by Max Barry

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by The ᛒᛁᚱᛋᛁᚱᚴᛦ of Wubdich. . 227 reads.

Pacific Slice of Life Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Less JoJo, more SoL

A quiet day in the Pacific. The sun rises over the calm place that is this region, shining upon wonderful fields, rich of sunflowers, seas covered in warships, and a clear sky, decorated by rods of god. Light breezes smelling like nuclear radiation and a light stench of napalm, dances over the lands.

Before you think ‘But the Pacific is an Ocean’, well, you are not wrong. But not in this case. Welcome to a place, a story, and a concept unusual to what you’d normally read or hear about in general. This is a place, where the Japanizing-beam exploded. And it exploded in a way, that all nations turned into, you guessed it, Anime Girls. What happened after that incident? Well, the nation accepted their situation… One way or the other. Fortunately, it didn’t turn into total chaos. Instead, the Pacific became a Slice-of-Life anime, with all nations going to school now.
Creator: “Is this weird? Absolutely. Do I want to stop it? Not anymore.”
Thus, come and embark on this adventure with me, through a casual, weird, Safe-For-Work and full-of-tropes story. And to begin the adventure, let’s just start with one, classic SoL trope, shall we?

Just as the sun rises like any other day, time passes like on any other day. And just like any other day, it’s school day, unless it’s weekend. On this quiet morning, our protagonist is still peacefully asleep. The sun already shines through her windows, onto her ceiling, illuminating the room in an aesthetically pretty orange.

An alarm blasts the war-metal that is Doom’s official soundtrack. It isn’t the first time it does so, but our protagonist is unaware of it, as she is still dozed off, thinking ‘Just 5 more minutes’. She’s equally unaware about the time though.

The song finishes, and starts a new again. Wanting a moment of peace, our protagonist throws an arm on her phone to stop the song, can’t do so without looking at it however. She only briefly looks at it to find the stop-button. In this brief moment, her eyes also take a glimpse at the time. Unbothered, she turns back, face-down into her pillow, and dozes off again.

Suddenly, after she realizes what time it is, she instantly raises from her bed, with eyes wide open, takes her phone, and looks at her phone again. 7:32 am. Only half an hour until school starts. “Oh, no...” she gasps, while she jumps out of her bed, and runs for her closet. Quickly she grabs some clothes and jumps into them, before rushing into the bathroom.

As she struggles to put on her shirt, she struggles to get her face and hair done with one arm. In a rushed, but still pleasing way, she still manages to get everything in order. Done with her face and hair, she storms for her school stuff by the table and throws, what she can remember as relevant for today, into her backpack. Shortly before running out the door, she grabs her phone, which snooze-timer is over, and the war-metal starts a new. She turns it off, while running into the kitchen to grab something to eat. Grabbing just a banana, she storms out.

Outside awaits a white-haired girl in red and black clothes, looking at our protagonist impatiently. “Finally.” the white-haired girl exclaims. “Have you overslept again?”

Quickly running down the stairs, our first girl responds: “What else do you expect?”
This is Wubdich. 1,75 m / 5’9” tall; long, black hair; cyan-blue eyes; and a slim figure. Most of the time she’s pretty lazy and messy, but can be productive like no other as well, depending on time and day.

And her best friend, MoA. Just a nickname, but everyone is more comfortable just saying it, instead of her full name ‘Municipalities of Antarctica’. Just as Wubdich, or Wubby when talking of nicknames, MoA is 1,75 m tall, and isn’t much different from in terms of figure. But she has white, long hair, and pale red eyes. Most of the time, she’s the productive one of the two, once again, depending on time and day.

“At least you knew to wait for me, regardless.” Wubby says, nearly falling down the stairs as she rushes. MoA rolls her eyes, sighing, while Wubby slaps some dust of her white and cyan-blue top and skirt. With a nod and a grin, the two get going. The way may be short, but they still need to pick someone up on the way. A nation that has the two as her Senpais.

“Have you heard yet,” MoA says while walking, “rumors have it that Portu-san...”

In sync with MoA, Wubby continues: “...has been violating human rights conventions again.” Wubby giggles, while MoA rolls her eyes again. “Tell me something new. What else would you expect of her?”

“Well...” MoA briefly pauses, trying to think of something. “...nothing, actually. Besides picking on someone with Ruski-san again.”

Shrugging and throwing her bag over one shoulder, Wubby responds: “True. Though, NDR-sama wouldn’t be too pleased about it. Or… anyone.”

On their way to Nacoa, they run through the usual gossip. This nation did this new legislation, that nation has banned these things, a flexing war ignited for the brief moments they usually take, and some nations ditched for the other regions’ schools again. Some will return eventually, for some time or just single hours. And then probably leave again, for no apparent reason. But who and what reason should stop them anyway?

Speaking of Nacoa-chan, the two approach the small mansion she calls her home. Of all things, the front gate and the garden look the most royal about this place. Swan statues on the pillars of the gate, swan-emblems all across it, and multiple swan-shaped-hedges decorate the place. Too much for the minimalists that are our protagonists. On the other hand, they both can’t complain, considering what they have done in regards of the warship-club.

With just one quick press on the house’s bell, it’s door bursts open and a royal-dressed girl comes running out. It’s Nacoa-chan. 1,6 m / 5’3” tall; should-long, brown hair; blue eyes; and a slightly fuller figure than MoA and Wubby.

“I’m here!” she calls, running with a wide smile on her face. The door behind her is being closed by a butler, as royal as she is. If she wasn’t leaving for school, the same butler would follow her around. But she knows how her senpais, especially Wubby, would react to such royal class.

Nearly bursting through the gate, Nacoa goes through it, opening and closing it herself. Wubby’s look is still slightly disapproving though. Confused, Nacoa looks at Wubby, asking: “Did I do something wrong?”

“Where I come from, we’d say ‘Were you raised in a subway?’. And you know exactly why I’m saying this.”

Flinching, Nacoa looks back at the door of the house. She realizes quickly what Wubby means. Embarrassed and feeling caught, she rubs the back of her head, trying not to blush. “Uhm… Well… I… Ah, right! I installed automatic doors! I thought it’s handy to have, y’know?”

