Prologue
It was a beautiful day on the BC Freedom Academy school ship. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. Of course, it was springtime, so this kind of weather was to be expected. Still, such a nice day can be appreciated whether it was expected or not.
A trio of Escalator students walked through a park near the BC Freedom Academy campus, seemingly enjoying the lovely day.
"Eh? Did you change your perfume?" one girl questioned her friend as they walked on the paved footpath.
"Indeed. It was a gift from my mother," answered a second girl.
"Hmm?" said the third, noticing something in the background.
It wasn't just something. It was none other than Ruka Oshida, the competent vice commander of the BC Freedom Senshadou team from the Escalators side. An average-sized girl, she was wearing the standard-issued BC Freedom school uniform: a long-sleeved white shirt with a red and blue necktie, a deep blue jumper skirt worn over, a royal blue cardigan on top of that, and a pair of Mary Jane shoes. She had shoulder-length, fluffy blond hair and blue eyes, and other than being competent, she was quite hot-headed, even arrogant at times towards the Examination students, and was frenemies with Andou, although she has been able to put all of that aside to achieve victory in battle. Indeed, Oshida was an interesting individual.
She had seemingly spawned out of nowhere and was sprinting towards a building at full speed from an off-angle from the group.
"Ah!" Oshida exclaimed loudly, noticing something interesting by her targetted destination. "Andou spotted! What's she doing there? I'm going to find her weakness and mess her up!"
The trio of girls watched as Oshida continued sprinting away, a somewhat mischievous smile etched on her face.
"Oshida is always so… energetic, isn't she…" commented the first girl. Her friends couldn't help but agree.
Meanwhile, Rena Andou was busy with another student behind the aforementioned building. Andou was also an average-sized girl with tanned skin, shoulder-length spiked-messy black hair, and brown eyes. She also wore the school uniform, albeit with one change. Considering how rebellious she is, she opts to wear her cardigan wrapped around her neck, like an impromptu scarf. Similar to Oshida, she is also hot-headed, seems to suffer from an inferiority complex, and seems to hold a grudge against the Escalator students. However, just like Oshida, she can put all of that aside to achieve victory. In many ways, she and Oshida are similar to one another, even if they deny it.
"I see…" Andou said with a sigh as if she was contemplating a difficult decision. "I'm sorry… I'm happy you feel this way about me… Thank you for the courage to tell me."
The two girls fell into a somewhat awkward silence. Andou caressed her neck and was visibly uncomfortable as if she were waiting for the girl in front of her to break down. The girl was still processing the words just said to her.
Oshida, on the other hand, was there to see the whole confession go down. Of course, she wasn't out in the open for them to see; even she had more tact than that. Instead, she opted to hide behind a large tree and peeked ever so slightly to keep an eye on the developing situation.
"Uwah?! Is this for real? She's being confessed to by a girl!" Oshida exclaimed to herself mentally, a look of confusion and wonder gracing her face and her jaw wide open. "I did hear rumors that she was actually pretty popular among the girls. But what's so good about her?!"
"Andou…" started the girl who just confessed to Andou, a crestfallen expression on her face. At the same time, it appeared she had already come to terms with Andou's rejection. "Are you already going out with someone?"
"No…" denied Andou rather shyly. "But… I do have someone I like."
Oshida gasped quietly in surprise. "Whaaaaaa!? That brainless girl who eats her lunch while sitting on a tank could even think about that romance stuff?"
"I guessed as much," the girl said, letting out a sigh of relief. "I was worried that you rejected me because I'm not pretty enough or your type."
"Oh, no, it's definitely not that!" Andou shook her rapidly to get the point across. "You are definitely pretty and perhaps under different circumstances, I would've reciprocated your feelings. It's just that I truly do have someone else in mind."
"Hmm, maybe I should film this. Maybe I can use it to blackmail Andou later," Oshida thought, an impish smirk on her face.
"Umm… I don't know how to say this but… is it Oshida?" the girl asked essentially out of nowhere. Even she seemed embarrassed to ask such a question.
Oshida brought her hand to her mouth to suppress her laughter. "Is that girl stupid? Where did she get that idea?"
Andou had a different reaction.
"Yes," Andou responded almost immediately. And the way she said "yes," you could tell she was serious.
"Eh?" Oshida just stood there dumbfounded. Seconds ago she was laughing to herself and now this revelation was dropped on her with no warning.
She continued staring from her hidden position as Andou continued talking.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh." Andou chuckled to herself. "Well, don't tell anyone, ok? I don't want Oshida to know… I want to keep it a secret from her forever…"
The girl nodded her head in acknowledgment. While she didn't understand Andou's motives or reasoning, she respected her as a person and so she would do what she was told. "Thank you Andou for indulging me in this secret. I will do my best to keep it with me. And I will be sure not to disclose Oshida of this information."
Andou nodded her head, grateful to hear her words. "Great, it means a lot. And again, I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings. If it means anything, I'm sure there's someone great out there waiting for you to meet them."
The girl blushed. "Kind words, thank you. I'm sure I'll find that special someone someday."
"Yeah, that's the spirit!"
With that, the two said farewell to each other and went their separate ways.
On the contrary, Oshida just remained in her hidden spot, apparently shell-shocked from admission bestowed upon her.
In all the confusion, she even forgot the reason why she ran over to Andou in the first place.
"Oshida? Are you listening? OSHIDA!"
"Hyaah!" Oshida exclaimed, snapping to attention.
A few hours had passed since Oshida witnessed the confession to Andou and the resulting revelation. Even though she was in the middle of Senshadou practice, she couldn't help but think about what had happened not too long ago.
"What are you daydreaming about?! You're gonna get run over by a tank!" shouted Andou, approaching Oshida. While she sounded annoyed, it was clear to see that she was just as concerned about Oshida and her safety. To be fair, Oshida was acting rather out of character, considering the fact that she was one of the vice commanders and as such, took practice seriously.
"A-A-A-A-Andou?!" Oshida just stood there blushing as Andou approached her, quickly going back to her memory from earlier.
Although they normally do nothing but fight, Oshida realizes for the first time that Andou is still a maiden.
Andou, whom Oshida has always thought to be a vulgar tomboy, had shown her a lovely sight of her when Oshida least expected it. Without realizing it, a love for Andou has sparked within her. She must keep this secret to herself and pretend everything is fine.
But before long Oshida's patience had reached its limit.
The two of them entered a special relationship a fortnight after this event. Who saw that coming?
A/N: Hello everyone! It has been a while. I hope all of y'all are doing well since the last time I spoke, and I hope you all had a good year this year. I apologize for the promise I made last year when I said I would aim to write 2 stories that year, even though I ended up with only one. A lot has happened, and my school life is very unrelenting I struggle to find time to do any sort of writing, and whenever I do get a chance to write, I end up procrastinating. I apologize for that and I hope you can forgive me for my seeming lack of commitment. I am not going to make any more of those promises, but I will say that I will be writing another story definitely around this time next year, so please look forward to that.
Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed this story. I know it is a little different from what I write. I usually write about Miho and Yukari, not Andou and Oshida, but something about their relationship made me want to write this. And for the first time, I will be making a multi-chapter story! Expect to get some very irregular updates lol. Hopefully, you all enjoy this story as I write more of it, and if you don't please let me know and I will do my best to either make the story better or discontinue it altogether. Regardless, I appreciate you all for allowing me to write stories for you guys. With that said, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope great things come to all of you! Until next time!