Hello everyone! I'm back with another (late) update! The continuation of the previous chapter is here and while Nana is mostly the star of the chapter, Romeo is squeezing in for his share of the spotlight too. And there's still a couple of surprise guests appearing here, but I don't think it's too hard to guess when the hint is in the previous chapter.
That disclaimer again: I don't own GE, though I'm still trying to find ways to support the fandom in any way I can.
Spirit of the Sky
Chapter 15 – Doing What I Can Do
Darkness.
It was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. She couldn't remember when she fell asleep, but all she remembered before she blacked out was her old memories from the orphanage. She wasn't physically tired as she was in charge of cooking and helping out in the camp for the entire day. Maybe it was because she was doing the things she enjoyed that she didn't realize that the fatigue was slowly catching up to her.
Nana rolled to the side in her sleeping bag, just in time for a small ray of light to hit her face. The sleeping bag next to her was empty, but the occupant was already standing in front of the tent with her hand still holding onto the covering cloth. From the shadows cast onto the tent, she didn't stand outside on her own.
"Go get some rest now, okay?" Nana recognized the male voice to be Hiro's, but his shadow was barely visible. "If you need anything, just say the word and I'll come running with your request!"
Ciel let out a sigh before stepping into the tent, blocking most of the moonlight, "This is nothing. I have taken care of more soldiers in a single day before and I can still work on other reports at night."
The chef held back a chuckle after hearing what the conversation was about. The brunette's crush on the vice captain wasn't a secret as his flirting acts were pretty much done publicly. While his flirting had been reduced because they were in the war zone, Hiro didn't stop caring about her well being. The way he doted on Ciel reminded her of how Romeo was being a worrywart about her.
"We all need to rest too, Ciel," Hiro addressed the vice captain casually. "I mean, I know that you're good at a lot of things, but I don't want you to push yourself too hard. The best soldiers are still people and people need time to wind up and relax."
Ciel let out another sigh as she tried closing the tent cover, but the brunette held the cloth and stopped her attempt to keep him shut, "You'd better listen to your own words. Your injuries need to heal before your assignment tomorrow, but you are wasting your own resting time to walk me back to my tent."
"They don't hurt anymore after you treated me with love and care," the brunette grinned at her and gently removed her hand from the tent's cloth. "You did all you could to help me, your subordinate, so I'm repaying the favor to you. Besides, I care about you too, Ciel…"
The vice captain paused for a moment in response to Hiro's softer voice at the end. Her face was hidden from his eyes under the shade of her bangs as she gently covered the tent, "You should get some rest as well. I've applied some medicine to your wounds and it will work better if you let your body rest more."
Her soft tone had replaced her initial stern one, which had caught the brunette off guard. Ciel had already closed the tent on his face and only let a small line of light come through between the small space between the cloths. His vague shadow was still visible from the inside as he stood still for a moment before slowly walking away, presumably back to his own tent.
Nana' attention went to the vice captain as she made her way to the strategy board on her side of the tent. She turned on the small lamp above the board, illuminating the board's contents for her to see. The brightness didn't bother the chef as she turned to face the vice captain. The shuffling sound of her movement inside the sleeping bag caught Ciel's attention before the vice captain shifted her focus from the board in front of her.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Ciel asked softly. "Hiro's loud voice before must have−"
"Nah, I'm okay," Nana sat up and gave her a smile in response. "I woke up just a bit before you two arrived."
The vice captain sighed in relief, though slightly, before she put her focus back on the board. Or at least, she tried to, but her blue eyes gave off a different feeling rather than her usual stoic and stern look. Compared to their first meeting months previously, Nana felt that Ciel had changed in a positive way and that she acted more like a person with emotions rather than a doll who would obey any orders.
Seeing as she knew which person Ciel had been spending most of her time with, Nana could figure out the person who had influenced her attitude the most.
"Hiro cares a lot about you, huh?" Nana hugged her legs as she gave the vice captain a smile. "He cares a lot about us, but I think he pays more attention to you."
