Lucky Stars and Gitahs: Love's Battlefield

Morning had dawned upon Japan, upon Ryoo High, and classes had yet to begin. While many of the student body hung out in the courtyard in front of the school's main entrance, three in particular decided to not stand out in the brisk autumn cold, and instead, chose to hang out in the warmth of their classroom. Tsukasa and Konata had seemed to congregate around the desk of Miyuki Takara. This was all due to a question intended for the latter.

"Hey, Yuki-chan," said Konata. "You know how they say that an elephant never forgets. Is that true?"

Miyuki, when the question was asked, was busy reading a light novel. He slowly lifted her head, her left eyebrow cocked in slight confusion. "Heh heh," she giggled in slight confusion. "You sure do ask strange question at random, Izumi-san."

"But is it true? Do elephants really not forget?"

"Hmm, let's see… Well, the turn of phrase comes from the seemingly consistent habits of elephants. Many elephant herds, or 'clans,' seem to have specific spots where their elder members go to pass on, leading to the existence of 'elephant burial grounds.'

A famous example of this turn of phrase proving true is when, in India, a village was built in the path of an elephant migratory route. Every year after the village was built, the elephants would be distraught at the sight of the buildings in front of their walking grounds, and the villagers would have to ward them off. But then, one year, the elephants made a violent charge of the village, unfortunately taking many lives. After that, the village was moved, and all was well once again."

Tsukasa winced at the telling of the story. "Oh dear," she squeaked. "That's terrible!"

"Well," Konata interjected, "when you mess with something that big, something's bound to happen… You know, that story's kind of like something at Comiket."

"Comiket?" Miyuki repeated, giving her head a slight tilt.

"Yeah! One year, they changed around the booth arrangements, to mix things up. Instantly, there were huge pile-ups of people, because they didn't know where stuff was. It took forever to go anywhere that year!"

Miyuki gave a thoughtful "Hmm… Well, the phrase was meant to say that elephants exhibit human-like qualities, so-"

A sudden crash sounded at the front of the class and, in an instant, the eyes of all the students whipped around to the door. In strode their teacher, Nanako Kuroi. The infamous Nanako Kuroi, or, as some referred to her as, the "Legendary Woman 'N'." It had been only a few months since her controversial marriage to Sakura High's advisor to the light music club: Sawako Yamanaka, and about a month since Nanako had moved in with her. Even still, after that much time, people still talked about them, but by now, most of the community had grown to accept it.

This morning, Nanako looked none too pleased. Not. One. Bit. Beneath her green eyes sagged large black bags. Her long blonde hair was frazzled and unkempt, and the aforementioned eyes looked as if Hell's fires burned behind them. She marched right to her desk, throw her books onto the surface with a loud *Thump* and barked her orders to the class.

"Alright everyone!" she snapped."Sit down and shut up! I'm gonna be upfront with you right now: I'm in a pissed off mood and I don't feel like teaching today. So, open your history books to Chapter 14. Read the entire chapter and do the review questions at the end of the chapter. When you're done, just put them on my desk and sit back down. Got it?"

The entire room was dead silent, stricken by shock and a good bit of fear.

"GOT IT?" Kuroi then screamed.

"Y-Yes, sensei!" the students then shot back in unison.

"Good. Now get to work!" She then fell backwards into her chair, retrieved a newspaper from her suitcase, and snapped it open.

Konata slowly turned her head to both Tsukasa and Miyuki, a look of both fear and worry in her eyes. The two gave her back similar looks. Just then, as Izumi was about to whisper across the room to Tsukasa, Kuroi once again shouted across the room.

"And don't even think about socializing during and after the assignment. I want it quiet!"

Konata shot her gaze back to the surface of the desk in an instant. "Holy crap," she exclaimed within her thoughts. "I don't think I've ever seen sensei this mad before. I wonder what's got her all worked up…"

-o0o-

When lunch period came about, the tense mood of the room had yet to subside. There was very little in the way of conversing between the students, and those who did spoke in near whispers. This all took Kagami Hiiragi by surprise when she arrived at the door. She silently took her seat next to her sister at the makeshift table where Tsukasa, Konata, and Miyuki sat.

"… So," Kagami said at length to everyone, "what's going on here?"

"Oh man, you totally missed it, Kagamin," Konata instantly replied. "Sensei waked in today totally pissed about something."

"Really?" she gave the teacher a glance. Her tired and fiery eyes were still buried in her newspaper. It was as if she was shutting out the world around her. "What is she mad about?"

"Don't know. She didn't say… I'll ask her!"

"… W-What? No, Konata, don't-"

Too late. Konata was already waving her right arm to the front of the class, a goofy smile on her face. Nanako gave the otaku an angry glance before returning her eyes back to the print. But that didn't stop Konata, for she then began to mouth words to her. "Sensei! Over here! Sensei!"

Finally, Kuroi snapped. She threw her paper on the surface of the desk, shot up from her chair, and stomped over to the four. At close up, she looked even more pissed, if such a thing were possible. "WHAT, Izumi!" she snapped. "What do you want!"

"N-Nothing," she initially stuttered. "J-Just wanted to ask you something."

"*Sigh* Make it quick. You know I'm not feeling too hot today."

"It's just that… well, you're really pissed off today. Is something wrong?"

That probably wasn't the best question to ask right off the bat. Kagami gave the bluenette a jab of her right elbow, accompanying it with a glare. Nanako gave Konata another intense glare, but she didn't totally avoid answering the question, as the others expected her to do.

She voiced another sigh. "Look, it's not really any of your business, so-"

"Is it marriage problems?"

"Konata!" Kagami nearly screamed. "Don't ask that kind of stuff!"

Again, Kuroi sighed. "… Actually, it kind of is."

Silence fell over the four girls. Unintentionally, Konata had seemed to hit the nail right on the head. "O-Oh…" her voice cracked. "I'm sorry to hear that… Is it serious?"

"Well… Ugh, Sawako sometimes does stuff that makes me mad, and she doesn't apologize for it. It's like she doesn't see anything wrong with what she does. Damnit, it makes me furious."

"W-Well," Tsukasa chimed in, "have you tried talking to Sawako about it? Maybe reach a compromise?"

"Yeah, I've tried to, but she's too damn stubborn sometimes. I'd like us to reach a compromise, but it doesn't look likely at this point."

"Maybe I have a solution," Konata then interjected, a cat-like grin dawning upon her visage.

Nanako raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What's that, Izumi?" she deadpanned.

"Well, in shounen manga, tough decisions are usually decided in grand battles, in fights to the death! Maybe-"

"KONATA!" Kagami once more protested. "You are not suggesting that they fight to the death, are you?"

"No no, Kagamin, of course not. But maybe a good fight is just what you two need to shake things up, to relieve this stress and solve each other's differences."

"Eh, I don't know, Izumi," said Nanako. "I'm not so sure that would-" She stopped mid-word. A sudden strange look appeared in her eyes; a look of immense inspiration. She froze in place, turning at still as a statue.

"… K-Kuroi-sensei?" said Miyuki. "Is something wrong?"

"… I got it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I think I got an idea how we can duke it out!" In a flash, Nanako ran back to her desk and fished out her cellphone. She quickly punched in a number and once the other end picked up, she began whispering into the receiver, low enough so no one else in the room could hear. A few minutes brought the phone call to an end.

After she put the phone away, she called across the room to the four girls. "Izumi! Hiiragi sisters! Takara! Meet me in the courtyard after school hours! No exceptions!"

-o0o-

Sakura High, later that same day, experienced a situation that was closely linked to the one of Ryoo High.

Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Azusa, and Mugi had just finished preparation for another session of practice. The amps and instruments were all properly plugged in, the instruments themselves were well tuned and dialed in, and all were standing in their respective positions in the club's room. Ritsu commenced the countdown.

"Ok! One, two, three, four-!"

Suddenly, Sawako.

The "Legendary Girl 'S'" threw open the club's door, causing Yui to jump from fright and fall right on her ass. The teacher did not even give them a glance as she marched across the room and toward the table. She pulled up a chair, took a seat, and instantly made her demands.

"Tea. Cake. Now!" she barked.

The five girls did not move from their spots. They instead sort of stood there, looking at Sawako, as if she were an abstract painting. Sawako turned them. "I said I wanted tea and cake! Chop-chop!"

"… Uh, Sawa-chan," said Ritsu, taking the initiative to be the first to speak, "we already had our tea and cake. We were going to practice now-"

"Don't care. As your club advisor, I demand tea and cake!"

"… Is something wrong, Sawa-chan?" Yui then asked as she lifted herself off the floor.

"… No, nothing's wrong… Well there is, but it might not matter anymore. Regardless, I need to ask you all something, but I need food in my system before I say anything."

"Is it important?"

"Very important, so Mugi? If you would please?"

"O-Oh, of course!" Mugi squeaked. She removed herself from behind her Korg keyboard and, as quick as a whip, served the auburn-haired woman a cut of the day's cake (which was strawberry) and a cup of tea, fixed the way she liked it.

Yamanaka surprised everyone a she stuck the fork in the cut and popped the entire piece into her mouth, downing it with one gulp of tea. "Ahh! Now that was good… Ok, now onto what I wanted to ask you girls.

How would you like to fight in a war for me?"

…

"A w-war?" a now shaking Mio repeated. "W-What do you mean?"

"I mean a war. You know: guns, the battlefield, military stuff. That sort of deal. What do you say to tha-? Mio?"

She had already retreated to a corner of the room, crouched down and her hands covering her ears. She too was downing out the world around her, or to be specific, Sawako's words.

"Uh, Sawa-chan," said Azusa, "you don't mean real combat, do you?"

"Well, yes… and no. They're not real guns, of course." One by one, the members of Afternoon Tea Time took off their instruments and sat down at the table, Mio being the last of them. Once all were seated, Sawako continued with her explanation. "You see, me and Nanako have been having… arguments, about something."

"Oh no. I hope it's not serious," Yui said.

"It happened last night and we haven't been able to resolve it yet, but she just called me today with a plan." She paused. "Tell me, have any of you ever heard of airsoft before?"

Though nearly everyone shook their heads, Ritsu confirmed. "Oh yeah, I've heard of it. Satoshi sometimes does that with some of his friends. It's kind of like paintball, but it's with little plastic bbs instead. Plus the guns are more realistic."

"Right, right. Nanako called me today and suggested that we settle our argument in an airsoft match. But the thing of it is, we need more players. So… How would you five like to fight for the Sawako Army?"

Again, silence fell over the girls. They exchanged looks between themselves. "Well, I'm game," Ritsu answered, "but I don't have any equipment or anything like that. I don't think Satoshi would let me use his stuff."

"I don't have that kind of stuff either," Azusa said.

"You think I have any kind of guns?" Mio said.

"I don't!" Yui said.

"… Wait, 'airsoft?'" Mugi finally answered. "Actually, I think my dad owns one of those companies."

"He DOES?" everyone exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, I think so. It was one of his more 'frivolous' investments. I might be able to get us all equipment."

"Really?" Sawako said. "Damn, Mugi, you're a real lifesaver sometimes." Mugi blushed slightly. "So, you guys in then?"

"Count me in!" Ritsu declared.

"I'm in too!" Yui agreed.

"It might be fun. Sure, I'll go," Mugi then agreed.

Sawako turned to the others. "Mio? Azusa? How about it? We need all the soldiers we can get, after all."

"Um…" Mio was still apprehensive. "I'm not sure if I want to. W-We won't get hurt, will we?"

"Not too much," Ritsu reassured her. "The most those bbs will do is give us welts on our skin, but nothing that won't go away in a couple of days. That is, unless you wear your goggles. Then one might go into your eye and blind you-"

"Ritsu! You're not helping!" Sawako yelled. Mio fell right back into cowering, which didn't help Azusa make her decision any easier. "Mio, trust me, I won't let anything bad happen to you. You're stronger than you think you are. You can handle it."

Slowly, but surely, Akiyama came out of her self-seclusion. "…O-ok… I'll do it," she whispered.

"And if Mio-sempai is in, I'm in as well," Azusa finally answered.

"Excellent! I'll call Nanako and tell her that everyone's in. Mugi, I'm counting on you to make the arrangements for our equipment. Give the company a call and see what you can do."

"On it!" she giddily declared.

"Ok… Thanks, you guys, for helping out. You've all been a big help for me these past few months. You know, with me and Nanako… Thanks."

"No problemo," said Ritsu. "… So, what are you two fighting about?"

Sawako did not answer, instead asking for "More cake, please."

-o0o-

At around that same time, Nanako was recruiting soldiers of her own. She met with Konata, the Hiiragi sisters, and Miyuki in the courtyard of the school. That place held memories they all shared: it was there that the teacher revealed to her students her intent to marry Sawako, where she showed them the engagement ring she bought. It was a memory that would not soon leave their thoughts. Not for a long while.

The four arrived as a group, to Nanako, who sat upon the very bench she made the reveal in the past. Once they had gotten with a few feet, she got up. "Girls," she said, "I want YOU… to join the Kuroi Army."

"… Eh?" they replied as a collective.

"When I called Sawako earlier, she agreed to a plan I thought up to solve our dilemma: we'll battle to see who is victor. It'll be a war of airsoft."

The girl's individual reactions were unique. Tsukasa gave an innocent tilt of her head, saying without words that she had not heard of the sport. Kagami sort of sighed at the mention of the name. Miyuki's eyebrows raised slightly. But Konata, however, and almost as expected, was the most enthused of the group.

"Really? That's awesome! This sounds like fun!"

"Um, what is airsoft, Kona-chan?" the short-haired Hiiragi asked.

"It's a shooting sport, with guns that shoot little plastic balls. Man, I always wanted to do it, but never got the chance before!"

