/
—- Arakawa Kouki Point of View —-
I confirmed the time in the terminal that I got from the captain, the display is showing 8PM. I do not know the situation outside since I am underground but its probably already dark outside. It was about an hour ago when I issued my statement for New World so I expect that they will take action within the next hour…
“I’m sleepy”
I rubbed my eyes while talking to myself. Now that I think about it, I haven’t slept for 2 days because of the Anime work and Anton-san’s request. Military personnel like the Captain and macho are used to this but it is difficult for a normal person like me.
I thought of taking a quick nap when Captain suddenly came into the room with enough force that make the door slightly broken.
“What’s wrong?”
“We finally received a reply from New World! They are broadcasting through the satellite network which can be watch by anyone on their terminal. They have taken over all the broadcasting channels in Russia”
Seriously… really., geniuses always do things in a flashy way. Since it is a terrorist organization, shouldn’t they act like an adult? Then again, taking over all the broadcasting channel is something like my mom would do──
I used my terminal while thinking about such things with my sleepy head. The signal is somewhat bad but there is someone with a rough face on all channels. Looks like Dr. Sandra did not show her face and the video seems like it is pre-recorded or maybe she is not around while all of this is happening?
“I repeat. New World will release Anton Volkkievich, Yakov Tarkovsky and Yuri Pamfilova. The 3 people are will be released to the Russian Army who are surrounding the hotel. At the same time of release, we will start moving towards the old city of Moscow. We are acting on the basis of initial agreement, if we are hindered in any way we will immediately retaliate and start to indiscriminately attack. I repeat──”
I see, they are going to immediately attack us here in the old city as soon as they release Anton-san and the others. Moreover since they are broadcasting throughout the whole country of Russia, the Russian Government cannot attack them while they are moving. If they are to weigh who is more important between me and their own people… surely, their civilians are more important to them.
“Captain, at the hotel──”
We already have information provider who are monitoring the hotel, if they are released, they will get in touch with us””
“Here──”
“Everyone is already deployed and in position.We are going to use the subways and sewers as tunnels for our tactics just as you planned. We will somehow manage to hold them of for about five hours if we plan for a defensive battle”
At least let me finish my sentence! Captain may have assumed what I am worried about but letting me say it is important. Whatever, I guess I’ll just procure a weapon to protect myself.
As soon as our base of operation falls down in the hand of our enemies, it is necessary that I have something to blow my own head off. When I tried to leave the room to pick up a weapon, the captain spoke to me with a cold voice.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I want to take my own weapon. I can only use shotguns but it is better than not having a weapon right? Also, it is necessary when the time comes”
“When the time comes?”
“I do not want to think about it but if this base fell and everyone are killed in battle, I do not want to be caught alive so I will take my own life”
In my words, the captain became speechless. Perhaps this person thought that I would run away?  I wonder if everyone in Serp is thinking the same thing. That’s why they are not telling me any information about our strategy and deployment.
Don’t be stupid! You might have been betrayed by your motherland but I am on your side!! If we do not cooperate with each other, we will not get through on what lies ahead. Yoshi! I will complain. Certainly, the captain looks scary but if I don’t say what I have in mind right now, it will make things difficult later…
—- Joseph Point of View —-
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I could hear the conversation between the Captain and Arakawa from a radio. Since we do not believe Arakawa, the Captain made sure that their conversation is can be heard by everyone in the troops. We wish to figure out what he really thought.
“I want to take my own weapon. I can only use shotguns but it is better than not having a weapon right? Also, it is necessary when the time comes”
“When the time comes?”
“I do not want to think about it but if this base fell and everyone are killed by battle, I do not want to be caught alive so I will take my own life”
Take his own life… He plans on committing suicide? It seems like the Captain was left speechless. Is Arakawa seriously going to take the same fate as us? Why? Why would he go so far even though we only just met!? I cannot understand.
“Captain, stop fooling around! I understand that everyone in Serp do not trust me but I don’t plan on running away so you should at least share information! Let me say it again, we will all die unless everyone cooperates “
“You are the one fooling around! You cannot suddenly make us trust you! Moreover, there is no guarantee that we can get asylum even after we survive this place. There is no guarantee that everything will proceed as planned! How do you expect us to trust you just because of that!”
The Captain responds to the words of Arakawa by shouting. What Arakawa is saying certainly make sense but the reason for his behavior is beyond the range of our understanding. The Captain also said the same thing in our briefing 2 hours ago.
While I was thinking about that I heard a sound like something was kicked, after that I heard Arakawa’s voice. The anger on his voice is can be felt even over the radio, it is not the usual calm voice anymore.
“Guarantee, didn’t I already guarantee your asylum! That’s enough, I promised you that I will not lie then let me be honest with you. I already participated in an interracial war with Noah to prevent racial extinction so this is not my first battle! That’s why I will not run away. The reason I am helping you is not a big deal, I am helping you because Anton-san asked me and I just want to respond on his trust but it is true that I really want to help you. That’s why, please… I am not as smart as my mother so I cannot explain it very well but please believe me… I want to help. If we keep this up, everything that we did will go in vain”
The voice of Arakawa became tearful right at the end of his sentence so I cannot hear him very well. That reminds me, when was the last time that someone cried for me? I think it was when I entered the army and my mother see me off to the station. At that time, I cannot remember what my mother said but I remember her kissing my cheek. Suddenly, a gunman who is assigned to my squad starts crying.
