CHAPTER 08
FAITH IS FOR THE TRANSIENT PEOPLE

The situation was vividly tense.

News of the coup d'état that witnessed the fall of Brazil's democratic government spread across the White House like a wildfire. It hit the nerves of every politician and military leader in Washington, D.C. like a sledgehammer, and they had every reason to fear the collapse of South America's largest democracy would jeopardize the whole continent's stability.

And President Chipp Zanuff knew the impact of such event to world peace.

He had gone through several sleepless nights as a result of the incident, and to make matters worse the new Brazilian military regime threatened to invade Ascension and incorporate the island nation into Brazil's new administration unless both United States and Soviet Union withdrew their naval forces from the island. While it was obvious to many that the regime was dipping its feet into hot water by challenging the world's strongest navies, eleven of the twelve members that formed the Union of Neutral Countries (UNC) expressed their concern that Brazil might drag Ascension into war if they invaded the nation. As the leader of the United States of A Country, it was President Zanuff's responsibility to ensure that Brazil did not violate the Central Atlantic Demilitarized Zone Treaty both countries had signed prior to the coup. He was also aware of his country's relationship with the UNC, which had prospered in recent months, and did not want anything to put this bond at risk as a result of his forthcoming decisions.

Right now, though, his major concern was not the Brazilian junta or the safety of Ascension Island. This problem had, as a matter of fact, more effect to his administration in the White House than anything else. And it was happening almost on daily basis.

"Chipp-ojiichan!"

He turned to the source of the yell. Standing at the door was his niece, the ever-youthful and energetic Kenjii, daughter of Mr & Mrs Mito. "What on Earth do you want, Kenjii? I have problems to take care of right now," he retorted.

"But Ojiichan, you can't solve the world's problem if you just sit inside your office," Kenjii pointed with arms folded. "Come on! Play with me! I'm bored already. Papa and Mama wouldn't take me to the amusement park."

He shook his head. "Good grief, Kenjii. If that's the reason you came to this office, you could've just asked nicely." At the same time his advisor Benjamin was walking into the office, and he looked at the middle-aged man who was smiling at him. "You better not have any wrong idea about this, Ben."

"Children, Mister President, you know the drill," he spoke.

"But I'm no longer a kid! I'm now the ever youthful, seventeen-year-old good girl!" the swordswoman retorted.

Benjamin snickered at the claim. "And a good girl is supposed to act her age, right?" Kenjii fumed at the comment and went to kick him on the shin; her attack was deftly parried, and the girl became furious. "Should I tell your parents that you've misused your unrestricted access grant for your personal gain?"

"F-Fine, whatever you like," Kenji retorted.

Benjamin left the girl and approached President Zanuff. "You looked like hammered shit, Mister President," he said jokingly.

"You tell me," Chipp retorted. "How's our affair with the Kremlin?"

"It's the same old story, Mister President," the Gulf War veteran answered. "Left wing extremists declaring us as the enemy of the new world, the leaders trying to amend things with us. Oh, speaking of which, President Vorshevsky called a few minutes ago."

"What did he say?" Chipp asked.

"He wanted to discuss with you about peace treaty with the United States," Benjamin answered. "He understood that you're busy handling the South American crisis, so he said he'd wait until you're done."

Chipp pinched the bridge of his nose. "Urgh, the treaty… if it wasn't for General Shepherd's advice, I'd have flown straight to Moscow to talk to him," he grumbled. "Seriously, that man gave me a strange look when I told him about the peace talk. Good thing he's still in Afghanistan, otherwise…"

"I know, right?" Benjamin uttered. "But anyway, we have an even graver situation than the peace talk. Got this from our agent in Rio," he said and gave him a telegram. "He wanted me to personally hand this over to you."

Chipp read the telegram, and in an instant his face turned pale, worrying Kenjii as a result. "Jesus, when did it happen?" he asked.

"An hour ago, Mister President," Benjamin answered. "We have informed President Vorshevsky about this incident as soon as we received Intel from our agents in Rio, as well." He frowned. What he had feared the most had become a reality, and he remained silent as Benjamin and Kenjii were waiting for his words. "Mister President?"

