Megumi had gone to finish off the remaining white army forces. Alice, Alexandra and Alexei meanwhile were in the center of the school ship looking at all of the destruction that lay before them.
"It was only months ago when we walked along these very streets with its pristine small shops, beautiful gardens and parks and the people dirty with the work of the big factories and mines. Now there is nothing but destruction." Alexandra began while walking along the street. Alexei went up to one of the destroyed shops, he saw something that caught his eye. He picked up what seemed to be a mangled toy, a casualty in the chaos of the war.
"Anastasia would have loved these when they were together and standing in the store window, waiting for the day they would be bought and loved but now… there is nothing for these poor souls, no one to love them, their eyes filled with pain as they feel their life slipping out of them." Alexei would tell them as he picked up the mangled toy. He felt upset, if this was a human whose flesh was rotting away, he would have felt something. Even if it was a child's plaything that would have driven attachment like a human or a pet would. Now it was alone and no one was there to take care of it.
"You must really have a sense of empathy sir. Do you think something would have happened to them like their friends? Some of the veterans said they had lost their friends in the war and they would feel the same way you do." Baby Lee told Alexei. She walked over to be by his side.
"Yes, plenty of times to me. With my disability, I feel like I'm the poor toy on the ground having cotton or beads flow from gaping holes like blood and flesh with your friends and family telling you to hang in there while your eyes closed. It's scary and depressing now that I think of it." Alexei explained to Alice that he would have felt the same way as the poor toy being mangled with the scars of the war. Then, an armored car came around the corner, the three of them paused as they didn't know what the armored car was going to need from them.
"What's the toy?" Baby Lee asked.
"You three, are you part of Saunders?" The driver would ask.
"We're just wandering around, what do you think you want from us?" Alexandra stated. Alexei was hanging onto the mangled toy thinking it was something he was going to get attached to.
"I'm Shichiro and this is my friend Renta, we're here to talk to Pravda about the concessions after this civil war's conclusion. They seem to be keen on taking over the ship." Shichiro introduced himself. "Alexei, you seem to be here, what brings you to this part of the ship?"
"I came here out of my free will with my friends. We were exploring around and the devastation of the school has been seen for miles." Alexei explained to Shichiro.
"Okay there is a pressing issue that this school has pretty much been destroyed. We need to figure out who should be leading from this time forward." Shichiro explained. "We need to talk to those who are in charge."
"Right. We'll go find Pravda and talk to them. I don't think either one of us will like this." Alexandra explained to Shichiro.
"Good. You can hop in the armored car and we'll take you to the school. We'll discuss the matters there." Shichiro told them. The three of them nodded before they climbed into the armored car. Then they began to drive off. If they were going to get what they needed then they were going to settle the issue.
Megumi had finished getting the last of the rebels to leave when they all came to the school building. Shichiro and Renta were there.
"Why has this meeting been called?" Megumi asked.
"This meeting has been called to discuss the results of the civil war. We found out about the Pravda victory and the destruction that lies around the school." Shichiro began.
"Yes. We apparently won it. We shouldn't be the one's taking the blame as we now have two schools to operate." Lisa told MEXT that with Pravda's victory they were now in control.
"I see but Pravda can't own two schools at once. We need to figure out what the decision for you is. We've seen the top of the ship with the small shops get devastated as Alexei's toy is currently getting fixed if we can," Shichiro told Lisa about what was happening. "We don't know what exactly you have in mind."
"Either I can have the school rebuilt as a communist themed school where we can have this be our extension and rebuild, if that plan fails, we'll just liquidate Saunders and take in all of its assets, leaving the gutted hull of the ship for those who can take care of it better than us." Lisa explained the two plans she has, either rebuild or salvage what they could and leave the rest for someone to take over.
"These two plans I object to. I don't think I want this school to be rebuilt or sold to someone else." Renta began. "I reject this school being closed down and Pravda having too much leverage over the other schools."
"Why though? Saunders has no good leaders left at this point, Kay is nothing more than a corrupt tyrant. Himari and Yuri Nakamura are nothing more than cry babies who want to give rights to fringe groups and me and Megumi are due to leave when this academic year is complete. I say we should have the school closed down." Alexandra explained that the good students were bound to not stay, the former aristocrats were nothing but teenagers that acted like toddlers and Kay was the worst person they could give power to.
