Part 5: Chloe
IJN Zuikaku
Ooarai City
One year earlier…
"Okay… the bath house. Just… play it cool…"
Fresh aboard Ooarai, First Year student Koida Miyazumi nervously entered the gymnasium's Onsen, understandably grimy from a long game of baseball. She had been hoping to return to her apartment to shower there, but her Calculus class on the opposite side of the school wouldn't allow the needed time.
"Curse these tight schedules…"
Eventually, toiletries in hand, Koida had found the showers. The air was hot and humid, filled with the scent of moisture and a nauseating cocktail of hair and body cleansers. She walked through the growing fog, cautiously stepping around older students. Some showering quietly, others loudly joking and laughing. Miyazumi narrowly avoided an airborne conditioner bottle, finally finding an open shower. Silently cursing the lack of dividers, the sheepish girl pulled off her towel and hung it up next to the shower head, hoping against hope that the hazy atmosphere would conceal her.
"Howdy!"
It didn't.
Koida slowly looked to her left and found a surprisingly tall girl taking up the shower next door. She recognized her as the one who had been helping out the instructor, as well as being her team captain for the baseball game.
"H-hi." Miyazumi said cautiously.
"Hey, I recognize you. From the game. You're part of the batch of New Bloods, right?"
The smaller girl gave a tiny nod.
"Well, welcome to Ooarai, in case you haven't heard it already. You're a killer first baseman, by the by. Great double play in the sixth." The team captain smiled and gave a playful wink, but mercifully returned to her own business. Koida sighed gratefully and turned on her own shower nozzle, allowing her hair to properly soak while she reached into her bag for her shampoo bottle.
"Well, well." A horrifyingly familiar voice announced itself, freezing Koida in her tracks. She turned around to confirm the source of the voice, and found a tall girl in an Ooarai uniform, flanked by two more. "Long time no see, Miyazumi-chan~."
Koida nearly threw up in her mouth.
"Please, God. Not again."
"Yo-yoichi-senpai." The first year mumbled. "Hello."
"Oh, come now." The girl said with a deep grin, resting one hand against the tile wall. "How long have we been friends, Miyazumi-chan? There's no need for formalities." Yoichi glanced up, and frowned when she saw Koida's neighbor. "Hachimiya."
"Yoichi." The girl responded with a level tone.
"Interesting. I don't recall giving you a pass on the formality."
The one called Hachimiya shrugged, scrubbing herself down with body wash. "Musta slipped your mind."
Yoichi hummed, returning her attention to her previous subject. "It's so good to see you again, Miyazumi-chan. I hoped you hadn't forgotten little old me~."
"How could I?" Koida wanted to say. But she wouldn't. She would never voice so clearly the way she felt about this particular girl. Especially when two of her friends were present.
"Impossible, Yoichi-senpai. The things you and your friends did to me in middle school aren't so easily forgotten."
"Is that worse? Because it sounds worse. Good job, you fucking moron."
"Did to you?" Yoichi put a hand over her heart and glanced at her friends, who both wore the same expression of mild shock mixed with amusement. "My, Miyazumi-chan. The way you say that makes us sound like bullies." She leaned into Koida's face closely, water spraying her uniform and dampening her hair. "You wouldn't be implying something like that, would you?"
It sounded less like a genuine question and more like a demand.
"N-n-no! No, Yoichi-senpai!" Koida said with a stutter. "N-nothing like that! Forgive me. I… I misspoke."
Yoichi grinned devilishly. "Good. You were making me worry. So much time apart, I feared that we weren't friends anymore."
"Would you knock it off, Yoichi?" The same girl from earlier asked with an annoyed tone, catching all four girls off guard.
"Stay out of this, Dahlia-kouhai. This conversation doesn't involve you."
"You're clearly making her uncomfortable." Dahlia continued undeterred, rinsing some white foam out of her ear. "Maybe talk later, when she's decent?"
As she often did, Yoichi focused her full attention on her challenger. The first year feared the worst for this poor girl.
