"" Dialogue
'' Thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own "Strike Witches", so this is just a fan made.

Chapter 5: About the Past

(or the sins of the past)

Later that day, at night

The duo of Witches landed at the Yokosuka Base, and after signing a few papers regarding the use of the plane, they both got into a military truck that took them to Kamakura and to Yoshika's home.

"Mom, grandma, I'm home." Yoshika loudly announced, but the place was silent as it could get, only the engine of the truck could be heard, yet after a few seconds, it also faded away. Then a few barks were heard, and Yoshika's no-longer-a-puppy came to receive her, waggling his tail.

"You do remember me." She said petting his head, and seconds later it could be heard that someone else was coming.

"Yoshika!" Sayaka exclaimed, not believing how was at the door, running towards her followed by Yoshiko at a slower pace and they both embraced her in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Sayaka said, "Shizuka and Major Sakamoto told us what happened since you've left for Helvetia, but we were still worried."

"I'm fine, mom." She said with teary eyes, "I'm so happy to see both of you." She added as she hugged them back.

Shizuka watched the scene with some wistfulness, as she had not seen her mother in a quite a long time, then she greeted them too, though she was still feeling uncomfortable recalling what happened the last time she saw them, but they seemed genuinely happy she was there, and that Yoshika was unharmed, just like they told them. But then Yoshika grabbed her hand, and all entered the house.

At the kitchen, Yoshika explained what had happened since the day she went back to Europe, how they liberated Berlin, how she approved the semester, her journey back home and she even explained why she was wearing a new uniform now. Moreover, she even told them that she had kept her promise to learn everything she could about western medicine, nevertheless, she omitted some of details.

While Yoshika was telling them everything that occurred, Yoshiko and Sayaka were about to prepare dinner for them, but Yoshika insisted on helping them and so did Shizuka. As they prepared it, Yoshika could notice that Shizuka seemed to be a bit more acquainted in the kitchen.

'She's cooking better, I bet she practiced after what happened in Calais.' she said to herself and sometime later, they finished preparing dinner and while they were eating, they continued talking until late in the night. The duo of Witches told them lots of stories of what happened in the road to Berlin and about the other witches too. As Yoshika's yawns were getting more and more common, they agreed it would better if they went to rest. Now, in their room, they put on their nightgowns, got their futons out and as soon Yoshika's was ready, she quickly got into it and Shizuka also did the same but not as eagerly.

The room was only lit with the moonlight and the only thing that could be heard was hoots at the distance. Both Yoshika and Shizuka were laying on the futon, yet only the former seemed to be sleep and while the latter was trying to sleep to no avail as she could not help it but recall the conversation, she had with Mio that morning.

"Yoshika, are you awake?" She whispered, but there was no answer, so she crawled to her, only to find she was already sleeping, partially covered in the blankets,]and even snoring though it could be barely heard.

Shizuka sighed. 'Well, there goes the chance to ask her, I cannot blame her though, she must be tired after traveling all the way from Europe and with the whole promotion.' Shizuka said to herself, yet she stayed there, sitting, contemplating her, and still wondering the reason behind Yoshika's retirement, until something caught her attention on the desk.

She stood up and began checking it. There were a few medals there and several pictures of her with the rest of the 501st, one of both when she first met her, and there was even a picture of Dr. Miyafuji. Then, she gently caressed the pictures of the rest of the Witches, smiling a little.

"I hope we meet again soon." She murmured and then she went back to her futon not before covering Yoshika well, and afterwards, she fell asleep as well.

The next morning

Yoshiko and Sayaka were currently having breakfast but to their surprise, Yoshika was not with them neither Shizuka.

"Yoshika hasn't woken up yet." Sayaka said wondering if something may had happened to her, she usually even helped them to prepare the breakfast when she did not have school.

"Let the child sleep, she's just came from Europe." Yoshiko added.

