《Becoming Renegades in Another World!》 Chapter_0 『The Fool』 We begin. A short prologue, because typing from the phone is FUCKING HARD. - The flax-haired boy lowered his empty coffee mug on the tea table, producing a dry sound. The word ''GUNNISON'' was written in bright blue capital letters on the side of the ceramic. ''Gunnison'' leaned his small body on the couch, sighing. He felt as if the cold north european winter was sucking the energy out of his body, leaving him tired both mentally and physically - even if he had woken up recently and had barely moved from his apartment''s living room that morning. Indeed, it was so cold outside that he decided to skip school and laze around at home, watching movies. The small boy reached towards his phone and opened his message inbox. Quite a few people texted him, worried about his absence from school. Gunnison wasn''t what you would call a jock, or some other typical popular guy, but he was generally well-liked among his peers, and had some close friends. He replied to the messages, lying about having a cold, and then sluggishly got up from the soft couch to get more black coffee. On his way to the kitchen the boy stubbed his little toe against a chair, which made him scream loudly. Gunnison immediately regretted screaming and cursed under his breath. "Fuck..." The walls connecting his apartment to the neighbouring one were very thin, so everybody in his family took special care when speaking next to said walls, hoping not to disturb the neighbors. Gunnison had never actually seen them, but he was sure they wouldn''t enjoy being bothered in the morning. However, no response came from the other side of the wall. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Shrugging, Gunnison made his way back to the couch, along with his newly acquired coffee. He was determined to do nothing all day, and he certainly wasn''t going to be stopped by chairs or shut-in neighbors. But just as he was about to start his day-long session of couch slouching, his smartphone''s screen lit up, informing Gunnison of an incoming message and a few missed phone calls. All of the phone calls came from his mother, away for a family meeting along with his father. Gunnison marveled at the number of times his mother managed to call in the six and a half minutes it took him to make coffee. On the other hand, the message''s sender was unknown, and even the phone number was nothing but some garbled text. Gunnison drove his hand through his long hair and hesitated. It was quite possible the message contained a cyber scam of some sort, but the garbled text piqued the student''s interest. With his pointer finger, Gunnison opened the message. Much to his surprise, the text was incredibly short. "g o o d l u c k" Before he could question the meaning of the cryptic words, a static sound erupted from the phone as it shut off completely. Checking the battery and the motherboard, it looked to Gunnison as if someone had poured acid on them. But once again, he didn''t have the time to check the details, for all the lights immediately turned off, and a tremor shook the building. Gunnison lost his footing and hit his head against the edge of the tea table. Gunnison lost consciousness. - What kind of name is Gunnison anyway? Chapter_1 『Calling』 hey lads i planned to post this chapter earlier but warframe convinced me not to. i also noticed oppaisensei left a review. grand - The first thing that came into Gunnison''s view after he woke up was a frowning, thickly bearded face. The boy''s brow furrowed. He didn''t remember anyone like that living in his house. Or rather, he didn''t remember seeing anyone like that living in the whole block. He would''ve remembered such a beard if he''d seen it before. "Who are you?" Gunnison questioned, his voice sounding harsher than intended. The stranger''s shoulders jolted. It was obvious he didn''t expect Gunnison to speak. Quite strange, given that he was staring at him at point blank distance. It should''ve been clear that the boy would have some qualms about him intruding the apartment. "Well?" Gunnison pressured the man further, while slowly rising from the floor he had been laying on. His head hurt badly, but he would manage. Probably. "T-the door was locked." The man had a deep and low voice, but the stuttering made him sound more pathetic than threatening. "A-and I didn''t hear you leave after the Calling, s-so I was worried, and, huh..." "Hold on, what? A Calling? Wait, was there really a Calling?" Gunnison interrupted the man''s rumbling, surprised and confused by what he said. It was natural, since the last last time an Intraean Calling had been issued and every inhabitant of the city-state gathered in the Square, the City Lord announced they would aid the Allied Forces in the Second World War. There had been a quantity of drills since then, but Gunnison never experienced a real Calling. And if it was something as serious as it was seventy years earlier... Not heeding its call would definitely have some consequences. The blond stranger got up from his sitting position and heaved a sigh, looking considerably tired for whatever reason. Gunnison gulped. He didn''t notice it before, but the man had quite an imposing figure. He was taller than Gunnison by at least thirty centimeters, and his large build made Gunnison''s relatively small body look like that of a baby''s. If the man was some kind of criminal after his life, then Gunnison would have absolutely no way of retaliating. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "Setting the Calling aside, you still haven''t answered my question." Gunnison shifted the topic of the conversation (if it could be called as such) to conceal his copious anxiety. He still couldn''t believe an actual Calling had been issued. And he would be alive to answer it. "Well, I''m your, huh, neighbor. Sven. I don''t get out much, so it''s natural you''ve never seen me. Haha." Hearing Sven''s strained laughter, Gunnison cringed inwardly. More like, he never got out. His neighbor''s door had always stayed shut for all he knew. Gunnison idly wondered how he could get food without ever leaving his house. He left at night, perhaps? The image of a bearded man skipping around in the dark with a bag full of groceries popped up in Gunnison''s mind. He quickly tried to erase that image. "Nice to meet you then, neighbor. I''m Gunnison. Thanks for waking me up, by the way." Gunnison introduced himself with a smile, outstretching his hand at the same time. Yeah, he surely didn''t want to get on the gigantic man''s bad side. Thankfully, Sven accepted the handshake. Not without a moment of hesitation of course, but Gunnison already suspected that social interactions weren''t his neighbor''s forte. "Shall we get going then?" said Gunnison. Sven answered with a low grunt, and motioned towards the door in the living room. The boy followed, taking notice of the door laying on the floor; it seemed that Sven had quickly given up on knocking, and had resorted to more... radical solutions. Gunnison''s parents would probably get mad at him when they returned. The day was getting better by the minute. - i fuckin did iiiiiit! god, writing is so hard. as a side note, the ''u'' in ''gunnison'' is pronounced as the ''u'' in ''duty'' yeah well goodbye. ill try to post longer chapters. peace out Chapter_2 『Yozora Kingdom』 Sorry for the long delay. I got into a car accident and I only came home yesterday. Fractured five ribs, my humerus and a tibia. Still hurts like hell when I move. Stay safe, kids. - The sky was completely black. Far from the slightly cloudy winter day Gunnison witnessed that same morning, the firmament that now lingered over Intraea was devoid of any color. Or light, for that matter. Thankfully, the City Ruler found it appropriate to install some street lights in New Intraea, the relatively peripheral area of the city where Sven and Gunnison''s condo was located. Thus, the pair managed to see without problems once they left the building. However, neither of them owned any means of transport nor could they see a bus or a taxi approaching. To put it bluntly, the streets were deserted, and Gunnison would have to walk all the way to the Square on his own feet. The boy winced at the thought. The city-state was definitely small, even compared to other such countries, but the prospect of physical activity was terrifying to him. "We should probably start running..." It was Sven who broke the silence first, unexpectedly. "Huh?! Why?!" Gunnison almost shouted in response. If there was something he hated, it was physical exercise. And if there was something he hated even more than that, it was prolonged physical exercise. Running to the Square would take about twenty-five minutes, way longer than Gunnison''s limit. "Uh, the Calling was half an hour ago, and it would take another hour to get there, if we walk normally. And if we are we will, huh, miss the Calling and if we do that then, uh, um... " "I get it, I get it. I''ll run, fine!" Gunnison fiercely interrupted Sven, before he started making more sense. The tall man looked genuinely intimidated. ''Just when was the last time this guy had a conversation with someone?'', Gunnison pondered. He wanted to ask, but Sven started running before he could get the chance to. Cursing inwardly, Gunnison reluctantly followed. * The duo finally arrived at the Square twenty five minutes later. "All of a sudden I''m not so interested in the Calling anymore..." Gunnison panted. "Hmm? Did you say something?" Sven looked around the Square without paying much attention to Gunnison. They didn''t meet anyone on the way there, and now it was clear why: every single citizen of Intraea had gathered in the gigantic plaza. About thirty thousand people occupied the entirety of the wide open space. And dominating the square with its massive front, was the great Palace of Intraea. The Palace, a gothic building more than eight centuries old, seemed to remind each citizen of their position with its massive size: in fact, the citizens must keep in mind that they are subjects of the City Ruler, and nothing more. It had been so since the City''s foundation, an everchanging principle deeply rooted in the very base of the country. "Huh... nothing..." The migraine from before still tortured him, so Gunnison wasn''t in the mood to speak with the giant. The day had been far too eventful for his tastes. He just wanted to listen to what the Ruler had to say, understand what was the deal with that black sky and go home as fast as possible. However, Gunnison''s expectations were brutally betrayed as an acute, agonising pain hit him in the very next moment and he fell on the ground screaming. The boy clutched his chest in agony, the tears falling from his golden eyes wetting the ground. He felt as if his heart was going to rip out of his chest, as if each of his bones were being broken simultaneously, as if someone was sticking dull and rusted needles in his eyes. Every nerve in his body was screaming that he was going to die. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it."FUCKING JESUS! AAAAAAAAARGH!" Gunnison''s inarticulate yells turned into a curse. He strained his tearing muscles to slowly rise from the ground, and the following moment of clarity showed him thousands of bodies wriggling on the ground like worms, trying to escape from the god-sent punishment that seemed to consume their very souls. Unfortunately, those puny efforts showed no result. Their pitiful struggling strongly reminded Gunnison of that of an insect''s. It was clearly futile, yet those insects couldn''t help but persevere in their effort. ''How pathetic'', Gunnison thought. * "WHAT THE FUCK!" Waking up, Gunnison was once again greeted by a rough bearded face. Gunnison raised his upper body in a panic, succesfully headbutting Sven in the process and sending him flying from the force. "Ah, good evening." Greeting Sven, Gunnison got off the unfamiliar bunk bed he was laying on and stretched his body. The headache he received from hitting his head was now gone, but he now suffered from severe muscle pains for some strange reason; it was true that he ran for the first time in a while, but the pain was evenly spread out in his whole body, not limiting itself to the legs. Gunnison wondered about the intense agony the citizens (and himself) seemed to be experiencing earlier. Perhaps, that was the reason his muscles hurt so much. "Sven, my dear friend." The giant, still lying on the floor holding his head, answered the boy''s calling with a pained groan. ''What a pushover.'' "Mind telling me where we are right now?" Another groan. Gunnison frowned at his companion''s low pain resistance and sat on the floor. The room they were in was furnished with two simple bunk beds, a metallic table, and chairs. ''Ah.'' Gunnison remembered. He saw a room like this before, when he went on a school trip three years earlier. It was a trip to the ''Intraean Barracks''. Right, this room was a place where soldiers rested. In short, it was a ''Dormitory''. But why was he here? What happened while he was unconscious? The barracks were in the City''s outskirts, so someone probably moved him there. "Aah... it hurts, it hurts, it hurts,..." Sven kept mumbling in pain, but slowly went silent as the pain subsided. Then he spoke, his voice no louder than a mutter. "Two days..." Eloquence wasn''t among Sven talents. "Again, what?" "Y-you slept for two whole days... After the speech..." Had there been a speech? "W-wait, what? Two whole days? What happened after I passed out? Why am I here? What speech are you talking about?" Gunnison inquired somewhat fiercely. Sven was overwhelmed. He had never spoken more than six words in a single day before. Fourteen were simply too many for his level of speechcraft. But Gunnison didn''t know this and kept pressing on, eager to know about whatever information his neighbour could provide about the last few days'' happenings. But just as the giant began meditating over how to explain everything in six words or less, the door was violently kicked open, and four plastic bags, held by two young men, entered the room. Chapter_3 『Enter White』 Contrary to his short height and delicate appearance, the youth on the left was holding a great number of heavy-looking convenience store plastic bags in both of his hands. Gunnison took note of the large amount of small scars on his left index and middle finger. The youth proceeded to give an uninterested glance in Gunnison''s direction before laying the bags on the floor and throwing himself on one of the bunk beds. Whatever kind of shopping trip he had been on, it was a tiring one. Gunnison wasn''t surprised by the unnamed youth''s almond eyes and dark hair: Intraea became a refuge for a great number of foreigners after the chaos that followed the Great Wars in the previous century. It was common to witness people of different ethnicities mingling together, especially in New Intraea, which was built purposely for the sake of hosting new inhabitants. The boy''s surprise was instead directed at the figure on the right: he recognized the tall and dark skinned youth as one of his friends from school. "Zatch." "Yo. Glad to have you back in the world of the living." Zatch greeted Gunnison with a chuckle. He then directed his gaze at Sven. "What did you do to this guy?" He said while dropping the paperbags. "He tripped." Gunnison lied. "Yeah, sure." Zatch