Both Wubby and MoA raise an eyebrow, while exchanging looks. Sighing, they brush that off and continue walking to school. Wubby can’t resist lecturing Nacoa about diligence and her German work-focus again. Ironic, considering she was the one nearly oversleeping, which MoA teasingly points out loud.
Biting her tongue, Wubby resists attempting to counter. It would escalate to pointing out the little physical differences they are proud of having at one point.

***

Pacific School. The place where all come together. Run by the students council, which also makes up the school’s teachers. Why? Well, who else should fill both roles?

The classes are divided fairly simple. Three major steps make the division. The first and ‘youngest’ class is marked as the ‘Below 250 Millions’, Nacoa’s current class. The youngest and newest nations land here, and rank up into the ‘Capital-classes’ once their population-counter attached to their wrist reaches 250 Million. That’s Wubby’s and MoA’s class right now. And then there’s the ‘Billion-classes’. The classes their senpais are in.

Speaking of which, as they part way with Nacoa in the building, their Senpais, Strala and Haven cross their paths in the hallways. “Morning, Senpai.” Wubby and MoA say in sync. And nearly in sync they say back: “Mornin’, kohais.”

Strala, a 1,63 m / 5’4” tall; black, short haired; brown eyed; and slightly buff lamia-girl, is quick to smirk at them and ask: “Did Wubby oversleep again?”

Blushing out of embarrassment and a little bit of anger, Wubby quickly responds: “I wasn’t oversleeping! I’m here in time…. This time…”

“Well,” MoA continues, making Wubby blush more without a real reason, “at least it wasn’t like last week.” Now the blushing is justified.

“I told you, my alarm malfunctioned! Last time I used these old, Soviet atomic-clocks.”

“Then why didn’t you replace them already?” Haven, 1,79 m / 5’10½” tall; brown hair bound to a long, wide ponytail; ocean-blue eyes; and a fine figure, adds. “I saw you using them just yesterday.”

“Uh, ehm...” Backed into a metaphorical corner, Wubby starts to become desperate how to react. No matter what she’d say as a counter, the three would find something to make her flustered again. So she clears her throat, smirks and quickly says: “It’s time for the Joestar-secret-technique.”, before jumping into position, and rushing past her senpais. “Running awayyyyy!!” she shouts back, as she runs through the halls, barely missing some of her classmates.

Sighing, MoA shakes her head lightly. “I’ll catch up to her.”

“Have a nice day you two.” Haven adds.

“And don’t cover the sea in warships while I’m gone again.” Strala slips in, while walking past her with Haven. “I want to be part of it of course.”

Smiling and lightly bowing, MoA expresses her goodbye for now, knowing that they’ll see each other in the next break anyways. Without sprinting, MoA gets herself on her way to catch up to Wubby, who just ran off, forgetting which class room she’d go to today...

Running at, what feels to her like, Mach 3, Wubby blindly storms through the hallway, blindly running past both, her class and multiple classmates. She’s so focused on running for no reason, that she barely hears them greeting her.

As she runs, she herself begins to realize that she runs with no real goal, other than ‘away’. Instead of stopping, however, she monologues.

“Where am I even going? I only wanted to get away from them, but where am I heading now? If I stop, MoA-chan would be here in no time, but I’m also running away from her. But… I forgot which class we have so I should wai-”

Suddenly, Wubby crashes into something, as she concentrates more on her monologue than her running. Something that only reaches up to her chest, and quickly bounces off of it, while she accordingly fall backwards. That something, is a someone. And the height already limits the possibilities who it may be.

“Watch were you are going, degenerate!” a girl, pitching her voice down, shouts. She quickly gets up, almost punches off the dirt on her clothes, and turns towards Wubby, who only slowly realizes what just happen, while rubbing her sore lower back. “Do you want to die, degenerate?”

This small bunch of living wrath is Ballistikov. 1,43 m / 4’8½” tall; messy, dirty blonde hair; red eyes; and an unnoticeable but, for her size, strong body. Her face constantly depicts a pissed off expression, just as her clothes are always partly made out of armor. She’s best known for her attitude, which can kill.

Still getting over the pain, Wubby says: “Sorry, Balli-san. I didn’t mean to-” Before Wubby could even finish her sentence, Ballistikov cuts her off with:

“How dare you say my name like that, huh??!” Quickly she grabs after Wubby’s shirt collar and pulls her close, nearly lifting her off the ground while doing so. “How about I beat you right here and now, degenerate?”

As Wubby raises her arms for protection already and Balli ready to punch her, another hand stops hers, as she pulls back her arm. “Which degenerate tries to stop me?!” Balli shouts as she turns towards the one intervening.

1,73 m / 5’8½” tall; black, little past her shoulders long hair with a purple stripe left of her face; grey-blueish eyes; a slim, but strong figure; and always wearing an eagle-hairclip. That is Kathol Rift, or Kari for short. She’s basically always around when Balli does anything. And now, she came to the right moment.

“Are you picking on the underclassmen again, Balli-chan?” Kari teasingly asks, as she lowers Balli’s hand.

Reluctantly, she lets go of Wubby, who almost falls on her butt again. Now slapping Kari’s hand off, she fumes: “Let go, weakling! And why are you saying ‘-men’? Do you see some anywhere close?”

Sighing, Kari wraps up her arms below her bosom, and looks smugly at Balli. “Still not done about it, huh?”

“Shut it, degenerate!” Balli barfs back. “Why are you even enjoying this? Things are not supposed to be like this, and you know it!”

“You’re just jealous you ended out small and flat.” Kari counters, making everyone around giggle.

Reddening, mostly out of anger, Balli shouts: “You are all degenerates and need to be taught a lesson!” before storming off, completely in wrath. Her stomping is almost audible through the filled hallway. At least in her head her steps are booming through the entire school.
Don’t worry, that’s normal.

Smugly chuckling, Kari watches her walk off. After Balli disappears out of sight, she turns at Wubby. “Are you okay?” she asks, knowing well that it could have ended very badly.

