World Invasion: Battle Tokyo - A GATE Story

Chapter 2

The end of the day had arrived and already the first colors of twilight were painted on the immensity of the sky. At the military base, all of the new recruits had finished their training day and had returned to their dormitories or break rooms to relax a bit before going to dinner and sleep.

But for Itami and his team, the schedule was different tonight. As agreed, in three days they should all return to the other side of the gate, to Alnus hill. But before that, and to enjoy one last free evening, Itami, his team, and of course Rory, Tuka and Lelei, all gathered on the grassy hills a few hundred yards from the base, in order to have a little fun there.

All were gathered around a small campfire on which marshmallows bought the day before by Itami for the occasion were roasted.

Both sitting on the hood of the military jeep, Tuka and Lelei watched curiously as Itami prepared to hit the golf ball with the club. Tozu, Sasagawa and Higashi were also watching, their beer bottles in hand. Itami concentrated, huffing softly and punching as hard as he could. The little white ball flew far into the air to fall further into the grass. Tozu, Sasagawa and Higashi clapped and laughed too.

_ "Look and admire, guys. This is called marksmanship!" Itami said, quite proud of himself.

_ "Nice shoot, daddy!" Tuka applauds with a smile. Itami thanked her by sharing his laughter with his friends. Lelei, more serious, as usual, let the scholar in her gain the upper hand and took the golf club in hand.

_ "Hmmm ... and what is the main interest of this game from your world?" Lelei asked, examining the object.

_ "Well, there are official competitions organized all over the world. I even know that there are champions. But tonight is mainly for fun. Do you want to try?" Itami asked, coming to join her. Lelei, still curious to discover new things in this world, nodded at Itami's request. The latter then took a new golf ball and put it in place. He then showed Lelei how to hold the club correctly and how to position herself to hit. Tuka, on the other hand, still sitting on the jeep watching in amusement, then winced after trying a sip of beer from her bottle.

_ "Yuck ..." said the young elf woman, putting the bottle down next to it.

_ "Not very fond of alcohol?" said Mari Kurokawa, the team medic, coming to sit next to her, also holding a beer in her hand.

_ "Let's say yours are different, that's all. But don't think I'm judging you ..." Tuka explained, a little embarrassed and red cheeks. Seeing her like that, Mari smiled and laughed softly, and put her arm around Tuka's shoulder. Seeing that she didn't blame him, the elf relaxed and laughed with her friend. Their attention was then drawn to one side of the jeep.

A competition was taking place. Wataru, the heavy weapons specialist on the team, was thrown into a push-up contest, against Rory Mercury. The two competitors, side by side, had started many minutes ago. Around them were Kuwahara, Nishina, Tomita and Furuta, who at the same time encouraging the two participants, were counting the sets of push-ups performed ...

_ "60 ... 61 ... 62 ... 63 ..." counted in unison the members of the team.

But at the end of a certain number, Wataru, despite his stoutness and muscles, began to show exhaustion, his face soaked in sweat, and finally he collapsed to the ground, breathless. Rory, she, declared as the winner, got back to her feet, without having perspired a single drop and showing no sign of fatigue.

_ "Well, Wataru? Already tired? I was starting to have fun." said the demigoddess of the war with a smirk.

Wataru couldn't even say a word anymore, he was so blown away. Kurawhara and Furuta, for their part, got back the money they had bet on the winner. Nishina and Tomita were disgusted at having lost and sulked in their corner.