Chapter Text
" Inaho, you seriously love the orange color do you."
" Yeah. It's the only way to get the enemy's attention on me"
" And can't believe it's time... for us to end this."
...
" Let's get this done... and get back in one piece."
" Yeah... We believe in you, Leader. Until the war ends, we will follow your orders through."
We knew this is the last battle. We knew that this is where everything ends. This is our destiny, and the path after this will be decided until this fight ends.
The stars will be our witness... to decide our fate in this battle...
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I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock, which is quite annoying, in a familiar room. My room. As I check up the time, it was 6:05 AM. I guess I waking up a bit too early. After a few second of staring at the ceiling, I leave my bed and getting ready for school. The breakfast is a simple one, just bread and strawberry jam with a cup of black coffee to spice things up. From the current state that I'm in, I can tell that the old man is still at the bar which is something that can be annoying with.
'Just hope the doctor could pay a visit to the place and get him out of there. He had a job goddammit..'
Before I left my home, I pray at the Bukotsu in my home.
" I'm leaving for school, mother. "
After I finished my prayer, I walk out from my home and head towards my school.
The days around my life is just as normal as any days were. To be honest, I'm not much of someone who loves to describe the weather around me and just plainly enjoy my days without a problem. Except, the planet I currently live which is called Earth, wasn't live its days peacefully once. It was 15 years ago that a war between the United Earth and The Martian Empire of Vers takes place on the moon's surface. While the two factions were in battle, the Martian's Hypergate was eventually exploded and causes the moon's physical form to deteriorate. The Knights Order lost contact with Mars and The order then settles by the Earth's outer orbit and a peace deal has made between the two factions. Now, 15 years have passed and it looks like the days on earth are getting more peaceful these days.
But for how long can this peace last for...?
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" I heard that there's an ambassador will come to earth for the Parade and it's an important person!" Inko inform us all about the promising day.
" I heard about that. It was the Vers princess. What was she called again? Essay... Easy..."
" It was Asseylum Vers Allusia, Calm." I correct Calm.
" Yeah... Calm, you're really getting worse at pronouncing names again." Okojo teased the latter.
" O-OI!!"
I'm now with the rest of my friends from the academy and we are heading there right now by bus. Most of us were in the same class and were also a group of two squads for the Kataphrakt Training Drills. Inko Amifumi is the third-best student in our years behind me since I'm better than her in Mech training and other studies, but she's also a student council member thus we're even. The girl beside her was Nina Klein, a foreigner who moves here with her family after the 'Heavens Fall' and she quite the expert in Docking class. Another foreigner here was Calm Craftman. Calm was not fond of mech maneuverability, but he is good at mechanic kinds of stuff. As for the teaser, we call him Okojo, but his real name was Okisuke Mikuni. You can say that he was a decent pilot and just a normal student of our academy, but his eye coronation and fast reaction do keep me entertained.
Lastly, the person that I kept seeing as a rival and childhood friend here is the 'emotionless' Inaho Kaizuka. You can say he was always at the top of our year and kept beating me into second place. But, this 'Phantom' could also say that he admires the guy and sees him as a skillful pilot. Only... I hope that his 'emotionless' face just break already.
" Oh! I've already memorized the moves for piloting the Kataphrakt. Just you wait, Itsurugi-kun! This time, I will get the high score" Inko challenged me.
" Yeah-yeah... just keep those points coming, but do remember that I just informed by the instructor about the drills. No... more like the old man just keep leaving his papers all around his room, again and I caught the sight of those things..." I sigh.
" Man... Instructor Marito is really a burden for you, isn't he?"
" Like I care, but I don't have a choice. He's the only family I had to rely on anyway. If not because of him, I wouldn't be here. Not to mention, he still got that PTSD case ongoing." I denied the fact given by Okojo.
" Right... sorry."
I smile, "Nothing to apologize for. It's just me and him being that kind of family."
As the bus escape the tunnel, all of us gaze the outskirt of the ward's ruins. From here, we can see machinery move out some moon debris and some structure were getting rebuild. Yeah, debris from the incidents 15 years ago still lying around the area and currently some are still around even after a long period of no war. The place is like a dessert, with little greenery that I could see from here. It seems peaceful, but the scars of war still standing.
" The Ward has seen better days, huh?" I said.
" After the 'Heaven's Fall' incident, it was getting peaceful as it was." Calm states.
" We can't tell for sure if the signing was a success or not. But...all I can say is that we could only pray for the best. Calm, you're lucky that both you and Nina were staying in Japan. I heard that Canada was having its worst days ever since that incident." I said with a hand on my chin, arms supporting by the front seat. While my eyes are on the scenery as it passes through.
" You could say that again. I heard that your old man got his worst."
" He was a soldier. A fine one that causes his mental state to ended that way..."
Yeah... that it causes him to do that over and over again...
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" Old man. You're late ag-. Dammit! Your drinking again!?"
" Yeah-yeah. gwod to see you two, Itsuka..." Marito-san said after he closed the apartment's door with a flask in his hand. The old man looks more fluster than ever.
" Also, isn't its time to sleep already? Tomorrow you had a Firearm drill with your friends again." He yawns after he lectures me.
" Same goes to you. When can that drinking habit of yours stop already? The doctor said to not drink again, right?" I stop my reading and stand while cleaning u p the papers on the coffee table, " But I'll take your advice. It was late after all. Also, it's Itsurugi."