"Summon all generals to emergency meeting – but don't tell Shepherd. Benjamin, have the press conference ready after the meeting. Kenjii, go play with Chii for a while, okay?" The two of them left them, save for Kenjii who stayed for a while to give him an assuring before she followed Benjamin. As they finally left, Chipp buried his face in his palm, thinking of the dire consequences that would follow the news.

He sighed. "Good God, they give me no choice." He reached for the blue telephone. He picked it up, and didn't have to wait for the line to connect. "This is President Zanuff," he spoke into the receiver. "Link me to Section 13."

-x-x-x-x-

Location: Azadistan City

Hikki's team had accomplished their task in giving the royal guards proper training in weapons and tactics. Now they were feasting the royal banquet held to honour their contribution to the kingdom's stability, and it was an opportunity Jacques and Evan did not want to waste as they indulged in Azadistan's food culture. Their leader was concerned about stuffing his stomach with the delicacies as his priority was to leave the country and headed back to Kyoto. He knew every second spent in foreign land would affect his quality time with Yuu, and now that he had done his job it was up to the royal guards to put what they had learned into practice.

His attention to the meal was disrupted when a palace officer sent him a message from Marina. "Now what does she want this time?" Not wanting to turn down the princess he headed to the balcony where Marina had done talking with Terry, much to his amusement. "Someone had taken the line first. That's not fair."

"If it isn't the kid himself," Terry said. "I was just going to say farewell to this lovely lady, that's all."

"Careful, Terry, you don't want to court a woman whose heart has already belonged to someone else," Hikki reminded, causing Marina to blush. "And no, Terry, that someone is NOT going to be me, thank you very much."

"Come on, Hikki! You wouldn't want to let this golden opportunity to slip under your nose, would you?" Terry asked and gave his back a hard slap. "Someone as kind-hearted as the royal princess surely has put herself someone in your mind, right?"

"If I let that to happen, my sister will certainly kill me," he answered. "I didn't come here to flirt with the princess, so what's the problem with that?"

Again Terry slapped his back. "Take it easy, kid! You can't possibly spend the rest of your life working! Life is short, and you've got to enjoy it while still can."

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," he snorted.

"Anyway, I'm going to enjoy this party as much as I can before I head back to Gazth-Sonika," Terry said. "I swear to myself that sniper lady had meant something when she called me Lone Wolf instead of my name."

"I don't want to even think about the implication." The lone wolf of South Town just laughed and waved him farewell before he returned to the dining hall. He shook his head in wonder about his companion's antics and turned himself to Marina. "I hope you don't mind his… eccentricity when it comes to woman."

"Oh no, I don't mind. I find him a very good fellow to talk to," Marina answered. "And I hope you don't mind me summoning you here. How do you like the banquet?"

"I can't say I dislike the menu, but I definitely didn't see any salad," he shrugged. "I thought she'd be with you tonight. Where is she?"

"Looking for Shirin?" Marina giggled again. "She can't attend this banquet for some reasons, so she's sending you her regards."

"Regards accepted," he uttered. "So, back to business. What do you exactly want to seek from this conversation? Is it about the contract, my personal opinion about the political atmosphere in Azadistan, or - my apology for saying this - the cult of boundary you had asked me to investigate?"

Marina shook her head. "It's something more fundamental." She paused as to construct the words she needed to speak. "Mister Hikki, may I ask you a question about faith?"

"Huh, I thought you'd ask something more outrageous, but whatever," he said in slight surprise. "Go ahead."

Marina coughed a little. "Do you… believe in God?"

He scratched the back of his head. He never liked the question, more so since he never fancied about the ideas of intervention from heavenly realms having impact on human's life. "To be honest, I don't give it a damn about whether there is a god or not," he spoke. "But even if I don't believe in Him, how am I supposed to explain this?"

He conjured his free hand in the air, and a small gap emerged in front of his palm. Marina watched in amazement as he put his hand into the gap, and suddenly yelped when she felt her shoulder tapped from behind. She turned around and saw his hand sticking out of another gap that was hovering near her head.

"What… what just happened?" she asked.

