Blazepanzer here, and chapter five is ready! Just wanted to thank all of you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Note: Blazepanzer does not own Girls und Panzer!
"Attention all members of Ooarai's Sensado team in addition to Hanoashi and Kelly, please convince in the orientation room. I repeat...
Taeko glanced out of the cell as she heard the sound. "I wonder what all this is about?" she asked.
"No idea," Aoi yawned. "Yesterday was a shock with the whole power going out like that."
"Hey, at least they mostly left us alone after that," she smiled.
"I guess, still," Aoi let out a small sigh. "I hate being locked up in here."
"We all do," Taeko agreed softly. She flinched as the door opened, and walked slowly down the halls, soon finding herself in the orienteering room.
"Alright girls, I know it's been a tough three days for you all, two in our newest member's case, but now your life in juvenile is going to truly begin," the briefer began, a boy in an orange jumpsuit. "You'll be receiving a letter with your job on it, which you'll begin after breakfast and morning exercises. No, you may not change your job and no you may not swap your job. This is prison and whatever job you get is what you get. Don't like it, you shouldn't have broken the law!"
Taeko watched as the girls were handing a small fold-able envelope with their name on it. As she received hers, she gazed at it uncertainty for a while, apprehensive as to what her prison job would be. Opening it up, she let out a small squeak as she realized she had two jobs.
"Ah yes...some of you will have two jobs," the boy glanced back at her. "Twice the fun!" he added.
Landry runner partner Kelly, morning. PC rebuilder, afternoon Partner Hanoashi...wait...as in computers? Taeko let out a shudder. Don't know much about that! I mean I can operate one, but all I've had were netbooks! How can I build a pc?
Hanoashi meanwhile received her slip, the Irish girl opening the letter, nearly salivating over the thought of working, which wasn't surprising considering the Katoni raised their children to love working. Taking responsibility and a strong work ethic where as strong a traits in her family as winning in Sensado was to the Nishisumi family.
"Morning, pc rebuilder, partner Riko...Afternoon, pc rebuilder, partner Taeko," Hanoashi whispered, barely audible. Glancing over at the blond haired girl, she noticed that her former bully was avoiding her gaze. As long as we don't have a repeat of yesterday we'll be good I think...
Gazing at Taeko, Hanoashi felt a small part of her soul soften at the sight of the brunet. Something about her intrigues me, she realized. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better!
"Alright, so that take's care of things on our end, you may head to the cafeteria. Do not forget your jobs and do not slack off, you don't want to get solitary for a week!" The boy left without another word.
Either he's shy, not taking chances, or just hungry, Hanoashi realized, rising up and walking out of the door.
Kelly joined her. "You hungry?" she asked.
Hanoashi shook her head. "Still getting used to the larger meals," she admitted.
"Yeah, we were lucky to find what we managed to find, but still it wasn't all that much," Kelly admitted.
"I'm sorry," Hanoashi whispered.
"It's not your fault," Kelly smiled at her in return. "We were just trying to survive, and we did so long enough that things turned out alright for us in the end."
"Ye...shh...we're not supposed to be talking, remember?" Hanoashi reminded her.
"Too late!" one of the guards called. "You'll skip exercise and breakfast as punishment!" she added. "Now you coming or do I..."
"We'll come, we just honestly forgot ma'am," Hanoashi bowed.
"Very well then," the guard grasped both girls by the arms and guided them to an open cell, pushing them in. "Wait there, I'll be right back," she growled.
Hanoashi sighed, her eyes widening when the officer came back with two gags and rope. "What, you didn't think that punishment would be light, right?" The officer laughed.
Tears where flowing down the Irish girl's eyes as she realized that she was to be bound up and gagged.
Taeko entered the laundry mat, unsure of her herself. I've never ran Landry like this! I mean sure, I took my clothes in, but that was just a basket or so, this is...many baskets!
"Right, the new ones!" a man in black hair growled, his thin green eyes intimidating.
Frightened, Taeko joined Hana, Asuza, and to her surprise Kelly. I didn't see her or Hanoashi at breakfast, so I feared the worse. Glad to she that she's alright at least, she let out a small breath, though still fearful of the man watching over them.
"Right, you'll be the new runners!" he growled. "Senenson, Ana," move to form the new lines, Taeko and Kelly will be running them! Hana will be fetching the dirty clothes and Asuza will be carrying them to the finished line, understood?"
"What does being a runner mean," Kelly asked gently.
"It means you run the wet laundry to the dryers, understand!"
