Chapter 57
I take the clinic entrance from the Crossroads not because it's closer, but it's the only entrance for non-emergencies . I haven't personally seen the back entrance be used since my time here . I imagine that it was used heavily after the attack transported through the back entrance .
"How can I help you today, sir?" a woman at the reception counter asks .
"There should've been a girl with blue pigtails that came by not that long ago . What room's she in?"
"Oh, yes . May I see your ID?"
I hand over my ID . She begins writing the information on a piece of paper . It's a pain how everywhere you go, you need to show your ID . The army keeps track of all your activity and stores them in the Record Zone . Higher ranks go there and inquire on specific people to see what they've been doing . In a way, that's a good thing . If Captain Citrio finds out that Hina was injured and I didn't visit her as her boyfriend, it would be questionable .
"Thank you, Sergeant Kai . Here is your card," the woman says . I store it back into my pocket . "You will find Sergeant Hina on the first floor in room 036 . Have a good day . "
"Thanks," I answer and head down the only hallway . I find the room 036 and go in . Just Hina and Luke inside . Hina is lying on the bed with Luke seated next to her on a chair . "Hey . "
"Hey," Hina greets weakly .
"How's the arm?" I ask while walking in . Hina's left arm is wrapped in white bandages . The sweater is completely burnt off from that side . It goes all the way toward her upper shoulder .
"Still hurts…a lot," she says . "I only got spot treatment right now . Doctors with Healin' magic aren't in yet . My case isn't an emergency, so it'll be a few more hours . "
"Where's Ruby?" Luke suddenly asks . "What happened after we left?"
"Well, not much . I explained things which calmed her down . Major Galan came to check up on things . Went to see General Nero and we got a warning . We parted ways after that, so I'm not sure what she's up to . "
"She's not gonna apologize to Hina? She tried to kill her for no reason! I can't believe she was off the hook . "
"It was a misunderstanding . It won't happen again . "
"Misunderstanding or not, she tried to kill her! She didn't reason things out and wouldn't stop no matter what we said . "
"Just calm down, Luke . You know how Ruby is . "
"I don't . She's a complete nut case from what I saw . So you'll forgive her because it's Ruby? What if it happens again?"
"I'll forgive her because of our history together and that it was a misunderstanding . It won't happen again, I'm telling you . "
"I'm asking what if it does . Whose side are you gonna be on?"
"Luke, it's fine . Let it go," Hina says .
Luke clicks his tongue and stands up . He walks toward me . He puts a hand on my shoulder and then whispers in my ear, "Look, Kai . You're a cool guy, and Hina's really into you, so I support your relationship with her . But you've got to get your priorities straight . It's your job to protect and make her happy now . I won't forgive you if you hurt her in any way . We all know your history with Ruby and why you'll choose to let this go, but think about what that does to Hina . She still thinks about Lucius too . Don't give her more reasons to be sad . "
"I'll give you two some privacy . See ya later, Hina," he says while leaving the room .
"See ya," Hina says . I go take the seat he was sitting on . "What'd he say to you?"
"Nothing really that important . So, what exactly happened with Ruby this morning?"
"Well, I was havin' breakfast with my platoon until she screamed my name . I knew from that moment she found out about us . I stood up and walked toward her tryin' to explain what was goin' on . That's when she suddenly attacked . Didn't use a keyword so it completely caught me off guard . I protected myself with Water magic before it was too late . Thankfully, she didn't attack immediately . Otherwise, things could've turned out much worse . With other members of my platoon caught in the attack too . Moments later, everyone fled the cafeteria . I did whatever I could to stall her attacks until you arrived to calm her down . "
"I see . I'm sorry . "
"What're you apologizin' for? You couldn't have known that she would return from her mission so early . "
"Yeah but, I should've been there . I'm usually there for breakfast on time, but…" I say and look toward the door . I can't have anyone find out about how things really are .
Hina whispers, "Last night…Marin?"
I nod .
"Did Luke… This mornin'?"
