Two days go by. The Archduke and his wife are dead, Ana was in jail, but disaster was not yet certain. Gisela knew she needed to make her case with Manami as she thought this act couldn't go unpunished. A little boy was calling out selling newspapers as the news was still about the Archduke's assassination. She pushed her way into the Kuromorimine building as she arrived at Manami's desk. She began ringing the bell. Manami turned her head.
"Yes Gisela?" Manami began. Gisela was clearly enraged by this as she wanted immediate action.
"This act wouldn't go unpunished. We spent much of yesterday mourning the loss of our leader's nephew and his wife, and we want war with the Serbian gang as we believe they are the ones behind the rag-tag group of students that shot them." Gisela began speaking to Manami. "But before we can have our war, we decided to consult you for advice." Gisela explained to Manami that they came to her to see what Kuromorimine had in mind. Manami began to think.
"Gisela, we held you back before for trying to make war with the Balkan Schools that you wanted to support Kebab, but you came here to see what we are up to?" Manami began. Gisela felt like the Kuromorimine commander was repeating herself instead of answering her question.
"This act is intolerable; we cannot allow such a humiliation!" Gisela shouted at Manami. "Tell me if we should have war with the Serbian gang and we can work out a plan." Gisela slid a piece of paper to Manami. Manami began to read over the paper before she grabbed a pen and began speaking.
"We'll back you whatever you do Gisela, just act and act quickly." Manami told Gisela as she signed her name into the signature spot. She slid the paper back to Gisela who was smiling, she was going to have her war. "Kuromorimine is behind you without reservation." Gisela nodded as she had a question.
"What's your reasoning behind all of this?" Gisela asked as she began to roll up the piece of paper and slid it back into her pocket.
"My reasoning behind all of this is that a general war with the bigger schools can be avoided. If you strike the Serbian gang while everyone is enraged by this assassination. If you act while their deaths are still fresh in their minds, no one will raise a finger to defend the Serbian Gang. And even if, even if Saunders decided to protect their Serbian allies: If the Dual Alliance strikes quickly, it will be an effect complete. The war will be over before Saunders has the time to mobilize their forces." Manami explained to Gisela the purpose that they had a Blank Cheque that Kuromorimine will back them whatever they do. Then Manami's phone began to ring as she decided to pick it up. "Hello? That's terrific. I will be there within the next hour and tell my sister I wish to see them." Manami hung up before Gisela began speaking.
"What's going on?" Gisela asked. Manami decided to speak.
"It's a family meeting on the school ship, my nephew was born during the night." Manami told Gisela that she was leaving to visit her sister who had just given birth. "I will be gone for a few days so I can't be reached." Manami decided to leave the room to attend this family event while Gisela took the paper back. Now came the part to rally everyone on their side.
Gisela had arrived back at her school ship with the piece of paper that Manami had signed earlier that day.
"Good news everyone, our war has been decided, Kuromorimine is backing us whatever we do. Prepare everything as the war needs to be ready and everyone mobilized." Gisela told them the news that they should begin the mobilization of the student army. However, Solti began speaking out in protest upon which she was joined by more than half of the room.
"What do you want to declare war? I object to these orders. Why would you want war with the Serbian Gang when this issue can be resolved? I favor a much more peaceful solution to avoid a calamity that will drag the other schools into this." Solti told Gisela that she didn't like these orders and wanted something else. However, Solti's voice was alone.
"Do you favor a peaceful solution?" Gisela began speaking to Solti who was trying to stage some kind of devil's advocate type of argument. "I'm sorry to say but your voice is alone." Gisela added. Solti thought she was going to have someone backing her side up.
"Where are the other voices of reason and the other arguments for peace?" Solti asked as if she was speaking for just one side.
"Dead on the streets of Sarajevo." Gisela told Solti. "The Archduke was the greatest friend to the Serbian gang and now that said gang has assassinated him and his wife, look at what they did to him, what do you think they're going to do to us?" Gisela told Solti that the Archduke was their greatest ally and they decided to point to his death as the reason they wanted war. All arguments were quickly quelled. Solti sighed as she knew she needed to prevent Gisela from taking herself too far and she began speaking again.
"I will agree to the war on one condition that will benefit us for the time to come and you better promise that you will uphold this promise." Solti began speaking to Gisela. Gisela nervously nodded that they were being asked to uphold their friend's promise. "The promise is, if we go to war and we win, we will not annex a foot of Serbian land." Solti told Gisela that they will not be taking anything from their enemies if they win, no money, no food, no nothing. Gisela nervously nodded as she was being asked to uphold a promise.
