Chapter 15
Miho sighed as she sat down next to Saori and Yukari. Her four friends were seated around a campfire, the night had grown cold, and she felt ever colder with the feelings that sprouted up from the ever-worsening situation she found herself in. Deserters. Seven of Darjeeling's girls had, in the wake of Rukuriri leaving, followed her and left the city. St. Gloriana was reaching its tipping point.
"More bad news Miporin?" Saori asked as she Miho sat down. Miho nodded before speaking.
"Two more left earlier today. They headed north, to Homedale, bringing the total number of deserters to nine." Miho said.
"How sad. This whole game as turned into the worst kind of thing." Hana said, which all of them nodded in agreement.
"I thought that a yearlong Sensha Do match would be awesome, not tiring and scary like this." Yukari mentioned.
"We all did." Saori said. "I thought I would get to met a cute American guy and maybe he would be the one you know. Sometimes love can be in the most unexpecting of places."
"I'm sure you would have found someone Saori, you always do." Hana said getting giggles out of the others, except one quite driver, which Miho noticed.
"Mako, are you ok?" She asked. Mako opened her eyes, which had been shut for a while now, and Miho could see that she had been silently shedding tears. "Mako?"
"I-I cant do this anymore." Mako said, her voice rough from her crying.
"Mako, What do you mean?" Hana asked, concern in her voice.
"I haven't slept in two days, we haven't been able to even talk with Davis, I miss my Grandma and want to go home. I want to leave, I want all this to end." Mako spoke as her voice continued to grow rough as she sniffed and shed more tears. Immediately her friends were on her, wrapping their arms around her and hugging her. Hana even gave a reassuring kiss to the top of her head like how a mother would her child.
Miho, in spite of herself, and her previous beliefs, also wanted this hell to come to an end. For near three and a half months now they have been stuck in this God forsaken city being hunted and bombarded by a young man who has let rage and anger fill his heart. Assam still hasn't spoken one solitary word, at least as far as Miho knows, and Darjeeling's sanity is all but gone. Maho hasn't made contact either, Katyusha has been MIA for a while, Nonna continues to find and get into physical altercations with this one boy from Uncle Sam, Kay is on the northern coast and cannot do anything, and her friends in Homedale haven't so much as let out a word if they are ok or not.
"I'm sorry Mako." Miho said, a sniffle coming from her. "I never knew how hard this was for you, I should have, I should have been aware of it and talked with you about it. I'm sorry."
"Its not your fault Miho. I'm just tired and scared. I want to go home." Mako said crying into Miho's shoulder.
Miho immediately knew what action to take. She didn't like the idea of Mako being separated from the rest of them, but her low blood pressure made this whole ordeal much harder on her then everyone else. Plus if Rukuriri went there then it should be safe.
"Mako, go to Homedale." Miho said surprising everyone.
"What?" The girl in question asked.
"Go to Homedale, get some rest and reassure yourself. Once you do that, tell whoever is in charge there about whats happening and that we need help. Even if they are the Americans just ask them. Tell them how desperate we are. Go and be safe." Miho explained.
"No, not without all of you." Mako tried to reject the idea, no matter tempting it felt to actually get away, and with Miho of all people suggesting it, but she could never forgive herself. Mako respected Miho so much, she could never leave them alone no matter how much she wanted to.
Miho, for her part, deepened the hug. Placing a reassuring hand on Mako's head.
"You're not well Mako. I could never let one of my friends suffer like this. And don't think your abandoning us. You aren't. like I said, ask whoever is in Homedale for help. Get their help no matter what, then once your all better come back and get us. We'll be fine here." Miho said, her voice calm and soothing, yet with an air of her commanding authority that she held as her teams Commander.
Mako cried some more, her eyes puffy and red from all the tears. Saori, Yukari, Hana and even Miho were crying as well. This would be the first time since leaving Japanese waters that they would be separated from one of their friends.
"Ok." Was all Mako said.
She fell asleep not long after that. Her breathing was calm as she slept, using Hana's lap as a pillow, and Saori humming a tune she knew Mako liked, while Yukari covered her with one of her military style blankets. Miho, however, walked over to the one group she knew she could ask for help in this matter. The familiar sight of the Mark IV Male showed up with the Pirate Captain standing in front of a fire as her team slept.