“I’m okay.” Wubby replies, readjusting her shirt. “Only my lower back still hurts a little.” As they speak, MoA arrives at the scenery, greeting Kari. “Good that you are here.”

“Because you forgot which class we have now?” MoA asks right away. Wubby blushes, denying the claim. MoA just shakes her head before turning at Kari again. “Did anything bad happen this time?”

Kari shrugs, smirking. “Not really. Only the usual. She was close, but didn’t punch Wubby.” Telling her who would have thrown the punch, is unnecessary, as MoA knows very well that it must have been Balli-sama. Caring about the underclassman’s health, Kari reassures herself that Wubby is okay by asking her, which Wubby of course confirms to be the case. “Now, different question. Why were you running away?”

As MoA inhales to explain, Wubby cuts her off with, of course, a false explanation, involving the appearance of a mammoth and a weddel-seal getting into a fight. During her description of the event, MoA subtly shakes her head at Kari, to which she reacts with a wink, already knowing of a more plausible and logical explanation.

The bell rings for class, and only 0,5 seconds later, Pacific Ring, or Paci for short, joins them. She’s the hall monitor of the ‘Capital classes’ and is always quick to remind everyone to go back to class, even when the bell just ringed. She stands as tall as Kari; has long, black hair; red eyes, brighter than MoA’s; and a slim figure. Though she might not look like it, she is actually pretty strong and quick, and with her attitude, she deserved the spot as hall monitor of the Capital classes.

“Now, now!” she says, before the three could even move a muscle. “Time to go to class, everyone. And don’t give me any excuses on why you-”

“We know the drill, Paci-kohai.” Kari says, smugly, before waving at the others and turning around to leave.

Stuttering, Paci replies: “I-I-I told you not to call me that, Senpai!” Instead of lecturing and chasing MoA and Wubby to their class, she runs after Kari, complaining about her casually loose tongue. The ranting stays audible even after they move up the stairs, where Paci actually shouldn’t be going, since she should only watch over the Capital classes’ floor.

MoA and Wubby briefly exchanged puzzled looks, before MoA quickly tilts her head, signaling Wubby to get moving. Now finally, they are on their way to class...

Class ‘CC-R’. One of the three main-classes of the Capital classes. The class of Wubby and MoA, to which they almost arrived late to, because Wubby actively tried to be slow, because school is still school. At least the teachers are a relief. Today it’s Jar Wattinree’s, or just Jar’s, turn. It’s always two teachers per class, and Xoriet is tasked with the ‘B250M’ class, in which Nacoa is.

Normally the two would have to watch over the entire region, assuring a save and hate-free environment. Now, they have watch over the same region, but in a different, bizarre set-up, as teachers and the students council, which is a story on it’s o-
Creator: “No, I won’t do that.”

Like in any stereotypical anime, our main characters are seated by the window, MoA in the second row and Wubby in the third. And while MoA is paying attention for the most part, Wubby constantly looks out of the window, unless Jar directly asks her a question. Sometimes she pays a little more attention, depending on the subject, but today’s topic ‘The History of Arembia’ is no such topic. Hence, she just plays with her thoughts during, and scrambles together the parts important for exams from her classmates after the lesson. Mostly from MoA though.

In the middle of the lesson, Wubby starts to get bored thinking of a hypothetical battle between Doomguy and Master Chief, as it begins to repeat itself over and over again. Whenever Master Chief does a smart move, Doomguy balances that out with violence, and vice versa. So she stops for a moment to think about it and looks around the class, while Jar is writing on the board.

Next to Wubby sits Cohuila-san, or short Cohu. 1,70 m / 5’7” tall; Latino with wavy, long, black hair; brown eyes; and a figure like Wubby and MoA. Though she looks busy writing down the information from the board, in reality she is actually scribbling warships in her notebook. She only pays attention when the teacher is looking.

She notices Wubby looking at her. After she reassures herself that Jar isn’t looking, she lifts up her notebook and shows Wubby a very accurate side-view of KMS Prinz Eugen. Wubby gives her two thumbs up. Cohu smiles, nods, puts down her notebook again, and concentrates at scribbling the next ship. If the class was just a little bit louder, they’d already be joking about warships again. But as long as it’s that quite, with Jar possibly hearing every word that they would speak, they leave that for the ‘Navy Maniacs’ club meeting later.

Calling the class completely quiet would be a lie though, as the crunching in the last row, behind Wubby, occasionally sounds through the room, but not many are bothered by it. It has become normal that Stollberg-san, or Stolli for short, munches on sunflower seeds throughout the entire day. She’s 1,73 m / 5’8” tall; dirty-blonde, shoulder-length hair; brown eyes, behind colorful glasses; and a figure a tad bit wider than Wubby.

Wubby looks at her shaking her head, and shortly thereafter, Stolli looks back, smiling, while munching on a handful sunflower seeds. Stolli offers her to take a handful seeds, but she refuses. Stolli shrugs, before taking another load. The greatest and only downside of sitting that close to Stolli is that she sometimes reeks like fish. But that happens only occasionally, after days she decided to fish an ocean empty of fish again. Sometimes Wubby joins her on her fishing-trip, but doesn’t do as crazy as Stolli whenever she joins.

All the others are busy writing down notes, and don’t react when Wubby openly stares at them. So she tries to find something to keep herself busy. After a small brainstorm, she decides to open her notebook and scribble down a story that came into her mind, about a group of nations stuck in a political-drama show. Because she looks like she is writing something down at that moment, Jar gives an approving nod, as she knows that Wubby normally doesn’t pay attention or writes down many notes. If she only knew...

***

Finally break between lessons. A 10 minute break before the next lesson, ‘Environment and Climate protection’ with Xoriet, begins. Enough to blow boredom out the window or do a stretch. Some even take a very short walk outside, to stretch and get some fresh air. Wubby and MoA stay inside, with the windows next to them wide open. While talking with MoA, Wubby already copies the parts of MoA’s notes she marked as ‘important’, while MoA tells her of something different. Either gossip or something else interesting.