"Wait, wait," Kagami interjected. "So you're going to settle your differences with a gun battle? C-Can't you figure this out another way?"

"No, Hiiragi, we cannot. This fight between Sawako and myself, it's something that can't be solved easily. This is the only way."

"Oh… O-ok… But wait, Tsukasa and I don't have any of that kind of stuff. We've never even held a gun before, not to mention fired one!"

"Don't worry about it," Kuroi reassured. "Miss Kotobuki has it all covered."

"Mugi? She does?" the four once more unisoned.

"Sawako called me just earlier, telling me that all her students will participate. Mugi's dad owns a branch of an airsoft manufacturer. A big one. She set up a deal where we can go to one of their stores, pick out our equipment, and have it sent to us by the next day, leaving us plenty of time to train… So, girls? Will you help me out?"

Needless to say, Konata was the first to reply. "Damn right I'll help you out!"

Next came Kagami. "Well, it might be fun… What the heck. Sure, I'll help you out." She turned to her sister. "Tsukasa?"

"W-Well, if Onee-chan will do it, I guess I'll go," she replied timidly.

Now all that was left was Miyuki's reply, and her's might have been the most shocking of them all: a stern, straightforward "Yes," which seemed to catch the blonde off her guard.

"… Ok then. So, it's all set. We'll meet up after school hours tomorrow, I'll drive you all to the store, and you can pick your poison- Oh crap."

"What? What is it?" asked Izumi.

"I forgot. With Sawako, they'll have six people on their team, which makes us one man down. We'll need another soldier… Anyone have an idea?"

For a few seconds, the girls thought silently, contemplating their choices. Finally, Kagami mentioned "Misao?"

"Kusakabe?" said Kuroi. "Hmm. Yeah, I guess that could work. If you can recruit her, Kagami, then sure. Then that'll be your orders for tomorrow. Understood?"

The tsundere suddenly stood straight at attention and shouted back "Yes, Ma'am!"

Everyone just sort of looked at Kagami with blank looks… That is, until Konata began to giggle. "Wow, Kagami, that was really lame."

"S-Shut up!"

-o0o-

At 12:00 hours of the next day, Private Kagami Hiiragi set off to complete the day's objective: recruit Misao Kusakabe into Kuroi's "Army." Locating the target proved to be an easy task. She and her met in the hallways during in-betweens when periods would begin and end. Sure enough, the pig-tailed girl found Misao talking to Ayano at the foot of a stairwell on the second floor.

"Misao. Hey!" Kagami greeted as she approached.

At the uttering of her name, she turned around and met Kagami with a grinning wave. "Yo, Hiiragi. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much… Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure. Fire away."

Heh, 'fire away.' Funny she should say that… "Well, I guess I should ask this firsthand: You ever heard of 'airsoft' befo-"

In the blink of an eye, the brunette's eyes lit up brighter than the very sun in the sky. So much so that Kagami literally had to shield her eyes. "Jeez, I guess that answers my question-"

The light dimmed. "Oh man I love to play that!" she exclaimed, rather loudly at that. "I've only been a few times, but I totally kicked ass in it. Never got hit once in any game I played."

"Really? Not once? Eh, I don't know if I can believe that," she said back, being the natural skeptic she was.

"But I'm serious," she then whined back, almost like a child, "I never got hit once!"

"Ok, ok, I believe you, dang… So, anyway, me, Konata, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and Kuroi-sensei were all going to play a match, but we need one more player to make the teams even. So would you like to-?"

"You know it!" she answered, cutting Kagami off. "Just tell me when and where and I'll be there!"

Standing behind Misao was Ayano, and right now, she was giving a nervous smile. "Um, Misao," she chimed in, "don't forget that you have track and field to practice for. You don't want to hurt yourself doing this and not be in shape for that." Ever the motherly figure…

Misao turned back around to Ayano. "Aw don't worry, Ayano," she reassured her. "Did you forget? I've never gotten hit. Besides, I don't see myself falling over during something like this. I got great balance!"

"Hmm, ok…" she said back, with nervousness still inhabiting her tone. "But still, try not to get hurt."

"Sure thing." She whipped back around to Kagami. "So, when is it?"

"Uh, well, me and the others are going to a store to buy all our guns and equipment after school today. Kuroi-sensei is driving us there."

"Oh, that's cool- Damn. I don't have any money on me. Maybe if we could stop buy at a bank-"

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Kagami. "Someone on the other team's paying for all our gear and stuff."

"Wha-? They are? Just who are we fighting against?"

"Uh…" She paused. "We're fighting against Sawako Yamanaka and the members of the light music club from Sakura High."

Misao cocked her left eyebrow. "So Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-sensei, the married couple, are fighting against each other?"

"Yep. That's right. They have some sort of problem that they feel as if they need to solve through warfare. It's all kind of stupid if you ask me. I mean, what could be so troubling that they need to shoot each other over it?"

"Maybe they're arguing on who gets to be on top," Kusakabe joked.

Kagami, as well as Ayano, turned red in a flash. "M-Misao!" the latter exclaimed. "D-Don't say such weird things!"

"Ha ha ha! Calm down, you two, I was pulling your legs. But sure, Kagami, I can go with you guys after school today."

"O-ok," Kagami stuttered, as she was still smitten from Misao's blunt remark. "W-Well, see you guys later. I need something to drink. Later." Kagami quickly excused herself and made for the nearest vending machine, where she promptly drowned her blush in gulps of cold water.

-o0o-

The finals bells of Ryoo High had chimed. Most of the student body, save those with afterschool clubs, had taken their methods of transportation home. But for five students, they sat patiently at a row of benches in the school courtyard. Finally, their blonde leader made her appearance from the front entrance of the school and she waved them girls over. From there, they headed into the faculty parking lot and piled into Nanako's car.

It was, almost needless to say, a tight fit. Even with a van such as hers, fitting five others into the passenger seats was not easy. As soon as they got to the car, Konata immediately jumped into the "shotgun" position, much to Misao's dismay and not to the dismay of the others. But even still, fitting four butts into a seat that should legally fit only three was a challenge. Somehow, the Hiiragi sisters, Miyuki, and Misao managed to squeeze themselves in.

"Man," commented Kuroi once everyone was in the car, "I'm pretty sure I'm breaking a law here, having all you in the back seat like this. Hey, Konata, let's hope your cousin isn't out on patrol today, eh?"

"Nah, Yui wouldn't care," Konata nonchalantly replied. "She's probably see that it was us and let us go."

"Eh? Then she's not really doing a god job then, is she?"

"Probably not," she said back with a shrug of her shoulders.

At any rate, Nanako made her way across the city to their intended destination. The shop Mugi directed them to was part of a small strip-mall several miles from the school. Oh the confusion they caused upon their entering of the store. Imagine this: five young girls (all still in uniform, mind you) and their teacher entering as a group. One would think this was a practical joke.

The young man behind the counter looked as befuddled as he could be. "… Y-Yes? Can I help you?" he slowly asked.

"Yes, in fact, you can," Nanako confidently replied as she strode her way to the counter, the other following. "Someone made a special deal for us the previous day. A 'Miss Kotobuki.'"

"Miss Kotobu- Oh! Oh, yes, that's right, I do remember that. You're… Miss Kuroi, right?"

"Misses Kuroi to you, bud." she corrected. "I am married," she proudly boasted.

"Right, sorry… And your girls are the other students. Miss Kotobuki and the others were here earlier today. Just one sec. I'll get the catalogue." He ran into the back room and returned a few minutes later with a thick book. "This here lists all the makes, models, and specifications of all the guns we sell, as well as tactical apparel and weapons accessories. Take your time and review your choices before you make your decision.

Miss Kotobuki already settled the matters with shipping. Your gear will be mailed to your individual addresses by the next day."

Konata took the book from him and split it open to a random page in the middle. "Woah!" she immediately exclaimed. "Look at all these guns!" Each page was divided into many smaller sections, each of them detailing basic specs of each firearm: magazine capacity, feet per second of the projectile, rate of fire, gearbox versions, whether they were spring powered, electric, CO2, or green gas, and many more. "There's a lot to choose from here."

But remember," Kuroi advised. "You must choose wisely, as the gun you pick will be the one you wield into battle. It must reflect you personally, how you wish to fight on the battlefield. There's nothing worse than fighting with the wrong weapon…

But also, money's no problem, so don't limit yourself as well, ok?"

They all replied in unison. "Yes, sensei!"

-o0o-

The Saturday of the next week brought the day of the battle with it. All preparations had been made, their field of play reserved, and the warriors' training complete. All had worked long and hard for this moment, where they would either stand victorious over the bodies of their slain enemies, or crushed under the feet of the opposition. Either way, when the sun sets upon this day, one side shall be triumphant and the other shall stand defeated.

The weather of that day was not the best it could have been: a light gray cloud of overcast hung over the entire sky, foreboding rain later on in the day. The gray vehicle of Nanako pulled into the parking lot of the facilities. Even from there, the course could be seen nestled outside the edge of a forest. One by one, the warriors exited the vehicle. All were clad in matching attire. They were dressed to look like American Marine soldiers, nearly head to toe in woodland camo, chest rigs that held spare magazines for their primary and secondary weapons (sans Miyuki, who had a bandolier of red shotgun shells strapped to her chest), padding on their knees and elbows, helmets atop their heads, and orange-tinted glasses that shielded their eyes. Also tucked into their helmets were headset radios, the microphones hovering above their mouths.

They all filed to the trunk of Kuroi's car. She flipped the door open and each reached in to grab their respective weapon.

Konata, with her small size, opted for a weapon that would be easy to wield and not wear her arms out. She settled on a Norinco QBZ Type 95 Carbine, a Chinese bulpup rifle, which she outfitted with a reflex sight. Tsukasa retrieve her primary, an AKS-74u, a lighter variation of the classic AK-47, which also sported a reflex sight as well. Kagami took her weapon as well: a L86 Light Suppression Weapon, another bulpup rifle, only this weapon had a telescopic sight mounted. As the bandolier was any indication, Miyuki's weapon of choice was a shotgun: a Saiga shotgun, a modern, magazine fed shotgun (which kind of defeated the purpose of the bandolier), that resembled an M16 in some ways. This sported reflex sighting as well. Kuroi's poison was, quite easily, the largest of the firearms: an ATAS .50 BG, a massive .50 caliber rifle that had mounted atop it an equally massive telescopic sight.

The blonde turned to the girls. "Y'all remembered to full those magazines to the brim?"

All replied in unison, like real soldiers. "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"

"And y'all fully charged those batteries last night?"

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"

She smiled. "Good. Oh, I almost forgot, I got you all special gifts." Nanako reached back into the back of her car a retrieved a large wooden box, marked with numerous "DANGER" brandings. She popped open the top and displayed the contents within to the girls. They're eyes seemed to light up.

"Grenades!" Konata squealed with joy.

Inside the box, neatly arranged, were several grenades. All were in the shape of real-life M84 stun grenades, but not were all the same. Half of them had rows of holes in the outer shell, holes just big enough to let an airsoft bb slip through. The other half were all had solid shells, and were differentiated further by a yellow stripe painted horizontally down the center.

"The one with all the holes," Kuroi explained, "will be your fragmentation grenades. When these babies go off, they'll send bbs flying in all directions, so you don't want to be around when they go off. There's enough for each of you to have three."

"What about the other ones?" Kagami questioned.

"Those," Nanako replied, a devilish grin materializing on her face, "are flashbang grenades… real ones."

"… What?" Kagami blurted. "Are you serio-"

"No, of course not, they're not real flashbangs, but trust me, these babies do make a big bang when they go off. They'll no doubt screw up whoever you use them against. There's also enough for each of you to have three as well." Each of the girls grabbed their share and clipped them to either the shoulder straps of their chest rigs or their belts. Nanako threw the empty box back to the car, locked it up, and returned her rifle to her hands. "Ok, now let's roll out."

With weapons in their grip, the five walked in a row across the parking lot and down the gravel road that lead to the compound's main entrance. After a few seconds of silent walking, Koanta was the first to speak. "*Sigh* I don't get why Misao had to come here on her own. She could have just stayed the night at your place, Kuroi-sensei, like you offered. I wonder why she deicide not to?"

"Actually," Nanako replied, "I got a text from her earlier this morning. She said she wanted to make preparations on her own. I don't know what she meant by that, though. We could have helped her out and stuff."

"Yeah, well, Misao can be weird like that sometimes," Kagami commented off-handedly. She looked down the road, to the compound's main entrance, and saw a group of six standing in front of it. Each held weapons in their hands. "Ah, that must be them."

Team Kuroi stepped up their pace slightly to meet up with their opponents more quickly, but they all soon stopped dead in their tracks after they saw what they were all clad in.

The five members of Houkago Tea Time were dress as Nazi SS sentries, their black clothing as distinct as day and night. Every detail of their attire was flawless, from the patches and insignia that adorned them, the red swastika banner on their left arms, the helmets that sat atop their heads, right down to the boots on their feet. Their leader, Sawako, was no better: her battle clothing was a perfect replica of a Nazi officer's uniform, the tails of her black leather coat swaying in the slight breeze that wafted through the air. All wore the same type of headset radio and goggles as well, but Team Sawako's goggles were clear.

The opposition's weapons of choice were as thus. Yui held in her hands a standard Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle. Her choosing of this rifle was simple: "I want the gun those bad terrorists use in the movies." If one was expecting more forethought in her choice, look no further, for there was none. Mio's weapon of choice was a Heckler and Koch G36C, a compact, close quarters rifle, which was outfitted with reflex sighting. Ritsu's weapons stood out from the rest, as she was the only one without a rifle. Instead, she held a pistol in each hand: a Jericho 941 "Baby Eagle" in her right and a FN Forty-Nine in her left. Mugi clutched a massive weapon: a M60E3, while Azuza (with her long pigtails sticking downward out the back of her helmet, as Kagami's were) held a SIG SSG 550, a magazine fed Swiss sniper rifle, which not only had a long-range telescopic scope mounted atop it, but was also fitted with a large suppressor on the end of the barrel. The officer held in her gloved hands a Bofors AK5, a Swedish rifle that vaguely resembled the AK-47.