"She is a morning person." Sayaka said as she left the kitchen and went to check on them. She slid the door open, and there they were, profoundly sleeping, though they were in the same futon, hugging each other. There was no reason to disturb them as they seemed to be so calmed, so noticing that she closed the door quietly.

Later that day

Shizuka squinted her eyes as she tried to open them, and then she stretched herself in the futon only to end up touching something soft and warm.

'What is this?' She thought half-awake as she squeezed it, trying to understand what it was, only to realize Yoshika was there and her hand was holding her left breast, panicking she pulled off her hand.

'What's she doing here?' She wondered, red-faced but to her relief she did not wake up, 'that was close.'

'I would not mind resting a little more' she added gazing at Yoshika's empty futon, 'but it's late, I guess.' Shizuka said to her own head, processing what just happened.

She slowly got up, this time though, she did wake up her and Yoshika slowly opened her eyes only to notice that Shizuka was looking intensely at her.

"Good morning Shizuka?" She said with cheerfulness yet surprise in her voice.

"Good morning, Yoshika." Shizuka replied with a more serious tone, slightly blushed but Yoshika did not notice it. 'She didn't even know she's on my futon', she added wondering when she ended there with her or why.

Then, Yoshika got up and started to undress to put on her usual uniform, but as she did so, she noticed she was covered in sweat. 'It's not that hot, is it?' she wondered why she felt a bit warm.

"Hey Shizuka, would you like to take a bath? The two of us." Yoshika asked innocently, making Shizuka remember what happened the first time they took a bath together, the two of them alone, but at least this time, they were not in a ship.

Though, she was not sure of what to do but when she looked at Yoshika's expectant demeanor, she recalled hearing rumors about Yoshika's fancies from basically every one of the 501st and even herself had seen them but she had never tried that with her, at least not intentionally, other than the cushions comment. 'There's no way I can say no, is there?' After all, she would be staying here for a few days.

"All… right." Shizuka hesitantly accepted.

As they went to the bath, they noticed that it seemed no one was home at that moment as it nothing could be heard other than birds singing in the background.

"I bet they went to buy some groceries." Yoshika said but she was not really sure where they were.

As they entered the bathroom, Yoshika could notice that there were two buckets filled with warm water as a faint steam could be seen. Still, Yoshika also lighted up some firewood for the wooden bathtub and as she waited for it to warm up, Yoshika took off her clothes and so did Shizuka.

As Yoshika began bathing, Shizuka could notice that she seemed to be toner since the last day she saw her. Still, she could not get herself to bath, so she just stood there covering herself with a towel, waiting for Yoshika to finish so she could begin bathing.

"C'mon Shizuka, don't stay there." Yoshika asked her.

"I'm going- I'm going to wait for you to finish first." Hattori replied.

"The water will get cold." Yoshika added as she poured some on her, making her softly gasp.

'It seems it's already cold.' Shizuka thought but she put her towel aside and then started bathing, but to her relief, it was not as cold as she expected. Then, she began rubbing her back but suddenly she felt Yoshika's hand grabbing hers.

"Let me help you with that." She said and so she tenderly started to rub her back, making her do a strange noise and Yoshika did it for a little while.

"That's… enough." Shizuka added now embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." Yoshika replied with some disappointment in her tone and then she continued cleaning herself, until Shizuka grabbed her hand and did the same and she did so until the whole room was full of steam.

"I guess it's already warm enough." Yoshika said and then, she submerged herself on the bathtub.

"I really needed this." Yoshika said as she stretched herself up. "C'mon Shizuka, the water feels so nice." Yoshika said as she waved the water.

"Ok…ay." Shizuka still embarrassed entered the bathtub but as soon as she was inside, she realized it was on the smaller side, as she could feel Yoshika's body touching hers and they stayed speechless for a couple of minutes, just enjoyed the warm. While Yoshika and she had had baths together again; this felt different, maybe it was because there was not a lot of room inside. 'We're both girls, there's nothing strange here', she said to herself, but she could not get rid of her blushing.

But then, the silence was interrupted as scratching sound filled the room.

