Note: The Dragon of Oarai is currently undergoing a rewrite. If you see a lack of a new chapter despite the fic being "updated", it's because of that. While the rewritten content is fairly similar to the original, I do strongly suggest you read it anyways, as key information will be either new or changed. Thank you.


Chapter 1- Humbled Beginnings

The Ark Royal:

The mirror was cracked, reflecting both the St. Gloriana badge on his chest and his familiar blue eyes. The echoes of his captain's words rang in his mind. "One weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty."

Said captain was currently staring out of the window to his left. Behind the glass wall lay a good portion of the Ark Royal. Beyond the dorms, he would be able to see the boys' campus, the Principal's Palace, the girls' campus, and just a sliver of the Botanical Gardens. Further off the stern laid the sea, reflecting the sun's harsh light like a floor of glass. If he was looking, that is. Instead, Lemongrass' focus was fixated on the sentouki-do airstrip, his reason for being at St. Gloriana Co-Ed College. A Spitfire was put down on the main tarmac so gently it had to be Lavender, as another was taxiing towards Wind-Soar Palace (and yes, he was still proud of that nickname) a little too quickly. That had to be Cinnamon. He silently chuckled. Morimoto could learn a thing or two from him. At least in terms of following orders… or common sense. He had always dreaded the day this would be necessary. Perhaps in hindsight it was obvious this would happen. The practice match against Maple, the Zero-Sen-Tan match, this… The one weak link broke the entire chain.

Silence echoed off of the furnished wood and red carpet, and Ryu kept staring at the mirror, alternating between the blue sweater's emblem and his own image. Blond hair that was just messy enough to not quite be unkempt "crowned" his detached face. Not that he didn't know what he looked like. He just didn't know where else to look. Frankly, it beat staring at the four-panel door. Well, not the door, that was quite a comfortable design. The unnerving element was the lady with the golden scales at the intersection of the two beams, two-thirds of the way up. Though blindfolded, she always seemed to stare into your soul, as if she was just waiting to dredge up your sins. So he stared at the mirror instead.

There was a real chance of never seeing any of it again, at least from the air.

His commander tried to break the ice. "I told you if this was going to keep being a problem I would take care of it. But now… now it's more than a problem. An ally that breaks formation is worse than an enemy." It wasn't much, either of a lecture to Ryu or a comfort to Lemongrass himself. Perhaps that's just what happens when you try to do both at once.

They stood in silence for a few elongated seconds before the doors swung open, revealing the gallows for today: beige floor, the ever-wooden walls, and an elevated, semi-circular desk with five seats (well, thrones would probably be more accurate) surrounding a normal, wooden desk in the center. The center seat of the council was just slightly higher than the others. If the short girl with the long, almost bleached-blonde hair wasn't in the way, one could see on the wooden rest the Gloriana logo, with a sword and pen crossed behind it, a lion and unicorn underneath (one to each side), and a crown atop.

The heishi-do guards escorted the two inside the Student Disciplinary Room and took their place on either side of the door. It was somewhat inadequately lit, with the light being mostly focused on the witness' stand in the center. Morimoto walked up to the one placed in the center of the room, and sat down at his table. Lemongrass, too, took his place at the semicircular joint desk as the furthest seat to the center chair's right.

The woman in the second chair from the left, clearly just a little older than the rest of the crowd, stood up. Her orange-brown hair was focused into a ponytail, and her brown eyes locked onto him. "Morimoto Ryu. Welcome, and thank you for coming. I am Jasmine, the alumni representative of St. Gloriana's today." Gesturing to the blonde girl on her right, she continued, "I'm sure you know Darjeeling, filling in for her commander today" –and to the left of Lemongrass– "and Nettle, commander of the heishi-do team." She then motioned to the girl in the center seat and added, "Finally, this is Chamomile, our Student Council Prime Minister." Chamomile gave a cordial, if seemingly forced, greeting before she too sat down.

Jasmine began the meeting as soon as Ryu took his seat. "This session of the Student Conduct Council concerns Morimoto Ryu and his actions in the most recent Sentouki-do finals against Saunders University High School. Any action will require a unanimous vote. As usual, we will first review the incident in which Morimoto-san crashed his plane into an opponent."


Pop! A stream of orange smoke began to tail the P-38 Lightning. Turning away to head back to base, its assailant, a Supermarine Spitfire, pulled forwards in it stead.

The National Sentouki-do Tournament was one of the most anticipated events in Japanese high school, and the finals were a rivalry like none other: St. Gloriana's vs Saunders. Again. Not that the crowd cared too much, except for diehard Kuromorimine and Pravda fans – when these two teams fought, one could almost feel the rivalrous electricity between them.

And so it was for most of the 62nd Finals as well. The fierce battle had left only two pilots, each a rookie sensation tearing through the sentouki-do circuit: Shiraishi Haruka and Morimoto Ryu. So despite everything, this was the matchup everyone had been waiting for all year.

