A couple of days would pass after the accident, Alexandra, Lola, Megumi and Lyova were in their office, they were discussing the economic situation of the school and things were looking up for them.
"I would like to announce that thanks to Lyova, our accountant, Saunders' output has grown tremendously. Synthetic coal output rose by 110%, synthetic oil by 1,468%, steel by 159% and cast iron by 487%. Agricultural output rose, we now account for 15% of the other school's wheat production, 55% of its rye production and 35% of its hemp production. Industry growth had doubled to 9% thanks to the money that was borrowed from BC Freedom by Lyova Witte. Our gold reserves had more than doubled and because of the fact that we had slashed spending, we're now running a surplus of ten million yen and that surplus is only going to go up." Alexandra began as the school was getting over its sluggish economy and was now catching up to everyone else. "Now I would like to say Lyova Witte. Thanks to your handling of the situation a couple days ago, I am promoting you to the director of railways which sees all the transportation networks of the school as well as the finances of everything else." Lyova stood up and walked over to see Alexandra, he took the paper and began reading it. While his workload increased, it wasn't a profitable move for Lyova.
"I can accept the responsibility, but my pay is slashed by eighty percent from forty thousand yen to eight thousand." Lyova began as he was paid a lot less than normally. Alexandra looked at her favorite accountant and began speaking.
"I'll pay you an extra eight thousand yen in compensation." Alexandra replied. Lyova and Alexandra went to sit down as Megumi stood up and took over for them. She stood and flipped the next screen. She was going to take over the next meeting from there.
"The economic situation has been solved, it's time we turn matters to reforming our armed students and the Sensha-Do team." Megumi began. "We will begin by making a new tunic and Sensha-Do uniform which will consist of a white undershirt with a green overshirt and long green pants with black boots. School uniform would be a white undershirt along with a blue overshirt and a red skirt. Standards in education for the Sensha-Do team and our armed groups will be raised and we've ordered about a dozen brand new tanks including three heavies and six mediums. Also, thanks to the combined efforts of me, Alexandra, Lyova and Tatiana. We will introduce the new service rifle to replace the Berdan. Our new three-line rifle year of 1891 is going to undergo its trials and will be placed into mass production."
"Great, we also chose the rimmed ammo as the traveling distance between the city of Vladivostok and Japan is less than a thousand miles, it could be even closer when we're in the Sea of Japan." Alexandra added on that they could get their ammo cheaply if they sailed up further north.
"Excellent. Now all we need to do now is reform the Sensha-Do team and we're all set." Megumi replied.
"Obedient students who love the tsarina. Now THAT'S how you run a country!" Alexandra called out with excitement, then the door opened to reveal Kay walking in. She had crashed the party.
"Hey Alexandra?" Kay began.
"Ugh… great. It's this girl Kay, who I like to call a girly-girl because she's so weak and pathetic. When are you gonna grow up?" Alexandra groaned with disgust. Kay tried hard to think she was growing up and she got onto her toes to seem like she was taller. Alexandra wasn't impressed with Kay's performance. "Eh, you still look like a girly-girl to me."
"But Alexandra, I grew a beard." Kay tried to tell Alexandra that she had grown up.
"YEAH. AN UGLY GIRLY-GIRL BEARD!" Alexandra shouted. Kay's eyes began to tear up as she then ran out of the room crying. For Alexandra, this was enough. Lyova however didn't like this.
"You made her cry Alexandra; do you feel any shame in you?" Lyova asked Alexandra if she had any feelings for the student she had insulted.
"Why her?" Alexandra asked, what did Kay have that she didn't?
"Well, I think we should include her into the inner circle and if she is going to be tsarina one day, we need to teach her how to run the school." Lyova stated that if they were going to fulfill her desires, they needed to teach her how to be an effective leader. Alexandra however had no desire to teach her.
"I suggest we send Kay somewhere else, she's going to ruin everything and telling her off was the best decision I could've made today." Alexandra responded. "Let's just send her to the mainland as we're going to dock ourselves in port later today and we should be able to get ourselves done with the tests while the students get to explore the mainland."
"Are you just that paranoid about her?" Megumi asked Alexandra what this fretting of Kay was coming from her own lack of desire or possible hatred of her.
"Yes I am. She's criticized us from the beginning and we can't trust her with anything compared to Mika or Jajka for example." Alexandra told Megumi that Kay had criticized how they ran the school ever since the academic year had begun and seven weeks have passed with tremendous amounts of progress being made, Alexandra was just worried about leaving Kay to her own devices.
"Okay this lack of trust between the two of you is going to break the school apart one day but we should get the trials done and out of the way before Kay gets back." Megumi told Alexandra they needed to get everything done before the day at the mainland was going to end.
