Classroom, Day time:
The bell ringed, signaling break time. Alisia was about to walk out of the class before she stared back at Lily.
"Are you coming to the Cafetaria?" Alisia said as she waited at the door frame, waiting for Lily.
Lily looked up from her desk at Alisia, before then she laid her head back down on her desk again "Later.."
"Oh... Well, okay then, see you later." Alisia then walked out of the class, heading towards the cafeteria all by herself.
Cafeteria, Day Time:
After she took her food, Alisia sat down in the corner of the cafeteria, and placed her food on the table. She looked around and sighed. "Oh well... At least I got a friend. More friends would probably give more more headache..."
Then, just as Alisia was about to start eating, a black haired girl which is taller than her, approached her. "Konnichiwa, watashi wa Miyuki desu, anata no tonari ni suwatte mo I desu ka?" she asked in a cheerful and polite tone.
Alisia was frozen by the sudden greeting, she looked up from her seat before then she nodded, feeling very awkward.
The girl who was Miyuki, was surprised at Alisia "Ehh? You understand Japanese?"
Alisia shallowed her food before then she looked up at Miyuki, "Yes, now sit down if you want, or go to the other tables." she then avoid eye contact with Miyuki, and continued eating.
Miyuki blinked, before then she smiled in an awkward manner and sat down in front of Alisia "O-Ok..." She sat down and started eating, "Ehh, I don't expect anyone to understand Japanese here!"
Alisia stared at Miyuki, "Try not talking while having food in your mouth, will you?" she complaint.
Miyuki stopped and shallowed her food, "Sumimasen- Wait, you understand me, right?"
Alisia looked up at Miyuki, before then she nodded and continued eating her food. Miyuki smiled. "Ehh, where did you learn? I heard there's no Japanese here besides me and my mother."
Alisia continued eating, ignoring Miyuki without much care whatsoever. Miyuki stared at Alisia before then she sighed and continued eating her food, "You're not the chatterbox type huh... Naruhod- I mean uhh... Nevermind."
Lily appeared from behind, with her own food she carried on her hand, then she asked in a tired tone, "Mind if I sit here?"
Alisia looked at Lily, "Ah, Lily, you look a bit lively now, sure." she smiled at her, with a complimenting tone.
As Lily took a seat, Miyuki looked at the two, still eating her food, "Ehh? You two are friends?"
Alisia nodded, which Miyuki started asking more questions, "Since when?"
Lily replied to Miyuki's question as she was eating, "I don't know, never counted."
Miyuki nodded, she then took a closer look at Alisia, noticing her short stature and her legs not touching the ground.
"You look... Short.." Said Miyuki in a low tone.
Alisia responded with a sharp glare at Miyuki, which caused Miyuki to gulped, before then continuing eating her food.
Hallway, Day time:
After a while, Alisia walked back to the class along with Lily on her back, when all of a sudden Alisia felt like someone followed her from behind, she looked back to see Miyuki.
"Eh? Nande desu ka?" Miyuki looked at Alisia with a confused look.
Alisia stared at Miyuki, "Why are you following me?"
"I'm not...? Im walking back to my class." Miyuki was frozen in place, unable to move a limb, as her eyes were locked onto Alisia's.
Alisia continued staring, "What class?"
"Uhh... 10-A?" Miyuki answered with a shaky voice.
Alisia blinked, before then she continued to walk back to the class. Leaving Miyuki with a confused look.
"Huh... What's wrong with her?" Miyuki looked at Lily for answers.
Lily looked at Miyuki, "Hmm? I don't know..."
"What? But aren't you like... her friend...?"
"Not in a mood to remember those kinds of things." Lily yawned as she continued walking to the class, with Miyuki still frozen in confusion but then decided to just return back to class.
Classroom, Day Time:
After a while later, before the bell rang, the PA came to life and started broadcasting,
"Attention all students, all students are to head to the auditory room for an announcement from the student council and the headmaster after the bell rings." the PA repeated the message 3 times before then it went off.
Everyone in the class was confused, some were furious even due to being exhausted from listening through the previous lessons. Meanwhile, Alisia was curious of what would be announced.
"Ugh, why? Im tired already." Said one tired and furious student.
"Quiet down. Alright students, don't forget to go to the audio system, and don't run away! Or else there'll be consequences." Said the teacher in a stern and feminine voice.
