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—-Arakawa Kouki Point of View —-  ~~ 18 hours ago ~~
It was very quiet when I suddenly felt a shock while I was inside a powersuit. It seems I safely jumped into the pond even though I came from the 82nd floor. Looks like the impact was properly absorbed by the inactive military type powersuit even though it is not made by Noah. The problem is what to do now… Is the gun given to me still in my belt?
I need to purge the suit to get out from here. Also, It is a Russian made gun so I think it will still shoot if I can remove a bit of water from it. Afterwards, I remembered that macho taught me on how to escape from the city when being chased by enemies.
“If I remember correctly, do no inadvertently pull out the gun where there are a lot of civilians, it will cause a panic and will certainly cause trouble which will attract the pursuers… I also need to make sure not to act suspiciously because the enemy will look for people who are acting strangely”
It’s all right, I should be able to escape. If I am not able to reach the safe house to request for a rescue team then Anton and I will surely die. Yoshi, let’s go! I get myself ready and activate the emergency purge device. The hatch was blown away and the water starts flowing in!
The water is cold even though it is August. I wait for the force of the water to subside. I hold my breath and get out of the suit. Looking up, I could see the lights in the city of Moscow vaguely shining into the surface of the water.
Lieutenant Colonel surely said that the depth of the pond is 15 meters so I don’t think I will have any trouble in holding my breath. I desperately swim towards the water surface but my clothes absorbed the water and I can feel that it is becoming heavy… Finally, I reached the surface of the water while drinking a bit of water. I swam in the water and climb up the ladder that goes into the city surface.
“Ha~a Ha~a, I though I’m going to die. I do not want to do this again”
I climb the ladder while my nose still aching because of water that got in.  When I got up to the sidewalk, there’s an Obasan who looks like in her 50s suspiciously looking at me. I bitterly smiled and make sure not to have an accent as I speak in Russian. (TN: Obasan = Auntie or Older Woman)
“I fell into the pond after getting drunk. The water is so cold at night”
Obasan who heard my excuse look at me in surprise.
“I heard a loud noise like something falling into the water so I came to take a look but if you fall into the pond while being drunk there is a good chance that you may die. Also, you are still a child. You should have gone home early and sleep in your bed”
After apologizing to Obasan who was scolding me like she was my mother, I waved goodbye and walk away, looking over the late-night city. Last time I check the time, it was 1:00am so it should be around 2:00am by now.
Moscow late at night is dark and have few people, perfect for trying to escape the city. I should go to the address which was written in the memo that Anton-san passed into me, get money, new clothes and pick up a taxi in a place where there are a lot of people. I also need to buy a ticket in train station using cash── I was thinking about such things while waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green. A man was walking and stand beside me while using his personal terminal.
When the light changed, we began crossing the road. The man open his mouth as if talking to himself while still using his personal terminal.
“Do not look at me, look straight. Turn left after you cross this road then turn right after 20 meters. After that, walk straight into the third alley”
After that, the man crossed the road quickly and turned right. Is that man an ally? If he is a member of new world, he should have grabbed me by now. I’m worried if he is a former colleague of Anton-san or not but macho said before that it is good to appeal to the local people.
I do not have any other options… Should I make a bet? I turned to the left as instructed and after 20 meters I turned to the right. It looks like I am going to an area which you can call a slum.
“Was this a bad idea…”
I walk while trying to hide my anxiety, I entered the third alley as instructed. There are several woman who are dressed provocatively. A woman who was leaning against against the door was smoking a cigarette. When she saw me, she opened the door and urge me to come inside. As if being pulled by her gesture, I go inside silently and the woman who had a cigarette in her mouth entered after me.
“The boss is waiting in the room at the end of the hall, what did you do? Is someone trying to kill you?”
“I only turned the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world to my enemy”
“Wow, was that suppose to be cool? Sounds stupid”
She smoked her cigarette up to the filter and slam it into the wall while we are having that conversation. As we approach the innermost room, the door opened in respond to our voice. A skin head similar to Anton came out and gave a wad of cash to the woman.
“Svetlana, good work. You can go… also forget all about this, this is for your own sake”
The skinhead chased away Svetlana-san and looked at me, he smiled and talked to me
“You seemed to be quite wet, we will prepare new clothes for you. You will meet the boss after that… First, come here”
Looks like they are allies, you will normally never talk in a polite way while making an awkward smile. I decided to follow his instructions while keeping myself from laughing.
—- Yurya Point of View —-
“Captain, Arakawa has arrived. He is changing his clothes in another room right now”
So he is here. It’s only been 26 minutes after he escaped from the hotel, not bad. I look at my subordinate and asked for his condition.
“How is his condition? Is he injured or overly excited?”
“No, not at all. He seems to be normal and was rather laughing at my appearance. Looks like he already predict to some extent what kind of people we are”
Just like the rumor. He is 15 at most… no, he might have celebrated his birthday recently so he could be 16. A child who escaped terrorism and is back to his normal state in less than 30 minutes. No wonder they are calling him a monster. We need to quickly take him back to Japan and ask for asylum. If we handed Arakawa, there will be no objection from the Japanese Government and Miki who had great power.
“How is the preparation for the transport plane that we will use for escape?”
“It is ready and waiting at the secret airfield which is outside of the city. We can take off immediately as soon as we arrive. We also have escorts that will fly alongside us until will reach Japan’s airspace but…”
“What?”
“Do you really want to blow up the Radar Station of Moscow in our escape? It is the base of our allies, I think we really should──”
“It is this country who betrayed us first. They tried to kill us even though we are innocent. If so, our motherland should pay the price”
I understand that we will be killing some of our allies. However, there is no other way to escape New World who have already penetrated deep into the upper part of the government. It is also a fact that this country tried to kill us for the survival of the country.