"I...understand!" Kelly nodded, gazing down in submissive.
"Good, now take your positions!" He growled.
Taeko let out a small quiet sigh as she realized what her job would intel, carrying a load of wet laundry over to the other side as well as waiting. Gazing over to the other side of the room she realized that it was about 650 meters in length.
"You ready?" Kelly asked beside her.
Taeko let out a small yes, before noticing that Hana had brought in the first load. Two washers on top of each other were assigned to their group, and they were three lines so to speak.
"Six pairs per washer, remember that!" The boy in charge commanded.
I miss the Ooarai morals committee. Sure, they might have been a bit bossy, but they were just trying to keep everyone in line. Granted, so is he, but still...it feels different between being chided by a former student compared to being commanded by a fellow prisoner, and one of the opposite sex at that!
"Alright girls, here's the rules for the newbies, you're going to be assigned biased on motherboard architecture," a girl with russet hair announced. "You and your partner will be building the computer together, with your partner organizing the parts while you begin building the pc. Once organized, your partner will begin to build the pc as well. If your partner doesn't know how to build a pc and you do, it's your responsibility to teach them! If neither of you know how to, then I or another in charge will teach you. If you break any of the rules, then you get solitary for up to two months! Everyone understand?"
Hanoashi nodded as she affirmed that she understood the rules, Riko nodding beside her.
"Good, now get to your stations and get to work!"
Walking up to the station with their names on it, Hanoashi glanced over at all of the parts. "Guess we ought to get started," she shrugged.
"I'll sort the parts," Riko offered.
"You sure?" Hanoashi asked.
"Yeah, I'm still feeling guilty about the whole incident and you'd be my Kohai had it not been for Ami kicking you off the team and all that."
"Hey, don't worry about it, I forgive you...and I understand why you were so mad at me," Hanoashi smiled gently.
"Thanks," Riko blushed, gazing down gently for a bit before beginning to short the parts out. "Do, you know how to build a computer?" she asked, glancing up at her curiously.
"I've worked part time as a builder before, but only built two for myself on my own." Hanoashi confessed. "Both out of used parts I scoured at various resale shops and yard sales."
"Why scourer for used parts though?" Riko asked as she organized the ram into proper modules, two per slot.
"Partially because by the time I was old enough for a computer, my mother, Yu, had passed away and my father, Drake, unable to work, had to live on the money we saved up. However...he wanted me to have access to the internet, so yeah."
"I'm...sorry about your mother," Riko whispered quietly. "May...I...wait...I think I remember reading about her..." she began to shake.
"Erwin, what's wrong?" Hanoashi asked.
"She was a Matsumino, right?" Riko whispered.
"Disowned for marrying my father, but yes," Hanoashi stated, looking very confused. "But what's wrong with her being a former mat..."
"Shh..." Riko urged, glancing around to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully no one had been paying attention. "Keep that a closely guarded secret," she whispered.
"But why?" Hanoashi asked.
"Just trust me on this one, okay, Kohai?" Riko sighed, before pushing one of the cases and motherboards to her, along with the other parts.
"Alright...if you say so," Hanoashi sighed, going over the parts quickly. "Hm..." she mused. "Clawhammer..."
"Eh?" Riko gaped at her, as did some of the guards and overseers.
"That's the name of this processor. I know it because it's the one I used on the second PC I built, about a year ago."
"Why didn't you just buy one from this program? I mean they're only about 22,000 yen with a monitor, mouse and keyboard..." Riko asked.
"It's not the Katoni way," Hanoashi shrugged. "See, us Katoni are raised to have a strong work ethic, so we're not supposed to be taking the easy way out. I mean sure, going online and ordering a refurbished pc like this one might be cheaper and easier, but that doesn't mean we do it. Plus we were encouraged to gain as many skills in life, and computer building is a pretty useful skill so to speak."
"Ah, I think I'm starting to get your family now," Riko smiled.
"Sadly I'm a complete failure as a Katoni," Hanoashi whispered.
Riko let out a sharp gasp. "Don't down yourself like that!"
"It's true though," Hanoashi whispered, before gazing up at Erwin intensely. "You see, the other defining trait about us Katoni is that we're trained to take responsibility for our mistakes. And me staying on the run like that..."
"But from what you say not only were you framed, but it was an improper arrest," Riko began. "Why didn't you just turn yourself in and clear things up?"
"Partially because I'm afraid of prison...of even just being handcuffed. Or...I was afraid, now that I've gone though it a bit it's not quite as bad as I assumed it would be," Hanoashi sighed. "Not that I'd want to live my whole life here, but at the very least it's tolerable, if not unpleasant."
