Act One, Chapter One

Midori bubbled in the last question. “That wasn’t too hard…” she thought, before scanning the class. All of the other students were visibly struggling with the test.

Midori - “Huh.”

“Five minutes left!” Instructor Hitomi announced.

Several of the students were panicking now. Midori shrugged, stood up, and handed her paper to the instructor.

“Thank you, please head to the practice field”, Hitomi ordered.

Midori saluted and left the classroom.

She pulled out her map and studied it for a brief moment. “Where is the practice field anyways?” she wondered.

A tall girl rounded the corner and walked past Midori. She seemed to be deep in thought. Midori noticed her eyepatch over her left eye. She noticed her staring. Midori snapped out of it and waved at her.

“Hey! Do you know where the practice field is?”

The girl nodded and pointed behind her.

“Uh. Thanks!”

The girl simply waved and walked off.

“The people here are strange...”

Midori thought. She headed off in the general direction of where the girl pointed, and hoped to meet someone with more information.

//

The sound of marching boots and tank engines told her that she was close to her destination. She pushed the doors open, and was greeted by a bright blue sky and open green field. Rows of girls in their uniforms, wielding assault rifles, lined the wall. The commander noticed Midori, and signaled for her to join the team on the left.

“Please grab the backpack with your name on it!”

She motioned towards her executive officer who was diligently watching after all of the equipment. Midori approached her and looked through the rows of backpacks.

“Your name?”

“Midori.”

“Fifth backpack to your left, that one.”

Midori looked to her left and found her name taped to a large camouflage backpack.

“Thank you!”

“Here is your rifle, please be careful out there.”

The officer replied while handing her a blue colored armband and a large rifle. Midori slid the armband on her right arm and checked her weapon. She nodded in satisfaction and jogged towards her team’s field HQ.

Commander - “Listen up cadets! The objective today is to capture the other team’s flag. Whichever team wins will get extra points towards their exam grade. Good luck!”

The teams pulled out their maps and began planning.

Midori - “Hey, who’s the squad leader?”

Squad Girl 1 - “Dunno, We’ll do whatever.”

Squad Girl 2 - “How about we go through the forest on the west bank near the river?”

Squad Girl 3 - “It sounds like a plan!”

Midori - “Hmm, we shouldn’t.”

Squad Girl 3 - “Eh? Why not?”

Midori -  “They’ll be expecting us there, it’s the only area with sufficient cover.”

Midori -  “Instead, we should split up into two squads. One team will engage them at the river and act as a distraction while another team sneaks around the hill at the middle of the map and steals the flag.”

The girls looked perplexed.

Squad Girl 1 - “Well, it seems doable.”

Squad Girl 3 - “Let’s do it!” another added.

Squad Girls - “Yeah!”

The girl next to Midori pointed at her.

Squad Girl 3 - “You’re the commander for this mission, then!”

Midori - “Me? I’ve never done this before.”

Squad Girl 3 - “None of us have!”

The girl nodded and smiled, and the rest of the team grabbed their weapons and prepared for the assault. Midori hesitated for a moment before shrugging and ran off to catch up with her classmates.

//

Squad Girls - “Charge!”

Midori’s team ran off wildly to the enemy's positions. She didn’t know if they were brave or stupid. The second squad waved as they separated from the main group.

Midori motioned for her team to stay quiet and to follow her. Within moments, the peaceful countryside lit up in a blaze of gunfire. Midori’s radio came to life.

“The bear has sprung the trap!”

She nodded, that was the code to proceed. Her small team climbed up the hill and scanned the area for targets.

Midori -  “Quiet so far…”

Girl - “Enemy sighted!”

The girl raised her rifle and sent a stream of bullets down range.

Midori -  “Wait!”

But it was already too late. The startled enemy girl ducked and then yelled over the radio for support.

Midori pulled out her radio

Midori -  “We’re compromised!”

She frantically clamored to bring out her map.

Midori -  “What do we do…”

“Hey captain, what’s the plan!?”

Midori focused. She reached for her radio and called the other squad.

Midori - “Push through their lines and regroup with us, our plan’s shot!”

“No can do, we’re pinned down!”

Midori -  “Crap, what now…?”

Her squad mate reassured her.

“Commander, we’ll do whatever you say.”

Midori considered her options.

Midori - “Nothing to lose now.”

