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(Two Minutes Ago.)
[Ogami]
He'd been saying a lot of things about Maria, but... what could he have meant by them?
(... okay, so nothing of value was said, thought, or done during those past two minutes.)
[Kanna]
Captain...! Captain, we've got trouble! Open up!!
----
[Ogami]
I can't! The doorknob's been torn off!
[Kanna]
How the hell did you manage to get IN, then?!
[Ogami]
Abrupt scene shift, alright? It's not like I have any damn control over the narrative flow!
[Kanna]
Wait, what?
[Ogami]
No time to explain. Look, just stand back, I'll use the message window to lever the door open. Don't press the circle button, alright?
----
----
[Ogami]
What did you say!? Is that true, Kanna!?
[Ogami]
It couldn't be... she went to face Setsuna by herself...?
[Ogami]
Got it!
----
[Ogami]
... wait, hold on a second.
[Kanna]
Hm? What's up?
[Ogami]
You've already changed into your uniform?
... which you can only change into AFTER you hurtle down a five-story chute that takes you into the heart of the Earth?
[Kanna]
Well, yeah!
[Ogami]
You mean to tell me that you climbed up five stories in two minutes?!
[Kanna]
Haha! No, you dumbass!
[Ogami]
Whew, you scared me for a-
[Kanna]
I jumped.
[Ogami]
... ah.
----
[Ayame]
... Kohran tried to stop her, but... it appears she was too late.
[Kohran]
I called out t' her, but Maria-han launched in her Koubu without even lookin' my way.
----
[Ogami]
Alright, Kohran, what really happened?
[Kohran]
... she rushed up to poor defenseless lil' me, shot the wrench clear outta my hand, slammed me against th' service platform, and told me not t' move one gritsuckin' inch, else she'd shoot more holes 'n me than a Connect-Four board.
[Ogami]
... aaaaand?
[Kohran]
... okay, before that, I'd been tryin' t' take her head off with a weldin' torch and I was also hurlin' molotov cocktails at her feet at th' time.
----
[Ogami]
(I guess she really DID go to find Setsuna on her own, huh...)
[Ogami]
Yes... Setsuna of the Hive of Darkness had taunted Maria by calling her "Kazuar," but...
[Ayame]
... !
----
[Ogami]
... Iris, why the hell are you even here? You don't even HAVE a Koubu yet. And you're even in UNIFORM.
[Iris]
Iris is just as much a part of the team as everyone else! Besides, I like watching the pretty pictures.
[Ogami]
... what, the tactical displays and the Koubu-mounted cameras? All THEY show are scenes of violence and Wakiji dying messily.
[Iris]
I know! Isn't it great?
----
[Ayame]
I suppose I'll have to tell all of you, hm...
... this story goes back to the time when Maria was still living in Russia.
[Ayame]
And in the brigade centered at the heart of that storm, there was a young girl...
[Ayame]
Her code name was... "Kazuar." That girl was, in other words, Maria.
"Kazuar" means "the Fire-Eating Bird." It seemed to have been a nickname... based on her fighting prowess, on her ability to race through the battlefield like a black flame.
[Ayame]
She... had a captain who was like an older brother to her...
However... the captain lost his life during a certain battle. His allies' reinforcements had come too late, you see.
Maria had gotten startled by gunfire, and was too late to provide supporting cover fire. She has... always been troubled by that one instant.
[Ayame]
Especially when it comes to you, Ogami-kun. She appears to see some of her former self in you...
[Sakura]
So that's why Maria-san placed that level of blame on Ogami-san... to make sure that this tragedy wouldn't repeat itself.
[Ogami]
But... even if you say that, to have launched alone like that...
[Kanna]
I'm certain... that she didn't want us to know.
----
[Ogami]
Which, of course, is why she left in a giant honkin' robot.
[Kohran]
Ya gotta admit, that's a pretty clear way of sayin' "Bugger off or I'll shoot you using bullets larger than your upper body."
[Ogami]
I think that just says something along the lines of "I wouldn't know the meaning of 'stealth' or 'trap' if either of them shot me in the face," really.
[Kohran]
Weeeeeell, they aren't exactly mutually exclusive or anythin'.
[Ogami]
I know. I'm just worried about the shooting part.
---
[Kanna]
She never wanted anyone else to know about her own sad past.
Especially you, Captain... not to you...
----
[Ogami]
So... now that everyone in this room knows about her past, on account of having been asking about it and having been told...?
[Kanna]
Weeeeeeeeeell... we'll be lucky to escape with our organs unperforated.
----
[Ogami]
....
----
[Ogami]
... I'm really, really happy that our uniforms' pants are as absorbant as they are.
----
----
----
----
[Ogami]
HOLY-- where'd you come from!? I've barely seen you all day!
[Sumire]
... aha, ha ha ha ha, Ensign. Very droll. Now--
[Ogami]
No, seriously, did you pop in through a hidden panel or something, because I--
[Sumire]
I've been here all meeting, Ensign!!
[Ogami]
Really? Could've fooled me, you're usually always making a disgruntled ruckus, so--
[Sumire]
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!
[Ogami]
THAT'S the Sumire I know and fear! Okay, you can carry on now.
----
[Sumire]
From what I have been hearing, I cannot afford to leave matters as they are!
----
[Ogami]
Right...
[Ogami]
We're saving Maria! This mission... is something that only we can do!!
----
[Ogami]
... how can you say that with a straight face?
[Sakura]
Guts, willpower, and the pair of boxer shorts crumpled in my right hand that's giving me strength!
[Ogami]
You still have that thing!?
[Sakura]
I'm never washing this hand again, Ogami-san! Nor will I unglue the boxers attached to it.
[Ogami]
That's, uh... you just keep on doing whatever it is you do, Sakura.
----
----
----
----
[Sakura]
She's slipped away... but not for long. No one ever slips out of my grasp for long. Just like my beloved. Fufufu... fufufufu....
[Iris]
I can blast Maria's mind from here, Oniichan, so it'll be up to you to make sure she doesn't thrash around too much, okay?
[Kohran]
We jes' gotta hogtie her! I got jes' th' right type o' steel manacles and ridin' crops fer that kinda thing!
[Kanna]
And if she doesn't come around to our way of thinking, we'll just punch her a few times in the rocks! She's being a crazy cold-hearted bitch, after all!
[Sumire]
Exactly! How DARE she leave without considering how her absence will affect my stage career!
[Ogami]
I... think these stirring speeches of friendship got kinda derailed somewhere along the line.
----
[Ogami]
Alright, let's go!
[Sakura]
Understood!
----
[Ogami]
... wait, how the hell are we going to get there?
[Ayame]
By blimp, of course.
[Ogami]
Wait, you're not seriously going to--
----
Sadly, no one living in the vicinity of the Shogeimaru's launch pad was able to get any sleep that night, on account of their houses being flipped onto their sides.
And since they were warned about five seconds before the Shogeimaru's launch, countless civilians perished in the ensuing chaos.
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VIDEO: Shogeimaru, LAUNCH! (Nighttime Version)
Google Edition
Youtube Edition
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NEXT TIME: oh god, Maria
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