Mariko were the first one to wake up, And it is too early. She woke up at four, It was still dark outside. Mariko raised herself up. She looked at Ayumi, She"s still asleep. She turned to Chiho, She was also still sleeping. "Huh.." Mariko wondered what"s the time, She looked at a window, It was still dark. "What the h.e.l.l.. Did i woke up at the wrong time?" Mariko whispered and She was led to a yawn. Then She slowly moved away from the bed, stood up and reached for the door. She slowly opened it to be quiet. She went out and closed the door behind her. As She stand on the hall, She noticed how quiet it is right now unlike last night. Then She walked downstairs. There, She saw Suzuka writing on something on her desk. Suzuka heard her and looked over her. "My! Good morning, Mariko-san" Suzuka greeted her. Mariko stopped by the spot just before entering the hall. "G-Good morning.." She greets back. They are the only people on the room right now. "It"s pretty early, Did you get some good sleep?" Suzuka asked. "Yeah, I did" Mariko responded. "I see, That"s good" Suzuka nodded and continued what she was doing. "Hey, What time is it?" Mariko came near and asked, Suzuka raised her head and about to answer, But someone else did. "It"s four in the morning, Champ". Mariko realized somebody else was there, She looked over the bar where She heard the voice. It was the female bartender. "Ah.. I always wake up around that time, I don"t know why, But i can"t sleep anymore once i wake up at that time" Mariko scratched her head. "As expected of a Northern!" The bartender speaks as She leave her bar. Mariko were curious about what She just said.The bartender rests her back on the desk and looked at Mariko. "Hey, Who are you going to kill this time?" The bartender jokingly asked. "Haru!" Suzuka angrily called her. "I"m kidding! I"m kidding!" The bartender, which Suzuka called Haru. Laughs at Mariko, Who couldn"t process what She just asked. "Um.. Why would i kill somebody?" Mariko"s curious. "Come on, That was a joke. Let"s go take a seat! I would like to ask you some things!". Haru grabbed Mariko by her wrist, Surprising her. "Haru..." Suzuka was somewhat worried, But Haru just gave her a playful smile. "Don"t worry!~" Then She went into an empty table near a window while pulling Mariko and asked Mariko to take seat. Haru sat beside her. "Alright! First thing"s first! My name is Haruki Suenaga! As you can see, I"m the one running the bar while Suzuka here does the rooms!" Haruki introduced herself to Mariko. "I..I"m Mariko Sakitama, Nice to meet you.." Mariko did the same. "Likewise, Mariko-san!" Haruki quickly reached Mariko"s both hands and raised it. Mariko was surprised. Haruki then looked at her hands and moved it so She can see her palms. Then She suddenly got disappointed. She gave Mariko an observing look. "Are you sure you"re from the North?" She asked. "I-I was born from there, But i grew up on this region, In Jima village" Mariko responded. "Aww.." Haruki was even more disappointed. "I thought you came all the way here from the North! But you were just born there and grew up here at South, How boring.." Haruki pouted and looked away to the mirror. Mariko ignored her complain. "H-Hey, Why did you say that i"ll kill someone before?" Mariko asked, But Haruki didn"t answer. Mariko just chose to drop that one. "At least I"m carrying their blood" Mariko went into her topic.
Haruki happily turned back to her. "Yes, Yes! Blood! Your blood is pure.. umm..Belatorisemortisems!" Haruki couldn"t remember the name so She just quickly spoke what She could remember. Mariko then remembered something. "Bellatores Mortis?" She asked. "Y-Yes! Amazing!" Haruki happily claps. "Warriors of the Death, That is the nickname for our warriors" Mariko explained the word. "Yes! I know that!" Haruki was so eager to listen more. "To be honest, That"s the only thing i could remember about my real home. Back when i was younger, The old woman back in the Jima who used to take care of me once told me about my real ident.i.ty. She revealed that i was not from the Jima, And that i came from a certain village from the North called Dives" Mariko revealed a village from the North. "Dives? I never heard such village!" Haruki happily remembered the name. "Di-Ve-Su! Not Di-Be-Su!" Mariko corrected her p.r.o.nunciation. "Di..B-Be..Su" Haruki tried. "Not Be! Ve!" Mariko corrected her again. "H-How..." Haruki thinks deeply. "Look at me, Look how i say it" Mariko asked her to watch, Haruki watched her mouth closely as She p.r.o.nounce the word. Not too long ago before She could finally say Ve perfectly. "Dives! Dives!" Haruki happily repeated the name. "There we go" Mariko smiled at her. "So? Is there something on the Dives to know about?" Haruki stopped to ask a question. "Nothing, I guess that"s our capital, or the biggest village on the North" Mariko responded.