While they do what they do, ULSR, or Larchia-san, comes by. She’s 1,69 m / 5’6½” tall; brown, curly, hair that barely reaches her shoulders; green eyes; and almost wider than Stolli in figure. As she stops by the two, she readjusts her little top-hat-hairband.

“Hey, Wubby-chan, MoA-chan.” she says, while patting her hair around the hairband. “Is the club meeting today? I lost my schedule book.”

“Yis!” Wubby replies, smiling. “And I have something awesome to show you.”

MoA teasingly asks: “Is it an Ekranoplan again?” Before Wubby could answer, she adds: “Because that would be the fifth time in a row you show them.”

She inhales, but then realizes that MoA is right. “In that case… nevermind.”

Sighing, and close to a giggle, MoA shakes her head. “Yep, that’s today after Jar’s ‘Materials of War’ class. I think we had planned to discuss the Midway scenario from last time again, if I’m not mistaken.” Wubby quickly nods, affirmatively.

“Ah, alright. Thanks. Then, cya! I have to get some movement, before class begins.”

“Later!” Wubby and MoA call after her, as Larchia leaves the classroom. After she is goes out of sight, Wubby turns towards MoA, pouting. “That can’t be the fifth time I talk about it! And also not in a row!”

Smirking, MoA counters: “If we don’t count your small, almost monologues before PE, then we’d be at three.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Hush! Keep writing, before Xoriet-sensei arrives.” Grunting, Wubby concentrates back on copying MoA’s notes, while she continues to tell her story about the Copter-Seal dream she had.

A loud argument from outside suddenly catches, not only their, but all who are in the classroom’s attention. The argument in question however, is already over, as everyone turns to take a look. All that’s left to see is NDR, or Neuer-sama for short, pulling on Vareshia’s ear, dragging her into the building.

Neuer is 1,85 m / 6’ tall; has bright blond, long hair; blue eyes; and a well-defined figure like Haven. She’s the head of a small gang called ‘Imperial Nations’, of which Vareshia is a part of. Knowing her, she probably caused trouble among the young nations again, possibly trying to take their lunch money from them, because they didn’t want to join the gang.
Vareshia is 1,75 m / 5’9” tall; has bright blond, shoulder-length hair, which she dyed a little to make it brighter; blue eyes; and has about the figure of Wubby and MoA. She’s known for picking on the smaller, newer nations, almost like a hobby, trying to be loyal to and impress Neuer-sama. However, Neuer-sama is rather proud of Stolli, who is also a part of the gang, for her rather harmless behavior.

As Neuer drags Vareshia into the classroom, Xoriet also arrives, marking the end of the break. Almost immediately after, the other students also storm the classroom. Neuer leaves again, after bonking on Vareshia’s head. The next lesson begins...

***

Just like the last class, Wubby pays rather no attention, just like half of the class on this topic, while MoA listens carefully. While the number of students that pay or don’t pay attention remained the same, the exact people changed, simply because of interests. Time passes with nothing much different than last lesson changing. Wubby continues to write her strange little story in her notebook until the lesson is over.

After this lesson, it is time for the first longer break. Time for some breakfast. And just like the last break, do Wubby and MoA stay inside. MoA turns her chair around to put her snack on Wubby’s table and face her. Unlike last break though, they are joined by San Medici, or just Medi-san; 1,63 m / 5’4” tall; blonde hair, reaching past her shoulders; beige-green eyes; and a tad bit thinner than the other two. She also wants to eat and chat with them, so she grabbed a chair and also seated herself at Wubby’s table.

“Itadakimasu!” (Bon Apptit) MoA says, followed by Medi, before beginning to eat. As they take their first bites of their meal, Wubby just looks at them, grinning and resting her head with both her hands. MoA immediately knows what’s up, and sighs.

“Sharing is caring~” Wubby exclaims with a smile.

“And what would be your equal exchange?” MoA responds teasingly. “Besides, I saw you hectically throwing a banana into your bag before you nearly fell down the stairs.” Wubby mumbles something, inaudibly, while lowering her head and arms down on the table.

Everyone knows Wubby for her ‘No money’ and ‘Fair share’ attitude. Especially MoA, due to being close to her, and thus being the one targeted the most by her bargaining. But she got used to it a long time ago. She preemptively made an additional snack-box before she left her house, and is now just waiting for Wubby to present her offer.

Shortly after, Wubby reaches down to her bag and digs through it with one hand, pulling out a model-plane. Sighing, MoA takes the model, puts it in her bag, and hands the additional box to Wubby, who instantly plunders her with a smile on her face.

Now they can resume eating together. As they do, Medi has found a topic to talk about. “Have ya heard? Exchange students are coming soon to our school.”

After quickly gulping down her food, Wubby curiously asks: “Really? Do you know the names?”

“No,” Medi responds, “it’s mostly gossip right now. I don’t even know how many might come, yet.”

“I wonder who they are.” MoA adds, while her eyes glow up. “Maybe someone like Wubby? Or more like Balli-chan? I’m curious.”

Wubby giggles. “Patience. We’ll find out soon enough. The teachers won’t leave us uninformed. And we really can’t wait anymore, you know who we can bribe.”

“True that.” MoA replies, before taking another bite. “But it’s still good to know about it. By the way, do you get yourself new earrings, Medi-chan?”

With sparkling eyes, Medi responds before MoA even finished her sentence. “Oh, good that you asked, I almost thought you wouldn’t notice. So, I went shopping the other day and...”

For the most of the break, Medi told the others of her most recent shopping tour, without any end in sight. Throughout her story, Wubby throws a judgmental look at MoA. Both know that asking about such things can result in these endless stories, yet MoA asked anyway, which she now in retrospective partly regrets.

Shortly after Medi finishes her story, Mestovakia, or Mesto-san, enters the classroom and heads straight for Wubby. The 1,68 m / 5’6” tall; brown, barely-shoulder-long haired; brown eyed, glasses wearing; and average slim girl has to get an opinion from Wubby, about a passion project of hers. The fifth this week. And it’s Wednesday.

