Chapter 9
Date: 04/07/2014
Location: St. Freya Academy
It's been 2 months since Ana joined St. Freya and a number of things have changed since the platinum blond joined.
For starters, the number of people that normally interacted with Kiana without any sort of difficulty increased by 100%, which is to say that 2 people on the entire campus can interact with Kiana without the snow haired girl needing to type things on her phone or write them down on a piece of paper
The second most notable change is that Kiana, Fu Hua and Ana have been made into an official team with Kaine filling in for the now vacant spot on Kiana’s old team with Mei and Bronya
Another thing that's happened is that Kiana now holds the 5th spot on the ranking board for her grade, although most people chalk it up to the fact that Kiana is almost always accompanied by Hua or Ana, with the two of them subtly competing for Kiana’s attention when all three of them are together much to the amusement of everyone watching (and the annoyance of Rei as she would very much like to be involved in the competition for Kiana’s attention)
On a side note Theresa, Himeko and Kaine are seen to be learning the “ins and outs of sign language
It currently lunch-time although all the students were given the rest of the day off from classes as they are tasked with making their teams as efficient as they can be
Kiana, Hua and Ana are currently under a cherry blossom tree in the courtyard of St. Freya
Kiana is taking a nap with her head on Ana’s lap and her legs on Hua’s lap
Had this been 2 months ago a number of students would have come over to get Ana or Hua or even both to ditch Kiana, of course the two of them would politely decline, as long as Kiana is awake
however, should Kiana be asleep like she is currently Hua’s reply would be extremely cold and Ana, should you manage to get close enough to ask her while taking a hateful glare from her, will verbally tear into them in such a way that all those that has tried need therapy
Both Ana and Hua were silently discussing how to increase their efficiency as they were tasked to do
“So how can we increase our efficiency? Miss Himeko wasn't wrong when she said that we cant always stick to our “roles” especially during live combat” Ana had to ask
As good of a fighter Ana is, the unfortunate truth is that due to her training prior to her coming to St. Freya she has little to no experience taking on a support role since her former tutors believed that she, like the others that they train, should be a heavy hitter on the frontlines
“Mmn, with our current roles you and I are the frontline heavy hitters and kiana is our support and while kiana can join up front, there is a lack of power behind her strikes even with the Kaslana gun kata of hers” Hua makes a quick evaluation of their team
“Well, Kia’s got that bit covered since she recently started taking lessons from Miss Himeko about using a greatsword. That will cover her lack of power as a frontliner so we need to figure out how we can take on more of a supportive role in combat…” Ana contemplates
Hua nods
“We need to figure out which type of support suits us, Kiana’s support takes on the role of a mid range support fire, meaning one of us needs to take on a long range support role and the other needs to take on a defensive support role” Hua states, going over what they have available for them
“Well, it's a shame that I suck with distance” Ana says with a grimace “guess that would leave me with the defensive role, at least until we re-evaluate and re-establish where we need to be support wise”
“That’s fine, I was thinking of taking up a bow again” Hua says with a thoughtful look on her face
Ana gives Hua a inquisitive look
“A close friend of mine taught me a long time ago, I'll be rusty but given time I will be able to handle long range support” Hua continues not really noticing the look Ana is giving her
“I can understand that, but wouldn't you be ill equipped for close combat if you have a bow?” Ana felt the need to question
“Just because im ill equipped for close combat doesn't mean that im ill suited for close combat, ill simply need to modify my battle style to fit fighting with a bow in hand” Hua says with a smile
“Meaning i need to figure out a defensive stance for my lance…” Ana sighs, ”ugh, this will be a paaaain'' she groans out, much to Hua’s amusement
An hour later
We can see Hua practicing at the archery range with Kiana and Ana watching from behind
The archery range of St. Freya Academy is under maintained as it is so under used as most if not all Valkyries in training prefer to use guns as their long range weapon of choice
-so why is Hua practicing with a bow?- Kiana signs to Ana
Ana gives Kiana a smile
"She and I discussed the support roles that she and I could take while you were taking your nap" Ana starts
Kiana blinks in confusion as to where this was going
"As far as support roles go you normally take a "mid-range coverfire" type of role while Hua and I don't take a support role,
And, well, neither of us want you to always be stuck supporting us"
-but why a bow?- Kiana asks again
"According to her, coz she learnt from a friend back before she came here and met us and she can use the bow in close contact as well" Ana says
-what about you? What did you choose for your support role?- Kiana signs with a tilt of her head
"Defense" Ana says with a sweat drop "you know I'm atrocious with distance"
Kiana giggles silently much to Ana's dismay
-i can spar with you for your defense training- Kiana signs after a moment
Ana smiles, "I'd like that, thanks Kia" she says as she gives Kiana a side hug
Date: 04/07/2014
Location: Dorm house
That night Ana was in the Dining area of the Dorm house
She was going looking through Schiksal’s Archives of defensive combat styles on her Schiksal issued tablet
‘Of course there's almost no defensive stances for lance wielders’ Ana thinks with a frown, ‘people just assume that we’re going to be on offensive roles in general’
Regardless she continues to look through what is offered by the archive, if nothing else she could get miss Himeko’s help to adapt a defensive great sword style for her to use with her lance
As she continues to look through the archive she hears footsteps coming from the stairs
She looks to the clock on the wall only to realize that it's long past midnight and no one should be up at this time
Even with the darkness of the room she could tell that the person that is coming down the stairs is Raiden Mei
From everything that she's heard from Kiana over the time that the snow haired girl has known the Japanese girl and Ana has a lot she would love to say to her
Normally Ana would hold her tongue as Kiana is close by when she and Raiden are in the same room
But right now?...
Right now she is free to give the other girl the tongue lashing of the century
Only for the thought to be demolished before she had a chance to execute it
As when she saw Raiden Mei, she saw a pair of crimson tinted purple orbs looking at her
‘The Herrscher of thunder’, her mind supplies her, she had been informed of the Herrscher by Madam Theresa after she had moved in
Still… to come face to face with such an entity, she could feel herself trembling slightly