Ch 1: Stars Amongst The Sun

As far as jobs went, it sounded like a pretty easy gig.

It took a bit of doing with paper work and having to exchange solid gold coins through our processing department, but eventually these whack-ass wizard-people were able to hire on a single Fire Team to protect some castle in Japan. We had offered them a small Platoon for the amount of money they were shoving our way, but they assured us that “three nibui chi

would be enough.”

The word “nibui chi” felt a bit like a slur, and I had felt offended hearing it… even though I wasn’t sure what it meant.

They scooped up Brody, Deckard, and me, flying us from the ‘States to the land of vending machines and cherry blossoms on a private charter flight. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but we had flown around in a lot worse.

Plus the stewardess had let me keep the whole cola can, so I was already pulling ahead.

A real shock on the flight was seeing some dudes in cloaks flying alongside our fixed wing on brooms, which was a sight to see in of itself.

Before the flight, someone called a “Masutāhatto” had come into the main company building through the fireplace, debriefing us on what would happen when we arrived and what our job was. The castle was some kind of school where young wizards and witches enrolled in to get trained, kind of like a Boot Camp for people who were way too into dungeons and dragons.

We would be flown there, housed, fed, and they would provide the ammunition.

The whole flight was just for show, really, to prove we travelled to Japan legally. It was the only legal part of the whole trip, as enough weaponry was rattling around in the belly of the plane to compliment a Squad of infantrymen.

Using their wands, they had managed to make our entire kit invisible, sneaking it through security at the airport and smuggling it onto the plane.

It felt pretty good being able to fly with my trusty M110 down below in the hold, and the fact they were providing the 7.62x51 would save me a hell of a bill on the expenses.

When we landed in Hokkaido, we went right to a train station and were shoved straight through a fucking brick pillar. Deckard almost decked the guy who shoved him, but Brody and I watched as he just got swallowed by the pillar and vanished from sight.

The wizards had thought that we may be reluctant to approach the wall and run through, so they shoved one of us through to show there wasn’t anything hokey going on.

It… hadn’t really proven their point, but they had the spirit and we could appreciate it.

On the other side of the weird portal thing was a whole other station, this new one swimming with kids and teenagers. Brody hates kids, as she never wanted to have any in the first place, and the little wizards and witches were not prepared for her torn up mug to come through the pillar.

Brody was a prior Military Police trooper, and had caught a bit of shrapnel while on route operations. She was still good looking, as far as beauty standards were concerned, but the scars on her eyebrow and chin caused a few people to pause and ponder until she glared at them. There was a lot of staring going on due to her blonde hair and green eyes, which meant there was a lot of glaring as well.

Deckard was just your standard, bearded veteran of fifteen years in the Army, and had no problem telling anyone who stared at him to “Fuck off on their wand”. I had to remind my teammates we were here to help, and it was best to not piss off the people who could grant wishes with the little nuclear devices they held in their hands. I was happy he took my advice and shaved his head down to a single, all-around length, as he looked like a black haired, gray eyed hobo before.

They both made me look rather plain by comparison, as I looked like a “gray man”, something I took a lot of pride in. I had brown hair, brown eyes, an average face, and average looks.

I fit in everywhere… except Japan, but there was little I could do about that.

Our rifles and baggage came in after us, and we made a show of putting it all together and doing function checks to make sure nothing broke on the flight over, or handling by the wizards.

The little Japanese kids all watched eagerly, though some held back and watched from over the shoulders of their fellows.

I figured the more aloof ones were the half-breeds that knew what was going on, the kids who were normal but had magic blood in them.

The Masutāhatto had told us about them, and about how many wizards didn’t interact with nibui chi. This meant that they kept themselves deeply separate from the modern, normal world, instead indulging in the old ways and keeping themselves in that lane.

After our weapons were checked and readied, we suited up fully, donning our chest rigs and rucksacks for the trip over on the train. We weren’t sure where they were going to put our bags, but we wagered that even magical kids had curious little fingers.

As we checked our gear, we let our eyes wander as well; The station was styled in the likes of the Izumo Taisha, though indoors under a great overhang to keep out the rain. The station itself oozed that Japanese charm, with wooden carts selling noodles or other treats.

