[Meeting Room, TSAB Naval Base] [May 23rd, MC 077] [1030 hours]
After the test run, Aurion summarily took away Hayate’s devices for further adjustments. Or rather, that’s what he was planning. Unfortunately, his exertion over the mock battle was much higher than expected, giving rise to the need of his mandatory recovery period after such occasions. Leaving Hayate and most of the Wolkenritter to the facility lounge after he and Hayate cleaned themselves, he went straight for his own quarters for his aptly-named ‘long nap’. Signum and Agito went of to the communication room to receive the latest orders from TSA Naval Command that they were notified about when the mock battle almost ended.
While discussing a 36-year old man’s sleeping habits should be interesting (not), let us take a look instead at the Belka Knights, who are currently the only people occupying the lounge instead…
“Aah~…” groaned Hayate as she reclined on the couch, her entire body still aching from the physical exertion, “So tired!”
“Hayate-chan!” Shamal scolded her, “I told you not to lie down yet!”
“But I’m too sore and tired, Shamal-sensei~!” Hayate whined cutely.
“You should listen when the doctor says, ‘No!’” the blond Wolkenritter insisted as she forcefully but gently lifted their Mistress up by the shoulders and sat her upright with Vita helping by pulling her legs to a proper position despite the Hayate’s whining. She then proceeded to administer the post-primary treatment to help soothe Hayate’s aching muscles and remaining small bruises, also telling Vita to sit beside Hayate and prevent her from lying down again. “Why do you have to act like Nanoha-chan and Keroko-chan right now of all times?!” she complained as she passed her hands glowing with healing magic over Hayate’s back, a displeased expression on her face, “Their recklessness is seriously starting to influence you as well.” Done with her patient’s back, she then began treating the area on Hayate’s thighs, “Don’t you care about how healers like me feel?” she added in an upset tone.
“Oh, the pains of being a doctor…” Tesla quipped in a sing-song voice as she tapped her virtual keyboard on a seat across Hayate’s couch, smiling slyly. She kept glancing every here and then at the scene like watching an amusing sitcom; though she immediately averted her gaze back towards her analysis window as Shamal glared at her because of the teasing.
Hayate only laughed as she leaned heavily on Shamal, her head landing on the latter’s chest and earning a panicked squeal from the Knight of the Lake. “I’m sorry. But seriously, you shouldn’t worry too much about me. It’s not like I’m trying to change my style into an attacker.” She stubbornly held her head on its remarkably soft pair of ‘pillows’ as a distressed Shamal tried to push her off gently. “I just wanted to try expanding on my capabilities in the battlefield since such an ideal opportunity is here now.”
“That’s right, desu~!” Rein piped in cheerfully while hovering above Vita’s head, “And Hayate-chan was performing quite amazingly back then!”
“Mou~!” Shamal whined, finally getting her Mistress off her, “But still, this is being reckless.”
“Excessive worrying is not allowed!” the Mistress of the Night Sky declared authoratively as she draped one of her arms over Shamal’s shoulders and raised the other threateningly over the blond Knight’s chest.
“Ah~! Hayate-chan! N-not here!” Shamal cried out in distress, her face going red.
“Hahahaha!” Hayate laughed as she raised her arms to wrap around Shamal’s neck in a hug instead, “Just kidding~!”
“Mou!”
Hayate, Tesla and Reinforce Zwei giggled over Shamal’s blushing. Several more moments passed as Hayate’s treatment was finally completed. By then, she decided to just keep on sitting instead of lying back down, the irony not being lost to the disgruntled Shamal and giving rise to another reason for laughter from the others.
“……”
Through all these, Vita only kept on sitting silently beside Hayate, her expression somewhat distant.
“Vita?”
“Wha-!” Vita was shocked out of her stupor as Hayate called out her name gently. She looked at her and tilted her head inquisitively, “Hm? What is it, Hayate?”
“You’re unusually quiet. Is something wrong?” Hayate asked, her expression showing concern.
