Chapter Text
Sitting in a green meadow,Subaru sat next to a white haired half- elf. His eternal spring, he didn’t know how long he’s been here, but a change of scene might do him some good.
“ I want…to go back”
Satlla snapped her head towards him, panicked.
“ you do?”
“ satella…my world is still there, I want to know more about it than just the 17 years I’ve lived there.” he explained to Satella. He had found himself in her presence after he died on top of the mountains. Spending time with each other. Getting to know each other more after his death.
“ o-oh, I understand…but, the moment you Reincarnate, I won’t be able to protect you from The witch of envy from doing something to you” Satella explained, she wasn’t going to prevent her love from doing what he wanted. Especially after giving him return by death.
“ I know, I still want to…”
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Death comes when one’s time is done, no one knows for certain when they’ll die or what comes after it. People throughout history have shared what they think happens after death. Such as heaven, hell, reincarnation, the underworld, etc. as some way to cope with the fear of what happens after death.
What happens after death?…Jonah didn’t know, he wasn’t religious, he didn’t believe in a god, but he wasn’t an atheist either. He believed that there was an afterlife, but had no clue as to what it was or how it worked.
What brought on these thoughts you may ask?….that night, the more he looked back it didn’t seem like a vision at all. Not one bit. He was there, died and came back….But he’s still alive.
‘Can you feel what’s happening in visions like these?’ Jonah thought to himself. It’s been a few days since he joined Koko’s crew, they were just a blur, all he could think of was one, protecting Koko, and Two, what happened during his first day. ‘I mean, it felt real to me, so it must be true, I died. But I’m alive. If it weren’t for that vision I'd probably be dead by now, exploded by a missile. For a simple mistake’
They were well into the night, Jonah hadn’t slept that night, he had curled himself up into himself in the corner of his room. He was still, still enough to convince others he was sleeping. He heard someone enter the room.
“ Wake up, Jonah-boy.”
Startled, he quickly took his gun out from under his blanket. The man, R, grabbed the gun, turning the safety on. Jonah lowered the gun when he realized who it was. R was crouched down at Jonah’s level, on the floor.
“It’s your turn to go on patrol duty.” R yawned, tired from his shift. “ You’re partnered up with the Old man Lehm.” He stood up from where he was. “(are you even sleeping properly?)” he muttered. R stopped at the doorway before turning around to face Jonah again. “ It’s cold so you better put a coat on….Man, I’m tired!” And with that he left.
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‘I better stop thinking about this before I make myself go insane.’ He told himself as he walked towards Lehm, who was smoking a cigarette.
“Good morning.” Lehm looked down at Jonah.
“Morning.” Jonah replied, stopping near lehm.
….
“What a surprise! A question from you, huh?” They were walking around the halls of the hotel they occupied “so what you’re asking me is, why is an accomplished, super-skilled, master mercenary like me taking orders from a youngish Arms Dealer, Correct?”
“I don’t remember complimenting you.” Jonah said as he walked alongside Lehm.
“ You’ve only been with us for a few days, it’s probably hard for you to understand. And my answer is pretty “interesting.””He let out another puff of smoke from his cigarette.” I bet all the other guys have their own reasons. You’ll start to understand, too. What it means for you to be in this platoon and how Kokois such a brilliant-“ Lehm gets cut off from the door on his right opens, a sleepy gremlin called Koko Hekmatyar walked out, just to freeze when she spotted them.
“….Brilliant…what was I saying?” Jonah and Lehm just stared as if this was a common occurrence. “ Koko . Bathrooms that way.” Lehm pointed to the way Koko had come from. All he received was her mumbling and a slight groan as she walked back inside.
Silence was all Jonah could respond with.
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Jonah wasn’t the perfect bodyguard, letting Koko get injured. Lehm and the others hadn’t changed given him a hard time about it though. It was a part of Koko’s plan after all.
