“I got a bit caught up with the requests for leave for tomorrow. Sorry for being late, M0,” apologised Murayama, quickly opening and closing the door to the rooftop and rushing over to the location where the super soldier was sat down at. “Oh, I mean, Rei. I’m too used to call you by your code name…”

“It’s okay, Murayama-san,” said Rei, twisting the corner of his lips upwards to shape a smile for a brief moment. “I’m sure you must be considerably busy with the conclusion of the physical tests and tomorrow’s visit to the outside.”

“What really delayed my schedule for today was counting the damages to the training grounds,” sighed Murayama, leaning his lower back on the short wall protecting the edge of the rooftop. “I’m honestly considering leaving you six in charge of cleaning up that mess.”

“That would be fair, considering those training grounds are within our property,” acknowledged Rei, switching his gaze back to the faraway distance. “I don’t know if we’d get good results at it, however. We’re better at destroying than building.”

“Yes, we’re all well aware of that,” snorted Murayama, rolling his eyes around at those words. He sighed. “Tomorrow’s finally the day you’ll get to ride on the trains you’ve been feeling so excited about lately. They’re just regular trains, though, not the high-speed ones. Are you even more hyped now?”

“Yes,” said Rei, giving a small nod with his head. Though his face remained as expressionless as ever, his body radiated an aura of excitement of some sort. A small part of him, however, felt a bit adamant of stepping inside of the border of ‘humanity’. A military base filled with soldiers was a world away from an illegal lab and its underground facilities, but both were equality foreign when compared to the civilian everyday life. “Is it going to be different from what I see from here?”

“Of course it will,” confirmed Murayama right away, turning his body around so he could look in the same direction Rei was - even if all he could see was the base and a dark sky as the sun set down. “One thing is seeing from a distance and hearing about it, another is to experience it with your own body. No matter how many times we talk about what you can find in Tokyo and other large cities all around the world, I think you’ll only be able to fully understand them once you experience them personally.”

“Iru-kun said the same thing to me before,” chuckled Rei, his lips remaining stuck in a small, shy smile. He took one of his hands from his knees and slowly motioned it forward, aiming to grab the faraway metropolis. “But although my body has been set free, I think part of my brain cannot understand or comprehend the freedom I was given. Even if I have Iru-kun’s words as reassurance, even when I’m talking with you, Murayama-san, or any of the other Japanese soldiers, that small part of my brain can’t understand if what my ears and eyes hear and see is the real world or if it’s just a mirage. The sky can be blue, light orange and pink, grey, pitch black… Which is the sky’s true colour? Which are the colours that are a lie? Books say the sky is blue because of the way the sunlight is scattered by the gases and particles in the atmosphere. So it’s actually not blue? If the sun disappeared and only the moon was left behind, which colour would the sky have? What would happen if we put neon signs and street lamps in space? Would the sky become rainbow-coloured? Would it be white? Or would it disappe-”

“Did something happen, Rei?” asked Murayama, putting his open hand on top of the super soldier’s head and softly ruffling his hair.

“Eh?” interjected Rei, turning his head sideways and lightly tilting it to the left, despite the hand still present on top of him. “No, I was just… wondering how do humans differentiate between the truth and a lie.”

“Is it because of your conversation earlier with Nakatani-san?” asked Murayama once again, a small frown starting to crease his features as he removed his hand from the top of Rei’s head. “Was he lying when he said he had nothing to do with The Union and super soldier’s experimentations?”

“No, I don’t think he was lying,” answered Rei, lightly shaking his head in denial. “But he didn’t tell the truth either. If he had, he would have acknowledged your existence in his base, not pretend that he never had any involvement in human experiments or deny that he’s aware of what you are.”

“We never got another opportunity to talk about what you told me after my conversation with Nakatani-san and the higher generals,” said Murayama, fully straightening his standing position and shifting his body to more easily talk with Rei. Remembering that little something during that encounter made the distance between their bodies feel unnaturally close but it was true that he could never know who was listening to their conversations, so hushed tones in close quarters was a good prevention strategy. “And after seeing what you’re able of doing during these last three days of testing, I can’t help but doubt your conclusions once again. There’s nothing about me and my squad that can be remotely compared as equal to you and the other Ms. I don’t mean to say that I think you’re lying, Rei, but what sets us apart is far too big for me to believe it when you call us a basic version of super soldiers.”

“That’s exactly your mistake,” declared Rei, pointing at Murayama with his index finger and then pointing to himself. “If you use yourself, a basic version of super soldier created by trial and error by the Japanese military, and me, the ultimate human weapon created after decades of scientific development and experiments by The Union, as a comparison, then you won’t be able to find the similarities. That’s why I told you to test a blood sample. You’ll be able to find our similarities if you know where to look at.”

“I guess I have no choice than to appoint an early check-up this year,” sighed Murayama, trying to make sense of the super soldier’s explanation. Though Rei was easier to understand when compared to their first interaction, he surely couldn’t be called an expert conversationalist just yet. “But how did you figure out we were something more than human? You had your suspicions already before you went the whole mile and created a ruckus to taste my blood, didn’t you?”

“Instinct… maybe?” said Rei in the shape of a question, cocking his head to the side as he wondered about the very same thing. “You smell weird compared to other humans. But you don’t smell the same as we do. It’s… weird.”

“I honestly don’t know how I should feel when you say I smell weird…” cringed Murayama, outwardly releasing a sigh while inwardly facepalming himself.

“...?”

“Nah, never mind that,” said Murayama, dismissively waving his hand. He lightly cleared his throat and attempted to somehow shift the gears of the conversation. “That day, you said I was barely 60% human. According to your instinct, which one of us is closer to the super soldier side? Um, what I’m trying to say is, which one of us has the largest super soldier percentage when compared to our human percentage?”

“...” Rei straightened his head and took a glance to the night sky, briefly thinking about that question before offering his answer. “If I were to choose which one of you is more similar to us… I’d have to say Mizusaki-kun.”

“Mizusaki… huh…” mumbled Murayama, leaning his body forward and crossing his arms over the short wall around the edge of the rooftop. His eyes observed the base’s night scenery, though his brain registered nothing but his own thoughts.

As a soldier, I never thought I’d bump into questions that are better left unanswered…

-.-

Softly humming the song he was listening to with his earphones, Mizusaki leisurely walked back to the super soldier’s area with a small plastic bag in hand. That night would be the night he would shut up Ikusaki once and for all, completely crush Iru and put him down from the pedestal he always walked on. His excitement showed on the mischievous grin his lips housed.

“Oh~ Thanks for all of your hard work, Nakatani-san~” greeted Mizusaki with a sing-song voice, momentarily halting and saluting as he spotted the general coming out of a nearby building.

“Yes, likewise,” acknowledged Nakatani, walking closer to the soldier with a passive smiling expression on his features.

“Well then, please excu-”

“Shinobu, how are you getting along with the Ms and your new shared living quarters?” asked Nakatani, positioning his hands behind his back as he forced the soldier to come to another halt with the sudden question. “Despite Eki’s daily report deliveries, I’m still left wondering if you and the other soldiers are comfortably acclimating yourselves to so many unexpected duty changes.”

“Don’t act all familiar and friendly with me, old man,” warned Mizusaki, sideways glaring at Nakatani. Anger and repulse were the only visible emotions underneath that glare. “Stop trying to act like family whenever it’s the most convenient for you. If you weren’t my grandfather when Mom and Dad died, you have no right to pretend to be one now of all times. Just keep on thinking of me as one more of your pawns and don’t butt in my life more than necessary. Now excuse me. I have better places to be at.”