"And who are you? Her new protector? You have no idea what's going on over here. For all you know, this is two friends catching up after a very long time apart. So why don't you just keep showering your boy-toy's cum out of your hair, and mind your own Goddamn business? Or wait… didn't he dump you?" Hachimiya narrowed her eyes at the pig-tailed girl.
"Oh, get a room." Someone across the Onsen called out. "Jesus." Miyazumi looked through the haze to find a girl shorter than herself, tying her hair up and wiping the fog off of her large glasses.
"Fuck off, midget." One of Yoichi's friends, Fukumoto, sneered. Her braided ponytail bounced around as she spoke. "Nobody's talkin' to you. Shouldn't you two be topside? Oh yeah, the jobsite got closed down. Again."
"Hey, I've come to terms with my stature. You're just picking on the kid because you're insecure about yourselves." The bespectacled girl finished the statement with a middle finger raised as she left the Onsen.
"I've dealt with bullies for most of my school career." The one called Hachimiya said. "Yourself included. You'll have to try harder than that to impress me, Yoichi."
"I'm not here to impress anyone." She insisted. "I'm just making sure that a treasured friendship doesn't become forgotten." Yoichi rested her hand firmly on Miyazumi's shoulder, who tensed up and closed her eyes.
"Oh yeah. Looks very treasured. Kid looks like she's about to burst to sing your praises."
Tobe, the other of Yoichi's minions, took a step forward, glaring at Dahlia.
"You watch your mouth." She growled, sweeping her messy, dark violet bangs out of her eyes. "Amongst your betters. You know how much weight our names carry around here, Kouhai?"
"How can I watch it?" Dahlia asked with a grin, pointing at her lips. Yoichi let go of Koida, stepping towards the speaker. "It's down here. And I would try, but my betters are nowhere to be found. I mean, they couldn't be you three inbred-"
Dahlia couldn't finish the insult before the ringleader raised one hand and slapped her. The taller girl stumbled and smacked her head into the shower wall, clutching her cheek for a moment. She looked up and met Yoichi's gaze again.
"Thanks for that." She said, grinning at her. "Now I get to do this."
Before Miyazumi could blink, Dahlia grabbed Yoichi by her neckerchief and spun her around, slamming her into the wall under the running shower. Though in shock, Koida still caught an eyeful of Dahlia's rather developed physique. Her attention, however, quickly returned to her bully-turned-victim, being soaked to the bone by the torrent of steaming water. In the commotion, the entire Onsen fell to silence, with everyone watching the altercation.
"Let go of me, Kouhai! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Let me make something clear, Yoichi. I don't like you. I never have. I've ignored you lately, since you stopped targeting me, but that stops now. You are a…" At the sound of a shoe squeaking on tiles, Dahlia's eyes snapped to Fukumoto, who had taken a step forward to defend her leader. "What? You want to be next, Fuku? You're welcome to try." The third year quickly retreated and Dahlia refocused.
"You are a sad, miserable wretch, who preys on younger students to help yourself get over some kind of insecurity. Which is all well and good, until it happens around me or my friends." Miyazumi couldn't tell if it was water from the shower, or if Yoichi had actually started crying out of fear. "Then, we have a problem. So, I'm going to say this once: You or any of your posse show your faces in this Onsen again, we'll all find out how much weight your names carry." For several seconds, Dahlia's eyes burned through Yoichi's flesh, cutting her down. She squeezed the black fabric a little tighter and pushed the girl against the wall a little harder. For the first time, Yoichi appeared genuinely terrified. As if she had never been challenged or stood up to before. "Am I understood… Yoichi-senpai?"
She didn't get an answer, but Dahlia appeared satisfied that her words had sunken in. She pulled Yoichi away from the wall and let go of her, her friends catching her fall.
"Get offa me…" She spat, swatting Tobe's hands away. Yoichi pointed at Dahlia, rage boiling behind her amethyst irises. "You just made a big mistake, Daria-kouhai."
"Oh yeah? What, you want some more?" Dahlia stepped away from her shower, getting in the bully's face again. "How about I remind you what happened last time? Come on! Fuckin' pansies!" The three girls quickly retreated, Tobe and Fukumoto tripping over each other.
"Fuck you, Dahlia! This ain't over!" Yoichi declared.