“Are you crying?”
“Yes, I grew up in an orphanage and joined the army so I will not be hungry again. Hearing Arakawa, I remembered the kind Sister who takes care of me in the orphanage. She cried when I joined the army, she ask forgiveness because she was unable to send me to school… I don’t know why but Arakawa reminds me of that Sister…”
While tapping the shoulder of Ivan, I look at the face of the others in my squad. Everyone had a similar expression. Perhaps, it’s okay to trust Arakawa… For him, we might be able to fight like we always have.
Let’s inform the Captain, I do not know about the other squad but everyone here wants to trust Arakawa and fight for him. I was thinking that while I tried to push the button on the transmitter but someone else started to talk.
“This is Squad 2. Captain, we believe in Arakawa”
“This is Squad 3. We feel the same”
“This is the Sniper Outpost Squad. We also believe him”
The other squads are thinking the same thing. I look at the face of everyone around me again. Even though they are tired, you can see in their face that their morale rose and all of them nod to me. I remember what my mom said that one time when I see their face.
“‘I hope that you can make good friends”… To pay back the debt of my father, I joined the army and my mother cried. I wonder how many years have passed since that day, it seems I was able to meet such good friends.
“Captain, this is Squad 1. We also believe in Arakawa”
After sending a communication, I heard two clicks from the radio. It our usual signal which means ‘okay’. After this, everything now depends on Captain. However, there is one thing I am curious about. He said “I already participated in an interracial war with Noah to prevent racial extinction” but what does that mean? As far as I know, there isn’t any large scale war in the recent years. If so, could it have happened on the recent documents that we got where he was sent to a different world during a particle research? However, I believe he returned home after 3 days.
I wonder what kind of hell he experienced despite his age… If you think about it, it’s terrifying── While thinking about it, I took out a cigarette from my breast pocket then I heard the voice of the Captain from the radio again.
“Arakawa, our conversation is actually heard by all of our troops. We did not trust you but now, it seems everyone believes in you. I apologize on behalf of Serp. I’m sorry”
“Captain! Please raise your head! I’m the one who should apologize. The conversation heated up and I became emotional”
No way, ‘that’ Captain is bowing her head!?  You’ve got to be kidding, Why did I not request to be assigned in the base! I really wanted to see that with my own eyes. Ivan, the guy who was crying earlier blurted “I wish I stayed in the base”. The atmosphere became relaxed but then the captain shout as if to get everyone back together.
“Everyone, attention!! We are changing our plan. Our first objective is Arakawa… Hmm, Arakawa is hard to pronounce. Let’s change Arakawa’s codename, His new codename is ‘Volga'”
Volga… The Mother River of Russia? Certainly, Arakawa is like everyone’s mother. It is a suitable codename for him. (TN: Volga is the longest river in Europe. It is widely regarded as the national river of Russia. It has symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Volga-Matushka or Mother Volga in Russian Literature and Folklore)
“The first objective is to make sure Volga escape from the battle field. You got that! Even if the last of us needs to resort to suicide bombing, Volga should be sent safely back to Japan! The second objective… everyone will go back home alive. Once we are given asylum by Noah, we can finally do whatever we like”
The objective is a mess, the first and the second goal contradicts each other but everyone understood what that means. We will defend Volga with our lives and escape the battlefield with everyone. It is actually very simple and easy to understand. This objective is many times better that that objective provided by the pigs in the higher ups where we don’t know what we are fighting for and we are only trying to survive.
“This is the Information Team. We have confirmed the liberation of hostages in front of the hotel! It seems all three are unharmed”
Fumu, Looks like the big fool Anton is safe. We should appreciate the kindness of Volga, if its the pigs in the higher up, they would have abandoned him and escaped to Japan. Now then, looks like our battle for survival is about to begin. I increase the volume of the radio and listen attentively to the voice of the operator of the Information Team.
“New World who are occupying the hotel are immediately starting to move. Also, our basic radar detects six aircraft. Those are probably VSTOL Aircraft from the previous reports. Furthermore, What!? This signals are… This is bad! A large number of enemy powersuit are already surrounding the old city. There are around───”
The fact that the radio was interrupted, I assume that they did an EMP attack. New equipment that don’t use high output electromagnetic wave are the only weapons left that we can use. However they are Naive, too naive. Certainly, our enemy is strong but if they expect us to panic just because of this then the enemy is just as intelligent as a unicellular organism.
Rather, it is actually rare that we were able to use the radio until the very end of battle. No, I don’t think it happened at all. Other than that…, I called out to Ivan who is wrapping a tape around a grenade to prevent it from setting off accidentally.
“Ivan, do you think Volga knows the official name of our unit?”
“I wonder? I guess he didn’t know. If he knows then he will feel more secure and leave the battle to us”
Figures, there is no way for Volga to know. The official name of our unit is “Prototype Enhanced Soldier Unit, Serp”. The strongest special unit born from ‘Enhanced Soldier Project’ which specialize in genetic improvement, it is different from “Alice Project” which specialize in artificial evolution. In this era, there is no other unit who can fight even with a threat of Nuclear War.
The impact of explosions started. I grinned while in the subway and everything around me begins to shake and vibrate. New World might be thinking that they are about to crush helpless insects but let us teach you guys a lesson, you will learn who you are dealing with───