"What's that?" Shizuka wondered as she tried to find where it was coming from.

"Don't know?" Yoshika added as she stood up but when she tried to get out of the bath, she ended slipping on the spilled water, and ended with her head on the floor and her legs up.

"Yoshika, are you okay?" Shizuka asked red faced as she handed her a towel so she could cover herself up.

"Ouch." Yoshika groaned as she stood up and rubbed her head. "I'm fine." Then, she wrapped herself on the towel and opened the door, only to find her dog at the door.

"Hey buddy." Yoshika cheerfully said petting his head. "Wait for us until we get dressed." She slid the door closed and then both rinsed, dried, and got dressed quickly and got out of the bathroom. Now, wearing their usual clothes, the three went to the kitchen, and as they entered it, Yoshika noticed that his bowl was empty.

"That's what you wanted." Yoshika said as she put some food on it, but then, they realized no one was there. "I wonder where they are?" Yoshika asked, she was getting a bit worried but when they checked out the clock, they realized it was more than past midday.

Now, wearing their usual clothes, the three went to the kitchen, but there was still no one there. "I wonder where they are?" Yoshika asked, she was getting a bit worried but when they checked out the clock, they realized it was more than past midday.

They both went to look for Yoshika's mom and grandma and when they found them, they were at the clinic, treating a wounded patient. They were about to use healing magic, but Yoshika stopped them.

"Let me, please." Yoshika said with a smile, and both gave her some space. Then, Yoshika's ears and tail appeared, and the whole room became irradiated with Yoshika's magic. And the two of them were glad seeing how Yoshika seemed to be now in total control of her magic. Long gone were the days where she exhausted herself just trying to heal a single person. Though as Yoshika used her magic, they could notice that her ears and tail had grown too and seemed to be in a distinct color, it surprised them a bit, but she seemed to be fine, so they choose to not tell her anything.

Even Shizuka was happy to see that Yoshika could still use her magic without any issue after what happened. Shortly afterwards, the wound was closed as if nothing had happened. Then, Yoshika carefully put on his arm on a sling as it seemed he still had trouble moving it.

"There you go. Try to keep it steady for the rest of the week." Yoshika heartily added.

"Thank you doctor." The man added making Yoshika blush slightly, then he left the clinic. Sayaka and Yoshiko were still a bit surprised that she was so eager to treat a patient. While they knew she wanted to run the clinic in the future, she had never been this keen about it. Yet, they knew she still had a long way to become a full-fledged medic but as for now they could not be prouder of her.

She also seemed to have matured quite a bit, but it really did not come as surprise as she had been in the front lines for more than three years now. Still, they were happy that even after all she had gone through, she still was cheerful as she had always been. Although they wished she stayed here in Fuso, with them safe; they knew for a fact that sooner or later, she would have to return to the frontlines, but they could enjoy the time they could share together.

After that, they all prepared lunch and Yoshika even made some natto for her as it had been a while since she could eat it. Some time later, they all ate it together and after the Witches were done with the dishes, Yoshika got an idea.

"Shizuka, do you want to come with me to pick up Michiko after the school."

"Of course." She replied and shortly afterwards, they both began walking through the forest and although the sun was shining, the wind blowing kept it fresh and with the companion of songbirds in the background, it created such a nice setting, but Shizuka had other things in mind.

As they both were alone, it was the perfect chance for Shizuka to ask Yoshika about what Mio told her, but it took Shizuka a few minutes to find the courage to ask her.

"Miyafuji, I mean Yoshika, do you mind if I ask you a question?" asked Shizuka.

"No, of course not, what is it Shizuka?" Yoshika calmly replied.

"What happened after the battle of Britannia, I mean Major Sakamoto told me that you retired after that."

'The battle of Britannia.' Yoshika repeated to herself, it was painful memory for Yoshika, one she would rather forget. She believed Shizuka knew the story, but it seemed Mio did not tell what really happened, nevertheless Yoshika thought that she deserved to know the truth, she hoped though, to not regret it later.

