Dein Weg ist Mein Weg

Chapter 1: The Nightmare

As the alarm clock rang, she awoke instantly. Within seconds, she was up, her bed was made, and she was standing at attention. It took several seconds before she realized.

"Right, I forgot. I'm not at home anymore", she said to herself and relaxed her body. That's when she noticed she was covered in sweat, and remembered. The nightmare. The same she had been having for months.

She got out of her sweaty pyjamas, showered, changed into her new school uniform, packed her bag, and left the apartment. Before closing the door, she looked back inside to see the mountains of boxes till unpacked. She hadn't had the energy or will to deal with them. She closed the door and began walking to school. but when she was halfway down the stairs, she doubled back and checked that she hadn't left the door unlocked. She hadn't.

All throughout the morning, as she got ready and began walking to school, the nightmare kept playing over and over in her head. At this point she had given up on stopping it. At this point she could recite it from memory.

She would be standing in the rain, unable to move. She would just look on helplessly as the panzer III fell down the cliffside and into the river. She would try to move, to get free, but she would be unable. Her arms would be tied, her legs restrained, and her neck tightly held by a leash leading to her mother. Any attempt to move, to help, would start to choke her, and yet she tried. As she would thrash to get free, to do something, sooner or later the leash would be released, and she would fall. Instead of hitting the ground however, she would find herself in the commander's seat of the cramped tank, slowly filling with water. Once again she would be powerless, the hatches too heavy to open, as they sank into the dark depths. The only thing she could do was watch her faceless friends cry out in anguish.

"Why didn't you help us?"

"Why wouldn't you do something?"

"You only cared about winning didn't you?"

"We were only pawns to you."

"That's the Nishizumi way for you."

As the tank would fill with water more and more, the voices would die down, as her friends lost the ability to speak from their lungs filling with water. In the end she would be alone in the dark and murky depths, chipping for air as the tank filled to the brim, no rescue in sight.

Bam!

She was awoken from her replaying nightmare by the lamppost she had just walked into. As she took a step back to massage the bump on her forehead, a group of students in white shirts and green skirts walked by. "Perhaps," she thought, "this nightmare will soon be over." Today was after all a new day. She had left Kuromorimine and her strict mother behind. She might not be granted happiness, what right did someone like her have to happiness after what she'd done, but perhaps her life was finally on an upward turn. She kept walking through the streets of the Zuikaku as she made her way to school. Still, the nightmare kept replaying.

She would stand in the rain

The panzer III would fall

She would thrash against the restraints

She would fall into the mud

The voices would cry for help

She could do nothing

The water would drown them all

She'd be in the rain

The panzer would fall

She would trash

She would fall

The voices would cry

She'd do nothing

They would all drown

The rain

The panzer

The thrashing

The fall

The voices

...

She didn't even hear the teacher calling her name.

"Huh?" She said as she snapped back to the present as a girl with glasses and long orange hair sitting behind her to her right kicked her chair. Her thoughts left the murky river behind as she found herself sitting in a classroom. The teacher was clearly taking attendance.

"Is Miss Nishizumi here?" the teacher repeated. "Nishizumi Maho?"

Maho refocused her attention to the here and now, raised her hand, and replied.

"Here!"