Chapter 62: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (1)
Every Thursday was the day for the duel between Spacetro Team 3 and Team Hunter Killer. The schedule wasn't set in stone and occasionally shifted, but barring any special circumstances, it almost always took place on Thursdays.
Last week’s duel had been canceled due to the monsoon season. This week’s was also initially called off out of concern for the rain, but the monsoon finally broke, and the sun graced the sky for the first time in a while. Of course, they couldn't suddenly reinstate a canceled duel on short notice, so Team Hunter Killer decided to hold a meeting instead, as all members were available on Thursdays.
"Hi."
Having finished her move, Blue entered the conference room with a much brighter expression than usual and greeted Red and Pink, who had arrived first.
"Welcome."
"Is it just you two so far?"
"It’s not time yet."
The three of them, having arrived earlier than scheduled, took their respective seats. Noticing Blue’s eyes scanning them as if wondering what they had been discussing, Red spoke up first.
"We were thinking of going on a two-day trip together during the break, if no one has other plans."
"A trip? Where to?"
Blue’s eyes widened at the mention of travel.
"We just started talking about it. It’s just an idea for now; nothing’s been decided."
This year’s monsoon had come quite late, and they hadn't been able to set a vacation schedule yet. The Earth Defense Union technically recorded its members as being on duty seven days a week, regardless of whether they were actually working. While they followed a set schedule for duels now, in the early days, the number of matches was high, and sudden duels were frequent.
"Really? Let’s try to talk about it once everyone’s here."
They needed to hear from Green and Yellow, who hadn't arrived yet. In previous years, even when they were granted summer leave, Team Hunter Killer lacked the internal cohesion to even consider going somewhere together. Even if they had thought of it, their individual circumstances made it difficult to bring up. However, the three women gathered there thought that going on a group trip for the first time in years wouldn't be a bad idea.
Soon, the conference room door opened, and Green walked in. After exchanging greetings and taking her seat, Green was about to bring up the meeting agenda as usual, but Pink beat her to it with a different topic.
"Green. How’s work going?"
By "work," Pink meant the family matters that the entire team was now aware of. This was only the second time Green had come to the office since those issues had surfaced and caused her to miss several meetings.
"Oh. It’s going well. I think I’ll be moving soon, too."
"Moving?"
"Yeah. I can’t stay in that house forever."
While the teammates didn't know the exact state of Green’s home, they could vaguely guess that it was difficult for her to continue living in the house she had shared with her father.
"Is there anything you need? Want some help moving your stuff?"
Having just finished her own move yesterday, Blue knew how much work it involved. She offered her help, but Green waved her hand and politely declined.
"No, it’s okay. The moving date isn't set in stone yet, and I still have a lot of things to wrap up."
A shadow of worry momentarily flickered across Green’s face when she mentioned having things to wrap up. The teammates, who were watching her closely, noticed the change in her expression, but they didn't pry further into her private affairs.
"How about everyone else? I heard Blue moved."
Green, who had only been receiving updates via messages while she was away, showed interest in Blue’s news.
"Yeah. I moved yesterday and finished everything up."
Though there were parts she couldn't share with the team, Blue confirmed that the move was officially complete. Seeing her refreshed expression, the teammates felt that things had gone well for her.
As they were exchanging brief updates, Yellow opened the door and entered without a word.
"You're here?"
"Yeah."
Yellow gave a short reply to Red’s welcoming greeting. As she went to sit down, she glanced at Green.
Green, feeling self-conscious under the gaze of Yellow—who rarely showed interest in others—met her eyes and offered a small smile.
"Hi."
"Hey."
Communication within Team Hunter Killer had always been sparse, but interacting with Yellow, the least communicative of them all, was particularly uncomfortable. Yellow, whose thoughts were always a mystery, gave a perfunctory response to Green’s greeting and sat down.
"Since everyone’s here, let’s get through the meeting quickly."
The Team Hunter Killer meeting began under Red’s lead. Since the entire team was gathered in one place for the first time in a while, her voice was firm, and the members focused on the proceedings.
Because the duel had been canceled, there were no results to report. The meeting mainly focused on strategies for future engagements against Spacetro. Not that a meeting would bring about drastic changes.
Since their individual abilities were already outstanding, the process was more about confirming strategic details and mutual understanding.
"Me, Green, and Yellow are the vanguard. Keep memorizing the rear support protocols according to our rotation."
This was something Red said every time. Coordinating the team's set movements was crucial, so she emphasized it at every meeting.
"Green and Yellow, always keep in mind so you can react immediately to Pink and Blue’s movements in the rear."
As Red spoke, displaying the tactical layouts for each member's movement lines on a large screen, everyone responded. Yellow didn't speak but nodded her head, and Red, satisfied that she understood, prepared to wrap up.
"That’s it for today’s meeting. Any suggestions or anything anyone wants to say?"
No one raised a hand. There were usually no special suggestions, but just as Red was about to end the session, Yellow raised her hand.
"I’d like to review the rotation with Green excluded."
At first, all eyes turned to Yellow because she had actually spoken up, and then they shifted to Green, the subject of her comment.
"Me?"
Stunned by the sudden suggestion of a rotation that excluded her, Green asked back blankly. Yellow glanced at her once before looking back at Red.
"Reviewing it isn't hard, but... is something wrong?" Red asked.
There were rare occasions when a member or more couldn't participate, forcing them to fight with fewer numbers, and strategies for such scenarios were already fully developed.
"She’s at the meeting now, but isn't it possible she won't be able to come some days? It sounds like she has a lot of things to handle."
"No! I can make it to the duels! I won't let it affect the team...!"