"Well, I guess no one told you but it was not up to us to liberate Gallia, we were not even supposed to be part of the operation, in fact no Witches were."

"But Major Sakamoto told me the 501st destroyed the nest and I even been taught that at the Witches academy."

"That's true, we did destroy the nest but only after," she sighed, "after Marshall Maloney failed." Yoshika remarked with bitterness in her voice, though Shizuka did not notice it.

"I bet he regretted not letting the 501st participate." Shizuka added but Yoshika continued walking in silent, and only the wind blowing could now be heard. It seemed like an eternity had passed for Shizuka, she even started to believe that she had said something that bothered her.

"He didn't." Yoshika firmly admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Because… because he hated Witches." Yoshika swore.

"He hated… us?" Shizuka wondered bewildered, she knew that some people did not like the fact that upper brasses relied mostly on Witches to fight the war, but she was puzzled to hear that someone actually despised them.

"Yes, he did, he even had something ready to replace us" Yoshika swore.

"What could he replace us with?" Shizuka wondered.

"With some kind of machine," Yoshika coldly mentioned.

"A machine? He wanted to replace us with a machine?" She questioned perplexed, that was something new for her.

"It was a mecha called Warlock but… but during the battle of Britannia it went rogue."

"Rogue?"

"Maloney thought it would be a good idea to use a Neuroi core to fight the Neuroi, like fighting fire with fire but they lost control." Yoshika added in a neutral tone but Shizuka became more and more confused with the story.

"Yoshika, what happened then?" She asked wondering what kind of thing really happened as she had never heard any of this before. But there were not words coming out of Yoshika mouth, not even the wind, only the sound of their steps as they made their way through the forest.

"Yoshika, if you don't want to tell me, I understand", she told her as she softly grabbed her hand.

"It's not a problem, it's just that I…" she hesitated to tell her as her demeanor became gloomy. "I guess it's better if start at the beginning."

"Well, Perrine and I were having a mock battle if one could call it that." Yoshika sighed, "until a neuroi was spotted, Minna told us to wait for reinforcements but then I decided to go by myself."

'What she meant by that.' Shizuka wondered. "That could have been dangerous." she added realizing that back then Yoshika was still just a rookie.

"It was reckless, I know." She admitted, "but when I found it, it was something I've never seen or hear before, the neuroi was mimicking a Witch."

"A Witch like you and me?" she asked. with a questioning look.

"And not only that, but it also seemed it was trying to communicate with me."

"That sounds strange."

"I couldn't believe either and it seemed it wanted me to touch its core" Yoshika said.

"Did you… do it?" asked Shizuka.

"I couldn't because Major Sakamoto arrived at that moment, and she ordered me to shoot it but I, but I just couldn't." Yoshika confessed with her voice trembling.

"She shot it, didn't she?" Shizuka added not really noticing it.

"She did but…", Yoshika admitted and paused for a few seconds.

"I didn't know the Major's shield was not as strong as it used to be, and she was injured." She said with a few tears in her eyes. "I swear, I didn't want that to happen." she confessed with her voice full of sorrow.

"It was not your fault Yoshika." Shizuka tried to console her.

"But it was" Yoshika growled at her, then she took a breath to try to calm herself, "sorry about that".

'This is not going to end well.' Shizuka said to herself, still she had never heard that Major Sakamoto was injured because of Yoshika's disregard of orders.

"I did my best to heal her, and thankfully she woke up without any major injury, but Commander Minna was furious with me because I disobeyed direct orders, and she sent me to confinement." Yoshika admitted and while Shizuka could understand that orders were orders, how was she even supposed to know her shield was not strong if anything, everyone should have had been informed.

"I was in my room, alone, but I really needed to know what that Neuroi was trying to show me, so I snuck out of my room, and I went to the hangar and Lynne was there, she wanted to come with me, but I didn't let her because she would be in trouble too, and I just couldn't let that happen."

