The next morning, Miho woke up when she heard her phone buzzing. She wondered who it was from. It was from the nurse as she wanted to speak to Miho and Hana when given the chance. Miho wondered what the Nurse wanted from her and decided to waste no time in getting herself down there. Hana was waiting for Miho as she too had received the text. Hana looked at her watch wondering where Miho was. Miho arrived a couple moments later, she had the look on her face telling Hana that it better be worth it to see Azusa. They decided to knock on the door to see if the nurse was inside.
"Come in." The Nurse told Miho and Hana, the door slowly creaked open as they walked into the room.
"How is she doing?" Miho asked curiously. The nurse looked at Miho and then back at Azusa who had a n IV bag hanging over her. The dripping of the bag into the tube was heard momentarily as the tube ran down to her right elbow where the needle had dug itself into.
"She's doing all right; Yuzu received the text in which I told her that she is stable. I had done some tests and her heart is just fine, she won't need surgery which she is lucky. I think she had a really scared emotionally charged moment which caused her heart to run away like that. I contacted her mother and father about what happened, and they were shocked. I know it might sound crazy but for a moment, I managed to talk to her when she opened her eyes an hour ago and she thinks that death is coming next summer for you Miho and then the summer after that. I reminded her that Miho wasn't going to die neither were all the commanders that had graduated." The Nurse told Miho what happened and what she was doing.
"I was scared for her too. I didn't want to lose my vice commander." Miho admitted. She pulled out a chair and sat down in it. The nurse nodded before she began to speak again.
"I had a conversation with Azusa's mother and her doctor, and we've decided that it would be best to not have Azusa be in Ooarai for the summer. At least until her emotional health recovers." The Nurse told Miho. Miho was shocked, her not seeing Azusa for the summer. This nurse had to be out of her mind.
"Where will Azusa go? I can't have Rabbit team's commander not be with us in Ooarai. Everyone will miss her." Miho asked as she was worried about where her friend was going to end up. The nurse paused and decided to think about it.
"There is a large school that is directly funded by MEXT that deals with social and emotional issues. Even though they have the biggest school ship, even bigger than Pravda's. It's mostly covered in trees and the lower decks are very empty. Plus, the school in mind is tiny as it only has a couple hundred students. It was established a couple years ago to help those from Saunders who were having problems. The students ended up mostly staying there." The Nurse told them the school. Miho was curious and Hana was skeptical. A school covered in trees. Where was Azusa being sent to.
"What's the school called?" Miho asked.
"Cedar Lake Academy is the name." The nurse explained. "She's being sent there tonight and I'm waiting for her parents to approve of this. They're a small school with a population of a couple hundred students. A small amount of staff and business people. Despite the small school their school ship is one of the largest and they had a relatively quick construction as most of it is empty as it is. Tell Yuzu about this, I bet she has more information about it this school." Miho and Hana knew where they needed to go when it came to this.
Miho, Yuzu, Hana and Aya were in the office as they were trying their best to find out about the Cedar Lake Academy that the Nurse was talking about.
"Cedar Lake Academy, they are the newest school that MEXT has put out. They have been established a couple years ago and they have no specific theme. Their tanks consist of a Type 89 I-Go, two T-26's, a BT-5, a BT-7, a Type 95 Ha-Go and two BA-10 armored cars. That's what's listed in the vehicles from what I can tell." Yuzu began as Miho began to think it over, it was a small school but more importantly it was light tanks they had as well as armored cars. How were they going to survive if someone came straight into their home? "The school ship is about 17 miles long from what I heard and with lots of trees and lakes with streams running throughout it. By the looks of things, the school is most likely a hiding spot for students to go to if they want to get away from something. I don't know if it's a delinquent school like Bellwall and SSISSN?"
"We don't know for sure as the school is quite small as it is but… why do they need so much space? Is it for the trees?" Miho asked, she was curious to see why there were so many trees in the school.
"Looks like you need to figure it out for sure. If they want to create a nature themed school, they got one Yuzu." Aya explained. Hana looked at her watch as they had to call the meeting.