"Ogin." Miho said catching the girls attention.
"Captain Nishizumi, what can do for you?" She asked.
"I want you and your team to take Mako and go north to Homedale." Miho's request surprised Ogin to say the least.
"But why? Did we do something wrong?" Ogin asked, confused of the request.
"Not at all, but Mako's health isn't the best right now, and I remember informing you of her blood pressure right?" Ogin nodded at the question. "I also want you to talk to whoever is in Homedale and get their help. We cant keep this up anymore, everyone is at a breaking point, and I can't help them as much as I want to. we need to end the fighting and make Commander Davis and Darjeeling come to their senses."
Ogin, now understanding, nodded at the assignment. If they left and found someone who could listen to their plight then not only would they possibly get some help, but news would spread about it and maybe more people would come to the same realization.
"Understood Captain, we'll leave before dawn if that's ok?" Ogin asked to which Miho nodded.
"Just get Mako somewhere she can recover and get us help. We're desperate." Miho said.
Shiho took a look at the papers in hand, the ones that they got from the Maritime Transportation district office that would incriminate Gokushu Kisuragi, the District Manager, of smuggling things onto the island. The illicit cargo? One Grille Ausf H self-propelled artillery vehicle, several sets of Ham radios, five sets of polymer recurve bows and five hundred arrows, ten crates filled with provisions, large jugs of water, and dossiers on every single student in both the Federation and Association with even a hint of bureaucratic clout. Her daughters were two of them.
"I've contacted Akari. She's been working with Colonel Abernathy of the Association, and they found some troubling news." Renta said coming into Tsuneo's office within one of his garages.
"What news?" Ami asked.
"Apparently the tank and all other things on those papers are for four individuals from America. These four men are past members of a particular group of American tankers from Vermont Tankery Academy. The subordinates of one Erol Anderson the third, a man who was notorious for his cheating and harsh methods of training for his team." Renta said.
"Wasn't that the school that got its program eighty-sixth'd?" Tsuneo asked.
"Yes, and Commander Anderson made a plea deal and got out of serving jail time. However with this new information, as well as to what we found, it's becoming apparent that he may be making a comeback." Renta said.
"But his school life ended a decade ago, what is he planning on doing, do we even know?" Shiho asked.
"Akari and Colonel Abernathy captured on of the four men. They flipped him and he told them Andersons plan. He wants revenge on Mr. Backer, the President of the American Tankery Association, who was responsible for shutting down Vermont's Tankery programs. Anderson believes that messing with the yearlong match, and our children, will be a blight on Mr. Backers reputation and get him fired. In fact it was Andersons interference that brought the rule of no contacting the children for the duration of the match." Renta said.
"So this guy has the power and means to influence Association affairs even though he isn't a member and doesn't care about the lives of the children if he gets what he wants." Ami said leveling the situation. "This does not bode well."
"But we've sent everything to Akari, and she'll continue working with Abernathy in order to preserve the children's safety, but another worrying thing is that the children are letting their emotions run wild. Some of the children are treating this game more like a war." Renta brought up.
"I'll call up Chairman Kodama and let him know of what we found, as well as give a heads up to the Maritime Self Defense Force's, let them know what we found about the Maritime Transportation District Office." Ami said.
"Will the MSDF take this seriously?" Tsuneo asked.
"I'm a prominent Captain in the Ground Self defense Force, and everyone in the entire SDF won't let Captain Kiyoshi Chono's widow stay hanging." Ami said leaving the room to make a couple of phone calls.
Shiho watched her leave before looking at the two men still in the office with her. Tsuneo plopped down at his desk and started going over financial reports for his business while Renta stood off to the side staring out the window. Despite her unease with the man Renta has become Shiho walked over to him and began talking.
"I'm surprised of your level of care for the children on the island. It doesn't seem like you Renta." Shiho said. The man scoffed before replying.
"Why wouldn't I care. I may be a stickler for things, but the students are still under MEXT care. I take every precaution when it comes to their safety." He said.
