[Omake] Training

OCOMM be damned, Sachiko wasn’t having it. The program was already having discipline problems, and those idiots were only making it worse.

Of all the little pests clinging to Hina at the orphanage, they chose the timid one? The one who quivered in fear when they first met? The one who never even tried to stand up to her bullies? How could such a girl possibly make it in the space program?

She’d be doing the girl a favor by pushing her out as fast as possible.

After finishing her last simulation for the day—flawlessly, naturally—Sachiko jogged over to the docks to greet the new hoshinaut candidate. As expected, there was a small crowd gathered around, but they were standing farther back than normal.

“Sachiko, thank goodness you’re here. Be a dear and trade uniforms with her. There was an unfortunate accident, and we only have an hour of ideal lighting left.”

Pushing past the camerawoman, Sachiko glared down at Yasu. She was taller and more muscular, but she was the girl Sachiko remembered. As Sachiko stepped forward, Yasu shrank back and refused to meet her gaze.

“Whose blood is this?” Sachiko asked.

“Some of the girls were jealous.” Sachiko could barely make out Yasu’s quiet words. “They tried to break my fingers so I couldn’t work the instruments.”

Grabbing Yasu’s hands, Sachiko turned them over. “Were they successful?” It would be a great excuse to dismiss her right there and then.

“No.” Yasu summoned her courage and looked directly at Sachiko. “The space program needs me just as much for my body as my mind. I protected myself. This blood is theirs.”

Maybe not quite the same girl, after all.

“My jumpsuit’s too big for her,” Sachiko said. “We’ll have to get creative.” Grabbing Yasu’s shoulders, she turned the girl sideways so that her back was to the camera. Mirroring Yasu’s pose, so her front was to the camera, Sachiko extended a hand.

Being top-notch professionals, the camera crew was fast to catch on and repositioned their equipment to shoot from an angle where Yasu’s bloodstains wouldn’t be visible.

Placing her free hand on Yasu’s chin, Sachiko nudged her face up. “Look directly at me. Smile. Lift your cheeks. Don’t let your teeth touch. Good.” All the while, the camerawoman snapped picture after picture. “Now slowly turn towards the camera. Don’t squint. I know the light’s bright, but put up with it.”

After taking a few more photos, the camerawoman held her thumb up. “Would be great if we could get one more pose…”

“OK. Bring it in close.” Without warning, Sachiko pulled Yasu close and laid her arm across her shoulders. With her other hand, she pointed to the sky, at nothing in particular. “Don’t look at my finger. Look past it, and keep smiling. The fans will be analyzing every photo closely, so we have to make them look real.”

Yasu’s smile vanished right as the photographer snapped a shot. “F—fans?” Hearing the shutter click, she did her best to regain her composure.

“Mostly old guys with nothing better to do. About half of them are Soviets. It’s kind of like being an idol, except instead of singing and shaking hands, you spend all day training to go to space.”

Lowering her camera, the camerawoman gestured for the crew to pack up. “Let’s wrap for today.”

“And let’s get you a clean jumpsuit. Come on.” Sachiko tilted her head towards the dormitory, then quickly turned and walked in its direction.

“Th—Th—Thank you, Sachiko.” Yasu hurried to keep up. She was still wary of the older girl, but she now knew from experience that weakness was something to be overcome.

Without looking back, Sachiko offered her some encouragement. “You did well to protect yourself. Maintaining your physical and mental fitness is your job now.” She could hear Yasu breathe a sigh of relief, and decided not to let her off so easily. “But make no mistake, I do not accept you as a hoshinaut… yet. If you can’t prove yourself, you’ll be sent back to that orphanage with the girls you beat up. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to see you again.”

⁂

To Yasu, the dormitory building appeared very similar to the orphanage, and she wondered if that was by design. Long white hallways with lots of evenly-spaced doors stretched out in front of them.

“And Here’s your room.” Stopping in front of a door indistinguishable from the others, Sachiko pushed it open. “Closet should have lots of spares. I’ve got more important things to do, so if you’re not changed in three minutes, I’m leaving.”

Yasu poked her head into the room and frowned. It was tiny and obviously unused. “I’m not rooming with Hina?”

“Everyone gets their own room. If you’ve got more questions, you can ask someone else. Hurry up.”

Shrinking away from the annoyed Sachiko, Yasu changed as quickly as she could. Less than a minute later, she stepped back into the hallway, fully changed and carrying her old jumpsuit under her arm.

“Throw that in the hamper and let’s go. Someone will be along soon to take you off my hands.”

Yasu looked down at the ground, shuffled her feet, and then looked back at Sachiko. “I can’t let this out of my sight. It’s evidence. You wouldn’t happen to know where the incinerator is, would you?”