The eyes and jaws of Team Kuroi were agape from shock, shock at the choice of clothing of their opponents. Sawako didn't help their shock either. After meeting their arrival with a smile, she took a few steps forward toward her and the group, slung the rifle over her right shoulder, folded her arms behind her back, and greeted them. For this greeting, she put on a German accent (a bad one at that.)

"Velcome!" she said. "Velcome, vine soldiers, to ze battlefield of our fate. Today, ve shall poot our mettle, or valor, our pride, our skill, our commitment, our endurance, und most importantly, our honor, to ze ultimate test. Today, only vone team shall stand tall as ze vinners, and prove to all zhat zhey are zhe final solution to zhis dilemma of-"

"Sawako!" Nanako finally interjected. "What the FUCK do you think you're doing?"

Sawako's accent and proud demeanor dropped in an instant. "What?" she innocently asked back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing dress like that! Are you trying to get us all arrested or something? For the love of God, you all look like fucking Nazis!"

The auburn-haired girl put on a fake pout. "Aww, you don't like the costumes? It took me nearly all week to make them. My coat was the hardest to make: leather isn't very manageable, you know?"

"I don't care if- You made all these? Wow, that's pretty- It doesn't matter! Why, of all things you could have done, did you choose Nazis!"

"Well, I knew you'd do something boring, like American soldiers and camouflage, so I decided to make a stark contrast and take the high road in our battlements. Look," she said as she grabbed Yui by her right shoulder and placed her in front of Team Nanako, "I even bought them all Walther P38s for their sidearms. See?" They all looked into Yui's pistol holster on the right side of her waist and, sure enough, there sat a replica Walther P38 airsoft pistol. "I bet you did something boring and got everyone Beretta M9s, right?"

… She did.

Nanako glanced at the girl's equipment again and noticed something she had overlooked before: each of the girl's belts had grenades attached to them as well. They were the exact same type she had given her girls just moments before. Not only that, but they each had the same amount. Damnit, Sawako thought ahead as well. Looks like we're on even ground once again…

"L-Look," Kuroi began to defend. "We don't care what your soldiers look like. You could have sent them all into the battlefield stark naked for all I care, because when it comes down to it, it's skill that wins battles, not clothing, and my girls have more than enough skill to take you guys out!

Right, girls?"

"OOH-RAH!" they all exploded back.

Sawako raised an eyebrow. "Impressive… But look here: you're down one soldier. So, I guess the match goes to me-"

A voice sounded from a building fifty feet to Nanako's left. "Hold your horses, everyone. I'm ready!" Nanako's sixth and final member, Misao Kusakabe, emerged from the doorway of the building, and… She fucked everything up.

She did not dress as the rest of her team did. Instead, she decided to make her own statement and dress herself as her own version of American action movie character John Rambo. Around her head of short brown hair was a red bandana, the long tails of which dangled down her back and reached midway down her shoulder blades. Her top was a ripped, tattered, dirtied white t-shirt, the waist hem of which was ripped up and shortened to a point that her midriff was exposed. Furthermore, it looked like she had smeared dirt on her face, to give herself a battle-worn appearance. Her bottoms were a pair of black cargo pants. A gun belt was firmly attached to her waist, with a pistol holster and pistol on each side of her hip, and in her right hand she clutched an IMI Uzi.

She casually walked over to the rest of the team, made a slight adjustment of her headset radio and goggles, and greeting them with a "Sup."

"… Damnit, Kusakabe," Kuroi sighed as she gave herself a facepalm. "You couldn't have gone like the rest of us, couldn't you. You just had to different, huh?"

"Yep," she replied. "So, did I miss the briefing?"

The other team was chuckling amongst themselves at this point, all of which was directed at Misao. "*Sigh* No, Kusakabe," Kuroi answered. "You didn't miss the briefing. Hey, Sawako, when is the briefing? You've been here longer than the rest of us."

"Oh, it's in the building over there," she replied as she aimed a finger at the building adjacent to the one Misao had emerged from. "They said that once everyone was ready, we can head on inside and they'll give us the details."

Both teams, as a single group, headed toward the door and slung or holstered their respective weapons before stepping inside. Within were two rows of five metal chairs, lined up in front of a long wooden table. On the wall behind said table was a large, blown-up map of the playing field, but it was who stood behind the table that caught the girl's of Nanako's team's interest.

"Sebastian?" Konata asked the boy from across the room as she entered and took a seat. "What are you doing here?"

"Wha-? M-My name's not Sebastian. It's Mino-"

"Yeah, whatever. So, do you work here or something?"

"Yeah, part-time, I guess. My other job, she doesn't pay me nearly enough. Stupid pink-haired bi-" He cut himself off before the next word could be finished. "Uh, nevermind. Ok, I see that everyone has taken a seat, so I'll begin with setting the ground rules of today's game.

Today's match will be a game of Capture the Flag. Each team will start on opposite ends of the map, at different bases. Please look at the items on the table." On the table was a single white flag, it's shaft about two feet in length, and the other looked like a car radio that had been removed from the dashboard, a device that had a small hole down the very center of it. "This," he continued as he held up the flag, "is each team's objective. There is one flag hidden somewhere in the map, and there is only one white flag. The goal is to take the flag back to your team's base and place it in this device."

He placed the shaft of the flag in the hole of the device and instantly, a red LED display on the front lit up. It was a timer, which began at "5:00" and counted down by the second. "Once the flag has been returned to the team's respective device, you will have five minutes to defend it. If the flag is removed, the timer will stop, and you will have to start back at five minutes when it has been reinserted. Once the five minutes are up, an air horn will sound, signaling the end of the game, and that team will be the victor.

Now, onto kill rules…" Mio flinched slightly at the word 'kill.' "At special request, today's match will be a 'Sim,' match: 'Sim' as in 'simulation.' If you are hit in the arm or leg once, you have lost the use of that limb, and are no longer permitted to use it. If you are shot near the heart or in the chest or back, you are dead. It should also go without saying that headshots are instant kills as well. Now-"

A hand in the audience shot up. "I have a question," Yui stated.

"Uh, yes, go ahead," Minoru said back.

"What happens if you're shot in the foot?"

"Then you have lost the use of that foot and can no longer walk on it."

"Ok… What happens if you get shot in both arms? Or both feet?"

"Ah, and excellent question. If you are hit in both arms, you are still alive, but you have been rendered armless. At that point, I suggest figuring out how to shoot with your toes. Likewise, if hit in both legs, you are no longer permitted to walk, and therefore must crawl or be carried. If shot in both arms and legs, you are considered dead.

Does that answer your question, Miss… Hirasawa, was it?"

"Yes, it is, and it does. Thank you~!" she smiled.

Minoru could stop himself from blushing slightly. "Uh, s-sure… As I was saying… Once you are dead, there are no respawns, as there typically are in airsoft matches. There are also no medics to revive a lost limb or bring someone back to life. Once you are down, you are down, and are not permitted to speak or move from your spot until the end of the game.

Now, onto the map." He turned around to face the large map tacked to the wall behind him. "This is Daten City." Konata suddenly burst into a laugh at the intentional (or unintentional) anime reference the city's name made. Minoru talked through Izumi's laughter. "Currently, it is Japan's most elaborate and largest playing field for any recreational shooting sport. It is the size of an old English country town, or to put it in more modern terms, a shopping mall, and is inhabited by enough buildings and features that one might mistake it as a proper village.

At the south end of the city (that is where Team Ryoo will start) is the 'school.' At the top of the map, the north end, is the 'town hall,' and it is where Team Sakura will begin. There are two, four car-width avenues that runs through the center of the city, both of which converge and intersect at the very center of the village: a roundabout, marked by the fountain. This splits the map into four easily identifiable quarters. They will be numbered the same way one would number the grids of a graph, with the upper right quarter being "I", the lower right being "II", the lower left being "III", and finally the upper left being "IV." If numbers aren't your thing, each quarter has in its center a distinct landmark: "I" has a park with trees and flowerbeds, "II" has a children's playground, "III" has a gas plant (which is really a bunch of empty home fuel tanks) and "IV" has 'the office building,' the only building apart from the 'church tower' that is above one story tall.

Yes, the 'church tower,' located on the left side of the map, where the road meets its dead end, is the tallest building in Daten City, standing three stories tall. It is an ample position for snipers."

Minoru turned back to the group. "One final thing before I open for questions. Somewhere, hidden on this map, are two special weapons. Both are very destructive and well worth the effort of looking for them. But nevertheless, keep in mind your objectives: capture the flag and defend it for a full five minutes…

Ok, any questions?" Tsukasa's hand slowly rose. "Yes?"

"Um, what are the special weapons?" she asked.

"We cannot tell you. You'll have to find that out yourselves."

Kagami was next to raise a hand. "I have a question. Are all the buildings accessible? Or are they just facades?"

"All the buildings in Daten City have window holes and door with which you can enter them, if that is what you mean. However, only the city hall, the school, and the office building have anything inside, like furniture. The rest of the buildings are merely brick shells with dirt floors."

Kuroi shot up a hand next. "Any strategic points of interest?"

"Hmm… Well, the church tower is absolutely the best place for a sniper to be. The gas plant is congested, so perhaps close-quarters weapons would be best there. Other than that, I can't say any one place holds better strategic value over another. In the end, it all depends on who is there, their skill, and what they are carrying.

Are there any other questions?" No one spoke up. "Very well. I will now distribute maps." Also on the table were two folded up pieces of paper. "Each has a smaller version of the map behind me. Each team will get one now as they exit the building. You then have twenty minutes to examine and study it before you will be sent to your starting points. Ok, dismissed."

The teams left for the outside, their leaders taking for themselves a copy of the map. Team Sakura congregated at the compound's front gate, Team Ryoo standing about ten feet away. When twenty minutes passed, Minoru first led Nanako's team to the south end of the battlefield: the school.

The "school" was a single floor building with one large room and windows aimed to the south and north. Inside was a grid of desks and chairs, a teacher's desk and blackboard at the head of the room, and basically everything one would expect to find in a classroom. Atop the center desk was the same device Minoru showed earlier, the device the flag was put in. Once Nanako's team was inside, Minoru led Sawako's team around the perimeter of the city to the other end, to the town hall.

"Ok girls," Kuroi announced to her team. "Our plan of attack is simple: stay together and work as a team. I don't want any lone wolf shit, ok. We stick together, we win. We'll be able to better cover each other that way. If we split up, we lose that teamwork and we'll get picked off one by one. Everyone got that?"

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am," everyone hollered back. Everyone but Misao.

"Hey, Kusakabe! You hearing straight?"

"How could I not, you're yelling right in my ear."

The blonde was about to snap, but Minoru's voice sounded through the megaphones that were scattered throughout Daten City. "Both teams are now in place. The battle will commence in 5

4

3

2

1

Begin!"

The rain began to fall, a light sprinkle at first…

The wind picked up slightly, but it never went above a light breeze. The rain was almost unnoticeable, it could have easily been mistaken for mere moisture in the air. Outside surfaces began to gain a glean of wet. It was clear that the rain would not falter for quite some time.

Sawako Squad exited the town hall through its front entrance in a staggered column formation: Sawako at it's head, then Mio, Ritsu, Yui, Mugi, then Azusa. All had their weapons up and at the ready, the barrels rotating back and forth around them. They walked down the building's front steps and into the street. Once there, Sawako barked her orders.

"Everyone knows their rolls," she began. "Ritsu, you're in Quarter "I." Asuza, run your ass to the church tower and take position. Yui, patrol quarter "IV" and "III." The rest of you are on me. Stay close and don't be a hero. Roll out!"

The instructed members of the squad sprung into action. Ritsu, with both pistols in hand, set off to the east and disappeared into an alleyway. Azusa quickly sung her rifle onto her back, retrieved her side arm, and sprinted to the west, her speed taking the others by surprise. Yui headed toward the west as well, but she did it at a much more leisurely pace, taking the time to scan her surroundings.

"Ok, Mugi, Mio, stay behind me. We're going to head straight down the middle. Mio, keep your eyes to the left and Mugi to the right." With that the three entered a delta formation, with Sawako at its head. They proceeded down the center of the street at what felt like a crawl's pace.

-o0o-

Ryoo squad exited the school at around the same time. Their leader, Nanako, took a few paces away from the door before she turned back around to talk with the team. "Ok girls, I want each and everyone of you to-" She stopped mid-word. She knew something was amiss. She began to name off the heads that stood before her. "Kagami, Tsukasa, Miyuki, Konata… Where's Misao?"

"Uh, sensei," Konata answered, "she's… over there." she pointed to a position behind the teacher.

Kuroi whipped herself around and was met with the sight of Misao running off at full speed, cutting into an alleyway that led into the center of "II." "What the fu-! Kusakabe! Kusakabe, get your ass back here!" When she failed to return, she began to yell into the headset radio. "Misao, I know you can hear me! Get your fucking ass back her right now or there will be hell to pay! Misao? Misao!" No answer. "SHIT!"

The blonde whipped back around to the others, to Konata. "Izumi! Why the hell didn't you speak up! Didn't you see her run off?"

"I did," she defended, "but she was already like thirty feet away by the time I noticed. Plus, she runs fast. How was I suppose to catch up with her."

"… Uh, Konata," said Kagami, "I've seen you run. You run just as fast as she does, but you're too damn lazy to play sports or give a damn."

