Chapter Text
(Consequences)
“Shizuka! C’mon! Talk to me!”
“Hang in there!” Yoshika begged to no avail as she had fallen unconscious.
“Shizuka…?” She insisted still but she seemed to have stopped breathing.
“NO…!” Yoshika cried from the top of her lungs, filling the dome with her despair, as she tried to use healing magic again, yet nothing happened.
Tears dropped onto the shed of blood. “WHY!?”
Gerald hurried to her side, as Neuroi had started to come again from underground. “Sergeant Miyafuji, take cover!”
Yoshika carefully put her arms behind Shizuka’s neck and legs. “I WON’T leave her.”
Yoshika tried to lift her up, but she was not able to thus, Gerald took Shizuka from her arms, and both rushed to the flank tower, but before they could, they were surrounded by Neuroi once again.
“I guess this is it, sergeant.”
Yoshika turned to see the enemy, wiping her tears, yet she ended up staining her face in blood. "I won't let it end this way."
She raised her hands, “I NEED MAGIC!” But nothing occurred, and the Neuroi readied itself to shoot.
“PLEASE!” Yoshika fell to her knees, hands clinging into the dirt, tears dropping from her eyes once again.
“Please…” Yoshika mourned hopelessly as she raised her hands in front of her one more time, but the ruthless enemy shot its reddish beam, but before it annihilated them, Yoshika raised up and put her hands on her face, and soaked her hands with cold sweat, her breathing was hard. Confused, she looked at the whole place, to try to remember where she was, and why it was so cold, and empty.
Touching her own cold naked body as well as the bed sheets, Yoshika slowly started to come back to her senses, realizing that she was in her room, on her bed and that everything was just a nightmare. Still, since that day, she had been having trouble falling asleep and when she could, images of Shizuka’s body, bleeding to death without any way to save her, came back to her, every single night.
As Yoshika looked through the curtain-less windows, she realized the sun had started to appear over the sky in Den Helder. She got up quietly and went to check on Shizuka to reassure herself that it was just a nightmare, and to her sanity, it really was. She was peacefully sleeping, half covered in the blankets.
Yoshika heaved a sigh, still trying to recover from the nightmare but even though her mind told her that nothing of that was real, her body shivered just with the idea of falling asleep again. Thus, she took off her untied gown, changed into her usual uniform as silently as possible, covered Shizuka well on her bed and left the room afterwards without making noise.
With nothing pending and no commanders at the base, no one was awake at that moment, and Yoshika managed to get outside without waking anyone up to jog for a bit hoping to get those images out from her head.
Berlin, a few days before
After the destruction of the Neuroi nest, as expected, the city was in ruins, the infrastructure was severely damaged, there was no electricity, the streets were empty, and the buildings were dark and silent, but people had already started to come back to rebuild the capital as well as their lives, hoping to thrive once again.
Wing Commander Wilcke had fought hard to free the capital of her native country alongside the 501 st and she hoped that there would be a ceremony to celebrate this grand event like the one that took place after the liberation of Gallia and Venezia.
Nevertheless, little to no progress was made, the event was still put on hold. The operation had already exceeded its budget before it even began, ever since the Antwerp port was destroyed.
The Emperor from Karlsland was reluctant to celebrate such an event as the southern part of the empire was still occupied but after days of talks with Minna’s fellow comrades, the highest rank Witch of the air force was finally able to persuade him to carry out the event. Now with a set day, the ceremony seemed to finally be moving forward, not without several days of uncertainty and threats of cancellations by many high-ranked Generals.
The base at Den Helder, the day of the event
Shizuka slowly opened her eyes and realized that it was late in the morning as the room was already well lit. Then, she got up and after checking the whole bedroom, she realized that Yoshika had already left, and her side of the room was a mess, her gown on the bed and the blankets on the floor.
‘That’s weird.’ Shizuka thought as she picked up the blankets as well as her gown from the floor and made the bed and changed into her usual uniform. Then, she went to the kitchen, hoping to find her.
“Have you seen Miyafuji?” Shizuka asked the two cooks.
“She hasn’t come here.” Perrine said, with a bit of surprise in her tone. “I expected her to be resting as the medic told her.”
“She already left when I woke up.”
“Maybe she’s taking a bath?” Lynette suggested.
“Not sure, I better find out.” Shizuka headed there, only to find Charlotte and Francesca submerged in the hot water in the room full of steam, the latter resting on Charlotte.
“Have you seen Yoshika?”
“Miyafuji? She hasn’t come here, right Francesca?”
“Nope, not here.”
