Time Well Spent - Military School (Part 2)

Time skip 2 days forwards, and I am currently sitting on my bed, waiting nervously for Miss Hari to pick me up. 

A knock at the door made me jump. 

"Excuse me? Is Void in here?" called a woman's voice. 

I stood up and opened the door. 

"Are you Void?" she asked me. 

"Yes, I am." 

"Very good. I am under the orders of my superior, Lieutenant Colonel Hari to order you to meet her in the main driveway of the HQ. Lieutenant General Vula will be arriving at HQ within 15 minutes. So be quick." she said. "That's all." 

"Understood." I answered back. 

She left while I collapsed onto the bed, pondering my thoughts. 
Welp, no time to think over this.  

I got ready my things, packed them into a fairly large backpack provided by Heodia (sourced by Shizuko) and took a deep breath.

"I think I'm ready." I said to myself. 

I grabbed the bag containing my personal items (discarding my old and worn-out bag) and walked through the door. Through the large windows of the hallway, I saw Shizuko at the main driveway, waiting. She saw me through the window and waved. I waved back at her and turned my attention to Heodia, who was waiting just outside the door. 

"You ready, Void?" Heodia asked me. 

"Yeah," I responded. "I should be." 

"Doesn't look like you are." 

"Oh well, doesn't really matter if I look the part or not." 

"Hmph. First impressions are important you know?" 

"But this isn't our first meeting remember? So first impressions are not really important here, Heodia." I replied. "Maybe should I ask Uto for an improvement to your AI?" 

"Ack. There's no need to be that mean! And besides, my AI system is already top-notch. " 

"Well, everything can still be upgraded and improved right? And also you tease me all the time so I think it's fair for me to do the same sometimes." 

Heodia sulked at my response. 
"Alright fine." 

I smiled at her, proud of my victory. 
"Now, let's not waste any more time. Shizuko is still waiting for us at the main driveway." 

And so we made our way to the middle of the floor, took the elevator down to the ground floor, and got lost (maybe) before finding the exit minutes later. 

"What took you guys so long?! The Lieutenant General has almost arrived!" Shizuko complained when she saw us exiting the dormitory. 

"Ah, sorry about that, Shizuko. We got lost (I think). First time using the elevator. Don't know where things are." I replied. 

"Ugh... I should just have waited for you as Heodia did..." 

"Hey, cheer up! We aren't late yet are we?" 

"No. But she's nearly here. Around 600 metres away from us currently." 

"600? Then we better go!" 

We scrambled to our positions just in time as a black car surrounded by other black cars approach us. 
Along with me, Heodia and Shizuko, Lieutenant Colonel Hari, a man I didn't know, and a woman I also didn't know were also waiting for the Lieutenant General. And actually, it's not only the Lieutenant General that the cars are carrying. They also carry a Colonel, 5 other Lieutenant Colonels, a few majors, and finally a Brigadier General also. 

I didn't know why a Brigadier General was on the battlefield though. But he was probably called in to sort the local population orderly. 

But anyway, I cleared my mind to ensure I can act professionally in front of these guys. That became harder to do so when they exited the cars and stared at us. Miss Hari, the man the woman, Shizuko and Heodia gave them a salute and I promptly followed suit. 

I made detailed observations to all of everyone who exited the car, but I focused most of my attention on the Lieutenant General, Vula, who somehow, and very strangely looked exactly like myself. 
Of course, she had longer hair than mine, nearly down to her shoulder compared to mine, which is only mid-neck length. But the hair colour was the same, eye colour was also the same, and body shape was the same also. 

I'm also pretty sure that our physical capabilities were also quite similar, possibly the same but since the Cloud Empire is well known around the world for its physical and mental improving devices and machines, I may be wrong. Though I have never seen one before, so I'm not even sure of its name. 

She wore a black military suit uniform, with a black tie and a white shirt on the inside which made her look very fancy. It's an Entanian 'senior' military uniform, used for special events like a military ball or a party with high-ranking soldiers and people. Usually, soldiers don't wear that on the battlefield due to obvious reasons. 

"I didn't take a good and detailed look at you, Void when we first met. You really do look like me more than I expected..." she said. "

"I also felt the same way, Lieutenant General when we first met." I hurriedly replied. 

"Heh. No need to be so tense. I don't bite." she responded to me. "But do I really look that scary..?" she mumbled under her breath. 

Hearing Vula's reply did not really calm me that much. Instead, it actually made me a bit tenser as I tried my best to remain calm and hold my posture in front of the Lieutenant General. 

