“That’s us,” Kiroku said, momentarily turning to look in the direction of the sound. “Around here we call it the ‘train to nowhere’, because Wakkanai is practically the north pole.” She laughed to herself while looking back to Yumiko. “Well not the north pole, but it’s the northern most point of the island, ‘kay, and it’s very isolated. The winters can get pretty rough.” She frowned.

“If you’re a local, why Wakkanai?”

“Oh, this is my second assignment,” Kiroku answered, blushing. “I worked in the Naval yards here in Sapporo, repairing A6Ms. I got caught with a boy, so they are shipping me off to the Boneyard as punishment.” Her hands quickly flew up, palms flat out to defend herself. “Before you think anything, we were only kissing, ‘kay!” She started to grin as she rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling, fingers intertwining in her lap. “And, wow, he was a good kisser.”

That was more than Yumiko wished to know.

Her expression suddenly flat lined. “What did you do wrong?”

Yumiko’s lips started to form an answer until the grinding shrill of a locomotive’s metal wheels halting on metal track erupted from an open bay door along the back wall of the warehouse. Many of the girls turned to look as the engine huffed, hissed, and exhaled deeply as it came to a complete stop.

“Tell me later,” Kioku said, smiling and winking mischievously at Yumiko before gathering her things. “It’s a long trip. We can swap stories to pass the time, kay?”

Yumiko noticed that Tsubasa was the quickest to her feet and offered a hand to help Tori up before approaching. “Hey.” Her eyes glanced to Shinko, who still remained in the same position as when she stepped away earlier. “Umm?”

“You two go ahead, I’ll catch up with you later.”

Tsubasa nodded.

Suddenly two red haired teenagers appeared around the corner of the open bay doors, high stepping in unison, their shoes clapping loudly on purpose against the concrete. “Attention!” one yelled loudly over the din of the warehouse as they both snapped sharply into a simultaneous salute.

Everyone within the warehouse jumped to their feet and dropped everything, except Kiroku, who quickly raised her camera in both hands.

“What are you doing,” Yumiko side whispered, her body erect, hand rigid beside her brow.

“Capturing history.”