Chapter 12
"This is not gonna be a good day." I mutter as I walk into the kitchen at 5:00 I the morning. Brewing up a pot of coffee I set myself down and pull my cap down further to cover my eyes. A few seconds later the coffee is done and I pour myself a cup. Swishing it around in my mug I watch it twirl around before I take a sip. "Today is an episode 7. This is bad.
The wake up call shatters the silence of the kitchen as I finish my second cup of coffee. "Ugh, it starts. Now how to advoid this." I ponder as I walk throught the halls. Arriving at the lounge I watch as everyone else comes in. "Good morning, ladies and Morrison." Commander starts. "This is today's update. Thanks to the maintenance groups hard work for the past week, we now have a functioning bath. It will be ready to use at noon today." Yoshika and Lynne give off excited squeals while I just groan inwardly. 'So I just have to advoid Major around Lunch time, should be easy.' I think. "Oh that's where ya wrong Morrison, you'll be dragged into this all the way through." Jarvis cuts in. 'Damn it!' I respond. As cheers go on all around me. "They built it outside, overlooking the Adriatic Sea." Commander spoke up over the noise. "Oh? An open-air bath, Huh?" Major says wishfully. "Yeah. Sanya's going to be so excited." Eila said. "You're all off duty today. Please tell everyone about the bath." Commander says. "Yes ma'am." The girls respond. "Isn't that great, Yoshika?" Asks Lynne. "Yeah. Let's take a bath together. You should join us, too, Perrine. You too Morrison." Yoshika answers. "Nahh, I'll pass, I've had one of my daily showers." I respond. "Well, it is nice to take a relaxing bath, after working up a sweat." Perrine responds while Lucchini continues to chant "A bath!" Before stating she's gonna be the first one. "Weren't you paying attention? The bath won't be ready until noon." Major says as she grabs Lucchini's collar. "What? I can't use it yet?" Lucchini questions. "We still have time before we can take our baths... which means there is something we can do to make them more enjoyable." Major continues and this time I outwardly groan. "What is it, Sakamoto?" Yoshika says excitedly. "Work up a sweat with some drills! Everyone, run laps around the base!" Major answers as I book it past her.
I walk away and escape to my room until the lights go out. I then proceed to meet up with Barkhorn who was on her way to wake up Erica. "Mind if I join you?" I ask. "Sure just don't try anything." She answers. "I won't. I have no need." I respond. After a few minutes of silence we arrive at Commander's and Erica's room. "Ladies first." I say as I bow and gesture for her to go first. "I don't understand why you bother to advoid being around any of the girls when they aren't 100% dressed." She says. "It's out of respect." I answer. We soon find ourselves standing behind a pile of crap. Everything from cloths to sheets even a dresser was piled up to make a wall. "I don't care who you are." Barkhorn stats as she picks up Erica's jacket from the top of the pile. "I will not tolerate someone crossing the Siegfried line!" She says naming the pile and throwing Erica's jacket into her sleeping form. "Wake up, Hartmann! Morning's over!" "Just give me forty more minutes..." Erica sleepily says. "Just like her real life counterpart, just missing the alcohol." I mutter before watching Barkhorn try to climb over. But stop because there is no stable foot holds. "Th-There's no place to get my footing..." she says. "Here let me do it." I say as I expertly cross the area. "Wha... how?" Barkhorn asks. "I'll show you." I answer as I cross part of the way before holding out my hands. "I'll lift you over." I state as the lights go off. "Wha?" I say as it gets darker. "I'll still lift you across if you'd like?" I say only for her to practally jump into my arms. "Take me across." She states. "Hold your horses I'm going as fast as possible." I respond as I cross the rest of the way. Placing her down I step back as she starts to berate Hartmann. I look down at my watch and see that it's almost an hour after 12 "shit, shit, shit, shit!" I whisper quiet enough for Barkhorn not to notice. "I found it! It's heading over there!" I heard Yoshika shout. "Something'sgoing on." Erica said finally getting up. Barkhorn three open the door and commanded. "What is all that racket?!" "Barkhorn." Yoshika says. "Making so much noise in the living quarters is grounds for disciplinary action." Barkhorn says as the Neuroi bug flies infront of her face before crawling into her pants. "Ah! There it is!" Yoshika says. "Bug!" Lucchini follows up. "Bug?" Barkhorn asks. "What about a bug? Just who is responsible for all this-" she says before the bug cuts her off by rooting around in there. "Oh, it went into the Captains pants." Eila states. "Barkhorn!" Yoshika goes to say only for Barkhorn to cut her off with. "Shut up! In battle, the ability to make calm decisions can be the difference between life and death. In a situation like this, first you must do... This!" She shouts without giving me any warning she drops her pants scaring Yoshika and me. "Got it!" Erica shouts as she goes to slap the bug but she misses it and gets Barkhorn's behind instead, who lets out a sound like a moan but more high pitched. "Too slow." Erica says. "Little warning next time you moon a guy." I say as I continue to cover my eyes. "H-Hartmann..." Barkhorn starts to go off but Yoshika cuts her off with "It's getting away!" Before everyone goes after it excloud me, Erica and Barkhorn, who was still in shock. "Erica wanna help me carry her back to our room?" I ask before Barlhorn chases after them. "Alright I'm going to advoid this bug and go take a bath." I say as I walk off after barkhorn.
After walking part of the way I bumped into Commander. "Afternoon Morrison." She said as I stopped just before walking into her. "Oh, Commander, I didn't notice you there. I just off to take a bath because everyone else has already." I answer. "Oh, well I was just going to take one." She responds as we continue down the hall. "If you want I could wait until you're done?" I offer hoping she would take it. "No, I don't mind if you join me." She shots down my hope. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck! Jarvis help' I call out to my Neuroi core. "Not much I can do aside from warn you that the Neuroi is on its way." Jarvis answers. 'Damn, that's not much help!' I shoot back just as we get to the bath house. "You first Commander, tell me when you're done changing." I say as I try invain to get her to change alone. "Nonsense, I trust you won't try anything so you can come in." She says as she pushes me in. I head to the other side of the room to advoid looking in her general direction, to give her some privacy. "It sure is dark. I wonder if maybe the maintenance group hasn't finished the lighting yet." She comments on the lack of light. "Well I can use my aura sense so it doesn't bug me much." I respond. "Plus it's bright outside so we should have to worry about anything." "You sure?" She asks. "Yea I'm sure." I respond. Before we both finish and leave. I gotta admit that the water was nice and cold. "This is the dream." I say as I sink into the water up to my neck. "Yes it would be better if a war wasn't going on." Commander agrees. "Forget about the war while you soak, it should make you feel better." I say. "Alright I'll try." She responds.
We were busy getting dressed after our bath I forgot to make it quick or stay in the bath longer so now I was going to suffer the consciences. "Just like Mio said, that really melted away my exhaustion." Commanded said before everyone burst in. "That's it." Eila said. "Knock first next time!" I say as I quickly button up my shirt. "Right there." Eila continued ignoring me. "There!" Major said while looking over to Commander. "H-Hey!" Commanded exclaimed under the gaze. "Now's my chance!" Perrine said as she lunges towards Commander. I turn away and cover my ears. "I see it!" Major shouts before Commander gives off a scream that could shatter windows. "Well done, Minna." I hear Major say over the ringing in my ears. "WHAT!" I shout back only to be greeted with congadulations towards Commander. "What are you saying?" I ask or more accurately shout.
A few days later Commander was awarded a medal for destroying her 200th Neuroi core. While I recovered from the noise She made.