"Then How did you end up here?" Haruki asked. "She said there was a conflict between my parents and our neighbor. Then few days has pa.s.s, The village chief had enough of the neighbor"s complains and thrown us both out of the Region. Then between the border of the South and the North, She met my parents carrying me. They asked her to take care of me while they do their "Job". The old woman was kind enough to accept me. She even told me about how they tried to hide their anger, And the job they meant was to hunt down the neighbor who was thrown into somewhere. And before they go, My mother said something to her, That i still had no name at that time, and She would like the old woman to make a name for me, A Southern name, That is" Mariko tells Haruki her past. "Then, The old woman waited and waited for them to return. She even carry me with her sometimes to go to the place where they"ve met. The last time we returned there was when i turned 7 years of age. There at that certain spot, She faced and told me "Mariko, I"m sorry to say this, But i don"t think your parents would show up anymore" She gave me a sad look and felt my cheeks" Mariko became sad at remembering the scene. "I-I"m sorry for bringing that up.." Haruki noticed her and quickly apologized. Mariko laughed. "It"s fine! I was just telling how i grew up after all! It just happened to be sad!" Mariko waved her hands. "I guess so..." Haruki looked at window.
Silence built between them but not too long before They saw Suzuka coming near. "Geez, Haru.. You"ve asked too much question!" Suzuka gave Haruki an annoyed look while She sat on the chair in front of them. Then They switched their topic to something else and let the time pa.s.s.
The sun has risen and the Inn was gradually getting filled with people. Suzuka and Haruki were already on their station and Mariko remained on the table, sipping her last drop of her coffee she asked when the two started to work. "Alright, Time for that flying thing" Despite all of what happened, She still had the plane on the back of her mind. She stood up from the table, leading to a person who just came in to ask if she"s done with the table. She responded and planned to wake up the two due to her excitement. On the way to the hallway leading to the stairs, Suzuka noticed her and raised her head. "Going back to sleep? It"s six in the morning" She asked to Mariko, making her stop by. "Nope, I"m going to wake my friends up" Mariko responded. "Ah, Is that so? Isn"t that going to be a little bit rude?" Suzuka asked. "Nah, We have something to do and they"re staying at the bed for too long" Mariko responded. "Ah! So You"re busy! Want to get something to drink on your way? Haru and I can give something!" Suzuka offered. "Thanks, That would be great" Mariko nodded. "Great! Now, Go wake them up now, I"ll give it to you once you three got down here" Suzuka clapped as Mariko accepted her drinks. Then Mariko gestured that She should get going and went upstairs. This time, She opened the door loudly, On the split second, She saw Chiho on the bed twitched. She covered her mouth to hold her laughter and went between the beds. "Alright.." She looked at both, They are still sleeping, Though, She knew Chiho heard the door but slept back anyway. At that thought, She chose to wake up Chiho first. "Hey! You heard the door! Wake the h.e.l.l up!" She shouted near her ears, leading her to cover her ears. "I"m still sleepy~!" Chiho took her pillow and puts it on her head. "You"re a tough one, Eh?" Mariko stood up and went to the table Chiho placed her gun. Then She went to the side where Chiho was facing and threw away the pillow. "Hey look" Mariko pointed the gun at the ground while She shook Chiho awake. Chiho first saw the gun once She opened her eyes. Then Mariko stomped hard to the ground, loud enough to imitate a gunshot.
