About 6:00 am according to the synchronized watches that turned on as we exit the basement garage, we were cruising along the hill as the sun started to rise up.

While others were sitting tucked up at the other side, presumably too scared of me, or rather scared of the monster I could become. I could sense their septical looks, their jealousy and their unsettling glares. I had experienced these stares before. During the ride, a cocky looking one started to close into my end of the APC.

“Is it true that you’re a JSDF commando?” (Cadet) He cockily asked.

“Yeah so?” (rynosuke)

“I thought those guys are usually macho, loud and huge as fuck?” (Cadet) He joked sarcastically, noting my overall looks and voice.

“Hey wanna know a trick I learned when getting caught?” (Rynosuke)

“Sure?” (Cadet).

I then take off the vest I had on and unbutton my shirt. Then in a seductive gaze and voice, I said.

“Hey, Nii-san you wanna have some fun?” (Rynosuke) A technique I had learnt during my infiltration mission to one of Shibuya’s prostitution rings.

“Come on~ would onii-san want a kiss?” (Rynosuke)

I moved in, pushing my two hands behind flaunting my bare flat chest towards the ogling idiot in front of me. Unable to contain his excitement, the buffoon then slowly move his hand into my chest. While the idiot was having the best and only time of his life, I stealthily move my hand behind my back to the stilettos knife on my back pocket.

With one last seducing call, I said.

“Since you’re such a gentleman Nii-san, here’s your reward~” (Rynosuke)

I feigned closing in to give him a kiss. However, as the kid closed his eyes, I used the heel of the knife and give him a jab in the neck, instantly knocking him out.

Though I should have killed the kid for daring to touch me, instead I commended this boy for daring to approach me like that, so I put the stilettos into his pocket as his friends drag the guy back to his seat.

The reason for that display was kinda to make a point to not cross me under any circumstances available and that I could pretend one when I’m not. So to say I’m a two-faced backstabbing scum bag if needed. I further putting a deeper pin into this point with a statement.

“I’m not your friend, I saved Y'all for my mission needs you all to be alive that’s why if any of y’all try to renegade, and I’ll slice ya down without hesitation.” (Rynosuke)

I did this without the surveillance of Julia-san, of course,/, she wouldn’t have even tolerated me being in this ragtag platoon if she heard me saying that. And to my surprise, instead of shaking in fear or disgust, I was then met with a barrage of laughter and cheers.

“Oh man! That was great! I’ve never seen anyone acted so professionally like that before!”

“Yeah! It was like you were like those spy ladies from the movies that we had to watch at school!”

Things went on, one of them even spouted out that this idiot had fallen to similar trick by Rina-san before.

“Anyway, do what you must man. We’re with ya till the end. We owe you our lives after all. Just please consider not killing Nam Seung, he had quite a lot on his shoulder before coming here.”

This made me reconsidered my thoughts as these people were weird or fucked up enough to ignore my threats and even commending me on honey trapping one of their friends. These were really weird people.

…

Not long after our departure, we came across a rundown village adjacent to a lake and a large forest. As we were both tired and dehydrated, Julia-san suggested that we should stay here and rest for a few hours to replenish our stamina and strength. Plus the village though looked abandoned and run down, still had a sort of a small foundation good enough for us to put up tents and to even make a last stand against brigands if we were to be assailed against again.

“Take some of the water to cook some food and replenish the coolant on the car generator. You! You! Set up sniper positions on the top of that bell tower. You! Bring the weapon cases out and set up barricades around the perimeter of the village. Rina! Set up a medical tent in the middle of the town. Rynosuke- boya, sorry for asking you this but can you go and get us some sort of game? This amount of MREs I doubt would be able to feed anyone. It’s not too much trouble da?” (Julia)

“It's fine, but I’ll need Hideyoshi though. He’s better with the rifle than I do.” (Rynosuke)

She authorized the requested and after we both prepare our gear and equipment, we set off to the forest to hunt. Before going away, I told Julia to be vigilant of the area as I was suspicious and was sure that someone or something was stalking us in the shadows. After that, I departed.

…

I managed to find a few berries and roots that were similar to those of burdock, beets and wild potatoes on the way through the forest. Later we set up a nest on a nearby river, hoping to be able to catch a dear or a wild hog off guard and safely shoot it down with a headshot.

“Nii-san, when did you enlist?” (Hideyoshi)

“Hmm?” (Rynosuke)

“Don’t get me wrong, I saw the way you fight, it was more experienced than any other cadets that I’ve ever seen. But how long have you been in the JSDF? Why did you even join the JSDF in the first place?” (Hideyoshi)

“Hmm… About 6 years or so… My parents were killed during the North Korean invasion of Hokkaido in 2044. I joined the JSDF to provide for my sister as the orphanage was too run down and provided too little for us siblings.” (Rynosuke)

I moved my head away from the binoculars for a moment and lay down with my chin on my hand and continued.