"He doesn't know, obviously . Managed to fool him . I'm sure Marin's out of the danger zone now," I whisper . I continue in an audible voice, "What I'm really interested in is how you managed to make those tables float inside your Water magic . "
Hina smiles and says, "That's one of my new tricks . Amazin' isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's amazing . How'd you do it? It didn't look like the Water was moving, but I wasn't close enough to really see . "
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"Not really sure how to explain it . I've been messin' around a lot with my magic tryin' different things . I wanted to make it possible to put somethin' inside my Water magic . At first, I tried pushin' the water with Wind magic but it wasn't efficient, and it didn't work . I tried havin' the Water move in circular motions, but it was sloppy and didn't keep the object in place . It also won't work for larger and heavier things . I knew I had to incorporate some sort of internal pressure, so I kept tryin' . Eventually, it worked . "
"That doesn't make any sense . Heavy objects don't float like that . "
"How about I show you?" Hina asks . She sits up and lies against the bed frame . "I'll make that chair float . "
"Sure," I say and sit up . I move the chair in an open space in front of the bed . This chair usually wouldn't be able to float since it's made out of stone . I stand back next to Hina .
She extends out her right arm . A few seconds later, a clump of water appears around the chair . It has the chair completely surrounded in water . The water moves upward off the ground and forms a sphere, taking the chair with it . The weirdest part is that the chair is at the bottom edge of the bubble . It looks like it's about to fall through, but it isn't . What the?
"Cool, isn't it?"
I walk around her magic . The water doesn't look like it's moving at all . Why isn't the chair falling through? No movement in the sphere . It's just stationary . I ask, "Yeah but…isn't it weird that the chair isn't in the middle? You said you incorporated some kinda internal pressure, right?"
"Yeah . Well, I only got this workin' recently . Haven't tested it much . "
"Hmm…" I interject . I don't want to wet my clothes, but I'm curious about how this chair isn't sinking through the bottom . I extend my arm out to put it in, but something stops me . I knit my eyebrows .
My hand isn't going through the sphere of water . It doesn't feel like regular water at all . It's wet, but it almost feels like I'm pressing into a firm mattress . The water around my palm bends inward and spreads around it . "What the hell? You're telling me this is normal water?"
No way . Then that means she managed to do what I couldn't? She did what Ragnar did…and if she did this before I told her about it, she just happened upon it by complete accident? That must have how Ragnar discovered it too… Doesn't that mean she's more talented than me…? I really don't want to admit it .
"That is weird… I never thought to touch the water yet . I was goin' to test if I could levitate in the sphere of water eventually . "
Floating in the water? I don't see why that wouldn't be possible . Water magic really is incredible . If only Hiro could see this now… Maybe Void magic has some special properties as well . Something I can change to make it do something different… I won't lose to Hina . I'll make cold fire eventually too . It seems she hasn't realized that she changed the properties of water, the special property of Water magic . She'd definitely brag about this . The more I mess with this weird water, the more likely she's going to realize .
I freeze up when she says, "Hey… Doesn't this mean that I changed the special property of Water magic?"
Damn . She caught on .
She laughs, "I told you I'm more creative than you! I figured it out before you did . "
"Shut up . You didn't figure out anything . You just got lucky and did it by accident . You don't even understand what you did . If you figured it out, what exactly did you change about water? Can you make it heavier?"
"You're just jealous . How cute . "
I frown . I am jealous, but I won't admit it .
"I'll figure it out eventually . It doesn't change that I did it before you . "
I almost feel like spilling the beans about my unique magic . Never to be seen Void magic and Mana . Not even known to the Academy . Although, Moria did leave out a few details . But this is different . We learned all the Mana types and magic categories . There's no way he would leave out a branch of magic . It would be like only mentioning Scrap Mana and Unrefined Mana . And never mention the existence of Abjuration magic . But is Void magic under Evocation or is it its own branch of magic?
"Are you at a loss for words? Can't handle the truth?" Hina asks with a smirk .
"Okay, okay . You got me," I admit . But I know that I'm still ahead in talent . I'll let her have her glory for now . I'll keep shut about my secrets . I can't be telling everyone . I've only ever told Marin . It would be a punch in her face if I easily revealed it to someone else .
"Wow . I didn't think you'd admit it . You're pretty stubborn, you know . "
"Yeah, well . It's true I haven't made cold fire yet . I'm still curious about this water you made though . . . " I say . "How do I put my hand in the sphere of water? Maybe I have to rip it open . . . "
"Who knows . Try forcin' your way in . "
I put my palm on the outer surface again . I gradually put more force on the water . It's weird because the sphere doesn't displace at all . The shape is more distorted the harder I drive my hand into it . The dent created enlarges the harder I press . The water I push inward spreads out around my palms along the outer surface . At some point, my hand finally pierces through the bubble . It was a bit sudden, and I almost lose my balance but maintain my ground .