"So liquidation is what you want Alexandra?" Shichiro asked if Alexandra was sure about her decision. Alexandra decided to think about what Shichiro asked. She looked at Lisa, then at Megumi and then at Alice. Alice looked at Alexandra as she gave the thumbs up. Megumi nodded as this was something that Alexandra should choose and Lisa wasn't too sure about this.
"Yes. Liquidate and shut Saunders down." Alexandra began. "Even if you do leave it open, the students will become alienated from the truth by Kay and those that will see the damage coming will leave in their thousands and then the only ones left are Kay and her fanatical followers, when that happens, the school will not generate enough output and have not enough able bodies to fight. Kay thinks this is a game or a sport and her purpose is to tell the students to have fun, it's not going to save them from the horrors of the truth that Sensha-Do requires you to be brave and make sacrifices that will haunt you for the rest of your days to achieve victory. Sensha-Do isn't fun. One needs to be heroic and show companionship in the face of the ultimate sacrifice you are going to make to save someone else. It's about preparing these students to fight for their lives and their schools, not to have them play around like children."
"Alexandra has a point. Maybe those that don't take their school's ideals seriously and want to think that it's playtime shouldn't be the ones on the front lines. Or we should put them there in the hope of getting those who want to have fun gunned down by machine guns." Shichiro told Renta. "Maybe students should be taking this more seriously if they are to continue practicing Sensha-Do.
"It's the reason why we need the first years as infantry, it will be the way for them to learn how to make the sacrifice and endure the hardship of being a soldier on the field of battle, the ultimate sacrifice you will make will be anywhere and your school will reward you for it. Kay wants to turn this into a sport and if she does, then there will be nothing to fight for and everyone wouldn't want to participate." Alexandra explained that to be a good student in Sensha-Do, you needed to be a good and disciplined soldier too.
"Yes but no Alexandra, if Kay says as she wishes you shouldn't interfere to tell her otherwise. Saunders is remaining open despite your pleas to have it closed." Renta explained that if Kay was to say Sensha-Do should be one thing, she shouldn't protest to insist it was something else. He was also keeping the school open for all he could care about.
"What about the leader going forward, who will it be? I want someone to lead, she has to be a warrior at heart, as pure as a dove, willing to help her people and build the school up to its absolute best." Alexandra laid out the details. Shichiro began to think about it.
"We might have to scour all the schools for a student to match this description. It turns out the only person close to this is you. Your graduation is around the corner so I doubt we're going to find someone that will match this description." Shichiro explained to Alexandra that the closest person to meet her demands was her. Renta had other things to say.
"We aren't going to replace anyone even with the power vacuum." Renta began. "Saunders has had enough of those and we can't risk the power vacuum to go on for infinite. It's time we suggest a new leader. The track record for Saunders this year has been appalling. Everyone is to blame. Megumi for the fact that she tried to free thousands of people from farm shackles, you Alexandra for purging Himari and her friends after the failed assassination attempt on Megumi that nearly cost her life and Lola for going against the grain and dedicating much of her time to writing when she should have been promoting Kay's messages." Everyone was shocked to hear about this.
"So what exactly were those novellas about?" Alexandra asked Shichiro if he had any ideas on what Lola's writings were about.
"I managed to read two out of five and they were quite pleasant. A soldier's life to one aristocrat and her peasants who wanted to help them out. I wouldn't be lying to say I managed to get engrossed in them." Shichiro described what the stories he managed to read were about.
"I said shut it you old prat." Renta snapped at Shichiro. "No need to tell us the success of a girl who seems to be on the wrong side." Renta told Shichiro. Shichiro looked at Renta as he was pretty annoyed. "Anyway I will say who is going to succeed Saunders as there is no leadership at the current. The one who is going to be leading the school going forward is Kay." Everyone froze when Renta had made his decision.
"Her?" Baby Lee began. "From what Megumi told me, her leadership is awful. I'm surprised the deaths stayed relatively low but…"
"Alice, you shall say nothing more." Renta snapped at Alice. The room remained silent as Renta continued to speak. "Kay's inviting the American Businessmen to rebuild the school plus Saunders students' laws for accepting new students is going to be accepted and I plan to talk to her about it. Plus Himari is going to be her new vice commander."
"This is a double whammy, two of the worst people in Saunders are commanding the school and they don't even like each other. We told you to shut the school down if you could but no you just had to keep up with this bureaucratic nonsense." Megumi told Renta that he was making a mistake that he was going to regret. Putting two people who had a pretty bad history together was going to be a disaster. Megumi felt her anger boiling up as she thought this was a terrible idea.