“Wubby-chan, I need to get an opinion from you.” she says, quickly turning a sheet of paper around and holding it closely in front of her. “What do you think of this design?”

“Uhh...” Wubby replies, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of Mesto-san. “Good morning, Mesto-san. Uhm...” On the paper is a picture of a rather futuristic looking tank, with hover-discs instead of threads, and a strange, indescribable thing on top of its turret. “It looks… okay, I guess. What are you gonna do with it? I thought you had a design already.”

“Had, is the right word.” Mesto replies, getting the paper out of Wubby’s face again. “I replayed ‘Space Aneurysm IX’ again, and thought this was a nice design. So I made a new project. Anyway, I have to get more, and better pictures of the other vehicles too. Later!” And thus, she quickly left the room again, before Wubby could reply.

She looks at MoA. “The fifth, right?”

MoA nods. “Fifth and a half. She made a smaller adjustment in one franchise.”

“Ah, yeah...”

Without any more major occurrences intervening, the girls gossip with Medi a little more, before Jar reenters the classroom for the ‘Practical Science’ lesson. A relatively fun lesson, under the condition Jar let’s the class experiment with miniature-experimental-machinery again. Which won’t happen to its full extend anymore, ever since the class almost blew up the moon again. For a second time.

***

Intermission

Besides the chaotic students, there are the Regional Officers. Or ‘RO’ for short. Before this crazy world began, they used to maintain order in the region. Though they still hold authority in this world as well, their primary jobs have been redefined to the positions of the students council and the teachers, both in one. Meaning, during regular school time they serve as teachers, and once the club activities begin, they come together as the students council. In said council, however, also sit some extras and substitutes for subjects and classes that some of them can’t teach. PE being one such problematic subject. While they act all serious and authoritative during the classes they teach, outside of class they can also be as chaotic as their students. Something they want to prevent doing in front of their students however.

Class just ended. Jar, the Tribune of the ROs; 1,83 m / 6’ tall; short, blue hair; green eyes; ample figure; and fox ears and tail; is packing up her stuff, while the students leave the classroom. Some of them come to Jar shortly before leaving, to ask her about some points of today’s lesson that they didn’t understand. As per usual, Arcti is among those asking extra questions. Jar can’t resist asking: “You are getting the quick summary for Wubby, hm?” Arcti simply nods affirmatively, which makes Jar sigh but also chuckle.

After the students with the extra questions leave, Jar can finally leave as well, and go to the teachers’ offices. On her way she comes across the two leading lamias, Strala and Repti, blocking the way with their long snake tails. Speaking of experience, stepping over or past their tails is not recommended. Thus, Jar has no other choice than wait a minute until the half-snakes have passed by.

Once the way is clear, Jar watches Xoriet walking ahead. The Legatus of the ROs; 1,52 m / 5ft tall; long, dark hair with a hint of violet; violet eyes; a figure as Jar; and cat tail and ears; is also on her way to the teachers’ offices. So Jar can’t resist catching up. She takes a look around if somebody is watching, before beginning to sneak towards Xoriet, with the intend of surprising her. But before Jar can give her a little spook, Xoriet says: “I already noticed you, Jar-chan.”, after flicking her ears.

“Damnit.” Jar spits out, while ending her sneak. “Can’t you at least look surprised?”

“No~” Xoriet replies, smugly smirking at Jar. “You should be a little more serious when we are at work.” On that statement, Jar raises an eyebrow, looking at Xoriet. She roles her eyes. “That doesn’t mean you can do it when we are home though.”

Due to their relation before this world came into existence, a group of ‘nations’, including Xoriet, live with Jar in her house. That doesn’t mean that she has full authority over all of them though. Neither does it mean that chaos isn’t a thing in that household. And some, like Xoriet, simply don’t care, as long as they have a place to eat and sleep, which Jar willingly provides.

Jar sighs, disappointed. “Anyhoo, how were your lessons?”

“Should I even say anything, when I have Balli-chan in them?”

“Nope. That says everything already. Although. Did she threaten anyone today?”

“Not during class.” Xoriet responds, sighing. “But both, shortly before, and shortly after class. In both cases though, Kat-chan (Katrzynija) came and distracted her. Despite what Balli-chan always preaches, she had quite big eyes when Kat-chan used her little magic tricks.”

A chuckle escapes Jar. “Really? Such ‘heretical practices’ distracted her?”

“Yep. I almost was about to snap a picture myself, but the students already did so, and I didn’t want to look unprofessional.”

“I guess I’ll ask one of them later to send me one such picture.” Jar adds with a smirk, while they both enter the offices. “Who would resist wanting to see it?”

“See what?” Samasbhi, or Sama-sama, the Vox Populi; 1,73 m / 5’8” tall; bright blue hair, tied up to a bun; bright yellow eyes, behind slightly shaded glasses; lean figure; and part machine; asks.

“Only students messing around.” Xoriet replies, while putting her stuff on her desk. “Includes Balli-chan.”

“Ahh, that one. Anything else new?”

Jar shakes her head, while putting down her own stuff and unpacking a lunch pack. “Nope. Nothing note worthy. Where are the others?”

“They were called for something.” Sama responds, “But they didn’t tell me for what.”

Xoriet raises an eyebrow. “Without informing us?”

“It seemed to be urgent, but not urgent enough to call our headmaster. And they wanted some of us to stay here, hence I’m here.”

“Hmm. Strange.” Xoriet comments. “Whatever. If it’s something more important, Marina would call us. Though, I’m wondering what it is.”

“Don’t bother about that now.” Jar says, while gulping down her meal. “It’s time to eat now. So relax a bit.” Shrugging, Xoriet complies and pulls out her own food from her bag. The only one not eating is now Sama, who instead quickly types something into her computer. “What are you working on, Sama-sama?”

Sama looks up to Jar, with smug expression. “I told you not to use that honorific.”

“But it sounds funny.” Jar replies, with a grin.

Shaking her head, Sama continues: “I’m currently reviewing some of the entries by the students for the Arembia field trip. This one had some holes in its history. May have to consult that one later.”

Curious, Jar adds: “May I ask who?”

