Blazepanzer here with another story! It ties in with my 444th Sensado Squadren fanfic, but follows the journey of Hana Izuzu. (Also a ton of corrections have been made. ) Fair warning, this is a bit of a prison fic, but I hope that you enjoy!
Note: Blazepanzer does not own girls und Panzer!)
Three armored convoys made their way through the streets, causing a mix of reactions from the residents of the small carrier town. Some looked at the cars in disgust, some in distrust. Some hoped that the contents would be their key to victory in the winter tournament, and some gazed at them with hunger in their eyes.
However, for the girls inside the convey, the only emotion was gloom. They knew what was coming, and they didn't like it.
"So, anyone looking forward to digging their first hole?" Karina tried to crack a joke, but the effort was very low.
Hana just shook her head. "No...honestly...I'm not to sure what I want," she confessed. She flexed her hands a bit, and gently moved her wrist. Good, they're not asleep! she noted, feeling slightly better. She couldn't see them of course, considering the fact that they were cuffed behind her back, but even so she hated having to try and wake them up while in chains.
"You seem more calm than I am," the girl next to her sighed.
"It'll be alright miss Taylor-san," Hana soothed.
"Just...call me Sara...that whole last name stuff you do is weird," Sara sighed.
"Don't you do something similar in America?" Hana asked.
Sara let out a small sigh. "Only when being formal, we don't have many honorifics either," she added.
"I see...in that case you may call me Hana then," Hana smiled. She liked Sara as a friend, and the two had a lot of similarities, liking flowers, Sensado, and wanting to become stronger in heart, or at least they did before being arrested. They also had a lot of similarity, similar hair stiles though Sara had no Ahoge and her hair when slightly paste her shoulder-blades and was a medium brown. She also had freckles on her face as well as a dark blue eye color.
"So...who's bunking with who again?" Asuza asked.
"I'm rooming with Hana," Sara stated. We get along well, so yeah.
"You going to green camp or orange camp?" Erwin asked.
"Green camp, surprisingly enough," Hana shrugged. "Three years," she added.
"Thought you'd only be given like a year or so given you didn't really do anything wrong," Asuza noted.
Hana shrugged slightly. "Was going to place me in the 444th Sesando Bad Company Squadren, but between the fact that my breast would be dangling out and the fact that I didn't like the idea of sitting in prison all day, I requested to changed to Maple high so as to join their farming program, but they said I could go here as a camp green with an extra year or go to Blue division, so here I am," Hana shrugged.
"Least you're not going to Bonple," Asusa sighed. "Heard that's where Saki is, not exactly a good place for her."
"Why is she going to Bonple?" Hana gasped. "That's like the worst one!"
"Not necessarily," Erwin noted. "Depends on the simulation they are running."
"I still cannot believe they've actually managed to create SAO class VR technology," Karina breathed in awe. "Still, I do not want go go through the eleven simulations every year."
"Maid-ship, Fugitive run, War medics," Hana shuddered. "Just thinking bout all that makes me shudder.
"Well, yeah, but we're digging holes," Sara noted. "We've got the good end of the deal in some ways."
"Have you ever dug a hundred and fifty four centimeter hole before?" Hana asked softly.
Sara shook her head. "No, but I have lifted fifty pound sacks of animal feed with no issues back when I worked at Wal-mart over in the states," Sara noted.
"Yo, Shinobu, you alright?" Karina asked suddenly.
The former volleyball player sighed. "Just worried bout the other ducks," she sighed. "Still, I'm kinda envious of you, given you all are getting Green status while I'm getting orange status. Never mind the fact that I got life in prison where as you all only got a few years..."
The trucks stopped, and the hatch opened up, the guards unlatching the chains from the floor and seats and ushering the captive girls out. "Right, when we call your name, head to your designation, Greens on the left and oranges on the right!" One of the guards called. "Hana, Sara, Karina..."
"Well, good luck," Shinobu whispered as her name was called shortly thereafter. Hana gazed toward Shinobu and Erwin in sympathy. They're going to be locked in a jail cell while we get a more argumentatively spacious three acre cage, Hana thought sadly.