"Well, we'll talk more in-depth later," Vula said, pulling herself away from my face. She turned her attention to Shizuko which she had an unexpected reaction.  

"Oh? Shizuko! It's been a while. How have you been? It's quite rare to see you out of your division. You here to greet me? That's very unexpected, I must say." 

"Yes... I am here to greet you on your return from the city of Touimai." she answered.

Vula then proceeded to whisper something into Shizuko's ear. Shizuko nodded and Vula apologised. I don't know why a Lieutenant General is apologising to an Officer Cadet, but from her interaction with Shizuko just then probably meant that they were good friends so I won't dive too deep into their relationship. 
After Vula dealt with Shizuko, she approached Miss Hari- or Lieutenant Colonel Hari and just spoke to her. Nothing else. She then talked with the man and woman and just like Miss Hari, just a quick conversation and then wrapped it up. 

The greetings were going pretty fast, so the Lieutenant General reached Heodia, who was at the far left much faster than expected. 

"Oh? You're Void's android partner, are you? Then nice to meet you, Heodia." 

"Yes, I am indeed Void's android partner, so it's an honour to meet you, Lieutenant General." 

"Just call me Vula. No need to add my rank." 

"Are you sure, Lieutenant General?" 

"100%. I don't mind only being called my name. Especially those who I consider powerful or rival me." 

"Then I presume that you noticed the MP10 submachine gun?" 

"Yes, I already did. But it took me a while to find it though since it was so well hidden." 

"I thank you for your compliment, Vula." Heodia said. 

"Hmph. No worries. Now everyone! Hop into the cars, since we'll be going to Pejene, then catching a flight to Blae." she said. "It's a long way to the city so relax while you can." 

She then entered the black car with the man and woman following Lieutenant Colonel into another vehicle. 

"Now, follow me." Shizuko said to me, rushing.

And so, I did. I didn't know what car to get into anyway so getting into the same one with a friend, namely Shizuko is nice. Heodia followed me so we got into the same car. Luckily, Vula wasn't in our car so I became very relaxed. 

"Ugh... That was tiresome even though it was only a few minutes. Oh yeah, Shizuko, where did our bags go?" 

"Hm? Oh, they are in the back trunk. You can enter it right now to get it if you want. I can provide access to it." 

"Oh... sure. I'll take up your offer then." 

"Alrighty," Shizuko said, punching some numbers into a hovering blue panel. "This should do. Alright, go get your stuff now. You can enter the back trunk now." 

"But I don't see a door anywhere to it..." I replied. 

"Just walk into the seat. You're going to pass through it. You can have my word if you don't trust me." 

"Alright then, here I go." 

I slowly and carefully approached the unused seats on the back of the car. When I put my foot forwards, I expected it to hit the seat but it didn't. Instead, it just went through. I didn't feel anything, it was just like the seats were a projection and when my brain fully understood the situation, I took another step. 

"See? You just pass through those seats." Shizuko said. 

"How does this work?" I asked her. 

"I won't go in-depth too much since it's way too complicated but in short, all of the seats in this car are projections with the light atoms fused with the respective atoms of whatever the seats are made out of. When I enter the password for turning off the fusing atom machine, the seats become a projection once again. So that's how it basically works." 

"Ah. I see." I replied. "Thanks for your simple explanation." 

"No problem. Now hurry up. We don't have all day long, well, maybe but still, just go and get your stuff and be back asap." 

"As you command." 

And with that, I hurriedly walked into the seat. When I reached the back trunk, I was much smaller. About 20% my size. 
A feature? I wondered. Oh well, I'll go and ask Shizuko about this afterwards. Now where's my bag... oh, there it is. 

Sitting in a corner, my black bag laid there. From my point of view, it was enormous. 

It's huge though. Didn't the size of the bags change as well? But from the looks of it, no. Shizuko's bags are the same size too... Oh well, I'll try to drag it to the entrance. 

I rolled up my sleeves and tried to pull my bag. No luck. It did move but it was only by a few millimetres.  
I began to question myself for a new way to pull it. 

Oh, wait. I'm so stupid. I can just use the powers that Uto gave me. Why didn't I think of that first? 