"Yeah, I hear you there," Riko sighed, before letting out a quiet smile. "That's the sorting done."
"One PC done," Hanoashi smiled in return as she did a final inspection of the work.
"You work fast," Riko smirked.
Hanoashi shrugged. "I read about twelve books before building my first PC, and another twelve hours of online tutorials before building my second, as well as before each time I took on part time work with Kelly, so I'm well studied on the manner."
"I only watched a few hours," Riko gazed at her, half confused and half admiring. "You Katoni must study the things you want to do a lot huh?"
"Well...we want to be proficient at what we do," Hanoashi nodded. "See, we can have the most strongest work ethic there is, and we can take responsibility for our mistakes until the cows come home, but if we don't understand what we're doing, then what's the point."
"Is the Katoni family big?" Riko asked.
Hanoashi shook her head. "We moved from an Irish enclave to Nishmari back in 1946 to help out with the agricultural project so to speak. We were small then, and most of the family has moved elsewhere since then. I've heard of a Katoni living in Sapporo and in Hokaaido, as well as one family supposedly living in Seoul. But I've never really met them, it was just me and my father after mom died."
"You an only child?" Riko asked, as she finished a computer of her own and moved on to the next one.
"No, had a brother named Nova, but he moved in with a relative in America back when mom died. He and I were close, even if we bickered a bit now and then. Game me all sorts of nicknames as well."
"Gotta say Hanoashi is a bit of a mouthful," Riko admitted.
"Yeah, I was always jealous of Rikona's name, it's simple yet pretty. My name is pretty as well, but in addition to being a mouthful to say it has a rather silly meaning," Hanoashi sighed. "Plant foot? I mean who names their daughter that?"
"But it's a pretty name," Riko noted. "As is your middle name, Amelia."
"I prefer Hanoashi though, given the fact that I'm living in Japan. Granted, I may be Irish-dutch genetically speaking, and completely Irish in looks, but still, I want to live the way my fellow citizens do."
"That's admirable." Riko noted. "Though, may I ask why that is your middle name?"
"It's what my parents would have named me if I had been born in an English speaking nation," Hanoashi admitted.
"Speaking of names, did you have a nickname? I mean I know we can't say them, but we can share them at least once, right?"
Hanoashi glanced over at one of the guards who nodded permission. Turning back to Erwin she smiled. "Blaze...my nickname was Blaze after my ginger hair, though at the time it was more of a red."
"That's a nice one," Riko smiled. "I went by Erwin, after Erwin Rommel. He's...my favorite historical Figure so to speak." She then frowned. "Paying for it though given all the guards refer to me as a neo-nazi."
"You don't seem like one, though," Hanoashi noted.
"I'm not, but still the guards are using every jab they can at us. They call Aoi fat, Taeko a murderer, Hana delicate..."
"And me a runaway," Hanoashi sighed. "But in my part it's true."
"Hey, at least you're getting the punishment over with," Riko enraged.
Taeko was huffing by the time the whistle blew, and she handed her last load over to Ana, before gazing around.
"You may rest and talk until it's time to head on out for lunch," the boy barked before leaning against the wall.
Taeko sat down quiet a ways away from him, clearly scared out of her wits. He could end me in one swipe! She had the sneaking suspicion the guy knew how to fight and even though they were other guards watching them, she didn't trust that they'd stop him from swigging at her, or if he decided that he wanted some of the ole Kondou pie so to speak.
"May I sit next to you?" a gentle voice asked.
Glancing up, she nodded, patting the ground next to her in invitation to the blond haired girl. "Of course Kelly," Taeko smiled.
"Thanks, you're really nice," Kelly smiled in return as she sat down, hunching her legs together. "What job to you have next?" she asked.
"Computer rebuilding with Hanoashi," Taeko sighed. "I'm nervous," she added.
"Hanoashi's really nice, so you don't have to worry about..."
"It's not her, it's my knowledge of computer skills, or lack there-of," Taeko added quickly.
"You're in good hands then," Kelly smiled. "Hanoashi knows about building computers, so she'll show you the ropes so to speak."
"You think so?" Taeko smiled. "Thanks, I feel better now," she added.
"She'd sometimes helped me in the summer, see...I bought and rebuilt computers as a side hustle along with my father and sometimes we'd hire her as a part time temp when he had too much stock on our hands," Kelly explained. "Though Hanoashi insisted on building her own computer using pars she found and bought personally, even though my father offered to give her the choice of the lot multiple times."