"Okay Momo will be attending this meeting as I have a lot of stuff to do and Anzu isn't going to be much help." Yuzu explained that they better gather one member of each tank crew and see who was going to volunteer to make sure that Azusa didn't go to this school alone. Hana and Aya nodded before they walked away. Yuzu and Miho were left alone to figure out more about this school and who to organize the trip there.
Rosie meanwhile was in the train yard wondering where she was going to hide out. She headed over while wheeling her bike along. Josephine meanwhile was busy waiting around to see who was going to come along to help fire the metal beast up. She looked at her watch wondering where this person was going to be. Then a text, this left Josephine rather upset.
"Not coming. Drats. I can't do this thing alone." Josephine told herself in frustration. "Who's going to help me now?" Josephine asked.
"Perhaps I can provide some assistance." Rosie told Jospehine. The latter looked up to the girl on her bike, what was she doing here in the train yard.
"Rosie. I haven't seen you after the match against the University team, what brings you here?" Josephine asked as she recognized who was there at the other end of the train tracks.
"Don't tell anyone about this but I am hiding here. Kay is hunting me down and being on this ship is my best chance for now and I'm hoping to hop to another school ship and all else fails, might as well hop to the Eurasian mainland and head west into the vast wilderness and live there." Rosie explained that she was on the run and she didn't need to be followed everywhere.
"Okay. I won't tell anyone if you decide to work with me for now until we can do anything about this." Josephine explained to Rosie about what the plan was. This was going to be a good plan for what Rosie had in mind.
"Well if you need a driver for steam trains, you found the right person." Rosie told Josephine. Josephine nodded before she walked over and began to climb into the locomotive.
"Hop on board, we've got work to do." Josephine gave the instructions for Rosie to join her. Rosie followed her before joining her friend on the train.
Hana and Aya had arrived at the train station as one member of Ooarai's tank crews were going to represent their team and what they had to say. Momio was going to take a round trip to see what was going on and who was going to join them. They were standing on the platform wondering why they were called over here. Momo meanwhile looked at her watch, wondering where this train was. Within minutes, the mixed train pulled up to the platform before coming to a stop. The students began to board and find a place to sit while Momo was going to stand and conduct the meeting. Within a couple of minutes, the whistle blew as the train began to pull out of the station. They were going to do the tasks around Ooarai.
The whistle blew as the 2-8-0 steam train clanked along the Ooarai school ship with the daily mixed train, the mixed train contained two passenger cars, two boxcars, a tanker car, two gondolas and a caboose. The two students that were busy inside working the engine were going at a steady fifteen miles an hour.
"Man Summer break is about to begin for everyone north of the equator. How did your academic year go?" Josephine asked while swinging around to shovel in some more coal. Rosie grabbed the whistle and blew it twice to warn the people to stay out of their way.
"It wasn't pleasant. I'm glad it's over and with Kay finally graduating, we can finally live in peace starting next year." Rosie replied to Josephine. She was keeping one of her hands on the throttle to make sure the path forward was clear.
"Did Kay say who will be succeeding her?" Josephine asked Rosie if she knew who was going to be taking her place. Rosie began to think about what Josephine had asked and if she knew that Josephine was asking who was going to lead after Kay.
"She said they were going to vote on that. I don't know if voting really works." Rosie sighed. "I really hope it's me and then I can scale back and use the school's money for all of my toys." Rosie added while blowing the whistle again. Josephine looked at her as if she was somewhat nervous.
"These are your toys huh?" Josephine asked if these steam trains were the things she was going to spend her money on.
"Yep. I've been ordering the school to build a bunch as I see these things being more fun than tanks." Rosie added while looking out ahead.
"These things require a lot of work to maintain but you seem to be up to the task as much as I am." Josephine explained to Rosie that these steam engines needed a lot of attention if they were going to run. "I think we might have a future where commanders will get together over a shared interest. I hope it's you that gets in." Josephine told Rosie that she was confident that she could get in as the overall commander of the school.