"We'll see about that, bitch!"
"She can't protect you forever, Miyazumi-chan!"
As the bullies disappeared, Dahlia turned around to find the terrified first year standing motionless under her shower head. Then, looking around further, she found that the population of the onsen was either staring at her, or at the doorway where Yoichi had gone. The taller girl sighed and returned to her own 'stall'.
"Sorry about that."
Miyazumi did a double take after a moment. "Wait, why?"
Her savior rubbed the back of her neck. "I'd hate for you to get a bad first impression of Ooarai." She took a moment to inspect the side of her head, where she had collided with the hard tiles.
Koida shook her head. "Bad impression? Wha… That was amazing! Are you kidding me? I've been living with the misery that is Yoichi Fujiwara for years, but never had the balls to stand up to her. Five minutes of talking to you, and she runs for the fuckin' hills. Forgive me, but… you're my hero, Daria-senpai. How did you do that?" She asked, stars in her eyes.
Dahlia shrugged, turning off her shower and retrieving a towel. "We've had a few run-ins before. I was in your shoes once. A first year, with a target painted on her back. I learned how to defend myself from assholes like her in Nagasaki. Some of her first words to me were comments about being a transfer. Some crap about 'not being able to afford Saunders', or, 'my family being uprooted by domestic issues'. Though that second one has some truth to it…" She chuckled. "A month of torment later, she was begging for forgiveness with her nose about an inch away from a belt sander."
"Using industrial power tools to scare away bullies?" Koida asked. "I'm intrigued." Dahlia smiled.
"Stick with me then. I'll show you all the tricks of the trade. Hey, actually… Meet me at the shop when you get a chance. We're on Bougainville Road, just a few blocks from the Campus. Call me Dahlia. Don't bother with the 'senpai' bit." She held out her hand. "I think I caught your name as Miyazumi?"
"Koida." The smaller girl corrected, accepting the handshake. "But the few friends I had back in middle school called me Chloe."
"Alright then… Chloe." Dahlia smiled, wrapping herself with her towel. "See you around."
The Next Day
"Well… I guess this is the place."
Chloe looked down at the address scribbled on a scrap of paper, before folding it and stuffing it into her uniform pocket. She cautiously stepped through an open garage bay and was confronted by a cacophony of industrial noise. Metalwork, hammers, saw blades, and cordless drills filled the space. A pair of girls were standing near a machine that was bending pieces of metal into a box shape. Once it stopped, they used screws to seal the piece together before lifting it away.
One student was working by herself, using a grinding wheel to sharpen something, occasionally picking the object up and inspecting her work. During one of these actions, Chloe chanced approaching her.
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?" The girl looked over with surprise, lifting her face shield to find a short girl in a pristine Ooarai Academy uniform. "Can I help you?"
"I-I'm looking for Hachimiya Dahlia. Is she here?"
"Oh, yeah. Through that door, hang a right, last room on the left."
"Thank you."
The worker smiled and nodded, before letting her hood fall back into place.
Navigating the short hallway, Chloe followed the sounds of talking and laughter, the ambience of the shop fading with every step. She eventually found the room in question, and she peeked through the open door. Inside, the First Year found Dahlia sitting at a long table, which was populated by one girl who looked vaguely familiar, and several more she didn't recognize. During a lull in the conversation, Chloe tentatively knocked on the doorframe, and Dahlia's head shot up.
"Hey, kiddo! You made it!" The upperclassman chirped excitedly, eagerly ushering her inside. "Welcome, welcome. We're just having a little meeting of the trades. Come on in." Dahlia pointed around the small gathering. "That's Miriam, or Midge, from the HV/AC team. Or 'Tin Knockers', if you will. If you came through the shop, you saw her girls out there. Nakajima from the Operating Engineers… and the Sensha-do team. Rosie, from the Ironworkers. Murakami, representing the Laborers. Hayley, foreman of the Masons. Carol from the Electricians, and Emma, with the Roofers. I believe you met Freya yesterday, my right hand with the Carpenters down here." Chloe found her suspected familiarity to be correct, as the bespectacled girl waved at her. "Ladies, this is Chloe. A new friend of mine, made during a little run-in with the lovely Yoichi."