"She sounds like a hard worker," Taeko mused.
"Well yeah, I mean she came from the Katoni family and work ethic has always been major to them. Plus, she came from a poorer family, so she had to work to get the things she wanted," Kelly smiled.
"I...had no idea," Taeko whispered.
"She didn't grow up in poverty, though a lot of people in her shoes might have claimed so to get pity," Kelly explained. "But if she wanted a new dress, watch, video game, or whatever, she most often had to work for it. Not that she minded as she enjoyed keeping busy."
"And she did all that while joining the Sensado team?" Taeko gasped.
"Hey now, I repaired computers on the reg while being top swimmer on the swim team, so it's not that surprising," Kelly laughed.
"Wait, you where on the swim team!" Taeko gasped. "Did...did you want to become a professional swimmer?"
Kelly gave her a shy smile in response. "Kinda, though really I preferred repairing computers and electronics. Sure, if I was offered a position on a professional swim team I'd take it, as I could always get licensed and go into computer repair and building later on if it didn't work out, but mostly I just liked the feel of water over my body and wearing a bikini."
"Ah...I see...reason I got excited was that before I jointed the Sensado team, I was on the volleyball team and wanted to become a professional player, but unfortunately Ooarai shut down their team and me and my friends decided to join the Sensado team together."
"So you'd be together?" Kelly noted.
"Meh...we thought that if we joined the Sensado team and did well that we'd get our volleyball club restored. Halfway through though me and Shinobu decided that we'd just stick with Sensado. She was thinking about trying to become a professional tank driver where as I was still indecisive about my future."
"And then the finals happened?" Kelly guessed with a long tired sigh of sympathy.
"Yeah," Taeko scrunched her legs to her chest. "If we'd only listen to her..."
"Try not to dwell on what if's, okay?" Kelly urged. "Worry about focusing on the here in now, alright?"
"I'll do my best," Taeko promised.
Sitting down at the lunch table, Taeko froze as she was seated by three guys, all wearing arm bands, including the one from the dryers.
"Still scared by us guys huh?" one of them sighed.
"I noticed that you seemed to shrink from me in the laundromat," the guy shook his head. "You hiding something?"
"N...no," Taeko shook her head, getting enough gusto to force herself to sit by them.
"Well, if you insist, name's Feno," the laundrymat guy introduced.
"Flectcher," a guy with tank skin shrugged.
"Mako," the third guy shrugged.
"Taeko," she introduced, taking a bite out of her SOS as it was called.
"We know," Flectcher smirked. "Being part of the prison's moral committee, it's our job to know everyone by name and face."
"At least you found Hanoashi for us, those of us who were fans of her before our imprisonment were quite worried when we heard that she was wanted and on the run." Mako admitted.
Hanoashi sat down at her assigned table, sitting across from Saori, with Hana sitting next to her. To her right sat Aoi.
"So...I know what happened during the finals, but I haven't heard what..."
"We don't want to speak to you miss rudeness," Hana growled. Saori looked like she wanted to argue, but kept her mouth shut.
"I don't really know much, considering I joined in right before the finals, but I can tell you what I know," Aoi offered.
"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it," Hanoashi smiled.
"Okay, so I get an internet message from my online friend, Mai, stating that she found a type 3 Chi-ni at Ooarai. This was surprising because my friend normally had good online privacy discipline, but it told me that she went to the same school as I did. When me and Taki, our other internet friend exclaimed that we also went to Ooarai, she invited us to tank with her, and that's how we got on the team."
"Finding that Chi-nu was an excellent addition to the team! Where did see find it?" Hanoashi asked.
"In a parking garage," Aoi admitted.
Hanoashi shook her head. "I knew I should have taken the rabbits to look for other tanks," she muttered.
"At least me and my online friends got to meet each other irl, and it was a relief to discover that we where honest about our general age and our gender. The way people are online, you never know," Aoi smiled, before frowning. "Unfortunately no one told us that operating a tank without certification was a crime."
"It kinda of has to be that way Aoi, I mean...it's all to easy to injure or kill someone else, or yourselves," Hanoashi deadpanned. "Not that you'd get any instruction from that school if my experience taught me anything."
"Yeah, it ultimately would have been for the best," Aoi sighed.
"Why did Ooarai even start their Sensado team anyway? I know they mentioned the ministry of education wanting to strengthen their Sensado teams for the upcoming world tournament, but if they wanted to do that they could have also invited us co-ed and male academies." Hanoashi shrugged.
