"" Dialogue

'' Thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own "Strike Witches", so this is just a fan made.

Chapter 2: About studies

A few weeks passed, and Yoshika was currently studying at the medical school though she had a lot to catch up with her studies, but her friend Altia helped her in everything she could. "I wish I had brought some books to study when I was at Denhalder" Yoshika said, "but you were fighting the neuroi in the frontlines, Yoshika, that would a lot for almost everyone, I don't think you'd have time for that" "That's true but still, I'm not sure if I can learn everything by the time we have the exams" "don't worry, Yoshika, we will study together and everything would be just fine". They continued that routine for a few days, attending classes and studying whenever they had time, in wherever place they could and to Altia's surprise, Yoshika seemed to be catching up with her studies. She had never been that great with books, but she was giving her best to keep up with her promise.

Helvetia was not too far from Berlin; therefore, Minna went personally to Helvetia many times to check on Yoshika and her studies. There were other motives she came though, the 501st would be reunited soon thus, she needed Yoshika to be prepared for whatever they would be facing when they would be engaging the rest of the Neuroi hives. When Minna told her that they were going to deployed again soon and she needed to train, Yoshika eagerly agreed, it came as a bit of surprise to her as she was not expecting her to be so enthusiastic about it.

She even told Minna that she wanted to train as intensely as possible so that she did not feel as hopeless when she could not control her magic pressure, 'now that's something new' Minna thought but that was partially the truth, the fact was that she did not want to ever feel helpless again like she did back in the dome. While Minna had seen Yoshika determination firsthand, it still perplexed her a bit to hear Yoshika with such determination in her voice about training, nonetheless.

She knew it would be for the better though, as she heard from both General Patton and Hattori themselves what was the catalyst that helped Yoshika to regain her magic back. Hattori was bit hesitant to explain in detail what really happened, it was not surprising though as she disobeyed direct orders from Mio, she knew Hattori had high regard to orders but the disobedience itself was not important, she herself had disobeyed orders if it meant protecting her fellow Witches. She did tell her that she was injured from being shot down while protecting Yoshika but what she avoided to tell her though, was the fact that that she was bleeding to the death and there was no way Yoshika could have saved her without healing magic.

On the other hand, General Patton explained in detail everything that happened since they were trapped in the dome, and how Hattori was shot down and was bleeding heavily until a despaired cry was heard and the whole dome became irradiated when Yoshika got her magic back and then, she healed Shizuka. After that, he told her that he saw how Yoshika annihilated dozens of neurois with only her shields and even though he had been in several battles, it was the first time he saw a Witch with such raw power.

Therefore, knowing what Miyafuji went through in the dome, Minna agreed to train her without further ado and so, Yoshika studied in the mornings at the school and trained tirelessly in the evenings, still the training was not as hard as with Mio when she was first recruited but she was not a rookie anymore. She began her training just like she used to with Major Sakamoto, which meant jogging, doing push-ups, stretching, and when she equipped her strikers, she practiced many complex maneuvers that she had learned from watching all the Witches in actual combat and also because they seemed just fun or at least that was she told Minna.

There was something that she could not improve that much, formations as Minna required more Witches to practice but they were not available but still, Yoshika followed her instructions with precision and no hesitation, it seemed that spending time with Hattori had helped her to become even more dutiful with orders, now if it translated to be more compliant in an actual battle, remained to be seen.

Yoshika did shoot practice with Type 99-2, the standard Fuso gun, she was asked if she wanted to try other guns, but she refused as she still preferred the Fuso model because she had lots of practice with it. Her aim had never been better as well as her flight capabilities and so was the strength of her shield or rather shields as she now could summon two of them simultaneously without overusing her magic power. She even practiced drilling and crushing with them just like she did when she first flew with the Shinden or in the dome.

Sometimes, Erika also came to base to have some mock battles with her and though she could almost never defeat Karlsland's top ace, she was rapidly closing the gap between their skills, moreover, the training helped both to stay in form for the upcoming battle. Erika was also interested in Yoshika's studies as she herself wanted to become a medic too, so she taught her what was she learning at the school.

During her training Yoshika noticed that Commander Minna had almost never come to train with her, sure, she gave her instructions, had target practice and supervised the mock battles with Erika but she did not fly that many times with her, nevertheless, when she did, Yoshika did not notice anything strange, her skills were as sharp as ever. 'Maybe I'm overthinking this but still', she was happy to have someone that looked up for her training.

