Brother In Arms || Countryhumans Alternate History ||

The Last Time I Saw Him || Chapter Four

December 12, 1942. 

Ulaanbaatar shot out of his chair as soon as he heard the schools bell echo throughout his math classroom. Grabbing his backpack and putting away his stuff, he darted out of there to meet with a friend. 

"Tuva!" Ulaanbaatar shouted, trying to catch the boys attention in the ensuing crowd of students. Tannu Tuva shot around, his eyes widening in excitement as he caught Ulaanbaatar's eye.

Ulaanbaatar grinned, making his way over to Tannu Tuva, pushing his way through the trampende of other kids.

Tanna Tuva took his wrist, pulling him to a barren area away from the roar of students who were waiting to finally leave the dirty school.

"Hey." Ulaanbaatar greeted, fixing his hair. 

"Hello." Tanna Tuvu smiled back, nervously, he fixed his collar. "Have you seen.. Khovd.. by any chance?" Tanna Tuva asked, slightly turning pink.

Ulaanbaatar laughed, it was no secretly Tanna Tuva was obsessing over Khovd; though quite frankly, he couldn't blame him. Khovd was a sweet and shy girl, with long brunette hair she wore in one giant braid. Ulaanbaatar thought they two were perfect for each other; after all, when he had first met Tanna Tuva, Tuva was also shy and quiet, and preferred to keep to himself.

Ulaanbaatar also sometimes notice Khovd shooting a glance at Tuva every once in a while. Ulaanbaatar smirked slyly, he'd set them up one way or another. 

"Yeah, she's in our Political Science classroom, I think making up some work." Ulaanbaatar answered, digging his hands into the pockets of his shorts. Tuva nodded, looking around wildly before finally leaning his head against Ulaanbaatars ear.

"I.. I want to try asking her out." Tuva admitted, observing Ulaanbaatar face.

Ulaanbaatars heart sunk, he would not be able to watch the whole ordeal because his father always ordered him home immediately as soon as the school bell rang.

Ever since the war broke out between the Soviet Union and the Imperialist powers to the east, everything had changed from how Ulaanbaatar once knew it. Scary thing is, the Japanese were reaching the real city of Ulaanbaatar, fast. 

Quite frankly, it was rather a surprise that the Mongolian government continued to allow school procedures; albeit, with more precautions. But it was still scary nonetheless; knowing that you could fall asleep, and the next day, you'd wake up to a world of people speaking Japanese.

"I'm sorry, I can't accompany you." Ulaanbaatar pouted, slouching slightly in disappointment. Tuvas eyes widened, and he even felt a little saddened. "Oh, okay." Tuva murmured in response. 

"Hey but, since tomorrow's the weekend, you could perhaps come over to my place and we could go over to Khovds?" Ulaanbaatar quickly added, he figured his father, Mongolia, wouldn't mind much.

Tuvas eyes brightened up, "Sure." He agreed. "I'll ask my mom about it, and I'll get back to you tomorrow about it." He responded. 

"Great." Ulaanbaatar smiled, "I'll see you then." He playfully punched Tuva in the chest, getting a nudge in return, he then happily walked off.

Finally, now that the hallways were cleared, he was free to exit the shabby school. Mongolia never really had a "great" education system per se, nor much spending out into its schools; as most of Mongolias money went to its military now that the Japanese had struck the country. So Ulaanbaatar was sent to a very poorly funded summer camp, as he had failed grade school miserably. 

Not even the food was really sanitary, and most of the times, Ulaanbaatar skipped lunch to go smoke a cigarette in the boys bathroom; despite only being thirteen.