Inside is the strangest feeling . It's like something is pulling on my arm near the edge, but inside it's not really pulling . The water tingles my skin . I move my arm around, feeling like this water is some thick sludge . But it's not because it felt like ordinary water when I touched the outside . This is mysterious . My hand looks a bit swollen too .
Before I know it, my entire right arm is inside the water . I didn't think I put my arm that far . I'm going to be drenched entirely at this rate .
"Kai!" Hina suddenly exclaims with an urgent tone . "Loo-look at your arm!"
I look down . The point where I pierced the water is weird . It's not a dent in the water anymore but the opposite . It's like a tall hill growing taller with every moment . It's literally creeping farther into my body . "What the hell?!"
I immediately pull my arm back with all my force . My eyes might deceive me, but the sphere of water displaces toward me instead of staying in place . I place my other hand on the sphere to stop it from moving closer to me as I tug away . It turns out to be a mistake . My other hand pierces the water too . At this rate, I'll be swallowed wholly .
All the water disappears immediately, and the chair makes a thump on the ground . Hina deactivated her magic . My clothes aren't wet anymore . I turn to Hina and exclaim, "What the hell was that, Hina?"
"I-I don't know…"
"It was like that water was alive! What'd you do to make it like that?" I ask, even though she doesn't know .
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"I didn't know that could happen . "
"So, other than the thing you don't know you did, you don't know anything else?"
"Well…it uses more Mana than a regular ball of water of that size would require . That's what I noticed about utilizin' it . It's like the Mana's more compact or somethin' . "
More Mana? Maybe that's the trick . I have to find a way to compress the Mana into a smaller space . Then perhaps I'll be able to make cold fire .
"There's somethin' else I didn't mention . "
"What's that?"
"The truth is… I could only get it to work less than 50% of the time before the fight with Ruby . "
Less than 50% of the time? I don't know what she means by that . She's just doing some weird instructions that she doesn't understand . So does that mean she's assigning new directions every time?
She continues, "There's this feelin' that's present every time it worked . Durin' the fight, I did it purely by feelin' instead of thinkin' . I don't know how else to explain it . I haven't changed anythin' else . "
"So you're not writing new instructions every time you try to make it work?"
"I don't think so . At least not on purpose . I'm not sure, to be honest . I'll study it more in my free time, and I'll let you know if I find anythin' new . "
So it really was fully by accident . She's not more creative than me . "Yeah, you better . "
Hina grins . "I like the jealous side of you more . If you ask nicely, I'll try to explain step by step on how I did it . I feel bad after my new trick almost drowned you . "
I frown . She's never going to let go of this . I wasn't planning on showing her this, but I don't want to give her the satisfaction of besting me at something . "Hmph . Well, I have a trick up my sleeve that you don't know about either . I'll show you . "
"Oh, yeah? What kind of trick uses Fire magic? You're not goin' to blow up the room, are you?"
"You'll be practically begging for me to tell you after I show you this," I say and prepare instructions for my Mana . I check to see if anyone is in the hallways or nearby . No one . Perfect . I shut the door . I can't have her see any visible part of my magic . I'll put a one-sided portal facing up under the bed and one in front of me facing me . I'll have it set so that it automatically deactivates my Void magic after 15 seconds . I send out my Mana and activate it . A purple portal appears in front of me, blocking my view of Hina . The length of it covers the entire area in front of me leaving no gaps from under . She won't see me unless she gets up from the bed .
"Oh, I can't wait . "
"Watch closely . When I snap my fingers, I'll disappear from this world . Don't blink, or you'll miss it," I say while keeping an internal clock of how long has passed . I'll time it so that in case she stands up, the magic will have already ended . I raise an arm in front of me close to the entrance of the portal, pressing my thumb against my middle finger . With only a few seconds left to go, I snap my finger and move my hand into the gate . I don't use too much force because the underside of her bed is literally in front of my hand .
"What?!" she exclaims .
I quietly take a step or two to my left so that I reappear at a different location . At the moment my magic deactivates, I snap my fingers and do a frontal flip forward . Her jaws are dropped, and eyes widened .
"How'd you do that?! What'd you do? That was amazin'!"
"Like I said . I have my own tricks up my sleeve," I say with a smirk . Now, I have the upper hand . She's going to offer to help me make cold fire willingly to find out what I did .
"That's so cool . I guess we'll both have our secrets then . "
Huh? That's not how it was supposed to work… A bit disappointed, but at least I have something to rub in her face now if she brings up that I can't make cold fire . Although, I'm not sure it's the same effect because she can't replicate it while I can…
'By the way, Kai . We're goin' to need to start callin' each other differently with anyone else around . Since we're doin' this," Hina says .
