James' POV
While I was examining some strange flora and fauna near a hamlet village, I saw that some of them are eating what I called 'peasants' food: stale-looking bread, plain and unflavored porridge made of wheat, and plain-looking meat pies. "Kumakain sila ng pagkain ng mga mahihirap, James Mabini," said Odesa to me while concerned for the people.
She looked at me. "Gusto mo magtayo ng isang stante and magluto ng arroz caldo para sa kanila? Pwede tayo magkuha ng ingredients sa wild na damuhan at bumili ng iba sa mga tao dito, at babayarin natin iyan gamit ng gamot't iba pang essentials."
I thought about it for a few moments, and remembering the humanitarian culture our Filipino nation performed whenever a natural disaster struck us back home, I agreed.
And so, we went into action. Odesa, Jerome, and a Turkish agents scoured the wild woods for any lemon grass, while I gave away surplus medicines to villagers in exchange for gingers and chicken meats. I also used some of the JSDF's surplus jasmine rice for the rice. And by 3 p.m., we set up a tent at the edge of the village and at nearest proximity to the Alnus Base. Inside, we cooked the arroz caldo in a big metallic pot we burrowed from the Alnus Base.
As the scent of garlic, ginger, and chicken broth emanated from the tent, some of the villagers, men and women, young and old, and healthy and sickly, descended to our space.
"What is that?" one woman asked, being curious.
Arranging bowls and spoons on a foldable table, Odesa said with a smile, "That's arroz caldo, from our home country in our world."
"That's what we eat when we are sick or wanted to be cheap," Jerome responded.
Driven by curiosity and hunger, the commoners grabbed the clean plastic bowls and metallic spoons and lined up. I was in charge of distributing the hot food to them, with Odesa, being ever the descendant of Manuel L. Quezon, helped out with the tent entrance staying open against the mild breeze to keep it from blowing it to close the entrance.
3 p.m. was filled with full bellies of the people.
Even so, Itami-san and his squad, while passing through the village from a scouting task, pulled over and were in awe to see our humanitarian aid for the common people. "What are you guys feeding to them?" Akira asked.
"Arroz Caldo," I responded with a beam of my eyes. "One of the simplest foods in the Philippines for every season and when we are sick or wanting a simple meal."
"Wow, that was a humanitarian move, you guys…" Furibayashi said while grabbing a bowl and a spoon for a bowl of the food because she was hungry after that task.
Itami then chuckled. "Wow, you guys are something else."
Meanwhile, some Turkish agents at another makeshift tent beside us, under Osmanek, was baking simit and other Turkish breads for the common people to eat it solo or pair it with the arroz caldo. They had traded surplus medicines and some surplus clothes from Tokyo's 100-yen shops for their surplus wheat and seeds for the simit.
"Yup, we are!" I chirped at the JSDF.
Third-person POV
Seeing the humanitarian aid in that hamlet in the Special Region from Ichigaya via the screen in the JSDF headquarters, Kazufumi Ryuzaki and Hazama were astonished and in awe. "Sir," Hazama said, "I heard tales of humanitarian aid in the Philippines whenever a natural disaster came to wreck them and passed by, but this one is an extension of their trait."
Kazufumi chuckled. "Indeed, better than what the three superpowers would do in that world."
Back in the Special Region in the Alnus Base, Ioanna showed her watercolor painting of the hamlet after it was dried up under the sun for an hour. "Wow, impressive, Christodoulopoulos Ioanna," Hayato Sasagawa commented.
"That was close to Studio Ghibli art," another JSDF soldier added. "Do you ever watch any of Miyazaki's films?"
"Yes, a big fan, and they were dubbed in Greek back home," replied Ioanna.