Chapter 3

I don’t know how much time we spent sitting there in silence before the chill of the night forced her to get up, take the girl in her arms and disappear into her flat without a word. I didn’t care. I got up and went inside, shutting the sliding door behind me. Not that it was needed, since Japan was warmer than where I grew up, but it was out of habit rather than anything else.

Were so many of Them coming here to Japan because of the climate or out of convenience? Gate 7 was built with private capital just further north, on Shikotan Island, as investors hoped to reap the benefits of future trade. I guess it was easier for Them to take a ferry to the mainland than travel for days from one of the other gates built far away from any civilisation so we could nuke them if we needed to without bothering anyone.

With nothing else to fill my time, I went to bed, but I found myself tossing from side to side, afraid to close my eyes. I never knew what I would meet in my Tau-infused dreams… They felt so real and part of me always feared I would be trapped there forever, forced to relive those nightmares over and over again…

In the end, I got up and found my way back to the balcony, hoping the fresh air would clear my head. She sat there, next to the door leading to her flat, wrapped in a soft yellow scarf. We looked at each other in surprise, but we both looked away the moment our eyes met. I walked over to lean against the balustrade, looking towards the sea, even if I couldn’t distinguish where it ended and the night sky began.

“You are not from here?”, she asked suddenly.

She got up and stepped over to the balustrade on her side of the gate.

“No”

Pointless question. Or maybe not…? They all looked the same to me, so I guess we looked the same to them as well. I glanced at her. Her skin was darker than mine, but except for her furry tail and ears, she didn’t look much different than me.

I don’t think I’d ever been close enough to see them properly before, except that time when Fenrir’s system was rebooting after we’d been hit, and I had to take care of their infantry by hand. But back then, I hadn’t paid attention to their looks.

“Do you like it here?”, I asked.

“It’s different...”

She shrugged and adjusted her scarf, and an awkward silence fell. I had no idea what to say, but going back to bed felt even worse, so I stayed.

“I can help you with your burn”, she said quietly without looking at me.

“How?”

“Give me your hands”

I looked at her hesitantly.

“It will not hurt. Relax…”

She smiled, and I hesitantly passed my hands over the closed gate, and she took them in hers. Tau immediately flooded my senses, and I pushed back against its upcoming Anomaly. My implant filled my vision with geometric patterns, protecting me from it. The woman let go of my hands and stepped back, looking at me with a frown.

“I didn’t plan to hurt you.”

She gave me an angry look. I shrugged.

“I felt something coming…”

The burning sensation had returned, and I was sure I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. Fuck.

“You shouldn’t use magic if you don’t understand it”

She looked at me with a frown.

“We understood it enough to win”

I gave her an angry look. She turned away and walked over to the other side of the balcony. I sat down, resting my back against the cold wall. Despite the burning sensation, a strange calmness filled my mind, dispersing my annoyance. I took a deep breath, and to my surprise, my body started to relax.

I glanced at her sitting in the corner. How did we fuck it up this time? I was sure she didn't mean me any harm, but every time I felt Tau in the air, it meant something was trying to kill me. During the war, everything had been simpler. You killed or got killed, you made it, or you died. A simple binary choice. Now I had no idea how to deal with what happened.

I glanced at her again, and our eyes met for a brief moment before she looked away. She was a soldier, too. It made sense. She probably had no idea how to deal with it either.

I sighed and got up and stretched, suddenly feeling tired. Should I go to bed? It was probably a good idea. Tomorrow would be another long day, and piloting Fenrir took a lot of concentration. I really should be rested. I gave her one last glance and walked to the door, but for some reason, I hesitated stepping into my flat.

There were really very few reasons why someone would stay awake staring at an imaginative point on the horizon, especially if they had someone waiting for them inside. In the end, she had tried to help. She wasn’t that bad, even if she was a… No, it didn’t really matter who she was.

“Hey…”, I said.

She gave me a curious look, her ears raised.

“Want some coffee?”

I took her shrug as yes. Thanks to all those humanitarian initiatives, all the rations were green-green by default, and thanks to my inability to cook, they had become staples of my diet, so at least I didn’t worry about giving her something that would make her sick.

When I came back with two mugs and canned chocolate, she was sitting on the other side of the gate, waiting for me. I passed her a cup and opened the can. She picked a piece and nibbled on it before picking a few more and setting them aside.

“Thanks”, she whispered, staring into the mug.

“No problem…”

We sat in silence until my alarm rang and the sun rose above the horizon, lighting the sea with red and orange that danced with the waves. Words neither changed anything nor could they undo the past, so talking was pointless, yet there was some comfort in knowing that someone, no matter how different from you, understood how you felt.