“Destruction of government property?” For the first time that day, Sachiko’s lips curled into a genuine smile. “Well, I guess it’s for a good reason. Just don’t make it a habit.” She held out her hand. “Give it to me. I’ll make sure no one lays eyes on it ever again.”

Hesitating only for the briefest of moments, Yasu decided to trust the bloodstained jumpsuit to Sachiko. After all, this was Sachiko Cook, the girl who was capable of performing impossible feats. If she wanted to destroy Yasu, she could do so at any time. In a sense, that made her the most trustworthy accomplice.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll also make sure no one from the orphanage says anything.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you… I don’t want to kill them.”

“That’s not your call anymore. You live for the space program now. Nothing is more important. Do you understand me? Nothing.” Tucking the jumpsuit under her arm, Sachiko walked down the hallway. “That said, I don’t think it will come to that.”

Turning a corner, they came across two girls in the hallway. One was shorter than Yasu, with bright pink twintails. She was leaning against the wall, one leg bent. As she gazed into the other girl’s eyes, she pressed her teeth down on her lower lip, widening her already large grin.

The other girl was tall and muscular, with short, curly red hair. She was resting her forearm against the wall so she could lean close to the pink-haired girl. The smile on her face was more confident and sinister, but betrayed just as much excitement as she returned the girl’s gaze.

“Hina!” Forgetting all about Sachiko, Yasu ran up to her childhood friend.

“Yasu?” Hina’s mouth hung open in shock. “They told me someone from the orphanage was coming, but—” She stopped before she could say something rude. “You’ve changed.”

“So have you.” Leaning to the side, Yasu ogled Hina’s massive bicep.

“Excuse me.” The pink girl stepped between the two of them and pointed a finger in Yasu’s face. “We were having a conversation before you rudely interrupted.”

Suddenly remembering that Sachiko was behind her, Yasu beat a hasty retreat, cowering behind Sachiko.

The familiar sight of Yasu backing down in the face of a smaller girl caused Hina to crack up. “Guess some things haven’t changed about you after all.”

“I could say the same thing. You’ll still make friends with anyone, I see.”

“Nandesutte?!” The pink-haired girl’s voice rose in pitch and volume, but the most startling aspect to Yasu was the casual use of Japanese. Wasn’t JAXA, a government agency, supposed to be at the cutting edge of de-animeification in the federation? “Are you saying I’m not worth Hina’s time? We finally had a good mood going. Why did you have to ruin it?”

“Oh? Do tell.” Sachiko glared down at the girl. “Exactly what kind of mood?”

The girl gulped so loudly that her next words sounded quiet in comparison. “Just a friendly mood. You know how it is.”

“I’m afraid I do, which is why I must remind you not to get too friendly. It will end badly for you both.”

Hina turned her palms towards Sachiko. “No need to get upset. It was just a little flirting. If we don’t practice now, we’ll be clueless when we grow up.”

“Believe it or not, I’m saying this for your benefit. I could care less about Keiko.”

“Hey!”

Before Keiko could blow up again, Hina put a hand on her shoulder. “Save your concern. The higher ups would never get rid of me.”

Stepping forward, Sachiko got close to Hina’s face. Although both of them had no doubt Hina would dominate a physical confrontation, Hina shuddered in fear. It was like Sachiko was staring through her body and into her soul, looking upon her closely-held secrets and insecurities.

“That attitude is exactly why I’m worried about you. No one is irreplaceable. Remember the company’s policy: It’s better to die a hero than live as a disgrace.”

“Alright, I get it.” Hina let out a long sigh and turned away. “Thanks.”

“Where are you going?” Keiko asked as Hina took off down the hallway.

“Where else? The gym. Need to blow off some steam.”

“I’ll—” Keiko started to follow, but was stopped when Sachiko grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

“You’ll go take a cold shower. If I catch you anywhere near Hina without a good reason, you’ll wish you had died a hero.”

Yasu watched as Keiko ran off in the opposite direction from Hina. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough to keep her away. She obviously has impure intentions towards Hina.”

“No kidding. She’s not the only one, either. Doesn’t help that Hina seems to have more impure thoughts than all of them put together.”

“You’re mistaken.”

“Pretty sure I’m not.”

“No, Hina’s just being friendly. She’s very insecure, you know. Back at the orphanage, she worked very hard so that everyone would like her. There’s something admirable about that, but it also meant she got along with people who were bad for her, and I can see the same thing is happening here.”

“If you’re concerned, you can help me keep them separated.”

“You don’t have to ask twice. I’ll keep a very close eye on any girl that comes after her.”

