The Death of Darjeeling (Girls und Panzer).

Chapter 4: A Western-Style Funeral

This chapter is entirely from the POV of Orange Pekoe

        It had been 3 days since that horrible Exhibition match. 3 of the worse days of Pekoe's life. She sat on her couch, looking at her phone as it dinged a reminder. Darjeeling's funeral was tomorrow. Pekoe had barely slept for the past 3 nights, and every time she woke up she desperately hoped Darjeeling would be on the top bunk. But every morning, she was severely disappointed. Orange Pekoe had fallen into sort of a depression. She barely ate, slept, drank, or had any real motivations. She felt like a rock. 

        Orange Pekoe looked at her phone's clock. 12:00. She might as well keep some semblance of her old routine and make some tea. Pekoe got up and boiled some water in the kettle, placing a tea bag into a cup and the cup onto a saucer. After a minute or so, the water had boiled and she poured it into the tea cup. Orange Pekoe lifted the saucer with the cup up and placed it on a small coffee table in front of the couch. She sat down, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. Pekoe flipped through the channels, until settling on a re-run of some anime. She sipped her tea, crying. 

        Her day was less crappy then the others. She had cried less, went for a run at 15:00, and made herself a nice dinner. Pekoe sat on her bed, the lower bunk, thinking about the funeral tomorrow. She knew it was going to be a funeral like one from the US or UK, but that's all she knew really. Representatives from Saunders, Kuromorimine, Pravda, and Anzio were invited, also. Saunders because Darjeeling and Kay were apparently friends, Pravda and Anzio because St Gloriana and their schools were some sort of allies in the past, and Kuromorimine just to piss off the Miho Nishizumi girl, who had apparently left Kuromorimine and was disowned by her family or whatever. She was probably just going to wear her Sensha-do uniform, the stained one. Pekoe figured that would be symbolic. She also knew it was at about 10:00 and would take place near the front of the ship. Pekoe thought of the route she could take on her bike, or maybe she could get a lift from Assam or Rosehip. 

        Orange Pekoe finished her tea, put it into the sink, got changed into some pajamas, brushed her teeth, and laid down on her bed, scrolling through her phone. There were a lot of posts about Darjeeling on social media, from students of St Gloriana, to students of other schools, even some news organizations picked up on the story. It even made national headlines in some papers and sites. Pekoe had been interviewed yesterday about it by a few news sites, so was Assam and other Gloriana girls. Pekoe sighed and closed her phone, and proceeded to turn out all the lights. As she tried to go to sleep, the words 'You could have done more' spiraled in her head. They went around, and around, and around. That was all she could think about now. Slowly, she drifted to sleep. 

        Her phone's alarm clock went off, waking Pekoe up. She rolled over, before getting up and making herself some breakfast. Just some rice. Pekoe sat down after finishing making it, dreading the funeral. The sun began rising as Pekoe ate, looking out onto the sea. She watched on as a HU-1 Iroquois flew past her apartment building and landed on a heli-pad a few blocks away. The helicopter's doors were emblazoned with the Saunders emblem. They had arrived early. 

        Orange Pekoe finished up her rice and began ironing her Sensha-do uniform. The right side was darker with stains then the left, Pekoe noticed. She finished rather quickly. However, right after she finished, a knock came from her door. Orange Pekoe got up and unlocked the door. She opened it, and suddenly, someone hugged her. 

"Hi, I'm Kay and that's Alisa and Naomi, are you Orange Pekoe?" The girl hugging her asked. 

"Y-yeah. Who, why, w-what?" Pekoe responded 

"Aww, you seem so upset! It's ok. I'm Darjeeling's friend, I've known her for a while! Hah, isn't it crazy how time flies? Anyways me and Alisa and Naomi are going to go to the funeral today, are you? Of course you are, you were her roommate and best friend, duh! Alright, see ya!" Kay said. 

"A-alright. Bye." Pekoe responded as Kay, Alisa, and Naomi waved goodbye and the trio walked away. 

        Pekoe sat back down at the table, watching the sky. Pekoe saw an Agusta-Bell 212 land on the same heli-pad. She scrolled through her phone for an hour, until the sound of a Kamov A-7 BIS thundered and landed on that heli-pad also. Shortly after, an FA 2:33 Draca lands. That was all of the schools invited. Pekoe looked at her phone's clock, it was 9:00. She called Assam on her phone. 

"Hey Assam, can you pick me up and take me to the funeral please?"

"Sure. I'll come by in like 10 minutes." Assam replied 

"Sounds good, thanks." Pekoe replied. 

        Pekoe went and plugged in the iron, waiting for it to heat up. She took out the ironing board, placing her Sensha-do uniform on it. The iron heated up, and she started ironing. Her uniform was flattened out, looking very nice. She showered, dried, and put on her uniform. Orange Pekoe walked out of her apartment and down the stairs, to Assam's car waiting. She opened the passenger door and hopped in. 

"Hey." Assam said

"Hey." Orange Pekoe replied.

        Assam started up the car and drove away. Orange Pekoe started crying on the way to the bow of the ship. She bawled her eyes out, as Assam drove. Within a few minutes, they reached the church. Darjeeling had actually converted to Christianity, but she didn't regularly practice it. Pekoe had only seen the church once, but she remembered it looked quite nice. Assam pulled into the parking lot, where there were about 80 cars and a few bikes parked. Pekoe and Assam walked into the rustic church, where people were gathered around. She picked out some people who she knew, such as Rosehip talking to the Kay girl, some other St. Gloriana Sensha-do girls, and a small child on-top of a tall girl. 

        The tall girl with a small child on her shoulders walked over to Orange Pekoe, the small girl spoke. 

"Hello, are you Pekoe?" The tiny child spoke 

"Yes, yes I am." Orange Pekoe replied 

"I am the great Katyusha, Commander of Pravda's Sensha-do team. I heard about Darjeeling's death, and Katyusha was very saddened when she heard. If Pravda goes against the Ooarai dogs, we will crush them!" Katyusha proclaimed. Pekoe and Assam nodded. 

"Nonna, take me to the Saunders representatives now." Katyusha said 

        A man in a priest's uniform walked forward to an altar. 

"Everyone, please go outside to the cemetery for the ceremony. Viewings will happen out there." He said