Time passed as Commander was allowed to rest so his arm could heal. A few days into his short break, Commander was done wasting his time doing nothing important so headed out first thing that morning. Considering his run in with Soline recently, he decided to see if she was around. Even though he had time off, Commander still sported his dark brown military uniform. It made him easily identifiable as he walked into the nearest shop, although that wasn't his reason for wearing work clothes. It was just that he was so focused on becoming a commander that he failed to bother buying and using casual clothes. After a long internal debate while he walked through the shop's aisles, Commander settled on getting some sweets for Soline and her coworkers. He couldn't go wrong with candy. With the small pouch of sweets shoved into his coat pocket, he entered a train station before the morning rush and took a seat, waiting to see if Soline showed up at some point.
Sure enough, after two trains came and went, a third stopped at the station and a short girl with white hair stepped off a carriage. As expected from Nikke at this point, they always looked the same. It was especially true for Soline, since this was her job. Her white shirt and deep blue coat and skirt was the uniform she wore every single day. But she didn't seem to want to fashion her hair into a different style or wear any accessories. Besides Anis' hair clip that presumably had the practical application of keeping hair out of her face, Commander hadn't seen a Nikke that had an item on their person for the sole purpose of simply wanting it. Was it because they didn't see themselves as human so they didn't think they were allowed accessories or other items of clothing? Were they not allowed other outfits? Whatever the reason, Commander wished to make Nikke feel human again and part of that may end up coming down to letting them get involved with fashion.
The girl swept her eyes over the station and locked eyes with Commander, choosing to walk up to the young man after spotting him. "How's your arm?"
"Broken." He grinned as her eyebrows lowered to create a slight glare, clearly agitated by his remark. When he first met Soline, Commander was under the impression that she was similar to Rapi. She seemed like the serious type so it would be easy to get under her skin. "It's just fine, thanks."
It'd been three or four days since he'd been at the hospital, he wasn't quite paying attention to time right now because there was no reason to. Since it was his forearm that'd been broken by Rapi's weight, Commander decided not to bother with a sling. Instead he rested his arm, wrapped in a thick white cast, across his lap. When he was walking around he just let it dangle to his side. There was a risk of bumping into someone and causing himself pain, but that would only happen if he was careless when there were hordes of people walking the streets. During the day, when everyone was busy fulfilling their role in the Ark, there weren't too many civilians around. Commander had yet to bump into anyone.
His arm wouldn't be in this state for much longer either. After roughly a week of letting a limb recover on its own, the Ark would attach a bionic arm to Commander. This device would allow him to use his arm again. The young man had occasionally seen people walking around with metal exoskeletons attached to a leg, so he knew what to expect. The bionic equipment would take pressure off Commander's arm by essentially acting as an external bone, allowing him to complete tasks such as heavy lifting even though his arm is broken. It's not perfect though, a bionic arm is far from being armour. Commander would still have to be careful his exposed limb doesn't get hit. The positives far outweighed the negatives though. Commander was just happy he'd be able to use both hands again.
"Where are you heading?" Soline asked after taking a moment to calm herself.
"I'm already at my destination. I just wanted to see you." Seeing the young girl turn bright red, become frantic and stutter so badly she couldn't complete a single word, Commander reached into the pocket of his military coat and pulled out a small pack of sweets. "Here, as thanks for keeping the trains running. Share them with, erm, Brid and Diesel, was it? Share it with them too."
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Nikke: Goddess of Victory Novel Adaptation
AksiThe Rapture invasion came without warning. It was both ruthless and overwhelming. In what seemed like an instant, Earth was turned into a sea of flames. A huge majority of humanity were hunted down and slaughtered without mercy. But as mankind's tot...
