[Strike Witches] Witches of Aurora Novel Adaptation

The Witches and the Smile

(Adapted from the chapter Laura Nissinen, from the manga series Witches of Aurora by Kyougoku Shin.)

Since Hasse got shot down, the activity of Neuroi had been calming down. After all, they lost a great number of units in that battle, so they might be struggling to recover.

Hasse had been hospitalized for several weeks. Until her discharge, Laura Nissinen was going to serve as the substitute battle commander of the 24th Squadron. She was a good leader and everything was in order and falling into place under her management. The thing was, her training was too hard. Not only the rookie witches but also Eila and Nipa couldn't take it.

"You're already done? If you go on like this, you'll end up getting completely exhausted just like in the last battle. You're our ace. I'm worried about you," said Laura when she saw Eila stopping running and bending over to catch her breath. She was talking about the time Eila got too exhausted from the long fight to dodge enemy fire perfectly and then needed Nipa to put up a shield for her through the battle.

However, Laura was not only tough on others, but also herself. After she reprimanded Eila, she added, "But, perhaps you could say that about me too," and carried on with her own training, her long ponytail swinging left and right behind her back as she jogged.

Eila understood why Laura acted like that, though. Hasse's being shot down greatly shook the whole squadron, as Hasse was not only a great asset to their team, but also their emotional pillar. No one knew when the Neuroi would strike again, so they had to rebuild their troops as soon as possible.

Today's training was finally over. Eila and Nipa were sitting in the sauna, enjoying the relaxation.

"AAHH—! I'm beat!" Eila exclaimed as she spread her four limbs out. She was sitting on the bench at the lowest height, looking aimlessly at the ceiling with a birch branch in her hand.

"Yeah, today's training was really hard," said Nipa, who was sitting next to Eila. Unlike Eila, Nipa was in a quite ladylike position. Her upper half was straightened up, her legs were closed and her hands were resting on the surface of the step.

"Freaking Lapra added five more laps after all that..."

"But you see! It feels so good to get into a sauna after running around!" said Nipa as she patted her sweaty naked chest and smiled at Eila. Again, Eila noticed that Nipa smiled more and more often since they went to the hospital to visit Hasse.

"Ehhh... I'm fine with sweating in just the sauna, but this here isn't fine. I'm too tired..."

"I'm not talking about sweat! It's about the refreshing feelings after exercising!"

At a corner of the sauna were a wooden bucket and water ladle, steam rising from the ladle.

Eila exhaled, sweat drops rolling down her rosy cheeks, "Hey you know, isn't Lapra's training a little too rigid? I'm not talking about us, but the rookies will end up falling behind."

Nipa started to ponder, "Yes, Indeed. She already had that Spartan style. It's gotten even worse since she became the temporary commander. It feels that she's being as strict with us as Hasse was gentle."

"Yeah," Eila replied as she adjusted her posture and turned to face Nipa, "But it's not just that. If she took it easy and received everyone with a good smile, things would be a bit better, but Lapra's not that kind of person."

"Well, I've never seen her crack a smile."

"Same here," said Eila and immediately a sly smile appeared on her face, "That's it!"