Ciel's hand stopped at one of the notes on the board when she heard what the chef said. Months ago, the vice captain would quickly deny that fact and accused him of trying to get closer just because of her position. Her words were stern and loud enough for the entire team to hear on a daily basis, which was something Nana could remember very well. It was only recently that the accusations came into a stop, even if the two of them didn't look like they were that much different towards each other.
The chef could see that Ciel's eyes were filled with confusion. She knew about the vice captain's rough past and about how hard it was to talk with her as a person and a friend. Ciel was starting to be more open, often a little curious about various casual topics the team was talking about. It was starting to become more and more apparent that she was trying to fit into the team and she was learning to get along with the others.
She was left in one kind of relationship that she still struggled to understand and her confused look gave it away every time that kind of topic came up.
"I can still manage everything by myself without him being involved, so having him around more than necessary becomes more of a nuisance than being helpful," Her tone wasn't as stern as she usually would as she slowly moved her hand across the board, "Although… this is the first time I have someone who would care about me for who I am and not what my rank is."
Nana's chuckle caught the vice captain's attention and she turned to look at the chef, "He kinda reminds me of Romeo in a way, but Romeo doesn't do it openly like Hiro does. At least, not always…"
"Aren't you…" Ciel stopped her questioning for a moment and turned back to the board. "Do you think that he is being bothersome, trying to check on you when you don't feel that it is necessary?"
Nana tilted her head in confusion as she kept looking at the vice captain.
"W-What is it?" Ciel started to look nervous with the chef staring at her. "Did… did I ask something I shouldn't have?"
Nana shook her head, "No, it's just… Shouldn't you be happy when you finally have someone who would think and care about you? I know I'm happy to have Romeo being worried about me because he shows that he cares about me. Aren't you happy to have someone who cares about you for who you are?"
"To have someone… who cares about me for who I am…?" Ciel repeated in a whisper.
The chef watched her for a moment, seeing as the vice captain was left staring at the board instead. Knowing her, she was most likely trying to think things through when it wasn't even necessary to think too much. Unlike the rest of the team, Ciel wasn't too knowledgeable about things outside military-related issues. Being a friend and a teammate of hers, Nana was willing to push the vice captain into the right direction.
She decided to leave the vice captain to think while trying to do whatever it was she was planning on the strategy board. Nana had rolled to face the opposite direction as she was going back to sleep, but noticed the disappearance of the light from the board. The rustling sound coming from behind her back told her that Ciel decided to get into her sleeping bag instead of continuing her work.
Nana felt a little too excited as she realized that for the first time since she joined the team, she had a topic she was more familiar with compared to Ciel. She was a little jealous for a moment when she knew someone her age had accomplished more than most adults had, but she was finally given the chance to be able to teach the vice captain something new. This was probably the kind of feeling that older siblings had about teaching their younger siblings.
The sound of waves could be heard as the battleship bearing the Susano'o flag moved through the vast sea. The members of the navy were pacing around the ship on a patrol duty, even if their surrounding environment was peaceful. They were still at war and an unusually peaceful moment was something they should be suspicious about. The fact that the ship was far from the chaos of the battles made the sounds of gunshots and bombing unheard from their position.
While the navies were busy with the roles assigned to each of their posts, the group of three soldiers in black uniform stood out among the regular military uniform of Susano'o. One of them was crouching by the cabin door, looking up at the sky desperately, while the other two were trying to comfort him.
"Am I cursed to always be assigned to patrol on another battleship?" Hiro asked flatly while his eyes were still glued on the clouds in the blue sky. "Or is this some sort of joke to put me in a place I fear the most?"
Nana and Romeo stood by his side as they weren't sure what else they should do to help him. Hiro looked calm enough when his attention was directed on the sky instead of the sea around them, but their job wasn't to watch the sky's condition.
The blond cadet patted Hiro's shoulder before squeezing it in an attempt to make him forget about the fact that they were surrounded by water. His gesture only caused him to jolt in surprise and momentarily divert his attention to the sea. Hiro quickly shut his eyes the moment he saw the water around him, preventing him from having more thoughts about drowning.