On another mission, he noticed that Koko, even with everything around her going to shit, she will always keep her cool. She’s able to escape battle fields without shooting a single bullet, that was the first time something like that has happened to Jonah.
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
“Jonah, there are a lot of things about life that you need to learn from us seniors. First, the standard greetings, and good mornings to good night.” Koko looked away from her laptop to look up at Jonah. “ then things such as language, math, science, social studies. You know, General education! No, I have to admit your English is pretty good.”
Jonah sat in between Tojo and Koko, looking down at the paper below, which had many math problems printed on. Tojo, on Jonah’s right, held a math book.
Jonah yawned, as he worked on the problems.
“ Hey! No yawning during class!” She yelled, “ you are a “former” child soldier. Now that you’ve joined my squad, you need to upgrade to, “charming human being”. Now, we aren’t scholars or experts in the field, but we’ll try our best in teaching you all these things.”
“ A-alright.” He looked down at Jonah’s worksheet, noting that he finished the problem he was working on. “Now try the next question.”
Jonah just took a very long look at the math problem.
35x 11=
“I donno… 300 I guess?” He said. In which tojo just tightened his smile.
‘“I guess” doesn’t cut it in math’ he thought.
“Th-“ koko’s face turned red trying not to laugh, “that was quite a surprise wasn’t it….back at the airport…”
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Ahh yes…the airport. They had recently gotten off their plane.They all had their luggage with them, Koko’s job required them to constantly travel, either by air or water.
Jonah noticed the wheels of a plane that had taken off just moments prior.
“ That plane has a lot of wheels,” he said out loud, looking out of one of the airport's many windows. He had suddenly stopped walking, staring at the plane.
“22 to be exact. Let’s see, if there were three planes lined next to each other, how many wheel’s would there be?” Valmet asked as she leaned closer to him, a hand on his shoulder.
There was only silence, the other’s just stared, starting to get a little nervous as to why it’s taking him so long to respond.
Then it came, In his usual monotone voice he said-
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“A Lot.” Both Tojo and Koko laughed. Jonah Let out a huff, glancing down at Koko’s laptop.
“What’s that Koko?”
“Hm? This?” She looked down at the screen, showing multiple profiles. She turned the laptop more towards Jonah and Tojo, allowing them to see better “It’s a list of potential hitmen. Headquarters sends us a list of dangerous individuals nearby. This Is just the tip of the iceberg of course. Dubai is a really safe place so we’re what’s the point really” she started to poke Jonah’s left cheek.
“A two-man orchestra!” Tojo notes as he looks at the computer.
“Yeah. That’s right. They originally were 8 members, 7 of which died. The remaining member recently picked up a new Recruit.” Koko looked down at Jonah, drawing herself closer to him. “ Orchestra was pretty crazy back then, one time they fired off 20,000 bullets against the French police force!” She explained.
Jonah tilted his head towards her direction.
“You’re getting Targeted by hitmen Koko?”
“Constantly,” she replied,” Arms dealers seem to always be a source of hatred. Many people try to go after me.”
“In fact,” Koko giggles, “ I’ve got so many..” she looked back at Tojo.
” We’d make a killing if they were your clients!” They said in unison. There was a knock on the door before it opened.
”What’s going on here? Thought it was study time for Jonah-boy. Math isn’t supposed to be fun.” Lutz said as he stood at the doorway , Valmet behind him,both amused. “ Sounds like a party in here!!”
“ Speaking of parties….” Koko walked into the hotel living room where the rest of her bodyguards layed around. “Shouldn’t you all be doing something instead of lounging around?!” She yelled at the bunch.
“ Awwww, we deserve a little r&r” Lutz humored, chuckling a little as he scratched his chin.
Valmet was elated, walking closer to Koko,her left hand pointing towards her own chin.
“ Heey Koko, we should go out on a date.” she asked, practically vibrating. Koko looked up and smiled.
