The great war

														   The great war






Shizune was pacing the battlements for the tenth time, restless. Everything had to be perfect. Everyone had to do their job, or this would never work. She looked at Suzu, focused on her task; Miki and Misha, staring ahead in the darkness of the night, weapons in hand. Nervous. Shizune could feel the tension in the air and would've liked to alleviate it somehow, but she couldn't find anything to say. It wasn't very practical to sign in their situation anyway, it meant that two people - Shizune and Misha - would have to drop their weapons to relay the conversation. Thus, she kept the talking to a minimum, only discussing strategies and positioning.

Shizune stared west too, at the enemy flag, barely visible at this distance. Their flag being a dark shade of blue didn't help. "We have the better flag", she thought. She walked to the flagpole and made sure their bright, red flag was secured properly.

-

On the other side of the battlefield, Lilly was in a rare bad mood;

Lilly: 'Why do I have to be here?'
Emi: 'It's war, Lilly. Everyone has to be here!'

In this battle, there was no neutrality; Everyone had to take a side. When the war began, Akira had been with them, and obviously she joined her sister's cause; Family came first. Technically Shizune was family too, but a sister came before a cousin. Emi and Rin went to their side too, probably more to avoid being on the other team, than to be in theirs.

Lilly: 'But I can't help you here... What's the point?'

It was a rare thing for Lilly to admit her blindness was impairing her in any way at all, or to even mention it. But she had to be realistic here... Even if she tried to fight, she was about as likely to hit one of her friends, than an enemy.

Lilly: 'Same with Rin. We do not belong here.'
Emi: 'Look at Rin! She can do something! And she does! You can do it too, for the war effort!'

Emi used "look" without thinking, and when she realized what she said she wondered whether she should apologize or keep silent... She went with the latter. Lilly was probably used to people saying things like that without thinking.

Lilly didn't seem convinced, but she didn't add anything either.
Hanako was silent too, but in her case, it certainly wasn't because she didn't have anything on her mind; She looked terrified. But she seemed ready, or as ready as she would ever be. In a war, everyone was scared at first anyway, until the battle frenzy grew stronger than fear. They might not have the best, bravest warriors, but they had the numbers...

-

...Shizune knew that too. That's why she took Suzu on her team; She didn't want her, for an obvious reason - dead weight at unpredictable times - but Miki was stubborn. They would get both of them or neither of them. The choice had been easy. She had found something to do for Suzu anyway, as long as she didn't fall asleep. Their edge in the battle would be their strategy. They had to get it right, and fast. There would be no second chances. Everyone would need to understand what they had to do, and do it.

-

Lilly was walking around, pondering her next move; Going to help Rin? Or arguing more with Emi and leave? Akira might be able to talk some sense into her too. Problem is, if Lilly did quit, Hanako and Akira might follow. Which would leave Emi and Rin against the red forces, and Lilly didn't want to ruin their chances like that. "I'll help Rin", she decided... But she didn't have the time to even walk to her;

No one even saw where it came from, but it struck Lilly on the left side of her chest. The impact - and mostly the surprise - caused Lilly to fall to the ground.

Hanako: 'L-Lilly!'

She yelled it, panicked; She was running to her now, as fast as she could, in a foot of soft snow.

Hanako: 'Are you h-hurt?'
Lilly: 'Don't worry, Hanako. I'm fine. Just surprised.'

She had some snow in her hair due to her fall and shook it off, then she stood up and asked Emi;

Lilly: 'So I am out of the game, is that it?'
Emi: 'Yeah... I think so.'

Emi then turned toward Hanako.

Emi: 'Hanako! Back to your post, now!'

Hanako walked back to her position, startled; Emi wasn't anywhere as intimidating as Shizune was - even without speaking - but it didn't take much to intimidate Hanako. Still, she steadied herself and waited, snowball in hand. Sadly, she couldn't see a thing in front of her; Whoever threw that ball at Lilly retreated, or was hidden somewhere. She looked behind her at Rin, working on making more snowballs with her feet. At least they wouldn't lack for ammunition.

-

Shizune:[Good shot, Misha.]
Misha:[Thanks Shicchan!]

Misha was still tired from running to the enemy's fort and back, but her smile was wide. Not only she had the first 'kill' in the battle, she completed her mission with success; Shizune's mission. She had been tasked with taking Lilly out first; She would just be in the way. Misha knew there was probably some student council enmity at the origin of that mission... but with Lilly gone, at least the teams were fair now.

Suzu was working on snowballs, just like Rin was on the other side. She had more than twenty in front of her, and once in a while, she brought some to the other girl's posts. Right now it was peaceful, but when the action would really start, she might not have the time to deliver them.

