Shirogane Archangel 1
Sumika Archangel 2
Kasumi Archangel 3
Sakaki Archangel 4
Meiya Archangel 5
Mikoto Archangel 6
Ayamine Archangel 7
Tamase Archangel 8
—
Yuuya Bridges
03:01 AM
Pacific Ocean
"Are ya ready kids~!?"
"~Aye, aye Captain!"
"~I can't hear yooouu~!"
"~AYE, AYE CAPTAIN!"
"OOOOO~oooooooooooooohhhhhh!"
There was something… totally abnormal occurring over their comms link for about two minutes now. Yuuya could feel the irregularity like getting a brain-freeze after taking a bite out of a big chuck of ice-cream, so it was quite upsetting that he could not solve this headache.
"~Who lives in a pineapple under the sea~!?"
"~SpongeBob Squarepants!"
There was just something… not right.
"—Capt. Shirogane, is our current speed maintainable?"
"Absorbent and yellow and poro— Bridges? That you?" Shirogane came out of his singing session and reacted to Yuuya's query.
"Yeah, I'm thinking of putting the 94 Second on auto and trying out the new OS you gave me."
"Okay, no problem. At current velocity, we'll reach Yukon in another hour. You can test out the XM3, shouldn't be an issue." With the Captain's permission, Yuuya flipped a few switches on his control panel and allowed the system to take over.
"Inia, are you good to go?"
"Yes! This new OS sounds pretty fun!"
"Cool, let's try it out."
Shirogane Takeru
03:15 AM
"~SpongeBob squarepants~ SpongeBob squarepants~ SpongeBoooob~! Squaaaaarepannnts~! Lalaadadalala~!" Finishing off on a joyful high-note, the couple of us who enjoyed a relaxing song laughed softy into our mics.
"—so Capt. Takeru, did you have fun singing over the public channel?" Our popular killjoy Class rep cut in with her usual dose of salt.
"Hey, I wasn't the only one!"
"Yes, yes. You five must been having a ton of fun, right?" Class rep's declaration wasn't directed to just me; Tama, Mikoto, Sumika and Ayamine were all relishing in the pastime.
Our current position was somewhere smack out over the Pacific Ocean. A peek into my rear-facing camera showed the exact same view as my front-facing ones, hence I reached the conclusion that the ocean didn't have jackshit to offer in terms of entertainment.
"—Takeru, I am still dissatisfied with your unwillingness to teach me the lyrics."
"Welp, can't blame me if you don't have a childhood." Like that, Meiya's complaint got overruled by me and the wave of laughter following my retort.
"Why're you people singing in the first place? Isn't that very improper for us?"
"What's wrong with taking a break, I spent the past thirty minutes discussing tactics with everyone."
"Heerr… whatever, I don't care anymore." Class rep's baseless rigidness disappeared once she recognized the argument with me was pointless.
"—Yukon~ Yukon, we're going on adventure~!" Sumika may have had the most wrong impression about our mission compared to anyone else.
"We're not going there to play, woman! There're things we need to do!"
"Naaaah! That's what an adventure is! I can't wait to try out this new machine!" The Eishi of our newly obtained Su-47 said back.
As I turned to view the Berkut soaring to my left, Sumika continued on about how excited she was to see the land of another country in so long. However, what interested me more was the machine she rode, the same frame that contained Barchenowa's body as we flew.
"So, do you like the Berkut, Sumika?"
"Yeah, yeah! It's soo strong!" That was as vague as her preferences came.
Su-47 Berkut, the Soviet's experimental third generation TSF designed to be their ultimate machine of the twenty-first century. Together with the American's F-22A and our Type-00, the three fighters formed what people called the 'big three' of Third-Gen. A lot of threes around here, I noticed.
The onc personally piloted by Sumika right now was subtitled as the pzX1; from what Bridges explained to me, this unit was specifically designed for espers to control. Albeit whether Sumika could be included in the same category as the Russian espers was still undetermined.
"How's Barchenowa, Sumika?" Having the rest of my Squadron hear that controversial statement was unnecessary.
"She told me not to worry about her and fight to my best ability! The shaking won't affect her, she said!" Since I couldn't speak to corpses, or what should be corpses; there wasn't a point in disagreeing to that.
Anyway, one of the most impressive things about the Su-47 was its weaponry; with Spike Vanes covering most edges on the frame and its infamous twin Motor Blades on each of the arms, not to forget the feet mounted blades that were often seen as a cheap strike; overall, Sumika was pretty much decked out in armour.
The pure crimson paintjob of the Berkut stood out against the bottomless black of the ocean from below and the casted light of sliver from above. Those ice-blue LEDs sparking on different parts of the body blocks appeared as its numerous eyes, scanning for her next prey which will fall to her blades.
"Everyone else good?" I asked for a more board update.
"—system check, all green." Kasumi gave me the condition of her frame instead of her own.
"Nothing wrong here, a bit tired but fine." Class rep who was in our chat since the beginning submitted a more relaxed overview.
"Is 2nd Lt. Bridges unavailable as of this moment?" Strangely, Meiya asked for the American that was testing out my XM3.
"Nope, he's trying out the OS. Probably be back in thirty."
"I see, please inform me of his return." Although Meiya was for unknown reasons curious about Bridges, it was nothing for me to be concerned about so I simply agreed and moved on.
"Gonna take a nap, that okay?" The Ayamine projected to my retina was fairly sleepy from the looks of it.
"Yeah, sure. Anyone else needs a break?"
"Oh, oh. Then I'm gonna sleep as well!" Mikoto was too energetic to be actually worn out, then again, her appearance could be very deceiving.
"I'll take a short break as well, Takeru-san." The last person was Tama who also sought an intermission.
"That's fine, put your machine on auto-pilot and be ready to respond if alarm rings, Archangel 1 out." The ride was still long, we were only one third of the way to Yukon.
However, just like rollercoasters; the higher we went up, the faster we go down.
Jerzy Sandek
03:32 AM
Alaska, Soviet Base Б-01, Command center
"Kapitan, we just received a call from Kamchatsky Command. They wish to address you personally."
"At this time? Very well, patch them through."
"Da." The officer by the control clicked a single button and the earpiece equipped by Sandek connected to the caller.
It was unusual for the Far East military command to want a communication line established this late into the night. Normally all of their reports were filed and kept at around eight fifteen, every twelve hours. Knowing this, Sandek decided the matter at hand must be an important one, too important to wait for the next day.
