The Three Kingdoms - Chapter 1.1 - Love is War (Chapter)

Love is War
"Please excuse my dislike of public transport."

"...No problem."

Black&#9733;Rock Shooter looked both ways before turning the steering wheel to the left.

"Sorry about having to take you on business with me, Sora," she apologized to the person in the passenger seat, keeping her eyes on the road.

"It's okay. Are things usually this busy?"

"Huh uh. As part of The Black Squad, there's always something that needs to be done. Our headquarters is Westminster Palace, just a stone's throw away from Crypton Studios so we can keep an eye on Miku as her personal order force. Though to tell the truth, we only have one person stationed there at a time since we're so busy elsewhere. The Yamaha Kingdom covers a huge amount of the world's landmass so we can use the resources to our advantage. Problem is we're suffering from intense overpopulation."

"So where are we heading now?"

"Chelmsford in Essex. It's now one of the industrial hubs of Eastern Britain. We got reports of some production problems so we're going to help sort things out. We can't afford to waste any time, as you know, no information, let alone any being, gets across our borders. Only light gets through The Hakurei Barrier. So we have no idea what they're planning."

"I've been wondering why London was chosen as Yamaha's capital."

"We all speak English and its a developed country far away from the borders. And then, like Japan, people here drive on the left side of the road." Black&#9733;Rock Shooter ignored a red traffic light, continuing along the empty road. "We know Tokyo is The North High Colony's capital. They had attempted to capture Kyoto during Doomsday exactly one year ago but Reimu and her allies proved too much. Essentially, we're all Japanese and consider it our homeland which is very we fought so hard over the country. We'll get Japan back somehow, don't worry about it."

"... I'm actually Malaysian," corrected Sora, with a weak voice.

There was a pause. "Please forgive my ignorance," sighed Black, "We couldn't make any push further into China..."

Sora did not respond as she looked out the car window. Black knew exactly what the matter was.

"Be assured, I'll do my best to unite you with your friends, I'll swear on it. All I ask is you put your heart into the job and help me help you."

"Of course."

They reached the Computer Associates Chelmsford branch building. It was an office block with glass outer walls so the security guard at the secretary desk could see them approach. Sora noticed Black glaring at the guard as they reached the front door. Then when Black took hold of the front door, her mobile phone rang, which suitably had the instrumental of her theme song as her ringtone. She took the phone out of her cloak pocket, looked at the name of the caller and answered it.

"Miku? Is something wrong?" asked Black. Sora could not hear Miku talk back. There was a long period of silence before Black turned her head round and looked up into the sky. Sora followed her gaze. The sky was cloudless. It was early evening so the sun was slowly descending and the full moon had already come out. Otherwise, there was nothing else to look at. The Hakurei Barrier was not visible from the United Kingdom.

"I see..." spoke Black, "I'm with the new recruit. No, it's fine. She'll manage just fine. I'll be right there." Black hung up, put the phone back in her pocket and turned to Sora, "Sorry, something important's come up." She looked back up into the air, "Yo! Lynette!" she shouted into the sky. Sora suddenly heard the sound of propellers and descending from the sky was a girl with each leg in a tube with a rotor, known as Striker Units, immediately recognising her as a Strike Witch. She was carrying a huge antitank rifle that Sora noticed being an out-of-date model by almost seventy years.

"Sora, this is Lynette Bishop. Lynette, Sora Muziku," introduced Black, "Thanks for the escort, Lynette, but I need to be heading to London. Could you accompany Sora to check up on how things are going?"

"Of course," nodded Lynette.

Black got back into the jet black sports car, "Catch you both later," and she sped off at high speed, Sora noticing blue flames coming out of the exhaust. Lynette slipped out of her Striker Units but struggled to hold both of them as well as her rifle.

"Umm... Need help with that?" asked Sora with concern.

"Err... Yes, please," stammered Lynette.

The two of them entered the building, Sora with each Unit strapped over a shoulder. Lynette took the lead and walked up to the male security guard who was clearly a native human. She handed over an ID card confirming her position in The 501st Joint Fighter Wing. Sora followed suit with an ID card for the Black Squad that she had received that morning. The security guard let them through and the two entered a lift. Lynette waited for the doors to close before speaking up as the lift ascended.

