Koutetsujou no Kabane-Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress- (Ikoma Love Story)

03

" Did you inspect the locomotive before and during operation, check the speed, air pressure, and battery?"

"Yes, ma'am!" you saluted as your mentor smiled and licked her thumb to wipe your cheek.

"I can tell you did a thorough job," your mentor laughed as she rubbed at the ink smudge causing you to cringe at the friction, "You know Yuki, that boy has been watching you work since you came here."

You turned around to see a small boy with golden-brown eyes, and messy, light green hair trying to hide away from your line of vision. His face flushed radish red and he stared at his feet, occasionally looking in your direction, hoping no one would notice how embarrassed he was beside myself.

"Do you know him Yuki?" asked your mentor.

"I think his name is Ikomo...no wait...Ikome...ummm," you thought out loud to try and recall the boy's name to which his eyes feel heavy with tears. You reached your arm out in a way to comfort until he turned around and ran away.

"Ow!" you yelled holding your head as you looked up to see your mentor glare towards you in annoyance.

"Sometimes, Yuki, you are too smart to even comprehend the simplest emotions around you," your mentor replied, "Be grateful that you have someone who acknowledges your presence so much to make sure that are alright."

"But what did I do?!" you yelled holding your head to ease the pain from the second strike that your mentor gave you.

"You are so dense!"

"You're temperamental!" you yelled back only to recieve another hit at the head.

"Well, you know what, this temperamental woman will give you a simple task; go find out what that boy's name is and make sure you remember it for as long as you live-you seriously need to remember names as well as you can calculate the speed of the train."

"What is a boys name going to do for me?"

"Wonders."

"Huh?"

"Huh?" you opened your eyes and looked around to see Hikari polishing your sword, Mumei playing with a toy while reading, and Ikoma tinkering with something in his hand.

"Onee-chan!" yelled Hikari as he dropped your huge blade and tackled you in a warm hug.

"Hikari," you muttered petting his hair.

"Yuki," said another voice.

You looked to see Ikoma running in front of you checking over to see if you had any wounds and soon his eyes were cherries set into the deep shadows below his brow was staring into yours, similar to the same way he would stare when we were younger.

"Iko-Ikoma," you asked, "It has been about 6 years right..."

The crimson eyed boy gave you a small smile, before crouching next to you, so he was at eye-level.

"Y-yeah," Ikoma replied as he scratched his nose and he grinned back at you, to your knowledge it was probably to the fact that you remember but anything with an integer attached to it would always trigger your memory, it was more the names you had troubles with.

"Hey," you replied looking over his body, "your wounds healed up fast."

"Yeah," Mumei chimed in as she continued to read her book, "You should be able to move around fine now."

Ikoma soon turned around and looked towards Mumei with a serious look.

"You said you were going to Kongokaku," Ikoma asked, "you as well Yuki."