Following the Crimson Trail

Everything good always seemed to end far too quickly. Waking up to Hideo’s kick square in my chest ruined my mood for the entire day. He was back, and it looked like he was ready to turn this room upside down. What was wrong with him, anyway? He had just returned from leave. Shouldn’t he have gotten all his frustration out yesterday? Why was he still as insufferable as ever?

Some people never change.

I had spent the rest of yesterday searching for Yuna. The receptionist at the administration office had said that there was no one in the base named Unno Yuna. If she was here, she must have registered under a different name.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy to find her. The base was enormous. She could be anywhere, or she could be anyone. Juri’s information might not be reliable either. There were too many unknowns to consider.

Just where are you and what are you doing, Yuna?

Hideo smacked the back of my head hard, snapping me out of my thoughts. “What are you waiting for? Get your ass off the bed. I don’t want to hear any complaints about us being late for the briefing.”

I didn’t get a chance to retort because he left the room right afterward. He’s always like that. Hitting people and throwing insults for no reason whatsoever. Strangely, I had gotten used to it. Ever since I started suspecting that he did this just to get his frustration out of his system, I found it easier to tolerate him. He seemed more like a kid throwing a tantrum than anything else. Letting him have his way felt like the best course of action.

Before heading to the meeting room, I stopped by the lab to collect Shiba. I couldn’t put it off any longer because I had to go back to work. Even if I had delayed it on purpose to test the extent of Bluefort’s control over me, nothing happened when I skipped the scheduled pickup. Was it because it didn’t consider the task as significant?

I still couldn’t grasp how Bluefort worked, and I probably never would. Having an unpredictable AI in control was like living with a ticking time bomb. We could never know if—or when—it went berserk and threw everything into chaos.

The trip to the lab was as unnerving as usual. I had to cross the expansive training grounds, where soldiers exercised together in the open space. I hated it. Thankfully, our instructor had been considerate enough to relocate our own training sessions into a more secluded area. That one time training here had been enough to prove how distracting it could be. The looks they sent me could kill. In this base, everyone shared a common enemy—Drifter Captors.

Hideo walked out from the lab when I was about to go in. His German Shepherd growled at me, demanding me to give way. I instinctively jumped back out of shock. His robot dog acted far too much like a real dog rather than a robot. Did Bluefort not run in that thing? Or had Hideo customized its settings to mimic a dog? An interesting choice. Not that I would judge his preferences.

He bumped into my shoulders as he passed by. I didn’t even feel offended. I had expected him to do that. The staff behind the desk was a familiar one—the same researcher who had picked up my robot dog. She had found out that Shiba was a prototype because I had asked her to look him up. I hoped she wouldn’t report it.

“Good morning, I’m Private Akai Sou. I’m here to collect my robot dog. A Shiba Inu model,” I said to the researcher. Just in case, I squinted to read her name tag on her lab coat: Sudou Rin.

Rin adjusted her glasses as she scrolled down her holographic screen, a frown creasing her forehead. “Your scheduled pickup was yesterday. You’re one day late.” She then muttered to herself, “Why didn’t any notification pop up? I could have sent a reminder.”

Exactly my question, I thought, silently agreeing with her self-questioning.

After confirming that Shiba was indeed my registered robot dog, Rin left her post and walked toward the rows of cages lining the right wall. I followed close behind, watching as she typed something on the nearby panel. One cage from the top shelf shifted downward along its track until it reached the ground. Inside, Shiba sat motionless, his eyes closed with countless cables plugged into his body. Rin pressed a button on the side of the cage, and Shiba’s eyes flickered open. The cables retracted from his frame as the door slid open.

“You came back to get me.” Shiba looked surprised when he noticed me standing outside his cage.

“Unfortunately, I can’t get rid of you that easily,” I mumbled. Shiba was like a double-edged sword. I needed him because he was a prototype capable of operating outside Bluefort’s radar. But then again, he could turn against me at any moment. I was taking my chances. “Come on, we need to go catch a Drifter.”

Enma and Hideo were already seated in the small meeting room, chatting about his day off. Wait, were they having a civil conversation with no hostility in his voice? Hideo could actually be a nice guy to other people. Who would have thought?

“How about you, Sou?” Enma asked me as I sat down.

“Nothing much. Just got invited to have a meal at my neighbor’s place.” I didn’t want to talk about my day off. Everything that had happened then was not something I wanted to share.

Enma sensed my reluctance and left me out of the conversation, just as I had hoped. She gave me a sympathetic look, as though she knew I had been through something terrible. Or maybe she was just good at reading people’s expressions.

Sergeant Nishi rushed in with his slicked-back hair. He tapped his ID watch on the wall, and the screens around us lit up, displaying footage of our next target. Unlike Daiki, who was scrawny, this guy had a built physique, more or less as fit as Hideo. His hair was long, so it must have been quite a while since he had left the base. Most of the footage showed him going in and out of a hospital. Could this be related to the reason he had deserted?

“Our next target is Private Ito Haru from the Training Department. He deserted two years ago, and we sent Drifter Captors after him twice. Both attempts failed to bring him back.” Sergeant Nishi cleared his throat, his voice sounding less confident. “I should warn you, this might get a little tricky. He was a combat instructor at the base and a former boxer before he enlisted. As you can see from the footage, he doesn’t hide from cameras—partly because he has to take care of his sick mother and visit the hospital every day, and partly because he’s confident we can never catch him.”

“Sounds like a pain in the ass. Literally,” Enma quipped.

“Bring him back. You can’t fail this time.” Sergeant Nishi huffed indignantly, which was very unlike him. He was normally very composed. “I’ve received a warning from the higher-ups. This will be the third time we’re sending Drifter Captors after him. If we fail again, the military won’t just stay down. They will negotiate with the hospital and move his mother to ours. Don’t let that happen.”