"I think he's called ahead about our arrival," commented Lynette.

"... Is there a problem with that?"

"The native humans are meant to be following orders word by word," explained Lynette, with pity in her eyes, "Black's visits are meant to be unexpected to see how they are getting on."

"... Getting on with what?"

"I don't know," shrugged Lynette, "I usually stay outside as Black's escort. She normally does the examination herself. All I know is that this company deals with programming but I have no idea what for."

"I see..." The elevator reached the fifth floor. In Britain, the floor above the ground floor is the first floor and the doors slid open into a huge room full of office cubicles with low barriers, allowing the two of them to see the entire room. Sora thought that was a little odd, at least expecting a corridor to the room. She assumed it was for enhanced working efficiency.

At each desk was sat a person at a computer and everyone looked in the direction of Sora and Lynette. A native woman dressed in ordinary office clothes walked up to them.

"Good evening," she greeted, "I'm sorry but only authorised personal can enter the building. Can I see your identi-?"

Suddenly, Sora's mobile phone rang. She ignored the woman and flipped the phone open, answering the call, noting that the phone didn't recognise the number, "Hello?"

"Hey, is this Sora?" asked the caller. Sora recognised the voice immediately but wanted to confirm her suspicions. Unlike Black's phone, Sora's did not effectively dampen the caller's voice so both Lynette and the woman could hear.

"Yes, I'm Sora. Who's calling?"

"Rin. Black gave me a heads up." Sora noticed the woman grimace. "How are they getting on?"

"I haven't asked yet." Sora made eye contact with the woman, clearly aware that she was following the conversation so far.

"We can't get the patching mechanism to work," stuttered the woman, panicking, considerably different to her confident attitude earlier, "This is technology we've never seen before!"

Rin heard the excuse, "Sora, throw her out the window."

Sora paused, "I'm sorry, could you say that again?"

"Throw her out the window."

"We're on the sixth floor."

"She'll survive."

"No, she won't. She's a native human. They don't have as much endurance as us." Sora was struggling to keep her voice level.

"Look Sora," threatened Rin, "I'm Miku's right hand. My orders must be followed."

Sora gritted her teeth, "There must be another way to deal with this."

"Lynette, bring both of them in."

"Umm..." stuttered Lynette, "If they're having trouble, I think we should help them? Maybe?"

Silence. Then Sora's phone emitted a hollow buzz, indicating the call had ended.

Lynette sighed, "They're people too. Even though we're from different universes, we're still countrymen. I was born in my world's Britannia."

Sora looked at her phone, "What do we do now? All I can think of is contacting Black." Right on time, the phone rang, recognising the caller as Black. Sora eagerly answered the call, "Hi, Black. We need your advice." There was no response from the other side. "H-Hello?"

"I'm coming for you," stated Black.

"Thanks but-"

"You better run. We want you dead." Sora froze.

"But Black-!" protested Lynette.

"You too, Lynette..."

The buzzing sound came up again as Black terminated the call.

Chapter code on deviantART
"Love is War"

"Please excuse my dislike of public transport."

"...No problem."

Black&#9733;Rock Shooter looked both ways before turning the steering wheel to the left.

"Sorry about having to take you on business with me, Sora," she apologized to the person in the passenger seat, keeping her eyes on the road.

"It's okay. Are things usually this busy?"

"Huh uh. As part of The Black Squad, there's always something that needs to be done. Our headquarters is Westminster Palace, just a stone's throw away from Crypton Studios so we can keep an eye on Miku as her personal order force. Though to tell the truth, we only have one person stationed there at a time since we're so busy elsewhere. The Yamaha Kingdom covers a huge amount of the world's landmass so we can use the resources to our advantage. Problem is we're suffering from intense overpopulation."

"So where are we heading now?"

"Chelmsford in Essex. It's now one of the industrial hubs of Eastern Britain. We got reports of some production problems so we're going to help sort things out. We can't afford to waste any time, as you know, no information, let alone any being, gets across our borders. Only light gets through The Hakurei Barrier. So we have no idea what they're planning."

"I've been wondering why London was chosen as Yamaha's capital."

