She needed to stop waking up in the medical bay. This was Mimi's new goal, to be the best in the Academy and not spend any more time in hospital bed.
'It's ridiculous that I'm being held here when I'm perfectly healthy,' she thought. She sat up and started looking for her uniform, annoyed anew when she remembered she was wearing a hospital gown. 'Dr. Grey is actively affecting my grades at this point. I may need to bring this up with the General,' thought Mimi as she started to pull her uniform pants on.
"Corporal Mimi. You're awake I see," Dr. Grey said while striding into the room. Shin close on her heels. "Ah, perhaps we'll give you another minute to finish getting dressed." Dr. Grey sounded calm, but her cheeks flushed a little and she deftly turned Shin around and walked out.
Mimi was standing there with her pants halfway up her thighs, hospital gown hiked up and askew, her eyes and mouth open wide. "What the F*$#," she said, loud enough for anyone just outside to hear.
-------------------------------
"I didn't see anything, Dr. Grey turned me around before I even knew we were in your room," Shin said as he rubbed his recently assaulted shoulder.
Mimi just glared at him.
"Anyways, it is nice to see you Corporal. Things have been so busy, we really haven't seen each other since... the attack," Shin looked away for a second, surprised that so much, and so little, time had passed. "Dr. Grey knows we're friends, I think that's why she called me to walk you back. Hope you don't mind," and this time his smile breaks through.
Mimi punched him again, but she was smiling this time. "I think I could have made it back to my room on my own. It is nice to see you Shin," Mimi said, her smile bright. She stepped a little closer to him, her shoulder touching his arm as they walked. "How has your new class been? Tell me everything! I'm pretty jealous you were recruited into the Shimin mid semester like this."
"It is amazing Mimi. You'd be a perfect fit, if you could learn to loosen up a bit. I love it, but it means more work, not less, and you know how I am about extra effort." That earned him another whack from Mimi, but it was softer than the last few. "The Shimin are really focused on Martial Arts, but also philosophy and leadership. It is the kind of stuff an old master might teach his senior class maybe. I'm learning a lot."
Mimi's smile faltered ever so slightly. The mystique and prestige of the Shimin had always entranced her, but becoming Corporal early had filled up so much of her time that she couldn't pursue it.
"I asked Corporal Dale why someone like me was admitted and not you. He said that you were too good to be a Shimin," Shin grinned. "The group is designed to turn soldiers like me into someone like you."
"Ha, are you trying to butter up your old Corporal?" Mimi said. She was touched though, not by the reason, but that Shin had asked for her specifically. Her stomach fluttered a little.
"Well, this part will make you really jealous, and I don't even have a good answer for why it happened," Shin said, his eyes unfocused slightly, like he was trying to remember something. His fingertips brushed against Mimi's and she grabbed them, almost as a reflex. He looked down at their hands.
Instead of letting go, Mimi tightened her grip and said, "Earth to Shin, are you there? Do you need a pretty girl to hold your hand before you'll finish telling your story?" She could feel the heat rising up her neck, but decided to ignore it.
Shin's ears started to turn a little red and he jumped back a little, breaking the hand hold. "What? No, hahah. Sorry, I just lost my train of thought there."
"Sooo, what is this thing I'm going to be jealous of?"
Shin stared at her blankly for at least 3 heartbeats. "Right! I was going to tell you that I get to train with the Ashigaru squad now too."
"What! Why? I mean, that is amazing. It just doesn't make sense. The Ashigaru are part of the Super Buster Platoon, and are not actually affiliated with the Academy at all. I guess the Academy and the Army platoons all report to General Hamish ultimately..." she trailed off, wondering what it all meant. She always felt Shin was special, and was surprised no one else seemed to notice it. Now it seemed like more people were noticing than she thought would care.
"After the attack, General Hamish arranged it. He said if I was going to throw myself at Supers, even small S ones, then I needed to learn how to deal with them. So far they just kick my butt," but Shin was smiling. His happiness was shining through, and Mimi didn't know if it was from the acknowledgement, or the chance to get stronger.
"You're right, that actually makes me jealous. I'm not worried though, you're going to teach me what you learn," She said looking up at him now. "You owe me that much, though it will be weird to have you teaching me instead of the other way around."
"Deal. Actually, going through some of it with you will help me learn too. They don't exactly 'teach me' so much as put me in live fire scenarios and then see how many attempts it takes before I don't 'die'."
"Cool," Mimi said. She was a martial arts and military geek after all. Shin really had started to grow out of his shell, she could see it on his face. The pain and vulnerability she could sometimes see below the surface of his laid back attitude seemed gone. He was very motivated now. But no one was more motivated than Mimi. 'No way I'm letting you get ahead of me Shin,' she thought. Then she grabbed his hand again and pulled him towards the main campus.
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[Corporal Mimi]
The message came up on Mimi's OHUD with a soft ping that only she could hear. It was well after lights out, and this seemed like a personal message instead of a general notification.
[Yes?] Mimi replied, using the text interface.
[You've been accepted into the Hellfire Club, a great opportunity to unlock your potential. Come to the forest 1km outside the South Gate at 00:00 hours.]
[What do you mean? Who is this?]
Mimi waited, but there was no response. She looked at the clock, and realized they wanted to meet in less than two hours. 'What the hell is going on?' she thought. 'Hellfire, lets look that up at least.'
There wasn't a lot to it, she found a few mentions of it deep in the world web, but the references were about gentlemen's clubs from old Earth. Oh, and one comic book reference from old Earth too.
'Well, I do want to get stronger,' she thought. She dressed in her light armour, with activewear on top, and grabbed her sword. All Corporals had swords for dress uniform occasions.
It was surprisingly easy for her to leave the academy grounds. Perhaps her extra efforts made her a capable sneak thief too. She approached the edge of the forest cautiously, but didn't see anyone or anything.
"He'll Mimi, welcome to Hell," a voice said from behind.
"Ahhhh," Mimi yelled, but, even frightened, she spun towards the danger and drew her sword.
Six figures in dark hooded robes formed a semi circle around her. They each took one step closer to Mimi.
"What is happening here? I'm not afraid to use this," Mimi said, her lips and hands tight.
Six light beams shone on her at once, and she covered her face, blinded after being in the dark.
"Haha, you should see your face Mimi. I can't tell if you're about to cry or murder us," the closest dark figure said. She threw back her hood, and Mimi saw Debbie standing there, Corporal of class 1. The others pulled back their hoods too, and she recognized most as the other top female officers and cadets in the Academy.
"So you're the in the Hellfire club Debbie? Why did you invite me here?" Though she was relieved to see someone she knew, this was all a little sketchy still.
"Oh dove, I'm not in the Hellfire Club, I run it," Debbie said. She sidled up to Mimi, and with a flick of her hand, disarmed her.
Mimi stumbled a few steps back, but came up short against a tree trunk. Debbie was right there. She touched Mimi's face gently with her finger, and then traced it down her throat, between her breasts, over her bellybutton, and circled it around the spot where Debbie's sword should have impaled her. Debbie leaned close, her hot breath raising goosebumps, and whispered, "You're special Mimi. Like us. Welcome to the Hellfire Witches Club."