TBVF: Chapter 7: The Long Journey Ahead
Title: The Blue Vast Future
Author: Ariel Chew
Genre: Sci-Fi, Humor, Friendship, Family
Summary: A SB#187 team aged-up to be in a Kaiju battle. Ariel’s merely a 21-year-old supervisor of Gamma Rapper, but with all the training of the Academy she has, will it prepare her for the biggest turns of events of the century?
~*~
“Oi, the restaurant is this way.” Ariel comes to her senses and finally lets go of Affan, the man huffs a stray lock of hair off his face before he gently arranges her position by her shoulders, turning her to face the correct direction of the street they should be heading. “I know you’re hungry, but you gotta head the right way if you want to have food.”
“Nn. Yeah.” Ariel nods. It’s not like her to freak out like that just because Iris teases her with that guy, right?
Ugh…! Who is she kidding??
“Are you coming?” She blinks out of her stupor, Affan already a few steps before her. “We better hurry before all the seats are taken.”
Just like that, Affan resumes the journey as the guide, while Ariel obediently follows behind him in silence until the two finally arrives at a dimly lit street. She instantly sees a particular restaurant standing out in attention, two red oblong lanterns with the words ‘營業’ written vertically hang from the ceiling where a wooden Japanese sliding door is.
“Is this…?” Ariel asks in a hushed voice, albeit doing it unconsciously as influenced by their dark surroundings. She watches him nod his head as a reply, as though answering her unfinished question on whether this is the restaurant he told her about. Unlike the previous streets they’ve passed, this street only has this restaurant that is still operating at this hour.
“[Hi, Welcome!]” A chorus of greetings by the waiters and waitresses chime loudly as they stepped through the door, a waiter instantly materialize before them to guide the two to a table at the corner of the restaurant for some privacy.
“This place looks really nice. I’m sure the food will be delicious!” She exclaims, taking note of the many occupied tables and loud chatter of couples and families as the two is led towards their table.
“I read reviews that their sashimi (Raw fish) is really good.” Affan mentions, the waiter handing them their menu as they take their respective seats, taking his leave once he does his duty. “Do you want to try them?”
Ariel smiles and shakes her head. “No thanks. I can’t really take raw food; I tend to be at the receiving end of food poisoning whenever I do take them in the past.”
Instead, she hums, flipping through the menu until she reaches the Rice and Noodles section. “Oh~! They have Beef Curry Rice! I would like to have it…”
“Why not? I’ll get a Nabe Udon (Udon noodle in hot pot) then.” Affan calls back their waiter. “Want any appetizers? Chawanmushi (Steamed egg in cup), or some boiled peas…”
She awkwardly coughs. “Eh… I don’t know… Have you eaten Gyoza before? It’s something like pan-fried dumplings.”
He shrugs out a “No”, and to her surprise places all three orders before she could even protest. Only after the waiter leaves does he questions. “What? Did you not want it?”
“No, it’s just…” She fidgets. “I didn’t expect you to order it. Do you even want to eat it in the first place?”
“Well, it’s good to try something new.” Affan pours two glasses of water from a pitcher on their table, given free as part of their meal.
She pouts at that nonchalant attitude. “Even so, wouldn’t it bad if it ended with you disliking it?”
“Mah. Aren’t that what adventurers always do? Trying new things, living an exciting life, not going through the same old routine as their lives hang on the edge.” Affan waves her off, wearing a light smile on his casualness.
“If you say so…” She falls silent, yet only for a moment before a bulb lights up in her mind. “The reason why you really ask me out here, isn’t just for dinner, right? Is there something you want to tell me?”
Affan rests his chin on his hand, beaming like a child at her. “Not bad. You’re like Sherlock Holmes, you know? Has anyone ever tell you that?”
“Oh, shush you.” She scolds, frowning for a moment before a smile eventually dawns on her face. “But really: What is it?”
This time, his smile is the one that fades into a frown, an indescribable silence covering the two until Affan finally speaks up. “I got retrenched.”
…Wait, what?
“Retrenched?! When—How—“
“Today is actually my last day. I’ve been told to pack my things and settle all documents before I go back tonight.” Affan shrugs, taking a sip of water while her mind reels from shock. “Don’t be sad or anything. I knew this day was bound to come sooner or later when that new lady stepped into office.”
“But still, you know about this whole retrenchment thing, don’t you?” He sets his glass down, leaning backward while directing his lazy grin at her, a sharp glint in his eyes that says he knows.
She does, and she doesn’t at the same time.
