Kanata and Natsume’s game of tag seemed to end with Kanata’s victory.
He chased Natsume until he finally caught her on the outskirts of the base. “Hah… hah… finally caught you. You gave me a good chase…”
“Hah… Hah… I’ve been caught. Amazing. I ran my hardest.”
“Thanks to you, my speed has improved considerably.”
“So? You’re just holding my hand? …Is there nothing more?”
Natsume stared intently at me… Why am I the one being cornered…?
“W-what do you mean, ‘nothing more’?”
“…Like an ‘ass spanking’ or something?”
“That’s right! I was planning to give you an ass spanking if I caught you!”
“…Oh, so you intend to touch my little sister’s rear in front of me? You’ve got some nerve.”
“M-Marika-hime!”
I was so flustered that I completely misspoke!
“Kanata, I need to talk to you for a moment. Sit down.”
“Big Sis, can I listen too?”
“Sure.”
Natsume and I sat side-by-side on a fallen log, while Marika-san sat on a rock near it.
“I was just talking with Iska, and Kanata, you’ll be appointed Company Captain along with your promotion. Here, for your assumption of command.”
As she said that, Marika-san pulled a canned beer from her pocket and tossed it to me.
“Thanks. Is there any right to refusal?”
“Do you think Iska would allow something like that?”
“Yeah, I figured.”
Knowing the rules of the Garden, I gave up quickly and drank my consolation beer.
“Big Sis, me too, me too!”
“Even for my darling little sister’s request, I can’t allow that. Natsume has a habit of undressing when she drinks.”
“Is that so! N-next time…”
“If you let Natsume drink… you know what happens, right?”
“…Yes, Mom.”
“…Kanata, your lower lip is bleeding.”
My heart was bleeding tears of blood.
“…Do you want to see Natsume’s body that much? Kanata, if you keep this up, you’ll ruin yourself with women someday?”
If I were to ruin myself for Natsume, Shion, and Lilith, that would be my ultimate pleasure. Of course, that includes Marika-san.
“I understand about leading a company. A company consists of five platoons of four-person teams, right? Are we adding three more platoons to Comma One and Two?”
“That’s the idea.”
“??…!! You mean I have to pick the personnel myself?”
“It’s a little different. You have to scout them.”
‘Another impossible request.’ ‘Of course, many of the people Marika-san scouted, like Vodka, were.’
“…I’ve never scouted anyone before…”
“There’s a first time for everything. If you don’t try, you’ll always be a beginner.”
“Haa. So, when should I start scouting?”
“From now.”
“Huh?”
“There are over 200 soldiers stationed at this base. There might be one or two useful individuals. I’ve secured permission from the base commander for you to take anyone you deem fit, with their consent. We’re returning to the Garden, but Kanata, you will remain to conduct the selection.”
“Yes, Mom. I’ll begin the selection process while eating this awful oatmeal.”
“Big Sis, I’ll stay too!”
“Alright, I’ll leave Kanata’s supervision to you.”
“Okay, leave it to me!”
‘I’ll have Comma One stay here and send Comma Two and Rimse back.’
‘Comma Two and Rimse should still be trained by the fierce warriors of the Garden. Also, if I let Rick and the others pick, they might only gather brutish types.’
The main force of the First Unit returned to the Garden, and we, who remained at Blossom Berry Base, began the selection process.
I wanted the experienced Vodka to stay, but that traitorous Russian man said, “I want to return quickly and hit on the bar girls. Besides, the food here is too bad,” and returned with Marika-san and the others.
“…Heartless Vodka. …And everyone at this base is just a bunch of weaklings.”
Natsume grumbled as she watched the footage of the stationed soldiers’ training. She already seemed to regret staying.
“Stop muttering and check the video recordings properly! I don’t know what’s good or bad about close combat!”
Lilith spat out as she checked the personnel records at light speed. She was quite irritated.
I understood her frustration. A fruitless task is tiresome and exhausting.
“…Coming to the Garden feels like a level where one would immediately need the Undertaker’s services. I have a feeling there will be zero qualified candidates.”
“Perhaps Ivan returned home anticipating this.”
Shion, who was checking shooting records, sighed.
“Vodka didn’t return because there’s no prospect of results.”
“??… Are they that good of a woman? The one Ivan is infatuated with at the bar?”
“It’s not to hit on a bar girl, nor because the food here is bad. Vodka believes he shouldn’t be involved in the selection.”
“…He doesn’t want subordinates, or doesn’t want them, so he won’t participate in the selection of new recruits either. As a principle, it’s consistent, but as a veteran soldier, what do you think? Vodka is someone who possesses the ability and experience to command, isn’t he?”
Lilith’s words were correct, but…
“I agree, but Vodka himself volunteered as a private. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Whatever happened in the past, isn’t he being too stubborn? It’s clearly a minus for the unit.”