He pulled his hand back and discarded the gaps. "A display of supernatural ability science and logic would not be able to explain," he answered. "Those gaps you saw? My surrogate mother taught me to use it for my convenience. Here; I'll show you." Another gap appeared in front of him and he stuck his hand into it before he pulled an apple out of it. (At the same time Evan was going to take the last apple on the table when it 'magically' disappeared. "Who stole the apple?" he asked in shock.)

"What kind of power exactly is it?" Marina asked as he gave her the apple.

"Those gaps represent boundaries, and anyone who can control boundaries can control basically everything in this universe," he told her. "My surrogate mother is the supreme user of this ability. If she wants, she can manipulate the boundary of creation and destruction, putting her in the realms of the gods."

"That's impossible!" Marina objected. "There's no way ordinary people can elevate themselves to be equal with God. It's… heretical!"

"Yeah, I get that comment a lot from your kind of people," he uttered. "But then again, if I have been granted this power, that means God has His reasons to let me use it, hasn't He?"

"I… I don't know," Marina answered. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't ask you this sensitive question."

"Hey, don't sweat it," he told her. "Where else I get to demonstrate my specialty to my client and not being labelled as an oddball?"

"You're funny, Mister Hikki," she giggled. "Then have you used that power of yours for your own benefit?"

"I have, but then again I'd be cheating," he said. "There's no way I'm going to turn everything to my favour and not think of those who have to struggle just to get a fistful of rice on daily basis."

"Of course; God does not want to see His people to walk the easy path and take everything for granted," she said. "Oh, can I ask you another question?"

"Sure you can."

"Thank you so much." Marina took a deep breath and spoke: "when you mentioned your surrogate mother, I was wondering about your real parents. Where are they now, and are they still alive?"

He shook his head. "I'd never know if they're alive or not, since I never got to see them from the day I was born," he answered. "I only know them because my surrogate mother said they were her close friends."

"I'm sorry for that," Marina said in apology.

"Hey, why would you be sorry? It's not that I-" His words got cut off when Shanghai unexpectedly popped out of his coat. He laughed when Marina got spooked by the puppet's sudden appearance. "Silly me. I haven't introduced you to my little companion." The remark caused Shanghai to punch him between his eyes. "Hey, that hurts! Admit it, Shanghai, you are little," he said, much to Shanghai's resent, "but that doesn't mean you don't have a big heart." The doll blinked many times in surprise. She blushed seconds later and pouted at him before she jumped onto Marina's palm. "Marina, this is my autonomous assistant Shanghai. Shanghai, I'd like you to meet Princess Marina Ismail."

Shanghai took a courtesy bow. The princess was reluctant to respond to the greeting but she settled on and put her hand on Shanghai's head and began patting the puppet. Shanghai's reaction was instantaneous as she grew cat's ears and tail. "She's so cute," Marina said and giggled as Shanghai purred contently to the touch of her hand.

"Yeah, I almost forgot that she'll grow ears and tail whenever she gets excited," he said.

After spending almost an hour with the princess, he took his leave and left the palace. He was done with the banquet, but his team-mates were not as they decided to eat everything they could until they were full. He knew they would be able to take care of themselves and returned to the hotel with that fact in mind.

It did not take long before he realized he was being followed; quietly and quickly he took a detour into an empty street and waited for the stalker to come close. "Ah, hah!" He grabbed the stalker by the collar and slammed the person against the dustbin. He was surprised to know it was the same hooded person he had chased after at the slum. "Let's see whose face underneath this hood is," he said and took off the head cover. As the hood came off, he turned from shocked to angry, then amused. "Bloody hell! What are you doing here, Miss Ran?"

"Uhh… Hikki, is this how you're supposed to treat your own kin?" Yukari's nine-tailed fox familiar asked as she hurriedly fixed her hat to cover her jutting ears.

"I swear to Mother Earth you look terribly horrible in this disguise," he chided. "This is one hell of a meeting between Yakumo family members, I suppose."

"Yeah, and we both can blame Miss Yukari for this," Ran said.

"Come with me; this isn't the good place to have a conversation," he uttered. "I'll treat you at the hotel cafe. That's the least I can do to apologize to you."