"Not true, Kagamin. The reason I don't play sports is because I'd miss all my prime-time anime-"

"Hey!" their leader interrupted. "We're getting off track here!" She paused to regain her composure, giving a few deep breaths in the process. "Well, it looks like Kusakabe has gone AWOL on us, so she's of no further use. Damn it, she just had to be an hero and run off."

"…Um, sensei?" said Miyuki. "Don't you mean a hero?"

"No, I meant- Nevermind. Listen, it looks like my plan for all of us to stick together has been shot to shit, go I guess we have no choice but to split up… The gas plant, if Minoru was right, is close quarters, so Miyuki, make a through sweep before you head onward to 'IV,' ok? Report anything to us."

An affirmative "Hmph," was her reply, lifting the shotgun to her chest.

"Ok, the rest of us, we're gonna sweep the playground before we do anything else. Move out!"

The pinkette pivoted around and ran northward downward the street before entering an alley into "III." The rest entered single file formation behind Kuroi as she led them into the center of "II." The playground was small, consisting of a single metal slide, a pair of swings, a carousel, and a trio of seesaws, all of which lined up adjacent to each other. Being such an open area, it was easy to see that there was no one else but them there. There were three alleyways out of the center of "II": two that went west, into the street, and one that went north, into the street that went from west to east, the same one that connected to the roundabout.

"Cover those chokepoints!" Kuroi enforced. Konata took position against the wall to the left of the northern exit and kept her head peaking around the corner. Tsukasa and Kagami each took a position at the west alleys. Meanwhile, Kuroi tried the radio again, to see if Kusakabe would answer.

It was to no avail.

-o0o-

The SS sniper ran with all the speed her legs could muster. All she could hear was the heavy panting of her breaths and the wet slaps her boots made against the damp ground. Her Walther was gripped tightly in her right hand as she ran though "IV." She circled the two-story office building once before she crept her way to an exit that led to the horizontal street to the south. Peaking her head out slowly, Azusa scanned her eyes to both the left and right. To the right loomed over her the obelisk that was the church tower.

"Looks clear…"

With that, she bolted across and down the street, only stopping until after she threw herself through the doorway of the tower and behind a stone wall for cover. She took a moment to catch her breath before setting a preventative measure in action. Azusa had tucked underneath the back of her coat a single disk mine. She quickly armed it and set it down in the threshold of the open doorway. Then, spying a few discarded pieces of newspaper in the corner, tossed them over the mine. Not the best cover, but it would have to do.

"Neko to squad," she spoke into the radio. "Neko to squad. Giving a heads up: I set a mine in the doorway of the church tower to prevent anyone from sneaking up on me. Over." Each member of the squad hailed back with their own individual "Yes." Satisfied, the girl holstered her sidearm and retrieved the rifle from off her back before making her way to the top of the long, spiraling rusted iron stair to the tower's top.

The sniper was instantly hit with a gust of cool air upon reaching the top. From this vantage point, Azusa has a clear view over the entire field of battle. In this open aired position, every point could be easily scoped. Scattered on the floor was a folding metal chair and a few discarded soda cans.

She made immediate use of the chair by setting it up facing to the east, dusted it off, and plopped herself down into it. She used the handrails as a stable surface for her rifle. She adjusted the sights in accordance to the wind and rain and brought her right eye to the scope.

"Neko in position. I repeat, Neko in position. What is your current position? Over."

"Copy that, Neko," Sawako answered. "Mio, Mugi, and I are making our way toward the roundabout. Ritsu headed off into "I" and Yui has begun her search of "IV." Any contact with the enemy? Over."

"Not yet. I'm gonna make a quick scan of the grid. Will contact if see something. Out."

Azusa scanned each of the quadrants for any contacts, starting with "I." She saw nothing, so she moved onto "II." From her angle and viewpoint, she could not see the members of Team Ryoo that were currently within the playground. But then she brought her scope downward to "III" and eyed a head of pink hair tactically making her way through the stacks of fuel tanks.

"Neko to squad. Made visual contact with enemy soldier. Pink hair… Miyuki. Made contact with Miyuki. Permission to fire? Over."

"Negative," Yamanaka shot back. "Identify if she is alone. If alone, permission granted. Otherwise, your position will be compromised. Over."

"Understood. Over and out." Neko kept her bead on the shotgun-wielding soldier as she peaked around corners and slowly progressed forward into the fuel plant. "I got my eye on you, little missy," the sniper muttered aloud to herself. And I ain't letting you leave me sights for a second-… Oh crap."

What had lain dormant within the sniper had just now "surfaced," if you will. It was a feeling one could not so easily ignore, and for Azusa, it was one that hit her like a brick to the side of her head. "Damnit, damnit, damnit," she began to curse aloud. "Why here? Why now! Of all the places for this to happen, why now!"

*Sigh* I have to pee… But where-?" She slowly glanced over to her right, to the discarded soda cans that littered that corner of the tower.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me…"

-o0o-

The pink haired shotgunner was nothing but methodical in her sweep of the fuel plant. She took no steps beyond a corner without first stopping to listen for any out-of-place noises, peaking her head around said corner a minimum of three times, then whipped around the corner with weapon drawn and at its ready. It was a slow process, sure, but she knew that using this method, no enemy soldier would slip past her. She was certain of this.

It took Miyuki a full ten minutes to fully sweep the place. Not only did she find no enemies, she also failed to find the fabled "special weapons" Minoru had talked about. She contacted the other through her headset. "Moe to squad. Moe to squad, do you read? Over."

"Reading you loud and clear, Takara," Nanako said back. "Anything to report?"

"Negative. I've made a sweep of the fuel plant and have come up with nothing. Permission to move onto 'IV?' Over."

"Permission granted. Your close ranged weapon would be good for the office building. Over."

"Very well. Proceeding with sweep of 'IV.' Over and out." Miyuki paused to check her weapon and see if it was still in ample condition. Nothing seemed wrong with it. Then, when she lifted her eyes she noticed, from down the alley, across the street, and down another alley that led into the innards of "IV" a bit of movement. She instantly ducked behind a piece of cover: a trio of metal lockers to her left. Once placed behind, Miyuki peaked back around the object. She identified the weapon the person held at her waist: Kalashnikov AK-47.

Yui.

"Moe to squad, Moe to squad. I have identified Yui Hirasawa at ground level in 'IV.' Permission to engage? Over"

"Permission granted, Miyuki. Proceed with extreme caution. You have no idea if she's alone or not. Over."

"Roger that. Out."

-o0o-

Azusa legitimately felt like crying, but she did well to fight back her tears. "I cannot believe I'm about to do this. Jesus, this is so embarrassing. If anyone were to catch me doing this… Let's just get this over with."

Azusa regretfully set aside her SIG SSG 550 and lifted herself up from her seat, bent down in the corner to her right and picked up one of the soda cans, regarding it for a few seconds. She heaved a deep sigh before proceeding. He unsheathed from her waist a knife, pressed it to the can's surface, and gracefully cleaved the top of it clean off, turning the can into more of a cup. This way, it would be easier for her to relieve herself without missing.

Again, she sighed from both embarrassment and the thought of "I'm really doing this, aren't I?" Regardless, she placed the can beneath her legs on the floor's surface. He trembling finger reached for her belt buckle and they undid both it and her buttons and zipper of her pants. And after yet another pause of hesitation, she finally worked up the courage to pull said clothing down off her rear, leaving her bare assed and open for all to see.

She kept her eyes forward as she then proceed to relieve herself in the impromptu container, the wet "tink" of liquid against metal quickly replaced by water upon water. As she did the dirty dead, her mind raced with ridiculous thoughts of paranoia. "Jesus, what if someone's looking at me right now! Are there cameras in this place? A low-flying plane could spot me- No, it's raining, there's no way that would happen. But what about a helicopter? Damnit, damnit, damnit!"

Nevertheless, Azusa pushed aside such thoughts and finished her pee break. With no toilet paper, she was forced to endure a moist feeling as she pulled her pants back up, and once they were back on and belted securely on her waist, she gracefully took the now full soda can and tossed over the side of the tower. "Hope no one was down there."

Azusa returned to her chair and remounted her rifle, bringing the aim of the crosshairs to the fuel plant. Miyuki was still within the plant, which was good news, but she was acting differently than before. She was no longer doing her sweep, but instead, had the aim of her shotgun toward the north. The sniper followed the aim and, in "IV", right where the gun was aimed, stood Yui, her rifle slung over her right shoulder, blissfully unprepared.

"Oh shit!" Azusa exclaimed before contacting Yui on the headset. "Neko to Gitah. Neko to Gitah. Do you copy? Over." Yui didn't even seem to respond. "Yui! Answer me!"

That got her attention. "Azu-nyan?" she said back. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the church tower. I can see you. Over."

Yui blundered and looked up to wave to the sniper. "Hi, Azu-nyan~!"

"Gah! Don't wave! You'll give away my position! Listen, Miyuki is in 'III' right now and she can see you. You have to hide somewhere! Now! Over."

"Eh? Wha- W-Where? Where should I go!"

"There's a dumpster behind you. Jump in there, quickly! Over."

"Eww! A dumpster? But it's all dirty!"

"Would you rather be all DEAD? Get in! NOW!"

"Eh- O-Ok…" Yui approached the dumpster, threw open the lid and, after a second's pause, hopped in and shut the lid on top of her. Azusa brought the rifle's aim back down. Miyuki had just finished a mad dash across the street and was now entering "IV." The SIG's sights never left the pinkette as she then did a sweep of the ground level of the area. As she walked past the dumpster, Azusa could feel her heart race. She was prepared to fire if she so much as touched the dumpster with a single finger.

However, she did not have to do so. Not yet. Miyuki walked past and continued to sweep the ground level. After seven tense minutes, the bespectacled girl exited the quadrant the way she entered and stopped outside the alleyway on the sidewalk. After a pause, she lifted her right had to her head, to her headset.

"She's going to contact the rest of the team. Not on my watch, she will."

Azusa's grip of the rifle tightened. Her aim became less shaky and more steady. The crosshairs of the scope stood still over her center mass. She took a breath in and held it, further decreasing the shake of the gun. And once all was perfect, she squeezed the trigger, unleashing a three round burst toward her target.

-o0o-

"Damnit. Sensei, I'm heading out," Konata suddenly declared.

Since her, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Nanako had held position at the alleyways that surrounded the playground, they had yet to move, and it had been what felt like an eternity of inaction as they stood there. Kuroi turned her head around to the blue-haired girl.

"What?" she snapped. "You going AWOL on me as well, Izumi?"

"No, sensei. I'm asking for your permission to break off. The longer we stand here and wait for Miyuki to radio back, the enemy is covering more and more ground. Sensei, I'm light on my feet. I can cover more ground quicker than the rest of you. Please, sensei, let me go on ahead and search 'I.'"

The blonde gave the bluenette a glare. Already she had two people split up from the group, and she had intended for everyone to stay as one group. She didn't like what Konata had suggested, but she realized that the otaku was right. "Fine," she spat in relent. "Permission granted. Just don't get yourself shot, and if you see the flag, contact us immediately."

"Affirmative. I'm off. Wish me luck!" And with that Izumi bolted northward, down the corridor and out of sight. Once her footsteps were out of everyone's hearing, Kuroi spoke to both Tsukasa and Kagami. "Well, girls, it looks like we'll have to move out as well. We swept this place clean and found no flag. Since Miyuki's got 'III' and Konata now has 'I', we got to head up to 'IV.' We'll take the street to the roundabout and go from there. Understood?"

"Affirmative," Kagami answered.

"Yes, sensei," answered her sister.

"Good. Now, everyone behind me. We'll go in delta formation: Tuskasa to my right, Kagami to my left. In position!" The sisters left their spots by the mouths of the alleys and fell in line behind their leader. "Ok, let's move out."

But Nanako took but one step forward before hers and the radios of Kagami and Tsukasa crackled to life. "This is Moe to squad. Moe to squad. Anyone here me? Over."

"This is Juggernaut," Nanako answered. "We read you, Moe. Did you take care of Hirasawa?"

"Negative. She left my sight before I entered 'IV' and she just… seemed to vanish. I did a sweep of the ground level outside the office building, but she was nowhere in sight. Over."

"She's probably inside the office building. Do a sweep of the interior and report back. Over."

"Roger that. I'll commence with the sweep now-" He last word was cut off abruptly by the sounds of three, wet hitting noises. There then followed silence, then a loud clatter, followed by more silence. "Moe? Moe, do you read me?" Nothing. "Miyuki? Answer me! Miyuki!"

Dead. Silence.

"Otaku to squad. Otaku to squad." Konata's voice sounded in the headset. "What's going on there? Respond. Over."

"… We just lost Miyuki," Nanako solemnly replied. "… Proceed as planned, Otaku. Sweep quadrant 'I.'"

"… Yes, sensei. Over and out."

The rain increased slightly, turning from a barely noticeable drizzle to actual drops.

The blonde turned back to face the lavender-haired sisters. "*Sigh* Look girls… We may have lost Takara, but we have yet to lose the battle. We can still be victorious. We just need to push forward and not lose sight of our objective. We need to win this. Otherwise, her death would have been in vain."

The sisters took a moment to hold back their tears, but after a few seconds, it seemed that their composure had been regained. Kuroi turned back around and, giving a silent hand signal, she led her team forward. They left "II" and entered back onto the street. They progressed toward the city's center. Nanako kept her .50 cal rifle aimed forward, Kagami had her bulpup focused to their left, and Tsukasa aimed her Kalashnikov to the right.

It took them five tense minute of moving forward before the street opened up into the roundabout. In its center was a tall fountain, constructed in the general shape of a Mayan pyramid: square blocks stacked atop of one another. Around the roundabout were the remains of rusted out, broken down cars.

