Orange Pekoe had to wonder how she found herself surrounded by people who at best could be described as eccentric and at worst as totally deranged. Where Darjeeling fell on the spectrum, she couldn't say. All she knew was that her commander had chosen to help the school that had stolen from them raid another school and her reasoning was that they had asked; politely. If that was a British custom, they were a truly strange people.

They weren't just helping them. They were taking a lead in the plan. They would be ultimately responsible for everything that they would do. But before that, they had to make the Keizoku girls look like St Gloriana students.

"You look like an almost presentable version of my sister."

"Bite me."

"Oh it is you, Aki."

The Keizoku uniform with its pale colours couldn't help but look drab and Aki's pale hair only compounded that look. Now wearing the deep blue jumper and skirt of St Gloriana with the black tights, she looked striking. Even more so with her hair intricately braided. She was as close to a St Gloriana student as they could make her.

"Now we're in the same school." Pekoe mused.

"This feels so weird."

"Didn't you ever dress up as another school before?"

"That's different. This is…" Aki flapped a few times. "This is weird."

"You said that."

"It is weird! Look at me! I look all…" She struggled to find the word.

"Elegant?" Pekoe offered.

"Stop enjoying this!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Aki." Pekoe grinned at her. "You look too cute."

"Shut up!"

Both of them became silent as Darjeeling entered followed by a girl whose hair was tied up in a series of carefully piled loops that showed off a long, graceful neck. She looked quite magnificent.

She was Mika.

Darjeeling floated between the two sisters and placed her hands under their chins to close their mouths. "Elegance in all things." She chided them. "A change is as good as a rest."

"This isn't a little change." Aki pointed out, trying not to squirm uncomfortably. Mika without her hat was unnerving.

"This was your idea." Pekoe reminded her.

"Yes it was." Aki looked at Mika who said nothing. Not even one of her mysterious smiles. She had said very little since Darjeeling had slapped her and Aki had no idea whether that was a good or bad thing. She wasn't curled up in a ball in despair so that was certainly an improvement. But her transformation into a lady, that was truly alarming. "I'm starting to think this is too…"

"Ambitious?" Darjeeling twinkled.

"We still don't look right."

"You'll blend in with us. Katyusha is hardly going to welcome us aboard personally."

"It's Nonna I'm worried about." Aki replied. "Or the other girl, Klara."

"We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it, Aki. But we're all going to play to our strengths."

"I don't feel strong right now." She pulled at her tie.

"Good. You're not supposed to look strong. Merely…" Darjeeling beamed. "Dignified."

"I'll do my best." Aki looked at Mika and thought that she pulled off the aloof, courtly manner a little too well. The many rumours about Mika's parentage had also gained considerable substance; there was no denying the resemblance now, not when Mika looked so elegant and prominent.

[][][][][][]

Pravda's schoolship was vast but that was not the intimidating part of it. That came from the architecture of the school itself. Where St Gloriana was stately, Pravda was daunting. Pekoe had wondered many times whether the Pravda girls found their school frightening as well or if it was merely outsiders who found the tall imposing buildings alarming.

The girls themselves were friendly enough. St Gloriana's visits were regular and went both ways. Each school enjoyed what the other had to offer and so they had passed without notice through the town and onto the campus with no more than friendly looks and greetings. Orange Pekoe found it astonishing that none of them recognised Aki or Mika, but then Mika was composing herself in such a way that she really did seem like a different person. She wasn't aloof but instead gazing around in wonder like she really was seeing Pravda for the first time and her performance was nothing short of incredible. She appeared, unlikely as it seemed, entirely innocent.

Aki meanwhile looked nervous which didn't look at all out of place here. If anything the Pravda girls seemed to take it as a compliment that a calm and graceful St Gloriana girl was flustered by their school's sheer presence.