"Her again?" Carol growled. "Ugh, that girl is a fucking monster."
"Another lost puppy in from the rain?" Emma remarked. "How many more, Dahl?" The girl gave Chloe a pointed look.
"Hey now, Emma. Remember your induction into the fold?" Freya said playfully. "Remind me. What was it again? Something about Fuku and the dorm toilets?" Emma retreated into her seat, and Freya turned to Chloe. "Lots of us have had run in's with your friend and her merry band of cretins."
"Welcome to the Ooarai Academy Blue Collar Club, Chloe." Dahlia said with a smile, gesturing to the swivel chair next to her. "Have a seat."
"Dahl, we have to do something about Yoichi." Carol insisted. "I thought you were going to talk to Koyama about it."
"I have. More than once. Every meeting ends up boiling down to 'he said, she said', and nothing happens. She'll get what's coming to her, don't worry."
"Hey, speaking of meetings," Rosie spoke up. "When is this one actually starting?"
"Right now, actually." The Carpenter grinned at her friend and stood up again. "Ladies…" She began. "You all know the history behind this club."
"Here she goes." Carol whispered into Chloe's ear.
"We built this school into what it is today. We did everything we could to slow the closure over the summer. We have been instrumental in helping the Sensha-do team get off the ground. How did the school repay us? By handing the train station job to a company on land, and doing the same with the new Sun K Us outlet here on the boat. So what are we to do? This." Dahlia approached the large paper pad on the easel behind her. "I present to you, Operation: Home Rescue." She tore off the top sheet and pointed to the page behind it proudly, while the girls in the room looked over the writing on it.
"Is that… yesterday's pizza order?" Nakajima asked.
"Eh?" Dahlia looked at the board. "Oh, shit. Uh… hold on."
While the Carpenter flipped through the pages, Emma shook her head.
"Baka…" She snorted.
"Aha! Here we go." Dahlia flipped several sheets of paper over the back of the easel. "Operation: Home Rescue. A multi-floor dormitory wing, taking the place of the abandoned shopping parade on Shoukaze Street. We'll be able to bring in just about everybody in the club. At least, those who aren't below deck at the water plant."
"Well, it's a nice idea, but it'll have to be approved by the Student Council, Headmaster, and the Mayor." Emma pointed out.
"Oh, it will. When they come by in…" Dahlia eyed her watch. "A few minutes."
"The Council, Headmaster, and Mayor are coming here today?!" Midge exclaimed, beginning to stand up. "The shop is a mess!"
"A messy shop is a busy shop." Dahlia waved her off. "Besides, they're coming through the front entrance anyway. Now, only the Council and Headmaster are coming today. The Mayor's office said he's out, but if the folks here approve, they'll push it through and give us permission."
At that moment, the phone on the wall rang, and Dahlia moved to answer it.
"Meeting room… Yeah… Super. Send them in." She hung up the phone again. "They're here. Chloe, close that door, please?"
While the First Year did as instructed, the other door to the room opened, revealing Kadotani Anzu, Kawashima Momo, and Koyama Yuzu of the Student Council, and the Ooarai Headmaster Tokugawa Tadamasa.
"Hachimiya-chan!" Anzu was the first to enter, as usual. "Good to see you. It's been a while since our last meeting, huh?"
"It has, Kadotani-chan. Please, come in. Koyama-san, Kawashima-san, Tadamasa-sama. Have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable."
Kadotani did just that, taking the seat Chloe was returning to. The First Year hesitated, then glanced up at Freya, who waved her over. She wound up finding a new seat between the upperclassman and Vice President Koyama, who smiled at her politely.
"So, Dahlia." Kawashima was the first to speak once everyone was settled. "Care to tell us what is so important?"
"I shall. And I'll start this meeting with a question. Has everyone here taken notice of the empty shopping plaza on Shoukaze and Yamato?"
The members of the Council nodded amongst each other.
"I pass it every day on the way to my office." Tadamasa offered.
"Good. Then, you no doubt know it as quite the eyesore. Something that you wish would just… go away.~" Dahlia held up her hands and wiggled her fingers.
