The Bond in the Moonlight

(Adapted from the chapter The 24th Squadron's Holiday of the manga series Witches of Aurora by Kyougoku Shin.)

"I lost again...," said Nipa in despair. She put down the poker cards and slumped against the back of the chair.

"That's the 12th time in a row, Nipa," said Hasse as she smiled wryly.

"All your snacks from today and tomorrow belong to me now," said Laura as she did the shuffling. "At critical times, you failed to keep your poker face, Nipa. That's why you lose so often."

Nipa rested her head on the table, "We even got huge rations this time and you still want more? Oh well, it's all yours now..."

Nipa's words reminded Laura of something, "Indeed, we got new Striker Units and weapons. Look like our financial conditions have improved."

All of a sudden, Hasse's face took on a serious expression and apparently began to ponder on something.

"Is there anything wrong, Hasse?" asked Nipa confusedly as she saw Hasse frowned and put one fist under her chin.

"Ah, nothing. Sorry," Hasse waved and forced a smile.

At this moment, Eila darted in excitedly. It turned out that their application for leave had been approved. They had planned on a trip to Helsinki a long time ago. Now they could finally go on it.

To their surprise, Commander Luukkanen and Aurora were going, too.

"She's already planning to visit as many bars as she can and drink to her heart's content. As for me, I'd like to visit my favorite café. And you don't want a drunkard to give you a drive, right?"

Everyone agreed. The problem of transport was settled down, too.

After the commander ordered them to assemble at the front entrance at 0900 hours the next day, they excitedly fell out.

The next day, as planned, everyone departed at nine o'clock and let the commander drive them to Helsinki, the Southernmost city of Suomus.

"Wow! This is so cool! I'm used to seeing mountains and forests, so this is really nice!" Nipa marveled at the sight of the Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki City Hall, and the fountain.

"Calm down, Nipa! It's not like we're country hicks..."

"It looks like you're excited too, Illu..."

The expansive Senate Square gave a refreshing, relaxed feeling to their hearts. Later on, the commander suggested to go to a nearby café. Aurora asked if they served alcohol there. Laura asked if they sold delicious cakes, to which the commander responded that she recommended their sachertorte. Laura's face then took on a rare excited expression, her mouth starting to water. Every girl asked Nipa to foot the bill as a punishment for losing the card game from yesterday. Fortunately, the commander came to Nipa's rescue, announcing that it would be her treat in celebration of this precious chance to take a trip.

In the quaint café, Eila, Nipa, Hasse and Laura took a table while Aurora and the commander took a nearby one. The four girls looked at a piece of sachertorte cake on the table with sparkling eyes. Aurora was drinking wine with the commander drinking coffee next to her. After they ate up the cake, Eila, Nipa, Laura and Hasse left the café and wandered around. They walked in a book store and then a department store, where Eila tried on a pair of glasses and Nipa obliviously pointed at her and laughed. Angered, Eila chased Nipa around. When they passed by the café from earlier, the commander and Aurora were still having their own drinks and chatting.

At Evening, the commander drove them to a "mysterious place."

"Is it another bar, Aurora?" asked Eila.

Aurora shook her head, and said in a mystifying tone, "Ah, nope. It's a place beneficial to your bodies and souls! I bet you'll like it!"

It turned out to be an open-air natural hot spring hidden in the recesses of a forest. Surprised by the fact that such a place could be found in a city, everyone marveled at the craft of Mother Nature.

"Surprising, isn't it?" said Aurora, who had already taken off her clothes and gone in, with her hair tied to a ponytail. She didn't forget to bring wine with her, of course. "I found it on patrol duty one day. I later found out that the water contains small amounts of magic energy. It's ideal for witches to relax and recharge!" Aurora lifted her head, looking at the violent sky and then realizing that it had become darker.

"A hot spring containing magic energy? That's why you said it will do good to our bodies and souls?" said Hasse when she was done undressing herself and ready to get in.

"I'm relieved. It's just a sauna and nothing weird..." pouted Eila as she crossed her arms. She was done undressing herself too, with her long hair wrapped in a towel.

Aurora urged Eila to stop nagging and get in, to which Eila responded by abruptly jumping in with a boom and immediately got shouted at for it.

The temperature of the water was moderate. It was comfortable to bathe in it, to which the girls' rosy cheeks and fascinated expressions on their faces were proof. Even Eila, who always claimed that sauna was the best, admitted that this was as good as sauna. Nipa suggested that they build a bath like this, against which Eila protested, "Nipa, you traitor! Apologize to Tonttu!"

Tonttu was a mythical creature in Suomish folklore, believed to be the sauna-protecting spirit, similar to an elf or gnome. It was one of the most precious parts of Eila's childhood memories. Even now, Eila still believed there was a Tonttu hiding in the pocket of her clothes all the time. And she insisted she had seen Tonttu in person, even though no one believed it.

The commander, holding a towel, came up to the natural hot bath. Before she got in, she asked Hasse how the temperature was. Hasse told her it was moderate. Hasse asked the commander if she had been here before. The commander told her that she didn't but she had heard of this place, and again, started to murmur something like "a natural hot spring in such a place" and exclaim how wonderful Mother Nature was. Suddenly, something crossed Aurora's mind, "Ah, every now and then, some wild animals will come around here."

Everyone started to guess what animals would appear. Would it be foxes? Or squirrels?

When all the girls were excited at the thought of being joined by cute pups, a huge furry breast abruptly popped out of a bush behind the spring!

"It's a bear!"

Startled, everyone was rendered motionless, except for the commander, who just obliviously walked up to the bear and leaned over to it and said, "Aurora, have you always been this hairy?"

After a second of speechlessness, everyone snapped back to reality and told the commander to run.

And this supposedly fierce bear just stepped into the bath, not the least bit looking like it was going to attack any human around it.

Again, the girls fell speechless and motionless, not knowing whether to run or stay.

Aurora, however, moved to the bear and introduced this "comrade" of hers to the rest of the group. It turned out that she and this bear became friends "from an exchange of blows" when she first visited this place.

"We've been on good terms since I ran into her for the first time, so we became friends."

Everyone was completely speechless. Animals tended to communicate through physical contact, and Aurora was a total monster when fighting. That seemed to settle why she could get along with a bear…

"Ah, plus, she's a girl, too! A proud mother of two cubs! So don't worry!"

"That's not what we're caring about…"

Aurora took a look at the bottles at her hand and asked the bear, "Wanna have some wine?"

"How do I say this? This is absolutely crazy…" Eila was completely rendered speechless.

All of a sudden, Nipa broke into a laughing fit.

"Pft hahahahahahaha, really, really crazy, hahahahahahahaha…"

"N-Nipa?" Everyone was shocked by Nipa's cracking up uncontrollably like that, worrying if this crazy situation had rendered her insane.

"Hahahahaha, t-that's just too strange," Nipa, realizing she had scared everyone, tried to control her laughter and wiped off tears from the corner of her eyes, "Really, it's never boring with you guys!"

Without light pollution, all the stars were so clear up there. The Milky Way ran all the way across the sky, as if there was no end.

"I just can't love this team more! Reckless, and strong! Funny, and so warm! Let's take another vacation and go somewhere again, together!"

Under the big rounded moon was Nipa's pale skin and hearty smile.

Hasse and Laura smiled, too, "That way we need to extend your losses at Poker, so you'll buy us everything on the menu!"

"I'm not buying you anything!"

Eila, unlike her usual self, didn't join the chatter. Instead, she just sat aside watching on. As her mind processed what the three of her friends just said, a melancholic expression appeared on her face.

"All of us...huh?"