“It’s…” Vita looked away, “Nothing…”
“Vita…”
“I was just thinking… With you starting to adapt to fighting and all… I guess I’m…” she scratched her cheek, “I’m kinda worried too. If anything happened to you…” her tone sounded neutral, but her expression showed genuine worry.
“Oh…” Hayate looked genuinely taken back, some guilt creeping into her heart. “Vita…” she mumbled contritely, “Sorry if I didn’t consider your feelings …” she apologized, her head down.
“Th-that’s not it!” Vita insisted as she looked at Hayate again, becoming immediately alarmed by her Mistress’ expression, “I-I was just a little rattled by the idea. Don’t worry about me too much!”
“Vita.”
“I’m fine!” she insisted. “I…” she fidgeted, “believe in you, after all.”
Hayate’s expression softened, “Oh, you! Come here!”
“W-whoa!” Vita yelped as Hayate grabbed her around the waist and yanked her towards herself, “Hayate~!”
“Its fine isn’t it?” giggled the Mistress of the Night Sky as she sat Vita on her lap and cuddled the little Knight. Though she struggled at first while Tesla, Shamal and Reinforce laughed, “Still, I’m really sorry. But don’t worry. I may be trying new things, but I’m always counting on you to protect me, Vita…” Hayate tightened her hug, her voice softening to a poignant murmur, “Like always…”
“Hayate…” Vita gazed up at Hayate’s kind blue eyes, filled with earnestness and trust in her. “… Um!” Vita smiled and nodded, feeling better and making her relent and snuggle comfortably in Hayate’s arms.
“I’m feeling better already since Vita is here…” Hayate mumbled contentedly, causing the Iron Count to blush. Several more moments passed as they all chatted and laughed about several matters, most of them being related to Hayate’s recent mock battle.
Just as the rest finished laughing over Reinforce Zwei’s antics, the sliding door opened, the pink-haired leader of the Wolkenritter as well as her partner Unison-device, Agito entering.
“Ah, Signum, Agito!” Hayate called her over.
“Hayate-san!” Agito waved.
“Mistress.” Signum replied in kind as she walked over to their area, taking a seat across the couch were Hayate, Vita and Shamal were and crossing her legs comfortably. “I’ve just received the latest adjustments on the schedule for the coming mission.”
“What did they say?” Shamal asked curiously as she let Agito land on her shoulder.
Signum crossed her arms, “It seems like our schedule might be pushed forward by one day.”
“Eh?” Vita, still sitting on Hayate’s lap with the latter’s arms around her exclaimed, “They seem to be quite in a hurry. This is the third time that the schedule’s been adjusted.”
“It’s mostly related to the availability of transportation to such a far away planetary system with little to no connections with common trade routes, as far as I know.” Zafira, who was curled up beside Hayate’s feet said. He raised his head to look at Signum, “I assume that the transport ship to be used is available sooner than expected.”
“Yeah.” Agito answered instead as she flew to land on Signum’s shoulder this time. “It also seems like that the commander of the exceptionally far-area transport vessel is one of that old man’s acquaintances. So I guess that should explain it too.” She said, referring to Aurion.
“As expected from Oji-chan. Getting results even when not planning to.” the brown-haired Ace smiles brightly at the coincidence. “Hmm… Well, I guess this much is fine.” Hayate stated simply. “It’s not like were doing anything else of much urgency anyway… And the extra day is not really a bother.”
“I agree.” Tesla followed up as she finally finished her data analysis. “Besides, as far as I’ve studied, we have enough data and prepared equipment for the trip. Better end it as soon as possible so we can go on to other important activities.” She closed her virtual terminal.
“Come to think of it, it’s a good thing Oji-chan scheduled the testing to be now instead of tomorrow or even later.” The Hayate exclaimed after some thought. “I don’t think my body can bear going out on a mission immediately after so much punishment in one day.” She continued with an uneasy smile as she rested her chin lightly on Vita’s head.