"Right, that is everyone," The guard noted. "Those in Camp Green, follow me, you'll get about an hour of rest then you'll be out digging."
Following, Hana soon found herself coming face to face with her new home, the iron bars sending a shiver frown her spine. I have to live in that for the next three years! She gasped inwardly.
"Right, we'll take you lot into processing first, and then you can rest for your hour." the guard noted.
Processing did not take long as it basically involved the girls being free from their chains, giving their names, a quick fingerprint session, and then being shut into the main center.
"Two girls per cot! Remember that!" One of the guards called as Sara was finally sent into the cage, the last girl to be processed. The brunet rubbed her wrist. "Glad we get a break, wearing those accursed chains all day is the worst."
Hana couldn't help but agree. "Even though we're in a ginormous cage, there seems to be a massive sense of freedom here," she noticed.
"Yeah, but we've only got about an acre and a half of actual space," Karina noted. "The rest seems to be taken up by shower stalls, bathroom stalls, the mess hall, and the visiting pens."
Gazing around, Hana noticed that she was right. "This feels so odd, like we're both free and captive at the same time, you know?"
Sara nodded. "Yeah, then again we have been stuffed in a jail cell for the past couple of weeks, so it certainly seems better than what we've had."
"Right, we need to decide on a leader," Karina noted. "Remember the video Wallaby showed us? Each camp needs to decide on their commander, with the orange camp leader becoming our vice commander of our squadron."
"Right, so, how shall we do this?" Hana asked.
"Not me, I was sent here over stealing," a girl with long black hair muttered as she sat down on one of the bunks, another girl with short blond hair glaring at her.
"So what's your story?" Hana asked softly.
The blond haired girl sighed. "Me and Belle over there got into a paintball gun fight and apparently the headmaster didn't like that. Gave us a choice between expulsion with revoking our ability to apply for a GED for ten years or Bad company for two years my case and four in Belle's. Obviously we chose Bad Company for the clean record."
"Ah, I see," Hana noted. "Please do try to get along, we don't need any fighting in here."
Belle looked away, but Jane nodded. "Maybe you ought to be our commander, I mean we probably don't have a lot of good options do we?"
Sara sighed. "I have no experience in Sensado myself, so I'm out. Besides, given I was brought in here because of a fight, I don't see myself as good material for the commander spot."
"But you are a Sensado fanatic, right?" Hana asked, before pressing on. "You even knew all of our tanks and who filled them, remember?"
Sara let out a gusty sigh. "Just because I'm a Sensado fanatic doesn't mean I know how to operate the tanks, much less how to lead the team. Besides, I was more interested in how the stories of the girls would play out, you know, what positions they'd rank up to, who would become the next commanders, and what they did after graduation. Carnal curiosity if you will."
"Well on the bright side you get to hang out with us for the next two and a half years," Asuza smiled.
"Yeah...but it's not the same as it would have been had I been able to attend regular school with you girls," Sara sighed sadly, before smiling. "But...I do hope we all get along and have some fun times dispute the situation we're in."
Hana let out a small smile, warmed by her friend's optimistic, though deep down she knew that she was right. It wouldn't be the same as if Sara had been able to join them on the adventures in Ooarai. Not that she could given that Sara was actually now twenty years old.
"I honestly don't care whom you choose, just so long as you don't screw this up before we finish the winter tournament." another girl with short blond hair muttered.
"May I ask who you are?" Hana asked.
"Jouko from Jakadasota academy," the girl mummered quietly. "Apparently we're where all sent to one of the bad companies even though it was just our team commander and crew who stole that KV tank from Pravda."
"Why until the end of the winter tournament?" Sara asked.
"If we cooperate, then we're off the hook. Any of us who fails to cooperate...well...get get two and a half years, apparently. Accessory to theft and failure to report theft of Sensado equipment," Jonko sighed quietly. "Anyways, unless you've got anyone else in mind, I'm throwing my support behind Hana, she's nice," the girl noted quietly before laying down on her cot. "Not likely to be a kleptomaniac like that idiot Mika!" she added with a huff.