Effectively, Chiho bolted up and looked at Mariko. "Good f.u.c.king Morning, Princess. How"s your sleep?" Mariko grins. Chiho gave her an irritated look and whimpered. Then She let herself fall back. "No, No, No!" But Mariko quickly caught her and Chiho started to whine. "I"m still so sleepy! Marikoo~!!" She struggled from her hands. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it! Stop acting like a kid!" Mariko was trying to hold her still. "But I AM a kid! Let me act like one~!" She struggled hard. "No! You"re not!" Mariko shouted. Then Chiho finally stopped. She scratched her eyes and looked at Mariko. "You don"t look like you just woke up, When did you woke up?" Chiho asked. "One or Two hours ago, I think" Mariko responded. "That"s way too early~!" Chiho thought of waking up at that time and throws her back on the bed again. Mariko sighed and scratched her head. Then She went over Ayumi. "Hey wake up, We got something to do" She gently shook Ayumi, But It didn"t work. "Hey, Kid! Wake up! We got something to do!" She increased her strength and shook her again. Didn"t wake up. Mariko waited for a second before shaking her again. "It"s morning now, Wake up" Mariko continued to shake her. Then finally She had enough. "Wake up! G.o.dd.a.m.n it! You two are such a heavy sleeper!" Mariko stood up and pointed at Ayumi and to Chiho, Upon pointing her finger at Chiho, She saw her with her eyes closed again. "Chiho!!" Mariko was defeated, She gritted her teeth to feel her anger. She picked up Chiho"s pillow and threw it hard on her face and walked out of the room, slamming close the door loudly. She stepped hard to the stairs, making her footstep so loud.
Suzuka heard her and turned to her direction. Mariko saw two big bottles with purple liquid in it. The other bottle is half of the two"s size. This one has orange content in it. "Here are your drinks! Where are they, Though?" Suzuka moved the bottles a little bit. "Thanks, They"re still sleeping, But i gave them enough bothering so they should be going down now" Mariko stopped by the desk and observed the drinks. "Here, You and Chiho have Grape-flavored drinks! And the small one is for Ayumi-chan! An Orange-flavored drink! The fruits came fresh from Gentaro-sama and Itsumi-sama"s Garden earlier!" Suzuka described the drinks to her. "Whoa! They are just newly made? And earlier?" Mariko asked. "Yes, An Hour ago before you woke up!" Suzuka smiled. "W-Whoa.. An hour ago.. At Three on the morning?! That"s insane!" Mariko raised her eyebrows at the thought. "Yes! Me and Haru are used to wake up at that time so We could prepare to open the Inn earlier for those early customers like you. You were the newest earliest customer to come down! The former earliest customer to come down is.. Five minutes before the time turns Five" Suzuka responded. "Heh, Looks like i managed to unintentionally bought someone down" Mariko and Suzuka laughed. "So you wake up at that time, Who gets the fruits? Do someone delivers it here?" Mariko asked. "Nope! Haru and I go out alternatively. She gets to pick them up now, And when we can take another again, I"ll be the one who"ll go out this time!" Suzuka responded. "Huh..." Mariko dropped her elbow on the desk and rested her chin on her palm. She held the bottle of grapes by the lid and rotates it so She can watch the fluid shake.
Then They heard a running footsteps coming from the stairs, They looked at the hallway to see Ayumi running towards them. "Mariko-saaan!! I thought you left us!" Ayumi thrown herself to Mariko and hugged. "Why would i leave you?" Mariko smiled and patted her head. Then She saw Chiho coming. "You d.a.m.n sleepy heads! How did you wake up each other?" Mariko turned to Chiho and asked. "The moment you left, I wondered where you"re going, So i forced myself up and i shook Ayumi until She woke up" Chiho responded. "Huh.. Thought you went back to sleep?" Mariko asked. "No, I was just resting my eyes". Mariko took a second to think about what She said. "You just had a sleep, And you"re resting already? Just how much energy did you need to wake up?" Mariko asked. Chiho ignored her and looked at the drinks. "Suzuksan bought us something to carry with while we head outside. She said the fruits were from the Leader"s garden" Mariko told her about the drinks. "Huwaa! So that means those two purple bottles are grapes?! But.. Why is there an orange one?" Her eyes caught the only orange drink. "It"s for you, Apparently" Mariko handed over the bottle. Ayumi looked at the bottle and pouted. "Why is mine orange? I want grapes too!" Ayumi complaint. "We can exchange" "I can get you a grape one instead!" Chiho and Suzuka spoke at the same time, surprising Ayumi. "N-Nevermind, I also wanted to.. taste their orange" Ayumi hugged the bottle. "Is that so? Alright" Suzuka were about to step out. "So? When are you going to leave?" Suzuka asked.