'Escaping from the confinement would make just it worse.' Shizuka said to herself, yet she knew Yoshika would not really care about it.

"Could you find it?" She asked with curiosity.

"Yes, I found it."

"And what is it really trying to show you anything?" Shizuka questioned.

"Its hive." Yoshika admitted with no hesitation.

"Did you… did you enter the hive?"

"I did."

"That was reckless! Who knows what could have happened there?" Shizuka argued rising her voice a little.

"I know." she growled a little acknowledging with regret what she did back then. Yet Shizuka realized that no one had entered to a hive before.

"And... what did you see?" asked Shizuka with concern.

"It showed me some pictures of something that looked like a Neuroi core in a laboratory and then I saw the warlock, I didn't know what it was then, though."

"Huh? that's weird."

"I thought the same." Yoshika made a pause, "but before I knew it, a beam came through the hive, I was almost hit but I did lose control of my unit and I almost crashed into the sea."

"A neuroi beam?" Shizuka asked.

"In one could call it that, thankfully Shirley and Francesca saved me, and all of them were there save for Major Sakamoto."

"They must have found you left your confinement by then."

"That was not the worst part, but Minna was enraged with me, and she ordered me to go back to the base." Yoshika stated with her voice fading.

'Commander Minna reacted better than what I expected.' Shizuka said to herself but there was no way Yoshika could go unpunished after what she did.

"What happened then?"

"When we arrived, I saw that there were many armed soldiers, and then the Warlock landed just behind them, I told them that it was the thing that the Neuroi was trying to show me, Maloney, of course, denied everything." Yoshika gulped to continue, "Commander Minna then spoke with him and before we knew it, the soldiers were aiming at us." she sniffed.

"Why would they do that?" she asked with disconcertment in her voice.

"He told me that…" Yoshika hesitated "that… because I escaped from my confinement, I deserted my squad" she said with teary eyes "…and then…. he said Minna had disobeyed orders by not shooting me down the moment she'd spotted me."

"What the heck!?" Shizuka fumed, she could not believe what she just heard, she knew what Yoshika did was a serious misconduct but shooting her down was too much, way too much of a punishment. She was a just young girl for crying out loud, enlisted in the military, fighting in the frontlines, risking her life to liberate a country that was not even hers and that was how they paid her?

"And because of her disobeying orders, the chain of command was broken, he took control of the base and dissolved the Strike Witches, he told me that it was all my fault", she added leaving a trace of tears behind her.

"It wasn't your fault, Yoshika." Shizuka softly added, yet it did not seem to do much, by that time, she was regretting asking her, just for the sake of curiosity, she had made her cry. This was the second time she had seen her crying, and it was all her fault over again.

Yoshika wiped a few tears of her face. "But… but I knew it was, and I passed out, when I woke up, I thought it was just nightmare, but everyone was there, with their luggage and then, I realized that it wasn't a nightmare, everything was real." She continued, "they told me it wasn't my fault, but I really messed it up for everyone."

"Yoshika…" Shizuka softly added as she held her hand.

"When I…. when I… I joined the Strike Witches, I just wanted to protect people, I never wanted to end like that." She admitted.

"But even still, I told them that I saw the Warlock in the hive", she said with bitterness in her voice, "but Commander Minna told me that there was nothing we could do now, and we must leave the base, and part our own ways".

Even after two years, Yoshika still regretted what happened during the battle of Britannia, she regretted what happened to Mio and to the Strike Witches, while it was true that everything went fine after that, yet had it not, there would be no one to blame but her and only her.

By then, Shizuka could only listen regretfully as Yoshika was still sobbing, and she could not think in a way to cheer her up.

"Major Sakamoto was still injured, and she was using a wheelchair and Perrine offered to escort her all the way back to Fuso as she did not have a home to return, so the three of us boarded the Akagi."

"But…. but… how was the hive destroyed?" Shizuka asked softly.

"On the Akagi we could see that the Warlock annihilated several Neuroi from the hive and then, the Neuroi started to shoot themselves, until only the Warlock remained."