"I-I'm not gonna look! I can watch the clouds all day and this survey mission will go in a blink of an eye!" The brunette spoke up a little louder than necessary, getting the attention of other nearby navies.
With a few extra pairs of eyes set on the group of three, Romeo quickly took over the conversation, "W-Well, there's also the possibility of an aerial attack too, right?"
The blond watched as the navies stared back at him. The silent stare they were giving him was making things a lot more awkward than it should, but he felt that it was because of his own less than satisfactory track record in combat. Thankfully enough, the staring came into a stop and Romeo let out a relieved sigh.
"Man… that felt really weird…" the blond commented before turning his attention back to his brunette teammate, who still had his eyes closed. "Sorry I can't help much… The captain told us that missions like this should somehow help you overcome your fear of drowning…"
Hiro refused to respond as he kept his eyes shut. In a way, he was glad that the vice captain wasn't assigned to the same mission as well. He still needed to keep his image in front of her and covering for his drowning fear was not an easy task to do. Even if she had already found out about it in a bad moment, he wasn't going to let her see him shuddering in fear. He didn't hold back on his fears with the others as he trusted them enough not to report unnecessary things to the vice captain.
"Hey Nana, any ideas to keep him calm even in the middle of the sea like this?" the brunette could hear Romeo's voice as his hand left his shoulder.
Hiro stood still as he refused to cooperate, until his nose picked up the scent of food in front of him. Knowing the chef, he expected Nana to lure him to open his eyes with food, but he wasn't going to eat when it wasn't the time. The smell was as good as always, but he had enough to eat to keep him from feeling hungry.
The smell went away and when he tried peeking, he saw that Nana had already devoured whatever it was she was trying to offer him.
"Hey!" Romeo's loud voice was heard and it caused Hiro to quickly close his eyes once more.
There was a moment of silence and some whispering that he couldn't hear clearly before he heard the sound of footsteps going away.
It was too quiet and peaceful, even if they were on top of a battleship, as they were supposed to be at war with another country. He would surely be glad if he could avoid any conflicts, but he expected to be involved in one if the ship was in the enemy territory.
Romeo looked around the ship's deck as a couple of navies were checking the area through their binoculars. What made him a little suspicious was the extra navy loitering around the deck when he could recall that only two were stationed at the deck. The extra soldier was wearing the same uniform as the others, which gave him the information that he was also a part of the Susano'o military.
What made him feel a little suspicious would be how the soldier was watching their every movement since boarding the ship.
The blond kept him under constant watch as Nana was busy trying to get Hiro to open his eyes with her freshly-made oden sandwich. The soldier was still pacing back and forth before pretending that he was helping out the others on watch duty. When he looked back at the group, Romeo was also watching his movements that their eyes met for a split second before the soldier suddenly broke into a run towards the inner section of the ship.
"Hey!" Romeo's shout had caught the other navies' attention, though none of them moved from their posts.
Nana had also stopped from her attempt on trying to tempt Hiro with food and turned to him with a confused look. Her curious eyes on him were enough to let him know that she was wondering what he was up to. He took a quick glance at the direction the soldier had run off to before he approached her.
"Stay here, okay? I need to check on something," Romeo whispered before turning his attention back to the path to the inner section of the ship.
Nana wasn't given the chance to respond as Romeo had already run off into the ship. She was left with the brunette, as he still refused to calm down and look around the ship.
She knew that she couldn't leave him behind when he was deathly afraid of drowning, even if the ship wasn't moving around too much. At the same time, she felt a little worried about Romeo running off like that. Almost every time he told her to stay back, he ended up coming back with all sorts of trouble following him.
But the serious look on his face before he left told her that she should trust him this time.
Romeo had made it into the inner hallways of the ship, though he had lost track of the suspicious soldier. He could hear footsteps everywhere as the floor was made out of metal and that there were a few ally navies patrolling the indoor area. There were also too many doors to check if he wanted to, hoping that the culprit could make himself known to him easily enough.