"Oh yeah.. Where should we go? We have nothing to do.." Chiho thinks, Then looked at Mariko. "Mariko-san?" She called her. "W-What?" Mariko woke the two because She was excited to meet Tak.u.mi again, Even though She knows the time when She"s going back. "You said We have something to do? What was it?" Chiho asked. "Ah..! That.. You know, About that idiot from the enemy organization?" Mariko reminded of Tak.u.mi"s promised arrival. "Oh yeah, That... Didn"t She say to meet her at Twelve? I don"t think it"s currently Twelve right now" Chiho looked at Suzuka. "It"s still Six" Suzuka told them the time. "It"s too early! That girl is probably still sleeping too!" Chiho frowned at Mariko, Who averted her eyes. Chiho irritatingly scratched her head. "Come on, Waking up so late is bad" Mariko looked back at her. "Late?! It"s six in the morning! I usually wake up at Seven!" Chiho shouted. "S-Seven?! That"s way too late! It"s only even 1 hour apart so stop complaining!" Mariko couldn"t think of waking up at that time. "I could have much better sleep if i had slept for another hour!" Chiho responded back. "Whatever, Let"s go" Mariko grabbed one bottle and were about to walk out, But Suzuka stopped her. "Mariko-san? You"re still wearing our clothes" She told her. "Ah, Sorry" Mariko stopped and walked back to drop back the bottle. "Not that you can"t bring it outside, But i guess that you"ll go outside the village soon and there"s a chance that your dress will be damaged or something. We ran out of spare to replace your clothes, so.." Suzuka told them. "It"s alright, We will..." Mariko looked at the two, Who got changed already. "I guess i"m the only one then" Mariko looked at Chiho. "Keys?" Mariko asked. "Ah.. Here" Chiho took their key and hands it over Mariko. "I"ll be right back quick"
Mariko went upstairs again and went inside their room. Once She was done, She locked the door and came down. "Alright, Let"s go" Mariko said as She walks near. She saw Ayumi holding her laugh. "What?" Mariko asked. "You.. You didn"t really change, Did you? You just stripped yourself" Ayumi responded, Chiho looked away and Suzuka buried her face to the desk. Mariko blushed hard. "W-What do you mean? I changed!". Ayumi couldn"t hold back her laughter and bursts out. While Chiho was surprised and looked at Mariko. "Y-You really did change?! You..You have nothing inside when you wore the clothes?!" Chiho shouted. "Yeah!" Mariko shouted back. Making Ayumi laugh even more. "Y-You can still wear those inside while you wear the other one. You know" Chiho told her. "Oh, Is that so.." Mariko looked at herself. "Ayumi! Be quiet!" Chiho scolded Ayumi. She slowly stops laughing. "Here at South, We call that kind of clothing as underwear.. We wear those under our clothes" Chiho explained. "I see.. Isn"t that too hot?" Mariko asked. "No" Chiho quickly answered, Ayumi giggled. "I can already feel how hot it is for my body" Mariko took a bottle. "Come on, Let"s go" Mariko then walked towards the door. "Please, Take care!" Suzuka said her goodbye. Chiho grabbed hers. "We"ll get going now" Chiho lightly bowed at Suzuka, She waved back at her. Then Ayumi followed her to walk outside.
As Ayumi close the door behind her, Mariko inhaled and exhaled at her best. "Hah... Alright, Let"s get going" Mariko looked back at the Inn, To see that It has no neighboring buildings near it. "Whoa.. Didn"t noticed this at all" Mariko speaks, The two also looked back. "Must be because we were so tired yesterday, We had thought nothing but rest when we got here" Chiho talked back while looking around. "Alright, Let"s walk.. This is the way we came from, right?" Mariko walked a little bit to her right and points. "I guess, I mean.. We were facing this way when we got here, right?" Chiho turned herself to the left. "Y-Yeah, I thought so" Mariko looked over her, Then proceeded to walk right. The two followed behind her. "Hey, What are we gong to do this early?" Ayumi asked Mariko. "Dunno.. Let"s take a stroll to the Capital?" Mariko suggests. "To the Center?" Chiho asked. "You call it Center?" Mariko looked behind her. Chiho nodded and Mariko looked back ahead. "Then let"s go to the Center". As They walk in silence, Mariko saw two soldiers looking at their way and whispering to each other. Mariko watched them closely as they get closer. Then the soldiers moved to their way and stopped, The girls stood in front of them. "Are you miss Mariko Sakitama? Someone. A girl, is looking for you outside, She wears a black uniform, probably from the enemies" side" The soldier on the right asked Mariko. Her heart skipped a beat once She heard black uniform. "Y-Yes! I am Mariko! Where is she right now?!" Mariko leaned closer to the soldier. "J-Just outside the gate, She was using a plane on the way here by the way" The soldier asked. "Alriiight! I"ll get there right now!" Mariko ran past the soldiers, surprising them. "M-Mariko-san?! Wait!" Chiho called her, She looked at Ayumi then They ran to catch up with her.
