“Murayama Yamase, 29 years old,” read out loud Nakatani from the files right in front of his eyes. “You stayed in Europe for a couple of years as an infiltrated agent to the German army on a lengthy mission issued by the Japanese government. When you successfully finished your mission there, you returned to Japan, bringing with you two young Japanese soldiers that had been forced to serve in the German army. They were subsequently added to the squad that was created at your return. Isn’t that how things went?”

“Yes, Sir,” acknowledged Murayama, giving a sharp nod with his head as he remained standing in front of the head general of Tokyo’s main military base.

“So, from the point of view of a soldier that has been inside enemy territory for an extended period and saw things that are far different from our country...” continued Nakatani, a soft smile on his lips as he switched his gaze back to Murayama. “What is your opinion on the six targets that have been collected from the lab?”

“Are you asking for my honest opinion or a military-based opinion on the matter only?” asked back Murayama, an eyebrow arched just the slightest as he deeply thought on the question that was being made – a question which he had not expected when he and his squad had been summoned by the general.

“Both, if possible,” answered Nakatani, his smile stretching a fraction.

“...” Murayama kept on silently glancing to the general for a couple more seconds and then sighed loudly, scratching the back of his head as he lowered it a little bit. “You’re asking quite the difficult question there, Nakatani-san.”

“I apologize for that,” softly laughed Nakatani. “But I’m afraid that it’s an unavoidable question, as far as it concerns your squad.”

“Unavoidable or not, it’s a pain in the ass, to be honest and not militarily oriented,” sighed Murayama once again, a frown now appearing on his face. “All six of the targets are... Well, definitely not your regular human beings. As far as I noticed, they don’t see the world in the same way as we do and they’re worse than wild animals. Even lions and bears have some sort of rules in their communities, but the Ms – or so they call themselves – don’t even have the word ‘rule’ in their dictionaries. They do whatever they want or need, for as long as it helps them reach a successful end to their missions, whatever they may be.”

“Aren’t they quite the perfect soldiers in that regard, then?” pointed out Nakatani, settling the papers on top of the table and entwining his fingers together as his elbows landed on the straight surface.

“They’re actually too perfect as soldiers,” confessed Murayama. “With their strict notions of victory and unwavering dedication to their cause, they have indeed the perfect mentality for soldiers. The problem lays in the fact that they don’t do those missions for anybody but themselves. They are their own country, family, friends, even lovers. They would never obey anyone else or fight for a cause different of their own. That’s what brings their perfection to an absolute zero.”

“I see...” acknowledged Nakatani, giving a soft nod with his head. “Does that mean that they’re completely useless to us? Or to any other country, for that matter.”

“I-I wouldn’t go as far as to call them useless, but...” hesitantly mumbled Murayama, massaging the back of his neck as he averted looking straight to the general. “If that flaw of where their loyalty lays could be somehow fixed, then the country they sided with may become the one that has the biggest chance to come out as the victorious side of the war. As I said, they’re perfect as soldiers. They have all of our limitations as human beings fixed and, even though I bet I only saw a little bit of what they’re capable of, only their presence inside of a room carries a certain air to themselves that warns others who’s on top of the food chain. Then again... Their mental stability... is not very stable, so to speak.”

“I think that’s something to be expected when you’re forcibly modified from human being to super soldier, I would say,” pointed out Nakatani, flashing a soft smile towards the commander. “However, are you trying to imply that, not due to their perfect soldier mentality or their lack of loyalty towards other causes, but due to their lack of stability in a psychological sense they would pose as a threat to us and the world in general?”

“...Yes,” acknowledged Murayama, the answer tasting bitter against his tongue. He had been interacting with the group of Ms for just 24 hours and yet... How come he had already grown this attached to that bunch of anti-social weirdos? Maybe craziness truly was contagious. “I can’t say if that’s applied to all of them since I don’t know enough about them as a whole to make such hasty judgments, but... M5 holds an almost extreme hatred towards every human being and M1 is deadly possessive towards his lover, to the point of not leaving his side at any moment or allowing anyone closer than necessary to him, whether it’s us or any of the other Ms.”

“You said this before but… lover?” inquired Nakatani, an eyebrow slightly arched on his brows. “What do you mean by ‘lover’?”