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Pushing up her glasses, she looked up with a grin.

Midori -  “I’ve always wanted to say this: Squad! Fix bayonets!”

The girls were surprised to say the least. One after another they grinned back. “Let’s go!” they all cheered. The team of girls charged down the hill, firing blindly at the enemy.

“What are they doing? What’s going on?”

The other team was visibly frightened by this sudden show of force. The girls ran straight past the stunned machine gun emplacements, knocking out several of the hostile girls before reaching their goal, the enemy  flag. Midori signaled her squad to take a defensive position around the flagpole, and she leaped forward onto the stand. The team worked quickly, targeting any hostiles that came within range, as Midori lowered red team’s flag. She unhooked the hostile flag and clipped her team’s bright blue flag on. A shrill whistle sound was heard throughout the air.

“Stop! Blue team wins!”

“We did it?”

“Yeah!”

Midori wiped the sweat off her brow.

“Whew.”

Her radio came to life yet again.

Squad Girl 3 -  “Nice job commander!”

Midori -  “Academy life isn’t too bad. This is pretty fun.”

//

“Congratulations!”

Instructor Hitomi proclaimed to Midori in front of the entire class.

Instructor Hitomi - “You have been selected as this class’ commanding officer based on your excellent test scores!”

The class erupted in an explosion of cheering and applause.

Midori -  “What.”

“Me? I don’t know if I’m fit for this. I only wanted to drive a tank or shoot a gun or...”

Instructor Hitomi - “You’ll do fine. Please take this folder, it has all of the information you need in it, as well as your room key.”

Midori took the folder and shook the instructor’s hand.

“Thank you…” she said quietly.

This had to have been a mistake. How could she have been selected as the officer? Midori just wanted to be an ordinary academy girl.

Instructor Hitomi -  “You beat the practice match in record time, and all of the girls on your team had nothing but praise for you. I know you can do this, Commander Midori.”

Midori nodded and mustered up the will for a smile.

Midori -  “I won’t let you down, instructor.”

Instructor Hitomi - “I know you won’t.”

The class quieted down and the instructor continued to assign the students to their various roles in the academy. Some of the students were enthusiastic about their assignment, others not so much.

Midori opened her folder and read through the information. She would be sleeping in the officer’s dorm, room 506, with her executive officer, Alexandria.

“Strange name.”

“Must be a foreigner. I look forward to meeting her.”

The school bell sounded throughout the campus, and students rushed off to find their friends and explore their new schools. Midori slowly packed her backpack and headed towards her new home. The doors swung open to the plaza, and Midori stepped out into the warm sunset. It was a long and eventful day, and she was still taking in all of the details.

“How did I go from cadet to commanding officer in one day?”

She sighed at the thought and shrugged. The plaza was alive with students from all of the different schools. Tankers from the Army School, sailors from the Naval School, pilots from the Air Force School, and officers like herself from the Officer School, all interacting and having fun on the first day. Tired from the battle, Midori opted to skip out on the festivities and headed for the officer’s dormitory. She had to drop off her things first, afterall. The officer’s dorm interior was fairly bland. Students littered the hall, some dragging their suitcases, others mingling with each other. There were significantly less students in the officer school than the other schools.

Midori walked up the stairs and found her room. She entered her key and turned, opening the door to her room. A blonde girl unpacking her suitcase on her bed turned around, surprised. Midori smiled and waved to her.

“Hello! I’m Midori, your CO. What’s your name?”

The girl straightened up and saluted her

“Executive Officer Alexandria, sir!”

Midori laughed awkwardly

“You don’t have to be so formal, we’re just roommates, Ale-alexan….aaa”

She eased up

“It’s Alexandria.”

“Aaaa…. A-chan!”

“Don’t call me A-chan!”

Alexandria was flustered. Midori laughed and smiled.

“I’m pleased to meet you, I hope we can be good friends.”

Alexandria frowned a bit.

“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of our job.”

Midori rubbed the back of her head,

“Ah.. Yeah, of course. I’m sure we’ll do fine together!”

Alexandria, still frowning, nodded and continued unpacking her suitcase.

“Strange girl.” Midori thought to herself.

But she seemed committed to her duties, so she didn’t really mind it at all. She just hoped that Alexandria would ease up to her and they could be friends. Pulling her suitcase into the room, she began unpacking her belongings.