"S-So fast!" Chiho watched Mariko run as the distance between them keeps increasing. Later, Mariko reached the gate and grabbed a guard. "Where is she?!" Mariko asked. The guard got surprised at her sudden grab. "Are you Mariko? Someone is looking for you, She"s just outside" The guard responded. "Then open the G.o.dd.a.m.n door or whatever!" Mariko shook the guard. "Alright! Alright!" The guard struggled, She let go of him. "Mariko is here, Open the gates!" The guard shouted and the gate slowly opened. She peeked through the small hole while the gate"s still opening, She saw a familiar face through the gap. "Hey!" Mariko shouted and She forced herself out from the gap and ran towards Tak.u.mi. The guards were surprised at her, And so Tak.u.mi. "Y-You didn"t wait until it opens wide, huh..? That"s dangerous.." Tak.u.mi crossed her arms as Mariko stares at her while She catch her breath. "You"re that idiot before right? I just want to make sure" Mariko asked. "Yeah, And stop calling me that" Tak.u.mi gave her a bad look. "I just told you these guards your name, I could have tell them a crazy woman wielding an axe, with purple hair and on her cave dress. They will probably remember you" Tak.u.mi insulted her. But Mariko didn"t got mad. "Fine, Fine.. Tak.u.mi, Right?" Mariko asked, She nodded. Then They heard Chiho and Ayumi running to them., They both looked at them. "Oh.. s.h.i.t" Mariko realized She just ran away from them. The two girls stopped in front of Mariko, Ayumi quickly sits into the ground as they do. Both of them are catching their breath loudly. "Geez... Mariko-san.." Chiho spoke between her huff. "I-I"m sorry" Mariko apologized. "I feel like my heart is going to burst!" Ayumi shouted. "You made them run like that? Were you that excited to see me?" Tak.u.mi looked over the two and to Mariko. "Y-Yeah! Kinda.. It"s because you said you would teach me how to use that thing today!" Mariko pointed at her left behind Tak.u.mi. The same Stuka she saw yesterday was park just behind Tak.u.mi.
"I expected that from a medieval person" Tak.u.mi sighed. "A what person?" Mariko asked, but Tak.u.mi ignored her. "Fine, Let"s go.. I"ll remind you, Flying that beast is no easy job" Tak.u.mi told her before walking towards the Stuka. "Yeah! I will do anything!" Mariko grins and followed her with Chiho and Ayumi on her tail. On the way there, Chiho walks fast to stay beside Mariko. She saw how She was gritting her teeth and smiling in excitement. Then She looked at Tak.u.mi. "Hey, Tak.u.mi-san? I thought you were going down here at twelve?" Chiho asked. Tak.u.mi looked over her shoulder then looked back ahead. "Ah.. yeah, I was a.s.signed to do some patrol to the surrounding of your village early this morning" Tak.u.mi responded. "Ah, I see.." Chiho looked at the Stuka. "Since i was doing patrol, They gave me another plane to fly with, But i insisted to fly with this one" Tak.u.mi told them as She climb up the left wing. Then She looked at the sky as to think of something. Then suddenly She looked troubled. She loudly sat on the wing. They look at her as they stop in front of her. "Hey, Do you guys have any idea about flights?" Tak.u.mi looked at Chiho. "N-No idea.." Chiho shyly smiled at her. "How about you?" Tak.u.mi looked at Mariko. "No. That"s why you"re going to teach me right?" Mariko asked. Tak.u.mi sighed at their lack of knowledge about flying. "This is going to hard" Tak.u.mi sighed once more.