helped Sven up and comforted him. They seemed familiar with each other, and Gunnison once again wondered about what happened while he was unconscious. "A lot of shit went down in these two days, you know?" Reading Gunnison''s mind, Zatch spoke up, spreading his arms in a flashy way. Oh no. Zatch was about to execute his most powerful move: the Surprise Shit Talking. Once he started, Gunnison knew he couldn''t be stopped. "After that weird-ass shock, the Ruler came out. The Ruler! See, with his own Citizens crawling the ground screaming and tripping balls, he just started speaking like he was talking about weather forecasts. He''s got balls of steel, that old dude. Still hate him though." Many of the New Citizens bore some kind of ill will towards the City Ruler, Nero, because of the unfavorable treatment they received. It wasn''t to the extent of ostracizing them, but the City Ruler certainly didn''t believe in absolute equality. "Ah, so you felt it too? How was it?" Gunnison worried over his friend''s condition. Fortunately the shit talking didn''t seem too bad this time around. "I was out cold for at least two hours. I woke up when old guy Nero graced us with his presence. Found this guy at about the same time," Zatch patted Sven''s back "he was completely fine though." Gunnison mulled over the new information he received. It appeared the ''Shock'', as he decided to call it, didn''t have an omogeneous effect on the Citizens. For example he had been knocked out for two whole days, while the Ruler seemed largely unaffected. And both Sven and Zatch didn''t look to be suffering from any after effects like Gunnison''s muscle pains. ''Ah'', after thinking for some time, Gunnison connected the dots: the pain the Citizens received was probably proportional to each person''s physical condition, muscle mass and body build. This would explain why Sven, being a huge pile of meat and bones, wasn''t affected much. On the other hand the weak and sickly Gunnison was completely wrecked by the Shock''s effect. The same logic would apply to both Zatch and the Ruler: while not as fit as Sven, they surely conducted a healthier lifestyle than Gunnison''s coffee-and-couch conduct. Believing his assumption to be correct, the boy mentally praised his own acuity. Nevertheless, he still couldn''t understand why he suddenly woke up in the Dormitory. He required more data. "So," Gunnison started. "What did Nero have to say?" "Hah. Well, I''ll tell ya, but you better hold on tight, midget. Papa Zatch is about to dump a huge shit of knowledge on your lil'' head." Gunnison''s eyes rolled. He wished the idiot would just get on with it and give out the information he wanted quickly, instead of treating it like some form of state secret. Truly, stupid people were the bane of his existence. Furthermore, he had been sitting cross legged on the bare floor for some time now and his butt was starting to hurt. "Are you ready? ''Kay then, I''ll start from the beginning. When our great Lord and Saviour Master Nero came out everyone just went silent. Like, dead silent. One moment they were all losing their shit screaming like the end of the world was coming, and the other they were looking up at Nero like he was Jesus or something. Anyway, so-" "Shut up. No one cares about your story. Just get to the point and let me sleep." The voice that suddenly interrupted Zatch''s long winded explanation originated from the small frame lying on one of the lower bunks. The stranger managed to stop Zatch''s endless chatting without even rolling in the bed to face him. Gunnison was impressed. "Fuck off, Kuri. I''m gettin'' there." Zatch made a shooing gesture towards the stranger, Kuri. "As I was saying, Nero began talking about Intraea, the recent economic and military developments. ''The glorious pride of each Citizen!''" The black skinned youth added that last part with flair, imitating the Ruler''s manner of speaking and tone of voice. "Yanno, the usual "Rome of the North" stuff. Same as usual. Everybody was pretty riled up at this point. But then he dropped a bomb." Zatch paused. "''But alas, Citizens. A truly inexplicable hazard has befallen on Intraea, the proud: our glorious city, along with its prized buildings and people, has been transported!" Zatch put emphasis on the last sentence. The Ruler liquidated what looked like an important topic in quite the short period of time. That, or Zatch''s memory was failing. "Transported, as in being forcefully made to change locations?" Gunnison sought clarifications. Zatch nodded. His face donned an extremely serious expression, and Gunnison couldn''t understand if he was being made fun of or not. The incredibility of the matter suggested the first option was correct, but neither Sven or Kuri denied Zatch''s statements: Sven was instead gazing instensely at Gunnison, waiting for him to voice his opinion. "Are you shitting me? Am I being rused? That''s the dumbest thing I''ve ever heard." Gunnison said, somewhat hesitatingly. He tried to form a mocking smile, but for some reason his facial muscles were locked into a doubtful frown. "There''s proof. Huh, for example, you see, before the sky went black, the weather was bad, uh, cloudy and stuff, right? But when I woke up, the sky was blue and, um, how do you say it? Cloudless?" Sven added. Gunnison''s eyes widened. If the situation was so serious that the giant had decided to speak more than twenty words to explain it, then he couldn''t simply dismiss it as an elaborate joke. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road."A-aah. But the weather could''ve just cleared up naturally, right? That sort of thing happens all the time." "That''s right. But the weather forecasts said that it would rain for six days straight. This is the third day, and we have yet to see a single cloud." Zatch explained. He was now making what he thought was a ''cool guy'' pose, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and his head lowered. Gunnison''s eyes rolled for the second time. "O-okay, let''s suppose this ''transported'' thing is true... That doesn''t explain why am here. There is no reason for us to be here in the Barracks. Unless..." Gunnison had a realization. "Sven, do we know where Intraea has been transported?" He asked his neighbor, the least likely person to bullshit him. Sven shook his head. Word limit reached. "All our satellites aren''t responding. We know that there is a forest outside the walls, but that''s it." Kuri butted in. Weren''t you asleep? "No way..." There was a single reason for them to be here. Gunnison tried to find a flaw in his own train of thought. But he couldn''t. "Military scouting. We have been made to enroll in the military by the Ruler with the scouting of the surrounding environment as the objective. Am I correct?" His voice trembled slightly, but all the evidence brought him to this realization. First, one would have to give military service once they reached twenty years of age. Therefore, there was no reason for him, a teenager, to be there. Second, his new roommates'' attire. The only people who wore grey camo pants, black tank tops and black boots were idling soldiers. He hadn''t noticed before, but someone must''ve changed his clothes in his sleep, because he looked like a child soldier from Central Africa now. "How''d you guess that?!" Zatch couldn''t guess his friend''s simple reasoning, and was thus surprised. The other two didn''t look nearly as baffled. "Gut instinct." The boy answered absentmindedly. He was annoyed. The puzzle wasn''t complete; he felt as if someone had hidden a few pieces to play a prank on him. For example, why would the Ruler need so many scouts? Was the situation that desperate? Even if they were ''transported'' in an unexplored tropical forest of sorts, isn''t the four thousand strong Intraean army enough for some simple scouting? If the Ruler recruited only Citizens in their prime, the total amount of new additions could reach five thousand total. Taking the freedom of so many youths like that, was the Ruler stupid? Discontent would instantly spread among the subjects and his public image would crumble. This meant that the need of fresh human military resources exceeded the importance of his subjects'' loyalty. Granted, it was possible that the ''transport'' was more of a threat than it looked like and the City was in great danger, but everything happened way too suddenly. The Ruler shouldn''t have been able to analyze the situation and think up a countermeasure that quickly. "If you say so. Well, you haven''t eaten anything in three days, so you should get some cup noodles from the store bags over there. We have a few hundred of them anyway. In case you need to shit or something, go right after the door until the end of the hallway. A bathroom''s there." Gunnison followed Zatch''s advice and stammered towards his meal. His legs felt numb after sitting for a long time. "Ah, wait. Now that I think about it, you should just go to sleep again. It''s midnight right now, and we need to be out in the patio at six in the morning. Boot camp is starting tomorrow." Gunnison froze. - ''I WANT TO DIE.'' Gunnison tried to focus on his suicidal thoughts rather than the eighty push-ups he had been burdened with. If his concentration wavered then his arms would surely give out, and he would be awarded with twenty laps around the training grounds as punishment. The Sergeant''s voice was annoyingly rippling in his ears like background music. Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up... Still, the day wasn''t going badly before that. In the morning Sergeant Baum, a short and easily excited man, explained that they would be divided squadrons and sent to do physical training in preparation for some ''security missions''. Gunnison didn''t pay much attention, and instead pleaded to be assigned to a... less physical kind of task, but all he got in response was a particularly vicious glare by his superior. The newly appointed soldiers were subsequently made to line up to get their hair cut, and Gunnison was able to determine that the total number of recruits didn''t exceed three thousand. Gunnison hazily recalled arriving at the training camp and laying on the ground. But his memories didn''t go any further. A snapping sound and a thud. ''This is how I