Haruka closed in on Ryu's Spitfire as he received his fourth kill. Sensing the danger, Ryu pulled the stick slightly to the right, and then up. Extending his flaps and reducing his speed, he watched his barrel roll force Haruka into his sights. Seeing she had to act fast, Haruka put her Mustang in a similar barrel roll, sending them both into a slightly downwards "flat scissors" maneuver. Each spiraled about the other to force their opponent out first.

They approached the redline, and Haruka was in his sights. Victory was upon him, he only needed to squeeze the trigger and… the bullets sailed right over the Mustang. And then under when he tried to correct. No matter what he did, he just couldn't get a bead on her.

The Mustang banked left and out of his vision, pulling to safety. To rectify this, Ryu threw his Spitfire into a climb as he banked left to follow her. The speed he'd gain on the way down should make up for his plane being slower and give him another chance.

Weaving to dodge his shots, Haruka tried to buy time until Ryu would at least try to come back around for a better shot. But it was taking a while. The shots were still coming, tracers streaking by her as if he thought he had infinite ammo.

Why won't my shots land? Hit her already! Ryu silently screamed, not paying attention to the dwindling ammo counter. Only a few hits every now and then. Where was the damage? These were supposed to have 20 mm shells.

Another hit gave him just a bit more hope. It still didn't do anything, but maybe next time…

The Mustang pitched up to avoid an accident, and Morimoto followed in suit. The chase was what mattered. But it still yielded nothing.

His cannon ammo ran out not much later, and all he was left with was the machine guns. It didn't matter though. He just needed a little more time.

Haruka tilted her downwards, now just hovering her plane over the icy redline. A single dip below would send her out of the tournament. Was Ryu trying to force her below the flight limit? Pretty scummy for a St. Gloriana pilot.

Ryu was, in fact, not trying to force her below the redline. He simply couldn't pull away. He was fully aware of what was happening. He knew this was stupid. But he did it all the same. He couldn't stop himself, and, to be frank, he didn't really want to. So he bobbed up and down and up and down, crawling closer and closer with each dive.

Haruka did a quick check behind her to see where her opponent was. That being 2 meters just above and behind her plane. She couldn't have had enough time to get the backend of her plane out of his way.

The awful sound of metal shearing metal would never leave her mind. The propeller and fuselage alike of the Spitfire had slammed into her fuselage, separating her tail controls from the rest of her plane and sending both pilots down towards the grassy field below. The standard orange "out" smoke belted out from both the P-51 and the Spitfire as if it really mattered. Struggling to… well, do anything, Haruka had just enough time to bail out and watch her plane slam into the countryside like a comet falling from grace. Ryu had just thrown the match and endangered a friend for no reason.


No one had anything to add, and Jasmine began again. "Well then, Morimoto Ryu, why don't you tell us why you did what you did."

Ryu wasn't raised to lie. Not like a lie would help him here anyways. He was silent for a moment, but soon he spoke as if at a loss for words. "I… don't know. I'm sorry for what I did, and I swear I didn't mean any harm. I just wasn't thinking." It was the truth, but he realized could have worded that last part better just as it became too late.

A sentiment Chamomile readily reinforced. "You weren't thinking? You weren't thinking. Oh yeah, I'm sure that'll comfort the pilot you almost got killed. I recommend kicking him off the team and 1 week of in-school suspension followed by 2 weeks of after-school detention every day for the rest of the year." Great. That was their starting point.

He wanted to respond, but Nettle spoke next. "Agreed. Your actions embodied recklessness and a lack of consideration for your fellow pilot. That is contrary to the essence of armed sporting, and contrary to the essence of our school. I second that recommendation."

Darjeeling had other plans. "This is the fifth time Morimoto has had to be disciplined. Once for insubordination, once for unauthorized takeoff, and three times, including now, for reckless endangerment. Have we not given him enough chances? He has clearly shown that he doesn't belong in this school," she calmly noted.

Did they call him here to try him, or to simply berate him?

Jasmine saw his face and answered his unspoken question, "Do you have any idea how much it costs to get lawsuits settled out of court for you, Morimoto? We're covering your sorry bum, and it's hurting our entire school! Both our funds and our prestige are suffering because of this, not to mention the headache you've put on your captain, Chamomile, and myself. I second expulsion." They weren't even listening to him. Unbelievable! They literally just brought him here to be angry at him! Is this what St. Gloriana stands for? Does the alumni association care more for the school's image than its students? Actually, that makes way too much sense.

Lemongrass angrily sighed before continuing for her. "Ryu, this was a 4.2 MILLION Yen, 1:1 scale, Sentouki-do approved and modified Supermarine Spitfire reproduction. It was assembled in Great Britain itself using Canadian aluminum and Australian copper. And you destroyed it along with a P-51 Mustang reproduction from another school. Believe me, I know you didn't mean for this to happen, but you had every opportunity and reason to not do what you did. And if this was an isolated incident, sure, maybe, we could give you a break. But this is a pattern: you do something without thinking, and someone nearly, or does, get hurt. You never think these things through."