"Is it really that hard?" Mariko asked. "Yeah, Definitely! Do you know Gliding?" Tak.u.mi asked. "Yeah, kinda.. I read some stories about dragons, They use their wings to glide in the air" Mariko responded. "Good, At least you know about dragons" Tak.u.mi shrugged lightly and stood up. She slid opened the canopy. "Alright, You can all climb up here, It"s no worries" Tak.u.mi invited them go up. "Yeah!" Mariko excitedly climbed up. After her, Chiho carried Ayumi up to the wings. "H-Hey! I can climb on my own!" She complained while standing on the wing. They moved a little bit so Chiho could climb. "Up we go.." Chiho whispered to herself as She climbs up. "Alright.." Tak.u.mi looked at them, Then She stopped at Ayumi. "I hope you know you can"t use this" Tak.u.mi told her. "It"s fine! I will just watch!" Ayumi responded with a smile. "Okay" Tak.u.mi did the same. "That being said, You told us to tell them you were uh.. captured.. But why did you come back there?" Mariko asked. "If i were caught hanging out with you, That"s when you"re going to do that.. I also plan to stay at your side but there"s no s.p.a.ce for her to hide" Tak.u.mi said. "Why not hide it beside the wall?" Mariko asked. "There"s too much risk i would put into her if i did that. First, The risk of getting damaged or for worse case, Dragged away by unknown group of people. Second, My comrades will notice and investigate. This will bring their attention towards that village, Which i know you guys will not like at all. Third, The risk of my life being over! I told you about my faction"s leader! She will be quickly suspicious of me! Which probably will also cause an attention to that village! And maybe eventually leading to that village joining the war!" Tak.u.mi counts up to three with her fingers. "If that"s so, Isn"t telling you that you were captured will also leads to your "comrades" to fight with the Saijuns?" Mariko asked. "Then tell them They were from Tsuchiya. not from.. Saijun or whatever" Tak.u.mi answered.
"Alright, Alright! Enough of that, Let"s start now!" Mariko taps Tak.u.mi"s arms, telling her to stop the talking and begin. Tak.u.mi sighs. "I"m not even a great instructor" Tak.u.mi looked back at Mariko. "Alright, Get in" Tak.u.mi told her to get inside. "Can i?! Ha~ah! Chiho!" Mariko got excited and looked at Chiho. "Y-You can go, We"ll watch from here" Chiho smiled. "Alright!" Mariko shouted and slowly made her way to the seat. "Al~right!" Mariko spoke as She took a seat. She leaned her back to the seat and held the Stick. "Amazing! What is this?!" Mariko excitedly shakes the control stick. "That"s called Control Stick. Obviously, That"s what you use to control this whole beast when you"re flying" Tak.u.mi explained. "Oh! So this is how this thing rotates and fly up and down?! Amazing!" Mariko observed the stick, Then looked at Tak.u.mi, She saw Chiho and Ayumi peeking inside on her side. "One thing, though.. Why do you refer this plane the way you refer girls? You even call it beast" Mariko asked. "It"s obviously a beast!" Ayumi answered first. "Just like she said, It"s a beast in the skies. Medieval people like you would be so terrified of this" Tak.u.mi responded. "I know right.. The sound this thing makes is so scary, And it kills people and even destroy a whole village" Chiho looked at Tak.u.mi. "Yeah, You people at this era won"t last long against these" Tak.u.mi also looked at her, Then back to Mariko. "Why are you calling us Medieval?" Mariko asked. "It"s your era right now. I bet you people call it modern era right now, But We"re far more modern back to our world" Tak.u.mi responded. "No wonder y"all have these scary flying things!" Ayumi faced Tak.u.mi. "Yeah, Flying things.. It"s called Plane. I"ve been using that name, come on.. Remember it" Tak.u.mi told them to remember it. "Plane, plane..." Ayumi whispered loudly, To remember the name.
