Part 33: Nakajima

IJN Zuikaku

Garage

(Steve Earle - Feel Alright)

The sounds of an active garage, the scent of solvents and oil, a wrench in hand. Reira Nakajima was in her element.

Over the last few hours, the mechanic had been milling about around, under, and inside of her 1993 Mazda RX-7, her pride and joy. The car had been her pet project for several years and was finally a complete unit, but during the school year, she regrettably had little time to actually drive it. In lieu of that, she spent any free time she had tinkering. Installing new parts, changing fluids, even a semi-annual top to bottom cleaning.

At the moment, Nakajima's car was the only actual 'car' in the garage. The other slots were taken up by several of the Sensha-do team's tanks, with their respective crews performing maintenance tasks, at least those still present at the school. The winter break wasn't quite over yet, and a number of students were still ashore or abroad. The Rabbits had recently left for yet another drive in Aya's new car, after Hoshino had challenged them to a friendly race.

A few parking spots over, Akiyama and Takebe were performing a walk around for their Panzer IV, with the members of Ahi Team in tow. There were rumors around the garage that the five freshmen would be joining the team officially in the coming weeks. Hippo Team was swapping out the muzzle brake on their Tank Destroyer's gun, opting for a larger one that would make their rounds fly straighter, or so Saemonza claimed. Those unaware of the happenings at the party might overlook her and Oryou working side by side on top of the vehicle, screwing the old muzzle brake off of the end of the barrel, while Erwin controlled the crane hook hanging from the ceiling. In the background, Caesar pulled shells out of a wooden crate and brought them into the tank. The four girls worked together seamlessly, hardly needing to communicate verbally.

The loudest activity that was going on was the Public Broadcasting girl Ou Taiga speaking to Commander Nishizumi and President Kadotani about the future of the team. Anzu was rather confidently proclaiming that the team would be back in action within the coming year, while Miho would often follow her answers with quick clarifications and reminders of the hardships everyone across the country was facing.

Reira was largely ignoring the exact dialogue. Instead, she allowed the ambience to fill her ears as she worked underneath her car, finishing the install of a new brake system. The lines were in place and the disks were on. All that was left would be the calipers, pads and fluid. She was so engrossed in her work, she didn't notice a certain someone enter the garage.

Someone she hadn't seen or spoken to in several days.

The newcomer casually strolled into the cavernous building, waving to the few people who noticed her. She immediately headed towards the silver RX-7, and the jumpsuit-clad girl underneath it. As Nakajima picked up a small bolt for the part she was installing, the girl standing over her quickly swiped the wrench needed to tighten the fastener down. Reira's hand came down on where the tool had been moments later, finding only bare concrete. She felt around for a moment, eventually looking away from her work. What the Mechanic found was a familiar pair of boots standing next to her, and a feeling of uncertainty filled her whole body for a split second. Taking a breath, she pushed it aside, instead rolling her dolly out from under the car and locking eyes with the person who stole her wrench.

Dahlia.

"Hey." Reira said with a nervous smile.

"Hey, yourself." The Carpenter held up the tool. "I found this just layin' on the ground. I thought you guys treated your tools better than that." She teased kind heartedly. Dahlia kneeled down next to Nakajima, looking around at the parts and tools scattered around. "What'cha up to?"

"New brakes. The last of the parts came in yesterday."

"Nice." Dahlia nodded.

"May I have my wrench back?"

"Maybe." Hachimiya held up the tool, then closed her fist around it. "If you got a minute."

Ice ran down Reira's spine, but she did her best to hide it, instead standing up and following Dahlia behind the Porsche Tiger.

A few spots away, standing on top of the Type 89's engine bay, Tsuchiya nudged Suzuki's shoulder and nodded towards the retreating pair. The Driver grinned and held up five fingers. The girls nodded and shook hands, returning to their work.

"So…" The Carpenter began. "I had a proposition for you. Well, two actually. First: Chloe and I are heading back to Tokyo soon. I got to talk to Kay during my trip home, and I convinced her to let me offer some help. Saunders is docked in the harbor as well. I'll talk to Miho about it, but I was wondering if you would like to come with us. Scope out the fleet of Shermans, and see if it's something you and your girls would be up for. To either help their team out, or take a few wrecks off their hands to bring back here. If so, awesome. If not, it's cool. You'll be back here this time next week."

