Watcher Exchange Program

Shibuya Crossing, Japan. 17 June 20#4.

The crowds filled the great intersection in the middle of the colourful city, drowning the air with a mix of rowdy chatters and restless shuffling. Pink petals danced on the gentle breeze of a busy Monday morning. Amidst it all, two figures splicing through.

"Erwin, wait! You, bastard!", a little girl's voice, gasping between words, calling out her partner who's already far ahead.

"Shut up! I'm literally carrying your craps too, pipsqueak!", he shrieked, unbecoming of a gentleman.

The two rushed the crosswalk, skillfully weaving through the hustle and bustle of Japan's iconic wards.

Lies Haas. 19 years-old. Female. Four foot eleven. Cerulean-blue twin-tails. Sleepy eyes. Jet-black military coat. Sleep deprived.

Together with her partner,

Erwin Wehner. 20 years-old. Male. Five foot seven. Blonde side swept. Emerald eyes. Jet-black military coat. 'Also' sleep deprived.

"E, Erwin...", Lies's voice faded away into the crowds.

"Huh?", Erwin turned his head, only to see her face already buried onto the bricks pavement.

"AHH!!! WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!", he rushed over, scooping her gently from the ground like a backpack. With three pieces of luggage covering his chest and his sides. He now looked like a human tank, carrying a girl on his back.

"YOU BETTER BUY ME A COFFEE AFTER THIS!!!", he shouted, rushing past the painful sharp gazes with all his might.

CAFE32 –acronym for 'Centralized Arsenal of Fortification Excellence' –is a body of worldwide organization specialized in countermeasures against bizarre monsters popping up here and there throughout the world. And for today, these two 'Watchers' had landed in Japan a few hours prior, as participants of 'CAFE32 Exchange Program' to experience first-hand combat training here in Japan.

"Erwin... Erwin...", Lies playfully poked his cheeks, seeking attention.

"WHAT!", he exclaimed, annoyance evident in his voice.

The two –Erwin– had been walking for about fifteen minutes, heading north from Shibuya Station Hachiko's Exit.

"Do you think their training here would be tough?", she asked, her tone reflecting a mix of curiosity and concern. "Because, you know, our instructor said so right?", she couldn't shake the memories of their brutal training sessions back in Germany.

Erwin sighed, his irritation faded, "How do I know?". He surveyed the city before them. "I'm just hoping our new one won't be a demon", he jest, shrugging his shoulder.

Seconds later, a sudden scent of fresh air caught their nose. Entering their view was a land of green, decorated with soft pink trees of sakura. To the edge along the sidewalk, was a stylish cafe-house with a chalkboard sign that reads 'CAFE32'. After a long time, the two had finally reached their intended destination. A CAFE32 workshop located in Yoyogi Park.

*thud*

"FFF – MY HIPS!!!", Erwin threw Lies, along with the heavy luggage, to the ground. "WHAT THE HELL!", she rebuked, rubbing her pain.

"We're here, I ain't carrying your lazy butt forever pipsqueak.", he shrugged, hands to his knees as he gasped for air.

*cling cling*

The glass door next to them chimed, revealing a girl in a barista uniform that matches her black ponytail hidden under her cap. Her purple eyes looked towards the two lying on the sidewalk as she wore a puzzled expression.

"Um... how can I help you?...", she asked with a mix of concern and suspicion.

"Exchange Program.", the two simply answered.

Hearing this, she immediately understood their situation. "Oh...", however, she still has a sense of doubt towards them.

"Erwin", "Lies", the two introduced themselves, still lying on the ground.

"Huh... Nice to meet you... I'm Matsumoto.", she was reluctant to introduce herself.

All three of them then went into the cafe. The interior was a unique blend of classy and modern filled with Japanese-theme furniture.

As the two had never been to or know much about Japan, they were confused for a moment by the lack of chairs and tables provided by the cafe. But Matsumoto immediately explained that they could sit on the floor table here.

As for the reason they went here in the first place was to get maintenance for their weapon and a short brief of Japanese's CAFE32 force and regiments. With that, Erwin and Lies gave their weapons to Matsumoto, who work here as a CAFE32 technical unit.

"Woah, as expected of Germany...", she expressed her complement in awe looking at the weapon presented to her on the table. It was Erwin's modified cocoa Mauser C69 and Lies's improved snow-white Panzerschreck. Simply said, a handgun and a bazooka.

However, as soon as they put their belongings to the side, they crassly lay on their seats, taking up every space there is. The seven hours of no sleep had taken a toll on their fatigued body, as they shut their eyes. Looking at their behaviour, Matsumoto, let them do as they pleased as she understood their weariness after coming from another country.

"Hm?", Erwin muttered, an object of interest piqued his eyes. "Hey, Matsumoto, what's this?" he picked up what looked like a carbonized sword displayed next to him.