"Hanoashi..." Saori began slowly. "Ooarai was...we were fighting to save our school..."
"Save your school...how the Maus is haphazardly restarting the Sensado team supposed to save your school?" Hanoashi gaped.
"Oh that rich coming form you considering you assaulted Ami Chono and that officer!" Hana hissed.
"First of, I went straight home after Ami expelled me from the team. Secondly, That officer just tackled me to the ground. No warning, no explanation, nothing! At the time I thought I was either being assaulted or worse, raped! It was only when I overheard the other officers ranting about what I'd done that I realized what had actually happened, and let me assure you that I would have turned myself in right then and there if they had not been...you're not listening are you?" Hanoashi realized.
"Absolutely not!" Hana hissed.
"I'm listening," Saori glared at Hana in exasperation, before turning back to Hanoashi. "I really should apologized to you, it was my phrasing that game Miho that stupid idea," she sighed.
"Miho's the one who came up with and ordered the execution of the move, and she knew better, or should have," Hanoashi growled.
"How can you speak about your former friend like that!" Hana shouted.
"Alright that's enough, Hana, Saori, Aoi, Hanoashi, come with me," one of the guards noted.
Not again! Hanoashi groaned, rising up and bowing. "I'm sorry sir," she whispered.
"Well...since you're the first to apologize, you may sit down," the officer allowed, before indicating the three to follow him. Each one gave her dirty looks, clearly pissed that the officer let her off easy when he did not with them.
The cook gazed at her curiously as she brought her lunch, but Hanoashi simply shrugged and said they were taken by an officer. Giving a small thanks, she ate her food quietly. Shit on a Single...must be an everyday food, but I'm not complaining. Much better than the meager portions Kelly and I found on a good day, much less on a bad day.
Letting out a stretch as she found herself in the computer building room, Taeko glanced around, walking up to the waiting ginger haired girl. To her surprise she saw that a solitary cuff on a long chain was attached to the table and let out a small sigh. And here I was thinking that if I saw another pair of handcuffs, it'd be too soon! Even if this isn't technically a pair...
"Looks like we're on the Pentium II line," Hanoashi noted as Taeko walked up.
"Pentium II?" Taeko tipped her head.
"Name of the processor line," Hanoashi shrugged.
"Is it any good?" Taeko asked, gazing at the parts warily.
"Meh...it'd be decent if we were back in 2002," Hanoashi shrugged again. "You know how to build a computer?" she added, gazing at her.
Taeko sighed and shook her head. "No...can you please teach me?"
"Sure, I'd love to!" Hanoashi smiled.
"Thank you," Taeko breathed. "Truth be told I'm kinda nervous," she added as one of the guards game and latched her wrist into the cuff.
"You'll be find, and the Pentium II's are a bit easier than the other processors," Hanoashi reassured her as the officer now latched her wrist into the cuff, walking off.
"Why's that?" Taeko asked, trying not to let the metallic ring on her wrist bother her.
"The Pentium II processor is sandwiched in a card, so you don't have to worry about thermal paste, or normally you wouldn't. We're supposed to replace it, so it's actually more of a hassle, but I'll handle them. For now, you just set back while I get the first PC ready, and then I can teach you how to build it while I separate the parts."
"Is that allowed?" Taeko asked. "I mean...I don't want to get into any trouble..."
"Don't worry, one of us has to sort out all of the parts anyways, so it's all good. Riko sorted them out earlier so it's my turn now." Hanoashi smiled, before taking one of the Pentium II boards and prying it apart.
"Looks like a lot of work," Taeko mused.
"Meh...I've done this part time before, so it's all good," Hanoashi shrugged.
"Yeah, Kelly told me about that," Taeko admitted.
"Miss working with her, ah those were the days," Hanoashi sighed wistfully. "But I'm eager to be working with you and Riko as well."
"You getting along now?" Taeko asked, surprised. "I mean, she did push you and all..."
"I understand why she did it," Hanoashi muttered as she applied a drop of thermal paste, before closing the board back up, setting it to the side while she grabbed some parts that Taeko didn't recognize. "Tell me though, do you have any experience with computers?" Hanoashi asked. "I mean operating them or..."
"Meh, I barely know how to use my Asus Eee Pc netbook," Taeko sighed.
"Netbook huh, heard conflicting reports about them," Hanoashi mused, before an officer came up and latched her cuff from the table. "Long as you don't try anything we'll let you work beside her for the first build," he explained.
Sliding the parts and a case toward her, Taeko felt butterflies in her stomach as she stared at the assortment of parts. "This is so daunting," she whispered, frightened by the prospect.