"If this is a proposal for a new jobsite," Kawashima interrupted, fixing her monocle. "You already know the Council's stance and demands."
"Momo-chan." Yuzu said quietly. "Let us hear what Hachimiya-chan has to say first." The PR Manager growled at her friend, but didn't speak further.
"I do know your stance, Kawashima-san. Which is why I've already worked something out, but I'll get to that. I would also trust that most of you know about the… tense housing situation amongst the student body."
When nobody said anything, Dahlia eyed the newcomer. "Chloe?"
"Huh?" Koida was stunned to hear her name, even more so when every eye in the room landed on her. "You live in the dormitories, right? What's your current situation?"
"Uhm…" Chloe hesitantly looked around. "I-I was placed in a room suited for one… with two other girls. Our… entire daily lives are… inconvenient, for lack of a better term."
"It's even spilling over into the Naval Studies department." Murakami spoke up next. "Some girls in my section are 'hot bunking'."
"New students are told right away that they do not have to live in the student dormitories." Kawashima countered. "They can stay with their families in their own homes, or on land."
"One of the girls in my room is from Tokyo." Chloe interjected. "Her mother lives alone with her three younger siblings. They can't find any housing in Ooarai City that can accommodate them, nor can they afford living on the carrier." Kawashima glared at the First Year, aghast that an Underclassman would speak so openly out of turn. Chloe had to avert her gaze from her, out of fear that she might suddenly turn to stone. From the front of the room, Dahlia smiled at the younger girl.
"Now, now, Momo. Chloe's got a point." Freya leaned forward. "I mean, being from Takahagi, I'm reasonably local, but Hayley is from Kamakura, and Dahl is from Nagasaki. Not everybody lives in the Prefecture, let alone the City."
"It is true that we have many students from various parts of the country." Yuzu folded her hands neatly on the table. "While we would like to help them, the school simply does not have the space or the funds to do anything about the issue."
"Ah, but that's where my plan comes in, Yuzu-chan." Dahlia said with a grin. "A plan to tackle the student housing crisis. I call it, Operation: Home Rescue." She flipped the white pad pages over to reveal the blueprint. "Six stories above ground, two below. Rooms with enough space to comfortably accommodate two, or even four students, and more for the following batch of first years next year. On the outside, it resembles the existing dormitory buildings. Allowing it to blend in. Inside, state of the art apartments with multiple rooms." Dahlia turned the page. At her side, Chloe noticed Koyama scribbling in a notebook. "Sub-level one. A private library, study hall, and computer lab. Accessible only by the students. Sub-level two? Swimming pool, onsen, and a full gymnasium capable of hosting student gatherings as well as small sporting events. Up above, on the roof. Rooftop garden and patio space, complete with a small solar array." The Carpenter flipped a few more pages, showing an overhead map of the area. "This project will accomplish three things. First and most important, easing the strain on the current housing situation, keeping girls from being packed like sardines in those tiny apartments. Two… getting rid of an abandoned plaza, full of emptiness and sorrow, and replacing it with something new and exciting. And three… putting the Blue Collar Club back on the map."
Kawashima tilted her head at the last point.
"We built this school into what it is." Dahlia explained, cutting off the PR Manager's interjection. "When the BCC started up, Ooarai Academy was on par with Detroit. Our Urban Revitalization Program kicked the town into overdrive, with residential areas, parks, commercial zones, and school expansions popping up all over the place. Now, things are on the back foot. It's nobody's fault, but the school is on the decline. This project will fix that. Make things better for everyone on board."
The room was silent as the girls and man present absorbed Dahlia's words. After several tense seconds, Anzu placed a sweet potato chip in her mouth and began clapping. Tadamasa, Koyama, and the BCC girls followed suit, with only Kawashima crossing her arms and arching a brow.
"It's good, Dahlia-chan. I like it." Anzu said casually, crunching through her snack. "Let's do it."
"Hold on, Prez." Kawashima began concocting a counterargument. "How long will this project take?"
Dahlia hummed in thought for a moment. "Say, for the sake of argument, we broke ground tomorrow… we should be ready to accept new students by the end of the next school year." She answered. "Failing that, the beginning or middle of the following, but no later than that summer. I already have approval from the City. They just need a go-ahead from all of you."