His wish was granted almost instantly, as he startled by the sound of gunshot echoing in the hallways. The loud sound had caused the atmosphere of the indoor area to grow tense, accompanied by footsteps as the navies were either trying to find the source or grab a weapon for combat. He had the same thing in mind as he was basically unarmed, but he was a little too far from the location of the weapon storage room.
As he took quiet steps through the hallway, Romeo grew more and more nervous. His palms were starting to sweat as he left sweaty palm prints on the metal wall as he walked. He wasn't completely sure where the culprit might have been, but the gunshot from before gave him a clue about the best possible location.
The blond picked up his pace before ending up in front of the control room. He didn't think twice and pushed the metal door, with a horrifying sight waiting for him on the other side.
Romeo froze at the door when he saw a pool of blood. The lifeless body of the ship's helmsman was lying on the pool of red liquid, right below the steering wheel. The unmanned wheel was spinning randomly, causing the ship to move uncontrollably.
The blond fell backwards from the movement, but it also caused the soldier he was looking for to reveal himself from behind the door. He was struggling to stand still while trying to reach the wheel, but Romeo had already spotted him on the act. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before they ended up in a wrestling match to gain control of the ship.
"Stop… struggling… you… Shady Guy!" Romeo used his own weight to try and pin the soldier down, but he was easily knocked away across the room.
The soldier took the rifle sitting next to the wheel and aimed at him, but the ship's movement caused his shot to miss and hit the ceiling instead. Romeo took the opening as a chance for him to take the soldier's rifle from his hands, but the soldier kept on struggling to try and throw him once more. The attempt failed as the blond pulled the back of his shirt as he slid off the soldier's back, though he was still left empty-handed to fight him.
Sea water started pouring into the ship as it kept on tilting to the sides. The navies on duty struggled to move as they were trying to head for the indoor area of the ship. They would constantly trip from the wet floor or the angle of their footing, losing balance almost immediately after they stood up.
While the navies were struggling to figure out what was going on, the brunette cadet had crouched down in fear as the ship was tilting left and right. Nana was still by his side with her uniform and hair drenched from the splashing water, trying to comfort him. Her efforts didn't affect him at all as he wasn't even looking at her.
The chef looked around in the middle of the chaos and her eyes landed on the glass covering the control room on the upper deck. A blur of familiar blond color was visible and was moving around. She eyed the room curiously before she was surprised by the sight of her best friend being pinned to the glass.
"Hiro! Romeo needs help!" Nana called out worriedly.
Hearing no response from the brunette, she checked on him to see that he was still trying to hold the wall behind him. His attitude had changed a little at the mention of the blond, but the look of fear was still apparent in his eyes. She watched his movement as his slightly shaking hand landed on the hilt of the sword strapped to his waist.
"I-I'm good…" he reassured her before taking a deep breath and turning to face her. "Come on, we need to get to Romeo and fast!"
Nana was still worried about him forcing himself against his fear, but it couldn't be helped when the hammer she was using as a weapon was in the storage room. He gave her a nod and a pat on the shoulder before taking one last look at the struggle on the other side of the viewing glass. It was clear to them that Romeo needed help as he wasn't too good in fighting.
Both of them dashed through the deck and to the indoor area of the ship. Knowing that their destination was the control room made it easier to navigate through the hallways. The only hindrance in their path would be the ship's random movement.
The sounds of struggle were heard louder and louder and they tried moving, ending up in front of the opened control room door. Inside the room, Romeo and another soldier dressed in an ally military uniform were rolling on the floor as they tried pushing the other away while trying to reach the spinning wheel. The two ran inside just as the wheel spun to one side for a full and high speed turn to knock all four of them to the ship's control panel.
Romeo was quick enough to reposition himself and stand up, just in time for the soldier to stand up as well. The moving ship was making it harder for him to stand still, but his attention was fully directed at the soldier as he calmly stood in front of him. He noticed that he was aiming his rifle, but the soldier's target clearly wasn't him when he followed the direction of the aim to the spot behind him.
