Move 4: The Little Knight

“LOOK KID, JUST BECAUSE you’re a witch doesn’t mean you can get away with wrecking your hardware,” the exasperated chief mechanic exclaimed as he showed Kaede her busted-up Shinden II strikers. The nozzles were warped, there were cracks along the entire body, and the wings were jagged. The left striker even had panels falling off, and some of the internal parts and wiring were exposed as well.

“Chief, could you let Kaede off, just this once?” Takamiya pleaded. “She just got back in the air after getting grounded for a while. Of course she’d be excited to get maneuvering again.” She nudged the little white-haired witch forward. “See? She looks happy!” Kaede just stared at the mechanic blankly.

Tamaki chimed in. “Come on, Chief Suribachi. I know you could still fix these strikers. I mean, they’re not a total write-off, right? You could totally bring these strikers back to full working order soon!”

Chief Petty Officer Kuuzo Suribachi was not a happy man as he adjusted his rolled-up sleeves. His oil-encrusted overalls had not been changed for the past 72 hours, and his wavy and bushy hair literally stood on end due to the soot. He adjusted his rimless glasses before replying, “Commander Tamaki, things just don’t go that easily. Me and my boys bust our butts just to keeps these marvelous pieces of art in good condition even if you trash them constantly, so telling me to let off Ensign Kaede here just because she got excited would be a betrayal of the ideals we stand for! As a consequence, I’ll have to put fixing her strikers on low priority.”

Tamaki frowned, while Takamiya looked at him like he was insane. Kaede was still staring at him blankly.

Takamiya spoke first to break up the sudden silence. “Come now, chief, stop fooling around. We expect these strikers to be back to full operational capacity within the next 24 hours.” She then turned her eyes to her superior officer. “After all, this is your reputation as a top-grade mechanic we’re talking about here…”

Tamaki caught her subordinate’s drift immediately and, smiling slyly, added, “Indeed. It would be a shame if something would happen to that reputation just because you failed to get a simple striker back in order…” Both witches then proceeded to do the classic noblewoman’s routine, laughing haughtily with one hand over the mouth.

“Man, you witches are crazy,” Suribachi exclaimed, sounding defeated. He put his worn gloves back on before continuing. “I’ll have you know, Commander Tamaki, you already have a pretty sizeable tab with the mechanics here. I hope you don’t forget that.”

“Sure, sure, I’ll pay for all of your drinks the next time we hit port,” Tamaki replied condescendingly. “Just get those repairs done quickly, got it?”

“Like I told you earlier, commander, pieces of art like these take time to fix and…” Suribachi raised an eyebrow as he saw both senior witches yawn. “Anyway, I’ll be seeing you ladies later. Duty calls.” With that, the mechanic turned to his subordinates, shouting at them to gather around for another round of ‘repair and restoration.’

“You know, I think you’re getting a bit too much on his case, Erika,” Tamaki noted dryly as she watched the chief mechanic shouting orders to his crew. “You know I could’ve called you out for mouthing off to him like that back there. Be thankful that I let you off easy this time.”

Takamiya shrugged. “I don’t know boss, I think that cranky old man should learn to step down a notch of two. That attitude of his can get annoying. And besides, he was basically bullying a relatively new witch! Waiving off the Ensign like that… I can’t let that slide, boss.”

Tamaki narrowed her eyes at her subordinate. “I’m starting to suspect that you’re giving our dear little Ensign Kaede here some special treatment. Could it be that you’ve taken a shine to the little girl? Wait… Don’t tell me, you’ve starting to get a big sister complex over the little ensign? Or, maybe, you developed something else for her?” She elbowed the purple-haired witch lightly. “Geez, I didn’t know you liked them young, Lieutenant!”

“Ugh, even you, boss?” Takamiya exclaimed dejectedly. “For the last time, I do NOT have a big sister complex towards Ensign Kaede. I treat all the younger witches equally. I mean, I don’t know how all of you can get that idea at all.”

“You keep saying that, and yet here you are, clutching tightly to Kaede like someone’s going to take her away from you,” the redhead said bemusedly.

Sure enough, Takamiya was holding the white-haired witch tightly; her arms wrapped around Kaede the way a child would clutch her stuffed bear. Embarrassed, Takamiya broke away, almost pushing Kaede off her feet. “T-that was just a reflex! R-reflex! It was not like I suddenly became defensive or anything! I-isn’t that right E-ensign?” Kaede didn’t respond and for a moment was just staring back at Takamiya. A little while later, she nodded almost imperceptibly. “See? I-it was n-nothing at all!”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say Erika,” Tamaki replied, shrugging. “Anyway, how about we hit the wardroom and grab something to eat? All this heckling around with Chief Suribachi has gotten me hungry.”

Takamiya and Kaede nodded, but neither made any effort to start moving. Getting impatient, Tamaki started shoving both witches towards the nearest hatch. “Come on, quit your lollygagging and get moving! I hear they’ll be serving something special for lunch, so we can’t miss that!”

The other two witches finally got moving after a little more shoving, with Takamiya holding onto Kaede’s shoulders and Tamaki walking beside them. Finding the walk rather boring, the redhead decided to keep up the conversation. “So Erika, how has staying around with the Ensign been? Has she been talking much while nobody’s looking?”

“That was terrible, boss. You’ll never get far in the manzai scene with that kind of humor,” Takamiya replied dryly. “To answer your question, she’s still the same little quiet type, even when on her own. She reads a lot of books of course, mostly translated western titles for some reason. I’ve only managed to catch her practicing on her own with her Type 64 once, but I was impressed by her accuracy, considering how she was still using the old m84 scope. She also managed to slip a nap or two in the library and… wait.” The purple-haired witch stopped in her tracks. “Why the heck are we talking about the Ensign like she’s not here? Can’t you just ask her directly?”