All too soon came the time for them to split up. Assam, Darjeeling and Rukuriri were going to meet with Katyusha as Darjeeling frequently did. They now had plenty to discuss and no one would suspect she had come for any reason other than to talk about the recent incursion. Most likely Katyusha would be vexed they had come uninvited though that simply played into the narrative. No one could possibly suspect their real reason for being here. Pekoe was part of it and she still had trouble believing it. But nothing for the past few weeks had been particularly believable.

[][][][][][]

Darjeeling had visited Pravda many times to talk with Katyusha. She liked to visit with all the Sensha-do captains, not just for what she might learn about their team's line up in idle conversation but for the genuine pleasure of their company. Every school liked to show their hospitality and she liked to enjoy it.

Katyusha, for all her bluster, was an excellent host. She served lovely tea and quite delicious biscuits. True, for the uninitiated, Nonna as the server was more than a little intimidating as she towered over all though her smile was completely disarming and always genuinely warm and friendly. The new girl, Klara, was there too and she was an unknown commodity. What little had been learned of her during the match to save Oarai was that she shared the devotion that Nonna had for their little leader.

"I thought there were more of you." Katyusha was disappointed to have a smaller audience than she had anticipated.

"Orange Pekoe is taking two of our students on a tour. They've never been to Pravda before and they wanted to see everything for themselves." Darjeeling told the lie smoothly and with a hint of amusement at saying Aki and Mika had never been here before. They could almost certainly give Orange Pekoe a far more extensive and thorough tour.

"Of course they did. Pravda is a magnificent school!" Katyusha declared, completely unaware of her friends smiling, knowing that Darjeeling had offered her the chance to make the boast and not in a mean way. "Just as St Gloriana is." She added magnanimously as only the Great Katyusha would think to do. "More of our students should visit."

"Indeed." Darjeeling replied and then sipped from her cup.

"Hear, hear." Assam agreed.

"But guests should always be invited." Darjeeling said pointedly.

It took Katyusha a moment to get her meaning. "Ehh, we were just offering our support."

"I don't see how it was supportive for your lef'tenants to shoot up my school's garden." Darjeeling remonstrated.

"But it was okay for Viking?" Katyusha pouted.

"I will be having words with Freydis too. After a suitable cooling off period." If there were such a thing when it came to the Viking Fisheries leader.

"You're having words with me?" Katyusha asked, her voice taking on a familiar surly tone. "After we tried to stop those thieves stealing from you?"

"I know Keizoku's traditions are a slap in the face to the pride of Pravda. But they are their traditions. They are how they compete. A little tolerance-"

"Tolerance?!" Katyusha exploded. "How would you feel about seeing your tanks in action against you?! Tanks with the St Gloriana crest visible beneath the one they've slapped over it? That's what we have to deal with, Darjeeling!"

"Pravda has more tanks than all the minor schools combined. If Mika wished, she could take vehicles you wouldn't even notice were missing. Instead she gives you notice. She gave us notice."

"And you're not offended she stole from you?"

"No." Darjeeling smiled. "I'm upset we failed to stop her but I admire the tenacity of her plan. She even let us think we had won. Now the ball, as they say, is in our court. Now St Gloriana has to take back our property and I hope we can come up with as clever a scheme as Keizoku and a story as worthy of any bard." She drummed her teacup. "But taking tanks we can afford to lose, it doesn't compare to taking hostages."

"Hostages?" Katyusha's anger vanished, replaced with a terribly unconvincing insouciance. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Assam assures me that one Keizoku student was unaccounted for after the raid. A student that was seen being brought here."

"You have spies at our school?!" The little commander flipped straight back to rage.

"Katyusha." Darjeeling remonstrated gently, her tone motherly and caring. "If we were to beat the bushes at St Gloriana, how many Pravda operatives would we flush out?"

"That's not the point." Katyusha pouted again while Nonna pointedly rolled her eyes.

"The point is that we think a line has been crossed. Taking tanks and taking people are very different acts."

"They're both crimes." Katyusha pointed out.

"No one gets hurt in one."

Klara coughed for attention. "Those paintballs hurt."

"And those Viking battleaxes could have done some damage."