“Okay.” she agreed, turning around towards jonah. “I wanted to show Jonah around the city.” Koko lowered her voice, “ But no, math comes first” she half heartedly scolded the boy.
“Alrighty Tojo. I’ll make sure to bring some local beer for your troubles. Oh! And Jonah, remember to say ‘Thank you very much’ to your teacher alright! Once you're done.” Koko waved her goodbye before leaving, Valmet having her hands on Koko’s shoulders.
“ bathroom” Jonah said as he stood up from his chair, heading towards the bathroom. Tojo just smiled and waited. And waited…and waited….he looked down at his watch, impatiently.
He finally broke, after waiting for god knows how long, Tojo made his way towards the bathroom. The bathroom door was opened halfway.
“Huh” was all he said, opening the door to see inside. ‘ Thank You, sir’ was written on a piece of paper taped to the door. Shocked him enough that his glasses decided to fall off his face.
“ That little shit!”
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It was a nice day outside, shame if he had decided to do math on a day like this. He decided to go after Koko after his grand escape.
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“Hey Chinatsu.” A big Italian man called for a girl around 16 years old. She wore a weird looking hat , a few shades darker than her hair.
“ What’s with the sudden Italian?”
“If you call yourself a hitman, you should really look up at the sky rather than the ground.” He said
“ oh, I see.”
“ the human body covers 90 degrees of our vision. That stupid hat is covering your visions. Why’d you bring that thing anyway? You should throw it out.” He waved his hand in front of his face. “We’re looking for snipers not landmines here.” He noted as Chinatsu
Was now slightly blushing.
‘ How could I ever throw this hat away Maestro, you were the one who gave it to me.’ She continued to look at the ground, ‘ you look up at the sky, I’ll have eyes on the ground.’
On the sidewalk sat a white haired boy, he wore a short sleeve button up shirt with khaki shorts, carried a backpack. He looked to be around 12 or 13 years old.
‘Oooo, look at him Maestro, isn’t he adorable!” She told her mentor, grabbing his arm. “ oh, he’s gone” she said as she looked back where the boy had previously been.
“Don’t get distracted” he cracked his fingers
Before he began to explain who they were going after.
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Jonah had noticed the people who had just walked past him. Once one of them saw him, a girl around 16, he quickly decided to hide in a nearby building. They were Orchestra, the group Koko had told him just 20 minutes prior. What a coincidence.
From what he overheard, They Had a job to carry out. He narrowed his eyes as he might know exactly who they were going after.
‘This isn’t good’ he thought. Quickly getting out of the alleyway, he headed towards where Koko most likely was.
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Koko and Valmet had finally managed to find the outdoor mall. They decided to take a look around. And that’s how they managed to find themselves inside a jewelry shop.
“Ooo, this one’s nice, ” Koko said as she admired a silver watch. There was really nothing noticeable, no gems, no nothing. Just a plain silver watch. “ I just love duty-free countries.”
Behind her stood Valmet, admiring Koko as she was god himself.
‘I thought girls Koko’s age would go for Fancy clothes and makeup. And that’s a mechanical watch, there are plenty of cuter ones-‘
“ Sold.” Koko said, pulling Valmet from her thoughts. Quickly Valmet leaned closer to Koko.
“ Hey! What if I buy it for you as a gift?!” She offered. Koko looked up at the taller woman, blushing. Their faces are just away inches from each other.
“No way! That's too much, Valmet!” Koko spoke softly.
“ It’s my way of thanking you for this date. A sign of my love, actually.” Valmet turned her back, heading inside the shop.
“ Really!?you sure!?” Koko reached her arms towards Valmet. Suddenly she felt her wrist being grabbed by someone. Who quickly turned her around
“You sell weapons for a living. Even though you know you’ll get killed someday…Why? Tell me.” Koko saw the girl, she recognized the girl from one of the profiles, headquarters sent. He narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Leaning in.
“ An Assassin dares to ask me that?!! I’ll tell you if you manage to kill me!!”
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