"Shooting themselves? That sounds… that sounds bizarre."

"If we didn't see it by ourselves, we wouldn't have believed either, but the Hive was still there but then the warlock became black."

"I guess that's when it went rogue" Shizuka added.

"Yes, and it started to shoot everything in its path, even the Akagi and it started to sink." Yoshika sighed.

"How did you, how did you manage to escape?" Shizuka asked.

"Major Sakamoto had a Striker Unit hidden under her wheelchair, so I decided to use it to defend the Akagi from the Warlock however I could." She firmly said, "I was barely holding it back but thankfully the rest came to back me up."

If the Warlock could sink the Akagi, there was no way Yoshika could take down all by herself.

"And could you take it down?".

"Lynne could or that's what we thought, but when it sank into the sea, it merged with the Akagi."

"That sounds like a nightmare." Shizuka admitted.

"It really was, but Perrine, Lynne and I managed to make our way inside, to the core, and I use my striker to destroy it and to everyone's surprise the hive vanished." Yoshika said with a rather small smile on her face.

The story of the destruction of first hive was strange to say the least and now Shizuka could more or less understand why its details were always contradictory and no one really wanted to talk about it when she was just a student.

"What happened to you after all of that?"

"The order of disbandment was official and there was nothing we could do so we all went our own ways." Yoshika added as she cleaned her face.

"I guess that's why you retired." added Shizuka.

"I went back to Fuso, and I never heard anything else from the Fuso Navy so I guess you could say so, still I didn't really care about that, but I thought I still belonged to the reserve."

As they walked through the forest, Shizuka noticed that someone was following them as sticks could be heard being step over. She became worried as she did not know what it was, until a bear appeared in front of them. Shizuka frightened grabbed Yoshika's hand to flee from that place, but she did not move.

"It's fine, he's my friend." Yoshika stated not moving a bit.

"He's your what?" Shizuka asked as the bear got closer and closer to them and her legs were starting to shake. To her surprise, Yoshika started to pet the bear. She could not believe what she was seeing, and she was even more stunned when she saw that Yoshika got over the bear.

"C'mon Shizuka." Yoshika said and then she grabbed her hand and before she realized it, she was ridding the bear too.

As the bear continued walking steadily, Shizuka could still not believe it but at least Yoshika was smiling again as she petted the bear, that was better, but she still could not understand the fact that the Fuso navy never communicated with her again even after all she did.

"And what happened when you were back here in Fuso." Shizuka asked.

"Well, I resumed with my studies, and I graduated from Junior High, and sometimes I even backed cakes for the crew at the port, they were always kind to me." Yoshika continued, "I still wanted to know how everyone was, so I usually asked them if they knew something, but they didn't, though I received letters from them every now and then."

"One day, Major Sakamoto, Lynne and Perrine came to visit me all the way from Gallia, we talked about what we had been doing but Sakamoto told me there were still no plans for a reunion", Yoshika said with a hint of disappointment. Yet Shizuka, still wondered when she met the Hero of Libau.

"When did you met Lieutenant Karibuchi?" Shizuka asked as it was the thing only missing.

"Oh yes, I was getting to that part, one day, some military personnel came to the school, looking for me, they told me that a Witch was injured in battle, and they needed my healing magic, so I went with them right away to a Witch Hospital at Maizuru, they even let Michiko come with me."

"Why would they need your help?" asked Shizuka with curiosity.

"She had been a coma for about three months and after using healing magic for a few days continuously, she finally regained conscious, she was really confused and even mistook me for her sister, but I don't know what happened after that other than that she went back to Europe." Yoshika stated.

"I didn't expect her to be in a coma." Shizuka commented.

"Me neither, the nurse told me that she was injured protecting her sister and a whole fleet of ships. Lieutenant Karibuchi was really thankful for my help and before she departed to Europe, she even told us that she had settled on something with the navy but she couldn't tell us more."

'I wonder what she did'. Shizuka wondered.