“That’s why I said this isn’t the type of exercise you should be having, Hayate-chan.” Shamal cut in, pouting.
“Ahaha~.”
“Don’t worry, Shamal!” Tesla cheerfully assured her as she hopped up from her seat and pranced behind the couch, laying her hands on Hayate’s shoulders and smiling widely, “Hayate-chan will be able to last thru such exercises on a regular basis once I’m thru with her!”
Accordingly, Hayate shrunk in mock fear. “Tesla~!” she pleaded with her blue-haired Knight, “Please go easy on me!”
The Knight of the Sky only puffed out her cheeks playfully, “No way.” Tesla replied as she stuck out her tongue, making Hayate back away from her and tightened her hug on Vita even tighter.
“Akh! H-hayate!” Vita choked.
“Ah, sorry, sorry!” Hayate loosened her grasp on the red-haired girl and giggled, shortly followed by laughter from the rest as well.
“Though I’ve been thinking…” Agito blurts out later, making everyone look at her, “Wasn’t the old man overdoing it?” she crosses her arms and legs as she floats on mid-air, her wings flapping gently, “That didn’t look like any mock battle I’ve seen before. He was downright brutal.”
“Hmm…” Hayate tapped her chin in thought. “Well…”
“I would like to agree with that.” Shamal added, with Vita nodding in assent.
“Actually,” Signum cut in, “it’s in a sense the opposite.”
“Huh?” Agito turned her head to look at her partner.
“Yeah…” Hayate affirmed with a thoughtful nod. “He said he was going all out. But he was apparently bluffing.” She absentmindedly stroked Vita’s hair, “While his attacks, both magical and physical all look like they could have killed me,” she laughed nervously, “none of them could have actually broke any of my bones nor wound me severely, with the worst possible injury I’d get would have been simply getting a dislocated joint.” She sighed, “I don’t want to think of what could have happened if he was really going at me as someone classified as a ‘high-level threat’ in his terms.”
“Though an attack may look flashy, one should never judge such just by how imposing they appear, for the smaller attacks can be more powerful than one that looks like it can do more damage.” Zafira concluded in a simplification of an old Belkan saying.
“Funny you should say that.” Agito nodded, “But still… that felt excessive for a training match.”
“It’s a bit of a mix, actually.” Tesla joined in, walking around the couch and plopping down beside Signum, “He WAS going all-out in the sense of the amount of energy he expended the exercise, as can be seen with the telltale signs of his over-exertions after the fight. But with regards to the method he used, it was all pretty straightforward left-right tactics and non-lethal/maiming attacks… ideal for training on the rudimentary levels of closer combat.” She crossed her legs as well, “And Hayate, despite not being any sort of specialist in closer ranges, is one extremely tough cookie due to her very powerful magical defenses. So naturally, he would have had to expend more energy and put more effort behind his spells to even so much as properly hit her.” Tesla winked at Hayate knowingly, who winked back as well with a smile; “He was having a harder time than he let on with the fighting method he used… though I must admit that he was pushing his other attacks a bit over the top at some points…”
“That’s why I said it was getting excessive, didn’t I?” Vita complained.
“Like you all should talk!” Shamal said agitatedly. “You and the other Aces’ training matches can get frighteningly violent almost all the time!” she placed a hand on her cheek and sighed as she shook her head exasperatedly, “Especially when it comes to those matches between Signum and Fate-chan in the past. I couldn’t let them fight without me supervising in fear that they might cut each other open for real!”
The pink-haired Knight cocked an eyebrow, “That’s a rather excessive way of putting it, isn’t it, Shamal?” Signum replied, smiling humorously. “We have fewer worries about going all out to test our abilities to their limits since we have such a reliable healer on standby.”
“In a sense, we’re all spoiled by you, Shamal.” Vita quipped in, grinning mischievously. “Hopeless battle maniacs like Signum and Fate gets more chances to fight more since you can heal them right back to tip-top condition after beating each other up!” she then stuck out her tongue at Signum’s direction, who looked a little offended at first but shrugged off the comment soon after.