"So...who are we picking? Hana?" Karina asked. "Cause I'm going for Hana."
Gasping as she saw a lot of nods, Hana steeped forward. "I...I don't know..." she sighed. "I...I've never been that much of a leader..."
"Don't be shy Hana, you'll do a good job. Remember when I was first tossed into our cell, shaking like I had developed Hyperthema? You helped me overcome my fears," Sara reminded her.
"You also helped the student council, remember?" Moyoko noted. "You helped Yuzu go through those documents?"
Yeah, and I was the gunner of the tank who's commander came up with that idiotic idea which got us in this place. Really wish we had insisted more on Miho not doing Sensado, if we knew her involvement would have lead to our student council and the crew of Kuromorimine's Maus tank getting killed...
Her mind suddenly flashed back to that awful day.
"We're in position!" Miho announced. "Hana take the..." Miho's order was rudely interrupted by a large scream from Saori, which was soon drowned by a mix of screams and cries from over the radio.
Hana didn't need to ask what was going on though, she could see it through her gunner sight. The lunging of the Maus, and then the shot fired inside the turret of the Maus. A large explosion soon shot forth, covering the Type 89 which fired the shot into soot and ash.
"Are the duck team alright?" Hana asked, but before her friend could get in a word edgewise, the radio crackled to life with apparently the Japanese Self Defense Force ordering them to drive the Panzer IV onto a flat area and then to get out, hands above their head.
Not that it took very long to comply with the request. "Are we being arrested?" she asked.
"I...I...I'm so...so...so..." Miho stammered, sobbing.
"No thanks to the dumb-ass in back, yes," Mako sarcastically growled. "Really wish I had stuck with calligraphy now, repeating a year is not going to suck as bad as this is..."
She didn't know exactly why, but Hana half expected Yukari to say something exciting as she usually did during these kinds of situation, or make a reference to tank history. But a quick glance told her that the normally excitable tank nerd was in no mood to say anything, her amber eyes dull and devoid of their usual brightness.
"Saori..." Hana whispered as Yukari got up to get out of the loader's seat.
"Yes Hana," Saori whispered, her hands clutched on the edges of her skirt to try and hide their shaking.
"I'm sorry...but...this looks like it's goodbye..." she whispered.
"Yeah...promise me you'll try and visit if they let you off," Saori whispered back.
"You do the same if they let you off," Hana whispered back as she climbed out of the tank, placing her hands across her face at what she saw. Girls being handcuffed, AFV's with machine guns and cannons pointed at them, solders with service rifles and anti-tank armaments pointed at them, Helicopters glaring them down as if to dare any of them to just try and make a move, as well as fighter jets buzzing overhead. Not flying away, not distantly flying in circles, literary buzzing back and forth like a swarm of hornets who's nest has just been hit by a stupid kid throwing a rock.
This...this is serious! Hana realized, going to place her hands on her head when she shot them back on her nose as a charred, arid smell entered her nose. Is that charred flesh?! she gasped, gagging on the smell.
"Hey, you, hands up and lay on the ground now!" One of the troops called as three moved forward a bit menacingly, guns aimed right at her.
"Don't hurt me, I'm just a schoolgirl!" Hana cried, kneeling on the ground with her hands on her head. "Please don't..."
She let out a scream as one of the solders threw her on the ground and pressed his gun to her back. "You, a school girl?!" He shouted in rage, before lifting her up by the hair. "You lot are mass murders, that's what you are!"
"I'm sorry..." Hana whimpered as he let go of her hair and forced her on the ground.
"Sorry doesn't bring back the dead idiot!" he growled harshly, as he grasped her wrist and bent them behind her. Hana's eyes widened as she felt something else clasp across her wrist. I'm...I'm really being handcuffed! She realized in horror. I can't be arrested...what will mother think?