The blond noticed that he was aiming at his two comrades, who were still unaware of the incoming shot their way. Before they had the chance to look, a bullet was already fired and all the blond could do in a split second was to jump between them and the bullet. The sound of the gunshot managed to get the two's attention, but Romeo had taken the bullet meant for them as it landed on his leg.
"Romeo!" Nana worriedly ran over to his side, unaware that the soldier still had his rifle ready.
Hiro had joined their side as well, but not before he tackled the soldier and made his next shot hit the wall instead. He drew his sword as the soldier was trying to get up and reach for his rifle, but the brunette had stepped on it before the soldier could pick his rifle up. His drawn sword was pointed at his face, but the moving ship had knocked him off balance before the soldier tripped him and got his rifle back.
Nana was watching the whole scene as she helplessly clutched onto Romeo's shirt. When she looked at him, her friend looked pained as he was holding his shot leg and blood was starting to seep out of his pants. The black uniform he was wearing made the color of blood invisible, but the chef was sure that her friend was bleeding as he was trying to protect her and Hiro.
Her mind raced through her old memories of the many times she was protected by the people she cared about, only to have them lose their lives. She didn't want anyone else to die protecting her, but she wasn't even sure if she had what it took to fight off enemies or at least survive on her own. She only knew how to cook and she never had proper combat training before joining the army. Fear of losing more people who were precious to her came back to haunt her, but only for a short moment until Romeo held her shoulder.
The blond's eyes still had pain in them, but he was looking at her with a smile as he gave her a thumbs up, "I'm still alive and this shot is nothing to be worried about!"
It was his trademark smile, which always worked in driving her worries and fears away. Others would think that it was just a bluff and a goofy smile, but she had known him for a long time and she recognized the sincerity behind that smile. He might be in pain, but he was still willing to bear with it for anyone, no matter if he knew them or not. For that one moment, he was doing it for her as he usually would when her initial intention was actually to help him.
A loud thud snapped the chef back to reality as the ship started tilting once more. Her attention shifted to the source of the voice, finding that Hiro was wrestling with the soldier as his sword was met with the soldier's rifle. She took another look at Romeo, who then pointed at the struggling brunette with his chin.
"Don't worry about me! You need to help him!" the blond told her confidently. "There's no way I'm dying here!"
Another loud thud was heard and Hiro was on the floor with the soldier gaining the upper hand as he trapped the brunette under his rifle. He tried pushing back in response as he turned to the chef, who was still left staring at him, "Nana! Take the wheel!"
"Eh?" the chef pointed at herself in confusion as the two soldiers in front of her continued their fight.
Nana turned around to look at the control panel, which had too many controls and screens she never knew about. She turned to Romeo as he was looking at the ship's controls as well, seeing as he was more knowledgeable than her. His instructions were cut short before he even started as the ship started tilting to the other side with the wheel spinning rapidly.
She had grabbed the wheel right when it was spinning as the other three were thrown to the other side of the room from the force. Her strength managed to stop the wheel from spinning uncontrollably as the ship was slowly tilting back to its former position, but it didn't stop the struggle behind her. She recalled that the tilted position of the ship managed to give the brunette an advantage and it made her spin the wheel to the opposite direction, causing the three to be thrown back to the other side of the room.
"Stop trying to spin the wheel back and forth!" Romeo warned her, but his words fell deaf on her ears as she spun the wheel again. "Or at least don't use your full strength!"
"I-I'm not!" Nana responded in panic with a quick glance at her struggling comrades.
The chef held onto the wheel firmly and started looking around at the other controls. She wasn't even sure what she should have touched anymore when everything looked foreign to her. There were all sorts of monitors around that she wasn't sure what they were for and the mere sight of them was enough to make her head spin. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with them, until Romeo's and Hiro's voices from behind her snapped her from her thoughts.
"Nana! Behind you!"
The chef held the wheel tightly as she turned around to make direct contact with the rifle belonging to the soldier. She could catch a glimpse of her comrades' worried faces as she turned around and seeing the weapon aimed at her at point blank range, her muscles subconsciously reacted to block the shot instead of moving away. As she was holding onto the steering wheel, the force of her strength caused the wheel to come off instead and inadvertently knocked the soldier's rifle off his hands.