"And how much will all of this cost?"
"Ah, now there's the million-dollar question." The Carpenter smiled. "As I said, I was able to work out a deal with the City. Since Ooarai Academy is a private education establishment, Ooarai City has no obligation to pay for the whole thing outright, and even flat out told me that they weren't going to. After a bit of negotiating, I got us something." Dahlia moved the easel and began scribbling numbers on the chalkboard behind it. "The project itself has a total projected cost of twenty two million yen." Chloe glanced up to see Kawashima suck in a breath and clutch her chest. "However, I was able to work out a co-payment deal. Ooarai City is willing to foot seventy percent of the bill, out of sympathy for your financial situation, leaving the Academy with a responsibility of six million. And the best part? They're willing to accept installments, but that's something you'll have to work out. In return, my girls will be working on some volunteer stuff on the mainland… something about a new movie theater." Dahlia looked over the members of the Council for a moment, a grin forming. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Where exactly do you expect us to come up with six million yen?" Momo demanded.
"Like I said, in installments. But, I dunno. Bake sale? Car wash? How did you scrape the cash together for the Sensha-do team?" Nakajima shot a sly grin towards Koyama at the mention of washing vehicles, which the Vice President looked away from with pink cheeks. "I do know that with all these new students, the tuition account will be filling up rather quickly."
"Many of these new students are gravitating towards Naval Studies." Yuzu said, still somewhat flustered. "Which offers free tuition."
"All the more reason to push for the project. Push these kids towards us, or your Sensha-do team. Places that do pay, and let them play a part in building their new school's future." The Carpenter looked at each of the Council members, but mostly at Koyama. "You girls are smart. You'll come up with something."
"I like it." Anzu repeated after a moment. "I say we should do it."
"You can't get anything better than seventy percent?" Momo persisted.
"No, but you're more than welcome to try." Dahlia said.
"And how much are you doing it for?"
"Our standard hourly rates. No more, no less. Any and all overtime will be paid in full."
Kawashima pulled a calculator from her backpack and quickly tapped out some numbers. When the calculation was finished, she looked at Yuzu with dismay. "There's no way we can afford this, Yuzu-chan. How can we get blood from a stone?" She showed her the results of her math, doing the same with Anzu and Tadamasa.
"Nobody else will do it for cheaper." Dahlia insisted, folding her hands behind her back. "That I can guarantee."
"Just out of curiosity, where does the operation name come from?" Kadotani asked.
"For the work you all did on the Sensha-do team to keep the school, our home, from closing. The proposed name for the building is 'The Nishizumi Memorial Dormitory', but it's a working title." Anzu nodded with interest.
Koyama studied the Carpenter for a time, the gears in her head turning.
"All opposed to the proposed project?"
Yuzu looked around, finding only Kawashima with a hesitantly raised hand.
"All in favor?"
Every other hand went up, even Chloe's, but she quickly retracted it to scratch the back of her head. Yuzu, with her own hand raised, looked at the Headmaster, who nodded.
"Very well, Dahlia. You'll get your project, and your funding." The Vice President declared, closing her notebook. "We'll be in touch about when it can start." She stood up and approached Dahlia with an extended hand, a gesture the carpenter accepted with a small bow. This repeated with Anzu, Tokugawa, and with a hesitant Kawashima. Freya stood and walked their guests out, closing the door behind them. She slowly turned around with a neutral expression, which quickly turned into a smile. She eyed Dahlia and pointed at her.
"You, my friend, are a steely-eyed missile man."
The celebration of the successful proposal carried on for some time, with Chloe being officially welcomed to the club. Part of her knew that wherever this new path took her, it would be the experience of a lifetime.
A/N: Just a short origin story for Chloe, as well as building (tee hee) on the Blue Collar Club a bit.
Next, we'll return to the Ooarai team's holiday party, were some tension is building. And later, we'll check on Saunders. How has Kay taken the near destruction of her beloved team?
Questions? Critiques? While you were reading this, did Hana steal your snacks? Leave a comment!
As always, thanks for reading.