She knew the answer. Her mother would disown her in a heartbeat. She'd done it before, back when Hana began doing Sensado. Hana had tried to hide the fact, going so far as to forge her mother's signature, only to stare wide eyed as Anzu tossed the permission ship in the trash and told her not to worry bout it.
They won't get me on forgery...will they? Hana worried, flinching as the officer picked her up and dragged her to the waiting van, not bothering to care that he was escorting a teenage girl who wasn't a threat and too scared to offer any kind of real resistance.
"Um Hana...you're reliving it again, aren't you?" Sara asked, poking her arm gently.
"Sorry..." Hana gazed down. "Rough day for us all," she recalled.
"You didn't do anything wrong that day other than be at the wrong place at the wrong time," Sara encouraged her. "Anyways, our hour's rest is almost up," she added.
"Sara, time for processing," one of the guards called.
"Yes sir!" Sara answered, walking over to the processing section of the cage and entering the cell. Hana noticed that they were receiving a tracking anklet and being chained once again.
"Hana!"
"Yes sir!" Hana called as she entered the cell, closing her eyes as her prison jumpsuit's left leg was lifted up and felt a plastic band being tightened around her leg.
The girls where then lead into a truck to where they found themselves handcuffed to a looped pole and sat down.
"Enjoy the ride girls," the driver muttered as he started the engine.
Looking around the truck Hana noticed a few things. First, this truck had an open top. Second, it was cramped, with a good fourteen students chained up to the walls of the truck. She watched as the comforting cage she had spend the past hour in disappeared into the dust. At least my hands were free in there... she thought wistfully.
Even only been in prison for a few weeks, Hana had well learned to be thankful for every little luxury as they were few and far between. Good cellmates could not be bought with all the gold in the world, and a book was a precious as a house behind the walls. Even food luxuries were rare so to speak.
"Feels like we're in the book Holes," Sara whispered.
"It's called Diggers here, and is very different, given it's an actual series," Hana reminded her.
"Oh, right, and it has the elusive G camp, right?" Sara mused. "Thought about buying the series just to read bout the main characters spying on the girl's version of the program."
"It's weird how the author's came up with a similar idea at the same time," Asuza noted. "Even more so how they just shook on it and decided to keep the series a separate intently exclusive to their respective countries of origin."
"Um...Asuza, Diggers was released in all of Asia, Russia, and the middle east where as release while Holes was released in the Americas, Europe, and Africa excluding Egypt, remember," Karina whispered.
"Oh...right..." Asuza blushed.
The truck stopped, and the driver hopped out as a second truck stopped beside them, same size. A third vehicle, this time an old Humvee drove up, and four men exited the vehicle. Hana's eyes widened as she realized that three of them where welding FN-Scar rifles, and a fourth had some sort of pistol holstered to his hip.
"Right men, let's get this over with!" he shouted as a second Humvee arrived, and four more men with FN-scars exited the vehicle. A small bus arrived and about six women came out, all wearing body armor, yet having no weapons on them.
"Alright ladies, get the girls out of the vans and into formation!" the man with the pistol ordered.
Quick as a flash Hana found herself hauled off the vehicle, and ordered to begin the formation.
"Right...you ladies ready to dig!" The pistol man shouted.
Hana just glanced around, not too sure if they were supposed to respond or not.
"Right...now...you!" He growled.
"Um...Yes sir?" Hana gasped, realizing that he was singling her out.
"Come over here and face the other prisoners, I'll be using you to demonstrate," he growled.
Slightly frighted, she let out a small gulp and walked over, facing the other prisoners. Hard to believe just three weeks ago we where all chatting and having a good time being normal high school girls, she sighed.
"Right, now," The guard began.
Hana let out a gasp as she felt his hands massaging her shoulders.
"Look closely girls, this is called sexual harassment!" The Sargent began. "Just because you girls are prisoners does not mean you lot can can do this to each other, got it!"
"Then why are you doing it?" Karina called out.
"See how uncomfortable your friend here looks?" He noted.