“Oh. So that’s why Shamal was being upset over Hayate-chan’s recent battle!” Rein chirped in, “Another addition to the list of regular patients, desu~!”
“Mou~, why are you people being so mean to me today?!” Shamal whined as he buried her face on her hands, causing everybody to laugh.
“Hahaha~! Alright, let’s not be too mean on her now, shall we?” Hayate reprimanded the others mildly, though she was obviously filled with mirth at Shamal’s woes herself. Luckily, her tiny plea had the desired effect, managing to stem the verbal pokes towards Shamal somewhat.
“Personally, Mistress.” Signum spoke up, “I’d prefer it if any further training is to occur between you and Dauer that he keeps down the intensity of his approach in combat.” She leaned forward slightly, a serious expression on her features, “While it has its merits, such a heavy-handed approach so early into your training with upgraded devices is hardly what I’d call ideal. You don’t have to push yourself so hard to improve so quickly.” Her expression became thoughtful, “Though the way we Wolkenritter became what we are now was most likely due to similar intensive training, the situation now is hardly one that needs preparation for war, unlike that with our previous lives…”
“Hmm… I’ll tell him that.” Hayate agreed, nodding her head.
“Though getting him to agree would be a little difficult, desu~…” Rein surmised, raising a finger up her chin in thought.
“Then just warn him that I’ll bust his head open with Graf Eisen if he doesn’t comply.” Vita added irately, drawing another round of laughter from everyone.
“Then I take it that that old guy still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve?” Agito asked. “And since he’s positively leagues above your average mage from what I’ve seen, why is he in the Research business in the first place?”
“For the first question, correct.” Tesla answered. “For the second question… it’s more like he never came back to the military.” She raised an eyebrow in intrigue, “You’re rather inquisitive about him, aren’t you, Agito?”
“Huh? Well…” the red-haired Unison Device scratched her head, grinning wryly, “It’s not often that you see a scientist with such high aptitude and skill with using magic… seeing that a large portion of the actual mages in the TSAB military are such a sorry bunch of pushovers.” (This last comment drew a couple or so disapproving stares from the others, making Agito raise her hands apologetically) she then tilted her head, “And back on topic, what do you mean never returned?”
“To put it simply,” Hayate answered this time, “Oji-chan once worked under the TSAB as an Enforcer like Fate-chan; which was almost two decades ago…” she smiled, “As far as I’ve seen and heard; he was also classified as an Ace during his time, in a similar sense to Chrono-kun.”
“Ho?” A small burst of laughter came from her throat, “I never would have imagined it from a person like him.” Agito smiled incredulously, “Actually being an Ace as well all that time ago... What made him quit?”
“……”
“… Err…” Agito fidgeted uncomfortably as everybody else went silent after hearing her question, “Y-you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Sorry.” she said tentatively.
“No, it’s alright.” Hayate said with a dismissive wave of her hand, though her smile was a sad one, “It’s just that just thinking about the accident that happened to him and his teammates is really saddening…”
“What happened?”
“We weren’t given any specifics, and the databases regarding him are pretty uninformative about the matter too.” Tesla said, “All we know is that it was a particularly dangerous and strictly confidential Lost Logia incident where… his entire team was wiped out…” she shrugged uncomfortably, “And it was also the reason why he lost his left arm in the first place. I don’t know what happened specifically, but you can bet that the scenario was very, very ugly…”
“Oh…” was the only answer Agito could give, starting to feel uncomfortable as well. “It must have been harsh…”
“It was… hell…” Hayate whispered with her head down, making the Wolkenritter look at her in slight surprise, “He wasn’t just devastated by the tragedy… He also felt so guilty for a mistake he made during that time that he wanted to kill himself on numerous occasions…”
“Wait,” the blue-haired girl exclaimed in astonishment, “I never hear anything about this!”