"—Comrade Capt. Sandek, it has been a while since we last communicated."
"—Indeed, Maj. Konev. It just happens that nothing of importance required my attention after the Ц-04 Supply Base Incident, so I was not given a chance to speak with you." Sandek's completely emotionless delivery caused the man across the ocean to laugh heavily.
"HaHahaha! No matter, I have something of interest that I'm sure you will like to know."
"Then if you don't mind sharing the information."
"Yes, yes I shall. I myself just now received a report from the 211 Batal'on Zhar, they have ran into a highly dangerous unit of unknown origin which was active on the supply base." That intelligence in itself was no ground-breaking surprise for Sandek.
"As I am sure that you know, the dolls you recently lost also happened to have inhabited in the ruins of Ц-04. Now I have left them to their own device seeing that this is not my jurisdiction, but I do feel that informing you is necessary." Still expressionless, Sandek said nothing outwardly about how the espers were addressed.
"You have my gratitude, Comrade Konev. What is of the situation now?" There was another much softer chuckle in the ears of Sandek this time.
"They have disappeared, Comrade Captain. Along with your expired dolls."
"I see. Is that all?"
"One last subject, the Zhar Battalion has engaged with the unknown unit… and the result is their loss. All twenty-nine surface fighters have been disabled." The Polish-born Captain easily picked up the seemingly incorrect choice of word.
"You said disabled?"
"Yes, not destroyed. All twenty-nine members of Zhar are still alive and well, save for their pride." Immediately, Sandek calculated mentally the possible methods of how the attackers achieved such a feat.
"Did the Unknown use electrical signal interceptor rounds?"
"I believe so, it is quite amazing to take down a Battalion using what the Americans consider as expensive toilet cleaners. The Unknown also did it without taking damage." While the Captain said nothing out loud, he was actually laughing inside.
"What is their number?"
"The report said there to be eight TSFs, however their number appeared to have increased by their departure." This was when the two Soviets were reaching the end of their talk.
"Where are they heading?"
"I think you already know that, Comrade Sandek. It is time for the toy to be returned to the toy box."
"…Naturally, the custodian has his own job to do." Ending their chat in a nonsensical exchange of hints, Sandek one-sidedly terminated the link.
"You two should get ready, your family is finally coming back." That suggestion was directed to nobody in front of Sandek. Instead, two figures standing by the entrance of the command center stood at attention.
"Are… Inia and Cryska coming back, sir?" One of the white-haired soldiers asked.
"There's a chance."
"Martica… if they come back, that means I can avenge her!" The other almost identical girl declared her intention intensely.
"Don't do it on the spot, they could still have uses."
"What do you plan on doing, sir?" It was this question that Sandek had to ponder about.
"…It could be possible, the moon tonight is quite full."
Mitsurugi Meiya
03:48 AM
Pacific Ocean, close to Alaska border
"—2nd Lt. Bridges, there is something I wish to discuss with you." Taking the initiative, Meiya opened an encrypted channel to Bridges alone.
"Hey, hey! 2nd Lt. Mitsurugi, right? Is it alright to be on a secure line? Won't your Captain get angry for this?"
"Do not worry, Takeru cares not for such small triviality."
"Well, okay I guess. What do you want with me?" What Meiya desired to deliberate with Bridges about wasn't something she could just bring up naturally.
"Yuuya Bridges, who gave you that katana?" Still, Meiya opted for the most straight method of investigation.
"Huh? This sword? It was Yui— I mean, 1st Lt. Takamura gave me this."
"And what did she say when you received it?" To Bridges, these questions must sounded pointless and random.
"Err… she said that this sword has been passed down many generations in her family and that it is important for me to have it."
"Yes, what else did she reveal?" There was a certain detail Meiya wanted Bridges to confirm.
"Errm… something about how this's the only sword of its kind and to never lose it… sorry, but I don't really remember all that well."
"Nevertheless, even when she said that, you still have no clue as to her intention?" Honestly, Meiya was a bit upset by the denseness displayed before her.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"I apologize for offending you, Bridges. Forgive me. Maybe it is just not meant to be; the pair of you. Fate often bears its cruel fang for little to no reason. Again, you have my apology, Yuuya Bridges." It was because Meiya understood, the true meaning of that katana bestowed to the American by Takamura.
"Arr, it's fine, I guess? Is there anything else you want to ask me?"
"There is not, I shall end this link now. Good luck, to the both of us, our time is soon."
Shirogane Takeru
04:20 AM
Alaska costal water
"—Archangel 4 to 1. Refuel is complete, the Type-94 has been scuttled."
"—Arc 1 copy, what's the fuel percentage for everyone?"
"All units should be running at above sixty percent." That was plenty for the takeover of a military base; only the fuel though, I meant only the fuel was enough. Because we all knew some more aspects may or may not be lacking.
04:31 AM
Alaska, inland
"—Attention all units, we will soon reach the edge of Yukon Base's forward reconnaissance faculty. Current time is 0431 hours, remaining time on the operation clock is one hundred and sixty minutes maximum. Does anyone wants to say a final word before we go in?"
"—I want a full course of yakisoba dinner once we make it back." That was Ayamine who just demanded food.
"No way, I don't have that many noodles for you."
"Then I want to ride you once we get back." The cockpit camera view showed me about just everyone got flustered by her shameless topic.
"Also nope, my pride is the only thing that can be on top."
"—can you two please stoop!?" Dissatisfied Class rep basically shouted at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately for her, a good troll cannot be paused for later.
"Then how about you fuck my brains out?" Besides, Ayamine was just going at it.
"That would be a very one-sided night."
"Fine with me." Playing rough was available on the menu.
"Alright, deal."
"Pfff… ahahaha!" Having reached a fulfilling agreement, we both broke down in laughter like grade school kids after an one-in-a-lifetime prank.
"Jesus, Capt. Takeru. For once, just once will you please focus on the mission?!" Our team's Class rep was enacting out her role as the fun-police.
"But nobody else will get their turns!"
"—Takeru-chan, nobody cares." Sumika's blanket putdown left me speechless for a good minute.
"—seriously though, Captain. If there's nothing else, let's go." I couldn't believe even Bridges was hurrying me up.
"You guys are all assholes. But first, 2nd Lt. Bridges, how's the XM3?" Since he spoke, I wanted the American's opinion as the first American to test out my OS.
"This thing is like hyper over sensitive joysticks, works great. The protocol cancels really feel out of place at first, but once we got used to it the movement it provides is amazing."