⁂

Yasu was nearly finished with her simulated experiment when the alarm sounded. Placing her tools down, she walked calmly towards the Russian section of the replica ISS. As she entered Destiny, however, Keiko held an arm out to block her path.

“Problem’s with the OGA.”

“How can you tell?”

“Memorized the codes.” She pointed at a panel hanging from the wall.

“OK, let’s contact mission control.”

“You can waste your time with that if you want. I’m going to fix the problem.”

Ignoring Keiko’s attitude, Yasu grabbed a headset off the wall. “Mission Control, this is ISS, please come in.”

Before anyone had a chance to respond, however, Keiko finished reinstalling the OGA, and the code on the display vanished. She locked eyes with Yasu, a satisfied grin on her face. “Just needed a new cell. Are we done yet?”

An adult voice sounded over the intercom, raining on her parade. “No. Go back to your stations. We’ll do it again from the beginning. And this time, follow the proper procedure.”

“But Hina always skips steps,” Keiko said, “and you praise her for it.”

“Hina makes the right calls in emergency situations, but this wasn’t an emergency. Following the proper procedure is important. We’re going to repeat this drill until you do it right.”

“Fine.” As Keiko stormed off, Yasu made a mental note of the girl’s impatience.

⁂

“What do you have there, Yasu?” As she was on her way back from lunch, Yasu was approached by Aiko, another girl openly vying for Hina’s affections. Aiko was tall, with long, bubblegum blue hair and matching eyes.

“Just reviewing some procedures.” Yasu tried to hide the clipboard she was holding behind her back, but that only made Aiko more curious.

“Give me that.” With her superior strength, it didn’t take long for her to wrestle the documents from Yasu. “Hey, these are the notes for our next training exercise. Fire simulation in a Shuttle, huh? Where did you get this?”

“One of the adults left it behind in the cafeteria. I was on my way to turn it in.”

“You’d better do that, and don’t tell ‘em I took a peek.” As Aiko handed the clipboard back, she noticed something scrawled in the margin. “Crew 7? Isn’t Hina assigned to that crew?”

“She is…”

“Looks like one of the girls is getting dropped, and they need a replacement.” A broad grin spread across Aiko’s face.

Yasu, on the other hand, remained expressionless, save for a small tug at the corner of her lips.

⁂

From her seat behind them, Yasu watched as Aiko leaned over and whispered into Keiko’s ears. She could only catch bits and pieces. “… simulated fire… fastest teams… considered… Hina…”

Keiko nodded along. “Got it. We just gotta be the fastest. No problem.”

The two girls fell silent, but continued to sit straight in their seats. Keiko kept sweeping her gaze across the panels, while Aiko couldn’t help but tap her heel on the floor repeatedly. When the alarm went off, they jumped into action.

“Fire.” Keiko pointed to a panel on the dashboard. “Aiko, inform mission control. Yasu, confirm the location.”

Both girls answered simultaneously. “On it.”

Without waiting for either of them to do their jobs, Keiko went to take the fire extinguisher from the wall, but when she pulled, it didn’t budge. “What the hell? Is it glued on?”

“You need to pull the quick-release lever.” As Aiko leaned over to point, Keiko’s hand slipped off the extinguisher and she elbowed Aiko in the nose. “Ow! Fuck, I’m bleeding. Is it broken?”

“Who cares? We gotta put out the fire. Yasu? Have you located it yet?”

It had only been half a minute since the alarm went off, but it hadn’t taken Yasu long to visually confirm the simulated fire. “It’s on the mid-deck.”

“That’s close.” Keiko tried to run in that direction, but Aiko grabbed her sleeve.

“We need to shut down the electrical systems first.”

“Of course.” Hurrying to correct her mistake, Keiko spun on the spot and accidentally smacked Aiko in the side of the head with the fire extinguisher. “Get out of the way.”

“You did that on purpose,” Aiko growled. Standing from her seat, she grabbed Keiko by the collar.

“Sorry, I was just—” But she didn’t get to finish her sentence. Aiko punched her across the face, causing her to drop the fire extinguisher.

Picking it up, Yasu made her way to the mid-deck while the others brawled. That went better than I imagined. I didn’t have to get directly involved at all.

Indeed, in the aftermath of the disaster, both Keiko and Aiko were removed from the program. Yasu never learned what happened to them after that, nor did she particularly care. She was praised for putting the mission first and extinguishing the fire, and no one had the slightest suspicion that she instigated the fight in the first place.

No one, that is, except Sachiko.

A few days later, as they passed each other in the hallway, Sachiko leaned down to whisper in Yasu’s ear. “I was wrong about you. You’ve got what it takes to be a hoshinaut after all.”