/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46890874
“Well, what will your first orders be? Your people desire them, and now would be the best time to plan” Miko asks as she tilts her head to the side a bit, staring a hole in me.

Me? A leader? Nonsense. The only people I’ve ever ordered around were my children, and the only thing I’ve run was the Suzunaan. Nothing that compared to holding the lives of so many people in your hands. I look around, and saw so many eyes look back at me expectantly.

In this enclosed bubble, there would be no outside help to depend on, no time to think things over. . Anything I said or did would have consequences would have to live with for the rest of my life. The weight of the cloak pressed down onto me further but as I considered taking it off and handing it back to Miko with an apology, somehow it felt different. It almost felt like two comforting arms wrapped around me.

Keine..

She would hate to see me cry and push these duties off someone else. I may not be the best choice to lead these people, or even the second or third best, but Miko saw something in me. If I could at least varry the flickering flame of the revolution until Keine returned, save everyone here; then I has no choice but to take on this role. I adjust the over-sized cloak to be more comfortable on me, I looked like a child playing dress-up in her mothers clothes.


I breathe in. “We need to stop the fire. There might be attempts to stop it already, but it might be too scattered to do anything. The rain might dull it a bit, but we’d need a miracle or a whole fire brigade to put all of this out” A miracle? I push an idea into the back of my mind.

“For Heida’s men, you’re right. They don’t have infinite supplies, and the fighting has been intense already” Turning my gaze outwards, even through the thick smoke and haze, I could see the Hieda State was in ruins. “They’re likely already suffered significant losses already, and the village is burning. They have no idea if their loved ones are safe or not. If I were up on those walls, my morale would be close to cracking” I turn back towards Miko to see what she thinks. She only gives a curt nod in response. “If we were to swing things our way, maybe if we had some more strong combatants” Miko doesn’t respond at all, seemingly noncommittal to idea, or doing a good job of hiding it. “-Or if we could get Sanae to abandon them they’d give up hope altogether. Maybe?”

I look towards Miko again. No response. Talk about throwing me into the deep end.

“Once that is done then we should, uh-” My gaze falls on the wounded. “-get the wounded treatment. It’ll be safe to move them out then” Seeing all of the injuries among them made my stomach churn. There were too many wounded, their injuries too severe and too few Inaba and supplies to treat them. We didn’t have much time to waste.

“Everything else; the rebuilding, the political mess, we’ve just have to worry about later” I groan out as I rub my forehead. No use piling in more stress by worrying about solutions for problems that didn't matter right now. This was already the greatest disaster the village had faced in my lifetime, probably many lifetimes. All that mattered was getting as many people out of here alive, and if- when Keine comes back she’d just have to deal with the aftermath.

“Well said. We shall save our worries for tomorrow’s battles when they come. For now, we just survive” Miko said as she turned her attention back to the battle raging outside, nonplussed to the madness going on.

Then, the ground rocks with a deafening roar. An explosion goes off just above my head as it slams into the barrier. I stumble back and fall right on my ass. Miko I am not.

“Do not worry, I told you those walls would hold. It would take more then mere mortars to crack these defenses” Miko shouts as she attempts to reassure me.

“How long will this last?” I shout back, almost being cut off as the second barrage slams into the barrier.

“They could be almost done, or it could be hours depending on how many they have” Miko responded, calming standing as the walls took on the full force of the mortars.

“Hours? We don’t have that kind of time!” I yell over the echoes of the mortars as I gesture to the wounded laying in agony “ But we also can’t move them under this fire, so we need to stop them; but we don’t have the-” My mouth races along with my mind, thoughts jumbled as I try to think of something, anything.

I feel the cloak weigh down on my shoulders again. No, panicking wouldn’t do any good. These people were depending on me.

“I’ll tell the inaba to get ready to move the wounded and unconscious at a moment’s notice. They need to get treatment as soon as possible. I’ll see who’s able-bodied and willing to stay here and fight, so we know what manpower we have"

Miko smiles slightly. “You’re already getting the hang of this, do not let your heart be clouded by doubt. Go”

I spin around to make preparations, heart thudding in my chest.