Reira thought for a moment. Saunders did have a quite massive arsenal of Shermans, being the largest (still functional) team in the High School Circuit, and a majority of them had been either badly damaged or completely destroyed during the war. The job would without a doubt be massive, but then, it was Saunders. A big team needs the biggest and best equipment on the market. Reira and her friends would have access to tools and gear they could only dream of having at Ooarai.

"When are you leaving?" She asked, flexing her fingers.

"Friday morning. Need some time to get settled back in for the long haul." Dahlia said. "It's a six month stay, then we come back here at some point in the summer. Like I said, no pressure. If you aren't interested, it's cool."

"Not interested? Are you kidding?" The Mechanic blurted out. "Hell yeah, I'm in! I'll check things out, see what's going on, then bring the kids down in a couple days. That sounds awesome!"

"Perfect. I'll let Kay know."

"Sweet. And what was the other thing?"

Dahlia's smile slowly faded, being replaced with a more serious expression. As she spoke, Reira did the same. "Well… I've had some time to think about… that night. And ah… well, it certainly was quite a night. Heh… I, uhm… I don't… Ah, fuck it." The Carpenter grabbed Reira's shirt collar and pulled her in for a kiss. Taken by surprise, Nakajima dropped her wrench, but didn't even notice it hit the floor. Bright colors flew past her closed eyes and fireworks exploded in her ears, helped along with the sweet flavor of strawberry chapstick. The Mechanic wrapped her arms around Dahlia's neck, drawing the kiss out as long as she could, until she had to come up for air. Cheeks burning, Dahlia grinned.

"How's that for an answer?"

Feeling slightly lightheaded, Nakajima nodded. "That's… quite an answer indeed." She said with a nervous chuckle. "And… uh… exactly the one I was hoping for, if I'm honest."

"Glad I didn't disappoint. Heh."

"So, I'll meet you at your place tomorrow?"

"Yep. And ask Chiya, Sue and Hoshi. Who knows? They might come along straight away."

"Good idea. And… speaking of ideas…" Reira stopped Dahlia before she could walk away. "How about I meet you at your place… tonight? Get a head start? I mean… it's kind of a shame how little of that night I remember…" Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

"That's… not a bad idea at all. I mean… if I'm gonna be giving this whole 'relationship' thing another whirl, it couldn't hurt to get in some practice." Dahlia winked, a wide grin on her face. "See ya."

For a moment, Nakajima stood leaning against the Porsche Tiger, still processing what had just happened. It was as if her brain was stuck and needed a reboot.

"Oh, hey." A voice snapped her out of her trance, her eyes jumping from the Porsche flag on the wall to the very person she had been speaking to moments earlier. The Mechanic quietly stared at the taller girl for a moment, before looking down at her extended hand.

"You dropped this."

She was holding the wrench.

"Uh… yeah. Thanks." Nakajima slowly reached out and took the tool. After Dahlia left again, she tightly wrapped her fingers around the wrench, pumping her fist a few times.

"Yes!"

As Reira returned to her car a few minutes later, a massive smile on her face, she didn't notice Suzuki begrudgingly placing five thousand yen worth of coins and notes into Tsuchiya's waiting palm.

"Thank you."

"Screw off."

"Hey, if you were gonna get that upset, why'd you bet against?" Muuton asked. Maria scrunched her nose.

"I didn't expect it to go that well. You know Nack's bedroom has a revolving door."

"Dahl doesn't strike me as the hookup, fire and forget type." Tsuchiya pointed out, picking up her can of PB Blaster and spraying a stubborn bolt. "Who knows? Maybe some stability would do the two of them some good."

The Loader shrugged, glancing over at Hippo team. Now that all four girls were on speaking terms again, their cohesion was on par with Ankou. Hopefully, a long term, stable relationship would work similar magic on Leopon's scatterbrained Commander.

Suzuki smiled at the thought, feeling happy for her friends as she returned to her work.

A/N: Happy birthday to me!

Safe to say that that's one side story mostly wrapped up

I hope I'm not making Nakajima out to be too promiscuous. Really the only ones in the entire show who mention that stuff are Alisa and Saori. And the Rabbits, to an extent. And it's high school, so...

Just a little more to go

Special thank you to new followers Spartan6 and Ghost-4567. Willkommen!

As always, thanks to everyone for reading, and see you next time