HA2 12.3 – Good Breakfast
After the failed endurance training, Hide, Takeo, and Shizuka carried out a simulation on how to take a nap when they were in the middle of infil. It was pretty simple simulation. Hide used chairs as imitation of trees and then taught Takeo and Shizuka how to set up the combination of trip wire and flare, along with how to carry a night watch. After that, Hide took the first watch.
Overall it was a calm and quiet night watch. Hide calmly sat, slightly bent forward, and crossed his leg while hugging his M4 close to his chest. Next to him, Takeo and Shizuka laid down on their camping mat. Shizuka already fell asleep since twenty minutes ago and as usual she slept like a log in her favorite starfish style. It was easy to tell that she used to sleep in hard floor a lot.
Meanwhile, Takeo silently watched the ceiling, but now and then he would heave a deep sigh. At first, Hide just ignored Takeo’s repeated sigh. However, slowly but surely it annoyed him, so he decided to put an end to it.
“In a calm night in the middle of wilderness, a well-trained ear will hear your sigh from 30 meters away,” Hide calmly said. “You should sleep and put away the expression as if you are a king who just lost his kingdom.”
“Hide,” Takeo weakly said. “I’m sorry. Because of me we failed to clear the endurance training.”
“As I said, don’t worry about it too much.”
“Yeah, but it sucks to become the sole reason of failed objective.”
“I get it.” Hide took a deep breath before continuing, “But we are just a bunch of amateur robber, not commandos. We will do our best to get good harvest, but when the job is fucked we will let it go and get over it.
Stays alive, fixes the problem, and then starts over another job. That’s how I run our team. So, you better adjust your mindset if you want to stay around.”
“Understood.”
Even if Takeo obediently replied, Hide could feel that he was still holding out lot of foul mood in his heart. However, Hide had nothing else to say and chose to change the direction of their conversation.
“Now, you should sleep. Proper resting is also vital in our training,” Hide calmly said
“I know that, but somehow it’s very difficult for me to fall asleep,” Takeo then sat up and turned his gaze to Shizuka. “I wonder. How the fuck does this chick fell asleep so easily?”
“That’s because she is a natural sleeper.”
Hide then slung his M4 to his shoulder before kneeling next to Shizuka, and casually pinched her left cheek. When Shizuka gave no reaction, Hide immediately clamped her cheeks using both hands, and then happily kneaded or pulled it.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
At first, Takeo just dropped his jaw as Hide pinched Shizuka’s cheek. Then, chill ran through on his spine as Hide was mischievously toying with Shizuka’s cheek.
“Hide, if she wakes up she will fucking murders you,” Takeo warily said.
“Nope, natural sleepers will sleep like a log once they closed their eyes,” Hide confidently said.
“How do you know?” Takeo curiously asked.
“I watch it in some documentary about sleeping habit,” Hide calmly lied.
Actually, Hide recognized Shizuka’s sleeping talent based on his experience when he was still an active duty in Airborne Ranger. In his platoon, there was unwritten rule that someone who was able to slept like a log when the whole company was in a long range combat maneuver, would had his face became subject of prank from others.
Unfortunately, Hide was one of regular victims for this unwritten rule. Therefore, he was very happy when he could take it out on someone else. At the same time, it was also a good means to distract Takeo from his foul mood.
A few minutes later, after he satisfied his desire to toying around with Shizuka’s cheek, Hide put Shizuka’s leg together and folded her arms in front of her chest, and then he turned his gaze to Takeo.
“Now, I will teach you how to put your body and mind into a asleep.”
“Wait a second,” Takeo said as he gave Hide a puzzle look, “There is such method?”
“Yup,” Hide calmly replied. “Lay down your body and be relaxed as best as you can.”
“Hide,” Takeo said as he warily looked at Hide. “You won’t be toying around with my cheek after I fall asleep, right?”
After heaving a deep sigh Hide immediately said, “Don’t think too high of your cheeks.”
“Okay.” As relieved filled his heart to the brim Takeo relaxed his body.
Then, Hide said, “Close your eyes, relax your body, and don’t move other than for taking natural breathing. If you remain in this state for twenty minutes, your will fall asleep by default, like a computer.”
Takeo didn’t gave Hide any reply, but it was clearly visible that he carried his instruction. As a result, around twenty minutes later he fell asleep like a log.
‘Finally, a peaceful night,’ Hide muttered as he continued his first watch in silence.
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When Hide woke up in the morning, Takeo was still sleeping peacefully while Shizuka carried the last watch accompanied by a small bag of pumpkin seed.
“Morning,” Hide calmly said. “How is your sleep?”
“I could sleep pretty well.” Shizuka gently massaged her cheek before continuing, “But somehow, I feel some stiffness in my cheek and jaw. It’s not hurt, but it’s annoying as hell.”
“I see,” Hide casually replied as he tidied up his camping mat, and ignoring the fact that he was the culprit behind the stiffness in Shizuka’s cheek and jaw. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving,” Shizuka replied as she turned her eyes to her empty belly.
“Got it. I will fix something for our breakfast.”
Without delay Hide set up a portable camping burner, along with foldable tripod. Then, he hung a single 750 ml aluminum nesting pan on top of the burner, filled it with water, and turned on the flame into maximum output.
“Hide.” Shizuka looked at the burner as big question mark appeared in her forehead. “In real operation, does the team cook their food?”
“No, in an infil, it’s impossible to eat hot food unless you have Americ-styled MRE.”
Shizuka slightly nodded before asking another question, “Are you making instant ramen? I don’t remember we bring any.”
“No,” Hide replied as he prepared three aluminum cups and three sachets of instant chocolate. “The water is for hot Choco.”
“I see,” Shizuka nodded one more time while the water in the nesting box started to boil.
Two minutes later, she already happily sat while holding a cup of hot chocolate, and it made Hide grinned widely as the way she enjoyed her hot chocolate was like a happy toddler who went on a camping for the first time.
‘Glad she enjoyed it,’ Hide muttered while preparing the breakfast.
In a swift manner Hide cut a whole bag of bacon into small pieces, put it all into his shovel, added a small cube of butter, and stir fried it. Then, as the bacon produced nice smell he added frozen pea, carrot, and sweet corn. Thirty second before the stir fry done, Hide put a whole bag of BBQ sauce as the last touch.
Other than the BBQ stir fry, Hide also used two big sachets of powdered-egg to make three piece of omelet. After that, he divided everything into three shovels evenly, and the breakfast began shortly after Shizuka woke up Takeo.
“Damn this is so good,” Takeo happily said before wolfing down a spoonful of BBQ stir fry.
“Yep.” Hide calmly put a piece of omelet into his mouth before adding, “It’s a blessing that the three of us know how to cook well.”
After nodding her head a few times Shizuka said, “Will we have another endurance training next Saturday?”
“We will,” Hide firmly replied. “And after Takeo is able to clear it, we will switch into night navigation in open terrain.”
“I see.”
It was clearly visible that Shizuka was really happy with the training they gone through together, while at the same time steel determination flashed in Takeo’s eyes. As for Hide, he just calmly enjoyed his breakfast.
A few minutes later, the three cleaned and tidied up the equipment, took a morning bath, and then went home in a good mood even though last night they failed the endurance training.
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