High School Soldier
There is no substitute for victory

Monday, 2 June 2322…

Today it is recorded in history as the return of the Expeditionary Force after facing a great battle since they set foot in another world.

With the daytime temperature of Karanganyar city center exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, it was like being in a desert. But, for the Expeditionary Force soldiers who were able to return to the homeland after going through a brutal and heavy fight, the hot daytime temperature was still inferior to the heat of the fight they had gone through.

14.25 WIB…

When daylight starts at its peak and the temperature reaches its highest point, the imperfect Gate opens at one point in the center of Karanganyar City.

An imperfect Gate appeared at a large crossroad, which was about 300 meters from the Lalung Reservoir. Fortunately, there was hardly a single vehicle on this road. The atmosphere was very quiet and suspicious.

To be precise, hundreds of thousands of Karanganyar residents have thronged ‘Forbidden Area’ to welcome the return of Expeditionary Force soldiers and volunteers who helped their cause. The gate was expected to open in the Forbidden Area, but it turned out that the estimate missed and the Gate did not open in a place not far from it.

From inside the Gate, the first to come out are attack helicopters and transports belonging to Indonesian, Russian, and North Korean forces. After exiting the Gate imperfectly, the helicopter immediately flew high to avoid collisions with surrounding buildings.

Then, hundreds of combat vehicles came out, including trucks and personnel carriers loaded with the rest of the Expeditionary Force soldiers and volunteers. Then the last to come out of the imperfect Gate were the dozens of cavalry troops of the Kingdom of Arevelk and Yekirnovo.

The arrival of the representatives of Arevelk and Yekirnovo was the answer to the invitation to attend the ceremony held today. At least, with the representatives of Arevelk and Yekirnovo, volunteers can calm down because of the group from the same world as them.

“This... world origin green troops (TNI)..”.

Volunteers held their breaths as the personnel carriers they were riding in came out of the Gate imperfectly. After the vehicle exited the Gate, this was the first time for them to breathe the oxygen of the origin world of the troops fighting alongside them in the battle of the Holy Land.

The majority of the buildings standing in this place had a height between one and two floors. Most buildings function as a place of business, such as restaurants, minimarkets, haircuts, public refueling stations, savings-borrow cooperatives, motor vehicle dealers, building materials supply stores, vehicle workshops. And about 400 meters from the Gate stands BPBD office Karanganyar City which is still in the rebuilding period after the war against the other world. In addition to these buildings, some buildings are also still under construction by their respective owners.

All vehicles that come out of the Gate are not perfect to go north, aka directions to the Forbidden Area which is also the direction to the center of Karanganyar City.

Volunteers watched from the glass windows of standing buildings. It's not the first time they've seen a building made of bricks, but it's the first time they've seen a building made of used containers.

Nio breathed with relief after returning safely in his hometown, and was calm with the city condition still the same. He was only worried if the Gate opened Karanganyar City, but at different times, for example Karanganyar 300 years ago.

The peak of Mount Lawu blocked by tall buildings can be seen vaguely. The volunteers and representatives of Arevelk and Yekirnovo were relieved by the existence of mountains in this world. Fortunately, in the previous war, the other world army did not release magic that could destroy the peak of Lawu Mountain. To be precise, at the war against the otherworldly forces before, the TNI almost never faced the witches of the otherworldly forces. Because the otherworldly army only tasked witches to open the Gate imperfectly and keep it open for a long time.

Then, the group passed through the school area which stood several middle to high school. From inside the transport truck whose roof had been opened, Nio could see his old school, which had been almost destroyed by the war, was now almost finished being rebuilt with several other schools.

All the soldiers of the 406-32 Company were very calm to look back at the city they fought in the previous war. According to them, including Nio, the war in the Holy Land is far greater than the war they had fought before.3 years of their struggle resulted in peace for Indonesia, Indonesia, and the relief forces have saved the Expeditionary Forces and the volunteer forces from despair.

Almost all Soldiers Students are high school students and college students who have not had time to complete their education. They were willing to abandon youth and education, and chose to take up arms to defend their country and family from the enemy.

Although for almost 12 years of schooling, Nio had never scored more than 20 digits of 100 digits on math subjects, at least he never skipped or was late for school.