"Nice, Mav. Glad you like it." He grunted at me for the name calling, not the first time either.
"Anything else? You actually want to go in, right?" I shook my head to disprove his cynical statement.
This was it, this was how all my changes in time will result in. A team of ten Eishis will now attack one of the most advanced military bases on earth. If someone told me this a few weeks ago, I would have laughed, and then reported them to the MPs in Yokohama as unregistered personnel.
"This's the last chance to complain, people. Cause you all missed your exit long ago." As always, most of my team just sighed tiredly at my behaviour.
"Archangel 2, ready as always, Takeru-chan!"
"—Archangel 3, system all green."
"Archangel 4, this… is gonna be a long night, isn't it?"
"—Archangel 5, shall move on your mark, Takeru."
"—Archangel 6, do you think the salmon fish here taste good, Takeru?!"
"—Archangel 7, make sure I don't get pregnant once this is over."
"—Archangel 8, Miki is totally ready, Takeru-san!"
Those were the right words I wanted to hear, most of them, anyway.
"Idar 1 here, thanks… for the help, Capt. Shirogane." Bridges, for one, was respectful and showed his appreciation of our labour.
"—errrmm, also Idar 1. Everybody… thank you very much!"
The right time will never come, the perfect time to strike doesn't exist. All this started with a simple greed, I wanted better gear; now my wish turned into a full-blown performance with the lives of all my loved ones on the line.
Yet, I didn't feel regretful, not one bit. I could very much die in the next five minutes; everyone could, it actually wouldn't be that strange if we just all get destroyed the moment we open fire. The base was the homes for some of the best TSF Eishis of all time, after all.
Nevertheless, it was trust I placed in each and every one of the pilots by my side; they were all strong individuals, even Bridges and Sestina were dependable soldiers. Therefore, I concluded with the fact that there was nothing to be afraid of. We were in this for the win, and we shall walk away with nothing short of a perfect victory.
"—Archangel 1 to all units. Operation Moon Smasher is a go. Full throttles forward and show the Alaskans what a proper terrorist attack is like!"
"Yes, sir!"
Jerzy Sandek
04:33 AM
Alaska, Soviet Base Б-01, Command center
Tonight was an irregular night in the command center of the Soviet Base; by normal schedule, half of the operatives would have been off duty instead of being stuck in this hushed control room. Even so, there was not a single person complaining about the forced overtime. The reason was simple, their extra work was asked by none other than Captain Sandek.
"Kapitan, radar just picked up nine unidentified incoming TSFs, fifty kilometres out. They're heading straight for us."
"What are their units?"
"…Sir, there are eight Unknowns. The only identifiable unit is the Su-47 pzX1." Understanding its meaning, Sandek chuckled coldly to himself twice, and only twice.
"Send out a basic warning."
"Vas ponyal (Roger)." The operator pressed a few keys on the panel in front of her and a few beeps echoed back. After connecting her headset to the console and clearing her voice. She began speaking into the microphone.
"—Unidentified Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron. You have entered restricted U.S.S.R airspace. Identify yourselves and leave the area immediately. I repeat —Unidentified Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron…"
When his subordinate attempted to communicate with the invaders via radio, Sandek already grasped how fruitless that will be. The incoming TSFs were intending on anything but turning away, that would make for a very uninteresting event and a very wasted night.
"Kapitan, the Unknowns are not responding." The operator updated him after several unsuccessful outgoing warnings.
"Send out a security Squadron, intercept the Unknowns and return fire if engaged."
"Da, Kapitan. The 11th Security Force will send out eight units for interception."
"No, dispatch three Flights, twelve units should be out there just in case." Having less number than the invaders would just be a worthless test. Albeit adding four to that count wasn't anything impressive, Sandek needed to validate he wasn't squandering his time.
"Roger, Feniks Battalion is moving out right away." If security wasn't the first responders, then why even bother feeding them?
"Good, connect me to their team leader."
"Yest, ser."
—
"—Kapitan Sandek, are you sure of this?"
"—yes, however do remember to value your own lives. If the enemies prove to be too powerful and impossible to capture, you have authority to destroy or retreat."
"Yest, ser. And thank you." Being kind and humane wasn't how Sandek administered generally, however being sympathetic of his men was the mark of a great leader.
"Move out now. Undisrupted, the incoming fighters will reach us in seventeen minutes."
"Yest, ser! Feniks Company, advance!"
Exactly eleven seconds later, the engines of twelve MiG-29s burst past the control tower and flew further and further until they were no longer visible by the naked eye. During this time, Sandek patiently waited for any activities, there wasn't anything for him to do as of now.
So what he required was patience, and luckily, that talent was one of his specialities. Minutes passed uneventfully, the MiGs would make contact soon, not yet.
"Feniks 1 to HQ. We have established visual confirmation with inco—" Strange, the transmission abruptly discontinued before anyone had a chance to react.
"HQ to Feniks 1, request resay. Do you copy, Feniks 1?" The first call went unanswered by Б-01's security team; so did the second, and the third.
"Bring up the tactical data link, let me see the overhead map." There was no doubt in Sandek's mind about the possibilities for what could have arose.
"Understood, satellite imaging is active. The main screen, Kapitan."
At once, the huge, eye catching monitor in the middle of the room triggered by electricity lid up to display a bird's eye view of the impending battlefield. Terribly, the zoom provided by the satellite was too insignificant and TSFs were only the sizes of ants; thus an overlay was applied which marked the Soviets and the Unknowns.
From what could be observed, the three Flights of Feniks were nowhere to be seen from low orbit, only nine markings of the Unknown Flight remained. The attacking team were standing in place as of that moment, their formation was non-existent and each unit was moving in a different orientation.
"Did they… just take out three Flights? In that time?" By now, the commotion caused by the base invaders had attracted the attention of many other operators. One of which remarked the impossible feat done to their security crew.
"Could the Feniks have ran into communication problems?"
"No, no. Their MiGs should be functional, mechanics just did a check-up yesterday!"
"Then how? Area jamming? But that Squadron was still too far away for it!" Many perspectives inserted themselves into this disorder. However, Sandek knew almost with assurance the explanation to their event.
"…Active stealth functions… humm, welcome back to Yukon." In the loud command center, his comment went unnoticed.
"Sir? Your orders?" Finally, the radio worker closest to Sandek called for his input.
"Go on alert. Contact the UN Command, tell them we have incoming hostile forces."
