A bit frightened by the encounter with the scientist, the girls ran into their designated rooms.
Izzy and Yuka were delighted to be placed together; “Izzy, they unpacked our bags already.” She said while jumping on a bed.
Izzy nodded; Yans use metallic suitcases which retract to the size of a wallet when emptied and kept in a small box next to the cupboard. The box displays a red light when filled or green when empty.
Noticing that Izzy was silent, Yuka added, “This room is so cute, and it’s going to be just the two of us. We are so lucky.”
Izzy didn’t share Yuka’s enthusiasm. The room was small and a disappointment to her.
" It has nothing to do with luck. They did it on purpose," said Izzy.
Yuka sat up. " Why? I thought you ordered everyone to treat you like a normal girl."
" It has nothing to do with that. I bribed the person allocating the rooms with a juicy gossip. And Voila," answered as she took a bow while Yuka cracked up.
Izzy then walked up to the empty and poke it.
She pouted. " That's a rather bare room."
Although the room was indeed bare, it came with a large computerised table, spacious enough for two-person,2 chairs, cream-painted walls and two single beds.
" What's wrong?" asked Yuka
Izzy shrugged and grimaced. “that's not a bed, it's a crib"
She sat and started bouncing. " It's not even comfortable. I bet they requisitioned it from a prison colony."
Yuka suspired and got up. " so, you want better accommodations? this room is better than mine."
" yes, I want a better room and no way this dive is better than your room."
Yuka gasped, " dive?"
She raised her shoulders. “Hey. You are the Yerima. If you don’t want to stay in the 'dive', you don’t have to.”
Izzy crossed her arms and shrugged.
Yuka added, “I am guessing the accommodations were a lot better the last time you visited. "
“Are you serious? It wasn’t extravagant, but it was decent. I was very comfortable.”
“Hum, ok, just give me a minute. I’ll get someone to fix that terrible misunderstanding your imperial highness.” Said Yuka, and she also crossed her arms.
Izzy gulped and started laughing. " You beast.”
“Oh forgive me, your imperial highness. I didn’t mean to offend. See, some royals, unlike you, want to be treated like anybody else but still be able to enjoy their privilege. Not at all like you.”
“ Ok, ok, I get the point. Blimey, you are the worse.” Said Izzy with a pout.
“ So ,Izzy, I’ll ask again, what do you of the accommodations?
Izzy grimaced , “ it’s tolerable I suppose”
Yuka giggled. “ I thought so too.”
Izzy shook her head and walked to the cupboard, hoping to change. “ Huh, wait a minute, where are our stuff?”
“ what do you mean?”
Yuka got up, opened the cupboard next to Izzy, shuffled a few things and said, “ All here.”
Izzy sneered, “ I had tons of stuff.”
“ give me a minute” said Yuka.
She opened the rule book, flipped a few pages, then said, “They are in storage. They said here that they will provide us uniforms, and they gave the number of clothing items we are allowed to have .”
Izzy twisted her mouth. “ Day one and I already hate it here.”
“ Oh come on,we’ll have fun, I promise. And remember, there will be boys”
And they both burst out laughing.
What the girls didn’t know was that the accommodation given to air force cadets was luxurious compared to the army cadets’.Although the décor was exactly the same, the army cadets were four per bedroom.
The air force was the branch of the army with the most casualty and their part in space war was crucial. The girls were revered and keeping them happy was vital.
You are reading story Swords or Roses at novel35.com
Soon, dinner was called, and the cadets changed into their black suits with the coat of arms of their region on their left arms.
The dining room was a far cry from their bedrooms. It had four arches painted in gold, and each arch had a different food station. The first was the meat station, the second was seafood, the third was salad and vegetables, and the last one was the sides and other accompaniments.
“ Bloody Hel, that is what I call a buffet,” said Yuka, whose cheeks had turned red.
Izzy laughed. “ Yes , I have to admit, I am happy about the food.”
After filling up their plates, the girls found an empty table in the corner. They had just started their meal when they hear a murmur and turned. A tall man in uniform walked in followed by a group of cadets in green suits. They looked scared yet composed.
He shook the head instructor’s hand and after a few exchanges; he turned to the group, and they made their way.
Most girls were pretending to eat, but the bravest were just staring, without a care of what anyone might be thinking.
The army cadets quickly sat down with their plates but then whispers were heard and they turned to look at Izzy and Yuka.
Their eyes grew and their mouth opened; they had just found out that one of the cadets was the Yerima.
Oh, darn, thought Izzy.
Yuka grabbed her hand. " Hey, let them have a good look and after a while, they’ll be used to it.”
She smiled at her friend and resumed eating
After a few days, all the cadets had so far gotten along well, but the training was brutal. It turned out that Messa was for obstacle courses, endurance and land navigation, while Jupiter was for swimming and fitness.
My gods, I am going to die, thought Izzy when she was left stranded without food and water. While the army cadets struggled but passed it, the air force however failed miserably.
They were all standing in front of the air force barracks with the army cadet's instructor being congratulated for his students returning from the training.
They looked almost clean with their white t-shirts and green shorts while the air force cadets looked unrecognisable in their now dark brown t-shirt and formerly black but now brown shorts.
Unlike the army cadets who had found a body of water, Izzy's group had not showered for days and looked pale. Izzy and Yuka could barely stand and they knew their friends felt the same.
“Well ladies, clearly you still have a long way to go before you catch up with the army, so while the army cadets get a few days off, you do not.” Said their instructor.
“Maybe if boys were allowed in the air force, it wouldn’t have been such a disaster,” they heard from a tall boy with dark hair.
The army cadets chuckled, and so did their instructor.
Yuka leaned toward Izzy. " you are Yerima, can't you put them to death or something?"
Izzy glared at them. " If only," she answered
“Remember when we found out that the army was coming and we danced and screamed?” whispered Yuka
“ You mean the most humiliating and lowest moment in our history?” mumbled Izzy
Yuka sneered, “no it’s not. That moment have been claimed in advance by the moment those bastards hear of it”
Izzy closed her eyes, pinched her lips and frowned, “ it’s official, the gods hate us.”
From that moment on, tension between the army cadets and the air force cadets kept growing. The days of singing Boys Boys were long gone.
As well as the army was in endurance, which was part of their training during the first year, just like flying for the air force cadets, they were about to receive terrible news.
Hand-to-hand combat was next.
Yan girls start FIST, a self-defence class mandatory for all Yan girls, at age four. Boys, however, start at age 10 and it is optional, so when came hand-to-hand combat, with the army cadet sent to Jupiter made of only 20% girls and 80% boys, the air force was ready.
The army had a crushing defeat which infuriated their instructor.
“ Well, I guess it helps if we made your entire team girls only. My guys didn’t stand a chance.” said the army instructor.
The air force instructor raised a brow. " Are you saying that my girls had an unfair advantage?”
He also raised a brow and tilted his head slightly to the right.
“ May i remind you that your students did better than mine in Messa because they had previous training too. Besides, it’s not a competition. We are all Yans,” but her smirk said differently.
Beating the army boys and girls was a great coup for the air force and everyone could see it on her glowing face.
Bloody hell, even her skin looks better.