“How did it go?” asked Murayama as soon as he saw the front door of the building open, revealing Eki, Rei and their squad’s military dog. The tension inside was palpable, serious frowns in every single soldier inside. “Who’s attacking us this time? Which were the deployment orders?”

“We’re on standby for the time being,” explained Eki, closing the door behind himself once the three of them were inside. “The matter is still being investigated so there are no whos or whys yet. However, given the circumstances, Nakatani-san says everything is already over.”

“What? What do you mean by ‘already over’?” inquired Miue, his frowning brows creasing even further. “The alarm rang. Aren’t we under attack once again?”

“Yes, but as far as we’re concern, the attack is over,” acknowledged Eki, his gaze following Rei as he leisurely walked deeper inside of the room and reunited with the other super soldiers in the sofa area. “As I said, the attack is still under investigation but the preliminary reports say there was a single gunshot at the base’s entrance.”

“Did a soldier accidentally fire their gun and someone heard it, mistaking it for an attack?” said Ikusaki, now even more lost in the whole story. When the alarm rang, a battle was guaranteed to happen. Yes, there were occasional drills for training purpose, but every soldier was always warned before one happened in the near future. There had been no such warning.

“It’d be great if that was the case…” sighed Eki. He lowered his head slightly, a small, thin smile casting a saddened shadow to his face. “There’s one mortal victim reported. I’m sorry but Tou-san has been killed…”

“What!?” gasped Ikusaki incredulously, his eyes going round. Murayama and Miue also exchanged flabbergasted glances and albeit Mizusaki had displayed a more subsided response, that news also came as a shock to him. “Wasn’t Tou-san off today? We were all hanging out at the shopping centre a couple of hours ago… What the hell has happened?”

“What about Mitsu?” asked Mitaru from the sofa area, one of his arms spread over the backrest of the sofa as he craned his head and torso to look at the soldiers.

“She was with Tou-san at the time, as well as En-san, Sakinaka-san and a few other soldiers keeping guard on the entrance area,” said Eki, pushing a reassuring smile into his lips. “But, fortunately, all of them are unarmed. No wounded have been reported so far.”

“No wounded but…” said Murayama under his breath, a long sigh escaping from in between his lips. Knowing how close that group of friends was, seeing one of them being killed right before their eyes must have been a traumatic experience. Soldiers had to grow used to the idea of killing enemy soldiers or losing their comrades in battle to them, but growing used to it didn’t make it hurt any less. The pain and sorrow were there - they just learned throughout their service years to shove it down their hearts and deal with it after finishing their job. Hence, lifetime health benefits. Post-traumatic stress disorders would stalk them down to their graves, regardless of severity.

“Shit…!” cursed Miue with an annoyed clicking of his tongue. “When do you think the investigation will be concluded, Eki?”

“The initial investigation should be concluded by the end of today, according to Nakatani-san,” explained Eki, giving the dispatch order paper reports he had received to Murayama. “The lack of information and evidence will make it an inconclusive one, however. Until then, all squad are to remain on standby at their current posts. Mizusaki, our squad should receive further instructions through a radio message in case there’s any change in the dispatch orders so keep your attention on it. Also, Nakatani-san said he’d come by later today or early tomorrow morning, depending on the investigation’s results. He’d like to discuss with all of us the approach of our ‘neighbours’ towards their ‘missions’.”

I wish it was to discuss some other matters too but from what I’ve heard so far, it’s no use having such hopes, inwardly added Eki, his gaze slowly shifting to the group of super soldiers, mostly unperturbed by the news of the attack but still displaying some visual clues of surprise. Which made everything even more unusual.

There were so many things that were still being hidden, so much that was contradictory or nonsensical.

If some of the Ms were displaying signs of surprise and wonder, it meant they were faking not knowing what had happened or that Rei had acted on his own accord without providing a prior warning.

The attack had been one single shot from a semi-automatic rifle. That shot had resulted in an accurate headshot - instant death. With that and the way Rei had manoeuvred the rifle upon Eki’s arrival, it was as clear as water that he was very proficient with mechanised weaponry, probably to the same degree that Azuma was. That implied they had been lying to them, hiding the fact that Rei knew more than he claimed to know.

And, last but not least, why had Rei killed Tou? He was just a regular pilot, one without even a decade of military service under his belt. He held no power or influence within the base or the military world. He was above a foot soldier, yes, but he didn’t even have enough rank to disobey a direct order from Miue, the second-in-command of Eki’s squad. His death wouldn’t change anything within the base, within Japan.

With all this, I can’t help but think that Rei’s lack of knowledge of the world is just a lie. Is he pretending not to know anything or does he really not know anything? Did he not know how to yield guns when he exited the lab and learned it by observing us and the other Ms… or did he have that skill from the very start? Why kill a regular soldier and not someone with a higher ranking, like Miue-san, Murayama-san, even Nakatani-san? Why not kill a spy like me…?

Eki couldn’t tell. He couldn’t distinguish the difference between the lies and the truth. He couldn’t reach a conclusion with all the possible misinformation and manipulation of acts.

There was one thing he knew, however. One thing he was dead sure about.

When Rei smiles, he isn’t actually smiling. He’s mimicking the involuntary smile someone made whenever they told a lie. I can tell because I do the same...