"We promise." Gisela nervously stuttered to Solti.
"Good." Solti told Gisela. Solti then left the scene as Gisela went off to begin drafting an ultimatum to the Serbian gang. The ultimatum asks for many things, but it was down to ten demands.
The Royal Serbian Government shall undertake:
(1) To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the Dual-Alliance Monarchy.
(2) To dissolve immediately the group named "Narodna Odbrana," to confiscate all its means of propaganda, and to proceed in the same manner against other societies and their branches in Serbia which engage in propaganda against the Dual-Alliance Monarchy.
(3) To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbian school propaganda against The Dual Alliance.
(4) To remove from the military service all officers guilty of propaganda against the Dual-Alliance Monarchy.
(5) To accept the collaboration in the Serbian themed school of representatives of the Dual-Alliance Government for the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the Monarchy.
(6) To take judicial proceedings against accessories to the plot of the 28th of June who are on Serbian gang's territory; delegates of the Dual-Alliance Government will take part in the investigation relating thereto.
(7) To proceed without delay to the arrest of Major Voija Tankositch and of the individual named Milan Ciganovitch, a Serbian School employee, who have been compromised by the results of the magisterial inquiry at Sarajevo.
(8) To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of the Serbian authorities in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier.
(9) To furnish the Imperial and Royal Government with explanations regarding the unjustifiable utterances of high Serbian officials, both in Serbian Gang's school and abroad, who, notwithstanding their official position, have not hesitated since the crime of the 28th of June to express themselves in interviews in terms of hostility to the Dual-Alliance Government.
(10) To notify the Imperial and Royal Government without delay of the execution of the measures comprised under the preceding heads.
Gisela looked back satisfied with her ten demands to the Serbian gang. She had spent the past couple of hours with the advice of her trusted friends to make the ultimatum. Suddenly a knock was heard while Gisela was printing out the ultimatum and posting it online for the other schools to see.
"Come in." Gisela told whoever it was that was at the door. Solti opens the door, and she takes a seat and begins speaking to her.
"Gisela, we might have to scrap the ultimatum." Solti began. Gisela was confused about what exactly was going to happen.
"What's going on, I'm keeping this on standby." Gisela told Solti that she was keeping the ultimatum in case whatever Solti had planned was bound to not work.
"Two ambassadors, rivals in the heart of the Serbian Gang, in Belgrade, the very capital of this crisis are the two men far sighted enough to see the clouds gathering on the horizon. They are our ambassador and the ambassador from Saunders. They said they know where the storm will occur, so they were going to put aside their differences and perhaps work on a plan for peace and possibly smooth out any tension." Solti explained to Gisela that two men could interrupt their plan and possibly throw her plans for war off.
The Saunders ambassador arrived. He rang the doorbell to his counterpart as he wanted to pay him a visit. The Magyar ambassador opened the door, and he greeted his friend.
"Hey, I knew you were going to pay me a visit. "MA began. The SA nodded as he stepped inside. He takes his shoes off and they walked over.
"I think things are getting tense, if we can control the weather, we can cause the storm to swing elsewhere and this whole crisis can be avoided." The SA began. He was the more serious of the two, but the MA knew he had to be a good host.
"Come take a seat, can I get you any wine to drink?" The MA asked the SA if he wanted something to drink.
"Sure thing, anything for a friend." The SA replied. The two ambassadors sat down in their chairs as they were open. The MA grabbed the wine bottle and a wine glass and poured some for his friend. "So, you heard the assassination that happened a couple days ago?" The MA asked his friend before he wondered if they should take some cigarettes.
"Yeah, I did, my condolences go out to him. He was such a sweet man." The SA told him. He takes a sip of his wine as the two of them were acting openly to each other.
"Gisela is asking for war badly, has the girl lost her mind?" The MA asked his friend. He got out a pack of cigarettes so they could light a couple of them up and enjoy a smoke.
"I sense the girl wants to keep her alliance together and she is turning to more irrational decisions. I guess she really is not the girl meant to be driving the ship to peace." The SA would tell his friend. He takes another sip of the wine before the MA would turn to him.
"Do you have a lighter?" The MA would ask the SA.
"I sure do." The SA told him. He walked over and grabbed a lighter. He walked back before taking a seat. They both take their cigarettes as the SA lit his first. He passed the lighter to the MA who lit his cigarette and the two of them were enjoying themselves with smoke.
