Second Phase ( part 2: Ai's report)

   I looked around me searching for a holographic projector, but all I was able to find was an old tablet. “I wonder if this will do it?” I murmured as I tried activating it.

Devices that depend on solar energy became a thing after the war in 2050. That was really a life saver for a lot of people at that time. Even now many machines are using solar energy.

Battery problems started to become less frequent when those devices came out to the world. Slowly the world got rid of that problem when the next generation arrived with energy regen systems.

“What are you doing, master?”

I kept going through the tablet settings as I answered: “Just wait for a second I think I’ve got this!”

“Wait is this Bluetooth? Who works with that in those days??” I murmured once again.

“Can you just tell me what you are doing?”

“Ah! Finally, it connected!”

Second after that, the tablet screen became black then slowly a small female figure appeared on the screen!

“Don’t tell me?” Ai shouted in happiness.

“Yes, it is! I connected the badge in the guest room with this tablet. You can now move freely inside the tablet when it is activated!”

“That’s fantastic!” She shouted again as she started moving on the screen from corner to corner.

“That reminds me. I didn’t make any modifications to the model! You know the last time I checked that was when I was with my father in the lab!”

She looked around her, touching her face, her whole body, and her cat ears. “Mm… I kind of stayed too long in the badge without having my 2D or 3D body so I guess I am more than happy right now. I still want a normal design of a human body, not a chibi with cat ears.”

She looked around her to see the icons behind her then continued talking: “Well, I know that you actually suck at drawing… I can’t be too greedy!”

“Sometimes you’re more savage than you can ever imagine!” A bitter smile appeared on my face as I looked away trying to swallow her words. “Anyway, let’s get to business!”

“Yes master!” She pulled the map from the left side as if it was a curtain then she started explaining. “So, this is the area where you fought against the Red Claws. Your squad was able to capture 15 old members plus the sixth commander and a total of 55 new members that used to be members of other minor criminal gangs.”

“That’s pretty good! I guess… If you consider that this was our first mission!”

“In fact, this is an amazing job! You didn’t rank the last between the other squads. The first and fifth squad were the highest in the rank with over 120 enemies eliminated and captured for each of them. But you were the only squad that fought against old members. Remember that 6 years ago only one of those old members was sent to each city that got nearly destroyed.”

“EMP guns weren’t common things like today. That was the main reason behind that tragedy!”

Ai looked annoyed after hearing that: “You’re not giving yourself and the others any merits! You of all people know very well that the old members were far stronger than the new recruits. Maybe 20 times as strong as them.”

She showed some pictures of the destruction they caused in other cities around the world. I saw these pictures before in the news. “I got your point. The scientists did a really horrible thing to those people. They turned them into living monsters and let them free in society.”

“The squad with the worst score in this mission was the third squad. They lost 5 members at once and with the disappearance of their technical support I can say that they’re equally in the same bad position as your squad. They were underperforming! They only were able to capture 20 members. A score that doesn’t fit the name of special forces.”

“No casualties in the other squads?” I asked as I started stretching a bit preparing myself to stand up.

“The first and fifth squad got their leaders badly injured due to a car explosion. They were so lucky to notice the trap and escape at the last moment. The second squad ended the mission with no injuries. The rest got some minor injuries just like your squad.”

She took a moment of silence to reorganize the files quickly then continued: “As for your squad mates we have Rin being perfectly fine. Shuna, Rintaro, and Akira suffered from some minor bruises. While Kazuto got some broken ribs. He won’t be able to fight recklessly for the next couple of days. As for you…”

“Yeah, I don’t want to hear about that!” I interrupted her quickly as I reopened the map.

She looked a bit disappointed for a moment then pointed to two locations in the Tokyo map. “I thought you were going to use only one device on the enemies, but you used two.”

“I know we agreed on using only one, but I didn't have the time to notify you with the changes in the plan. After seeing my father, I decided to use one on him too.”

After hearing my explanation quietly, she smiled and said: “As always, master, you've done the right thing. One of the two tracking devices was thrown near the Komazawa Olympic Park while the other sent its last signal before disconnecting around this location. It is 500 meters away from the ministry of defence Meguro.”

I jumped from the bed to move my body after continuously sleeping for 2 days: “That’s quite interesting! A trick that always works well. Placing their hideout near the ministry of defence and police station of Meguro.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Ai asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Time for the second phase of this mission!”

“But you’re injured!”

“There is no time to waste! I haven't submitted my report yet! That means we can save this squad before it becomes too late.”

As I started walking slowly in circles around the bed the door suddenly opened. Rin entered the room once again.

[This is the third time if I am correct!]

That wasn’t something I was really expecting. She said that she was going to pass by again, but I didn’t think that she would return this quickly. She was holding a bag in her right hand.

Immediately after seeing me walking in the chamber, she ran toward me forcing me to return to my bed.

She was helping me to return there more than forcing me to do so. She sat on the chair as she kept staring at me.

“I told you to take care of your health! Don’t act reckless once again!”

Ai looked at her with a frustrated look on her face. I was surprised by that reaction. “Did something happen when I was unconscious?” I asked.

“Eh?!” Her face became red, and she looked away.

“You and Asahi were acting weird the last time I saw you. And now Ai is acting weird too!”

She sighed then looked at me. “You were talking about that!”

She took a deep breath then started explaining: “You see… After the attack 6 years ago, I was obliged to hide my identity and entered a witness protection program. All of that was to hide from Aoyama!”

“Your father?”

“I don’t want to call him that! He used me as bait to force Asahi to participate in their plan.”

She bowed her head down slowly letting a sad expression take over all of her face.

“You and Asahi… You knew each other from before?”

“We were childhood friends! We’ve grown up in the same orphanage together. When I saw him for the first time after 6 years and knew that he was in prison I felt guilty. He was there because of me!”

“I really think that you should talk with each other another time.” I stated. “Leaving things like this will be only a hindrance in any mission we go for in the future. After all, you're not the only one that tried to hide her past. He did the same thing!”

She looked at me with a puzzled face silently, so I continued explaining: “… He didn’t spend 6 years in prison. You can ask him to explain everything.”

I looked at Ai who was keeping an annoyed expression and asked: “But what does that have to do with Ai?”

“Master! This woman is a thief!” Ai shouted suddenly.

Rin got confused as she heard those words. Then she remembered something that made her embarrassed. “Ai-chan don’t tell me that you heard everything?”

“You bet I did. You only crushed your transmission device at that time!”

“Aaah! Everyone knows already!” Rin replied with a desperate voice as she stood up and left the chamber quickly, leaving the bag that contained some fruits next to the chair…