Work Text:
The snow had been falling for so long that Japan could no longer remember what the road looked like, or if there had ever been a road at all.
Ayase's boots crunched through another layer of snow. Beside him, his comrade stopped.
"Do you know where we're going?"
"No." Ayase replied bluntly.
The comrade narrows his eyes. "What."
"You asked if I knew."
"And you don't?"
"No."
The two stood in silence as snow continued falling.
"Wonderful," his comrade with a shrug.
Even no matter how the joke continues to hang in the air, no single chuckle occurs in them. While walking through the heavy snow, the comrade speaks up again.
"How much food do we have?"
Ayase's expression remained unchanged. "One."
...
"One what."
"One."
The comrade sneers as he nudges Ayase's shoulder. "I'm serious, taichō, I'm starving here!"
"Me either," Ayase responds nonchalantly. "Just wait until we get to the center of Sakhalin."
"Then what? We'll freeze to death?" His comrade assumed, his tone is cold (literally) and unkind.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
Then, they continue to walk again. They still haven't solved anything, nor still don't know where they are. But they're still walking.
♪ 雪の進軍氷を踏んで... ♪ (Yuki no shingun kouri no funde)
Ayase's sudden singing makes the comrade perks his head towards him, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Taichō, not this time." the comrade reminds, his tone has a tang of exhaustion.
"I had to," Ayase acknowledged with no single emotion. "I'm exhausted."
"Then don't sing!"
"I can't."
Ayase proceeds to continue to sing while walking, as if both of them are marching towards the darkness.
♪ どれが川やら道さえ知れず ♪ (Dore ga kawa yara michi sae shirezu)
The comrade hisses in his teeth as he forced to endure Ayase's bothersome singing. Yet, with a sudden urge, the comrade proceeds to sing beside him, a choice he really regrets a lot.
♪ 馬は倒れる捨てても起けず ♪ (Uma wa taoreru sutete mo okezu)
♪ ここはいずくぞ皆敵の国 ♪ (Koko wa izuku zo mina teki no kuni)
The snow falls deliberately along with the souless vocals...