The whole week; the first whole week of school and she hadn't seen or even heard anything about Miho. She had been worried sick about her ever since they last saw each other directly after the incident. She hasn't responded to any of her attempts to contact her, she wasn't at any of her usual spots especially at times when she knew Miho would most definitely be out and about. While she had no direct information about what happened to her after the tournament, she knew well enough about her family that it wouldn't have been pleasant or relaxing, only adding on to her worrying. She had tried asking some of her friends and fellow students but none of them knew Miho personally like her or just acted as if she didn't even exist, only making her frustrated.
While she had tried to ask Maho, but as soon as she told her she had a question to ask, she'd always say the same thing, "follow the chain of command," aka talk to Erika instead of me. The problem was that every time she did get to ask Erika, she'd either brush the whole thing or just scold her for "showing any care for that failure of a tankery student." She kinda understood why Erika didn't like Miho since she had defeated her when they dueled to see who would be the vice-commander for the tournament last year, but the hate in her voice was just so annoying right now.
At the end of the week she finally had enough of going in circles, if Erika didn't know anything or just refused to say if she did, then she'd have to ask Maho and not relent until she got an answer out of her. When her last class ended, she quickly headed over to the office of the tankery commander before too many students would arrive and they'd start preparing for the day's practice. Knocking on the door she waited a few seconds before she heard a voice behind it ask, "who is it?"
"It's me commander, it's Koume Akaboshi," she answered back.
Koume thought she heard a sigh of frustration, before clearly hearing, "you may enter." As she opened the door and stepped into the office, she could see Maho working on a small stack of paperwork not even bothering to look at Koume as she entered. After finishing the current sheet of paper that was in front of her, Maho then looked up at Koume just in front of her desk, "can I help you Akaboshi?" she asked in her usual cold yet professional tone.
"I think you know why I'm here," Koume responded, starting to get frustrated by yet another attempt to stonewall her.
Sighing, Maho asked a question she herself knew the answer to already, "it's about her isn't it, Miho?" Seeing Koume nod her head in answer, "I already told you before, please follow the chain of..."
"I did, multiple times," Koume said almost to the point of yelling, cutting off Maho before she could finish her sentence. "Do you know what I got from that?" Koume asked, her annoyance clearly showing on her face. "Nothing, squat, it's as if everyone here is acting like Miho wasn't even here, but vice-commander Itsumi is the worst of all. Either she'd brush her off like everyone else or speak of her with such vile and hate that one might think she had a personal vendetta for Miho." Slamming her hands down on the desk and leaning forward, "Commander Nishizumi," she starts, looking directly into Maho's eyes, "with all due respect, I believe that I have a right to know, not just because of her actions which saved not only my life but also my tank crew, but also because I'm her closet friend, if not the only person besides you who she could call a friend: WHERE IS MIHO, IS SHE STILL GONNA BE COMING TO THIS SCHOOL," as Koume bombarded Maho with her questions, tears began to well up in her eyes, "IS SHE OK AND AM I GONNA BE ABLE TO SEE HER AGAIN?"
On the outside Maho seemed to whether Koume's onslaught, but on the inside she was trembling. She hadn't expected this from Koume, she knew her and Miho were close, but she was still surprised by her sheer determination just for information on Miho's condition. Sighing in defeat she relented, "ok, I'll answer your question although I already know you're not gonna like it."
Koume leaned back a bit, seemingly surprised that she seemed to get through or rather break through Maho's defenses. "What happened to her?" she asked less aggressively.
Maho, looking down and away from Koume, "after we got back home from the last tournament, as I'm sure you could guess, Miho was already a bit shaken up after the incident. But worst would soon come, our mother was waiting for us and she made us sit down with her in the meeting area. She immediately began to berate Miho over her actions and basically integrated Miho's explanation right out of her. But after Miho tried to explain as best she could, mother seemingly lost it, she started yelling at Miho, lecturing her about the way of our school and our family and the ramifications of our loss. But when Miho tried to object either to repeat what she had said before or even to possibly explain what would've happened if she hadn't did what she did, our mother basically shut down her argument and shut her up." As Maho was recounting these events, she very subtly began to shake with fear and horror. "I'd never our mother act like that before, I… I couldn't even imagine that she'd be willing to go that far against Miho. She at that point was doing nothing but verbally and maybe even emotionally abusing Miho during her outburst, throughout it all Miho was at first frozen, then she started to turn pale with dread, and near the end I could swear she looked on the brink of tears. It all ended with mother basically telling Miho that she was no longer a part of our family, she'd turn in the paperwork the next day. She promptly kicked Miho, who at that point had already started to cry out our home, not even giving her any time to pack a bag to take with her, she just threw her out with only the cloths on her back and what she happened to have on her then and there which wasn't much. I didn't have many chances to try and find her, I tried to take the few I did but with no luck, I never saw or heard anything from or about her again; even now, the sounds of her crying as she ran outside into the storm that was already hitting hard that day, they still haunt me."
Koume couldn't believe what she had heard; no, it was more like she didn't want to believe what she heard. Her face was as pale as a ghost and she felt so sick that she might just vomit then and there. But she quickly steeled herself, "even if that maybe true," she started. "I'm not giving up on her, even if you couldn't find her, I believe, no I know I can find her." She declared before turning toward the door.
She was about to start walking when Maho spoke up, "if you want to try your luck, I won't stop you, but if Erika thinks that this might be interfering with your duty to the team and reprimands you, I won't stop her either." She outlined her conditions to Koume. "Do you accept this and any other risks if you decide to pursue this further, Koume Akaboshi?"
Without turning back around to look at Maho, Koume answered back, "I do, I will find Miho," she declared, holding her clenched fist to her heart, "whatever it takes." After that Koume opened the door and subsequently left the commander's office.
Maho didn't exactly know how to handle this sudden turn of events. On one hand, she was glad that someone other than herself cared so strongly about Miho and unlike her, didn't seem too afraid to make that known. But on the other hand, she figured that if she couldn't find her sister, she doubted Koume's chances, but also, she feared that her desire could potentially interfere with her commitment to tankery team. For now, all she could really do was silently wish Koume luck in her quest.