“I… Well, you see…” Tamaki replied, stammering. “Well I guess I was kind of distracted by something on my mind back there and… oh look, we’re here! Come on, get in! We better double-time it or we won’t get any free tables!” With that, she slipped through the hatch and into the wardroom, her subordinates following close behind.

THE REDHEAD STILL HAD A LOOK OF DISBELIEF as Takamiya placed the plates on their table. Even after reading the TODAY’S SPECIAL notice near the counter, Tamaki felt like it was either a lie, or an elaborate prank. The perfectly dark grill lines, the inviting smell, the juices just oozing out, and the color—OH GOD THAT PERFECT RED COLOR—everything was too good to be real…

“Awww!”

Her daze was interrupted by Takamiya promptly pinching her on the cheek. “Erika, that was totally uncalled for, you know! You could’ve at least waved a hand in front of my face or tapped my shoulder…”

“I don’t think that’s going to work, boss, especially if you’re distracted by Matsusaka steak,” Takamiya replied snarkily. “Anyway, I still don’t get how the mess crew managed to get a hold of all of this. We’re on a war footing and yet, here we are dining on some premium meat. I mean, I can live with the fact that Command is acknowledging our efforts in weapons and tech testing, but throwing a steak buffet for the entire flotilla? Talk about suspicious.”

“Hmm, I wonder,” Tamaki exclaimed as she idly moved the garnishing away from the meat. “I guess the rumor about the Chinese suing for peace is true after all, and Command is just throwing a bash for the troops?”

Takamiya shook her head. “Sounds like a flimsy excuse as well, boss. Just because the Chinese are giving up doesn’t mean—”

“Not enough pepper.”

Both senior witches were taken aback by the sudden outburst from Kaede. “What do you mean by that, Ensign?” Tamaki asked, still confused.

“This steak doesn’t have enough pepper,” the white-haired witch replied flatly. “The meat is slightly overcooked. The herbs don’t balance out with each other. It’s not very obvious, but you can notice it if you chew it slowly and let the juices simmer in your mouth.”

Tamaki and Takamiya looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Kaede, meanwhile, continued with her meal for a while, before belatedly adding, “I learned that from Katsuyo Kobayashi’s books.”

Takamiya, having recovered from the initial shock of hearing the little witch say more than three words, spoke up first. “Looks like you really put her words to heart. I guess you want to be a chef when you grow up?” Kaede merely nodded in reply.

Tamaki leaned forward. “So does this mean your marksmanship with a difficult-to-use scope was also honed by your time mulling over books? Some deep study into math and bullet drop compensation, perhaps?”

Kaede shook her head wordlessly before turning back to her meal. A little while later, she added, “A senior of ours taught us.”

Her interest piqued, Tamaki pressed on. “Can you tell us more about this senior of yours? She sounds like a really interesting person.”

Kaede slowly finished nibbling the piece of steak she had in her mouth before answering. “She helped Micchi and me settle down with academy life after we both came from our respective orphanages. She helped us learn everything that we know now. She was like a big sister to both of us, looking out for us while we went through academy together. And then one day…”

“Hold it,” Tamaki interrupted, pulling out her handkerchief and lightly wiping it below the younger witch’s eyes. “You were tearing up back there, you know.”

“Oh,” Kaede replied dully. After wiping her eyes lightly with the back of her hand, she resumed eating. She did not finish her meal, however, and before either of the older witches could say anything, she left, making her way out of the wardroom’s hatch.

“Way to dampen the good mood there boss,” Takamiya commented snidely.

Tamaki smirked at her subordinate. “Don’t get smart with me Erika; I’m sure you would’ve asked the same question if I didn’t.” Leaning back on her chair and placing her hands behind her head, she added, “I didn’t know she felt strongly about that topic. Sure her face didn’t show it, but those tears were more than enough indication.”

Takamiya nodded in agreement. “To be honest, that was the first time I saw the Ensign show another kind of emotion… for a given definition of emotion, anyway. I guess I’ll file that under the things I’m no longer allowed to say or ask to a new witch.”

“Yeah, me too,” Tamaki exclaimed. “I suppose you really can’t rush these kinds of things, huh?”

The redhead looked back on all that happened as she finished her meal. In retrospect, this was the first time Tamaki heard Ensign Kaede speak more than three words, ever.  Sure, it all sounded plain and flat, but she could feel the emotion when the little witch talked about food and her senior back in the academy. Tamaki couldn’t get the image of Kaede tearing up when mentioning her senior out of her head, however.

“There has to be more of a story there,” the redhead thought to herself. “I just know it.”



IT SEEMS THE CHINESE ARE planning to negotiate peace with us, sir.

Well, well! I guess they finally realized how pointless it is to face us in open combat, eh? That makes it easier for us to complete the project, hmm?

Indeed sir. In my opinion, though, we’ve lost an opportunity to test our project outputs in their initial stages.

No, no, my dear protégé. This is but a minor setback. We can always find other opportunities for field tests. Speaking of, how is the Amaryllis?

No problems have been observed so far, sir. Everything is going according to schedule, and all the necessary conditions have been observed and ticked off.

Splendid! I guess it’s time we go ahead with phase two for the Amaryllis, yes?

Indeed sir.

Ah, to be honest with you, I really regret having to let the Amaryllis bloom like this. If possible, I’d rather have the seeds be planted somewhere else, but the current situation our country is in warrants such sacrifices.

Japan must undergo a great change if it is to survive in a brave new world…

… And we shall be the herald of that change. Good to see you’ve taken our creed to heart, my protégé! Now then, shall we proceed?