“Exactly what the word means,” answered Murayama, giving a quick shrug with his shoulders. “M1 and M0, apparently, are in a romantic relationship with each other. Don’t ask me how or why, though. I have absolutely no idea how it ended up like that when they only personally met for the first time less than 24 hours ago.”

“Aren’t all of the targets male, though?” pointed out Nakatani, his eyebrow getting even more arched as his smile almost slipped from his lips. When he saw Murayama nod his head in acknowledgement, he remained silent for a couple of seconds and then resumed with his speech. “Moving on then. So, based on your personal analysis, the six targets are far too dangerous for the human population in general.”

“No, not from my personal analysis. All of this was said from my experience as a soldier and military point of view,” corrected Murayama, his demeanour suddenly turning more grave and serious.

“Then what would be your personal opinion and analysis on the matter, Murayama?” inquired Nakatani, settling his hands on top of the table in front of him, his fingers entwining together.

“They’re weird, sanity is probably something that they never had in themselves and most likely never will, and their awkwardness when it comes to dealing with normal humans is pretty pitiful to watch, especially since it brings forth misunderstanding after misunderstanding,” started Murayama, a soft smile creeping into his features. “However, they’re still human beings, deep down. The way they manipulate us is the same we humans manipulate one another. The way they kill us is the same we humans kill each other. The way they have fun while discovering new things is exactly the same as when we learn or discover new things we never thought possible. The way they love and care for each other is also the exact same way we love and care for those dear to us, maybe in an even stronger and more deep-rooted way than ours since, opposite to us, they only have one another in the world. They don’t have a family – they are their own family. And you, Nakatani-san, would do everything in your power to protect your family, wouldn’t you?”

“...”

“They think in the same way,” continued Murayama when he noticed that he wouldn’t obtain any further reply from the general until he finished saying everything he had to say. “So, whatever decision you’re about to do about them, please do it carefully. They take the word ‘revenge’ to a whole new level, especially if it’s their lives that would be on the line. No... Maybe not their lives but M0’s life.”

“M0?” ended up repeating Nakatani, now an eyebrow noteworthily arched on his brows. “Which one of them might M0 be?”

“The smallest of them all,” said Murayama, a small alarm in the back of his mind telling him that probably yet another person would end up falling in M0’s trap of misinformation and misdirection of questions and answers.

“What are the names of the other ones?” inquired further Nakatani, his gaze tightening just a fraction as he closely observed Murayama.

“Their names go from M0 to M5, the smallest number meaning the oldest,” explained Murayama, also suspiciously keeping an eye on the general as he saw a growing restlessness in him. “They said that M0 was the oldest in one of their ages, but that M5 was the oldest in human age.”

“Do you perhaps know their human age?” hurriedly asked Nakatani, though his smiling demeanour had yet to leave his face – the perfect, unbreakable mask that he had developed after years of standing in the highest ranking seat in the Japanese military hierarchy.

“...” Murayama wasn’t liking this in the slightest. For some reason, these questions seemed far more detailed and centred on a particular subject than that of someone who didn’t know much about the targets being kept in the lab. However, his position didn’t allow him to deny the general of a truthful answer – not even a white lie. “They said they’re all 18 years old in human age.”

“I see,” acknowledged Nakatani with a soft nod of his head. He momentarily lowered his gaze to peer at the documents on top of his desk and then returned his gaze to Murayama, the smile gone from his face and morphed into a serious expression. “Murayama, you may take your leave now. Please inform your squad members that I’ll speak with them tomorrow morning, as soon as day breaks. I would appreciate it if your squad could continue to keep an eye on the six targets until I speak with them directly in an official audit, where the whole military base is to be present.”

“...What?” interjected Murayama, his jaw almost slacking wide open with the shock those words had caused in him. “A-An audit? With everybody present? Please excuse my rudeness, Sir, but have you gone insane?”

“Unfortunately, Murayama, we don’t possess the time to go into details right now,” said Nakatani as he got up from his seat. “Stick to your mission until the end without raising questions at the wrong moments. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow after I have a word with the rest of your squad. Obviously before the audit starts. Until then, do everything as you see fit for as long as you do your job.”

“Y-Yes, Sir...” acknowledged Murayama, his hands closing into tight fists. He gave a quick salute towards the general and then turned around on his heels to leave the office.

Maybe M1 had been right – maybe humans truly were the machines there, one designed to obey the words of those that stood above them without further inquiring the matter.

Even when all of it sounded so very wrong to their consciousness.