Shizuka left the bathroom hastily without saying another word, to look for her somewhere else.
“That was weird.”
Charlotte just shrugged at the comment.
Shizuka was walking at a fast pace through the different hallways, looking everywhere until she halted on her tracks, in front of Sanya and Eila’s room. ‘She can’t possibly be there, can she?’ Still, Shizuka resumed her walk, to look for her yet Yoshika was nowhere to be found in the places she usually frequented, so, she decided to head again to the kitchen, only to find Gertrud in her way there.
“Good morning, Captain Barkhorn, have you seen Miyafuji?”
“Good morning, Hattori, I think I saw her outside.”
“Outside? Thank you!” Shizuka rushed to the closest window and when she peeked and checked the whole place with her eyes, she finally was able to see Yoshika sitting on the edge of a cliff, near the runway track, looking at the horizon.
As she exited the main building and approached her, she could see that Yoshika was only wearing her swimsuit with the rest of her uniform beside her, and her hair seemed to be wet as well.
“Hi Shizuka.” Yoshika gave her soft smile as her roommate approached her.
“Hello Miyafuji.” Shizuka looked at her thoroughly and could notice the bags under her eyes. “Is- is everything alright?”
“Yes, Shizuka everything is just fine.” Yoshika replied calmly as she took another look at her, noticing that she was, indeed, fine.
“Let’s get inside, breakfast must be ready by now.”
“I’m right behind you.” Yoshika cheerfully added, and thus both headed back to the base to have breakfast.
Nevertheless, Shizuka was still not sure if what Yoshika said was true as she had noticed she was acting a bit odd since the day Berlin was liberated. But at least, she did know it did not have anything to do with her magic because when Yoshika was asked to use it, she could do it with seemingly no issue. ‘Maybe I’m overthinking this,’ Shizuka said to her own head, walking back to the base.
Later that day
Even if the rest of the 501 st were not invited to the celebration, in fact no Witches were other than the commanders of each Joint Fighter Wing, they still decided to hold they own party to celebrate the destruction of yet another Neuroi Hive.
While neither Yoshika nor Lynette would mind being in charge of preparing the food while the rest took care of the remaining details, everyone had helped to prepare food from their own countries and by the time everything was ready, the dining table looked like a buffet with many dishes to choose from all across the globe.
Berlin at night
The emperor himself was not at the event as there was no guarantee that the city was totally free of Neuroi but nevertheless, there were many high-profile guests from across Europe, Fuso and even Liberion.
All the assistants were waiting for the event to begin and after many the delays and lots of murmurs; fireworks finally went off, announcing the start of the event and shortly after, the skies of Berlin were covered in what seemed like shooting stars of various colors blazing through the starry night, the Idol Witches opened the event with their songs.
Shortly after the Witches’ trails formed Karlsland’s flag to everyone’s amazement. At the sky, the songs were broadcasted so that people could know that there was still hope that the war would come to an end.
After the aperture ended, several Wing Commanders of the Joint Fighter Wings that participated as well as High Commanders gave speeches, some were longer, some were shorter, some were boring and some were inspiring, and then it was finally the turn of one of the organizers, Wing Commander Wilcke.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honor to be here, in Berlin, part of my homeland and that of many others. This triumph has reminded us that there is hope for war to come to an end. However, let us not forget that this can only be achieved through the combined effort of all of us. And let us always remember those who perished;”
Some applause was heard, but Minna did not move from the podium.
“…and likewise, I would not like the bravery of Pilot Officer Miyafuji from the Fuso Navy to go unnoticed, she who put her life on the line protecting Kiel and saving countless lives in the process and yet again at the zenith of the operation, impeding the escape of the Nest, allowing us to achieve victory and liberating Berlin in the process, thank you.” Minna bowed as the applause came in, then, she left the podium, and went back to her seat next to Mio and the conference still went on as there were still more people left who still had speeches to give.
“Laudable discourse you gave there,” Mio commented.
“After what happened these last few days, it needed to be done.” Minna added with a serious tone of voice.
Den Helder, at the same time
Almost the whole 501 st was hearing the event, save for Yoshika who was thoughtful, daydreaming even, but when she heard her name mentioned on the radio, she came back to herself. She could not help but blush a little when she heard what Minna just said about her, yet it faded as soon as she gazed at Shizuka. Even her demeanor became more serious, even troubled, yet she then realized that everyone was staring at her.
“It’s thanks to all of you guys.” Yoshika tried to smile. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“True, true, but you’re always there for us, let’s toast to that.” Charlotte pointed out.