“Anyway; now you know.” He relaxes, mimicking a cat in stretching right from a nap. “I will be joining the Life Wall organization instead, so you might see me if you come by the coast.”
At the mention of Life Wall, her expression changes to one of disbelief. “You’re joining them?!”
He nods. “Where else besides them? When they read my resume, I was immediately offered a position on the spot thanks to my expertise in the enhancement field.”
“B-But! They are technically the opposition! Why would you…” Her words falter, the arched eyebrow of Affan’s intense stare at her making her reconsider her words. What was she going to say? ‘Why would you work for the opposition?’
Why would the Life Wall organization be the opposition if he is no longer working for PPDC?
“For a living. To make ends meet, that’s why.” She answers in his stead to her unspoken question, the man in question nodding in agreement.
“Exactly. Even if doing this is against my initial principles, I have no choice.” The waiter then arrives with their food. She watches, numb, him separating both rice and noodles into individual bowls for sharing.
“Do you know who else are in the same boat as me?” She looks up instantly to meet his eyes, only for him to focus intently on his current task of splitting the food. “Wanna take a guess? You know them too.”
‘How about no?’ “…I don’t know.” She answers instead, softly, like a child just reprimanded by her parents to tell the truth. She thought she’s honest, rarely lying because lying is wrong and to not lie at all in her lifetime is downright impossible because she’s human, not saint.
“No matter. I’ll tell you their names, but on a condition that you don’t tell anyone else, got it?” He sternly warns. Only after she nods in agreement does he really relax.
“To what I know: Zhofri, Ebby and Fadhil. And I’m sure there’s many other minor-role people who didn’t have amazing achievements as their counterparts elsewhere who will be facing the same thing.”
She is mildly aware of her chopsticks slipping out her grasp, the motion barely registering in her mind until they loudly clatter onto the tabletop. Embarrassed, she scrambles to get tissues to wipe her pair of chopsticks clean, stuttering out words while her mind is going places.
“How could they—We’re barely holding it together with the current number of people—To reduce the numbers right now when an attack could be coming anytime now—“ This is bad, Ariel chides at herself as her sanity teeters dangerously at the edge between clear conscience and the dark side.
Freaking out and subsequently losing her mind at the same time is not a good idea, so she goes with the only option of setting down her chopsticks and buries her head in her hands.
This can’t be real.
This must be a nightmare, a terrifying nightmare that shakes her down to her core.
Yet she knows this is the cold reality, because why else would she be here, sitting in a restaurant with her senior-soon-to-be-ex-senior having dinner?
It almost feels like she’s having her last meal.
Or maybe she is, she bitterly laughs in her heart, eyes squeezed firmly shut while she shoves hard against the iron wall of negative thoughts.
“If it helps, they are joining Life Wall org. as well, like many others before us who got ‘axed’ from the PPDC.”
The Jaegar program, started by the PPDC, was meant for mankind to be on the offense line, yet the purpose of the Life Wall org. is the exact opposite, being on the defense line.
Though the truth is that the people really protected by the Life Wall are those who fund the project – A.K.A. the rich politicians and celebrities.
To work for a rival organization can only meant the shattering of one’s principles.
“…I’m going to miss you.” She finally admits, idly stirring curry together with the rice. She flinches when a hand suddenly rests on the top of her head, timidly she gathers whatever remaining strength in her and meets his eyes.
“Listen well: Humans cannot progress without change. A child cannot endure the responsibilities of an adult unless the child grows up to have the mindset of an adult. Growing up, to mature; these are all a part of life.” He pats her head once, twice, and lets go.
“I’m not going to be gone forever. You can still find me whenever you’re free, and we can go out for meals together or just hang-out.”
Ariel ponders over their conversation, stuffing a mouthful of curry rice into her mouth while he slurps a few strands of noodles, both in mutual silence in favor of eating. She’s never been one fond of change, preferring stable waters and familiar environment rather than moving out of her little bubble.
Irony of ironies, seeing she’s a person afraid of both death and water, but here she is, working in the Shatterdome.
Hilarious, really.
“Mm~ The curry rice is not half-bad.” Affan comments, taking a spoonful of beef curry rice after finishing his bowl of noodles. She beams, satisfied.
“I know, right?! Wait till you try the gyoza with black vinegar and ginger slices. You’ll love it.” She proves her point when a waitress appears with their gyoza, the female supervisor of Gamma Rapper gesturing wildly to Affan to take a piece as she demonstrates how it’s done.