The long range weapon broke the window and flew through it, leaving him defenseless with the metal wheel-wielding Nana. He looked at her in fear as she absentmindedly held the broken wheel in her hands, until her mind registered the things she wanted to do to him. Especially after she saw what he had done to her precious comrades in front of her.
"This is for hurting my friends!"
She raised the wheel above her head as she approached the soldier before bringing it down to his head. The strength she put into her swing caused the floor under him to break, sending the soldier down to the level below the control room. As Nana stood still in her position, the two Blood members peeked through the hole the impact had caused, seeing the puzzled navies surrounding the unconscious soldier.
"W-What was that…?" Hiro looked through the hole in disbelief, seeing that the unconscious soldier was being surrounded by equally confused navies.
When he and Romeo turned to Nana, she was still trying to register the damage she had caused. Her eyes went back and forth between the two puzzled cadets before seeing the lone steering wheel in her hands. She realized what she was holding and looked back at the control panel, which was missing the exact same wheel she was holding. The metal wheel hit the floor with a loud clunk when she threw it reflexively, which invited more people into the room.
"What the heck happened here?" a crimson-haired man asked as he stood by the door, before another man with longer light blond hair pushed him into the room in a rush.
The man who came in last ignored his companion's protest as he dashed towards the broken control panel and sighed at the sight of the wheel on the floor, "Great. We're getting paid less again with this broken scrap."
While Hiro was looking confused that the two men were more concerned and were arguing about the damage costs, Romeo and Nana stared at them with surprised looks.
"Shun? Karel?" The two men stopped the argument once they heard the injured blond calling their names. "What are you guys doing here?"
Shun was the first to respond with a smirk, "Well, I never expected to see a couple of old faces here. I thought you guys weren't with us navies."
"Whatever part of the military they joined," Karel added with his eyes still on the broken control panel, "they're still the same old troublemakers who cost us some unnecessary expenses."
"Hey!" Nana gave the older blond a glare, "That's not how you're supposed to greet your friends you haven't seen for years!"
Shun let out an irritated sigh, "Friends don't steal each other's money and glory, you know!"
"Can't you losers just stay quiet for even a second?!" Karel was glaring at the group with a note in hand. "I'm trying to calculate the repair cost for all the damage done here. Unless you're going to pay for everything you broke in here, including the extra bloodstain on the floor over there."
He pointed at the pool of blood next to him, with the lifeless body of the helmsman being stuck under the pillar which formerly held the steering wheel. There was a slight look of disgust as he looked at the body before returning his attention to his own notes, ignoring Nana's guilty look. Her two comrades could see her sense of guilt but as they were going to protest, Shun had blocked them from their attempt.
"Look, how about a deal to handle that guy's attitude?" the crimson-haired man asked as he pointed back at Karel, who was trying to ignore his insults. "Just say that I did all the work here to clean up the mess you guys made, you guys pay for all the damages, and I won't say anything that actually happened here to our superiors."
Hiro looked at him with a raised brow, "And… how is that supposed to work? Like, we don't look like we're getting any–"
"Me! I'll be getting something in return and you guys won't be in trouble thanks to me–"
"Stop bickering nonsense, Shun. Your voice is already annoying enough and it's going to cost us more salary cut if I miscount the numbers," Karel's irritated tone had invited Shun to stomp over to his place with a glare.
The three younger cadets were left to watch Shun and Karel get into another argument, which was cut short by the sound of stomping feet outside. Another group of navies came into the room as they were trying to find out what was going on with the ship, only for the ship to tilt slightly from the lack of a steering wheel. As the group of soldiers were thrown to one side of the room, Nana had jumped from her spot to reach the steering wheel pillar she broke earlier.
Her hands grabbed whatever mechanism left she could hold with her hands and used her strength to try and turn it to the opposite direction. Much to her surprise, the ship moved as she wished it would even with the steering wheel still taken off. When she looked back at the group of soldiers, they had equally surprised expressions as she had after seeing what she had attempted to do.