"I wonder what the announcement is all about..." Said Miyuki in a curious tone, she then stared at Alisia.
Alisia looked at Miyuki with a confused look, "What? Why are you asking me? Do I know you or something?"
"Uhh... Nothing..." Miyuki looked away, and blushed in embarassment.
Then the bell rang, as said before, the students started to walk towards the audio system.
"I hate this..." said Lily in a tired voice.
"Same... But I wonder what they'll announce." Alisia was still curious about what would be announced,
"Probably some useless boring exam or something..." Said one random student,
Alisia continued to walk, still with that curious look on her face, as if she was yet tired from the previous activity, along with Lily and Miyuki following behind.
Audiotory room, Day time:
The students arrived at the audiotory room, sitting down on the seats inside, while Alisia headed towards the corner of the audiotory and sat down, but then Lily and Miyuki appeared and sat beside her.
Alisia sighed, "Why are you following me...?" she stared at Miyuki with an annoyed look.
"Eh? I don't know, you're the only one I know in this school besides... Uhh..."
Miyuki then looked at Lily, "What is your name again?"
Lily looked at Miyuki, "Lily, Lily Carter." she answered in a soft voice.
"Ah! Yes, Lily... How about you?" Miyuki turned to Alisia
Alisia hesitated a bit but then she replied, "Alisia... Now please be quiet."
Then, an old man entered, who seemed to be the headmaster of the academy. He walked up to the podium and began to speak in front of the students. "Good day students, sorry for interrupting your leave but uhh... To fasten this all up, we will just play this video right here. Operator?"
Then the lights went out, the headmaster stepped down from the podium and the screen rolled down, then an old vintage black and white film started to be played.
The scene started first with the Canadian red ensign, waving and the song, The Maple Leaf Forever, played, and later the scene changed to a calm setting of the Canadian Rockies. The narrator on the film begins to deliver its message in a masculine and calm tone.
"Canada, a beautiful place among the Empire, and the first and prideful subject of His Majesty. But maybe some of us are bored and eager for an adventure outside of our boring cold green and rocky homeland."
The scene changed to a sudden chaotic battle, where tanks like the Tetrarch's, Panzer I and II's, with Tankette's and other types of tanks fighting in many landscapes, with the music intensified, before then later changed to the aftermath of a battle where many tanks were seen with white flags popping out, and a large text zoomed out and popped into the screen.
"Presenting to you, tankery, a new sport from a far away country, Germany." The scene changed to young students in training, in the fields and classes from other countries.
"Challenging, and a tough sport. Meant for men who want to go on an adventure outside the dominion."
Alisia blinked, and talked to herself, "Sounds deadly... How did this get passed the ministry?"
Then, the scene changed to a dark screen, "But of course, many of us think that this sport is deadly and dangerous, and may have thought that this is just another waste of human lives for a pointless thing for aristocrats, and as the Great War ended just 2 decades ago, its no wonder why." the images of mass graves of the first world appeared, before then the scene changed to the picture of Fritz Haber.
"But there is a new technology, where these armored vehicles, or what we call tanks, are covered in a new special type of carbon protection, founded by the German scientist, Fritz Haber, thanks to him now the sport is completely harmless, aside from accidents of course."
Alisia blinked, "Nevermind." she muttered.
Scene after scene changed to youths from what seemed to be from Britain, South Africa, and Malaya, training and studying in each respective classes, switching to scenes of them practicing in the fields.
"Join up on the new sport together, and get new experience from across the world."
The film ended with the the instrument song of 'God save the King', before then the lights went on again and the screen was lifted back, and a female student that seemed to be the student council's president stepped onto the podium, and began to speak.
"Now, due to the nature of this sport and the club will mostly go overseas for matches and would most likely take quite a time to finish, students are expected to be out for a few days or weeks.
Benefits for joining the club include all travel will be at the schools' expense, including several insurances, other benefits such as extra points and possible scholarships to Commonwealth or Commonwealth sponsored schools in non-commonwealth nations like in countries such as Hongkong, Japan, and South Korea, along with possibility of entering non-Commonwealth universities in America like the Boston Tankery University."
The student's jaw dropped after hearing the statement, unable to believe such benefits coming from joining the club, going into prestigious and even foreign schools. Alisia was also shocked, but again she was not that interested into joining exhausting activities.