Takamura Yui
04:35 AM
Yukon Base, Barracks
"—DEFCON 2 is in effect. All security teams standby in hanger immediately. Repeat, DEFCON 2 is in effect. All security teams…"
Yui's meagre nap which just began a mere five minutes ago was mercilessly erased by the sudden flashing lights and the ever-beeping noise of the alarms. Although it wasn't all bad, as her minor headache from last night's little relaxation had also been blown away.
"First Lieutenant Takamura Yui, please report to central command center immediately. Repeat, First Lieutenant…" More surprisingly, her own name was demanded by whoever raised the DEFCON level.
Pulling herself up from the comfy bed, Yui considered for a while on which uniform should she don; eventually the Honour Guard settled for the suit more fitting her foundation and left for the command post in haste.
04:37 AM
Command Center
"1st Lt. Dahl! You called for me?" Yui called out to the only person standing before the many operators who were busy typing away on their computers.
"1st Lt. Takamura, sorry for waking you so early." As polite as ever, 1st Lt. Dahl greeted Yui out of manners.
"So what exactly is taking place?"
"You see, the Soviet from Б-01 just sent us a warning for incoming unknown TSF Squadron. They have lost connection with their responding team and the invaders are coming this way." Even with her cold-façade, Yui had trouble hiding the shock of receiving that news.
"We're under attack!? Is there any intelligence on the perpetrators?"
"Nothing as of now. But at their current speed, they'll be within our radar detection range in just… right now." By 1st Lt. Dahl's statement, the biggest screen showed the team of nine moving into Yukon Base's radar range and were subsequently picked up.
"Confirming TSFs… eight Unknowns and the… oh my… the only recognized fighter is the Type-94 Second." One of the three main operators, the Sergeant of Indian descent reported the invader's Surface Fighter to be the same as what Yui was responsible for.
"Could that machine be piloted by 2nd Lt—"
"Cross reference the Unknowns with my databank in the Type-00, hurry!" Cutting off another operative before she could fully reveal what everyone was already thinking, Yui hoped for her estimate to be off the marks; she really, really didn't want to guess the frames of the others.
"We have six more results! Five Type-94 Shiranuis and one Type-00 Takemikazuchi!" In hearing the latest update, Yui was simultaneously devastated and enthusiastic at the same time.
"What about the last two units?"
"Negative, still unidentifiable." Two missing wasn't going to deconstruct Yui's hypothesis, it only added stronger fuel to the fire.
"1st Lt. Takamura, what do you think the incoming TSFs are preparing to do?" 1st Lt. Dahl asked her a question Yui knew was unavoidable.
"I don't have a clue as to their intentions, however we must ready ourselves for combat. What else did the Soviets provide?" As Yui didn't want to topic to stay on TSF models, she moved on to the arranging phase of a potential battle.
"They suggested the possibility of anti-TSF jamming capabilities on the aggressors, their Squadron of twelve was instantly lost upon contract."
"Instantly?" Again, her mouth opened mildly without her realization.
"Yes, the security team reported visual confirmation before cutting off. When they switched to satellite imaging, their team was no longer responsive."
Yui seriously pondered silently, to take down a whole twelve TSFs within such short span of time was seemingly impossible; it was most likely absolutely impossible. However, if it was who she thought it was; impossibility most just be possible for the specific Eishi— no, that specific team of Eishis.
"Then what is the reason I am needed here, 1st Lt. Dahl?"
"Commander General asked for you to be part of the directive personnel, seeing as you're a capable leader." There was no consideration required before Yui nodded and took over.
"Get our 21st Security team ready, have them use local-area mapping and relay data link. Test out the hostiles' jamming capacity and intercept the unfriendlies. In case of emergency, permission to retreat is given."
It sure had been quite a while since Yui took the reins during a combat situation, yet she was calm and thoughtful without missing a beat.
"And one last thing, see if they can properly distinguish the colour of the Type-00."
"The colour, ma'am? For what purpose?" The looks she received from several others told Yui this operator directly to her side wasn't the only confused.
"We paint TSFs differently based on the ranking of its Eis— I mean surface pilot, so knowing its colour can identify at least what faction or command they're following." It wasn't a hundred percent lie Yui told.
"I see. Security team Hakke is on station, how many units should they send?"
"All of them."
Shirogane Takeru
04:40 AM
Soviet Б-01, thirty-three klicks out
"—all units, additional reinforcements incoming. Scan shows to be 21st Security Team, counting thirty-six; even mix of F-15s and 16s. Entire Battalion inbound, spread out and blast'em."
Our nine TSFs were cutting through the air with great velocity as we left the first group of victims far behind, they were only the appetizer in terms of our progress. What we'll face ahead of us could only be more arduous.
"—Yes, sir!" The teammates around me answered heroically to my orders; well, most of them, anyway.
"Hey, Bridges. I just want you to know that I'm in this for the win, alright?" Hopefully this will be the final assessment I needed to place on him.
"—huh? Ah, yeah. I'm a pilot myself, I won't back out, not here." His expression of conflict was moulded to one of determination. Fighting against old allies was a painful practice, I could say that from personal experience.
"Good. —all units, formation undefined, all weapons free." While I did give them permissions for lethal methods, none of my crew was in the mood for spilling blood.
By my orders, the nine TSFs separated from each other in harmony and all went their own ways. The Battalion of Americans had their guns aimed and ready, but their orders must had forced them into a reactive role, meaning we had a spilt second of advantage.
"—Unknown units ahead! You have entered UN Army controlled airspace! Identify yourselves and land immediately! Failure to comply will result in your—" I was in no mood to listen to another warning, they all sounded the same.
"Tama, go for kill."
"—Ta-tangos just entered kill range! Archangel 8 firing!" A nervous Tama called out her shots before letting the bullets fly.
Many lines of white smoke trails were captured by my sensors to my four O'clock, however in reality only half a half dozen slugs set sail with the head component of our enemy TSFs in sight.
"—all shots are good. Three E.K.I.A." Almost by instinct, Kasumi verified the quality of Tama's aim.
By drawing the first blood, we clearly stated our hostile nature to the arriving surface fighters. Their attacking pattern quickly swapped around to compensate for their lost members.
"—popping smoke!" A Shiranui to my back left which was under the rule of my cyan-haired loli fired both salvos of its Heavy metal cloud warheads into the enemy group.
Using our Anti-Laser missiles as smokescreens was the pinnacle of tax money wasting; yet it was okay because Alternative IV rolled in cheddar. Under the cover of Mikoto's fog, I applied my afterburners and boosted in headfirst.