"Gisela is graduating at the end of the year and she has been battered by the way she had led for the past few months. She might give the last emperor a run for his money before his empire collapsed when the war concluded." The MA would tell his friend. The SA would smoke his cigarette as the smoke blew out of his friend.
"That's good. Megumi is running the school while Kay is off partying. I can't believe she changed the menu up." The SA would tell his friend. He takes another sip of the wine as the MA begins speaking again.
"I saw the menu. I think it will be a year before all of the students will be suffering from being overweight. The old menu was the better option." The MA would humorously tell his friend.
"That I can agree to. Plus, Kay thinks she's bringing freedom by taking away the usual exercises for tanks. Tanks don't go running around compared to people. The commanders will be too big for their britches." The SA would tell his friend. The MA takes another puff from the cigarette as he begins speaking again.
"Kay might as well be flying her dreams miles off target. Now did you bring the papers for the signing to avoid any sort of war?" The MA would ask his friend if he had the papers that could prevent the war.
"Sure thing. All I have to do is to get…" He suddenly stopped before he clutched his chest with one hand and grabbed the tablecloth with the other and wham! The SA falls to the ground unresponsive.
"You, okay?" The MA would ask his friend. The SA isn't responding to his question. Something must've happened to him.
The next morning, Megumi logged on as Runa wanted to speak to her about something. Megumi opened up the tab before she began to speak.
"Hey there Runa Onizuka. I'm here for Manami while she is busy with her family affair. I would like to inform you that your ambassador to the Serbian gang has dropped dead." Runa began the conversation to Megumi that they had just lost their ambassador.
"Dropped dead? What did he drop from?" Megumi asked as she was starting to get worried.
"He dropped dead from a heart attack." Runa told Megumi. "Now with this news. I'm seeing the chats with students from the Serbian gang spreading rumors that Gisela's ambassador had your ambassador assassinated. That he killed him right in his own house. Nothing signed, no war stopped." Megumi was getting tense with anxiety as she knew this was a predicament, she was in.
"This leaves us without an ambassador to the Serbian Gang. We don't have a diplomatic channel at the center of anything. No lines of communication, no eyes and ears on the ground. We don't have anyone with the experience, familiarity, and connections that the former ambassador had." Megumi began speaking that they had nobody to send to the Serbian Gang to help smooth out the tension. "And even if we did, it would take days for us to get them picked, appointed and sent to the Serbian Gang, days we don't even have." Megumi expressed her fear that Saunders didn't even have the time it needed.
"So, you want Gisela to send out the ultimatum?" Runa asked Megumi. Megumi began to think of something before she remembered something.
"I'm attending a meeting with Rumi and Azumi later today and they are beginning to notice this as well. Tell Gisela about the news about the meeting and we can get her reaction, we can possibly get her to slow down." Megumi told Runa about the meeting that was coming up. Runa nodded before she told Megumi one last thing.
"Oh, and Kirishima is coming over later as things are speeding up." Runa told Megumi.
"Kirishima will be welcomed to stay." Megumi responded. Runa nodded before exiting the meeting with Megumi and contacting Gisela.
"Hey Gisela, we need to chat. I was talking to Megumi just earlier today and we figured out the rumors were false, and the ambassador wasn't assassinated by yours." Runa began.
"That's good. Any news about Megumi. Is it time to send the ultimatum?" Gisela asked Runa. Runa began to think about it before she began speaking.
"Yeah, about that…" She began. She scratched the back of her head. "I got news that Azumi and Rumi are visiting Megumi, she told me just now." Runa told Gisela who was going to visit her friend. Gisela paused.
"We can't send the ultimatum while two of our greatest adversaries are in the same place. It will never do." Gisela told Runa that they will not send the ultimatum while their foes are getting together. "They can make decisions too quickly, coordinate in ways they normally couldn't when they're a thousand miles apart. We'll send the ultimatum when the meeting has concluded."
"Okay. I'll check on Megumi in a couple of hours from now to see if we can send it." Runa told Gisela about it. Gisela nodded as she knew she had to be patient about it. Runa then went offline.
Azumi and Rumi had gathered together with Megumi as they had some news for her about the recent events.
"Hello there. Sad day." Megumi began while bowing her head in respect to the two of them.
"Sad day it is. We heard what happened to your ambassador to the Serbian gang." Azumi began. The three of them took seats as they were ready to begin discussing to themselves about what was going on.
"We know he wasn't assassinated so that's good, but we can't get tabs on what is going on and the only other person willing to give this information now is Milica." Megumi told them with a worried voice that they had no way to keep tabs with everything going on with the gang they said they were going to protect.