"Oh, sure," I answer . She did use nicknames with her old boyfriend . Footsteps resound closeby . A lot of them . I quickly move the chair back to its original position but closer to the bed . I sit in it and grab Hina's hands . The footsteps seem to stop in front of this room . I signal to her what's happening by looking between her and the door and raising my eyebrows .
She smiles . Oh, no . I know that smile . That's when she's probably up to no good . I shake my head . Her smile only stretches farther .
"Darling…not there…" she says . I glare at her . What kind of lousy reputation is she trying to give me? I already gave Luke a negative impression, thinking back on his words . None of it really applies to us because she knew what to expect going in . Even if this relationship is a lie, it might make her feel less alone . We'll both have to keep up the act regardless . It might also be one of the few things keeping her emotions stable .
"What about here?" I ask . I don't need Luke to be on my back for not showing enough affection to Hina . Having a bad reputation is better than everyone discovering our lie . She moans . I think back to our moment yesterday . Can't help but feel excited . I try to stop thinking about it .
It doesn't look like they're coming in . Probably better that way . It'll be harder to leave when there's a crowd of people in here .
"Yes, right there!" Hina exclaims . She's crazy . What if they come in and nothing is going on? Then our whole cover could be blown . I'd better be prepared to jump on her if I that door knock turns even a little bit . Which may be a bit painful for Hina considering her arm . But she asked for it .
Instead of the doorknob turning, the footsteps fade away . They must've gone back . I sigh . I whisper, "You're insane . Who else knows what happened to you? Those were a lot of footsteps . "
Hina smiles and whispers, "No one except for my team . Luke must've brought them together . I don't know if he's contacted anyone else . "
"Well, I'm gonna get out of here before it's too late," I whisper .
"Okay . I'll see ya at dinner . We'll still need to discuss in private about how often we'll meet . Good luck later today," she whispers and then continues in a normal voice, "See ya later, Darling!"
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What does she mean by good luck? She knows about the training session later? I need to think of a nickname for her . Cookie, because she's sweet?
No . I mean, she's not really that sweet . She screws with me too much . Then it would have to be something that shows her worth to me . Something that would match her person somehow . Well, she has high Affinity for Water magic . I stand up and say, "See ya, Pearl . "
Couldn't I have thought of something better? It doesn't sound very affectionate now that I think about it . She's definitely going to make fun of me later . I grab onto the doorknob but hesitate . Those people are going to be waiting outside somewhere . Should I leave out the back entrance? No one will probably notice so I won't get into trouble . It's still early morning . I open the door and walk into the hallway . I check the reception area from here . Two guys are directly looking at me . Damn . No choice but to go out the front .
I try not to make eye contact with anyone on my way out . Luke, Dennis, and Simon are all here . Presumably, the rest are part of their platoon from the army side . Unfortunately, my eyes meet Luke's by the entrance of the clinic . He glares at me but doesn't say anything . No one does . Not even the woman behind the counter . She seems to have read the heavy mood .
Feels like an eternity has passed, but I finally walk out of there . I sigh . I'd better meet up back with Marin . She'd probably be out of my room by now . The cafeteria maybe? But then again, it was just a battlefield . Maybe they canceled breakfast to reorganize the place . I head over there anyway . It's literally right across the room .
It's a bit noisy over there . I walk over to see what's going on . It's way past the usual time for breakfast, and there shouldn't be meal handouts . Most of everyone here is reorganizing the tables to their original general locations . Some people eating on the floor near the place where they hand out the meals . I suppose they made an exception for today since they couldn't properly hand them out due to the situation .
I expect to see Jetia and the other goons somewhere, but I don't . They must've one of the early birds and finished eating before it happened . Some people are idling around either wandering or sitting . I make sure I don't miss anyone between the cracks . Not much to do now but check upstairs . There should be additional instructions about the Rising Champions . That must be what Hina was talking about when she made that remark .
I head up to mail station on the third level . Inside is a new piece of paper as I suspected . It's more information regarding the Rising Champions . Most of it are things I already know from Hina asking those two men . Nothing on it about its real purpose as Captain Albius informed me . There's a lunch meeting between our matched platoons . Says to bring our equipment . The battle is in two weeks from today, and our opponents are from Xantho . The battleground is to be determined .