I continue, " And, don't drink tomorrow morning, okay?"
" Right-right... you sounded just like your mother."
I stopped.
" Old man, You do not speak about her that way. Even though she's gone, you are still her brother. I can't even take care of you properly at this rate. So please... Just stop." I ask with much wilderness before closing the door of my room.
" ..."
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I saw him looking down after what said last night, honestly. The old man is a relative of my mother, so you could say he is my uncle. He was a soldier of the Japan's UN and also my school's instructor. He also a survivor of the 'Heaven's Fall' incident and have been traumatized by that after a friend of his died in his arm. Since then, he kept himself busy with his drinking habits to keep those memories away from hunting him. Although the doctor told him to stop, but the old man was as stubborn as ever. Even my mother, Hikari Cross kept complaining about his drinking habits. Nonetheless, she still cares for the old man's wellbeing that I can't help it but to follow along with the flow of responsibility.
As of now, our class are currently out in the Kataphrakt Shooting range where each of us takes turn to use the machine. Our objective is simple, destroy the targets in limited time.
" Uahh... Inko's aim just getting better and better. It looks like she was serious about it back then." Calm warns me.
" Good, but not enough..." I gave them a straight statement.
" As expected from the 'Phantom'! But..."
He grins while pointing out towards me and Inaho.
" Which one of you is the best?"
Inaho and I stare at each other before answering his question.
" Me." Both of us said it simultaneously.
" And the rivalry goes on..." Okojo said it straight.
It's true about what Okojo just said. The two of us were rivals ever since our first meet in that one playground. Sometimes I beat him, and sometimes he takes his revenge on me, with that emotionless face of his. However, the rivalry is a healthy one as we are trained to face our enemies.
Where it was really my desire as well...
"Next up is Inaho Kaizuka and Itsurugi Cross. Both of you, please board the Kataphrakts." A familiar voice calls out for both of us.
" Ohh! The beauty instructor was here on time!" Okojo exclaims.
Can't agree much more than that. The instructor that Okojo refers to was Inaho's sister, Yuki kaizuka. She was the academy's instructor alongside the old man and was ranked warrant officer this year. The reason she was nicknamed that is because of her beauty. And I had to acknowledge that.
"Okay... It was our turn, Inaho. Let see who shot down the most dummies." I gave him a small smirk.
" Yeah... but don't complain about your fails on me." The Emotionless guy teased me.
All I did is just stare at him, with a darkened frown of my face, grinning like a madman.
"Woah... shots fired." Calm follows.
" He is triggered..." Okojo does the same.
" Right-right..." I acknowledged his teased and let myself burn.
Both of us put on our pilot suits and proceed to ride the Kataphrakt. KG-6 Sleipnir, a training model and predecessor model of the advance KG-7 Areion. It was called a 'training model', but the way this thing works is that it has better maneuverability and movement than the newer model. You can say that most of us have used the newer model and by the time we getting used to it, it was really heavy compared to the Sleipnir due to the addition armor on the thing. As the two of us arrived at our designated spot in the training field, I ready my rifle and good to start.
" Alright... Activating targeting module. Movements, all green. Left and rig arms were in good condition. Kataphrakt is in stable condition. This machine is good to go." I confirm myself the mech's condition.
" Good. Inaho, Itsurugi, target dummies will be activated in 30 seconds. Shoot them down."
" Understood!" Both of us acknowledged the order from our instructor.
" In three... two... one!!"
*Beep! Beep! Beep!"
As the third beep sounded, I pilot my mech in a quick pace and start pulling the trigger.
*Bang!Bang!Bang!*
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" That's 22 dummies shot down in 28 seconds. A new record for second place. But..." Okojo explains as he sees how many dummies shot down by me before continuing.
" But... Inaho just shot down 23 dummies with the last shot took a triple kill... Looks like it was his win again."
I fell to my desk in slumber as I hear the results.
" Damn... you, Emotionless."
" I already told you not to complain about the results." Inaho reminds me.
" Shut up! You win after that last shot! If not because of that, I would have won!" I shout, with fake tears in my eyes at the emotionless guy while he closes his ear.
" C-calm down, Itsurugi-kun. You're not the only one who was down with that result." Nina calm me and I turn my head towards Inko who sulking by her desk. At least, she didn't break my record yet and placed five steps away from her original position. What a sad girl against the world she's facing in.
"Anyway... want to talk about 'that'!?" Okojo asks everyone about 'that' which I didn't quite get with.
" What's do you mean?"
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Third-Person POV
"We teaches those kids to use those thing... What are your thoughts about this peace treaty? Is it really gonna hold?"Or is it gonna bring us all to extinction for good?"
"Lieutenant..."
" Is it okay... to teach them to fight a battle where it was already decided? Look around, doctor. Those Martians w on't sit back and wait. One day, they will attack us no matter what reason they have..."
The man who said those words then take another sip of liquor and slam it in anger. He looks depressed as he knew something is about to happen.
" The kid himself didn't think about his place and the situation will get much more complicated than the peace signing itself!"
The man slams his fist on the table, looking shaking with the doctor saw his condition.
" I don't even know how long I could hold it. I can't help it but feel bad about the kid. We had no choice."
Marito grab another glass of his drink and chug it down instantly, hoping that the feeling he had and the sorrow he is experiencing right now is just an illusion.