And so I did. And it was quite easy. I just repelled (erased) gravity under and on top of the bag, making it float, and to insure that it won't float away, I would need a maximum limit for the height. 
And to do so, the repelled gravity on top of the bag must be met with normal (downward) gravity around 2 centimetres above the bag, thus creating an equal force. I complimented myself on my genius but then realised something else. How am I going to move it? Sure, I made it float, and it should be weightless but the problem is, I can't reach the bag. But then I thought about the floating cars that major cities and upper-end countries have. The concept was the same but how do they move? Well, by searching my memories of a time when I read a book about the concept of floating or flying cars, they moved forwards and backwards (and side to side) by using a push force. 
And with that, I rewrote the law of gravity in order to create a push force and finally, I was able to get the bag to move. 

Carefully, I navigated it to the entrance, before making it go through it. When it fully went through, I heard Shizuko's voice. 

I hurriedly made my way through the entrance to see what happened. 

Shizuko was on the floor, rubbing her head, with Heodia next to her side. 

"What the... did you make that bag float?" Shizuko asked when she saw me. 

"Yes... I did..." I replied. 

"Oh alright then. I'll forgive you. But next time remember to watch out for anyone before you send something into someone's head." 

"Oh, did I hit you on the head?" 

"Yes, you did." she replied, getting up from the floor. 

"Ah. Sorry. I didn't know that you changed seats." 

"Hm? No, I didn't change seats. I think you just came out of another entrance." she said. "Look. You were sitting over there, right? You just came out of another entrance. It's no big deal. I'm going to take a nap so don't disturb me again." 

"Ah... okay..." I mumbled. 

I didn't try to do anything else after that so I just sat in awkwardness for the entire 4-hour drive to Pejene. 

We arrived at Pejene's city centre, with people bustling all around us. There were street carts selling all kinds of local foods, shops ranging from repairs to gaming centres to restaurants, and many more. I noticed a recruitment centre down one of the streets with a long line of both female and male, old and young people. 
I didn't pay too much attention to them though but I think a few of them, probably a group of friends, 3 females, and 2 males noticed me. 

I swear I could have seen them waving at me before Heodia pushed me away.

"Now, now don't get distracted. We would need to get to the airport." she said. 

"I know, know. Lead the way." I replied, dismissing the thought from my head. 

I followed Heodia and the rest of the party, unsure where to go. We were walking, which was surprising to me. 
I went up to Shizuko and tapped her shoulder. 

"Hm? Oh, it's you, Void," she said, turning to face me. "You need something again?" 

"No, no, not really," I replied. "Just wanted to ask a few things."  

"Go ahead then." 

"Thanks. So my first question is why are we walking to the airport? Is there some kind of special reason?" 

"Oh. About that, uhh, yes. There is some kind of special reason why were are walking to the airport. The airport we are going to is an underground one. So using a car or any other vehicle would attract attention." 

"An underground airport? How does that work?" 

"Military secrets, Void. I'm afraid I cannot tell you yet. But when you do join the military which is when you arrive at the capital of the Cloud Empire, only then I would tell you in detail." she answered. "But yeah, other than that, any more questions?" 

"No, not really." 

"Alright then." 

I didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the trip, just thinking. I gathered my thoughts, planning what to do next. 
Though it didn't bear much fruit. I was uneasy as I was like a sore thumb due to my clothing. Everyone was wearing high-quality (high quality to me) clothing, some even from luxury brands like Iris, Glama and many more that I couldn't recognise. And me, who was in normal clothing too; but it was covered in dirt, gunpowder, dust, ash and whatever else you will find in a wartorn city. 

I was getting glances from the public, I can just feel them but they weren't able to stare at me for long though, since I'm with soldiers. That made me a little better but still, I was very uneasy. And due to that, my thoughts were interrupted every few seconds with my mind going down a rabbit hole before getting out of it, trying to continue what I was doing before, and then repeat.  

It stopped when we arrived at a... normal-looking shop? It was nothing fancy like those beside it, and it didn't give off any hostile or welcoming auras. 

"Are we here, Shizuko?" I whispered. 

"Yes. This is the right location. But before that, change into these clothes." Shizuko answered, handing me a new set of casual clothing. 

"Oh... alright. And where do we change?" 

"Inside. Just follow me. And you too, Heodia." 

"Understood." Heodia replied. 

The Lieutenant General, Miss Hari, and the others were already heading into the store and soon, Shizuko did too. I followed with Heodia behind me and just as I entered, the noise of people talking took over my hearing. 

I was also blasted with cold air as the aircon was on full power. It felt like I was in the Arctic Continent. 

"You alright, Void?" Shizuko said. "I forgot to mention this, but this place is very cold!" 

"Say that sooner!" I yelled at her. "I'm dying right now due to the cold!" 

"Heheh. Sorry. Just bear with it for a sec! We will be going to another room!" 

