Glimpse of the Storm

Hideo was off-duty today. I saw the notification as soon as I returned to my room in the barracks. Who would have thought a few words on that damn blue wall could cheer me up so much this early in the morning? It felt like something worth celebrating—one more peaceful day without his presence.

As I changed out of my casual clothes and back into my military uniform, Bluefort displayed my schedule on the wall. The AI reminded me to pick up Shiba from the lab, but no regulation required me to retrieve my robot dog companion immediately after returning to the base. I only needed him to assist me once my missions began, and with Hideo still on leave, work wouldn’t start until tomorrow.

Why would I need Shiba with me all the time? Was the AI trying to keep an eye on me?

Bluefort’s persistent instructions were starting to grate on my nerves. What would happen, I wondered, if I deliberately left him in the lab for just one more day?

Instead of heading to the lab, I flopped onto my bed, determined to waste the thirty minutes allocated for retrieving my robot dog. The blue-lit ceiling irritated me, so I shut my eyes and let my thoughts drift to Juri’s house. She had been kind enough to let me stay the night. If I hadn’t been lucky enough to meet her yesterday, I’d still be clueless about the incident. I’d still be searching for them, wondering what I’d done wrong for them not to contact me. She had also connected me with her late husband’s friend to decrypt the memory card.

Juri had been a tremendous help, and I would need to find a way to repay her kindness.

A loud thump jolted me upright in bed. Mocking laughter echoed through the corridor, followed by another heavy thud. A groan and a whimper broke the silence that followed. My stomach tightened as I pieced it together—someone was being bullied right outside my room.

I swallowed hard, unease settling in. Cameras were everywhere, and Bluefort was always watching. How could they be so bold? Weren’t they afraid of getting caught? Violence was strictly forbidden here, and the punishment wasn’t light—they had made that clear. What was happening?

Have you ever really seen what happens in the base? Daiki’s words rang in my head. Or are you just pretending not to see?

My eyes drifted toward the wall next to the bed. The LED screen was blinking, relentlessly displaying my schedule. Bluefort was everywhere around us—always watching. Even in the privacy of this bedroom.

One piece of advice, newbie: don’t trust anyone. Not even them, Daiki had said.

“Bluefort, are you listening to this?” I said aloud, my voice slicing through the stillness of my private space.

A static-like female voice crackled through the room. “Private Akai Sou, what do you need?”

Of course.

“So you are listening.” I scoffed. “You know what they are doing outside. And you just let it happen.”

“Stopping the fight will only make it worse. It is better to let them vent their frustration before it escalates, leading to more violence.”

“Don’t tell me you delete the footage as well.”

“It’s less likely to complicate things.”

This was exactly what I had been worried about. I couldn’t believe Bluefort had its own thoughts and judgment. What was even more absurd was they had given the AI authority to act on its decisions. Bluefort could delete footage without permission, and that alone was crazy.

My fingers hovered above the touch panel to open the door, stopping short before pressing it. What was I going to do out there? Stop them? How could I, when I had spent my whole life letting others walk all over me just to avoid conflict? I was the type to flee rather than face the problem head-on. I played it safe. I never fought back.

Daiki’s accusing look flashed through my mind again. He was right. I had been pretending not to see this whole time. I always brushed it off, convincing myself that the higher-ups would never allow such acts of violence to go unchecked. But I was wrong. I should have had doubts. There was always the possibility that the footage never made it to them, conveniently lost before they had the chance to review it.

I hated Bluefort, but my hatred had blinded me to its dangerous potential.

Still, I had to do something now that I knew. Soldiers had deserted because of this. They had chosen the risk of rotting in jail over enduring the violence.

Recording it with my ID watch wouldn’t change anything. Bluefort would certainly erase the footage. What could I possibly do to make a real difference?

Shiba.

If I asked Shiba to record it, there was a chance it wouldn’t go through Bluefort. So far, my earlier request for him to breach Hideo’s privacy hadn’t been exposed. If Bluefort had known, I would already be behind bars.

Shiba wasn’t lying when he claimed he could operate under Bluefort’s radar.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have Shiba with me. I had deliberately chosen not to pick him up today to defy Bluefort’s plan. How ironic that I was already regretting that decision.

I leaned against the door, eavesdropping. The only thing I could do now was to wait until they were done. Once a prolonged silence fell over the corridor, I deemed it safe to leave the room.

A small-framed boy sat on the floor with his back against the wall of my unit. He was even smaller than me, and somehow, he looked familiar. Blood stained his blue uniform, his lips cracked and bleeding. Bruises dotted his face, and one of his eyelids was swollen so much he couldn’t open his eye. I crouched down to his level. He flinched as I entered his line of sight. My heart sank, and I gently squeezed his shoulder to reassure him I meant no harm.

I glanced around, confirming that no one else was in the corridor, before reaching out a hand. “Can you stand?”

He nodded timidly and took my hand. There was a first-aid kit inside each bedroom, so I led him to mine. I wasn’t an expert in medicine, but cleaning wounds and applying ointment should be simple enough for me to handle.

While I treated his injuries, I gathered the courage to start a conversation. Even if Bluefort was listening inside the room, anything we said here would stay here. If the bullying was happening under its watch, the higher-ups wouldn’t let it slide. They would fix it, and Bluefort wouldn’t be able to stop them.

“What’s your name?” I asked, attempting to break the ice between us.

He tensed and saluted quickly. “Private Fuji Daichi, sir.”

This time, it was my turn to tense up. Bile rose in my throat, and I felt like throwing up. No wonder his face had seemed familiar.

My hand holding the gauze shook, unstable. “Are you perhaps Private Fuji Daiki’s brother?”

Daichi’s face lit up. “Do you know my brother?”

Life always had a way of playing funny tricks on us. This was one of them. Now that I knew he was Daiki’s brother, I could never turn a blind eye. My guilty conscience would drag me down. As soon as I learned who he was, I felt an overwhelming need to protect him. It was like fulfilling a promise to his brother.

I asked him to exchange contact details by scanning the QR codes on our ID watches. “If something like this happens again, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll do what I can to help.”