"Yes, it was all very silly wasn't it?" Darjeeling replied. "But things have gotten serious now."

"Stealing our tanks was always serious!"

Normally Darjeeling would have tried to head off this circular argument but as it was all to buy time for Aki, Mika and Orange Pekoe to find Mikko, she was quite happy to keep it going. It was enjoyable in fact to push Katyusha's buttons and see which emotional outburst they would provoke.

[][][][][][]

Pekoe was a little unnerved by how well Aki and Mika knew Pravda's grounds and buildings. They didn't just know their way around, they knew all the places where Katyusha would hide away something she didn't want people to find, or in this case a person she didn't want people to find.

"How are they secret places if you know about them?" She asked, exasperated.

"Because the buildings can't change their layout so if you've seen the architectural plans and the school timetable, you know every room there is and which aren't being used, for a semester or for years even." Aki answered.

"You have the architects' plans for this school?!"

"They're a Keizoku heirloom. They were acquired… Decades ago." Aki shrugged. She had never thought about them before.

"Before the digital age? What did you do? Break into the Aomori City Hall?!"

"Well we weren't born then." Aki grinned at her. "So no we didn't."

"You know what I mean."

"I think you should be grateful we know what we're doing." Aki told her and then looked at Mika. They both did. Pekoe wasn't sure what to make of her. They had transformed her into a St Gloriana girl and she had still looked pale and lost but now that she was in this place; life seemed to have come back to her. Not much but enough to make her seem less… Colourless. Everything she knew about Mika made her compare her to some mischievous woodland creature or spirit, like a faun or satyr. The kantele certainly helped with that image.

"How many more places do you think we're going to have to look?" She asked.

"That depends." Mika answered with an odd speculative look. "What if they aren't hiding her in one of the usual places? What if they gave her a room?"

"A room?" Aki's eyes widened. "Like she's their guest?"

"She is a guest. An honoured guest." She said in a manner startlingly reminiscent of Darjeeling. "It would be less trouble to give her a room."

"We're supposed to check all the student dorms?" Pekoe protested. "That could take days!"

"Perhaps." Mika allowed. "Or maybe we look for the one room that has guards."

There was considerable logic to this and as they had no better ideas, they made their way to the habitation part of the school campus. The buildings were in the style of Soviet apartment blocks, except the students had decorated them so the walls were colourful murals rather than bleak grey cladding and every window had a flowerbox. It contrasted oddly with the generally intimidating architecture, much like the happy students they passed.

"It's not all that different from St Gloriana." Pekoe mused. "None of our schools are really that different."

"It's the people." Aki replied. "They're what makes a school."

"So do you really think it would have a difference if I had come to Continuation?"

"Yes." Aki said. "I told you. I miss you."

"We couldn't be together forever."

"Why not?" Aki asked with a smile. "We could have been one of those sibling pairs who conquer the world together, or at least some slice of it."

"We can still do that. Just because we go to different schools doesn't mean we're going to go completely separate ways."

"Aren't we? Look at how much work you had to do to make me look like a St Gloriana girl."

"It's just a school uniform and a hairstyle. That's all. You're not going to start appreciating a good cup of tea."

"Tea's okay to drink occasionally." Aki said. "But how you St Gloriana girls drink a dozen or much cups a day, I don't know."

"How do Kuromorimine girls stomach German wine?" Pekoe asked. "Traditions are traditions. And here we are."

Pekoe thought they might stand out wandering the living quarters of the Pravda students but they went strangely unnoticed. It was if they thought that no part of their school wasn't worth showing off, even the corridors of an apartment building. Or perhaps they were simply too polite to question what they were up to. If they wanted to wander the halls of this building rather than admire the many replicas of fine Russian architecture that dotted the ship; that was their business.

For a while it seemed they were doomed to wander the ship until the end of time until they happened to encounter two tired looking Pravda girls coming toward them. They were talking quite heatedly.

"Why couldn't we have put her somewhere secure? There must be a thousand rooms below decks with steel walls and one door!"