Taking a bite, Ariel lets out a small, satisfied noise and sways a little in her seat, still holding onto her pair of chopsticks and spoon while she does her happy flower dance where she sways like wild flowers to the wind. Affan can only shake his head, a brotherly smile pasted on his face at the sight of his younger colleague.
“No wonder all of us worry about you.” Ariel stops her little dance, blinking in confusion at him with her head tilted to the side. He sighs. “You’re too nice, and also your guard is down. You can’t just go ‘round thinking everyone is nice, okay?”
She hums, resumes digging into her food. “But ‘What goes around, comes back around’, right? So if I do good to others, I will also receive good back from others!”
“Yeah, I know. But there must also be a limit to your goodness.” He chides, frowning pointedly at her. “You can’t possibly let a bad person take advantage of you, no matter the amount of goodness in you. You’ll wear yourself out in no time.”
“Nn…” She pouts, casting sad eyes at her food as she lowers her chopsticks. “Okay. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
He nods, now satisfied from her reply. “Good. Because we can’t always be there watching over you, you know?”
Eh?
Even after they finished their meals and he pays for the food (Despite Ariel’s insistence to at least split the bill, she’s a working adult too!), his words still linger on her mind as they exit the little restaurant. Standing in front of the shop, with dim lights shadowing them as though they were protecting these two souls from the uncertain future before them.
“Well. I had a great dinner, all thanks to your recommendation.” Affan pats his stomach, releasing a content sigh as Ariel bows lightly in gratitude.
“Thank you for treating me to dinner, even though it should have been the other way around…” She fidgets, a discontented pout clear on her face that has Affan laughing in seconds.
“It’s alright. No worries on that. You can always treat me some other time, right?” He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his pants, wearing that familiar lopsided grin that makes her all the more unwilling to part.
If she can rewind time, she wants to stop them from passing the decision…
“So… I’ll see you when I see you.” Affan starts, and Ariel is half aware that she’s staring.
“M-Mm! I’ll see you around, soon.” She quickly changes her attitude to one of her normal upbeat personality, smiling after her little stutter in the beginning. He nods, waving as he goes off first, his back melting into the night as she watches him go.
“…Thank you for everything, Affan.” She grips her little sling bag tighter, the girl gratefully bowing to what’s possibly the last time she would see him.
‘Please be safe.’
~*~
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MasterPost
Author: Ariel Chew
Genre: Sci-Fi, Humor, Friendship, Family
Summary: A SB#187 team aged-up to be in a Kaiju battle. Ariel’s merely a 21-year-old supervisor of Gamma Rapper, but with all the training of the Academy she has, will it prepare her for the biggest turns of events of the century?
~*~
“Oi, the restaurant is this way.” Ariel comes to her senses and finally lets go of Affan, the man huffs a stray lock of hair off his face before he gently arranges her position by her shoulders, turning her to face the correct direction of the street they should be heading. “I know you’re hungry, but you gotta head the right way if you want to have food.”
“Nn. Yeah.” Ariel nods. It’s not like her to freak out like that just because Iris teases her with that guy, right?
Ugh…! Who is she kidding??
“Are you coming?” She blinks out of her stupor, Affan already a few steps before her. “We better hurry before all the seats are taken.”
Just like that, Affan resumes the journey as the guide, while Ariel obediently follows behind him in silence until the two finally arrives at a dimly lit street. She instantly sees a particular restaurant standing out in attention, two red oblong lanterns with the words ‘營業’ written vertically hang from the ceiling where a wooden Japanese sliding door is.
“Is this…?” Ariel asks in a hushed voice, albeit doing it unconsciously as influenced by their dark surroundings. She watches him nod his head as a reply, as though answering her unfinished question on whether this is the restaurant he told her about. Unlike the previous streets they’ve passed, this street only has this restaurant that is still operating at this hour.
“[Hi, Welcome!]” A chorus of greetings by the waiters and waitresses chime loudly as they stepped through the door, a waiter instantly materialize before them to guide the two to a table at the corner of the restaurant for some privacy.
“This place looks really nice. I’m sure the food will be delicious!” She exclaims, taking note of the many occupied tables and loud chatter of couples and families as the two is led towards their table.
“I read reviews that their sashimi (Raw fish) is really good.” Affan mentions, the waiter handing them their menu as they take their respective seats, taking his leave once he does his duty. “Do you want to try them?”
Ariel smiles and shakes her head. “No thanks. I can’t really take raw food; I tend to be at the receiving end of food poisoning whenever I do take them in the past.”