The Mistress of the Night Sky only gazed sadly at her, “As far as I know, only I and Nanoha-chan, Keroko-chan and Fate-chan knows of this…” she panned her gaze back down her hands curled up on Vita’s lap, “He said that he also made a terrible mistake that took the lives of many more… Even the very people he was supposed to look after…” she wrapped her arms around Vita anxiously, “I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it could have been on him… being the reason for the demise of so many people you were trying to protect.”
The atmosphere in the lounge quickly became uncomfortably silent as all of them contemplated Hayate’s shared information…
“……” the five senior Wolkenritter all exchanged meaningful glances. Tesla made a motion to speak but Shamal shook her head, quickly followed by a quick mental agreement between the five.
“Hm?” Hayate raised her eyes inquisitively at their unusual silence, “What’s wrong?”
“Uh…” Tesla muttered, her mind currently formulating several dozen excuses per second, “Err…” but she eventually settled for the most tactically sound (maybe) excuse, “N-nothing.” She then forced an awkward smile. Hayate didn’t look convinced, though and was about to ask more when…
“A-anyway!” came Agito’s well-timed interjection, “S-so I guess he just could no longer bear to return to service…?” she flailed her arms for extra emphasis.
“Uhm.” Vita shifts restlessly in Hayate’s arms while giving Agito one of the many subtle gestures of gratitude from the Wolkenritter for the close save, “I dunno. Maybe he just chickened out?”
“I don’t think so, desu~.” Rein disagreed, “Aurion-jiisan is still involved in some military matters at certain times after all.”
“Well…” Hayate shook her head slightly, reluctantly letting the previous matter go, “I’m not sure… But some people I’ve talked with said that he was planning to re-enter eventually.” She scratched her cheek, “But I guess he grew attached to this profession.”
“After getting to know him, I think I’d actually believe that reasoning…” Tesla stated, tapping her chin in thought, “despite being in a job not requiring any aptitude in magic whatsoever, he apparently relearned and improved upon his abilities as a mage to the impressively high level it is right now.” She reclined her back on the couch and hung her head backwards, staring at the ceiling, “With that said, that fact makes him an invaluable human resource in some situations that needs attention of high-level mages in case the officials are unavailable, yet he has the benefits of the extra freedom by not being in direct military service-Hm?!” Tesla stalled her speech and blinked a couple of times as if an idea just hit her, “Wait… Come to think of it, this kind of career setup is just like him.” She then straightened her head and grinned mischievously, “He has such a serious love-hate relationship with rules and regulations that he spent the extra effort to obtain the uncommon status he has right now.”
“Hahaha! You’re right!” Hayate nodded with assent, giggling. “Oji-chan’s such a difficult individual. He’s the type of person who would follow rules to the book if only they were beneficial to him and manipulate every single loophole available for everything else.”
“In short, being completely insufferable, insubordinate and bullheaded prick.” Vita summarized non-contritely.
“Vita!” the brown-haired Ace scolded her, “I told you,” she pinched Vita’s nose, earning a nasal whining from the child Knight, “At least try to be nice to him.”
“Ngit’s ngo hart to mbe nite tso shobfwat liksh hibu! (It’s so hard to be nice to someone like him!)” Vita complained thru her pinched nose. She coughed out a bit after Hayate giggled and released her squeeze on Vita’s nose. “Pweh… He should try to be being less annoying first!” she finished while crossing her arms in a huff. “Why should I bother getting along with someone who gets out of his way to go around acting like an irritatingly capricious jerk?”
“Vitaaa~.” Hayate warned her with a playful glare.
“But Hayate-” Vita whined some more before she gasped loudly, “Ubu-waahahaha!!! Ha-Hayate!” and begun laughing uncontrollably as the Mistress of the Night Sky grabbed her tightly started tickling her stomach, “Hahahaha! Okay, I-hahah-g-give up! Sorry! Hahaha!”
Once again, lighthearted peals of laughter erupted inside the lounge at the scenario.