So, the teacher-teacher comments to Nio when hearing him ‘boh’ in math subjects is, “Nio? Hmmm.he's an avid student. I'm also confused, he always gets perfect grades across subjects, except math.”

Then, when he has to answer the question “What are your ideals?” or “After graduating from school, you want to go to college or directly work?”, Nio just answered the question calmly, “I just want to be a successful person in the future…” and end up being a Student Army soldier when the war happens.

Then, after a year of service as a Student Army soldier, his prankster superior (Herlina) recommended Nio's name to be able to send him to Special Student Forces training, instead, who has been famous for his training which is almost the same as the special forces and elite TNI.

After going through a series of mentally draining training, Nio passed the last sequence of training. Actually he just barely graduated, because there was one student who should have graduated instead of sick. In the end, Nio was approved and was in the last position, because he did not do a general knowledge test problem of mathematics lessons. The coaches are also considering other things to pass Nio, especially he achieved near-perfect scores across written and psychological tests.

Then, no one would object to Nio's entire achievements in the military. Not only had he received praise from the President, he would also soon receive a promotion to First Lieutenant of the Student Army.

Until finally, the group arrived at an area that is prohibited for civilians, or more often called the Forbidden Area. Today, however, the Forbidden Area is crowded with thousands of people from all over Indonesia and Indonesia. Since Company 406-32 was sent to join the relief forces, the Forbidden Area guards were handed over to the Semarang Garrison troops and hundreds of linmas.

Nio was shocked after daydreaming about the past, he heard the cheers of thousands of people. Vehicles drove between three to four storeys high buildings slowly, and among the thousands of residents who greeted them.

From the roof of the building, there were dozens of children and some adults throwing red and white pieces of paper that made the welcome even more festive. Thousands of people waved small red-and-white flags, and several Student Army soldiers marched by the roadside holding red-and-white flags tied to bamboo that had been painted in white.

Several teenage girls and boys were seen running to give just a flower to the Expeditionary Force soldiers and volunteers, not to forget the group of representatives of Arevelk and Yekirnovo were given a flower.

The arrival of the cavalry troops of the Kingdom of Arevelk and Yekirnovo was a surprise for the citizens. Although it looked like a threat, as the cavalrymen carried long spears tied by the flags of Arevelk and Yekirnovo under the eyes of the spears, and they and the horses wore metal clothes that looked very strong, at least the soldiers did not wear helmets and showed happy faces when receiving a flower from the residents. Also, the sight of other world troops walking on the asphalt road is a little ‘aneh’ thing in the minds of some residents.

Nio who was sitting at the very edge of the row saw two teenage girls throwing a few red roses into his ride truck. The two teenagers smiled kindly, and looked proud of the struggle of the soldiers he gave the flower. Nio picked up a flower, and raised it to show to the two girls if he accepted their gift.

The givers of flowers did not seem to be bothered with the soldiers who came home with these various circumstances. Although they gave flowers to the soldier who had a large stitch on his face, the givers still looked happy when the tired soldiers who had gone through a long fight received their flowers.

The condition of the hearts of the soldiers seemed to be the same as the citizens who were happy and proud of their return. Especially the welcome they got exceeded what they had thought before, was even much more festive with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of humans in this Forbidden Area.

Among the hundreds of thousands of humans in this place, Arunika is one of the many people who miss the warrior of his pride. He was second-guessing the vehicle that Nio was riding in from dozens of transport vehicles, and he saw a head that had a haircut similar to Nio's. When the owner of the head shows his side face that has a large scar, Arunika is more convinced that it is Nio. He forced his way through the crowd, and left Lisa who was eating a lick to her stomach after long waiting for the return of the troop. Lisa actually also wanted to meet Nio immediately, but she just could not bear to break through this crowd of thousands of humans.

Meanwhile, Arunika really looks like she wants to meet Nio immediately, she breaks through the crowd with a worried face if she gets too far with Nio's ride that drove slowly.

Nio looked at the crowd of people, and they spoke like praising the Expeditionary Force that had guarded the Gate perfectly so that no enemy would enter it and then attack back Indonesia. Nio looked around, and smiled with the people in this area praising their courage. Then, Nio's gaze came to a halt when he saw a woman desperately barging through the crowd of people.