As they approached, Tsukasa suddenly spoke up. "Look, up there!" she exclaimed as she aimed a finger to the top of the pyramid. There sat a single white flag. "There it is!"

-o0o-

The three rounds fired from the SIG flew true from the barrel of the rifle. The suppressor proved its worth, masking up most of the noise the gun would have made. Instead of loud bangs, they came off more as soft "coughs." The rounds streaked forward and hit their mark: the center mass of Miyuki's chest. They ripped though her like hot metal through butter, a pink mist emerging behind her. The pinkette's body convulsed for a spilt second from the initial impacts, then she began to stagger to her left and right before she finally fell face forward into the paved street. Blood began to slowly pool around her, mixing in with the runoff rainwater and washing away to the east.

It was the first kill of the battle, and it belonged to Team Sakura's sniper: Azusa.

Azusa gazed at the fruits of her labor for a moment or two after she had taken out her target. She watched as the blood continued to slip from the body and into the street. After another moment, she squeezed the trigger and fired three more suppressed rounds into the already downed body. A trio more holes entered into her back, each point of impact spitting up another pink cloud. "Down for the count," the sniper whispered to herself, all the while grinning.

"Neko to Gitah. Neko to Gitah. Can you hear me? Over."

"Eww. Azu-nyan, it stinks in here. Can I get out now?"

"Affirmative. I neutralized Miyuki, and there's no one else in your vicinity. Over."

Neko watched as Yui removed lifted the lid of the dumpster and ungracefully stumbled out. After returning to her feet, she brushed herself off, picked her rifle back up, and walked over to Miyuki's slain body. She stood over it and looked at it for a few seconds before she gave it a light kick, just to see if she truly was dead. Once satisfied, she looked up to Azusa and waved to her. The sniper could see Yui's smile from her scope.

"Thank you, Azu-nyan~! You're the greatest~!"

Thankfully for her, Yui could not see the blush on Nakano's face. "T-Thanks…" she said back. "Yui- I mean Gitah, have you done a sweep of the office building yet? Over."

"Um, not yet."

"Please then, get going! The flag might be in there. Then we can return it to our base and end this whole thing. Over."

"Sure thing, Azu-nyan!"

As Yui ran off into the building itself, Azusa contacted the rest of the team. "How are the rest of you holding up? Over."

"This is Heavy Metal," Sawako answered. "I got Stripes and Goggles here with me. We're coming up to the roundabout now. Over."

"Hey!" Mio suddenly whined into the mic. "Why am I 'Stripes'? If it's for what I think it is-"

"It is, now quit your whining."

"Um… Why am I 'Goggles?'" Mugi then asked.

"Because you see the world through yuri goggles, kid," the teacher bluntly stated.

"Yuri-goggles? What do you mean?" she innocently asked back.

"… If I have to explain it to you, Goggles, you truly are clueless then." Sawako answered with a slight laugh.

"This is Kick Snare," Ritsu then answered. "I've search all of quadrant 'I' and found jack shit. No flag, no secret weapon. Nothing. Moving onto 'II' now- Wait a second… I have a visual on enemy contact. Repeat, visual on enemy contact."

"Who is it, Kick Snare? Over." Sawako asked.

"… Izumi. I repeat, Izumi."

"Can you take care of her, Kick Snare? Over."

"Oh, I got her, don't you worry. I'm up on the rooftops surrounding the park. I'm gonna play with her for a bit before I take her out. Will update. Out."

Azusa sighed a breath of relief. She felt at ease now, knowing that the rest of her team was not only safe, but performing their duties. She returned her right eye to her scope and attempted to find Ritsu. She found her in prone position atop one of the building in quadrant "I," her head peaking over the side. Then, as she scanned the scope to the left, toward the the town hall, she barely had time to notice an object hurtling toward her. She lifted her head just in time to identify the projectile literally rocketing toward her.

"Oh shit."

-o0o-

A deafening bang ripped through the air like an assassin's dagger. It echoed throughout the entire playing field, falling upon the ears of Sawako, Mugi, and Mio. In an instant, they whipped their heads to the source of the blast. "Azusa! No!" Mio cried.

The entire sniper's next that was the church tower's top was engulfed in roaring flames. Even from their distance from it, the trio could feel the heat of the fires. "No!" Akiyama began to sob.

Sawako brought her right hand up to her headset. "This is Heavy Metal to Neko, do you read me?" No answer. "Damnit, Neko, answer me right now! Azusa!" Not a word in response was heard. "Fuck… Azusa's gone, guys," she said to the two behind her.

"Oh no…" Mugi lowered her head, as did Mio. "What could have happened? D-Do you think one of her grenades misfired? I mean, what else could have set off that big an explosion."

"I don't think it was grenades, Goggles," Sawako answered. "Even if all three went off, it wouldn't have created as big a fireball as that. Besides, Azusa wouldn't have been so clumsy to let something like that. Maybe-"

"Guys," Mio interrupted. "Look over there!" Mio pointed ahead, past the pyramid centerpiece of the roundabout. There stood three of the opposing team: Nanako, Tsukasa, and Kagami. "It's the enemy."

"Everyone, get down!" Sawako hissed and everyone crouched down. The teacher looked ahead and noticed a pair of wrecked cars, the one on the right a green sedan, the one on the left a white pick-up truck. "Girls, get behind the car on the right and I'll get behind the one on the left. When I give the signal, open fire."

Both Mugi and Mio gave affirming nods and they snuck their way into cover behind one vehicle while Sawako snuck behind the other. Mugi was quick to unfold the bipod of her M60E3 and set it up inside the car, the barrel aimed though both the shattered passenger and driver side windows. Mugi did the same, aiming through both the back windows. Sawako aimed her rifle over the bed of the truck.

She watched in silence as the enemy team went about their business, unaware of the danger they were in. They spoke amongst themselves for a moment, both distance and the noise of the falling rain drowning out their words. Then, the pigtailed girl stepped forward and, after slinger her rifle over her shoulder, began to scale the pyramid. "What the heck is she doing?" Sawako thought aloud in a whisper.

She followed the tsundere as she climbed the structure, only realized what stood atop until after she had reached it: a white flag.

"Shit! There's the flag!" Yamanaka screamed. "Open fire!"

-o0o-

"Holy crap, you weren't kidding," Kagami said back to her sister. "There's the flag right there."

"Well, that was easy," Nanako grinned. "You'd think they would have put the flag in a less obvious place. Then again, it is the very center of the map, so, theoretically, it gives each team equal opportunity to reach it."

"You guys stay here and keep lookout," Kagami spoke up as she slung her rifle over her right shoulder. "I'll get the flag." She quickly approached the structure and begun the process of scaling it. Rain made the polished stone surface slick, and her grip even slipped a few times, but she managed to reach the top.

Kagami quickly snatched the flag from it is holding place. "Yes!" she cheered. "Now all we have to do is return it to our base and-" She paused. "Wait a second." She examined the flag more carefully. One side was white, but the other side appeared to have writing on it. She flipped it over and was shocked to see what it said. In big, red lettering, it stated this:

"HA HA

FUCK YOU"

"What the?" she said aloud. "What is thi-" Then it hit her. "It's a trap!"

Open fire!

The air erupted with the sounds of automatic fire. The hail of bullets impacted the front of the pyramid, sending a shower of stone shards in all directions, but none of the projectiles hitting Kagami. At the first crack of gunfire, she let go and fell backwards to the street, hitting the ground with a loud thud. "Ouch."

Her sister Tsukasa rushed over to her, helped Kagami back to her feat, and quite nearly threw her against the pyramid that provided cover. There, they were well protected from the enemy guns on the other side. Their automatic fire continued to pepper and ricochet against the stone structure, and the bullets that missed went whizzing past the corners.

"Onee-chan!" Tsukasa yelled over the gunfire. "Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah," she strained back as she took the rifle off her shoulder. "Jesus, who the fuck is shooting at us!"

Nakano was the one to answer. "Mio and Mugi! They're both behind that green sedan." She quickly turned the right corner of the structure and unleashed a three second burst of fire at said car. The bullets peppered the whole area, but none of the succeeded in striking their target. She side-stepped back behind cover. "They're in there pretty tight… Well don't just stand there! Fucking fire back!"

Tsukasa crouched down and peaked her gun around the left corner of the pyramid and oven fire on the vehicle. Kagami did the same, leaning over her sister. Both weapons kept both girls of the opposing team well crouched behind their cover. As they were dealt with, as Kagami and Tsukasa maintained a constant stream of bullets in their direction, Nanako rounded her corner and began to make for the second car. If she could get there, she could flank Mio and Mugi.

But she took no more than two steps forward before a figure stood up from behind the vehicle. Kuroi froze in place in an instant. It was Sawako, her rifle clutched against her chest, and her eyes giving a glare that would have frozen the very flames of Hell. She merely stood there, not aiming her gun to Nanako. Over the constant fire of the Hiiragi sisters, she said something to the blonde. Though her words were downed out, Kuroi could read her lips, and she heard it as if it was spoken right into her ear.

Come at me, bitch.

The SS officer suddenly made a dash to the east, sprinting at full speed down the sidewalk and toward the boundary of the playing field. "Don't you run from me, bitch!' Kuroi yelled at her as she aimed her .50 cal from the hip and began to fire. Each shot fired emitted a push that felt like a kick to the chest, a sound that could have quite easily shattered not only Nanako's, but the sisters' eardrums as well. The giant rounds struck the walls around Yamanaka, creating giant holes in the masonry, but none met their target, as shooting a long range rifle from the hip was a foolish mistake indeed, a mistake Nanako committed out of the pure rage at her target.

"FUCK!" she exclaimed in the wake of each of her missed shots. She whipped around to the others. "Keep up the fire! I'm going after Sawako!"

Kagami pulled herself behind the cover as Tsukasa continued to spray bullets at the sedan. "What? You can't be serious! We're fucking pinned down here! What happened to sticking together life a team!"

"You just keep up the fucking covering fire! I have to face Sawako. Now fire at that car and keep them occupied. NOW!"

Kagami gave her leader one last fleeting glare before leaning herself over her sister again and firing a stream of fire at the sedan. Nanako took that exact opportunity to make a break for the east. Sawako was already out of sight, but Kuroi had a good idea of where she had gone…

-o0o-

Konata had just entered the park of "I" when the firefight erupted in the roundabout. She turned in the direction of the echoing shots and listened to them for a brief moment. She shook her head, hoping, at the very least, her teammates were winning that battle. Nevertheless, she swallowed her urge to run back and help them, and instead, continued northward out of the alley and into the park.

The park was quite large and open, unlike the playground. Three trees, spaced equal distance apart from each other, made a line in the very center of the park. On the left and right of each tree was a wooden bench, which sat under the dripping cover of the trees. Around the base of each tree was a ring-shaped flowerbed, each clustered with flowers of differing colors. Konata might have stopped to smell them, had this not been a warzone she was in.

The otaku tread lightly upon her booted feet, her rifle slowly circling around her as she pivoted back and forth, scanning for any sign of sound or movement. So far, all she could hear was the rain, the distant bullet exchange, and the hiss of the wind through the wet leaves of the few trees around her. It seemed as if she were alone in this place.

But that notion was quickly shattered.

A obnoxious laugh pierced the ambient noise to her right. "Oh- hohohohohohoho!" Konata quickly turned toward the direction of the laugh "… Renge?" Konata asked aloud, referencing an anime character that shared a similar laugh. She received no reply back, as she expected. But when she took a couple more steps forward, the laugh sounded again. But only this time, it was to her direct left.

She spun in said direction and aimed her rifle at the roofs of the buildings before her. Nothing was there, nothing at all. The laugh sounded again, only this time to her left. Izumi turned in that direction, and was met with no visual. Her heart began to pound wildly, fear and anxiety shaking the grip of her rifle. Then, when she heard footsteps to her left, she turned and wildly fired a burst at the building. The projectiles kicked up a cloud of debris, but when it cleared, there was no one there.

Now the bluenette was beginning to panic. She turned and spun around in every direction, waiting for the foe to reveal herself. She began to feel as if the walls were closing in on her, like she was being surrounded on all sides. "W-Where are you!" she yelled at the silence. "Show yourself!" As soon as she had asked, she heard a metal clatter emanate from right behind her. She whipped around and saw nothing, but when she looked at her feet, there sat on the ground before her a single object: a live grenade.

Lightning reflexes kicked in. Konata delivered a quick kick to the grenade and it flew through the air a good thirty feet before it finally detonated, the blast shaking the ground beneath her feet. Thankfully, Konata had managed to kick it out of its effective range, and she took no damage from it. She returned her eyes to the roofs. "That the best you got, bitch?" she taunted. "Come on! Bring it!" In response, two more fragmentation grenades arched above the building directly in front of her, falling in her direction.

Reflexes saved the otaku yet again. The second she saw the objects sail toward her, she aimed her rifle on the grenade to the left and fired a burst of automatic fire at it, which successfully detonated it out of range. However, she did not have time to shoot the other, but she disposed of it nevertheless: she took an enormous risk and caught the grenade in mid-air and threw it back at the roof. Her aim was true and the metal device bounced off said roof before detonating. When the dust of the blast cleared, a hole had been blown in the roof, but there was no body.

"Gah! Damnit, you fucking ninja!" she screamed at the unknown foe. "Have you no balls to face me head-on? Fight me like a man, damnit! Fight me!"

The clatter of multiple objects sounded at Konata's feet. She looked down as saw three stun grenades, and there was nothing she could do to prevent herself from not getting caught in the blast. Even if she attempted to kick one of the grenades away, she would still be caught by the other two.

"Oh shi-!"