"Yeah, can you please stop?" Hana begged, gasping as he instead grabbed her breast, causing her to scream and shrink to the ground glaring up at him in fury.
"That's what we want to hear if any of the guards decide to do anything funny with you!" The guard explained before grabbing her by the upper arm and hauling her to her feet."Right, moving on, here!" he added and thrust a water canteen into her chest. "Take a drink."
Hana stared at it curiously, and took a swig, before everything went black briefly. She didn't initially know how much time had passed by the time she woke up, but judging by the sun it couldn't have been long.
"That's a simulation of a popular drug used to...well...you girls get the idea. So do not drink anything, and I mean anything that you are clearly not supposed to be drinking, understand? I don't care if it's from a fellow prisoner, a girl from the Sensado team, a guard, or a homeless man from the street, you...do...not...drink...it, understand!"
Hana gazed at him in shock that he tried to drug her just like that.
"Good, the horrified expressions on your face tell me that you understand," he noted, before taking the jug and pouring it out before handing Hana a larger canteen. "Drink this one now, and this time give it a big sudden drink!"
Hana gazed at him in fear and his gaze softened. "No funny business this time," he promised.
Turning her gaze to the jug, she sighed, closed her eyes, and took a large swig, instantly coughing it up. "I thought you said no funny business!" she hissed while coughing.
"You see how miss Hana coughed up the water?" The guard bellowed, before turning to her. "Care to tell us why?"
Because you're an ass! Hana thought instantly, before freezing. Did...I just cuss him out?! she gasped. I'd never do that!? Then again...he is being so cruel...
"Well young miss?!" He prompted.
"The...the water is bitter," Hana whispered.
"Louder young miss!" He bellowed.
"Because the water is bitter sir!" Hana screamed.
He then patted her on the head. "Good girl," he smiled, before turning to the group. "Your drinking water from now on will have a slight bitterness to it, as punishment for your crimes and to prevent you from trying to drown yourself sick!" He then turned to one of female guards. "Please drive miss Hana to the cage, she did so well with the demonstration that she ought to be rewarded. Plus, I don't want her passing out and busting her head open due to the aftereffects of that simulation pill."
"Right, please come with me Hana," the girl noted, heading for one of the Humvee. Already feeling sleepy, Hana simply nodded and climbed in.
Her eyes opened to the sound of insects rustling in the evening. Shocked to see iron bars overhead, she shot up, glancing around scared.
"Shhh... It's alright Hana," a familiar voice whispered next to her.
"Sara...What happened?" she whispered.
"Apparently they wanted me to accompany you back to the cage and keep an eye on you," Sara shrugged. "Even though it was just a simulation pill, it can cause the taker to become sleepy for about an hour or more...and we don't have time to wait that long and dig. So we got off easy today."
Hana rose up, feeling dizzy. "Don't know what I find more hard to deal with, the fact that he drugged me or squeezed my breast."
"So, I've been squeezed in the breast and forced kissed while being handcuffed at school. Then the guy just released me and never even so much as glanced at me," Sara shrugged.
"How can you be so...calm about that?" Hana gasped.
Sara shook her head gently. "I was actually quite devastated by it at first, but...I forced myself to move on and kinda forgot it until I got arrested...I don't like talking bout it much." She then let out a gusty sigh. "Believe me, I wasn't calm about it."
"Did you report him?" Hana asked gently.
To her horror Sara shook her head. "No...he's an untouchable so to speak, student council president and son of the current town mayor who was also a former state deputy."
"Oh...I'm so sorry...I hate it when people like that abuse their power," Hana sighed.
"Yeah, it sucks and us victims...we rarely get heard." Sara clutched the edge of the cot in annoyance.
Hana was about to speak when she noticed some people approaching. What's all this about, these are not guards or prisoners!
"Eh look, there's only two of them in there," one of the girls noted.
"I believe you're right Elana," a boy next to her smirked. "But the two are quite cute, though not as cute as you Elina," he smirked.
"Ya gotta wait until I'm eighteen to bound me," the girl laughed.
"You're weird, but in a good way." He muttered.
