Chapter 5:

First mission ( part 2: The details)

The Dusk of Revenge


 Immediately after everyone arrived, we sat at a round table and started the meeting.

Sitting on his usual seat at the round table is a tough guy with sharp eyes. Although he, the commander, was 65 years old, he looked a lot younger. At first sight, you would bet he is 45 or 50 years old. His deceiving appearance was basically due to his length, long silver hair and his clothing. He usually wears a green military uniform with black boots, the thing that makes it hard to imagine that he has retired already.

Next to him on his right side, Shinji was sitting. He was looking through some papers and didn’t notice that we were about to start. The latter never wore a military uniform. To be precise, the commander never gave us uniforms.

He believed that a small group that has only 6 members doesn’t need any uniform to help us to recognize each other when we are on the battlefield. That’s why we were free to wear anything we wanted except for the training where we had to wear something that doesn’t get in the way when we move.

Next to Shinji, both me and Rin were sitting, looking at the commander, who was about to start talking. As for the three other members, they were sitting on the other side of the table. They were continuing the conversation they had before entering.

I didn’t know what they were talking about, but the commander, who, maybe, heard something, gave them a serious look that made them stop immediately. He then started explaining the mission.

“…If you look at the screens before you, you will see the map of the Tokyo prefecture. The information that I received yesterday along with the orders says the following: our agent that infiltrated the Red Claws sent an emergency message to inform us that the organisation is preparing for another strike in Japan. They are preparing to attack the capital two weeks from now exactly on Sunday the 13th of February 2084 at 10:30 am. The area where they are going to attack isn’t fixed yet, but rumours among the members of the organization say that the Setagaya Ward and the Ōta Ward are the targets of their attack. The reason or the objective behind this attack is still unknown.”

A few seconds passed without him saying anything, making everyone look at him with puzzled faces.

“Sadly,” he resumed, “our spy hadn’t enough authority to have access to such type of info. Now, for those of you who have never gone to Tokyo before, let me explain a few things before continuing. As the 21st most populated city in the world with 27.6 million people living there, it is also the largest metropolitan area in Japan, which makes our mission extremely difficult. I think it’s quite obvious to everyone that even with the technologies that we have now, producing a crystal dome that covers the whole area of Tokyo is impossible. That’s why every municipality was covered with its dome. When the construction started, the architects and engineers couldn’t find a way to cover all the areas, and that's why some municipalities were obliged to change their borders. Next to the map of Tokyo, you have the new map after the border changes. You can see that even with the reshape, both Setagaya Ward and the Ōta Ward still have a very large area of around 50 km² each and a population of over half a million humans.”

He looked at Shinji and then continued.

“… Now for the question that everyone has in his mind right now: How are we supposed to protect this large number of humans in this wide area with just the 6 of us? This is where the details of the mission you were ordered to accomplish come in. Shinji, can you explain the mission?”

The latter stood up immediately as if he was waiting the whole time for that moment.

“…Yes sir! So, the first order is to assist the nine squads of the special forces in securing the crystal and searching the area to find if the terrorists have already planted bombs like the accident of six years ago. Second, we were ordered to engage the main force of the enemy upon finding their location. According to what the spy has found, the boss of the Red Claws is currently in Japan. He is our main target since we are the only squad that has no problem while facing EMP attacks. This mission was issued to this squad for another reason, which is the lack of expert manpower that can cover such types of attacks. This mission is top secret. Neither the police nor the rest of the military can help. Keep in mind that the unique goal of any mission is to guarantee the safety of people. That's why we have special permission to act as we see fit to save the people. The leader of the group in this mission will be responsible for every move made by any member of this group and he or she will be asked to report the results and the achievements made in this mission to the special forces headquarters. Any questions?”

Immediately after he finished talking, Rin took permission to talk. She looked at the first picture of the prefecture of Tokyo which was a map made by pictures taken from satellites and then asked.

“… Why do they have to wait for two weeks? If they aren’t prepared for the attack, then we should make our move first.”

The commander laughed and asked her.

