Chapter XV: Uncle Yevgeny's Cabin


Yekaterinburg

All girls still frozen in their place right now while this man stared into Yukari's eyes so deep. Shizuka glanced around to see that there's some policemen in ear distance. If this man report them as spy, then they're doomed for sure.

"What are Japanese young girls like you doing in the middle of the heavy snow like this?" said that man in language they understand.

They still frozen and unable to respond. That man then help Yukari to stand.

"It's freezing here, please, come with me to my cabin near here," said the man.

They looked on each other, not sure what to do.

"Come on, don't be afraid, I won't harm you girls. My granddaughter is cooking a dinner right now, and you are invited. Come, let's go," said that man.

"Oh, alright..." said Shizuka.

Still oblivious with what just happened. All three girls followed that man to his cabin.

"Oh and by the way, my name is Yevgeny, Yevgeny Sutyagin. And yes, I know your language since I once lived in Japan for 1,5 years," said the man.

"So, Mr. Sutyagin..." said Yukari.

"Oh, please, don't be so formal to me. People called me Uncle Yevgeny, so please call me that way, I insist," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Alright, Mis... I mean Uncle Yevgeny, my name is Yukari Akityama, and my friend here is Shizuka Tsuruki and Nina," said Yukari.

"What are you doing, telling our name to our captor?" whispered Shizuka.

"I heard that, and please, I'm not your enemy," said Uncle Yevgeny, "and this little girl here is has a curious name, Nina. Is it possible that you happened to be from a Japanese high school named Pravda?"

"Ah yes, how did you find out?" asked Nina.

"Because that's where I live in Japan, in Aomori, to be more precise, in your High School Carrier, The Kiev," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Eh? How could that be?" asked Nina.

"It's a long story," said Uncle Yevgeny, "wait, we've arrived at my home."

Uncle Yevgeny's house is a regular Russian-style apartment. He knock the door twice before opening. It's a densely packed house, but very warm, inviting and comfortable.

"Deda, you're ho..."

A young girls of middle school age showed up to greet him and stopped suddenly when she see a lot of person there.

"Mariya, we have guests today, guest from Japan," said Uncle Yevgeny, "and this is my granddaughter."

"Oh, my name is Mariya. Nice to see you all," said Mariya.

"Yes, I am Yukari, this is Nina and this is Shizuka. Nice to see you too." said Yukari, "but, how do you speak our language?"

"Oh, my grandmother, Irie, is a Japanese, and she taught me her language," said Mariya.

"Oh, I see," said Shizuka.

"Come on, you arrived just in time. I've just finished preparing for dinner," said Mariya.

Still awkward, they took off their winter jacket and suddenly sitting surrounding the dining table, with each of them served a glass of hot milk. Mariya then took out a big whole chicken dish and put it on the middle of the table with basins of salad and soup.

"So many food. Are we expecting for another person?" asked Shizuka.

"Actually, Deda has a habit of bringing somebody home for dinner, most of them are neighbors or Deda's friends, so I always prepared much just in case," said Mariya, "I never thought that he would bring girls home though,"

"Yes, we never thought about this as well," said Yukari.

Uncle Yevgeny then showed up and sit among them. Mariya pass each one a warm dish. Shizuka, however, eat her dish only after Mariya and Uncle Yevgeny eat their portion.

"By the way, continuing our chat earlier, I was sent to Japan as a part of Uralmash crews tasked on major maintenance and upgrade of your school carrier, The Kiev, about 20 years ago. I lived there and in Aomori, its home port, for about 1,5 years, and that's when I met Irie, the love of my life. Even after going back to Russia, I still go to Japan few times to date her, and in one spring day, I propose her. We got married in Aomori before I take her to Yekaterinburg," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Oh, that's so romantic. And what happened then?" asked Shizuka.

"We settled here, and we have two sons and a daughter: Yuri, Alexander and Dinara. Mariya here is the daughter of my second son, Alexander," said Uncle Yevgeny, "but, my two sons has gone. Yuri joins the Army and was sent to Afghanistan when..."

Uncle Yevgeny silent for a while with sorrow in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, we don't mean to..." said Yukari.

"Naah, it's okay. It's all in the past. Beside, you must always prepared for that when having a family members in the Army," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"And what about Mariya's father?" asked Nina.

"He died in a car accident with her mother 10 years ago, thus I and Irie took care of Mariya since then, till Irie died peacefully two years ago," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Wow, that's..."

Yukari didn't continue her words, but tears drop from her cheeks.

"So Mariya is your only family now?" asked Shizuka carefully.

"Actually, I still have my youngest daughter, but she's in Moscow right now, becoming a profesional Tankistiya player. Which reminds me, that you girls must've coming here on a Tankistiya's business, are you? Or what Japanese called it as Sensha-do," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Well well, guilty as charged," said Shizuka.

"That's a brave move to come a long way here from Japan. But I appreciate that," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"So what are you gonna do? Report us?" asked Shizuka.

"Me? Reporting my guest for dinner? No, I won't do that," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Ahem, could you please mind other business later?" said Mariya, "right now, let's eat,"

All of them then continue on dining. However, Shizuka cannot really enjoy the dinner since this Uncle Yevgeny is like a character she can't fathom. After the dinner is done, Yukari helped Mariya with the dishes, while Uncle Yevgeny invite Shizuka and Nina for a cozy talk near the furnace, encirlcled around a samovar.