“Oh, this one is fro--” Suddenly, the door rushes open. Everyone’s attention shifts to Marina; 1,68 m / 5’6” tall; black, shoulder long hair; dark brown eyes, behind a pair of glasses; and a figure like Sama; standing in the door.

“Teachers of the West Pacific called us. They told us of a flood of, quite literally, trolls in their city. Now they are coming our way. Grab your stuff. Shani and Sop are already in position, but we will need you as well. You can stay Sama. If ED doesn’t tell you something else, please regulate the classes in the meantime.” Before Jar and Xoriet could comment on it, Marina rushes off again with her equipment in hand. Thus, the two quickly scramble together their defense equipment.

“Best of luck.” Sama calls after them, as they rush out the door. With them out of the room, Sama grabs her phone and dials the substitute teachers of the region. “Guess we need a lot of substitutes then. … Hmmm. Why not just drop some lessons instead? I’m sure the students won’t be mad.” With a chuckle, Sama instead walks over to the announcement computer and adds an announcement, that will make some students definitely cheer.

***

This class was rather interesting, to say the least. From today on, the students know how a firebomb should not look like. Luckily, nobody got hurt and the fire alarm didn’t go off. And the students promise to not tell anybody about the incident, so that Jar can continue her fun ways to teach.

After this longer lesson, which had a theoretical and a practical part, the great lunch break begins. Unlike the first break, MoA doesn’t have to expect Wubby’s bargaining this time. For lunch, she brought the banana. While she does need something as a breakfast replacement, she at least has a banana with her for lunch. However, MoA needs something greater to eat, which is why she goes to the canteen, while Wubby either stays in the classroom or goes outside for a change. The latter applies for today.

Wubby aimlessly roams the schoolyard, while eating her banana. Partly lost in thought and partly observing the other students, she doesn’t really pay attention on where she is going. She watches Elixandropolis, or Elix-sama, play soccer with the younger nations on the field, before expanding on her thought on an idea she has for the story she began during class, then watches Balli-chan shouting at smaller nations to stop looking at her, and then thinks of the Doomguy vs Master Chief again.

When she’s finally done with her banana, she wants to get rid of the peel. But as she snaps out of her thoughts, she realizes where she is now. Namely right next to the bench in the shade on and around which the ‘Imperial Nations’ gather. At first she sees no one from the gang, but her safety comes to a sudden end as she hears Vareshia calling after her.

“Who do we have here?” she asks, while approaching Wubby, with Stolli and Ruski, another member with the same attitude as Vareshia, following her. “What were you about to do with that banana peel, huh?”

Nervously sweating, Wubby stutters before she could get a proper word out. “Uhm, uh, I… I didn’t...”

“What?” Ruski; 1,60 m / 5’3”; dirty blond, shoulder-long hair; light-brown eyes; and a figure like Stolli; asks. “What didn’t you? Put that banana peel on our bench?”

While the two get closer and closer to Wubby, who doesn’t know how to properly react to them and thus stands there growing more and more desperate, Vareshia adds: “You wouldn’t dare making our place dirty, would you? You might as well just call Balli-san before we do what she can do best.”

Instead of Wubby doing a comment about the latter point, it’s Stolli, who naively says: “Getting upset for being short and then storming off whoever she was talking to?”

“No, you idiot.” Ruski snaps back. “Beating someone up!”

“But tha-” Before Stolli could finish, Vareshia takes a handful sunflower seeds and stuffs them into her mouth.

“Quiet, you.” Vareshia adds. “Now, where were we? Ah, jawohl, you hammer and sickle fanatic. So. What did you plan to do with that?”

With her panic still rising, Wubby mumbles worrying about what will happen next. “I-I didn’t want t-to put the b-banana on the bench, I-I swear! I was j-just now looking for a t-trashcan.”

“But you should know very well that the trashcan is over there!” Ruski counters, pointing at the can next to another bench, three meters away. “So, I think you are not telling the truth here.”

“Uhm… Uh….” Wubby continues to despair, as the two come unsettlingly close. They even force her on to the bench, as she slowly backs up and then just bumps into it.

Vareshia, trying to crack her knuckles but failing, adds: “Maybe we need to teach you a lecture in trying to litter our territory.”

Ruski adds, grinning: “Yeah, you won’t be even thinking of it when we are finished.”

Suddenly a shadow rises over the two. A familiarly tall shadow in comparison to them. “When you have finished what?” Neuer says, with her arms wrapped up angrily underneath her ample chest.

“Neuer-senpai!” Vareshia spits out right away, while turning around. “We just caught this h-”

“Her.” Neuer cuts her off and corrects her right away, as she knows what Vareshia was about to say. “And you caught her passing our territory. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Ruski protests: “But, no, senpai! She was just about to-”

Rolling her eyes, Neuer casually picks the two up like suitcases under her arms. Both of them instantly and loudly protest and struggle, but Neuer doesn’t seen to bother much and keeps them in this position. “This is the second time I have to do something about your behavior. Can’t you listen at least once to Stolli and be a tad more passive?” She sighs, as the two try to find excuses that justify their behavior, of which Neuer had more than enough today already. “Tschuldigung, about these two.” she says to Wubby. “Did they do anything to you already?”

Slowly snapping out of her small despair, Wubby shakes her head wildly. “N-No. They were just… getting closer and closer… That’s all.”

Again sighing over her two gang members struggling, Neuer adds: “It won’t happen again today. I’ll bring them somewhere else for punishment. Enjoy the rest of the break. Come, Stolli-chan. You need to be a role model for the two.” Stolli nods, mouth full of seeds. So does Wubby, but without the seeds, and adding:

“T-Thank you, Neuer-sama. See you.” And thus, the Imperial gang leaves, with their boss carrying two troublemakers around. Wubby takes a deep breath in relief, and quietly whispers “Finally.”, before getting up and finally throwing away the peel.

Now she can finally enjoy the rest of the break, without two troublemakers getting obnoxiously close to her. She kinda regrets now to always be lost in thought where ever she goes. And not eating lunch in the canteen, where she could now have been with MoA and others, peacefully chatting about something that happened in the upper classes. But well, she survived it.