die.'' Such a thought raced across Gunnison''s mind as his face hit the ground. He couldn''t feel his arms anymore. He just faced the dirt waiting for the reaper to collect his soul. "What''s wrong, blandee? You tired? Huh? Come on, get up. Fifty more." This accent was seriously getting on his nerves. ''It''s not blond: it''s flax.'', Gunnison wanted to retort, but couldn''t. He now felt like he truly understood the sentence ''I have no mouth, and I must scream''. "I consider myself a scholar, sir." "Thirty laps." Wrong answer. "Come on, lad. Get up, get up." Baum pricked the lying boy''s back with the walking stick he carried. "You too." Another figure collapsed, another dull sound resounded in Gunnison''s ears. Baum beat the ground with his stick. "Who told you all to stop! Don''t slack off, soldiers!" Gunnison had never so strongly wished to install a pole in someone''s colon. - Hello. It is I, Crying Lightning. I typed this chapter in a single sitting, laying on a bed, with a single functional hand. This took me five hours. I have no idea how authors manage to put out one or two chapters a day without sacrificing their quality. Do you have some sort of secret? Did you perhaps sell your soul to Dantalian, the Seventy First Demon Lord? Please answer fast. I''m dying. Chapter_4 『Full Chromium』 Fun fact: I don''t know any English onomatopeiae. - "H-how... huff... How many laps does this make?" "Huh, I believe... e-eight?" "Ugh." Gunnison felt he had been groaning way too much lately. He probably groaned during his brief coma too. It had become something of a habit for him. Perhaps the punishment wasn''t as bad as he first thought it was. The girl running along with him was cute, and at least as physically inept as him. "So... what''s your name?" Gunnison tried to strike up conversation while suppressing his rough breath so as to not look like a weakling. This act was pointless since he had already splendidly demonstrated his physical inability just minutes before, but the boy didn''t take notice of it. "With twenty two more laps around the field ahead of ourselves, wasting breath in worthless questions is a foolish idea." Gunnison chuckled at the girl''s ignorant and long winded comment. "Aah, but you''re wrong. Entertaining conversations while running or doing other such stamina based physical activities helps with regulating your pace and breath." Gunnison used some random fact he read online to keep the convo running, but it was very true: although his legs still felt like cheap jello, his breathing was steadier and he was no longer on the verge of ''rejecting'' the other night''s cup noodles. "Where did you obtain that information?" "Wikipedia." Gunnison answered the question honestly. "It''s a new dawn, it''s a new day, it''s a new life..." He increased his pace while humming a tune. There was something he found strange. They started running approximately thirty, so why was he not dead yet? When he had ran with his neighbor Sven just two days before, he had to hitch a ride on the giant''s shoulders by the twenty minute mark. (AN: He got off shortly before arriving at the Square, FYI) But he was feeling pretty okay right now. Sure, he couldn''t feel anything below his waist anymore, and he sure wasn''t enjoying it, but Gunnison could still go on. ''Oh well'' Gunnison thought. Just one of the many things that didn''t make sense in the world. Racking your head over all of them would be a waste of time. "I am called Una." The unexpected answer interrupted Gunnison''s musings and drove his attention towards his new acquaintance. Taking a second look, her appearance wasn''t just ''cute'', it was absolutely ravishing. If asked to describe ''Una'' with a single word, then Gunnison would reply with ''white''. Never mind her smooth skin and lips, pale enough to rival Gunnison''s, even her newly cut short and glossy hair was snow colored. The military uniform, too, seemed influenced by the pearly tone: the dark grey pants and black tank top were bleached by the ivory light her body appeared to emit. Poems could be composed about that neat face that didn''t betray a single emotion, yet the beads of sweat rolling down her fair cheeks showed the fatigue she tried to conceal and added a touch of mortality to those quasi-divine looks. "Ah. That''s a pretty short and easy to remember name, huh. Just like mine." Gunnison chuckled, interrupting his hum. "What name do you possess?" "Gunnison Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade." He answered with a deadpan expression while looking straight forward. Thirteen laps. He could still go on. The silence continued for a few tens of seconds. Not wanting the mood to turn awkward, Gunnison turned his head towards Una while brooding over some conversation starters he read and memorized from a self help book. Una was gazing at him strangely. "Gunnison Kiss-Shot of the Heart-Under-Blade family. Hmm, I never knew such a clan existed. A branch of a noble family of sorts, perhaps?" The beauty mumbled in a barely audible voice, looking like she was trying to recall something. Gunnison did an auditory double take. "Are... are you shitting me?" "My, what manners. But regrettably enough, I am completely serious. No matter how hard I try, a familia bearing the name of ''Heart-Under-Blade'' doesn''t come to my mind." Una said, frowning. Gunnison was shocked. He didnt expect that the girl would take him seriously. It was an inside joke for New Intraeans to come up with winded names and act like a stuck up noble, and Gunnison regularly introduced himself to strangers like that to tease them. A few of his friends went as far as signing papers with those made up aliases. However, it was so widely spread that almost everyone in the City knew about it and not many played along. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Gunnison''s alias came from the name of a character from a TV show he watched with Zatch. He was quite fond of it, even using it as a nickname in some online forums. But this girl didn''t understand. She didnt get the joke. Even if she lived in the Center, there should be a limit to obliviousness. "That was a joke. A joke." Gunnison said as he tried to conceal a mocking smile. Una''s brooding eyes instantly turned into dots. "Uh?" Hearing Una''s unladylike reaction, Gunnison wasn''t able to hold it in anymore as he burst into a loud laughter. He hadn''t cracked up like that in months, and Una''s reddening face amplified the effect. Unable to control himself, Gunnison stopped running and held his belly to prevent the noodles from escaping the clutches of his oesophagus. "Oh my god, ''the Heart-Under-Blade noble family'', is this bitch serious!" Gunnison fell to the ground while mimicking the girl''s way of speaking. Una was looking straight at him, unaware of the fact that her extreme reactions just fanned the flames and made Gunnison laugh even harder, thus causing an unending chain reaction. "How rude!" Una exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the currently training squadron and, unfortunately, Sergeant Baums.. "You fucking human sized hormone bundles! Twenty more laps!" The short man lost his composure and began screaming with a red face. Every trace of laughter instantly vanished from Gunnison''s face. He cursed under his breath as he brushed the dust from the training field off of his pants, but otherwise took no other action to oppose the pocket sized officer, savvy of the fact that rebelling would just net him more reasons to be punished. Una seemed to be aware of this as well, because she too started running without uttering a word. * After having completed the fifty laps, Baum had Gunnison and Una make up for the basic training exercises they skipped because of the punishment. It was rather embarrassing to be doing sit ups and squats in the middle of an empty field, surrounded by other newly appointed soldiers having lunch. Gunnison thought that they had to be bored out of their minds to be paying attention to a pair of sweaty losers who managed to get on their instructors nerves on the very first day of military training. In the end, the muttering crowd slowly dispersed, and the duo was again alone with Sgt. Baum, who thought it suitable to reinforce their training regimen for no reason in particular with stretching and joint exercises, which were half as fatiguing as the others, but four times as painful. The short man wore a wide smirk on his moronic face, as if harassing random recruits was the apex of entertainment. Having learned his lesson, Gunnison kept his mouth shut. If he obeyed, the other party would eventually get bored of his lack of reaction and find new targets to annoy.. He had plenty of experience with this kind of people. Still, they were late for lunch, and had to eat food leftovers inside a depressingly empty mess hall, with the only company of each other; they passed the time by complaining about their aching muscles and the bad food quality. Gunnison was also able to half prove his previous theory about the Shock''s after effects: Una confirmed that she only woke up that morning and suffered from muscle pains for the duration of Baum''s briefing. That wasn''t definite proof as he would need a few more samples to be certain that the after effects weren''t simply coincidental, but Gunnison was nonetheless happy of having found a comrade in physical weakness. After finishing lunch, Gunnison walked out if the mess hall and headed towards the Barracks'' built in Intraean Military Academy. The Academy, or IMA, was a large grey building which gave off the impression of a normal high school complex mixed with the lager of Auschwitz. It was rather depressing and Gunnison felt no motivation towards returning to school, but he had to go: according to Baum, underaged recruits would continue their compulsory education as usual and soldier-students would be severely punished if they failed to attend it. Gunnison couldnt exactly complain though: IMA was a very prestigious and expensive boarding school sporting the best lecturers one could find in Europe, and he would be able to attend it for free thanks to the Citys new policies about their children soldiers education. Talk about a stroke of luck. - Does anyone play FFXIV Heavensward? I wrote this chapter just so I could ask.