"First, you overlay the motherboard on the paper and mark where the holes are," Hanoashi instructed.
Picking up the motherboard, she did so hesitantly, scared that she was about to mess up big time.
"Relax Taeko," Hanoashi whispered gently. "It's daunting at first, but once you've built this one it'll get easier."
"Right," Taeko breathed as she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself down, before laying the board on the table. Taking the pencil, she glanced at Hanoashi, trying to see if she was doing it right.
"Make sure you line up the corners of the side with the IO shield, the section with the ports facing outside the back of the Pc," Hanoashi continued to instruct. "Then mark where the holes are,"
Taking careful thought in how she did so, she marked the eight holes on the paper. "Now what?" she asked.
"Now, we take the stand offs and gently poke holes in the paper, making sure to take the motherboard off first. That will tell us where we need to screw in the stand off screws."
"What exactly are these things used for anyways," Taeko asked as she poked the holes in the paper.
"They separate the motherboard from the case, preventing electricity from passing between the case and board as well as holding the board in place. Also helps to somewhat protect the motherboard from bumps against the case."
"Wait...do we need any sort of protection to work on these?" Taeko asked.
"Only a metal wrist strap to prevent static discharges from our bodies damaging the motherboard, but our handcuffed wrist do the trick just as well," Hanoashi admitted.
"You've seem to have gotten better at dealing with being cuffed," Taeko noted.
Hanoashi gave her a small shrug. "Don't have much of a choice. Might even ask Yukaro to cuff and lead me around from time to time now that I realized that it's not as bad as I thought it would be."
"You'd let your husband do that to you?" Taeko gasped.
"Meh...I don't mind getting a little kinky," Hanoashi shrugged.
"Ew!" Taeko gagged.
"Rikona was always the one interested in bondage though," Hanoashi shrugged. "Always asking me if I'd try it."
"A Matsumino?" Taeko whispered.
"Not you too," Hanoashi groaned.
"No no, it's not like that I swear!" Taeko protested.
"You're whispering bout it though. Just what happened to my mother's former side of the family," Hanoashi muttered.
"Your mother was a Matsumino?" Taeko guessed. "Nothing wrong with that...although..."
"Former Matsumino, Yu was disowned for marring my father due to the Katoni being considered a more or less poor family name so to speak."
"I've seen Matsumino marry girls of the street," Taeko mused as she screwed in the last motherboard standoff.
"Yeah, the girls, marrying a boy off the street will find you on the street if you're a girl. Reason why I'm glad I was a Katoni instead of a Matsumino," Hanoashi smiled. "Now, let's go on ahead and screw in the other parts. For this we'll be taking these three parts and screwing them into the hard drive bay."
"Right," Taeko smiled, growing more confident.
Screw in the parts was simple, and Taeko found herself growing more and more fascinated by the process. "Hey, this is easy!" she smiled as she and Hanoashi finished up the first computer.
"Fun too!" Hanoashi smiled. "Maybe when you get out you can go into computer repair! You'd be good at it if you're learning at this rate!"
"Maybe..." Taeko glanced down, sadly. "Though to tell you the truth...my parents are probably going to disown me over my arrest...I've seen other members of the Kondou family get disowned for similar reasons a time or two."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hanoashi whispered. "If...if there's anything I can do to help, let me know."
The two girls stayed silent for a bit as Hanoashi was recuffed to her side of the table given that Taeko had been properly taught now.
"Missing Nova..." Hanoashi whispered as she went back to sorting parts.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you!" Taeko gasped, before glancing down. "Did...Nova ever mention me in the letters he wrote to you?" she asked bashfully.
"He mentioned dating a Japanese girl named Taeko...wait, that was you?" Hanoashi gasped.
"Yeah, see, my father's job often meant he worked overseas and I along with mother and eventually my little brother often had to move with his work. Anyways, me and Nova met at school and was assigned to a school projects, becoming fast friends. Cheesy I know, but he once asked me to go to an arcade with him one and after that...it was one date after another."
"But you had to call it off when you moved back to Japan?" Hanoashi gasped.
"I...hope you weren't too mad or anything," Taeko whispered.
"No, I understand," Hanoashi smiled reassuringly. "I mean...you were starting high school and he was about to finish it on top of the fact that you were moving across a ginormous ocean, so it was for the best."
"Hmm..." Taeko nodded. "Yeah, thing is that I met him briefly the night before we went looking for you."
"How was he?" Hanoashi asked, her voice becoming dry with guilt and longing.