"Thanks, I'm heading to Cedar Lake Academy to relax and cool off as I just want to be away from Saunders for a while." Rosie sighed as she heard the name of the school and looked it up to see what it was and that is where she was going next. "Plus there are only a couple hundred students there, most of them are from Saunders."
"That's the school that deals with social and emotional issues?" Josephine asked. Rosie nodded yes before Josephine turned away and began to mutter to herself. "I guess Nature is the best medicine."
"You got that right and Western Pacific. I hope I can recreate the Feather River Canyon if I have the free time." Rosie sighed. She turned and blew the whistle a couple times more as they crossed the road.
"Maybe someday you will." Josephine sighed before she shoveled more coal into the firebox. Rosie knew that Ooarai wasn't safe and even though she wasn't discovered, she was determined to keep her tracks covered and she was going to have to relocate tonight. This meant she had to leave Ooarai behind.
Meanwhile in the first passenger car, the eight members of the sensha-Do team, one for each tank, were in a meeting about who should go to this school along with Azusa.
"We already know Miho is going as she can't leave Azusa alone." Hana began. "I've talked to the rest of the tank crew as they're on the fence about deciding.
"No one leaves a friend behind. I've told the rest of Rabbit team about the situation our commander is in and we have decided that we should come along with her." Aya added that they weren't willing to be separated from their friend while she healed. "Azusa is my friend and I will be broken if I didn't get the chance to see her."
"That's glad to hear from you Aya. But the question is, who else is willing to come with us?" Hana asked. The other students looked at each other before the conversation began to spring up.
"What does this school have to offer?" Momo asked.
"Mostly bike trails and fishing, this is more of a school Brook would feel comfortable in and not us." Shinobu told Momo what this school had to offer. Momo listened in and she was confused.
"Bike trails, I wonder if we can walk on them?" Momo asked.
"I got a summer of fixing cars so..." Hoshino told the group that she wasn't going to be available for the volunteer task.
"Kommandant, I wouldn't know how to navigate through the Ardennes without a map, I know nothing about this school. I would most likely get lost before finding a way out." Riko told the group that she knew nothing and if they had no maps, one wrong turn and they would be lost.
"I don't like being bitten by insects." Shinobu added. Momo was scratching the back of her head as the teams weren't too enthusiastic about traveling to this new school.
"We can give it a try but I don't know if it'll be worth it in the long run." Nekota told them as she decided to step up to the plate. She was still on the fence regarding the entire thing.
"We don't know either so we're most likely on the fence." Midoriko added. She slumped into the chair as Momo remained a little frustrated.
"Is there anyone else willing to go other than Nekota?" Momo asked.
"We don't know, I'm going to have a chat with the rest of my crew about the situation at hand and figure out if they should join Miho. I know the Rabbit team for certain isn't going to split apart." Hana explained to Momo. "Are you coming with us?" Hana asked Momo.
"I sadly can't go with you. I have a lot to do around the house and this is going to conflict with what my mother has lined up for me. Plus I want to spend time with my younger brother." Momo explained to Hana that she had other plans and she was going.
"First time you mentioned your family to us Momo, I always thought you kept that secret." Hana told Momo. Momo looked away as if she was rather embarrassed to hear about this.
"I'll have to tell you this one day." Momo explained before she began to walk down the aisle of the train car. The others watched as even though three out of the eight groups had volunteered to go with Azusa, Shinobu wasn't confident in going into the wilderness. The chance to talk to the rest of Duck team wasn't, however, off the table.
Hana arrived back as she decided to chat with the rest of Anglerfish team about the predicament they were in.
"Hey. I want to gather the rest of you up as we have one small issue." Hana began. Mako, Saori and Yukari were there. Miho was absent from the meeting.
"What is it?" Yukari asked Hana if there was something she wanted to speak to her about.
"We know that Miho is going to Cedar Lake Academy as she doesn't want to leave Azusa out there alone in the wilderness. By the looks of things, it's a very big and imposing school and the trees obstruct all the light coming in. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me and Miho." Hana explained to her friends about the situation. "Based on the pictures I've looked at, the school looks spectacular. The greenery everyone says its the best they have ever seen and the trees and shrubs looked like they were full of life."