The next moment, a wall of bullets discharged from their assault cannons enclosed in on me when I rushed thought the metal smog into combat. Nonetheless, with only five opposing TSFs shooting, this was just as easy as dodging a football kicked by a Roomba.
"Sorry to disappoint but I… errrm… ayy, fuck it." My brain failed me spectacularly when I couldn't think of a good one-liner proper for this very occasion.
While my IQ was a mess, my muscle memory certainly was not. Exerting the boosters at a perfect time interval, the most their rounds did was whizz me by and getting filtered out by my TSF's noise cancelling.
Once I finally shortened the gap enough to use these garbage EMP bullets, the five F-15s ahead were starting to grasp their hopeless attempts at bringing me down with shells was going nowhere. However, being the morons they were, nobody reacted fast enough before everyone all got shot up and disabled permanently.
"Welp, not entertained." I casually laughed off the wrecked hostiles as what remained of their frames fell from the sky, with any luck, no one got concussion from that.
We were amongst the chaos of war now, bangs and crashes of metal against metal could be discerned in every direction. Gunfire, explosions from 120mms, clashing swords were all part of the norm. Death surrounded us and our enemies, any wrong or right move could spell the doom of any and everyone.
"—Archangel 4, requesting support. Got a bit of a cluster here and I know you like cleaning them up, Takeru." Class rep asked for my help in a much more relaxed voice than what I expected.
"—haa, I got you, girl. —by the way, Mikoto. You said they got good salmon here, right?"
"—oh, yeah! Hold first though! —Arch 8! Two flanking you from the south! Distance, a hundred fifty! —Anyway, there's smoked, sushi, cured and even jerky! Do you think we have time to pack some home?!" As I conversed with Mikoto about promising after-duty dishes, she sliced an F-16 with her knife before finishing off one of Sumika's kills.
"—uawwaa! But that's my guuuuy!" Annoying as always.
"We probably can manage something." Since the terrain offered no cover of any type whatsoever, a Fighting Falcon was demolished to several bits by my rate of fire.
"—Takeru, you got dudes on your six. A question too, what's their yakisoba like?" I couldn't see what Ayamine was up to from this angle, however, a loud detonation that went off in my close proximity was probably her work.
"You serious right now? Also good save, I wasn't gonna turn around for that one." Being the caring squad leader, I praised Ayamine for accurately taking care of a TSF who thought it flanked me.
"—are you guys… actually discussing about food!? We're fighting a war, you know?" Bridges, to my surprise; was more uptight than I first imagined.
"Calm, calm, my boi. —Meiya, watch eight, Falcons coming to you."
"—see them, they' are downed. Appreciate the tip, Archangel 1." My callout for Meiya was adequate, she turned around rapidly and busted two F-16s before they could use their melee.
"—attention all units. Half of the Battalion have been undermined, continue engagement and watch out when the smoke clears."
"—understood." In unison, their collective voices returned my call in a collected manner.
"—you see, Bridges? This is cannon folder, once your friends show up, we'll get down to business." While complaining, his and Sestina's 94 Second performed a full loop to get behind an F-15 and lid up its rear.
"You people… really are ridiculous."
Takamura Yui
04:43 AM
Command Center
"…Unbelievable, to be this efficient at disposing of surface fighters with signal interceptors…"
"—this is Hakke 1 to HQ! We can't hold out much longer! These guys are simply on a different level! We have already lost fourteen units!" The Battalion leader of Yukon's security force was unable to withstand the basic onslaught Yui sent his team to engage, or at this point; endure.
"—HQ to All Hakke units, fall back immediately. Disengage all hostiles." She trusted her decision to be a wise one as losing anymore men would be valueless.
"Roger that! By the way, First Lieutenant! The Type-00 we saw was most likely purple! …Yeah, yes! It's definitely purple without a doubt!"
Whether it was despair or confusion washing over Yui at this time, she wasn't convinced her new lord would turn against her belief so simply. There must be a reason for this attack, there had to be one. Or else Yui might just lose hope in everything again.
"I see… pull back and regroup by Hanger 14."
"What do you suppose we do now, 1st Lt. Takamura?" Beside her, the Turkish former Captain requested Yui's input on their unfavourable situation.
"…Connect me to the Soviets, right away." It was quite rare for Yui to take the initiative when 1st Lt. Dhal was around, but this once she must accept the responsibility of possibly being the source of all this destruction.
"Already linked, ma'am." One of the three CP operatives was ahead of her and in turn directed Yui's earpiece to the comms with the Russians of Б-01.
"—who am I speaking to, Yukon Base?" An almost unbelievably composed voice asked Yui through the radio signal.
"—I am 1st Lt. Takamura Yui currently stationed on Yukon Base. I assume this to be Captain Sandek, correct?"
"It is I. Let's not waste time on petty greetings and get down to the topic, 1st Lt. Takamura." How uncommon, Yui had the same thing on her mind.
"Agreed, is there any information you can provide us about the intruders?"
"One of the Unknowns is piloting a Su-47. Unfortunately, we are unable to identify the remaining eight frames." If what Sandek told Yui was true, then the Soviets were in no better position themselves.
"We have determined six other TSFs, I'm sending over the files now." If Yui wanted to arrest the attackers and investigate the situation, cooperating with the Russians was a must.
"We are thankful for your assistance, however as the Su-47 is considered national property. It's details cannot be shared, I apologize."
"No, there is a name I'm leaving out as well." Two signs of atonement were only offered as manners of the military, neither Yui or Sandek truly felt terrible for denying the other data.
"Do you have any suggestions on what procedure we should take?" Sandek asked a question Yui had to ponder over repeatedly without reaching a comfortable solution.
Despite her unwillingness, Yui's life was defined by her sense of duty; and that duty was once again claiming over her name, making decisions she herself could never come to.
"Yeah, we'll go to DEFCON 1. Activate all Test Flights under UN regulation and attempt capture on the attacking forces. We cannot allow them to continue wandering over Yukon!"
Shirogane Takeru
04:45 AM
Soviet Б-01, fourteen klicks out
"—sensors are captured multiple inbounds. Identified to be Argos, Duma and Slechtvalk." Yeah… only Kasumi could mispronounce her verbs and still pronounce that flight name.
"—Arc lead to all units. Try-hard panties are coming on, these guys are the real deal. Yukon's Test Flights are regarded as the best Eishis in the world, so let's topple them with gratification!"
"—yes, sir!"
