Chapter 6

"What... the... fuck..." I stare blankly at the carnage. Just torn-down buildings and blood. Corpses too.

"Saul..." Tsugumi starts to whimper, curling into a ball.

"Wait..." I change cameras. I installed several of them at that place, so maybe if I...
"Can anyone hear me?" Gai's voice is barely audible. We then see his face.

"Yes, yes we can hear you," I say hurridely. "Are you ok?!"
"I'm fine. Just a couple stratches." Gai answers, clearly pained.

"How about the others?" Tsugumi asks, hopeful.

"They weren't as fortunate." Gai replies tersely. "We lost all our reinforcements."
"Should we regroup and change the operation?" Shibungi asks.

"No. We don't have time for that." Gai says. "The mission shall go on."

...

"Well I'm done with this nonsense. I'm out." Shu declares, storming out of the room.

"Come on, Shu..." I beg, but it doesn't work.

"Are we going to postpone the mission?" Shibungi asks.

"No. Carry on as planned. Dismissed." Gai finishes, leaving the tent.

Everybody's a little uneasy. We need Shu's void genome power in order for this to work, but I don't think he's up to the challenge, or more, he doesn't want to bear the weight of other's deaths.

"Inori..." Inori and I aren't on the best of terms, but we've come to understand and respect each other. "can you go talk to him? Do something? You're the only one he'll listen to."
She nods and leaves. I don't think I needed to tell her that, she was just about to go already.

"Tsugumi," I turn. "you want to go get something to eat?"
"Sure, why not." she answers, adjusting her hair.

"A sandwich or something? We should get something for the mission in 2 hours."
"Who knows if it's even going to happen, now that Shu's gone."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure Shu's going to be reasonable. Eventually. Before 2 hours, that's what I mean." I say, picking up a ham sandwich and grape juice.

"You seem so confident in him. Why's that?" Tsugumi questions, picking up a tuna sandwich.

"His mother raised him to be that way. And who the hell knows what's in that kid's head? I can barely understand my own self." I laugh, opening the door to our workspace.

"Well I guess I can't argue with that." Tsugumi sits on her chair, booting up the system.

...

"Alright! Mission starts now!" Tsugumi announces.

"Why do you always announce that so loudly?!" I say, rubbing my ear.

"Because they have to know, don't they!?" she argues.

"Did you guys take down the shield yet?" I ask squadron C.

"Yep. Men down, we're going in." he replies.

"Is Shu inside the HQ yet?"
"I'm in now." Shu answers, somewhat shaken.

"Alright. I have to shut off communication. You still owe me 2 dollars, so don't you dare go off getting killed."
Shu sighs. "Yeah, I'll get that to you."
"You better." I shut off transmission. "Tsugumi, you shut it off too, right?"
"Yep. They better not die."
"I feel so useless. I can't do shit because the moment I try and touch that system, it'll shut off completely!" I complain, watching the battle from GHQ cameras. "It's so boring!"
"Well, we just need to be ready in case anything happens to them." Tsugumi answers, while giving commands to Squadron A.

"Yes, mom." I say mockingly.

"Shut up." She doesn't sound annoyed.

(20 minutes later)

"Flush! Get outta here!" I yell, throwing my cards onto the table. "Wait, Tsugumi, what the hell?"
Gai was standing outside, with no cover, holding a pen, staring into space.

Tsugumi gets on her reciever. "Bad news! The Leukocyte's malfunctioning and it's going to fall directly onto Tokyo!"
"Give me the exact time it'll fall!" Gai yells.

"Less than 30 seconds!" I reply, trying to figure out the exact coordinates. "What the fuck are you trying to do! Everybody, give them cover!"
"I'm on it!" Ayase says, using her Enclave to hold off attacks,

"10 seconds left!" Tsugumi yells, looking at the diagram of 2 Leukocytes.

We hear some rustling, and before we know it, Shu's out with a giant gun.

"NOW!" Tsugumi screams, half-praying half-desperately.

All that I hear is a burst of sparks and a distant boom.

"WE DID IT!" I scream, embracing the closest thing next to me.
"YES!" Tsugumi yells, doing the same.

We hug each other, happy about our success.

4 seconds later, we realise what we've just done.

"Ah..." We quickly retreat to our seats, staring awkwardly at each other.

"Um..."
"WE DID IT!" Argo cheers.

"Yeah... Woohoo, we did it?" I try and say convincingly.

"It all worked out, I suppose." Shibungi says, smiling.

"..." Tsugumi still stares at me with a heavy red on her cheeks.

At least the mission was a success.