Instead, she hums, flipping through the menu until she reaches the Rice and Noodles section. “Oh~! They have Beef Curry Rice! I would like to have it…”
“Why not? I’ll get a Nabe Udon (Udon noodle in hot pot) then.” Affan calls back their waiter. “Want any appetizers? Chawanmushi (Steamed egg in cup), or some boiled peas…”
She awkwardly coughs. “Eh… I don’t know… Have you eaten Gyoza before? It’s something like pan-fried dumplings.”
He shrugs out a “No”, and to her surprise places all three orders before she could even protest. Only after the waiter leaves does he questions. “What? Did you not want it?”
“No, it’s just…” She fidgets. “I didn’t expect you to order it. Do you even want to eat it in the first place?”
“Well, it’s good to try something new.” Affan pours two glasses of water from a pitcher on their table, given free as part of their meal.
She pouts at that nonchalant attitude. “Even so, wouldn’t it bad if it ended with you disliking it?”
“Mah. Aren’t that what adventurers always do? Trying new things, living an exciting life, not going through the same old routine as their lives hang on the edge.” Affan waves her off, wearing a light smile on his casualness.
“If you say so…” She falls silent, yet only for a moment before a bulb lights up in her mind. “The reason why you really ask me out here, isn’t just for dinner, right? Is there something you want to tell me?”
Affan rests his chin on his hand, beaming like a child at her. “Not bad. You’re like Sherlock Holmes, you know? Has anyone ever tell you that?”
“Oh, shush you.” She scolds, frowning for a moment before a smile eventually dawns on her face. “But really: What is it?”
This time, his smile is the one that fades into a frown, an indescribable silence covering the two until Affan finally speaks up. “I got retrenched.”
…Wait, what?
“Retrenched?! When—How—“
“Today is actually my last day. I’ve been told to pack my things and settle all documents before I go back tonight.” Affan shrugs, taking a sip of water while her mind reels from shock. “Don’t be sad or anything. I knew this day was bound to come sooner or later when that new lady stepped into office.”
“But still, you know about this whole retrenchment thing, don’t you?” He sets his glass down, leaning backward while directing his lazy grin at her, a sharp glint in his eyes that says he knows.
She does, and she doesn’t at the same time.
“Anyway; now you know.” He relaxes, mimicking a cat in stretching right from a nap. “I will be joining the Life Wall organization instead, so you might see me if you come by the coast.”
At the mention of Life Wall, her expression changes to one of disbelief. “You’re joining them?!”
He nods. “Where else besides them? When they read my resume, I was immediately offered a position on the spot thanks to my expertise in the enhancement field.”
“B-But! They are technically the opposition! Why would you…” Her words falter, the arched eyebrow of Affan’s intense stare at her making her reconsider her words. What was she going to say? ‘Why would you work for the opposition?’
Why would the Life Wall organization be the opposition if he is no longer working for PPDC?
“For a living. To make ends meet, that’s why.” She answers in his stead to her unspoken question, the man in question nodding in agreement.
“Exactly. Even if doing this is against my initial principles, I have no choice.” The waiter then arrives with their food. She watches, numb, him separating both rice and noodles into individual bowls for sharing.
“Do you know who else are in the same boat as me?” She looks up instantly to meet his eyes, only for him to focus intently on his current task of splitting the food. “Wanna take a guess? You know them too.”
‘How about no?’ “…I don’t know.” She answers instead, softly, like a child just reprimanded by her parents to tell the truth. She thought she’s honest, rarely lying because lying is wrong and to not lie at all in her lifetime is downright impossible because she’s human, not saint.
“No matter. I’ll tell you their names, but on a condition that you don’t tell anyone else, got it?” He sternly warns. Only after she nods in agreement does he really relax.
“To what I know: Zhofri, Ebby and Fadhil. And I’m sure there’s many other minor-role people who didn’t have amazing achievements as their counterparts elsewhere who will be facing the same thing.”
She is mildly aware of her chopsticks slipping out her grasp, the motion barely registering in her mind until they loudly clatter onto the tabletop. Embarrassed, she scrambles to get tissues to wipe her pair of chopsticks clean, stuttering out words while her mind is going places.
“How could they—We’re barely holding it together with the current number of people—To reduce the numbers right now when an attack could be coming anytime now—“ This is bad, Ariel chides at herself as her sanity teeters dangerously at the edge between clear conscience and the dark side.
Freaking out and subsequently losing her mind at the same time is not a good idea, so she goes with the only option of setting down her chopsticks and buries her head in her hands.
