Flower of Oarai

7 Pride

    It helped Erika's sanity considerably to see that the others were just as weirded out by Yukari's presentation as she was. Mako seemed to think she was having a very disappointing dream, Hana's usual grace was taken aback and Miho and Saori's eyes had doubled in size and neither seemed entirely sure they could trust in their senses. Was it really possible they had just watched a short video detailing Yukari's infiltration of another school and its Sensha-do club, a video complete with captions and non-diegetic music? The fact they were all there together and equally bemused seemed to say that they were experiencing the same reality. A reality where Yukari had indeed disguised herself as a convenience store worker to access a ship and then changed herself into a Saunders student.

"That was reckless." As the rest of them struggled to remember how to form words, Mako at least had something to say although her words were apparently meaningless to Yukari and her coat of enthusiastic armour.

"I did what I could!" She replied cheerily, gazing at Miho whose eyes were still locked on the screen.

"Is it okay you did that?" The strain in Saori's voice was palpable and Erika was fairly sure she didn't mean tournament wise although Yukari interpreted her that way.

"Reconnaissance prior to matches is permitted under official rules."

"Oh..." Saori definitely didn't mean Sensha-do. Like herself, she was clearly questioning Yukari's sanity. Recon may have been permitted but as far as she was aware, it had never been done like this before. The idea of dressing up and actually attending another school's team meeting was just nuts, especially while openly holding a video camera. It was so brazen and out there that in some ways it did explain how she had gotten away with it. Sometimes the most outrageous gambits were the most successful simply because no could believe what they were seeing.

"Will Saunders still keep the same line up knowing Yukari-san was there?" Hana asked at large and it was a good question that it seemed had not occurred to Yukari who now looked worried that all her efforts had been rendered null and void the moment she had been discovered.

"I don't think they'll change anything." Erika stepped forward and rewound the video. "Clearly Kay liked you, Oddball." She pointed at the screen, at the Saunders commander with her fingers pressed against her mouth as she giggled uncontrollably in marked contrast to her outraged lieutenants. Kay would definitely have appreciated Yukari's audaciousness. "Besides, she's all about fair play."

"Being sneaky doesn't seem fair." Saori pointed out.

"All is fair in love and war." Erika said in her best St Gloriana voice that made them titter.

Yukari squirmed and then took the flash drive and knelt down to Miho. "Nishizumi-dono, I've only done some quick editing of the footage but I hope it helps."

Miho shook off her previous stupefaction and Erika became ashamed as she became the first to appreciate what Yukari had actually done. "Thanks to you, we know what their flag tank will be and we can plan accordingly! I'll do my best to come up with a winning strategy!" Miho gushed with an odd combination of warmth and formality.

She stirred the rest of them.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Yukarin." Saori naturally was their team mum.

"That made me quite nervous. It's amazing you did that!" While Hana disparaged herself to make Yukari's achievement even grander.

"Did you get hurt?" Even Mako had something to say.

"I'm fine." Yukari answered and seemed close to tears. "I can't believe you came to my home."

"You missed Sensha-do." Erika spoke quietly. "You might miss other classes but you'd never miss Sensha-do. We were worried." I was worried, she wanted to say.