***

The lesson after lunch break, is Physical Education. Sports. A treat, yet a bane. On one hand, it’s not just sitting around and maybe pay attention to presented topic, on the other hand though, depending on the teacher it can be very exhausting, to a point some may collapse.

Wubby already waited next to the gym’s entrance during the break, leaning against the wall. With the ringing of the bell, TFGO, the teachers’ substitute, comes out of the school building and over to the gym, opening and entering the gym, while exchanging greetings with Wubby. Instead of immediately following FGO, Wubby continues to wait, as the first sports-freaks rush into the gym.

One of the reasons she doesn’t enter yet is that she hasn’t concluded the thoughts and ideas she had yet. Thus, she quickly comes up with an end to the story, before the majority of the class has entered the gym. The other reason just leaves the door that leads into the direction of the canteen. MoA with Medi to the right and Adjus to the left, leave the school building and head towards Wubby, who gets off the wall by the time they have reached her.

“Anything eventful happening outside today?” MoA asks Wubby, as they enter the gym together.

“Nah.” Wubby replies, “Not much. Only Neuer-sama had to take care of Vareshia-san and Ruski-san again.”

The three raise an eyebrow. “What did you do this time?” Adjus; 1,58 m / 5’2” tall; long, light brown hair; blue eyes; and a little thinner than Wubby or MoA; curiously asks.

Wubby shrugs. “Noting, really. I just happened to be near their territory with an empty banana peel. And so they got the wrong idea.”

A joint sigh escapes the threes mouths, while Wubby giggles a little embarrassed. All four enter the locker room and -----------
(Ideas here are potentially not site-appropiate and will thus not be added here.)

The main hall is already filled with the rather undesirable sports equipment. The ones that already scream exhaustion. A loud joint sighing of all the students echoes through the hall. The class lies up for FGO’s briefing of today’s plan, while she enters out the hall from the teacher’s office. Only now does she also see the equipment for the first time. With raised eyebrows she tells the class:

“Seems like the previous class did not clean up behind them. No, we won’t be using that.” The class glows up for a brief moment, until she adds: “Today we will have a dodgeball match against another class.” And it gets even worse with the sentence: “Your opponents will be from the upper class.” Almost perfectly timed enters the other class.

“Bereit!” shouts Neuer, with her class slowly pouring into the hall. Among them are familiar faces like Kari or Balli. The latter seems relatively not angry right now, in comparison to the rest of the day. However, her face also looks mildly-bloodthirsty. Everyone knows that she should rather be further away from the ball than others. Is it a fair battle besides that? Probably not.

***

The match can be summed up as follows. With FGO joining in on the underclassmen, they at least made it to a truce at the end of the lesson, with a total of 8 rounds. In a normal match, it would have been only 4 rounds, but all rounds were over fairly quick, with either FGO getting one after the other really quick or her being targeted most by the upperclassmen and eventually being hit comparably early.
Other occurrences include:
Balli being targeted and hit as the first one of the upperclassmen-team in 6 of the 8 rounds.
Neuer blocking a hit for Stolli, although they are in opposing teams.
MoA slipped on some ice that wasn’t there initially.
Kari doing a last-man-stand in round five and almost winning against half the enemy team.
A sudden, faint Doom-music sounding when Wubby was almost last.
When the ball hit Medi for the first time, half of it was then sparkly because of glitter.
And when the ball ricocheted off of Portu, it also took out Paci from their team and somehow Elix from the enemy team.

One thing unites both teams however. They are both exhausted. All students, including Balli, who still tries to look like she could keep going, can barely stand now. Fortunately, the next break begins shortly after FGO dismissed the two classes.

-----------
(Another potential hazard of a lockerroom scene could be added here. Same problems. See first redaction.)

***

Since the classes are skipped, the students are allowed to advance their club activities and end them earlier. Thus, the ‘Warships Club’ members gather themselves together to quickly start their club activity.

With a kick Wubby opens the door to the clubroom, which was nearly closed with only a small gap keeping it open. “Let’s get to business!” she says, while trampling in, closely followed by a sighing MoA.

“We all know that you are going to talk about Ekranoplan.” MoA counters, while closing the door behind her. “Or do you have something else to talk about first for a change.”

Wubby raises a finger, as she tries to come up with a response. But more than just a quick inhale, sigh and angered “Hmpf.”, nothing comes out of her mouth. “Fine.” she adds, arms wrapped together, as she sits down on her seat, “No Ekranoplan today.”

MoA also gets seated, and thus all available members of the club have gathered. Clockwise sit MoA, Wubby, Nacoa, Cohu, Paci, Rockemsockem or Rocki for short, Larchia, and Adjus. Left-over members, like Kari and others from the higher classes for example, are not available, due to involvement in other activities, substitute lessons lead by FGO and others, or appointments outside of school. At least a part of the club could gather though.

“Very well.” MoA exclaims, look at the others. “What other points have you thought of for today?” Instantly Nacoa raises her hand. “You still don’t have to raise your hand, Nacoa-chan.”

As quickly as she raised her arm, she lowers it again, adding: “Ah, right. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” MoA replies. “What do you have in mind?”

“I wanted to ask, if it’s alright to combine battleships and carriers. Like it was done with the Japanese Ise-class.”

While Wubby instantly shoots out a “No.”, Cohu simultaneously spits out a “Yes!” As quickly do they lock their eyes on one another, with a questioning look on their face. They once again say their individual answer at the same time, and again are they exchanging doubting looks.

“Combining them is a great idea!” Cohu reinforces her answer. “You have the raw firepower of a battleship and the deadly strike-capabilities of a plane. What would you want more?”

“Well,” Wubby says, already a little sharp in tone, “why have half the strength of a battleship, and half the strength of a carrier, or both even less, instead of proper battleships and carriers, both at full power?”

“But she has a point.” Rocki; 1,60 m / 5’3” tall; red, long hair; grey eyes; and a bit chubby; adds. “First launch the planes from a distance, then approach while the planes attack, and then attack with the main guns once in range. And in the meantime, the planes can return.”

