Light hit my eyes as I woke up. The sunshine was bright, the birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming, the sky was blue, and the grass was green. It was such a beautiful day. I get out of bed and dress up.

Hm? What was that? Who am I? Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys.

My name is Rei Shirogami, and it was the year 2030. I am a 17-year-old. I lived with my little sister, May, in Tokyo, found an apartment for us, and even got a good part-time job! But I had no friends, which May teased me about. Still, life was going well for me – that is, until China started a war with us, and somehow I got drafted into the war.

You gotta be kidding me… I thought.

I said my goodbyes to my little sister, because that would probably be the last time I saw her.

As much as I didn't want to be drafted into the military, I couldn't go against it, because, well… it’s the government, what could I do to them? So with a small, nervous, and scared smile on my face, I arrived at the base.

And just like that, my normal life ended. When I arrived at the military base, it was much cleaner than I had expected. There were so many types of guns.

The walls were a little more futuristic than I had thought. The last time I saw what the inside of a military base looked like was when I watched those military base tours when I was little. There was a whole bunch of cameras, and we even had a gun that could shoot out enormous bullets.

Then, I found out we were going into war with China.

But wait...

Why China? Aren’t they the strongest country? We are so going to lose… I thought.

Well, I couldn't do anything about that. I wonder if my little sister would be okay with just Yuki taking care of her…

Ever since Japan (which is us) upgraded its military weapons in 2030, they have been in sixth place in military strength. But China is the strongest country in the world; it overtook the US in terms of military strength.

That was because the US started to focus on other problems instead of upgrading its military gear. But that helped Japan get us to 6th place, which isn't too terrible, but this is China we are talking about.

China's military strength isn't the only thing that China is number one at; economic power, diplomatic influence, cultural influence, and even global influence. All number one, it is like they had no weaknesses at all.

I was looking around in the base, then I heard someone yelling at me, “Hey, miss! You can’t be here!”

“Huh?” I replied.

“I said you can’t be here, the women are assigned to treat the wounds of soldiers and bring supplies to help the male soldiers!”

What the hell is this, the 1900s? I looked at him with a weirded-out face.

“But I’m a guy.”

“What?” the dude sounded confused.

“I said I'm a guy, I was just naturally born with long hair and a feminine appearance.”

“Wait, you're a guy? But you sound female.” he said, embarrassed.

“Well, I dunno, I'm just like that, I guess.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Tell the other men in the base that I'm a male so they won’t mess me up.”

“Um, alright,” he said, walking off.

***

After that strange encounter, I got my military uniform and weapons to go to war. I met my commander and a group of around 10 people. We went through some tactics and plans, but I was kinda zooming out a little. People kept mistaking me for a woman, and it kinda got me pissed off. 

Didn’t I tell that guy to tell everyone I'm a guy?

We went inside the vehicles and went to the battlefield. We weren’t doing that badly, not as I expected. As the hours passed, I didn't even attack anyone; I was kinda timid. I didn’t know how to use a gun, and I was scared that the recoil would blast me into the ground.

Then I heard a gun blast, which almost hit my head; that was scary…I didn't want to die so young, I am only 17!

“Okay, let me try to shoot the gun,” I said to myself. I pointed my pistol at the enemy soldier's head and shot. The recoil made my body feel like Jell-O, and…I missed… What is Japan doing, sending underage kids to the battlefield without proper training?

I got shot with a bullet to my left arm suddenly. Blood oozed out a little, and I felt the bullet breaking a part of my bone.

Give me a break, dammit. It hurts, it really hurts. How the hell did I end up on this battlefield?

The only way I could survive was to kill people, even though it gave me a bad taste in the mouth; it was the only way I could survive.

I looked behind the big rock I was hiding behind. Then I heard a rumbling and some vehicle noises. Looking up, I saw an aircraft. I went back to looking behind the rock I was hiding behind, which was tanks.

Explosions covered the battlefield, and my eardrums rang in pain. But before I could react, a sniper shot at my head. I almost thought I was dead, the bullet missing my head by barely grazing my left cheek. My blood dripped down my cheek, and I almost passed out because I was so scared.

I grabbed my pistol and aimed it at the sniper behind the bushes. Good thing I was always an observant person, I was already located where the sniper was. Judging from where the bullet came from and how it hit my cheek and then landed on the ground, the sniper should be at least 2000 meters away, hiding behind a large bush.

“No hard feelings,” I said. I was hoping it would at least graze and injure the sniper.

So I closed my eyes and shot. When I reopened my eyes, the sniper didn’t shoot back, so does that mean I killed him? What a relief, but for now, there are bigger things, the tanks.