The stuns detonated in rapid succession: one after another after another, each of them ripping at Izumi's senses. Instantly, her hearing was shot to hell, replaced with a loud ringing in her head. Her vision became incredibly blurred, and her equilibrium was shattered. She stumbled a few steps before falling onto her left side. She fought through it and forced herself back to her feet, and in a blind panic, began to fire her rifle in random directions, hoping to hit anything. She heard the shatter of glass, of masonry, the splitting of wood, but heard no screams of impact.

When her vision and senses returned a frighteningly long fifteen seconds later, Konata found herself once more alone in the park. "D-Damnit, you manipulative bitch! Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU!"

Konata's question was met with a touch of cold metal against the back of her neck: the barrel of a pistol.

"Right behind you…"

-o0o-

Kuroi had regrettably lost sight of Sawako after she and her broke off from the engagement in the center of the city, but Nanako had a feeling where she had gone.

As the end of the street on the west side of Daten City was effectively blocked off by the church itself, the barrier on the east side of the city was a tall stack of destroyed cars. Even thought this was meant to be a physical barrier, there was clearly a small opening on the right side, just wide enough for one person at a time to slip through. "She's there… I know it." Kuroi slipped herself through and, sure enough, to her left, at a fifteen foot distance from her, stood Sawako Yamanaka.

Nanako instantly aimed her rifle from her waist and was about to fire, but she noticed that Sawako wasn't even holding her primary. Her Bofors AK5 had been cast down to the ground at her feet. She raised an eyebrow at the auburn-haired woman.

She grinned a sinister grin to the woman before her. "I knew you'd show up," she said to her. "I know you too well, Nanako. I knew you'd abandon your team the second I showed up. Now the Hiiragi sisters are all alone, and my girls will take them out in no time."

Kuroi glared at her opponent, but then tossed the rifle to the ground as well, the firearm landing in the ground with a wet thud. "It will be worth it," she said back. "If they do fall in battle, it wouldn't have been in vain… Not if I kill you." The blonde unsheathed her combat knife and clutched it in a reverse grip.

"Ha. How amusing..." Sawako unsheathed her knife as well. "You should have just done what you were told, Nanako. Otherwise, this whole little charade wouldn't have happened, and innocent lives would have been spared… But you just had to defy me, didn't you? You could have just done what I asked, but you didn't. You're just too rebellious for your own good sometimes."

"Don't you talk to me like you're so damn high and mighty! What you did, what you continued to do, even when I told you to stop… was unforgivable. You're too controlling for your own good! You think you can just walk all over me and do as you please, but you can't!"

"Hmph… So, here we are now, facing off against each other, our fates determined by the other's cold, sharpened steel… I'll give you one last chance to submit, my dear. We can call this whole thing off with your unconditional surrender, and I'll agree to forget this whole thing ever happened."

"Never!" Kuroi spat back. "I'll never back down to you! Not after what you did! I see you have yet to change since that night. Not. One. Bit… But this ends today, Sawako. This ends with your defeat!"

In unison, the two warriors lunged forward with their knives at their ready, each intent on silencing their opponent.

-o0o-

Ritsu grinned at her handiwork. From the roof of a building that over-looked the park, she watched as Izumi stumbled on and off her feet after being stricken by the full payload of her stun grenades. She took pleasure at watching the blur-haired soldier attempt to fight back, firing her rifle in random directions, none of which were even close to Tainaka's direction.

Ritsu gracefully hopped of the side of the building and made her approach of the otaku, unholstered both her pistols as she did. ""D-Damnit, you manipulative bitch!" Konata screamed. "Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU!"

Ritsu walked up right behind her and pressed the barrel of her Jericho 941 against the exposed skin of the back of her neck and answered "Right behind you- OOF!"

Konata's quick reflexes proved to be her savior for the third time today. As soon as she felt the touch of the gun to her skin, she lifted her left leg up and delivered a backwards kick right into Ritsu's knee, which threw her off balance, also coming close to breaking it. She then took that moment of imbalance to whip herself around and swing the butt of her rifle into the left side of Ritsu's head. It struck her in her helmet, which absorbed most of the damage, but the helmet flew off her head and bounced onto the ground.

She staggered a few steps to her right from the hit, but then managed to return the aim of her pistols. But before she even had a chance to fire, Izumi jumped into the air and made a spinning roundhouse kick that knocked both firearms out of Tainaka's hands.

"Shit!" she exclaimed. Ritsu was left, for the moment, unarmed, but her retaliatory strike more than made up for it. As Konata returned to a firing position with her rifle, the drummer, unsheathed her knife and lunged it at her right arm. The blade cut deep into the flesh of the triceps, severing a tendon that instantly made the arm go limp, causing crimson blood to flow from the laceration. Konata screamed out in pain and jumped back, but the use of her right arm was now lost to her, and her rifle clattered to the ground.

Ritsu laughed at her successful strike. But it was a regular laugh, not the "Renge" laugh from before. Konata clutched her afflicted arm with her left hand. The blotch of blood on her sleeve slowly crept downward, becoming ever larger. "Damn you, Ritsu!" Izumi spat at her opponent. "You may have taken out my dominant arm, but I'm not giving up yet!" She bolted forward and, before Ritsu had time to defend herself, delivered a kick to her chest. As Ritsu reeled back from the hit and hit the ground, she managed to make a cut in the leg that kicked her, slicing the skin on the front of her lower calf.

Ritsu landed flat on her back, in quite a defenseless position, but that did not seem to matter at that moment. The cut she made on Konata's leg was enough to cause her great pain when she put her foot down, pain enough to prevent her from delivering a curb stomp as a follow-up. The drummer jumped back to her feet and regarded her opponent's wincing face as the pain of both knife wounds afflicted her.

"Give it up, otaku!" Ritsu taunted. "I've taken the use of your right arm and you can barely stand on one of your legs. Face it, you're done for!"

Izumi continued to wince from her wounds, blood now crawling down a single pant leg. But above it all, she laughed in defiance at her opponent. "Ha ha ha… You act as if you've already won. But the battle's not over until one or none are left standing… An I intent to dance on your corpse!" Izumi jumped back a few feet and with her left arm she unclip and primed a stun grenade of her own. She waited a full second, then another full second before she threw the grenade forward and turned her back away from the imminent blast. Tainaka had no time to block the attack and the grenade exploded an inch from her face.

"GAH! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK!" She screamed a constant stream of obscenities as the blast ripped through her ears and head. Her knife fell from her hand and both hands instinctively went to her ears as she began to stagger to and fro. Konata grinned at Ritsu's suffering and charged forward, her only working arm reaching for her sidearm. As Tainaka continued to thrash around at the pain and ringing of her ears, Izumi shoved her Beretta M9 pistol into her stomach and fired a trio of rounds.

Ritsu gasped and spat a cough of blood into Konata's face. Pure fear showed in her eyes, eyes that met those of her killed, which seemed cold and without emotion. Said fearful eyes slowly lowered to her stomach, to the puddle of crimson that now marked her front. Suddenly, she grabbed Konata by her shoulder and threw her to the wet ground with a splash. She then leaned onto her with her full body weight.

Izumi grunted as she was thrown to the ground and found herself pinned beneath Ritsu. With her pistol in her left hand, she reached up and pressed the end of the barrel against her right temple. "G-Get off me, damnit! Don't make me shoot yo- Mmmph?"

Konata's threat was silenced… with a kiss.

Ritsu lowered her head down and locked her lips around Konata's. What the- What is she doing? Konata asked within her head. She began to slam the butt of her pistol into Ritsu's ribcage, but her opponent failed to falter and the lip-lock remained fixed. W-Why is she doing this?... I-Is this what she wanted to do before she died? To kiss another woman? Konata turned her head away, thus breaking the lip contact.

"R-Ritsu, what the hell are you-?"

"Shut up," she snapped as she tilted Izumi's face back up and resumed her kiss, this time introducing her tongue. Ritsu's left hand glided softly down Izumi's right side. The bluenette voiced a muffled gasp at the new touch. O-Oh my God. She's- I can't believe she's doing this! I-I want to get her off me, but… but… Her sidearm slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground next to her. … I-It feels so… good…

She finally reciprocated Ritsu's advance: she wrapped her left arm around the small of Ritsu's back and she introduced her tongue against the other's. Now, both shared in the experience. Ritsu lowered the rest of her body atop of Konata, both of their flat chests pressing together, the calf of her right leg nestled up against her crotch. They continued to kiss and hold each other bodies until Ritsu lifted her head and broke their lip contact.

The smitten eyes of both their blushing faces met each other's stares for a moment. "…Wow," Ritsu whispered to Konata. "You weren't that bad."

Konata giggled back. "You weren't terrible yourself… So, how did you know I liked this kind of stuff?"

"Remember when we first met up? Both of our groups were spying on our teachers at that café? You seemed really enthusiastic at the aspect of your teacher being a lesbian, and no one is that supportive of yuri without being a bit yuri themselves."

"Hmm. Figured all that out on your own, did you? Well, I'm still flattered by this, Ricchan. I never knew you had a thing for me."

"Heh… Sorry, Konata, but I'm not really into girls."

"You're not?... So what was this about?"

An evil grin suddenly materialized on Ritsu's face. "So I could get in position to do this."

Konata suddenly felt a tug on her belt. She looked down and was met with the sight of the index, middle, and ring finger of Ritsu's left hand clutching a ring of her three fragmentation grenades. All the drummer needed to do was jerk her hand back and all three grenades would be primed.

Izumi lifted her eyes back to Tainaka's… and grinned. "You sneaky bitch. You had this planned all along, didn't you."

Ritsu smiled back. "No, not really. Kind of thought it up on the spot, but it looks like it worked."

"Yeah, it looks like it did… You know, even if I tried to take all the grenades after you primed them, I probably wouldn't have time to take them all off before they detonated."

"Nope. Just as I want it to happen."

"… And something tells me you're not going to get off me after you pull the pins, am I right?"

"Yep. I'm not letting you go anywhere. I'm making damn sure you're there to get hit by all three of these babies, and if I have to die to make sure, then so be it."

"Hmm…" Izumi lowered her eyes back to the pins. "Well, seeing as we're both about to die, you think you can grant me one last request?"

"Hmm? A request?" Ritsu asked back. "Well, I suppose I can give you that. But you can't ask to live, of course."

"Right, of course… But, maybe, could I get… one last kiss?"

Her eyes widened slightly… but softened a moment after. "Sure."

The drummer lowered her head once more and the two embraced themselves in another kiss, both of them thrusting their tongues into each other's mouths. Both girls voiced pleasured moans as their embrace tightened, Konata's left hand sliding downward and cupping Ritsu's right buttock cheek. And in their moment of pleasure, Ritsu pulled back the pins of Konata's three grenades.

The two spent their last moment of life in each other's embrace, locked in an unbreakable bond of passion.

-o0o-

Yui completed her sweep of the first floor of the office building. Like the school, the office building in "IV" was one of the few buildings with accoutrements within. There was a small grid of cubicles, each set up with a table, an old outdated computer, rolling chair, and filing cabinet. Yui found nothing on the first floor, and before she continued to the second, she stopped at a window on the west wall and looked out at the still-burning church tower.

A tear rolled down her left cheek. "Azu-nyan…" she whispered to herself. "Why did you have to go like this…" She pressed through her feelings long enough to rip herself from the window. "I better check the second floor. The flag might be up there."

After a brief check of her Kalashnikov, Yui jogged up the second flight of stairs to the second floor. The set-up of the office units was exactly the same at it was on the first floor. The way Yui swept was, without a doubt, the least military in procedure of her group. Her rifle was aimed at the ground as she casually walked through and around the cubicles in search of the flag or anything else. She found nothing, much to her irk. "I hope the others are having fun, because I'm not having any," she mused aloud. "Heck, I haven't come across anyone to shoot, and Azu-nyan took out Miyuki for me."

When her sweep of the second floor was complete, Yui found another window that was on a west-facing wall. She looked out it and regarded the flaming tower once again. "Oh Azu-nyan…" She lowered her head- And saw a figure run by outside on the ground level. She could not positively identify it, but all she could see was a brief flash of white and red turn the southwest corner of the building and go out of sight.

"White. And red… It couldn't be!"

Hirasawa broke into a sprint and ran as fast as she could down the stairs to the ground floor. "I got to get to her, quickly, before she reaches her base!"

-o0o-

"Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!"

Kagami continued to curse as she was continually pinned behind the cover of the roundabout's pyramid. Mugi continued to hammer rounds at the sisters' cover from behind the same broken green sedan. Mio had remained right at her side and did the same. Whenever a helmeted head of lavender hair poked out from behind the cover, another burst of enemy fire would send it shooting back behind the cover.

"Onee-chan! We're pinned down. We can't move! What are we going to do!"

"I don't fucking know!" she snapped back, unintentionally letting the expletive slip. "Every time we try to fire back, we're getting shot at!"

"T-Try to radio someone then!"

Kagami got onto the radio as Tsukasa poked the gun around the corner and blind-fired in the general direction of Mio and Mugi. "This is Tsunderella to Otaku. This is Tsunderella to Otaku. Do you read me? Over." No answer came, so she moved onto another. "Juggernaut. This is Tsunderella. We need back up at the roundabout. Me and Snoozer are pinned down and we need assistance right away!"

Kagami got no answer. "Damnit. It looks like we're stuck here, Tsukasa. We're pinned down and if we try to move to any other cover, we'll get shot at… We got nowhere to go-"

"Hold onto ya asses, girls!" A new voice sounded over both Kagami and Tsukasa's radio headset. "Ya forget about me, did ya? Well I got more than enough firepower here to get you two out of your squeeze."

Both sisters turned their gaze to the west, at the sight of an extremely well armed figure's approach. On her back was strapped an unloaded RPG-7, and clutched in her hands, held up to her waist, was an M134 Minigun, a large double-drum magazine attacked to the right side.

The two sisters gasped at the warrior's sights. "Misao!" they shouted with glee.