"You know what Hana, I'm in." Mako told her.
"Yukari? Saori?" Hana asked. "Are you two in too?"
"All right." Yukari sighed.
"I hope we can find cute boys there, if we do, I think this will be the best summer ever." Saori told them with excitement. Yukari wasn't entirely sure about this but with everyone else going, she didn't want to feel left out from this adventure.
"Pack your bags everyone, small planes will be taking us there tonight." Hana advised the group to get themselves ready. They weren't calling Saunders this time around but they were calling the mainland to coordinate their efforts. With Momo not being able to go despite her being the central figure of the school over the past year. It was now up to Miho and her friends to take the reins and figure out how to run the group that was going.
Miho had arrived with her luggage as the students began to gather around. Yukari looked like she was ready to go camping, Anteater team were a confused mess, Rabbit team was all there except for Azusa and Duck team was trying their best to get themselves together as Shinobu didn't look too thrilled about this
"It'll be like our winter sport, only with less snow." Yukari began. She remembered the trip into the wilderness being much like this and this wasn't going to be much different.
"Has anyone seen Azusa?" Ayumi asked as she looked around for her friend.
"Azusa left an hour ago and by the looks of things, we're going to have to go running after her." Hana explained that their friend was already gone. Rosie meanwhile was watching from the distance as she decided to pedal away on her bike. She was going to find a way to sneak onto the plane with her bike.
"Looks like Anteater team is lost with nowhere to go regarding what they were going to do." Akebi began. Taeko wanted to laugh. Noriko was keeping a look out for the plane.
"You agreed for all of us to go on this trip, Akebi." Shinobu began.
"Excuse me?" Akebi asked.
"I wasn't too keen on this trip but I was outvoted by the decisions you have given to me." Shinobu explained to Akebi.
"Come on, don't be such a buzzkill Shinobu, we're all doing this for Miho so we can rescue Azusa." Noriko explained to her teammate that her friend shouldn't be one to kill the mood. Finally, the plane landed as it pulled into the runway. Rosie began to pedal her way to the storage wagons to hide herself inside them with her bike. Rosie hopped into the luggage as the students boarded the planes. Miho then sat down as she was trying to figure out more about this school she was going to.
"A big ship huh? Bigger than Pravda I remember correctly?" Piyotan asked if this was true.
"Yes it is, I don't know where it will force us to land." Miho told her friend while she took her seat. Aya looked at her phone to see a picture of her and Azusa playing around. She was gone for an hour and already she missed her. The picture looked like she was hugging Azusa while Aya had cat ears on her, similar to the ones that Nekota had on her. Yuuki looked at Nekota as if she wanted to blush.
"What's going on with you?" Aya asked Yuuki. Yuuki turned to face her friend as if she had something to hide on her face. For her, this was very awkward and she had to figure out a way around this.
"I don't know actually and… I can't say anything." Yuuki told Aya before she broke down as she couldn't say anything. Aya felt frustrated that she wasn't able to get anything reliable from her friend. She just missed Azusa. Miho turned her head back to see four helicopters fly over and began to tie the plane up. These Helicopters were strong enough to hold the small plane up in the air. They were going to take over from there. Miho was astonished by this operation as the helicopters flew the plane to the school ship. She looked ahead to see the massive ship. This was bigger than any school ship she had ever laid eyes on. Why did they need a ship this size she had to ask herself. She turned her head to the helicopters, Azusa must've been lowered down in a similar fashion to this and the fact that MEXT owned the helicopters and were doing this directly showed that they did indeed have a say in this. After the plane landed. The girls disembarked, wondering where Azusa was.
"See her anywhere?" Saori asked. They continued to look around as they had landed in a pretty clear area as the students were getting their luggage unloaded.
"Nope." Momoga told them. "How about you Taeko?"
"Nothing yet." Taeko explained. "It's like combing the desert, literally." Taeko explained that this order was going to be impossible to follow, Azusa can be anywhere.
"How about you Hana and Mako?" Momoga asked them if they were making progress with the search.
"Not a thing Momoga." Hana reported that there was nothing they could work on regarding what was happening.