Wubby clears her throat, before continuing. “Unless the enemy launched their own planes, that want to attack the ship. Now there are planes near the ship, that needs to defend itself with more than just the, in Ise’s case, 22 planes she got, with not all of them in the air all the time. Now it fires guns, that can also shoot down friendly planes, that must be near the ship.”

“That’s what you have escorts for!” Cohu replies.

“And more planes from friendly carriers!” Rocki adds.

“But wasn’t it the point to replace both with that?” Larchia asks, confused by the points of the two.

“Uhh, well...” Cohu stops briefly to think, “uhh, you always need more than just one ship-class. So, yeah, there are more ships around. But you replace carriers and battleships.”

“Only that you have cut the strength of both by at least 50% and more.” Wubby repeats.

“Wubby-chan is right.” MoA intervenes, and then looks at Nacoa, while the others continue to argue with Wubby cheering over the conformation by MoA. “If you try to combine the two, you’ll have to cut the main source of power on a battleship, the main-turrets, for a very short deck on which light planes can take off guaranteed, but not land until they are in calm waters again. It wouldn’t make much sense.”

“I see...” Nacoa replies, putting a left hand on her left cheek. “That makes sense. Some normal carriers are the way to go?”

Spontaneously ending the discussion with Cohu, Wubby turns towards Nacoa and replies: “Aye!”

A bit overwhelmed, Nacoa adds: “Okay.” as Wubby sits down with a smug grin. Cohu and Rocki have given up to argue about it in the meantime.

“Anything else?” MoA asks to continue today’s program. “Or can we move on the model-building?”

“Me again.” Nacoa replies. Wubby already looks ready to explain the downsides of another unorthodox design. “How many battleship turrets would fit on a submarine?” A part of the group does a joint sigh, as this was already discussed thrice, two times with Nacoa present. And just like last time, some have different views on the design and it’s possibilities.

***

Nonetheless, did a small discussion ignite over, once again, the same topic. Though the arguments for and against even putting a battleship turret on a submarine are already well established, the discussion about the design of such a vessel had started again. And in the end, everyone is still split about it. The only one they all agree on, is the fact, that the submarine would have to be very big compared to many known, non-nuclear submarines. Other than that, everything is split. From the caliber of the turret, to the placement of the guns accurate to the inch and the exact ammunition count. It’s an argument without end, unless someone speaks up to stop.

Only this time it was because the group got interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Amidst the discussion, Mesto suddenly entered, to once again ask Wubby about a design-choice of hers. And while Wubby expressed her critique on it, MoA defused the discussion, wanting to move on to the part with the model-building. When Cohu said something along the lines of ‘Finally’, MoA couldn’t hold back but to point out that it was Cohu in the first place to keep the discussion going, when it began to cool down. She remained rather silent for a short time after that.

Together the group finished a model of the Nimitz-class they’d been working on for several meetings, and an accurate and very detailed model of the Prinz Eugen as well. Before Wubby could instantly go on to build another Tashkent-class or yet another Ekranoplan model, the group had to chain her up on her chair to prevent that she uses yet another universal model-kit, which would have been the fifth kit this month. Thus, the group ‘laid down the keel’ of a model of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier, before school ended.

***

“Nyaaaahhhh” Wubby whines on the way home with MoA and Nacoa. “Why did you have to chain me up? I wouldn’t have done anything bad!”

Shaking her head, MoA replies: “You know exactly why.”

“But I said I won’t do anything with Ekranoplan today!”

“Yet, I’m fairly certain that you would have done a Tashkent again, hm?”

“Hey~!” Once again Wubby finds herself in the situation that she can’t counter to MoA’s argument, as it’s exactly the case. “Uhm… I wouldn’t...” she lies, avoiding eye contact. “I… would have done… uh… a Kirov instead, yeah!”

“Which Kirov?” Nacoa asks naively. “You told me there were two.”

“Did I? Oh, yeah, I did. Well… the modern one of course.”

MoA sighs. “Why do I see this as so unbelievable?”

The rest of the way to Nacoa’s place, Wubby tries to convince the two that she is telling the truth, but ends up only semi-successful, as she is able to convince Nacoa, but not MoA. She just knows Wubby too well to know what’s up.

At Nacoa’s place, she parts ways with the two, after Wubby gave her a rather energetic headpat. With Nacoa gone, Wubby continues to argue with MoA about the excuse she came up with, to sell it as the truth. Unsuccessful, as MoA says it herself. They eventually switch the topic to something MoA discussed with the others during lunch. Today’s topic was the cost of an outfit in a nearby boutique, that Medici frequently pillages. A topic about which Wubby can’t say much about, but listens to curiously regardless.

Then finally at Wubby’s place, the two also part ways. But not before Wubby surprised MoA with a surprise hug from behind, as she had already turned her back at Wubby while heading off. Once MoA’s face turned completely red through all the blushing, Wubby quickly storms off and through her place’s door, while shouting her goodbyes for the day. MoA took a moment before clearing her throat, regaining posture, and walking off. Just what Wubby wanted to achieve.

***

And thus the day comes to an end. Finally Wubby can throw herself in front of her PC in a comfy sweater and some sweatpants, and play some video games, while listening to her favorite music. Though she should be working on the few homework she has, she will only start working on it five minutes before bedtime, and then regret not having done it earlier. As everyday.

Occasionally she pauses her gaming session to chat with her classmates on her phone or to replenish her food reserves. And after doing essentially nothing productive over the leftover afternoon and evening, Wubby decides to finally do something about her homework. Though she effectively distracts herself every two minutes with basically anything. After she eventually forcefully finishes her homework, she continues to play games on her PC, until her tiredness eventually tells her to stop and go to bed.

For a brief moment she considers to just pay MoA a surprise visit and convince her to watch a movie with her. But not today. She goes to bed instead, in an attempt to not oversleep tomorrow.
Unless...

End of Chapter 1 (?)

The ᛒᛁᚱᛋᛁᚱᚴᛦ of Wubdich

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