The Rambo warrior herself emerged from the shadows of the battlefield, hefting her heavy weapons with her. She noticed the two soldiers of Team Sakura and instantly engaged them. She aimed her massive weapon and spun the gun's spool before unleashing it's payload upon her target. The gun's fire sounded less like the clattering of a traditional rifle, but more like a deadly buzz that filled their air. The second the minigun's fury was unleashed, Mio and Mugi ducked as flat as pancakes behind their cover as the hundreds and hundreds of rounds ripped the car to shreds. Misao continued to taunt as she fired. "Waah! Waaah! Muwahahahaha! Cry some more! Ah-hahahahaha!"

It took Kusakabe a full thirty seconds of continuous fire to exhaust the minigun of its payload. The extended fire not only caused the metal barrels of the gun to heat up, each drop of rain water that landed on it instantly turning to steam, it kicked up a cloud of dust in and around the car that prevented Mio and Mugi from getting up and firing back for quite a while.

Finally finished with her onslaught, Misao turned to the Hiiragi sisters and waved them a friendly smile. "Sup guys! Thought I abandoned you, did I? Check it out: I found both of the secret weapons on the map. Oh! I also got this!" She reached behind her any pulled from out of the belt of her pants the real white flag.

"The flag!" Kagami exclaimed. "Misao, quickly, throw it over! We'll get it over to the school."

"Sure thing!" Kusakabe set her heavy weapon down and took a few steps forward to make a running throw of the flag. The second she began, from behind her, Yui Hirasawa emerged from an alleyway of "IV" and immediately noticed Misao. She took aim and fired her Kalashnikov and unleashed a seven round burst at Misao, but she had fired just after the flag left her fingertips and arced into the sky toward the sisters. Five of the seven rounds sunk into her back, while the final two struck her neck and head respectively. She stumbled forward three steps before finally collapsing in the street.

But Misao's final throw was not in vain. The flag flew through the air like a spear and clatter to the pavement right at the two's feet. Kagami immediately snatched up the flag and tucked into the belt of her pants as well. "Tsukasa! Take care of Yui!"

"Yes, Onee-chan!" she shouted back as she took aim to her and unleashed a bullet-storm at the sentry. Yui had fortunately (or unfortunately) ducked back into the alley, so she was able to save herself from the fire. After five seconds of fire, Tsukasa turned back to her sister and they both bolted southward down the street, toward the school.

As those two headed back to their base, Mugi worked up the courage to peak over their now demolished cover. She spotted Kusakabe's downed body. "Misao is down!" She turned back to Mio, who was still cowering on the ground. "Mio? Are you ok? Have you been hit?"

She slowly lifted her head. "N-No, I'm fine." It took a few more seconds before she picked up her rifle and got back up onto her feet. It was around that time that Yui had ventured into the roundabout. "Yui!"

"Hi there, Mio-chan! Mugi-chan!" she waved back. "You two ok?"

"We're fine. Yui, cut through the fuel depot. Kagami and Tsukasa have the flag and are heading back to their base. Go, quickly!"

"Roger that, Mio-chan!" and she immediately set off back down the street and into an alley that led into the inner workings of the fuel plant. "Mugi-chan, let's get going. We might be able to catch up with them before they finish the countdown!"

As Mio and Mugi set off down the same street the two sisters ran down, said sisters had returned back to the school. Kagami went straight for the device and stuck the flag's pole in its center. Immediately the clock began to count down from five minutes. Tsukasa had taken position at a window that looked out to the south. Kagami then did the same at an adjacent window.

"Onee-chan! I can see Mio and Mugi coming this way!" the short-haired girl warned. "Should I open fire now?"

"Not yet," her sister answered. "Wait until they're closer. Then open fire."

The device was programmed to beep at the sound of every minute that was counted down. The two of Team Sakura proceeded slowly, and it would be at the tree minute mark that they were finally in position to be attacked. "Open fire!"

Both sisters peaked their guns over through the window and blind-fired into the alleyway. Luckily, both soldiers of Team Sakura were near a dumpster at the time, and they were able to jump behind it once the bullets began to fly. The two continued to blindly shoot bursts of fire for the next minute or so, the unit of time indicated by another beep of the device.

When they received no return fire back, Tsukasa wondered if they were even still there, so she stood up and peaked out the window. Bad move. She peaked over after Mugi had set up her M60E3's bipod atop the dumpster and aimed toward the two windows. The second the short-haired Hiiragi had looked up, she was hit with a burst of fire, two rounds entering into each of her shoulders, thus rendering her arms useless. She collapsed back to the ground.

"Tsukasa!" Kagami cried. "Speak to me, Tsukasa! Are you ok?"

Kagami's sister responded with a cough of blood. "… O-Onee-chan," her now feeble voice whispered. "I- I can't move both my arms. It's… I can't fight back…"

"No, Tsukasa," she then wept, a few tears dripping from each eye. "They'll pay for hurting you. They'll PAY!" The pigtailed girl unclipped a fragmentation grenade from her belt, stood up, and pulled the pin before lobbing it toward the dumpster.

The object bounced and rolled forward before stopping right on the other side of the dumpster where Mugi and Mio were hiding behind. Both gasped at the sight, knowing that death was but seconds away, but one of them made an ultimate sacrifice before the detonation. Mio, in a grand display of bravery, threw herself on top of the grenade.

"Mio-chan, no!" Mugi cried.

"Complete the mission!" Mio shouted in her last moment of life. "Complete the mi-"

The explosive detonated, blasting a bloody cloud that coated Mugi from head to toe. "M-Mio-chan…" All that remained of the raven-haired warrior was a bloody pulp where her body once sat.

Kagami grinned at a successful kill. "Don't worry, Tsukasa," she reassured her. "I got Mio out of the picture, and I think I got Mugi as we- GAH!"

Shots rang from the outside and to Kagami's left. In her plot to take out Mugi and Mio, she failed to notice Yui round another corner out of the fuel plant. She immediately saw Kagami, aimed, and fired. Just like her sister, rounds penetrated both her shoulders, but unlike Tsukasa, she was struck by a near fatal blow: a round graced her neck, striking dangerously close to the jugular.

Kagami collapsed to the ground as well, next to her sister. "O-Onee-chan!" Tsukasa screamed as long as she could.

Blood ran down from the neck wound and from down the wounds in her shoulder. "T-Tsukasa," she shakily replied. "I can't move my arms as well… W- We're defenseless. Now none of us can fight back."

"So, so what are suppose to do?"

"… We can't do anything, Tsukasa… But look. The timer has only thirty seconds left. They won't be able to reach us in time. Don't worry, sis. We've won."

Outside the school, Yui rounded the corner into the corridor where Mugi had taken cover. She looked upon the bloody mess that was once Mio and felt like fainting. "Oh my God. M-Mugi? Mio? Are you there?"

Mugi lifted herself from behind her cover. Her face was still coated in scarlet. "Yui! You made it!"

"Uh, where is Mio-chan?" Tsumugi merely glanced at the bloody pulp next to her. "Oh no! Mio-chan! What happened!"

"She threw herself on-top of a grenade. She saved my life… Listen, both the sisters are inside. Yui, do you still have your grenades?"

"Yeah, I have all three of them still. Why?"

"Get two of the ready. When I say, we're fragging the inside of the school, got it?"

She nodded back. "You got it, Mugi-chan!"

Back inside the classroom, the Hiiragi sisters watched the digital display of the device count down. They had no more than twenty seconds left. Tukasa fell over to her right, her head resting on her sister's left shoulder. "Onee-chan... I'm glad to have this all end with you at my side."

Kagami cracked a smile back. "Me too…"

A group of objects sailed over the two's heads. Four grenades fell and clattered across the aluminum tile of the classroom. One landed on the opposite side of the room, one landed under the desk the device was atop of, and the final two landed at the sister's feet. There were only precious seconds left.

"… Onee-chan," said Tsukasa in her last moments. "… I love you."

"… Wait, what?"

The grenades detonated at once, sending a blast of shrapnel that turned both Kagami and Tsukasa into a pulp similar to the one Mio had become not too earlier. Their blood and inner matter painted the walls of the classroom, a cloud of crimson escaping out the open window and into the air. The sisters fell together, defending with their lives the flag, but it was all for not, as the device that held the flag was shattered in the blast.

All with but three seconds on the timer…

The air horn sounded and echoed throughout the entire playing field, signifying the end of the game. Soon after, Minoru's voice spoke through the speakers that were set-up throughout Daten City. "Attention all combatants. Attention all combatants. The device for Team Ryoo has been destroyed prematurely. Team Sakura wins be default. I repeat, Team Sakura wins."

Kagami shot herself up at the announcement. "What the-?" She stood up and approached the device. A plethora of holes were punched straight through, created by the blast of bbs from the airsoft grenades. "Damn it. They broke the timer!"

She turned back to her sister, who was still lying on the cold floor. "… Uh, Tsukasa, you can get up now. The game's over."

Her head shot up. "O-Oh, right," she nervously laughed. She rose to her feet and dusted herself off, slipping her rifle over her shoulder. "So, where do we go now?"

"I think everyone's going to meet up at the roundabout now, so maybe we should go there as well." The tsundere picked up her rifle and slung it behind her back. "… Hey, Tsukasa?"

"Hmm?"

"… Why did you say 'I love you?'"

"Eh!" A discreet blush crept over her face. "W-Well… Y-You know, it's like in the movies. The main characters always say something dramatic or cool before they die, s-so I thought I'd do something like that."

"… But 'I love you?'"

"I-It was the first thing I could think of. Eh-hehehe?"

"… Oh, ok." Kagami bought it. Or, at least, pretended she bought it. "Well, anyway, let's get moving."

Tsukasa followed her sister out of the room and back into the outside. They were instantly met with the sight of Mio, Mugi, and Yui, the foremost still brushing dirt off her coat with her hands. There was a moment of silence between the girls the second their eyes met… but it was quickly dismissed as they all burst into uplifting laughter.

"Hahaha! Man, you guys," Kagami said to the others, "you sure got us good. Heck, I was surprised I got Mio the way I did."

"Hey!" Mio shot back. "I threw myself on top of that grenade so Mugi could survive. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? I'll be feeling that for at least a week!"

Miss Kotobuki was quick to give Mio a bow. "I'm very grateful for your sacrifice, Mio-chan," she politely said to her.

"Don't forget," Yui injected into the conversation, "I got both you, Kaga-chan, and Misao!"

"Yeah, that's true," the mentioned Hiiragi admitted. "Oh, and please, don't call me 'Kaga-chan.' Kagami is just fine."

"Oh, sorry."

"Forget about. Hey, everyone, let's head back to the pyramid. I bet you that's where everyone else is right now."

Everyone agreed and they headed off as a group toward Daten City's center. There, sitting on the bottom block of the structure, was Miyuki, who was taking with Misao, who chose to stand. At Kusakabe's feet sat both her heavy weapons: the RPG and minigun. As the five approached, the two turned and waved them over. "Yo, ladies!" Misao yelled. "Some game, huh?"

"Ha! Some game?" Kagami shot back. "You ran off the second it started!"

"Yeah, maybe, but I can in at the last second and saved the day, didn't I?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Miyuki voiced a disappointed "Hmph." "Atleast you all got to fight," she whined. "I didn't get to fire my weapons once, and I get taken out by Azusa in the church tower. How did I not see that coming!"

"Well, it's a good thing I took her out with the RPG then," Kusakabe then boasted. "Man, that weapon surprised even me! I didn't think I was gonna hit the tower, but I hit it dead on!" She turned her head to the west. "And speak of the devil, here comes the sniper now."

Walking down the center of the street was Azusa, her chin held up in a sort of pride, a noticeable glow on her face. "Hey guys," she greeted the group. "Hope you all did well." She turned to Miyuki. "No hard feelings, eh, Miyuki?"

"Oh, not at all, Nakano-san," she said back. "I suppose it was foolish of me not to expect a sniper in such an obvious place."

"Hmm, guess so… So, who was the one that hit me with this?" Azusa help up what looked like the projectile of an RPG, but like the airsoft grenades, the outside was completely linned with small holes. "It was like the grenades, but much bigger."

"That would be Misao," Mio answered, "and she hit you with the RPG that sits at her feet."

Azusa took one look at the weapon and commented "Damn."

Just then, another voice sounded to the north. "Yoo-Hoo! Hey girls!" Approaching from the street to the north was both Konata and Ritsu, walking side by side.

"Ah, Ricchan," Yui greeted once they caught up with the group. "You both get downed as well?"

"Yep," Izumi answered. "The both of us. At the same time."

"Really? How did that happen?"

"Uh…" Both Izumi and Tainaka lowered their heads slightly, their faces turning a slight pink. "Well… We both got into a little CQC and the pin of one of my grenades went off. We both got caught up in the blast."

"Ouch," Azusa commented again. "That had to suck."

Ritsu glanced at the bluenette out of the corner of her eye. "Actually," she answered, "it wasn't that bad…"

"Hey, where's Sawa-chan?" Yui then asked.

"And where's Kuroi-sensei?" Tsukasa asked.

That question was answered more quickly than one would have thought, for Minoru made a sudden appearance on the battlefield. He sprinted toward the group as fast as his legs could carry him, huffing and puffing and taking heavy heaving breaths the entire way. "Guys! There's… A problem," he panted in-between breaths."The teachers… Kuroi… and Yamanaka…are knife fighting!"

"What!" all the girls exclaimed in unison.

"T-They're both near the main gate. They got real knives and they're going at it! You guys got to get over there and see if you can defuse this! Follow me!"

Minoru ran back in the direction he had come from and the girls all followed. He led them back to the front gate, and even before they got there, they could hear the sound of clashing metal in the air. "That can't be good," Konata stated. They ran toward the source of noise with increased pace, and they could not have come at a better time.