"And how about you Rabbit team?" Momoga asked them if they found anything related to Azusa.
"We ain't found shit!" Yuuki called out that there was nothing they were able to find. Miho looked at the setting sun before looking into the hungry mouth that was the school ship's forest.
"She must've gone in there." Miho instructed the group that Azusa was probably somewhere in the forest. The girls gathered their bags as well as some flashlights, preparing to roam the woods to find their friend. After flicking the flashlights on, they began to wander inside.
It was an hour later as the girls continued to wander the dense expanse of cedar, birch, oak, pine and spruce. Where was Azusa?
"This is hard to do with so many trees and there isn't any light. We don't know where Azusa is." Miho began. She continued to look around, wondering where Azusa was.
"What are we going to do? We can't just call it a night. The air is getting to us." Shinobu explained. She didn't know what to do. "We have to keep searching." Miho began to think they needed a new plan if they were going to find Azusa.
"Okay we're splitting up everyone. I want you all to move in small groups or in pairs so if we do find Azusa we can text each other about her location." Miho declared that was their new plan. The students nodded as Aya came along with Miho. The students dispersed as they went to search for Azusa. Miho and Aya were walking together before they reached a certain section of the woods. Miho was ready to split up again to continue searching.
"Where are you going Miho?" Aya asked if she had an idea of where she was going.
"We have to split up if we are to find Azusa, I'm heading deeper into the woods." Miho explained to Aya where she was going. Aya remembered something from Azusa.
"Oh please don't tell me you're going deeper into the woods. You know it's dangerous in there." Aya explained to Miho that she didn't plan on leaving her alone. Miho sighed.
"Just for a few minutes." Miho sighed. She was ready to figure out where her friend was.
"Azusa said she went into the woods once, she would know." Aya explained. Miho sighed a bit annoyed by this. They were in the woods, how did they experience this before?
"Come on Aya, we've never been in the woods for a search and rescue mission. We only went in there for our winter sport where we were huskies, remember?" Miho said about their experiences before. "All we do is shoot tanks and guns in there. I would only be eating and sleeping after a trip to the cutter."
"I'm serious, I saw her save a robin." Aya told Miho to at least believe her.
"I seriously doubt that. I think Azusa said that birds disturb her dozing. Which further proves my point." Miho explained to Aya about birds and her friend they were searching for.
"Wait! Ami says there's all sorts of dangerous animals out there." Aya began. "Worst of all, huge wild cats who eat live animals for breakfast and sharpen their claws on their bones!" Aya then tumbled backwards into the ground as Miho laughed.
"Oh I won't be long, I'll look around, explore for a bit." Miho explained to Aya as the latter pulled herself to her feet. "Well… explore."
"Don't say I didn't warn you when it's time for your funeral." Aya explained to Miho as she turned away and began to head into her section of the woods to look for Azusa.
Miho wandered around the forest, trying to search for Azusa, she had to be around here somewhere. Miho turned the flashlight on as she looked around. There was very little natural light coming in which made the search difficult. Miho rounded the bend, hopefully she can find some help if she was going to continue searching. Miho heard a creek running in the background. It sounded like water but… what was water doing on the school ship and more importantly, was it flowing somewhere? Miho wasn't sure about this before the light of the flashlight began to flicker before the light went out. Oh blast, Miho knew the batteries must've been dead. Well no luck in looking for Azusa now. Miho prepared to head back to get new batteries for the flashlight when suddenly a girl leaped from nowhere and tackled Miho to the ground. Miho tumbled before getting back up. Who was this girl trying to attack her? The girl got up before she tried to leap at Miho. Miho got up and turned the other way and ran. She had to find Aya or anybody else to see what was going on. Before she could find the spot where Aya and her had split, the girl blocked her and tackled her to the ground. Miho was now at her mercy but the other girl laughed. Miho growled as the other girl began speaking.
"Hello Ooarai girl, it's rare to see your school around here." The girl began to speak. She sounded quite friendly despite the fact that she tried to start a fight with her. "You definitely tried to put up a fight for a person like you."