The river of Yukon twenty metres below us flowed opposite in course to where we were bearing toward. The naturally peaceful water was heavily disturbed by our jump units as it fired propellant at a regular interval in reverse to boost our TSFs forward.
The winter night was still young without a hint to the sun's rise, however the gorgeous full moon shined its reflection down upon the ten Eishis personally handling their destiny. There was no room for failure ahead of the path we cruised, the regret of mistakes must be something we will not feel.
"Encounter in sixty, all units. Do not underestimate their abilities, use full caution as you engage and never forget to check your—"
"—it's okay, Takeru-chan. We're adults too, you don't need to hold our hands anymore." Sumika, my ever-loving partner reassured me of my crew's maturity.
"—do not fear for us, Takeru. Instead, we shall do spectacular if you place your faith in the team you trained vividly." Meiya kindly sought for me to believe in the girls I taught.
"—Takeru-san, it'll be our future ahead." Kasumi cheered me on about the impending tomorrow we all will craft together.
"—this's our fight to carry too, Takeru. And I don't intend on losing to the best of the world." Class rep accepted the responsibility I pushed onto her.
"—take them out… pack for home. This one's for you, Squad leader Takeru. So is everything else after today." Kei decided to fight on my behalf for the rest of eternity.
"—I t-think we all can do this together, Takeru-san! We all worked so hard, after all!" Tama was always an irreplaceable part of this Squadron which she believed in.
"—yeah, yeah! We're following our own wills! There's nothing like enjoying what you achieved with your own hands!" Mikoto was my strong girl who did so much for all those she cared about.
Listening to their words of strength, I studied the features of each and every one that fought by my side until now. Their faces all had unalike attributes and their looks all carried divergent weight along; yet the only identical fact I noticed was the smile, the smile looming over their mouths.
"You girls really are the best… it's probably a death flag to say this now but… I truly love the all of you." My confession was a genuine one without any lie.
"…Wha-wh-whha—"
"Sakaki, shut up and don't ruin it."
"But-but Tak-keru-san ju-us—"
"You too, Tamase. This moment of indulgence shall last longer than the seconds we just passed."
"Ahahaha! Archangel Squadron! Now shall be the time! Warm-up session just ended! I want Yukon Base and I want it now! So bring me victory and let us all enjoy the glory!"
"Yes, sir!"
Tarisa Manandal
04:49 AM
"—these guys are close, I can smell them. The radars might not work but as long as we can see the targets, we'll be fine! Prepared for combat!" Tarisa, of all people yelled out the order for attack as the transitory leader of Argos Flight. Since her callsign was Argos 2, the position naturally moved down to her after Yuuya's departure.
She was currently charging ahead of the pack with VG shadowing her and Stella further back. Duma Test Flight broke away to deal with a Flight of hostiles they saw which went a different way and Slechtic-whatever you call it also deviated to engage another sub-group of the attackers.
When she was awakened earlier today by the alarm and a call to gather in the hanger, Tarisa actually got legitimately excited to pilot again after so long. The last time she had the chance to fly her ACTV was when Yuuya bailed on her team and eloped with the Scarlet twins. However, that was a time Tarisa preferred not to recall.
Not having the Shiranui Second was a bummer to the Nepalese girl but she was convinced such high-tech TSF wouldn't be necessary to catch a mere nine TSFs who invaded Yukon for god knows why. Maybe they do have jamming and stealth on their side; still, that was no compensation for what they lacked in number.
"—our comms are still working so that's a plus. You ready, Chobi? They must got some courage to challenge us with so few forces." VG's smug shot popped up on Tarisa's projector, his relaxed mentality was a good peace-bringer for them all.
"Aha! It wouldn't matter, anyway! I'm just happy to get this fight before being sent to wherever they want me next!"
"—ara, ara. A little eager, aren't we? Be careful not to get picked off right away, you know?" Stella added her own comment.
"Ahehhee, you see, right? The proble—"
"Talk later, scanners just picked up hostiles ahead!" VG's sentence was rightfully interrupted by Tarisa when she confirmed the visual on their targets.
"Wow, they ain't hiding, that's for sure."
Around two Kilometres in front of Argos, three TSFs were drifting forward with excessive distance-coverage behind their backs. The XFJ Test Flight was briefed earlier by Takamura on the models their enemies utilized, Japanese's Type-94 Shiranui, the parent unit to the Shiranui Second.
"Formation Arrowhead 1! This'll be an even number fight! Don't steal my kills, VG!"
"If you don't get shot down first, sure." If they weren't about to clash in another minute, Tarisa would have continue the quarrel with VG to its end instead of dropping it as was.
"Just shut up! And Stella, so do I have to give them a warning first?"
"Nope, but things will be much better if they just drop their guns." Maybe so, but that wouldn't be of any fun for Argos.
"Then weapons free, team. Don't aim for vitals and take them alive!"
04:50 AM
The spring in Tarisa's AMWS assault cannons elevated 36mm one after another at the rate of one thousand and four hundred rounds per minute. The casing-less HVAPs were spat out from the barrel and detonated in a straight line with negligible deviation. Her two guns poured an unlimited amount of lead down range as her machine maneuvered accurately to gain a better firing angle.
Still, even with all that firepower and movement, Tarisa had yet to land a single shot anywhere on the armour of this Shiranui.
"—Stella! VG! This's useless! I'm gonna cut this guy!" Tarisa reported her intention to switch away from firearms to her teammates.
"—wait-wait-wait! That's a terrible idea! They're clearly baiting you in!" As much as she hated admitting it, The Italian certainly had a point.
Her foe was obviously taunting Tarisa; she wasn't taken seriously by that Type-94's pilot. And this was furiating, extremely upsetting as a matter of fact.
Dodging in and out of the clouds, the twin-engine vehicle danced across the sky much faster than Tarisa's eyes or her targeting system was able to track. In the vast space above the planet where there existed no cover to hide behind, the TSF was still avoiding each single piece of the F-15's bullets.
"I have to get close to this asshole! His cuts are too fast!" Out of deep displeasure, Tarisa was still single-minded on engaging the Unknown in CQC.
"—Argos 2! We can't back you up if you get in close!"
"You can't back me up anyway, Stella! Just deal with your guys and don't worry!"
A minute earlier the dark-skinned girl announced for there to be three incoming surface fighters and thus making it an even fight; on that note, she was absolutely correct. The trio of Shiranuis all attacked the Argos independently, none of which considered to cover for their accomplice.