I sigh and toss the paper . So there goes my plan to pre-prepare Jetia and the goons before this happened . At least there are two weeks before the battle . I head down one level and check my room . No one here . I close and lock the door before walking over to Marin's room . There's someone nearby, so I don't stop at her door . I walk to the end of this corridor before turning back . He's gone, so I head back to Marin's door and then knock . "Marin, it's me . "
She opens the door without saying anything and then goes back inside . I look in both directions of the hallway to make sure no one's looking before walking into her room . Marin is lying on the bed . She must be really down about the fight between Ruby and Hina .
I skip the small talk and say, "So, I don't know if you went to check the cafeteria…but the battle was pretty serious . Ruby used Rich Mana from what I saw . Hina suffered some pretty bad burns on one of her arms, but she's fine . She's staying in the clinic until the doctors with Healing magic come in late morning . "
Marin trembles . I walk over and then lie on the bed next to Marin . I hug her from behind and ask, "What's wrong?"
"I'm…scared . "
"Why?"
"Of what's going to happen if Ruby finds out about us . I did go downstairs to check the damage . It was more than I expected . And you told me she used Rich Mana . Ruby was seriously trying to kill Hina, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, but I cleared up the misunderstanding . Told her everything she needed to hear . That it's a fake relationship and none of the things she heard was true . "
"What'd she hear exactly?"
"I don't know," I answer . Now that I think about it, who did she hear it from? I should've asked her when I had the chance . "She won't find out about us because we're keeping it a secret . There's nothing to worry about . "
"If she finds out, do you think she would try to kill me too?"
"If she does…which she won't but…I don't think she would . "
"I thought that too but…"
"I mean, you two were so clo—" I cut myself off . We've both only known Ruby for four months . They've gotten along, but wouldn't say they're that close in that duration of time .
"I think I was in denial about her . Other than the way she spoke and her appearance… I wanted to believe she was always Luna at heart . But she would never do something like that…"
"Stop thinking that way . I wanted to think that way too, but they're not the same . They're similar but Luna's dead . Don't forget it . "
She turns around and buries her face on my chest . I let her cry it all out . She just realized that she lost a close friend . I can't help but feel sad too, and a few tears escape . I tighten my embrace .
Eventually, she calms down and stops crying . She sniffles and looks up to me . "There's something I have to tell you . "
From the look of her eyes, this seems serious . She continues, "Jetia knows . "
Jetia knows…? It takes a moment to register on what she means by that . No way . Does she mean that Jetia knows about us?!
"He was looking for me when the fight was happening, but I wasn't answering my door . So, he had no choice but to look for you . That's when he came banging on your door . I was still inside getting dressed…"
Oh, shit . I didn't lock my door . Not that I could've in the situation that unfolded . "He saw you bare?"
It's a dumb question that doesn't need to be answered right now, but I asked without thinking . She explains, "Um, no…but I was in my underwear when he barged in . He closed the door and gave me privacy to put on the rest of my clothes . "
Good . If he didn't, I'd beat him senseless . She continues . "He wanted an explanation, so I revealed everything . I told him to keep it a secret, but I don't know what he's going to do . "
So, that's the other piece making Marin feel uneasy right now . Knowing how Jetia only out there to screw me over most of the time, I don't know what he'll actually do . If Ruby finds out about us from someone else, it definitely won't be pretty . But what if confront her and confess face to face? Maybe then, it won't end as violently . I really don't think we need to take such drastic measures yet . If he turns us in, there's no way I would fund everyone's first Mana manipulation seminar .
"He won't tell anyone . At least not yet . I'm willing to bet that he's going to leverage this into coursing me into doing whatever he wants . Something like continuing to fund everyone's magic lessons . But, I'll stay with you until lunch if it makes you feel safer . Ruby wouldn't dare try to hurt you if I'm around in her way . "
"Okay…"
"We can't just stay here the entire time, though . I'm gonna pick up my equipment in my room . We're probably gonna end up with group training after lunch . I'll meet you outside the 'B' block," I say and then leave the room . I go into my room to use the bathroom first . After, I put on my armor, clip on my belts and attach my sheaths . I lock my room on my way out and head to the meeting point .
Marin is there waiting . We could go to one of the private training rooms on the second floor of the training area, but then Marin can't get much training in . The space inside is mostly confined meant for close quarters training . So, we go outside not in the back where the archery range is . In the front . I'll be the target for Marin . I'll try to parry from whatever angle she shoots at me .