“… You didn’t know the reason behind the choice of that day?”

She looked at him with a puzzled expression while thinking of an answer. After a few seconds, her face became red as embarrassment was written all over it.

That reaction broke the silence of Kazuto and Rintaro, who started repeating the same question over and over.

“… Huh? Does the date have a meaning? Does it have a meaning?”

The commander who was watching the scene laughed once more and questioned: “… Since when you realized the reason, Shinji?”

Shinji was looking at the two boys with a calm, yet surprised, face.

“This morning when I read the letter sent from the headquarter… But I am now more interested in the reaction of Rin. I think she knew the reason, but…”

“… It’s a bit reassuring to see that you can show from time to time the signs of a dense person while being a clever man simultaneously.” He smiled as if to show that he was happy with the comment he said, then turned to the two poor boys who were trying their best to guess the answer: “Kazuto, Rintaro! Have you figured it out yet?”

“Umm…”

The voice of Akira interrupted them while they were trying to find an excuse: “… You guys didn’t know it?!” He smiled as an arrogant expression was written all over his face. That was the moment when I found the reason and decided to talk immediately.

“…Valentine!”

[And that’s how, ladies and gentlemen, you crush the arrogance of someone in one step!!]

“… I was about to say it!”

The arrogant expression that he had a moment ago turned immediately into a sad one. I smiled and continued talking.

“… The 13th of February is a Sunday and the day that precedes Valentine's Day, which means that people will go out to buy chocolate or the ingredients necessary to prepare one. The roads will be overly crowded with people. This will make it easier for them to infiltrate between the crowds as a camouflage.”

The three boys looked at each other with sad looks as they said simultaneously: “… I guess we won’t be receiving any chocolate this year too.”

As we all laughed, except for Rin, who was hiding her face with her long black hair, I asked Shinji who didn’t show any interest in what they said.

“…I am surprised that you figured out the reason behind the date, Shinji. Now that I think about it you should have been the one who wouldn’t find the reason. Could it be that you’re interested in those things?”

“…I was just fulfilling my job as a soldier to know the days in which the efficiency of the patrolling bots in the city became lower than the standards. And that’s exactly what the terrorists were thinking.”

“… Let’s return to the reason why we are here today.” Said the commander with a serious voice. “… Does anyone have another question before moving on?”

“Yes, commander!” Rin stood once again.

“Another question Rin? What is it?”

“… I was wondering if there are any measures of security that are going to be provided to the surroundings of other areas?”

“… Securing the crystal domes in the whole capital will be the top priority of all the units. Other than that, we will follow the normal code inside the areas except for Setagaya Ward and the Ōta Ward. Those two will have members of the military that are going to guard them alongside the bots.”

She sat down and looked at Shinji.

“… The whole HQ seems to have faith in the words sent by the spy. Commander, I have another question. May I…”

“… Go ahead!”

“… When Shinji was given details about the mission, he said about the leader “he or she” when we all know that he’s the leader of the group…”

“Ahh! That's right, I was about to mention an important thing!” He smiled as he announced the shocking news to everyone.

“…Shinji won’t be your leader in this mission. I talked with him already about this matter.”

Surprised expression was all over the faces of everyone in the room except for three of us: the commander, Shinji, and me. Although I tried to act a bit surprised, I failed. I think I was lucky that no one noticed.

After a moment of silence, the boys started to ask about the identity of the leader in this mission and the answer they got was one word.

“me!”.

The Commander, Mr Kazama, didn’t care about the puzzled expressions printed all over our faces as he continued as if nothing happened: “…This is the first mission for you all as soldiers. I can't let anyone with zero real experience guide you. From now until the 12th of February, you’re going to get special training so prepare yourselves. Also, your uniforms came last night along with the letter of mission from HQ. You can try them tomorrow in training. Now you can all go to rest and enjoy the rest of the day cause the coming days are going to be tough ones.”

He didn’t give us any chance to ask for anything as he simply answered any question with the same answer: “… I will explain tomorrow.”