"Yeah and I'll fight you again if necessary." Miho explained to the stranger that she was willing to fight her more if they crossed paths again. The other girl didn't seem to care all that much. How did this girl know her school?
"I'll let you win this fight." The girl told Miho before she walked up to her. "I'm Ritsu, I'm attending Cedar Lake Academy. What's a girl like you doing out here?" Ritsu asked as she circled around Miho to figure out what she was doing out here.
"I'm looking for my friend Azusa Sawa, the doctor has said she was sent to this school to recover." Miho explained that she was here for a search and rescue mission.
"Do you know that this school at night time can be really dangerous?" Ritsu asked while looking at Miho.
"If you're the most dangerous thing here? I can probably handle you." Miho told Ristu that she could take her on and win.
"If I were half trained up, I would give someone like you something to really worry about." Ritsu explained to Miho that she was ready to fight her and take her on. "I don't think it's worth beating you up though. You're obviously not from Saunders."
"Saunders? Does your school hold a grudge against them too?" Miho asked Ritsu if she knew anything about what's going on and why most of the schools hated them so much. Ritsu turned her head to Miho before she began to speak.
"I don't know much about this, maybe you can try asking some of the older students as they know more than I do." Ritsu began. "You're lucky that you're not a Saunders student, otherwise I'll rip you to shreds. They keep intruding on us especially since students are running away from their totalitarian leader Kay." Miho was surprised.
"Kay? What's so bad about her?" Miho asked.
"You haven't heard what Trout told you about her. MEXT says they're the friendliest but it is Maple High School that are the friendliest and the most polite. They've been lately trying to round up the students that are getting away and coming here. It's the job of our warriors to keep them from coming into our school. We have to protect each other's backs if we are to keep them from coming." Ritsu explained to Miho about their school and why they were doing what they were doing. "When I have completed my training, I will make Saunders students run and cry to their mothers in Starclan." Ritsu explained. Miho laughed as she thought Ritsu was pretty funny but she didn't understand what she was saying. "They won't even think about coming near us then."
"So… Saunders is trying to take you guys home?" Miho asked curiously. She didn't understand what Ritsu was saying.
"Did you think any of us would want to go back to our previous schools?" Ritsu asked if this was going to be the case. "I won't be a real warrior for another few weeks. I have to go through my training first."
"I see." Miho explained to Ritsu.
"This is my first night out alone as we picked up a large number of students on the school ship and wondered if Saunders was really coming for us? It turned out to be you but we don't know about the others." Ritsu explained why she was out. Miho was curious about Ritsu.
"Why don't you find a school that would really take care of you instead? Your life will be so much easier. There are plenty of schools that are willing to take in a student like you. Maybe you'd even join the Sensha-Do team if you wanted to. All you have to do is sit there and look hungry for a day or two." Miho explained to Ritsu why she was out here when there could be people that really cared for her and wanted to take her into their home.
"And then they feed us Sherman Hamburgers that are gross and fried potatoes that'd taste even worse." Ritsu told Miho that this wasn't the life she wanted to live. "Why be a Saunders Student when you can be a warrior? Saunders students are nothing more than puppets for the Americans who want to destroy the world we live in. Eating stuff that looks nothing like food, going to the bathroom in appalling and unsanitary bathrooms. Sticking their noses outside of their tank only when allowed?" Ritsu ranted that this stuff was something she didn't want to live in. "That's no life! Out here, we're wild and we're free. We come and go as we please and until you've tasted your own cooking, you haven't lived." Ritsu paused as Miho's head was bowed to the ground. "Have you ever tasted fresh vegetables?"
"No, a Saunders student hasn't." Miho explained to Ritsu that those students were jealous of life like this one. Ritsu sat down on a fallen tree.
"You'll never understand. You have to be born with warrior's blood in your veins and feeling the wind in your hair. Students in Saunders can never feel the same way."
"Well that's not true…" Miho began before Ritsu cut her off.
