ARC II chapter 23

Somewhere in a white void…

Miho opened her eyes and saw only blinding white light, which didn't disappear even after closing her eyes and opening them again. So, I died… she thought and fell down on her knees, not sure what to think about the events of the last few minutes.

"You did not die," her voice, but cold, emotionless and calculating, replied from behind and Miho saw… herself after turning around to see the speaker. But this version of her was clad in the black and red uniform of Kuromorimine's Sensha-Do team. She also just radiated power from where she stood, strong enough to even be able to bring the most stubborn people to their knees, if she truly wanted it.

"And before you ask, I want to tell you something. We were almost consumed by the Nishizumi style. And I will show you how would it look like, if we did fall," she continued and Miho's mind was flooded with countless scenes of her torturing several team members for not following her orders and even literally kicking the boys - without their tanks - off the Zuikaku into the ocean.

Then, it changed into her leading a whole division of tanks, led by the masked man that caused her father to flee from Japan. And then… she was killed, after committing several heinous war crimes, by Trafalgar, who had somehow survived the fall and nearly drowned in the cold Pacific.

"This is the path we would've gone: a cold tyrant and war criminal, killed by a heartbroken brother by choice," her other self explained and Miho only wanted to do one thing: die now to avoid it happening in the future. But her thoughts were interrupted by an old, but calming voice

"Do not do it, my child. I know that you went through a lot of emotional pain right now, but you are one of the only people that can stop that… abomination in human skin called Narcius Poralon. True, Trafalgar is one of them as well, but I only wanted to reincarnate him. I did not intend for him to end up in this destroyed timeline to make him basically a living hero for dozens of boys and girls alike."

Miho turned again and saw an elderly man, clad in pristine white robes and sporting equally white hair and beard that hid a grandfatherly smile. He too radiated power, but it was that of Creation, unlike her other selves' Domination.

"Wait… you mentioned Trafalgar?" Miho asked and the man nodded with a small, and yet sad, smile. "He is a kind soul. To understand him fully, as his sister by choice and not by blood, I'll show you some of his memories. Also, remember that you can speak about it with Trafalgar only," he stated and Miho's mind was invaded again, without a single word of warning, with foreign memories.

A small boy, not even 6 years old, was looking at a picture in a book and drawing whatever it was, and she soon recognized it as a BT-5, firing at a Panzer 38 (t). Then, he showed it to his mother, who only smiled and patted his head.

"Stop it, mama!" the boy complained as he tried (and failed) to shake the offending hand off his head, soon changing into giggles of delight.

"Yo, Jameson!" a boy, possibly 11 years old, shouted at the 3 years younger boy, before charging at him and stealing his lunch and spilling all the textbooks from his school bag.

"Thanks for the food! Oh, and since you're rich, why won't you just go and buy yourself a full teatard service instead of those sandwiches? Right… your own mom is one of those!" The boy continued and Trafalgar just collected his things, put the bag on his back and ran away, colliding with his surprised mother.

And this time, he let her pat his head and asked for moving him to another school, crying the whole time he did so.

Of course, there were several more memories, including his 16th birthday and the one he possibly saw, when the principal accused him about 9 months ago, but they only solidified her opinion about him. And along with that, her resolve grew stronger and soon, she felt herself slowly leaving the void, the being that called itself God and her other self saying their goodbyes to her.

Meanwhile, field hospital #1, near the viewing platform for VIP #3

Tsuneo looked sadly at his youngest daughter, who had been unconscious for several hours now. And while her condition was stable, it did not ease his worries at all. But then, something clicked in his mind, regarding the blue-haired boy from earlier, making him almost as pale as marble, only to turn red as a tomato a second later. After all, he had some time to process all the info about him that Anchovy (whom he knew loved Maho), Katyusha and Boris gathered.

That bastard! He stole my son and paid the docs to say that he died! I'd rather have Traf as my heir, than the coward raised by Poralon, he thought and curled his hands into fists and anger filled his mind. Anger at the man, who ruined dozens of lifes just because of his dream about world domination.

But then, he felt something at the back of his mind nudge him to look at the bed and he saw Miho slowly opening her eyes, confusion written all over her face, until her eyes settled on him and her expression changed almost instantly from it to a bittersweet smile that had a deeper meaning, but he didn't know just what it was.

And after a few seconds of silence, he gently wrapped his youngest into a semi-tight hug, filled with affection only a father could give to his offspring.

12 hours later, about 45 feet away from the former resting place of the 38 (t)

Boris knew that something was off with the place of the first sighting of Traf. It just gave these… mysterious vibes, as if there was something hidden nearby. Something that could be either doom or boon for the finders. And, truth be told, he would've preferred it to be the latter.

But, this was his 8th attempt at locating it today, deciding to go only 60 feet away at maximum from the clearing. And yet, the feeling was… somehow stronger now, as he approached several fallen spruce trees.

They looked like they fell quite some time ago, because the positioning was off. It was too geometrical and precise to be created by nature. This is definitely a human's work, Boris thought as he touched the wood and saw it crumble a bit as he tried to pull one of the thinner trees, ending up with a useless stick in hand instead.

And yet, that wasn't enough for him to give up. No. He grabbed a bit thicker tree than the one before and walked backwards as he pulled, noticing that the heap of wood fell apart, revealing the hidden treasure from the older days of this school from under them, making Boris quickly reach for his phone and text Tsuneo about his discovery.