"Alright, That thing aside!" Mariko looked back inside. "These circle things is blinding me!" Mariko pointed at one of the gauge. "They are called Gauge. It tells you the plane"s statistic individually" Tak.u.mi explained. "Ooh!" Mariko looked at each gauges. "For example, Here"s the Fuel Gauge" Tak.u.mi leaned and pointed on the first yellow gauge on the left, on the lower part of the middle gauges. "This tells you how much fuel you have left on your plane... Do you know what is a fuel?" Tak.u.mi asked. "Yeah, You can use those to burn something and spread the fire" Mariko responded. "Well, Not this time. Fuel is the very important thing to every moving vehicles we have, This plane too, Needs Fuel to fly" Tak.u.mi explained. "So.. You put fuel on these?" Mariko asked. "Yes, See this white thing? Those are the Needles, And that"s actually the one who tells you things.. And right now it"s on the middle, That means i have the fuel tank half filled" Tak.u.mi explained, Mariko observed the fuel gauge. "As you fly in the air, Your plane will consume the fuel, And when it does, This needle will slowly move to the left, Once it reaches zero, That"s when you run out of fuel, The engine will stop and you"ll be gliding on the air, If you"re an experienced pilot or at least quick enough, You"ll find a large empty field where you can land your plane safely" Tak.u.mi explained. "Ooh! What is a pilot? The one who drives these?" Mariko asked. "Yes, We are called pilots, Who drives planes" Tak.u.mi responded. "Oh yeah, One thing.. You are lucky enough that you"re not using the original type of this plane, We made some modifications on our vehicles so it"s easy to use" Tak.u.mi said. "Original?" Mariko asked. "Yes. The designs of this plane here is actually not ours. Back in our world, It is used by a foreign country during a world war. This is one of the planes Shichiro took and bought it to his organization for modification of it, Repainted it with our usual insignia, Red star.. It"s used to be something else, A Cross one, But that shouldn"t matter right now" Tak.u.mi explained. "Alright, I bet you"re clenching your a.s.s right now to start the engine" Tak.u.mi placed her hand near a long red b.u.t.ton, supported by a silver metal inserted into the engine. "Here"s what you"ll press hard when you want to start the engine" Tak.u.mi told her. "Can i start it now?!" Mariko asked. "Not yet, You see that silver thing below it?" Tak.u.mi pointed below the b.u.t.ton. "Yeah, I see it" Mariko touched the key with a tiny ring inserted on the key"s hole. "Turn it to the left" Tak.u.mi ordered.
"To the left?" Mariko turned the key to the left, Followed by a loud dying whine of the engine. "Ooh! What happened?!" Mariko asked. "Basically, It disabled everything for the engine to start, Press the b.u.t.ton" Tak.u.mi asked her to press the long b.u.t.ton. "Okay..." Mariko gulped and pushed the b.u.t.ton, It was quickly pushed inside and nothing happened. "I don"t know why you were nervous on that.. That is how we avoid mistakes on accidentally starting the engine, We dumped our own ignition on every vehicles we have, Each drivers and pilots are given with a key to their respective vehicles" Tak.u.mi explained. "So, Do i have to turn this back?" Mariko asked. "Yeah, Before you do that, Make sure to pull the b.u.t.ton again or the key won"t turn at all" Tak.u.mi responded and Mariko pulled the b.u.t.ton and turned back the ignition to the right. "Alright, Now you"ve done it, The engine will now start once you press this again. Tak.u.mi told her. "Can i, now?" Mariko asked as She rests her palm on the b.u.t.ton. Tak.u.mi turned to the two girls. "I"ll let Mariko start the engine now, It"ll be noisy and watch for the smokes from those holes" Tak.u.mi warned them and pointed to the exhaust. "We already know how loud these things are" Chiho responded, Almost saying that "I"m used to its noise, It"s fine". Tak.u.mi looked back at Mariko. "Last thing, You need these two" Tak.u.mi rests her palm on a lever. "There"s more?" Mariko moved her hand away from the b.u.t.ton and looked at the lever Tak.u.mi was holding. "This little fella here is the RPM Control. There"s a lot of things to explain, but just keep it this way.. Now this one" Tak.u.mi switched to a bigger lever. "This one is the Throttle, This is how you control your speed, The further you move it, The strongest the engine will work. For starting, You"ll just have to move it a little bit" Tak.u.mi moved the throttle forward by inch. "Now, You"re set to go" Tak.u.mi stood straight to watch her. "Press it now" Tak.u.mi let her start the engine. Mariko reached for the b.u.t.ton, The second She applied pressure to the b.u.t.ton, It was pushed a little bit inside before it became hard to press, Together with the loud engine shout, The propellers spun and smokes came out of the exhaust. But only lasted for a second and died out quickly. The three was embraced by the warm smokes and the two were coughing. "Amazing!" Mariko on the other hand, stopped as soon as the plane reacted to the b.u.t.ton. "Well? Why did you stop?" Tak.u.mi asked. "Huh? Didn"t it start already?" Mariko asked. "No, You have to press it further until you can"t anymore" Tak.u.mi responded. "Oh, Okay.." Mariko reached for the b.u.t.ton again, The engine reacted once again as She pushed it. "Press further.." Mariko felt the b.u.t.ton was hard to press, But She increased her pressure and the b.u.t.ton is slowly pushing back inside. As it does, The engine keeps roaring loud, Propellers loudly spinning and smokes from the exhaust. All of these are shaking the c.o.c.kpit wildly. As Mariko finally pushed it enough. The engine gave a final shout along with the last burst of smokes before it calms down and become idle. The engine became a lot quieter now as it remained idle, But still loud enough for them to not to be able to hear each other.