"I sense students from my own school." Ritsu interrupted her. "You better get out of here." Miho hesitated as the bushes rustled. Miho didn't know if she wanted to fight or flight in this situation. "You better get out of here!" Ritsu called out. Miho stayed where she was, unable to make her mind up. Suddenly another student from Ritsu's school leaped from the bushes to find Miho and Ritsu chatting.
"What's going on?" Ayami asked Ritsu. Ritsu bowed her head to her leader.
"Ayami… I…" Ritsu tried to speak as another student appeared to speak to Ritsu.
"You shouldn't be chatting to students that we don't know about Ritsu, you don't know if they are a spy or not?" The student told Ritsu that she was being too open and not very cautious about this.
"I'm sorry Chika." Ritsu apologized. Ayami came to Miho and began to look at her, circling around to see if she was friendly or not.
"And who is this?" Ayami asked if Ritsu knew who this girl was.
"She's no danger to us. She's an Ooarai student based on her uniform." Ritsu explained to Ayami. Ayami nodded as she wanted to figure out who this girl was.
"And you must be?" Ayami asked if she wanted to see who she was.
"Miho. I'm Miho Nishizumi." Miho introduced herself. Ayami nodded before looking at her.
"Very well then Miho, I heard a girl with a name like you and we finally get to meet. I'm Ayami and this is my friend Chika." Ayami introduced herself. "You fought well for an Ooarai student whether in the tank or out of it."
"We were observing you not to far away from here and it turns out you did well against Ritsu. I believe you're the second Ooarai student we found tonight." Chika explained to Miho before Aya appeared behind Chika.
"So you must've ran into these students too?" Miho asked Aya.
"I did, they were pretty friendly and they asked if they wanted to watch over me for the night." Aya explained what happened when it came to her encounter.
"At least you're safe Aya, I can't seem so certain for our friends." Miho explained. Ayami nodded as if she figured out that there were more of them.
"I sent my clan to intercept a large number of students that had just arrived in the school." Ayami began. "So Miho, why are you here?"
"We came here looking for Azusa Sawa, she had been sent here for the summer and I wanted to make sure she's okay." Miho explained to Ayami who they were looking for. Ayami paused for a second before she began to think.
"Yes I ran into Azusa earlier today when we first heard about it from a friend named Jake who is working here for the summer. Azusa is doing okay and she's at Stephanie's cabin for the night." Ayami explained where Azusa is. Miho was puzzled, cabin? Are these what the students call for homes?
"Okay she's okay and somewhere safe but when do you think it would be okay for us to see her?" Miho asked Ayami if there was the chance of getting to see her.
"You will see Azusa tomorrow morning, it's much too late right now to go looking for her, we need to head back to our cabins and rest." Ayumi explained that the reunification was going to happen tomorrow as it was too late now to do it. "Ritsu, you will have to deal with five girls in your tiny cabin as you will be taking Aya and her friends. I will be taking Miho as there is more I want to get to know about her."
"All right Bluestar." Ritsu sighed. She wasn't too keen on having so many people in her cabin.
"Good Graypaw." Ayami told her. Ritsu flicked on her flashlight as she began escorting Aya away. Ayami turned to Miho. "Does your flashlight work?"
"The batteries died before I was attacked by Ritsu." Miho explained to Ayami. Ayami nodded while she picked up her lantern.
"I have some spares you can use when we get to my cabin." Ayami explained to Miho. "Follow me." Miho nodded as she followed Ayami.
Miho and Ayami were chatting away as Ayami was curious about Miho.
"Sounds like quite the adventure you had. I guess Trout was right." Ayami told Miho. "I never knew you came from a prestigious Sensha-Do family, skill is really important in this world or that's how my mother would tell me."
"Yeah, Trout was very nice and so were her friends. I have yet to see Maple High School." Miho replied.
"Well I can say that everything over there is good regarding everything except for the staff which can get up to some weird shenanigans. Medicine is free which is great as some of us really need our pills for what we have gone through." Ayami continued to explain. Ayami then arrived at her rustic wood cabin. The cabin itself wasn't that big but it was what she called home.
"That's a small cabin you have, are all cabins built to this standard?" Miho asked as they began to climb up the stairs.
