Interlude: Rin

  Usually, when there is a fight between two people over something, the one who makes the first move is the one that will stand in the end at the losing side. This is probably common knowledge… But in my opinion, the one who strikes first is more likely to be the winner.

I won’t talk about human history… Shinji would be happy to do that, but I am different. For me, Rin, the memories that I have are more than enough for me to make a proper judgement… 6 years ago, when I was only 14 years old, I saw what a sudden attack can do… When the Red Claws were about to launch the largest attack on east Asia in hundreds of years, no one had an idea that something like that would happen. I don’t need to remind you of what happened as a result of that surprise attack…

I know that Shinji lost everything he had at that time. His family, his friends, the wealth, the good social position, and more importantly the peaceful days… As for me, aside from losing the peaceful life I was living, I got kidnapped at that time by one of the terrorists…

I am an orphan, or so that’s what I thought. I don’t remember ever living with my parents… That didn’t bother me at all since I lived a happy life with the other children in an orphanage. I was told that my parents were killed in a car accident. But later, I learnt that it was all a lie… At the age of 14, I knew the disgusting truth and in a horrific way. I got kidnapped two days before the terrorist attack started by one of the men that worked under my father… He was one of the leaders in the Red Claws! Of course, I wasn’t ready to accept the truth and tried my best to escape… In Saitama, where this short nightmare happened, I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know where to go. It wasn’t like I was able to go wherever I wanted. I was confined in a room in their basement. I wasn’t treated badly, but I can’t say I was treated nicely since they kidnapped me in the first place. It doesn’t mean anything if you act nicely after committing such a crime. Actually, that was creepy…

The one who called himself my father was just using me… He didn’t come to visit me after the first meeting in his room. He was busy preparing for the attack and that made me try even harder to escape. Hearing about such a large-scale attack that is about to happen and yet you can’t do anything, even for a young girl like me at that time it was frustrating. I kept trying in vain to escape… With each minute that I was obliged to spend in their basement, I forgot the stress and the fear that I had when I first arrived in that hell. I forgot those feelings because of the anger and hatred that was growing slowly yet surely in my heart. “I didn’t care about my father in the first place to begin with, and now I hate him.” That was the only thought that I had in mind…

Obviously, the attack started, and I was still confined in the terrorists’ hideout. As the attack continued after its first night, they started ignoring and forgetting about me. It was the perfect chance to escape. For criminals, they were working hard to the point where they forgot about a kid, the only child of Japan's branch leader, who was showing all the signs of someone who thinks about escaping.

On the 15th of January, early in the morning, I left their hideout and started running with all my efforts. I was smiling… Between the screams of people around me who ask for help and others who’re crying since they just lost one their families or friends due to either an untreated injury or to the mortal disease that suddenly started spreading quickly. In all that chaos that surrounded I was running with a large smile on my face. After a short period of time, I started to suffer from some difficulty in breathing. I stood still in my position as I looked around me to finally realize the hell I was running through with a smile on my face…

Have you ever felt instant regret?! Yeah, that was the first time I had that feeling. I tried thinking about my situation, but my brain couldn’t find an answer. I finally escaped hell, to find myself trapped in another dark and deeper hell where death is looking menacingly at me. “This is definitely the end!” That was the last idea my brain was able to give before shutting down any process of thinking…

I started walking aimlessly and slowly to watch the miserable life of the others around me. I was trying to console myself with the grief of others. That was the most disgusting feeling I felt in my life. In order to keep my mental sanity, I had to use others to keep up. With every scream I heard I was repeating only one phrase in my mind: “…It’s okay… At least I am still alive!”

That was the only thing that kept me living at that time. Probably if I tried to think rationally then I would’ve given up… You can say that the disgusting optimistic view that I tried to create was the thing that kept me walking. I knew deep in my mind that walking without any direction in mind will have its end eventually.

One scene caught all of my attention when I was walking on a cracked road in the city. A Kid who looked the same age as me was sitting at a corner of the road holding a female who was unconscious in his arms. The girl was wearing a school uniform although it was a Saturday. At first, I thought that she wasn’t able to make it home because of all the chaos that was happening in the area, but when the boy started screaming her name repeatedly, I understood that I was completely mistaken.

In that chaos I was able to hear his screams clearly although he was a bit far. For five minutes maybe, he kept repeating the same name over and over: “Rin !!” No matter how many times he screams her name, that girl won’t answer him anymore. I took a few steps to verify my doubts. Sadly, it was exactly I thought… That girl was dead long before he started screaming her name.