"After that we went back home, and I did not hear anything else from the Witches or the navy until one day another letter from my father arrived."

"Another letter from Dr. Miyafuji, huh?" Shizuka could not help but wonder how a letter could have arrived after such a long time, she knew Dr. Miyafuji passed away went Yoshika was just a little girl.

"That's what I thought, it had some kind of designs, but I didn't understand what they meant so Michiko and I went to ask Major Sakamoto." Yoshika said, now more calmed.

"I heard a bit about that."

"When we arrived, Hijikata was there and I gave him the letter, then we heard a distress call from Lynne, she said that a new Hive appeared near Venezia, and they needed reinforcements right away." Yoshika made a pause, "I needed to find a way to help her, after all, she is my best friend." Yoshika stated.

'Her best friend', Shizuka remarked to herself, but she could not blame her after all they went through together, "that's when you went back to Europe" Shizuka added with a hint of sadness.

"Not really, Major Sakamoto arrived at that moment, and she told me they can handle it by themselves", Yoshika gulped, "and then she told me that I was no longer a soldier, so I better went back home."

"You were no longer a soldier?" Shizuka added, 'that can't be true, can it?' Shizuka thought, because even if she did not belong to Joint Fighter Wing, a Witch do not stop being a soldier just like that, unless the order of disbandment was not that but an order of dischargement. 'Could had she been discharged? That can't be right, can it? There must be other reason.' She reasoned.

"I also couldn't believe it, I thought I belonged to the reserve, but I guess I was wrong." Yoshika sighed in disappointment.

"Then I noticed that they loaded a new striker unit in the same plane of the Major's, I realized she wanted to use it to fight with her weakened shield and I could not let her do that even I weren't a soldier anymore." Yoshika boldly said.

"I know you boarded the plane with her, but how?" Shizuka asked her.

"I went back to the base, and I found a Striker unit and I wanted to catch to her; The crew men were hesitant to let go of me, but Michiko convinced them." Yoshika said.

"It seems they trusted you." Shizuka commented.

"I guess so, and I caught up with her and I convinced her to let me go to Europe with her." Yoshika stated.

"And what about the letter? Did something happen with it?", Shizuka asked.

"The letter helped the engineers to complete the Shinden." Yoshika added.

"So that's why the Major told me the Shinden was designed specifically for you." Shizuka noted but it still made her wonder how a letter that must have been written at least five years ago helped to complete one of the newest models of Striker Units, and one that required such a raw power to even just make it run.

"Commander Minna told me the same too." Yoshika added with a soft smile.

As they got closer to the school, Yoshika realized that it would be a bad idea to arrive ridding a bear. "Thank you, you can leave us her." She said as she petted his ears.

To Shizuka's surprise, the bear sat to let them climb down, and they did so and shortly afterwards the bear disappeared into the forest. And they both continued walking speechlessly for a few minutes thinking about what they just talked.

Shizuka could still not believe what just happened, even now she was still shivering but now that she thought about it, it was not that surprising that Yoshika could befriend a bear, she had always been friendly towards everyone.

But now she understood why the battle of Britannia was rather taboo topic at the Witches school. Still, she could not help but wonder, why Major Sakamoto hid the whole true of her, sure she could understand the fact that she skipped some details regarding Yoshika but still, did she not trust her?

Author notes.

* It happened in the novelization of the movie, they both ended locked up in the bathroom.

Now some of you may be thinking that Shizuka may have already know about the whole dishonorable discharge Yoshika faced, but there was no way she knew.

In the movie, it could be seen that Shizuka idolized Yoshika and she was very disappointed when she found out that Yoshika didn't acted like a soldier, so there is no way, Shizuka knew that Yoshika was basically kicked out of the Fuso Navy for more or less disregading orders.

Now, don't worry this is going to be the only time I retell an episode of the anime(s) (or several) and from the manga as well, but it needed to be done to move the plot forward.

I hope to have the next chapter ready before the next weekend.