"Haha! I did it!" Mariko shouted along with the engine sound. Mariko then saw Tak.u.mi talking to her. "What?!" Mariko shouted, Then Tak.u.mi reached for the b.u.t.ton and pulled it back. The engine was quickly cut off, removing all the noise in an instance except the propeller"s slowly stopping. "Aw! Why did you do that?" Mariko asked. "What? I"m not letting you fly! I only said i"ll teach you!" Tak.u.mi shouted at her. "Eh?! That"s unfair! You had me ready it to fly! Let me at least do it!" Mariko whined. "No! Not when i"m on duty!" Tak.u.mi responded. "You"re so un... Oh, what"s this?" Mariko were about to kick, But She felt her feet press into something. "Those are called Rudder pedals, You use that for taxiing a plane, And to yaw the plane.. Or steer the plane vertically" Tak.u.mi explained the pedals. "And I didn"t told you this because i have no plan of letting you fly!" Tak.u.mi added. Mariko crossed her arms. "Hmph... What is Taxiing by the way?" Mariko asked. Tak.u.mi scratched her head. "Basically, You move your plane into a runway, or just wherever you can to take-off safely" She explained. "Oh.." Mariko remembered what she said. Tak.u.mi loudly sighed. "I"ll tell you, It feels so nice to teach someone your knowledge.. I guess i can tell you much more next time, But for now, I have to go" Tak.u.mi smiled at her. "Really?! Yeah!" Mariko stood up to hug Tak.u.mi. "Whoa! Hey!" Tak.u.mi held into the canopy to hold herself from falling. "What"s with you all of the sudden?! I almost pushed Chiho-san and Ayumi-chan here!" Tak.u.mi complains as She held Mariko and walked back to take her out of the c.o.c.kpit. "Hehe, Sorry!" Mariko sticks her tongue out. "Christ, Don"t do that" Tak.u.mi looked away.
"E..Everything was so cool and scary!" Ayumi suddenly shouted. "Hah! I know right! I was scared too! Everything went loud as f.u.c.k and the whole thing shook so hard!" Mariko grinned. Ayumi giggled at her words. "It"s so scary, But i think it"s also amazing" Chiho smiled at Tak.u.mi. "I know right? Once you get used to it, It"ll be fun to ride it and fly into the vast clouds" Tak.u.mi smiled back. "Are you going back now?" Chiho asked. "U-Uh.. Yeah.. I only came down here because of our agreement after all" Tak.u.mi scratched her head. Then She went near the c.o.c.kpit. There she heard a voice, It was coming from the right side of the seat. Tak.u.mi"s eyes opened wide as She realized She forgot the new radio She was carrying. It was turned on the whole time. "Sh-s.h.i.t.." Tak.u.mi visibly shakes. "Huh? What"s wrong?" The three heard her and looked at her. Tak.u.mi reached for the radio beside the seat. She nervously held it in front of her. A girl"s voice spoke through the radio. "Рядово́й Saito (Саито)" Tak.u.mi gasped at the voice. The three heard the voice called for her name after a certain word. "W-Who"s..?" Chiho whispered. And Tak.u.mi nervously looked at them.