Seeing people who are the same age as me having their share of this hell was the thing that I needed to wake up from the situation in which I was. To be precise, it was my human senses who woke up at that time…

I took a few steps toward the young man who didn’t care about what’s happening around him and asked him gently to go hide somewhere else since this was a dangerous place. Only those who’re trying to suicide or completely lost their mind would stay in an area like this.

He lifted his head and look at me with dead eyes and answered: “…That means you’re trying to suicide… It’s okay! Just leave me alone!” He had far worse feelings than the ones I had when I first left the base of the terrorists. If I left him there, I was sure that he wouldn't leave his place until he met his doom. I looked at him silently as he started looking at the sky without moving. Simultaneously, the rain touched the ground for the first time in years in this area…

I looked up in surprise to see that the dome that used to protect this area was completely destroyed. I gazed at the raining sky speechlessly wondering how many innocent people were killed in this attack because of that man who called himself my father…

I looked down to see the young man staring at the broken dome with the same dead eyes. I plucked up courage and screamed at him: “… When are you going to open your eyes to reality! In this hell there’s only two options: either you stay here and wait for death to come knocking your door or move on to make the ones responsible for this crumble into dust! Make up your mind! Either die pathetically here like vermin or live and cherish the memories of those who died!”

He put the girl’s dead body on the ground gently as he whispered with a sad tone: “… Farewell… My only… and best friend…” He stood up, picked a sword that was thrown near him and pinned a strange badge onto his jacket then left without looking back. I felt a bit relieved. Although he doesn’t look okay, since he decided to move then he would survive somehow…

I looked at him leaving the area without moving from my position until he disappeared. That was the moment when I realized that I made two mistakes: The first one was that I didn’t ask him to at least show me where I should go If I wanted to return to my hometown. The second one is that I underestimated the Red Claws…

Seconds after the boy disappeared, I saw two of the men who were guarding my chamber walking in the street coming towards me.

I started running again not knowing where to go. I thought that I just have to get as far as possible from them. Crossing the streets and moving randomly led me to a residential area where houses are closed, and people are hiding in silence. The place felt a bit safer, so I started walking slowly trying to find anyone who’s out of his house to ask him for directions…

Luckily, I found two men leaving a big house preparing to ride a car and maybe leave this whole city. I run towards them thinking that if I ask them, they may take me with them outside of this hell. “…Hey, excuse me!” I started running toward them while trying to get their attention with my voice. As I reached them, a third man that I didn’t notice pointed an EMP gun at me with no explanation. The two men looked at me silently then one of them smiled as he pulled a classic gun and pointed him at me. “… I guess this works better with her! Too bad for you little lady but you’re going to die here…”

The other man jumped between me and the gun while saying that there is no need to kill her since she doesn’t know what was happening here. A fourth man stepped out of the car and said with a clear voice: “… I’m her father and I don’t care if she dies. We don’t need her anymore!”

The one who pointed his gun at me looked at him and asked: “… So this was the girl you used to make that boy Asahi accept our conditions?”

“…Yes, leader!”

Did the leader of the Red Claws in Japan call that man leader?! That means he’s the general leader. He looked at the man who was trying to shield me with his body and said: “… You heard what her father said! Move away so that I can kill her!”

Not only did he refused to move, but instead the middle-aged man started threatening them: “…Do it if you want me to change my mind about cooperating!”

“…Mr. Akira Takahashi, don’t you think you are asking for too much? Ceasing the attack on Japan and not killing this girl is a bit too much!!” The general leader looked at me as I was trembling in fear then smiled: “… Mr. Akira, you know that we did all of this just to get you in our hands! I can refrain from killing this girl if that’s what you want! You’re okay with that, Aoyama?”

The one who called himself my biological father nodded that he doesn’t care what happens since he can get me later. In response to what he said, Mr. Takahashi turned to me and smiled. “…You’re going to be okay! Help will arrive shortly after we leave.” Then he knocked me unconscious with a quick hit on the back of my neck…

When I woke up, some members of the 1st squad of the special forces were already here. They came to ensure the security of Mr. Akira, but it looks like it was too late. He disappeared along with almost all of his belongings. As for me, I became a part of the witness protection program in Japan, and I started living a new life under the name Rin Nishikigi.