"Okay, I suppose so." Alexandra replied. She felt like the clock was ticking down for her but to what. She knew she had to get a lot done before all the pieces were set in place. "I'm afraid." Alexandra gulped nervously.
The USS George Washington had pulled into the port and its students began to disembark and walk about on the mainland. They were going to be there until tomorrow morning so it was a good time to stretch your legs on the mainland. Kay was walking along as she felt lost. Her friend Alice was many miles away and Alexandra made sure the two of them wouldn't meet. Kay walked around on the port looking for her friends but they seemed to be lost.
"Mika? Jajka?" Kay called out. She was more or less curious about where they went. There was also another school ship docked next door and its students were disembarking. The two crowds swirling together like food in a blender. Kay had no idea where she was going or who wanted to show her the way. Then she bumped into a thirteen year old girl. They fell down as her friend came running forward.
"Are you okay?" The second girl asked Kay and her friend. The first girl that Kay had bumped into was a beauty with long black hair and brown eyes and an average height to her appearance. The second girl was much shorter with her hair tied into two braids with brown eyes and a pair of large glasses. The second girl helped her friend up before the first girl stuck her hand out for Kay.
"I'm a bit shaken but thanks for the help." Kay replied. She took her friend's hand before helping herself up. Kay then dusted herself off while the first girl escorted them to a less crowded corner of the dock. "Who are you?" Kay had to ask the two thirteen-year olg girls what their names were.
"I'm Kinuyo Nishi from Meijiten'nō chūgakkō and this is my friend Haru Fukuda." Kinuyo introduced herself. Kay smiled a bit.
"Hello." Fukuda introduced herself to Kay.
"I'm Kay, I'm from Saunders, nice to meet you two." Kay then said her name. Kinuyo and Fukuda nodded with approval.
"Sure thing, I'll rent us a rickshaw and we can go around town." Kinuyo told the group. Kay nodded while Kinuyo went up to pay the couple of rental rickshaws. Suddenly a handsome man came along pulling the rickshaw and placed it down. Kinuyo was the first to get on with Fukuda following her friend.
"Hop on board." The rickshaw driver told Kay to climb on and help go around town. Kay wasn't too sure about this but seeing the invite, she climbed on. She settled onto the right side of the chair as the rickshaw driver picked up the handles and began pulling the three girls around. They were going to see some of the local fare of Nagasaki.
Kay and the others came to the street fair in the local Nagasaki neighborhood. Several stands line the street on both sides, the rickshaw came to a stop before the girls got out and began to walk down the street. Kinuyo was observing while they were being pulled up to the street fair.
"Well, this is our stop." Kinuyo told Kay. Fukuda was the first to get off of the rickshaw along with Kinuyo and Kay last. They began to make their way through the street and began chatting to themselves.
"So, you've gotten yourself lost right?" Kinuyo asked Kay as she seemed to be the standout from the crowd.
"Yeah, I must've gotten myself lost. But thanks for figuring out where I am." Kay responded. She was more or less happy to have someone by her side to guide her.
"We'll take you around the place, there is a street fair happening and we would like you to have some fun." Fukuda told Kay that she didn't want her to sit it out. They continued to walk around in the street fair. Kay didn't know these types of stands where the people were selling their stuff: Food, Pictures, Toys. Kay felt a bit over her head. Music of the country gently drifted through the air on this autumn day. Kay looked around as Fukuda called out.
"Kay! Check this out!" Kay turned her head to see the stand where all of these cool dragon pictures were. Someone was doing a tattoo on a man as there were two types of deals: you could get a tattoo or you could buy the picture. "Look at all of these cool dragons."
"Nice but how do the dragons differ? I thought these things were held up in castles and battled knights and princes to rescue the lady of the tower?" Kay asked with curiosity, she didn't seem to know any form of dragons across what continent.
"These are Asian dragons, they are a symbol of prosperity and good luck." Kinuyo explained to Kay what these dragons were. "There are many colors but this one is black and gold with jade green eyes. I think it would look good on you."
"On me? Are you sure these could be washed off?" Kay asked.
"No, they stay with you for the rest of your life." Fukuda told Kay. Kay was nervous about this, as much as these dragons looked cool, she didn't want one printed onto her.
"I'll take the picture then." Kay replied. She got out the money and walked over. She pointed at the picture Kinuyo was talking about. "One picture of dragon number four please?" Kay asked. The stand owner nodded while Kay paid up. He handed her the picture of the dragon in a photo frame and she placed it into the bag and they left the stand.
"Why didn't you want it on your arm?" Fukuda asked Kay, she was puzzled about this.
