"Very well then, would you prefer learning about basic Resistance Soldier Rights and War Laws first?" Raphael leaned back on his chair and opened the desk's drawer, awaiting Ryo's answer.

'Resistance Soldier Rights and War Laws...' 

"Yes." Without hesitation, Ryo nodded. 'What other law or right would I even learn first other than that... Learning civil, everyday laws doesn't do anything...' 

"Very well..." He sighed and pulled a book out from the drawer and shut it close. 

Ryo was only able to catch a singular glimpse of it. 

A thick and blue hardcover book, the cover having silver lining borders. He could only catch the first part of its name, but he seemed to know what the title was. 'The Basic Rights... and War Laws, The Third's Frame edition... I remember seeing that book. Mori borrowed it a long time ago!'

Knock! Knock! Knock! Raphael knocked on his desk loudly. "Attention here, please." 

"First and foremost thing you should know is, there are five soldier rights that each soldier is offered."

"The first would be, the right to free medical care. As the name suggests, every Resistance soldier is granted free medical care in case of any sort of harm. In some cases, even the most minor of injuries are given utmost priority." 

Ryo nodded as he absorbed the knowledge. 'The Resistances Treatment Act makes it easier to remember these things. All of these 'rights' are just stating known things in writing...' He lampooned as Raphael moved to the next right. 

"The second Right for a soldier is, the right to refuse. The right to refuse any given mission or deployment assigned to them." He paused and elaborated. "Given that the assigned mission is illegal." 

'Of course... "illegal." That makes it useless, since all Resistance forces are strictly controlled and monitored, almost no illegal things occur. If that condition didn't exist, almost every normal soldier would refuse almost all orders. Especially those who're just part of the normal soldiers and not any core Squad member.' He thought for a while and asked genuinely, "Do these rights simply state normal things but in wordings?" 

He'd changed the way he spoke and made himself sound more 'noble-esque' in order to passively gain favor with Raphael. He also felt that it made for better connection with him. 

Raphael chuckled quietly and replied, "I suppose so. To be fair, sometimes, these Rights are followed anyways."

"For example, in the far away Planetary Sectors." 

"Those places are barely monitored as almost all of our resources are spent on maintaining our main war zones. Our main Planetary Sectors where major battles are taking place."  

His explaination had made perfect sense. Ryo couldn't help but look down for a moment and contemplate. His overthinking nature had taken over. 

'Of course you don't monitor the faraway Planetary Sectors... The state of the Resistance isn't enough to fund too many places all at once, is it...?' He lampooned. 'I doubt that they even pay more attention to those sectors anymore...' 

'They're all probably thinking that the Resistance will sooner or later arrive there... But...' He took a deep sigh, refraining himself from thinking further, and looked back up, glancing at Raphael. 

---

Ring! Ring! Ring! 

The woman rang the bell multiple times. She was old, her face was filled with criss-cross of wrinkles. Her gray hair tied into a bun. 

She wore a drop waist dress, befitting her plump. The dress itself was etched with flowery patterns, draped over by a silk scarf. 

Even after around five minutes had come to pass, there was no response. 

She couldn't help grumble in anger as she straightened her back multiple times. 

After some more time came to pass, she gave up on ringing the bell and looked around the yard. 

The entirety of the yard was full of weeds, only the corners of the fence being colored in different flowers. 

'Where'n the world did he go to... Damned son of mine...' She cursed as she walked to the very edge of fence. She dug her hand into the bunch of flowers and pulled out a metal key. 

Clack! Clack! She made her way back and opened the door.

---

Yoru looked at his phone as he dressed in white tee and jeans. 

'Three cases to go!' He sighed and left his room, locking the door. He made his way towards the stairs, then the garage. 

There, he pulled out his UII from the pocket of his tee and stood near the luxurious car. 

A low-slung carbon-fibre vehicle. Having distinct and sharp curves, an enormous rear wing, polished alloy hoverers and an aggressive aerodynamic design. 

It's interior was black and white leather, visible clearly as it had an open cockpit. 

Beep!

He stood back, opening the scissor doors, and got inside. 

Vroom!

He made his way towards the Area of Perimeters and went outside the Squad 8 Headquarters. 

'A murder case...' He sighed and continued driving forward. 

After taking a few turns left and right, before stopping in front of the location he'd received from Xianye. 

'This is a small place...' 

A small, single-family house. White cement walls and a metal sheet roof. 

He parked his car nearby and walked past the fence of the house. 

As soon as he did so, he could see an old woman in tears, curled up.

Her face was filled with cris-crossed wrinkles and her gray hair was disheveled, much like her flowery patterned dress.

She occasionally looked at the house and turned down to stare at the ground teary eyed, again. 

He heaved a sigh and smiled, slightly annoyed. 'Why me, Xianye... I'm not good at this stuff. This is seriously a recipe of disaster...' He criticized himself and Xianye before making his way towards the woman. 

"I'm Yoru! A core-member of Squad Eight. I was told that there was a murder that happened here. May I know the details of it?" He asked with a tone that didn't suit the situation. 

Regardless, it seemed that the old woman could be least bothered about it as she replied hurriedly. "Yes... I- I came back home, a- an- Sniff. I found a body!"

"I- I don't even know who they are!" 

'A body they found... And they don't know who they are, huh...'

'Maybe she's pretending to be sad and disturbed... Maybe she killed the man and is pretending to be sad. Or maybe she mentally sick and didn't know she killed the ma- ' Yoru realized what he was thinking and quickly shook his head and asked the woman to guide him to the body. "Take me to the body and scene." 

"Yes!" The lady nodded and quickly guided him towards the room.

As he got closer to the scene of crime, he could see the old woman trembling. He could sense that the woman seemed to be hiding her mouth as she held back bile. 

After a while, he suddenly came to a stop as a streak of dry crimson blood appeared near his feet. He quickly drew his arm out and stopped the woman from going any further. 

'Impulse.' A black layer, devoid of all light traversed and cover Yoru's body, reaching till his laryngeal prominence. 

Small sparks of pure white appeared, the complete opposite of the hue that covered his body. 

He dug his arms and ripped off his solidified black armor laryngeal prominence. 

The armor's backplate was smeared in red. Yoru wiped it off and planted it down, marking the area from where the investigation scene begins.

'I... forgot to bring materials for investigation. Shit.' His eyes twitched and he disappointedly clenched his fists and made his way into the area.