“My sister was exceptional, she managed to get the International Prize for Biology and Keio Medical Science Prize by the government, while I hadn't managed to achieve anything in my elementary years. Since our parents have gone, I thought I should be the one to take care of her. I took the initiative of enlisting us both to the Japanese national schools. With the dead that one of us have to be enlisted into combat and the other can stay home. We had a pretty great pension too. About 500000 yen a month. That’s more than a normal adult wage, so I took the offer and joined the JSDF earlier than most.” (Rynosuke)

“Oh…so that makes sense, normally we would have to joint through the National police agency to have a head start in the career but that’s really convenient no?” (Hideyoshi)

Convenient…yeah convenient, convenient my ass! Not many knew about this but the JSDF junior cadet program was a paedophile den. The “FATHERS”, our C.Os were pretty much horn dogs for young prepubescent boys and girls. They used the guise of commending or punishing students for their depraved sex acts.

I tried not to think about it much as this was a new day and Hideyoshi gave me enough trust as I could to stand tall and continue my day.

…

“Hey! Look! Something’s in the bushes.” (Rynosuke) I whispered to Hideyoshi as he quickly adjusted his sniper rifle to zoom into the bushes.

“Assuming to be fast targets, 100 meters, wind speed none. Greenlight, fire when ready.” (Rynosuke)

“Roger.” (Hideyoshi)

I was confident at Hideyoshi's marksmanship as the kid was able to take out two of the targets that I listed out the day prior with two clean headshots. If I were to compare Hideyoshi with the partners that I had worked with before, I would work with this kid any other day.

“Take it out with one shot and I’ll give ya some great Ohaw tonight.” (Rynosuke)

“Ohaw?” (Rynosuke)

“It’s an Ainu cuisine. You’ll love it. Now focus.” (Rynosuke)

Hideyoshi zeroed into the target area as the bushes started to rustle more violently.

It came out. A figure with a tethered hood came out of the bush, looking confused and was panting violently.

“Wait! It’s human.” (Rynosuke)

But Hideyoshi pulled the trigger and though at first, I thought he had killed that person. To my surprise, he didn’t. He was aiming for the thing still rustling in the bushes. After the first shot, the beast came out staggering on its four legs. At a closer look, I saw that he laid a perfect headshot and it was a perfect kill.

“Move in!” (Rynosuke)

I yelled as both of us hustled to the downed civilian.

“You alright?! Hideyoshi! take my gun and cover us.” (Rynosuke) I rushed in, tending to he/she as Hideyoshi took point of the perimeter.

While tying up the civilian’s wound, I took a few quick looks at the beast we had taken down. It was huge, hairy and more or less looked like a wolf without a scalp.

Suddenly a larger beast of the same kind jumped out of the bushes and roared loudly.

“Nii-san! We gotta go! You done?” (Hideyoshi) Hideyoshi shouted as he laid down several shots at the approaching enemies. The gun barely did any damage as Hideyoshi’s bullet barely bounced off the beast’s bare scalp.

“I’m done! Come on!” (Rynosuke) I shouted as I carried the wounded on my back.

“What’s the plan Nii-san?” (Hideyoshi)

“We run back to the camp and hopefully the machineguns can take it down…” (Rynosuke)

“That’s it? The gun we have now can easily take them down. My EBR can’t since it’s too bulky to use but your AR would do great against that thing!”(Hideyoshi)

“Uhm… I know that…it’s just that I forgot a second magazine!” (Rynosuke)

“How the hell could you even forget the extra mag?” (Hideyoshi)

“Eh…” (Rynosuke)

I kinda zoned out when thinking of some delicious deer meat that I hadn’t reload the old magazine I had earlier and barely found out just earlier.

“I just forgot…Sorry.”(Rynosuke)

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” (Hideyoshi)

…

“Hideyoshi, give me the EBR and leave the AR. Here catch!” (Rynosuke) I requested him while also throwing the wounded to his arms.

“Nii-san! What the! Ooof!” (Hideyoshi)

Though that was a spontaneous effort, Hideyoshi and I managed to do the exchange. I was now holding the two rifles and he was holding the wounded.

“Hideyoshi! I’ll take care of the monster. Bring her back to our camp for medical treatment. At the count of three, you break left and I’ll break right alright?” (Rynosuke) I said as I prepare to throw the m16 at the coming beast.

“But Nii-san.” (Hideyoshi)

“No buts. One!” (Rynosuke)

“You’ll die.” (Hideyoshi)

“Two! Ready!”(Rynosuke) I swung my hand to prepare the throw.

“Three! Break!” (Rynosuke)

I swung the gun violently, let go and as planned, the gun hit the creature on the top of its head. It stopped for a moment to rub the wound off its head and taking advance of the situation, I laid down several more shots with the EBR at the beast which did almost no damage though this gun used 7.62mm rounds. I kept firing until the gun ran out of ammo and in the end, had to result to my bayonet to fight the beast.

With the EBR and bayonet combined together, I managed to make a spear and was now facing off the rabid beast.

With a few hard thrusts, I managed to get the beast in its neck and nose. However as I went in for another thrust, the beast suddenly lunged up and bit off my arm.