Then they should not complain if we sacrifice our own country in order to survive. While thinking about that, I was chewing on the cigar in my mouth. I heard a knocking sound and Arakawa came into the room.
“Excuse me”
Arakawa was dressed in a black suit which was prepared on short notice. He had a holster on his waist which might have been given to him by one of my subordinates. As for the gun, it looks like a small handgun that we use for infiltration. Did one of our group already got in touch with him?
“Glad that you came, do you know who we are?”
“Anton-san’s former colleagues… Chernobog, and you must be Captain Yurya”
This guy── Did he immediately figure out that I am a woman? Certainly, my hair is long but my body is still cannot be called ‘human’ and he isn’t surprised at all. I participated as a specimen in the Enhanced Soldier Project, only 18% of my original body remains. The rest of my body are machine parts made from iron and oil…
“You… are not afraid of me?”
“Not really. No, I take it back, more than being afraid, I was a little surprised”
“Is that so, Maa~ I’ll explain our plans. 15 minutes from now, a car will come to pick us up and go to the airport outside of the city. There, we will ride a transport aircraft and will fly towards Hokkaido. We will do a force landing at Wakkanai Airport. We expect that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are going to be dispatched but if we ask for asylum in exchange for you, they should accept. Maa~ To say it clearly, you are out hostage. Don’t think badly of us”
“How many people are seeking asylum?”
“14 people”
In my words, Arakawa tilted his head in curiosity. I do not know what he is thinking but it doesn’t matter, our pickup is coming soon. Before I can try to command him and intend not to accept questions or change the subject, he opened his mouth.
“That’s strange? The numbers do not match. I am told that there are 18 people seeking asylum from a person who is dressed as a bellboy at the hotel but the captain said 14 people, did you suffer casualties?”
Looks like he really got in touch with another Chernobog group at the hotel. It seems they are the one who gave him a gun but unfortunately our situation got us separated from each other. We can recover my remaining subordinates by going around our predetermined meeting place however if we gaudily move around, we will surely be caught again.
‘Squad Rule: Prioritize the people who can definitely escape’, I feel bad for my subordinates who will be left behind but we should apply this rule right now. We can just come back to help the others once we have assured our safety.
“He is from a different squad, It may sound bad but we cannot afford to pick up each and every of my subordinates who are hiding”
“I am in trouble then, I promised to help everyone including Anton-san and the Lieutenant Colonel. I personally had a hard time leaving Anton-san in the hotel”
“The situation is bad so we cannot do it. I have a duty to bring my subordinates to safety in Japan right now. If you want to help Anton and the others, you can just come back with Noah’s army in your back”
“Is that so? By the way, I can’t help but notice that Captain’s body is made for combat rather than espionage…”
“Yes, we are a secret combat unit called ‘Serp’. We are known as a covert ops unit but we are actually specialize for combat, is that a problem? Either way, if you want to resist we will just restrain you and forcefully bring you with us”
I am starting to get irritated. I tried to approach Arakawa to grab his arm but he unexpectedly pulled the handgun from the holster on his waist and put his finger over the trigger. In Japan, there are only few people who have opportunity to touch guns except for those with related occupation. No doubt that he received training for self-defense from Noah. However, an amateur will have a hard time hitting his target using that small pistol. At this distance, I can quickly tackle him before he can point his gun.
It is necessary to teach children who don’t know how to behave a lesson. Arakawa started to move, I kick the ground starting with my right foot in a hurry but I stop almost immediately and shout at him
“You fool! If you got that gun from my subordinate, then it is loaded with live ammunition!”
“I thought if I do this, you cannot do anything. If you try to force me, I might accidentally pull the trigger and blow my head off”
What the heck is this guy saying while pointing the gun on his head?  Is he going crazy? No, he looks pretty calm to me. Damn, If it comes to this then─
“Captain, listen to me for just 10 minutes and if you don’t like what I am about to say then I will give up and follow you quietly”
“Very well, but put the gun down. If you got surprised by a loud noise, you might really blow your head off”
“I understand, but please don’t charge at me when I put it down. I am weaker than what you think. If you charge at me with that body of yours, I’ll look like tomato ketchup. If that happens, I don’t think mom will accept your request for asylum”
This guy, he knows that we need him alive and is taking advantage of it. I was suppressing my anger as I check the time, its 2:40AM. If you want to talk for 10 minutes then I will give you that time, as long as we leave this place by 3:00AM it should be fine.
“Only for 10 minutes, speak”
“Yes. First, I will ask mom to take all of you in Noah even if I die. I will definitely keep this promise. I will not betray you Captain or the Chernobog. I do not lie… Whatever happens, I will stay with you guys till the very end. Please keep this in mind while you listen to what I have to say”
Hmph, everyone says that but still betray us in the end.  Everyone, the citizens, fellow soldiers and even the country that we are trying to protect.
“I want to act as bait to lure out and annihilate New World. However, to do this I need your full cooperation Captain”
Did he just say he will act as a bait? I do not understand what he is saying, also what’s up with those eyes? They look so pure that it felt like I am being absorbed into it. I have never seen any other who have eyes like his──
On this day, two people who should not meet encountered each other. One is a boy who walk in the surface of the world and was called a genius. One is a woman who led a unit in the back of the world. Their success on this event has been regarded as mystery in history for more than 200 years, that is until the memoirs of the Dauntless Sisters was discovered in Noah’s Archive.
In the memoir, there is one paragraph which was introduced to everyone.
“We can only understand one thing. Kouki-kun doesn’t interact much with Captain Yurya and those under her but there was an absolute trust between them. Their relationship is not that of a friend nor a lover. If I am to describe, it is more like a comrade in the battlefield”
This is also included in the book written by Kurea Saito Merkava titled “What is Noah?”