Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!



If I was alone, I'd probably take 10 minutes to find a good show to watch while I was eating and just spend five minutes to finish my food but if I was eating with other people, it'd take around 30 minutes to an hour. It was because some people liked to talk while eating with their friends or family but in this case, it was fucking awkward to get stared at while we were eating the meals provided for us and Quinn was the first one to snap at the two.

"THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO STARING AT?! HUH?!"

The two almost jumped at their seats and Seb was just about to speak when JP did it first:

"Apologies. I didn't think you would take this long— I mean, umm… apologies…"

"..." Seb could only lower his head as he looked away.

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Haven't heard of chewing, huh?"

"P-Pardon?"

"Jesus fucking Christ, I'm talking to a fucking noble—"

Jesus interjected, "Hey! It was a one-time thing, alright? I was drunk then too!"

Quinn almost choked on her food, "Pfft… Asshole."

"Works every time, heh."

"Anyway, the fuck are you two waiting for us? OR are you waiting for him? That's it, huh?"

JP nodded, "Yes, I was instructed by the General— I mean, my father to wait for the leader of the Special Unit, Mr. Ishiyama— Apologies, I'm not too sure of the title or rank given to you by the President—"

I cut him off, "Listen, you either call me by my name or call me 'Kid' like every old dude I met. Oh! Boss works too if you're at my place. Drop the 'Mr.' too, I'm not that old."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

I looked at JP with a defeated expression, "Fine. Call me whatever you want, I should've given up on that a long~ time ago."

"P-Pardon?"

"That's not important. Anyway, I can kinda guess why you're here," I replied to JP but then I turned the other side to look at Seb, "But why are you here?"

Seb took a deep breath before replying, "P-Pardon— ACk!"

Quinn blew up right after throwing a spoon right at his head, "Enough of this 'pardon', shit! CAN ANY OF YOU TALK NORMALLY?! WE'RE NOT IN A FUCKING NOVEL OR WRITING A LEGAL DOCUMENT, JUST TALK CASUALLY FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

Jesus cut in the middle of them as he tried to defuse the situation, "You guys probably— no, you probably don't know but they're related, kinda."

"Kinda?"

JP nodded, "Dad was great friends with his late parents and he basically took him in."

Tatiana interjected, "So you two are kinda like step-brothers?"

The two nodded, "You can say that."

Then Tatiana chuckled, "But unfortunately the wrong— Hmm, nevermind that… Still possible…"

As soon as Tatiana went there, I was applauding her in my head but the two had no fucking clue what the fuck we were talking about. In any case, we eventually discovered that the General told the two to follow us—I mean, me—for the duration of our stay to "learn", but what was stewing in my head at the moment was if he'd also include Seb in the deluxe package he was trying to hand over to me.

'Let's just not ask them to be safe… But they're gonna learn something alright…'

Once we finished our meals, we cleared our tables and handed them over to the cadets washing the dishes though we did offer to help them clear the other tables which they obviously declined. However, I learned that the General had set up a private space where I could "teach" the two something only that I could, and the two actually had this sparkle in their eyes that they were trying so hard to contain.

Honestly, any normal kid would love to learn to use the blade in my hip—or whatever it is the General was so cryptic about because I could pretty much teach these two anything in my wheelhouse. And as luck would have it, they had a "senior" that could probably teach them the basics in regards to Japanese sword-fighting.

It's just that the person who I thought respected authority was the first one to voice out his opinion.

"Sir, with all due respect… We're here to learn from you and not from… from… the other person you're here with," he said before turning to Isaac, "Apologies…"

And Isaac had the audacity to side with them, "N-None taken actually… I actually forced him to teach me too. I'm just as bad as you guys! Ah— probably, right? I dunno much about you two but—"

I cut him off before he dug himself a bigger hole, "Isaac, just stop."

"A-Alright sen— bro— sir— you know how it is…"

I shook my head as I sighed deeply, "Alright, this is how it's gonna go: I'm not exactly sure what your dad is making me teach you but the setup here is he wants me to teach you kenjutsu or something that involved fucking the shit off somebody. But yeah, I dunno where to start with you two so how about you two fight it out and we'll see where it goes?"

"P-Pardon?" the two asked at the same time.

"I already gave Isaac things he should work on based on how I assessed him myself but you two are basically ongoing books I had to decipher to know where to start."

JP raised his hand, "Wouldn't it be better if you assessed us one at a time instead of us fighting each other?"

I quickly answered, "Yep, that would be better. Much more accurate too…"

"Then why—"

"No reason. I just don't feel like teaching at the moment…"

The moment I said that, I instantly sensed how upset JP was getting while Seb just took a deep breath and avoided eye contact. But other than that, what I quickly realized was how Seb was acting while JP was around because he wasn't as passive when we first met him. I could only assume that something was going on between the two and what better way to bring out their grievances was for them to taste each other's fists from the get-go.

And yeah, I also didn't feel like explaining too much so I just added more fuel to the fire.

"We gave you food, we gave you lodging, we gave you—"

"Before you pile on Mr. Baron, I don't think your fragile ego would take it if I beat you two without breaking a sweat. I could definitely do that much without my blade here, what do you think would happen if I hold it now?"