Though was not as painful as being disembowelled several times, the shock from extreme blood lost kinda rendered me quite useless against the beast. Natural, if one were to get his arm chopped off during an emergency situation, an equivalent amount of adrenaline equal to a 5-ton train should wake the body up and within that few minutes let it able to make some vital decisions. And what did I do you may ask?

I threw a punch at the beast’s head...Who cares that it wasn’t smart. I had lost the spear and was about to either go berserk or faint. IT’s fine if I were to go berserk as I could easily fight the beast “mano a mano” you know? Or “monster a monster” but if I were to faint and or die, I would risk being eaten or worst the beast might find its way back to our camp. I knew conventional arms weren’t going to do the trick, so if the latter were to happen, I’m sure that my entire company would be wiped out in a single minute.

While struggling to stay in and out of consciousness, Kuucifer’s voice called out to me.

“You deserve a break.” (Kuucifer)

And within a blink of the eyes. I found myself greeted with a calming image of Kuucifer standing in front of her house calling to me, welcoming me once again.

“Geez, come inside you’re a mess.” (Kuucifer)

Chapter 7:

“Hi, boss. What’s the occasion?” (Rynosuke) I asked shuddering from the dreadful glares of my retainer.

“You…idiot! I…I…”(Kuucifer) She clenched her fists as I bowed my head down to receive any form of punishment she might have in mind.

“I made some food…We’ll talk after the meal.” (Kuucifer) She then turned and headed inside. Somehow, she didn’t have that furious aura nor the violent intents that she had during our second and third meeting. It might be because of something’s wrong with my mood reader, but I had felt sadness or even more pain coming to her words. Though I didn’t want to bother her much so I obediently followed her to the dining room where I was treated with a small feast of a grilled salmon fillet and miso soup.

The meal was surprisingly decent despite I expected Kuucifer to have given me some sort of a shit meal to teach me some sort of lesson, but her spontainiousity didn’t surprise me. She was overall hard to guess.

“Why?” (Kuucifer) She stuttered, gripping tighter on the pair of chopsticks.

“Why are you always trying to shoulder everything on yourself?!” (Kuucifer) She scolded me and pounded violently on the table, knocking the soup bowl over, spilling over the table.

“…” (Rynosuke) I kept silence and continued my meal.

“Answer me!” (Kuucifer) She stood up, lunged over the table, took a grab of my shirt and started shaking violently demanding for an answer.

“Ne…Have you ever seen anyone with their bowels falling out as you carry them?”(Rynosuke) I put down my utensils and said.

“Have you ever stood with your friends and in the next minute, they die in front of your eyes?” (Rynosuke) I stood up from my chair and grabbed her by the arm.

“Have you ever woken up from your sleep to the sight of your bloodied friends’ faces? Well? Have you?!” (Rynosuke) I then shoved her against the wall.

At this point I was furious, not because of her grabbing my shirt, not because of the constant berating that she was showering me with, but rather the stupid question of why I had continuously tried to contain the situation myself, despite failing another after another after another. One of the reason for this to happen so continuously was that I was older than most of these police cadets. Secondly, I could not keep seeing comrades, those once in a while I could trust and manage to teach me something dies.

As I was about to continue, I noticed a tear dripping down her face and decided to back off.

“I’m sorry…”(Rynosuke) I backed off and fell on my knees.

“I’m broken… You shouldn’t have chosen me. After all, I’m just another expendable grunt…” (Rynosuke)

“No, you’re…” (Kuucifer) She wiped off the tear on her cheek and rub my hair over my ear.

“Then what am I? I have nothing to fight for.” (Rynosuke) I stuttered in tears as a familiar memory grazed my mind.

…

“My sister is gone, I thought…*sniff*…I thought…I could protect her…” (Rynosuke)

I had come back to Hokkaido from Yokohama when I was injured in combat, though my C.O didn’t really prefer it, seeing how their favourite toy wouldn’t be in their greasy shit stained hands for a week or two. I was ready to cook again, to play house with that girl again, though I guessed she would have matured from playing with dolls and plastic cutlery and more or less visit the grave of my family once again.

“Who am I to protect? What orders should I follow?! Fight Khaos? Who the fuck is Khaos? Should I save my comrades or let them die?! Tell me!” (Rynosuke) I then slumped down, crying on Kuucifer's lap.

“Fight for me…” (Kuucifer) She mumbled, raising my face and continued.

“Your sister, her soul is pure…She can have a new life here…So fight for me. Save those kids for me…Live for me…” (Kuucifer) She then moved in closer and gave me a passionate kiss.

The feeling, I couldn’t describe it by word, so foreign, but somehow so sweet, somehow so addicting… So soft but also so sharp as the hardened chapping of her lips embedded to mine, so sweet but so slimy. As we wrestled in the echoing cavity of our mouths, I could feel the sloshing sounds of our saliva, splashing around our two snakes mingled, strangling each other in a pure state of ecstasy.