After their special training, Kuklo and the others headed back to the barracks and straight toward the mess hall. It was a large room filled with orderly lines of simple, wooden tables.
There were about a hundred seats there, so recruits ate in shifts, but over two hours had passed since the end of regular training, leaving the hall empty. They had the place to themselves, but this meant plating their own chow since the recruits on cafeteria duty were gone too.
Of course, the meals did not consist of the colorful fare one might find in a town canteen. The food was little better than rations; not only that, these were their fellow students’ leftovers. Naturally it was cold. Though it would fill their stomachs, that was about it.
Looking displeased, Cardina shrugged and said, “I really hope they hurry up and elevate it to an official subject.” He bit into his bread.
“I doubt that’ll happen during our time here.”
This blunt assertion came from Rose, who sat next to Kuklo. Vertical Maneuvering Equipment training wouldn’t be added as an official subject until someone mastered it and proved its usefulness to the brass. Even if things went smoothly, providing proof in the course of their studies was a tall order. They had no choice but to put up with leftovers for dinner.
“This doesn’t bother me, you know?” opined Kuklo. For him these leftovers amounted to a feast. There was nothing about the situation he found unsatisfactory.
“Well, maybe not you,” Cardina said, sighing conspicuously, “but not everyone’s as tough as you.” He then looked around at everyone at the table.
Only Kuklo, Cardina, and Rosa had enough strength left to get food down their throats. All of the others were just barely sipping soup, their stomachs unable to handle the solid fare─a struggle Ku-klo found impossible to understand.
You can’t be sure there will be food tomorrow. Therefore, eat when you can. That was Kuklo’s creed, and leaving food on a plate was unthinkable.
He bit into his bread and moistened his throat with soup. There was no hurry, but he hastily brought the corn beef to his mouth, which was growing full from whatever he could shovel in.
“Are you a squirrel or something?” Cardina looked appalled, but Kuklo, true to his credo, continued to stuff his face, very much like a squirrel storing acorns in its cheeks. Cardina changed the topic. “Still, we don’t seem to be getting the best results from the special training, though we’re mastering the old Equipment at least.”
“I see how the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment works, but using it is another story… I can’t even imagine myself flying around with that thing,” Rosa agreed. The sight of their special training barely simulated the advanced version’s operations. Shrugging, she concluded, “We need to make a breakthrough soon. I don’t want to leave this place a flunker.”
“Xenophon spoke about a change that’s like a revolution. It takes some trigger,” Kuklo said.
“Like what?” asked Rosa.
“I don’t know.”
Rosa sighed in grief. “What if it turns out that it’s not the kind of machine humans can ever master?”
“No one has learned to use it yet,” Cardina pointed out. “That possibility is there…”
“I respect what the instructor says and I do believe in the brilliance of its inventors, but there’s no guarantee that we have what it takes to do the job.”
“Does it pain you to not be making progress?” Kuklo asked.
“It does,” Rosa admitted frankly. “Making so little headway ends up sowing doubt. Sometimes I think that maybe it’d be better just to use the old model rather than the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment…”
“It did manage to bring down a Titan in the past,” Cardina reminded.
“But Uncle Angel insists that the old Equipment is defective, so it must be inadequate as anti-Titan gear.”
“So our only option is to master the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment?” Kuklo pressed.
Rosa nodded and replied yes, but her voice sank and she seemed lost. Perhaps the lack of results and her impatience over it was affecting her motivation.
The conversation drifted away from the topic of training, and they each worked on their dinner at their own pace. It was then that Kuklo’s ears detected ominous footsteps approaching the mess hall.
That’s… Kuklo didn’t have to concentrate on them to tell who they belonged to. Xavi!
He seemed to have his entourage with him, as Kuklo could hear multiple pairs of feet. It was most likely a small group of four or five including Xavi, perhaps the same gang that had taken Kuklo down during logistics training. In any case, Kuklo was certain he’d get dragged into trouble if they met.
Suddenly tense, he felt his pulse quickening.
I knew I was right about eating. Kuklo gulped down all the food that was in his mouth, then pointed at the mess hall’s exit. “We’re done eating. Everyone go to their rooms now.”
“Done? We’re still in the middle of─”
“Do we have company?” Cardina interrupted an upset Rosa. No doubt he could tell from Kuklo’s demeanor, thanks to the time they’d spent together, that unwanted guests were about to arrive. “Sheesh, I’d rather not have to go back to one of those cells…”
“Oh, I see,” Rosa read the situation.
“He has business with me.”
“So we should get out of here? That would be like abandoning a comrade in enemy territory.”
“This is your opportunity to learn what being a soldier means.”
Cardina and Rosa seemed to have no intention of running, nor did the other recruits at the table.
“He really does seem bothered that you joined, though,” Cardina said, his voice free of any nerves. “I guess that’s normal when someone you counted off as dead shows up.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rosa asked, puzzled.
“Some things are better left unknown. You don’t want to be disappeared by a suspicious organization, do you?”
Cardina is right…