"She's a guest; not a prisoner."

"Then why is she tied to a chair?"

"Because she's a guest who tried to climb out of the window."

"That's not a guest!"

They passed by the three of them without any acknowledgement and Mika smiled to herself in a way that Pekoe found unsettling. "Your friend seems… Characterful."

"That's Mikko." Aki confirmed. "She's probably made it hell for them."

"As she should."

Mika raised a finger, swirled it about in the air a few times as if casting a spell and then dropped her arm. "This way."

"What was that?" Pekoe whispered.

"Well, she couldn't bring her kantele so she has to keep her hands busy somehow." Aki shrugged.

"That… Makes no sense."

"Welcome to my world."

They found what they were looking for. A girl was looking anxiously at a door and behind that door was the sound of someone who was very unhappy about their circumstances and another practically begging them to be quiet. Pekoe was about to ask what they were supposed to do next when Mika suddenly turned into a cat; bounding silently up behind the girl like a stalking predator and clasping a hand over her mouth. The smaller Pravda girl squeaked in shock and then Mika pushed her through the door.

Aki and Orange Pekoe sped after her and both were taken aback by what they found. The two Pravda girls were staring at Mika in awe as they saw through her disguise but the main attraction of the room was Mikko sitting in a chair with her arms tied to the rests. And a hockey mask over her face.

"Hey." She said through it. "Good to see you."

"What did they do?"

"What they had to." All they could was her eyes but she seemed to be grinning.

The two sisters leapt forward to help her and found that they couldn't release her easily.

"You used cable-ties?!" Aki demanded of the two Pravda girls who hadn't raised a finger to stop them or called for help. They stood in front of Mika like rodents beneath a serpent's gaze.

"She chewed through the ropes!" One of them replied.

Aki and Pekoe stopped and stared at Mikko who shrugged. "Why do you think they put the mask on me?"

"You have scary friends." Pekoe told Aki.

"I know." Aki found her knife, ignoring how her sister looked at her for having had it strapped beneath her St Gloriana jumper. "Here we go."

Mikko stood and rubbed her arms and then turned on the two Pravda girls. Mikko's resemblance to Hannibal Lecter was not lost on them but Mikko bowed. "Thank you for your time. You've been kind jailers." She removed the mask, and Pekoe thought her feral grin was more alarming than the mask.

"So what now?" Pekoe asked. "Please tell me we're not tying them up!"

One of the Pravda girls raised her hand. "How about we just stay here quietly until all of this is over and we can go back to normal?"

"I would like that." The other said somewhat plaintively.

"That works for me." Pekoe declared.

"So how are we getting out of here?" Mikko asked, rubbing her arms.

"The same way we came in." Mika answered with a smile.

The plan had relied on audaciousness from the beginning. Going to visit Pravda in paper-thin disguises and simply acting like they belonged and believing it so much that others would too. It had worked so far and to the astonishment of Aki, Pekoe and Mikko; it continued to work. No one paid any attention to the girl in the Continuation High uniform amongst the St Gloriana girls. How Mika felt about this was impossible to tell. She was comporting herself once again as a St Gloriana girl; looking around at everything and presenting as the Queen of all she surveyed. It worked. Even though she was Mika, the Captain of Keizoku, she was invisible amongst the Pravda students.

"This might actually work." Aki whispered.

"This was your plan!"

"Doesn't mean I thought it was any good."

"When were you planning on telling us that?"

"When we got away or when Pravda decided to use us as anchors." Aki shrugged and then grinned at her sister's expression. "Stay in character."

"I am in character. I'm annoyed at your attempts to be funny."

"Grumpy character."

"I am not grumpy!"

"Shhh!" Aki chided her and for a moment, her hair, uniform and mannerisms made her seem alarmingly like Darjeeling in Pekoe's eyes.