"We all speak English and its a developed country far away from the borders. And then, like Japan, people here drive on the left side of the road." Black&#9733;Rock Shooter ignored a red traffic light, continuing along the empty road. "We know Tokyo is The North High Colony's capital. They had attempted to capture Kyoto during Doomsday exactly one year ago but Reimu and her allies proved too much. Essentially, we're all Japanese and consider it our homeland which is very we fought so hard over the country. We'll get Japan back somehow, don't worry about it."

"... I'm actually Malaysian," corrected Sora, with a weak voice.

There was a pause. "Please forgive my ignorance," sighed Black, "We couldn't make any push further into China..."

Sora did not respond as she looked out the car window. Black knew exactly what the matter was.

"Be assured, I'll do my best to unite you with your friends, I'll swear on it. All I ask is you put your heart into the job and help me help you."

"Of course."

They reached the Computer Associates Chelmsford branch building. It was an office block with glass outer walls so the security guard at the secretary desk could see them approach. Sora noticed Black glaring at the guard as they reached the front door. Then when Black took hold of the front door, her mobile phone rang, which suitably had the instrumental of her theme song as her ringtone. She took the phone out of her cloak pocket, looked at the name of the caller and answered it.

"Miku? Is something wrong?" asked Black. Sora could not hear Miku talk back. There was a long period of silence before Black turned her head round and looked up into the sky. Sora followed her gaze. The sky was cloudless. It was early evening so the sun was slowly descending and the full moon had already come out. Otherwise, there was nothing else to look at. The Hakurei Barrier was not visible from the United Kingdom.

"I see..." spoke Black, "I'm with the new recruit. No, it's fine. She'll manage just fine. I'll be right there." Black hung up, put the phone back in her pocket and turned to Sora, "Sorry, something important's come up." She looked back up into the air, "Yo! Lynette!" she shouted into the sky. Sora suddenly heard the sound of propellers and descending from the sky was a girl with each leg in a tube with a rotor, known as Striker Units, immediately recognising her as a Strike Witch. She was carrying a huge antitank rifle that Sora noticed being an out-of-date model by almost seventy years.

"Sora, this is Lynette Bishop. Lynette, Sora Muziku," introduced Black, "Thanks for the escort, Lynette, but I need to be heading to London. Could you accompany Sora to check up on how things are going?"

"Of course," nodded Lynette.

Black got back into the jet black sports car, "Catch you both later," and she sped off at high speed, Sora noticing blue flames coming out of the exhaust. Lynette slipped out of her Striker Units but struggled to hold both of them as well as her rifle.

"Umm... Need help with that?" asked Sora with concern.

"Err... Yes, please," stammered Lynette.

The two of them entered the building, Sora with each Unit strapped over a shoulder. Lynette took the lead and walked up to the male security guard who was clearly a native human. She handed over an ID card confirming her position in The 501st Joint Fighter Wing. Sora followed suit with an ID card for the Black Squad that she had received that morning. The security guard let them through and the two entered a lift. Lynette waited for the doors to close before speaking up as the lift ascended.

"I think he's called ahead about our arrival," commented Lynette.

"... Is there a problem with that?"

"The native humans are meant to be following orders word by word," explained Lynette, with pity in her eyes, "Black's visits are meant to be unexpected to see how they are getting on."

"... Getting on with what?"

"I don't know," shrugged Lynette, "I usually stay outside as Black's escort. She normally does the examination herself. All I know is that this company deals with programming but I have no idea what for."

"I see..." The elevator reached the fifth floor. In Britain, the floor above the ground floor is the first floor and the doors slid open into a huge room full of office cubicles with low barriers, allowing the two of them to see the entire room. Sora thought that was a little odd, at least expecting a corridor to the room. She assumed it was for enhanced working efficiency.

At each desk was sat a person at a computer and everyone looked in the direction of Sora and Lynette. A native woman dressed in ordinary office clothes walked up to them.

"Good evening," she greeted, "I'm sorry but only authorised personal can enter the building. Can I see your identi-?"

Suddenly, Sora's mobile phone rang. She ignored the woman and flipped the phone open, answering the call, noting that the phone didn't recognise the number, "Hello?"

"Hey, is this Sora?" asked the caller. Sora recognised the voice immediately but wanted to confirm her suspicions. Unlike Black's phone, Sora's did not effectively dampen the caller's voice so both Lynette and the woman could hear.