"Heee, never would've thought Canada would play sensha-do!" Miyuki clapped both her hands together, with a look of excitement on her face.
Lily looked at Miyuki, curious. "Sensa.. Do?"
"Iiie! Sen-sha-do. Wakarimasu ka?"
Lily stared blankly at Miyuki, confused. "Huh?"
Alisia looked at Lily, "She said its Sensha-do, or art of... tank stuff? She also asked if you understand... And Miyuki, Lily doesn't understand Japanese, try speaking in English, will you?"
Alisia was interrupted as the president clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention.
"Order in the room, please! Now, if you have no experience in this sport, no problem! The club welcomes everyone, no one in Canada for the past 3 decades has ever played this sport, unless you're from the outside and have participated once, well... Your participation will be appreciated. This sport welcomes all students, if you're interested, just say yes to the school's email, which will be fort_nelson_academy , no spaces, all small letters. You can join any time you want."
Afterschool, Day time:
Alisia was walking back home with Lily, with Miyuki following behind, Miyuki then catched up beside Alisia.
"Hyaaa, Alisia-san-"
Alisia interrupted Miyuki before she could even speak further. "English please." Alisia asked in a weak and tired tone, yet still trying to sound polite.
"But you know Japanese! Right?" Miyuki asked in an energetic tone.
"Some bits of it, the last time I spoke with it was 5 years ago when I was 10 or 11." Alisia replied.
"Heee... Very unfortunate... But, where did you learn it from?" Miyuki asked again, still walking beside her.
Alisia went quiet before then she answered. "I lived in Japan for a few years."
"Ehh, why did you leave?" Miyuki asked, now curious.
"...Parents." Alisia answered in an annoyed tone.
"Oh..." Miyuki felt slight pity to Alisia, then when they were at the intersection, Miyuki walked towards the other direction, "Jaane! Mataashita." She waved at both Lily and Miyuki before then walking away.
Lily is now confused, "What did she just say?"
Alisia sighed, "Bye, see you tomorrow."
Alisia continued walking, and left Lily behind who was still confused, "Huh? Is that an answer or a farewell?"
"Both."
Harlington Residence, Dawn:
Alisia opened the door of her house after she unlocked it with a key, entering it before then taking off her shoes and grabbed it with her one hand. She walked back to her room and began undressing, going to the bathroom to clean herself.
After cleaning herself, she wore some new garments with a white dress, before then she laid down her bed, releasing a heavy sigh, now being all alone again. She started to regret not responding to her mother's call last morning, unable to respond due to her anger. She then looked around and she decided to start cleaning the house after a while, starting from the her room to the other sections of the house.
After a few hours, and later checking on things from her school, she then went to her computer desk in her room just beside the door. She turned it on, all while putting on her radiation glasses which she grabbed from her desk's wardrobe, before then she opened chrome, turning on VPN and headed to 4Chan, just looking through some posts. It can be seen on her chrome browser, that she's not using any accounts at all, instead using the guest mode, and started looking at people's post with a look of delight with people interacting with one another, some peaceful and some violent ones, some adult contents she saw which she immediately scrolled down the page to move to another. It is an activity which she quite liked.
She remembered getting caught watching some... Content, which in the end caused her father to drag her to the church to be educated. Such unpleasant memories it was, being educated by the priest about the dangers of porn and porn addiction, which she released another sigh, feeling glad that she's not broken. Another thought entered her mind, she was thinking whether to join the club or not, wanting to stay isolated and maintain a status quo, but in the other hand she also wanted to make her mother less worried about her lack of friends. Maybe joining tankery can get both of her parent's attention.
Alisia decided to open up email, and wrote down the school's email she heard before, and typed messages of her information using the school given email accounts, before then she clicked send. "Ahh, done."
Alisia's mind went blank, before then she decided to start researching about the sport, where she found many interesting things from history, teams and finding out that her nation made quite a long streak in winning the sport. "This is interesting..."
A few hours passed, now the sun has set down, replaced by the moon, darkness filled the surroundings, Alisia was back on the bed after researching. "I wonder if I can get a normal life..." She then yawned and slowly fell asleep, tired, she hugged onto a pillow, letting out soft snores.