"He was really worried about you and misses you deeply," Taeko smiled. "Oh...and he says that he wants to marry me when I get released."
"You know that means that we'll be sister in laws, right?" Hanoashi smiled in return.
"You're right!" Taeko gasped in surprise.
"This is so exciting!" Hanoashi beamed, before shoving a few piles of parts and two cases toward Taeko. "You finish these two and I'll do these three," she added.
"Right," Taeko nodded in determination. "You know, it's nice that they let us converse here like this, the Laundromat keeps to conversation minimum," she added as she began to work.
"Is the Laundromat hard?" Hanoashi asked as she too began to work.
"Well, if you're carrying a basket then you're dealing with about thirty-two kilo's worth of weight, and that's before the added weight of the water. Not to mention that you have about a six hundred meter walk between the washer and dryer so to speak." Taeko paused before continuing. "Lots of waiting in silence though...so it's more boring than anything. Not to mention that you have to do it about eight times, and sometimes the clothes aren't even dirty."
"Sounds like they're trying to keep you busy," Hanoashi mused. "But that's a good thing more or less."
"Yep! Believe me sitting in a jail cell gets boring!" Taeko yawned as if she was remembering.
"Your cell mate good company?" Hanoashi asked.
"Aoi's nice enough, but she get's quiet a lot. Probably missing her online games and friends," Taeko sighed. "You still rooming with Kelly?"
Hanoashi nodded in response. "Yep! She's been great, as long as we remember to keep quiet in the halls." She then let out a gusty sigh. "We forgot this morning had to spend this morning's breakfast and exercise section tied up and gagged in a temp cell."
"Wait, they actually tied you up?" Taeko squeaked.
"Not fun," Hanoashi muttered. "How the Maus Rikona found being tied up enjoyable is beyond me."
"She liked bondage?" Taeko whispered.
"Always asked me to give it a try, I refused. But...she was always there for me and never pressed it upon me," Hanoashi shook her head. "I...hope she's okay..."
"Miss Katoni?" a guard walked up to their table.
"Yes sir?" Hanoashi asked, standing at attention.
"You're wanted for an interview, we want to hear what happened at Ooarai that day. Taeko can handle the rest of your workload, given how well you've seemed to have taught her."
"Will you be okay?" Hanoashi asked.
"Yeah, don't worry bout me," Taeko smiled.
"Have fun then," Hanoashi smirked as the guard undid her wrist from the table, but frowned when he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "We have to cuff you to the interview table as a precaution."
"Fine," Hanoashi groaned. "Sorry, don't like handcuffs is all."
"It's fine," he nodded as he locked her wrist into place, before escorting her through the halls.
Making sure to keep her mouth absolutely shut, the ginger began to wonder. Are they going to send me to a real prison after all...or maybe they'll find me innocent...actually...no...i...I cannot accept this...it was my...
"In you go," the officer nudged gently, opening the door, revealing a blond haired police officer sitting behind the table. The first thing that Hanoashi noticed was that said officer kept a stern yet curious gaze on her as she was handcuffed to the table.
"Hanoashi Amelia Katoni, born April, eighth, 1997, right?" She asked.
Hanoashi nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
"I am Kat, an officer, member of the Free Jagdtigers, and investigator." she introduced. "I...know it's hard, but I'd like to hear exactly what happened during your short stay in Ooarai's Sensado team."
"Of course...all of it?" Hanoashi asked, trying to keep her wrist more or less comfortable while maintaining eye contact with her interviewer. Hard to do with your hands cuffed halfway across the table while being expected to sit up straight.
"As much as you like, although we're not all that interested in what happened after you left in terms of the assault on Ami Chono or officer Brewster."
"But I didn't assault Ami, I..." Hanoashi began, but Kat raised her hand up.
"Let me put it to you this way Hanoashi, you're going to be charged with two counts of assault and one count of running away. If you want the five year max sentence in the bad company program, along with the clean record and high school agree it comes with, you'd best just state guilty on all counts during your hearing. If you try to declare your innocents in that court room, you might get a quarter decades behind bars, easily."
"So I have to confess to something I didn't even do? That sounds kinda illegal," Hanoashi tipped her head, before sighing. "I did stay on the run though, and I feel guilty about not being able to protect Ooarai from making their disastrous decision, so fine, I'll do it."
"But you did try to warn them, right?" Kat asked.
"I was the second most experienced Sensado practitioner and a former team commander, it's my responsibility to make sure these things don't happen on my team and I failed to do that. As such, I feel like I'm responsible for the deaths of the girls who died and for those who have to spend time in prison, and thus I should also join them in jail for a bit at least..."