"Yes, I'm Sora. Who's calling?"

"Rin. Black gave me a heads up." Sora noticed the woman grimace. "How are they getting on?"

"I haven't asked yet." Sora made eye contact with the woman, clearly aware that she was following the conversation so far.

"We can't get the patching mechanism to work," stuttered the woman, panicking, considerably different to her confident attitude earlier, "This is technology we've never seen before!"

Rin heard the excuse, "Sora, throw her out the window."

Sora paused, "I'm sorry, could you say that again?"

"Throw her out the window."

"We're on the sixth floor."

"She'll survive."

"No, she won't. She's a native human. They don't have as much endurance as us." Sora was struggling to keep her voice level.

"Look Sora," threatened Rin, "I'm Miku's right hand. My orders must be followed."

Sora gritted her teeth, "There must be another way to deal with this."

"Lynette, bring both of them in."

"Umm..." stuttered Lynette, "If they're having trouble, I think we should help them? Maybe?"

Silence. Then Sora's phone emitted a hollow buzz, indicating the call had ended.

Lynette sighed, "They're people too. Even though we're from different universes, we're still countrymen. I was born in my world's Britannia."

Sora looked at her phone, "What do we do now? All I can think of is contacting Black." Right on time, the phone rang, recognising the caller as Black. Sora eagerly answered the call, "Hi, Black. We need your advice." There was no response from the other side. "H-Hello?"

"I'm coming for you," stated Black.

"Thanks but-"

"You better run. We want you dead." Sora froze.

"But Black-!" protested Lynette.

"You too, Lynette..."

The buzzing sound came up again as Black terminated the call.

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Chapter Archive

First Chapter: 0 - Dear Diary

Next Chapter: 1.2 - Loose Canon

Previous Chapter: 0 - Dear Diary

Note all Chapter 1 sections occur at the same time.

Characters:


 * bulletgreen: Black★Rock Shooter: Black★Rock Shooter © huke
 * bulletgreen: Sora Muziku: © :iconqrullgx13::devqrullgx13:
 * bulletred: Hakurei Reimu: Touhou © ZUN
 * bulletgreen: Hatsune Miku: Vocaloid © Crypton Future Media
 * bulletgreen: Lynette Bishop</a>: Strike Witches © Humikane Shimada
 * bulletgreen: Kagamine Rin</a>: Vocaloid © Crypton Future Media

Locations:


 * bulletgreen: Palace of Westminster</a>, London</a>, United Kingdom</a>: Real location, meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
 * bulletgreen: Cypton Studios: Original location, Vocaloid capital building in London.
 * bulletgreen: Chelmsford</a>, Essex</a>, United Kingdom</a>: Real location, town near the east coast of the United Kingdom.
 * bulletblue: Tokyo</a>, Japan</a>: Real location, capital city of Japan.
 * bulletred: Kyoto</a>, Japan</a>: Real location, major Japanese city close to Tokyo.
 * bulletblue: Malaysia</a>: Real location, a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia, annexed by the North High Colony in-story.
 * bulletblack: People's Republic of China</a>: Real location, most populous country in the world located in East Asia, north half annexed by the Yamaha Kingdom, south half annexed by the North High Colony, in-story.
 * bulletblack: Britannia</a>: Strike Witches' equivalent of Great Britain.

Objects:


 * bulletgreen: CA Technologies</a>: Real company, a multinational computer software corporation headquartered in Islandia, New York.
 * bulletgreen: <a href="http://strikewitches.wikia.com/wiki/Striker_Unit">Striker Unit</a>: A pair of hybrid mechanical/magical propeller devices used by Witches for flight and worn over their legs. Strike Witches © Humikane Shimada

References:


 * bulletgreen: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI2wPPFwbAI">Love is War</a>: Song sung by Hatsune Miku, produced by ryo.
 * bulletgreen: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypton_Future_Media">Crypton Future Media</a>: The company responsible for the creation of Hatsune Miku as well as Kagamine Rin.
 * bulletred: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Animation">Kyoto Animation</a>: The company responsible for the production of many anime series including The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Lucky Star, Kanon and K-ON!.
 * bulletgreen: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzOrik5YJ8">Black★Rock Shooter Theme</a>: Song sung by Hatsune Miku, produced by ryo.