"Despite the fact that Yekaterinburg has it's own professional tankistiya team, and Uralmash Factory assigned for maintenancing tanks for high-school tankistiya, in a brief, very few people here rooting for tankistiya, let alone high-school tankistiya," said Uncle Yevgeny, "however, since my daughter is in tankistiya, so I follow them quite closely,"

Uncle Yevgeny paused to pour zavarka tea on each girls' cup.

"You see, in professional or university stage of tankistiya, there are few cities that become powerhouse. However, on high-school stage, there are only two: Moscow and St. Petersburg, or to be more precise: Zvezda Girls Academy and Rodina Girls High School."

"You're talking about Yelena Vukova and Natalya Zhirinovsky?" asked Shizuka.

"Ah, so you've done your homework," said Uncle Yevgeny while sipping his tea.

"Not much. So tell me, what's so important about them?" asked Shizuka.

"What's important? Everything!" said Uncle Yevgeny, "here, look..."

Uncle Yevgeny rise from his seat and start rummaging a pile of old newspapers or tabloid in the corner of the room, before he pull out one particular tabloid, opened at a certain page. At this time, Yukari and Mariya has done their dishes and joins the conversation. Uncle Yevgeny then put the tabloid in front of them before getting two more cup for Yukari and Mariya. Nina took the tabloid and read it.

"Oleg Golovin, the chairman of RTS touted two high-school tank aces, Yelena Vukova of Moscow's Zvezda Girls Academy and Natalya Zhirinovsky of St. Petersburg's Rodina Girls High School as the bright future of Russian Tankistiya today, as both school crowned as co-champions of National High School Tankistiya Tournament. The truth behind the claim, however, still need to be proved. The championship tied add to their unbeatable records in this year tournament, also drive a deeper wedge on their long standing rivalries. However, could the rivalry consumed more than meet the eye? Recently, on separate occasions, the two young aces has blatantly stated that they won't take any command from their rivals if their rivals appointed as national team field commander on the upcoming U-18 World Championship. Though the statements quickly revised, this could be the reason why RTS selected a Japan-based tankiskiy Klara as the new Field Commander. RTS claimed that the experiences Klara had in Japan is the main factor since most of her crews doesn't have any international experiences before."

Nina stopped reading and the only sounds heard in the room are crackling of fireplace and tea being sipped.

"What do you think?" asked Uncle Yevgeny.

"Why are you showing us all these?" asked Yukari.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my country, Miss. But for anyone who rooted on tankistiya in this country, this situation needs to be rectified. My Dinara once told me that universities and tankistiya clubs still find it difficult to incorporate those alumnae of Zvezda and Rodina. I mean, their rivalries run very deep and last very long," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"You want us to defeat them?" asked Shizuka.

"You see, this new U-18 World Championship is fairly nothing to RTS, who's more focused on preparing for Tankistiya World Cup. And we'll be doomed if this situations keeps dragging on till that."

"I see," said Shizuka while sipping her tea, "however, we also need to see their tank composition. Is there any way to enter the Uralmash Factory?"

"Nah, there's no way you could enter there, even with my help," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"Then it's over for us," said Yukari disheartened.

"I don't recall a Japanese trait to surrender easily. You know, some said that when you spend your time in a bar, you could hear many unexpected stories," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"How unexpected?" asked Shizuka.

"Very, since there are some factory worker complaining about how the girls are bickering in the maintenance facilities of factory's holding area. Apparently, since Uralmash currently house a larger project and to ease the transporting process to the site, maintenance facilities of the tanks for the U-18 National Team has been moved to the holding area, outside the factory itself. And the delivery will be done tonight," said Uncle Yevgeny.

"That's it! That's the meaning of '3 Days' in the message," said Yukari, "since the tanks are going to be delivered, then they have to be rounded up in some place, the holding area."

"Then tonight is our chance," said Nina.

"Do you know where the holding area is?" asked Yukari.

"I'm sorry, my conscience told me not to speak further," said Uncle Yevgeny, "however, I think it's okay if my granddaughter take her new friends for a walk in the city, maybe showing them things that they would like. Do you mind, Mariya?"

"Not at all, Deda," said Mariya, "but you'd better geared up, since it will be very cold outside,"

Mariya then take her winter jacket, and immediately, all the girls follow her. Uncle Yevgeny wave them goodbye, also brought them some cookies and a flask of hot zavarka tea to fight the cold air. Though it seems quite strange, none of the girl really think about that, and they just follow their own guts. It seems that this Uncle Yevgeny and his granddaughter is trustworthy, though they don't know how do they know.

The four girls then walks into the street and go to forest near Yekaterinburg. Mariya is very silent, and none of the girl willing to break the ice. They're then moving further to the forest till finally they arrived in the railroad that slice the forest.

"If you follow this railroad, you'll arrived in the holding area, about 2 miles from here," said Mariya pointed to the direction, "the security there are not as tight as factory, and there are a lot of place where trees come directly to the area, so you should be able to dodge the guard, if any, fairly easy."

"Thank you very much for the help, Mariya-san," said Yukari.

"Don't mention it, I did it for my Deda," said Mariya while smiling.

"So will you be able to go home from here?" asked Nina.

"I grew up here, so I know every paths and trails like the back of my hand. It's you who must be careful, since your mission is very risky," said Mariya.

"We will, and I hope we could meet again," said Shizuka.

"Just promise me to visit Yekaterinburg in a more pleasant times, you know our house. If you're passing our way, don't wait to knock. Tea is at four, but any of you are welcomed at any time,"

Mariya then shook the hand of the girls before finally leaving them on their own. They all waved goodbye and wait untill Mariya goes out of sight.

"What shall we do now?" asked Nina.

"We go, of course," said Yukari, "we have a mission to accomplished,"