"Um...what's going on here?" Sara asked.
"Don't you know it's rude to stare at someone?" Hana gasped.
"Hey, this is our right to stare at ya criminals, you know?" one of the boys shouted.
Stare at us? This wasn't in the lecture! Hana gasped, wanting to hide, but realizing that there was no real place to do so.
"Just try to ignore them I guess...the guards don't seem to have much desire to chase them off," Sara suggested.
"It's bad enough that we're locked up in a cage like this, why do we have to become a public spectacle like this?" Hana whispered softly.
"Don't know," Sara sighed deeply. "But I don't like it."
Hana just glanced down, before laying back and closing her eyes, scooting over to the other side. "If we get dinner, wake me up," she whispered, before going back to sleep.
A gently prodding on the cheek caused her to wake up. "Dinner?" Hana asked.
"Apparently you've got a visitor," Sara whispered, glancing toward the visitor pens.
Rising up, Hana let out a small gasp. "What are the odds," she whispered.
"Right Hana, come over here and we'll get you sorted," one of the guards ordered.
Hana complied, surprised that her hands were cuffed to the tables once the bare-bone necessities for her visitation were complete. She glanced up at her old friend. "Sempai?" She whispered.
"Hana-chan, it's been far to long," she whispered. "How have you been?"
"Not too well as you can see...I'm afraid," Hana sighed.
"I can see that," her friend sighed. "But before the arrest, how was things?"
"Not too well Mira," Hana sighed. "Apparently our school was going to shut down and we had one opportunity to save it."
"No Hana, you didn't," Mira sighed. "I'm so sorry, but that promise to save Ooarai...that was never made."
"What do you mean?" Hana gasped. "The student council president said that..."
"What she said to the Ministry of Education officials was, and I quote, "So what if we take up Sensado? You wouldn't shut down the winning school, right?"
"And your father said..." Hana trailed off.
"Renta said that neither he nor any other official agreed to it. Although he did say that originally he was going to give Ooarai some space to improve themselves if they where able to build up a decent Sensado team. Supposedly there was talk of combining the Male schools along with the Nishmari high school to form a co-ed academy. Unfortunately he caught wind of Yukari and Miho's cell phone usage during the Pravda match...and that ended it."
"So, it's our fault?" Hana whispered.
"I'm...so sorry Kohai, by those two using the cell phone during that match, any chance of Ooarai remaining open would have closed. However...in the aftermath of what happened during the finals, the ministry of education has placed a two and a half year hold on Ooarai girl's academy closure."
"So we...saved the school in the end, right?" Hana asked.
"Sorry, but no, you killed the school," Mira sighed. "The only reason why it's not being closed down at the end of the year is so that the current student body can graduate without having to go through any more grief. As if right now, no new students are being accepted."
Hana gazed down at her hands, observing the metal clasp holding her to the table. "So we really deserve this then?" she whispered.
"Personally I don't think that you do, however, there's nothing I can do about it," Mira noted. "Oh, that reminds me, Tanner's offer still stands," she added with a smirk.
Hana jolted when she heard that, but nodded. "Sure," she whispered.
"You sure?" Mira gasped. "You know that he doesn't like it when..."
"I'm fine with it now," Hana nodded. "Really, tell him that I'd like to see him from time to time."
Mira just gazed at her for a bit, clearly unsure, but nodded. "I'll be sure to tell him then. Just surprised you'd agree to...you know..."
Hana shrugged. "Don't really have anywhere to go, and he's kind enough if you will."
"I kinda forgot about the part where he also wants you to work as his maid," Mira groaned.
"Sempai..." Hana groaned playfully before sighing. "Still, that's fine by me, if not a bit embarrassing..."
"Yeah...Tanner is weird like that, but he does have a good heart," Mira noted, but flinched when the buzzer sounded. "Welp, that's my cue to go Kohai, nice catching up with ya!"
"Yeah, we should talk again soon," Hana smiled. "Tomorrow?"