“And to the destroyed nest!” Erica exclaimed.
“And that we’ll make it in one piece!” Francesca exclaimed loudly without realizing that the comment made Yoshika drop her faint smile.
“And to Miyafuji’s recovery,” Gertrud said.
“I’m so glad for that Yoshika,” Lynette told her, smiling softly as she held her hand, making her smile again.
“Cheers!” They raised their glasses.
Afterwards, they ate what they had prepared while they celebrated another successful operation to destroy yet another hive.
After eating, everyone, surprisingly, helped to clean everything. Some of them started to yawn as they were doing it, but no one could blame them as the past days were exhausting to say the least, as they were helping with the reconstruction of the capital. After everything was cleaned, they all decided to go back to their rooms so they could rest.
Most of them were asleep as soon as they hit the bed in their rooms, even Yoshika since she had been awake since dawn. Nevertheless, Shizuka was not able to fall asleep as uncertainty plagued her mind and could not help but wonder about what would happen to them, to the Joint Fighter Wing. It was the first time since she joined the 501 st that they did not have a pending mission.
‘I guess we’re going back to our own countries.’ Shizuka thought. Then, she decided to ask Yoshika what she thought about, so she got out of her bed to check on Yoshika, and she noticed she was profoundly sleeping.
There was no way she could wake her up just to ask her that but still, she contemplated her for a few minutes to see if she had woken up, but she did not, and she went back to her bed but just before she lay down, she saw a light that disappeared in a blink of an eye.
“Huh?” Shizuka went back to check on Yoshika and she was still resting on her back. “Was that a magic circle?”
Shizuka leaned on her. “Yoshika?”
“Shizuka”
“Shizuka” Yoshika muttered again.
“Are you- are you awake?” Shizuka whispered but she did not say anything as she seemed to be still sleeping.
‘She’s not. Is she dreaming… about me?’ Shizuka thought and could not help but think about what kind of dream she was having. But as she came closer, she noticed she seemed anxious, muttering her name again.
‘She’s- she’s having a nightmare?’ Shizuka wondered and soothed her as tenderly as possible. “Yoshika, everything’s fine,” she softly repeated, as she decided to caress her hair but as soon as she touched it, Yoshika shoved her eyes open.
Shizuka smiled tenderly at her despite her worriedness. “Everything is alright Yoshika, I’m here.”
“Shizuka…” Yoshika heaved a sigh as she sat on the bed.
“Were you dreaming?” Shizuka asked her as comfortingly as she could. “What was it about?”
“I don’t know.” Yoshika looked down to avoid looking at her. “I- I can’t remember.” Then she jumped out of her bed.
“Are you going somewhere?” Shizuka asked.
“I- I just… need some water.” Yoshika sighed as she headed to the door.
“Do you want me to come with you?” she asked.
“What? I’m fine.” Yoshika breathed away. “Don’t- don’t worry about me.”
Now in the bathroom, Yoshika washed her face with cold water. ‘It’s only a dream, she’s fine, everyone’s fine.’ She repeated to her own head again and again, hoping to soothe herself, and to forget the nightmare.
After a couple of minutes, Yoshika calmed down a little, dried her face with a clean towel and headed back to the bedroom, only to find her roommate at the bottom of her bed.
“Shizuka?” Yoshika asked with a bit of surprise in her voice.
“Yoshika, please, you know you can tell me anything.”
“I swear, I don’t remember anything.” Yoshika avoided her as calmly as she could as she got on her bed.
Shizuka sighed disappointingly. “If you need something, anything, just wake me up, okay, please?” Shizuka went to her bed.
“Thanks, Shizuka, I really appreciate it.” Yoshika replied as she turned around on the bed, hoping to fall asleep again.
After a couple of minutes, Shizuka had not been able to fall asleep, and started to dive into her thoughts, thinking about what just happened with Yoshika but at least for now, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully as the room was as silent as it could get, still she wanted to ask Yoshika what she was dreaming about and regarding the future of the 501 st but not today at least.
Still, lots of things had happened in the last couple of days, Berlin had been liberated, Yoshika had regained control over her magic pressure, everyone made it safely and just celebrated that, but she could not help it but wonder what would happen to them and after some time, she had fallen asleep as well.
The next day
The whole 501 st were currently sitting in the meeting room, as Minna and Mio had called to give them the news regarding the future of the Joint Fighter Wing.
Minna was in front of the podium. “As you may know by now, there are no notices regarding the operation to take down the hives over Southern Karlsland and Ostmark just yet.”