So their tactic of not using tactics was fully potent against the UN test pilots, neither VG or Stella could be of any help to Tarisa due to their own battle with the invaders. In the most basic sense, this was a one-verses-one between Tarisa and whoever flew the 94.
"Wait for us to finish here! Then we'll deal with your Bogey!" Shouted VG over his comms, however the chance of that happening anytime soon or at all was slim at best.
"Yeah, no, fuck this! I'm going in!" Opting for a faster approach, Tarisa boosted full speed onward in the direction of the TSF.
Chasing the tail of the Japanese unit right before her, Tarisa fired her rifles a few more times without effect. Concluding that she was still not in the optimal distance, the Active pilot boosted her fighter even closer to the runner.
Then that Shiranui barely within her range did a hard lift from a climbing position, putting it somewhere right above Tarisa. However, being the experienced surface pilot she was; Tarisa already foreseen the outcome of that move. She pitched her F-15 downwards about sixty degrees and flipped it upside down, knowing the hostile unit would return to her sight once the action was completed.
"Huh? Where…?" So no doubt, she couldn't believe her eyes when the prey she tracked until now was not present on her screen.
Being in a vertically inverted position, she immediately turned her head downwards to search for the target somewhere above her; nothing was found. Again, looking to either sides yielded negative-spot on the enemy machine.
The next second after that, right before she checked behind her unit, a tremendously spiteful alert rained in her eyes and two exceedingly miserable words appeared in her retina.
The phrase 'locked on' popped up in the upper-right corner of her projected monitor, cleared from her main camera view which still didn't tell her the location of her adversary.
"Fucking hell! –SHIT!" There wasn't a need for any other words in her situation.
The Type-94 was somewhere, she understood that. It was using its auto target acquisition system to lock onto her TSF, she also understood that. Finally, the most important point to know here was that there absolutely was no point in locking on at this range; just by manually firing its gun, the Shiranui could take her down in a mere fraction.
Without any chance to consider her circumstances, Tarisa was forced into accelerating upwards with a left angle. The ACTV hurtled itself violently at the activation of its full boosters, almost causing Tarisa to bit her tongue in the way up.
Now in a more advantageous position, she fired her mounted cannon forthwith to catch her opponent off guard. But once more, the shots she expired were not good; the Shiranui was already elsewhere long ago. It returned to Tarisa's blind spot where she got locked on again.
"AGGRAA! SHITHEAD!" Outplayed, Tarisa was outplayed repetitively.
04:52 AM
"THIS FUCK! Get over here and die already!"
Their routine continued for three more times. Tarisa would escape from the auto-lock only to be left without the target in her crosshairs, then another warning indicating she was caught in the center of the Shiranui's gun would pop up and bully her into dodging again. Rinse; repeat.
"We're done here! WE'RE DONE HERE, MOTHERFUCKER! I'M GONNA CUT YOUR ASS OPEN!" Finally pushed over her limit, the shorter than average pilot had it with being toyed by what was supposed to be her prey.
Tarisa ignited her engines to its brim and charged straightforward making a beeline for the Type-94. She fired a few last shots before throwing away her assault cannons since bullets were clearly not cutting it. The Active's now-freed hands griped two knives, each grabbed from their case on either side of its legs.
"GET THE FUCK OVER THERE!" With one final shout of rage, Tarisa maximized her boosters to push her as close to that unit as fast as possible.
Surprisingly; or unsurprisingly, the Shiranui ahead didn't bother to fire its guns when her F-15 thrust closer and closer to the infiltrator with its blades as the sharpest and nearest point of contact.
Just a little bit further and Tarisa could touch the sensors on the 94's head, she was at long last only metres away now after many physically demanding maneuvers she took to get there.
"You're mine, BITCH!" Then the Active's knives struck heavy iron, a flash of metal sparks and motorized smoke was the instant result of her attack which she knew connected.
What Tarisa felt at that time was confidence, she wholehearted believed for the enemy to be there; right there under her right knife.
For that to take place should had been the logical outcome. Her foe didn't take one step out of evasion after she pulled her daggers, the Type-94 wasn't going to magically make her knives disappear into thin air. What could possibly go wrong?
In fact, Tarisa was so self-reliant that the beeping of her TSF went straight over her head, the alarm was there, warning her of something she should have noticed just a second earlier.
"No… fucking way…!" The advice annoying her was actually the TSF notifying her of the dysfunctional main arms that just sustained massive damage.
A whole five seconds was how long it took for the smoke to clear away. Once it did, the Shiranui was within breathing range of Tarisa; not of her machine, mind it. She was literally close enough to exhale on the outer armour if she exited her cockpit at any time.
"…This, is bullshit!" Understandably, the dark-haired girl was robbed of any comeback; both in terms of insult and combat.
Tarisa blinked her eyes twice just to make sure she wasn't dreaming, when she came back and saw the same scene before her, there was nothing else to fight on about.
Both of her machine's hands had an anomaly placed in them, and that was two added Japanese Type-65 PB Knives sticking out of them. Together they stabbed her limbs smack on in the centre of her forearms, it pierced through her armour and deemed her hands useless from that point on.
To spike a TSF in its arms as it rushed forward at full speed was a feat Tarisa didn't even dream about. The accuracy, the reaction time, the reflex and probably the luck too, was something she didn't have in store.
Having disabled her main arms, the Shiranui calmed plucked off her unit's fingers and took her American daggers for its own. That was all done too quickly for Tarisa to process; and so were the bullets it put into her ACTV's head with the guns on its Mount Pylon.
Now that was truly nothing left. After behind shot in her face, all screens surrounding Tarisa's retina were gone entirely; just as if her TSF was killed in the truest sense. With no information provided to her anywhere, Tarisa couldn't maintain her TSF's levitation and plummeted downwards along with armour pieces broken off from her arms.
Ayamine Kei
04:53 AM
"—ACTV, add one smoked. I saw their skill level, we can take'em." All that was left for Kei to do was reporting her successful kill.
"—Arc 4 roger. Rendezvous on us, the rest are over here."
"Archangel 7 understood, moving to assist."
Quickly caching her stolen knives into her arm sheath, Kei chased after the falling Active and caught it before the machine slammed onto the undeniably hard earth. She released the F-15 from a relatively safe height before retrieving the pair of assault rifles she dropped.