The cart owners wore wizard hats and robes, so that was different, but they didn’t dive a hundred percent into the Western fashions. Some wore more traditional Japanese “wizarding” cloaks of bright colors and Eastern motifs, robes and headdresses, while many wore bell-shaped straw hats with slits woven in the front for seeing out.

To my lack of surprise, paper lanterns of blue, white, and red hung everywhere, along with those odd, zig-zagging paper trails that I had seen in an anime or two.

A teacher that went by “Whiskey”, a name we all thoroughly enjoyed, came by and told us our marching orders; One of us was to ride up with the steam engine, one on top in a gunner’s post, and the other walking around inside the carriages, checking in on the students.

The train itself was a deep-green painted C11 171, a steam engine of classic design that was, frankly, more than I had expected. Its passenger cars were the same color with black trim, while inside the lights were as warm as the wooden seats and booths.

Our targets were, surprisingly, other wizards approaching the train, werewolves, rogue giants, Trolls, something called a “yokai”, or just straight up anything coming towards the train in an overly aggressive manner.

I ended up inside the carriages, as neither of the other two wanted to be around the kids, so I put on my ball cap and headed inside. Just within the doorway was a locking cabinet, and I put my rucksack in there, as walking around the train with it would have been a major pain in the ass.

The interior of the cars would have fit comfortably inside a historical drama from the 1900’s, and I didn’t find it all that uncomfortable, if just a bit tight with all the kids packed in there.

When I would enter a car by opening the sliding door, the whole car would go quiet as I walked through, checking inside their compartments and out the windows for anything that was making a move on the train. I had no idea these people even existed before a few days ago, but I was charged and paid for guarding the train, so that’s what I was going to do.

It was going smoothly for a few hours until my radio crackled to life, and Brody’s voice came through it. In an annoying twist, their magical force-field-thingies fucked around with our electricals, so her voice had a lot of static.

“Troll, hundred and fifty yards West, looks like it’s wielding a club.” Brody said, the wind cutting in through the already sizzling mic in my ear.

Oh baby, was I about to slot me a troll? I thought to myself as I surged through the passenger car, ripping my M110 rifle off of my shoulder and spinning my ballcap around.

“Passing, no shot.” Brody said.

Deckard’s voice was further ripped apart by the machinery and the workings of the steam engine, but his voice was understandable enough. “Negative here, no shot, but I see him making a beeline for the rear carriage.”

I was about to slot me a troll.

I jogged through the corridors, looking through the compartments until I saw the damn thing loping along in the closing distance, moving to intercept the train with what looked more likely to be half a tree.

Some spells were bouncing off of it to no effect, hissing and warbling off into the air in bright bursts of light. Watching literal magic ricochet off the ugly bastard made me raise a brow, but something told me a blacktip was going to have little trouble.

I ripped open the door to a compartment and the girls inside of it squealed as I pushed past them, dropping the window open and lifting my rifle up onto my shoulder, the wind pulling at the M110 as I presented my barrel.

“Keep your ears covered!” I yelled, but inwardly growled as I remembered that this was a Japanese train. “Mi-... uh, Mimi o fusaide, kudasai!”

They all clapped their hands to their ears, then stood and formed up behind me to look out the window.

The troll was huge, and his massive forehead was going to be impossible to miss at this range.

I pulled back the charging handle, checking to see brass, and brought my eye up to the ACOG optic. It was a difficult shot, as the train was rocking back and forth, but not impossible, and I waited for the right time to fire.

The girls were yelling at each other, trying to hear each other over the sound of the open window and their covered years, and I had to remind them it was rude to scream while someone was working.

The troll was around fifty yards away from the train now, and closing, carrying a huge ass log that could easily derail it.

The spells being chucked at it were still not having much effect, and if anything were amusing it, a big, happy smile playing along his lips.

Deckard carried a rotating shotgun, so he was no use here, and from how the train was going around an outward bend, Brody still had no shot. I was going to have to put the lead in through his eye, or this train was taking another kind of trip down the mountain.

I inhaled, waited for the right click of the track, and fired.

To be fair, I probably should have put my can on, but why not let the kids enjoy the sound of real fucking NATO.