Shizune signed something to Misha. Their first mission worked well, might as well do it again. The target was Emi this time; Likely their best player. Misha was about to leave when Shizune signed again;

Shizune: [Don't forget your hood!]

Misha pulled the black hoodie over her head and more importantly, her hair; Shizune had insisted everyone on their team wore black coats with hoodies. They were harder to see in the night, that way. Well, all but Miki; Either she didn't have a black coat, or she didn't care... In a red coat with neon green accents, she might as well be walking around with a target on her back. Everyone on the blue team had normal coats on, so they still had the edge, anyway.

-

Emi expected another attack from Shizune's camp, their first one having successfully taken out one of theirs. Instead of waiting for it to come - which would likely end up in the same way as their first one - she left the defenses of their snow fort, and walked a hundred feet in front, to hide behind a large tree; She didn't see their attacker the first time, but from this angle, she might.
When she saw a dark form move through the snow, she knew she had it right; In her dark clothes, she would barely be visible from the fort, with lights on her back, blinding everyone. Hiding in the fort had been a bad idea, they were better in the open.

She let Misha pass in front of her, and followed her, trying to get a good angle. It wasn't easy to go through the snow with her walking legs on, but it would've been even worse with her running blades. She was still much faster than Misha, and after a short while, she found herself behind her, not even twenty feet away. She aimed carefully, and threw her snowball, hitting Misha on the ass.

She turned around and when she realized what happened, Misha looked like she was about to cry... But eventually, she resigned herself, and gently threw her snowball just in front of Emi, like a defeated enemy would throw his gun to surrender.

Misha: 'Emi, why? Why me?'

Emi felt bad, even though it was silly; That was the point of the game.

Emi: 'Well you were there... You took out one of ours too!'
Misha: 'Wahaha, I suppose you're right! See you after the game!'

Misha walked away, and Emi did too; Her laughter might've alerted people around, even if they did not see her.

-

Shizune waited, but Misha never came back. She had to admit it to herself; She was gone.
She turned toward Miki and began to sign, then realized the obvious; She had no one to translate now. She had a plan in mind, a diversion... But without Misha, it was hard to explain. She tried to use symbols rather than sign language... but it didn't seem to help much.

Miki: 'Me... Walk... Don't know what that one means. Blind? You talking about Lilly? She's out.'

Shizune shook her head, then signed some more.

Miki: 'Me blind? You want me to take my eyes out or something? You're crazy.'

It was all Shizune could do not to hit her... But Miki was stronger, so it wasn't a very good idea. She thought about the notepad, but not only she did not have it, Miki might not even be able to read in the dark. Last resort...
Shizune pulled out her gloves, and wrote something in the snow, with a finger.

Miki: 'Pretend not see?'

Shizune nodded.

Miki: 'Ah, a trap of some kind? That's cheap. Why not just rush them? I'm sure we aim better.'

Shizune wrote something else on the snow.

Miki: '"No, follow the plan"? Bah, fine. But if they take you out, that's on you.'

She began walking away, and Shizune was about to tell her to pull her hood, but it was pointless, with her brightly colored coat.

-

Emi was telling her team to leave the fort and walk in the forest solo instead, as some lone wolf commandos; Akira and Hanako did, but Rin had seemingly lost any interest in the game, and had even given up on making snowballs; Or rather, she was making a huge one, probably the base of some snowman. Emi knew there was no convincing her, so she let her at her... Art? Passion? Fun? Whatever it was. She left the fort too, keeping some distance between herself and Akira. She had already lost Hanako, her dark hair making her harder to see in the night.

-

Akira was trying to walk in silence, carrying snowballs in each hand, when she saw Miki, not too far away. She caught the chase; Miki apparently didn't see her. She was less than fifty feet away now, but wasn't turning around to look at her. Perfect, Akira thought...
...And so thought Shizune.
Just as Akira was about to take Miki out, she heard a rustling in the snow behind her, and when she turned around, Shizune's snowball hit her in the face. She passed her hand in her hair then her face, taking it out, and coughed a few time, having swallowed some of that snow.

Akira: 'What the fuck, do you have to throw it in my face? Why do...'

She stopped yelling when she realized no one could translate for Shizune anyway, and it was too dark for her to even try reading on her lips.

Akira: 'Fine, whatever. I'm out.'

Shizune ignored her and turned toward Miki.

Shizune: [Let's head back to camp]
Miki: 'What?'

Shizune had a fit of rage and wished Misha was still with her. She pointed at herself, then Miki, and finally in direction of their fort. Miki understood that much at least, and followed Shizune.

-

Hanako was nervous, but trying to stay confident; One step after the other, just like her little tile game in Yamaku. She was close to the enemy fort now, and she couldn't hear a sound. Which probably meant they were out, looking for them... For her. Maybe she could hide in their fort, and surprise them? Well, the worst that could happen is, someone was still there, they would take her out, and she could leave. It should've been reassuring, but did very little to calm her.