"All right, let's not tear each other's throats out over something so meaningless, all that we know is the fact that Pravda's wish isn't going to be granted. Your wish to get the school closed down has been rejected and I can understand your grievances Megumi and Alice. If there is any final requests the two of you wish to make, you better say them because Renta is going to go behind our backs and probably inject the school with the biggest bucket load of cash from the corrupt officials." Shichiro explained that he understood them but he couldn't do anything about it.
"Question, am I going to get transferred to Saunders as Kay was an acquaintance of mine who I pushed off the roof?" Baby Lee asked Shichiro.
"Alice, even though Kay wants to twist all of our arms to get what she wants, I can safely say you're being transferred to the mainland where you will attend your high school education. Your future is less certain but some kind of distancing from war and politics of school ships would be for the best." Shichiro reminded Alice that she wasn't going to attend a school that she was going to be forced against her will to attend despite her connections.
"Yeah yeah I'm dismissing this meeting, there is nothing else to talk about. I'm going to be informing Kay that she is taking over." Renta told them to get out. Shichiro felt offended on the inside as Renta's behavior was going to drive them apart.
"If you insist, you are a corrupt man." Shichiro sneered at Renta. The girls got up and began to walk off. Megumi still wanted to figure out the fate of her friend however.
"Hey Shichiro, I wanted to ask you something before Renta snubbed us off." Megumi began.
"What's that?" Shichiro asked Megumi.
"Any news about Lola?" Megumi asked Shichiro.
"Yes. I just ran into her a day ago. She told me Nelly and the Gregor Legion have made it home safely and that Gregor is now a free school. As for Lola, she told me she had applied for a transfer to BC Freedom meaning she's transferring to another school. She says she no longer felt safe on Saunders and she's looking for life to continue her passion elsewhere. That transfer was something Azumi and Rumi fully supported and Lola also went the extra mile to scrub the first year of Saunders from her record. This means her entire first year at Saunders has been nullified and void. Lola is going to be repeating a year if that's something you're okay with." Shichiro explained to Megumi about Lola.
"I'm happy that Lola is in one piece though I wish to see her transfer, it would be a way to catch up with my old friends. I'm also happy that Lola decided to take matters into her own hands to make sure she was able to save herself. If she was still in Saunders, Kay would most certainly tear her a new one." Megumi expressed the fact that her friend was safe and had her future ahead of her. "I wish to be able to pick up what she has created and read them."
"So do I. I'll tell Lola that you said hi the next time I run into her." Shichiro expressed before he laughed and began to leave.
"Wait, which university am I going to?" Megumi asked. "The people observing saw my skills as a leader and they hadn't gotten back to me."
"I haven't gotten back to you as of yet. You'll have to wait a couple of days before I give you the answer." Shichiro told Megumi that Megumi needed to wait a bit before she got her school of choice in the response.
"Take care though." Megumi told Shichiro. Shichiro nodded before he left. Megumi knew there were still a couple of things she needed to get done before the dust was going to settle but for the future of the school, it was bleak going forward, Renta had stamped Kay into place, a person no one looked forward to having her return to a position of power. And to say this would be a massive understatement.
When Renta announced to the school that Kay was still going to be their leader, the population freaked out, the girl who partied and cared for no one was still running the show. They were not happy with this news. And as a result, many of the sensible people began to flee Saunders by the hundreds. The student population of Saunders had shrunk by more than half as many of these students flooded MEXT offices and applied for transfers to other schools. According to some of the information. Most of these Saunders students were fleeing to Pravda. These students were fellow Reds as they had fought alongside them in the civil war. The whites dispersed to the other schools, some going to Gregor, Count, Bonple and many others. The fortunate businessmen and adults that saw this was coming packed their businesses, sold their ruined stores and churches, left all of it behind. This was a very dark day as the people came to their senses and were fleeing.
Back in Pravda meanwhile, they were going to undergo a crisis of power of their own. With Fumie Kame having multiple strokes and the control of Saunders having failed, Fumie decided that everyone should have a cool job within the newly established Pravda leadership.
"This event feels fantastic. It's a trade off for what we did." Clementia began. She was excited to see what kind of job she was going to get.
"That's awesome, Konstantina said she has applied for her transfer to here from Saunders and I can't wait to see her." Nonna added on. "I also can't wait to see what kind of adventures we'll get ourselves into. The best part about this is that I hope she applies to Sensha-Do as she said she is starting to develop a fondness for tanks. I can't wait to see us fighting together."