Matsumoto, who was checking on the two's weapons, shifted her gaze, "Oh? That's a heat blade issued by the Japanese's CAFE32 branch.", she explained.

Erwin was intrigued by this. Back in Germany, there were such things as officially issued weapons by their branch. Instead, they are free to create and use whatever weapon suits them. Inspecting the blade, he tried tempering with the hilt to see what it can do. But to no avail, nothing happened. He placed the blade back to where it was and continued his rest.

*BASH!!!*

The glass scattered all over the place, as a big dark figure smashed into the cafe.

"Eh? What?", Lies, who was still drooling, woke up by the sudden ruckus.

"Crap!", Erwin and Matsumoto cursed as they immediately recognized the figure. It was a shadow-like monster, a silhouette of a snake with a thickness of one meter and a length of ten meters. It's head was the only part of it that was inside the cafe, struggling to get out as if it accidentally broke into here.

"Eh?", Erwin muttered, his hand was scurrying around his side belt, but soon realized that his weapon was still being maintained. "Matsumoto! Weapon!", he called out to Matsumoto who was freezing behind the counter, expecting the monster to leave her alone if she didn't make any kind of movement.

"H– H– H–", her voice stuck, only her crying eyes responded to him while she pointed towards their weapons placed on a nearby counter. However, their weapons had already been turned into jumbled pieces, not as a result of the snake crashing into the cafe, but because it was still under the process of maintenance.

Lies who had somehow recognized the dire situation they're in, snapped from her drowsiness. She looked around for a weapon as her eyes spotted the heat blade Erwin was tempering with before. Grabbing it, she instantly jumped from her seat, trying to land a blow to behead the snake with a battle cry. As the blade came into contact with the snake skin, it immediately rebounded Lies, face first onto the floor. Losing to the snake's hard skin, Erwin gave a facepalm towards her futile efforts.

"UOGH!!! UOGH!!! UOGH!!!", Matsumoto –still unmoving– louden her constricted voice, seeing the snake now opt to push itself further into the cafe, giving up on the idea of pulling itself out.

As the snake rolled around, it almost bashed its body towards Lies who were dead-lying on the floor. Erwin immediately rushed to pick her up, swiftly avoiding its rampant movement. Grabbing the back of Lies's coat, he jumped out of the cafe's already broken window. When he checked on her, his concern was wasted as she was taking a nap mid-fight, "This brat!".

Erwin looked around for any civilian who could be in the vicinity of the snake's threat. As he confirmed the safety of the area, the snake burst another window to the side of the cafe, getting itself out into the open.

"UOGH!!! UOGH!!!", with her voice still stuck and her face begging for help, Matsumoto can be seen wrapped around the snake's tail, helplessly crying for mercy from the snake.

(What the hell are you doing...), Erwin thought to himself, thinking how hopeless this technical unit of Japan is. Back in Germany, even their technical unit was able to handle six of these snakes by themselves.

The snake then rushed towards the inner part of Yoyogi Park, bringing the frightened barista along with it. As he had already scanned for anyone around the area, he thought that he could take some time to assess and come up with a better strategy. But when he looked in the direction the snake was going, he could see a group of families having their picnic under the blooming sakura trees.

With no time to waste, he immediately grabbed the sword from Lies hand and threw her to the ground just like he did before. "my... my hips...", she cried, awake for the second time.

He rushed towards the snake, all while tempering with the blade in hope that it would have a hidden power of some sort to give him an advantage in this situation. However, by the time he reached the snake, no change was made by the sword, "AH!!! SUCK IT!!!. Right before the snake could ram itself onto the –now panic– family, Erwin barely made it in time to block its advance by using the sword. He now came face to face with the force from the heavy snake.

"T– T– TWIST!!!", Matsumoto shouted, looking as if she was trying to help the troubled Erwin while still being entangled by the snake. "Twist?", hearing her, Erwin tried to make up for what she was trying to tell him. When he looked back at the sword –still clashing with the snake–, he realized a gap within the hilt that seemed to indicate a turning mechanism built into it. Immediately, he twisted the hilt of the sword.

The sword glowed into a bright white, burning the face of the snake. Feeling the heat from the sword, the snake retreated violently from Erwin, flapping its body around, and threw Matsumoto far away with its tail towards the cafe direction.

"AHH!!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!", she screamed, tears gushing from her eyes. Just as she was about to meet her creator, Lies swiftly jumped to catch on her. However, because the momentum produced by the throw was too high, the two bumped onto the cafe wall, making Matsumoto accidentally elbowed Lies by her hips –yet, for the third time– "i... i don't think i can bear a child anymore...", she squealed, eyes dead.