“And we haven’t received orders from your respective countries yet, which means you need to go back to your respective units.” Mio added.
“Don’t worry, the Strike Witches aren’t disbanded, we’re just in stand-by for a couple of months.” Minna assured them.
Everyone gazed at each other, but Shizuka, who just lowered her gaze with a bit of sadness in her face.
Ater some murmurs, Gertrud stood up. “Minna, wouldn’t it be possible to continue moving forward to Southern Karlsland, the armies are ready and so are the supply lines.”
“I tried Trude, I really did my best, but you know how bureaucratic these things are, the allied forces are willing to continue supporting us, but it will take time to come to an agreement, hopefully we can resume operations this year.”
“I hope it’s not too late.” Gertrud added as she took a seat.
The rest of them exchanged glances but this time, Sanya lowered her gaze, sharing the same demeanor as Shizuka.
“I guess this is it for now, you’re dismissed.” Mio wrapped up.
And thus, all the girls went back to their rooms to pack their things in order to move back to their different posts.
As Shizuka was walking to the room, Mio stood in front of her.
“Hattori, do you have a minute?”
“Y-yes, Major Sakamoto.”
“I know you haven’t received any orders from the Fuso Navy but if you want to, you can come with me, to Fuso, I’ll need some help training new recruits.”
Shizuka looked everywhere but no one else was there, so she looked at her superior again. “Um, I…”
“That’s of course, if you want to. If not, I can arrange something for you here.”
“Th-that would not be necessary, Major, I will go with you, back to Fuso.”
“Thank you, Hattori, we will depart in a few days.” Mio stated. “Please pack your things.”
As for the rest of the Witches, Minna alongside Squadron Leader Gertrud Barkhorn and Flying Officer Erica Hartmann stayed in their homeland, to continue with the rebuilding of Berlin and to fulfill other activities they agreed on before.
Flying Lieutenant Sanya Litvyak and Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen decided to go to Suomus and then to Orussia to gather more information regarding the whereabouts of Sanya’s parents.
Flight Lieutenant Charlotte Yeager and Pilot Officer Francesca Lucchini decided to go to Romagna to help the 504 th JFW to defend both Romagna and Venezia. Nevertheless, Charlotte had already planned something else to do in their temporary retirement.
Master Sergeant Lynette Bishop and Flying Officer Perrine Clostermann went back to Calais in Gallia to continue with its rebuild.
As for Yoshika, she wanted to go back to Fuso to visit her mother, grandmother, and her friend Michiko but she knew she had already a duty here in Europe, she must go back to Helvetia to study at Lausanne Medical School. That was the whole reason she came to Europe this time and she promised them that she would study hard to become a great medic and she intended to keep her word.
Nevertheless, after hearing the news regarding Mio and Shizuka, she decided to ask them for a favor. She wanted them to explain to their family why she could not come back to Fuso right now. So, she hoped that they could help her with that as she was not sure when she would go back home.
Mio and Shizuka agreed as they already knew her family so it would be easy enough, though, before going back to Fuso, there was something Mio needed to do.
She had arranged to send the Shinden to the Helvetia Air Force Base so that Yoshika could use it in case of an emergency. Mio also made sure that it was properly serviced not like the last time she had to use that neglected striker unit that almost got her killed trying to protect Antwerp.
Furthermore, Mio requested Ursula to go to Helvetia to train the personnel there to service the Shinden as its design was different in comparison to most other striker units. Plus, the fact that Helvetia was not currently under Neuroi occupation, so the crewmen were unskilled with the strikers' maintenance to say the least.
A few weeks later
Mio and Shizuka were already back in Fuso without encountering any problem on their way to the empire. Shortly after they solved their pending military matters, they got into the jeep and headed to the Miyafuji clinic.
“I wonder if they already know Yoshika got her magic back.” Shizuka wondered.
“They do, Miyafuji told me she wrote them.” Mio commented.
“That’s one less thing we need to worry about.”
“I guess but I hope she told them how she got it back.” Mio remarked.
Shizuka looked at her, a bit confused. “Why?”
“Well, you told us Miyafuji was severely injured.”
“I…” Shizuka hesitated. “Yes, that’s what happened.”
“That would not sit well with them, for one thing, they did not want her to join the military on the first place.” Mio made a pause to continue. “I cannot blame them though, after all Dr. Miyafuji died not long after he came to Europe.” Mio continued. “And after Operation Mars, it was apparent Miyafuji depleted her magic.” Mio added with a troubled tone of voice, “And though I used to come here frequently, I haven’t visited them since she departed for Helvetia”.
