Ripples in Still Waters

I didn’t know if I should be relieved or not when I entered my new room and found it empty. I’d rather see him in the room and get it over with than wait in dread for him to come and turn the place upside down.

Identical to my room back in the underground base, everything was mostly blue. There were two beds, two wardrobes, and two desks. But instead of choosing one of each, I sat on the floor. I didn’t want to give a reason for Hideo to pick a fight with me. It was pointless, though. He would still make up something.

A painful ten-minute wait later, the door slammed open, revealing Hideo and his permanent scowl. He made it very obvious that he didn’t like seeing me here. The feeling was mutual.

Here we go again.

“Why are you still here?” Hideo demanded, stopping right in front of me.

I stood up because I didn’t want to strain my neck. “Why else?”

“Move out.”

I wished it was as easy as that. “If I could, I would.”

Hideo sat down on the left bed, so I took the right one. His body shook with anger when he realized I had no intention of leaving. “I’m telling you to move out.”

I didn’t feel like humoring him. Too many things had gone against my will. “Then why don’t you?”

Shooting up to his feet, Hideo snatched the chair and threw it at me. I dodged right in time. It hit the wall and landed on the bed next to me. The LED walls were sturdier than I had thought. I put the chair back on the ground, dusting the dirt off my bed. It was too bad that there were no CCTV cameras inside the rooms.

“I’m two years your senior! How dare you tell me what to do!” Hideo lunged at me, but I blocked his advance with my hands. My whole body trembled under his weight. “You piece of shit! What did you do, huh? Did you bribe the higher-ups?”

“I have no idea what you’re saying,” I managed through my gritted teeth, struggling to defend myself.

Hideo exerted more strength, pushing himself further. His fist was now only inches away from my face, my hold on his wrist barely restraining his move. “You know exactly what I mean! Your training exam scores. There’s no way you did that yourself. Don’t make me laugh.”

So that’s why. I scoffed. “I didn’t cheat.”

“And? You expect me to believe your bullshit?”

Hideo swatted my hands off him and punched hard. I rolled to the side in a swift motion, causing him to hit the mattress instead. While he was stumbling forward from losing his balance, I sprinted out of the room, running for my life.

Conscripted soldiers tended to resort to violence if given the opportunity. Because of their highly stressful situation, they relieved their stress by committing violence. While I was Hideo’s target, someone was someone else’s target. As much as I hated Bluefort, I needed to stay within its sight to survive.

I can’t feel safe in my own bedroom now.

The blue walls, blue tiles, and blue lights suffocated me more as I sprinted down the corridor of the barracks. I didn’t hear any footsteps behind me, but it didn’t stop me from running. Ten rooms later, I stepped out into the sun, soldiers marching in neat four files next to me. A big open field connected the barracks to a huge office building, where Enma had gone earlier. I crossed the field, heading straight forward.

Everything was still blue in every shade inside the office building. The lobby was spacious, adorned with a huge German Shepherd dog statue in the middle of the clearing. An advertisement for Bluehound K-9, I supposed.

AI should be helping humans, not the other way around.

“I’m looking for Corporal Kuroba Enma,” I said to the guard approaching me.

I waited by the statue, observing the soldiers come and go through the front door as the guard informed Enma of my presence at the office building. Most of them had robot dogs as companions. Apparently, it was not only the Military Police Department that got to work with them. Every soldier had one. What would the robot dogs do if not for investigation? Would they fight alongside the soldiers on the frontline?

Kuma entered my point of view, blocking my sight with his big body. His brown fur looked very real up close. His floppy ears bounced with him as he walked. He was a Bloodhound. This breed was a tracker. A hunting dog. A perfect fit for a Drifter Captor.

“Private Akai Sou,” Kuma greeted, nodding his head politely.

I bowed out of instinct, silently cursing myself as I realized that I must have looked stupid to bow at a robot dog. Screw him for being much too well-mannered. “Where is Enma?”

“Corporal Kuroba Enma will arrive shortly.”

As if on cue, Enma appeared from behind a door near the receptionist’s table at the corner of the office lobby. She looked around the area and shouted my name when she spotted me. I had to hide behind the statue since everyone in the lobby started looking in my direction. That was embarrassing.

Enma rushed toward me, smacking my shoulder. “Did you get into a fight with your roommate? Already?”

Explaining why Hideo didn’t like me would require me to explain my training year. I’d rather not relive those days. “We kind of have a history. Speaking of, is it possible to change my roommate? I’m concerned that we might kill each other before the end of the week.”

Shaking her head, she patted my back. “I’m afraid it’s not possible. Try to stay alive, Sou. I don’t want to write a report explaining how you get killed in your bedroom. Paperwork is too troublesome.”

So much for a supportive superior.

“I thought so.” I had expected this, but unfortunately, my dearest roommate insisted on changing his room. Hideo’s livid face and clenched fists came to mind. “Can you let me stay here? Staying in my room doesn’t sound too appealing right now.”

Enma glanced at her digital watch. “We have about half an hour to kill. What do you want to do?” Her gaze fell on the dog statue behind me. Her face lit up in an instant. “I know! Want to choose your robot dog? Technically, it should be after the briefing. But there’s nothing wrong with choosing a bit earlier, right? And also, we’ll get to play with robot dogs! How exciting!”

Playing with robot dogs was certainly not what I had expected when I decided to meet Enma here.

I shrugged. It’s not like I had anything better to do. “Cool. Can I have a Bloodhound like Kuma? He seems smart.”

“No, don’t! Please get a Shiba Inu! I want to play with a huge Shiba Inu!”

What Enma said was what Enma got. She wanted a Shiba Inu, so I had to choose one as my robot dog partner. Although, normally no one would pick a Shiba Inu as a K-9—I wouldn’t. She insisted that the intelligence level of every Bluehound K-9 breed was identical because the same AI created them, and that the realistic appearance was just a casing of a metal body to please the eye.