"Ameri,remember when I said that the Oured HQ is suck?Yeah,I will take back those words,this is even better than my home"
Trigger lay on the bed inside the airport hotel,buried his face into the white clean sheets and pillow.When they landed on the runway of the airport,or even sooner than that,when they first saw the city from their planes,it already looked so promising.
"Snowy spring,this is the first time I see this"
Mobius sat on the chair,gazing upon the harbor of the city.After the blizzard,a coat of cold snow still present at every surface facing the sky,covered Vladivostok in the color of white.If not for the calendar showing the month of March,everyone could thought that Christmas eve is coming.Suddenly,she felt a sense of nostalgia,although in Usea,except for the northern part of the continent,snow doesn't fall,especially for a near-equator people like her.
"Must be the effect of watching too many cartoons"-she thinks-"What about Oured?The city must be way colder than it did in our world"
"Ameri,are you okay with this?"-Long Caster opened the door,breaking the girl out of the random thoughts-"Sharing a room is hard,but I forgot to inform the HQ that we've one female pilot,so I guess that this is my fault then."
"No problem,if he has any intention,his heels shall be outdoor this evening.Beside,I trust him as my loyal wingman"-Mobius poke at Trigger's foot-"Right"
"Yeah,and that is annoying,madam"
Punch*
"Ouch"
"Okay,then 7PM is the time for dinner,and you could spend your day in the city before that,James,go somewhere,don't be such lazy,it would be a waste if you decided to use all of your two weeks vacation to just sleep,get up"
"Yeah,I get it"
"And remember,this is a captured city,do not let them know that you're military officers,any suspicion could push our force into danger,okay?"
"Alright,we aren't kid"
15 minutes later,outside of the dorm
Mobius walks outside with more than two heavy coats covering 2 more sweaters,of course with an extra hat and socks.The climate looks beautiful,only from the inside,where a heater could make them comfortable enough to enjoy the scene,and the deadly cold wind cannot blow into their face thanks to the windows.The moment Mobius take her first step out of the door of the hotel,the girl has finally understand what is a true winter:
"Hoho..."
"If you can't go then we can go back inside"-Trigger comes to her side,he only has one medium-size coat,making the size of two people almost the same despite the height of Trigger.
"No"
"Okay,then,hey Leonardo,do you want to go with us"-Trigger asked the former Emmerian pilot,who is chilling outside with less than a proper T-shirt,but he rejected:"No thanks,Gracemeria in winter away like this"
"Uh,fine,you Emmerian are impressive as hell.Whatever,let's go,where would you like to go first?"
"A warm drink,I want one"-Mobius looked immediately at a cafe on the side of the road,her eyes seemed to only focus on the warm yellow light come from the inside of the building,hoping that they have some soft of heater,but she can't let her wingman know this,otherwise embarrassment will weight down on her for the rest of the walk.
"I know what you wanted,the Russian spring is still hashed for you,right?Alright,we go then"-Trigger walks to the cafe and opens the door,waiting for his companion to enter,who seemed disappointed,but she still entered:
"I shouldn't reveal too much about myself,no,I shouldn't have gone with you in Seoul at first place"
Mobius takes a seat right next to the window,which should be clear enough to see what is happening outside,but the snow has covered at least half of the glass,making the outside barely visible,aside from the weak light came from those street lights that has been opened since they were here.In a city that covered by snow and no sun can be seen,nothing strange if they turn on the light off the street 24/7:
"Well,the way would be quite blizzare I might say"-Trigger put down a menu on the table-"They do serve food here too,do you want anything?"
"....."
"I will take that as a no,so,one hot chocolate and some chicken borscht,please"
"Pardon...[Uhhh....Can you speak Russian?]
The waiter stand in front of the table speak a language completely unknown to the pilot,it seemed like he had heard it somewhere,but that doesn't mean that he could understand any word.Without any method of communicating to the waiter,Trigger shout out loud:
"Uhh,does anyone here understand Osean-..I mean English,does anyone know English here?"
"Wait,James,let me"-Mobius takes the menu-[We would take one hot chocolate for me and a dish of vegetable borscht for him]
[Oh,anything else?]
[No,thank you]
To his surprise,Mobius talks to the waiter fluently,and the young Russian woman also seemed to understand it too.Now looking closer,Trigger realized something familiar between Mobius and the waiter....
"The blonde silver hair color"-Trigger whispered to himself-"....that isn't natural in Usean continent either.And the language...the Yuk..."
