site… Shit…
Toshiro flew back slowly to the base. Some of the girls were waiting for them already.
"What took you so long?" Shirley asked.
"Complications. But don't worry, I have the moolah with me."
"Bro, gimmie!" Erica pled with big eyes.
"Then come with me to the office all of ya, I have to do some paperwork tied to this…"
As Toshiro sat down in behind the desk in the office, he pulled out the package out of the duffle bag.
"Thanks, Shirley," he said and threw the bag to the redhead. "Now, what you all wanted…"
Toshiro ripped apart the package and saw that the cylindrical shape was given to the package by a metal cylinder inside. He opened the lid, and saw a lot of envelopes inside. He picked out a random one, and it was signed with Eila's full name, rank, unit and nationality.
"Hmm… That one goes to the to-do pile… Redraw…"
Toshiro drew another envelope and it was his.
"Oh look at this, my pay…" Toshiro said and peeked inside. "Yup, definitely mine, heheh…" He said and laid the envelope on the desk.
After drawing the next one he said, "Shirley, c'mere."
"Woohoo, money!" She shouted and approached him. "Uh… Thanks, heh," she said and took the envelope from him.
After looking inside she made a sturgeon face and said, "Not bad…"
Another envelope was picked out and Toshiro said, "Yoshika, Sweetie, your turn."
"Oh, heehee… How nice…" she said and looked into the envelope. "Nice indeed…"
An envelope was picked up and Toshiro said, "Trude… What, you're not sending everything back home?"
"Um… Yeah… My parents called in in August and… They told me to keep a third for myself… They said me that what I send them was a king's ransom already, and they feel guilty that I don't have my own money at my disposal…"
"What thoughtful parents…" Yoshika said.
"A third from your new pay is not bad," Toshiro said. "You most certainly deserve it."
"Heh…" Trude laughed dryly and took the envelope from Toshiro.
After all the envelopes were handed out, Toshiro started processing the paperwork tied to the money, and some that popped out of nowhere. As he ended, Minna came into the room.
"Finished, Toshiro?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"You looked a bit gloom when you came here… Care to explain?"
"As a matter of fact… Yes, I will. When Eila and the rest return."
"Oh? This must be serious business…"
"I can give you a heads up, but only for you. You can't relay this info to nobody, even the Kaiser himself."
"Hmm… Okay…"
"Remember Kye?"
"That blonde who disappeared suddenly? What about her?"
"She wasn't a normal witch… You could say, she wasn't exactly human…"
"Toshiro… You are freaking me out a bit…"
"I knew her beforehand, Minna. Let's say I won't give you all the details but… we did stuff… Stuff that would make your jaw bruise your feet… Kye was a guest from another world."
"Uhhhh… Huh?"
"A world similar to ours, but a world that developed differently. I won't tell you more, sorry…"
Minna furled her eyebrows, but her face relaxed after a few seconds she said, "Well, you're under the care of a deity already, somebody from another world shouldn't be that surprising… But what does that have to do with your current… dilemma?"
"She told me about a new enemy type, but I'll tell about it later."
"Do as you wish… But I hope you're doing wisely…"
"I hope too… So, Minna, what could I do now?"
"The paperwork is depleted for now, but you can go to Trude and help her out in the archive."
"I'll do that. Keep an eye on the money, will you?"
"Jawohl, heheh…"
Toshiro went to the archive, and found Trude reading something.
"Ah, Toshiro. Came to help me?"
"Why yes, of course!"
"Then let's do this."
Time passed, and supper rolled in.
"Girls, I have an important announcement. Don't take a bath right now, because I will call a briefing once Eila's patrol team returns."
"What is this about?" Adolfine asked.
"A shitstorm is brewing, Adolfine, and I want to give out the umbrellas…"
"What a weird allegory…" she sighed. "But okay. Minna, do you know about anything?"
"Not quite…"
As supper concluded, Yoshika asked Toshiro, "What's going on?"
"A Probe appeared. Eila's team shot it at yellow stage."
"Bad… Baaaad… But yellow is manageable, right?"
"Yellow was the clusterfuck that almost killed you back then. But hey, now you're as good as ever, heheh…"
"Heehee… We'll manage, I guess. We managed back then, we can do it again!"
"Still, somebody has to worry, right?"
"Well, you and I both have experience with gray hair already, heehee…"
"Heheheh…"
Toshiro waited for Eila to return with the rest. As they landed, Toshiro said, "There will be a briefing now. I'll try to make it… brief, so you can eat your supper."
"Okay," the girls said without objection and followed Toshiro to the briefing room.
Everyone was seated and waiting for him.
"So, the subject of this briefing is a new type of Neuroi that Eila and her companions encountered today, the Probe."
Murmuring started in the room.
"It has a name already?" Eila asked.
"Yeah… I received my intel on it through my own channels… Anyway, it works this way. A Probe is a barrel shape Neuroi, rather timid and slow. It has a light on its top that can have a green, yellow or red color, either flashing or not. The Neuroi use these to determine what force they should use in an upcoming battle, and the lights are an indicator what feedback they will give back to the nearest hive, green being a piece of cake, yellow is what we've experienced early September when Yoshika regained her magic, and red… well, a clusterfuck royale. The Neuroi from today was killed at a yellow stage, so we'll be having a rather big battle coming for us in the next twenty four hours.
Now, the plans are as following. The night patrol will be conducted as normal. Yuki will be hearing to the comms while I sleep, so I will react accordingly if any danger appears during the night. During the day, each team will have one night witch not participating in today's patrol, because in case the Neuroi will be trying to jam us, we need a strong signal to pierce through the jamming. Once the battle starts, all able witches will fly towards the battlefield at once. Those on site are to protect the builders first and foremost, until I and then the rest arrive. Buildings can be rebuilt, but people can't be resurrected. Questions?"
Toshiro could hear the gentle wind blowing outside the building.
"But is everything understandable? I can go through it once again, so you all understand. This is serious shit. Understood or not?"
A unanimous "Understood!" sounded in the room.
"Then let's go to the bath, all nineteen of us!"
"Wooohooo!" almost all of the girls shouted.
After bathing, which was surprisingly calm, Toshiro and Yoshika went to their room.
"So, Toshiro, what will I exactly do?"
"Do your best. I just hope the Shinden won't explode if you give it too much juice subconsciously, but other than that you should manage."
"Heehee… Let's go to sleep then, because tomorrow will be a busy day."
"Yeah… Busy like hell…"
"Although…" Yoshika pondered. "Livy told me she could fix me up, but she also told me that I shouldn't abuse this… I kind don't want to use my mouth so… Livy, come here!"
The goddess appeared immediately, clad only in her underwear, with her eyes sparkling, and her body stiff and shaking from excitement.
"Wait, Yoshika, you don't think…"
"That's exactly what I want to do, Toshiro. Livy should have some fun in her life."
"How are we gonna resolve the… uh… technical matters?"
"Remember Minna in Romagna?" Yoshika smirked smugly.
"In that way?" Toshiro grinned. "So, Livy, your Master is about to make love to you, along with Yoshika. What do you say?"
"Thank you!" she shouted as she pounced at him.
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