"Sorry, I've only got Saturdays and Mondays off," Mira noted. "But I'll try and see you Monday, okay?"
"Alright, looking forward to it if you can!" Hana smiled as a guard came in and de-latched her from the table.
"Just hang in there Kohai!" Mira called.
"Will do Sempai," Hana smiled as she was cuffed and gently shoved back into the pens.
"Friend of yours?" Sara asked.
Hana nodded. "Respected upperclassmen, personal tutor and a good friend. Also a member of the student council and former member of the volleyball club, before it was disbanded for cheating. Apparently all of the girls save her and Noriko were caught with high levels of steroids in their urine samples right before the finals."
She let out a small pause before continuing. "Even so...Mira was...she had a scholarship to join Selection university as a loader, but it was retracted as a result, and when none of the other colleges would take her...she started working as a convenience store clerk."
"That's horrible!" Mira gasped.
"It gets worse," Hana whispered. "Her father was forced to disown her over it. See...we worked in the ministry of education, the head of it, but he also loved his daughter very much, so it was a hard choice. Even so, I think he keeps close contact with her regardless."
"Couldn't help but overhearing, but what's this deal with Tanner...or is that private?" Sara pried.
"Private, for now. I'll tell you later, but I need to reflect on some things before I explain the situation," Hana promised. "It's...kinda complicated."
At that moment a couple of trucks rolled up. Hana glanced at Sara, and nodded.
"Wonder if they're mad at us?" Sara whispered.
"Wouldn't blame them given that we got of easy," Hana noted.
"I got off easy," Sara muttered pointedly. "You didn't."
Hana sat down and sighed. "I know..." she mummered.
"Right, thirty minute break and then dinner!" the guards called. "Timer begins when the last prisoner is processed!"
"Wonder what we're goring to get to eat?" Hana whispered.
"Don't know, but if it's anything like our meals back at juvenile, nothing good," Sara shuddered.
"I don't envy you Hana, being drugged like that," Asuza gasped as she laid on her bunk just a little ways away from her. "I never thought we'd get done," she sighed gusty.
"Is digging really that hard?" Hana whispered, gasping when she saw Asusz's blistered hands.
"Apparently we get to put some lotion on after dinner, but it's low quality," Karina sighed.
"Maybe you got the worse deal today after all," Hana sighed, before raising up her hands and staring at the relatively pristine condition of her hands. "Day after tomorrow," she whispered, before letting out a shudder.
"Meal time, head in one at a time, and any fighting or tomfoolery will land you straight to the camp orange!" One of the guards noted before opening the doors to the mess hall.
Hana entered, sitting down between Belle and Karina. "Right, we'll set down the food and you can begin eating as soon as the meal reaches your tray!" the guards noted.
It took a little while for Hana to receive hers, and she simply stared at it for a bit. One slab of ham, she'd assume only a couple of ounces in weight, one slice of bread with some topping on it, and a small bowl of cooked carrots, juices drained. Water was provided as a drink to the side.
She then sighed, and took a small bite of the bread, surprised by the taste of the topping on it. "Tastes a bit like salty meat," she noted. "But I can tell that it's something plant-like."
"Fake meat?" Karina shrugged. "Who care's it's delicious!" she smiled.
"I guess it is," Hana shrugged. "Better than what we got at the old prison to be sure."
Hana took a small sip of water, feeling both quenched yet disgusted over the fact that she would have to drink the bitter stuff over the next three and a half years. My deal, my choice, she gritted.
She half expected to fall asleep, but thankfully she didn't.
"Make sure you girls keep a good eye on your meals," one of the...cooks...really a guard called. "Prisoners have been known to slip pills into other's drinks when they're not looking."
Hana resisted the urge to glare at the guard, having already been drugged for the day. And that was only a simulation! She shuddered.
The meat was...well...meat. Cooked, but otherwise no topping or condiments, same with the cooked carrots. She couldn't help but let out a small sigh as the meal was quickly finished.
Even after three weeks on prison rations I'm still not used to these smaller meals, Hana sighed in utter defeat.