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Springfield's Apple Pie Part 2

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Jun 24th, 2018
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  1. However, all that came back was an attack order.
  2. I sighed, and pulled the brim of my cap down.
  3. "Check the landing ramps! Prepare for landfall! All hands on deck!"
  4. As if a war would stop because people would die.
  5. As a navy man, all I could do was see them safely onto the beach. I could hear the whoosh of the attack craft and the sound of shells splashing into the sea. Only the madmen of naval aviation could provide fire support in this kind of weather. The enemy had already sensed our intentions, and if we got any closer, their shore guns would not spare us.
  6. Yes, the enemy was close.
  7. "Drop the ramp! All units, get ready!" Waves crashed into the cabin, and the landing craft were batted around by the fury of the sea.
  8. I waited for the command to set out.
  9. However, something caught my eye. It was a girl who had moved up to the first row of the lead boat, and her brown hair that had been squashed by her helmet.
  10. The girl moved to the head of the line, and stood on the deck.
  11. For a moment, everyone looked at her.
  12. "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
  13. "What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?"
  14. Everyone sang along with her.
  15. "Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
  16. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?"
  17. For some reason, that girl's form overlapped with that of someone I had seen in an old celluloid photo. My grandfather had shown me that photo. It was a picture of the soldiers who had landed on Omaha Beach.
  18. "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
  19. Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
  20. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
  21. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
  22. The dolls cheered and punched their fists into the air.
  23. It was as though they were going to a celebration, and not a battlefield forged of blood and fire.
  24. The girl raised her right hand high, and within it she clutched an M1903 Springfield rifle. The beautiful wooden stock and blued metal seemed to gleam.
  25. "They can have it all!"
  26. "From my cold dead hands!"
  27. "From our cold dead hands!" the girls shouted.
  28. "Let's move out!" I shouted, with all of my might.
  29. I think that was the reason why I threw my lot in with the Allied Media Command, because I saw that brown-haired girl casting herself into the fray.
  30. Of course, that was a secret, one that I could not let anyone else know.
  31. I had never told anyone else about it either.
  32. "Hmm~" The twilight coming in through the window was a little dazzling. Hm? Twilight?
  33. "Wake up, kid," the brown-haired girl standing in front of the oven smiled. She undid the tan apron she wore.
  34. "Ugh." Why was it that she was the one to catch me whenever I looked bad? "I told you, don't call me that."
  35. "Alright, Commander-dono~"
  36. Ah, that smile. She was toying with me.
  37. I sighed.
  38. I had known her for so long. I had overcome many challenges ever since I had been transferred to Springfield Base from the West Coast DEVGRU, be it Sangvis Ferri or the brass. However, I was helpless before this girl who bullied me with a smile on her face.
  39. I took the two bottles of wine that she passed me. My Swiss Army knife came out, and I opened one before giving it back to her.
  40. We clinked our bottles, and downed them in one gulp.
  41. She was good at taking care of others, strict when it came to training, calm, fearless and resolute on the battlefield.
  42. She was careful in everything she did, her uniform was ever-immaculate, and it seemed as though there was nothing that could stump her.
  43. She was used to drinking beer and bourbon, but she could not hold her liquor; the kind of person who would drunkenly argue with me over whether the Patriots or the Eagles were stronger.
  44. Ah, yes.
  45. Though I was just a kid, I had come to love her deeply since a long time ago.
  46. Whether she wore her blue dress, her white blouse, her brown apron, or her Patriots' uniform as she roared her support while sitting in a decidedly unladylike way, I loved it all.
  47. The way she smiled as she cooked, the way she calmly faced difficulty, her anger as she faced the enemy, and even the bitter tears she refused to shed in front of others after that ambush-
  48. I had fallen head over heels in love with every single part of her.
  49. The sun had set at some point, and all that remained in the sky was a glow like a warm fire.
  50. "Ladies, time to eat," she called out to the other dolls in the backyard.
  51. The only light sources in the kitchen were a lamp and the crackling flames of the oven. I held an empty and still somewhat cool bottle of beer, savoring the silence before the chattering maidens returned.
  52. "What are you standing there for? Come over and help," she said to me as she went in to the kitchen and opened the oven. The smell of apples instantly filled the entire room.
  53. "How about letting me have a piece, Springfield-nee? It looks delicious," I told her from behind her back as I laid the dishes on the table one after the other.
  54. Just a single glance as that delicious golden-brown color that she had baked from butter and syrup had been enough to sear it into my eyes. She had not been exaggerating when she said it was her specialty. As the steam rose, the smell of fermented apples filled my nose and palate and made me hungry.
  55. "Hmph, as if."
  56. -Except. From. My. Cold. Dead. Hands.
  57. She whispered into my ear.
  58. "Hrk!" I nearly dropped the plates as I heard those words. She turned and flashed a meaningful smile at me, as though she had seen through me.
  59. I worked every nerve and fiber on my face, doing my best to seem calm.
  60. "Hee~" she cupped her smiling mouth. "Did you think I'd forget that stupid face of yours? You were shouting so loud despite being Navy."
  61. "Hng!" Even I did not know what kind of face I was making.
  62. "Haha, dummy!" she smiled as she turned back around. She could not hide the wicked glee in her voice. Then, she suddenly stopped and turned to glance aside at me.
  63. I did not recall seeing that smile of hers before.
  64. "Still, you were pretty cool."
  65.  
  66. Ah, I realised it now.
  67. My ears were burning. Just like that freshly-baked apple pie.
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