High School Soldier
Inner War: talks with the President

Nio stood in front of the black board. There is no roof and to protect the field school from the scorching sun and dust. But the advantage is that they do not require a fan or AC, so they can use free wind energy as a coolant. There are no ceramic floors, and only soil. Then, in front of Nio were ten children.

Glancing next to her, Nio saw a calm female officer wearing field clothes. He was Major Herlina, and he stood attentively without moving, and stared one by one at the children in front of him.

Nio looked ahead with an excited look. The children in front of him looked at him and Herlina with curiosity. They sat on the ground with picnic mats, and used long tables like in a food stall. On the table, the children faced a pencil, a book, and a gift eraser purchased from the donation of the Company 406-32.

Nio called Herlina in awe, “Hei!” then continued his words after the woman rejected him, “What do we do just stand like this?”

“You can start by introducing yourself,” Herlina replied with a smile.

Although she has a job that is far ‘make’ rather than being a volunteer teacher for war orphaned children, Nio accepts Herlina's orders. He walked one step forward, scratched the back of his head and looked at the faces of the children.

Nio then said, “Halo, my name is Nio Candranala. With Major Herlina, I will be your teacher today. Nice to meet you guys.” Nio raised his hand to greet the children, and was as courteous as possible. But, the children just looked at her flatly, without any reaction or saying anything to respond to her introductions.

“My hobbies are walking, sports, and more. I also like martial arts,” Nio says all his activities in the other world, and everything is the truth. He goes for walks helping other units facing battle, or walks towards a new front line. He daily held up mortars and submachine guns, so that it could be said to be lifting weights. Then, when he ran out of bullets, Nio made use of the martial arts learned as a weapon.

But the kids remained silent.

“I can also do some attractions.”

The kids stay quiet.

Nio gave up explaining himself, then asked the children, “Do you guys have any questions?”

Then, in unison and excited the children answered“Ya!!!” , the energy of the children is indeed amazing.

Confused and wondering why he had accepted Herlina's invitation, Nio looked up at the sky. There were only a few clouds in the vast blue sky. A gentle breeze blew away some plastic waste, and commercial planes left a trail of long smoke. Nio sighed, he should have today started doing ‘act’ against people that made him only think of revenge.

Nio and Herlina become volunteer teachers for suburban children who have no parents.

“You can last ‘kan, Nio?”

Herlina asked like that as if she wanted to question Nio's endurance of facing children full of surprises. She wrote something for today's lesson. Nio wondered if the Social Service and Child Protection Agency did not provide education for orphans under their protection.

Although they had previously seemed excited, there were a few children smiling at him, or sleeping soundly on the table.

“I want you to help me teach the children on the outskirts of the Karanganyar Garrison,” the sentence was said by Herlina when she realized Nio had plans to uncover a number of major cases.

After the war, educational facilities throughout the country were rebuilt and even improved. However, for the children of war victims who lost a brother, they could not get an education easily. That is why Herlina founded an emergency school at the level of Primary School, and approved all members of Company 406-32 by donating a small portion of salary and others.

In the end, Nio accepted Herlina's invitation while thinking of a plan in his next job. Although the suburbs seemed untouched by government attention, children and locals seemed to live in this devastated neighborhood. Nio could feel what the suburban residents were living, he had experienced such a life before the war began. To reduce the low level of post-war education, Herlina officially established a field school.

After getting such an invitation, Nio asked Herlina, “Why do you want me to be a teacher?”

Herlina doesn't run out of excuses for Nio's question, “Well, confronting kids with multiple behaviors can help you control your emotions. I want a colleague to ease the work. As you know, even though it was built from the voluntary funds of company members, we expect a lot from the emergency school. So, I thought it would be nice to show you the results of our cooperation during your time in another world. Relax, in a week the school is only opened twice.”

Although concerned, Nio replied to Herlina's statement, “Walau holiday, I also have a job, tahu”

“I don't always ask you to come. But, if you have time you can come help me.”

Nio regained consciousness from his daydream when he heard the noise of the children. Nio heard the children's answers as Herlina asked them questions, and they wrote down what was on the black board. Nine girls and eleven boys, they all wore less decent clothes, and appeared to bathe infrequently. Nio wasn't sure when the last time the boys cleaned and changed. But, that kind of thing could be guessed by Nio, since they were orphaned fringe children that were easily forgotten even by the local government. And Nio could understand why the members of Company 406-32 often helped the suburban residents.