"I am not a fan of body art, especially if it would stay with me for the rest of my life." Kay replied. They continued walking along when Kay knew she had to make Fukuda proud of her, especially as she had said no to a tattoo. They continued to walk along the street while they looked around. Kay spotted a flower arrangement stand while a lady and her mother were working the stand.
"Let's see if I can find something for you Fukuda." Kay told her while she walked to the stand. The young thirteen-year-old was arranging flowers inside of some vases and preparing Kanzashi hair ornaments. She looked up to see who it was, the girl had mid back length black hair and dark gray eyes. She was helping out around the stand.
"How can I help you?" She asked.
"We want to purchase a hair ribbon from your shop, it's a gift for a friend of mine." Kay began explaining to her what the situation was. The girl began to introduce herself.
"My name is Hana Isuzu. And you are?" The thirteen year old began speaking.
"Kay and nice to meet you, Hana." Kay introduced herself to Hana. Hana shook her hand with anticipation before she continued speaking.
"How may I help you?" Hana asked. Would you like to buy something?"
"Yes." Kay replied. Hana nodded before she continued speaking.
"Which one?" Hana asked Kay what she wanted to purchase. Kay looked around the flower stand when she spotted a red petaled flower with a white pearl in the center. She knew she had to get it.
"Can I purchase that flower?" Kay asked while pointing at it.
"Sure thing." Hana replied while she took the hair pin out of the box. She handed it over to Kay while Kay began getting the money out to pay Hana. "Would you want a bag for that?"
"No thank you, I plan on giving it to a friend who is nearby." Kay responded. Hana nodded while Kay took the hair pin over.
"Have a nice day." Hana told Kay while she was walking away.
"You too." Kay responded happily." Kay approached Fukuda and placed the hair pin in her hair. Fukuda looked up to be surprised to see who was the one to put the hair pin inside. "For you." Kay told Fukuda that the hair pin was for her.
"Thank you." Fukuda replied, the three of them continued down their way from the stand as they continued to chat.
"So what's it like over in your school? Our school is bound by honor and glory, we're preparing for a big performance with Chi-Ha-Tan as they need our help." Kinuyo began the next conversation with Kay while they were walking down the street.
"It's pretty miserable, I thought I was going to be free but I feel like I'm trapped inside of a backward school who seemed to be trying to go forward but is stuck in something I don't even know what to call." Kay described her experience with the school,
"If you're unhappy? Can't you just attend another school and feel at home there?" Kinuyo asked Kay if it was terrible there, why not attend school somewhere else. Kay thought about it, but she had no intentions in leaving.
"I don't want to transfer. I want to be the leader of the school. I want to turn Saunders into what I envision it to be, not what it is." Kay responded that she wanted to take over and lead the school.
"Ooh. Ambitious, are we?" Kinuyo smiled with excitement.
"Yeah, I am ambitious." Kay replied, they continued to walk down the road, smiling, chatting away to themselves. They weren't aware however that one of the policemen guarding the street fair looked around to see if everything was going in order. Then he looked around to spot Kay walking around with Kinuyo and Fukuda. He knew he needed to act.
"Spy!" He shouted, he drew his katana and ran up to the three of them. He swung the Katana at Kay; he sliced the tip of his katana above the eyebrow of Kay's right eye. Kay fell back as Fukuda grabbed a chair from one of the stands and tossed it to Kinuyo. Kinuyo grabbed the chair as the policeman attacked Kay yet again but Kinuyo intervened when she used the chair as a shield to block the katana from striking Kay. Two rickshaw drivers carrying some police officers showed up and the attacker dropped the katana and made a run for it.
"After him." One of the rickshaw drivers called out, two officers came off to hurry over to Kay while the rickshaw drivers chased the attacker down.
"It's okay, you're going to be fine." One of the officers told Kay while he was doing his best to help staunch the blood flow from pouring out of her head. The attacker had only sliced across her head meaning the injury wasn't life threatening. Still the officers did their best to help Kay out. A paramedic arrived at the scene and took over for them as he was beginning to help Kay out.
Bang! The shot of the new rifle was heard as Megumi had taken aim and fired. She cycled the bolt out before closing it back up. She was getting used to the new rifle.
"Awesome, these rifles are accurate and their design is forgiving, we just need to make some minor tweaking to help feed and eject the ammunition." Alexandra told them as these new testing rifles were working out to be the way they were.
"So they're going to enter mass production?" Lola asked with excitement.
"Yep, they are going to enter mass production after we do the tweaks to ensure the best results." Alexandra responded. Megumi fired again as the next shot tore through the paper target. "We just need a new more powerful handgun and its own machine gun. But those will come another time." Suddenly Alexandra's phone began to ring, she got it out and decided to check out who it was. "Hello?" Alexandra asked on the phone.