"That… that was awesome!" Hiro's comment was followed by cheers coming from the other soldiers behind him.
Nana was feeling overwhelmed by the praises they had for her, as she didn't even think about what she was doing. All she had in mind was to help her friends and comrades, but her destructive strength had helped more than just her friends. While Romeo was the first one to suspect a spy among their allies, she was the one to take him down, even if it cost some damage done to the control room and quite possibly, in other places on the ship.
As the soldiers surrounded Nana to praise her for her effort in taking down an enemy, Romeo watched her from a few steps away. Neither of them joined with the knowledge about how to fight in war, it was apparent that Nana had a better potential to fight compared to him. The sight of her being praised as a hero by the navies made him proud as a friend, but at the same time, he was feeling a little jealous as well. At least, he felt that he deserved some credit for noticing that the suspicious soldier wasn't a part of their army.
"Hey, are you jealous?"
Romeo snapped back to reality, seeing the grin on his brunette friend.
"I mean, Nana is usually the one to handle the support with cooking and pretty much house chores around the camp and now she's the one saving the day," Hiro added as he looked at her with a smile on his face. "I guess I'll be kinda jealous if I'm in your position, but also proud of her at the same time."
Romeo looked at his brunette friend for a moment as he had said pretty much everything in his mind. Even so, that only gave him more reason to work harder so that she didn't have to be the one to do the protecting all the time. After all, he was there to protect her instead of the other way around.
"Maybe… just a little bit…" the blond responded with a whisper and a smile on his face. "But anyway, shouldn't we report the situation to Captain–"
"Hello, Vice Captain!" Hiro's loud voice interrupted him as the brunette had a hand over his ear with a big smile on his smile. "This is your favorite subordinate speaking and I'm here to give you a quick report for the survey mission!"
Romeo could only laugh when he saw his friend being excited about a report. He had expected it when Hiro was put in charge for the mission from their team and his crush on the vice captain wasn't a secret to them. Seeing him being on friendly terms with the vice captain of their team at least made him feel like he had accomplished something since joining the army, even if it wasn't something too heroic. He wished that instead of just a handful of people, he wanted to be helpful to a lot of people.
To help a lot of people.
Romeo looked back at Nana as the words echoed in his head. He remembered that he had asked Nana a question about her reason to join the army that she had never answered. The event on the mission gave him a clue about her true reason to join the army with him. Especially when he knew that under normal conditions, Nana would instead ask for someone else's help as she would almost always avoid unnecessary conflict.
"I am going to join the army too! Just like Romeo, Shun, and Karel!"
Nana stood confidently in front of the dining table, earning surprised stares from other people sitting by the table. Her eyes showed her unwavering resolve and that she wouldn't change her mind even if people told her that she couldn't do it. She had made her decision and she was going with it even if the others were against her and even if Romeo asked her to stay.
Her blond friend wasn't there with the rest of the orphanage caretakers, which made her feel that it was safe enough to say it out loud. She wasn't going to tell him until she was officially accepted to the team so that he couldn't stop her from going. After all, she was joining the army mainly for his sake and to keep him safe in return for all the kindness he had given her.
Little did she know that Romeo was present, though hidden from her view, when she announced her decision. He was shocked at first and he didn't want her to risk her life for him too, but a quick look at her eyes told him that she wasn't going to change her mind. With her on board, it gave him more reason to fight harder as he wanted to keep her safe too.
With a smile on his face, Romeo walked away from his hiding spot for his own preparation to join the army.
Phew. The chapter is back at pretty much the usual length, though with the fatigued condition I was while editing the chapter, I might miss some mistakes or spelling errors, so sorry about that.
I'm not sure if the update is going to speed up once the year-end holiday starts next Wednesday, especially when I'm still constantly bothered outside office hours for work. I'm willing to try though, as long as I'm not too tired from overworking.
Anyways, thanks for reading as always and leave a review to let me know what you guys think of the story so far!