"That's Yuktobanian"-Mobius said like she could read his mind-"Russian is similar to Yuktobanian,if you learn enough then you will notice the similarity"
Mobius focused her dark blue eyes somewhere out of the window,not caring about the pilot who sat right in front of her,who for the first time realized that he knew nothing about the woman that he was befriended with.
But before he could say anything,Mobius already opened the conversation:
"Well,I have never said that I am half-Yuke half-Usean,right?My father is indeed Usean,but my mother is not.During the Belkan War,she moved from Yuktobania to Central Usea,then she met my father,who was just an unnamed pilot at that time."
"Cool,unlike mine,the whole bloodline of my family consisted of Osean,maybe one from Belka or Ustio I don't know,but that's it"
"Yeah,but for most time I lived in Usea"
[Enjoy your meal]-The waiter stopped the talk by bringing the order. Aside from Mobius's usual hot chocolate,the dish of borsch her companion called seemed attractive,not just from the reddish color,but the light sour smell as well.A perfect dish for sour taste lover.
Trigger take the first spoon of the soup,the taste of vegetable is beyond his expectation,a good sour,along with the sweet of beetroot is truly charming on his tongue.Amazing taste,far beyond what he expected from the far east city of Russian land.But he do realized something strange:
"This isn't chicken borsch"
"Yeah,but I think vegetables will fit you more.Beside,I could make them for you, you know?Yuktobanian also have this delicious specialties"
"Really?Well,they call our home "Strangereal",right,Strangereal and this world is frightening similar"
The two focus their eyes at the TV showing on top of the cafe,strange that they really think that putting a TV here is a good idea,given that the noise could annoyed some people eating or drinking,especially for more than one person meal,no wonder that this cafe is so small due to lack of customers:
"So...the Osean and American entered Nanking..."
"Yeah,if a million troops couldn't push that deep then our armed force is truly screwed"
After the coalition force landed on the city of Shanghai,they rapidly pushed all of their deployable troops all across the frontline of less than a hundred kilometers to roughly twenty thousand miles,in just a week when they took a rest,the American,Osean,Australian and Japanese flags are flying proudly on top of the city of Nanjing:
"Well,the armies are pushing fast,unlike us,chilling around in a beautiful city,enjoying warm meal and separated room.What a luxury we have"
The TV changed the screen,showing the view of the capital of the PRC from the ground troops of the United States through naked eyes.And just that,Mobius has foreseen what would happen:
"The city of Beijing is already within our eyesight,with mean that they would call for our squadron soon.Never they didn't call us for something big."
"Quite a nice opportunity for show off against the Chinese,I have to said,I hope that they would just give up and end this war early"
"Quite depend from our higher's term and agreement"-Mobius take a sip from the hot chocolate cup:-"We will see"
Somewhere in China
"So,we will go our separate way,huh?"
"Yes,I supposed that I have to...you know,pay the price"
Zheltye 13 looked back at his aircraft,which was still damaged from the burn of his own attack,making it look like a chaotic mixed of black and yellow color on a palette,the loyal Su-37,one fly with him for more than any aircraft,has been torn down from the flame of war.Then he look at the fighter jets of rest of his team,they were fine,at least,and all was ready to take off from the wet runway of the city:
"Erich,I know that Maria is important,but please,you're our leader-"
"Jean-Louis,you're now the captain of the Su-37 Mercenary Squadron Zheltye,I believe in you,do not do anything stupid that would end your life and the others.I only said this,because I am no more your captain,I don't have the ability to lead us,but you are,Jean,you had lead this squadron before I joined it"
"I can't do it,you're way better than me,after 4 years of flying with you I realized that"
"But,you can lead your squadron,right?A captain doesn't need to be the best,you just need to know to organize the ones under your command"
"No I-"
"Yes,you can,I will not join your plan,my goal here is to revenge for Maria and the fallen pilots,you should be the one lead those poor pilots without home to return,most of them left their country to follow your footstep,and I am just the one continue it,you should reclaim your captain role.Do it,otherwise..."-Zheltye 13 take a glock out of his pocket and point it onto his head.Immediately,Zheltye 21 step back:
"......"
"......"
"If you said that,then you've determined.Fine,everybody,ready to take off"
The German-origin pilot looks as the Su-37s,all with the same yellow paint on their bodies slowly fly away into the gray cloud,heading toward the Northwest of China.Rain fall into his face,drop down to the flooded runway,then return to earth.Started with sixteen members,now he's here,all alone on the road:
Kling!*
Zheltye 13 pulled the trigger of the gun,but no bullet come out from the emptied magazine of the gun.He thrown the pistol onto the runway,disappointed:
"You haven't understand me,Jean,I don't have the courage to do that.Maria should know it,if she was here"