Just think about it, they were pretty much soldiers. And they kept on fighting.


Kouichi rubbed his hand against his arm, itching to tell someone, anyone, about what he just witnessed. But he woke up from the hospital alone, realizing far too late that it wasn't his story to tell.

Days later, he was greeted with a bear and his brother. His brother who was hiding behind a bear. His brother, who was broken and shattered and unable to be put together. The bear was just a clever way to hide it, but Kouichi could see past it.

Once his brother left, Kouichi grabbed the bear and sat it up on his bed.

"The tale of child soldiers, do you want to hear?"

He made the bear nod its head.

It wasn't his story to tell, but he was going to tell it. They were the heroes, not him. He was just lucky enough to tag along.

As tempting as it was to say they saved the world, Kouichi didn't. He had to do them justice. He was the only sane one of them. He was the only one who wasn't going to die. He was the only one who could tell the tale, for the tongue of his brother no longer worked. Along with the other kids - they weren't human. Surprisingly, only Kouichi was left with his humanity intact.

"They were sent to a world they had no connection to. Five of them and they were all told to save the world because of a message on their phones." A message that he himself never experienced, but his brother told him about the message, asking him if he had gotten it as well. Maybe that's why his humanity was left intact, for he didn't have a phone and was just following his brother.

Enough about him, it was their story. Someone had to hear it, and maybe that someone was the bear his brother gave him.

"What else where they to do but accept? They were bored, their real life wasn't the greatest." Kouichi remembered his brother mentioning not knowing how to talk to people - because he hated people originally. The rest had similar problems, people were just too hard to read and to understand. They rather save some random world than deal with their everyday life.

"They fought all who did wrong, for a cause that wasn't their world. Their world was never in danger - as far as I know - but they still kept fighting. That… isn't normal, right? But they turned into magnificent beasts and fought evil in a war they were dragged into.

"Then they ran into me," he said, his eyes starting to water. This wasn't his story. This was their story. "And they defeated me, saving me. Then they became generals."

Kouichi rubbed his eyes. They were wet, he was crying. Was it because he was saved from a fate like his? Or because they became generals?

"They were eleven, it was my brother and his friend. They were promoted to general in this war they should've left. They lead the attack against the all powerful evil, saying it was okay, saying they were fine, but they weren't fine. They evolved to ferocious beasts and were stripped of their humanity.

"The others shortly followed after they found out the evil the generals defeated wasn't the ultimate evil. I died before the evil could affect me, but it affected the rest."

He put the bear on his lap, hugging it close as it was the only thing that remained of his general. He was going to die soon, the general was going to die soon.

They were all going to die soon, whether he liked it or not.

"They were child soldiers. They marched on."