[][][][][][]

Assam, Klara, Nonna and Rukuriri had sat and listened to Darjeeling and Katyusha go back and forth over the minutia of the ethics of hostage-taking for quite some time and with surprisingly little repetition. They had managed to cite numerous historical precedents in the history of the British and Russian Empires and none had revealed their surprise that Katyusha had apparently done her homework. They had sipped their tea and eaten their biscuits and Nonna had poured more tea and they had silently conversed in amusement with their eyes as their leaders went for round after round of their contest.

When the school's PA system started sounding off like an air raid siren, it was something of a disappointment to see such a passionate debate grind to an immediate halt.

"Is there a fire drill?" Darjeeling inquired with such innocence it was all that Assam could do not to break down in tears of laughter.

"Nonna!" Katyusha commanded. "Find out what's happening."

The tall girl said nothing but swiftly acceded, leaving the five of them to sit mutely amidst the apparent warning the world was ending.

"What an awful noise." Darjeeling declared, making Katyusha pout.

When Nonna returned, she knelt and whispered into Katyusha's ear. It was a futile gesture because Katyusha immediately shrieked in response. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!"

"There was a room she was in and she is no longer within that room." Nonna answered, completely straight-faced which served to dumbfound Katyusha for a moment. Only a moment.

"FIND HER! We must find her! Come on!" She sped from the room as fast as her little legs would carry her and Klara and Nonna dutifully followed, leaving the three St Gloriana girls alone.

"How extraordinary." Darjeeling remarked and then took out her phone.

[][][][][][]

They had been ignored for so long that being challenged had been much more frightening than it should have been. At least Pekoe thought so. Aki and Mika had taken it perfectly in their stride and Mika had explained quite authoritatively that they were taking Pravda's prisoner to Katyusha and as her honoured guests, they had asked for the responsibility. Mikko had scowled and muttered 'Traitors' and the performance had been completely sold.

Until the Pravda girls had saluted them and Aki and Mika had returned it. Then all hell had broken loose. It had become necessary to run. And fast.

"How did they know?" Aki asked.

"St Gloriana Sensha-do students salute British Army style. You didn't show them your palm."

"How did they know that?!"

"I guess we're just unlucky." Pekoe answered and shrugged as she ran. Considering how long their luck had held up until that point, it seemed rather fair of the universe. "What are we doing now?"

"Trying not to get caught by the angry mob."

"Well, obviously! But how?"

"By running faster than them!" Aki replied and put on a burst of speed that threatened to leave Pekoe to the tender mercies of the Pravda proletariat. She picked up her pace.

They collided with Darjeeling, Assam and Rukuriri.

"Where did you come from?!" Pekoe demanded, untangling herself from Assam.

"We heard a commotion." Darjeeling replied and then leaned to look behind her. "Am I to assume that Plan A has not worked out and now would be a good time to flee with as much dignity as we can muster?"

"Move your arse!" Mikko replied and fled.

"How vulgar." Darjeeling sighed. And then ran after her.

Behind them came a screech that was part-child, part-dragon. "MIKA! I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR HEART OUT WITH A SPOON!"

"I had a feeling Katyusha would identify with the Sheriff when I recommended that movie." Darjeeling remarked. Aki noted that even in her school uniform and running for what seemed to be their lives, she still managed to look as though she was only taking a brisk stroll through a garden as rain began to softly fall. That was either grace, or insanity.

"Katyusha has laid claim to most of my organs now." Mika replied to Darjeeling. She could not maintain that St Gloriana polish but still had her own style. "Her death threats are most creative."

"Well, it's nice to know our deaths won't be boring." Pekoe said dryly.

"Pekoe!" Darjeeling chided. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." She responded and Darjeeling grinned dutifully. "Are you enjoying this?"

"This is tremendous fun!" Darjeeling affirmed. "We should try this ourselves alone sometime. It seems like a splendid lark!"

It was not a feeling shared by either Assam or Rukuriri who seemed to think that being pursued by what now seemed to be an army of students was only a short step up above being chased by wolves.

"Where are we even running? It's a ship!" Rukuriri shrieked. "There's nowhere to go!"