"This is one of the officers from the fair grounds that I am calling from, and we got some news about Kay." He began. Alexandra was listening in on the conversation when she heard Kay's name.
"What about her? Is she in trouble?" Alexandra asked.
"She is not but she had her forehead sliced open by one of our officers. The girls that were with her showed their bravery and managed to save her life while we managed to stop her from bleeding." he replied about what had happened with Kay. Alexandra was worried about it.
"Is she going to be, okay?" Alexandra asked.
"She's going to be fine, the cut wasn't life threatening and we've managed to patch the spot back together with some gauze and bandages." He replied.
"And the person who attacked her?" Alexandra asked what had happened to him.
"Two rickshaw drivers along with my officers had chased him down and arrested him. He is currently awaiting trial to see what had caused him to snap like that." He replied. "Kay is going to be back home later tonight."
"Okay let's get what we need to get finished, done. Then we welcome Kay back." Alexandra told the officer.
"It was nice chatting with you." The officer then hung up as Alexandra had heard what had happened in the street fair.
"Even though I don't like her, I hope she's okay." Alexandra admitted that she didn't know if she was going to be able to see Kay in the same way as she had before.
"I mean we should have some empathy for her." Megumi replied. "She nearly got herself chopped to pieces."
"What does this mean?" Alexandra asked Megumi if she had any suggestions.
"If Kay asks you to teach her to become tsarina, then we should begin teaching her." Megumi replied. Alexandra froze at the notion; she didn't want to teach Kay or at least yet.
"I still have one or two more things to do before we can begin teaching her. We're still deciding the main tank concept for the school and we're actually planning on an alliance." Alexandra told Megumi that she wasn't ready to teach her to be tsarina as of yet.
"With whom?" Megumi asked Alexandra with who they were making an alliance with.
"This alliance is going to be with BC Freedom and Jatkosota now as the first school was the one that gave us the bulk of the loans that allowed the economic miracle. Earl Gray is still a toss-up as we don't know what about it." Alexandra explained.
"You think Earl Gray would wish to enter the alliance?" Megumi asked if that was going to be a possibility.
"I don't know exactly about it but that is a possibility. If that is, we can convince her to join the alliance though the relationship between the three schools is strained. If we can get more schools into the alliance, that will be good for us." Alexandra didn't know what Earl Gray's motives were or what she was up to. Megumi nodded before she began speaking.
"Who do you want to teach her to be the tsarina?" Megumi asked.
"You teach her, I want to run the school for as long as I can." Alexandra replied.
"Optimistic about you running the school for as long as possible? I thought God had other plans for you." Megumi replied before Lola interjected into the conversation.
"If God himself will let Alexandra continue running the school. I say we're doing alright." Lola replied.
"I hope that he will be nice to Alexandra." Megumi sighed.
Kay arrived later that day as the school ship had departed Nagasaki's port. Kay was feeling uneasy about the events that happened earlier today but she was happy that they were over. Megumi approached Kay who was wondering about her forehead.
"How did it go?" Megumi asked Kay.
"Still terrified of the experience." Kay replied.
"I'm glad that it's over and you came back in one piece." Megumi told Kay that she was grateful that she managed to get out of the ordeal mostly intact. "Did you make any new friends while you were at port?" Megumi asked her if she made more friends while off the school ship.
"Two middle schoolers, Kinuyo and Haru." Kay responded. "I also bought a picture of a dragon with a frame and a hair pin for Fukuda Haru."
"Did you get the dragon tattooed to your arm?" Megumi asked while inspecting her arms.
"No I didn't, I don't like body art." Kay replied. She wasn't a fan. Megumi nodded.
"Aww that would have looked cool on you. Let me see the picture." Megumi was bummed out with Kay not getting the dragon on her arm. Kay got out the photo and the frame which was still in pristine condition despite the incident. "Nice. So you're keeping it around for your own luck?" Megumi asked.
"Yes I am." Kay replied.
"Also, me and Alexandra have come to a conclusion based on today's events that have occurred, Alexandra and I finally decided to begin teaching you how to be a tsarina." Megumi told Kay that her teaching to become the next leader of Saunders was going to begin.
"Who will be teaching me?" Kay asked Megumi on who is going to guide her to being the tsarina.
"Me. And there is a lot you need to know before becoming one." Megumi replied.
[A/N]: Kay's training has finally begun but it might be too little too late at this point as this will take a while, but Kay doesn't have the time to do the training. Next chapter will be the formation of the new alliance that Alexandra is alluring to. So enjoy this chapter and wait for the next one since getting them out is a bit slower now.