Shizuka lowered her gaze. “It’s- it’s understandable they don’t trust the Fuso Navy or the Witches for what matters.”
“Indeed.” Mio sighed and they arrived at the clinic, and both got out of the truck. “Thank you, Hijikata. Wait for us, I hope this won’t take long,”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Both went to the entrance, Shizuka behind Mio, hidden a little.
“Good afternoon.” Mio loudly announced their arrival and not long after a dog came running towards them.
“Hey there, buddy.” Shizuka petted him and shortly after, Sayaka came to the entrance and became pale in sight of who had just arrived.
“Where’s my daughter?” Sayaka asked, visibly worried.
“That’s why we came here.” Mio said as both approached her and not long after, Yoshiko also came, sharing the same expression of her daughter. “Yoshika wanted us to tell you she would come back home later; she’s currently studying at Helvetia.”
Sayaka sighed as the colors returned to her face. “Please come in.”
Shortly after, the three were sitting in seiza as Sayaka brought tea to their guests and took a seat, in front of them.
“Thank you for the tea.” both said in unison as they bowed.
“We read in the newspaper that a Fuso exchange student almost died during a Neuroi attack not long after Yoshika departed.” Sayaka stated in a serious tone of voice.
Both gazed at each other. “That’s… what happened.” Mio said with a regretful tone.
Shizuka was looking at them nervously. “But…” Shizuka hesitated. “Th-that’s how Yoshika got her magic back.”
“That’s what we thought, because she wrote to us that she joined the Strike Witches again.” Yoshiko said with a soft yet firm voice.
Mio sighed tiredly. “To a certain extent, that’s how it happened.”
“And what happened in Kiel?” Sayaka asked, gazing at Mio directly.
“In Kiel?” Shizuka wondered, also gazing at Mio.
Mio tilted her head, with an analytical expression. “A Neuroi almost crashed into the base, but Miyafuji protected us.”
“And why did she put her life on the line?” Yoshiko now asked them with a serious yet somehow calmed voice.
‘Of course, they heard Minna’s speech.’ Mio said to herself. “Well,” Mio took a deep breath. “She used most of her magic and needed to rest.”
“And in Berlin? We read that a Witch from Fuso was injured during the operation.” Sayaka asked, gazing at Mio directly, making her feel a bit hesitant.
“She wasn’t injured. I was that Witch.” Shizuka replied in a low voice. “But- but Yoshika saved me”.
“Indeed, and rest assured.” Mio stated proudly. “Miyafuji got control again over her magic pressure after that.”
“Magic pressure?” Yoshiko wondered if what she heard was right.
Shizuka softly facepalmed after hearing that and drank all her tea nervously.
Mio gulped, looking at the ceiling. “After… Yoshika regained her magic back, she began having problems controlling it.”
“Why didn’t she tell us?” Sayaka wondered.
“I don’t have the answer to that.” Mio looked at them again, with a bit of resolve in her eyes. “But for now, as I told you, she’s studying just like she promised you.”
Both looked down in regret. “Do you know when she will come back?” the eldest asked.
“We cannot be sure.” Mio gulped all her tea/ “Put if I know something, I’ll come back here to tell you.”
“Thanks both of you for telling us.” Sayaka commented in a low voice.
“We better get going,” Mio stood up. “We have a… meeting at the Witches academy, right Hattori?”
Shizuka stood up and posed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Thanks for the tea, Hattori, let’s go.” Mio headed outside.
“Um, y-yes, thank you.” Shizuka followed Mio and both headed quickly but as discreetly as possible to the jeep, then both got into the vehicle.
“Hijikata!” Mio called him with a firm tone of voice. “It's getting late for the meeting.”
“Meeting?” Hijikata asked, confused.
“Yes, the meeting.” Mio added trying to use a firm tone of voice.
“Y-yes, ma’am.” Hijikata turned the vehicle on, still a bit hesitant and started to drive back to the base.
“Thank you again for the tea.” Mio got comfortable in the jeep’s seat and shortly after, the clinic could no longer be seen.
Shizuka looked at the sky. “Well, that was uncomfortable.”
“It really was.” Mio sighed. “I need to speak with Miyafuji when I see her again.”
Shizuka looked at her again, with a curious expression. “But- but they knew a lot about what was going on in Europe even though Yoshika seemed to have not written them.”
“They heard Minna’s speech.” Mio stated.
“Oh? I- I guess that explains it.” Shizuka sighed, somewhat eased. “At least, we did the favor Yoshika asked us to, right?”
Mio, on the other hand, had a tired look. “Indeed, Hattori.”