Earlier, he had hated the necessity of this, but this hearing had only reminded Lemongrass of everything else Ryu had done. And he was not happy about it.

"Shiraishi could have-" Ryu didn't quite shout, but it was clear he wanted to.

"You could have not put her in that situation to begin with!", Lemongrass shouted, having risen slightly from his seat and pointed at the defendant. A few seconds later, he sighed, rubbed his temples with his left hand, and sat down. "Victory isn't everything. Your responsibility to your fellow pilot matters more than your team or personal glory. I see that myself now. I second removing him from the team."

So that's how it is. The one person supposed to be on his side betrayed him.

Darjeeling stared at her tea and then at him. "Have you heard this saying: "Time is your friend, impulse is your enemy?" She paused to take a sip, but her cold words weren't heated by the warm beverage. "Like I said, he's had more than enough chances. We've given him suspension, and we've told him that he might be kicked off the team if it continues, but despite telling us all he would do better, he never fails to disappoint us. If the past year has shown us anything, it's that he's a danger to his fellow pilots and to our school. The only things that come to mind when I think of him are the words "erratic", "unrefined", and "dangerous". I can tolerate erratic and unrefined, at least for a time, but dangerous? We cannot let someone like that continue to be coddled, much less become the face of our proud school."

"It is true," Nettle voiced, "nearly getting someone killed is not something we can tolerate here at St. Gloriana."

"Oh, okay, so none of you actually give a shit, you just want someone to scapegoat to save yourselves the trouble. I see," Ryu said. It was difficult to describe the emotion on his face, like a faux-stoic mixture of anger, determination, and sadness, but it was obvious what he meant. Once more, he didn't care about whether it was a good idea or bad idea. He knew he was right, and he hit them where it hurt.

The entire room was silent for what felt like a full minute. Five stone-cold faces stared at Ryu as if they just decided to hang him. The clock in the background kept ticking, but nobody said anything. Jasmine got up and handed everyone a small piece of paper. "It sounds like it's time for our preliminary voting." And silence just as easily filled the room for the next few seconds.

He knew how this story ended. But he also knew there was no other way for it to end.

Jasmine collected the results just as silently as she had distributed them. Reading each one, she didn't sit down, instead saying, "Well, I believe we have come to a decision, then."

"Ryu Morimoto, you are to be expelled from this school. Until such a time as we find you a school that will take you, you will be under out-of-school suspension, writing your formal letter of apology to Shiraishi Haruka. Guards, if you please."

Called it.

Anyone with half a team would know who he was. He could kiss flying goodbye. But what else can you expect from people who only care about themselves? Compassion?


Somewhere else in the Pacific:

The student council presidents of the three Oarai high schools sat in the dark Oarai Co-Ed Student Council room. None of them moved to turn on the lights. No lights were needed to see the current situation.

Two out of three…

Anzu Kadotani was leaning back on the couch, nibbling on a dried sweet potato skin as if she was unbothered. Anyone who knew her could tell you how misleading her face was then. Tsubame Inaba laid her head on the desk face-down, scrambling to find a way not to accept the inevitable. Oarai Boys' President Yu Hino simply stared out the window. They had dug up every paper they could find, every record, everything. And the only thing that they found was that Oarai had teams, and then they didn't. Almost no mention of where the equipment went or who operated it last. Almost nothing but the receipts from the sales.

The student council phone interrupted their despondent thoughts. It rang once, twice, three times. Tsubame sighed as she picked up the phone just before it rang once more. To her surprise, it was none other than St. Gloriana's on the other end. What could a school like St. Gloriana's want from them?

"Hello? Yes, this is the right number. A student transfer? Reckless, impulsive… Morimoto… Yes, we'll take him. Thank you. Have a nice day."

What the caller didn't know was that Oarai was more excited to receive this guest than St. Gloriana was to get rid of him. Tsubame turned around to address the other two.

"Guys, great news."


A/N: Good morning, evening, or afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while. If you're new here, welcome to The Dragon of Oarai, my take on the Boys und Flugzeug genre (subgenre?). Please, feel free to comment, favorite, follow, anything of that sort.

If you're not new here, then welcome back. You may recognize this chapter looks a little different. As stated above, that's because there's an active rewrite going on for the story. I'm fine-tooling it to better reflect what I want and need the story to be, if you will. I think the story will be much better for it in the end, and I hope you'll be pleased.

If you're from the United States, please enjoy Memorial Day today, and if you're not, then enjoy the rest of your day. Either way, thank you for being here and I hope you stick around - I have big plans that I like to think are well-planned. But I'll let you be the judge of that.

Anyways, I'll see y'all around.

-Minuteman24