"Yes, they are made for maybe a few people but we're not entirely sure. Some of us have the four room design and some of us have up to seven rooms." Ayami explained as she got her keys and unlocked the cabin's door. She and Miho entered inside with Ayami still shining the lantern.
Ayami's cabin was relatively simple, the entrance area was the kitchen, the kitchen was very basic, with the stove, sink and cupboards for plates and cups with draws full of silverware and a separate draw for garbage. To the right was the refrigerator and a couple of cabinets for storage of food above the sink was where the bread and spices were kept. The middle was the standard wooden table with four chairs. The first room to the right was where Ayami slept, there was the wardrobe dresser, the nightstand with a wooden lamp, a standard wooden bed with clean sheets and to the left was Ayumi's desk where she kept her computer and her phone as well as her books. Miho was amazed as she went to the bathroom which was standard with the toilet, sink and shower. The room to the left of the kitchen was the living room which had a couch and a couple of extra seats, the coffee table and a couple of storage areas where she kept her personal belongings and a few games for when she had special guests over. And the washer and dryer for laundry. Miho walked around while Ayami hung the lantern up and decided to prepare something for Miho.
"You don't even have a television, is that something standard for all of these cabins?" Miho asked Ayami.
"It is." Ayami explained. "Megumi and her friend when designing the cabins decided we don't need television to live our lives. Plus it gets us out of our cabins if we are bored. "We don't have much luxuries in general as the purpose of the school is to have us consume as little products as possible. We are given only the necessities plus those we purchase on our own. Since the students are mostly runaways from Saunders, we teach ourselves we don't need mass produced capitalist crap as the only thing that should be rich is the earth itself as it will provide all of the resources we would ever need. If people should fall out of line, the punishment of being left alone for days at a time in the wilderness is the preferred punishment."
"Sounds crazy that you girls live with so little and you are extremely happy about it. Ooarai is somewhat socialist as it is a means of keeping the people happy and fed. What's the economic system of your school?" Miho explained while she pulled out a chair for herself to sit down on.
"We call it the Burgundian System except without what Saunders likes to do such as torture, mass brainwashing and wage slavery." Ayami explained as she finished cooking Miho one egg and a glass of juice. "Luxuries are non-existent in this school."
"I can see that, I guess you girls don't like capitalism so you ditched it all together?" Miho asked Ayami as she cleaned up her cooking space.
"Yep, we're only given a few hundred Yen a week and we use it to purchase what we need and utilities are already covered, they just want us to stay alive. We're not allowed to have fancy stuff as we only need food, some place to sleep and our own two feet to survive." Ayami explained. "We can still purchase books and the odd electronic here and there in case the one we have malfunctions. Megumi said that the products for this school need to be built to last, maybe even still work like new after a hundred years. Easily repairable and easy to modify." Ayami explained as Miho finished the meager food.
"Will we be fed more?" Miho asked.
"You will but we often use eggs as emergency food as they are easy and in other food. I didn't have the time to cook." Ayami explained as she took the dish and the cup and washed them off. She placed them into the sink as Miho went to the bathroom and flipped the light switches on so she could see. Ayami was going to clean up this mess.
After a half hour, Ayami was setting up the bed for Miho. Ayami climbed into the bed as Miho took the pull out.
"Well it's at least comfortable around here. I'm sorry about coming so late." Miho began.
"At least tomorrow is a full day ahead. Get some sleep, there is a lot to do and introduce yourself." Ayami explained before flicking the lamp off. Miho closed her eyes and fell asleep at once.
[A/N]: Finally beginning the introduction of the students of the school to the crowd I got a few down and a few in the prologue chapter and now Miho and her friends are venturing into the unknown The next chapter will be the characters coming together and we're going to slowly introduce the rest of the cast to the girls.
Also we got two followers and I'm surprised thinking this story was generating no views due to the website not tracking my views for the past almost month or so and I feel like I'm getting somewhere. These chapters are actually kind of fun to write and Ritsu and Ayami give some of their perspectives on what life is like. The others will spill more info about their lives before this school but for now, I'm starting off with these two. See you later.