The red camp's fort was much better, and mostly much bigger than theirs; They had raised their own a few minutes before the battle, but by the looks of it, Shizune's side had spent hours on theirs. There was even a door; A large piece of plywood they could slide in and out the walls, to enter the fort, or lock things down. She opened it peeked inside; "No one", she thought, but when she looked on her left, someone startled her; Suzu was sleeping on her back, laying in the snow.

Hanako moved closer, wary... Like Suzu was a predator who could wake up and maul her to death at any time. But she got next to her, and she was still sleeping, and by the looks of it, even dreaming. Hanako felt a little bad about it, but the game was the game...
She gently let one of her snowballs drop on her, from a few inches above, and smiled; "I got one at least", she thought.

She then moved her around, putting her back on the wall so she wouldn't be face first in the snow, and waited for her to wake up.
When she did, she was quick to take in the situation, and reached for a snowball, before Hanako explained;

Hanako: 'S-stop, I got y-you!'

Suzu was confused, but Hanako pointed to a spot on her pants where some snow lingered.
She was a bit disappointed, and looked like she was pondering throwing her snowball at her anyway, but she eventually resigned herself and walked away.

Suzu: 'Well done, I guess. Have fun with the game!'

With this, she left, and Hanako watched her leave until she saw her get to Yamaku's main door, where she knew there would be people to help her if she fell asleep again.

-

Miki: 'So huh, what's the plan when we get back?'

Miki tried to sign a question mark as best as she could, but Shizune didn't get anything she was trying to say. Miki was about to try again, when she stopped in her track; Suzu wasn't where she was supposed to be.
She barely had the time to react when she saw the snowball coming their way, and she shoved Shizune against the wall. The ball flew past them, mere inches away from their head. Shizune, confused by Miki's action, wasn't exactly sure what happened, but Miki's hand moved almost by herself and threw a fast snowball in the same direction the first one came from. A cry of pain - or shock, Miki wasn't sure - was heard almost instantly.

Hanako: 'Owww...'

Miki has always had a good arm, and she had played baseball a lot in her youth. She was worried she might have hurt someone in the face, but when Hanako came out of the shadows she was hiding in, she was rubbing her shoulder. When Miki saw she was fine, she jumped to the second thing that worried her...

Miki: 'Where's Suzu?'

She had an angry look on her face, and Hanako was frightened, scared that Miki would be mad about Hanako taking out her... friend, was it?

Hanako: 'She was a-asleep when I saw her. She's in Y-Yamaku n-now.'
Miki: 'She okay?'
Hanako: 'I-I think so. I can c-check on her if you want? I'm o-out anyway.'
Miki: 'Yeah, you do that.'

And with this, Miki grabbed another snowball, and quickly walked out; The other two girls had no idea if she was angry at Hanako for taking out Suzu, angry at herself for not protecting her... Or simply in a hurry to end the game, so she could go to Suzu and see how she was.

She was already outside the fort, and Shizune could barely keep up with her pace... Plus, she was trying to sign to her "Wait! The plan!" but Miki wasn't giving her any attention anymore.
"Damn", Shizune thought. "I'll have to improvise, adapt to her madness".

She pulled her hoodie, and followed her at a distance, thinking her ruse might work again.

-

When Emi first saw Miki, she was walking along the wall of their fort, trying to find any target. She observed her a moment, and at some point, it was rather obvious that Miki spotted Rin... But she ignored her. Likely she thought that she was useless, building a snowman like that... And it might've been a trap too, she might think Emi was waiting for Miki to attack Rin, to take her out;
She wanted Emi. If she had her, the battle was won.

Emi was still hiding behind a tree, but this time she didn't dare chase Miki; She was turning around every other step, looking behind her. Making sure not to get caught by someone doing... Well, precisely what Emi was trying to do.

It would be long, but Emi had to wait for Miki to come to her, and not the other way around; If she moved within thirty or forty feet of the tree, she could just step out and take her out before she even realized; She would have to be patient, but it was a better strategy than trying to catch up with her without being seen.

And so she waited, and waited... Until, after a few minutes, Miki moved toward her. At first she was moving directly toward her, which made Emi fear her position was compromised, but Miki eventually turned a few degrees to the side. Emi was still safe.

"Just a little longer", she thought. She moved from the tree, walked a few steps to the side, trying to avoid making any noise... Holding her breath, and listening...
"Just a little more... NOW!"