This can’t be real.
This must be a nightmare, a terrifying nightmare that shakes her down to her core.
Yet she knows this is the cold reality, because why else would she be here, sitting in a restaurant with her senior-soon-to-be-ex-senior having dinner?
It almost feels like she’s having her last meal.
Or maybe she is, she bitterly laughs in her heart, eyes squeezed firmly shut while she shoves hard against the iron wall of negative thoughts.
“If it helps, they are joining Life Wall org. as well, like many others before us who got ‘axed’ from the PPDC.”
The Jaegar program, started by the PPDC, was meant for mankind to be on the offense line, yet the purpose of the Life Wall org. is the exact opposite, being on the defense line.
Though the truth is that the people really protected by the Life Wall are those who fund the project – A.K.A. the rich politicians and celebrities.
To work for a rival organization can only meant the shattering of one’s principles.
“…I’m going to miss you.” She finally admits, idly stirring curry together with the rice. She flinches when a hand suddenly rests on the top of her head, timidly she gathers whatever remaining strength in her and meets his eyes.
“Listen well: Humans cannot progress without change. A child cannot endure the responsibilities of an adult unless the child grows up to have the mindset of an adult. Growing up, to mature; these are all a part of life.” He pats her head once, twice, and lets go.
“I’m not going to be gone forever. You can still find me whenever you’re free, and we can go out for meals together or just hang-out.”
Ariel ponders over their conversation, stuffing a mouthful of curry rice into her mouth while he slurps a few strands of noodles, both in mutual silence in favor of eating. She’s never been one fond of change, preferring stable waters and familiar environment rather than moving out of her little bubble.
Irony of ironies, seeing she’s a person afraid of both death and water, but here she is, working in the Shatterdome.
Hilarious, really.
“Mm~ The curry rice is not half-bad.” Affan comments, taking a spoonful of beef curry rice after finishing his bowl of noodles. She beams, satisfied.
“I know, right?! Wait till you try the gyoza with black vinegar and ginger slices. You’ll love it.” She proves her point when a waitress appears with their gyoza, the female supervisor of Gamma Rapper gesturing wildly to Affan to take a piece as she demonstrates how it’s done.
Taking a bite, Ariel lets out a small, satisfied noise and sways a little in her seat, still holding onto her pair of chopsticks and spoon while she does her happy flower dance where she sways like wild flowers to the wind. Affan can only shake his head, a brotherly smile pasted on his face at the sight of his younger colleague.
“No wonder all of us worry about you.” Ariel stops her little dance, blinking in confusion at him with her head tilted to the side. He sighs. “You’re too nice, and also your guard is down. You can’t just go ‘round thinking everyone is nice, okay?”
She hums, resumes digging into her food. “But ‘What goes around, comes back around’, right? So if I do good to others, I will also receive good back from others!”
“Yeah, I know. But there must also be a limit to your goodness.” He chides, frowning pointedly at her. “You can’t possibly let a bad person take advantage of you, no matter the amount of goodness in you. You’ll wear yourself out in no time.”
“Nn…” She pouts, casting sad eyes at her food as she lowers her chopsticks. “Okay. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
He nods, now satisfied from her reply. “Good. Because we can’t always be there watching over you, you know?”
Eh?
Even after they finished their meals and he pays for the food (Despite Ariel’s insistence to at least split the bill, she’s a working adult too!), his words still linger on her mind as they exit the little restaurant. Standing in front of the shop, with dim lights shadowing them as though they were protecting these two souls from the uncertain future before them.
“Well. I had a great dinner, all thanks to your recommendation.” Affan pats his stomach, releasing a content sigh as Ariel bows lightly in gratitude.
“Thank you for treating me to dinner, even though it should have been the other way around…” She fidgets, a discontented pout clear on her face that has Affan laughing in seconds.
“It’s alright. No worries on that. You can always treat me some other time, right?” He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his pants, wearing that familiar lopsided grin that makes her all the more unwilling to part.
If she can rewind time, she wants to stop them from passing the decision…
“So… I’ll see you when I see you.” Affan starts, and Ariel is half aware that she’s staring.
“M-Mm! I’ll see you around, soon.” She quickly changes her attitude to one of her normal upbeat personality, smiling after her little stutter in the beginning. He nods, waving as he goes off first, his back melting into the night as she watches him go.
“…Thank you for everything, Affan.” She grips her little sling bag tighter, the girl gratefully bowing to what’s possibly the last time she would see him.
‘Please be safe.’
~*~
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