"Fine! I will. But you are going to pay afterwards though!" 

I thought I was actually going to freeze to death in there but I somehow made it to the room where I was told to change into the clothes that Shizuko gave me. So did Heodia. But strangely, Shizuko herself did not change. 

"Hm? You didn't change, Shizuko?" I asked her when I left the room. 

"Nope. Didn't have to." 

"And may I know why?" 

"Yeah, sure why not. My uniform is from the High School of Blae, the most prestigious high school- no wait, school out there. And it is ever so lucky that they have a branch here in Pejene, so the students attending this branch here are also wearing basically the same uniforms as the main school in Blae." she explained.

"I see," I replied. "But are you sure that the general population or rather any students of the High School of Blae, Pejene Branch wouldn't unrecognised the uniform?" 

"No, I'm sure they won't. It's really hard to tell from afar and even from up close sometimes. So I'm pretty confident they will just recognise it as their uniform." 

"Yeah, okay, but what about your face?"

"My face?" Shizuko said, sounding confused. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Like wouldn't the students know their fellow students and classmates' faces?" 

"Oh. Nah, don't worry about it. It's going to be fine. And lastly don't be a worrywart. I can take care of those things by myself. And to be honest, you sound a little like my mother." 

"Alright, I get it," I replied. "Now I need to see where Heodia is..." 

I went back into the changing room to see their white lightning now changed to a slight orange colour. But that didn't bother me that much. 

"Heodia? You here?" I called out. 

"I'm here," she answered. "Nearly done, so just wait for me outside." 

And I followed her words. I exited the room to the cold air of the shop once again and met up with Shizuko who was outside now. 

"Is Heodia done now?" she asked. 

"Nearly." 

"Okay. Guess we'll wait for a bit longer then." 

After that quick conversation with Shizuko, I looked at my surroundings. The group I was a part of consisted of the Lieutenant General, a Colonel, 5 other Lieutenant Colonels and Miss Hari, a Brigadier General, a man and a woman whom I didn't tell which rank they are.  

They were all in casual clothing now, blending into the general population of the city instead of sticking out just moments prior. I enjoyed the entertainment of a street entertainer just across the road, watching him pull off magic tricks and other fascinating or interesting practices. I watched him until Heodia came out of the store so we moved. She wore a plain white shirt with some kind of puffy jacket with some fur over it, along with black long pants, presumably jeans or something else. Her long hair was, of course, tied up. 

"Oh? Looking pretty nice, Heodia, I'll tell you that." I commented. 

"Thanks. You look really good too, Void." 

"Thank you very much, Heodia. Should we get going now?” 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” 

I started following the group and for a while, no one cared to take a long look at us. Before they would usually make way for us since most of us were in military uniforms and that created a chain of reactions.  

But as we got closer to the location, we were told to act with uttermost carefulness, so as to not attract a huge crowd of people which in case, may attract spies from the enemy. 

“Oh yeah, Void and Heodia, you’ll be under my leadership for now. We are nearly at the location so now we’ll be splitting off into several smaller groups or teams to avoid suspicion from the public. I know it sounds pretty unreasonable but it is an extremely secret and important location so I do believe that these precautions are necessary.” Shizuko said. 

“Oh. Alright then. I do trust you enough to believe that.” I replied calmly. 

“Many thanks. We are dead last so want do you want to do to pass the time? We got around 30 minutes to pass.” she then asked. 

“I don’t know. I have never been to this city before, let alone knowing about this city.” I answered. 

Shizuko has a face of surprise at my answer. 
"You seriously never heard of Pejene, one of the oldest cities in the world?" 

"Yes..." I ashamedly replied. 

"Oh, well. That's fine. Then let's get some food from a diner somewhere here. I'm pretty hungry. How about you guys?" 

"I'm fine with anything." Heodia replied. 

"Same here. I'm fine with anything." 

"Alright then, let's go get some food." 

Shizuko leads the way, crossing the road onto another street, and entering a cafe at the end of the street. 
The black, wooden cafe was sleek with both modern and old architecture and had soft, but yet warm and cozy yellow lights, lighting up the place. The atmosphere of the place, given it's jam-packed with people was... peaceful, I guess. We entered and were greeted by a waitress and was guided to our table. 

"Pretty cozy isn't it?" Shizuko remarked. 

"Yeah... I agree with you on that one." I answered. 

Shizuko nodded and gave me a digital menu. 

"Order what you like. I'll pay." 

"You paying again? No, no we can pay for our own food." I hastily replied. 