"That's an odd, yet interesting way to look at it," Kat nodded. "But you haven't told me about..."
"Well...to begin, It was a complete surprise, learning that Ooarai was going to restart her Sensado program," Hanoashi rushed into her explanation. "But given my expertise in being a team commander, I figured that I ought to join and help out as well. But...seeing Miho was also at the school, I kinda assumed that Shiho had sent her over on assignment, you know with her being the vice heiress of Kuromorimine. And I...I mainly focused on trying to train up the Rabbits, the name the M3 Lee crew eventually gave themselves after my departure."
"So, then what?" Kelly asked.
"We went out looking for tanks on our first day. You see...Ooarai only had the Panzer IV in the garage, so we had to go searching for tanks. I only know the origins of the Panzer IV, the M3 Lee, since I found that one, and I reacenly heard of the finding of the Chi-nu so to speak."
"Did you notice anything odd about the Stug or Panzer IV?" Kat asked.
"Honestly, I has having enough trouble keeping the Rabbits in line. Don't get me wrong, they were very good, well behaved girls most of the time, but they had a tendency to get detracted easily, and that combined with their lack of knowledge and enthusiasm to learn, it was a full time job."
"Alright, reason why I asked was because both the IV and the Stug had serious issues, with the IV missing a transmission cover and..."
"I'm sorry...a transmission cover?" Hanoashi gasped, before frowning. "A transmission cover?"
"Yes."
"What the Maus was Miho thinking!?" Hanoashi hissed.
"Apparently she wasn't," Kat growled.
"And the Stug...what was it's problem?" Hanoashi dared to ask.
"It was early close to a hull break, not surprising given the location where it was found."
"And no one noticed or bothered to care about these issues?" Hanoashi gasped.
"Nope! No inspections were done as far as we could see, although papers had been filled out."
"Anyways, the day my life changed forever," Hanoashi sighed. "Ami came in like a proud, arrogant knight on a horse. Almost literally."
"I would say that this is no time for jokes, but the other's told me about her entrance," Kat grunted.
"Completely unnecessary, reckless, not to mention she crushed the Headmaster's car anyways, or at the least Yuzu exclaimed 'Isn't that the Headmaster's car?!' when Ami drove over it."
"And then what?" Kat asked.
"Well..."
Taeko let out a yawn as she laid down on the mat, closing her eyes. "Aoi...I'm going to miss bunking with you," she sighed.
"Same, you're really nice Taeko," Aoi smiled, gazing out of the cell door. "So we see our parents tomorrow, right?"
"Seems like it," Taeko began, but paused as she heard gasp from the other cells.
Before she knew it, those gasped turned into hissed of two all familiar names.
Miho and Akibe.
"What are they doing here?" Aoi growled, a tad too sharply.
"No idea," Taeko gazed out of the cell. Suddenly, her door opened.
"Taeko, You are the most kindest prisoner of the Ooarai bunch, you'd you be willing to bunk with Miho or Akibe."
And I was looking forward to spending time with Aoi too, Taeko pouted, glaring at both of the girls. "Can I say no?"
"Miho it is then," the guard chuckled, beckoning her to follow.
With a resigned sigh, Taeko reluctantly followed, having to push her normally limitless patience to it's extreme to stop herself from punching Miho in the face.
"Um sir..."
"Hanoashi Katoni, need I remind you that talking in the halls..."
"With all due respect to the rules, I don't think that anyone of the Ooarai students should room with Miho, that's asking for a disaster. I'll agree to room with Akibe in exchange, and you can punish me all day tomorrow if it seems fit for speaking in the halls."
"You, Miho, Taeko, and Akibe can...wait...you'd give up visiting your father tomorrow?" The guard asked.
"My brother is wanting to marry Taeko when she get's out. As such she is my future sister-in-law. I'm willing to give up my visit tomorrow if it means Taeko doesn't have to room with the one girl she actually hates."
"You can room with Miho tonight and Akibe tomorrow night, then. Taeko, to your cell." the guard allowed.
"Yes sir!" Takeo bowed, turning to her friend, giving her a ever so slight smile before returning to her cell.
"The nerve of him!" Aoi gasped.
"Tell me about it, I'd have said yes to Akibe if he'd give me a moment to process that she was here, but he never did." Taeko hissed. However, as she gazed out of the cell window, one thought kept going though her mind.
Was Hanoashi going to be okay rooming with those two...