Several hours pass . It's almost time for lunch . We head over there before the line is too long . Usually, people are already waiting before it's exactly noon .
Upon arrival to the cafeteria, man nearby says, "Hey, Sergeant Kai . "
I recognize him . He's in Captain Albius' platoon . He continues, "Captain Albius' waiting at one of the cooking stations . Meet him there when you have your entire platoon gathered . Sigma 3's already there . Food's waiting as well, so there's no need for you to wait in line . "
He walks away, presumably to the cooking station . That means, we just need to wait for everyone to show up . I'm not worried about Jetia and the goons . Ruby's attendance, on the other hand, doesn't have a good track record .
"Kai!" Ruby exclaims . "I'm here! Am I late?"
She runs up to us, panting . Her hair is dripping wet . Always rushed as usual .
"You still had some time . Why's it always look like you got out of the shower?"
"I was trainin' really hard 'n' lost track of time . Didn't wanna be sweaty, so I hopped in the shower . But I didn't wanna be late either," she says, still out of breath with a hand over her stomach . Her legs are wobbly . The same excuse every time . It's strange how she isn't used to her routine by now . Is she really training to the brink of exhaustion every time? I know she's working hard for my sake, so there's no reason to ask .
"Well, whatever . Sit down over there," I say pointing to the nearest wall . Can't have her sit in the middle of the open and block people's way . " You look like you're about to collapse . We still have to wait for Jetia and the others . "
"'Kay…" Ruby says and then limps over to the wall . We follow closely behind . Now is a good time to ask her about the other matter .
"By the way, Ruby, who'd you hear from about the relationship stuff between Hina and me? I was looking for you the previous day, but Captain Albius said you were on a separate mission, so I was gonna tell you first thing in the morning, but…"
She reaches the wall, turns around, and practically falls right on her bottom . "Well, I came back from my mission early… 'N' I was hungry, so I went ta the cafeteria . Someone was talkin' 'bout how Hina confessed ta ya the day before . 'N' she took ya ta 'er room . "
"So you decided to kill Hina after that…?"
"Yeah, but I'm sorry . I didn't know ya were pretendin' . Hina's fine now, right?"
"Yeah, she's fine . But seriously . Next time, try to talk it out first . Don't randomly try to kill people, okay? That's bad . "
"'Kay . "
"How're you feeling? Seems like you're always clutching onto your stomach . "
She clutches her stomach tighter and answers, "I'm fine…"
"You don't look fine…and this isn't the first time I've seen you like this either . "
She looks down . "I'm just…constipated . Been havin' stomach issues fer a while now . I didn't wanna bring it up . "
That can't be the reason . She's using that as an excuse for something else . I'll get to the bottom of this right now . "When did that start? You were fine before we joined the army . "
Well, technically I've only known her since the day we joined… But who she used to be, never had that issue .
"I don't know…maybe a month after we joined? It started outta the blue . "
"Did you do anything around that time to trigger it? Anything change in your daily routine?"
"I think it's the food… Doesn't make me feel good . "
"The food…?" I question . It's a plausible reason . The food quality, in general, is much worse than what we ate before . Now it is much worse than we joined too . More the reason I progress to Lieutenant as soon as possible . We'd have access to the cooking stations . "Well, you don't have to worry about that for much longer . We'll soon have permanent access to the cooking stations . Today, we'll be under Captain Albius' care again for lunch . "
"Are ya happy 'bout that?" she asks . A strange question . Why wouldn't anyone be happy about that? More importantly, it should resolve her stomach issues .
"Of course . It'll be better than what we normally have access too . The food's a lot better so you won't have issues with your stomach in the future . "
"I see . Then I'm happy too!" she exclaims with a smile .
Sometimes it's tough to tell what she's thinking . Other than her random bouts of anger, she's only trying to help me . It's a miracle; this was the only time she's had a real emotional outburst . I'll keep her closer than how much I've been to make sure she's eating well . "From now on, I want to see you every day at lunch and dinner . No skipping unless we're assigned to separate missions . This is for the sake of the team too . We're gonna work together more . "
I think about including breakfast too, but with the complications involving Marin and Hina, it's best to leave that one out . Most of the time we're oversleeping anyway . Ruby replies, "'Kay I got it Kai…no more skippin' . "
"Good . "
Jetia shows up with the four other men in our platoon within a few minutes . Jetia is not acting anything out of the usual . I hope he doesn't plan to bring up what he discovered . We head over to the cooking station area as a group . We find the room Captain Albius is settled in and go in .