Emi turned around quickly, and threw her snowball in the direction of Shizune, who had been using Miki as bait the whole time. Shizune's eyes grew big, and she wasted a split second in hesitation about trying to throw her own snowball, or to dodge Emi's... Which got her to take it right on the chest.
Shizune prided her tactical mind and the strategies she came up with, but throwing balls and dodging them had never been her strength.
Like many before her, she opened her hand and let her snowball drop to the ground, but Emi wasn't even looking at her anymore; Miki heard the commotion, and threw her own ball at Emi; Missed. Emi was quick to dodge, and Miki, in her rage, had put more power than accuracy in that last throw.

Miki was already making another snowball, and Emi didn't count on her missing again. She had to move, and fast. She could've made a snowball of her own, having an edge over Miki, with two hands... But she had another, better edge over her; They were right next to their fort. If she could get to Rin's snowballs reserve, she could throw two or three at Miki before she could even make one of her own. She ran inside, Miki in tow.

Emi: 'Riiiiiiiiiiiiin! Help!'

Emi was running to her, but Rin couldn't exactly do anything to help... Throwing balls at Miki with her feet, or trying to bring them to Emi, wouldn't do all that much.
Also, as Emi realized soon enough... There weren't any snowball left to throw anymore.

Or rather, there were three huge snowballs, piled up in a snowman. Emi understood quickly... The "What" anyway, if not the "Why".

Emi: 'Rin! Why'd you use the snowballs to make your snowman? THERE'S A FOOT OF SNOW EVERYWHERE.'

Rin tried to come up with an answer but found nothing, and shrugged, disinterested.
Emi looked behind her to see Miki rushing toward her, closing in fast... She caught on while Emi was dealing with Rin's shenanigans. Miki was making a snowball as she ran toward her.

Emi had no time to think... Without hesitation, she took out the snowman's head, a huge round snowball almost two feet wide, and turned toward Miki;

Miki: 'What the... Wait!'

These were Miki's last words before the gigantic snowball took her in the chest; With the size of it, the snow spread to her neck and face as well, some of it bursting behind her in a huge cloud of snow.
"Pretty.", Rin thought.

It took Miki a moment to come back to her senses; By this time, the snow had fallen down, covering her hair - and pretty much all of her - like a thin white cloak.

Miki: 'What the hell was that?'

Emi smiled triumphantly, expecting Miki to accept the defeat... But her smile dropped when Miki ran a few steps toward her, and shoved her into a snowbank.

Emi: 'Miki stop! It's over, I won!'
Miki: 'Yeah? Does it look like you're winning?'

She was straddling her then, and Emi knew she was not getting out of it; Miki was almost twice her size, and stronger as well. Miki grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it on Emi's neck.

Miki: 'Who's winning now? You still winning Emi?'
Emi: 'Stop, that's cold!'

Even without using her hand, Miki had no trouble holding Emi under her. She grabbed more snow, and shoved it under Emi's coat, even under her shirt, on the back.

Emi: 'Ahhhh! Stop that! I took you out, game over!'
Miki: 'I'd say we took each other out, don't you think?'

Emi was speechless, and Miki collected more snow around her, making a big pile, ready to be used;

Miki: 'That snow's all going in your pants, I swear it. So, who won again?'

Emi hated admitting defeat - especially when it wasn't fair - but she had a feeling she would hate even more walking back to her room with her pants soaking wet, dripping melted snow all over the place...

Emi: 'Okay, OKAY! We both win. Or we both lose. Whatever. Draw.'

It was Miki's turn to smile;

Miki: 'Great!'

She stood up, freeing Emi from her hold, but not before rubbing some more snow in Emi's hair.

Miki: 'You deserved that one.'

They were about to leave together, when an unexpected voice surprised them;

Rin: 'So you both lost?'
Emi: 'Oh... Rin. I suppose we did.'

It took her a second to realize...

Emi: 'I guess you're the winner, Rin. Last girl standing.'
Rin: 'That's good. But I'd like to dedicate the victory to the real winner. General Winter.'
Emi: 'General... what?'

Rin pointed to her snowman.

Rin: 'General Winter. He's the real winner of this war, I believe. Though you beheaded him to end it. He should get a medal for that.'

At this point they noticed the crowd around them; Most of the players had been watching them, and came back after the battle.

Emi: 'Hi everyone... So I guess our side won? Rin and... General Winter?'

They were watching each other's reaction, especially Shizune's; She looked serious, and probably angry - or at least disappointed - about losing.
She quickly signed something to Misha;

Misha: 'You may have won this battle, but not the war!'

For a rare time, she said this with the tone Shizune intended; Strong, menacing, like a defiant prisoner of war would talk to the soldiers who captured him;
There was some tension, until Shizune signed some more for Misha to translate, and smiled;

Misha: 'So... Let's do it again tomorrow? And try to get more people too?'

And with this, the tensions dropped. People talked about the battle, their 'kills' or their 'death', what they could do tomorrow; Some rare ones were dreading it, but most were awaiting it with eagerness...

This would be a great winter!




The end.