The clash of metal upon metal has stopped, but instead, the ten girls (plus Minoru) were met with a truly frightening sight: Sawako and Nanako each clutching a knife in their outstretched right arms, the blade hovering no more than an inch from their throats. Each gave the other a stone-set glare that bled with killing intent.

"S-Sawa-chan! What are you doing!" Yui cried at the sight.

"Kuroi-sensei, you don't have to do this! Please, the fight is over. The device was destroyed before the countdown was finished. The other team won. T-There's no reason to fight anymore!"

"There is every reason to fight!" Nanako shot back, not lifting her knife a single bit. "If you only knew the pain this bitch has brought me, you'd fight to the death as well, until your opponent was dead."

"And that goes double for me," Sawako added. "I tried to reason with you, Nanako, but you were blind to compromise. And if words won't make you see, then perhaps bring you an inch to death will-"

Two shots suddenly rang through the air, and in a flash too quick to register, both of the combatants' knives were knocked right out of their hands and onto the ground. Nanako and Sawako turned to their respective left and right, to the source of the shot. Ritsu stood with both sidearms in hand.

"Thanks, Ritsu," the twin-tailed Kagami thanked before she took a step toward the feuding couple. "Ok, I don't know what the fuck this whole thing is about, but you two seriously need to grow up! I mean, what the hell is all this? You can't agree on something so you're going to slit each other's throats? T-This is madness!"

Konata made a sudden grin. "Madness? This. Is!-"

WHAM!

The tsundere slammed the back of her fist into Izumi's face, both silencing the overused meme she was about to bust out, and knocking her onto her back. She completely ignored the otaku and continued to berate the teachers. "This is not how to deal with your problems. You're a married couple, the most famous one in all of Japan! Though you may not know it, you two gave gay rights in Japan a major boost. Because of you, more people have come out and freely admitted their sexuality.

You've given help and hope to countless numbers of people… And this is how you want to be remembered? At each other's throats with sharpened steel because you had one little difference!

For the love of God, what the hell IS this whole thing about?"

Slowly, the two woman turned their stunned gazes back to each other's… And after great length, Nanako, much to the confusion of the girls, began to laugh. A stifled chuckle at first, but it quickly escalated into a full blown laugh. And shortly after, Sawako burst into uproarious laughter as well, so much so that the two fell onto their knees and used each other's shoulders as support.

The anger and hatred on their visages vanished, replaced with what had existed before in their marriage: joy, and happiness.

But the ten girls now looked at their teachers with looks of flabbergast, all completely taken back as this sudden change of mood. "… W-What the hell is going on here!" Kagami exclaimed.

Still laughing, the two brought themselves to their feet, and once standing, they each put an arm around the other's waist. "You know what, Kagami?" said Nanako. "You're right. You're absolutely right. This whole fight, it was for stupid reasons, and instead of battling it out, we should have talked it out, like a married couple should." She turned to look her wife in the eyes. "Sawako, I'm sorry. I've been an idiot."

The auburn haired woman shook her head. "No, I'm the one that should be apologizing," she admitted. "I tried to force you to do something that you weren't comfortable with. I was too busy trying to do something I wanted to do that I wasn't listening to how you were feeling… I've been the idiot." She leaned her head forward and touched both her forehead and the tip of her nose to Nanako's. "Can you ever forgive me?" she whispered.

The blonde reached up to the other's face and glided the fingers of her right hand across Sawako's left cheek. "Of course," she whispered back. The two leaned in further and their lips locked in a supple and passionate kiss.

A soft pink line of blush formed on all of the girl's faces. The blush of Mugi seemed to be noticeable larger than that of the rest. Minoru blushed as well, but it was also accompanied by a sweating brow. None of them dared to speak again until the couple's kiss broke, which finally happened after a full twenty seconds.

"… O-Ok, good, you're all lovey-dovey now," Ritsu said. "So, do you now mind telling us now what this whole damn thing was about?"

The two wives shared a quick embarrassed glance between themselves before looking back to the girls. Sawako began her explanation with a "Well…"

-o0o-

Another fulfilling day of teaching at Sakuragaoka High School came to a close. A long day it had been: the teacher left at around 21:00, long after most of the others of the faculty had left for the day. Already the sun had set and the sky was black with night. The bespectacled, auburn-haired teacher Sawako Yamanaka, after leaving the school at a late hour, strode her way across the faculty parking lot toward her red car. As soon as she had approached and placed her right hand on the driver door's handle, she fished her cellphone out of her pocket ans sent her wife a quick text message.

Getting out now.

It would only be a few seconds before she got one back.

Long day today?

Sawako sent one back.

Yep. Had a lot of papers to fill out, but I just got out. Be home soon. She stepped into her car, placed her bags onto the passenger seat, and had just slipped the keys into the ignition when she received a message back from Nanako.

Hurry hurry, my love.

I'll be waiting for you.

Sawako smiled, as she knew exactly what that meant.

It was a twenty minute drive from the high school back to her home. "So, how should I act when I get inside?" she thought to herself. "I could act like 'Oh, what a pleasant surprise!' but that wouldn't make much sense, seeing as she sent a text basically implying what we were gonna do… Hell, I'll just wing it."

With her bags back in hand, the light music club advisor stepped through the threshold of her home. She slipped off her shoes and went to the room of the house she expected Nanako to be in: the living room, the room beyond the open doorway directly to the left after walking through the front door. And sure enough, there she sat, a glass of red wine held by its stem in her left hand's fingertips. Her attire further conveyed her intentions for the evening: over a provocative pair of lacy black bra and panties she wore a wimple white button-down shirt, with only one button fastened, the one in the very center. This left both parts of her underwear very much revealed.

She gave her wife a playfully fanged grin from across the room. "What took you so long?" she joked, taking a sip of the wine.

"… Wow. That is so cliché," Sawako said back, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Hey! Cut me some slack, will you? I can't spew out award-winning lines all the time, can I?"

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry. I'll play along…" With a blink of her eyes, her gaze became smitten and sultry. Yamanaka tossed her begs aside on the floor and took a few slow steps toward the couch, intentionally giving her hips a noticeable shake as she did. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she whispered back. "You know, after I got your message, I thought of nothing but you the whole way home and now… I am seriously in the mood."

The blonde placed her glass on the glass coffee table in front of the couch, gracefully stood up and approached Sawako. "Glad to hear." Once within reach, she slid her finger tips around Sawako's waist and pressed her body against hers, nestling her left thigh in-between the other's legs, rubbing the exposed skin against the other's fabric. Sawako did the same with her arms and her left thigh as well. The two immediately locked lips, the massage of their tongues an unspoken agreement.

After a couple of minutes, Yamanaka lifted their oral contact and slid her hands up Kuroi's body, down her arms, and interlocked fingers. "Then let us not waist anymore time then." She led Nanako up the stairs and to their bedroom.

Nanako sat down of the bedspread and watched as her wife disrobed to nothing but her unmentionables, and once both were half-naked, she crawled on top of Nanako and resumed their kisses. It lasted for another few, enticing minutes before Nanako switched positions and rolled herself on top of Sawako, where she began to nip and kiss her way down the length of Sawako's neck, then her chest, breasts, then navel.

Sawako's breathing became heavy with anticipation. She switched positions once again, putting herself on top. "Hey, stop it," Nanako giggled as she flipped her lover over and put herself on top again, but before she could do anything, Sawako put herself on top again.

"Knock it off," she continued to giggle as she retook her dominant position again, but she was just as soon put back under Sawako. This time, her tone was no longer playful, and it hinted at slight annoyance. "Ok, enough," she said, and she attempted to get on top again, but she was quickly pinned to the sheets. "H-Hey, what are you doing?" Even as Sawako returned the favor and began to tongue the blonde's navel, she protested. "Why are you-? G-Get off of me. I said- Get off!"

Sawako shot herself upright at the sudden yell. "Huh? What's wrong with you?" she shot back.

"What's wrong with me? It's my turn, remember?"

"Your turn? Since when did we decide to take turn making each other come?"

"It's not about that. We made a deal, remember? We would take turn being 'on top.' You were on top last time, so it's my turn now."

"But I want to show you something really good tonight, honey. Just let me-"

"Well you can do it next time we do it. It's my turn tonight, so get off."

"What? Oh come on, just let me do this now, and next time you'll be on top," Sawako suggested.

"Oh no you don't! You can't take two times in a row being the man of the act. It's my turn and you know it!"

"Damn it, Nanako, why are you being so freakin difficult? Why won't you just let me do it?"

"Because it my turn, damn it! Stop being so selfish and get on the bottom."

"No."

Nanako actually reeled her head back from the abrupt defiance. "No? Sawako, stop being such a bitch!"

She gasped. "A bitch? Is that what I am now?... You know what? If you're going to be like this, then forget it." Sawako dismounted herself from atop of Nanako, walked her near-naked self to the closet near the foot of the bed, and retrieved a blanket from the top shelf. "If you're going to be unreasonable, then we just won't do it tonight." She made her way to the door. "I'll just sleep on the couch tonight. Night." And before Kuroi could speak up, Yamanaka had already slammed the door behind her.

"W-Wha- Me being unreasonable?" she thought to herself. "She the one not following what we both agreed on! She- UGH! What the hell is her problem!"

That night, both women slept in separate rooms, and it was the next day that Nanako arrived to her class with her frazzled appearance and grouchy disposition, where this entire story began…

-o0o-

"Yeah, so I guess that's how it happened," Kuroi concluded, voicing a laugh as she did.

The ten girls gave their respective teachers blank, unbelieving looks. All looked as if they had been told that the earth was flat. None looked impressed at the story that had just been told.

"… I knew it!" Misao suddenly exclaimed. "I fucking knew it!"

"… So you mean to tell us," Mio then said, "that this whole argument, this whole battle… was because you couldn't agree on who would be on top during sex?"

The two woman were still laughing over the whole thing. "Yeah, I guess that's about it," Sawako answered. "Pretty funny, right?"

The barrels of eleven guns said otherwise.

-o0o-

The next day was a Monday, and classes in Ryoo High began just as they had done countless numbers of times before. Konata, Miyuki, and Tsukasa congregated in their classroom, as much of the rest of the class did, before the bells chimed for the first period. Strangely, none of them spoke of the battle that had commenced the day before, and all seemed to act as if it never happened. All was normal.

That is, until their teacher arrived.

In she calmly strode, her appearance as perfect and well kept as it was any other day… if one did not take into account her skin. He face was absolutely riddled with red welt marks, all of them no more than 6mm in diameter. Her arms were just as marked as well, nearly every inch of them that was exposed from the three-quarter length sleeves she wore that day. But Nanako Kuroi acted as if they were not even there as she took her spot behind her desk.

"Ok everyone, let's open to Chapter 15 today. Today, we'll be discussing-"

Konata Izumi, who simply could not resist the opportunity, raised her hand and asked "Hey, sensei, what's wrong with your skin-?"

BONK!

From across the room, Nanako hummed a stapler with perfect aim right at Konata's forehead with such force that it instantly knocked her out, her head falling to the surface of the desk with a thud. Everyone sitting at their desks, Tsukasa and Miyuki amongst them, turned to Izumi, then back to their teacher, all with stunned shock on their face.

Kuroi grinned. "Anyone else want to ask about the marks?" she threatened. Not a word was spoken back. "Thought so. So, let's all open our books and begin out lesson…"

-o0o-

Later that day, after Konata awoke from her injury and headed home, made a call to a certain someone. It took a few rings before she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ritsu?" Izumi asked.

"Speaking. Who is this?"

"It's me, Konata."

"Oh… Hi, Konata. H-How are you?" Her voice showed clear nervousness.

"Oh fine- Ouch- Just fine."

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, well, Nanako threw a stapler at me."

"She did? What for?"

"I made a joke about her skin and all the red marks she had. Guess that was a bad decision on my part. Still, that was funny as hell, wasn't it? When we lit up both Nanako and Sawako?"

"Hehe, yeah, that was funny… So… What's up? D-Did you want to tell me something?"

"Actually, yeah…"

"Is it about our toe-to-toe yesterday?"

"Yeah…"

"I see... L-Listen, about that… I did say I did that I did that to get the jump on you… But, I… Oh Jesus."

"Ritsu, don't feel embarrassed," Izumi reassured the girl. "There's nothing to be ashamed about. If both our teachers were able to come out, you don't need to feel guilty."

"B-But I… I don't know if I'm- I'm just not sure… I need help, Konata. I- I've always felt like I had something for Mio, but I-"

"Mio? You and Mio-!"

"Konata! You're not helping!"

"Oh, right. Sorry… B-But Ritsu, if you need help… I'd be willing to help."

"… You would?" she whispered.

"Of course. After all, it's best to confer with those of mutual interests."

"Right… And 'mutual interests' being-?"

"Yuri."

"Eh- Y-Yeah… Konata?"

"Yeah?"

"… Y-You think you could, I don't know, stop by my house sometime?"

"… Sure, Ritsu. I'd love to."

Author's Notes: Well, I know I've said before that I don't write oneshots, but when this little popped into my head, I couldn't resist writing it. But in my defense, this story comes close in length to the original Lucky Stars and Gitahs. Also, and explination:

You're probably asking right now "If this was airsoft, how were the girls bleeding and rendered to bloody pulp?" Well, did you notice the lines before and after the battle? Think of those as (and I'm bullshitting this off the top of my head) "Imagination lines." Perhaps an example is necessary: in a two or three episode story arc of the second season of School Rumble, a challenge between the two classes led to an airsoft-like gunbattle in the school latr at night, and throughout the entire battle, wnenever people got shot, they bled ou. But when the entangelment was over, they all got up at the end and were fine. So, it's kind of like that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little piece of work. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and I wish you all happy readings.