"Grace under pressure." Darjeeling reminded her and somehow despite the sprint, her voice was still level. "And we adhere to the Seven Ps."

The Seven Ps, Orange Pekoe thought, a blunt and colourful British Army aphorism. 'Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance'. What did that mean to Darjeeling? For them? She less than elegantly voiced this. "WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"

"It means I arranged us a taxi." That sly smile of Darjeeling's materialised.

Pekoe was about to repeat her question when she heard it. A gratuitous, boisterous display of vulgarity that was the harbinger of only one thing.

"That's a helicopter…" Assam could not quite believe her eyes and seemed to be denying her ears as well.

Pekoe couldn't blame her. Nor could Aki. Keizoku prided themselves on their tenacity but even they would never have overflown Pravda's schoolship in a helicopter. And playing 'Fortunate Son' on a sound system as they did.

Saunders. Only Saunders.

The Black Hawk landed ahead of them and the door opened to reveal a familiar Golden Retriever who grinned at them.

"Come on; hurry up!" Kay waved them on.

It really was one of those days, Pekoe thought. Infiltrate Pravda with subtlety and cunning and then when it all fell apart, exfiltrate with audacity and… Impudence. She leapt aboard the flying machine and scrambled for a seat. She found herself opposite Mika who wore a mysterious smile. The graceful piling of her hair had collapsed, leaving her windswept and tangled and… Happy. The bird suddenly lurched into the air and Pekoe had a glimpse of a bemused crowd of Pravda students before they were up and away.

"Not bad, Aki." Mika declared. "A masterful plan to get us in, and even though you didn't have a contingency plan for our escape; our friends provided. You've done very well."

Pekoe looked at Aki whose eyes became huge as her own exquisite hair toppled around her ears. "Wait… You were assessing… You wanted to see how I… Wait!" She tried to stand up, forgetting she was strapped in. "Were you even sick?! Did you plan this?!" She looked at Mikko. "Did you get caught on purpose so she could test me?!" Mikko said nothing and Aki turned on Darjeeling. "Were you in on this?!" Darjeeling said nothing but smiled handsomely while Kay grinned beside her. "What, when… Who? WHY?!" She slumped in her seat.

Pekoe patted her sister on the back. She had no idea what the truth was and she was too tired to care. Whether or not Mika had manipulated a situation for her own ends and how true anything that had happened with her was; that would be a riddle for the ages. One that Aki would be trying to solve for a long, long time. "Look at it this way, Aki." She said. "You'll have a great story to tell mother when term ends."

Aki looked at her helplessly and then gave up trying to figure out what was and wasn't real in her world. That was obviously a determination she was never going to be able to make. At least, not while Mika was her Captain. Perhaps if and when she led their Sensha-do team, she would be the one shaping reality as she saw fit. That was a pleasant thought. "Thank you, sister."

"For what? I'm pretty sure all I did today was get chased and shriek."

"But you were here with me today. Thank you."

"You're welcome. But never again; this was exhausting!"

"How angry is Katyusha going to be about all this?" Assam inquired.

"Katyusha will get over it." Darjeeling assured them all. "Especially once she starts plotting her revenge and gets excited over all the possibilities."

"You mean this isn't over?" Pekoe was alarmed.

Mika had the answer. "The winds never cease blowing."

(4,646)

Author's Notes; I had the beginning and end of this written a year ago but the middle just wouldn't come. I've no idea why I was suddenly able to write 2200 words to tie this together. Maybe cutting my hair this evening let the air get to my brain.

This story's been hanging over me for a while. I hate leaving things unfinished. This was my first attempt at a GuP fic and it got a good reception. When I started work on Flower, it got left behind but not forgotten. It was always there in the back of my head and I reread it multiple times and stared at this document trying to finish it. Now here it is. One thing I know is that I'm not good at writing short fiction like this. These little chapters don't suit me. But this has been a fun story to write. Captures the canon GuP madness and the flash-fiction stories I've been spinning on the Subreddit for a few years now.

Now to see if I can finish Flower of Oarai before summer rolls around again.