"Gisela is obviously craving for a war at this point but she better send her reasoning for wanting it. She can't just declare war right off the bat. Gisela is too elegant to not have her reasons." Azumi explained to Megumi that their friend didn't want to rush down the war and she was just delaying.
"I know about that but I'm just worried about Milica, we can't keep tabs with our friends ever since we lost our ambassador. It will take days to get ourselves another one and those days we sadly don't even have. The world we know in Sensha-Do can end if we aren't careful. We don't know how we can try avoiding this." Megumi expressed her concern that Gisela could declare war on Milica and her gang at any moment and now her fears were rising up. "I wanted Kay to be conducting those meetings but for the last few days, she's nowhere to be seen."
"Where is Kay if I might ask?" Rumi Saunders commander of the entire school seemed to be absent.
"Off to party again. She has been partying for the past few days and draining our money. We don't know if we should restrain her. We tried before but she screams and kicks like a little kid who is refused to get more of what they want. Spoiled little kid she is." Megumi explained that Kay has no responsibility, and she was ruining the school faster than Megumi could put it together. "I entrust Lola to succeed us assuming we can avoid the war, she is the more graceful, charismatic and polite of the two. Kay is in no condition to lead and even if she was leading, God will not be merciful with her."
"I understand but what if this war comes and Lola thinks differently, who is going to lead the school?" Azumi asked Megumi if Lola decided to turn down the position and decided to pursue something else.
"Then the school is doomed." Megumi decided to put it grimly. Rumi gasped, would what she was saying be true?
"Doomed? You wouldn't think Saunders will shut down and the school ship be auctioned off to MEXT?" Rumi asked, she didn't think that it would be possible for them to lose the school ship and have it been reclaimed.
"I don't know about the future of the school but all I can say is that it is not pretty. We will have to close everything. All of the traditions we had ever since we brought in by Maria who fixed the school since the Times of Troubles will be gone and if Kay gets her way, the school will be unrecognizable, and it will be the biggest third world country MEXT will ever see." Megumi explained to Rumi and Azumi that they needed to preserve their traditions or else the entire school would crumble to the days before they placed their customs.
"I can see your concerns Megumi but are you sure that you think change will be good?" Rumi asked her if this was going to work in their favor.
"Nope I do not. I want to keep our traditions." Megumi replied. Rumi took note of it and nodded.
"I can see why you seem to be scared." Rumi told Megumi. Azumi looked at them and she began to speak.
"We have to go. I have to get into touch with Earl Gray and Riccioli about the situation and the conversation we had." Azumi told Megumi that the meeting was being cut short mostly due to the fact that the students weren't going to spend all day chatting. But the real reason was bigger, Runa had texted Azumi to conclude the meeting with Megumi as Gisela was growing impatient and wanted to send the ultimatum to the Serbian Gang.
"Take care, hopefully we can get in touch again." Megumi told Rumi and Azumi. Azumi got up and walked away first before she was followed by Rumi. Runa was observing the meeting before Azumi, and Rumi had gotten some distance away from her.
"Okay they're leaving, should we send the ultimatum?" Gisela asked Runa.
"Do as you wish. I have to get into a meeting with Sofia." Runa told Gisela that she wanted to chat with the commander from Yogurt Academy. Gisela nodded before she sent the ultimatum.
Milica received the ultimatum a couple hours later and she opened it and began to read it. The ultimatum read of many things but more importantly it wanted the Dual-Alliance's police to travel freely in and out of the Serbian gang's school. On the bottom it read this:
You have 48 hours to agree to all ten points or we will declare war on you.
The schools had reached a boiling point. Up until this point the crisis in the Balkans was just another play on the world stage but with the release of the ultimatum, the other schools across the Sensha-Do world even the middle schools began to clue in on what is happening. For Alexandra, tomorrow was going to be a very busy day for her.
[A/N]: Splitting this chapter into two as the Dual-Alliance had some scuffling and they come to an agreement only between them they know about. The other schools don't know about this, and this will create some misunderstanding between them.
The two ambassadors tried their best to prevent the war, but the Saunders Ambassador has fallen dead of a heart attack and Gisela delays the sending of the ultimatum due to their greatest adversaries being in the same place. Now with the ultimatum released, everyone is beginning to turn their heads to what exactly is happening but for story purposes, we're only going to focus on Alexandra the schizophrenic chaos that is happening in Saunders days before this war begins. Next chapter will be Alexandra's decision making and what she plans on the ultimatum along with Kirishima.