"That's great to hear Nonna. I also received a message from Nina saying that she and Alina are considering what kind of high school they want to transfer to when they graduate and Pravda is at the top of the list." Clementia explained. This made Nonna smile.
"We're on the uptick in terms of popularity. The civil war in Saunders has made the school undesirable. Let's hope we can continue putting in the strong discipline and excellent training those Russians have shown us. I was snooping around yesterday and Alexandra is right. All we have to keep doing is try being an annoying pest to the point where Saunders has to close its doors. If Alexandra can't force MEXT's hand, we will do it for them." Nonna explained their plan and the plan for them. It continues to be a nuisance that it will wear on the students' nerves to the point where no one knows what they were fighting for. "With leadership paralyzed however, we can't start the plan until next year."
"Don't worry we'll be able to get done what we need." Katyusha explained.
"So what did you get?" Clementia asked what cool job she got. Lisa, who was standing nearby, opened her paper up.
"Commissar for war. Sweet!" Lisa told the group that she found a job she liked. "What did you get Katyusha?" Katyusha opened her paper looking at what she got.
"General Secretary?" Katyusha told the group as she was rather confused about her job. Lisa and her friends burst into laughter as Katyusha had gotten such a low down job. Katyusha felt like she was going to shed a couple of tears. "Katyusha, you don't have the intellectual capacity of Natalia nor are you a charismatic war hero like Lisa. You're a gray blur. Natalia knows you're the last person to succeed her." Lisa continued to laugh. Katyusha felt some rage building up in her. She wanted to show Lisa who she truly was. "You also said 2+2= Lettuce."
Katyusha had been made General Secretary of Pravda. While it wasn't fancy, Katyusha quickly realized it was a powerful position. The simple job that Katyusha had to do was set up meetings and keep the books in order but Katyusha found out she could give positions to anyone in the party meaning she could give out powerful positions to her friends. The more jobs she gave out to her friends, the more power she got from this. The more power she earned, the more respect she earned and with the more respect, the more friends she earned. This was a cycle that caused Katyusha to sky rocket in power. While Fumie had been having wall to wall strokes, as the summer days grew closer, she was still involved with the party and Fumie had taken notice of Katyusha abusing her power and insulting Lisa in her face. She wanted to break them up but at this point, she was just too sick to stop her.
"Hey man, tell whoever's in charge of giving people jobs to not let that jerk Katyusha become the next leader. By the way, who did I put in charge of giving people jobs?" Fumie asked as she laid in her bed, she wasn't even that well and had been barely hanging onto her life.
"That would be Katyusha ma'am." Her friend told Fumie. Fumie's eyes closed before her head tilted back into the pillow. There was nothing left for her. "Woah, Deja-vu."
Fumie's last wish was to not let Katyusha take over Pravda. By the time Fumie died, Katyusha was too powerful to be removed. Katyusha had her remaining opponents arrested or "Went Missing." Lisa was banished shortly after Katyusha's takeover and fled to the mainland. She would eventually be assassinated in Chihuahua High School by Katyusha's spies a couple years later.
"Our dear comrade Natalia has died, we should have a state funeral for her." One of the students asked Katyusha if they could hold a celebration for her.
"No, let's mummify her and put her on display so people can look at Natalia's dead body forever." Katyusha told the student that they should let people look at her body.
"That's gross!" She told Katyusha. Katyusha retorted.
"You're gross!" Katyusha shouted as her guards came. "Guards! Kill her!" Katyusha gave the order.
Fumie Kame has waited so long to spread her ideas to Saunders. Her short time in charge of Saunders was spent on dealing with the destroyed Saunders economy, the 61st Sensha-Do tournament and the Civil War. She was cruel and merciless but she believed Communism would make Saunders a better place. Katyusha on the other hand was going to take Pravda down a different path. Katyusha was waiting for this day to come as she had written on the side saying:
One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is just a statistic.
"If you thought Kay was a tyrant, you haven't seen anything yet." Katyusha told the audience. It was true, with Saunders permanently crippled and Pravda's catapult into its position. Katyusha was going to be influencing policy going forward.
Sensha-Do would never be the same.
[A/N]: Just some final things being wrapped up. All of the people of Saunders are pissed but there is nothing they can do about it so they end up leaving Saunders for a better life. Kay is happy to have all of her previous power restored and Pravda ends up with Katyusha as its leader. And now the schools have to deal with the aftermath of Renta's terrible decision making. The last chapter will just be the epilogue with Megumi and Alexandra as they talk about the future ahead. I'll see you later. Goodbye.