Rune Troopers

Chapter 2. Part 7 continues below——

——–Thus ends Part 6 of Chapter 2. Part 7 continues below——

"Ah"

Inside the transport vessel, the Ground Self-Defense Force members tread upon their living quarters and Kuze felt the gaze of his subordinates.

But, the gathered gaze quickly dispersed. Here and there, it seemed as if they decided to act as though they didn’t notice Kuze. Kuze continued unwaveringly, stepping up to the three-tiered bunk bed.

"Anyways, stakes!"

Through his sanpaku eyes (TL note: eyes in which the white s.p.a.ce above or below the iris is visible; is believed to indicated either bad diet or an attraction to violence and misfortune), hiding in the covers on the top bunk of the three-tiered bunk bed, private Ichinose glared out.

These bad meaning men "bet juice" over whether "Platoon Leader Kuze will talk about seeing mermaids." So, the platoon crew finally got to see who they were waiting on. In the Self-Defense Force they had a tradition called "jurock" in which the loser of rock-paper-scissors would give the winner his juice.

This betting gave rise to this type of bet. The idea slowly came to Ichinose but his hand was at Kuze’s lower back and continued applying pressure silently (TL note: I think the context of this is he’s trying to avert Kuze’s eyes from what will happen).

"Please pay up…"

He grabbed someone’s helmet from somewhere and filled it with goodies. But even if you say goodies, it was a completely understood line-up.

It had the stack of confectioneries, and of course the squid and beef jerky with some alcoholic beverages mixed in within them. There was not a sense of unity in everyone about it. So there was no real reason to make a bet. Yes, those who didn’t have to give up their wages quickly presented a fake.

"You’re kidding, right?"

The usually good-natured Kuze was looking furious. This betting was a violation of conduct. And the joke of the bet was a higher-up: himself.

"Eh, uh…well?"

His senpai crew members asked Ichinose, who would help them, "You’re an accomplishment, right?", and Ichinose moved his eyes to look for help. Those senpai also asked the same to the senior non-commission officers. They said in desperation,

"Se-second Lieutenant Kuze, please think of this in a balanced way. To say that mermaids don’t exist is respected as perfectly good judgment, right?"

To the non-commission officer’s words, the gathered crew members did many nods of approval.

"But, the truth is that there was that giant bird!!"

Kuze exploded in frustration over his own testimony being treated as thoughtless words. OF course, he couldn’t rebut the subordinates.

"But, such a creature to fly in the the skies is impossible."

"Yup, yup"

The subordinates who came from a rural area were able to say such things in a care-free manner. It would have been good if this had stopped, but Ichinose caught onto the mood and continued.

"But, that’s also like you, Second Lieutenant Kuze! Not just mermaids but this bird too"

"People ride on this bird, yet it"s still unbelievable!"

They didn’t believe that mermaids were spotted on the deck, but that was in a confusion caused by getting hit in the head, and that he was a "heartbroken leader" and his grudges grabbed onto the confusion and made him imagine mermaids.

"Well, after all, Platoon Leader Kuze only knows how to get rejected, so of course when he hit his head on the deck he’s going to say ‘I see mermaids,’ and everyone would worry about him."

"Of course he’d be made into the joke of the bet, anyone would do the same, silly."

Ichinose b.u.t.ted his head with a gong. He hit the right side of his head, so it was painful. It shook, and the right hand he used to grab it shook in pain. Ichinose’s right side writhed in pain.

And———

"…Platoon Leader Kuze, you’re pretty full of energy, eh?"

You could hear the voice of a woman from the rear. That instant, everyone’s faces froze.

"!? Platoon, attention!"

Kuze swung his head around, and you could hear the sound of the platoon commander’s heels. Ahead of his swung head was a female figure of the Self-Defense Force who is laughing at the reasons behind all the laughter.

Captain Itai Kaori. That is, the company commander. Despite the air conditioner working in the ship, a gross amount of sweat ran down not only at Kuze’s back but at everyone else too. To see this person laugh usually means that something frightening will happen.

Back in the Defense Academy,

"Hey, escape from your lodging and run to the convenience store to buy some new sweets. Oh, by the way, if you say they were sold out and return empty-handed, the instructors will find out that you escaped."

And, whenever she gave out those orders, there would be that smile. By the way, the new sweets had to get a taxi to collect these goods from a different area limit.

There’s not a single member in the troop that doesn’t know how much of a s.a.d.i.s.t Commander Itai is. In that place, it felt like you were walking with the tension of running on the thin ice of a frozen lake. And below that frozen ice was a deepness like that of the Mariana Trench, and that piranhas and sharks swam there.

"May I speak with you a bit, Kuze-kun?"

"R-roger."

It was as if you could hear the sighs of relief from the subordinates.

"Good work! Second Lieutenant Kuze!"

"Don’t lose at the half-way management!"

"Die a n.o.ble death worthy of a man!"

"I wonder if he’s fine with spreading his ashes at the sea?"

Remember all of us after this. Kuze’s whole face was smiling at this make-shift send off and thought he seemed dependable towards his subordinates. And, while the cold sweat poured, he followed Kaori’s back in front of him.

They left the hallway, and effortlessly she handed him a file. He hurriedly took it, and scanned over it as they walked. At first, Kuze couldn’t understand the meaning of any of the information listed. All he understood was that there was some sort of list of supplies the platoon was supposed to carry for a mission.

But, something was clearly strange with the contents. Because there was a whole lot of live ammunition in the list of supplies. And, it was a quant.i.ty he couldn’t possibly think that it was just for training or maneuvers.

"…A-at this time, a large-scale live ammunition drill?"

Kuze asked the unthinkable. But, of course, they weren’t going to use up the whole armament reserve on training.

While walking, Itai answered.

"No."

"Th-then why so much armaments?"

"Because we’re going out to a real war."

Of course. The woman who could say that looked behind and glanced at Kuze. He stood still, looking at the file, dumbfounded.

"Real war?"

The man who had gotten used to the organization built for this purpose, he just listened to the unrealistic sound of those words.

—-Thus ends Part 7 of Chapter 2. —–
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