As Green tried to insist she wouldn't be absent, Yellow’s gaze pierced through her. The moment she met those sharp eyes, Green stopped talking.
"Don't participate out of some half-baked sense of responsibility. You'll just be a hindrance."
The room went silent at Yellow’s words, which were delivered with much more bite than expected. Red, who had been excited about having everyone together and chatting afterward, felt her expression stiffen as the atmosphere turned ice-cold.
"Why did you even come to the meeting today? If you’re busy, you should have handled that first."
"...Sorry. I thought my absence would cause trouble for the team."
"And you didn't think about how uncomfortable the team would feel with you here when you haven't sorted your life out?"
Green lowered her head, speechless at Yellow’s harsh tone.
"Hey, what’s with you guys? We’re not uncomfortable, so Green, don't lose heart. And Yellow, I don't know what’s bothering you, but cool off."
Though there was no formal hierarchy based on age, Blue, the eldest, tried to de-escalate with a smile. But when she reached out to put a hand on Yellow’s shoulder, Yellow dodged it.
"What’s bothering me? Are you really asking because you don't know?"
Even if they asked out of concern, Green’s situation was a difficult topic to broach. It was also uncomfortable that none of the teammates she had worked with for three years knew about her circumstances. Not knowing wasn't the problem in itself.
However, they couldn't help but think: If only we had known sooner. If only we had paid more attention, could we have resolved it faster? It’s human nature to think that if one had recognized a situation earlier, it could have been fixed.
"Something like that happened to a teammate, and nobody knew. The person involved didn't say a word, and the teammates didn't even try to find out. Do you think that makes sense?"
The stress that comes with thinking I should have known sooner, I should have cared more was present. It was one of the stages of emotion felt when looking back at something that had already happened. The other teammates also felt the stress of their own perceived helplessness in not being able to resolve Green’s issues beforehand.
They felt annoyance, anger, and regret toward themselves, but they didn't express it. Yellow, however, was laying those emotions bare.
Right or wrong, it wasn't that they couldn't empathize with Yellow’s behavior. However...
"I don't think you're one to talk."
Pink, who had been sitting quietly watching Yellow, finally spoke. Her usually playful and vibrant pale-pink eyes were cold as she locked gazes with Yellow.
"What?"
"I only started attending meetings regularly recently, so I’m not in a position to act all high and dry, but you—the one with the worst attendance record—definitely aren't the one to talk."
Until Pink started coming every week, her own attendance hadn't been great. But she knew that Blue and Yellow had the lowest attendance. Even when Pink did show up, those two were nowhere to be seen, only appearing on the day of a duel.
In truth, Blue’s attendance was lower than Yellow’s, but everyone understood Blue’s situation. Until very recently, she had been incredibly busy raising her nephew, so the team had tacitly agreed that her absences were justified.
Yellow, however, was a different case.
"I won't say anything about your personal life since I don't know it, but I’m saying you shouldn't talk when we’ve been putting up with your absences caused by that shitty temper of yours. Got something to say to that?"
"Are you picking a fight?"
"Does it look like I’m not? Did you think I’d be grateful just because you trashed that bastard Indigo once?"
Green was the most flustered by the sudden friction between Pink and Yellow. Feeling like she was the cause of all this, she desperately wanted to stop them, but she couldn't muster the courage to step between the two tension-filled women.
"Then should I say it was a good thing that no one knew? You want to force a girl who hasn't even finished her business to come to meetings and go through with duels? Who’s going to take responsibility if something goes wrong during a fight?"
"Who said we should do that? I’m saying you aren't the one to be pointing fingers. Even Red, who’s closest to Green, is staying quiet. Who do you think you are, making a scene?"
Though they hadn't raised their voices yet, the two were practically fighting. They suddenly became aware of Red’s presence, and their glaring eyes shifted toward her. Red was standing in front of the screen, silently watching the situation.
"Are you finished now?"
Red’s voice, which was usually bright—if not quite as bubbly as Pink’s—had dropped to a low, heavy tone. Even though she was the youngest, she was the team leader, and even the members who rarely attended meetings acknowledged her hard work and ability.
And because she was the leader they all respected, the team’s atmosphere fluctuated based on her mood. She was the type to tell members who missed meetings that it was okay, taking on the workload herself and handling everything flawlessly. Because of that, they had forgotten one thing over the long time they had known her.
While she turned a blind eye to the lack of communication, the thing she hated most was internal strife.
Since they worked together, occasional clashes of opinion were inevitable for any team, but in Hunter Killer, most of the work fell on Red, and they weren't in a position to even exchange enough opinions to have a conflict. Since there had been no reason to fight, they had completely forgotten.
They had forgotten how Red had raised her voice during a bout of internal strife back when she first became leader.
Every member was older than Red, but because they recognized her as the leader, they listened to her. In this situation, they found themselves walking on eggshells around her. Strangely, however, a smile was playing on Red’s lips.
"Red?"
When Pink called her name in confusion, Red clapped her hands together loudly once.
"Let’s wrap up the meeting and have a little chat, shall we?"
Red, who had been watching the situation with a hardened face, was now smiling.
"A chat? All of a sudden...?"
Yellow, who never engaged in casual conversation, reacted with discomfort, but Red kept smiling.
"It’ll only take a moment. Let’s try this thing called 'communication.'"
Red was actually feeling happy right now.
Usually, meetings consisted of only her and Green. She was used to the other members being absent. Even though this meeting was only happening because the duel was canceled, every single member was here.
She hated internal strife, which was why she had tolerated their absences, but seeing this atmosphere for the first time in a while wasn't entirely bad. Was it because her conversations with the members had increased lately? Rather, she felt that this current atmosphere was a genuine exchange of the emotions they had been suppressing through their lack of communication.