He felt uneasy, because he felt unsuitable for carrying out important tasks of teaching and leading others. But he chose to take the doubt. There is no reason to escape. Nio took a deep breath, then asked the children.

“Alright, Master will answer your questions. The first is...you,” Nio pointed at one of the boys.

“Sir Master, are you and Ms Herlina dating?”

Nio put on a dumbfounded expression, yet Herlina smiled in shock.

“That's a question that won't have an answer. Okay, next question..”.

A girl raised her hand, then asked, “What is the nickname of Mr Master?”

Do children like to ask small questions? Nio muttered inwardly before answering him, “You can call me anything.”

For some reason the children seemed to be discussing something, it seemed that they wanted to determine a nickname for Nio after he had allowed them to call him by a free name. After that, some of the children asked questions again, then laughed, and both of those things happened several times.

Herlina took a step forward with a calm face, and waited for the children to say something.

“Bu Herlina, why aren't you dating Mr Nio?”

“What?!” Nio wanted to immediately stop a girl who asked like that. However, Herlina immediately prevented Nio from intervening in her conversation with the children.

Herlina's face was a little flushed when she said, “Wish is best for us, huh?”

Herlina's expression was filled with a sense of victory as Nio suffered a serious wound in his heart.

“Nio...” Herlina called out to the gloomy Nio with her stern expression.

“Ya?” Nio answered nervously.

“Nio, come here a minute!” after she said that, Herlina pulled Nio's arm and dragged him to the ruins where the children could not see them. Nio thought about whether he had said something that made his superior heart hurt. Thinking he would accept the punishment, Nio prepared himself as best he could.

However, in the next moment, Herlina made a happy expression, “Nio, did you hear? They said why don't we just date! They want us to date!” Herlina said it so excitedly, face flushed red, and almost hugged Nio if the man did not manage to dodge.

“They are only children, why should we follow?” Nio asked with a restless expression.

Herlina with a firm face put her hands on her waist, “Well, you can say that because it is surrounded by many beautiful girls. You also have to understand their wishes, even though we consider them to be messing around.”

“The kids don't seem to like me,” Nio said in a sad tone.

“Why do you think like that?”

“You didn't notice it? Now imagine I'm a deer, and they're a pack of lionesses. At that time, I became a weak prey and was attacked by a herd of lionesses. The boys thought I was weaker than you, and attacked me as a herd. The point is, they don't like me.”

“What's true like that?” Herlina looked dissatisfied after hearing Nio's words.

With a sharp gaze Herlina pulled Nio back to face the children, “We must go back.”

With a slightly different expression than before, Herlina asked the children, “Does anyone else want to ask?”

“I! Is being a soldier difficult?” one of the boys asked like that after raising his hand.

“Oh, my goodness, you want to be a soldier? Did you know that Mr Nio is also a soldier?” Herlina responded to the question with a pleased expression.

Other than Herlina, no one knew the gloomy man with a face covered in masks was a soldier. They all shake their heads.

“Nio we know he is quite handsome, unlike Pak Nio we are looking at!”

“Yes, she is very famous. I often see him on TV standing next to Mr. Suroso!”

“What is Mr Nio right about that Nio?”

The children said like that mercilessly, resulting in Nio receiving an unexpected back-to-back attack without being able to retaliate.

“Who is Mr Suroso?” one of the girls asked like that after raising his hand and apologizing.

“That's Mr Suroso!” one of the boys stood up, and pointed with vigor.

Nio looked in disbelief at the direction the boy was pointing at, and then almost jumped into the air. About twenty meters from where Nio was standing, Suroso got down from the limousine that stopped, then walked straight towards him.

With his enormous lead aura, Suroso wore a neat suit. There's no mistaking it, he's the real Suroso, but why is he in the Karanganyar Garrison suburb?

Suroso then turned his gaze to the children after greeting Nio and Herlina who were giving him respect. The man who had recently celebrated his 32nd birthday showed his smile and said gently to the children, “Happy afternoon kids. Are you guys happy to study with these two sisters?”

The children froze with their mouths slightly open.

“Hah?” the only sleeping child had just woken up and said that in surprise.

Suroso then turned around, and stood in front of Nio with a serious look.

“Letnan One Nio Candranala, I want to talk to you four eyes.”