“…Let’s leave it. Everyone has something they don’t want to be touched upon. I can’t forget Vodka’s face when I said something horrible.”
I also remembered how Vodka looked when Natsume called him a subordinate killer.
His expression and posture were filled with helplessness and sorrow. If he had turned to stone at that moment and become a statue, his demeanor would have been titled ‘melancholy.’
“Shall we have some tea? You all seem a bit tired.”
Shion, who offered a constructive suggestion, stood up to make tea.
We four are divided into coffee drinkers and tea drinkers.
Lilith and I prefer strong coffee, while Shion and Natsume prefer tea with strawberry jam.
Back in Russia, the custom of adding strawberry jam to tea existed, and there’s the same custom here in Lucia.
Natsume started drinking tea with strawberry jam, influenced by Shion.
It seemed to suit Natsume’s preference, as she, despite being a spicy food lover, also has a sweet tooth.
“How can you drink something so sickly sweet? Are you both tone-deaf?”
“…I might be tone-deaf, but I’m not poisonous.”
Natsume replied with her tongue sticking out to the poisonous remark of Lilith.
“Natsume, you have a way with words. Lilith, why don’t you try being a little sweet-toothed too? You become so sharp-tongued because you only eat spicy things?”
Shion came to Natsume’s defense. They’re perfectly in sync.
“Hey! Stop staring with that dumb look and support me! We’re facing the Allied Forces!”
Since when was I placed in Lilith’s camp?
“I’m a permanently neutral country. I won’t take sides.”
“Second Lieutenant! That’s the dirtiest position to be in! State your intentions clearly, you coward!”
The Swiss would be outraged if they heard that. But in Lilith’s mind, I’m already a Second Lieutenant.
Like with the Warrant Officer, she’s a girl who likes to get ahead of herself.
“…Kanata isn’t a sweet person, nor a spicy person.”
“No, Natsume. I’d say I’m more of a spicy person…”
“If I had to say, maybe ‘villain’?”
The three girls burst into laughter at Natsume’s line. Am I really that wicked?
“How long are you going to laugh! Let’s get back to work…”
Unable to bear their laughter, I tried to forcibly resume the work… but who is this?
My eyes were glued to the training video that had been playing.
“What’s wrong, Second Lieutenant?”
“Lilith, please rewind the training video a little. Shion, Natsume, what do you think of this person?”
On the screen was a small, red-haired boy soldier. The freckled boy soldier was knocked down again and again, but he got back up even when covered in mud.
“…He has grit. Above all, it’s a necessary talent that cannot be trained.”
And there’s something slightly off about him. I feel like there’s something to this kid…
“Technically speaking, he’s hopeless. Too unrefined.”
Shion dismissed him outright, but Natsume was intently watching the video record.
“What’s wrong, Natsume?”
“Shion, look here? Rewind a bit.”
The boy falls after taking a thrust from a large soldier. At first glance, he seems to have no redeeming qualities, but…
“Look! He’s reacting. He tried to counter the attack but failed. If you look closely, he ‘sees’ all the attacks.”
That’s the source of the strangeness. No matter how good your reaction speed is, countering a thrust is the most difficult.
It’s impossible for him to succeed with his current skill. But if his skill matched, perhaps…
“…That’s true. His reaction speed is remarkable. But that alone isn’t enough…”
“Shion, it’s true that his technique is unrefined, and he doesn’t understand much himself, but that can be trained. If this reaction speed is combined with the reversal techniques of Kyosui Jigen Ryu, he might become something special.”
“…That may be so. However, it will take time.”
“I spoke with the Commander via radio. He said that recruits aren’t necessarily expected to be immediate assets. While Comma One and Two are expected to be immediate assets, the expanded platoons can be chosen for their future potential.”
“So, while they’re unrefined, they’ll be used as scarecrows at the Garden. They’ll also need people to guard the base while we’re away from the large-scale operation.”
Lilith also seemed to understand the Commander’s intentions.
“…If that’s the case, I think it’s worth taking a chance. I figured out why this kid, despite being small and not looking particularly tough, can get back up again and again.”
“The reason? Isn’t it because he has grit?”
Natsume explained to Lilith, who was unfamiliar with close combat.
“That’s part of it, but not all. Another reason is that even though he’s taking hits, he’s avoiding vital points. Considering his technical immaturity, he’s not performing learned techniques; he’s acting on instinct. I was like this in the past.”
“He’s the same type as Natsume. If we can add technique to his excellent instincts, he should be promising. Let’s scout this boy. Is everyone okay with that?”
“Okay.” “Sure.” “Nine.”
“Nine?”
“Lilith, what’s the problem?”
“The part about ‘boy.’ It’s factually incorrect.”
Huh? You mean this boy, no…
“Private Third Class Kimberly Beecham, 17 years old. She’s a full-fledged woman.”