Shaking herself after the impact, Matsumoto snapped out of her panic, instantly assessing the dire situation they're facing right now. She quickly apologized to Lies before heading back into the cafe, looking for Lies's Panzerschreck pieces. She knew she needed to help them somehow, so she figured reassembling Lies's weapon would be much faster, so she can give it to Lies to bombard the snake with her support.

Meanwhile, Lies herself who was lying on the ground in pain watches Erwin trying his best to buy some time, diverting and redirecting the snakes chaotic rampage by himself. Looking at his brave remarks, she felt the need to one-up him, so she gathered all her strength –albeit her sleep deprivation, and stinging hips– to readied herself for combat. Depleted of energy, she became frustrated for not being able to lift herself up in this situation. But then Matsumoto called out to her, "LIES!". She brought Lies's Panzerschreck to her, filling Lies with a boost of determination.

"CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!", Erwin who's also not in the mood of fighting –also resulted by his sleep deprivation–, slowly loses his rhythm to the snake's continuous barrage. Apparently, even the snake was smart enough to identify Erwin's weaknesses after each exchange. With a full tail swing coming from the snake, Erwin was barely able to block the powerful impact with his sword, bringing him to his knees.

*BOOM!!!*

Alarmed by the sudden explosion, Erwin lifted his head to see the snake had already exploded to pieces. He was utterly confused at first, but when he looked further into the direction of the cafe, he could see Lies –mounting her Panzerschreck on her shoulder– and Matsumoto waving towards him. "haha... i can't believe those two just saved me...", he jest to himself, questioning his assumption after their critical performance. Relieved, he lay himself under a big sakura tree, enjoying the spring's gentle morning breeze. "GG", he muttered.

______

Soon after, the cleaning unit of CAFE32 arrived to clear the scene. Their black vans attracted the civilian and news reporters altogether into the aftermath of the Yoyogi Park. Thankfully, no one was injured. Erwin and Lies sat far away from the rowdiness, resting themselves on a wooden bench. They took a breather, healing themselves with the ambience of the park. Soft pink petals dancing through the air, greenery with a scent of life, and a lake in the middle reflecting the sky.

"This is just the first day right?...", Lies questioned herself to the absurdity of chances, all while being half-asleep. Next to her was Erwin, looking through his smartphone to check on a message given by their superior. It seems that they have been given a week off from participating in patrols and training as compensation for today's incident. He let out a snicker, relieved that it had ended and went back to his nap on the wooden bench together with Lies.

"Um...", a voice entered their ears. The two opened their eyes to be met with a familiar barista girl, that is, Matsumoto. The two looked at each other, thinking if one of them might have an important business with Matsumoto. But judging by each other's reaction, they concluded that Matsumoto had come to them by herself.

The timid girl stood before them, troubled whether to thank them or to apologize first for not being able to do much, aside from being kidnapped by the monster itself.

Looking at her cute fidgeting demeanor, Lies called out to her, "Matsumoto? Right?", she stood up before her, "Thanks for the quick maintenance just now. It really saved us.", and gave her a quick hug.

"E– Eh?", Matsumoto was surprised by her action. She thought that the two would be mad for not being able to contribute to their firepower.

"Well, you did cry yourself out like a baby.", Erwin added, upsetting Matsumoto. "But...", he continued, "You did actually snap out of that attitude immediately. A quick recovery, I would say.".

Erwin acknowledged her potential as a technical unit, to be able to recover –albeit a bit slow– to the intense situation is a talent by itself. And she showed it by giving him the hint to the sword function –even though she herself was in danger– along with her immediate and quick weapon maintenance.

She blushed slightly by his complement, regaining her confidence. "Ah!", she muttered, remembering the reason she had come to them in the first place, "A– Actually...", she frowned, poking her index finger together.

Intrigued, the two waited for her. Taking one deep breath, Matsumoto continued, her face projects resolution, "M– My supervisor recommended me to your team, after this incident. S– So...". Revealing this, she read their expressions – eyes closed, hands crossed. (W– Was it bad for me to join them...), she frowned by the thought, stopping her twiddling. As she lifted her face to look at them once again,

*ZZZ ZZZ*

She saw the two had already dove deep into their dreamland. "E– Eh... Um...", troubled, she tried to find a way to wake them up without bothering them.

"Pfft!", the two snickered, their pranks worked. Seeing this, Matsumoto became even more confused. After having a good laugh, the two introduced themselves.

"I'm Erwin. Erwin Wehner. Nice to meet you."

"Lies. Lies Haas. Nice to meet you too, Miss Technician!"

Hearing this, her face lightened with joy as she followed them,

"Aya! Matsumoto Aya! Looking forward to working with you two!", her eyes glistening, happy to know her acceptance into their group.

The three rest on the wooden bench, exchanging conversations about their country and interest, all while enjoying the spring of Japan.