Dein Weg ist Mein Weg

Chapter 29: The Experiment

"Miss Nishizumi?"

No... she won't be able to keep them under control... she's too wild... I should make them work like this... and then...

"Miss Nishizumi?!" the teacher repeated, somewhat more forcefully, and Maho instinctively stood up and answered.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Good to have you with us," she joked with an amused but serious smile, and pointed to the blackboard. "Please solve this for us, would you kindly?"

"Yes, of course..." she left her desk behind and walked over to the equation written down on the blackboard, using the precious few seconds between her desk and the teacher to actually catch up with what had been asked of her. She had been too busy planning her experiment to pay any real attention to the lesson, but thankfully the solution was still left in her mind from last year, and after a minute or so she was allowed back to her seat.

Soon after, the bell chimed and class let out, the morning periods giving way to lunch.

"Uhm... well... uh..." Saori cautiously started and stopped from her desk.

"Yes, Saori?" Maho answered uninterestedly without looking up from her notebook, where her scribbling continued. "What can I do for you?"

"Well... I mean... Are you... with me... or rather... are we... by which I mean... would you..."

"No, I'm not angry," Maho answered with a calm, yet determined tone, "at least not any more than usual. Yes, we're fine for the moment, and thank you but no, I need to finish this up, alone, so I'll eat by myself today."

"Oh... well, uhh, good luck then, I suppose..." Saori said in puzzlement, and left the classroom together with Hana to fetch Yukari and Mako.

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"Apologies for the inconvenience," Maho said to the teacher as she stood up and quickly collected her things.

"Ah, yes, Miss Nishizumi. You are excused," the teacher answered, and returned his attention to the blackboard, where he was currently working through some equations. Maho gave a small bow, and silently left the classroom. Seeing as she had already gone over all the lesson entailed during her time at Kuromorimine, and her being the commander of the Sensha-Do team, she had been allowed to leave class a little early, to prepare the afternoon's practice session.

Even though she only made a quick stop at her apartment to drop off her bag and grab her trenchcoat, she still had barely five minutes to spare before the rest of the team arrived once she actually reached the garage. Seeing the large gates already unlocked and opened, she assumed Ami had already arrived, which was nothing irregular, but as she rounded the corner, she saw something that very much was.

"Well, Commander," Ami said with an enthusiastic smile. "It seems the Lee is no longer down a crewmember!"

A moment of awkward yet deadly silence filled the hangar, as Azusa turned to glare at Maho.

"I see..." Maho said slowly after a moment, somewhat taken aback at seeing the first year back in the garage. Having quickly composed herself, she continued into the large hangar and up to the table where Azusa and Ami were standing.

"Miss Sawa," Maho said dryly and nodded dismissively to her, "I thought you weren't interested in Sensha-Do?"

"Don't get any delusions of grandeur, Commander," Azusa muttered back, and glared at Maho. "I'm not doing this for you. And don't think I'm looking forward to having to listen to your orders."