There was something else that Minna had wondered since the liberation of Berlin, she wanted to discover how Yoshika was able to catch up with wolf when it was fleeing as neither her nor Erika nor Trude were fast enough, and the latter was even a speedster like Shirley. She asked Yoshika how she did it, but she did not know either, maybe it was because of the heat of the moment but as hard as she tried, she could not fly as fast as she did back that day. One thing was for sure though, she was faster than both Shirley and Trude now, but she was not even close to achieve the same speed as that day.

By the end of each session, Yoshika "rested" by studying her medicine books and sometimes she even did it with the help Altia or Erika, and lots of times, the Fuso soldier fell asleep in the desk with her face over the books. They carried her to the bed so she could rest properly.

Still, Minna could not help it but be worried about Yoshika's magic pressure, thankfully it seemed a thing of the past as she never got exhausted of using her magic, just normal exhaustion, which was better, because every next day, Yoshika woke up as lively as usual. It seemed to her that Yoshika's stamina was improving steadily just as her other skills. The days passed and Minna realized how far she had come from the girl who did not want to even have a gun at all to one of the best Witches of the 501st or even from the Fuso empire.

Minna also reported Mio Yoshika's activities and progress. She was also worried about her overusing her magic power, but the wing commander assured her that Yoshika was just fine and had never been more prepared. Mio was relieved to hear that her recruit had been keeping up with her training and studying to become a great medic. Minna told her about how much she had progressed since the liberation of Berlin, and they both agreed to send a letter to the Fuso navy hoping Yoshika would get rightfully promoted.

Nevertheless, Minna still had other worries on her mind and while she tried to avoid thinking about it, she could not help but wander to the same topic, how much time she had left as a Witch, she was not getting any younger and so was Trude. Both had come to realize that they had lost strength when they flow and when they summon their shields but there are still far from being not capable of defending themselves. But right now, she had more important matters right now as she had to fulfill other duties to end a war that had been going on for far too long.

With her new schedule, Yoshika was basically busy all the time either studying or training. During this time, she also received calls and letters from all the Witches of the 501st explaining what they had been doing during all this time. She also received letters from fans of Fuso or so she heard but she had never received them as they had to go through Minna, and she confiscated nearly all of them.

Moreover, some Witches even visited her from time to time, more specifically, Lynne, they always talk a lot and Yoshika even learned that Perrine's mansion had almost been fully reconstructed, and she also learned that there were more orphans living at her place, and she had been teaching them to read, but the school reconstruction had almost finished, and Perrine would be relieved of that duty.

They spoke a lot but many times Yoshika fell asleep over her chair, but Lynne understood what she had been doing and she helped Minna to carry Yoshika to her bed so she could sleep peacefully. She was, of course, worried about her, she thought she was overworking herself, but Minna told her that she was just fine because by the next day, Yoshika was always as enthusiastic as ever as she went back to school in the morning until she was free by the evening to continue with her training. The Britannian girl was relieved to hear that her best friend had never been better though busy.

Thankfully, it all had paid off as she had approved the exams at the Helvetia medical school and she ready for the next semester, with the help of all of them, of course. Now, she could take a break from both her studies and training as she had a few months before the next period started.

She thanked Mina for all her help and with that, she decided to head back to Fuso to visit her family. She always wanted to get to know Europe, so this was a great opportunity as she decided to travel all the way back home with her Shinden.

It was not going to be easy to accomplish but she knew she could do it; she had been training as hard as she could, and her stamina had never been better and this was the ideal way she could test how effective her special training had been, so that she never ever felt powerless again. There was something else she need to do before going back to Fuso, and it was getting Minna's approval, she was worried about her traveling alone but after talking with her for a bit, she reluctantly agreed not before asking Yoshika to report whatever issue she had during that long journey so that she could request assistance from any near base, she also accepted as she herself had seen how Yoshika had improved during these past months.

She packed a few things on her backpack as well as a few books. Yoshika assured her that everything would be fine as there had not been any neuroi sight in quite some time in the route that she would take and if there were, she could destroy them or at least, she could alert other nearby bases and ask for reinforcements. She hoped though, that it would not have to come to that.