The 7.62x51 blacktip ripped through the back of the things skull with enough force that its thick skull ruptured like a massive clay pot, raining bone and what little brain matter it had down the path it had taken to the tracks.

The force of the bullet rippling through the fluids in its head had caused the eyeballs of the troll to plug out and lull on its face, and the body took an impressive amount of seconds to finally go down to the ground.

My car passed the body just as the giant corpse began to tilt backwards, ragdolling down the side of the berm in a flailing of thick arms and stubby legs. I nodded to myself, smiling smugly while slinging my rifle.

I pressed my hand to my mic button, leaning back away from the window and closing it with my free hand. “Target confirmed KIA, scratch one troll for Fire Team Dresden.”

The girls that were in the compartment pulled their hands from their ears, looking up at me in either fear, wonder, or pure bewilderment.

A little black haired girl, whose hair was in a tight military bun, asked me what spell I had used in order to take down the troll.

It took a minute to understand what she was saying, but I couldn’t help but smile and reply back in Japanese. “No spells here kid, just gunpowder and lead.”

I stepped out of the compartment and continued on my stroll as if nothing of real consequence had transpired, nothing else of note happening until we had reached the castle.

The castle itself was a massive hirayama style fortress, but somehow even larger than its more well-known contemporary styles. Peeking above the forests, the sloped, multi-leveled roofs of the main citadel nearly looked like one massive tower, though smaller towers were arranged around it in a logical manner. The walls of stacked stone and fortification buttresses could have served as forts in of themselves, the multiple gatehouses slowly arcing down towards the main road within.

I had never really seen a Japanese castle up close before, mostly through pictures, but this one was the largest old-world building I had ever seen in my life. Smoke stacks from chimneys left cool, hazy trails into the sky around the castle, banners flying from the walls giving it a rather festive air.

Whiskey came and found us one by one, asking us to move ahead of the children on foot as the “scholarly march” proceeded behind us. We all shrugged together at the news, despite how excited the teachers were that the “new plan” was working as well as it was.

To be fair, I still wasn’t sure why they had hired Americans in the first place, but money chooses its pathway.

The children were pouring out of the carriage cars, gathering their luggage, while we were told to deposit our own extra baggage in a teacher-guarded cart. This left us with our main weapons and our rucksacks, marching in the lead of what appeared to be some kind of carriage train.

“We don’t get to ride in the wagons?” Deckard asked with a grin as he hefted his rotating shotgun, turning to look at Brody.

Brody blew her long, blonde fringe away from her lips, holding her M249 low across her chest. “Can’t let the normies ride along with the wizards, Deckard. We gotta hoof it, doncha’ know?”

“I’m sure they just want to show us off. The teachers were all gibbering about how we have ‘already paid for ourselves’ after taking out that troll.” I said, hanging my M110 across my chest as well.

Brody raised a brow. “Didn’t look all that tough to me, died to a single bullet.”

“Fell over like a sack of shit with a hole in it.” Deckard chuckled, and we all shared a smug look.

Whiskey came to us on a broom, her riding boots sitting on wire stirrups as she flew around in front of us silently, her smile beaming. Thankfully she knew a lot of English, as Brody and Deckard had not been as diligent in their language lessons.

“It’s time for us to proceed!” Whiskey said gamely, pointing to the grand front gate. “We’re going through there, other staff will point the way for you!”

“Yes ma’am.” I said, giving her a cheeky salute as she flew off.

Brody furrowed her brow, staring at the gate. “They couldn’t give us fucking brooms? That castle is going to be a long fucking walk…”

“How horrible.” Deckard began, walking forward. “The white woman has to do cardio.”

“Jackass.” Brody hissed after him, but we all began walking in even stride together.

It felt rather odd, walking in front of a bunch of wizards, but judging by the faces of the other magically aligned folk in the castle, we were already becoming a pretty big deal.

Killing the troll had been… well, I found it rather trivial, but to these robe-wearing weirdos it must have been really something.

Again, I found myself wondering why they didn’t just use guns themselves, or hire some of the local hunters in Japan to take care of the issue, but I suppose there was a reason they chose us.