—
Shirogane Archangel 1
Sumika Archangel 2
Kasumi Archangel 3
Sakaki Archangel 4
Meiya Archangel 5
Mikoto Archangel 6
Ayamine Archangel 7
Tamase Archangel 8
—
[REDIRECTING TO DATA ROUTER]
[UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED]
[VERIFICATION CODE: SHIMMERINGEND]
[UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS CONFIRMED]
[PARTIAL AUTHENTICATION CONFIRMED]
[REQUESTED DATA CLASSIFIED]
[PARTIAL DECRYPTION COMPLETE]
[FILE AVAILABLE FOR RE-EXAMINATION]
—
Ultimate girls' night I
—
Kagami Sumika
Time: [REDACTED]
Location: [REDACTED]
[CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT. EYES ON ONLY]
"Nyahh..! Haaa! K-Kaassumi-chaan! Mnnn… mrrnnnn! I'm gonna…ahha! I can't hold on anymore~! Ahhahaaaaaaa!" Sumika jerked her hips up hard, the sensation of satisfaction blitzed throughout her body like lighting. Second to Takeru, Kasumi was the best at providing her with this perception of a specific joy.
Sumika's washed out breath gradually slowed down in tempo as the 00 unit released Kasumi's face from being pushed up against her crotch. On the other hand, the bunny Russian girl still displayed a deadpan expression. Save for wiping off the nectar that was sprayed all over her face, there appeared to be nothing wrong with this girl.
"It is important to be constant in attacking the sensitive parts of the clit and paying attention to the moans, it often tells you how close the person is to climax. Also make sure to switch between sucking and licking, the feeling is noticeably different." To the rest of their audience, Kasumi explained her techniques.
"UUUUU…! That was sooooo embarrassing~!" Cowered to a ball, Sumika was burning with shame after her exhibition of sexuality.
A peaceful night in the chamber of [REDACTED], a total of six girls gathered together for a special sleepover. Meiya, Yuuhi, Kei and Haruko all watched passionately at the aftermath of a heated floorboard munching between Sumika and Kasumi, it was not something covered in their education from their respective upbringings.
[LOCATION INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE]
Unconsciously, all the onlookers rubbed around their nether region to disperse the pent up tension, even by a little bit. None of the girls were in any sort of clothing, the heaters installed in [REDACTED] were more than sufficient at keeping the naked ladies warm.
[LOCATION INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE]
"What can I say here that is appropriate… I cannot imagine a single word for usage that will not offend any of the parties presented."
"I believe it is wish to say nothing at all, Meiya… this is… indeed far away from subjects of which we are authorities on." The twins shared a knowing gaze, neither had anything good to express.
"That was really… amazing, I guess? Where did you learn all that, Yashiro-san?" Haruko flustered bright red, but still chose to fulfill her curiosity.
"In the past, Takeru-san taught me many things."
"…How old are you again, Kasumi?" Closing her eyes to a meek line, Kei questioned Kasumi on an unrelated topic.
"I turned [REDACTED] about [REDACTED] ago." Kasumi replied with brutal honesty.
[INCIDENT DATE UNAVAILABLE]
"Hum… and just how old is Shirogane these days? Don't lie, okay?" Haruko pushed on with the interrogation.
"He is currently—"
"Kaassummmi-chhhan! You can't tell them~!" The recently recovered Sumika sprung back to life, her short rest seemed to have washed off her exhaustion from being made an example of Kasumi's mastery.
"Is there a matter with Takeru-sama's age of which we must not know?" Finding the topic interesting, Yuuhi joined the fray.
"EEEE! Please don't think too much, Yuuhi-sama! It's nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Waving her arms wildly, Sumika panicked at the mention of Takeru's time alive.
"Hum, this is undeniably intriguing to me. Meiya, present me your opinion on whether we should continue the pursuit of this subject."
"Aneue, as Sumika's friend, I do not think continuing this bother will be worth the potential harm it could cause to our amity. Thus I recommend you to stray away from the topic of which she wishes not to discuss." Professionally, Meiya sided with Sumika on their debate.
"Very well, I shall do as you advocate, sister." Yuuhi bowed lightly to Sumika and ended their questioning.
"She didn't notice… she didn't notice shit…"
"Seriously, isn't kinda obvious if you think about it? Shirogane is definitely over eighteen, right?"
"The Shogun still got lots to… don't think too much, I know." A short chit-chat between Kei and Haruko got terminated when the pink-haired robot fired a murderous glare under the sheets in their direction.
"Anyway, everyone! What did you think about the play? Should we keep going? I think we should, we very much should! Hehehe! Yes, yes!" Strangely, when nobody paid close attention, Sumika had gained the dominance over her remaining friends. The humiliation of being the only one pushed down transformed into her strength and sadistic personality.
"Err… eh? Eh, what?" Everyone was taken off guard by her suggestion.
"Waait? I thought we're only watchin—"
"Kasumi-chan, get her." Taking over their little game, Sumika demanded for Haruko to be the next victim.
"Please trust me, it feels good, I promise."
"Ehh? EEehh—!? Awwggaa!" Leaping herself onto the blue-head, Kasumi fondled Haruko's breasts immediately.
The other girls, now fearful for their lucidity, slowly tried to creep away from a smirking Sumika as she inspected the act of Haruko being ruled by Kasumi over their bed.
"Ahehehe! You all think you can get away!? I'M GONNA GET YOU ALL! COME BACK!"
"KYAAYYYAAA!"
"It's not like you never done this before! MUAHAHAHHAA!" Laughing evilly in a joking manner, another endless night started for the group of burdened teens.
—
[FILE UNAVAILABLE FOR PLAYBACK]
[ACCESS TERMINATED]
—
Author's note
So I did get a little omake thing going here. If you like it; great, if you hated it, at least you know what to skip. For the first OVA I started off with a bang (literally) to test the waters, although it's not like there won't be more.
Whether they're canon (to this fic) or not, that's up for you to decide. Some could be just muffy-fluffy-slice-of-lifeygoody while others have plots, they're not all canon or they could be. I don't even know as I write this. They're also not on a weekly basis and have not be BETAed, so have fun with the return of engrish, not like it left.
Mostly, the omakes appear if a chapter is too short or too boring, thus giving me an excuse to not properly pace things down the line, you're all gonna love a five thousand words chapter with another four thousand words of bullshit.
Back to the main thing, I'm terrible at writing fight scenes so don't expect them to get more detailed. Most fights won't get better than this, put your hopes down, people. This story is long enough as is, Sado is just the next arc and yet it's still so far away I haven't started it.
BETA done by chad001, as for your joke;. since we're Canadians, the American election.