"What about when you tried to shut down Ooarai? Did you think about the students then?" Shiho asked with some obvious venom dripping from her voice's tone. Renta furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her.
"Don't play that card with me Shiho, I did what was requested of me from the Board of Education. They were the ones who wanted Ooarai shut down, not me." Renta defended himself.
"And what about going back on the deal you made with the school council? Is your word not up to par with MEXT interests?" Shiho said provokingly.
"Shut up Shiho." Renta said.
"I didn't think you were one to value your own word so little, especially not when we were back in school. You always did have a hand in Tsuneo's antics, but I expected better of you then reneging on your word." Shiho said.
"You know nothing Shiho, nothing." Renta said getting angrier by each word Shiho spoke.
"I never would have pegged 'the' Renta Tsuji as a liar." Just as Shiho finished her sentence Renta broke.
"Shut up! You know nothing, nothing of what I had to do! Do you actually think I wanted to shut down one of the School Ships!? Do you know how much work that is!? The MEXT chairman, as well as the Japanese Board of Education wanted to cut spending! They wanted one of the Ships shut down to save money for only what I believe was to use it to stuff their own pockets.
"I spent MONTHS going over every single ship, every single activity, overall test scores, size, population, graduate percentage, college acceptance rate, and even what kind of food they grow! Every single school had at least one thing that exempted them from being shut down due to the intense back lash of disapproval that the boards would have been hit with! The only exception was Ooarai!
"I spent twenty-seven days on Ooarai's files, student dossiers, and program success sheets along! And they had nothing going for them! Average in all grades, graduates, mediocre college acceptance rates, most of the girls went straight into the work force, and for the past decade they hadn't had one single outstanding achievement that would get them some form of attention! Not to mention that for the past five years the student body number has been decreasing! It HAD to be Ooarai!
"I'm not heartless I knew what I was doing! Thirty-thousand people were going to be displaced, and I was the one kicking them out of their homes! I did what I could, using the loopholes in their contracts to get them all jobs on different School Ships that allowed them to send their children to those schools, but the Board was blocking me with giving them the fair compensation they deserved! That was all I could do! So don't tell me that I'm a liar Shiho! Not you, not Tsuneo, not Kodama, and especially not Ami!" Renta breathed heavily, the weight of his words pressing down on Shiho, who had gone wide eyed and the normally stoic mans rant. Tsuneo also had gone silent and wide eyes, as well as Ami, who came running in after hearing the screaming.
Renta had a few tears falling down his face before he wiped them and continued in a calmer tone.
"I was the one selected because I am in the MEXT administration department. The Board didn't want to take any of the flak for shutting down one of the school ships, so they told me to do it, or I would be sacked. I tried Shiho, I did. I tried everything I could think of to preserve the school, but when they came out and said they were restarting their Sensha Do team I thought that maybe they had a chance.
"Did you know that, with both Ooarai's victory in the tournament, as well as their victory over the university level pro team, that the number of applicants for Ooarai increased two-fold? They saved their school, but the Board didn't care and wanted it gone. I had to back out of my agreement with them, I had to become a liar. I had to become what Kiyoshi hated." Renta said now taking a seat on a spare chair. The others were silent, but they understood what Renta meant. When they were younger, Tsuneo, Renta and Kiyoshi Chono were childhood friends, from primary all the way to high school. Even in their early adult lives they stayed friends, and one of the reasons for it was Kiyoshi hating liars. When ever something needed to happen or one of them needed to cancel on plans made, Kiyoshi was always telling them to be honest. He detested liars.
Ami walked over to the distraught man and wrapped her arms around him. She may have married Kiyoshi, being introduced to him by Renta and Tsuneo, back when he was dating Shiho, but Renta had been his best friend and Ami knew that Kiyoshi would never hate Renta.
"You and I know for a fact Kiyoshi would never hate you Renta. Even if you told a lie. He would give you a smack on the head and tell you to get over it and be honest from then on. Don't ever think Kiyoshi would hate you." Ami said. Renta cried now, even when Shiho and Tsuneo came and placed hands on his shoulders with supporting smiles, he cried.