“But you know,” Hayate said, still giggling, “Since we're hardly all together nowadays; we’ve never had a chance to just sit down and talk like this.” She then beamed brightly at her beloved Knights and Agito, “I’m happy we we're able to do it now.” She finished.
“Hayate…” Vita looked up at her with a smile, mirroring the expressions of everyone else in the lounge.
“I share the same sentiments, Mistress. We all do.” Signum added.
Indeed, how could they not be happy at the situation? In front of them, the girl Yagami Hayate, their Mistress, their benefactor, their precious friend. None of them could tell why, but she is currently more radiant and lively than they’ve seen her in recent times. Nor did they complain, for in their hearts, seeing Hayate like this is the greatest joy they can have…
“Well then… Before the mission…” Hayate leaned forward and stretched out her hand, “Tiara.” she called gently.
[Ja?] answered the Tome of the Night Sky as her hand glowed and it appeared hovering over it.
“Everybody.” Hayate continued, gazing fondly at each of her beloved Knights and Agito, “Let us do our best and finish it in good time…” She smiled vibrantly, “Together like always; with the new member of our family.” She then placed her hand on the tome.
“Of course!” Vita, grinning, jumped off Hayate’s lap and skipped near the book and placed her hand over Hayate’s. “This will be a cinch, with all of us together!”
“Yes. Together.” Tesla agreed as she put her hand over theirs. “The system is almost perfect.”
“Though let us always be careful, alright?” Shamal stated mildly as she followed suit.
“No problem, desu~!” Rein answered as she floated down and landed on the book, placing her tiny hand on the others’ as well.
“…” Zafira didn’t say anything and simply placed his gauntleted paw lightly over their hands
“No matter what enemy or adversities we will face.” Signum stated stalwartly, doing the same, “We, the Wolkenritter, will protect you to the very end, my Mistress.”
“……” Agito stared silently at the scene while floating on the air, a small smile tugging at the side of her mouth.
“Agito.” Hayate’s kind voice called out to her.
“Ah! H-huh?” the Unison Device jolted and stared at the Mistress of the Night Sky, who was gazing kindly at her. As if on cue, everybody else, Rein, Vita, Tesla, Shamal, Signum and Zafira looked at her expectantly, making her blush.
“What are you waiting for?” Vita asked.
“I-I…”
“It’s fine, desu~! You’re one of us now!” Rein insisted with a bright smile.
“……”
“Agito…” Hayate called out again, her smile beckoning to the little red-haired girl.
“Uhm…” Agito fidgeted uncomfortably.
“We are not forcing you to be part of us…” Signum said, “But as an important comrade, I believe that you are definitely not out of place here.”
“…Haha!” a small burst of laughter came from Agito’s mouth. She smiled widely and flew towards the book and landing on it opposite Rein. “I don’t know about being part of the Wolkenritter or being just a comrade…” she raised her hand, “But…” and then placed it on top of Signum’s staring with fervor at each of them, lasting longest at Signum and Rein. “You can always count on me for help!” she then gazed at Hayate “I, the great Blazing Flame Pixy, Agito is at your service!”
“Oh~! Such a cute little toughie act!” Tesla crooned playfully.
“Tche, acting so damn tough just to look cool.” Vita commented with a wry grin.
Hayate giggled, “Okay. I’m counting on you too, Agito.” The looking once again at everyone else, her blue eyes shone with iron resolve and faith at each of them, “Okay, everyone... Let’s do our best!”
“YES!!!” thundered the response.
Correctly reading the mood, the Tome glowed with a brilliant white radiance, as if mirroring the strength and purity of the bond of trust and friendship shared by the individuals in the room.
A new and remarkable era for the Mistress of the Night Sky and the Wolkenritter... has begun.
~Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha~
~GenerationS~
A new chapter, a new adventure... has finally started...
2008-06-03, 10:32
Author
. Both lost their parents though in a more...brutal way. Shamsel just doesn't remember what happened after the incident 
. But what the hell:
I hope you enjoy your stay.