She smiled. 
"No need to be so humble. I invited you guys so I should be the one paying." 

"No, no, it's fine. It really is."  

"Well, if you insist. I'm going to use the restrooms for a second. I'll be right back. Decide on what you want to order." Shizuko said, standing up. 

"Okay. See you in a bit." 

After Shizuko had left, I looked at the menu. 
Now, what should I get? I'm not that hungry so should I get dessert? Yeah, let's go take a look at the dessert section here... 

I was actually quite shocked to see so many varieties and different kinds of desserts like cakes, pastries, ice cream, and all sorts of sweet drinks in one shop. The ones I was used to only had a few choices and were crazy expensive. 

"Hey, Void, if you aren't going to order anything and just stare at the menu, then how about giving it to me?" Heodia said. 

"Calm down now. I'm still deciding. I'll send you a menu, so we don't have to share one." I replied. 

I requested another menu by contacting a waitress and she sent Heodia a digital menu. 

"Thanks." she said when she received the menu. 

She quickly began to scroll through it, searching for what to order. 
And I restarted to hunt for the best dessert to order. 

Sometime later, Shizuko returned from the restrooms and sat down. 

"Finished?" she asked. 

"Yup." 

"Okay," she replied. She then proceeded to call up a menu again, punching in something. "Alrighty. The kitchen staff got our order. Now we wait." 

"Doesn't a waitress take our order?" I asked, confused. 

"Yes, but this cafe also has a self-order option for those who want to keep a low profile or just those who don't want to interact with people." answered Shizuko. 

"Oh. That's really crafty of them." I commented. 

"Yeah, I agree," Heodia added. "I like the way that they have 2 options for you to order." 

We talked about things as we waited for our order to arrive and soon, it did. I ordered the cafe's classic Chocolate and Strawberry Sundae with extra fruit toppings. Very sweet sounding and delicious. It arrived in a large and clear glass cup, not very wide but quite tall. Ice cream was literally overflowing from the cup, drizzling down onto the plate it stood on top of. 

I picked up the spoon and dug a spoonful of chocolate ice cream (with a bit of fruit) into my mouth. 

"Woah, that's good. Really good. Hits the spot too." I said, taking another spoonful. 

"Aw man, why did you get served first, Void?" Heodia complained. "Now I desperately want mine to arrive!" 

"Tough luck, Heodia. Guess luck was on my side right now." I replied, most likely stabbing her heart with knives. "But anyway, your order is here." 

I pointed to a human waitress, the same one who welcomed us and guided us to our seats, carrying a fairly large-sized plate filled with pastries, a few small slices of cake and a cup of ice cream. 
"That could only be yours, right? No one else would order something that is like 80% sugar." 

"Oh! That looks better than the picture on the menu!" Heodia said, completely ignoring me. 

"Hey! Listen to me!" 

Of course, Heodia chose to completely ignore me again and after that, I gave up. 

"What did you order, Shizuko?" I asked. 

"Hm? Oh, a boxed lunch set. It's random, so you'll get to try something new once every while," Shizuko answered. "It's pretty fun. You should order one next time we come here and see what you'll get." 

It was a pretty normal dining experience so nothing much to record. But once we paid and left the cafe, the street was much more packed and lively than before. We struggled to make our way through the river of people and cross the road. 

And when we actually did make our way to the shop again, it was just in time. 

"Huff... sorry about being a little late... uh, Shizuko Sukan reporting in," she reported to a man standing in front of a door. "Oh, and these are my group members, Void and Heodia." 

"Thank you very much. I doubt I need to say this but please enter your ID card just to confirm." the man replied. 

"Of course." Shizuko said, handing in a small card. 

"Details registered and complete. Welcome, Miss Shizuko Sukan and her group." the man said, bowing his head to us. 

Taking back her card from the man, Shizuko entered the building and we followed. 

"Um, Shizuko..?" I started. 

"Yes?" 

"Where are we right now?" I asked. It was cool and spacious. So spacious in fact that most of the room was dark. 

"Can't answer that question. Just follow me." 

And I did. I stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, despite the many questions I wanted an answer for. 
But I didn't need someone to answer them. They answered themselves when we stopped. 
Planes, helicopters, drones, missiles, personnel and all other sorts of machinery and tools scattered about in a huge room, completely underground. 

Shizuko took a few steps forwards and turned around. 
"Void, Heodia, I welcome you to Pejene UA-13! Or... also known as Pejene's Underground Airport Facility!" she exclaimed, with her arms stretched out. 

Oh boy. Here comes trouble. I thought.