Chapter 3 : Back on my old carrier ship
Hana giggled and said "Where do you want to eat?"
"Somewhere there's food" said Nicholas bluntly. The all smiled, them smirked then burst out laughing.
"I think I know just the place" said Miho
Ōarai tank cafe 10:30am
"So, it's a cafe that serves tank themed cakes?" said Nicholas, astounded.
"Yup, why is that surprising?" asked Hana
"No, just, hadn't been in one before" said Nicholas, he was staring at the tank on the table, trying to figure out what it was. Miho spotted this and smiled, she reached out and pressed the turret down, the tank gave of a main cannon blast sound and a waitress swiftly appeared.
"What can I get you?" she asked her notepad ready.
"We'd like a mix of cakes please, 1 lemon, 2 chocolate and 1 New York cheese cake slices please" said Hana
"And a diet coke please" added Nicholas. The waitress noted down and saluted, she said,
"Right away, please wait" She turned and left to hand in the order. Nicholas scanned the cafe; it was filled with tank posters and pictures of famous tankers.
"They put that one up after the finals last year." Said Hana. She pointed over to a picture on the wall. Nicholas turned and looked at the photo. On it was a picture of Anglerfish team on their panzer IV, the victory standard floating in the breeze on top of the tank.
"Back on my old carrier ship, we had a pub the old Air cadets and I went to after practice, when we won the Kreigsflieger championships 2 years ago, they hung a picture of the squadron with our flag fighter on the wall, and we got the highest honour on the city carrier. A free pint of coke each at the local pub." Said Nicholas.
"You were a Kreigsflieger pilot?" said Miho, "Guess that explains the Spitfire."
"Yup, flown for years" Said Nicholas, "I was given my Spit when I left my last school, a present from my squadron. It's a beautiful plane, treat her right, she'll keep you safe, treat her wrong, she'll kill you before you know what happened. Just like Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth?" said Saori, a confused look on her face.
"Darjeeling" said Nicholas. As Saori let out a sigh of realisation, a small flatbed lorry pulled onto the table, on the trailer were 3 cakes shaped like tanks and a glass of coke. "That is cool"
"Tastes good too" said Mako in her emotionless voice. As she finished Yukari came into the shop with a angry look, she stormed over to the table.
"There you are!" said Yukari "I was worried."
"We were worried about you too" said Nicholas,
"Shut Up!" she shouted,
"Whoa, Yukari, calm down!" said Saori, "Why are you so hostile towards Nicholas?"
"Because I was right, he was hiding something." Said Yukari, Staring eyes ablaze with anger. Staring down Nicholas. It was a credit to him that he didn't even flinch.
"Everyone hides things Yukari; it's kind of rude to through his private life." Said Miho,
"But he was hiding something huge" said Yukari, she tuned and stared at Nicholas, "Like a trial, for the death of 2 men". Everyone's eyes went wide, the entire cafe went silent, staring at the teenager. He smiled and took a swig of his coke.
"I'm surprised" said Nicholas, "My dad covered that up pretty well, but judging how you reacted, you don't know the whole story. I had a reason for shooting those men."
"WHAT! THAT'S OUTRAGOUS! WHAT POSSIBLE REASON COULD YOU HAVE FOR KILLING 2 INNOCENT MEN?!" Screamed Saori,
"Those men were not innocent" Said Nicholas in a deep, dark, cold voice, a voice with no mercy. "They were trying to abduct my Sister." When Nicolas had finished, Miho was worried, Yukari had touched a nerve and Miho wasn't sure if she liked it. Nicholas continued. "Darjeeling was in the front garden, home for the holidays. They hit her over the head with a baseball bat, knocking her out. They were in the process of trying to put her in a Black van when I came outside. I fired at them with my Cadet Service weapon, I hit one in the head, he died instantly, I hit the second in the neck, grazing his spine, he was dying, and nothing could stop that. My grandfather, who had heard the gunshot came out, seeing that the man was dying, he put him out of his misery. We later found out that the men were part of a child kidnapping ring, selling underage girls into the sex trade. So think about that, before you condemn me." Everyone in the cafe went silent. Shocked at the outburst.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know" said Yukari, suddenly regretting her decision. Nicholas took a deep breath and said,
"Well now you know. Now, who knows the way to Jasmine Dragon Street?" Asked Nicholas. They all put their hands up. Nicholas smiled and knocked down the rest of his coke. "Great, then you can show me the way." The girls looked at each other confused.
"It's all residential, why you would want to go there?" asked Hana,
"Because," said Nicholas, "That's where my house is."
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Nicholas woke in his bed, not recognising where he was immediately was. "Shit, please tell me I didn't get drunk and sleep with one of the girls!" He bolted upright and scanned the room. He realised he was in his new house at Ōarai, and slightly more importantly, he was alone. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the clock, 6:30am.
"Good" he thought, "I have plenty of time." He got out of bed and headed for the shower room. He quickly showered and was in the process of getting dressed into his school uniform when he heard a sizzling noise coming from the kitchen. He froze,
"I'm living alone, so why can I hear sizzling?" He thought. He quickly and quietly went into his bedroom and reached under his pillow, he removed his Colt .45 from under his pillow, chambered a round and removed the safety. He made his way through the single story house; he pressed his back against the wall separating the open plan kitchen and living space. He could still hear the sound of sizzling, and he could smell... bacon? Nicholas put aside curiosity and ready to face the intruder. He turned the corner, his weapon raised. He trained his weapon on the intruder.
"Freeze!" he said, his colt trained on the intruder. The intruder turned and Nicholas immediately lowered the colt.