According to the fellow who hired us, Americans didn’t have a magical school. Sure, we had a few technical colleges on the East Coast, apparently, but we were neutral in terms of the “magical governments”. Americans had no stakes in the “Greater Game”, which meant that we could be hired in the first place.

With some magical entities becoming more and more resistant to offensive magics, there came a call for normies like us to fill the gap, and the Japanese threw their lot in with the redneckish sharpshooters.

Plus, we were cheap.

The trudge up to the main castle was a hell of a walk, as we gained elevation with every step through each gatehouse, but we were welcomed with a small table set aside for us. We were ushered towards it, more to make room for the unloading of the carriages, but the spread was comforting enough.

In a few pots they had genmaicha, a nutty, roasted tea made with green tea leaves and toasted rice, as well as amazake, which to us just tasted like something you’d pre-game before a party. Next to the drinks were a handful of savory dango and Onigiri, which we put away easily.

I stood there with Brody and Deckard, eating my snacks as I watched the kids unload.

Japanese kids were an odd little piece of culture for me, both overly mannered, polite, and filled with a rambunctious energy that only hidden, sugar snacks could explain.

As they unloaded from the carriages they formed up in five ranked bricks, with a sixth brick of extremely young children.

“Why are they in formation?” Brody asked through the last of her dango, pulling the last one free of the stick.

Deckard and I shrugged, each of us still chewing on an Onigiri.

A teacher stepped out, the man clearly deep into the cups of what a “wizard” looked like, his hat trailing a peak so long that it dragged along the ground.

He started speaking, but it was extremely advanced Japanese that left my ass in the dust.

Thankfully another male teacher saw us glance at each other, and stepped up to explain what was going on, as well as handing us each a translation earring.

The students who were in their second year and beyond were to enter a grand hall to enjoy a celebratory feast for the beginning of their school year, all while the younger students were sorted into their new Uji’s.

To my lack of surprise, the Ujis were named after animals; Kujira ichizoku, the Whale clan. Tora ichizoku, the Tiger clan. Kitsune ichizoku, the Fox clan. Karasu ichizoku, the Crow clan. Hebi ichizoku, the Snake clan.

Oddly enough, I knew some of the words by being a little degenerate weeb in my youth, but the meaning behind them was lost to me. It was surprising to see nothing dragon themed, knowing where I was, but there must be some reason for that… one reason or another, that is.

The children all marched inside the grand feasting hall within the castle, but both I and my fellows were left aside, sipping tea while looking around awkwardly.

A few minutes passed by, the carriages being led away back to the stables and their storage areas… and after a while, we were the only ones standing outside.

Brody, clearing her fourth stick of dango, chewed loudly with her mouth open while looking around. “... They forget about us on purpose?”

“I vote for just staying out here until they come for us.” Deckard said lowly, pouring himself another cup of tea.

I shrugged, reaching behind me and grabbing another Onigiri. “I’m sure the sudden memory of our existence will occur to one of them, and we should expect to see one wizarding weirdo or another running towards us.”

By the time we heard the clopping of sandals, Deckard had finished a pot of tea and I had finished two Onigiri, Brody grumbling the entire time about how hers was “just rice”.

A rather chubby female wizard came around the corner, her long black hair tied back into a single braid as she fussed with her more traditional Japanese robes.

“Sorry!” She called out, dark eyes wide with purpose. “I thought you were around the other side of the castle!”

We waited patiently as she came before us, huffing, puffing, and fanning at her face with her hand. I blinked at her politely, flicking a grain of rice from my lips.

“Please come with me.” She said, bowing forward an inch at the hips before gesturing towards the grand doors. “I will lead you to your rooms!”

I shifted my shoulders, settling my rucksack, and we set off after her, stepping through the doors as they groaned open for us.

We walked by the main hall, and I snuck a peek inside through the open hall doors; What caught my attention was a rather short, yellow skinned woman standing on a stool, her palm down on top of a young student’s head. We locked eyes for a flashing second, her purple eyes tracking mine as she called out in a clean, ringing voice that was translated by my earring.

“The Tiger beckons this soul!” She shouted, and the children of that particular Uji let out a loud cheer.

The moment passed, and I looked back ahead of me, quirking an eyebrow as the woman led us to our rooms on the ground floor.