Nio's face showed between happy and sad with the woman who was struggling to break through the crowd of thousands to meet her.

“Where are you...?!”

One of the officers in the rank of Second Lieutenant warns Nio to get back on the transport truck. But Nio did not hear the warning and entered the crowd to meet his brother.

Nio felt very impatient to meet with Arunika, to the point that he broke through the crowd of people meeting with a smile. The people who saw Nio's smile that ‘horrible’ deliberately gave way to Nio, some more cheering for the soldier.

Nio's tall body made Arunika could easily find the figure. But, the crowd of people who were close to him made it difficult for Nio to find his brother if he was not above a high place.

“Finally... i. succeeded.... found you...”.

Nio stopped when he felt that someone was pulling on his sleeves, he turned his head to the left to see who was pulling on his shirt sleeves. The person who spoke earlier sounded so exhausted, that it sounded disjointed. Nio's eyes couldn't blink for a few seconds after seeing the person pulling on his clothes.

Without being ruled again, Nio immediately hugged Arunika's body after confirming that the person was really her brother. The cheers of those who saw the action grew louder, and there were a few whistling sounds.

Nio further tightened his embrace towards the person who became the soldier, although Arunika was seen trying to escape from the embrace. But, he felt that Nio would not let go of that embrace even if he rebelled with all his might. Arunika felt that she would not be able to win with the current Nio. Nio's body, which was now much larger than Arunika's, was almost locked up and covered the girl's body.

“Thank you... already protect us, Nio..”.

Nio placed his head on Arunika's shoulder after hearing her brother's words. Nio who had trained hard mentally so as not to easily feel sad, moved when he heard the thanks from his brother.

“Ya... thanks for counting on me, sis...”

Some of the soldiers who also saw their family members did the same as Nio, even the warnings of the officers were just like a last breeze for the soldiers who had harbored longing too deeply with their families or lovers.

Crying is the final stage of long-burdened feelings, including deep longing with family members. The soldiers who were formidable when fighting with the enemy, cried after meeting their family members. Although the war made some soldiers lose some of their families, it was the thing that made them even stronger. Tiredness, pain, suffering, and anger disappear after meeting someone who is very meaningful.

The atmosphere that had been boisterous with the cheers of the residents suddenly calmed down a little as the last dozens of transport trucks drove slowly. There were thousands of coffins covered with red and white flags, and people were looking at it with great respect.

The thousands of coffins containing the nation's best soldiers who died after a fight and died honorably prove that a soldier's destiny is not always good. In addition, it also proves that the fantasy world famous for its peace actually holds many terrible and very dangerous things.

The death of the Expeditionary Force soldiers with a considerable amount of it was unexpected, indeed, surely it is also beyond hope that the soldiers will definitely return with the full amount as they were first sent to another world.

“Crazy..”

It was the expression of most people in this place after seeing what the enemy did to the nation's best warriors. They did not expect that the enemy had not managed to make the Expeditionary Force soldiers surrender, and made them continue to fight despite their lives on the edge. Although they died decapitated on the battlefield, there were still many other soldiers willing to avenge the death. There is no war without a purpose. Although death was not the final choice that many wanted, but for the soldier who fought with a steadfast and sincere heart, death was a happy ending.

The Expeditionary Force soldiers and volunteers had managed to control the difficulties they faced when the enemy did not stop attacking them. Since they managed to win over the hardships that befell, they deserved the victory and a happy ending. There is no substitute for victory, after all the pain that soldiers feel when fighting is just an illusion, they are trained to be sure if it is sick and tired when fighting is only an illusion.

In their opinion, it is better to be covered in blood now for peace tomorrow and forever, than to choose to be covered in blood tomorrow for the suffering of the next day. Other than dying to protect something so precious, the soldiers did not know how to die, they would continue to live and fight because all living things would die in time. Although the hearts were already filled with despair, they would continue to fight even if the body was destroyed, because it was much more glorious than dying by suicide.

The enemy could have cut off their hands or broken their legs, but the enemy would not have been able to destroy the fighting spirit they had. Then, for the surviving soldiers, being able to live the next day to continue fighting was the best gift, and the proud welcome of the people towards their struggle was the perfect gift.

Giving up is easy, but holding on until victory is a proud thing.