The two of them went to the hotel where he did not hesitate to treat Ran with tea and muffin. The fox familiar explained that the disguise was a part of Yukari's plan to maintain contact with him at the outside world, and idea she resented very much when it was first presented to her. "She could have just, I don't know, sent you letters or postcards or even emails, but she insisted that I meet you like an undercover agent," she lamented.

"That's Miss Yukari both of us know," he said. "Always be seventeen years old regardless of how… older than some human civilizations she is."

"I see what you mean, Hikki," Ran said with a chuckle. "How's life at your side?"

"My buddies and I got heftily paid for our job in Azadistan," he answered. "Enough for the three of us to live it easy for half a year, I suppose. How are things across the border, Miss Ran?"

"It's still the same Gensokyo you'd recognize, dear," Ran told him. "The Palanquin Ship got loose from Makai last month, and we got this Buddhist youkai lady who preached for equality between human and youkai. Reimu already got that covered, and things have since gone back to proper track."

"How's Mama Yuyu doing?" Ran chuckled, causing him to blush. "Come on! What's wrong with me asking about my family?" he retorted.

"I thought you wouldn't ask," she said. "Miss Yuyuko is very healthy, cheerful and energetic as always. Yes, she often inquires us about your wellbeing, but she's still the same 'Mama Yuyu' you'd miss dearly. She keeps asking us when you'll come home, though, and that gets me worried."

"Wish I could find the suitable time to come home," he said and put down the teacup. "But you know me, someone with a tight working schedule who has to feed a hungry mouth at home." He sighed. "At any rate, I'll never be able to spend my time with Yuu properly."

"I understand your plight," Ran said. "If that's the case, I think you should get married soon."

He choked on the muffin he was eating. "Miss Ran! Why are you asking me that question of all things?" he demanded.

"How old are you again? Twenty-two, isn't it? People at your age would've gotten into marriage and settle down with their spouse," Ran laughed.

"But that doesn't mean I should take the path everybody else has taken," he retorted. Ran kept laughing, and it brought him discomfort, more so since everyone at the cafe was now looking at him in intrigue. "Cut that out, it isn't even funny."

"Surely someone like you has found his ideal candidate, no?" Ran teased.

"As if someone like me will ever get a wife," he grumbled.

"You will find your wife, if you know where to find," Ran said. "Right, I think my job here is done. Miss Yukari asked me to check your welfare, and you're doing fine as I can see. There's nothing more I should do out here."

"Leaving already? I was thinking of treating you with fried tofu after this," he told her.

"Thank you for the thought, dear, but the longer I stay here the longer Miss Yukari will lament over my absence," Ran said jokingly. "You know it is I who has to take care of the house."

"Right, almost forgot about that. At least I should buy cakes for Mama Yuyu and Youmu before-" His phone rang, and he excused himself to answer the call. Ran watched in intrigue, then worry, as he was talking to someone in the phone.

"Something happened?" she asked as he hung up.

"Urgent matter," he answered solemnly. "I have to leave Azadistan tonight."

"Well, I guess both of us need to take our leave after this," Ran said.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he apologized.

"Oh, don't be," she chuckled. "You can take care of yourself, that I can assure you."

After buying souvenirs for both Yakumo and Saigyouji Families ("Miss Yuyuko will surely squeal in glee when she sees this cake," Ran commented as he was buying the most expensive cake on the shelf) Hikki walked Ran to the front door and waved her goodbye before she left the hotel. He wasted no time afterwards and made haste to his room; the call he had received was from Section 13, and he got an order to take a flight to Liberia in moment's notice, which would be arranged by an ally of the United States. He never questioned the order like he usually would, although this time he was wondering the reason Section 13 was sending him to Africa. He knew he had very little time to prepare a team, so he called his colleagues who were still at the palace.

"Like usual, huh? Well, we know what to do next."

"Don't worry about us, Chief. We can look after ourselves."

He had all the essential things prepared for his trip to Africa, and all he had to do was to wait for someone to invite him at the hotel. He looked at Shanghai, who in turn nodded and gave him a salute. "Yeah, let's do this," he said and hoisted his backpack.